Page 21 of Client from Hell

“You are playing a dangerous game, Sandra.”

“I’m not playing a game. I’m making a bet with equivalent odds and a great payoff. That society seems to think my virginity is actually worth something is ridiculous. I don’t get anything for having my virginity, and I’m not compensated for losing it, but people seem to think they have the right to tell me—and other women—what to do with our bodies. A man’s virginity is worthless. Nobody cares if a man goes to his wedding day a virgin. There are no campaigns to preserve his precious virginity because a man’s virginity has no value. It’s expected most men are practiced at sleeping around. Women are the ones who pay the price in the eyes of society. Although, that said, are virgin men delicious to succubi?”

“Considering their rarity, they’re an extremely rare treat they try to enjoy when they find one. And you’re absolutely correct. Women do unfairly carry the burden of virginity.”

I displayed my middle finger for Jonas to admire. “This is how I feel about the situation. That said, I’m sure my parents think I’ve been around the block three or four times by now. I’m in college, and there are frat parties. I never attend the frat parties, by the way. I’ve no interest in them. I also have no interest in being drugged or raped, which is an unfortunately common occurrence at those parties.”

Jonas returned his phone back in his pocket and shook his head. I finished signing the papers and handed them over. “I’ll return shortly, as I’ve been told I will keep you amused today, else I’ll be one of the fucking assholes for an afternoon, and it took exactly one round of that to learn I do not want to repeat that experience again.” He vanished.

Well, the rest of my day would be interesting, which beat the relentless boredom of waiting to find out if I’d die or not.

I appreciated having something to look forward to.

Six

What do you mean by mangled?

After giving me two units of blood, the nurse checked my blood pressure, which insisted on remaining low. When she left with a frown, I worried. Within twenty minutes, she brought a collection of doctors back with her. Jonas showed up at the same time they decided to pop me back into a full round of testing.

“You’ll have to leave, Mr. Esmaranda,” one of the doctors informed the incubus. I checked his name tag, which had been covered with a sticker reading Mortan. I realized all of them had gone with first names, something I hadn’t paid much attention to as I’d continued to call everybody doc because doc was easier than trying to remember names.

The handwritten stickers with first names intrigued me. “I mean, if he wants to watch you all poke me with sticks and stir my insides, I don’t have a problem with it, doc. I’m sure he could be useful.” I squinted to make certain I’d read his name tag correctly. “Testing sucks, and I wouldn’t mind an incubus holding my hand or stripping while I endured, Dr. Mortan.”

The doctor grunted. “Unless your incubus is owed a favor by an angel, I’m afraid he’ll have to leave until the tests are over.”

Jonas shrugged. “Well, I mean, if an angel is needed, I could probably get one with minimal fuss. What specialty do you need? Some are better at certain things. Unless it’s her reproductive system, in which case, you just need me. I’m a one-stop shop for anything involving women and their reproductive systems. I’m also good at general female hormonal therapy.”

That caught my doctor’s attention. “If I asked you to check her hormone levels, how good are you at getting accurate results?”

“Do you want accurate hormone levels or corrected hormone levels? If you want accurate levels, I’ll just steal Diana’s scanner. I mean, I’d have to steal Diana, too, but I don’t mind a little kidnapping now and then. I would find that to be entertaining.”

“Miss Moore? While it wasn’t a part of your planned treatments, at this stage, it would not go amiss to have him do a check. It would remove some strain from your virus. Do you consent to Mr. Esmaranda being informed of your current health problems?”

“I want to be out of this place as soon as possible, no offense to you meant at all, Dr. Mortan. Tell him whatever you want. You better give him the warning about how lycanthropy is a contagious disease, and while I haven’t started looking at men like they’re dinner yet, it could happen soon.”

I really needed to deal with my glasses. I’d been able to handle things close to my face, like my paperwork, but my inability to see far clearly hadn’t improved since the chemotherapy. I hoped I could still drive, as I’d have to drive to get to a place I could fix my glasses. If anything, my prescription had worsened. The blurred figures of the doctors and nurses did their best to keep from laughing, although Dr. Mortan grinned before replying, “This is a valid concern. Mr. Esmaranda, I recommend against engaging in any adult activities with Miss Moore unless you wish to become bonded to her. It would also stress her already strained virus. When we started this experiment, we did not anticipate the virus would continually plunder her blood to repair her internal organs to this degree.”

Jonas chuckled. “Let me contact an angel or archangel first. Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be back with an assistant. I’ll handle the hormonal therapy, and if there’s damage to her reproductive system, I can make myself useful on that front.”

“Her reproductive system is currently rather mangled,” my doctor admitted.

“What do you mean by mangled?” he asked with a frown.

“The cancer destroyed most of it, truth be told. One ovary is still somewhat intact. The rest is a write-off, and we’re hoping the lycanthropy virus will repair it over time. Without the lycanthropy virus, we’d be removing everything except the one ovary.”

“I’m missing a lot of bits right now, Jonas. Honestly, it’s probably a miracle I haven’t left the hospital in a cardboard box on route for the morgue. These docs are seriously great. I mean, I’m a living experiment to see if a cancer treatment on terminal patients will work, but I’m way ahead of the game right now.”

“I see. I’ll return within twenty to thirty minutes,” Jonas promised before disappearing.

“You have the strangest guests, Sandra,” Marie announced. “I don’t know how you got an incubus willing to do that level of work, but you’re fortunate.”

“Do you think the angel or archangel will talk sense into him once he starts asking for favors? He keeps coming around, and he’s handsome enough I find it difficult to suggest he should go away.”

“He is easy on the eyes,” Marie replied with a grin. “And if he can take some of the strain off your virus, even better. The donor can’t keep up with you if you keep going through two to four units a day. Lycanthropes regenerate quickly, but this is more than they typically regenerate.”

“We have another two units available, but it’s from a different donor,” Dr. Mortan replied. “I had wanted to save them for tomorrow, but that is unlikely at this point.”

“Human blood?” I asked.