Scene VII: Doctors and Nurses
The 1st Day of the 4th Moon, 1536 P.V.
The Sapari Tavern, Sapari
Confusius had not been gone five minutes, a long five minutes which Allyra spent having a rather futile fight with the metal cuffs, when another knock came at the door.
‘Help!’ Allyra shouted. ‘I’m stuck.’
‘It’s me, Lyra,’ a voice purred through the door, ‘Ches.’
‘Ches, help.’
The door opened and the light of the two suns seeped through the crack in the curtains casting a long shadow across the floor. The gloomy shadow portrayed an echo of a tall, broad man with long flowing hair wearing a top hat. Even the embellishments, the silver wings, on either side of Nicolai-Chester’s top hat whispered in the silhouette. Chester stood momentarily, watching Allyra, then entered and closed the door softly.
He marched to the curtains, and opened them slightly so that his suit, the colour of which sat undecidedly between purple and maroon, its buttons, the hat’s silver embellishments, and even the skull in the centre of his top hat glistened and glowered.
The dim light flattered Allyra’s curvy figure. Chester rubbed his gloved fingers over his mouth as he took in her vulnerable and enticing body,
‘The guys said you were up here. I was worried. You were gone a long time.’
‘Can you help me out?’ Allyra begged, not thinking to question which ‘guys’ had imparted that information. Chester grunted, then sat on the side of the bed and tickled Allyra’s ribs. She let out a snort and a laugh,
‘No Ches, don’t.’
He tickled her again, causing more snorting and writhing. Once he had finished teasing his lover, he posed a question that had been concerning him,
‘How did you end up in this state?’
‘My mark didn’t show. Someone else did. He said his name was Confusius, which I don’t believe, and he wanted a little extra.’
Chester nodded,
‘I have always said neither one of us should limit ourselves to the pleasures of only one partner. However, in this situation you only have yourself to blame! Letting a complete stranger tie you up is dangerous, Lyra. You should know better!’ Chester pulled a master key from his inside pocket and let out a loving, caring and slightly patronising sigh that he had been practising, ‘I forgive you, I know you have…’ Chester tapped the side of her head, ‘Troubles. We have all been in sexually precarious situations, but you must carry a spare master key!’
Allyra watched as Chester uncuffed her feet. He then tickled her armpit again causing her to shriek, before uncuffing her right hand. Chester returned the key to his pocket, leaving her left hand quite bound, and raised another issue that had been concerning him,
‘What happened to your neck?’
Allyra’s free hand touched her throat; some blood still seeped from the wound.
Before Allyra had a chance to answer Chester leaned into her neck and licked at the blood. Allyra startled,
‘Ches, what are you doing?’
‘Cleaning you.’
Allyra frowned,
‘Could you release my other hand?’
Chester did not answer but instead returned to licking the blood from her neck.
‘CHES!’
‘Mmm?’
‘Let me out.’
‘In a while,’ Chester purred, as his tongue lengthened and caressed her throat, ‘in a while.’
Once Chester was satisfied that her neck was clean, he rolled her onto her front.
‘Ches, release me!’ Allyra yelped in panic.
‘Sorry, my love, I can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and you can’t blame me for wanting to indulge. You wouldn’t blame me, would you?’ Chester mewed licking her cheek, ‘After all you are so attractive, what can a man do?’
Chester unbuckled his trousers, then drifted down her body, parting her thighs. A long black tongue lurked out of his mouth and licked at her soiled pussy.
‘Ches, I just told you that Confusius…’
‘Sshhhh,’ Chester soothed, ‘there is no poison in the oil of a Nicolai!’
‘What’s a Nicolai?’ Allyra asked. Chester responded in a deep, growl that hung somewhere between seductive and menacing,
‘Quiet now, no more questions.’ His tongue lapped her both outside and deep inside, cleaning her thoroughly. He then pushed her to her knees forcing her to stabilise herself by pressing one hand deep into the mattress whilst the other clung painfully to the bedpost as the metal cuff dug into her wrist.
Chester took one last taste of her, then forced himself into her readily wet body. One hand grabbed her hip whilst the other reached around her and aggressively strummed her clitoris until her protests turned into moans of rapidly building pleasure.
Chester knew Allyra’s body well. They had been lovers for some five years, and he knew how to make her cry out, and when to be tender. But sometimes Chester’s own need took precedence over everything else. He did not deny Allyra on such occasions but endeavoured to make her come with the same urgency that troubled him.
This was one such occasion. His hand worked hard and fast as his pace grew with accelerating impatience, until both Chester and Allyra exploded simultaneously melting into each other’s hefty release.
Once Chester’s panting ceased, he unlocked the remaining cuff and took Allyra into his arms,
‘I’m worried about you, Lyra. You have had a trying day. I will accompany you back to Thanata and stay the night, just to make sure that you don’t have one of your turns.’
Allyra snuggled into his chest,
‘You’re so good to me. Too good. When I am dead make sure you find someone who cares for you as much as I do.’
Chester pulled away and tilted her head up, so that her eyes caught his,
‘You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen.’
Allyra’s lips smiled, but her eyes did not accompany the masquerade,
‘There is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it. It’s my destiny. It has started already!’ her breathing shivered, ‘Would you believe today’s mark-replacement, Confusius, thought I should go to Corax and before that Hector took me to see this really weird doctor with a drug addiction who called me Mrs DeSilva and injected me with blood, and Confusius said I was engaged to Nicolas DeSilva!’
‘Did he indeed?’ Chester smirked, ‘Bit of a mouth on him that one!’
‘Yes. Engaged to someone I don’t even know and who is probably going to chop me into pieces.’
‘Are you sure your imagination isn’t playing tricks with you again, Lyra. You know how confused you get before a turn.’
‘I’m not confused!’ Allyra snapped. Chester’s face soured, and she immediately marched her words back, ‘Sorry Ches, I know it all sounds garbled.’ Chester held her tighter,
‘I understand. Calm yourself. You have a lot of worries.’
Allyra snuggled closer to Chester, and wondered what her best friend Banshee Baer would think,
‘You know Banshee would have a shit fit if I said I was engaged to Nicolas DeSilva!’ Allyra chuckled at length.
‘Would she?’ Chester asked.
‘Hell yes, she doesn’t even like me seeing you. She calls you ‘The Psycho-Cat.’’
Chester’s face dropped,
‘Does she indeed?’
‘Don’t say anything Ches, I don’t want to cause a problem.’
Chester nodded,
‘My lips are sealed. Come, I shall take you home and we shall spend the day laying in each other’s arms.’
‘You’re too good to me, Ches,’ then Allyra’s voice panicked again, ‘I can’t, I was supposed to meet Charmaine at the carnival. She had something urgent to tell me about Nicolas DeSilva and the Electi.’
Chester went stiff. His eyes rolled into his head and he whispered to himself, shifting away from Allyra.
‘What’s the matter, Ches?’ Lyra asked as he pulled from her. The whispering grew louder and ended with the sound of an aggressive shout,
‘STOP HER!’
Allyra startled. Chester’s pupils returned. He stared at Allyra and their eyes locked…
Downstairs in the bar, Nicolai-Archie had remained stoic, glittering in his red, black and diamond suit, whilst glaring at the treacherous Charmaine as she pretended to go about her business trying desperately to hide her guilt-laden terror.
As Chester stared into Allyra’s eyes, Archie approached the barmaid with a deliberately slow pace. The men at the bar quickly vacated their seats and took up occupancy in the available booths. Archie sat in front of Charmaine causing her to drop the glass in her hand. The sound of it shattering silenced the lounge.
Chester’s irises circled and waved. Red swirls danced about the deep auburn-browns. They called to Allyra, whispering her name. Her own eyes glowed with an auburn hue,
‘Yes Master?’ She whispered.
Archie caught Charmaine’s fearful stare. The monocle dropped from his eye and bounced on its chain. His lips parted baring smiling teeth, but his eyes sneered,
‘You have betrayed me, Charmaine,’ he snarled, then three voices vomited from his lips, ‘you have betrayed us.’
Charmaine backed away quaking,
‘No, no I haven’t. I promise.’
Chester took Allyra’s chin gently in the palm of his hand,
‘You have no meeting with Charmaine today, do you understand?’
Allyra nodded,
‘Yes Master.’
Archie’s eyes turned grey, and Charmaine stopped trembling, her eyelids grew heavy. She stopped moving and remained still under Archie’s control. Archie twisted his head around to measure the size of the audience who were pretending to see nothing, his neck did not follow.
He pulled his right glove off and blew some dust that had settled into the palm of his hand across the room, then replaced the glove. Everyone except Charmaine and Archie stopped moving and sat temporarily frozen in time. Some grinned, some slumped in their seats open mouthed caught mid-sentence and others stared down at their table avoiding Archie’s gaze. All were motionless.
Chester lifted Allyra, pulled back the blankets, and tucked her lovingly into the bed,
‘Charmaine said nothing to alarm you. DID SHE?’
‘Charmaine said nothing to alarm me, Master.’
He licked her face with his black tongue then whispered,
‘You are mine.’
‘I am yours.’
Chester nodded,
‘Who am I, Lyra?’
Archie hauled himself off the chair and marched to the end of the bar, lifting the enclosing panel, and stood firmly between the optic shelf and the door to the wine cellar,
‘Come, Charmaine, I have someone who wants to meet you.’
‘Yes Sir,’ Charmaine nodded, and followed him through the door and down the wooden steps into the darkness of the cellar.
‘You are Chester,’ Allyra replied. Chester nodded,
‘And who is Chester, my sweet?’
In the cellar a small oil lamp glistened on the wooden stepped ladder used to reach the higher bottles. Beyond the lamp, perfectly silhouetted in the dim light stood a gurney. Leather straps hung either side. A small medical trolley rolled from the darkness stopping at the righthand side of the gurney. The medical trolley housed saws, scalpels, and some unpleasantly thick sutures that glittered with a cruel mirth in the darkness,
‘Lay on the gurney!’ Archie ordered.
‘As you command, sir,’ Charmaine replied. Her body drifted helplessly to the gurney; she climbed on top and lay supine. Archie strapped her in slowly, pulling each buckle tighter than necessary. He completed his duties by taking a small knife from his pocket and dipping it into her stomach, then licking the blade. Archie nodded, congratulating the victim on her flavour, then whispered into the darkness,
‘You can come out now.’
Allyra’s eyes whitened, then reddened, then whitened again,
‘Chester is my man.’
‘Is Chester a man, Lyra?’ Chester laughed mockingly.
‘No Master.’
Chester grunted,
‘Who is Chester?’
‘Chester is a demonic entity. A powerful being.’
‘You must love Chester very much…’
Allyra’s eyes half-closed,
‘Yes Master, you have instructed me so.’
Chester’s lower lip dropped and his eyes saddened,
‘Do you love me of your own accord Lyra?’
Allyra did not answer. Chester clenched his fist,
‘WHO AM I IMMOLESS?’
‘Oh, she is a sweet one,’ a voice sang from the shadows of the cellar, ‘sweet. I can smell her blood from here. I can smell her body. I can smell her cunt!’ The sound of buzzing accompanied the voice. Archie lowered his head and watched as the figure danced forward.
The figure was tall and wore a black suit, black waistcoat, top hat, burgundy silk scarf, black gloves, wire-rimmed glasses and a silver neck chain with a ruby pendant dangling from it. His black cloak with a plush burgundy interior swished about him as he skipped into the dim light and waltzed around Charmaine. His hands joined in the merriment as the dental drill that he held provided the percussion to a little song he had composed,
‘Give me an eyeball, a chop to cut,
Couldn’t keep your trap shut.
You shall offer your chunky gut,
One limb or two,
Maybe four or three.
We’ll boil the pot,
We’ll stir the brew,
Then gather round.
For a ghastly stew.
A pinch of toe,
A finger free,
And we shall all have tea.’
Allyra shuddered,
‘I can’t remember who you are, Master.’
Chester pawed her hair, his eyes whitened, then flashed green,
‘Remember me.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can, Immoless. Who am I?’
Once Nicolai-Nicolas ‘Demus’ Nicodemus, DDS, PhD, PhD, PhD, MB, BS, had completed his melodic pre-med, he gave his nurse, well Archie as he did not have a nurse, an issue he soon hoped to remedy, instructions,
‘Stuff her mouth with your scarf, then gag her.’
‘I’m not putting my scarf in there!’ Archie snapped, ‘I don’t know where she has been.’
Nicodemus rolled his blue eyes,
‘Fine!’ He searched his pocket and pulled out a very used burgundy handkerchief that carried the weight of green, red, white, and strangely yellow stains, ‘Use this, and…’ he pulled off his belt, ‘This.’
‘Your belt?’ Archie asked.
‘Don’t need it. I have been overindulging in tribute recently, I think it’s the thought of Nicolas finding us a bride.’
Archie nodded, taking the belt, and tenuously clasping the edge of Demus’s handkerchief.
‘I know that feeling.’ He replied, then quickly stuffed the handkerchief, that he was glad to see the back of, into Charmaine’s mouth and looped the belt about her face to stop the emittance of any irritating noises.
‘Now, wake her!’ Demus instructed.
‘You are…’ Allyra whispered.
‘Yes?’ Chester replied.
‘You are… I don’t know, Chester. I can’t remember.’
‘Sink deeper,’ Chester whispered, ‘I have told you before, you do know.’
Charmaine was not overly happy about her situation. She could barely breathe under the weight of the straps and knew exactly why she was in her current predicament. Archie loomed over her grinning like a cheshire cat, a trick he had learned from Chester. Charmaine cast her eyes about the cellar. A strange man with black wavy hair and a matching suit was dancing about her sharpening a bone saw. To make matters worse, her mouth tasted of contaminated stale sweat, a taste she knew well on account of licking her own armpits when she woke late and had no time to wash.
‘Deeper,’ Chester whispered, ‘Who am I?’
‘You are Nicolas DeSilva, Master.’
‘Do you love me?’
‘You have ordered me to love you.’
Chester’s stomach lurched. Nicolas’s stomach lurched, even though he was not present. Her words hurt and Nicolas would not forget it.
Nicodemus held the bone saw above Charmaine’s head, grinning with an insane and toothy smile for far longer than was necessary. Charmaine was so focused on the saw that she quite neglected to notice Archie who was pulling a rusty scalpel from the trolley. Charmaine’s attention did, however, rapidly switch from Demus to Archie when the first incision was made in her chunky thigh.
Demus did not move. He remained fixed in a dancing posture, grinning with only his teeth whilst staring at their strapped victim.
Archie wielded the scalpel with enthusiasm. The blade was dragged around the flesh just above her knee. Archie then revisited the wound with extra pressure cutting to the bone. He drew a shallow cut from her wound to the top of her thigh where another incision was made, and another deeper track dug. Archie dipped the blade into the cut and tore a matching gash from one wound to the other. He dug his hand into the vertical incision and slowly peeled the flesh from around her thigh. Charmaine bit into Demus’s handkerchief and screamed through the gag, but the muzzle held well.
Archie’s trajectory was, however interrupted by another sound a BZZZZ then another BZZZZZ as Demus’s hand ‘accidentally’ lowered the dental drill. It pierced through the gag driving into one of Charmaine’s upper incisors,
‘Ooops,’ Demus smiled.
Archie shook his head and completed unpeeling the Charmaine thigh-roll until the bone was exposed. Demus’s drill bounced on the incisor again.
Demus felt sorry for his eager drill and removed Charmaine’s muzzle and the handkerchief gremlin from her mouth allowing the drill to take on a life of its own. The drill impaled the woman’s gum, then lip, and somehow dragged itself around, with the assistance of Demus’s hand, until her jaw was flayed. Demus tossed the flesh into a waiting bucket, and Archie followed suit hopping the cut of thigh in too.
Demus glowed with joy. He pulled at Charmaine’s hair and planted a kiss on her blood-soaked lips. She responded with quite an uncalled for scream.
‘Scissors and clamp, nurse,’ Demus sang as he circled the mouthy barmaid grinning. Archie handed over the instruments, even though he did not appreciate being called ‘Nurse,’ but there was little point in arguing with Demus when he was in his zone.
The clamp bit her tongue, and the organ was pulled from her mouth. Demus opened the scissors wide and put her tongue between the blades,
‘Are you going to be quiet, my sweet?’ Demus asked. Charmaine nodded frantically.
‘Correct answer!’ Demus replied as he slowly and deliberately closed the scissors on her tongue. A gush of blood sprayed Archie. His canines grew and he licked up the splatter. Demus found the scissors somewhat lacking. The tongue was still partially attached, so he used his own teeth to bite the remaining flesh, then he used his hand to draw and rip the remains of Charmaine’s tongue from her mouth and cast it into the bucket whilst singing,
‘The Nicolai are in for a treat tonight!
Treat tonight.
Treat tonight.
The Nicolai are in for a treat tonight.
And Kane can have some in the morning!’
Charmaine gasped for air between stifled yelps. Her body shivered violently. Demus’s grin widened. He gave her another kiss, feeding from her bloodied mouth, then lunged for the saw and took to sawing through the woman’s thigh bone whilst humming a happy new tune to himself.
Chester was pleased with Allyra. Nicolas was pleased, if not a little hurt that her love felt coerced, and the Nicolai were pleased. Unfortunately, the biggest hurdle lay ahead, to make her love them without coercion, or at least without mesmerism. Other methods of coercion were, according to the Nicolai, ‘Nuanced,’ which was a word thrown around by the Nicolai to justify nonsense.
Chester momentarily wondered whether a quick go with Allyra whilst she was in such a deep trance would be morally reprehensible. After a few seconds of thought he rationalised that, since he had already given her a good pounding that day, an encore could be classed as part of the first act. Something told him it was a little immoral, but further debate revealed that he was not a philosopher and what she did not know would not hurt her. He didn’t have to worry about her pleasure, so it would also be quick.
Demus and Archie had just finished flaying and removing the second leg, flesh first, then thigh-bone and calf, when Demus suggested that in addition to the meat collection, some sort of punishment should be applied to remind Charmaine to keep her trap shut. Both mulled over the options for some time.
Suggestions ranged from a double mastectomy to the removal of her buttocks so that she could not sit down. Both operations were carried out by an overly gleeful Nicodemus, not as a punishment, but as a reward; a treat for Chester to honour his five years of service to the Nicolai in securing a bride. Nicodemus used his talons to wrench the four fleshy mounds from Charmaine’s body, ensuring four high standard fillets were collected, and this operation had the bonus of providing a delightful set of blood pools for Archie to slurp up.
Chester liked rump and breast and was not overly worried whether they were attached to the woman concerned or not. He considered the flesh as worthy of attention in itself. Especially those parts. Chester was known among the Nicolai for playing with his rump and breast cutlets at the dinner table for long, damp, over-zealous, noisy periods, before consuming the meat, whilst beating his own meat. Occasionally he even used the meat cutlets to beat his own meat. Chives often raised concerns about having to clean up the white and red trails left after dinner, but Nicolas advised him on several occasions that any of old ghoul’s complaints could be resolved through the removal of Chives’s tongue.
After some deliberation, and the dumping of both buttocks and breasts in the yellow and black plaid bucket, Nicodemus raised a finger,
‘I have it, nurse. A punishment as ripe as our grass’s peachy asses.’
Archie huffed,
‘Demus, if you must call me anything call me Archie!’
Demus’s eyes rapidly flitted from side to side, then one wandered left and the other wandered right. Once his brain settled down, Demus reiterated the instruction,
‘Nurse Archie, fetch a spoon from the bar!’
Chester’s enjoyment of the Immoless took far less time than anticipated, and he was thoughtful enough to clean her afterwards with his wicked tongue before slowly bringing her out of her trance.
‘What happened, Ches?’ Lyra asked sometime after her eyes had opened. There was often a delay between the ‘turn’ and full consciousness.
‘Sweetheart, you had one of your turns again.’
Allyra put her hand to her mouth,
‘Ches, I am so, so sorry.’ Allyra shook her head, ‘I’m too much of a burden.’ Tears stung her eyes and rolled onto her cheeks, her shame overwhelming any attempt to hold them back. Chester lovingly soothed her, and crossed his legs to mask his overexcitement at her sorrow,
‘You are never a burden, Lyra, and I promise you I will never ever leave you. Promise me the same.’
Demus snatched the spoon from Archie’s hand. He held it far too close to his own face and grinned at his own curved reflection. The reflection did not grin back. He turned the spoon and held up one finger,
‘Yes, indeed, something to scoop the ice-cream.’
Demus turned his attention back to Charmaine,
‘Don’t worry, my dear, this will only hurt a little.’
Before she had time to respond, Demus yanked open her right eyelid and took a delicious scoop of eyeball from the socket and placed it upon her cheek. He reached again for the scissors and sang,
‘Clippety clop, out we pop,’ as he cut the optic nerve.
White fluid squirted out, and Demus quickly caught it on his tongue,
‘Nothing like an appetiser.’ His smile turned into a prolific canyon, ‘And we won’t be telling tales on Nicolas again, will we my dear. No. Now, to finish off, a little alcohol, suturing and cauterising, you will be right as rain in no time. Nicolas might even give you a Billybox. In fact, just for you, I shall have Dr Smythe gift a modified Billybox with a Corax Asylum emblem attached. I will even ensure you keep your job here just to remind everyone that snitches really do get stitches.’
Corax Asylum did indeed have its own emblem and flag, as did the DeSilva Group. Both emblems comprised dirty gold ovals formed from embellished flames, the brand names carved in the most astonishing calligraphy, and the image of a raven on top. The DeSilva flag carried both emblems placed on a red rectangle surrounded by miniature red flags.
‘I can’t promise you that Ches,’ Allyra murmured, ‘my life expectancy is short, but if it were possible, I promise I would never leave you.’
‘Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. And Lyra…’ Chester whispered, ‘I am taking you home right now, we will lay in bed for the rest of the day and evening and I will tend to all of your needs because I love you. There shall be no argument on the matter.’
Allyra did not answer but clung tightly to her lover.
Chester considered taking Allyra home by boat, but it seemed like a lot of bother, so, instead he mesmerised her into believing that he had taken her by boat and called on dark magick to facilitate the journey. Chester’s raven, Clive, engulfed them both, flew across the Getsug Sea to Thanata, then across Thanata to Tempus Cottage where it carried them straight to her bed.
Chester was considering having another dalliance with Allyra, since she was still mesmerised and it seemed like a waste not to, when Nicolas’s bird, Ghorab arrived with an urgent message from Nicolas offering free licks to whoever retrieved the first immoless and returned her to Corax.
Chester looked at his lover and willed her into a deep sleep that she could not be woken from until his return. Chester also willed her to snore like an old drunk so as not to alert her father, Tempus, to her true state.
Clive then absorbed Chester once again and made haste to Corax to resolve whatever mess Nicolas had created.
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