Chapter Two
I felt like time itself had stopped. I felt like my heart had momentarily stopped beating. I'd know that voice anywhere. How many times had I heard it coming out of my TV? How many times had I fantasized about all the sweet nothings that voice could say to me? I took a deep breath, slowly turned around, and came face-to-face with Zak Bagans. The top of my head barely came up to his shoulders, and I had to crane my neck a little to get a good look at him. He was so sexy and beautiful, and I wanted to memorize every part of him. His firm, muscular arms and chest. His high cheekbones and forehead. His short, slightly spiked, black hair… He was wearing a tight, black t-shirt that showed of his muscles, black jeans, and black sneakers. His black sunglasses were perched on top of his head. I looked at his lips – those beautiful lips that I had dreamed about kissing for so long – and finally I looked at his eyes… My heart skipped another beat as I looked into his clear, gentle, bright blue eyes. He grinned at me – the most beautiful grin I'd ever seen – and I smiled back shyly. "Hi Zak." I said softly, blushing slightly. "Hey Andrea!" he said. My heart about melted at the way he said my name. He reached out and gently pulled me into his arms, giving me a big hug. I hugged him back tightly, loving how I could feel his muscles through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. I wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my head in his chest, and breathed in the dark, spicy scent that was uniquely him. After a few seconds he let go of me and, looking between me and Nick, Aaron, Billy, and Jay said, "I just talked to Bobby. He and Karl want to take us into the slaughterhouse and up to Karl's old apartment first, get those two places out of the way, and then go check out the main part of the club." The guys and I all nodded and then Billy said, "Alright. Let's go check it out." Zak gave him a thumbs up, but I saw Aaron shudder. "Here we go." he said. "Straight back to Hell." Zak, Billy, and I led the way into the slaughterhouse, with Nick, Aaron, and Jay right behind us. We went into the dark building, and the scent of must hit us all in the face. The slaughterhouse was freezing cold, even in the middle of the day on a warm Summer day. I shivered slightly as I felt goose bumps erupt all up and down my arms. I looked over at Zak and Billy's arms (I was walking between them) and I could see the goose bumps on their arms too. "Holy cow!" Zak said. "Do you guys feel that!?" Billy and I both nodded, and we all turned around to look at Nick, Aaron, and Jay. "We feel it too Zak." Nick said, as the three of them held out their arms to show us. "There's no air-conditioning in here is there?" Aaron asked. Zak shook his head. "I don't think so. There hasn't been any in this building the other times we've been here." "And Bobby doesn't use this building at all, because of the well." I chimed in softly. Zak nodded. "Exactly. So there's only one explanation for all of this cold air…" Zak didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to. We were all thinking one word: Demons. At that moment, Bobby and Karl both walked into the slaughterhouse behind us. We all turned as they walked in, both of them grinning at the six of us. "Hey guys!" Zak said, leaving my side and going to shake hands with Bobby and Karl. "Hey to you guys too!" Bobby said, grinning at Zak and shaking his hand. "It's good to see you all!" Karl said, smiling at Zak and shaking his hand too. I carefully studied Bobby and Karl from my place beside Billy. I had seen them both on TV before – on the show – and Meghan had described both of them to me before, and neither of them looked like they had changed much. Bobby and Karl greeted Nick and Aaron, and then they turned to Billy, Jay, and I. "Bobby, Karl," Zak said, indicating Billy, Jay, and I. "this is Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley. They're our audio-visual techs, and they're going to be running nerve center for us tomorrow night. And this is Andrea Gunderson. She's the girl who won the contest a month ago and who will be investigating with us tomorrow night." I smiled and waved at Bobby and Karl, and they smiled and waved back at me. "Well," Bobby said. "are you guys ready to see the well?" They guys nodded, and so did I, and Bobby said, "Alright. Let's go." Bobby and Karl led the way through the slaughterhouse, with the rest of us following close behind. I stayed close to Zak, hugging myself to keep warm. I would be lying if I said the place didn't give me the creeps. It did. The slaughterhouse was already dark and damp, and knowing about everything that had gone on in this very building only added to the creepy feeling. Zak noticed that I was hugging myself, and he asked, "Are you just cold, or are you scared too?" I shook my head. "I'm just cold. I mean, this place is pretty creepy, but I'm not afraid." Zak nodded and wrapped his arm tightly around me, hugging me to his side. I smiled up at him shyly as my heart fluttered in my chest. He grinned back at me, and I lightly wrapped my left arm around his waist. "Thanks." I said softly. He nodded. "You're welcome." When we reached the well, we all stood in a small circle around the edge of it. The air that seemed to come up out of the well was ice-cold – much colder than the air in the rest of the slaughterhouse. None of us said a word for a minute or two, but then Bobby said, "Well, here it is. The cause of all the chaos and Demonic activity here…" I looked down into the dark hole, and in my mind's eye I could see the blood of cows and pigs draining down into the well, and then I could see the severed head of Pearl Bryan floating in the dark water, her features frozen into an expression of pure fear and horror… I shivered involuntarily. "This place gives me the creeps." Aaron said. "Me too." Bobby replied quietly. "That's why I never come in here anymore." "You okay man?" Nick asked, making all of us look up. He was looking at Zak, who was standing right next to me. I noticed that Zak had his right hand on the middle of his back and he was still looking down into the well. For a brief second I didn't understand why Nick had asked Zak that. But then I realized: Zak had his hand over the exact spot where he had been scratched by a Demonic entity in this very room five years before… I had seen the video that Nick had taken of the actual scratches, and they had been pretty disturbing to see. That had been during their very first investigation here at Bobby Mackey's. "Are you okay Zak?" Nick asked again, giving Zak a worried look. Zak slowly nodded. "I think so." he said quietly. "Are your scars bothering you?" Aaron asked. "Sort of." Zak replied. "It's more like a prickling sensation than a burning sensation. It doesn't feel like it did when I got them. So I think I'm okay." Nick and Aaron both nodded. "If that changed, let us know." Billy said softly. Zak nodded. "I will." "You still have the scars from that?" I asked quietly. "The physical scars?" Zak nodded. "Yeah. Do you want to see them?" I shrugged, feigning indifference. In reality, though, I felt like my heart was going to beat itself out of my chest with anticipation. I couldn't believe that I was about to see Zak's bare back in person! "Sure." I said. "Okay." Zak replied. "Let's head back out to the parking lot then. The lighting's better out there." I nodded and the eight of us made our way back out to the parking lot. However, before we turned to leave the well, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron, Nick, Billy, and Jay exchange smirks. When we were outside again, the cold that we'd been feeling the entire time we were in the slaughterhouse disappeared and was then abruptly replaced by the warm sunshine. Zak went over to the guy's van, and the rest of us followed him. He then turned his back to me and slowly lifted his shirt up… His back was gorgeous! His skin was smooth, lightly tanned, and absolutely beautiful! And the scars were still visible… There were three identical scars on the exact middle of Zak's back… The scratched themselves looked like they'd been made by human fingernails, but the fact that there was only three scratches showed that there was something unnatural about them. The scars had started to fade, but, even after all these years, they were still fairly prominent… "Holy cow…" I breathed. "That's crazy…" Zak slowly lowered his shirt and turned around to face me. "It was crazy." he said quietly. "But there was certainly nothing holy about it…" I shivered slightly, knowing the truth of Zak's words. "Alright Zak," Jay said. "don't freak her out. We want her to come with us tomorrow night." I chuckled. "Don't worry Jay," I said. "no matter what happens, I'm coming back here with you all tomorrow night." "That's the spirit!" Zak said, grinning at me. I laughed slightly and smiled at him. "No pun intended, right?" I teased him softly, causing the rest of them to start laughing. "Right." Zak replied, flashing me another grin. "Alright then," Karl said, once the laughter had died down. "let's go see my apartment." We all nodded, and he led us over to the main part of the club, and up the long flight of wooden stairs that led to the apartment where he had lived for so many years. Karl unlocked the door for us and we went inside. The first thing I noticed was how dark and cold the place was. You could tell that it had once been an apartment, but now it was just a series of empty, dark rooms. Karl went out to the middle of the room and stood there, looking around him. "How long has it been since you've been up here Karl?" Zak asked quietly. "The last time I was up here," Karl said quietly, looking down at the floor. "was when I brought you up here back in 2008…" We were all silent for a few seconds, and then Nick asked quietly, "What does it feel like being up here after all those years?" Karl didn't say anything for a few seconds. It looked like he wasn't quite sure how to put what he was feeling into words. Finally he said, "I guess it's kind of a cold, lonely, empty feeling. Like I don't belong here, and I never belonged here…" "Do you feel like there are Demonic entities here?" Zak asked. Karl nodded. "I do. And I believe that whatever's here is whatever possessed me all those years ago. I also believe that if this… thing didn't already know not to mess with me… it would try to attack me…" "Does it not like Nick, Aaron, Billy, Jay, Andrea, and I being here?" Karl slowly shook his head and finally looked up at us. "They hate all six of you. They don't want you three," Karl indicated Zak, Nick, and Aaron. "coming back here. And they don't want you three," This time he indicated Billy, Jay, and I. "coming here at all…" A dead silence fell over all of us as Karl's words sank in. "Well," Zak said finally, after about thirty seconds of us all standing there in complete and utter silence. "it sounds like we're in for one Hell of a lockdown…" "Literally…" Aaron muttered. "Alright," Karl said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I don't want to be in here anymore. This place is starting to make me really uncomfortable…" "Me too." Aaron said quietly. "Let's head on down to the club." Bobby said quietly. Zak nodded. "Let's go." he said softly.