Demon's Doorway (40 page)

"To do my job, of course. I pop in when I can, to watch over the ghosts here. That terrible day…." He shuddered at the thought. "A lot of the ghosts here don't know they're dead. It's confusing, getting ripped away from the world like that. Some suspect, and I try to help them."

"Even though a lot of them tried to break out of your prison?"

"They died paying for their crimes. There's no need to make them pay in death, too."

Kevin touched Victoria's shoulder. "He's talking to a ghost? Right now?"

She put a finger to her lips.

"Have you been here long, like for a day or so?" Alex asked. "We're looking for someone, and this is a big place—"

"Holy shit!" Kevin shouted.

Alex jumped, and spun in place, giving Kevin an irritated look. "Man, would you stop that jumpy shit? Aren't you supposed to be the big bad witch?"

Kevin pointed over Alex's shoulder, and Alex realized from the look in their eyes that they could see Myers also.

"Hi," Victoria said, doing a better job of containing her emotions than Kevin.

"Oh, wow," Myers said. "All of you can see me."

"We don't have time to talk, but it's this place," Alex said. "Someone is here, changing the prison. And it's not gonna end well. Can you help us?"

The warden rose to his feet. "What do you need from me?"

Alex thought a moment, mumbling to himself. "We're talking about a doorway to the demon realm. Is there somewhere here that got it worse?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where more violence happened. Some horrible, nasty deaths."

"The cafeteria," Myers answered, without hesitation. He shuddered at the memory. "A few guards were crucified. Prisoners were beaten to death. It…wasn't pretty. I'll take you there."

Victoria and Kevin turned, and were surprised to see three men blocking their way. The vampire was caught off guard, and had to remember she was dealing with ghosts and demons, something she wasn't accustomed to.

"Warden," the inmate leading the way said. "Open the cells."

Myers rolled his eyes as he stood next to Alex. "Anderson, I told you this last time. There is no
opening the cells
. There is no prison break. You're dead. We're
all
dead. I was murdered right here in this office."

Anderson looked Victoria up and down. "If we're dead, this is definitely heaven."

"Look, I'm sorry, but we have to go," Myers said. "We'll talk about this later—"

The three inmates rushed the room, and Victoria was shocked that not only could they see them, but
feel
them. One of them punched Kevin in the jaw, sending him to the floor, before slamming a foot in his ribs. Victoria snarled as she moved forward, but the other two inmates grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back, pinning her to the warden's desk. They were stronger than she thought.

"Anderson, goddamn it," Myers said. "This won't help—"

Anderson pulled a blade from his waistband and lashed out. He caught Myers across the chest, and the warden backed up a step, his face twisting in pain. The inmate who attacked Kevin stabbed him in the shoulder, and the witch shouted in agony as the inmate held the blade to his throat.

"Everyone calm down," Anderson said. "Or people will start dying."

Alex wanted to pop his wings and fight, but hesitated. He was still trying to accept the fact that they were in danger from other ghosts.

"Kevin?" Alex said. "Are you okay down there?"

"Oh, he's just fine," Anderson answered for him. He glanced at his partner as he leaned his weight on Victoria's arm. "Help me get her jeans off."

They didn't even have time to flinch before Victoria was moving. She bit into Anderson's arm, the blood disappearing before it hit the floor. Myers jumped as she slashed the other inmate's face with her claw. She heaved both men through the window. The glass didn't break. The men simply passed through it like the ghosts they were.

The third inmate had Kevin on his feet as Victoria turned to face him, the blade still to his throat. Kevin's face was pale, and she was afraid he'd pass out at any second.

"Don't come any closer!" the inmate yelled.

Victoria had run out of patience. Alex joined Myers and her, not wanting to force the inmate's hand.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He hesitated, and Myers spoke for him. "That's Ellerson. Come on, man, you were here for armed robbery. You've never really hurt anyone in your life."

"Well, things change, don't they?"

"Kevin, relax," Alex said, putting his hands out. "Everything will be—"

"You're damn right, things change," Victoria said, cutting Alex off. "Things have definitely changed here. Let me tell you what will happen. You'll let my friend go, and then you'll turn around and walk away. If not, we'll find out how many times I have to kill a ghost before he goes crazy."

"I-I'm not a ghost—"

Kevin fought through the pain, and pulled out the mirror he secretly rubbed potion on. Ellerson caught a glance of his own reflection, and disappeared in a flash of light before he could scream.

Victoria was at his side in a second, checking his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

She didn't believe him as he leaned on her and winced. Reaching inside his coat, she grabbed his nearly-empty vial of water. It was broken almost in half from the inmate's kick, but there was some water left.

"Drink this."

He gulped down the water as Alex and Myers looked at each other.

"What did you do?" Myers asked.

Kevin held up the mirror to show Ellerson's face. "I guess ghosts have souls that I can capture. I'll free him later."

"Who…are you people?" Myers asked.

"This isn't good," Alex said. "Ghosts that can hurt the living?"

"Take us to the cafeteria," Victoria told Myers. "Please."

*****

Jack opened the closet door quietly and grabbed the man as he walked by. The house was still completely dark, but there was just enough light coming from the windows that he could see the silhouettes and shapes moving past when they first came inside. The trained killer was bigger and stronger than Jack, but that didn't matter. He threw an elbow into Jack's ribs, but he didn't need to breathe, and barely felt any pain. Jack thrust the kitchen knife into his back and covered his mouth as he cried. The fight left him quickly.

He dragged him back into the closet and carefully set him down on the trash bag he laid out. He didn't spill a single drop of blood on Victoria's beautiful floor. He used the man's shirt to clean the blade.

The attempted killer coughed up blood as Jack ripped away the night vision goggles on the man's face. Jack had killed many mortals in his long life, and always thought it was such a shame that they relied on technology for help. He refused to put on the man's goggles. It would ruin the challenge, ruin the fun.

"How many?"

"Seven," he gasped.

Jack pressed the blade of the knife directly against the man's eye. "Be honest."

"Fifteen," he said, sucking in air. "Fifteen, I swear."

Jack nodded. That number was more in line with all the noise he heard coming from the windows and doors.

"Good, good. So, one down, fourteen to go."

"Please, wait—"

Jack broke his neck.

He opened the door once again to peer out into the hall. Two men walked into the dining room alone. Jack smiled as he crept into the hall, keeping them in his sight. He was typically a freight train when it came to killing. Bullets didn't stop him, nothing could stop him. He usually charged directly toward his target, not caring who or what got caught in the way. But he was good at the quiet stuff, too. He recognized a few of the paintings Victoria had on her walls from her old home, one hundred years ago. The last thing he was wanted a stray bullet, a wild splash of blood, anything at all ruining her history.

He thought about the challenge ahead of him as he sneaked behind the next two men. Killing them both, without making a mess. Could he do it?

He stood to his full height as he drew nearer and reached over the first man, slamming the knife down into his chest. His partner had taken two steps forward before he knew what happened, and Jack already had the trash bag slipped over the dying man's torso. He barely had time to set him down before the partner was on him, tackling him to the floor.

The man struck Jack twice, but he easily slid around him and wrapped an arm around his throat. He squeezed with all his strength, and the killer's movements slowed until he didn't move at all. The entire time Jack choked him to death he kept his eyes locked on the first man he killed. Jack managed to set him on his back. His clothes would soak up the blood from the stab wound, with the trash bag doing the rest. Another clean kill, literally.

There was noise from the stairs around the corner, near the back door. Jack stood and calmly walked to the kitchen. With no windows it was nearly pitch black, but the delicious scent of the steak still on the table nearly made his mouth water.

He couldn't help himself.

He cut off a piece and savored his own cooking as the footsteps converged in the dining room. He counted the steps and isolated the voices as the once-calm group of men now bordered on panic.

"I thought I heard something!"

"What is that?"

"Is that Craig and Will?"

"What the fuck happened here?"

"Shit, I think they're dead."

Jack checked his phone as the men argued and two more joined them. His hired men watching the witch's sister had nothing to report, with the exception of enjoying watching her squirm at the tail end of a boring date. He wasn't surprised at the lack of news. Anatol had focused all of his attention on Alex. It was no doubt easier to focus on two women living in the same town. Two women that could potentially distract the half-demon and witch.

They simply didn't count on Jack.

He nearly put his phone away when a text message arrived from Tiffany. It was four simple words that brought a smile to his face.

I love you, Jack.

"Hey, is that a fucking light back there in the kitchen?"

He thought he covered the light on his phone well, but was obviously wrong. His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard to send her a message. His priorities were in order. His daughter first, above everything, and then the safety of two mortal women he barely knew.

Love you too, sweetie. You should be in bed. See you soon.

Jack loved technology.

He reluctantly pushed Tiffany from his thoughts as he shoved his phone away. He was now a father, but old habits were hard to break.

It was time to kill once again.

CHAPTER 20

Warden Myers rounded the corner ahead and pointed to the end of a long hall. Victoria was a step behind, glancing over his shoulder.

"That's the cafeteria, down there."

Kevin brought up the rear behind Alex. He waved his magic mothball back and forth, somewhat irritated that with all Victoria's talk about how powerful he was, he couldn't see in the dark. His magical light did nothing to calm his nerves. There were large, looming shadows all through the hallway. It was so quiet they could hear every footstep they took, with the exception of their ghost guide.

Kevin wasn't sure which emotion was stronger, the fear making him shake or the silliness that he was the only one that seemed to be afraid. Victoria's calm demeanor didn't surprise him one bit. But he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Alex, only a few years older than he was, didn't seem bothered in the least. He must have had a lot of experience with haunted places.

They took ten steps down the hall when Victoria stopped. Alex bumped into her, nearly knocking her aside.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Her nose twitched as Myers watched from the front, eying the odd supernatural group.

"He's close," she said. "I can smell him."

They took another step forward when a familiar voice spoke out.

"Glinda? Hey, Glinda, are you there? I see the blonde has one of those magic rocks on her, and I know you make cell phones out of these things."

Everyone stared at Kevin as he quickly pulled a stone from his coat. Witches could do many things with rocks. He used to wear a quartz ring, a gift from ex-girlfriend Rachel, but went with a simple stone as his magic trinket after they broke up.

"Jack?"

"I need you to get back to Victoria's house. Right now."

"Why? What's going on? Why are you using Leese's rock? Is she okay?"

"Just…get back here, now. Don't waste any more time."

"What do you mean? Jack?"

Jack didn't respond.

"Shit," Kevin said, pacing. "Something's wrong. He said he'd protect them."