Chapter Eleven
Peter looked through the pages when he widened his eyes and placed the book on the desk. On the page was a drawing of the creature from the video and a cold chill rolled down Peter's back.
"Ok, so it's in the book. What is it?" Mark asked.
"It is D'yar'nath, the High Lord of the eighth level of Hell," Peter said and Mark and Seamus gave him a stunned look.
"You're making that up," Mark said and Peter glared at him.
"I wish I was," Peter sighed and looked at the drawing. "The first images of D'yar'nath surfaced in carvings in sixteen ninety-four France and those carving were burned after reports of demonic voices coming from the carvings. The last reported sighting of D'yar'nath was in eighteen twenty-three in Athens. Some low level magicians had found one of the lairs of D'yar'nath and cornered D'yar'nath after D'yar'nath had been weakened in battle with some other demons. Taking D'yar'nath by surprise, they performed a spell that is rumored to have turned D'yar'nath into stone," Peter said as he skimmed through the pages then closed the book, placing his hand on top of the book.
"And you're saying that someone found this D'yar'nath and freed it?" Mark asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but a demon of D'yar'nath's level isn't one that's going to be someone's tool for long. In fact, I'm willing to bet that D'yar'nath is this close to getting pissed off and might just bugger off," Peter said while holding his finger about an inch apart and his eyes widened.
"What would D'yar'nath do once it buggers off?" Seamus asked.
"Hopefully D'yar'nath would just go back to his realm, but, considering all the fun he's been having, I wouldn't count on it," Peter sighed and folded his arms over his chest.
"What do we do now?" Cassandra asked.
"We are going back to the Garden and let these two get back to work," Peter said as he got up and held his hand out. Taking his hand, Cassandra stood up as they headed for the door when Peter looked at Seamus and wiggled his finger at him. Seamus walked closer as Peter smiled and held his hand out. "Can I have your cell phone, please?"
Shrugging, Seamus handed Peter his cell phone as Peter looked at the screen then opened the phonebook application and typed on the keyboard. Hitting the save button, he handed Seamus the cell phone, turned, and left the room. Mark walked closer while Seamus looked at the screen and smiled, sliding the cell phone in his pocket.
"He gave you his cell number?" Mark asked with wide eyes and Seamus smiled, heading for the desk.
"Guess he liked me more than he likes you," Seamus said with a grin then sat down, going back to work.
Madison Square Garden
"People…..Hold it!" Peter said as he held his hands up and sighed, sitting on the throne prop. Placing his right leg over the arm of the throne prop, Peter pulled the on the crotch of his leather pants and sighed. Cassandra had noticed that he seemed distracted as she walked closer and knelt down next to the throne prop.
"Do you want to call it a day?" she asked while stroking the back of his hand and Peter softly smiled, shaking his head.
"I'm fine," he said with a grin then sat up and placed his forearms on his thighs.
"No, you're not fine," one of the young women said as the young women knelt down near the throne prop and he gave them a blank look.
"Is it that noticeable?" he asked and they nodded their heads. "Ok, I'm not fine."
"Then you shouldn't be doing this."
"Yeah, one mistake and…" one of the young women said and Peter nodded his head. Suddenly Anthony ran toward the stage when Peter stood up and Anthony stopped in front of the stage, placing his hands on his thighs. Panting, Anthony calmed down while Peter hopped off the stage and stood in front of him.
"What happened?" Peter asked as Anthony started pacing back and forth and scratched the back of his neck.
"Fuck," Anthony said over and over then looked at Peter and brushed his fingers through his hair. "It's a fucking mess."
"What is?" Peter asked, placing his hands on Anthony's shoulders.
"We couldn't find him. We looked everywhere, but we couldn't find," Anthony mutter and Peter gently shook him.
"Who are you talking about?" Peter half shouted and Anthony sighed, looking at their feet.
"I'm talking about Zoltar. He said he wanted to go take a shower, but he wasn't in his dressing room. We sent the security guards to look at him and….They found….Oh, fuck, I never saw so much blood in my life!" Anthony said as Peter widened his eyes and his face grew pale.
"Where is he?" Peter asked as his heart thudded in his ears and Anthony waved with his hand for him to follow him. Cassandra walked to Peter as she slid her arm around his waist and they went to catch up with Anthony.
The backstage hallway was busy with forensic officers and police officers trying to keep people back while Mark and Seamus walked closer and showed their identification to the police officers. Jessie was kneeling next to Zoltar's body while the overhead lights sparkled off the blood and she sat back on her knees, sighing.
"Hey, Doc," Mark said as she looked up at him then stood up and Seamus went to talk to one of the police officers. "Who's it this time?"
"The security guard said he's Zoltar Casmiri. He's one of the performers," Jessie said when Peter and Cassandra appeared and Jessie nodded to the police officer trying to stop Peter from coming closer.
"NO!" Peter shouted as he half ran to Jessie and looked down at Zoltar's body. Nearly most of Zoltar's body was torn open as some of his organs peeked out of the wounds and Jessie sighed, taking the rubber gloves off. She didn't have any blood on her as she wrapped her arms around him and Peter pinched his eyes closed with his fingers and thumb. Cassandra sighed while watching Jessie rubbing Peter's back and he moved back, sadly smiling at him. "When did this happen?"
"I don't know," Jessie said when Peter looked up and saw the CCTV camera. Looking over at Mark, Peter nodded his head toward the CCTV when Mark nodded his head and Mark and Seamus walked away. Peter then saw Anthony, Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie and some of the others when he let go of Jessie and walked toward them.
"Is true? Someone kill Zoltar?" Wiktor asked.
"Yeah, Mate, he's gone," Peter sighed when Stephanie ran to him and Peter held her, stroking her back.
"But why would someone want to kill him?" Frank asked while Anthony looked at the wall when he titled his head to one side and blinked his eyes a few times.
"What the hell is that?" Anthony asked as Peter let go of Stephanie when he walked to the wall and tapped one of the forensic officers on the back.
"Can I borrow your camera?" Peter asked as the forensic officer shrugged and handed Peter the digital camera. Peter walked to the wall when he looked through the viewfinder and took photos of the writing on the wall. The writing being done in blood didn't escape Peter when he sighed and handed the camera back to the forensic officer. "Send those to Detective Mark Baker's desk."
"Yes, Sir," the forensic officer said as Peter walked away and Cassandra slid her arm around Peter's waist while they headed down the hallway. Anthony, Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie followed after Peter and Cassandra and Peter sighed, balling his hand into a fist.
Looking at the glass in his hand, Peter slugged back the whiskey while watching Anthony chatting up on of the waitresses and Peter wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Mark had gotten hold of the security video from the Garden, but Peter didn't feel like watching the video and Seamus told him that he would call if they found out anything. Peter tapped the glass on the bar when a large hand clamped down on his shoulder and Peter looked up to see Wiktor looking down at him.
"No more Midori for you," WIktor said as Peter glared at him then tried to stand, only to feel his legs wiggling out from him. Sliding to the floor, Peter sighed as he placed the back of his head against the bar and Wiktor turned, looking at Cassandra. "Little One, Peter is pissed and needs to go home."
"Let me handle him," Cassandra said while walking closer and Wiktor slid his arms under Peter's arms, lifting him to his feet.
"Need me to call a cab, Miss?" the bar tender asked and Cassandra nodded her head. Peter was barely conscious as Cassandra led him to the booth near the door and slid him onto the seat. Sliding onto the seat, Cassandra wrapped her arm around him then pulled him to her and he placed his head on her shoulder.
"It's my fault," Peter said softly as she stroked his hair and felt her heart hurting.
"No, it's not," she said then kissed his hair and he half closed his eyes.
"Yeah, it is. Whoever's doing this is after me," Peter said while balling his hands on the table and his hands were shaking.
"Or they're trying to frame you. The question is why?" Cassandra said as she stroked his hair and tears rolled down Peter's cheeks, making tiny black lines as the tears fell. "Hey, come on, don't cry."
"I have every fucking reason to cry. One of my best friends has just been turned into dog shit!" he growled and she hushed him, looking at the people looking at them.
"Take a fucking picture! It'll last longer!" she shouted as Peter smiled and wiped his eyes, leaving dark streaks under his eyes. The bar tender came closer and told them the cab had arrived as they got up and the bar tender helped her lead Peter outside.
Jessie stood near the metal table while she slid her hand into the chest cavity of Zoltar's body when she felt something and gently slid her hand out. In her rubber gloved hand was a plastic bag and she walked to the counter, placing the plastic bag into the water in the container. In the container was some water as she rinsed the blood and tissue off the plastic bag and she placed the plastic bag on the towel. Drying the plastic bag with the towel, Jessie picked up the plastic bag when she saw the glint of something and opened the plastic bag. Removing what was inside the plastic bag onto the counter, Jessie looked at the side burns, moustache, goatee and a gold eyebrow ring and Jessie sighed, leaning against the counter.
"Oh shit," Jessie sighed then walked to the phone on the wall and picked up the receiver.
Peter softly sighed while Cassandra stroked her fingers along his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. She had called the Hard Rock and asked two of the young women help her get Peter to the penthouse without anyone seeing them and Peter had gotten sick several times from the cab to the lift. He got sick three more times after they had gotten him to the penthouse and he fell asleep the moment they got him under the bedding. She placed her hand on his chest as her hand rose and fell with his breathing and hitched a few times while he moaned.
"Sh, it's alright," she whispered as he softly smiled and she made tiny kisses on his chest. She watched him sleeping when Cross made little growling sounds and Boe appeared near the bed then carefully got on the bed, standing over them. Cassandra scanned the room with her eyes while Boe glared at something in the corner and she turned her head to look where Boe was staring. Suddenly a pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness as she looked at the red eyes and her heart slammed in her chest. The red eyes looked at her for what felt like forever then vanished and Boe slid down onto the bed, lying on their legs. Cassandra didn't feel the tiger's weight as Boe stared at the darkness and she moved closer to Peter, placing her head on the center of his chest. His heart thumped softly in her ear as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, wondering if she hadn't just caught a glimpse of D'yar'nath.