The Hunted by Rebecca Royce

Author:Rebecca Royce [Royce, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebecca Royce
Published: 2024-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

The beeping woke me again. Another IV, the clear tube snaking up to another dangling bag, connected me to the blinking and beeping medical devices. A nurse’s bent head read something on a chart near the foot of my bed. A hospital? I wondered. It didn’t seem like Cruise’s basement.

I lifted my head, and the nurse sprang into motion, pressing her hand on my shoulder to stop me. “You’re okay. We’re treating you. How do you feel? That demon beat you up pretty badly.”

I’ll do it again if you pull bullshit like that again. Again and again. You won’t get rid of me, and if you fuck with any others, I’ll beat you until you’re just a walking bag of pulp. I won’t let you die, though. I’ll make you rot while you breathe.

She meant it, too, every word. I stared at the nurse’s hand. “Please don’t touch me. I don’t like it.”

Her eyes widened. “Sorry, sometimes I forget. I do this all day, too, so you’d think I would know better. We treat you guys regularly. You’re about an hour from Cruise’s house, and he brought you here, if you’re curious. We run a special hospital for the possessed—totally secret, of course. We know a little better how to help you than a regular human hospital. We can’t do anything about her—our experience is that putting them to sleep only makes them madder, although I know they used some of those drugs on you before. I also heard you did a successful exorcism while you are still possessed, and can I just say…wow. You’re going to be a celebrity!”

She was perky, and I hoped she was wrong. The last thing I wanted was to be well known.

I focused on the important part. “The man I helped? Did he survive?” Only one percent of people survived possessions, so I tried to prepare myself for the worst-case scenario. Although he seemed okay when I conked out, was he still?

The nurse nodded, patting the blanket absently. “Oh, sure, we checked him out and released him. You’re just amazing. Get some rest. You have two cracked ribs, contusions everywhere, and a concussion. You’ll heal, though.”

She left the room, and my breath caught even as my heart raced. She’d left me alone, I realized. Totally alone with my demon for the first time in a long time. I closed my eyes.

Okay. I can do exorcisms.

You won’t again.

No, I probably wouldn’t. I would love to help. Like Danvers, I had to search for meaning in my otherwise problematic life. Somehow, if I could figure things out, I thought my time would at least have mattered.

You don’t matter.

For a second, I thought I would cry, but the impulse passed. Sadness filled me, and the overwhelming hopelessness of being possessed. I understood the important basic truths about myself—nothing made me important. Sad and pathetic was my life, and if nothing else, the knowledge at least seemed familiar.

I closed my eyes.

The memory of my possession flooded me, fresh for the first time in a very long time.

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