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tiny monsters had been closer than she thought. The two she
captured shrieked like miniature banshees, and the rest, excluding
the one ground into her uniform she guessed there had been
fifteen or so in all blinked out of existence.
She held both of the little monsters by the scruffs of their necks
and stared at them . . . and through them. They didn t feel at all the
way she d expected she was reminded of the time she d picked
up a blue indigo snake as a child, expecting it to be slimy, and
found instead that it was cool and dry and very firm and even
pleasant to the touch.
The two little monsters were almost hot to the touch, and their
skin was as hard and dry as a beetle carapace, with the same
feeling of brittleness. Dayne had expected the little monsters to
look almost identical, and was startled that except for the fact both
were clear, they could easily have belonged to completely different
species. One had a long tail and curling horns and a flat face.
Spikes grew from the second monster s back; it was tailless and
had a long-muzzled, reptilian face with two shorter spikes growing
out of the tip of its nose. Both creatures had one head, two arms,
two legs, tiny feet and tiny claw-tipped hands; both were
unbelievably ugly, and both screamed imprecations at her at the
tops of their lungs. They didn t bite or scratch, however they just
yelled. She held them firmly but gently, and looked down at the
stain on her knee where the third little monster had been. She felt
badly about that.
 Hush, she told both screamers. They didn t obey.
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She started to head out of the room, holding her squirming prizes
in front of her, when a light flickered in the air and grew into a tiny
shimmering ball. She stopped, the tiny monsters shut up, and all
three of them watched as a piece of paper grew inside the little ball
of light. Then the light died and the paper hung unsupported in
midair.
Dayne carefully transferred the monster in her right hand to her
left, and with her free hand took the paper.
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Hell s Accounting Department Invoice
North Carolina Division of Bodies
Wastage and Destruction Sector
 We ll Have Our Pound Of Flesh
INVOICE NO: 518KT34972-00000000014A
Bill To: Customer Status:
Dayne Kuttner o� New Customer
Earth Region 17945-8492-253 o Regular Client
Sisters of Hope Hospital o Account on Established Credit
Charlotte, North Carolina
Tracking Data: Invoice date: Invoice Processor:
15 BJRT H.D.14/346/97084 Ulkbilge
Customer Number:
NC1487245
UNIT
QTY DESCRIPTION PRICE AMOUNT
1 Gremlin 3rd Class, body, wasted and $43.25 $43.25
nonrecyclable broken during
unwarranted attack
1 Replacement body, Gremlin 3rd Class $43.25 $43.25
1 Punitive damages for squishing one of $462.81 $462.81
God s little creatures
SUBTOTAL $549.31
SALES TAX $33.02
SHIPPING & HANDLING $18.00
TOTAL DUE $600.33
Cash or Hell-Card Only.
Bill due upon receipt no grace period offered.
If you have any questions concerning this invoice, drop by our offices in Charlotte,
Raleigh, Fayetteville, or our home office in Hell.
Pay promptly interest is compounded daily on all overdue accounts.
Failure or refusal to pay is sufficient cause to change account status from new
customer to regular client. For regular clients, we are always happy to open a Hell-
Card ( Play Now, Pay Later ) account.
Thank You for Your Business!
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 Hell billed me? she whispered.
The squished gremlin continued to stain the knee of her uniform,
but another one appeared right in the spot where she d landed. It
swore at her, shook a tiny fist in her direction, and vanished into
nothingness. She stood there for a moment, relieved that she hadn t
actually killed the little creature, but at the same time furious about
the bill. When at last she turned to go to the nurses station, she
caught another glimpse of that mysterious blue flash. When she
turned to look, of course, nothing was there.
But something had been. She was certain of it.
At the nurses station, Louise said,  Recovery just called with
your pacemaker he s been out of OR for an hour, but they said
they re going to keep him for another hour. He isn t stabilizing the
way they want. Dayne nodded. She put the bill from Hell down
on the nurses station and, with both howling, cursing gremlins still
clutched firmly in one hand, she paged Dr. Batskold.
When he called, she was brusque.  I found out what Mr. Fields
problem was. I need you to come to ICU right away.
 I m doing my charts in Medical Records. Can it wait?
 No.
She heard an exasperated sigh, then she heard Dr. Batskold
mutter,  They can never handle anything by themselves. One of
the other doctors was evidently in the room, catching up on charts,
too.
Dayne smiled grimly. She d caught the little devils, but she
wasn t going to try to figure out how to get rid of them. For
another doctor she might have made the effort . . . but not for
Batskold. For once, she regretted that she wasn t working the night
shift; this would have been just thing to wake him up over at three
A.M.
For that matter, she was more than a little curious to see how Dr.
Batskold was going to include gremlins in his diagnosis. She d bet
Gremlin Infestation wasn t a discharge diagnosis that Medicare,
Medicaid, or Blue Cross/Blue Shield would be willing to pay for.
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Batskold made it to the unit fast enough; Dayne uncharitably
thought that he was probably hoping for another code, so that he
could be the mighty hero fending off Death again.
She said,  Fields wasn t hallucinating.
 Don t say that you called me up here to tell me that. He was
hallucinating. He claimed he was seeing little clear men  [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]