The Claymore medical clinic was the equivalent of a civilian urgent care with an X-ray machine. They could diagnose the flu, broken bones, and jock itch. For anything more serious, Claymore employees were sent to the local hospital in New Hope or flown to Duke in Durham.
There likely weren’t any patients I might send into the afterlife with my presence, so I followed Fury inside.
Huffman and Flint stood when we entered. “Nice stroll?” Huffman asked.
“Peachy,” Fury said. “We ready to do this?”
“Just waiting for Nurse Dana to get here.”
Flint got up and touched Fury’s elbow. “Can we talk for a second outside?”
“Are we going to argue again?”
He didn’t answer.
“Then no,” she said.
The front door to the clinic opened behind us, and Azrael walked through it. A woman in black scrubs was behind him.
“Good, you’re already here,” Az said when he saw us. He walked over next to me. “Warren, this is Nurse Dana Mohn. Dana, this is my son, Warren.”
“Hello, Warren.” Dana’s eyes were mismatched. One was blue, the other hazel.
As I shook her hand, my eyes narrowed. I’d seen this woman before. I was sure of it. Same height. Same curves. Same ginger hair. “Hi. Have we met?”
Azrael slapped my shoulder. “Dana’s been with us for a long time. She cared for Taiya when she was here.”
The memory of our friend Taiya’s time at Echo-10 stirred all the doubt and mistrust I feared would surface on this trip. That was the first time we realized how cunning Azrael could be. And how far he would go to keep us in the dark.
But that wasn’t it. I’d seen Dana much more recently…
My mind flashed back to the day Fury gave birth to Jett. I had thought the woman working in the nursery had heard me through the glass window.
I turned toward Azrael, my jaw slack. “Was she there the day Jett was born?”
Fury’s head jerked. “What?”
“Yes,” Azrael said.
“Why?” Fury asked. “Jett wasn’t born anywhere near here.”
Something caught Azrael’s eye behind me. I turned to see a man emerge from the hallway beyond the welcome desk. “Huffman, Dr. Rothwell is ready for you.”
“Rothwell?” I asked. “He’s still here?”
Azrael nodded. “He left a couple of years ago, but I recently called and asked if he’d be interested in coming out of retirement.”
“You mean, you paid him to come out of retirement,” I said.
Azrael shrugged. “Same thing.”
“And he knows about us?” I asked.
“More or less. Back before we added Doc to SF-12, there may have been an incident involving me and an RPG. Let’s just say Dr. Rothwell was introduced to the supernatural world and my ability to heal very quickly.”
Huffman chuckled. I, however, still wasn’t finding any of this humorous. Neither was Flint.
Azrael looked at Fury. “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to.”
“He’s right,” Flint said. “You don’t have—”
“I’m positive.” Fury nodded without breaking eye contact with Az.
“Great.” Dana gestured toward the hallway.
“I’ll wait out here with Flint,” Azrael said.
Flint started forward. “The hell you—”
Azrael flattened his hand against Flint’s chest. “Stay with me. You’ll give yourself a heart attack.”
Fury touched her father’s cheek. “I’ll be fine.”
It was clear Flint was having a hard time controlling his emotions. His jaw was set, and his eyes blinked with the speed of hummingbird wings. He put his hands on his hips and nodded.
Huffman offered me the case. “You should probably go back with her, so you know how to get them on and off.”
I reluctantly accepted it. “If this goes bad, I’m holding you responsible.”
“Man, I’m just the craftsman. I don’t want her to do this any more than you do.”
I looked at the nurse. “Do you think it’s safe for me to be with her?”
Dana already knew I was an angel, and if she was really the head nurse of Echo-10, she should know exactly what kind. As the Archangel of Death, people often died in my presence. The sick got sicker. Injuries worsened.
Death was literally in my job title.
Dana looked around the waiting room, probably to be sure it was safe to speak. “No matter how severe the reaction, it shouldn’t be fatal. As long as you’re willing to leave if I give the order, it’s not a problem.”
In other words, she would only give the order if the blood stone took a lethal turn.
“OK.”
“Fury, you ready?” Dana asked.
Fury nodded, then crossed the room and hugged her father one more time. “I’ll be fine,” she whispered only loud enough for him and my supernatural hearing to hear. “Don’t worry.”
Not worrying was a lost cause for all of us.
The exam room was spacious with an adjustable exam table, two straight-back blue chairs, a rolling stool, and a counter with cabinets and a sink.
I laid the case on the counter and moved out of the way.
Dana rolled a vital-signs monitor over beside the exam table. She slipped a small monitor onto Fury’s index finger, then slipped Fury’s other arm into a blood pressure cuff.
Dr. Ben Rothwell walked into the room. He looked mostly the same as I remembered, except now there was a little more salt than pepper in the rim of hair around his ebony head.
He smiled when he saw me. “Warren Parish.”
I was surprised, but I took a step forward and extended my hand. “Hello, Dr. Rothwell. I’m impressed you remember me.”
“How could I forget? Biggest scaredy-cat of needles I’ve ever seen in my forty years of practicing medicine.”
Fury laughed and shook her head. “Needles? Really?”
My mouth was gaping. “Aren’t there HIPAA laws preventing you from saying things like that?”
“Probably.” He laughed. “Can I tell the story?”
I rolled my eyes but nodded.
He sat down on the rolling stool and scooted toward Fury. “This guy cut his hand open on the rappel tower, but he’s afraid of needles so he didn’t come in for stitches. Instead, he poured the cut full of wood glue.”
“Hey, it worked,” I defended.
Dr. Rothwell chuckled. “Sure. Until it got infected, and you had to come in for a penicillin shot.” He leaned toward Fury. “I thought he might cry.”
She laughed.
“I didn’t,” I said.
“How have you been, Warren?” he asked.
I crossed my arms. “I enjoy not working here anymore.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Can’t believe Damon dragged me back. But hopefully, it won’t be for too long. Those fish in the canal won’t catch themselves.” He looked down at Fury. “Are we ready to do this, young lady?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You understand there’s no precedent for what we’re about to do, correct?”
She nodded.
“And that this is well outside my sphere of practice, yes?”
“Yes. I understand. Off the books.”
“And even with the protective coating, you know it will probably be painful.”
“I’ve done this before.” She touched her throat. “Without the protective coating.”
“All right.” He looked around the room. “Dana, let’s get a crash cart in here just to be safe.”
My body temp jumped about a thousand degrees. As Dana left the room, I pumped the front of my shirt’s collar to force air down it.
“It’s just a precaution,” Dr. Rothwell said, probably noting my pending hysteria.
A moment later, Dana returned with a rolling blue-and-white cart. She pushed it against the wall, then returned to the counter where she’d left the metal case from the vault. “Ready?” she asked.
Dr. Rothwell looked at Fury, and she nodded. Dana opened the case.
“No!” My sudden outburst shocked even me.
Everyone looked at me.
“Put it on me first.”
Dr. Rothwell’s head fell to the side. “It likely won’t have the same effect because you’re an—”
“We’ll at least be able to tell if it’s generating heat.” I unfastened my tactical watch, then held out my arm. “Me first.”
Dr. Rothwell looked at Fury, then back at me. “All right. Dana, give me the brachial cuff. It will probably fit Warren’s wrist.”
Dana removed a cuff from the box. She slowly pressed the button on the side, and it sprang open. Cradling it carefully with both hands, she offered it to the doctor.
I lowered my arm toward him and took a breath as he fastened it around my wrist.
Energy hit me like a tidal wave. My head swam, and I rocked back a step before catching myself on the wall. “Whoa.” I blinked to clear my head.
Fury touched my side. “Are you OK?”
I nodded and grabbed her backrest to steady myself. “It’s a rush.”
“May I?” Dr. Rothwell pushed his bifocals up onto the bridge of his nose. I lowered my arm for him to inspect it. “Dana, hand me the thermometer.” When he had it, he slid the tip under the cuff and looked at the screen by Fury.
We all watched the number climb.
99.7
101.1
101.4
101.6…
“Looks like it’s holding at 101.6,” he said after a moment.
“That’s the temperature of bathwater. I can do this,” Fury said confidently.
“How do you feel, Warren?” Dr. Rothwell asked.
“I feel the energy but very little heat.” I also knew I was an angel and spiritual things would affect me very differently than Fury.
I looked at her. So hopeful. So excited. And fear soared in my heart again. Even after everything she’d put me through, I’d die if anything happened to her.
With a sigh, I pressed the button on the side of the cuff. It popped open, and I handed it back to Dana. Then Dr. Rothwell examined my unmarked wrist.
“Trial run’s over.” Fury’s arm shot forward. “My turn!”
We both looked down at her hand. It was the wrist with the key to the Nulterra Gate etched into it. The “No” sign seemed even more ominous than it had before.
“Maybe we shouldn’t cover this up,” she said, rubbing her palm over it.
I shrugged. “Or we could cut off your hand, and I could take it to the Nulterra Gate and leave you safe at home.”
“Nice try.” She wrapped her fingers around her forearm. “Doc, think we can put it a little higher?”
“Should be fine.” He used his index finger to draw a line up the inside of her arm. “The radial artery runs throughout here.”
That made me feel even worse.
“Ready?” Dr. Rothwell asked.
“Ready,” she said.
I offered her my hand. She hesitated for a half second. Then her face softened, and she laced her fingers with mine. I was pretty sure the move was more for my benefit than hers, but I appreciated it.
I squeezed. She squeezed back.
Dana carefully handed the doctor the smaller cuff. He took it and swiveled around on his stool toward Fury’s free arm. “Here we go.” He looked up above his glasses for any last-minute change of heart.
There wasn’t one, but her hand tensed in mine.
He carefully folded the cuff around her wrist until…
Click!
Fury’s blood-chilling scream echoed through eternity.
Her instincts took over.
Red-faced and screaming, Fury’s arm flailed wildly as she tried to shake the cuff from her wrist. She kicked the front of the exam table, narrowly missing Dr. Rothwell’s face by inches. My knuckles cracked under the pressure of her fingertips.
But we had to get it off her.
Nurse Dana jumped for her arm and caught it, trapping it against her chest. I reached over her and grabbed the cuff, somehow managing to hit the button on the side. The cuff fell open and clanged to the floor.
Her bright-red skin sizzled and smoked and immediately bubbled with blisters. The sides of her wrist were black, nearly melted through to the bone.
She was still screaming and fighting against Dana.
“Fury,” I said sternly, leaning into her face. “Fury, look at me.”
My god, her eyes were horrified, stretched to the max, and weeping giant tears.
“Breathe with me.” I inhaled deep, my own breath shaky. She attempted a steady breath but cried out in pain again. “Breathe,” I said and exhaled slowly.
“It didn’t burn through to the artery,” Dr. Rothwell said, standing now to examine her wrist.
Fury tried to look, but I stayed in her face. “You focus on me.” I cupped her jaw in my free hand, forcing her head to stay level with mine. “Breathe.”
Her whole body trembled, and tears poured down her cheeks. But she inhaled and exhaled in time with me.
The door flew open. I looked back to see Flint with Azrael on his heels. Flint rushed the bed. “Allison?”
I moved out of his way.
“What happened?” Azrael asked.
“It didn’t work.” Dr. Rothwell sadly shook his head. “The vanadium didn’t protect her the way we hoped it would.”
“Damn it!” Huffman yelled out in the hall.
Dana was examining the burn. “Definitely a second-degree, maybe a third-degree burn.”
Dr. Rothwell scooted closer for a better look. “We need to take you to the burn center. This needs a skin graft.”
“No,” Fury said through clenched teeth. “It’s a supernatural thing. It will heal better than it looks. No burn center.”
The doctor looked frustrated, but we all knew there would be no arguing with Fury.
“Just wrap it and let me out of here,” she insisted. The tendons were still strained in her neck, but she finally seemed to have gotten control of herself.
Dr. Rothwell huffed. “Dana, debride the burn. Then wrap it in a silver-infused dressing.”
“Yes, sir.” She looked at Fury. “I’m letting go now, but keep it elevated.”
Fury nodded, holding her arm in the air. “It doesn’t even hurt that bad,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Right.” Dana had a knowing smile. “If there’s any decrease in pain, I’m sure it’s your nerve endings realizing they’re dead. That’s going to leave a major scar.”
Fury tilted her chin up, displaying the shiny band of scar tissue around her throat. “A scar that will look a lot like this.”
“It’s a wonder that one didn’t kill you,” Azrael said, behind the doctor.
Flint was shaking beside her. “Screw this.” He released Fury’s hand and started toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Fury asked, her chin still quivering from the shock of the adrenaline.
He turned and pointed at her. “I’m putting a stop to this shit right now.”
“What are you going to do?”
But Flint didn’t answer. He stormed out of the room. My eyes followed him. “Think we should go after him?”
Azrael shook his head. “No. Give him some space.”
“Arm up, Fury,” Dana instructed. She looked over at me. “Can you help her?”
With a nod, I retook my place at Fury’s side, holding her arm in the air. The smell of charred flesh turned my stomach, and I instinctively curled my arm around Fury’s shoulder. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight it as I pulled her against me.
Instead, she leaned her head against my chest. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
The next twenty minutes were brutal. Dana peeled the bubbled and charred skin away, rupturing watery blisters and exposing the tender pink dermis underneath. At one point, Fury buried her face in my shirt and cried again.
Even Azrael had to leave the room twice. When he came back in the last time, his face was as pale as the paper sheet on Fury’s bed. “I think I’m officially in agreement with your father. Warren should go alone.”
Fury looked up and sniffed. “This won’t make me quit.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Dana asked, still holding a strip of Fury’s skin with a pair of tweezers.
“Azrael, you wore them in Eden without a problem, correct?” Fury asked.
“That’s different. I’m—”
“Mortal, just like me.”
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“You said it yourself. Blood stone only burns on this side of the spirit line.” She looked up at me. “So I put it on right before we walk through the gate.”
Dr. Rothwell looked as stunned as we all were. “You were lucky this time, and the last time. These devices are designed to fit as close to your major arteries as possible.” He nodded to her arm. “This cuff was on you for less than thirty seconds. Any longer and it could have severed the radial artery.” He pointed to her neck. “Or your carotid artery.”
A chill rippled my spine.
“And do you see these blisters?” Dr. Rothwell turned her hand over. “This is your body losing water, making dehydration a very serious complication of burns.” He gestured toward the case. “If you wear all these pieces, you’re talking about third-degree burns on fifteen to twenty percent of your body. That could be as much as three liters of water lost in a day.”
“So I won’t wear all the pieces. Just the wrists, and maybe the neck,” she said.
Dr. Rothwell took both her hands. “Fury, this could kill you, and we haven’t even talked about infection.”
She looked around at all our worried faces. “I don’t want anyone to think I’m deluding myself as to what’s at stake here. I want everyone in here to know that I understand the risk, and I accept it.”
Azrael held up his hands. “It’s your life.”
“Thank you, Az.”
“Warren, can I talk to you outside a moment?” Azrael asked, backing toward the door.
Dana was applying a silver-tinted wrap around Fury’s wrist. I looked down at her. “You all right for a minute?”
She finally released my hand with an embarrassed smile. “Yes. Sorry. Kinda forgot I was clinging to you.”
I stretched my fingers then made a fist. “I’m worried I might need an X-ray.”
She laughed, and after what we’d just been through, it was one of the best sounds in the world.
“I’ll be right back.” I walked out into the hallway and spotted Az near the lobby. “What’s up?”
“Leave her here.”
I was stunned. “What?”
“You heard me. Leave her here.”
I threw my hand toward the room. “You just said—”
“I know what I said, but if she goes, she dies.” He took a step toward me. “Wait until tonight. Then I’ll drive you up to Virginia, and you can warp back to Eden and enter Nulterra through the spirit line.”
“The Council has forbidden it. Everyone agrees the risk is too great that way. Trust me, that was my first thought.”
“Then forget about Anya. Chances are good she’s already dead anyway. We can’t lose them both.”
I knew Azrael no longer believed Anya was dead. And now that I was sure of it, there was no way I could ignore her.
Besides, the Council had basically mandated that I go. None of us wanted to risk the damned being unleashed on Earth again, and that would always be a risk if Anya and the second key she held were left in the hands of demons.
“Maybe I can somehow force Fury to stay on the island once she’s opened the gate.”
Azrael laughed. “OK.”
“I don’t see another way. You know I have to go.”
He stared at the floor. “I’m worried.”
“You and me both.”