The Demon's Game (3 page)

“Doesn’t your wife ever feed you? Or is she one of
those ‘woman power’ types who thinks the husband should cook?”

I nearly choked and had to swallow carefully before
laughing. “She’s definitely not a feminist. She’s not a housewife, either, and
I don’t expect her to cook. The only one in the entire house who has an ounce
of cooking talent is Ron. Did I show you the pictures of the boys?” I asked.

“Only three times,” she laughed.

“Sorry.” I didn’t mean to waste their time, as these
nurses were ridiculously busy.

“It’s okay. Men who care about their kids are sexy.”

From a biological standpoint, that made a lot of
sense. The nurse started to say something else when John walked in.

Had I met the man in regular clothes, I would not
have assumed he was a doctor. He was thirty-two, six-feet tall, and about as
posh as they came. John was clean shaven with medium brown hair, clear blue
eyes, and a sharp angular jaw. Although he moved to America when he was only
ten, he still had a distinct English accent.

John was one of the two emergency medicine doctors
besides me who worked at this hospital. By some odd coincidence, he was also my
next-door neighbor. 

“Hey, John. How’s Drake?” I asked. As much as I told
Ron to be careful with his magic, it pained me to know there was a little boy
who was suffering. I knew the first time John told me about his son’s cancer
that I would heal him the moment I met the child.

 “He’s doing well today, thanks. Stacy took him and
your boys to school. I told her to go ahead and pick them up, but said I would
check with you. She said your brother brought Ron and Hail over, so I assumed
they didn’t have a ride home.”

I sighed, wondering if I was actually competent
enough to last on my own damn home world. “Sorry. It’s been so long since I was
in school; I just assumed there would be a bus.”

He laughed. “There are about ten busses and only one
goes by the apartments. Not very good odds. But don’t worry about it. Drake
never takes the bus, so she wouldn’t mind at all taking Ron and Hail and picking
them all up. Is your wife going to be home after school?”

Divina always found something to keep herself busy
with. Being mysterious, powerful, and manipulative helped her to feel like the
goddess she needed to be, which meant she could be more of a mother to the boys
whenever she was home, but it also meant she wasn’t at home a whole lot.

“My brother will be. I really appreciate it.” That
was the last moment of peace before all hell broke loose.

There was a major car accident on the highway and patients
were spilling in as fast as their blood was spilling out. People with broken
arms and major injuries were sitting in the waiting room because the ER was
full. Every nook and cranny of the hospital was crowded with screaming kids and
blood. This small-town hospital wasn’t designed for any halfway major accident,
so all sense of order went out the window.

I directed Nurse Manning to call for reinforcements
while I was busy holding a crying woman down. She had a metal bar through her
leg and was moments from death. I knew I couldn’t help her if she didn’t stop
moving, so I used my magic. To everyone else it looked like she passed out at
the same time all the lights in the building flickered.

Administering medicine was ridiculous because I
didn’t have time to check the patients’ records to see if they were allergic to
anything. Most of the patients couldn’t tell me their names and weren’t locals.
Knowing full well the dangers of using medicine without even asking the
patient’s medical history, I used magic instead.

Machines and lights all over the hospital flickered
and faltered, making it seem like we were working in a war zone. It took hours
upon hours before people stopped flooding in and we could work on the patients
that were waiting with terribly painful injuries. While I helped a number of
people, there were three that I couldn’t save. Many were dead at the crash
site, but three made it to the hospital just a little too late. Although other
doctors were called in, we didn’t have the resources we needed. Some of the
less severe cases were sent off to other hospitals, the closest of which was
forty-five miles away.

I was working on a man with a broken arm when they
brought a little girl in. At first, I thought they brought me a corpse, until I
realized she had very weak vital signs. Apparently, they thought she was dead
at first, too, since she had no heartbeat for at least ten minutes. She was a
little survivor, though.

Her waist-length gold hair was matted with mud and
blood and her light blue dress was torn and charred. Oddly, while her dress was
burned and she had ash on her, there were no burns on her skin. In fact, there
were no scratches, scrapes, or bruises, let alone an abrasion severe enough to
kill her.

After making sure the man was adequately seen to, I
sent him out for the nurses to handle. Once alone with the little girl, I
immediately directed my magic through her. My energy returned with the oddest
image imaginable; she had three skeletal structures.

I could only stare in shock for a moment before
searching her again with my magic. This time, I focused on her human structure,
her human muscles and organs. Despite the lack of any surface wounds, there was
a lot of internal bleeding and damage; she should have been dead. It seemed as
if her chest had been crushed, but her heart still beat and she wasn’t beyond
help.

My magic closed internal wounds to a point, because I
didn’t know what anyone had seen. Obviously, they brought her in immediately,
but I still had to be stealthy. I knew enough about my own magic to realize
that if they did an x-ray, they would only have seen her human skeletal system.

This was when things got weirder. My magic suddenly
encountered her magic. It wasn’t nominal energy, but something much more
powerful and primitive. As if my energy unleashed hers, her magic suddenly took
over the healing process. I let go just in time as she unexpectedly changed.
Her bones snapped and rejoined, her muscled shrunk and grew, and fur sprouted
over her body until before me was a little wolf. By little, I meant at least as
large as a regular wolf, but definitely still a pup. I knew what she was, and I
knew that she was tiny compared to an adult wolf shifter from Skrev. This little
girl was very far from home.

The door burst open and I instinctively placed myself
between the alien child and whoever was coming in. Instead of a horde of nurses
and doctors, it was a woman and man in street clothes. The woman looked at the
wolf on the table and then me with panic and anger on her face. She growled at
me, her eyes suddenly glowing red and her teeth sharpening into fangs. I needed
no animal instincts to know this was a mother about to defend her baby.

The man shut the door behind them and wrapped his arm
around her shoulder to hold her back. They both had athletic builds and looked
to be in their late twenties. The woman was about five-six with long golden
blond hair and could have been the spokesman for any trophy-wife club. Around six-two,
the man had a natural tan with chestnut brown hair and striking gold eyes. I
could sense powerful survival and hunter instincts behind those eyes.

“I wish you hadn’t seen that, doctor,” the man said
with regret. He spoke in English, but with a thick accent.

Obviously, this was their daughter and they thought
they would have to kill me to protect their secret. I hoped to talk some sense
into them before their daughter ended up an orphan. “You mean, see the child of
Skrev shift into her beast?” I asked. I used my magic to speak in his language,
whatever it was.

Their eyes widened and they both sniffed me. “You are
not from Skrev,” the woman insisted.

“No, I’m from Duran; half human, half sago. I’m also
the Noquodi of Earth and friends with Ghidorah of Skrev. My brother is a
dragon. I am powerful enough to stop your hearts from beating in your chest
where you stand and I’ve had a very bad day. Now, you want to tell me why your
daughter was brought into a hospital full of humans or do you want to keep snarling
like dogs?”

“Ronez is the Guardian of Earth. We signed his book.”

“Ronez was my father. He died thirteen years ago. I
don’t care why you’re here, I want to know why your daughter is in the hospital
where she could have shifted in front of any human doctor.”

The woman looked unsure and the man looked insulted.
“It wasn’t our choice. They pulled her out of the wreckage and sent her here.
We thought she would be okay because she never shifted before.” Now he looked
embarrassed. “We were told she would never be able to shift because we have
different beasts.”

I sighed. “That was my fault. I believe I unlocked
her shifting ability.”

“Then you have saved her life. We can’t heal any more
than a human without shifting,” the woman said.

“She is stronger than you give her credit for,” I
assured them. I ran my magic through her again, saw that she was fully healed,
and made her shift back. Although her parents looked astounded, I learned from
Mordon that it was easy to manipulate someone’s shift when they were
unconscious.

“Now, I suggest you get her out of here and be more
careful in the future.” I left the room. By the variety of signatures in my
book that were written before I was even born, I knew many races had access to
Earth. I wondered for a moment how many people I met were actually from another
world. Then I was busy again.

*          *          *

I tried to call home, but nobody picked up. John
called Stacy and asked her to keep Ron and Hail because we were going to be
late. In fact, it wasn’t until a little after ten before I got home. By the
time I unlocked the front door, I honestly felt like I had been in the pileup,
pulled myself out from under a car, and walked the entire way home.

Once I saw the couch, what little strength I had left
in a rush. I flopped down on the soft cushions and had enough time to wonder
where Mordon was before I passed out. Even in my sleep, I was aware of my pain
for some time.

Finally, the pain faded and I sensed Mordon’s
presence. Assured that he was safe, I slept peacefully.

*          *          *

“Flatlanders can’t hear sound because sound is caused
by sound waves!” Ron yelled. “Sound depends on the amplitude and frequency!
That’s three-dimensional!”

“They
see
in one-dimension, not
hear
!”
Sammy argued at the top on his lungs.

“Even if they can hear in two-dimension, which they
can’t, they wouldn’t be able to differentiate sound! You’re so stupid!”

“Not being able to differentiate sound and not being
able to hear it are completely different! Besides, sound is two-dimensional, so
they can hear it! I’ll prove it!”

“No!” Divina joined the argument. “If either of you
create flatlanders, I will ground you until you’re Rojan’s age!”

There was silence for nearly a minute until… “Would
you ground us in the second dimension so we can listen to music?” Hail asked.

“Oh my god, Hail, shut up!” Ron yelled. “You’re going
to wake Dad!”

I sat up and looked over the breakfast bar into the
kitchen. Mordon, who was sitting in the chair next to the couch, put his finger
to his lips to silence me. When I checked again, I realized Ron was making
breakfast and Divina was setting the table.

Hail flopped down in a seat with a scowl on his face.
“Dad would know if he was awake,” he grumbled.

Ron leaned over him and plopped several pancakes on
his plate, then patted his hair. “We can look it up on the internet at school
today. Mom, what time does Dad have to be at work?” Ron asked, returning to the
stove.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. If they can keep him
late, so can I. He’s going to get enough sleep and if they don’t like it, I’ll
put the fear of---”

“Mom,” Ron warned quietly. “Dad likes this hospital.
Let him decide his priorities or he’s going to think you’re trying to control
him. Mordon, breakfast is ready.” He looked over the bar, saw that I was awake,
and smiled brightly. “Morning, Daddy.”

My little angel just defused all the tension in Hail
and Divina with a few words and a calm voice.

“Good morning.” I went into the kitchen right behind
Mordon and kissed Divina. She was worried.

Her dark blue satin dress shirt had dirt on the left
cuff and there was a small tear in the right calf of her black jeans.
Obviously, she hadn’t changed since whatever she was up to the day before. I
figured that she would tell me what she was working on if she thought I needed
to know and it wasn’t worth pushing her for information.

“Did you get enough sleep?” she asked.

“I did.” I glanced at the clock on the stove and felt
relief that I wasn’t late for work. “And I’m on the second morning shift, so
I’m not due at the hospital for another hour.”

Ron set a plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash
browns in front of me, along with a mug of coffee. We had a wonderful
breakfast, with good food, goofy bantering, and the boys complaining about
their class schedules. Obviously, I couldn’t get them perfect schedules in the
middle of the school year. Still, just spending time together before we each
began our hectic day was a gift. It would have been better if Edward was there,
but he would be as soon as he got done with his assignment.

*          *          *

The hospital had a bit of a creepy feel to it that
morning. It was raining and very dark outside, which made the interior lights
look cold and synthetic. Even that wasn’t so bad until they started flickering,
just a little bit, but definitely rhythmically. It took me about thirty minutes
to figure out they flickered three times once every ten minutes. Something was
going on at my hospital, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.