Death's Pet

Part 5

  The sun had almost set, my cozy spot on the soft oak porch is now cast in shadows. Mortimer steps out from the house and glances in my direction. I return the gaze and know he's come to collect me.

  "It's time to leave my little Kasha. The dying wait for no one." His storm cloud eyes swirl with expectancy.

  With a sigh of resignation, accepting for now that this is to be my fate, I go to him. He scoops me up with one hand once I reach him and with a blink of an eye, we leave the peace of the wooden home.

  Our destination is something far less pleasant than the cabin. We've arrived in what I can guess is a hospital. People in white coats and different colored scrubs run around in a frenzy. The smell of blood and other decay whirl around with a heavy dose of antiseptic accompanying it. Moans of distress and screams of pain and terror fill my delicate ears. More people rush by us with a man silently screaming on a gurney. His eyes wide with the agony that fills him to the brink but, no sound escapes him. A large chunk of twisted metal protrudes awkwardly from his midriff and both his lower legs are mangled beyond recognition. A trail of blood follows as they wheel him into another room. Another aching scream vibrates through the air and instinctively my hairs stand on end and I dig my claws in the arms holding me. If I had to guess we are in the emergency room of a hospital, where most of the chaos ensues.

  "Easy." He lays a hand upon my head and runs it down my back trying to soothe me. "There was a major car accident on the highway not far from here. Many of the humans will be fine." With another stroke, I relax enough to retract my claws from his flesh.

  The frenzy continues around us as if we are not even there; which I realize as Mortimer moves through the halls that I'm not far off, no one can see us most likely because they are alive.

  We wander through the carnage for a time before Mortimer finds what he is looking for. We enter a small side room across from one of the operating rooms. There are two beds with starched curtains hanging from tracks on the ceiling to divide them. Across the room, there are some carts holding a variety of equipment and another door that looks like it might lead to a bathroom. The bed closest to us lets out a gurgled moan; a faint beeping sounds in the background.

  Silent as the dead we approach the only occupied bed. There we find a man with pock marks upon his face and grey broken teeth. A thin white sheet covers most of his body, but his arms and bare chest have been left exposed to allow access for the numerous tubes, cuffs and wires. His eyes are closed for the moment but, his body tenses as we seep past the stiff curtains and come to a stop in front of him.

  Curiosity gets the better of me and I leap from Mortimer's arms, landing softly on the stiff mattress at the man's feet. Still the man does not open his eyes even though his body is still tense, and I take that as my cue to inspect him further. My natural instinct kicks in and my mouth waters at the dying man. Soon his wrecked body will give out, leaving his soul for me to take.

  NO!

  Backing up several paces I stop at the very edge of the bed. All of my tails twitching wildly and aggressively at the direction of my thoughts.

  Mortimer gently pats my head. "This man caused the accident that I told you about earlier."

  I don't need to ask how. The putrid alcohol reeking from him is enough for me to guess on my own. It's not the fact that he caused the accident that draws me to him. The black aura that surrounds him is like a shining beacon for me. Though my kind will take any dead body (or soon to be dead), those that lived an especially wicked life are the most alluring and are marked by a black aura that surrounds them, engulfs them.

  The man draws in a shuttering breath, cracking open the one swollen eye. Wheezing he asks, "Have you come for me finally Death?"

  Mr. Mortimer nods his head. "Indeed but, this Kasha may be the one to take you, not I." His words are strong and final, leaving no room for argument or negotiation.

  The man's eyes swivel down to his feet, to me. Fear floods his broken features. He knows what I am; or at least can sense I'm nothing good for him.

  Excitement floods me at the thought of taking this human to the deepest parts of hell; to watch whatever punishment is awaiting him. Others of my kind would have had a feast with him with how sinfully sweet he smells. I've never found feasting on human flesh appetizing but delighted instead in their macabre torture in the deepest pits of hell. It's a part of my dark past that I've longed to bury but haven't quite yet succeeded in burying fully.

  Licking my lips, I crouch, ready to give into the dark, seductive impulses that will carry me and this man to hell.