How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-nine: Coma Buddies

~Chapter Twenty-nine: Coma Buddies~

The whoop of an ambulance's siren startles me enough that I jump into Nero's side, earning me an amused glance from my fiance. Directly in front of us, the automatic doors of the hospital slide open, as if providing me with an escape route, which I eagerly take, quickly walking ahead of my smirking Mer. The moment we enter the hospital lobby, though, all eyes are on us.

Or, really, all demon eyes are on us. The hospital staff barely even glance our way, likely waiting until we approach the desk to acknowledge us. The three demons lingering around the lobby while attempting to appear like they are not secretly guarding the entrance, though, are solely focused on us, though with how subtle they are being, it would not surprise me if Nero does not notice right away. I only noticed because there is a slight buzzing in my head that is coming from the fact that they are using telepathy, even if they are not actually talking to me.

After a moment, while they wait for us to retrieve visitor stickers from the front desk, I hear, Second Lieutenant Atasah?

Since Nero is talking to the nurse about who we are visiting, I glance over my shoulder at the demon responsible for the thought. In the flesh, I mentally reply, earning a satisfied smile and a small salute before the demon returns to fake-reading his magazine.

The demon's uneventful reaction prompts the other two to return to their loitering just in time for Nero to turn away from the front desk and hand me my visitor tag. "Come on," he says, taking my hand and leading me out of the lobby. As we pass by one of the undercover demons, she smirks at us and waggles her eyebrows suggestively before she looks back down at her phone dismissively.

Rolling my eyes, I let Nero guide me down the hallways. However, since he told me before we left the palace that he has never actually been here before, I am rather surprised that we reach our destination without getting lost once. Or, at least, I am pretty sure we did not get lost, but for all I know, there was a quicker, easier route to reach the room and Nero was just walking in a random direction that eventually led here.

When we arrive, there are surprisingly no guards outside her room, even though there is definitely Hellion security everywhere else. Though, maybe it is because of the intense security around the place that they feel safe enough leaving her alone, perhaps even as a ruse. After all, in the event that someone sneaks past or breaks through the guards near the entrances, it would be pretty easy to find her if there are demon guards stationed outside her door.

Plus, she's also a werecat, so it's not like she's defenseless.

Nero hangs back a little, so I am the one who knocks on the door. And almost immediately, I receive a response. "Come in."

Once inside the room, the first thing I notice is the giant window overlooking the parking lot and, beyond that, city buildings. It is not a great view, but it does provide a lot of outside light, which I am sure she appreciates with how long she has probably been cooped up in this room. And cooped up she has been, as her skin is paler than when I last saw her.

Or maybe that was just a trick of the light; it was pretty dark down there.

However, despite how long it has been since I last saw her and how long she was in her coma, she does not look as malnourished as I expected. In only a week of my coma, I lost a lot of weight, but she seems surprisingly healthy for someone out for a lot longer. Heather is still tiny, but that has to do with the fact that she has always been far smaller than me and not a lack of food.

Besides Heather, who is lying her in the room's only bed, there is not much else in the room other than simple medical equipment and a few monitors. Three chairs have been set up around the bed, and a rollable tray hovers over the bed with an empty plate and a half-eaten cup of red gelatin.