CHAPTER 2 — Code Blue
As the day ended and the moon gained its place I was still suffering, handling one of my most expensive patients. Jessica and I held him down as he cried out in pain along with some very colorful threatening words.
"I'M GONNA KILL THEM!"
His name is Oralax. Very energetic, combat talented, and a little troublemaker.
KHA-THUNK
"LET ME GO!"
Jessica held him down by his shoulder while I worked on cauterizing one of his horns —
snapped clean in half and refusing to stop bleeding. As his body burned with pain, covered in slash marks and bruises, Oralax's purple eyes shot wide as he felt me burning
the wound directly with the electrocautery tool.
Ssssss~
"AHHHHHHHH STOP IT!"
His wild white hair was matted against his blue skin, his small demon horns catching
the light.
"HOLD HIM DOWN!"
Jessica held him down firmly then moved his white hair away from his face so she could check for any more damage. What she saw was his innocent blue face twisted with anger and a very clear plan for murder. His purple eyes burned with the kind of fury that only a thirteen year old who trained too hard could manage. Her face swelled with emotion like she wanted to adopt him
on the spot.
"Oh my…"
Jessica looked at him for one second too long.
"…He's so small."
He looked at her wrong.
"I am NOT small!"
It felt like holding down a bull that wanted to ram through anything in its way. By the time I finished closing the wound on his horn he had calmed down — mostly because Jessica wouldn't let him go from her embrace. He felt the safety of it even if he was too awkward to admit it. He didn't move. Didn't make a sound.
"Guess your tantrum is over… What happened
this time?"
I placed the tray of used instruments into their proper disposable bucket and gave Oralax a mean side eye while I did it. They were finally quiet while Jessica cleaned him up with a bucket of warm water and a clean rag.
CLACK CLACK CLACK
Before I could say another word my new apprentice Amanda barged into Oralax's
room without knocking.
She was already in full uniform — long white hair falling past her shoulders with black bows tucked throughout it, her small pink horns peeking out from under her nurse cap. Her pink eyes scanned the room immediately, bandage satchel swinging from her shoulder, patient notes tucked under her arm like she'd been running the whole way here.
"ORALAX!"
I looked at my watch that Scorin gave me from his collection of gold — gold trimmings along with a white face. I counted each second it took Amanda to just get here, tapping my watch with my purple fingernails.
TAP TAP
"It's almost time to close. What took you so long?"
She gave me a reasonable answer to protect her pay. She spoke while gasping for air.
"When you… told me… to get those supplies from the next town over?"
It hit me instantly. I covered my mouth with both hands and thought for a moment. I looked at Oralax then returned my tired eyes back to Amanda as she caught her breath.
"…Go on."
Amanda's eyes darted toward Oralax being wiped down by Jessica. Her face flushed with awkwardness. Her hands trembled like her next words were going to be too much.
"I was followed by humans. Oralax came just in time before something happened."
I looked back at Oralax like I hadn't just cauterized his horn closed ten minutes ago.
"So let's get this straight, Oralax."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose trying to decide whether to thank him or scold him for putting himself in danger. I really liked his horns. I placed both hands on my hips and looked at him.
"So what happened to those humans?"
Oralax looked at me with a smile as Jessica walked away with the bucket of water. Amanda
sat next to him and began treating his minor wounds, tapping a gauze soaked in alcohol against his shoulder. His face went red the moment she got closer.
"I heard stories on the demon news about humans kidnapping demons. Haven't you seen the news?"
Jessica returned and saw her new favorite person being taken care of by someone else. Her expression said everything.
SLAP
I grabbed her wrist before she could get any closer. I still needed to hear the end of this story before I could go home.
"Continue…"
Oralax kept going. The news had been warning everyone to keep their children indoors past a certain hour. Two male adult demons and three women had been kidnapped with no trace
found. He had been in town with his friends when he spotted Amanda heading toward the next town over — close to the border of the Human Kingdom, right where the kidnappings had been happening.
"Wait wait wait wait!"
I waved my hands in the air like I was chasing imaginary purple clouds away. My phone rang. Scorin. Already calling me five minutes after closing time. I let it ring and tucked the phone back into my pocket — the one he got me for my twelfth birthday. I didn't know the Neutral Kingdom
had it like that. I looked back at Oralax like my time was running out.
"Finish please. Dragon boy might already be flying over here using my father as an excuse. So hurry it up."
Oralax nodded and cut to it.
"I went with Amanda to help carry the supplies back. When we crossed through the demon forest they were already there waiting."
Oralax jumped onto the bed and grabbed his heavy katana that had been resting beside him. He unsheathed it and raised it high.
SHA-SHIN!
Amanda jumped from her seat and put distance between herself and Oralax as he shouted proudly.
"Something told me to go with Amanda and I was right! I even took one human down!"
My face dropped. I was now apparently involved with a legal murderer. My hands went up trying to grab the air. I looked at Amanda like she forgot to mention that part.
"Okay — self defense, we established that. Settle down, Oralax."
Jessica walked behind him and snatched his katana and sheath so fast it felt like wind had grazed him.
"What was that?"
SHH-THUNK
Jessica resheathed his sword then grabbed Oralax and threw him over her shoulder. Amanda didn't say a word. They locked eyes.
"We need to go now. Master Malphas is waiting."
She walked out of the patient room with Oralax draped over her shoulder, his face wearing a confused expression. Amanda looked at me trying to silently ask if he was going to be okay.
"You're coming too, accomplice."
I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, killed the lights, and let the door close behind us. She tried to protest like usual but this situation needed to go directly to my father.
"Sophia they were in the wrong! Oralax just defended me!"
She gritted her teeth and stomped her feet as I kept pulling her forward. Jessica had
already pulled around with my new carriage that Scorin got for me. Yeah — he had been
really generous over those two years.
"Get in the carriage Amanda. Don't make me ask twice."
It had a black roof, gold wheels and two demon stallion horses that were always ready to run. They neighed so loud the neighbors knew it was me without looking out their windows. Just their Demonic Saint and her overprotective fiancé.
KHA-THUNK
I closed the door behind me and settled in with everyone else. Oralax sat next to Amanda eating a takeout meal from the cafeteria. Amanda leaned against her door trying to avoid the mess he was making.
"You should've told me you hadn't eaten."
SLAP!
Jessica cracked the whip and the horses broke into a gallop. The hospital was locked
and everything was put away. The sun was already setting and I could feel trouble approaching. Jessica told me how long until we arrived home.
"Princess, we will be there after curfew."
My eyes shot open. I looked at my watch. Past ten in the evening. I leaned toward the window checking the sky and the road. Nothing but empty pavement and the sound of hooves clacking against the ground.
"Oh man, the last time I got home late my father sent out—"
THUNK!
The carriage rocked like something landed on the roof. Oralax grabbed his katana and
stood on his seat in front of Amanda. I sat back with one arm out like I was expecting a delivery, my red eyes cutting through the darkness without effort. Oralax swung his head left and right scanning for threats. Amanda had her hands raised behind him like she already knew exactly what was on the roof.
"Oralax relax. It's not an enemy."
He looked at me confused. Then a purple ball of fur with an umbral black sparkle shot through my window and hit my arms like a bowling ball.
THUMP!
I looked down and smiled in spite of myself.
"Heyyyy. Noxx, how's home?"
WOOF!
A voice came from the roof. I already knew who it was.
"You're late."
Scorin stood on top of the carriage, eyes fixed on the darkness ahead. He wore his black and gold royal dragon armor, dark cape with gold trimmings and black boots. His silver white hair had grown to the back of his neck — longer now because I told him to grow it out. The wind caught his cape as Jessica maneuvered through the Demon Kingdom.
"Your father told me to come and make sure you got home safe. You know how he gets…"
Nira sat on top of Noxx in my arms, her black hair wild from the wind and her purple dress catching the night air. Her tiny fairy wings were folded close and her porcelain face wore the most insufferable smile she owned — like my day hadn't been long enough already.
I took a slow breath and rolled my eyes.
"Do you mean I know how you get?"