"Well, this is curious - I've only got papers that say to take one of you."

My two latest deaths stood in front of me.

"The other is supposed to keep on living. But here you both are."

Neither spoke to volunteer which was which.

"So, you both intend to keep on living, in spite of my orders to take one of you."

Silence signaled assent.

"You know that no one has ever cheated Death. Just because you have some spirit-guides looking out for you doesn't mean I won't end up with one - or even both of you."

I tapped a long, bony finger.

"Or maybe all four of you, just to make it completely fair. Because the more those two gals are working to keep you both alive, the more they are just making a bargain with me."

The two men standing there looked at each other.

Then turned to me and shrugged. At the same time, like they'd rehearsed it.

"Alrighty, then. The Game is on. Let's see who can beat Death and keep living. It's like always - all or nothing.

"And I never lose..."

This anthology contains:

- The Healers Chronicles: Birthdays - 01 by S. H. Marpel
- The Healers Chronicles: Origins - 02 by S. H. Marpel
- Lazurai Homecoming by J. R. Kruze, S. H. Marpel
- When Death Lives Twice by S. H. Marpel

Excerpt:

JUDE AND I GOT RUSHED in here again last night.

Because both our boys slipped under again. Flat-lining like before.

Rochelle kept telling us we two sisters were doing great at nursing them, that there was nothing anyone else could do any better. But now each of us had only one duty right now - and that was to save the guy we were "assigned" to.

We knew Rochelle had never seen anything like this before. Sure, she'd had people just give up and die on her. Especially when she couldn't get to them in time. Even after she'd brought them back to life once or twice or more.

But under the care of a Lazurai healer, body death is extremely rare.

Sure, they both had serious wounds when they came in. But those had all been patched. And there were only faint lines now where the jagged cuts had been repaired. In time, there wouldn't even be any scars to show. The surgery here was expert.

Yet this was the third time both of us had to come in and stop the slide.

And once we did, it left us both exhausted. Of course, it didn't help that we were either sleeping on hallway couches or a nearby wheeled gurney just to be on call.

At least we had plenty of towels around to sob into when it got to be too much...

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