Savior (The Keepers of Hell Book 1) (4 page)

CHAPTER SIX

     Ash was dead. He knew it. He had to be. He was swimming in a sea of black with no beginning and no end. He knew he was in Hell by the complete lack of light. He had failed his mission and now it was time to pay the debt he owed to the Boss.

     He felt himself drifting away as sirens sounded in the distance. Even though he could no longer see or even feel anything, he could hear. He heard the EMT's talking and knew they were rushing him to the hospital. He also knew that there was no way he was going to make it out of this alive.

     He had surrendered to his fate. The Boss would get his soul, but his sister would be safe for the rest of her life. Even though he never did get to check out her fiancé, he knew in his heart that the man would take care of Lele. He felt peace for the first time when he wasn’t transporting. He surrendered to his fate.

     And then the darkness lifted and in front of him was a blazing fire. The real gateway to Hell was open and waiting for him. He could feel his muscles flexing and itching to move toward it, even though he had no desire to go into the flames. He willed himself to stay where he was, but his body moved forward anyway. The flames grew hotter and Ash wondered if he would incinerate on contact with them.

     A jolt of electricity shot through his body and he cried out with the pain, only his mouth made no sound. No one would hear his screams, not now, not ever. He was lost to Hell. As his feet slid toward the blazing inferno, another jolt rocked him.

     Sweat broke out all over his body. In his mind, he prayed to the God that allowed his family to die to watch over Lele and then he prayed for his own soul. He prayed that he would have the strength to accept his fate like a man and not like the coward he felt like. He had never felt so much fear in his life.

     Another jolt. His back bowed and pain sliced through his entire body. He bit back the scream that wouldn’t have made a sound. If he was going to Hell, he was going to do it with dignity.

     And then, he heard it; an angel’s voice that rang in his mind. “It is not your turn,” she said. “You need to man up, big boy, and live! You. Will. Not. Die. Not today, not on my watch.” The voice was vaguely familiar and it soothed the pain in his soul. It physically pulled him away from the flames if only by a few inches. It filled his heart with hope and he could swear he felt it wrap around his heart like a warm blanket. He still had work to do. He wasn’t ready to die. He wasn’t ready to leave Lele and he wasn’t ready to leave that voice. It made him want to live.

     Ash forced his feet to move backward, away from the gateway to Hell. He concentrated on that lovely voice that was so strong and filled with desperation. Whoever it belonged to needed him. He couldn’t turn his back on it. Ash forced his feet again and again, gaining precious distance from his destiny. Finally he was able to turn his back on the flames completely. He felt the pull of Hell let go of him and he ran as hard as he could. He didn’t know where he was running to, only that if he pushed hard enough, he would get there and the destination would be life.

***

     Ash could hear muffled voices nearby. He could also hear the steady beep and swish of what could only be life support. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know he was in the hospital. If not for the noises, the smell was a dead giveaway. His nostrils were full of the scent of antiseptics and pure oxygen.

     A man’s voice caught his attention. “Have you been able to get in touch with Leanne yet?” he asked.

     “Yes,” a woman said. “She is on her way.”

     “Very good,” the man said. Then he moved closer to Ash and talked directly to him. “Mr. Bailey? Can you hear me?”

     Ash forced his eyes open a small slit and then squinted them closed again. The light was blinding and it hurt his eyes.

     “Turn the lights down,” the man said.

     Ash tried again, this time with more success. He saw a young doctor with dark hair and blue eyes staring at him intently. “There you are,” he said with a sigh of relief. “You are in the hospital. Don’t try to talk; there is still a tube in your mouth. You were shot. I’m Dr. Tucker. Are you in pain?” 

     Ash studied the man who had eluded him before. He seemed nice enough and his concern for Ash seemed genuine. He took stock of his body before attempting to answer. His entire body felt as if a huge weight was pressing it into the bed underneath him, but nothing seemed to be hurting. His chest felt heavier than the rest of his body. With a slight shake of his head, Ash told the man that he wasn’t in pain.

     “Good. We have you on a steady Morphine drip, but if you need more, just press the button here,” he held up the call light. “I don’t believe we have been properly introduced,” he continued. “I’m James Tucker. I’m a surgeon here in the hospital. I believe we have a mutual friend?”

     Ash rolled his eyes.

     “I think it would be all right to get you off the respirator. It’s going to hurt some though,” Dr. Tucker told him. “Give him a ten milligram bolus of morphine and get two milligram bolus of Lorazepam on standby for anxiety,” he said to the nurse. She scurried out of the room to do as she was told. Dr. Tucker turned his attention back to Ash. “I have to give you some pain meds to help with this. It’s gonna hurt. And the Lorazepam is for anxiety. Some patients freak out a little.”

     Ash rolled his eyes at the anxiety part. Dr. Tucker smiled. When the nurse returned with two syringes, Ash felt his heart kick up a notch. “Try to relax,” Dr. Tucker told him. The nurse administered the medication through a port in Ash’s IV. In just a moment, he was feeling lightheaded. “Here we go,” the doctor announced and slowly turned a knob on the ventilator. The machine slowed the breaths it was pushing into Ash’s lungs, and then it stopped altogether. Ash momentarily forgot how to breathe and he fought down the panic that was rising inside his chest. He needed air to breathe. He tried to draw in a breath, but it just wasn’t happening. He was not going to freak out and need that anxiety medicine. No way. Then the good doctor pulled the tubing out of his throat and Ash was pretty sure he took his lungs with it. Or at least, that was what it felt like. And this was with the benefit of pain medicine? Ash hated to think of what it would be like without it. “Open your mouth,” the doctor said. Ash didn’t have to make the conscious decision to do what he asked, because he was already opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water, desperately trying to get enough air into his body.

     The doctor put something wet into Ash’s mouth and the cool water slid off of it and onto Ash’s battered tongue and throat, easing the pain somewhat. When it hit the back of his throat, Ash swallowed hard. And then the air came. It whooshed into his lungs as if that simple gesture had opened the floodgates, but instead of water, precious air flooded into his lungs.

     “Lele is a wonderful woman,” Dr. Tucker continued as if he hadn’t just ripped Ash’s trachea right out. “I want you to know that I will take good care of her. I heard you were hanging out around here looking for me. To check me out, I assume.” Tucker took a seat next to Ash’s bed. “I think getting shot was a bit over the top though, don’t you think?” he joked.

     “If you’re gonna do it,” Ash managed to whisper.

     “Do it right,” Dr. Tucker finished for him with a smile. “Right now, I want you resting and healing. Dr. Rone did a great job fixing you up. That woman saved your life. After you’re feeling better, we can all have dinner and get to know each other.”

     “Elizabeth,” Ash croaked out. His lovely doctor had saved him.

     “You know her?” Dr. Tucker asked.

     “Met her once,” Ash replied.

     Dr. Tucker smiled. “She is a pretty one,” he mused. “Single too, I think.” A grin spread over his face. “She is a friend of mine. Perhaps she would come by and see how her patient is doing.”

     Ash wanted to say no. Hell, he wanted to say anything, but he was tired down to his bones and sleep was far more demanding than his need to speak. He felt his sister’s boyfriend checking the pulse in his wrist as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

***

     Elizabeth tossed and turned in her bed. After a long night, she finally made it home around nine a.m. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows, but soon enough her treacherous brain began to dream and it was full of visions of the dangerous stranger on her trauma table. Over and over again she saw his heart as it lay lifeless in her hands. In her dreams, she wasn’t the calm and collected doctor she showed to the world, but screamed out her frustrations over the man on her table that seemed to be hell bent on dying. And when he died in her dreams, her heart broke. She felt the devastation as if he were someone special in her life. More than special….as if he were her significant other. The pain was crushing and she woke with her face wet from tears.

     Elizabeth shoved out of her bed. She didn’t care that it was only two in the afternoon, she couldn’t sleep anymore. She didn’t want to. She didn’t think she could handle any more dreams about the man she saved the night before. She plugged her feet into her slippers and trudged to the kitchen in search of coffee. Her head felt heavy and her eyes itched, her limbs felt like lead weights, but she forced herself to move.

     On autopilot, she added water and coffee to the Kurig. Her mind, although sleepy, was going a hundred miles an hour. As the coffee dripped, she quelled the urge to pick up her phone and call the hospital to check on him. He wasn’t her patient anymore; he was Dr. Tucker’s responsibility. Funny, the man had been looking for Dr. Tucker, she just hadn’t figured out why.

     She wondered if he knew the doctor, or if her instincts had been right and he meant the doctor harm. Elizabeth really liked James. He was an excellent thoracic surgeon and well respected around the hospital circles. She even liked his fiancée. Lele was a beautiful woman who was also caring and respectful. At first, Elizabeth had qualms about her friend dating such a beautiful woman. In her experience, Elizabeth had found that people that lovely usually didn’t have the personality to go with it, but Lele did. She had won over all of James’ friends and they all loved her.

     Elizabeth picked up her coffee mug, the one that said
Night people don’t do days
, and sipped her hot coffee. The mug had been a gift from last year’s Christmas party and Elizabeth loved it. With her mind wandering, she almost didn’t notice that she had picked up her phone. No, she would not call the hospital. What was she doing? She knew exactly what this was….The Florence Nightingale Effect. She had read about it in college, but never thought she would be a victim of it herself. Could one even develop feelings for a patient in the short time they had been together? No, she told herself. That was why it was considered abnormal and a condition. She needed to stay away.

     But what if he needed her? The question buzzed around in the back of her mind like a trapped bee. With a defeated sigh, Elizabeth knew she would never get that man out of her head until she saw for herself that he was well. Maybe then the strange obsession she had with him would finally go away. Besides, he wasn’t her type, right? Of course not.

     Elizabeth dropped her empty mug in the sink and went to get showered and dressed. She was going in for her shift early. If her rounds just happened to take her past the man’s room, well, so be it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

     “How are you feeling?” Lele asked her brother. Ash rolled his eyes. “Yeah that’s kind of what I thought too.” Lele scooted her chair closer to Ash’s bedside. “I hear that you have been hanging out around here a lot lately,” she continued. “You wouldn’t have been checking out my fiancé, would you?”

     “Had to make sure he was good enough for you,” Ash grumbled. He had told the nursing staff that he didn’t want any visitors, but Lele had wiggled her way around that policy. He should have known she would. She was engaged to his doctor, she could get away with whatever she wanted. Although he didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, he was glad she was there. If he could see her, then he knew she was safe.

     “Well, I would like to say that James saved your life, but that isn’t true. Apparently, he got to the party too late. That other doctor from the ER did. I’m told she was holding your heart in her hands and refused to let you die. I’m going to go find her later and thank her for saving my brother.” Lele said it with conviction and Ash knew she would do it. Then she would know that he had also been stalking the pretty doctor who had no reason to save him. “I asked and they said she works the night shift,” Lele continued. “I bet if I just hang out here long enough, she will come by to see you.”

     Ash shook his head. “Not her responsibility,” he said.

     “Nonsense,” Lele told him. “It doesn’t work that way with doctors. She held your heart in her hands. She massaged it until it started beating again. She stitched you up and saved your ass.” She shook her head. “No, she will be here. Doctors take great pride in their success stories and that is exactly what you are.” Lele took his hand in hers. “You died on that table. You flat-lined for nearly three minutes. If not for Dr. Rone, I would be making funeral arrangements for a corpse, not talking to my bad attitude brother.”

     Ash didn’t argue with her. Mostly because she was right. The pretty doctor had saved him from the pits of Hell, and he at least owed her a thank you. He remembered the feeling of warmth surrounding his heart and imagined Dr. Rone holding it in her hands. He knew without a doubt that she was special to him and he would find a way to thank her properly. He nodded in agreement and slumped further down into his bed. The movement caused pain to slice up his torso, and even though he tried to hide it, Lele saw him wince.

     “I’ll get the nurse to give you some more pain meds,” she said as she grabbed his call light from the railing. When the nurse answered, Lele spoke clearly and with authority. “My brother is in pain. Could you please bring him something?”

     “I got a drip,” Ash told her, looking with only his eyes at his IV drip.

     “I know that,” Lele told him. “But it isn’t enough and they can give you more. You can’t heal if you’re in pain.”

     “It’s not too bad,” he breathed.

     “Don’t give me that shit,” she reprimanded him. “Stop trying to be a manly man and accept the meds. I want you better, not macho.”

     Ash closed his eyes, knowing she was right. He hated to admit any weakness, but damn if it didn’t feel like his chest was being crushed. The nurse walked in only moments later with a syringe in hand.

     “Feeling a bit worse now that the anesthesia has worn off?” she asked.

     Ash didn’t answer her.

     “This is going to help. It’s Morphine, so be prepared for the onset of pressure in your chest. It affects everyone differently, but that is pretty common.” She pushed the needle into his IV and slowly depressed the plunger.

     Ash felt it almost immediately. It was a burning sensation that spread up his arm and over his chest like a wave of fire. He couldn’t draw air into his lungs and he started to panic. The nurse put her hand on his shoulder and forced him to be still. “Hang on there, buddy, it will pass, just breathe,” she told him. And it did. Almost as quickly as it had started, the burning sensation faded and Ash could breathe again. In fact, his whole body felt like it was heavier than normal, but numb at the same time. The pain in his chest subsided and he took a deep breath without feeling like his ribs were coming apart.

     “Thank you,” he croaked.

     “Now you should rest,” Lele told him. Was it just him or was she moving further away? He tried to open his eyes to be sure, but the pain medication was working and doing its job. He asked Lele to stay with him, or at least, he thought he did, before sleep claimed his battered body.

***

     Elizabeth pulled into her parking spot and cut the engine. Yeah, she was showing up a full three hours early for her shift, but she couldn’t stop herself. She grabbed her bag and flung open her car door. As she walked briskly to the entrance, she twisted her hair up into a bun and secured it with a rubber band. She didn’t even care that half of it was hanging out. She was driven by some unseen force to check on the giant of a man who tried to die on her table.

     She went straight to the lounge and hung her jacket in her locker and slammed it shut. She smoothed her scrubs and checked her pocket for her pen and paper. Then, she walked straight to the surgical recovery floor.

     Elizabeth didn’t bother to fight the urge to check on him. She knew that she would only think about it nonstop until she did, so she figured she should get it over with sooner rather than later. She just knew that once she saw that he was alive and well, she could get on with the rest of her night.

     She pushed the button on the elevator and waited patiently for it to arrive. When the doors opened, she stepped inside and smashed the “5” button and waited. The trip seemed to take an inordinate amount of time, but finally the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

     Elizabeth took a deep breath and headed for the nurses station.

     “Dr. Rone, what brings you up here?” the petite brunette behind the desk asked her.

     Elizabeth glanced at the nurse’s name tag. “Hi, Rita. I wanted to check on a patient that came through my ER last night,” she said.

     “What’s the name?” Rita asked.

     Elizabeth realized that she didn’t know. “I’m not sure. It was all so hectic. He was a GSW, required emergency surgery. He’s one of Dr. Tucker’s.”

     “Let me see,” Rita said, tapping at her computer. “I bet it’s this guy,” she announced.    “GSW, aortal repair… Yep. Try the man in 525.” She got up and pulled a chart from the shelf. “Here’s the chart.”

     “Thank you, Rita,” Elizabeth said, taking the chart. She walked a few feet away and opened the chart. Ashton Bailey was his name. Thirty-three years old, lived in the village. Next of kin was… Oh now that was interesting. His next of kin was Leanne Bailey, Dr. Tucker’s fiancée. No wonder he was looking for the doctor. He was scoping out his sister’s beau.

     Elizabeth’s eyes traveled over the notes and verified that this man was indeed her patient. She closed the chart and went to his room, knocking lightly before letting herself in.

     Leanne was sitting by his bedside. “Hi Dr. Rone, how are you?” Leanne said with a pleasant smile.

     “I wanted to check on your brother,” Elizabeth said. “I just figured out that he was your brother though.”

     “I wanted to thank you,” Leanne said without delay. “You saved his life. You saved my only family.”

     “Just doing my job,” Elizabeth said.

     Leanne shook her head. “No, you are an ER doctor. You went above and beyond for him and for that, I can never say thank you enough.”

     “Well, the first time we met, he scared the daylights out of me,” Elizabeth told her. “He was looking for James.”

     “So I heard,” Leanne laughed. “I hope now he realizes what a good man I have.”

     “I think maybe he does,” Elizabeth said, coming closer to the bed. Ashton was asleep, but even in sleep he looked dangerous. His brow was relaxed, but his lips were still drawn into a line. “When was the last time he received meds?” Elizabeth asked. She knew she could just look in his chart, but she also knew that his sister would know.

     “About an hour ago,” Leanne told her. “It knocked him out pretty fast.”

     Elizabeth came closer and Leanne moved so that she could get better access to her patient. She traced her hand across his forehead, feeling for any signs of fever. “No fever, thank God,” Elizabeth said, more to herself than to Leanne.

     “He’s doing really well, considering,” Leanne told her.

     “I was worried,” Elizabeth admitted. “Does he always look so scary?”

     Leanne laughed. “Ash has always been very intense. Ever since our parents died when we were little. He took on the role of caretaker for me and has been looking out for me ever since. He has always been dark and brooding. Then, when he was eighteen, he buffed up and has looked like a pro wrestler ever since.”

     Elizabeth brushed the hair off his forehead. That’s when his eyes opened. Sky blue eyes that looked like they were shaped with thousands of tiny diamonds stared back at her. She instinctively jumped back away from him.

     “Shit,” she grumbled. “Seems you have a talent for scaring me,” she said, schooling her features and putting on her figurative doctor hat. “How are you feeling, Ashton.”

     The man chuckled and then groaned.

     “Yeah, laughing is not your friend right now, big guy,” Elizabeth smiled.

     “I feel like someone ripped my chest open,” he finally told her.

     “Well, I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t gotten yourself shot. Can you tell me what you remember?” she asked him.

     Ash shook his head and tried to clear the fog from his brain. “Eating a burger,” he mumbled.

     Elizabeth laughed out loud. “I always knew fast food was bad for you, but this takes the cake, don’t you think?”

     Ash wanted to laugh, but the memory of the pain he felt last time kept him from doing so. Instead, he grinned at her. “Yeah, that stuff will kill you.”

     Wow, Elizabeth thought. If he was attractive before when he looked like a head hunter, he was gorgeous lying in bed smiling at her. She shook off the effects of his smile and kept talking. “Ok seriously, there is a detective that wants to talk to you as soon as you’re up to it. For now, they have been told to stay out until you feel like talking, but they need to catch the guy that did this to you.” Elizabeth sat gently on the side of his bed. “It’s ok if you don’t remember. A lot of people don’t.”

     “I remember you saved me,” Ash said quietly.

     “I told him what you did,” Leanne spoke up. “He wants to say thank you, isn’t that right, Big Brother?”

     Ash nodded. “I heard you,” he said.

     Leanne rolled her eyes. “That is not a thank you.”

     “Thank you,” Ash corrected himself. But he knew that it was Elizabeth’s voice he heard that pulled him back from Hell. “I heard you talking to me.”

     “You did?” Elizabeth asked with a raised brow. “What did you hear?”

     Ash shifted his position and swallowed the pain so that he could look her in the eyes. “You will not die today, not on my watch,” he told her.

     Elizabeth heard her own words from his mouth and chills and gooseflesh broke out all over her body. “You heard that?” she whispered. Ash nodded. “You were flat-lined.”

     “I heard you. You pulled me back. You saved me.” Ash never broke eye contact. Even though the doctor didn’t know exactly what she had pulled him back from, he needed her to understand how much she saved him.

     “That’s freaky,” Leanne said. “You didn’t tell me that.”

     “Not for you to know,” Ash said, leaning back against his pillow.

     In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Elizabeth stood. “I want to check out your incision, if that’s ok with you?”

     Ash nodded and Elizabeth pulled the sheet down to his abdomen. She gently lifted the hospital johnny up so that she could see the staples on his chest. Dr. Tucker had done a great job closing him back up. The wound was red and angry, but showed no sign of infection.

     Elizabeth touched his skin lightly and was surprised to see his muscles twitch. “I’m sorry, did I tickle you?” she asked. She looked up at his face and drew in a surprised gasp. His face was not smiling, nor was he in pain. No, she could have written a book with all the things his eyes said to her. Hunger, and not for food. Desire. Sex. That was what his eyes were saying.