Dr. U stirred and shifted her bandaged face toward me, opening her swollen eyes as far as she could. “Dani,” she said, voice dry and scratchy like nails on a chalkboard. She weakly squeezed my hand and mewled in pain.
“Someone get her water, please,” I said.
Jasmine disappeared into the hallway, the door clicking closed behind her, and returned a few moments later with a glass of water. I took it from her, my fingers brushing against her slightly, and placed it against Dr. U’s lips, like she used to give me antidepressant medication after Mom died.
She drank it willingly, then pushed it away. “Thank you.”
“The doctor will be back soon for you.” I gently glided my fingers across Dr. U’s bandages and cursed at myself for everything that happened. Every bruise, every scratch, every fucking hair pulled out of her head was because of me being an angel and leading one of the most powerful kingdoms in all of Hell.
Dr. U pulled my hands away from her face. “Are you okay, Dani?”
While I wanted to assure her that everything was fine, the last time I lied like that to someone, Javier started to control my mind. And there was no way that I’d ever let that happen again. With all these demons and thoughts racing through my head, I needed to stay in control this time, because now I had to worry about Dr. U, Trevon, the red-eyed woman, and a looming war with angels.
Instead of lying through my fangs, I smiled as sweetly as I could. “Don’t worry about me right now. You need to recover before you even think about going back to work to fix someone else,” I whispered, trailing my fingers across her cheeks and staring into her ocean blue eyes.
“You’re not work, Dani. You’re like my daughter.”
My heart warmed at her kind words, my eyes filling with tears. While Dr. U had raised me and had been there through everything with me, I didn’t think that she thought of me as a daughter, just like I thought of her as a mother. Most days, especially when I was younger, I felt like a nuisance. All I did was sit in her house, cry my eyes out, and wake up screaming in the middle of the night from demon-filled nightmares.
“Tell me,” she continued.
Knowing that I couldn’t even begin to speak about this feeling inside of me, I shook my head and reluctantly pulled my hand away from hers. “You need to get some rest. I will try my hardest to find you a doctor from Pride to come heal you. They’re the best in all of Hell. For now, our doctors will look after you as best as they can.”
Before I could step away, she grasped my hand in her weaker one and smiled. “Dani, you did great today. You’re becoming stronger just like your mother and father must’ve been. I know that you probably don’t think so, but I am so proud of you.”
Unable to stop the grin on my face, I stared down at her with tears in my eyes as the warmth spread throughout my body. Even after everything that happened today, Dr. U was proud of me. I just hoped and prayed that she’d get better soon, so I could repay her for always being there for me.
A Lust doctor appeared at the door with piercing black eyes and ruffled hair. “Dr. Uriel,” he said with a smile. “I’ve heard great things about you from Dani. I’m Dr. Cald, and I’ll be taking care of you until you’re strong and stable enough to move to the Pride hospitals to get treatment or until you’re well enough to go through the portal to Earth again. It takes a lot of human energy to get from one side of the portal to the other, and if you’re not prepared nor physically strong enough, you won’t make it.”
“How long will it take to heal her?” I asked.
He walked closer to her to examine her injuries and brushed his fingers against her bandages. “Down here—for a human—a long time. But Pride has some medication that will hopefully speed up the process, though I’m not positive that it’d work. You will have to talk to the Pride doctors.”
As immense sorrow washed over me, Eros squeezed my shoulder. Dr. Cald nodded to the other side of the room, just out of earshot from Dr. U. “Can I speak with you, Commander?” he asked, giving Dr. U his best smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
After grabbing Eros’s hand, I hurried with him to chat with Dr. Cald. “What is it?”
Dr. Cald pursed his lips together. “Her injuries are extensive. If you didn’t stop it when you did, she would’ve been dead by now. I’ll try everything that I can do, but there’s no saying that she will survive this.”
My heart sank. “What?” I whispered.
“She has a few days in Lust itself at the very least, before it’s vital to move her to Pride. Pride doctors are typically more well versed in demon injuries. We just mainly deal with…” He paused. “Sex related stuff, as you know. They should be able to help her extend her lifespan by a few more months or heal her completely, based on the science and magic that they know over there.”
“So, I should worry,” I stated, making it clear. My insides tightened at the thought of losing Dr. U, my anxiety spiking so high that, for a moment, I thought that Javier was back to control my mind for good.
“Don’t worry until she gets to Pride. Right now, I must advise you to relax,” he stated. “After what happened at the crowning ceremony, you need to cool off, keep your heart rate down, and try to find some peace. Those demons’ souls won’t stay quiet for long.”
Nodding my head, I turned back to Dr. U. Jasmine glanced over at me and gave me the weakest of smiles. “Go, and do what you need to do. I’ll stay with her,” Jasmine offered quietly from the corner of the room.
I glanced over at her, yet she looked back at the window almost instantly—still unable to hold eye contact. I gave her a curt nod, kissed Dr. U on the forehead, and walked out of the room with Eros, vowing that I wouldn’t relax fully until I found my doctor from Pride to heal my mentor.
Once we departed from the spare room, Eros grabbed my hand, his grip tight, almost as if he was not willing to let me go, like he wanted to hold me close forever and ever. We walked down the high-ceiling halls to my office. Inside, my desk was torn apart, books had been thrown, my bookcase toppled over, and pages from old and ancient books were scattered all over the floor.
Trevon’s adventures as a demon last night certainly had consequences.
As soon as we walked in, Eros dropped my hand and shut the door. “We need to talk.”
I sighed to myself, picked up a few books from the floor, and placed them onto the desk, fingers brushing against the hundreds of pages that weren’t in my native tongue—but in a demonic language that I hadn’t fully mastered yet but was learning slowly.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, leaning against what was left of my desk.
Eros lingered by the door, those devilish emerald eyes taking me in, almost in caution. My stomach tightened, more guilt washing over me at the sight of him. To see the caution and fear in his eyes hurt me.
Without saying anything, he walked toward me and stopped about a foot away. We were close, but not as close as we had been. I could tell that Eros was holding back, staying away in case something bad happened again.
“You’re afraid of me,” I whispered before he could say anything.
Instead of responding right away, he gently grasped my face and frowned. “Dani, I’m not afraid of you,” he said, brushing his thumbs across my cheeks and stroking them gently. But Eros was lying.