Dead-Tective Box Set

  "Do you always have to be so chipper?" one of the robed people, a man, commented. I named him Chin.

  Boyd shrugged. "Sorry, just nature, I guess."

  "This is a sacred place. Don't destroy it," the other robed figure, a woman, commented. I named her Chinnet.

  One of the non-robed people, a woman, rolled her eyes. "Don't you two ever get tired of being so dramatic? It's bad enough Master Sins coming in as he does." I named her Sane because that was the sanest comment I'd heard that entire evening.

  Chinnet turned to her and glared. At least, I think she glared. "You mustn't speak of Master Sins with so much disrespect! We owe him so much for offering to teach us the mystical ways!"

  Boyd held up his hand toward the woman. "We all know what Master Sins has done for us, and I'm sure she meant it as a tease."

  Sane snorted. "Maybe some of us don't go kissing his ass whenever he makes his appearance."

  As though she called the devil, the flames of the torches lowered and half the light vanished from the room. The idle chatter stopped and everyone turned to the chair. My eyes widened when I noticed a dark circle appear in the floor. It was of the color of fathomless black, and the edges twisted like tentacles. Something broke from the darkness, and I realized it was the head of a man about Vincent's apparent age. He had long black hair tied back in a low tail and his skin was well tanned. His body rose from the darkness like there was an elevator beneath him, and when his feet appeared the darkness sucked into itself and receded into his dark shoes. He wore a crimson suit with a white tie on which were stitched several symbols like those on the door.

  That was one hell of a mirror trick.

  The man's eyes were closed, but he opened them slowly and revealed eyes that matched his clothes. He stepped forward to the edge of the short platform and bowed to the audience. They all bowed in return, and I clumsily followed suit.

  "Greetings, my children. I hope I find you well," he called to them. His voice resonated around the room and seemed to come from everywhere at once.

  "Yes, Master Sins," the audience replied.

  This was the notorious Master Sins, purveyor of damnation and suspected murderer. His red eyes flickered over the audience and fell on an older man in a plain gray suit. "Percy, I see you didn't join in the union of health. Is something the matter?"

  All eyes turned to Percy, who shrank beneath the attention. He rubbed his left leg and winced. "It's just a matter of my leg. It's never been right since the war and it's been bothering me a lot lately."

  Master Sins stepped off the stage and walked over to the old man. He laid a hand on Percy's shoulder and smiled at his disciple. "Let you be no longer in pain."

  My mouth dropped open as I beheld a small tendril flit from Sins' hand and into the man's shoulder. It dove past the cloth and presumably burrowed itself into his body. Nobody else panicked over the slimy thing invading the guy's body, so I assumed they hadn't seen it or this was a common occurrence. Whatever it was I suspected he borrowed the ability from his god-master, Astaroth.

  Percy perked up immediately and a smile brightened his face. "The pain's gone! You got rid of it!"

  Sins smiled. "Be at peace and know that the great god Astaroth watches over you."

  "All hail Astaroth!" Percy shouted.

  "All hail Astaroth!" the crowd chanted.

  "All hail aspirin," I muttered.

  I must have spoken too loud because Sins turned his eyes on me. He left the jubilant Percy and parted the audience to arrive at our small group. The believers bowed to him and I gave a weak wave. "Who do we have here?" he wondered.

  "This is Myra Banks, Master, my guest for the evening," Boyd introduced me.

  Sins stretched out his hand to catch my chin, but I jerked backwards away from his touch. I didn't want some tentacle monster seducing me. He raised an eyebrow and the smile on his lips nearly faltered. "You seem to have a unique aura around you, Miss Banks. I have rarely felt anything quite like it."

  I shrugged. "Must have been the garlic I had earlier. That stuff puts out scent like steam off a hot rock."

  He chuckled. "Perhaps garlic isn't to your liking, but I am glad you are here. This will make the evening much more. . .interesting."

  Sins turned away without elaborating and walked back to his stage. He held his hands over his head and his voice echoed around the room. "Come closer, for I bring good tidings." The crowd moved forward and pressed against the front of the stage. It was like a rock concert, but without the music and fun but with an emphasis on the drugs. "Last we met I announced the great sacrifice where one of you would join Astaroth in his dark domain. I have found such a person from among you." Whisperings swept through the crowd and Sins held up his hand. The crowd silenced. The tension was palpable. "Let all present here know that we have found a suitable subject for Astaroth. He has come to us of his own free will like a lamb to the slaughter, and there will be blood this night." Uh-oh.

  Sins lowered one arm and gestured to a door beside the low stage. It swung open on its own and in the doorway stood my target, Eric Hargrove. He stepped into the room and joined Sins on the stage. The ignorant young man gave a meek wave to the audience, but none waved back. Sins wrapped an arm around Eric's shoulders and pressed him against his side. "You who are about to go to Astaroth are a lucky few. He needs companionship only once a decade, and you, among all the others, have been chosen to go to him."

  "I am ready," Eric replied.

  Sins smiled and turned to the crowd. "He has accepted the position as companion to Astaroth. Bring forth the table!" The crowd parted to reveal the rug-covered walkway, and up the walkway came Fred. He carried an ornate wooden table carved with demon heads and skulls. The ogre plopped the table in front of the stage and disappeared to the front of the room. Sins led Eric off the stage and to the table where he helped the young man onto the top. "You will be eternally with Astaroth, and shall be blessed forever."

  My mouth was agape as what appeared to be a ritual sacrifice took place before my eyes. I glanced around the crowd and all present were eager. Some even looked jealously on Eric. I was the only sane person in a madhouse.

  Sins moved to the opposite side of the table from the crowd, and from his waist he pulled out a long, sharp knife. Its sharp edge glistened in the light of the torches, and his red eyes were illuminated by the dim light. A twisted smile slipped onto his lips as he raised his hands above his head. "All hail Astaroth!"

  "All hail Astaroth!" the crowd chanted. Eric joined in the chorus.

  Sins looked down at Eric and glided one hand across the young man's cheek. "You will be one with him, now and forever."

  "I'm ready," Eric insisted.

  "Then we will welcome you into his arms." Sins grasped the hilt of the knife in both his hands and raised the weapon over his head and above Eric.

  "Stop!" I yelled. I jumped forward and crashed into the table. It slid along the rug and into Sins' gut. "You can't do this!"

  A hand grabbed my upper arm and pulled me from the table. I turned my head to find myself staring into the red face of Boyd. "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed.

  "Trying to save his life!" I snapped back.

  "Save his life? You think we're really going to kill him? The sacrifice isn't real!" Boyd argued.

  A chuckle interrupted our little discussion, and all eyes turned to Sins. He moved to the same side of the table as me and put a heavy hand on my shoulder. "I am afraid we did not explain to our guest that such a ritual involves no sacrifice." My eyes drifted to my shoulder and they widened when I beheld the tendrils slither from his hand and onto my shirt.

  I tore my shoulder from his grasp and stumbled backward so my back was to the crowd and I faced the table. The menacing worshipers closed in on me with their hands outstretched. "Unbeliever!" someone shouted. I had no escape, no plan, no hope. Their hands grabbed my shoulders and arms. I struggled in their grasp as they overwhelmed me.

  Then the lights went out.

/>   Chapter 15

  You have any idea how dark a black room without windows is without any artificial lights? It's damn dark. With the lights came the inevitable screaming, gasping, and stumbling as people lost their balance and toppled into each other. Their cries stumbled over each other as well as their bodies.

  "Watch it!"

  "Help!"

  "Turn on the lights!"

  "Get the unbeliever!"

  The unbeliever decided it was time to leave. I pulled myself from the flimsy grasps of the few worshipers who still held me and stumbled forward into the table. My hands flailed around for some solace in the gloom, and I prayed for a miracle. I got one when my vampire senses kicked in and the world brightened. It was as though someone gave me night-vision goggles that didn't have that hideous green color. Darkness was now shadows, and screaming was now people in a panic as they bumped into each other and the columns.

  "What's going on?" I heard Eric call behind me. I grabbed him and pulled him off the table. "Hey! Let go!" he demanded.

  "You'll thank me later," I quipped.

  I turned to the front door, but a burly shape blocked the entrance. A hand fell on my shoulder and I felt something slithery slide down my arm. I yanked my arm from their grasp and turned to find a tall shape close beside me. Their red eyes glowed in the complete darkness, and I didn't need three guesses to figure out who it was.

  Sins' voice came out in a low, hissing drawl. "Going somewhere?"

  "Yep," I replied, and did the only thing I could think of. I spread two fingers apart on one hand and poked those lights.

  Sins screamed and clutched at his eyes. I pushed past him with the Eric in my grasp. He stumbled behind me as I led us to the door from which he'd entered. We burst through it and into an office. Judging by the creepy decor of paintings with screaming people and a glass case full of various skulls, I guessed this was Sins' office. My frantic mind realized there had to be an alternate route to escape the room. No madman would be caught dead without an escape plan. I slammed the door shut behind us, locked the deadbolt, and looked for an escape.

  "Is there an elevator in here?" I asked my captive.

  "I don't know, and let go of me!" Eric insisted. He grabbed my hand and tugged himself free. The young man stumbled back into a shadow, but it wasn't a shadow of evilness. Well, not quite.

  I recognized those dark eyes anywhere. "Where the hell have you been, Vince! I've been trying to reach you since forever!" I snapped at my partner.

  Vincent wrapped his hands around Eric's shoulders and stuck the boy in place in front of him. "I was unaware our telepathic bond wouldn't work with one of us outside the building," he explained.

  I glared at him. "You are so lucky the lights went out or I would have come back from the dead to kill you."

  "I was the one who switched out the lights," he revealed.

  One of my eyebrows rose up. "You switched out the lights? How?"

  "Tim instructed me on the finer points of electronics and electricity, so I have cut the power to the building," he replied.

  "Great, remind me to ask you to fix the toaster sometime. Now do you know how to get us out of this room?" I questioned him.

  "No need to run," a voice spoke up. I whipped my head to the floor and my eyes bulged from my head when I noticed the puddle of darkness flow from the carpet.

  Eric, blind as he was in the darkness, turned his head toward the sound of Sins' voice. "Master Sins? Master, where are you?" he called out.

  "I am here, my son," Sins replied.

  Sins stepped from the pool of darkness, but one of his tendrils raced across the floor to our target. I stomped the floor, but the thing only raced around my foot and reached Eric. It hit his shoe and stretched itself upward to slip beneath his pants. A second later Eric's eyes rolled back and his knees buckled.

  "Eric!" I cried out. I caught him before he collapsed to the floor and lowered him to the ground. "Eric? Eric?" I tapped his cheek with the back of my hand, but he didn't respond. I turned my attention to Sins who calmly walked around us and over to the large desk at the rear of the room. "What did you do?"

  Sins seated himself in a large, high-back black chair and shrugged. "Merely put him to sleep. I don't want him to overhear our conversation and get the wrong idea about me."

  "Like you're a scumbag demon-worshiper who sacrifices people to your dark god?" I quipped.

  Sins chuckled. "No, that I am a dark god and satiate myself on the flesh of humans." At his statement his shirt tore open and tendrils shot from his sides. His skin darkened to an ashen gray and long, pointed horns sprouted from the top of his head. He grew a foot taller, and when he leaned over his desk he nearly leaned over his desk. This was Astaroth, god of darkness.

  I whipped my head to Vincent. "Forget to tell me something?" I growled.

  He shrugged. "It was a minor detail."

  Astaroth turned his red eyes on Vincent. "Now that I have shown myself, I must demand that you introduce me to your lovely companion, Vincent. This young woman must be your new partner I have heard about."

  I climbed to my feet and glared at the dark god. "The name's Liz Stokes, and you better not forget it!"

  Astaroth chuckled. "You're quite feisty for a human newly introduced to our realm. Has Vincent not shown you the horrors he's capable of?"

  I snorted. "Have you smelled his breath? Nothing's worse than that."

  "We only want the boy, nothing else," Vincent spoke up.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at my partner. "Nothing else? This guy-er, god was about to eat somebody! Like hell I'm leaving and letting him get away with that!"

  Astaroth leaned back against his chair and twined his fingers on both his hands around each other. They twisted and morphed like the tendrils that waved on either side of him. "It seems we are at an impasse. You wish for the young man, and I wish for food. What do you say to a bargain?"

  Vincent raised an eyebrow. "What do you have to trade?"

  "Your silence and the boy for information on Ruthven and his recent dealings," Astaroth offered.

  "We are already aware of his shipment of books," Vincent told him.

  "Ah, but did you know about what else happened before that first shipment hit the streets? Who else died besides your precious male human?" Astaroth mused.

  "Why would another death concern us?" Vincent argued.

  Astaroth chuckled. "Then it seems you don't know, but I won't tell you without your agreeing to the deal. Do we have our compromise? The boy and your silence for my information?"

  "We have an agreement," Vincent replied.

  "Hell no! I'm not-" Vincent grabbed me and pressed my back against his chest. His cold, thin hand clamped over my mouth.

  "Continue," Vincent told our host.

  Astaroth bowed his head. "Very well. Before the first shipment hit the streets one of the Witches of the West Side was murdered. Hilda was her name." I felt Vincent stiffen, and Astaroth chuckled. "I see you know the name. I heard from a reliable source that Tim was friends with this Hilda, and may have given her information that led to both their deaths. Is that information satisfactory to our deal?"

  "Very," Vincent agreed. He released me and hefted Eric over his shoulder.

  "No, no deal! I didn't save this guy's life just so he could dine on somebody else!" I insisted.

  Quiet Vincent ordered me.

  Hell no! He was going to make mincemeat human pie out of this guy and you want us to just walk off? I screamed at him.

  Trust me Vincent persisted.

  I snorted. Like I'm—

  Just this once, trust me.

  I jerked back in surprise and blinked at Vincent. He ignored me and turned to Astaroth. "It wouldn't look good if we left through the public elevator," he pointed out.

  Astaroth used one of his tendrils to point to a wall to our left while another pressed a button beneath his desk. The wall slid open to reveal a secret hallway. "Through there are some stairs that will lea
d you to a rear door in the building."

  Vincent bowed his head and strode past me to the secret hall. I glared one last time at Astaroth, but he merely smiled and bowed his head in return. His tendrils waved goodbye to me, and I hurried after Vincent.

  Chapter 16

  The wall shut behind me, and the hallway was pitch-black and there was only a single door at the end. No windows and no other doorways. He sped down the hall in all his long-leggy-ness and I had trouble catching up to him.

  "Mind telling me why I should trust you?" I questioned him.

  "We must hurry," he replied.

  "What's the-" My half-finished question was answered when a laugh boomed over an intercom. Vince stopped dead in his tracks and I crashed into his solid back. My face bumped into the back of Eric's head, and I went sprawling onto the floor behind them. "What the hell?" I growled.

  "Did you honestly believe I would just let you leave?" Astaroth's voice called over the intercom. "Now I can show you, Miss Liz Stokes, what your partner is truly capable of."

  Vincent turned and dropped Eric onto my lap. "Oomph!" I yelped. The guy was heavier than he looked.

  "Stay still," Vincent ordered me.

  "But what-" Again Astaroth interrupted my question. This time it was because of the countless dark portals that appeared on the walls, ceiling, and on the floor in front and behind us. From the black depths emerged Astaroth's tendrils. Their ends sharpened to points and the slithery creatures snaked their way towards us. I pulled Eric closer to me and scooted a little closer to Vincent who stood nearby. "Okay, this is the last time we trust a demon!" I shouted.

  Astaroth's laugh echoed around us. "I believe this is the last thing you ever do," he pointed out.

  Vincent stepped closer to me and grasped his ringed hand in his other one. "Hold still," he repeated.

  I glanced up at him. "What are you-"

  Vincent joined in interrupting me as his ring and mine glowed brightly. Their lights illuminated the space around us and covered the three of us in a protective bubble of prettiness six inches thick. The walls shimmered like ice crystals on a clear, cool sunny day, and within the walls were reflected our enemies and ourselves. Vincent shoved his hands into the light and winced when his flesh sizzled and smoke rose from his fingers. He ground his teeth together, and I saw that his eyes were no longer red but a clear, crystal blue like the wall. My mouth slowly dropped open as sharp crystal icicles emerged from our bubble and protruded outward. They shimmered in their own light and pointed toward the incoming tendrils.