Page 8 of Fury of Affliction

The moment the name entered her head, the image spun. Now, she was flying.Wings-spread wide. Scales rattling in unpredictable winds.Panic-stricken. Pushing the limits of speed and her strength as?—

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Exhaust fumes scored her senses as she rocketed out of a mountain pass. Thick clouds and fresh air gave way to smog. Cutting through the filth, she leveled out over a stretch of highway. Treetops thrashed above concrete sidewalks. Hot and heavy, wind ripped over her scales as she blasted across a night sky glowing bright with city lights. Narrow streets rolled into wider boulevards. Squat houses transitioned to apartment buildings, arrowing toward the office towers that stood around a park in the downtown corridor.

Focused on the sprawling complex in the distance, she banked into a tight turn and set up her approach. Nothing unusual about the place. The hospital was one of El Paso’s finest, a tall building surrounded by a cluster of shorter ones. All interconnected, each serving a specific purpose, along with the humans who arrived for medical treatment at all hours of the day and night.

Cloaked by magic, invisible to human eyes, she flew over the main parking lot. Too many cars. Not the best place to land.

Contrails slicing off her wingtips, she circled back around. Her eyes narrowed on the tallest building. Lots of space to land on the rooftop. No need to make any adjustments in flight. Simply fly in, land hard, enter the complex, and find the floor that housed the maternity unit.

Battling a vicious updraft, Theodora folded her wings. Gravity yanked her out of the sky. Dry air whistled over her dark brown scales. Heat lightning struck, ripping through gatheringclouds. Electricity sizzled above the city, making the horns on her head tingle as her paws slammed into the helipad. Steel groaned. The spikes riding her spine rattled. Asphalt tiles split, pushing sharp shards between her white talons.

Shaking the debris from her claws, she transformed, shifting from dragon to human form. With a murmur, she conjured her clothes. Jeans and a t-shirt settled on her skin as she stomped her feet into worn cowboy boots and jogged across the helipad. A quick jump down put her level with the rooftop entrance. Moving with purpose, she flicked her hand. Earth magic spilled from her fingertips. The glass doors slid open. Without breaking stride, she crossed the threshold and invaded the small lobby.

Two elevators to her left.

Five conjoined chairs to the right.

Heavy steel door standing sentry to the stairs straight ahead.

Gaze glowing bright green, she opened the door with her mind and entered the stairwell. Fast feet took her down. Dread swirled up, making her heart thump and her mind scream. The denial was foolish. Nothing but a pipedream. With her sonar up and running, she already sensed Amanda. The friend she’d made her lover was in the facility, six stories down, in the north-east corner of the hospital, but…

It was too soon.

Way too soon.

Amanda was only six months along. Barely out of her second trimester, nowhere near ready to be inside a hospital for anything other than weekly checkups.

Hope collided with reality. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe it was nothing. Just a blip in an otherwise healthy pregnancy, but dread sent her sideways anyway. Carrying a Dragonkind infant wasn’t easy. Most human females never made it through, and still, she wanted to believe the magic she fed Amanda each day had done its job. Hadn’t worn off while he hunted the rogue inmountain passes. Was still keeping her safe even though it had been hours since she’d last seen her.

And yet, fear rose, feeding her worst-case scenarios.

Theodora tried to not to panic. Inventing problems wasn’t wise. Hurrying the hell up, talking to the doctors, discovering the issue, setting it to rights, would serve her better.

Feet moving double-time, she rounded the last landing and vaulted down the steps. The slam-bang of her boots ricocheted, echoing off cinderblock walls as she cranked the door open and stepped into the ER.

The sharp scent of floor cleaner mixed with antiseptic hit her.

A quick scan provided more details.

Chaos absolute. Injured humans were everywhere. Some slumped in chairs, others sat on the floor while more stood leaning against pale walls. Nurses in colorful scrubs manned three intake windows with counter-to-ceiling plexiglass, trying to keep up with the influx of would-be patients. Doctors in white lab coats came and went from curtained off bays. Paramedics rushed in and out, some with empty gurneys, others with people in various states of consciousness.

Pivoting to the right, she left the calamity and rechecked her sonar. Still in the same place. Amanda hadn’t been moved yet.

Raised voices quieted as she jogged past “DO NOT ENTER” signs and entered the brainstem of the ER. She paused on the lip of the room and took stock. Wide open area in the center with desks and computers. Messy piles of file folders laid out on every available surface. Private rooms fronted by glass walls and sliding doors running along both sides of the room.

Thick in the air, the scent of Amanda’s blood reached her.

With a curse, she followed the trail. Around a corner. Up another flight of stairs. Into a long corridor. Her boots thumped across industrial grade linoleum. Powerful magic did the rest, clearing a path in front of her. Doors opened, then closed onsilent hinges. Cloaking spell still up and running, she wove her way between rushing doctors and nurses, hugging the walls to avoid trampling hospital staff.

The scent path grew stronger.

Her focus narrowed on a set of swinging doors at the end of the hall.

Stepping around a stack of the plastic wrapped, unpacked boxes, she bumped into an office chair. Wide seat. Tall back. Covered purple leather. Kneeing the armrest, she set it spinning on roller wheels out of her way. Slamming into the wall, it whirled back in her direction. She shoved it again and pushed through the doors into an antechamber. Long stainless-steel sink in front of her with sharp smelling soap resting a ledge, a run of wide windows above it.

More doors to her right.

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