Thomas Amo - An Apple for Zoë - Book One ~ The Forsaken

"Wait, give me your hands," she said reaching for James and Summers hands. "Yours too," she said to Shelton. James reluctantly took Stasya's hand. "What are we doing?"

"We're going to pray."

The four of them linked hands, forming a circle. Stasya gripped James and Summers' hands tightly as Shelton completed the circle.

"Close your eyes everyone and clear your mind of all thoughts. God is listening," she said as she began to prepare her thoughts for prayer. Without warning a blinding flash filled her mind. Stasya found herself standing in the interrogation room only she wasn't with Devonia or Tarista, she was with Clem. The room smelt of sulfur and burnt skin. Clem looked at Stasya and spoke with no effort.

"He's coming Stasya, he wants her. I tried to warn her," he said as he raised his melted hand up to her face. Stasya could see imprinted into his palm the words, Because your family.

Stasya screamed and broke the prayer chain. Her eyes were wild as she stared at Summers. Her breathing was panicked and labored.

"What's wrong? What happened?" asked Summers. Stasya only backed away from the three of them. Moments later, Paige Collins entered the room followed by Jessalee.

Paige could immediately sense something was very wrong with Stasya. "What's going on?"

Angrily, Stasya confronted the director. "Why did you not tell her?" she said pointing at Summers.

Paige calmly scanned the reaction of the others before she replied to Stasya. "It wasn't the right time," she remarked coldly.

Stasya grabbed Paige by the collar of her blouse and slammed her into the wall. Nose to nose the two women glared at one another.

"Stop it! The director and I have news!" shouted Jessalee. Paige held her eye locked to Stasya's.

"So maybe you could back off," Paige ordered Stasya.

"Not until you tell that girl the truth!" shouted Stasya as she tightened her grip on Paige's shirt.

"Tell me what?" asked Summers, as she moved closer to Stasya.

Stasya glared at Paige with bitterness in her eyes. "She was going to let you go into that room with those fiends. She knows if they get you alone it will take them no time to get inside your head. Believe me you don't want that. Five minutes alone with Tarista and Devonia Baranova are long enough for them to unhinge your mind."

"They can't touch her or you Stasya, I guarantee it!" shouted Paige. It was the first time James had seen the director not in control of her emotions.

Stasya angrily barked back, "You have had me hunting them for 13 years. I have seen the trail of blood they leave wherever they go. Don't tell me they can't get to us! Their seductions have no boundaries. No chains or walls can protect us from them, so how dare you lie..."

"They're in a Faraday Cage!" screamed Paige. Jessalee and Summers looked confused as the standoff continued.

"What the fuck is a Faraday Cage?" asked Shelton.

Stasya instantly fell silent, she and Paige locked eyes. "It's a stronghold designed to contain extreme levels of telekinetic or psychic power," said Stasya, never taking her eyes away from the director.

Paige held her gaze. "You're not the only one who knows what they're capable of," said the director as she pulled the hem of her blouse up and exposed her stomach. There were several odd shaped symbols and marks that were cut and seared into her skin. Paige gave everyone a clear view of the grotesque marks.

"What the hell?" asked Summers.

"Devonia did this to me 13 years ago," said Paige. Stasya looked closely. "Do those marks spell something?" she asked.

"Yes, it's the witches alphabet, it spells Judas ," said Paige with no emotion.

"Why Judas?" asked Shelton.

"Because I had just had an ab ... I had a miscarriage and somehow Devonia knew it."

Summers and Shelton gasped at what Paige had just said. James tried to be sympathetic to the conversation. "Why don't we all sit down a moment," he said as he pulled a chair for the director. Everyone else took a place at the conference table. James sat next to Paige. "How did it happen?"

"13 years ago in Hollywood it was my misfortune to investigate the death of Charles Cargill Mondurge."

"Wait I remember that case. Wasn't he the studio executive who committed suicide? His daughters claimed he said that demons or something like that were trying to kill him?" stated Shelton.

"They weren't his daughters and it wasn't suicide, it was murder, I just couldn't prove it," she said.

"What happened?" asked James.

"Mondurge inherited Weirlech Film Studios from his mother the French silent film actress, Lisalette Mondurge. The studio had amassed such a vast fortune during the twenties, she built herself this enormous 275 room gothic fortress that overlooked Hollywood. She hid away from the public for decades and everyone basically forgot about her until 1966, when she burned the studio to the ground. She claimed the devil lived there. Needless to say she was committed and her son Charles took over the estate. Three years later the Manson Family murdered five people on the very site where the studio once was."

"Jesus, is that really true?" asked Jessalee.

"You haven't heard anything yet. Charles Mondurge had used the fortune his mother gained from the studio and by the late '90s he had multiplied the amount ten times what it was in the '20s. He was easily one of the most powerful of people in the world of show business. You knew he had a hand in everything, but never saw him. Someone who always seemed to be working in the shadows yet never fails."

"Yeah, I remember this guy now, he had a real thing for 'bad girls' anytime you ever did see him, it was with women like Evelyn Nesbit, Louise Brooks, Nita Naldi. In fact, he used to be host to some of Jack Nicholson's famous parties. Nicholson once said of Mondurge, 'He's the only guy I know who has a better deal with the devil than I do,' " said James.

"Like Hugh Hefner, he has an army of young girls willing to give into any of his wildest desires. He lives the typical Hollywood life that consists of a never-ending supply of money, sex and power. In late 2000, he gets involved with two mysterious girls and he tells the world he's going to make them more famous than Jesus. Thirty-one days later on Halloween night he's found hanging naked in his shower. A hangman's noose, knotted 13 times around his neck, he's blindfolded and his hands are handcuffed behind his back. He has the words Babylon's Whore written on his ass in red lipstick. The police rule it a suicide," she said.

"Suicide? You've got to be kidding? If that's a suicide then I'm Mother-Fucking-Theresa," joked Jessalee.

"Exactly, although you gotta admit that is similar to Kritzler's death. I mean with the exception of barbed wire for handcuffs" Shelton joined in.

"And the lipstick covered asshole," smirked Jessalee. Everyone but Paige laughed. It was the first time there had been any levity in the room all day.

Sorry director, I didn't mean to interrupt, please continue," said Jessalee.

"The Hollywood police closed the file, but the LA bureau weren't satisfied especially since there wasn't any note and the only other people in the house with him at the time of the event were still living there. So I was ordered by my director to do a follow-up interview.

I drove alone up into the oldest part of the Hollywood Hills to where this massive stone manor sits looming over the city. I was met at the gate by this stunningly beautiful girl who, as, it turned out I later learned was Tarista. She led me up a marble staircase outside the mansion to a veranda. That's where I met Devonia. She spoke with voice of an angel and invited me inside. She escorted me through a series of oaken hallways that were covered in frescos and paintings from another time.