By the time Drago and the others had come home, Jamie had drifted to sleep
again. Drago muttered to himself bitterly over Frann's bossiness. She could
match any demon with her orders. Setting the whole place on fire struck him
as a good idea. But he knew he couldn't. Jamie worked there.
Po Kong also seemed edgy. She was stuck slaving away in that horrid kitchen
with a mortal who could barely cook Pizza without dong SOMETHING wrong.
Grrr!
There was a time when she would have eaten him for daring to call himself a
cook. Let alone giving HER orders! She turned to her siblings.
"Bretheren, We have allowed ourselves to sink down to a level which is not
befitting of our power and rank. We are becoming to much like humans."
Tchang Zu nodded, "I agree. While I enjoy my work, my 'co-workers', and
the pathetic worms I sell vehicles to are arrogant and rude. And yet it is I
who is expected to temper my anger."
Bai Tsa hissed, "I feel your pain brother, that wretched mortal Bubba has
acosted me every day for the two months we have been here! It is enough
to make one wish we were still in the Netherworld!"
"Hmph, try trying to teach a bunch of sarcastic adolecents..." Tso Lan
remarked in his soft voice, "It tests even MY patience."
"And what are we to do about it?" Xiao Fung asked, "We can't very well
go around killing them, though I would like to. It would attract to much
unnecisary attention, and cause Jamie unneeded stress which might
cause her to reconsider assisting us."
The demons muttered amoungst themselves, deep in thought. Drago
listened to the conversation. Even though he knew they did not value the
opinion of a half-blood. The exception being his father, but they didn't
value his opinion very much either...
but still. It never hurt.
"I've got an idea."
"Oh? And why should we hear it out?" Bai Tsa asked "Your half-blood opinon
is-" Tchang Zu held uo his hand, stoping her, "Why not let him speak? If nothing
else, it will prove to be ammusing." Drago narrowed his eyes but bit his tongue,
" Well, we could always try using magic...You're all sorcerers arn't you?"
The demons were silent.
What he said made sense, as much as they hated to admit it. Magic would
be the best way to take revenge on someone without direct contact.
"Drago has a point," Shendu said, "With our magic we could not only get
back at the humans, but we could also retrieve our Chi..."
The demons inhaled sharply, "Ridiculous!" Dai Gui said crossing his arms.
"In our current form our magic is nowhere near strong enough to do such
a strong spell."
"Not alone... but if we worked together...." Hsi Wu trailed off, a demonic
grin spreading across his face.
"Yes...of course..." Tchang Zu said, "If we worked together, we could
do a locater spell and seek our powers...whatever plane they reside in."
The demons muttered amounst themselves criticaly. None of them
savored the idea of working together with Shendu, or Drago.
000000ooooo000000
Jamie stirred in her sleep, the demons hushed their chatter, "We will
talk more on the matter later," Tchang Zu said as Jamie sat up.
She coughed raggedly, her whole body shaking with the force of
the heaving coughs. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and her
face was red.
"I don't feel good...." she said, her voice thick, but weak. Shendu raised
an eyebrow, he did not recall bronchitis making someone sound, or look,
like that. Drago put his hand on her forehead, "Whoa...she's burning up..."
Jamie shuddered, "I feel cold.... really cold..." goosebumps raised on her
arms and legs, as if to illustrate her point. She attempted to stand, but
fell back against the couch, clutching her stomach, whimpering in
discomfort. Her eyes were bloodshot.
"What's wrong with her?" Bai Tsa asked, her brow furrowing slightly.
"I don't know, but I think she needs to go to the hospital," Tso Lan said.
Shendu nodded, "You may be right. I'll call." He hurriedly rached for the
phone and dialed.
Hsi Wu whent to the hall closet and got a spare blanket, he handed it to
Drago, who wrapped it around Jamie "Hey, J, we're going to take you to
the hospital, got it?" He asked.
Jamie nodded, "Okay..." As she sat up, she suddenly made a gagging
noise in her throat. She reached for the waistbasket and only just
managed to get it to her mouth as she heaved. The wet sound of vomit,
mixed with her coughs as her bretahing was cut off, was enough to make
even Tchang Zu flinch.
"Hello, yes, My name is Shane Deaman," Shendu said, "My, uh...neice
is in bad shape. Symptoms? Difficulty breathing, hacking coughs, high
fever, chills, and she just vomited. Yes...No...Our Address? 234 Fleeter
street. Okay."
He hung up, "They're sending an ambulance, they'll be here in 10 minutes."
The demons paced back and forth. They had been forced to stay in the
waiting room as the Doctors tended to Jamie, drawing blood, taking
samples, hooking her up to various machines. This was very unsettling.
"What's taking them so long?!" Bai Tsa asked annoyed.
" They're running blood tests to see what's wrong," Shendu said flatly.
He was well aquainted with hospital procedures. Those bufoons's, the
enforcers, had gone to the hospital many times, and he (or rather Valmont
since he had been trapped in his body at the time) had often been
dragged along.
Just as Bai Tsa was about to respond, a man in a white lab-coat came in
"Shane Deaman?"
Shendu whent over to him, "That's me." The doctor looked over at the
others, "Are they relatives?"
"Yes, my siblings and Son."
"Then you all had better come with me," he said motioning for them to
follow with his clip board.
000000ooooo000000
He stopped outside Jamie's door, "Jamie's condition is improving. We have
her hooked up to a breathing machine, and we're treating her with Zanamivir.
She's stable, but If you'd gotten her here an hour later..." he sighed.
Drago growled, "Spare the mumbo-jumbo and just tell us what's wrong with
her, Doc."
The doctor used a cloth to wipe off his glasses, "She has type "B" influenza.
A strain that is prominent in children and Teenagers."
"Influenza?"
"More commonly, it's known as 'the flu'. And if it's not treated properly, it can
be fatal...Say, do you have any pets?"
"A cat and a Chihuahua," Hsi Wu said.
"Ah, well, that could explain it...both animals are capable of catching and
spreading the flu virus...I would suggest getting the animlas checked
immediatly...of course, I wouldn't be suprised, seeing how fast it's spread
in the girl, that it's past the point of treatment."
"Past the point of treatment?" Tchang Zu asked, Raising an eyebrow.
"You may have to have them euthanized"