Guardian Angel (A Sample)

The hospital building was shrouded in a thick cloud of mist. It seemed ominous.

Taylor and her mother sat in the waiting area, clutching each other's hands, glancing at each other every now and again. There were hordes of other sick people gathered around them.

Daimhin did not particularly like hospitals. He spent most of the last three hundred years always in close proximity to one or another hospital.

He nodded in greeting when Gustav, a covert operations guardian, walked past him while escorting a reluctant middle-aged woman. Gustav had to pull the woman by her arm while her slippered feet slid across the tiles. Gustav stopped and looked at him puzzled until Daimhin inclined his head toward Taylor sitting in the chair in front of him. He stood behind her chair, his hands resting casually on the metal frame of her backrest, making sure not to touch her.

Taylor looked especially pale today and this morning, after she got out of bed stiffly, he witnessed her taking another hand full of pills. She was saying so little, he had no idea how she felt.

Half an hour later, her mother brushed a kiss on Taylor's temple, then whispered something in her ear when her name was called. Taylor smiled and leaned closer to her mother.

They led the way to the office of a tiny, forty-something doctor. As Daimhin followed Taylor, he kept his eyes fixed on the back of her head, not allowing his gaze to drift down her body.

The doctor, her name on the plastic plaque on her desk said she was Dr. Dunne: Neurologist, smiled reassuringly, as she said, "We'll need some more blood from you today, Taylor. Is the new medicine making you feel worse or is the nausea better?"

Taylor took a sip from the water bottle she was clutching nervously between her two hands in her lap, and then wiped her mouth. She had been through this so many times before, and each time she had a glimmer of hope that she would be miraculously cured. "The new medicine is better with the nausea, but the pain in my head used to be only sharp and erratic jabs now and again, but since I started drinking this new medicine the pain is dull and persistent. It never seems to go away."

Dr. Dunne said sympathetically, "I can try to up your dosage. We have discussed this, remember?" Taylor nodded, while Dr. Dunne continued, "This type of cancer presents several symptoms. However, as I have told you, you will experience more and more headaches, double vision, facial pain, changes in hearing, difficulty swallowing and a feeling of dizziness."