Prompt: No one said it would be easy…no one said it would hurt like hell…

Fire! Pain! Ice! Pain! Fire!

Allie screamed.

“She’s not integrating the neural nets. Please, doctor, put her back under. Giver her body more time…”

Ice poured into her arm, flowed up to her shoulder, burst all over her body, wrapping her in a bloom of cotton. She sank under again.

Again.

Again.

Hot pokers in her eyes, this time. Allie cried out, and a gentle hand pressed against her shoulder, a cool compress against her forehead.

“Try to relax, honey. Don’t cry – it will just hurt worse. I know, honey, I know…” The soft voice murmured encouragement and endearments that Allie had never heard. The soft touch soothed her wild panic. As she calmed, Allie thought about the pain in her eyes. At least it wasn’t all over her body any more.

“That’s right, honey, you’ve made a lot of progress,” the gentle voice said.

How did she know what I was thinking?

“That’s the neural nets, honey. Your thoughts go straight into the system.”

You can read my mind? All the time?

“For now, while you’re adjusting. We’ve had to monitor your progress. Your brain has to re-learn how to work everything. You’ve been such a brave girl. Your eyes were the last implant. Soon they’ll be online—”

You turned me into a robot? A monster?

The gentle hands stroked her cheeks, her hair. “Oh no, honey. You’re no monster. You’re better than human now. And no one will ever be able to hurt you again.”

No one? Allie thought about that. She started to think about some of the hurt from before.

The voice said sharply, “You can stop that, Alley-cat. Stop those thoughts. Don’t give them power any more. Push them out, or down. Build a wall, or shove them into the ground. You choose. You make it.”

Allie held the memory like a swirled marble in her palm. She turned her hand upside down, and the marble fell onto the ground. She reached down and pushed with her fingertip, until the marble was buried. She stood up and brushed her hands together.

“That’s right, Alley-cat. Good girl.”

No one ever called me that before.

“You’re my little alley-cat. The wild child. The unwanted girl. But I wanted you, Allie. I knew you were special. You’re the youngest person to ever take the neural nets. You’re going to be very, very special indeed.”

TBC…

Dogs in House	Houdini
Music	Sarah McLachlin, Shine On
Time writing	30 minutes
May word count	4,156

Prompt: A different kind of delivery

Rachel sipped her coffee, leaning against Nazu and watching the hotshot OB surgeon in the operating theater below. She kept trying to refocus Nazu’s attention away from her neck and back to the doctor they had come to observe.

A trio of interns interrupted his exploration of her neck and ear when they burst into the darkened observation deck. In the sudden bright light, Rachel knew without looking that Nazu’s eyes would blaze gold, his inner light revealed. He glowered without speaking at the young doctors. They stared for a split second, then looked away and shuffled out the door with mumbled apologies. Nazu waved his hand as the door closed, and Rachel heard the lock thud into place.

“A little late for that, isn’t it?” she teased.

“Better late than never,” he mumbled, returning his attention to the curls at the back of her neck.

“Nazu, really, you should watch this guy. I think we should recruit him. What do you think?”

“If you think so, I am sure we should,” he mumbled against her skin.

“Seriously, Nazu. Watch him.”

“I don’t have to. I already know he’s the right one. I’d much rather watch you.”

Rachel pushed him away with a laugh. “Come on. They’re closing up. Let’s catch him before he leaves.”

As they approached John McNamara in the hall outside the OB unit, Rachel realized she wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the thought of meeting one of the top-ranked OB surgeons in the country – the newest star in Mercy Hospital’s roster. The butterflies she would have felt just a year ago, as a newly minted nurse transplanted from Boston, had completely flown from her stomach. Apparently dealing with demons made human doctors less intimidating.

She smiled at the thought as they neared McNamara. Nazu, ever attuned to her, turned to catch her smile and arched a brow. She laughed aloud, and McNamara looked up at them. The smile on Rachel’s face was replaced by surprise, and she shot her own glance toward Nazu, in time to catch his own smug smile. She turned back to McNamara and held out her hand.

As she made introductions and he started talking with Nazu, she stared at his eyes. His pupils weren’t black. They were dark purple. Most people would dismiss it as a trick of the light. Rachel knew better. She’d seen eyes like that before. McNamara had demon blood.

Rachel surreptitiously searched McNamara’s neck and wrists for any sign of silver. She felt the frisson down her back. She knew why Nazu wanted to recruit McNamara. More than their need for help in the neonatal unit. McNamara didn’t know what he was. Had he ever seen any signs? A full-grown poltok demon rampaging through Mercy would be a Very. Bad. Thing.

TBC

Note:

Here’s the growing collection of stories set in Rachel’s world(s):

·       http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-new-life-new-home-new-job-new.html

·       http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-stumbling-through-doorway.html

·       http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-if-youre-not-part-of-my-solution.html

·       http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/11/prompt-more-in-one-world-than-other.html

·       http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/11/prompt-more-in-one-world-than-other_25.html

·      http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2014/04/prompt-demons-and-faeries-dont-mix.html

·      http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2014/04/prompt-demons-and-faeries-dont-mix-part.html

Dogs in House	Houdini, Brindle
Time writing	45 minutes
April word count	13,237

Prompt: Demons and Faeries Don’t Mix, Part 2

Continued from Part 1…

She whirled at the scrabbling sound behind her. “You call a god? And a fairy?” The demon quailed on the table before her. “Please! Do not bring them in here! By my bond, I beg you!”

Rachel sighed. “Nazu and Ablidioni are two of the best doctors we have. It’s true, Ablidioni is a fairy, but he’s the best diagnostician I’ve ever seen. And Nazu? He’s not a….”

She faltered. Her Nazu? What was he? A demon? She’d never seen him in anything other than his human form. He had power, no doubt. Power to heal, power to sense her anywhere in the human or demon realms, power to make her weak in the knees. But…a god?

The demon had stilled and watched her from the table. It hissed again, lashing its three forked tongues, and Rachel recognized the laughter this time. “You don’t know, do you, human? You play a dangerous game, consorting with a god.”

Rachel shook her head and stepped forward again, pressing the demon to lie flat on the table. “Lie still. You play a dangerous game, moving while you’re bleeding out. By your bond, lie still!”

The demon froze as if she had cast a spell on it. Rachel sucked in a breath of annoyance. “I release you. I didn’t mean that. Just….lie still so you don’t bleed all over the floor.”

The demon relaxed on the table, and Rachel wished—not for the first time—that demon oath’s were truly as easy to release. And where were the doctors? The demon’s eyes were slowly filling with blood, and it was pooling on the table and splattering on the tiles beneath them. She had no idea how they would restore it if it lost much more.

The air pressure shifted as the outer door lock opened. Good. They were here. Nazu would know what to do.

The demon’s hand flashed out and gripped her wrist. It didn’t struggle, but it looked at her with the first hint of fear in its eyes. “Please. Do not leave me with the fairy.”

Rachel bit her inner lip and fought the smile that threatened her composure. The demon was sure to take it either as a threat or an insult. Rachel couldn’t imagine being afraid of Ablidioni, nor any of the fae she had met. But this giant demon—who looked like it could tear Rachel apart without a second thought—was afraid. Suddenly Rachel wasn’t smiling.

The inner door opened, and Rachel gently pushed the demon’s hand back onto the table. Nazu wouldn’t be pleased if he thought she was threatened.

The demon turned its head and coughed black blood. “Ninazu ak Enlil, I am oath-bound to your consort. I beg your protection from the fae.” Almost as an afterthought, it said in a whisper, “And the gods.”

Rachel’s eyebrows climbed as she turned to see the frown on Nazu’s face. Oh, this was going to be good…

TBC…

Dogs in House	Houdini
Time writing	~40 minutes
April word count	3,678

Prompt: Demons and Faeries Don’t Mix, Part 1

“Rachel? Can you come take a look at this?” The young boowen nurse looked anxious and tapped her hindclaws on the tiled floor. Rachel sighed. Boowen didn’t wear shoes well, but it still bothered her to see bare feet in the ICU. But Kibya had a good head on her shoulders and good instincts, so Rachel put down her charts and stood, stretching her arms and trying not to stare at the still-unfamiliar silver nets she wore under her scrubs.

“What’s up, Kibya?” She said, rolling her neck. She fought back a chuckle as Kibya looked up in alarm. Boowen were extremely literal. “I mean, what do you need?”

Kibya led her down the hall to the far IC Unit. Two immense shantuck males stood guard at the door. Rachel raised her eyebrows, but held her hands flat in front of her as she passed them. They gave no response to her gesture of respect, but they did not block her way. She had proven herself more than once. Shantuck guards? This was going to be good. She smiled, barely remembering to cover her teeth with her lips as she opened the door.

Good thing, too. The largest demon she had ever seen lay on the table, black blood dripping from its eyes, nose and mouth. She scanned down the table and saw more blood. It was coming from underneath the claws… This was no injury…

“Dammit!” She shoved Kibya behind her and out the door. “Isolate! Isolate! Seal this room now!” She slapped the alarm by the door and heard the reassuring whoosh of air as the room was sealed. The demon turned its head and stared at her with golden eyes. “Good,” it hissed, and she saw at least three forked tongues. “You protect your people—”

“And you,” Rachel retorted. She stood tall and spread her arms wide. She couldn’t overpower so much as a peltew, but demons seemed to respond best when she put on her most confident nurse’s face. She took a slow, deep breath and stepped forward. “Now, let me see what’s wrong with you.”

“Aren’t you afraid of me? Of this?” The demon held up a long forearm and its golden eyes watched the blood drip down onto the tiles below.

Rachel ignored the taunt—or threat—and focused on the blood. Her vision narrowed, and all the light in the room seemed to shine directly on the thick black flow. She wasn’t conscious of moving forward, until she leaned over the demon’s face and looked directly into its eyes. The golden lens was filled with tiny black veins, slowly filling the demon’s sight with its own death.

Rachel pressed her hand on the demon’s shoulder, rubbing the sensitive spot that seemed to calm almost every demon species she’s met so far. “You’re not going to die on my watch.”

The demon hissed in quick breaths, and it took Rachel a moment to realize it was laughing. “Good, human. I give my life to you then, if you can save it.”

Rachel snatched her hand away. She knew a demon oath when she heard one. What was she going to do with another bound demon? Well, time enough for that later. She nodded and stepped back to the panel by the door. Tapping the button, she said with a calmness that the hospital staff had learned to pay close attention, “Where is Nazu? And Dr. Ablidioni. Stat.”

Continued in Part 2…

Note:

Rachel's story started last summer and has continued in these posts:

http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-new-life-new-home-new-job-new.html

http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-stumbling-through-doorway.html

http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-if-youre-not-part-of-my-solution.html

http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/11/prompt-more-in-one-world-than-other.html

http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/11/prompt-more-in-one-world-than-other_25.html

Dogs in House	Houdini
Music	Styx, Paradise Theater
Time writing	~40 minutes
April word count	3,194

Prompt: Make-Believe Princess, Part 2

…Continued from Part 1

Some days later, Miriam woke from her nap and climbed down from her big-girl princess bed. She found her mother crying on the living room sofa. Miriam crawled in her lap and hugged her without speaking.

“We’re going to go visit Auntie Karen in the hospital, honey. Do you remember she’s very sick?”

Miriam rested her head on her mother’s chest and listened to her heart beat. “She has cancer. You told me there’s a tumor on her back that’s getting bigger.”

“That’s right, honey. The doctor’s can’t do anything about it.”

Miriam wore her princess gown and took her wand to the hospital. She danced in the halls and curtsied to everyone she passed. Some people smiled. Some waved. Some ignored her. Her mother was too sad to pay attention.

In Aunt Karen’s room, Miriam curtsied to the nurse who was changing the saline bag hanging on a pole by Aunt Karen’s bed. Miriam waved her wand, following the looping tube from the bag down to the needle in Aunt Karen’s hand. When the nurse left, she climbed up on the bed and gave her aunt a gentle hug. She settled in to her aunt’s arm on the other side from the medicine. Her mother kissed Karen on the forehead and sat in the chair, eyes red and lips trembling.

Miriam tugged at Karen’s free hand resting on her hip, and when she raised it, began clapping a rhythm against it with her other hand.

“Miriam!” her mother said sharply. But Karen waved her away and continued the clapping game until she tired and tucked her arm around Miriam in a soft hug. “Thank you, baby. I think I’ll sleep now, for awhile.”

Miriam knelt and leaned over, pressing little kisses against her cheeks, forehead, and lips. Her mother picked her up off the bed as she leaned down to kiss her sister.

Did Karen feel better? Sleep more soundly than she usually could with machines hissing and beeping and nurses interrupting? Did the pain lessen? Did the tumor shrink at all? We don’t know. This is not her story. This is Miriam’s story…

Dogs in House	Houdini, Malachi
Time writing	~40 minutes
March word count	3,406

Prompt: Believer in reincarnation, hospital waiting room, extremely hairy person, unexpected package

Stefan ignored the furtive glances of the others in the waiting room. He’d had a lifetime of experience ignoring them, and more. A little girl -- five or six, he guessed, for all he knew about kids – climbed down from her chair and clattered over to stand in front of him. The clatter was from her red sparkly shoes, which she had stylishly paired with baby blue fleece pants and a Lion King sweatshirt. Stefan looked up from his months-old magazine to see her staring at him intently.

“Are you Dorothy?” he asked her quietly.

She got it, looking down at her shoes and rocking back on her heels. With a grin, she said, “No, I’m Emma. Are you a werewolf?”

Closing his magazine, Stefan pretended to think about this, stroking his long cheek hair with one furred hand. “I don’t think so. How would I know?”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Well,” she said seriously, “do you turn into a wolf?”

“No.”

“Howl at the moon?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” Emma copied his movements, stroking her cheek with her hand. Stefan saw the hospital ID band and a tell-tale bandaid-covered IV port. “I guess you’re not a werewolf, then.”

“I agree with your diagnosis,” Stefan said, a twinkle in his eye. Kids never bothered him, the ones who weren’t mean. Curious wasn’t mean. And they were honest about it.

Emma laughed, a happy, high-pitched tone. The man she had been sitting with looked up, and Stefan nodded to him. Don’t worry. I’m not a freak. I won’t hurt your little girl. The man went back to his magazine.

Emma climbed up next to Stefan, making herself comfortable. He slid the magazine into the empty chair on his other side, since she obviously planned to be awhile. “I’m Stefan.”

Emma shook his hand very seriously, then turned it over in her hand, studying the hair on his fingers and back of his hand. “Hi Stefan. Why do you have so much hair?”

There. Honest and direct. “It’s called hypertrichosis. It makes my hair grow crazy fast and long. Why are you here?” Turn about was fair play, he figured. And children usually thought so too.

“I’m giving one of my kidneys to my brother,” Emma said, sitting up proudly. But Stefan heard the little tremor in her voice and saw the shadow cross her face. Her hand, still holding his, clenched a little.

Emma was afraid. He looked back to the man, reading and not paying attention to this beautiful young girl. Surely not the brother. Her father? Pay attention! Stefan wanted to shout. He looked back down to Emma, who looked up at him patiently.

“You’re very brave,” Stefan said. “I would be scared.”

Emma leaned forward to whisper, cupping her left hand to her mouth. Stefan bent down to hear her. “I am scared, Stefan. I was hoping you were a werewolf so you could help me.”

Stefan pulled back in surprise. “Help you? How?”

Dogs in house	Houdini
Music	Frozen Soundtrack
Time writing	~30 minutes, including research
January word count	14,255

Prompt: More in One World than the Other, Part 2

…Continued from Part 1

“Come on, I’ll get you one of those drinks you like so much. And we’re going to the NICU, so pick up a tray for the nurses there. Make one a small hot chocolate,” he said. She eyed him curiously but placed an order in Starbucks-speak. Nazu carried the tray while she nursed her venti gingerbread latte and tried to remember how long since she had been over here. She was spending more and more time in the demon realms. What did it say that she felt more comfortable there? More appreciated. More needed. More wanted.

Nazu purred close to her, and she blushed. “I know those thought waves,” he murmured as they stepped into the crowded elevator. She wished they were alone for just thirty seconds. Or half an hour. He purred again.

They entered the human NICU, and Rachel was struck by the smell. Human baby and antiseptic. So familiar, and yet so different from her daily life now. Nazu threaded through the room, crowded with rolling bassinets and equipment that Rachel longed for, toward a large young man sitting in a rocking chair with a baby wrapped in each arm as he rocked back and forth, crooning. He didn’t look up at their approach.

Nazu crouched down and pulled out the tall cocoa. “John, I brought a treat for you. I know you like hot chocolate. I’ll put it on the window sill behind you, for when you get a free hand.”

John looked up and smiled, and Rachel thought someone turned on the lights. She smiled back, and realized John had a gift. Several gifts, but she wasn’t sure what they were yet. “I like the babies, and they like me,” he said in a voice deeper than Nazu’s.

Nazu said, “Yes, John, they do. This is Rachel. She works with babies, too. She needs help, and I thought you might like to help her and her babies. They are different.”

“Different?” John asked. Then he went on, “I like to help with babies. I will help you, Rachel.”

Rachel crouched down so she was eye level with John. “I would like that, John. The babies I work with are different, but they are the same, too. They need someone to love them and take care of them. I can see that you’re very good at that. Would you like to come and visit our babies and see?”

John nodded. “These babies need me now, Rachel. They’re sleeping good. I’ll come another time, okay?”

Nazu held out a pager. “You can page me when you want to come, John. Any time, okay? We’ll come and get you.” He set the pager next to the hot chocolate on the window sill.

Rachel said, “I hope you’ll come see me soon, John. I think our babies will sleep good with you, too.”

He smiled again, and she smiled back, thinking just that smile was some sort of therapy.

As they headed back for the portal, Nazu said, “John’s mother was a shantuck. She died during childbirth here, because they didn’t know she needed a water birth. The baby sucked all the water out of her body, trying to stay alive. By the time I got here, he had been without oxygen for over 20 minutes, but they didn’t realize. I put him in a tub, and he survived, but he’s…. I think part of him is in the demon realm. I’ve always wondered if he would be any different there.”

Rachel thought about that as they walked through the portal. She had a feeling John was going to surprise them when he came into the demon realm…

Perhaps I should mention this is related to a few previous blogs. It seems I'm going to have to tell Rachel and Nazu's story eventually...

• http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-new-life-new-home-new-job-new.html
• http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-stumbling-through-doorway.html
• http://margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/prompt-if-youre-not-part-of-my-solution.html

Dogs in house	Houdini, Brindle
Time writing:	45 minutes
November word count:	24,342