The Devil's Salvation

[Asila]

Their arrival was anti-climatic, a mere ripple on a mirrored lake surface. Three individuals stepped into the night streets as though crossing through a doorway. The only thing strange about it was the complete lack of a doorway for them to step through. They quite literally stepped out of thin air, but without a brilliant flash or grand noise to draw attention to them no one noticed. Above them, a street-light flickered on, than off.

The one known as Midnight observed her surroundings in silence, eyes shaded under the hood of her cloak. Fragile as her state of health was, she had come here draped in fabric meant to guard against the cold as well as sunlight, should they ever encounter the last. This place did not look terribly promising, but she had the word of the dimension hopper in their group that there would be hope here. If a rumor could be misconstrued as solid reason for hope...

Maybe it could, maybe it shouldn't. Either way, it was all they had to go on. Her last chance.

The youngest one, Jade, scowled at their surroundings. There was a lot of tension in these streets; vandalized facades of small shops and bars that kept watch over street-hardened residents. "Yeah, this is a good start, Azirath." She grumbled, sending a sidelong look of disapproval in the winged lion-creature's direction.

"Some of the best things are found in some terrible places." Azirath responded, with only a touch of impatience. "Unless you disagree?" It was the voice of human male that emerged from the jaws of the predatory beast. A passerby glanced at them, but then walked faster to be free of the hallucination.

Jade only shoved her fists deeper into the pocket of her favorite emerald-colored hoodie, looking petulant. "All I'm saying is that this place looks bad, and I really hope you know what you're doing." She usually wasn't this moody and unpleasant toward her own Familiar, but this place was making her distinctly uncomfortable.

Azirath simply shook his head. "Just keep walking forward so that I can pretend to keep pace with you, like a loyal guard dog. A terrifying loyal guard dog, if I do say so myself." He gave a fanged grin.

The group advanced, searching for a sign of some kind of medical facility. Even the smallest clinic should have some insight into where they should go next to find the legendary doctors Azirath had heard of during his years of dimension hopping. As they walked and slowly gained their bearings for this unfamiliar world, the street slowly got darker, with the street-lights coming farther apart and less likely to work. The buildings were dark, either locked down or abandoned.

Jade stopped. "This is bad. We should turn back."

Midnight smiled, with a strange red glow to her eyes. "Why? This place looks...peaceful."

"It does not! You just want something to maul. That's the vampire blood talking." The teen was distinctly nervous, but the emotion turned to heart-pounding fear when she saw movement in the building to her left. A tattooed face watching them with interest from a broken window. Hushed voices spilled into the street only a second before the physical bodies followed. The gang spread out before them, and the voices grew raucous.

Midnight's smile tensed. "Maybe. But something had better start talking big, because we are in for some trouble."

A slender man dressed in studded leather and a nasty sneer stepped forward. "What's wrong, ladies? You look a little frightened."

Midnight straightened and drifted forward, her footsteps going unnoticed beneath the long sweeping cloak. Her gaze was unseen behind cast shadows, leaving only her calm smile. Her voice, when she spoke, dripped with disdain. "If 'frightened' is what you see, then I hope for your sake you can read literature better than you can read people."

Azirath snarled, punctuating her remark, and prowled forward as well. He bared his teeth to them, and many of the gang members shifted uncertainly. The coldness of their robed adversary, coupled with the aggression of the large apex predator at her side, gave even these criminals a moment's pause.

All except one. The man who had addressed them pulled a gun and fired at Azirath, who managed to spring out of the way. The bullet ricocheted off the pavement and down the street, deadening the hearing of all three of them as they froze in place.

"Watch what you say." The slender man growled, the varied piercings in his face glinting ominously in the scant lighting. "I don't need any of you living to take what I want. I can search a corpse as easy as I can mug a living body. That cat of yours, however...now it would fetch a nice sum on the black market."

Midnight said nothing to this. She didn't have to. In response to the last line, Jade was already bounding forward. "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE HIM!" She shrieked, drawing what appeared to be a hawk-shaped boomerang. When she launched it at the gang, it grew into a mass of bright green flame with a wing span as wide as the street they stood in. Every one of their enemies had to throw themselves to the ground or be engulfed by fire as the manifestation charged them at chest level.

That was all the opening that Azirath and Midnight needed. Targeting the members with guns, both of them swooped in, the lion-creature tearing offending pieces of metal from fragile human hands while Midnight summoned hellish apparitions that pinned the rest to the ground with cruel talons. It was over in seconds. By the time Jade reached up to catch her weapon after it arced high in the black sky and returned to her, the entire gang had been subdued.

"What's going on here?"

The three of them looked up to see a man in uniform who was approaching from beyond the fallen gang members. Midnight immediately released her hold on her quarry, and the shadows dispersed, taking with them the momentary strength she had gained. Azirath pulled away from the gang entirely, returning to Jade and Midnight like an obedient beast who had been summoned.

Midnight answered the officer carefully. "They pulled a gun on us, even going to far as to take a shot. If it weren't for my faithful friend, here" she held a hand out to Azirath, who responded to the cue by brushing against her hand, as though he were indeed nothing more than a good little guard lion "my little sister and I could have been killed."

The police officer showed no expression in response to Midnight's account as he came closer to the gang. He stepped slowly between the fallen bodies, taking their state into account, then crouched beside the slender leather-clad leader, turning him over onto his back. "Bitch...tried to kills us all. She used Black Magic. We were powerless to stop her." He groaned, then held up his bleeding hand. "Look what that monster did to me!" Indeed, Azirath had dislocated a few fingers, and added a few deep fang punctures, when he'd torn that gun from the man's grasp.

Jade narrowed her eyes. "Coward tries to kill us and then whines about the outcome." She said derisively to anyone in earshot.

The officer stood slowly, ignoring the remark. "I have never seen such blatant battery and assault on the innocent. Justice will be done, here."

The trio glanced at each other. There was something about the way he said that while crouched beside the battered gang members that did not bode well for them. There were definitely the ones who looked beat-up. There wasn't a whole lot of time to dwell on the ominous nature of it all before the officer turned to them and drew his gun.

"Freeze. You three are hereby under arrest for unwarranted assault on innocent civilians."

"You're kidding." Midnight said tensely. "Did you miss all the weapons that those gang members had while you were staring at them? What kind of law official are you?"

"A corrupt one." Came Jade's voice, crackling with anger. "They are always corrupt. Fucking pigs."

Midnight may have tried to silence her, if she weren't thinking something similar at that moment.

The officer's expression hardened. "It's clear from my inspection that it's these young men who bear the marks of an assault while the two of you and your beast are unharmed. I'm going to need to see your I.D's."

The small group didn't move a muscle, locked in place by a sense of sinking dread. They had no such thing for this world.

The officer stared them down, unwilling to wait for them to mull it over. "Are you choosing to resist and defy police authority?"

"Perhaps we are." Midnight spoke darkly, furious. "If you can't keep your criminals under control, then what authority do you have? I recommend that you return to doing nothing. It's a field you excel in." She turned to walk away, expecting the incompetent man to be left stammering.

Instead, a second loud gun shot rang out through the streets, this one much larger than the first. Midnight's entire body went numb. Only vaguely did she realize she'd been shot before she fell, bleeding profusely from a chest wound that had only barely missed her spine upon entry through her back.

Jade yelled Midnight's name, but, as she was unable to hear her own voice, she immediately turned to action instead, sending a hawk-shaped wave of emerald fire toward the officer who was now shooting at Azirath as the fearsome creature bounded toward him with a roar that echoed through the very ground they stood on. One bullet struck him hard in the shoulder, sending him off course, but the flames hit their mark, igniting the officer. He screamed and tried to roll, but Jade condensed the flames so that they burned like napalm. Then she watched him burn until the screams of agony stopped.

Azirath limped back to her and pressed his head into her side, snapping her out of the morbid reverie. In tandem, both of them rushed toward Midnight, but the situation was looking very bleak for her. Jade dropped to her knees beside her older sister in everything but blood. "What am I supposed to do?! How do we save her?"

The words dwindled into panicked silence. Azirath didn't know any better than she.

[raigon]

Tap . Tap. Tap.

John wondered what was taking his partner so long. They had been on patrol for hours in the streets and nothing had seemed out of ordinary until Mike heard a gunshot. They drove down Candle’s Way and saw what seemed to be a scuffle between what looked like a gang armed with guns attacking two young girls and… a cat? It certainly looked like a cat. He didn’t know what kind of cat it was though. And did it have WINGs?

Mike had such a smile on his face when he saw them and John’s heart sank. He knew that look. He wished he had the authority to override him and asked him to stand down and let him handle the situation, but unfortunately as partners, they were equals.

But in reality, John was the lesser of the equals. John offered to go with him as backup. Naturally Mike declined and asked him to stay in the car while he went out to investigate.

Police Officers, John thought bitterly, the upholders of justice and peace. What a joke.

He knew what was going to happen. He knew what Mike was going to do. And he didn’t like it, but what can he do about it?

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Mike had given him specific orders to wait in the car while he investigated what looked to be a normal gang scuffle. John had groaned and told them that two unarmed girls with a cat do not make a gang. But did Mike care? No.

It was when he heard the gunshot that he leapt out of the car.

Fuck… he couldn’t have…

Partner or no partner, if Mike had shot the girls… John wasn’t going to let it happen. He would not let Mike shoot innocent people.

Or… at least he thinks they were innocent. He didn’t know what to think when he arrived on the scene.

Mike was burnt to green smithereens. Green smoke and dying aura from what seemed to be emerald flames had consumed his partner until nothing remained but charred bones… if he could even call them that. Next to the burnt corpse of his comrade, had been a gun, which still had the stench of fresh gunpowder.

And in the streets were several groaning gangsters clutching their injured regions, their eyes white and wide with terror, stuttering and groaning, and unable to mutter a single word. They had never seen anything like this, and they were in utter shock and fear.

And they should be. Even John had never seen anyone alive who was still capable of using magic in this dying world.

Next to the gangsters were the two girls and the winged cat Mike whom the gang had jumped. One of the girls was cradling another, who appeared to be bleeding from a massive bullet wound in the chest. The winged cat, which was slumped down besides them, was also suffering a similar wound in the shoulder. John was feeling sick.

That confirmed it - he was right. Mike had opened fire using an Old-Age gun.

He could understand using cheap-knockoff guns that were mass produced in this era, like the guns the gangsters were armed with, which strove to mimic, but never quite reach the standards of the old Age of Technology.

But old age guns? They should never, NEVER be used on civilians.

John went over to see what he can do, but before he could make three steps towards the trio, the cat out of instinct, veered forward and put itself in front of the two girls, fangs bared and eyes warning him. He could even make out the uninjured girl’s hands glowing green with what seemed to be the flames that did Mike in.

He could understand their reaction. Mike had nearly did two of them in, probably succeeded, too by the looks of the girl. And they probably did not want to see another corrupt officer.

He reached for his gun, and when the two nearly attacked, he dropped the gun, and the baton, and every weapon he had onto the ground, hands raised into the air to show them that he meant no harm.

“My name is John Addison,” John said, loud and clear, “I mean you no harm. I just want to help.”

And then he heard the groans of the gang members. “Oh shut up,” John snapped, “Be glad I’m even calling an ambulance. If anything, you were the cause of all this, Mick.”

And the leader of the gang closed his mouth immediately.

"Are you by any chance magic users?" John asked politely.

[Asila]

Indeed, the last two left standing were not at all glad to see yet another cop. Azirath snarled a warning, his spilled blood a striking blaze of color against his white fur. He would read as an injured animal that had just been cornered. Not a creature to be trifled with.

Jade crouched defensively over Midnight, the green shade of her magic lighting up in her hands, her eyes. She watched this new officer drop his weapons, but did not immediately relax. She'd just killed his partner. He had no reason to act so friendly toward her.

She listened to his introduction, but did not bother to introduce herself in turn. Instead, she gave him a short answer in an angry tone of voice. "We are magic users. Is that a crime in this...area?" She'd almost said "world", but stopped herself just in time.

Azirath had stopped his snarling once John had unarmed himself, but his position remained tense.

[raigon]

Before John could answer, he thought he heard something. He told them to be quiet and he leaned his ears forward. It was then that he heard it – he heard something familiar and ominous. He blinked and saw what it was.

It was the blare of heavy sirens across the city.

Aside from the gun, Mike had also dropped something. It was his radio… and it was ringing.

Mike had pushed the black button.

Shit… Shit… SHIT!!!

Mike had called for backup. An officer was down.

Well, yes. Mike was down and probably never going to get back up.

“Look,” John hissed, “I don’t know where you’re from, and I don’t care. It’s not my duty to pry into personal and private information, but if you are indeed magic users, you are in danger. Magic has been dead or dying for ages here and there has not been any magic users aside from… well… you know. I don’t want to speak his name. But you know who I’m talking about.”

John pointed over down the road.

“Three blocks down, make a right turn and go down 2 more blocks. You will see a convenient store across the street by the name of Jeremy’s Price, which rips you off, so don’t go there unless you have to, but that’s not the point. Next to the store will be a very narrow alleyway. Go through the alleyway until you reach nearly the end, and when you come out the other side, there will be an abandoned lot with a broken down clinic.”

He paused to reach into his pocket for a piece of paper to draw the map for them.

“There is a woman by the name of Dr. Yatef. If there’s anyone in the city who could have any chance of helping your friend… friends," he added hastily, noting the girl's expression, "she can. But be quick! The backup will be here soon, and if you think the pistol was bad, wait until you see the magnum assault rifles. I’ve seen one of their 20kg magnums tear through 20 heavy armored soldiers, and you do NOT want to be on the receiving end of them. And that’s just the beginning. Ancient technology from the old era is not something to be trifled with.”

He thrust the map at them.

“Now go! I’ll delay them for as long as I can. And I’m sorry about my partner Mike. I never liked him, but he was my partner and comrade in arms, and I suppose I should return his body to his family. Good luck!”

He pushed them down the streets while he turned to face the horde of officers in the form of cars, tanks, and choppers. Each were heavily armed, trained, and deadly. He thought he saw snipers hiding out of sight inside windows and on buildings.

Good luck. You’ll need it, John thought. It has begun.

[Asila]

It was a struggle for Jade to process a lot of what this cop was saying. The talk of an Ancient era and magic users that served some kind of force the man was unwilling to name...it was indecipherable to her. Nonetheless, she was able to boil it down to the necessities. The guns of the authorities are terrifying (not so different from her own world) and magic is a bad thing here. The wailing sirens made her surroundings seem so much colder. The situation was bleak, and she had to get out of here.

She glanced at Midnight, hesitating while John's words filtered through her strained mind. She had never tried to carry an adult anywhere. Or even pick one up. Yet here she was, about to test her strength on her injured friend because Azirath was wounded while she, at least, was an uninjured healthy teenager. She steeled her resolve and then pulled Midnight from the ground and across her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Then she staggered to her feet. Standing was the hardest part, but now that she'd passed that first obstacle Midnight wasn't as heavy as she'd expected. The woman always had been frail...

Jade glanced back at John, saw that he was pointing and looked in that direction. Three blocks that way, two blocks right, J Price the Rip Off next to a narrow alley that she'll follow to an abandoned lot with a clinic. Three blocks than two. That was the part she couldn't mix up. The rest should be easy to keep straight. "All right. I've got it."

She listened to the rest, wincing at the part about the Mike guy. "I'm sorry, too." She muttered, but even she wasn't sure what her own apology entailed. She told herself that she was just sorry she'd had to meet the guy in the first place.

She took the map when it was handed to her, and began to run when John started to shepherd her down the street, propelling herself forward with all the strength she had though at best her pace was one of a brisk jog. She was too weighed down to manage anything faster. Azirath kept pace, glancing back at John who seemed so determined to keep reinforcements at bay. This was one of those instances where he was anything but pleased to cause trouble and run, but there was no other choice. There was nothing any of them could do to make this situation better. He could only push himself toward the next destination and try not to falter, though that pistol slug had not been kind. He did not want to meet that gun's larger cousin.

It was both an eternity and a matter of minutes that brought them to the convenience store they'd been warned of. Azirath had begun to slow, but so had Jade, so she did not immediately notice his struggle. She turned down the alley and had made it down half it's length when she noticed it seemed too quiet somehow. Something was missing. She turned say that he had collapsed as well and now lay listlessly on the pavement as he tried to catch his breath. "Go on! I'll catch up. The clinic isn't a whole lot further."

Jade stared at him for precious seconds, knowing that he wouldn't lag behind like this if his own situation wasn't serious. But she wasn't strong enough to pull him to the clinic while she carried Midnight. Her legs were already threatening to give with each step. Of the two friends in her charge, he was at least conscious...

"I'll be right back, " She promised, then turned and ran before she wasted more time and her will faltered. Her eyes were already burning. She poured everything she had into this last, labored sprint. She found the clinic and dropped Midnight off in it's doorway. She pounded on the door so hard that it's frame rattled, yelled "Hurry! My friend is dying! She's needs help NOW!" Than ran back for Azirath.

He wasn't looking any better, but he'd made it to the end of the alleyway before his strength had abandoned him again. "Just hang on," Jade ordered, than took hold of his huge paws and pulled him across the abandoned lot. This was a greater struggle than carrying Midnight had been. "You have to weigh at least four hundred pounds in this form." She informed him through clenched teeth. Her own vision was beginning to blur. She'd expended too much energy in both the attack and it's aftermath. It was making her light-headed, but she couldn't ease up yet.

"I'll make this up to you." Azirath told her in a calm tone of voice that only barely masked a struggle to remain coherent.

"Stop that." Jade scolded with a tearful waver in her voice. She spoke between gasps for breath. "This isn't the kind of thing you should owe me for."

The rest of the distance came and went without words. Both of them were too tired to say anymore. When Jade finally pulled the great cat to the doorway of the clinic, she also sprawled across the cracked cement, gasping for air. She'd meant to get up again. She hadn't even thought there was cause to doubt that outcome. But as she sucked in breath after breath of chilled air, the sky receded until everything was dark and she was no longer aware of her own intentions.

[raigon]

"Would you care to explain what's going on officer?"

John gulped as he searched for the right words to explain to the police commissioner Jane Farrow. Her hawk-like eyes and eagle's peak of a hair made her look like a bird of war, looking like it would bite his head off if his words were not correct. The situation was bleak and he did not exactly want to make things worse for the two girls. He should definitely not mention the word "magic" to them.

The ambulance had arrived as well as several news reporters trying to reach them with their microphones and questions, but held off by a shielded front of the police shield force. John was glad they were stopping the reporters. He did not need a dozen questions being hurled on top of him along with his boss.

"There had been a scuffle of some sort, commissioner Farrow," he said, fumbling for the right words. "Two girls were attacked in the streets by Mick and his gang along with their... cat"

He almost said "winged" cat. That would have tipped them off. He had to be more careful, damn it.

"Two girls and a cat overpowered a gang of 13 people?" She asked, frowning.

"They um... they took judo and jujutsu... and..."

"Even if that were true and they somehow managed to overpower Mick and his 12 other boys, armed with guns, might I add, that still doesn't explain what happened to our officer Mike," she said pointing at the charred green bones, "He looks burnt and I've never seen fire of this color."

It was very hard for John to meet her piercing gaze as he tried to find the right words. He kept trying to look up, but his eyes met the ground trying not to break down and blurt something out, "Mike pulled unwarranted gunfire on two girls and their cat, probably confused at . They erm... they..."

Shit... come on... what else could make green fire? What...

"They were local university students carrying oxidized copper," John finally said, relieved he took the community college chemistry course, even though Mike had teased him for being an officer with "brains", and he knew that they produced green flames upon impact, "They dropped their jar and the fire came out."

"And Mike walked right into the jars, you are saying? And two small jars completely swallowed him up and left scorch marks all across the streets."

"Er..." John did not know how to respond to that.

Mick, who was being bandaged by the paramedics, did however. "Tell her the truth, you piece of fuck! Tell her how their winged freak of a beast tore out chunks of meat from my boys and how that witch summoned a green hawk... or boomerang... or whatever with black magic. She's a discipline of HIM," he shrieked. "She's a black magic user and a witch and she needs to be burned alive!"

John's heart sank.

"Magic users?" Jane Farrow asked, eyes narrowed.

"Er... I... erm..." John did not know how to respond to that.

"I will take your word for it that the girls did attack the gang in self-defense. I will press no charges for cleaning up such trash in the city," she said glaring at Mick, who whimpered and immediately closed his mouth, "But Mike was an officer."

"He fired at them," John said, trying desperately to explain, "He pulled an ancient gun at them!"

Jane sighed, "I can probably believe you. Mike is an idiot, but he was of Noble descent. The Nobles are the only major source of funding to us and if we anger them, who will be there to support our police force?"

John could say nothing to that, only fume silently.

"The girls and their winged beast are to be hunted down and captured. Dead or Alive. I'm putting the word out: 50 Gold Surgeons to anyone who could capture the girls. 20 Gold Surgeons for the beast," She mentioned to her assistant, who saluted and went off to print faces and draw up images based on Mick's description of them.

"But, commissioner, don't you think this... They acted in self defense."

"They killed an officer," she said, "But not just an officer. They killed one of Noble Blood. Killing of any of the nobles is a death sentence immediately. But there is more. They are magic users. All magic users are to be captured and held at large, suspected of servitude to HIM. We do not need anymore deaths in the city. Stand down officer. You are relieved. We thank you for your help, but you are in not charge of this case anymore."

"But..."

"Stand down, I said. This is not a request. This is a direct order."

John stood down and went off, fuming. He overheard something about bounties being printed and choppers to scan the area.

And then he heard it. The words that he had been dreading, he heard it.

"They are spotted down at Candle's end," came a buzzing voice from the radio attached to the Commissioner's waist. "I repeat, the convicts are spotted down at Candle's end."

Shit. He upped his pace and raced down the blocks, hoping to get to the girls in time.

They had come to this place at the and did all the worst things possible. They were innocent, but the city did not.

He was already at Jeremy's Price when he heard the first hovering of choppers scanning overhead. He did not see them down the streets. He was immensely relieved. The narrow alleyway would serve as the best cover for gunfire and helicopters.

He squeezed himself through the alleyway, down the other end. He heard the ground rumbling, which could only mean they had rolled out a tank. John did not like this at all.

He reached the other end when he saw the clinic and the girls collapsed in front. The helicopters were only a couple blocks away and on patrol. They were going to reach them and see them if they didn't do anything.

Shit. In his haste to hurry them off, he forgot to tell them the password of entry. He ran up to the doorstep and banged on the door.

"Dr. Yatef! It's John from the police! I've got three collapsed patients, two of them are suffering from gun wounds from ancient guns."

No response.

"The password is Red Blood," John called as he banged on the door.

Finally the door opened.

From the shadows within emerged, a yawning, young, half-Asian doctor with green eyes and brown black hair tied in a pigtail in a white lab coat. "What is it? I'm trying to sleep."

Then she squinted and saw the two girls and the beast. She heard the overhead sound of helicopters and the sound of a tank rumbling through the streets.

"Carry the ininjured girl with the white-black hair," she said quickly and professionally, "I'll support the necks of the other two while you help me with their legs. We have to make sure they don't move around too much. I need you to run down to Jeremy's and get several packs of packed RBCs. Judging by their build and physique, color of hair and genetic traits - I'd say two A's and an AB. If he doesn't have them, then just get the universal O. And I also need platelets, clotting factors and Vitamin K for transfusion."

She handed him the list after she finished writing them down. They have that there? John wondered appalled. Apparently he underestimated that store, rip off as it is. She thrust a list at him. "Don't you have these things in your clinic?"

"I'm always on the run, remember? My last two labs were destroyed by vampires. Anyway, I'll write them down, hold on."

John remembered. He had come on the investigation and drove the vampires away with gunfire, while Mike slept in the car. He fumed at the memory. He could've arrived faster if only they did not stop by for donuts for him. The lab had been destroyed and the patients dead. He had to rescue her from the rubbles, miraculously alive.

It was lucky there was a surgeon nearby to help bring her back. The Surgeon had been gone and he never got a chance to thank him, but the man had such cold, cold eyes of snow-crystal blue. It looked half dead and extremely eerie.

He helped carry them in and then raced down the streets. He got into Jeremy's Price and met an old, short man with glasses and a sly smile.

"What can I do for you... officer?" He gave John a twisted smile.

"I need these." He handed him the form.

The man's smile dropped. John was surprised - there was fear in his eyes. "Y.. yes," he stuttered, "I'll go get them immediately."

He returned within two minutes and gave him the concentrated packs of blood in a well-contained pressurized and constant temperature medium. "The debt is paid," he said, as John reached into his pocket for Gold Surgeons or Silver Physicians. But he did not need them.

They had named the currency after the Sons of Hippocrates who saved the city when a deadly virus threatened to wipe out the entire population. DocN, he remembered, was the doctor. DocX, DocY, and DocZ had also stopped by the city once or twice. He owed them all their lives and named their currency after them. Gold Surgeons and Silver Physicians in the form of coins.

He had to remember to tell the girls about that, should they not have any cash on them later. He would need to get them out of the city and fast.

He ran back to the clinic where had to avoid being spotted by overhead choppers when he lost himself in the alleyway.

He knocked on the clinic door and shouted, "Red Blood" and got let in.

The clinic office was nothing special. The office was dark, except for the flickering lights. The blinds were drawn, possibly to deter attack from vampires. But it was otherwise clean pretty clean. There were three single beds, all of which were occupied and a desk in front of the single window and a blue swivel chair behind the desk. The wall next to the window was pinned with a bulletin of all sorts of notes and memos. On the other side of the desk was an assortment of drawers filled with meds and basic equipment like a portable X-ray and an ECG.

Dr. Yatef was in the middle of suturing the girl with the gunshot wound. She was looking terrible, and for some reason, he did not think it was because of the gunshot. She was suffering from something long before this. The beast was already fast asleep as she went off to fix them.

John asked if there was anything else he could do to help, but she shook her head and had him sit down to wait. He wished he could do more as he tapped his feet and prayed, but there was no God to pray to except Death here. He did not like to see innocent people die and he hoped for the Love of Gods, not Death, to save them. Doctors were the closest to gods in this world, as they alone have the powerful to fight back and defeat Death again and again. He felt bad that the doctors in this world risk their lives to save the patients at the cost of the anger of Death. Death was not HIS actual name, but it was what they called him by there.

After she finished suturing, he looked up only mildly interested to see her take their blood for blood study under the microscope. She looked curiously at the specimen and he could hear the words, "Interesting... very interesting" under her breath.

He did not know why she needed to take their blood. He supposed it was for a Full Red Blood Count or something and make sure their blood contents are stable. He did not know why she found it so interesting. Maybe it was because they were magic users, but did they have different blood?

He did not know. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours.

The three patients would soon stir, having been repaired.

Once they do so, doctor smiled behind her desk, putting down her clipboard. "I'm glad to see you two awake, Jade and Azirath. Welcome to my Clinic. How are you feeling?""

[Asila]

Jade was the first to sit up, groaning as her strained muscles protested. "I feel like I've spent a day in the fields doing hard labor." She swung her feet off of the bed and stood, stretching her sore limbs. There was nothing that would keep her in bed if she had no reason be there. She walked over to Azirath as he stirred and cradled his large head in her hands. It would have been a sweet gesture if she didn't immediately squish her hands together so that he was making ridiculous faces against his will. "I saw you blink. You're awake, right?"

Azirath growled and weakly lifted a paw to swat at her. She just let him cuff her head lightly, grinning. "Aw, is somekitty grumpy in the morning?" She was so vastly relieved that it was sweeping through her like a drug. She left Azirath alone long enough to look over at Midnight, who she studied in silence for a moment, to make sure she was really breathing. The rhythmic rise and fall of her friend's chest soothed her and she sat down quickly on the edge of Azirath's bed, feeling that standing had just become too strenuous an exercise.

It was then that she really looked at the other people in the room with her. "Hey, it's the John guy. How are you?" Then, before he could even answer, she turned her gaze toward the doctor. "You must be the one who kept my friends alive?"

[raigon]

John smiled and saluted. "Glad to see you awake. Feeling better?"

"That is correct. I'm glad to see you alive and well, Jade," Dr. Yatef said with a brief smile. "Azirath is doing fine and should be well and up to go in a couple of hours. He was a bit more difficult to deal with, as I've never studied the anatomy of such a unique magnificent creature. Make sure to keep him pinned to the bed for for least a couple hours of bed rest before I will allow him to walk. Familiar or not, he is to stay put before I'm comfortable enough to walk. As for you, how are you feeling? Any signs of dizziness? Palpation or racing heart beats? Fatigue?"

She motioned over to John. "Go buy this girl some chocolate so she could replenish her blood glucose," Dr. Yatef said, throwing a silver physician over to John, who was looking aghast and tired.

"Also, what kind of chocolate do you prefer? I'm not sure if they have what you are accustomed to where you're from, but I'll see if I can come up with any similar brands. I'll make my errand boy get them. (to which John started to protest before finally giving in)" She smiled sweetly, waiting for her response.

[Asila]

While John got a smile and a thumb's up in response to his question, Dr. Yatef only earned a slow frown as she continued. "Familiar or not..." Jade repeated, looking puzzled. "How do you know what he is?" That's when her eyes widened. This Dr. not only knew what sort of creature Azirath was, but his name...she had known known his name! That was just creepy.

"Whoa." Jade said, holding out hand to halt this confusing mess. "Forget the chocolate. How did you know our names? And what did you just call Azirath?" She'd been giddy with relief only moments before, but now suspicion was casting a dark cloud over her joy. It was nerve-wracking that a mere acquaintance knew so much.

[raigon]

Dr. Yatef merely smiled at Jade's uneasiness.

John, meanwhile was confused. Azirath? Familiar? Was that what she called the winged cat? He could also sense the girl's uneasiness... Jade was it? Yes Jade. Her name is Jade. And then all of a sudden, it hit him, too, especially at how Dr. Yatef knew so much.

"Yes, how do you know their names?" John asked, cautiously, his hands trained on the gun. He didn't pull it out, as he wanted to be as polite as possible, especially since the girls and their... Familiar was it? was in the doctor's hands. He didn't like this at all. He saved Dr. Yatef's life before from vampires and he had great respect for any doctor in this world. Any boy or girl who manage to get into medical school, sworn the Hippocratic oath, earn their license, and whom was capable of fighting Death using the combination of art, science, and logic was automatically given Noble status and had his respect and salute as well. But still, he learned that you can only trust most people in this world as far as you can throw them.

Especially as he had not learned much about Dr. Yatef.

The only reason he sent them to her was because of a rumor he had heard and some odd abilities that can apply to magic users. He knew they were magic users and did not pry any further. He did not need to know as it's none of his business. But Dr. Yatef already knew more about them than he did. His hands was on the grip of the gun, even though he really wished it would not come to this.

Dr. Yatef merely smiled again. "John, be a dear and go down to Jeremy Price for some chocolate bars, preferably the King's brand. They are my personal favorite."

John would not move.

"I'm sorry, but this is a matter of doctor-patient confidentiality. There are some matters I wish to discuss with the patients that are not for your ears. Go get some chocolate and get some for yourself as well. They will still be around when you get back."

"Swear it," John said, his eyes hard on the doctor, hands still trained on the grip, "Swear it by your honor and your highest oath."

"On my oath as a doctor," Yatef smiled solemnly yet sweetly, dangerously so, "They will be in good hands. I will take care of them. By the Hippocratic Oath, to keep Death at bay, I do so solemnly swear."

John had one last lingering look at her before nodded. "Fine then. I'll take your word for it. This time at least."

He turned to the girl called Jade and handed her Mike's old walkie talkie. "Call me if you anything happens. The number's 02 on speed dial. I'll be right back," he promised, hand briefly on her shoulder for reassurance. He walked out the door with one last glance to make sure everything was okay before he closed the door behind him.

Meanwhile, Dr. Yatef was looking at Jade with curious interest. "You three are not from around here." It was not a question. It was a statement.

"You ask why I know so much. In fact, that's not all I know. I know many other things about you and your friends Jade," she said with a smile, "I know that you three are not from this world and have somehow managed to cross dimensions to come to our world. To prove that fact, your genetic makeup of the human body is far too different from the survivors of the Blank Decade in this world. And you are a magic user, yet you do not work for Death and his Reaper, and from the lack of response of fear on your face to "His" name, you probably don't know who 'He' is. Your friend or Familiar looks beautiful, magnificent, a work of art... almost as if he were... created by gifted hands. I also know your friend Midnight is dying, not just from her gunshot wound, and no one in your world has the ability nor skill to save her. That is why you came to our world, isn't that correct?"

She smiled at the girl and her pet beast, or Familiar, waiting for her response.

[Asila]

John's willingness to pick up the cause of herself and her friends soothed Jade somewhat. She wasn't alone in this, with two incapacitated friends to guard. Truly, it was a terrifying situation, to be alone in a strange world with dependents who relied on her for their well-being. This was not how this venture was supposed to turn out. When she had insisted on coming with Midnight to this place, her motive had not been to be the hero. She had only come for support, knowing that Midnight had grown increasingly unstable psychologically as the vampire blood curse progressed well into it's final stage. It would have been too much for Azirath to serve as handler and guide, and the the three of them made a good team.

It was a lot harder to be a team now, with the situation being what it was. Those heart palpitations the doctor had mentioned? That might actually become a symptom. Especially when it turned out that John was going to leave, after all. The walkie talkie that he pressed into her hands was a cold weight. She nodded at his instructions. "Okay. I'll remember that." Then she tried valiantly not to look pitiful as she watched him leave. Shit.

With John gone, Jade slid her gaze back to Dr. Yatef and suppressed the surly edge that was creeping into her expression. Sure, the doctor seemed like the epitome of 'nice', with her sweet smile. Her phrasing, however, gave another impression entirely. Jade got the impression that she had just stepped into a Machiavellian power play, and she had always been the one who was more likely to yell and storm out of the room than actually match such a ploy point for point.

Of course, making a scene and then booking it wasn't an option this time. She had to play nice, just like Dr. Yatef.

She noticed the disturbing accuracy of the doctor's analysis, how she pointed out that they had come here because there was no hope for Midnight in the world they had come from. Was this the kind of thing she should admit to? Would she admit to a used car salesman in the only used car lot for hundreds of miles that her car only had a few miles more left in it? No. No, she would not. But this was a doctor, not a used car salesman. If she lied and walked away with nothing, she wouldn't be stuck on the side of the road with a broken down car. She'd be without her mentor, and friend.

Her eyes had flickered noticeably in their sockets throughout these thoughts, betraying her discomfort with the situation. She placed a hand on Azirath, focusing on his thoughts in regards to this situation, but she found only clouded confusion and suspicion. Then, a single message within his thoughts. Tell her what she asks. She already knows the information that will damn us, so there is nothing else to betray.

Jade took her hand back, took a deep breath, and answered. "That's right." She began, her voice tense and stubborn. "Midnight was given up for a lost cause that posed as much threat as a rabid pitbull where we come from. The keepers of order" she couldn't keep the disgust from her voice when she thought of the Knights "in that world would have destroyed her out of fear that the sickness would spread. That was not an outcome we would accept, so my Familiar brought us here to find help. There was a rumor concerning a powerful league of doctors that could heal anything." She appraised Dr. Yatef, considering. "Would you happen to be one of them?"

[raigon]

John still didn't trust her.

He left the clinic feeling very uneasy, and every few minutes he'd stop and wonder if he should go back and make sure things are all right. But he cannot violate their agreement. Then again... neither can she, which put him a bit more at ease. She has sworn the highest oath, the oath of Doctors, and he is to trust her no matter what until all evidence proves otherwise. And he doesn't think she will betray her oath, because she can't,.

It is absolute Death to break a Doctor's Oath.

He went down the streets, hands on the radio. He hopes nothing goes wrong. And if anything happens... his hand went to gun. He still has this. He just hope it doesn't have to come down to this.

He went down the streets, leaving the doctor to whatever business is between her and her patient. If anything, he hopes Jade calls.

He did not pray.



Meanwhile, in the clinic. Dr. Yatef smiled. She did not answer immediately. She went to the drawer and pulled two syringes and a blood monitor, knowing the girl called Jade might be watching her warily behind her back.

"I would like you to know that it is death to swear the Doctor's Oath and break it. So you are in safe hands."She smiled again reassuringly as she turned around to face them.

She proceeded to pull up her sleeves and wash her hands. And as she pulled her sleeve up, she accidentally revealed a tattoo on her arms. Noticing that the girl might have noticed that, she quickly pulled up her sleeve again in hope that the girl didn't catch that. Or maybe she wanted her to notice that. Who knows?

"I suppose you might want to know what these are for," Fayte smiled sweetly, her hands pointed at the blood monitor and the two syringes next to them. "Do you know how diabetes works?"

[Asila]

Dr. Yatef's evasiveness only made Jade so much more anxious than she would have been otherwise. What about her last question, concerning doctors who could heal anything? She as just going to ignore that? Jade sighed. Maybe it was just a stupid question.

As for this Doctor's Oath, it seemed a little unlikely that breaking it guaranteed death. How such a thing could ever be enforced was beyond her imagination. It was only the fact that John seemed to trust that system that convinced Jade in turn that such an oath actually counted for something. Nonetheless, she did keep her eyes on the doctor. The tattoo she would have thought nothing of, had the Yatef not immediately covered it. Jade didn't know what that was all about, but it was suspicious. She wanted to say something about that, but Yatef quickly turned the conversation back to the syringes and monitor. She did need to know what they were for.

"I've never known a diabetic. I do know that they need to regulate their blood sugar, and that this means they have to check on it every day with those finger-pricking devices that they're given. I don't know how those are supposed to help." She gestures vaguely to the syringes.

[raigon]

Dr. Yatef smiled again. She took up a sanitized paper towel clean her newly washed hands.

"That is the gist of it. Diabetics are patients who cannot produce or utilize insulin. Type I Diabetes Mellitus, the most common referred to Diabetes, is an illness where you cannot produce insulin. Insulin is required to make your body cells take up your blood glucose, or blood sugar in common terms, so they can use it for energy. Without it, they will starve and they will..."

She crumpled the paper towel in her hands until it looked like it was in pain, "... die. Even if the blood glucose is right outside, they cannot eat it, and will..." She flashed a sweet smile as she ripped the towels up. "Starve. Just like a starving person with all the food in the world right in front of them, with no mouth to eat it."

Maybe it was for an instant, just an instant, but her smile looked very, very twisted, evil almost, but only for a split second before it turned sweet again. It could just be the light... or...

"For ages, Diabetes was considered to be a terminal illness. There was no way to cure it, and they did not know about the existence of insulin. And even those who did, long after it was discovered, there was no way to utilize it."

She threw the paper towel away and proceeded to sanitize her hands with sterilizing alcohol. "Until of course," she said, rubbing her hands harder and harder, "The first synthetic insulin was discovered and the Diabetes was no longer a death sentence. They found out that certain bacteria, if modified by a vector, can produce insulin and soon, it was mass produced. If you inject insulin into your bloodstream, even if you can't produce it yourself, you can live an almost normal life. All you have to do is monitor your blood levels every day with a finger prick and inject insulin into your tummy or any subcutaneous regions and let the insulin do its magic."

She cleared her hands and clapped to make sure it's dry. "And hence, you are wondering what any of this has to do with your friend."

She smiled, waiting for a response.

[Asila]

There was something wrong here. Seriously wrong. What kind of doctor described the damage that can be done by diabetes with such...glee? Jade stared at the paper towel in the woman's hands as she crushed it, than tore it apart, growing paler all the while. She felt nauseous, and she wanted to leave. She couldn't, of course, being bound more firmly by her loyalty to her companions than even knotted ropes could manage. Yet the desire was there, and her inability to act on it only magnified it's intensity.

She shifted her weight, sliding back a couple inches on the bed until she felt Azirath against her back. Be careful, he told her. You're not helping, she replied, and even in her thoughts she hissed. He shifted, testing his strength, but did not rise. Unless this came to a moment of utter-desperation, it would be unwise to risk opening the gunshot wound again.

Jade closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as though she were merely light headed. She closed her hands more tightly on the walkie talkie that she'd been given. It's okay. Maybe I'm over-reacting?

But she remembered the way the doctor had smiled. She shivered, then opened her eyes and faced the question.

"Of course!" She answered, with no small degree of frustration. "We came all this way to help her. If I wanted to know more about diabetes I could have studied it myself. It's a common enough malady, and it's not the one that Midnight has." She narrowed her eyes at Dr. Yatef, wondering if the woman was incompetent. The already-improved state of her friends declared otherwise, but Jade's anxiety was willing to overlook these details.