“Am I the only one getting a rotten feeling right now?”
“No, you’re not.” He glanced down one end of the hallway while I examined the other. Among the doctors and nurses, I spotted a brunette woman in pink scrubs walking towards us. Our eyes met and she stopped about ten feet away. Her face went blank. I had seen that look before, but not on a person. It was the look of a big cat right before it struck—pupils dilating, nostrils flaring, lips parting to reveal its fangs.
“Michael.”
He followed my gaze and his spine straightened like a yardstick. He pushed me behind him as the demon walked towards us in a slow, hip-swinging stride with a sly smile on her lips.
She stopped less than a foot away, staring up into Michael’s face. “My, my. Humanity looks good on you, archangel.”
“You have ten seconds to get in that elevator and leave this place,” he said, and the look in his eyes was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Rage, pure and simple.
“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll leave in a body bag.”
“Ooh. Pretty sexy talk coming from you. Sure you can deliver on that?”
“Five seconds left.”
“Sounds tempting, but I’m on a deadline. The guard bites the big one so you idiots can continue scrambling around in the dark. I thought this would be a boring job, but since you brought your little pet along—” Her brown eyes settled on me. “—I think we’re gonna have a good ole time.”
“Time’s up. Decide.”
“Gladly.”
Her left arm swung so fast I almost didn’t see it. She drew a silver dagger from the small of her back and slashed Michael’s chest. He caught her wrist and swung his large fist at her head, but she ducked. She wrenched her arm free and dropped into a back roll. When she came up, she held a .9mm Glock.
“Gun!” Michael called out to the hospital staff just as the demon opened fire. He shoved me into the room opposite Sterling’s.
I slammed the door shut as gunshots echoed through the hall, kneeling to make myself less of a target. There was no one in the room except me, so I didn’t have a panicking person to talk down, but there was still an armed rampaging demon right outside my door and my gun wasn’t handy. Perfect.
I pressed my cheek to the door and closed my eyes, listening to the commotion and trying to ascertain what was happening. I heard frantic shouts and footsteps, and the shots weren’t heading towards the elevator and the stairs. She wasn’t trying to get away. This demon was hellbent on completing her mission, which meant she’d have to get Michael away from Sterling’s room. The best way to do that was threatening the innocent.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, scaring the shit out of me. I fumbled with the device, relieved when I noticed it was Michael.
“Are you okay?”
“That’s a dumb question.”
“No, smart ass, I meant are you hit?”
“No. What’s the plan?”
“She’s trying to draw me out. That means she’s gonna head for you.”
“I figured.”
“Got any weapons on you?”
“Just the rosary,” I said, crawling towards the empty hospital bed and checking to see if I had anything to work with in the meantime. Nothing but a damned bedpan.
“They called security, but it’ll take at least ten minutes for the cops to get up here. Here’s what you’re going to do: lock the door and stand beside it. The second she kicks it down, hit her with everything you got. That should distract her enough for me to take her out.”
“Got it. And one more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let her kill me or I’ll haunt the hell out of you.” I hung up and grabbed the thankfully empty bedpan, pressing my back against the wall next to the door. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly, trying my best to remain calm. Silence permeated the air. I watched the light beneath the door until a shadow fell across it. Showtime.
The door cracked in half when the demon kicked it, sending splinters flying in all directions. I swung at her face with the metal bedpan, landing a blow on her forehead. Her head snapped back. It gave me a couple of crucial seconds. I swatted at her right hand, knocking the gun across the room. She recovered with a vicious backslap that sent me careening backwards toward the hospital bed sans my trusty bedpan.