Rogue lifted his huge head and two solid black eyes bored into Ash’s. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“I don’t want anyone bowing to me. I’m your boss, just like any other job.” Ash explained yet again how he felt it was wrong for the keepers to bow to him.
“As you wish,” Rogue answered and stood to his full height. Ash was right in his earlier assessment. The man was huge. Actually, Rogue was a demon. His dark skin, black eyes, and well, the horns, pretty much made that clear. He stood a good foot taller than Ash’s six feet four and was twice as thick. His shoulders were as wide as a kitchen table and his exposed belly was nothing but muscle, with more muscle underneath. “What shall I call you?” he asked.
“Ash will do just fine,” Ash answered him. “You run this place?”
Rogue nodded his head. “Yep. Ever since the dawn of time.”
Ash nodded. “So, what did you do to earn your position?” he asked.
Rogue laughed heartily. It was a rolling, thunderous laugh that vibrated in Ash’s chest. When he opened his mouth, Ash could see the huge fangs and sharp teeth that lined his gums. “I didn’t do anything. I was created for this.”
“I see,” Ash replied. It made sense. Many demons were created by God, some by Lucifer. “Who was your maker?”
Rogue grinned at him. “Same as yours. The big man whipped me up out of sugar and spice.”
Mali snickered.
“What? You got something to add to that, little man?” Rogue snapped at Mali.
“Nope,” he replied. “Why don’t you show Ash what really goes on here?”
“That might be interesting,” Ash agreed. “Are these souls condemned to be slugs forever?”
“Something like that,” Rogue answered. “But you gotta add some fun into the mix every now and again.”
Ash wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “At the risk of eating my words, what exactly do you mean?”
“Here,” Rogue said, pulling a small black box out of his pocket, “let me show you.” He pressed a couple of buttons on what looked like a TV remote and the ground started to shake under their feet. “Hang on; this is going to be fun.”
Ash watched as the heads of all the slugs picked up. They could feel the ground shaking and some of them cried out. Then, Ash saw what was causing it. A dinosaur was beating feet in their direction. Not just any dinosaur, but a tyrannosaurus Rex!
Rogue was grinning from ear to ear by that point. “No worries, Boss, Tinker Bell won’t eat you.”
At that moment, all Ash could think about was the keeper of Sloth named the freaking T-Rex, Tinker Bell.
Ash watched as the Rex pounded through the field of slugs. Some of the souls tried to run away, but they couldn’t, they just couldn’t move fast enough. Ash saw the Rex grab one up in his mouth. He closed his eyes as the beast’s jaws snapped shut on the soul. He knew by the gurgling noise that this particular soul was now dino dinner.
“Come on! You worthless sacks of slime! It’s a freaking T-Rex! His brain is the size of a walnut! He has puny arms! Just get up and move your asses!” Rogue bellowed into the air.
Ash couldn’t watch anymore. He was fighting to keep the contents of his stomach in his body. Rogue and Mali just laughed though.
After it was over, Rogue put a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “You see, these people wouldn’t make a move to help anyone in life, not even themselves. Their punishment in death is to be helpless.”
Ash shuddered.
“Every day I let Tinker Bell out, and every day she eats a few slugs. Tomorrow, everyone will be back for another round. Except, no one remembers what happened before. A new day, a new terror.” Rogue’s chest puffed out as he spoke. “And to think, all of this could have been avoided for some of them, if they had only repented and changed their ways. Hell, all they had to do was try.”
Ash shook his head. That was gross. Just gross.
“Well, come on Boss,” Mali said as he turned for the exit. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Ash said to Rogue and stuck out his hand.
Rogue took Ash’s hand in his much larger one and shook it enthusiastically. “Same here. Come on by anytime,” he said with a wide grin.
As soon as the beast let go of his hand, Ash turned to follow Mali.
CHAPTER THREE
Elizabeth Rone tossed her jacket into her locker and pulled her lab coat out. She closed the locker door a bit harder than she meant to, but whatever. It did the job. She pulled the lab coat on over her pink and white scrubs and checked the pockets to make sure she had everything she needed.
Pens. Paper. Tape. Yep. That should just about do it.
She pulled her hair back into a snug ponytail at the base of her head and walked briskly to the elevator doors. She pushed the button and waited for the doors to open. This was different for her. For the first five years of her career as a doctor, she had worked trauma in the ER. She had always wanted to be a doctor and the ER never failed to keep her on her feet.
That was, until about six months ago.
A severe, debilitating depression had settled on her all at once. She barely had the will to get out of bed, much less make repeated attempts to save the lives of the people who rolled into her ER. Gunshot victims were the worst.
She didn’t understand why, but she felt the overwhelming urge to save every one of them. When the body was too damaged to survive and the person died, Elizabeth took it hard. Every time. She went home in tears and had nightmares about it. Every time. She was an emotional wreck and she didn’t have a clue what to do about it.
She had even sought out the help of a therapist, who told her that she needed to find something that brought her joy. The only problem with that was, there wasn’t anything.
She finally decided a change was in order. She was a medical doctor first, but she also had all the necessary credentials to be an OB-GYN. After about two months of struggling, she asked for a transfer. It only took a few weeks to get her out of the ER and into Labor and Delivery.
She thought that maybe bringing new life into the world would be far less depressing than losing patients every day. And, she was a certified Trauma Surgeon. Perfect combination.
The move had helped some, but every day Elizabeth wandered the halls of the hospital, wondering what it was that was missing in her life. She felt the pain of loss as if she had lost someone she loved. But that didn’t happen. She hadn’t lost anyone. She couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she was missing something. Something big, something that should be as plain as the nose on her face. And it hurt. Hurt so bad it was a physical pain in her chest. At one point, she got herself checked out by a cardiovascular physician, just to make sure.
Her heart was in perfect condition. Her therapist and her doctor agreed; she was having anxiety attacks. Elizabeth was a doctor herself so she knew that wasn’t exactly right either, but it was something she could blame the pain on, something that might help explain the sudden urges she had to cry or throw something at some unsuspecting jerk’s head.
Whatever was going on with her, she knew it wasn’t normal, and just that knowledge helped her to deal with it a little bit better.
She got on the elevator and rode it up to the fourth floor. When the little bell chimed, she exited and went straight to the nurse’s station.
“How’s it been tonight?” she asked the nurse behind the desk. Elizabeth looked at her nametag… Julie. She felt bad for not remembering these nurse’s names. Hell, it was all she could do lately to remember her own.
“Not too bad,” Julie answered. “Got two in early labor, but I doubt they will deliver by morning. There is one lady, Mrs. Grand, in room six. That little one is giving us some grief.”
“What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked.
“Heart rate keeps becoming unstable. We have just changed the internal monitor and had mom turn over for a while. Last check was thirty minutes ago and she was six centimeters.” The nurse pe
cked at her computer keyboard while she talked.
“I’m going to go have a look, if that’s ok,” Elizabeth told her.
“Yeah, she’s a patient of Dr. King’s, but he’s off tonight, so she’s yours anyway.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She hated when the nursing staff referred to the mothers as property. “Ok, thanks,” Elizabeth said as she turned to walk away. She headed right for room six.
She knocked lightly on the door and opened it. “Hello?” she called into the room.
“Come in,” a small, female voice said.
Elizabeth entered the room and closed the door behind her. “Hi, I’m Dr. Rone. Dr. King is out this evening. Is it ok if I treat you tonight?” she asked the expectant mother. The woman was exhausted already. Her hair was damp with sweat and it stuck to her head and ears.
“Yeah,” the woman said. “I’m really tired.”
“I can tell. The nurses told me that your little one has been moving around a lot and making the monitors go nuts,” Elizabeth said. “Mind if I check you out just to make sure everything is progressing Ok?”
The mother nodded and shifted until she was on her back. She pulled her knees up and assumed the position.
Elizabeth smiled. Every expectant mother knew the drill by this time in her delivery. “I’m just going to check your cervix,” she told her.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she said. “Everyone in this hospital has already seen my Pikachu anyway. Especially the third time they changed that monitor thingy in his head.”
Elisabeth’s head snapped up. “They changed it three times?”
The mother nodded. Elizabeth ground her teeth together as she placed her hand under the sheets to begin her exam. She felt around and realized that this woman was progressing much faster than the nurses thought. “Listen, Mrs. Grand,” Elizabeth said softly. “I am getting that you are nine centimeters. Almost ten. It’s show time. Are you ready to go?”
The soon to be mom smiled. “Yes. Let’s do this,” she said.
“Ok, I am going to step outside and get a few people. This is a big production, you know,” Elizabeth said with a wide grin even though she could clearly see the baby’s heart rate falling on the monitor. “I’ll be back in less than a minute.”
Elizabeth stepped outside the room and closed the door behind her. Julie was walking in her direction. “Julie,” Elizabeth snapped. “Did you put three internal monitors on that baby’s head?”
“Yes,” she answered. “They keep malfunctioning.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes so hard she was sure she saw her own brain. “One might malfunction. One. Not two and definitely not three,” she barked at the nurse. “And I just checked her. She is nine, nearly ten. Get the team and get in there now!”
Elizabeth hated to take that tone with the nurses, but she hated putting a newborn at risk even more. She was pissed off way beyond reasonable measures. She took a few deep breaths before going back into the room with the mother and her unborn child.
When she was calm enough, which only took a few seconds; she went back into the room. “Mrs. Grand,” she said gently, “Your baby’s heart rate is too low,” she said.
She saw the undeniable fear cross the woman’s face. “Don’t you worry,” Elizabeth continued, “I am going to get him out as quickly as possible. Everything is going to be ok.”
Elizabeth heard the team of nurses coming in the door. She tried to be as gentle as possible with the mother while barking orders at her team. The nurse from the nursery wheeled in the bassinet, along with all the baby supplies needed. Elizabeth pulled at the handle directly above the bed to pull the light down from the ceiling. She moved quickly with the nurses to get the mom’s feet in the stirrups and the end of the bed dropped down.
“Everybody ready?” she asked.
A chorus of yesses rang out, including the mother. “All right, let’s do this,” Elizabeth said. “Push for us. Push now.”
The mother grabbed the back of her own knees and beared down as hard as she could. Elizabeth couldn’t see the baby’s head yet. “Again,” she demanded and the mother obeyed. Ten pushes later and the baby was still in the same position. “Call the OR,” she told one of the nurses in a whisper.
“Mrs. Grand,” Elizabeth said gently, “The baby isn’t coming down like he should. His heart rate is too low and I am afraid that he is going to be hurt if we don’t get him out now.”
“Oh God,” the mother cried out. “Do something!”
“I am,” Elizabeth told her. “We are taking you to the OR for an emergency C-Section.”
“Surgery?” the mother asked desperately.
Elizabeth pulled her gloves off and moved around the bed. She took the mother’s hand into her own. “Listen. He is in trouble. Once we get you in there, I can have the baby out in less than sixty seconds, but we have to move now. So I am asking you, will you give me permission to operate and save your baby?”
The mother had tears in her eyes and it was a long second later before she nodded her approval.
“Let’s go then,” Elizabeth told her with a smile. “Let’s go have a baby.”
The team transferred the patient from the bed to a gurney as quickly as possible, and while that was going on, Elizabeth ran ahead of them. She had pulled her radio from her belt and was giving orders over it while she ran to the pre-op area to scrub up.
This was that feeling. The high. The euphoria she used to get in the ER. She was working against time and she was going to save a brand new life. She had every confidence in her own skill and this was what life was all about.
She entered the OR and the mother was already there. Anesthesia was already there too, sedating her and tying her arms down. “Ok everyone, let’s get going,” she announced. She stepped up on her step stool so that she was tall enough to do her work. She ran a fingernail across the mother’s abdomen. “Can you feel this?” she asked.
The mother said no, and she said no to the prick of the needle that Elizabeth administered as well.
Elizabeth took her scalpel in hand and made a precise cut along the pubic line. For just a moment, she had the flash of a memory. Cutting into a chest. A heart that wasn’t beating. It was only a flash, but it felt like a memory of something she just could not grasp. She shook it off and made her second cut, this time into the uterus. Very gently, the skin and muscle was spread and Elizabeth got her first look at the unborn child.
Carefully, she grasped the amniotic sack that surrounded the baby and sliced it open. Fluid gushed out, only to be suctioned back out by a nurse. Elizabeth reached in and took the baby by the butt. She had to wiggle a bit, but she managed to pull him free of his mother’s pelvic cavity. “And here is the problem,” she announced. “He’s got a necktie,” she said, pulling the umbilical cord free from the baby’s neck.
She held him upside down for a moment, and then handed him to the waiting NIC-U nurse, who went to work on cleaning him up.
“How is he?” the mother asked.
Before Elizabeth could answer, a shrill wail lit up the room and a chorus of relieved sighs followed. “I think he is going to be just fine,” the NIC-U nurse told her.
Elizabeth went to work on putting the mother back together. While she stitched and listened to the lovely sounds of the new baby wailing like a banshee, she tried to remember what it was that she couldn’t remember. She hadn’t cut into anyone’s chest lately that she could remember. And a dead heart? That just about described her. If only she could figure out the whys of it, she could maybe figure out why she was so damned depressed all the time.
CHAPTER FOUR
GREED
Ash watched the elevator doors open to another office type lobby. It looked exactly the same as Sloth had. Before he and Mali could open the double doors leading into the sanction, they opened on their own.
A tall, willowy woman came out. Her hair was like fire, red and blonde, and it waved around her long face as if each strand was alive. “I didn’t realize
it was you,” she said to Ash. As the others did, she started to bow.
“Please, don’t bow,” Ash told her.
“Yeah, he is kinda weird about that,” Mali piped in. “Doesn’t like it one bit. Might get your head bit off if you do it.”
Ash tossed an elbow at the little man and was rewarded with a grunt. “What he means to say is,” Ash said, “that I do not want anyone bowing to me. I have a job to do here, just like you. I’m Ash.” He put his hand out to shake hers.
She looked Ash up and down thoroughly, then at his hand quizzically for a moment, and then took it into her own. “Nice to meet you, Ash,” she said with a come-hither grin. “I’m Shelly.”
Ash inclined his head once. “Are we going in?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. She held her head high and with a flick of her hand, the doors opened.
Ash walked through them without hesitation. Once the doors closed, he could see the inside of Greed.
People, men and women alike, were shackled to the floor by their ankles. In front of each soul was a pile of rocks of various sizes. Ash watched as each soul picked up the heavy rocks, some of them as big as boulders, and placed them into their piles. “What are they doing?” he asked.
“Well, honey, this is greed. These folks spent their lives taking and taking, with no respect for others. They had it all and they still wanted more. Therefore, they will spend the rest of their eternity gathering their payment to leave.” Shelly smiled wickedly. “Of course, no one leaves.”
“Why do they think they can leave?” Ash asked.
“Because that is part of this hell. Each of them sees gold and silver all around them. They believe that if they gather enough riches they can buy their way out of Hell. But you see, once their piles of rocks get high enough, it disappears. They must continue to nurture their sin.” Shelly shook her head. “It is really quite boring.”
“What if one of them gave their rocks to someone else?” Ash asked her.
Shelly’s eyebrows rose. “As in to help another person? Knowing they wouldn’t be able to gather enough for themselves?”
Salvation (The Keepers of Hell Book 2) Page 2