Descended Part 1: Queen of the Universe? Who me? Read online

  Chapter Eight

  Charlotte

  I went to the door with a glaring Kristoff right at my back. He was keeping to the shadows, such as they were, but I could tell his big body was coiled tight as a spring, ready to jump into action if he thought I was in danger in any way. God, he really took his job seriously! I had the uneasy feeling it was going to be next to impossible to get rid of him.

  I have to admit, my heart was hammering in my chest as the door swung open. What if Kristoff was right? What if it was another assassin droid coming to attack me?

  What met my eyes was the last person I had expected.

  Dr. Drake Hunter stood there, his brown hair slicked back and a self-satisfied look in his baby-blue eyes. He was dressed in tight jeans and there was a motorcycle helmet under one arm. He was the “cool” doctor at North Florida Regional and he had every nurse, tech, and PA in the place swooning over him.

  “Dr. Hunter?” I said blankly. “What are you doing here?”

  He looked me up and down and gave a long, low whistle.

  “Well, hello there, Charlotte. Aren’t you looking lovely today.”

  I suddenly remembered that I was wearing nothing but the black lace teddy and the robe that went with it. Then again, it wasn’t exactly like I’d had time to change, what with all the craziness that had happened to me in the last half hour.

  “How can I help you?” I said, not bothering to keep the dislike out of my voice. I know lots of women who think that confidence is sexy—and it is, if you think the man being all confident and in your face can turn you on. But one shake of Dr. Drake Hunter’s neatly manicured hand had been enough to let me know he couldn’t do a damn thing for me sexually. Not that anyone could but still—his arrogance was annoying.

  “Now, Charlotte…I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day.” He gave me a blindingly white grin that all the other women at the hospital found completely charming and I just found irritating.

  “You mean when you asked me out and I turned you down?” I said bluntly.

  I’m not usually so rude but my heart was still pounding hard—here was another person from the hospital who shouldn’t know where I lived showing up on my doorstep. Was he an assassin-droid? I didn’t see a glint of silver in his blue eyes and he was a lot more articulate than the Carlos-thing had been but still, maybe whoever it was that wanted me dead was stepping up their game with an upgraded model.

  Dr. Hunter’s grin slipped a little but he clearly wasn’t one to give up.

  “Well yes—I was thinking I just caught you at a bad time,” he remarked. “Your Attending said he sent you home so I thought maybe with a little privacy…”

  “You thought if you cornered me at my home I’d agree to go out with you?” I demanded. “How did you even get my address?”

  “I’m friends with Linda, in Records—she looked it up for me. She was actually pretty jealous when I told her why I wanted to see you. I, uh, think she has a little crush on me.” He winked at me knowingly—damn, would nothing puncture his huge ego?

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I just don’t think—”

  “You don’t have to think about it at all, baby.” Before I knew it, he had captured one of my hands and was staring soulfully into my eyes. “Just come with me. I’ll take you for a ride on the back of my Harley and then afterwards we can spread a blanket under the stars…”

  “I don’t think so,” I began but suddenly Kristoff was standing beside me, glaring down at Hunter. His skin had taken on that strange gold sheen again that I had seen the night before in the ER and his eyes were whirling with rage.

  “Hands off,” he growled at the startled Dr. Hunter.

  Hunter dropped my hand abruptly, but held his ground.

  “Who is this?” he asked me, his eyes never leaving Kristoff’s tall form. “Is he, uh, from another hospital?”

  I blessed the fact that Kristoff was wearing the stolen scrubs and lab jacket from the hospital.

  “Yes,” I said quickly. “This is, uh, my brother, Kris.”

  “Your brother?” He raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Forgive me for saying so, but you two look nothing alike. What’s the deal with his skin?”

  “That’s because I was adopted,” I said, which was the one truth in the stew of lies I was telling. I ignored the skin question—there was no plausible explanation as to why my companion suddenly had a golden sheen to his dark tan skin. “Kris is visiting from Minnesota where he’s a resident at St. Paul’s.”

  “St. Paul’s, huh?” Hunter frowned, clearly not buying it. “If he’s here visiting on vacation, why is he dressed in scrubs?”

  “He, uh, thought he might come with me to do afternoon rounds,” I said weakly—I could feel my house of lies collapsing but I wasn’t quite ready to give up on it yet.

  “I thought your Attending sent you home to get some rest,” Hunter said, still frowning.

  “He did but I’m, uh, perfectly well rested now and I was about to go back,” I said.

  “Dressed like that?” He eyed me incredulously.

  “I was about to put on my scrubs,” I said. “You just…caught me at a bad time.”

  Hunter started to ask something else but Kristoff glared down at him.

  “No more questions,” he said in that deep, dark voice of his. “You will leave now. You are not wanted here.”

  “Well aren’t you just fucking rude?” Hunter snapped at him. “Charlotte, I think you’d better reign your extremely tall brother in. If he even is your brother.” He frowned. “Come to think of it, wasn’t there an extremely tall patient who escaped from the psych ward today?”

  “Was there?” I said, trying to sound unconcerned. “That’s strange.”

  “Yes—a patient I heard you were treating in the ER last night.” Hunter’s face grew rigid. “What are you doing, Dr. Walker? You know this kind of thing is a serious breach of ethics.”

  Great, when he wanted to go out with me I was sweet little “Charlotte.” But the minute he thought he’d caught me with another man—and a patient at that—I was suddenly the much more formal “Dr. Walker.”

  “What I do is none of your business,” I said stiffly. “And speaking of a breach of ethics, I think getting a fellow employee’s address so you can harass them at home is pretty unethical. In fact, I’m sure my friend, Marge, in Human Resources would love to hear about it.”

  At last he stepped back, his face dark with anger.

  “Fine. I was trying to do you a favor,” he snarled. “Just trying to brighten up your sad, pathetic little life.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t need it brightened badly enough to go out with you,” I snapped back.

  I could tell from his face that I had gone too far. Dr. Hunter outranked me at the hospital—he was a Resident and I was just a lowly intern. I had just burned a bridge there was no rebuilding and it could have a serious impact on my future career.

  “You’ll pay for that,” Hunter said tightly. “You just flushed your career down the toilet, little girl. Remember that the next time you want in on a surgery and you’re stuck on endless rounds giving enemas and cleaning out stomas.”

  He turned and marched off, leaving me fuming with rage. Okay, so he hadn’t been an assassin-droid after all. But I kind of wished he was—it would have been better than the conversation we’d just had and the inevitable outcome.

  I went back in my apartment and slapped the door closed only to find Kristoff standing there, staring at me appraisingly.

  “What?” I snapped. “I hope you’re satisfied. Now he’s going to go tell everyone at my work that I’m harboring a crazy escaped psych patient in my apartment.”

  “I wouldn’t have been labeled ‘crazy’ or had to escape if you hadn’t ordered me drugged and tied to that metal sleeping platform,” he reminded me, frowning.

  “Well, what was I supposed to do?” I demanded. “You nearly choked my friend Sebastian to death! And he was just joking around with me. I�€