Ronnie shook. He couldn't decide what was more frightening, the fact that a total stranger was in Josh's room, or the fact that the stranger in question knew his name.
"Ronald, step back!" Lily got in front of him, using her arm to block him.
The man's lips curved into a diabolical smile.
"Are you another damned soul?!" Ronnie questioned, trying to hide his anxiety.
"damned souls— oh? I'm guessing that's what you refer to the phantoms as" The stranger said.
"He's not, he's human. Just different, there's something about him" Lily said, sparing a second to look at Ronnie over her shoulder. She could tell he was frozen in fear but just putting on a front.
"Correct Lillith, great perception. You live up to your title" he said, his lazy eyes scanning her head to feet.
On hearing her true name mentioned, Lilith took a battle stance, charging at the man and aiming for his throat.
Suddenly, Lily's hand was caught mid air right before it got to the man's neck.
"Impossible, who could stop the brunt of my attack without even moving?" Lily pondered, her eyes widened.
"I'm guessing your human form doesn't let you use the full extent of your powers. You must be considerably weak if you couldn't detect the other people in this room" the stranger said, resting his face against his chin and smiling.
"That was a close one. Though it would be quite the honour if people heard I got killed by the current ruler of demons herself" he added.
A number of young men and women appeared, pointing sabers directly at Lily's neck. Another one became visible across the bed, he was the one who held her hand.
Lily was so shocked that she couldn't speak, or move, she just stared at the stranger in disbelief.
"Simple concealing magic, hide your aura well enough and you blend into your surroundings. It's common magic, you shouldn't look so surprised" he said.
"What— what is going on here?!" Ronnie ran into the room and ended up getting tossed against the hard tiles by a girl his age. She twisted his arm and pressed his head down.
"Doing things without thinking them through, you remind me of an old friend. But you see Ronald, Reminiscing is not the reason I'm here." The stranger talked slowly, wearing a small knowing smile as he spoke.
He made a hand gesture, the young men and women all stood at ease. Ronnie wasted no time in getting to his feet.
"I know you have questions, Ronald. Take a seat, I'll answer the ones I can" the man said.
Ronald and Lily exchanged glances at each other.
"Rest assured, if we were here to pick a fight, it would have started already. Besides, I can tell nobody in this room is a match for the demon queen, I'd hate to throw away innocent young lives. I'm a logical man, you see" the stranger explained.
After a moment more of exchanged glances, Lily nodded her head. She took a seat on the visitor's bench at the side of the room and Ronnie followed suit.
"Who are you? What are you doing to Josh" Ronnie asked. Sitting next to Lily made him more confident.
"One question at a time, son. For your question, who I am or who we are isn't important right now. You'll know in due time" he articulated. The stranger stood on his seat, leaving Josh's bedside.
"What did you do to Josh?" Ronnie asks again.
The man makes a hand gesture and one of the women close the door. She locked the door and put a paper talisman on it.
"I'm not here to discuss what I have done to Josh and what I haven't. We're here, to discuss what YOU have done to Josh" the stranger said staring directly at Ronnie.
"How did you know my true name? I haven't shared that name with anybody besides Ronald" Lily said, in a rather calm tone.
"Miss 'Lillian' is it? gathering information is part of our job" he responded. Lily went quiet after that.
The stranger turned his attention back to Ronnie.
"Ronald Carpenter, you toyed around with forces you didn't know anything about, and now the results are beginning to show. It's your fault that Joshua is in this condition right now" the stranger said.
"He didn't know!" Lily yelled almost immediately.
"Shush" the stranger said. He pointed at a poster on the wall which read "no noise in the hospital.
Lily went quiet again. This time, she had an embarrassed look on her face.
"Whether he knew or not doesn't matter right now. Take a look at your best friend, Ronald. Look what you did to him. We know about Veronica too" the stranger said.
"Your dumb 'game' is wrecking havoc all over this city and the towns around it. More people are being possessed by phantoms as we speak." He added.
"I— know. I know my stupidity brought this whole thing on. I think about it every night, we have been trying to stop them" Ronnke explained, he had a bitter look in his eyes.
"You aren't trying hard enough and when you do try, you leave them in a vegetative state like this." the stranger said.
Ronnie opened his mouth with the intent to speak, but the words never escaped his mouth.
"It's about time that we took action into our own hands. We'll clean up your mess. It's our job after all" the stranger said.
"If you already decided to do that, then why did you want to see me? Why invade Josh's room like this in his vulnerable state?" Ronnie asked.
"I want you to know, I want you to be aware of the problems your carelessness has caused. Also, I want you to know that we'll be looking at Lillith very carefully. One wrong move and you'll both have us to deal with" the stranger said.
"I don't intend on making any troubles for my master" Lily said.
"You should stop this charade, Lillith. Referring to a human as master is a bit unbecoming of the demon queen, don't you think? Besides, if it weren't for that silly contract of yours you would have probably killed him already" the stranger said.
Lily went quiet.
"Maybe he's right and I would have killed Ronnie at the slightest inconvenience if it were the old me, but I'm not that person anymore." She thought.
"Here. The kid should be up within a few minutes if you give him a drop of this" the stranger said. He threw a small vial containing a glowing liquid and Lily caught it.
"an advanced vitality potion? how did they get their hands on something like this?" Lily questioned in her thoughts.
A youth among the mysterious people rips the earlier places talisman off the door and in the blink of an eye, they're all gone.
Ronnie who was already frozen by the tough truth he had to hear was appalled by the way they vanished into thin air.
After a few minutes had past, Ronnie regained his composure. Lily and him contemplated for a few more minutes before giving the contents of the mysterious vial with Josh.
As instructed, Lily administers a drop to Josh and they wait.
The squeaking sound of the old fan and the beeping of the heart rate monitor where the only sources of sound as Lily and Ronnie sat in silence, waiting and hoping that the vial wasn't just a scam.
"waiting by my bedside for me to wake up? you're a real lame, Ron" Josh said in a voice which he could barely produce.
Ronnie raised his face. He looked in the direction of the voice to confirm that it was really Josh speaking and not just his mind playing tricks on him.
"Bastard, you sure got comfortable in a hospital. What took you so long to open those eyes?" Ronnie asked. He tried to hide his excitement and relief that his best friend was just okay.
Lily didn't say a word, she stared at the interaction and smiled, Ronnie looked happy so she was happy.
"What happened to me?" Josh asked.
"It was something about you getting involved in some sort of accident. You really should be more careful" Ronnie said.
Josh hardly paid attention to what he Ronnie was going on about. Instead he stared at Lily. Naturally she stared back at him.
"Ron, you havent introduced me to your friend" Josh said.
"Oh yeah, right. This is Lily. you'll get to know her better later on" Ronnie said.
"So, it's that kind of relationship?" Josh inquired.
"No, no it's not. But—" Ronnie muttered and paused.
Josh resumed staring at Lily.
"Lily, I'm Joshua. This one's best friend" Josh said.
"Pleasure to meet you" Lily said.
"I had this weird, long dream while I was unconscious. I think I saw you and Ron" Josh utters.
Ronnie stares at Lily in horror.