Haunted

PROLOGUE

THE WOMAN LAY naked atop a cold slab of metal, her wrists cuffed above her head, her legs shackled apart. Frigid air that smelled of blood and disinfectant had turned her skin into a layer of ice over muscle too weak to even tremble. Determination to escape had drained out of her after the thousandth attempt, though the tears she’d shed forever ago were still crystallized on her cheeks.

This was it for her, she thought. The last day of her life. Sadly, there would be no changing course. The ship had already sailed and the storm had already begun.

She hadn’t asked for this, certainly hadn’t wanted it, but she’d gotten it. Now all she could do was fight. And she would. With every ounce of her strength, she would.

A muffled mewling sound echoed somewhere beyond her.

Though she was bound too tightly to twist and look, she knew her replacement had just woken up and realized she was locked inside a dog cage, only a metal slab and another female’s shame visible. She knew—because she had once been locked inside that cage herself.

She had been forced to watch as the psycho who’d stunned her and stuffed her inside of his car had finished off the other woman who’d been on this slab. The one before her, now dead, killed in the most horrendous way.

Do yourself a favor and shut up, she told the girl. Now wasn’t a time for gentleness. It’s better to remain silent than to give him what he wants—and he wants you to cry. He wants you to scream and beg and tell him how badly it hurts.

The mewls increased in volume.

Or continue doing that and make him the happiest murderer in the world, she added with a grumble.

The thump of booted footsteps suddenly filled the room. Her heartbeat spiked into a too hard, too fast beat. One second passed, two, before the hinges on the room’s only door groaned. Sickness churned in her stomach.

He was here.

Was she really going to do this?

Good morning, my lovelies. Such a smug tone, layered with threads of glee and malicious intent. How are we feeling today?

Yeah. She was.

Cries emerged from the cage as she said, I’m feeling like it’d be fun to do a role reversal with you. What do you think? You on this bed, me with a low IQ, a tiny penis and—stop me if I’m wrong—big-time mommy issues.

A hiss of breath slithered in her direction. You will never mention my mother again, do you hear me? Anger had replaced the smugness, knives and other toys clanging together as he searched for the instrument he desired.

If by ‘never mention again’ you mean ‘never stop talking about it,’ then, yeah, I heard. So, why don’t you pretend I’m your therapist and this is a free-of-charge session?

Enough!

Hardly. Tell me. Did Mommy Dearest not breast-feed you? Or did she breast-feed you far too long?

A heavy silence crawled through the small enclosure.

Dig the knife deeper—he soon will. Come on, you can trust me. I’ll keep everything on the down low, and only bring up your deep, dark secrets on my blog. Well, and maybe my Twitter feed. Oh, and Facebook. Possibly a video diary on YouTube. Other than that, my lips are sealed.

The metal crashed together with more force. At last he found what he wanted—an eight-inch serrated blade. Holding it up so that the silver gleamed in the too bright overhead light, he turned to face her, a half grin, half scowl lifting the corners of his lips.

Darling, he said to the other captive, pretending to ignore her. He couldn’t hide the clenching of his teeth. You’ll want to pay special attention to what happens next because if you displease me, you’ll experience it yourself.

The cries became muffled whimpers, the cage rattling as the female tried to slink through the bars.

Never again will I give him that kind of satisfaction. Oh, goodness, oh, no, she said, mocking him. The psycho killer has a knife. Someone cue the spooky music and my terrified screaming.

His narrowed gaze landed on her, and he waved the blade back and forth, back and forth. Have you not yet realized the beast you provoke?

Uh, hello. Obviously I have. He’s as tiny as the rest of you, which is why I’m grinning.

He popped his jaw. He wasn’t an ugly man, was actually quite beautiful, with golden curls, eyes of the sweetest honey and features as innocent and guileless as a child’s.

Such a cruel, cruel mask.

When she’d first woken up in that cage she’d thought he was here to save her. A notion quickly disabused as he hauled her out, cut away her clothing and laughed with chilling delight.

I can make this painless…or excruciatingly painful. Watch yourself, he snapped.

Did I hurt your feelings? she said. Bad prisoner. Bad, bad, bad prisoner.

Steps slow and measured, he approached her. Think you’re so brave? Well, let’s see what I can do to change your mind, shall we? I know you can’t see her, but the girl in the cage is—drumroll, please—your only real friend. You remember her, don’t you? Of course you do. She’s the pretty one.

The first spark of heat ignited in her chest as she craned her neck to try to peer into the cage, but again, as tightly bound as she was, she was unable to contort herself as needed. She saw only the wall of pictures. Photos he’d taken of the other females he’d violated.

Tomorrow, her image would join them.

You’re lying, trying to hurt me because you’re a miserable little runt whose heart has rotted and you can’t find any other way to get to me.

Hatred flared in his eyes, creating deep, dark pits of evil. You think so? Well, why don’t you ask the girl and find out whether or not I spoke true.

Her fingers curled into fists. He wasn’t lying. Was he? A liar would not appear so satisfied. Would he? Say something, she commanded the girl.

Silence.

His smug chuckle resounded between them. My deepest apologies, but she’ll not be saying anything. She’s mouthy, your friend. You know she is. I’m afraid I was forced to cut out her tongue.

Another spark of heat, this one containing fiery strands of rage. Growing…growing… Her friend was mouthy, and this man was vile enough to take her—and just cruel enough to stop her from ever speaking again. Anything to add to the torment he’d already unleashed.

How dare he abduct her friend! How dare he force such a precious girl to endure the horrors he’d visited upon her! Growing…growing…

You sick, disgusting…argh! she rasped, jerking at her cuffs. No description was foul enough. I’ll end you. You’ll never be able to hurt her again. Just wait… I’ll…end…you. Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry. But she was having trouble catching her breath, forming words.

With his free hand, he stroked along her brow, his touch gentle, almost tender. You’ve always thought yourself stronger than you really are. It’s your biggest flaw. One I’ll enjoy culling from you.

She tried to bite him.

He laughed. I can’t wait to show my newest plaything pictures of our time together. Think she’ll be jealous?

The rage spread through the rest of her, burning, blistering, causing any hint of tears to evaporate. You can kill me, but I’m staying here, I promise you. There was her voice, stronger than before, dripping with determination.

He quirked an eyebrow in mock fear. Oh, scary. And just how will you manage that, hmm?

"I’ll find a way. There’s always a way, and good always overcomes evil."

So certain, he said, and tsked under his tongue. I’ve heard a strong spirit can prove victorious against anything, even death, but, darling, as I’ve tried and tried and tried to tell you, you aren’t very strong.

We’ll find out. An accepted fact in their world: there was indeed an afterlife. Some people moved on to a better place. Some, to a worse place. But she wasn’t going anywhere until her friend was safe.

Well, I hope you’re right. Just think, if you remain here on earth, we can be together again. He raised the blade, grinned—and plunged the metal deep.

CHAPTER ONE

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

SIG-SAUER: EIGHT HUNDRED dollars.

Case of bullets: thirty dollars.

Shooting your neighbor in the face for going through your trash after you’d already warned him there would be consequences if he ever dared to do it again: priceless.

And I’ll do it, too, Detective Levi Reid vowed as he polished the gun in question. My stuff is my stuff. Even my trash!

He’d moved into the King’s Landing apartment complex three weeks ago, but he still wasn’t sure why. Or how. Fine, he knew how. He didn’t like it, and would never admit the truth to anyone but himself, but every day he experienced some sort of blackout. He would snap out of it missing anywhere from five minutes to five hours. Or, in the case of this apartment, seven days.

Honestly, here’s what he knew about the events leading up to such a major loss: he’d followed a suspicious-looking guy to the building’s back entrance. The end. He’d next woken up inside this very room, all of his things surrounding him. He had no idea when he’d packed his stuff, given his home of six years to a stranger or rented this spacious though run-down two-bedroom hellhole totally not suitable for a king.

His coworkers hadn’t come looking for him because he was currently on a forced leave of absence. He didn’t have a girlfriend and had already canceled all of his mandatory appointments with the shrink. So, he’d decided to stay put, just in case another blackout struck and he came to someplace worse.

First he’d fumed about his total lack of control—and there were holes in his walls to prove it. Then he’d sunk into a (manly) depression. Manly: no crying or whining, just staring stoically—if not sexily—into the darkness. Now he pondered. He should have manned up and moved somewhere better, but some part of him had actually grown to like it here, despite everything.

Situated at the edge of downtown Oklahoma City, his new home gave him an up close and personal view of the homeless who littered the streets, the prostitutes who constantly hunted prey and the dealers who made back-alley sales day and night. He’d come to this area countless times while on the job, and it had always given him the creeps. (Again, in a manly way.) And okay, okay. The building wasn’t as bad as he remembered. Someone had fixed it up, made it habitable.

His neighbors weren’t so bad, either, he supposed. They had their quirks, but who didn’t?

The guy in 211 skulked around every corner as if a serial killer had his number—and that number was up. Any time Levi heard a suspicious noise and decided to check the halls, the guy glued himself to Levi’s side, crying and begging Levi to help but refusing to answer any questions or share any details.

The girl in 123 liked to tiptoe up and down the halls at all hours of the day and night, stopping to attempt to X-ray vision her way past every door she encountered. Any time Levi walked past her, her attention would swing to him and she would say something spine-chilling like, I miss my baby. Will you be my baby? Or, his favorite, What will you do when you’re dead? Dead, dead, dead, you’re so dead.

The guy in 409 was Mr. Dumpster Diver.

As of last week, a redheaded stunner and her pretty blonde roommate had moved in. They might be as weird as the rest of them, but he was thinking about asking the redhead out. He wasn’t a fan of dating, but he sure did like getting laid.

Right now he sat at his kitchen table, his SIG in pieces and mixed with his cleaning supplies. He greased the gun’s rails, put the slide on, removed the slide and wiped off the rails, each action automatic. He’d done this a thousand times before, and now found the act calming.

Calm, something he was supposed to maintain. Apparently, if you were on the job and attacked an alleged serial killer who liked to store body parts in his freezer, you’d be told you had temper issues and needed to take time to think and rest.

What he really needed was a distraction. So, okay, fine. No more thinking about asking Red out. He’d just do it. Hopefully, she was into rough-looking homicide detectives who were possessive of their stuff but trying to learn to share. Also, Levi wasn’t interested in one-night stands and actually expected commitment. And despite popular opinion, he did know how to smile.

A hard knock at his door brought his head snapping up. Probably just another neighbor here to ask to hide from Johnny Law or to tell him the end was near. Go away. No one’s here.

Another knock, this one harder, more insistent. I won’t bite, she said. At least, not more than a few times.

He liked her voice. Soft and sweet, yet determined. Still, an intelligent person didn’t offer to nibble on strangers.

Motions swift, he put his gun back together and shoved it in the back of his running shorts. The weight created big-time sag, never a good thing but especially not when he was shirtless. His uninvited guest would probably get a peek at his goods, but by the time he finished with her that wouldn’t be the worst of her worries. She needed to learn the consequences of this kind of behavior.

But…then he glanced through the peephole and spied the redhead’s roommate, the pretty blonde. Teaching her a lesson took a backseat to getting rid of her. Last time he’d seen her, she’d made him feel a tide of guilt and shame. Why, he didn’t know. Didn’t care. He just didn’t want to deal with her.

The moment he opened the door, however, urgency took a backseat to concern. She was highlighted by flickering overhead light, chewing on her nails and shifting nervously from one foot to the other. Crimson specks marred her cheeks and splattered her hands. Blood?

Frowning, he opened the door wider. Are you okay, ma’am?

Eyes of ocean-blue narrowed on him, her gaze becoming a laser that sliced through flesh. She stopped chewing and shifting at least, and no feelings of guilt or shame rose to the surface. Ma’am? Did you just call me ma’am?

Yes, ma’am. Are you okay?

Wow, that hurts! she said, ignoring his question a second time. Just how old do you think I am?

A minefield of a query, and one he was better off disregarding. He motioned to her stained hands with a tilt of his chin, even as he reached for the handle of his gun. Let’s try this again. Are you hurt? He scanned the walkway. Empty. No suspicious shadows, marks or noises. Is someone following you? Bothering you?

Why would you— She glanced down, chuckled and wiggled her fingers at him. This is paint. I’m a painter.

Paint. No mortal danger, then. His concern faded, and the surliness resurfaced. Then what are you doing here? Okay, so he probably should have pretended to be nice. She’d tell her friend he was a tool, and the friend would tell him she’d rather date a dishrag when he finally asked her out.

As I was saying, she continued blithely. "My amazing art does