Savior (The Keepers of Hell Book 1) (2 page)

     She took his hand and squeezed. “I knew you would understand,” she said. “I want us all to have dinner so you can meet him and see what a wonderful man he really is. It means the world to me that I have your blessing. I want you to give me away.”

     Ash tromped down the speech that was begging to get out of his mouth about how she was too young, too soon, too naïve… and just let his sister enjoy their birthday dinner in peace. He would deal with James Tucker later.

CHAPTER TWO

     After Ash enjoyed his dinner with Lele, he watched her as she got into her car and drove out of the restaurant parking lot. He set out to go home, but instead, as he walked the dark city streets, his feet took him to Memorial Hospital. He just had to know more about this “James Tucker.” He didn’t have a plan as he entered through the emergency doors, only a mission.

     He watched as the employees scurried about from one patient to the other, trying to make sure that everyone was taken care of, even though they were understaffed and over-worked. Most of the staff in the ER was nurses, and he knew that his target was in fact, a doctor. Ash watched as they went through double doors that required a pass key to get into. That was the door he needed if he was going to get any information.

     After scanning the room, Ash decided on a seat close enough to the door that he could move quickly when the time came. And it did come. A nurse was hustling by and scanned her key and then pushed the door open. Ash didn’t wait for another opportunity. As she entered, he walked right up behind her and slipped through the heavy doors before they could close again.

     He found himself surrounded by activity. He walked down the hall as if he had a direct purpose, his boots echoing off the walls as he went. He knew that he was just oozing with malice, but could do nothing to stop it. Nurses subconsciously moved out of his way as he tromped through the ER. He passed one room after another. Sick man here, sick kid there. Hell, he could just feel the germs trying to chase him down. He hated hospitals.

     He passed one room that he assumed was for trauma. He barely gave it a glance until he heard a voice from inside.

     “Give him ten milligrams of Morphine and watch his vitals,” she said. Ash stopped in his tracks. That voice was commanding and yet so sweet at the same time. It was like wind chimes on a summer night….sultry and sweet. He didn’t make a conscious decision to move, but he walked to the door of the room to see the woman the voice belonged to.

     He saw a dark haired woman in a lab coat fussing over the patient. It was impossible to tell if her hair was long or short, because it was bunched up into a surgical cap on her head. The man on the gurney had been in some kind of accident. There were tubes and wires sticking out all over and he was swollen and covered in blood. The woman worked methodically on him until she was satisfied with his condition.

     “Go ahead and call Dr. Tucker and get him prepped for OR. I think OR3 is empty,” the doctor said.

     Yes, Dr. Tucker. That was his whole reason for being in the hospital. He was in the right place. Before he could move out of the doorway, the doctor turned her head to face him. It was as if she had known he was there. She moved quickly and before he knew it, she was standing right in front of him.

     “You are not supposed to be in here,” she told him.

     Ash was stunned into paralysis by her hard stare. Deep brown eyes the color of dark chocolate pinned him where he stood. She was at least a foot shorter than he was, petite but not skinny. He broke his gaze from her stare and examined her face. It was round and her eyes had a slight tilt to them, as if she were of Asian descent. Not completely, though. No, she probably had a few Asian relatives, but this woman was all American. Her nose was set perfectly, almost sharply, above pink, pouty lips.  He allowed his eyes to travel down and noticed that her scrubs hid the rest of her body from his view. This was disappointing to say the least.

     “Excuse me?” she demanded. “What are you doing here?”
     Ash’s cock jumped behind the fly of his pants and that was enough to make him give himself a mental shake. “I’m looking for my mother,” he finally said.

     “Well I can assure you, she isn’t in here,” the woman said. Ash looked at her shirt and noticed the name embroidered above her left breast. Dr. Elizabeth Rone. What a lovely name.

     “Can you tell me where I might find her?” Ash asked, making an attempt at a smile. “Dr. Tucker is her doctor.”

     “Dr. Tucker is a surgeon. If he operated on her, she is likely in the surgical unit. Third floor,” she answered. “Now, I will thank you to get the hell out of my ER.”

     Ash’s cock pressed harder against his fly. There was just something so hot about this little, demanding woman. In his mind, he saw himself kissing that scowl off her face. What the fuck? He mentally shook himself again and added a slap for good measure. “Thank you,” he said, tearing his eyes off her and turning to leave.

     Ash temporarily forgot all about Dr. Tucker and trudged through the hospital until he found his way back out into the streets. His head was full of the little doctor that commanded him to leave. He had never backed down from anyone before in his life, but this woman had put a spell on him or something. And what the fuck was his cock thinking? He didn’t have time to be attracted to anyone. Hell, he couldn’t even remember the last time he found anyone attractive, much less anyone that evoked a physical reaction. His life was all about death and dismemberment. There was no room for sex.

     He arrived at his home without remembering any details about the walk there. He had been too busy fussing mentally about Dr. Elizabeth Rone. It was obvious that she was an ER doctor, but what else was there about the pretty doctor? What did she do outside of work? What did she look like in regular clothes instead of scrubs? What did she look like without clothes altogether? What would her skin feel like under his hands? Did she moan with pleasure or was she the silent type? And more importantly, why did he care?

     As he entered his home, he kicked his boots off and immediately opened his laptop. He needed to do some research and Ms. Rone was a distraction. He didn’t need any of those in his life. He opened a search box and typed in James Tucker. Immediately, the screen offered several results.

     Ash clicked on the first result. It was a magazine article discussing a new surgical technique for doing heart surgery. There was a picture of the man in question right at the top. He was young, with short brown hair and laughing blue eyes. He had designed a program that would allow for a single bypass procedure to be done laparoscopically. Less invasive and less risky than open heart surgery meant faster healing times for patients.

     He clicked on the second one. Apparently, Dr. Tucker won an award from the AMA. “Well, isn’t he just a Boy Scout,” Ash muttered to himself. One result after another confirmed that his sister’s fiancé was just about as perfect as they came. Ash didn’t buy it. Everyone had skeletons in their closets. He was just going to have to dig deeper.

     Without permission from his brain, his fingers typed in another search….Elizabeth Rone. There was only one result in the town of Bakersville, where he lived. It was a short newspaper article about a car accident. The child was the only survivor–Elizabeth.

     She had lost her parents when she was only thirteen. Ash’s heart gave a little tug for her. She was an orphan, just like him. He wondered what else they might have in common. He searched for another hour, but found nothing else about her. The woman was a mystery online as well as in his brain.

     He rested his head on his hand and let his mind wander. It was in that position that sleep found him.

CHAPTER THREE

     Elizabeth sat under her tree in the courtyard behind the hospital. The sun would be coming up soon and she liked to spend her last break of the night watching for it. It had been a rough night….one emergency after another. Most of them were completely avoidable, which irritated her to no end. It was simple. Don’t drink and drive. Do wear your seatbelt. If you stick something in an electrical outlet, you are gonna get shocked. Would the human race never learn? She thought not. But perhaps it was just as well. Without accidents, she would be out of a job.

     It had always been her life’s dream to work in trauma, and now she was doing it. It had only taken eight years of college (that she paid for herself) and a lot of hard work. She wasn’t too keen on working the night shift, but she would take it. Eventually, she would earn enough seniority to move to a different shift. She had never really been a night owl.

     The strangest things and people came into her ER at night. Like that man who was watching her earlier that evening. She had known he was there while she examined her patient, but refused to acknowledge him before she had completed her exam. 

     One look at his tortured blue eyes made her insides turn to mush. He was nothing like the men she usually found attractive. His hair was too long, his face was too scruffy, he was too tall, too broad, too everything. He was his own presence and he commanded attention. And he was dangerous. She knew it without a doubt. And he terrified her.

     So it really surprised her that she was able to keep it together when she threw him out of her ER. She had wanted to run and hide from him. She had also wanted to grab him by those shiny black locks of his and kiss him. She usually wasn’t one to fantasize about a man, but she could remember all too well how his black tee shirt stretched across the muscles of his chest and wondered how it would feel to run her hands over those muscles. She wondered if he had hair on his chest or not. She liked a little bit of hair, she thought to herself. Hell, he was at least a foot taller than her own five-foot four inches, and if she were to actually act on her instinct to molest him, she would have to climb up his body to reach his face.

     Still, she had screwed her courage to the sticking place and held her ground. She tossed him out like yesterday’s trash. He was lying about looking for his mother and she knew it. It was better that he was gone. He was nothing but trouble. She would have reported him, except she didn’t even know his name. She would ask him if he came back. She hoped he came back.

***

     Ash woke from a fitful sleep that had been filled with images of dark chocolate eyes and everything naughty in the world. He realized that he had fallen asleep at his computer and now his neck was paying the price. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his back out, forcing his neck back as well. It cracked and complained, but eventually went back to the way it was supposed to be.

     He shoved out of his chair and went for coffee. He banged around in his kitchen until the pot was dripping and the aroma of fresh coffee filled the room. He couldn’t wait for it to finish, so when it was nearly done he yanked the carafe out and poured himself a cup. Then he sat at the table and sipped the hot brew. What a night that had been. As many nights as he spent killing all manner of evil, the night before had been more stressful. He hated that his sister was getting married. He didn’t care how nice or good her fiancé seemed to be, he didn’t like him and he didn’t trust him. A little voice told him that he wouldn’t like or trust anyone who wanted to be with his little sister, but that wasn’t the point.

     And then there was the woman. That doctor. Not only had she ruined his plans for seeking out his sister’s boyfriend, but she was filling his head to distraction. Distractions were something he couldn’t afford in his line of work.

     At that moment, the demon who owned his soul chose to show up. Ash felt the familiar current in the air just a moment before the bastard decided to show himself. It was the only warning he got that the demon was coming. At least it was something. He didn’t know if the Boss knew about it or not, but Ash always knew when he was being watched. “Well, good morning, princess,” the Boss said cheerfully.

     “Fuck you,” Ash replied without putting down his cup.

     “Aw, is that any way to greet your oldest friend?”

     “Again, fuck you,” Ash said just before making a show of drinking his coffee. “It’s too early.”

     “No rest for the wicked,” the demon reminded him. “I have an assignment for you.”

     Ash ignored him. Maybe if he ignored the demon hard enough, he would just go away. Ash had enough shit on his mind, and he didn’t need this crap too.

     “He is a low level demon, but he is killing off innocents like the Orkin man does roaches. And, since he is under my charge, it is giving me a bad rap. So how about you go on and take care of that for me?” the boss continued.

     Ash knew he wouldn’t have gone away, but he could still be hopeful. “Why don’t you take care of it if he is in your charge?” he asked with heavy sarcasm. He already knew the answer and he knew he would be doing as the demon said. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t give the demon a pound of shit to go with his orders.

     “Aren’t you the snarky one this morning,” the demon laughed. “You know as well as I do that you do my dirty work. I like it that way. Keeps my hands free for other things. Are you still brewing over your sister and her new man?”

     Ash’s head snapped up and he knew he was glaring daggers at the piece of shit. “What do you know about my sister?” he growled, standing up and forcing his chair to scrape across the linoleum floor.

     The demon chuckled. “Still so overprotective,” he mused. “I already checked into this Dr. Tucker. He’s as good as gold. Already got a place reserved for himself in Heaven. Oh, but to bring him over to our side! Perhaps you would help with that?”

     Ash shook his head. “Fuck off. I agreed to kill demons. Leave my sister’s lover out of it.”

     “Of course,” the demon agreed. “I want this task taken care of immediately. His name is Rashaan.” Ash saw an image of the demon in question in his mind. Yeah, he recognized him too. This one liked to wear a human costume and pretend to be normal. Piece of cake. “I will expect a report as soon as it is complete,” the demon continued just before disappearing from Ash’s kitchen.

     Ash sat back in his chair and shoved his hand through his hair. Just one day off, that was all he was asking for. What was so hard about that? Apparently, everything was hard about that. He knew there was no putting it off. If he didn’t get his ass moving and find Rashaan, the demon would be back. He would return and irritate the fuck out of Ash until he did his job.

     He pushed out of his chair and opened his weapon cabinet. Of course, his favorite blade was already at his hip, but he added a few more just for good measure. Then he looped the amulet around his neck and held it tight in his fist while he chanted the incantation that would take him to Hell.

     He felt the familiar nothing wrap around him like a warm blanket, and for that single moment in time, he knew peace again. Yeah, he realized that it was all kinds of fucked up that the only real peace he knew was in between Earth and Hell, but he would take it any way he could get it. When he was himself again, he found he was in the same place where he always entered Hell. The walls were a deep black, with the bones of the fallen molded into them, creating an unsettling design. It never failed to give him the creeps. The ceiling was high and the stench of blood and death were heavy in the air. The floor was sticky and hot, making his boots adhere to it with every step. Every pair of boots he owned had extra thick soles, but still he could not remain in this place too long or else the bottoms of his shoes would melt away, leaving his feet vulnerable to the burning rock beneath them. If he were to find a word to describe this place, he would say it reminded him of a cave, only there was no entrance and no exit.

     He forced his feet to move with every step as he set out on his search for Rashaan. He could hear the scurrying little feet of the minions nearby and that prompted him to move more quickly. There was no doubt in Ash’s mind that he could easily take out a minion, but with sheer numbers they could overpower him. He would make a tasty snack for them and he wasn’t all about being dinner.

     Minions were just another part of Hell. Each division had different minions. Each division had a leader of sorts. There was a separate Hell for murderers than for thieves, with each one tailored to fit the crime. These were things that Ash discovered on his own. When he had begun to work for the Boss, he was given no information about Hell. The demon only told him not to get himself killed.

     Ash had researched Hell on the internet, but he soon discovered that most of the information out there available to humans was wrong. He learned as he went. After ten years of transporting back and forth, he knew who he could mess with and who to leave alone. While minions were weak individuals, as a group they were a force to be reckoned with. They were short, slimy creatures that scampered about Hell waiting for their next meal. Their job was simple–observe and devour. They reported back to their leader any and everything they saw, and ate anything or anyone that was unlucky enough to be caught in their path.

     Ash rounded a corner and breathed a sigh of relief as the pattering footsteps became further away. He needed to find Rashaan and get this over with. He had issues that had to be dealt with at home. He heard a scraping noise just to his right and on instinct, he drew his blade. He thrust his arm to the side just in time to spear the demon minion through the heart. It had been alone and was waiting for him in the shadows. Ash jerked his knife back and wiped the goo from the little bastard on his thigh. “Stupid fucker,” he muttered as he continued on his way.

Sweat soaked his brow and was making his hair stick to his neck. He tried to shove it out of the way, but it was no use. He made a mental note to get it cut when he got home. He wondered if Elizabeth would like his hair short and then mentally slapped himself. What the fuck did he care what she thought? And why the fuck was he thinking about that now?

     “You don’t belong here,” a deep rumbling voice said from in front of him. Shit, Ash had been in his own head and a demon had snuck up on him.

     “I belong wherever I want,” Ash replied with attitude.

     “I have heard of you,” it said. It moved closer and Ash could see that it was human. Or at least, it used to be. The man’s face and limbs were distorted. They had been twisted and bent until they were nothing more than a gnarly mess. “You are the demon hunter. The slayer.”

     “What do you know of me?” Ash demanded. He knew it was only a matter of time before word got around, but Ash was very careful not to leave witnesses. Or he thought he was.

     “You work for him,” the man said.

     “For who?”

     The man shrugged. “If you don’t know, then I can’t tell you.”

     Ash resisted the urge to run his blade through this man’s throat. But he killed demons. Not humans. This man was not a keeper of Hell, but a resident. Perhaps a new tactic was in order. “I am looking for Rashaan. Do you know where he is?” Ash was hopeful that the man would want to help.

     He laughed. “Since when do you ask for help?”

     “Usually, I don’t. But you are here and my boots are melting. You can tell me what I want to know, or I can introduce you to my blade.” Ash pointed the knife directly at the man’s throat.

     The idiot just laughed at him again. “I don’t fear your blade,” he spat. “Do you think you can do anything to me that hasn’t already been done? No matter how many times you kill me, I will just come right back to be tortured another day.” He scratched his head in thought. “No, I will help you because I want to. Rashaan spends a lot of time on Earth. He likes to influence people and bring in new recruits. I suggest you look for him there instead of here.”

     Well that was fucking great. How was Ash supposed to find a demon that could look like a regular human on Earth? He would have no way of knowing who he was! But then again, maybe he didn’t have to look for him. “You tell Rashaan when he returns that I was here. Tell him I was looking for him.”

     “He will come after you, ya know,” the man said as he turned to walk away.

     “I am counting on it,” Ash remarked as he held the amulet in his hand.