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Chapter Two

  Back in the office, finally alone with his thoughts, Jake stared out the window at the parking lot. He could see his own car from here and it never failed to make him smile when he saw his bright orange mustang, waiting for him, inviting him to let the top back and feel the wind. Not today though, he didn’t feel much like leaving and going anywhere. 

  Turning, his eyes fell on the old band poster he kept in here as a memento. He hadn’t picked up a guitar or drumsticks in years. All of that was packed in the basement of the casino in a dark corner. He couldn’t help a chuckle at how young and naive they had been back then, stupid teenage runaways in California when the Sunset Strip was the place to be and make a name.

  Jake decided maybe a visit to the pool was in order, he literally had no idea what else to do. He needed to relax and pull his mind together. When his phone vibrated in his pocket, he vowed that he was leaving this in his room. 

  “Hello?” 

  “Jake?” A voice on the other end said, a voice he vaguely recognized but could not place. The voice was shaky with panic.

  “Yes, who is this?” Jake’s face clouded with confusion, his brain racing to recognize the voice, but it was little more than a strained whisper backed by heavy breathing.

  “Brian. Don’t you remember me?” The reply came softly.

  Jake’s eyes widened, his eyes shooting back to the poster and Brian’s slim face, his goofy grin. No one had heard from him since Miles died. “Yes, I remember you but how did you get my number? What’s wrong?”

  “Your secretary gave it to me. I told her it was an emergency.” Brian turned to look at himself in the broken motel mirror. His face, once handsome and sharp, was now scruffy and swollen. His eyes were hollow with fatigue both mental and physical. He thought briefly that he looked like one of those serial killers you see on the news, much older than his barely forty years of life. “I— wanted to warn you.”

  “Warn me?” Jake asked, but he already knew what it was. “Warn me about what?”

  “You remember that night in Mississippi, don’t you?” Brian wheezed.

 “Yes. Where are you going with this, Brian?” Jake stepped out of his office and entered his suite. He could still smell the faint essence of Nadia’s perfume from last night and he smiled.

  “They’re coming.” Brian turned towards the bathroom door. The bathroom was just inside the motel room door and he could hear the footsteps and sniffing in the main hallway outside. He heard faint scratching on the door. He hissed into the small cell phone. “The hell hounds. They’re coming!”

  A wave of coldness passed over Jake when he heard those words. “Are you certain you aren’t just tripping acid again? I hear that stuff has some horrible flashbacks.”

  “No, Jake. This thing has pursued me from California to Missouri. I am in a motel now near Springfield, and it still found me. I’m out of time, Jake. I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch. I heard about Dan, I’m so sorry. I just wanted you to know that before--” Brian whispered frantically, fumbling the hand gun from his coat pocket and slipping a bullet into the chamber. The scratching became more frantic at the door. Quickly, Brian began reciting the Lord’s prayer into the phone.

  “The hell is going on? Brian? Brian?” Jake tried to get his former band-mates attention but there was a sudden whoosh of air as the door gave way to the giant black hound. Jake heard the strangled snarl and a sudden pop of what sounded like firecrackers just as the line died. 

  Jake realized with a cold chill that it had not been fireworks at all. It had been a firearm. Brian had killed himself reciting the Lord’s prayer hoping that would save him. Jake tossed the phone down and rubbed the bridge of his nose. There was no way to know if it had worked for Brian, and no way to know when they would come for him. 

  “Dammit.” Jake stared across the boulevard at the other casino’s across the way.  As he watched the bustling crowds below vanishing into the doors of the other establishments, a chill came over him. Since that thing had gone after Marshall, would it go after anyone else here? Possibly Alan or Nadia?Jake turned from the window and went into his closet to find his swim trunks. Perhaps it wasn’t the time for a swim, he thought, but he was determined to not to panic. He had to act like nothing happened at all.

  In the pool, on a red floating chair, Jake relaxed. Through dark aviator sunglasses, he watched the clouds float across the bright blue sky on a breeze that could not be felt on the ground. He’d give anything to go back to the way things had been, when he thought all the tales of demons, angels, and God were fairy tales. But he had seen too much to not believe. People went along with their lives like there wasn’t a life and death battle for the souls of humans all around them. Jake envied that. He closed his eyes, foot tapping to the beat of unheard music in his head. He had slipped into a half-sleep state, dreaming of the days of the band, onstage, fans screaming, music so loud it surrounded him and became his very being.

  “You look real busy,” a female voice cut through Jake’s thoughts. Nadia was standing poolside, her hair pulled up in a bun that shimmered gold in the bright sunlight. 

  “Aha, so you do exist in the daytime. All this time I thought you were a vampire.” Jake lifted his glasses and admired her lush figure in the black yoga pants she wore. “What brings you to my office in the middle of the day?”

  Nadia laughed at his attempt at humor. “I heard about what happened this morning. I came to see if you were okay. What happened?”

  Jake nodded. “Let’s discuss this inside, shall we?”

  With temperatures teasing the triple digits, Nadia agreed with him. “Is the bar open?”

  “For you? Always. But yes, it should be open for lunch by now.” Jake slid off the chair, into the water and then exited the pool. He dried off as they went back inside.

  In the back of the bar and grill section of the casino, Jake and Nadia slid into a round booth that was reserved for Jake. The darkness of the bar was a direct and welcome contrast to the bright summer day outside. 

  “So what went down?” Nadia asked, blinking several times to adjust her eyes to the dim light. Sweat had forced her eyeliner into the corner of her eye and she wiped at the stinging sensation. 

  “My roulette operator was found dead behind the dumpster in the back,” Jake replied. He wasn’t lying, that was what had happened, and he saw no need to include the details about demons.

  “Do they know who did it?” Nadia took the frosty red margarita from the waiter and stabbed a straw into it.

  “Of course not. This is Vegas, honey, this stuff happens all the time.” Jake shrugged and pushed the umbrella in his own margarita aside so he could insert the straw. “I doubt they ever will, sadly. I am handling his funeral expenses.”

  “How well did you know Marshall?” Nadia asked, looking up from her drink quickly. 

  Jake raised an eyebrow. “He sometimes stayed in a room here instead of going home. I don’t know if he had a family or not, but I have him on video taking out about a grand a night. I don’t know what he was into but-”

  “Marshall was in debt to some mafia loan sharks.” Nadia looked back at her drink. Her late husband had left her in some debt with the same people, but she didn’t feel the need to elaborate on that yet. 

 “Okay, his name is probably all over the news and paper by now, but how do you know who he is in debt to?” Jake’s eyebrow rose in clear suspicion. 

  “Because I have some connections. These bastards are the ones who killed my husband, I think.” She admitted, not making eye contact.

  “Husband? You are a widow?” Jake replied, tilting his head. They had never gotten this deep into conversation. She seemed so young to be a widow, but he had never asked her age.

  “Marshall and my late husband were friends, and they both were in debt. My husband was involved in a lot of illegal activities I am sure led to his death.” She explained.

   “That would explain why he was stealing from me. I noticed, but I said nothing. I had a feeling he needed the money worse than I did. To be honest, I thought it might be an addiction but I see now.” Jake leaned back in the booth, his damp shirt stuck to the leather upholstery. 

  “I believe it was a mob hit.” Nadia shrugged.

  “I don’t know about all that,” Jake said with a   shrug.

  “I’m worried about your safety, Jake.” Nadia whispered, even though the bar was empty. “What if they come for you?”

  He chuckled. “Honey, the mafia ‘whacking’ me is the least of my worries.”

  Nadia chuckled at his reply. “Oh? You aren’t worried about them putting the moves on your casino here? You know this is where my husband met the sharks he had that loan with.” Nadia nodded towards the bar across the dim room, where a clean-cut man in a white button down was mixing a drink in a silver shaker for two middle-aged women. “At your bar.”

  “I don’t doubt that he did. I have some shady regulars,” Jake glanced at the bartender, pushing his long hair off his shoulder and behind him, “But, I'm not worried, I have a few connections of my own, you see.”

  Nadia’s eyes widened, turning cold as she stared Jake down, she could feel her heart speed up slightly. “Was it you?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Was it you that killed him?” Nadia asked, her voice a hiss.

  “I don’t even know who the fuck he is- was- how would I know if I killed him?” Jake lifted the glass to his lips. “Honestly, though I’ve never killed anyone.”

   “Do you know who did it?” She insisted, her manicured nails pressing into the table as her hand tightened involuntarily.

  “Again, I don’t know who he- your husband-was.” Jake sighed. “Maybe we should take this up to my office. The lunch rush is coming in and this isn’t the sort of thing I want overheard in my bar.”

  “His name was Dan.”

  Jake’s expression changed just enough to tell Nadia he did know something he wasn’t telling. “Let’s talk about this in my office.”

 The urgency in his voice silenced her sharp tongue. Nadia followed him to the elevator, her heart racing with anticipation. Was it just possible that Jake could help her solve the mystery of Dan’s death? It was almost too good to believe. 

  Nadia held her tongue until they were inside the office and Jake had closed the door. The words burst from her. “What do you know?”

  Jake sat down, gathering his thoughts before he spoke to her. Unwelcome guilt flooded his mind. His affair with Nadia seemed to violate some unspoken code. “I knew him. God, I didn’t know he was your husband. I knew he had a wife, but he never said your name. I figured there were reasons for that too.”

  “How well did you know him?” Nadia had taken a seat across from him, reclining in the brown leather chair with her slim legs crossed. 

   Jake pointed at the poster on the wall behind her. Nadia looked at it with wide eyes, her breath hitching slightly. Her eyes met those of her dead husband and an unnamed emotion overtook her. Her eyes raked over the drummer behind Dan in the picture. His appearance suddenly dawned on her, she glanced from Jake to the poster. 

  He was older now, but he had changed little. His features had grown stronger with age, his body more muscular. His hair was no longer teased, he was no longer wearing ripped jeans or chains but she recognized him now. Her heart skipped a beat.     “Me-MetalPlay? You were the drummer! I used to see them around Los Angeles! Dan said he played with them but he didn’t ever want to talk about it so I figured it had ended badly as a lot of those bands did. I had no idea you were the drummer!”

   “Yes,” Jake chuckled. “Our lead singer, Miles, talked us into trying to sell our souls to the devil at the crossroad. I thought it was all a bunch of nonsense. Afterward, the song ‘Mistress’ hit big and Miles got killed onstage one night. His mic shorted out and electrocuted him. That should never have happened. I realized it wasn’t an accident. The devil’s contract said that he would collect when we peaked in fame so I quit after Miles died. Walked away, bought this place with my earnings and the money from the lawsuit we won against the microphone maker.”

  She was unsure what to make of his answer. Was he speaking metaphorically? Slowly she formed words through her confusion. “Devil? So— mafia devil?”

  He chuckled. “No. I meant the real devil. Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Pan, Baphomet- whatever his real name is, I am not an expert on the subject. ”

  

  She blinked a few times, “The real devil? Jake— what are you talking about?”

  “Do you believe in heaven and hell?”

  “Why— well, yes, I do,” Nadia admitted. She wasn’t sure she believed all this, however.

   “I didn’t. At least not until the night the band took me to the crossroads.” He pulled a bottle of cheap malt liquor from his desk. It was the kind one buys at a shady gas station when nothing matters anymore but getting shit-faced.

  Nadia slammed her fist into the table, rocking it and startling Jake. Her face was tight; she seemed to be breathing harder. “Who killed Dan, damn it?”

  It took him a moment to regain his composure, but when Jake leaned back, his answer wasn’t what Nadia expected. “I’m not sure anyone did. It could have really been a freak accident.”

  “People don’t just go around getting hit by buses!” She yelled, slamming herself back into the chair. Tendrils of blond escaped her bun and framed her soft but angry face. 

   “I was with him the night he died. He came in here talking about something he had that would change the game or some nonsense. But I don’t know what it was. He wasn’t making sense.” Jake said, pressing his fingertips together. It was a partial lie. He knew that Dan had been attempting to reverse the deal for his soul, but he hadn’t explained how he was going to do it. “I begged him not to do it. Told him I would help him but he wouldn’t listen. He took off out of here and that was the last I heard from him.”

  Nadia studied her lap, carefully organizing her face and thoughts to hide the emotion that threatened to wash over her. “Dan was always such a hard head. He told me he was heavily in debt and he was doing all these ‘jobs’ to pay them off.” 

  “Why have you brought this up? We’ve never talked this much before.”

  “Because they’re after me, Jake.” She admitted, rubbing the corners of her eyes with a little sigh. “I’m getting phone calls and texts from blocked numbers, I think I’m being followed. Maybe I’m just crazy, ya know?” 

  “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think you’re in danger. I am too. To be honest, this whole murder thing is someone trying to collect a debt I owe. I am sorry he got caught up in it.”

  “Oh my God, have you got security for yourself? Jake-”

   “I’m more worried about you. I can handle this mess but you shouldn’t have too.” Jake turned to look out the window, making a note to call window cleaners this afternoon. Red dust seemed to stain the glass and obstruct his view with it’s dusty haze. “Move in here, Nadia.”

  She gasped in surprise, her red lips slightly ajar. “With you?”

  “Well I mean, if you want, but this is a casino with five penthouse suites and countless rooms. Pick one.” He motioned towards the door. 

  “I wouldn’t want to impose-”

  “You won’t, believe me. I have hired more security and Alan was muttering something about a new system. You’d be safer here.”

  Nadia nodded. “You’re right and the lease on the townhouse is coming up for renewal. I’d rather not stay there. It’s too hard, especially at night.” 

  He caught the way her eyes averted, and he understood then why she came here each night. He stood from his chair and made his way over to her, taking her hands. “I understand, Nadia. I will be here whenever you need me. I feel like I owe Dan that much at least.”

    “I’ll grab what I need and move tonight if that’s okay? I can have movers store the rest until I need it again.” She came to her feet, their eyes still locked. She wasn’t surprised, nor did she object when he leaned forward to kiss her lips. 

  Jake’s left hand moved to secure her waist against him while the right slid up her back to support her neck. His lips tasted like the sweet margarita he had been drinking before. The kiss lingered a little longer than it should have since he had no intentions of making love to her at the moment. But neither could resist the comfort of the other.

  “Alan and I will accompany you to the townhouse to pack. I would rather keep an eye on you if I could,” Jake said when the kiss broke. He had left her so breathless all she could do was nod in agreement.