I’d seen a horse from Lara Cleary’s stables die from an infection when I was ten. It had banged its head on some rebar sticking out of the ground. Lara hadn’t noticed the infection until it was too late for antibiotics and the horse died within a few days. She cancelled my riding lessons for the next month, while she grieved the loss of her favorite mare.
"You need medicine," I said, placing my hand on his chest.
The dull thumping of a heart deep in his ribcage told me he was still hanging on. For how much longer, I couldn't be sure. But he needed antibiotics as soon as possible.
"Okay, handsome. Just hang on," I whispered.
Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I ran out of the shack and into the forest. I didn't even bother taking my usual roundabout route home. Using the most direct route through the forest, I ran to the only person I could think of who might be able to help me get those meds.
"Kate, open up," I shouted, pounding on her door.
She answered moments later, her long blonde hair pulled up into a ballerina bun on the top of her head. A soft blue blouse clung to her thin frame, like she was some sort of Hollywood model. I swallowed the jealously that dared to rear its ugly head at a moment like this. All my life, I'd been jealous of Kate's tiny lithe figure and her porcelain doll features. Now was not the time to rehash that.
"What's wrong? Is something wrong with Granny? And what happened to your face?" She stared at me with her perfectly shadowed eyes, her mascara thick and black.
I realized that Kate hadn't seen my purple and yellow bruise from Dirk's visit yet. While I normally told her the truth about something like that, there was no time to get into it. I told her the same story I told Granny.
"What? No, Granny's fine. And I fell when I was hiking and hit my jaw on a rock. It's fine."
I tried to think of the best way possible to break the news to Kate that I had a demon prisoner, but there really was no way to soften the blow. The truth had to come out.
"Listen, I need to get some antibiotics for my friend. He's sick."
Kate's eyes narrowed. "A boy?"
"Yes. I mean, no. Sort of." I shook my head. "He's a demon, Kate. I saved him the other day when he and his friend were attacked by another demon clan. And now he's dying from an infection. I need to help him."
Kate jumped back like I'd slapped her. Her mouth opened and closed in silent words. Then she blinked and came back to reality.
"Are you crazy?" Her voice was like a loud whisper. "Do you know what will happen if anyone finds out? You can't help a demon. That's against the law."
"I know." I felt a flush grow along my neck and into my cheeks. I wasn't stupid. I knew I was breaking the law. But I'd hoped to do it without anyone finding out.
"What if he hurts you?" Kate demanded. "Have you thought about that? Maybe it's better if you let him die. No one would have to know about this."
A frown pulled at the sides of my mouth. She didn't understand. No one would. I couldn't quite understand it myself. But I couldn't let Gabe die. I'd seen him out in those woods, looking so vulnerable. I knew he was more powerful than I could imagine. He could break me in two. But I couldn't let him die. Something inside me would die with him.
"Please, Kate. He's different. And I have to do this. With or without your help."
She looked at me like I was crazy, but nodded her head and let me inside. Hopefully, we'd been friends long enough that she knew I’d never put anyone in danger. If I had the slightest idea that Gabe would hurt one of my friends, I'd put the dagger in him myself.
"How are you planning on getting this medicine?" she asked. "The nearest doctor's office is forty minutes away. It's not like you can sneak into one of those."
"I know." I dropped my bag on her mom's elegant oak dining table.
Kate's mom had a story very similar to my own mother's. She'd moved into town when she was seven months pregnant with Kate - alone and confused. Her parents had kicked her out of the house when they found out she'd been knocked up. Kate was only a year older than me.
"Then what's the plan?" Kate put her hands on her hips and faced me. I knew that expression all too well. She was the realist who challenged all my crazy ideas. I kept her from getting a little too set in her ways and she kept me grounded.
"Easy." I put my fingers to my mouth and whistled.
Kate's old golden retriever came running out of the kitchen, her mouth pulled up into a doggy sized smile. She slid to a stop at my feet and sat on her rear looking up at me. Her tail swept the floor as she waited impatiently for a pat on the head. I didn't keep her waiting long. My fingers combed through the graying hair around her muzzle and floppy ears.
"We're going to tell Dr. Richt that Sadie hasn't been feeling well," I explained to Kate. "While you're in her office, I'll steal some penicillin. She won't even notice."
Dr. Richt was the large and small animal vet in Hanna. She cared for both the pets and the livestock of the women who made a living in our town. Her tiny clinic was attached to her home on Willow Street.
"You want me to lie for you?" Kate raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. "You know that might not work. I'm an awful liar."
It was true. Kate couldn't lie to save herself, but I had faith in my plan.
"It's not really a lie. You told me yourself that Sadie's been getting old and tired. She even has a limp on her right front paw. Have Dr. Richt check that out."
She waved her hand in the air in defeat. "Fine. I'll do this for you. But that demon needs to go, Lizzy. You can't keep a pet demon around here. He'll kill you or someone else the first chance he gets."
"I know."
As soon as Gabe was better, I'd let him go. No more shack and no more rope. I was done with this game.
"And don't worry. He's not in town. I've got him out in the woods in a little shelter."
Kate shook her head again and went to get Sadie's leash. Five minutes later, we were pulling up to Dr. Richt's clinic on Willow Street in Kate's old Chevy cavalier. We took the golden retriever into the waiting room and rung the bell that sat on the counter.
Dr. Richt's clinic consisted of a small waiting room with two metal folding chairs, a room for procedures, and a tiny office that was more like a large closet. She spent a lot of time out in the fields with the horses and cattle, so she didn't need a lot of space at her clinic.
"Hello Kate," Dr. Richt said as she opened her office door. "Did we have an appointment for today?"
"Um..." Kate looked at me.
I stared back at her, urging her to go on.
"Sadie hasn't been feeling so well, so I thought I'd stop by to see if you had a minute to look her over."
Breathing a sigh of relief, I scanned the lobby for signs of where Dr. Richt kept her medical supplies. There was a small wooden cabinet in the waiting room with two doors. I doubted that she'd keep something like penicillin so open to her clientele, so I kept looking. The door to her office was still slightly ajar behind her. Through the crack, I could see the hint of a metal cabinet with several doors. That had to be where she kept it.
"Well, I can't say no to my favorite client." Dr. Richt leaned down to scratch behind Sadie's ear.
They went to the back room to chart Sadie's weight and temperature. The door to the lobby was still open enough that I could hear Kate chattering away about various topics. Kate tended to become a chatterbox when nervous. It was another reason she had such a hard time lying.
“Sadie’s been limping on her leg lately,” Kate started. “I’m worried it’s hurting her.”
Dr. Richt sighed. “You know as well as I do that Sadie’s getting up there in age… But let’s do a checkup to see if we can ease her pain.”
Now was my chance. I pushed through to her office and went straight for the metal cabinet. Before I got there, a faded photo on her desk caught my eye. It was of a little boy with light blond hair and big blue eyes. Holding him was a woman that looked a lot like Dr. Richt, only younger. Same blond hair and nose.
I didn’t know much about Dr. Richt’s past. She came to Hanna long before I was born. I assumed the woman in the picture was her sister. If she had a little boy, she wouldn’t have been allowed to bring him to Hanna. It was another town law. Not even baby boys were allowed.
The elders of our community were concerned that the baby boys would grow up to be like the men many of them had run away from. As unfair as it sounded, you either had to give up your baby boy or leave town if you wanted to keep him.
I turned my attention back to the medicine cabinet. Inside were rows and rows of bottles and syringes. Pain killers and flea ointment. Heartworm meds and all other types of vaccines. I ran my hand along the little glass bottles until my eye caught the word I’d been searching for: penicillin.
There were five bottles of penicillin on the shelf. I pocketed one and grabbed one of the syringe packages and a needle. Hopefully this would work. If it didn't, I'd have to make the decision to either let him die or expose myself and take him to a hospital. Would a hospital even know how to treat someone like him?
I made it back into the lobby just seconds before Dr. Richt came through the door with Sadie and Kate in tow. She glanced at me, but I was studying the dog food samples she’d stacked on a small shelf near the office door. Play it cool, I told myself. Maybe she won't suspect.
"Sadie seems to be doing very well for her age," Dr. Richt said. "I'll get her some painkillers though. Those should help with the limp."
My breath caught in my lungs as Dr. Richt went to her office and opened the metal cabinet. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, shrugging at Kate's questioning look. Dr. Richt examined the contents of the cabinet. She reached in and then stopped, pulling her hand back suddenly.
Great. I'd been caught. I'd have to explain everything to Granny and there would go my college dreams.
"Maybe I'll give you some samples of a new painkiller, too," Dr. Richt called, pulling two bottles out of the cabinet and closing it.
The breath that I'd been holding began to burn, so I let it out slowly. She hadn't noticed. Now all I had to do was get back to Gabe and give him the shot. Hopefully, he wasn't already dead.
Chapter Eight
Kate trudged behind me in her dinky Puma running shoes, picking over branches and rocks like they were hot lava on the forest floor.
"I'm still not sure why you need me to come along," she complained. "What if he's loose and he hurts one of us?"
"I told you before, he's not getting out of those knots. Granny taught me how to tie those better than a navy man. He's too weak, anyway."
Kate had reluctantly agreed to accompany me to the shack with the medicines we'd stashed in our pockets. I would've liked to keep her out of it, but I might need help getting the needle into him without getting pummeled. Two facial bruises in one week would be cause for rumors.
"What does a demon look like anyway?" Kate asked. "Do they really look like us?"
I stopped walking and shrugged. "He looks like any guy off the street. Except more muscular and fit. The other demon clan have black eyes. They're easier to spot."
The shack was just over the next ridge and behind some trees. We crept in closer and that's when I heard the moaning. Someone was in pain. At least the demon hadn't died while I was gone.
"Come on, the sooner we get him the meds, the better."
Kate hid behind me as we walked into the shack. She gasped when she caught sight of Gabe, still trussed to the bed. His half-naked body glistened with sweat and he thrashed back in forth in a delirious fever. I rushed forward with a bottle of water and some ibuprofen to help bring down his temperature.
"Here, drink," I said.
He wasn't awake enough to take the meds, so I crawled onto the bed and cradled his head in my lap. Kate remained silent from the other side of the room. I was pretty sure she was judging me, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. Gabe’s perfect lips parted slightly in a weak breath, so I pushed a tablet onto his tongue and slowly dribbled the water into his mouth.
After a little cough, he tilted his head forward and drank from the bottle, as if he hadn't drunk anything in days. The rest of the tablets went down smoothly and once the bottle was finished, he laid his head back down on my lap and sighed.
I wasn't sure what to do, but somehow my fingers found their way to his thick hair and began softly stroking it. It's what I imagined someone would do for a sick person. I didn't know for sure. Granny wasn't exactly the nurturing type and usually left me alone when I was sick as a child.
His eyes opened for the tiniest moment, flashing green at me. I could've sworn I saw recognition and thanks in them, but they closed before I could know for sure. His hand moved across the blanket and covered my free hand, squeezing it tight.
The fiery touch of his hand on mine left me feeling dizzy and confused. I shouldn’t be here, comforting him. I should hate him. But I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. Instead, I continued stroking his hair until his chest rose and fell again in sleepy deep breaths and his hand fell back to the bed.
"He's beautiful," Kate said after I'd climbed out of the bed. "I mean, absolutely gorgeous. I didn't know demons could look like that."
I nodded. It’d been a surprise to me too.
“How long has he been here?” Kate looked around the shack, her eyes pausing at the pile of food I’d left for him.
“Only a couple days. I thought he’d be better today and I’d be able to let him go, but he got worse overnight.”
She looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “You sure seem comfortable with a guy you only met a couple days ago. Have you been meeting in the woods before now?”
“No,” I sputtered. “Well, I mean, I saw him one other time. But we never spoke. I just watched him fight the other demons.”
Both her eyebrows raised this time. “You’ve been watching demons fight? I thought they only roamed the southern woods.”
I avoided her eyes and fidgeted in place, but she already knew.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been going into the southern woods?” She threw a hand to her forehead and gasped. “How often do you go there?”
I squirmed and grimaced at her. “A few times.”
“A year? A month? What does that mean?”
There was no getting out of this question, so I sighed. “A week. I like to hike there a few times a week. It’s the only place I feel like I can get away.”
Kate gasped again and her mouth opened wide in shock. “Lizzy Redding, you are putting yourself in danger every time you go into those southern woods. You know the goddess can’t protect you there. It’s like spitting in the goddess’ face every time you go beyond our borders.”
“I don’t mean to insult her,” I said in a rush. “I just can’t seem to help myself. It’s like they’re calling to me. I love it out here. It feels like the home I never had.”
Kate snapped her mouth shut. She knew as well as I did that growing up under Granny’s thumb hadn’t been easy. Her mother had tried to step in to those roles that Granny didn’t think necessary to fill. When it was parent’s day at school, Kate’s mom had filled in for Granny. When it was my turn to bring treats on my birthday, Kate’s mom always had a fresh batch of cupcakes ready for me to take. Kate knew better than anyone that I never felt at home in Granny’s house.
A moan from Gabe brought us back to the present. He wasn’t thrashing anymore, but his skin still had the sickly pale look of someone in need of medical attention.
"Come on,” I said to Kate. “Let's get this shot over with."
I rolled up the sleeves of my t-shirt and pulled the syringe out of my pocket. Neither of us were very qualified to be Gabe's nurse, but I'd googled some directions on my phone before we got here. All I had to do was get the right amount of penicillin in the syringe and inject it into his arm. If all went well, he'd be back to normal by this time tomorrow.
"Give me the medicine." I held my hand out to Kate for the penicillin bottle.
> She was staring at Gabe, her eyes wide with fear. I knew that look. It was the look that always proceeded a lecture about following the rules.
"Are you sure you should do this?" Kate asked. Her eyes flickered between me and Gabe. "He's a demon. He doesn't deserve to live. You know that. The elders would never allow us to help him if they knew."
Gritting my teeth, I took a breath to calm the frustration that was beginning to build inside my head.
"I'm sure, Kate. He's not like the other demons. He's different."
I looked at Gabe lying restlessly on the bed. He hadn't tried to kill me the first day I saw him in the woods. And yesterday, we'd even had a nearly normal conversation. He wasn't going to hurt us.
Kate reluctantly held out the penicillin and I grabbed it, plunged the needle into the top, and drew out just enough into the syringe.
"Okay handsome, this is going to sting. Just thought I'd warn you."
I approached the bed and leaned over Gabe's elbow to reach his arm. If I'd learned anything from my doctor’s appointments as a kid, it was best to get the shot without over thinking it. So I sunk the needle into his arm and emptied the syringe.
Gabe trashed from the pain of the shot, nearly throwing me across the room before I could take the needle from his arm. He strained against the ropes, growling like he had done yesterday when we first met. The muscles along his neck bulged with the effort. He even opened his bloodshot eyes for a moment before sinking back down into the bed.
Kate flew through the door of the shack, pulling me alongside her. She slammed the door behind us and turned to face me with an angry scowl on her face.
"If that's different from other demons, I hope I never have to see another demon for the rest of my life," she panted. "I can't believe you didn't leave him here to die."
I shook my head at her. "You don't understand, Kate. He's sick, that's why he's acting like that. But he's had a chance to hurt me before and he didn't. I know he's different."
Heart of a Demon: A New Adult Paranormal Romance Page 5
