A Demon Does It Better

by Linda Wisdom

  “You monster,” she hissed, digging her fingers into the desktop. “You have no business pretending to heal anyone.” All she knew was that she wanted out of there and to find Nurse Garrish. The dragon-shifter would know exactly what to do. Then Lili could contact Eurydice and relate what she just heard. She even half stood, prepared to do just that.

  “You thought to stop me, but I have many friends who believe the same as I do.” His words stopped her action. “I know what you’ve done with Patient 1172, Dr. Carter. And I truly must thank you. The two of you have provided a connection that will give me so much power that no one will be able to stop me.” His formerly faded eyes glinted with a mania that flat-out frightened her.

  Lili felt what she saw in the asylum wasn’t true insanity. What she saw before her was much worse. All she could think about was getting out of there.

  Dr. Mortimer tsked under his tongue as he shook his head. “I had so hoped we could work together, my dear. At least I know you will be a great use to me.”

  “What do you—?” She started to turn when a large figure loomed over her. Before she could throw up any shields, she felt a blinding pain shoot through her head.

  Then she felt nothing at all.

  Chapter 20

  “Lili. Lili!”

  So much pain. Not just her in her head, but all through her body, as if someone had wrung her out like a wet washcloth.

  “Damn it, Lili, open your eyes!”

  The familiar male voice pounded all throughout her brain.

  After what felt like days, she managed to roll over onto her side and vomit up black bile.

  “Oh, baby.” Hands stroked the side of her face, and she was nestled against cold skin.

  “Jared?” she croaked. She tried a spell to cleanse her mouth, but nothing happened. She looked down and frowned at the scratchy cotton pants and top she wore instead of the scrubs and lab coat she’d had on earlier. She didn’t even want to think who undressed her.

  “The only magick allowed in here is his.” He picked up her hands and rubbed them briskly to warm the ice-cold feeling.

  Lili didn’t want to open her eyes. But it hurt just as much to keep them closed. She was finally able to keep her eyelids at half-mast.

  It was her nightmare come to life.

  A long table, covered with burners, potion bottles, and beakers. A wall covered with odd-looking runes that pulsed red with deadly intention. But it was the smell that had her ready to throw up whatever contents were left in her stomach.

  Olde magick. Death. Fatal ingredients meant to damage the mind and body beyond repair. The air was noxious with it.

  “Why did the shadows do this to you?” Her throat was raw from the bile that had escaped her stomach. “They brought you back only to be tortured again?”

  “They brought me back, so I’d be here for you,” he assured her with a small smile. He gently brought her onto his lap, stroking her tangled hair.

  Lili grimaced as she searched her mind for what happened. “I was in Dr. Mortimer’s office. He said he’d hoped I’d feel the same way he did about the blood spells. But he also said that our combined blood held a lot of power. He,” she caught her breath, “he did something to Sera and the others. They’re in the past. Sera’s in Whitechapel in the 1880s. Jared, Dr. Mortimer was Jack the Ripper.” She fanned her palm against his bare chest, seeking the comfort of his body against hers. “And so many other serial killers in the past. He used everyone’s blood down here, along with others, to return to other eras. He’s a healer, yet he has distorted his power to kill.” She felt the acid sickness rise up again, but she managed to keep it under control.

  “There is nothing distorted about what I did, Dr. Carter.”

  Jared hissed a curse under his breath and kept her tight against him.

  Lili raised her head slowly, wishing she could dial down the pain to a just kill me now level.

  Dr. Mortimer stood in a doorway she recognized as a portal. The breeze of the unknown flared his robes around his legs, and she inhaled the rancid reek of the long ago colliding with the present.

  The blood spells allowed him to use the portal in ways not allowed.

  What chilled her blood were the grinning ogres standing on either side of her.

  How had Turtifo and Coing escaped the Hellion Guard? She knew they had been taken into custody.

  “No, they are not the ones you think.” The wizard easily read her thoughts. “Sismin and Zeno are their brothers. I value loyalty.” He bestowed a smile on each before turning a frown in her direction. “And punish those who go against me.”

  “I didn’t go against you,” she argued. “I didn’t believe in what you’re doing.”

  “No matter.” He waved a dismissive hand. “It merely means I have to speed up my plans. Once I have finished here this night, I will go to another time and begin again. You and your demon lover’s blood will enable me to go wherever I wish.” He smiled benignly up on her as a father would look upon a beloved daughter.

  Lili wanted to gag. Her fingers tingled, but she knew she couldn’t bring any magick up to help them.

  Memories of her mother flooded her mind. Her smile, the way she’d touch Lili’s hair and drop a kiss on her brow.

  You will always have me with you, my beloved child. Your gifts are strong and will be there for you. Never forget you also have an agile mind that can save you.

  Lili tamped down the nausea that kept threatening to erupt.

  “Why do you think I kept Patient 1172 for so long?” the wizard went on. “I knew from the moment I obtained him he was a prime specimen, holding a great deal of demon magick. Persuading his mother was very easy. The few times she visited him showed her nothing more than a disgusting animal.”

  Jared stiffened. “My mother was here?” he snarled. “You bastard.” His eyes started to glow obsidian then suddenly flattened as pain racked his body.

  “No!” Lili threw her arms around him as if able to stop the shocks battering him. “Stop it!” she ordered.

  “He must learn.” But Dr. Mortimer lowered his hand, the sparks slowly disappearing from his fingertips. “I first thought of taking the two of you with me, keeping you alive, and taking your blood only when I required it. But I sense that could prove to be a problem, since I fear it would not be easy to keep the two of you under my control. No, it would be easier to drain you here and once I am in a new place, I will work on finding new patients.” He gestured to the two ogres, who moved toward them.

  “We can’t fight them without magick,” Jared whispered in her ear.

  She stared at the two tables with straps. She knew if they didn’t do something fast, they’d both be restrained there and out of blood in minutes.

  “No, but we can slow them down a little.” She closed her eyes, calling on an inner calm instead of the shrieking she wanted to do. “We need to create a diversion. Fight them and get to the beakers. Break them, and let loose whatever’s inside them.”

  “It could kill us.”

  “He plans to do that anyway, but it’s better than his surviving to create more death.” She swallowed the rock in her throat. “I love you.”

  Jared kissed her hard and fast even as one of the ogres dragged him away. He fought the creature as he was hauled over to one of the tables. Lili glared at the other ogre who grabbed her.

  “No more!” She bent her head and bit down hard. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined ogres tasted so bad! I will so need shots for this!

  She broke for freedom the second he roared and twisted away from her. Jared took advantage and leveled his elbow against the ogre’s testicles.

  Witch and demon ran for the table.

  “No!” Dr. Mortimer screamed as Lili reached the table and swept her arm across the top, shattering the glass and sending the contents spilling everywhere. She chose a vial at random and threw it at the wall, watching as the runes that covered it burst into flame as the liquid struck them. She wrinkled her nose as so
me of the noxious liquids stung her nostrils and danced away from the ogre trying to catch her. She felt her power return once the runes dissolved.

  She turned and watched the wizard gather up the scrolls and return to the portal.

  “Jared! He can’t leave!”

  She couldn’t concentrate on him and his safety until she put the ogre down. She doubted a simple sleep charm would work on the lumbering creature, but her healing nature wouldn’t allow her to destroy him, either.

  “Bring a Fooz to me, Bring him fast. Bring him to last. Bring him now!” she shouted, throwing everything she had at the ogre, who was instantly engulfed in a glob of green jellied Fooz. Sismin—or was it Zeno?—flailed his fleshy arms around, but he was well and truly trapped. She spun around and did the same to the other one. Lili breathed a sigh of relief as Jared managed to escape the same fate, then felt her heart fall to her feet as the demon raced toward Dr. Mortimer, who was inching his way back to the portal. “Jared, no!” She saw that the dark interior and fetid air coming from the doorway beckoned to whoever would enter first. She knew if Jared fell through, she would never find him again. And she had no way of closing it.

  The wizard smiled at her with yellowed teeth as he grasped Jared’s neck as if ready to wring it. Jared clawed at his hands to no avail as an iron collar suddenly appeared around his neck. He gasped as his air was cut off.

  “Good-bye, Dr. Carter.” Dr. Mortimer started to drag him into the portal.

  “No!” Lili’s mind scrambled with possibilities. “Floor so slick!” She watched as an oily substance covered the floor by the portal. Jared wrenched around, in a way that she knew had to hurt him badly, as the wizard went one way and he went the other. She ran closer to him to grab his arm and pull him away, while Dr. Mortimer lost his balance. They stared as the portal opening suddenly changed in color to vivid reds and oranges. He twisted around, obviously seeing something they couldn’t, and released an ear-shattering scream as he fell backward with arms flailing in hopes of keeping his equilibrium. Flames whooshed into the room, instantly turning the tables and ogres to ash.

  Lili managed to release the collar from Jared’s throat and hugged him tightly. She shook her head.

  “Jared.” She suddenly laughed as she ran her hands over his chest. “Look.”

  He followed her gaze to see his skin unmarked.

  Both brands marking him mentally ill and dangerous and demon dangerous to boot were gone.

  Lili looked at her demon and smiled that he would forever be free of his cell.

  Jared threaded his fingers through her hair and dipped his head until their lips barely touched.

  “I always knew you did great work, Doc.”

  ***

  “I gather you didn’t need our help after all.”

  Lili gasped and quickly rearranged her clothing that Jared had been only too happy to disarrange. She almost lost her balance until he steadied her with his hands as he gracefully jumped to his feet.

  “Hello.” She winced at her inane greeting to Eurydice, Nurse Garrish, Deisphe, and a woman wearing a black pin-striped pantsuit that looked very Armani. Lili was guiltily aware the ragged pants and top they’d dressed her in was spotted with various smelly liquids from the beakers. She gestured back at the portal opening that was now lifeless. “He fell through, and I don’t know where he went.”

  The woman smiled. “I would not worry, Dr. Carter. Hieronymus Mortimer is exactly where he should be.”

  “Mother?” Jared stepped away from Lili and moved toward the woman.

  Lili mouthed the word as she turned to the others. “He thought he could use our combined blood to further his power. That’s how he’s moved through the ages and killed people.” Breath was pushed out of her lungs as Deisphe ran forward and hugged her. “Air. I need to breathe,” she gasped with a laugh.

  “You smell really bad.” The Wereleopard wrinkled her nose.

  “That can easily be taken care of.” Eurydice told her with a smile. She walked around Lili in a tight circle, sending out magick, and by the time she finished, Lili’s hair was in its usual high ponytail and she was garbed in a pair of burgundy silk pants and a lighter burgundy blouse. She paused to admire the gray python peep-toe pumps and was grateful she no longer smelled like bad magick.

  “No wonder Jazz and Thea love their shopping. I need to take more lessons from them.” She turned to see that Jared’s mother had done the same with him. And felt her heart skip a few beats as she watched her lover hug the woman who birthed him. He looked freer than she had ever seen him, even during their intimate moments. She also felt a bit of fear that he might walk away from her and not look back.

  “You’ve made Sinsia very happy by keeping her son safe.” Eurydice touched her arm. “She had no idea Hieronymus had lied to her or what he had been doing to him. He is now in the hands of her clan, who will appropriately deal with him.”

  Lili shivered at the idea of what appropriate handling would be. Knowing demonkind, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.

  She still felt a lump in her stomach and the urge to leave. A long hot shower and a good cry seemed like a good idea.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly. “Thank you for believing in me, for letting me come here, for, well, for everything.” She blinked back tears. “I’m only sorry I couldn’t do anything for Sera and the others.”

  “The Hellion Guard is going to do what they can to find them,” the elder witch assured her, taking her arm and leading her toward the door.

  That was when Lili realized they were down in the asylum. She glanced at the iron doors.

  “I want them free and placed in rooms that offer light and staff members who will provide better treatment. With Dr. Mortimer dead, their brands should have disappeared the way Jared’s did.”

  Nurse Garrish and Deisphe shared a look and nodded.

  “Already taken care of, babe,” the Were told her. “Panabell told us where you were. Cleo had followed you to Dr. Mortimer’s office, and once she realized you were taken from there, obviously through a hidden panel in his office, she found me, and I went to Nurse Garrish.”

  “Hieronymus set strong locks on the door to this room, but many of us are better at magick than he is,” the dragon-shifter said without a hint of conceit. “Otherwise, fire can be very satisfying if someone doesn’t welcome our presence.” She smiled, releasing a hint of sulfur.

  Lili looked at the trio and wanted to laugh. “You three are such a welcome sight to me.”

  “Lili.” Jared reached her and grasped her arm, pulling her around to face him. His mother stood just behind him, watching Lili with sharp eyes.

  “So you are the witch who captured my son’s heart,” Sinsia said with a small smile.

  Lili knew she was under strong scrutiny and didn’t back down. “As he has mine.”

  The demon looped her arm through her son’s. “Yes, I am sure you feel strongly about him now, but things happen. For now, my son returns with me where he belongs.” Her teeth showed a sharp edge with her smile.

  Lili stared at Jared, who looked as stunned as she felt. She didn’t have a chance to say a word as Sinsia circled her hand around her body and Jared’s. A moment later, they were gone in a burst of blue fire.

  “No!” Lili stepped forward, but Eurydice pulled her back. She rounded on the Head Witch. “How could you let her do that?” She hated the demon for taking away Jared and Eurydice for the sympathy in her dark green eyes.

  “It is the way of the demons,” she said quietly. “Jared was diagnosed as dangerously ill and taken from her. It was only her intervention that ensured he would not be destroyed back then. She wants time with him.”

  “She took him from me!” Her voice raised in pitch. “We claimed each other.”

  Eurydice stilled at the pronouncement. “Just as Maggie and Declan did,” she sighed. She draped an arm around Lili’s shoulder and guided her to the stairs. “For now, think about what the hospital needs—a new doctor in charge.
”

  Lili’s feet lagged as they ascended the stone stairs.

  “Sometimes the doctor needs something too,” she murmured, wishing for a mega-amnesia spell. But she doubted even that would help her forget about the man she loved with all of her heart.

  Epilogue

  “Are you sure about this?” Director of Nursing Garrish faced Lili across the desk.

  “Absolutely.”

  Lili hadn’t really wanted the post as head of the hospital, but she knew leadership was needed, and Eurydice impressed upon her that she was their best bet. Lili agreed to her suggestion only as long as she worked in the trenches, so to speak.

  She smiled at the dragon-shifter, who had turned out to be a good friend. While Arimentha had a harsh side to her personality, she also had the detail-oriented mind Lili didn’t. In other words, she reveled in paperwork and dealing with all the everyday details that Lili had but to look at to develop a nasty rash.

  “The head of a hospital and director of nursing normally do not work together,” Nurse Garrish told her.

  “And that is why they should now. We’ll break new ground,” Lili told her with sincere enthusiasm. “I don’t want to sit behind a desk all day when I can help patients. I even hate this office, so if you want it, it’s yours.” She looked around Dr. Mortimer’s former stronghold. She wasted no time dispensing with the furniture, and while clearing it out, discovered well-crafted illusion spells that hid books and scrolls dealing with dark charms. She handed them over to The Librarian, who vowed to keep them safe. She kept scented stones everywhere to banish the scent of tobacco and the musty aroma that permeated the office. Pulling down the heavy velvet drapes revealed a set of tall windows that allowed in much-needed light.

  “Excuse me, cat here who refuses to give up her new space!” Cleo yowled from a corner where a luxurious silk-cushioned couch was set up for her comfort.

  Nurse Garrish sighed. “The cat may stay and, thank you, I could use a larger office.”