Pivane
THERE are few times when Masako has a good idea, but hunting a blonde doctor seemed like a good plan to me. Human doctors knew the extent of the human body and although they might not know how to handle all of LaDressa’s bodily functions, they should be able to figure most of it out.
Wandering into the emergency room I was disappointed to be greeted by a dark-haired nurse and a male doctor. I waved them off as I explored the halls to find a wall with the pictures of all the doctors servicing the facility. Only one candidate caught my eye and I prayed it wasn’t an old picture. The woman looked fresh from medical school and eager to please.
“Excuse me.” I approached the registrar who was reading a tattered library book. “I’m a patient of Dr. Pound. Is there a chance she’s on call tonight?”
“No, Dr. Yager is on call for the clinic tonight. Do you need to speak to him?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Are you thinking you need to be seen by our ER doctor?”
“No…Dr. Pound’s been treating me for a rare condition and most doctors have to spend hours figuring it out. She’s an expert.”
“Dr. Pound’s an expert?” The woman held back a scoff as she adjusted her rotund belly. “Let me just get my nurse, I’m sure she could give you some advice.”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” I added and dug into the woman’s mind. Searching for the location of Dr. Pound. Flipping back a few hours to when she arrived earlier in the day, I found a call list. The doctor was on call, but not for the clinic, but the prison. I smiled as I nodded and the woman fell back into her book and I left with no one remembering my arrival.
Driving to the prison strengthened me with the hatred and anger pulsing from the building. Betty, the woman at the desk, wasn’t impressed with the young Dr. Pound, but had many tidbits of information tucked away. The least of which was her car, the same one I saw parked in the physician’s only parking spot. I loved it when I didn’t need to work too hard to get what I wanted. Although I did wonder why she’d be here so late. Maybe my dear friend Warren had suffered an aneurysm. Sadly it was more likely the young physician was overly diligent.
The sound of fumbling keys jarred me from my ponders as the blonde practitioner left the building with a messenger bag full of notes. Ah…diligent, that could play out so well.
“Doctor Pound,” I called, and she looked up and her light gray eyes flashed from the street lamp.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“I’m in need of your help.”
“There’s an emergency room with a doctor ready and willing to—”
My hand circled her upper arm as I placed a gun next to her ribs.
“I’m afraid I require more from you, and although normally I play with my food to avoid the taste of fear, I don’t have the time.”
“I scream—”
“I’ll kill you before the air can travel from your lungs to your lips.” Her heart was racing and the smell of fear brought my arousal to its peak. Did we really need the princess to live? No, but if I expected to have the Deumos follow me I’d need to put out the appearance I’d tried. “A woman is hurt.”
“By you?” she bit out as I led her to my car.
“Sadly, no,” I retorted before fastening her into my passenger seat. Terror crossed her face as I kept my gun trained on her head and circled my car to the driver’s side. “Now, if you help her and she lives, so do you.”
“Are you serious?” she screeched as we pulled out of the parking lot. “What bad eighties movie do you live in?”
“The one where you die if she does.”
“Let me guess—I’m going to have no supplies and I’ll have to build an ECG machine with three paperclips, a lamp, and grape juice.”
“I don’t keep juice in the house.”
“Is this a joke? Some sort of initiation for the new girl?”
“How new are you?”
“Very funny.”
“I don’t know anything about you.” I looked over at the woman who had lost some of her fear and shifted into annoyance.
“I’ve got clinic in the morning and as much as I loved the thirty-six hour power sessions from residency, I’ve already done that. Now I enjoy sleeping and eating at least one meal a week that doesn’t come from a vending machine.”
“But vending machines have such variety,” I retorted.
“Drop me off at my house.”
“I don’t know where you live.”
“Then return me to my car.”
“Dr. Pound—”
“Eliza. Please. This is so far from a medical situation.”
“Eliza.” The name rolled off my tongue and I wished it was the tip of her clit. She must have felt the desire laced among the syllables, for she squirmed. “I do need your skills.”
Crossing her arms, she pouted until she saw the cul-de-sac I drove into. The first home no longer had a roof; instead, it possessed just a tarp stretched across the top due to the princess’ temper tantrum. The others had broken shutters and walking paths in need of a shoveling. LaDressa didn’t know dilapidation could draw human attention to our safe houses, although after the last attack we were no longer safe by any stretch of the imagination. Sadly, she didn’t care about that either.
“This place feels haunted,” Eliza said.
“In a way it is.”
I got her out of my car at gunpoint and brought her to the home I currently occupied. No longer living among the smells and distraction of the Deumos was just another disappointing part of my day.
Screams came from the room I’d placed LaDressa in. The sharp piercing sound reverberated throughout the small rambler. Eliza jumped and reached for me.
“She’s in pain,” I said.
“What are you doing, torturing her?”
“No.” I sighed with regret. “That would probably feel better.”
“What took you so long?” Masako’s panicked voice didn’t quell the reaction from Eliza.
“This isn’t funny. Why would you hunt down a doctor instead of dialing 9-1-1?”
“There’s a complication.” I led the doctor into the room where LaDressa was thrashing, causing more injury to her already broken legs. Masako attempted to hold her down as the princess spat and snapped at us.
“Did her head spin around before or after she fucked herself with a crucifix?”
“Um…I’ve been gone for a half hour…Masako?” The servant of the princess wasn’t amused.
“I have no Haldol so how about you call an ambulance?”
I placed my finger on the princess’ forehead and uttered words only known to those in the highest stations of demon royalty. She instantly silenced and fell into a deep sleep.
“Now heal her,” I ordered Eliza.
“Call a priest. She’s possessed by the devil.”
“No, that’s just her dad.” I sat on the side of my bed and brushed back her hair. “She fell from quite a height. Now she’s injured and needs medical attention.”
Eliza walked over to LaDressa and placed her wrist on her forehead. Then opened the princess’ eyes only to be met by the black and silvery eyes no human could possess.
“What’s going on here?” she asked. “She has a fever, scratches, and compound fractures everywhere, and her eyes…”
“Here’s the deal,” I explained. “I wasn’t joking before. Her father is Lucifer and she’s her Royal Holiness Princess LaDressa, daughter of Lucifer the IV.”
“Fourth…there have been four Lucifers?”
“She has a brother.”
“Of course, Lucifer the V. Right…” Eliza headed to the door, only to be blocked by Masako. She had a look that said “try it.” I think Masako needed some fighting too. Good to know. “This isn’t funny although you did a great job with this whole setup.”
“Tell me what I need to get you and it shall be yours,” I said with all earnest. “She must be saved.”
“This is real?”
“Does she look like she’s faking?”
“And she’s a demon princess?”
“Yes.”
“And if she dies, I die.”
“Yes.”
“Do I die either way?” Eliza’s pale gray eyes appeared defeated.
“Probably,” I confessed. “But it depends. Do you want a chance for life or not?”
Eliza walked back to LaDressa and dictated a list to me as her lashes began to stick together from tears. Soon she breathed in and out a couple times and settled into the situation.
“I’ll need a name so I can fill a prescription.” Eliza fumbled in her bag for a prescription pad.
“That’s not necessary.”
“How are you planning on…” She shook her head. “Do you have any idea if I fell asleep at my desk again?”
“Nope. As far as I know you’re awake.”
She looked back at LaDressa, then to me and Masako. “Then get what I need. Just in case this isn’t a nightmare.”
* * * *
Esther Benson
“They’ll notice he’s gone soon,” I said to Dr. Ashworth, who thankfully had started building the trauma ward he used when a Hell’s Mouth closed.
The rush of demons, combined with the increase in members of the Frozen, led to many injuries and Dr. Ashworth had decided he’d rather heal than fight. Although he might as well have married his profession because he’d never die and forever be in the service of the Frozen, he seemed fine with it. Unlike the rest of the Frozen working off their debt with each bantling or demon they killed, he had no way to obtain absolution.
“I can’t make his body heal faster. Gabriel has done all he can. Now it’s up to Vincent to heal himself.”
“Where am I?” he said through dried lips.
“You’re in a hospital,” I lied and brought a straw to his mouth so he could sip some water.
“Where?”
“A hospital,” I repeated.
“Where is the hospital? This isn’t any ER I know.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I assured him as I set the cup on a cart.
“What happened last night? I need to call in the animal on the street. What kind was that?”
“So many questions.” I shifted nervously. “You need to focus on healing yourself.”
“Esther.” He pushed up and looked for something on the side of the bed. “Where’s the control…is this a regular mattress?”
“For your comfort.”
“What is going on, Esther?”
“Vince,” I pleaded and curled my fingers around his. “The less you know—”
“I’m in someone’s home, am I not? Who is that guy?”
“Dr. Ashworth and yes, you’re at my home.” Why did I say that? Seriously, he shouldn’t know anything about us. Gabriel was going to smite me. “You were bitten by something we call a bantling.”
“A newborn?”
“Yes, in a way a newborn de…” I breathed in. “Demon. They try to take forms that will have them comfortable with humans.”
“A King Charles Spaniel the size of a grizzly bear.”
“If it would have been puppy-sized you might have scooped it up.”
“It looked like it had mange.”
“I guess. Dr. Ashworth has to run some tests on you and I need to…” Get away. Vince’s eyes controlled me in a way I couldn’t grasp. He was all I could think about. This past twelve hours had been painful for me and although he was accepting what I was saying, he still scared me. The way his lips formed words caused a warming in my belly and the wetness to return. “I have an appointment with someone.”
Running from the room I went in search of Kiriana. She wasn’t in her office so I headed into the kitchen. Nye was trying to be patient, but I could see his frustration when I walked into the room. Kiriana was dicing an onion. Nye paced behind her while his face contorted.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, and Kiriana cursed.
“You didn’t cut yourself again, did you?” Nye asked as he flipped his hands over and wiggled his fingers to check for the coinciding damage Others experience from injury.
“No.” Kiriana let out an exasperated sigh. To me, she asked, “Is he doing better?”
“He’s roused.” I swallowed hard and then turned to look over my shoulder. “Kiriana might we…Um…”
“Nye, honey, would you mind if I…” She placed the knife down, and Nye visibly calmed.
“Yes, I’ll finish this.”
We walked toward her office. “I’m sorry if I took you from something.”
“Only killing the compound with my cooking. If nothing else my heart rate has dropped.”
“Cooking makes you nervous?”
“No, it makes Nye nervous and since he’s my Other, my heart beats in unison with his. Even when he tries to pretend he’s calm I can feel his anxiety, but it’s sweet that he tries to mask it.”
Kiriana opened her door and sat in her chair. I stayed at the door.
“Are you a vampire?”
“No? Why would you think that?”
“Because you seem to be waiting for an invitation.” She waved her hand toward the chair. This time I sat in the overstuffed chair. Reaching for the throw pillow I held it to my chest. “There’s quite a bit of commotion today.”
“I’m not sure what it means.”
“Neither does Schmitty and he’s been at over a dozen closings.”
“Has Damarion given you any indication?”
“If he knows anything he’s not talking.”
My fingers knotted together and for the first time I noticed I hadn’t eaten in a day. Growling came from my belly and I attempted to hide the noise. Kiriana reached in her desk drawer and retrieved a candy bar.
“Here.” She tossed the bar, and I caught it.
“Sweets aren’t really my thing.”
“You need something to eat. Just put it in your belly. Nye won’t be done cooking for an hour.”
“Do they need me out there?” I asked and played with the polypropylene wrapper surrounding the chocolate. “I’d hate being distracted by…”
“Tell me about him.”
“Who?”
“Vince DeTello. I saw the files you pulled on him, the questionable death of that teenager, but that doesn’t tell me about him.”
“I don’t know him. He’s a stranger.”
“Yet you’re risking all of us for someone who will be missed in town.”
“Unlike Damarion?”
“The Deumos initiated the investigation on his disappearance. The town would have moved on.”
“He wants to protect me.” My voice caught on the words. “From what I do not know.”
Kiriana sat at her desk and rested her head on her hand. The silence seeped between us and I squirmed.
“It’s ridiculous, you know. Protecting me?” I stood up and crossed to the other side of the room. “What does he need to protect me from? I saved him today. I mean, he froze at the sight of that bantling.”
“The first bantling you saw, what was it?”
“A rabbit.” I shivered at the memory. “I was hunting with a man named Rodney, I think. He caught sight of this flash.”
“You knew there was danger in the area. You expected it.”
“Yes.”
“I saw my first bantling after Dilana shot me by accident. In pain, wounded and on the ground, I saw Nye scoop up this thing and stab it. Ashes flew everywhere. I was petrified.”
“You want to hunt or at least you seemed to be fighting with Nye before you found out about the baby.”
“Esther, he was caught off-guard. He would have protected you if he could have.”
My hand wiped at my cheek and found wetness. This wasn’t about Vince. He’d failed me once. Then again, he didn’t fail me. He had no reason for me to believe in him or need him.
“Who protected you when you were young?”
“My father and mother.”
“That makes sense. As you got older, who was there for you?”
“I don’t know why I came to talk to you.” Coldness covered my body as acid burned its way up my throat.
“We doing this again?” Kiriana sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Esther, your father was a preacher?”
“Yes.”
“What denomination?”
“New Life Revisionist.”
“Christian base?”
“Yes.”
“Did they believe in forgiveness?”
“I suppose.”
“I want to give you an assignment.” She retrieved a notebook from her desk and slid it across to me. “Tell me in your own words why you had to kill yourself when your mother could have earned absolution after your death. Then I want you to describe your demonic possession.”
* * * *
Detective Vincent DeTello
“If you touch me with that needle it’ll end up in your eye,” I warned Dr. Ashworth.
“Is it this particular one? Because I’ve already injected meds and drawn blood from you multiple times in the last few hours.”
The dark circles under the doctor’s eyes made me think he was the only doctor in this…Looking around I saw the normal sheeting that surrounded a medical suite in smaller hospitals. Rolling bins, an ECG, and monitors were on either side of my full-size bed. Yet aside from the raised back on my bed that allowed me to sit, this wasn’t like any hospital in the area. And I’d never heard of Dr. Ashworth. None of this made sense.
Pain shot down my right arm when I attempted to raise it. My shoulder felt as if it was on fire and a knife was digging into the joint. The pussy scream I released made me glad for Esther’s absence, although she was the only one here who might possibly give me a straight answer. Here I was promising to protect her and couldn’t even handle a minor cut.
“I don’t like needles.” I gritted my teeth at the doctor still threatening to stick me.
“How about I dull that boo-boo you have there first?” He pulled out a green sucker on a stick like you used to get at the doctor’s office. “I heard you like these.”
I snatched it more because my oral fixation demanded to be quenched and sadly Esther was not in the room.
“Good.” The doctor lined up a different needle like he was throwing darts in the pub and plugged my arm good. This time I bit down and let the numbing agent do its job. Then he walked to the other side of the bed and put a tourniquet around my biceps. As my vein popped he felt around and went all vampire on me.
Three vials later I tried to determine if my light-headedness came from the drugs or loss of blood volume. Either way I needed to keep my wits about me.
“What is this place?”
“That’s for Esther to tell you. She’s the one who broke the rules and brought you here.”
“Rules? What rules?”
The doctor took the vials and left the room. I listened for other patients or staff, but heard none. With a swish the curtain flew to the side, but all I could see behind a very pregnant Kiriana George were other curtains.
“You are friends,” I said as I used my left hand to reach for the water. The medication must have given me cotton mouth.
“Me and who?”
“Esther.”
“Friends would be a stretch.” Kiriana placed her hands on the arms of the chair next to my bed and eased down into it. “Esther isn’t one to have friends.”
“Why is that?”
“I’ll let you know when I find out.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“We talk, my undergrad was in psychology, although I’m far from an expert.”
“Your husband said he worked with people suffering from depression. Is that what this facility is?”
“Not exactly…then again, it is. Detective DeTello, there’s many things about Esther, my husband, and I that you can’t know.”
“That just has me thinking warrant.”
A sly smile crossed Kiriana’s face as she leaned back in the chair and rubbed her belly.
“I don’t like threats.”
“Is Nye really your husband?”
“Why would I say we were married if we weren’t?”
“Not sure. Seemed as if you might be in the same situation if not worse than Esther.”
Kiriana continued to rub circles on her belly as she stared me down. She was no longer the compliant helpful person she’d been a few months ago. Now she seemed to be hiding something the same way Esther did.
“What happened to the other women?”
“Who? Damarion’s sister.” She said the word with air quotes.
“You don’t believe Nemesio is his sister?”
“Tell me about the other women,” she deflected. “What happened?”
“Tell me where Damarion is.”
“In my dungeon,” she stated as if it were common knowledge. Hitching her thumb over her shoulder she offered, “You want me to get him? I’d bring him up here, but security procedures are a bitch here.”
“Fine, joke, that’s your way out of everything, isn’t it?”
“Kiriana,” Esther’s soft voice caught us both off-guard. “I’ve finished what you asked.”
Esther kept her eyes down.
“Thank you,” Kiriana replied and took a notebook from Esther. Shifting in the chair to get her bearings, she finally pushed up and then approached Esther. “You should sleep.”
“I don’t need it,” Esther replied with a hoarse voice. “I will be ready when you need me.”
“That’s not why. You’ve been removed from rotation.”
“Why?” Esther gasped as if Kiriana had sucker-punched her in the gut.
“What you just did was extremely taxing. I don’t want you falling apart later.”
“It was nothing.”
“You have to deal with Detective DeTello. You’ve been assigned to him until he’s left the compound. He is your responsibility.”
Kiriana cupped Esther’s hand in hers then looked back at me. With a knowing look she nodded good-bye and left. When Esther took the unoccupied seat next to the bed she still did not look up.
“Esther?”
“Yes,” she softly replied.
“Look at me.”
She complied as if she didn’t have a choice but to oblige my order. Her violet eyes now had red rims and were completely blood shot. This wasn’t from exhaustion like Kiriana suggested. My knee jerk reaction was to pull her into my arms and console her until I could go kill whoever hurt her. Instead when I moved I felt a new sharp pain on my side and on my chest. I might as well be tied down with all the good I was at this point. Biting back the pain I swung my legs over the side of the bed in one move with all the grace of a drunk fourteen-year-old.
Esther’s reflexes hadn’t dulled as she instantly shot up and helped me steady myself. When her hands touched my shoulders I no longer felt the pain. My eyes travelled up from her belly to her breasts, which had a fullness I’d not noticed before. Then again looking past her eyes had become a problem for me. They caught and held me in a way that had me missing the rest of the woman before me. Steadying myself by placing my hands on the slick leather covering her hips didn’t help the spinning in my head.
“Vincent,” she said, and I looked up to see her soft pink lips speaking to me. “You’re injured.”
“I need to get up.” Pushing with my good arm I wobbled until Esther placed her arm around my back and I suddenly felt unstoppable. “How much are you losing because I’m here?”
“Losing?”
“Money, how much? I’ll pay for your time.”
“I wouldn’t even know what to charge.”
“You should know your going rate.”
“I do not get paid monetarily.”
“Room and board?”
“Among other things.”
“Like what?” She was practically a slave.
“Salvation. I do what I do so I can one day walk among the others who earned their place with the angels.”