Dr. Adams had some very emotive smiles.
“Hello, Christian,” she said. His shuddering increased.
“W-what are you doing here?” He gulped as Dr. Adams took a step forward. He took a step back, followed by another, and then another, as the woman continued striding into his hotel room. He absently noticed the large traveling case trailing behind her. Several more briefcases were being brought in by another person, someone in the uniform of the Science Division.
Dr. Adams took a single glance around the room, and then dismissed her surroundings to penetrate Christian’s soul with a glare so intense that he felt like he was back in the orphanage, being scolded by the nuns because he had let Tristin convince him to raid the pantry.
He still hadn’t forgiven Tristin for that.
“Why, I am here because I was told you allowed yourself to get mauled by a werewolf,” she replied. Christian opened his mouth, but no words came out, just a terrified choking noise. The look Dr. Adams gave him was absolutely petrifying. “I can see that mauled was a bit of an understatement; you look like you were eaten by Satan and shit back out.”
Not only were Dr. Adam’s smiles emotive, but she had a foul mouth to boot.
“Uh… are you… mad at me?”
“Of course not. Why would I be mad at you?” she asked, her smile growing so wide that her eyes were literally forced shut. Was it just him, or had the room’s temperature taken a sudden nosedive? “Because you allowed yourself to be injured by a mere werewolf? Or perhaps it’s because you decided it would be a good idea to walk around without a weapon while on a mission? Mad? Don’t be absurd. I’m not mad. I’m furious.”
Christian gulped.
This is not going to end well for me.
***
“Take off your shirt,” Dr. Adams commanded as she forced Christian to sit on the bed. They were the only ones in the room. The man from the Science Division had already left, his task of delivering the various ammunition and weapons that Christian had requested done.
Christian followed his physician’s orders, reaching for the hem of his shirt. He began to lift it over his head, but dropped it with a hiss of pain the moment he lifted his arms. By the Almighty! Just trying to lift his arms hurt!
“Oh, honestly,” the woman growled. “Are you really so weak that you can’t even take your own damn shirt off?” Without waiting for his answer, she grabbed his shirt and yanked it over his head and off his frame.
“Yeowch!” Christian yelped as his arms moved far too quickly and in a direction they were not ready to go. Shock coursed through him as the nerves in his arms flared up like someone had shoved them onto a bed of burning coals.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Dr. Adams chided. “You’ve been injured worse than this before. Fuck, remember when I had to heal you after your battle with Abaddon? You were way more injured back then. Or did you forget how you almost died?”
“No, I didn’t forget. And just because I’ve had worse doesn’t change the fact that I’m still injured.” Christian winced as the socket joint in his left shoulder sent a sharp jolt to his brain. “Couldn’t you be a bit gentler?”
“Gentle? With you?” Dr. Adams snorted. “The only way you’ll ever learn a lesson is if it’s beaten into that thick skull of yours, you reckless idiot. Now lie down on your back.”
Christian wanted to grumble in complaint, but knew that he would just have more pain inflicted upon his person by the sadistic doctor. So he did what she asked, lying on his back and allowing the woman to check him over. After several moments of giving his body a standard check-up, she walked over to one of the cases on the floor and opened it.
She then came back with what appeared to be a giant brick with a speaker system on one side and a monitor on the other. She held the device over his body, moving it from his head to his toes, then back up to his head.
“You have no broken bones,” she announced at last, “though your ribs have been bruised very badly. A number of your muscles have also been torn, and it looks like the ligaments in your wrists have snapped. I suspect the reason for this is due to you swinging those swords of yours around while already suffering several injuries.” She gave Christian a look of mixed exasperation and annoyance. “Honestly, must you always be so reckless?”
“It’s not like I had much choice.” Christian grunted, then yelped when she pinched the flesh under his left pectoral, hard.
“There is always a choice,” she scolded. “You could have chosen to be more careful and carried a weapon with you. I know you, Christian, and I know that the only reason you’re this injured after fighting a measly werewolf is because you contracted a serious case of stupidity and decided not to carry any weapons.”
“There isn’t much I can do about that,” he told Dr. Adams as she walked back to her case, and pulled out a jar containing some kind of white cream. “You know carrying weapons would draw unwanted suspicion. And besides, I didn’t expect to run into a werewolf on this mission. There haven’t been any reports of werewolf sightings in Seal Beach.”
She walked back over to him, popped the lid open, and scooped a good deal of cream onto her fingers.
“I fail to see how that matters.” She sat down on the left side of the bed. “You’re always taught to expect the unexpected. You should have known to always keep at least one of your weapons on you at all times. Honestly, Christian, what am I going to do with you?”
Christian didn’t have an answer for that, so he didn’t say anything.
Silence followed as Dr. Adams proceeded to smear the cream, which he noticed was thick like a paste, onto his skin. He stifled a hiss as it burned when it touched his skin. After a moment, however, the pain faded, and was replaced by a soothing coolness that numbed his body.
“What is this stuff?” asked Christian.
“A new experimental product,” she answered, as she continued applying the cream to his body. “This cream contains several million nanites; tiny, microscopic machines that are designed to heal injuries from inside your body. They’re the latest in medical innovation. Turn over.”
When he did as instructed, she started applying the cream to his back. Christian grunted when Dr. Adams applied an almost painful amount of pressure to his left shoulder blade, just enough to make her displeasure known without aggravating his injuries.
“Sounds like those guys in the Science Division are as busy as ever. Though I don’t know how I feel about having tiny machines inside my body.” He’d read one too many sci-fi novels where nanomachines ate their host from the inside out to feel comfortable with them inside of him. The images those thoughts evoked did not help any.
“The nanomachines don’t have a long lifespan, they’ll dissolve in a few days,” Dr. Adams informed him primly. Christian grunted, but didn’t say anything else. After a few more seconds, she finished rubbing the cream into his calves. She then straightened up, and wiped her hands, ridding them of any residue. “There, all done. Tell me, how do you feel?”
Christian tentatively sat up, using his hands to act as support for his body. He made sure to take it slow, just in case his arms gave out on him again. They didn’t, something that he was thankful for as he sat all the way up.
“I feel… a lot better,” he admitted. Moving about experimentally, he placed his right hand on his left trapezius and rotated his entire left arm. After a moment, he smiled. “I don’t feel any pain.” Just then a jolt ran up his shoulder, causing him to wince. “Well, not too much pain.”
“Your body is still going to be very sore for a while,” Dr. Adams informed him. “The nanomachines need time to work, and you’ve sustained a lot of damage. I would suggest taking it easy. You should probably stay in bed today.”
“I can’t.” Christian shook his head. He slid off the bed and stood up. He moved slowly, cautiously, taking one step and then two, making sure that his legs were in working order. “I’ve got a date today.”
“A date?” Dr. Adams perked up. It w
as only after seeing the amused quirk to the woman’s lips that Christian realized what he’d just said.
“D-did I say date? I meant I was going to observe my target and learn more about her behavioral patterns.”
“So you’re going on a date with your target?”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Christian snapped, then took a deep breath. “This isn’t a date. I’m doing this to protect her.”
Dr. Adams raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“To protect her? Isn’t she a succubus?”
“No.” Christian shook his head. “She can’t be. That werewolf I ran into was obsessed with her, too. You know as well as I that supernatural creatures are immune to the passive abilities of other supernatural creatures.”
“That is true,” Dr. Adams admitted. “Though I believe resistant is a more accurate term. If this Lilith’s Aura of Allure is powerful enough, she can override another creatures’ resistance.”
“Then wouldn’t I be affected as well?” Christian questioned. “I haven’t felt a single desire to do something with Lilith since meeting her. Not even the desire to kiss her. If I, a human, do not feel the desire to have sex with her, then a monster wouldn’t feel that desire either. Humans do not have a monster’s resistance.”
“Hmm… you do bring up a good point.” Dr. Adams decided to drop the subject. “So, about this date…”
“Oh, for the—it’s not a date!”
“Calm down.” Dr. Adams smiled disarmingly. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a little fun. Just make sure you don’t fall in love with her. I would hate for you to be excommunicated because you ended up committing lascivious acts on a pure, innocent young maiden.”
“Don’t talk to me about lascivious acts! The only person I want to hear something like that from even less than you is Tristin!” He paused for a moment, but only to catch his breath. “And it isn’t a date!”
Chapter 14
Lilith awoke from her slumber with a gasp and jolted upright. The sheets fell away to reveal the pink spaghetti strap shirt that she had worn to bed. She shivered as the chill from the fan overhead hit her skin, creating goosebumps on her flesh. The air was much colder than it should have been, even with the fan blowing. It took her several seconds to realize why. Her body was covered in a light layer of sweat.
And that wasn’t the only thing covering her body. Lilith’s already flushed cheeks rapidly gained more color as she realized that her legs were coated in another kind of fluid. So were her bed sheets.
Taking her fingers out of her panties, nearly ripping the undergarment in her haste, Lilith brought her hands up to her eyes. Her face burned like the sun as she studied the clear liquid coating her fingers. She knew what it was, but she was still surprised. She had been… and in her sleep… God, this was so embarrassing!
It was a good thing she didn’t share a room with Maria. Lilith knew there would be no end to the teasing she would have to endure if her friend knew what she had been doing in her sleep.
And just what had she been doing in her sleep? Lilith, despite her embarrassment still being very prominent, tried to shunt such feelings to the side, and focus on what she could remember before waking up.
A dream. She had been having a dream, that much she knew. The problem was that she couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming about. The only image her mind could conjure up were two colors: red and green. Everything else remained elusive, out of her reach, as if it was just beyond the edge of her perception. Every time she tried to focus on recalling more of the dream, it slipped away into a hazy fog.
She soon realized this was getting her nowhere, and decided to forget about the dream for the moment. There were other things that she needed to do. It would behoove her to get a quick start on her day, so she could wash her sheets before Maria or―heaven forbid―Stacy woke up.
Lilith slipped out of bed, then pulled her sheets and comforter off the mattress. The thick fabrics were bundled into a ball that she could just barely wrap her arms around. She then hauled them to the washing machine, where she dumped everything in, along with two cleaning pods, and started it up.
As the washing machine hummed and rumbled with life, Lilith went into the bathroom. She turned the water onto its coldest setting, and stepped in immediately after stripping her clothes off.
The spray hitting her body chilled her to the bones, freezing her skin and making her shiver. She didn’t complain or yelp. She needed this. Her body felt hot, like she’d been slowly baked inside of an oven. The frigid water running down her body was exactly what she needed to cool herself off. Upon finishing her shower, she wrapped a towel around herself, and headed to her room.
Lilith ran into another dilemma after putting on her underwear. She didn’t know what to wear. Whenever she normally went out, she wore the most unflattering clothing that she could think of—unless she was going to work, in which case she would wear a knee-length skirt and button-up shirt, or one of her sundresses.
Her preferred outfit was dark-brown pants, a large overcoat with an even larger collar, and a bucket hat that hid the rest of her head from view. They worked wonders to hide her face and body, though they never seemed to work like she wanted them to.
Some part of her really wanted to wear that ugly outfit for today. Even if it didn’t completely stop the stares, she felt almost safe while cocooned in that ridiculously large coat. Another part of her wanted to wear something special to commemorate the first day that she willingly spent time with a man. And still another part just wanted to call the whole thing off and stay in her room. That last desire became stronger the longer she stayed in her closet, staring at her rack of clothing.
“Having some problems?”
“Meep!”
Lilith spun around in shock, then promptly crashed to the floor, bum first, when she tripped over her own feet. Sitting where she had fallen, her left hand rubbing her now sore backside, she looked up to give Maria a glare.
“Now there’s a scary look.” Maria’s cheerful smile greeted her. “You should wear that more often. I’m sure at least half the male population would be too frightened to go near you then.”
Lilith huffed and turned her head to the side, determined not to pay attention to her friend. As far as she was concerned, this entire predicament was all Maria’s fault anyway.
“Aw, come on. What’s with that look?” Maria placed her hands on her hips and grinned down at Lilith. “I decided to do my run a little later just so I could help you pick out something sexy to wear on your first date, and here you are ignoring me.”
“D-d-date?” Lilith stuttered, her face threatening to spontaneously combust. “T-t-this isn’t a date!”
“It’s not?” Maria’s devilish grin was in full bloom. “Then what do you call it when a man takes a woman out somewhere?” The grin widened and her eyes gained a delightfully frightening gleam that had Lilith shivering in terror. She looked up at the ceiling, and tapped her chin in a mock-thoughtful manner. “Although, I do seem to recall you being the one to ask him out… still, if you’re not willing to consider this a date, then perhaps I could―”
“All right, all right! It’s a date!” Lilith practically shouted. “There, you happy now?”
“Very,” Maria chirped.
“Would you two keep it down?” Stacy asked as she walked into the room. The goth girl looked like she had just rolled out of bed; her eyes were nearly glued shut, dark rings surrounded them, and her hair was in complete disarray. “Seriously, you two, some of us are trying to sleep, and I’ve got to work tonight.”
“Right, sorry.” Maria had the decency to look sheepish. “I guess I got a little excited because Lilith’s going on her first date.”
“Maria!”
“And I don’t think she wanted me to tell you that.”
Stacy stared, first at Lilith, and then Maria, then back to Lilith again. Maria grinned wickedly while Lilith felt like her head had been stuck in a deep fryer. I
t took the youngest girl several seconds of doing nothing but staring to comprehend the words, but eventually, Maria’s statement finally penetrated her brain. She looked back at Lilith, who wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers, and then at Maria one more time.
“Did you just say date?”
“It’s not a date.” Lilith sounded sullen.
“Yes.” Maria smiled a brilliant, beautiful, absolutely terrifying smile. While Lilith started shivering in abject fear, Maria gave Stacy a wink. “A very important date.”
***
Christian frowned as he stood in front of The Crema Café, where he and Lilith had agreed to meet. He was leaning against the window, his arms crossed over his chest, and trying not to show any of his discomfort.
His body still felt like it had been put through the wringer. Maybe Dr. Adams had been right and he shouldn’t be out of bed. Still, he couldn’t just stay in the hotel room, could he? He had agreed to meet up with Lilith.
He still wasn’t entirely sure why he had actually agreed to spend the day with her when she asked him out. Actually, he wasn’t really sure of anything when it came to this mission, so that told him something right there. That aside, he still couldn’t figure out why Lilith had asked him out, especially after he took her fear of men into consideration.
At least he now knew that she wasn’t a succubus. Supernatural creatures had an innate immunity to a succubus’s Aura of Allure. That werewolf shouldn’t have been affected by her, and in fact, it should have been repulsed just by standing in her presence. Monsters of different breeds never got along.
So why am I still agreeing to go out with her? I should leave before she arrives. It’s not like I’ll ever see her again.
“H-hey… um, C-Christian.”
Well, shoot.
Lifting his head and looking to his left, Christian was treated to the sight of Lilith standing before him. A light shade of pink dusted her cheeks, enhancing her gorgeous face. She had donned a simple black cami top with a V-neckline and thin straps. A red skirt that stopped at mid-thigh wrapped around her hips, and tan gladiator sandals adorned her feet. It was a modest outfit, nothing all that special.
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