Page 9 of Cursed by Death

With my focus back on the man, I was surprised to see that his face had gentled along with his voice, and he no longer looked like he did not like me. Instead, he looked concerned for me and, dare I say it, kind.

Huh.

Half an hour ago I wouldn’t have said I thought he had that in him.

“No, Detective,” I answered him honestly. “I am not. Thomas was the only person I had in this world and now he’s dead. I’m all alone and someone came and murdered him. Alright is not a word I will likely use to describe myself again any time soon.”

Or ever again.

“That’s understandable.” he reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. He opened it up and took out a card, which he then held out to me between his fingers. “Take it. It has my cell number on it. Use it whenever you want to or need to. For anything any time. No one should be alone in this world and you’re not going to be if you take this card and use it. Okay? You’ll have me now.”

I hesitated briefly but eventually took the smooth card from his outstretched fingers. My tongue was completely tied up in knots and I had not one thing to say to that.

Chapter 5

Going underground wasn’t something I would have ever advised a normal, average girl to do all by herself. It wasn’t something I ever thought I’d be stupid enough to decide to go and do all by myself.

Yet, here I was, stupid and ready to go.

I know it didn’t seem like I was being very smart but I wasn’t exactly being stupid either. It’s not like I was about to waltz in there unarmed and empty handed.

I had my knives in my wrist sheaths and my gun in my shoulder holster. I put a hoodie over my t-shirt to cover everything up. And I had a switchblade tucked into my right combat boot.

I also had a small container full of holy water in my front hoodie pocket.

If I needed to bust out the holy water I was royally fucked and probably as good as dead.

But I was bringing it with me, just in case.

I left my Jeep in the garage in favor of taking Thomas’s car. That way if it were damaged in any way it wouldn’t really matter or be a hit to me. Perhaps not nice to think about, but true all the same.

Everything changed the further into town I got. Houses became abandoned with either broken or boarded up windows. Businesses were shut down with trash covering the parking lots.

There weren’t people anywhere to be seen.

All the smart people were somewhere else tonight.

Except for me.

Because I was the dumb, revenge seeking girl, headed straight into the yawning mouth of hell.

I parked in the mall parking lot, in front of the theater. I didn’t think I had ever actually gone to see a movie before. Something about sitting alone in a dark room with a bunch of strangers just never appealed to me.

Though my car wasn’t even close to being the nicest one in the parking lot, it was still full of normal vehicles and a lot of junkers.

There were only two other cars parked near the theater entrance. It gave me hope the car would still be here when and if I got out of this place.

It was absurd to me, going to the mall to find chaos and sin.

Then again, I had never been to the mall to pick out a nice sweater, or something as mundane as it before.

I got out of the car and hit the button on the key fob to lock it up tight. Not that I really thought locked doors around this place would keep anyone out if they really wanted to bust out the windows or something.

Criminals had their ways and it’s not like the police would ever come here.

Speaking of the police… I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to the good Detective Rowans.

Hey. It’s Ruby. I’m at the underground. If you don’t hear from me again in two hours then I’m in trouble and probably could use your help.

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