Page 6 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

G oing 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.

I felt bad immediately after sending it. It wasn’t exactly fair to him and I knew he would definitely worry about me.

It felt good to know someone would be there to worry.

My phone pinged with a text immediately after.

Detective: What the fuck?

Detective: Ruby, get out of there right this fucking second.

Yeah, I wasn’t going to be doing that. It was very good advice though, and I appreciated it.

I turned my phone to silent and tucked it back away into my pocket.

I walked through the parking lot up to the door to enter the theater. It was unlocked and I pushed my way inside.

Here went nothing.

Or, perhaps, my demise.

Unfortunately, I was here for either. I wasn’t leaving until I got some damn answers.

The inside was surprisingly clean for an abandoned place that no one actually used anymore for its original purpose. I half expected to see garbage littering the floor and graffiti covering the walls.

It was very disarming to find the place spick and span, clean. Looking at it you would think they were simply closed for business for the night.

I wondered if they hired a cleaning crew to come through here each week to keep it like this or if perhaps some kind of magic was responsible. I didn’t know if that was even possible because I didn’t actually know shit about magic.

Monsters I had somewhat studied. Magic, I had not.

The mall was entirely empty as I walked through it, looking for the hallway that led to the restrooms. Every piece of information I had found told me that I would find the entrance down that hallway. It could be false though because people who went down there weren’t exactly talking about it with the regular people once they came back up again. If they ever made it back to the surface, that is.

The hallway was narrow and the fluorescent lights overhead kept flickering off and on, making the hallway seem ominous with a hint of danger. The third door on the left said Basement and I opened it up, stepping inside.

It was dim inside the room and the stairs leading down were the only thing oddly lit in the room.

I had a very brief moment where I contemplated turning around, leaving, and forgetting about this whole damn thing. Then I remembered what Thomas’s dead body had looked like and seeing Roan and Bane show up on my camera screen.

No, I certainly couldn’t be turning back now that I was here. I needed answers and I wasn’t going to leave until I got some.

I walked down the stairs and into the underground for the very first time. If I was lucky it would be my last time having to come here.

Hearing about it had been one thing. Experiencing it for myself was an entirely different thing altogether.

This was real and I was actually here.

Thomas would likely be so very disappointed in me. If he weren’t dead and partially responsible for my being here in the first place, that is.

The bottom of the stairs opened up into a very large open space. It was full of trailers and trucks and there were large barrels full of fire scattered everywhere. One spot in the corner had a bunch of tents grouped together.

I couldn’t imagine living down here in a place like this.

There were actual store fronts along the walls. Only they housed very different things than what I imagined the storefronts upstairs to be like.

Tattoos and piercings. Blood. Drugs. Whores of all ages, genders, and species. Booze. Strippers. They had a shop and space for it all down here.

I would need to make sure I didn’t eat or drink anything, even if I did pay for it.

The man who I thought was responsible for Thomas’s death had bright red eyes. I thought the shop that claimed to have fresh blood might be a good place to start looking for him but being entirely human might actually put me on the menu if I walked my ass in there. I did not want anyone to ever feed on me.

It felt like a violation just thinking about it.

There were people crawling all over the place and the longer I stood there looking over the place the more people were glancing in my direction.

I was drawing unnecessary attention to myself and that was not what I needed to be doing at the moment. Or, likely, ever.

I pulled the hood up over my head, covering up my long, dark red hair.

Most places it would probably make me look suspicious. Here it only served to help me fit in amongst everyone else.

I took a deep breath and started to make my way through the crowds of people.