Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) (10 page)

“I suppose I deserved that,” she called over her shoulder as she crossed the threshold into the house. Liam glanced over at Kylie and silently mouthed, “I really am.” Covering her mouth, Kylie tried to smother her laughter. It seemed the farther they traveled from society the less serious Liam became and she loved it.

Inside, the cabin looked exactly as she pictured a cute well-worn home should look. Knickknacks sat on every available spot and a few collectable plates hung on the wall. It reminded Kylie of her childhood home. Everything was used and loved. Following a short hallway, Delphine pointed at a small bedroom. “That’s where y’all will be sleeping. I can’t guarantee there is any food in the fridge but since Kylie doesn’t eat then you’ll be the only one digging around for something, Liam.”

His mouth was a thin white line again. “You should stay.”

She touched his cheek lovingly. “You know I can’t.” Liam nodded but he didn’t seem too happy about it. Even though curiosity was eating Kylie alive, she refused to pry. With a quick tour of the house out of the way, Delphine was gone and Kylie felt as if she’d been caught up in a whirlwind.

“It seems we picked a bad time to visit.”

Liam prowled toward her as if he was stalking prey. “I figured she would leave for the night. She usually does.”

Kylie took one step back, preparing to run if necessary. “Are you saying you intended to get me out here in the woods all alone?”

“Where no one can hear you scream, baby,” he agreed as he moved closer.

“What are going to do to me?” she asked in mock fear.

Pouncing, he captured her in his embrace. She pretended to struggle but it didn’t last long. His caresses quickly brought her under control. “Do you still want to know what I have planned for you?” At her nod, he wasted no time sharing the details he’d planned for her delight. Tracing her bottom lip with his thumb, he watched the progress it made along her lines. “First, my beautiful sprite, I’m going to fuck this sexy mouth of yours while fingering your pussy.”

Her knees went weak. It was insane that was all he needed to do to have her panting for him.

“Then after you’ve pulsed around my fingers, I’ll have you doing it again around my cock. Once you’ve finished with those two things…” He trailed his hand down her hip and around until he was squeezing her ass between his fingertips. “I’ll bend you over the edge of the bed and I’ll bury my dick in this sexy ass until you’re chanting my name and begging for my fingers on your clit.”

Moisture flooded Kylie’s cunny. She didn’t think he would have to wait long to hear her beg. She was already on the verge of it. Lifting her into his arms, he headed straight for their bedroom.

“Promise me something,” he said quietly on the way.

“Anything.” He smiled at her quick agreement.

“Promise me you’ll never leave me.”

She searched his face as if all the answers to her questions were in his expression. “What do I get if I promise?”

“A lifetime of servitude,” he answered without hesitation.

“Oh, then you’re on. I promise I’ll never leave you.”

Liam stayed true to his word, she did beg for release before the end of the night.

* * * * *

“You sure you still want to go through with this?”

The uncertainty in Mark’s voice made her stop stripping the covers off Kylie’s bed and turn to look at him. He didn’t notice because he was so focused on the bedroom walls. Anne was too freaked out by what they had discovered when they first arrived she didn’t want to look at them again. Somehow. Some way. The writing on the walls had vanished as if it had never been there.

“I’m staying tonight. You don’t have to though.” That was all it took to get his full attention. The only visual reaction she’d hit a nerve was a tightening muscle in his jaw.

“You’re not staying in this creepy joint without me but before we do, I want to go on record saying I think we must be out of our ever-loving minds to even consider staying here.” He nodded at the wall behind him. “I didn’t just imagine seeing your name carved in all these walls, did I? Because if I did, I either need a psych evaluation or a vacation. There’s no way anyone could have erased what we saw yesterday. Your name wasn’t written on the wall in crayon. It was carved into the wood. You can’t fix such a thing with a fresh coat of paint.” He turned and looked at the walls again. “They’re clean but I don’t think they’ve been painted in years.”

Anne pulled the tattered bottom sheet off the bed and then gathered all the torn and dirty linens up before walking over to stand next to him. “Let’s not get all worked up over something we don’t understand. Yes, these walls were covered in etchings yesterday and no, it doesn’t make any sense. That’s why we’re going to stay here tonight. Maybe it will all be clearer to us soon and we’ll find out what is happening here. But for right now, I’m going to change the sheets so we can sleep on clean ones. It has the extra bonus of keeping me busy so I don’t have to dwell too long on what I do and don’t understand.”

Mark took the linens from her but not before leveling a questioning look at her. “Is this how you’ve dealt with your sister talking to dead people all these years?”

“It helped me focus on the things I did understand instead of the things I didn’t. Maybe I was a tad too practical though. I never tried to see it from Kylie’s point of view. I could pretend it wasn’t happening and go on with my life while she lived with it every day. I also let her think I didn’t believe her even though there were times it was impossible not to see or believe she wasn’t lying. Both my aunt and I had the same philosophy—if we couldn’t see it, then it didn’t exist. Kylie must have felt so alone. After a while, she stopped even trying to let us into her thoughts and feelings. When my aunt died, Kylie and I had nothing keeping us together as a family so when she said she was moving here I was relieved. Maybe if I had asked her to stay she would still be alive.”

Mark reached over and briefly touched her cheek. “Don’t go there. He looked around at the bedroom before turning back to her. “So we stay and deal with this crazy shit for Kylie. He held up the dirty sheets and pillowcases. “But I take it we can’t face a night of demons with dirty sheets.”

She punched him in the arm. “Don’t be a smart ass.”

They both grinned, forgetting for a moment what they were doing wasn’t normal.

By late afternoon, they were both starving and Mark drove them to a nearby seafood restaurant. They stayed there long after they were finished eating because leaving meant facing Kylie’s depressing apartment again and whatever was inside the place.

By the fifth time their waitress dropped by to see if they needed anything else, Anne leaned both elbows on the table top. “Let’s go do this. Maybe nothing will happen and maybe I’ll finally be able to get a good night’s sleep.”

Mark threw some bills down for the tip. “You really think so?”

She leaned forward and whispered, “I have an idea.”

Getting into the spirit of things, he leaned forward too and whispered back, “What?”

For once feeling very bold, Anne grinned. “If a demon shows up tonight—by the way, notice I said
if
—every time something creepy or weird happens, kiss me.” Mark leaned back in his chair. “Not that I don’t mind kissing a pretty lady, I’m just curious if it’s going to help us.”

She watched the corner of his mouth twitching as if he was suppressing a laugh. How was it possible someone else hadn’t already snatched such a beautiful man? “Well, I’ve already changed the linens, vacuumed, plus I dusted everything in sight. What else am I going to do to take my mind off an annoying demon if you don’t kiss me?”

He pushed the chair back and stood so she did the same. Walking over, he tilted his head getting right down next to her ear. “I would be crazy not to take you up on such an offer. After all, I wouldn’t want it to be my fault you didn’t have something to keep your hands busy when the demon comes calling tonight.”

For a moment, with Mark looking at her as if he saw her for someone besides a woman he was holding himself responsible for, it was tempting to do what she had always done before, walk away from Kylie’s problems. It would have been easy to ask Mark to take her back to his house and make love to her. The thought caused Anne to step back to put some distance between them. For once, she wasn’t going to be selfish. Just this once, she was going to do what was right for Kylie.

Mark stepped forward and took her hand in his. He kissed her knuckles. “Trust me. I’m not going to let anything or anyone hurt you.”

She lightly bumped her shoulder into his. “Yeah, but how do I stop them from hurting you? This very well might be the craziest thing either one of us has ever done.”

He grinned widely. “I almost stepped on a fourteen foot alligator once. You’re going to have to have to come up with something better than a demon if you want to scare me.”

She met his smiling eyes and sobered slightly. “But how do you fight a demon?”

He shook his head. “It’s easy. You put the fear of God into them. The only power a demon has over you is what you let him have.”

“You seem to know a lot about this for a police detective.”

He nodded toward the front door. “Babe, you’re in New Orleans. I know a lot of shit about things I wish I didn’t know.”

It was a relief to return to Kylie’s apartment and find nothing had been disturbed while they had been gone. The covers were still in one piece on the bed and the walls were free from weird handwriting.

No sooner had they closed the door than a knock sounded on the other side.

“This better not be Mrs. Turner. If so, I can’t be held responsible for my actions,” Anne said.

Mark nodded in agreement. “No court in the world would convict you.”

Braced for battle, Anne threw the door open wide. Her scowl turned into a look of confusion at the sight of the beautiful blonde woman. Her warm smile complete with adorable dimples and perfect white teeth caused a wave of relief to crash over Anne. She hadn’t realized until that moment how unprepared she was to face another bad thing. She needed comfort.

“I’m Pamela. I live down the hall,” she said shaking Anne out of her reverie and reminding her she was being rude.

“Hello.”

She cast a look around the room over Anne’s shoulder. “It seems so odd Kylie’s gone,” she mused. “Mrs. Turner said you’d come to pack up her things. I didn’t even know Kylie had a sister, so imagine my surprise. I just had to come by and offer my condolences. “

She nodded toward the baking dish she held between her hands and Anne blushed hotly. She couldn’t believe how rude she’d been by forcing the woman to stand out in the hall. Her only excuse was she’d been wowed by her. The woman was unnaturally perfect.

Stepping back, she motioned her in. “I’m so sorry. Please come in? I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Pamela headed straight for the kitchen as if she’d been there a thousand times before and set the pan down on the stove. “You were thinking, ‘who is this crazy woman accosting me with baked goods at ten o’clock at night’,” she joked.

“Were you a friend of Kylie’s?” Mark asked reminding Anne of his presence.

“Dang, I don’t know where my head is tonight. This is Mark. He’s...” Anne trailed off strangely reluctant to say she was staying there alone with a police detective she’d only just met. “A friend,” she finished lamely, but Mark smiled as if she’d handed him a prize.

Pamela stuck her hand out as she moved in his direction. “I’m Pamela. It’s nice to meet you and to answer your question, I didn’t know Kylie very well, but she always had a smile. We were neighbors. It’s only right I come by and pay my respects.”

Mark shook her hand and a tiny frown formed between her brows. “Oh dear, did I come by too soon? I’m so bad at this.”

She looked so crestfallen Anne rushed to reassure her. “Not at all. I’m not going to be staying here long so you might have missed me if you’d waited.”

Another bright smile lit Pamela’s face. A strange feeling of comfort overcame Anne, once more.

“Well, Miss Pamela, it is nice to meet you but I need a shower. I’m going to leave you in Anne’s capable hands. If it’s okay with you?” Mark asked looking at Anne for confirmation.

She waved him on. “We’ll be fine.”

With Mark gone, Pamela turned in a slow circle eyeing the room. “You haven’t started packing yet. Would you care for some help?”

Anne shook her head and moved to the kitchen to check out what Pamela had brought. She wasn’t hungry but it gave her something to do. The thought of packing up Kylie’s life felt too much like she was truly gone. It meant admitting her sister was dead and she’d never get to take back every harsh word and ignored phone call.

Something warm brushed her face and she reached up to find tears streaming down her cheeks. How long had she been crying? Pamela’s hands touched her shoulders, gently turning Anne in her direction.

“It’s okay.” Pamela’s voice was soothing and her eyes held such concern that Anne allowed her to tug her into her embrace. She buried her nose in Pamela’s hair and inhaled the flowery scent. A haze settled over her mind almost as if she’d been drugged. Nothing mattered as Pamela smoothed her hands down her back obviously attempting to comfort her. Pulling away slightly, Anne met her eyes. “Thank you. I don’t know what came over me.”

Anne continued to hold her in her arms. “You’re grieving sweetie and it’s okay. I understand what you’re going through. My boyfriend was murdered last year. You want to cry and rage.” Anne nodded. With each word Pamela spoke, she felt a little more lightheaded, as if separating from reality.

“I don’t want to feel this way anymore,” she admitted and Pamela pulled her in for another hug except this time she also kissed her lightly on the cheek. Anne’s heart rate kicked up at the touch of Pamela’s lips on her skin and Pamela didn’t move away. Holding her breath, she waited to see what she would do next. She’d never been attracted to another woman in her life, but there was no denying the tingle between her thighs. Pamela’s nostrils flared slightly as if she could smell her lust and her hand slipped from Anne’s shoulder to the top of her breast. Her lips parted slightly and Anne wondered for a moment if she was going to kiss her.