by J. E. Taylor
I glanced at the nearest house, and every single ghost was staring out at us. The escaped demon pulled the blades from each dead demon and whispered an incantation. The bodies crumbled to dust.
Unease still scraped over me. I needed to search these buildings for Alex, but I couldn’t leave CJ here alone. When the demon approached, I stiffened.
“I’m Phoebe,” she said and stuck out her hand.
I stared at the offering and then glanced up at her. I couldn’t bring myself to shake a demon’s hand, not even one Fate had sent. She eventually stuck it in her pocket.
“I’ve never seen someone shoot fire before,” she said with reverence. “I could sure use someone like you on my side.”
“I don’t think so.” My voice was cool, and I was sure my stare matched it.
Who the hell does she think she is? Phoebe crossed her arms.
I straightened at her thought and narrowed my eyes, wondering if I should play my hand. The scowl on her face clinched my decision. “I’m Lucifer’s daughter. And I’m looking for him.”
Her eyes widened in fear, and she stumbled backwards like I was the devil himself and not his daughter. Her entire body trembled, and her eyes darted around, likely looking for an escape. Her mannerisms didn’t convey someone working for that bastard; rather the opposite.
“He has something that belongs to me, and I want it back,” I growled. “Where is he?”
Her laugh was too high, and she took another step back.
“Is Lucifer here?” I asked a little softer and waved at the buildings.
Her head shook back and forth in quick succession. “I would have never set foot on this land if he was here.”
“But you’re a demon.”
“I escaped for a reason,” she said. “He would drag me back kicking and screaming and then do to me what he made me do to so many.” Her voice trembled with honest terror.
It flowed from her in waves that tightened my throat. Deep down where my never-failing intuition lived, I believed her. Now that all the demons were gone, I did not feel that dark presence overshadowing the land. Only the restlessness of the spirits inside the buildings.
“Go. Get out of here before I raze you and this entire village to cinders.” I pointed, and she didn’t second-guess my orders. She ran just as fast as she had in the subway tunnel.
I turned back to CJ and pulled out the phone. When Valerie didn’t answer her phone, I tried to get CJ up onto his feet. His dead weight was as onerous as Tom’s had been, but at least this Ryan was breathing.
“Damn it,” I muttered. The swear felt so foreign on my lips. But CJ needed help. Now. I pulled out his phone and dialed nine-one-one.
When the dispatcher answered, I took a deep breath.
“What’s the nature of your emergency?”
“My uncle was attacked by some sort of dog out at the Farm Colony. He’s unconscious and his arm is broken, and the thing took a bite out of it.”
“Your uncle has been bitten by a wild dog?”
“Yes. I’ve tried to set the bone and splint it and have wrapped the wound with a shirt I had in my backpack.”
“When did he lose consciousness?”
“He hit his head on the pavement when he was knocked down and hasn’t come to since.” In the distance, I heard sirens.
“What’s his name, honey?” the dispatcher asked.
I opened my mouth to tell her and then glanced around. “Chris Williams,” I said. Neither of us needed the publicity which would come with CJ Ryan being taken to an emergency room. I pried his wallet from his back pocket, dropped it into the pocket with the potion bag, and then shifted to sit near CJ’s head. Closing my eyes, I built a wall of protection around us.
The air shimmered around us.
“The EMTs will be there in a few minutes. They are parked as close to the grounds as possible. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until they get there?”
“No, ma’am. I need to try to reach my aunt,” I said, and some of my nerves came through on the line.
“It’s okay. We can contact your aunt for you if you’d like?”
“Thank you, but I think she would prefer hearing what happened to her husband from me rather than a stranger. But if you just want to stay on the line with me, that would be okay,” I said and closed my eyes. CJ had scanned prior structures today, and I concentrated on doing the same to the buildings around us.
I sensed nothing. No living beings, anyway. I went deeper and still found nothing.
Frustration roared in my blood. I was tempted to light up all three buildings with angel fire just to be sure, but Phoebe’s terrified face kept flashing before me. That was not manufactured fright.
I shook my head slowly and opened my eyes. If Lucifer were here, scrubbing the place would kill Alex. If Lucifer were here, something else would have attacked us. I was sure of it. But nothing came. I found myself begrudgingly believing my intuition. That wayward demon had been honest with me. Lucifer was not here at this desolate, ghost-ridden place.
When the ambulance technicians breached the clearing with a stretcher, I let my protection barrier fall and followed them out of the woods and into the back of the ambulance despite the strange looks I kept getting.
“Cosplay,” I finally said, and heat bloomed in my cheeks. “Ghost hunting and all.” I shrugged. “He refused to wear the Indiana Jones outfit I got him.”
Their soft chuckles and evaporation of suspicion put me at ease.
The technician checked CJ’s vitals and plugged them into a pad before he pulled off my make-shift bandages. “Definitely broken.” He winced at the bite. “I’ve never seen a dog bite like this,” he muttered and bandaged it enough to staunch the bleeding. After he looked closer at CJ’s temple, he glanced at me. “Did you do this?” He pointed to the cauterized wound.
It didn’t look quite as bad as the open gash had, but it was still gnarly.
I shrugged. “He was bleeding, and that was something I knew how to fix.”
“Were you trained in doing this?” he asked and applied burn salve to the wound. There was an edge to his voice.
“No. Why?”
“Because it was done as neatly as a professional.” He glanced at me. “And you don’t look old enough to have taken one EMT course, never mind the years this kind of precision requires.” This time his voice carried envy and I understood the edge. He considered himself one of the best in the area, and he would have never done as clean of a job as I had.
“I’ve had some practice.” I waved at CJ. “How is he overall?”
“His vitals are good, but he did take quite the hit in the head, so I’m not sure if he’ll wake up tonight. You did a great job with the splint and the tourniquet, so I think you may have saved him some nerve damage, but he lost a pretty big chunk of flesh, so I’m not sure whether that will have any lasting effects. He was lucky it was his forearm and not his hand.” He nodded towards my shoulder. “I probably should look at that.”
I glanced at the torn fabric of my leather jacket and frowned. “I’m okay.”
“Take off the jacket,” he said.
As uncomfortable as I was, I did as he asked and winced as I pulled the leather off my left shoulder.
He took a quick look. “Can you move your shirt so I can clean the cuts for you?” he asked. “They aren’t deep, but they should be cleaned so you don’t get an infection.”
I unthreaded my arm from the shirt and pulled it so he could work on the wounds. The cleaning agent he used stung when he swabbed the cuts, and then he put some small bandages on them.
“Your leather jacket saved you from the same type of damage as your uncle,” he said as he put the last bandage on. “You can put your shirt back on.”
I threaded my arm back into my shirt then slipped it into my leather jacket and sat back. I pulled CJ’s phone from my pocket and dialed Valerie.
“Hello?” she said, out of breath.
“Aunt Val?” I asked ove
r the sirens.
“What’s that in the background?”
“There’s been an accident,” I started, and the immediate panic from the other side of the line filled me. “No one died,” I added quickly. “It’s just that Uncle CJ’s been knocked out. He got attacked by a… wild dog.”
“Where are they taking him?”
“Where are we going?” I asked the tech.
“Staten Island University Hospital in Midland Beach area.”
“I heard him. We will be down there in a couple hours. Just hang tight and keep him safe.”
“I will. See you when you get here.” I hung up the phone and texted her the name I used for him. “My aunt will be here in a couple of hours.”
“Can you give me a little information before we get to the emergency room?”
I nodded.
“His name?”
“Chris Williams,” I said.
“And where are you from?”
“New Hampshire.” I couldn’t remember the name of the town the cottage was in, but I did remember the name of the town the airfield was in. “Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.”
“Do you know if he has insurance?”
“I really don’t know.” I shifted in the seat.
The technician checked his pockets. “He isn’t carrying a wallet.”
I bit my lower lip and shrugged like I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. But the weight of his wallet lay against my side along with one of the potion bombs in my pocket. Thankfully he hadn’t said anything about the gun tucked into the holder on my belt in the back. At least not yet.
He sat back and stared at me. “Are those knives real?” he asked and pointed to the sheaths on my thighs.
“Yes. I couldn’t pull Tomb Raider off without real blades,” I said and rolled my eyes.
“And your uncle didn’t have a problem with that?” He checked CJ’s pulse again.
“He wasn’t all that pleased,” I mumbled and tried to smile. “A lot of good they did against the wild dogs. I completely forgot I had them.”
He smiled. “Then how’d you get rid of the one that bit your shoulder?”
“I elbowed it in the ribs as hard as I could. I guess I spooked him, and then I ran towards the one attacking my uncle screaming like a wild child.”
He pressed his lips together to stop the smile, but it didn’t work. “I’m impressed. Running off wild dogs and cauterization skills. If you were a few years older, I would ask you out on a date.”
The heat that encompassed my face was born of pure embarrassment, and I didn’t know how to respond except to look at the floor and pray CJ would wake up and save me from this awkwardness.
The ambulance pulled to a stop in front of the emergency room, and we were shuffled inside. They tried to tell me to wait in the waiting room, and I influenced their minds to let me stay in the same room.
When the nurse shoved me paperwork allowing treatment, I glanced it over and then looked up at her.
“I’m not authorizing you to do anything beyond dressing his wounds and setting his broken arm.” I handed the clipboard back to her. “His wife will be here in a couple of hours. Unless you are telling me that he is in mortal danger, then I would prefer to wait for her.”
“The doctor won’t know unless we do a CT scan.” She shoved the forms back at me.
“Can I be in the room with him?” I asked with my pen poised over the paper.
“No.”
I put the pen back under the clip and handed her the board. “Then the answer is not until my aunt arrives. I am only relaying what my aunt requested.”
Her lips pressed together in aggravation.
“Dress his wounds and set his broken arm, and then she will take a look at him when she arrives.” I crossed my arms. “My aunt is a doctor,” I added. “Besides, I’m not eighteen. I can’t authorize care.”
Her gaze narrowed at me. “The doctor will be in to take a look at him soon.” She marched out of the room in a huff.
I lowered into the chair next to the bed and stared at CJ. Nothing came from his mind. I shifted uncomfortably.
I fished out his wallet, pulled out the wad of cash tucked inside, and zipped it into an interior pocket of my coat. I stuffed the wallet back and pulled out his phone, then sent a quick text to Valerie about when she would arrive.
The phone rang, and I answered it.
“We are less than ten minutes from landing and there is a car waiting, so a half hour at the latest. Is he okay?”
“Still unconscious and they wanted to do a bunch of tests. I didn’t sign the release for them to do a CT scan. Is that okay?”
“I’ll check him when I get there,” she said. “If my presence doesn’t wake him, then we will have to do some tests.”
The strain in her voice left me shivering with guilt. I should have seen this coming or been faster. I wiped my face, trying not to let this failure drag me down farther into despair, but I couldn’t help it. Every doubt magnified. Without CJ, I wasn’t sure I could do this, but I had to.
“You’ll be fine for another thirty minutes?”
“Yes, but when you get here, I need to go.”
“I’ll have the car wait for you and bring you over to the apartment where everyone else is going.”
“Okay. See you soon.” I disconnected the call.
I had no intention of going to the apartment. I still had one more place on the list, and while I waited, I researched Hudson River State Hospital using CJ’s phone. It looked like the place where my worst nightmares could come to life. It seemed even worse than Willard Asylum had been. I shivered and took notes on the address and places nearby because I did not want to be recognized by anyone, much less a cab driver dropping me off at the door of a place that ended up being torched.
Chapter 11
Valerie stepped into the room a half an hour later as the nurse was taking CJ’s vitals. “How is my husband?” she asked crossing and taking his hand.
The nurse narrowed her gaze at Valerie and then glanced at CJ, studying him closer. Her eyes widened.
“His name isn’t Chris Williams, is it?” she said softly. She had already recognized them. Valerie had been on television almost as much as CJ, and her presence made all the wheels in the nurse’s mind click.
“He is Chris Williams,” I said and pushed my influence on the nurse harder than I intended.
The nurse stumbled back a step, and Valerie glared a warning at me.
“How is he?” she asked again, and the nurse blinked and glanced at her chart.
“His right ulna and radius are fractured, and a chunk of flesh was torn out of his forearm. As you can see, we have a partial splint to immobilize his arm so the open wound can be addressed.” She waved at CJ still out on the bed.
“What about the bandage on his head?”
The nurse looked at me. “Your niece cauterized his head wound in the field. I’ll go get the doctor.” She turned and left the room.
Valerie waited until the nurse was out of sight and then leaned over and pressed a kiss on CJ’s forehead. The familiar light danced over him, and his jaw tightened, showing the first sign of a reaction since he fell.
I took that as my cue and handed CJ’s wallet and phone over to Valerie. “I took the cash in his wallet in case I needed a cab.” I pulled it out and offered it to her.
She waved my hand away. “Keep it. The car is waiting out front for you. We’ll see you back at the apartment once we are released,” she said softly as she watched for motion in the door.
I glanced back at CJ before I stepped out of the room. Color had returned to his cheeks, but I would bet that if they removed the bandage on his head, the burn mark would still be there. Valerie’s healing power didn’t penetrate injuries that my fire caused, just like her powers didn’t heal me. It seemed my fire-born abilities and their results couldn’t be wiped away with pure angel magic.
I turned and headed out of the emergency room bay doors. The t
own car sat idling in a parking space, and I crossed to it. The driver opened the back door for me and waved me inside.
“Instead of taking me to the apartment, can you take me to Marist College in Poughkeepsie?” I asked.
“Mrs. Ryan had strict instructions…” he started.
“Take me to Poughkeepsie,” I said softly and pushed with my mind.
“As you wish,” he said with a smile as he helped me in the vehicle and closed the door behind me.
Two hours later, the driver pulled into the college campus and stopped in the parking lot, his headlights illuminating a small piece of it.
I pulled out a fifty from the cash in my pocket and handed it to him. “Thank you. When you get back, you can let the Ryans know where you dropped me.” I stepped out of the car and waited until it pulled out of sight before I started to walk towards the Home Depot sign I had seen before we pulled into the campus. The grounds of Hudson River State Hospital were beyond the massive construction store, and if it were too close, I couldn’t see this being a place that Lucifer would camp out in.
As I crossed the street and took to the narrow sidewalk, the hair on my arms rose and my skin itched. I knew I should find a hotel room and rest for the night, but I wanted to do some reconnaissance on the layout of the state hospital campus before I went barreling in.
The closer I got to the nearest building, the more my chest tightened. I crouched behind an overgrown bush and looked between three structures closest to the Home Depot parking lot. A high-rise building, a smaller building next to the high-rise, and a concrete monstrosity.
According to the research I had done at the hospital, there was much more to this asylum than just these three buildings, but they were the first of the sprawling campus and the closest to civilization.
The wind shifted, and all I could smell was wet, burnt wood and death. I covered my mouth, and again second-guessed my wisdom of being here alone.
Movement out of the corner of my eye pulled my attention towards the concrete building. A rat scurried across a patch of whitened concrete and into a hole in the wall. I suppressed a shiver and looked back at the large building. It was too close to civilization. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I couldn’t read any of the buildings here so I pushed my mind farther, but I couldn’t sense anything in the space except an ominous cloud that wouldn’t allow me to penetrate it.
