Demons Beside You

“Hi, David.” A woman walked into the office.

David was reading the case and looked up at the incomer.

“You’re…Miss Sienna.” David stood up immediately. “Hello, hello. How can I help you today?”

“Your team leader called me here.”

“He went out and won’t be back until noon. I’ll call him now.”

Sienna was the consultant for the LA West City Branch. She was also a true spiritualist. David hadn’t worked with Sienna before, but he’d heard his team leader mention her before.

Apparently, Sienna could communicate with the dead. This reminded David of Chen Zhao. He wondered if Sienna or Chen was more powerful.

“Miss Sienna, you’re a spiritualist, right?”

Sienne chuckled without answering David’s question. This wasn’t a secret in the station anymore, but she’d never communicated with the dead before any officer.

The reason was that not everyone was willing to believe that there were spirits in this world. Plus, she couldn’t make the spirits appear before everyone. Even people from the stations that she worked with said behind her back that she was just pretending.

“Miss Sienna, are spirits like us living folks?”

She looked at David. “Do you believe there are spirits on this world?”

“Yes, and I believe that you spiritualists can see them and talk to them. Another spiritualist came to our station yesterday. He says he’s just a part-time spiritualist, but he can talk to them.”

“Ha… You believe him just because he says he’s one?”

Sienna scoffed. She’d met a lot of people in her field, but most were fakes. These people acted mysteriously all day and even talked professionally on TV shows, but to Sienna, they were all fakes.

Of course, Sienna couldn’t prove that they were liars. It was just like how she couldn’t prove that she wasn’t a liar.

“It’s true. My colleagues and I saw a cup fly before us. He even helped us save a mother and daughter.”

“Oh? The souls that he saw were the mother-and-daughter pair?” Sienna asked immediately, surprised.

“Yes. Their spirits went to find him and asked him to save them. Now, the mom is awake, but she doesn’t seem to remember her soul coming out. Her daughter is still in a coma though. The doctor said that she has brain hypoxia and might be in a coma forever.”

Sienna furrowed her brows. “Which hospital is the girl in now?”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Tell me what hospital she’s in now,” Sienna pressed on.

“At…” David told her the hospital.

“I’m going. Tell your team leader that I have an emergency.” Sienna left without even looking back.

David ran after her. “Miss Sienna, can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“That girl is in danger.”

“What? Is someone trying to hurt her?” David was frightened. There weren’t any police protecting her there.”

“Not a person,” Sienna said. “It’s useless talking to you. The police can’t help.”

“Miss Sienna, we saved that girl. It’s our duty to protect her. Please tell me who’s trying to hurt her.”

“It’s no use.” Sienna walked out of the station, but David was still behind her.

“Miss Sienna, we can definitely protect her. Please tell me what we should do.”

“You can’t do anything. You’ll just add to the mess.”

“We can request for stronger reinforcement. LA has an anti-terrorist department.”

“This isn’t what humans can defeat. Evil spirits are threatening that girl’s life, you understand? To those evil spirits, she’s like a delicious piece of cake… Whatever. You won’t believe me.”

David stood frozen in his spot. “Evil spirits?”

Sienna was already gone, but David was still dazed. Suddenly, he thought of something: Chen Zhao.

Perhaps he could help; perhaps he could protect that girl.

No, he definitely could!

David immediately looked for Chen Zhao’s number.

…

“Hello, Chen Zhao speaking.”

“Mr. Chen, it’s Morgery. You should remember me, right? I need your help.”

“Morgery? I remember. The first time I got a gun pointed at my head was because of you, right?!” Chen Zhao immediately lost his temper—seriously.

He’d almost pissed his pants that time.

They were talking through the phone now, so Chen Zhao vented out all his anger.

“Mr. Chen, I’m sorry about that time… I’m seriously sorry. I need your help right now.”

“Help? Sorry, I won’t help you.”

“Ten thousand dollars!” Morgery gritted out. “I promise I won’t disturb you again. I swear on my dignity.”

Ten thousand dollars wasn’t a small number.

Chen Zhao calmed down. “Tell me first if you or someone you know is in trouble.”

“Me, my boss, and two partners. We’re getting chased and we’re all hurt. One of us is badly hurt. I can’t think of anyone else who can help us.”

“Will you ensure my safety if I go over there? I need to at least be sure that you won’t kill me afterward.”

“Yes, yes, I swear. I swear on my life.”

“Fine. Tell me where I need to go.”

Chen Zhao opened his curtains and looked outside. Indeed, there was a car parked on the road. He walked out with Beelzebub and his tool kit. After getting into the car, he saw that Morgery’s abdomen was dyed red and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

“Mr. Chen, I promise you’ll be safe, but before this, can you turn off your phone? I trust you, but I hope no one will find us through you.”

“Fine, but you need treatment.”

“Let’s leave this place first.” Morgery drove the car away.

“Let me check your injury first.” Chen Zhao opened Morgery’s shirt.

“Okay, the bullet didn’t stay in your body. It went through your right abdomen and you have pretty heavy blood loss. Drink this and I’ll stitch you up.”

Chen Zhao handed a thin demonic crystal potion to Morgery.

“Bear the pain and don’t drive us into a ditch.”

Morgery drove while enduring the immense pain.

“Chen, if this happens again, can you please bring some anesthetics? Not everyone can take this pain.”

“Nope. I don’t have a license. I can’t get anesthetics.”

“I have connections,” Morgery said.

“Tell me what happened. Why are you getting chased?”

“Are you sure you want to know.”

“Whatever. Pretend I didn’t ask.”

“It’s not much. After all, we’re not a secret in either the legal or illegal world. Our team has a police mole and he betrayed us. The FBI ruined our business and our enemy started chasing us.”

“You can’t even protect yourself and you can still get me controlled drugs?”

“Two different things.”

“You really have connections to get me some medicine?”

To be honest, Chen Zhao did need it. The problem with being an illegal doctor was that medicine was hard to get.

He couldn’t get things like analgesics and anesthetics without a legit prescription at all. He really needed these things right now, which was why he asked Morgery.

“Of course, but it’s different from the market price. The cheapest one will be twice the price of a legit pharmacy. Some others are crazily expensive. You need to mentally prepare yourself.”

“Of course. I understand.”