Diabolical Quest

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“These dwell among the blackest souls, loaded down deep by sins of differing types. If you sink far enough, you'll see them all.” ― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

I wasn’t sure what Ronan was talking about. I didn’t remember writing any letter to Arthur, but that period of my life was very hazy, filled with overwhelming darkness. It was one of the most depressing times in my life. I had spent at least a month so hooked up on magic that I was hardly ever sober.

“Ronan, I haven’t sent anything to Arthur,” I mumbled, feeling numb from head to toe. This was my worst nightmare, a bad joke. The world couldn’t be so cruel.

“You didn’t send the letter, Maxine, but you did write it, revealing everything, the whole truth. Telling him about—”

“All right, I get it, spare me the details,” I cut him off, rubbing my head so hard that I was going to have a bruise. “I guess I was so f****d up that I was ready to destroy my life and his?”

I wanted to cut off my own ears so I didn’t have to listen to Ronan. In the past eighteen months I had tried hard to keep this secret hidden, telling myself that this was the only way. The future king was getting married and I didn’t want to jeopardise his happiness. My memories were in shreds.

“You were quite emotional that day, so it’s understandable why you wouldn’t remember it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have kept it, but I thought about our future and thought that it was important to you. The letters were protected by magic, but Nameless somehow managed to break the wards.”

I felt like someone suddenly dropped a bucket of cold water over me, then slapped me a couple of times. The letter, of course I bloody scribbled the letter to the love of my life, revealing everything, hoping that he would understand. Ronan was staring back at me with that heavy look on his face.

“Nameless?” I questioned him, feeling numb everywhere.

“That’s his nickname. He hasn’t used his real name for a very long time. Tom O’Connor. His mother had given him my surname when he was born, but everyone in London knows him as “Nameless, the thief,” Ronan explained. “I need to get these letters back, Maxine. The information there will ruin the royals, me, and everyone else involved. I’m obligated to protect the reputation of Princess Catherine.”

I was pacing at that point, trying to gather what that meant for me. Well, for starters, I would start the biggest scandal if the content of the letter was made public. And of course the faction could launch an official investigation. Right now my situation amongst Watchers was complicated enough, but the letter would only add oil to the fire. No one would believe that we were in love, that we had something special going on.

“Is he a full demon? Your son?” I asked, not recognising my own voice, regretting that I made such horrible choices in the past. I thought that my affairs with royals were behind me, that I could finally move on.

“No, he’s a mongrel with quite a reputation on the streets of London. We had a disagreement earlier in the year and he left, furious, threatening to kill me. Maybe that’s what prompted him to take the letter, to break in,” Ronan explained. “I want to hire you, Max. You need to find him and get these letters back before he can hand them over to someone else.”

There was no doubt that I had to get involved. I owed a lot to Ronan. He knew the truth of my situation could never reach the royal family, that it could destroy me and people that protected my secret.

“What do you think he intends to do with these letters?”

“I have no idea, but there is a possibility that someone else was involved, a third party. Someone that wanted to get hands on these letters. It’s nothing to be proud of, but my son is one of the most skilled thieves in London. He’s known on the streets and within demonic communities. On top of that he’s wanted by human police,” Ronan continued, drowning me in the dark waters. Now I truly understood the extent of my addiction to magic, the things that I had done in the past. It was time to get myself truly sorted. “You’re the only person capable of finding him, Max.”

“Of course. This matter involves us both. I need to get that letter back or destroy it. You do realise that Arthur mustn’t know the truth, that this would kill him?”

“Yes, Maxine, I know what you’re saying, and even if I don’t agree with the choices you have made, I’m afraid that the head of faction needs to be informed and possibly the prince himself.”

Two months ago, I tried to burn a letter I received with the royal seal, because I couldn’t face Arthur, and now this was happening all over again. Ronan was right. Rodriguez needed to know what was happening, but Arthur? I wasn’t too sure if that was such a good idea.

“Arthur? You want to talk to him?”

“I had his mother’s letters in my possession for years, the letters that he has no idea about. He needs to know the truth,” Ronan admitted, looking uncomfortable.

“Fine, whatever. We will do what needs to be done. Are you ready to get back to the palace after all these years?” I asked, knowing well enough that as an ex-employee Ronan didn’t want to be dragged into royal affairs again. He had spent his best years working as a butler, first to the Queen mother, then to Princess Catherine.

“I don’t think that I have any choice,” he replied, with that tormented tone of voice, releasing me from the spell. “I’ll be in touch. Get some sleep, Maxine, you will need your energy tomorrow.”

I shook my head, feeling smashed again. A moment later Ronan had walked away, leaving me alone, but this time with even heavier baggage on my shoulders.

The morning came and I woke up with another gloomy hangover. The sun was beaming into the room and my head was banging. Last night was brutal, and the main problem was my memory. Devlin obviously knew that I was willing to party, so he took advantage of me, the bastard. He must have sensed that I had s**t loads of money in my pocket. I didn’t remember falling asleep on the table. Someone must have slipped something into my drink.

I pushed the covers away and went to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror told me that I needed to slow down, take a deep breath, and ditch tequila once and for all. Detox was on order. After I brushed my teeth and drank a whole pint of water, I wondered if Nameless was working alone or if he had a silent partner.

Ronan wanted to talk to Arthur, so another trip to Buckingham Palace was unavoidable. Maybe it was the time to come clean and tell Arthur the whole truth.

In the past few months after my confrontation with Alexis, I’d been functioning. Living my life and trying to be a new Maxine. Ricky had gotten used to the fact that I was showing up to work on time, that I was helpful and resourceful. Now this was just about to change yet again.

I applied some makeup, trying to cover the fading scar. Two months ago a mythological A’rea had ripped my cheek to shreds. I was nearly killed, but that scar reminded me that there were other beings on this earth, and scars like that wouldn’t just fade away. I had to use magic, but nothing seemed to be working so far, most probably because the b***h’s tissue was still in the skin.

The demon named Alexis was my enemy. I’d ruined her master plan and tossed her down to the hell pits. No one could ever get back from there, but I had a feeling that Alexis had other cards up her sleeve and would probably manage to do it. I had to have eyes on the back of my head. Deep down I knew that she wasn’t done with me yet.

I left my flat at twelve, feeling weak, very much hungover and angry. I had no idea what had gotten into me all those months ago when I was staying with Ronan. Why did I have to write a love letter to Arthur?

The overbearing guilt began rippling through me, making me want to throw everything away and just escape to the other side of the world. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about anything; I could simply start over somewhere else.

I had ditched tequila before, took responsibility for my actions. This time my own life was threatened. Ricky knew a private rehab facility somewhere up north. I could commit myself, but at the same time I had to find Nameless before he ruined everything.

No one interrupted my pleasant walk to the office this time around, but my head was hurting. I felt like I had taken part in a boxing match the night before and lost. When I checked my mobile, I realised that my hands were trembling. Lucky for me no one had left any messages, so presumably Ricky was in a good mood.

Outside our building some human girl was having an argument with her boyfriend. She was trying to beat him up with her handbag. Some teenagers were standing behind the wall laughing their heads off. I shook my head, imagining myself and Arthur in such a simple, every day scene. Yeah, I needed to stop daydreaming. This wasn’t good, and Arthur was with Natalie.

After climbing the stairs and turning up at the office out of breath, I collapsed on the chair in front of Emma, knowing that Ricky needed to know that we were taking on a new case—plus a new zooming trouble that suddenly hung over my head.

“Hey, Ems, how is it going?” I asked, wondering why I couldn’t just stop shoving more and more tequila into my wrecked body. Maybe I was trying to hush the screams from my nightmares, that instinct that kept telling me I needed to go back and fix the past.

“Hey, Maxine. Sorry. I was in my own world,” Emma replied, finally noticing me past the stack of papers on her desk. “Good … everything is fine. Have you retrieved that package for Mr. Louise?”

I widened my eyes at her, realising that I was still supposed to be doing something important this afternoon. One of the clients, a warlock, had lost his suitcase filled with magical formulas in one of the underground platforms. Apparently he’d fallen asleep and walked away without it. It was a small case, nothing serious, but the problem was that the same underground was vandalised by convicted mongrels that were causing havoc amongst humans, and I couldn’t go down there to retrieve it. The whole area was controlled by Watchers, and I had to wait for the right opportunity. It was a small, dirty job that could bring some needed cash into the business, but as usual I’d forgotten about it.

Emma’s face dropped when I shook my head. She was great, being on my case constantly, making sure that I was getting on with my tasks.

Unfortunately, my failed evening in the Broken Shoe had thrown me off my game a little.

“I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry,” I said, and rushed to Ricky, before she could give me something else to do.

His room was even smaller than mine; it was almost like a cupboard. Recently I had really good days at poker, so I was hoping that maybe we could rent something much bigger, but after last night I didn’t think that I could afford it anyway.

Rick was staring at his mobile phone, and he didn’t even sense me standing in front of him until I cleared my throat. His demonic energy was circulating in the room, stinging lightly, telling me to stay away from his head. Something was going on with him lately, and I suspected that he was seeing someone new.

“What’s up, kitty cat? I hope you have the relief licence with you?” he asked, grinning. I flopped back on the chair opposite him, rubbing my face. I didn’t like ruining his good moods with bad news, but he needed to know what was going on.

“Yes, that’s all sorted. We can talk to her about it today,” I said. “But that’s beside the point. I have bad news and very bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

He lost his smile and narrowed his eyes at me.

“Oh no, Max, you can’t do this to me. I had a very eventful evening last night with my new lady friend, so nothing will ruin my good mood. Not even the fact that I can smell tequila on you,” he said, putting his hands in the back of his head. My damn headache was distracting, and I was ready to run to the bathroom and throw up.

“Ronan showed up when I was on my way back to the flat,” I blurted out, looking straight into his eyes. Ricky flinched, and nearly fell off the chair. He knew who Ronan was, so I just needed to carry on. “Apparently he had some documents from the time when Princess Catherine was alive, her private letters addressed to some lover.”

“Letters? I thought he left that life behind?” Ricky asked, growing anxious.

“I don’t know, the letters were given to him. He meant to look after them, but his son broke the protective wards and stole the letters.” I completed my tale, knowing that my next sentence was going to cause an explosion.

“And the—”

“Oh my God … Max … Ricky, you have to see this, quickly,” Emma shouted, barging into the office a second later. She had her laptop in her hands and when she turned the screen towards me, I thought this had to be some kind of joke. There was a huge red headline beaming at me.

Prince Arthur breaks engagement with Duchess Morgan. The royal wedding is off!