“So? Why does this matter?” she asked.
“I want you to undo the bargain Nick made with this demon.”
“That can only be done if the other demon is dead,” she said.
I let that thought sink in a bit. “Exactly,” I said.
“Why should I want to kill another demon?”
“Because if that demon is dead, then your position improves, doesn’t it?” It was the idea that had come to me when Georgia had explained the competition she thought was going on between us. If we were friends and we were still doing that, how much worse must it be in hell? High school forever, never ending. That would definitely be bad.
“And, in fact, if you killed more than that one demon, quickly, before you were suspected of doing it, you could become the biggest, baddest demon in hell,” I said. I gestured to her shape right now and added, “So to speak.”
The little old lady stopped still. Her eyes went wide. There was something in them that I had not seen in any demon before. Not anger. Not satisfaction. But a hint of surprise.
I imagine that if you had lived for thousands of years and had taken many different human forms, there would be very few surprises in your life.
The demon hesitated a long moment. “This isn’t a bargain,” she said. “I do this for myself.”
“OK,” I said, and watched as she disappeared, presumably gone back to hell. I could only hope now that I’d planted the right seed. If it didn’t happen in time, Nick might still die. But at least I would have less demon fighting to do for a while, if they were all busy fighting amongst themselves.
Chapter 28
“Fallin, Nick’s stopped breathing again. He’s—” said Georgia.
I bent over him and started doing CPR. I kept doing it, figuring that as long as I kept his heart pumping, he wasn’t dead yet. I just had to keep doing it until the right demon got killed in the war in hell. So I kept at it, even after I heard bells ringing, and Georgia talking to someone. I ignored her, but I could feel my muscles start to scream. It was a good thing I was strong to begin with. All those reps I’d done at the gym, it turned out they were pretty useful training for this. I didn’t listen to the pain. I just counted one-two-three-four, rest, and then one-two-three-four again.
Someone eventually called an ambulance. They tried to push me out of the way, but I wasn’t moving. Finally, they convinced me that they could take over the CPR and they had some drugs that might start his heart if I would move out of the way.
They tried paddles on him, too, then kept pumping as they hoped the drugs would work. I settled back into my space at his side. I had my hands on his hands and I leaned down so that I could just barely brush my shoulder against his.
The EMT’s got Nick’s body onto a stretcher and I followed them into the ambulance and to the hospital. I wanted to make sure they didn’t give up on him.
After several hours, my parents came in and tried to pull me away. But if they quit working on Nick, he was well and truly dead. I couldn’t accept that. Not after everything that had happened.
It was Georgia who came in to tell me that I had to let go, that I couldn’t summon a demon. She knew me well enough that she could tell that was what I was considering. Summon a demon and make the bargain I’d been too afraid to make before, offer my youth for Nick’s, even if he would hate me for it.
The EMT’s looked at me and stopped working on him. They nodded and waved me over.
I was dripping tears like I drip sweat at the gym. I leaned over Nick’s body, keeping a tight hold on his hand. I did not want to say goodbye. We’d hardly had a chance to say hello. Everyone thought it was creepy and we hadn’t had one real kiss. It wasn’t fair.
And then I thought—why not kiss him now? He might be dead, but he was still Nick.
“Fallin, what are you doing?” asked Georgia.
I leaned over Nick’s mouth and kissed him. I have to say, it wasn’t everything I had dreamed. His lips were cool and they tasted like—well, death.
“Fallin, don’t,” said Georgia.
And I pulled away just in time to see Nick’s eyes flutter.
He was waking up! He was alive!
Georgia and I were the only ones left in the room to see what happened next, but that was just as well, since I think we’d have seen some fainting, heard screaming, and saw people running out.
Nick was still old, but I didn’t care anymore.
“Nick, Nick, you’re alive,” I said, smashing myself to him.
He winced, and I remembered that I had to treat him gently. He was breakable, after all. Even though he was a great demon fighter, he hadn’t spent the hours in the gym that I had to build up muscles. And he wasn’t a young, buff guy anymore.
“What? Where?” he muttered. He blinked at me. “Fallin?” he said.
I started to cry. It made me mad, because that’s what girls always did in movies and on TV. They were the ones who cried. The heroes never cried. They just looked smug at the end. Or they died.
“Nick,” I said. “Nick, I love you.” I was so glad to be able to say it again, to know that he could hear it.
“Fallin, you shouldn’t be here,” said Nick. “It can’t work between us. You know that.” He looked down at himself, stared at his sun-splotched hands changing to newer, firm, young skin. “Wait a minute. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“I got your demon killed,” I said.
“But how—?”
“I stirred up some trouble,” I said, absurdly proud of myself. “I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with demons coming back here anytime soon.” At least not without being summoned.
Nick jerked and made a cry of pain.
“What is it?” I asked. “Georgia, go. Find a doctor right now.”
“And tell him what? That Nick is alive again? Just in time for him to die a second time?”
“Go!” I shouted at her. “He needs help.”
Georgia went.
Nick kept convulsing. I tried to put my hand in his, but he flung it away and wrapped his arms around his stomach as he leaned forward, making retching sounds.
“Nick, what’s wrong?” Was the bargain going to be due anyway? Was this some torment designed by the demon to get back at me?
“Nick, tell me what you need. Where does it hurt?” I asked, putting my face close to his so he could focus on me. I thought that would help, but instead he grunted at me and swatted me away. He stumbled off the table his body had been lying on, but then collapsed onto the floor.
I hurried after him, trying to put an arm around him and lift him up. “Nick, you’ve got to wait here until Georgia comes back with the doctor. I’m sure they can get you something for the pain. And then—” I didn’t know what would happen then.
He yanked himself away from me, crawling along the floor.
“Nick, what are you doing?” I asked. And then I noticed something. Something really important.
Nick’s hair wasn’t gray anymore. Not in the back, anyway.
I moved closed so I could see him better.
He convulsed again, actually foaming at the mouth.
His face looked younger, too. There were hardly any wrinkles on it. His hands had no more age spots on them.
“Nick? You’re getting young again!” I said.
“That’s impossible!” said Nick in a snarl, and he started dry heaving.
“Maybe not,” I said. I tried to think. “If there’s energy being released there all over the place from lots of demons dying—maybe it’s coming to you.”
Nick didn’t answer me. I guess it didn’t feel all that good getting young again. I’d never thought about that.
Georgia came back with the doctor then.
“Oh my God!” said the doctor. And a bunch of other colorful curse words, some in English, some not. She looked like she might be Indian or Pakistani. Her nametag said she was “Dr. Kapoor.”
She kneeled down and shone a light in Nick’s eyes. He was stil
l long enough for that. Then he kicked her in the face, and she stumbled backward.
“He didn’t mean to do that,” I said. “He’s in pain.” I felt like I had to apologize for him, since it was all my fault. I didn’t want the doctor to run away screaming.
“He must have only seemed dead,” she muttered to herself. She didn’t say anything about him looking younger, because what could she say? There was no explanation for that.
But she stood up and went for one of the drawers in the nearby cabinet. She got a syringe out and in a few moments, Nick was motionless.
“Thank you,” I said. “Oh, thank you.” He was still changing, getting younger every moment.
“That’s incredible,” said Georgia in my ear. “Again.”
“Hey, don’t do that. Not now.” I didn’t want to have what was going on in hell replayed here.
“It’s OK,” said Georgia. “You deserve it this time. I can almost not be jealous when I see how hard it was.”
“Almost?” I said.
Georgia shrugged. “So I’m not perfect. Sue me.”
“You’re my best friend,” I said, squeezing her arm. “That’s all I ever need from you.”
“Yeah, and I’m a damned good best friend,” said Georgia.
“What about me?”
“I guess you’re good, too. Saved me from a demon and all that.”
“So no more competition?” I said.
“Not for now,” said Georgia.
“Is he going to be all right?” I asked, turning to the doctor.
“Yes, he should be. He’s experiencing some severe effects of withdrawal. Do you know what kind of drugs he had taken?”
“No drugs,” I said.
She looked at me like she didn’t believe me. “It really would be helpful to know. If you have a sample, that would be even more helpful. I’m not going to call the police on either of you. I’m only interested in making sure he gets the proper treatment.”
“No drugs,” I said again. I didn’t want her giving him the wrong thing. “It was something else. I don’t know what exactly. But it wasn’t drugs. You have to trust me. Nick would never do drugs.”
“Hmm,” she said, and then she looked something up on the computer. “It could be,” she said.
I didn’t know what she thought it was, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t anything about a demon bargain that made him old, and then young again. But maybe it would do something.
“Fallin,” Nick was whispered hoarsely.
I went over to him immediately. He looked—so young. Younger than me now. If anything, people might say I was the one who was too old for him now. But I wasn’t going to let anyone stop us now.
“Fallin. Love you,” said Nick. And then he fell asleep.
He slept for about twenty hours. My parents tried to get me to leave him alone, but even when my mom promised to be his nurse, I wouldn’t go.
When he finally woke again, I was with him the whole time. They couldn’t get me to leave him when he was dead, and they couldn’t get me to leave him while he was sleeping, either. Georgia brought me some sandwiches and some Coke.
When Nick woke again, I was right there.
I had no idea what my parents thought had happened, but Dr. Kappor assured them that the disease that had made Nick look old had gone out of his system completely and he was cured. I didn’t ask what disease she thought that was, but apparently she gave enough details to my mom that she and Dad believed it.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked my dad.
“I tried to,” I said, though it wasn’t really true. “You wouldn’t listen.” That part was true.
“Well, this is quite the dramatic way to introduce your new boyfriend to your parents,” said Mom.
“That’s me. All drama all the time,” I said.
I thought we would have months at least before we had more demons to deal with, but no. In fact, Nick had to fight his first demon before he got out of the hospital. A mother making a bargain at her daughter’s bedside.
Of course, I was the one who did all the heavy lifting. But it was good for Nick to see that things hadn’t changed that much between us. We were still demon fighters, and we were still together.
END
The Gift of the Demons Page 21