Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. )

by Leighton Lawless

  “We both needed that,” she cooed in response.

  “Don’t get me started again.”

  Evangeline raised her eyebrows and flashed a coy smile. Jer pulled the window up and slid over the sill. He turned back. Evangeline had already rushed over to the windowsill and leaned out.

  “Kiss goodbye?” she asked.

  Jer leaned in closer, capturing the moment in his mind’s eye as he embraced her. He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in tight. Their lips met, and they kissed with abandon. The temptation to stay here was overwhelming, but Jer felt obligated to seek justice for his friend. After a few more seconds of tasting her sweet, luscious lips, he pulled back.

  Evangeline’s lioness ears reemerged through her hair. Her eyebrows grew bushy again. Her eyes narrowed like a feline’s, and her tail began wagging up behind her shoulders.

  A smile flashed across Jer’s face at the sight of her aroused state.

  “You really are one of a kind,” he said with a confident smile.

  “I’m a were-cat,” Evangeline replied with a grin. “Be careful, I actually do bite.”

  Jer chuckled, “Promises, promises.” He wheeled around and scurried along the side of the building. In a moment, he’d squeezed into a small gap that was concealed from the main street.

  There was a car waiting for him on the other side. Behind the wheel was a familiar face.

  7

  Death Lurks in the Shadows

  Jer’s patient and lover, Damiana, sat behind the wheel of a light blue convertible Mustang. It inched down the street with its lights off. Her eyes glowed redder than normal in the darkness, and she impatiently ran her claws around the steering wheel and across the dashboard. “What’s taking so long, doc?” she whispered. She began to question whether she should have come at all. It was impossible to say no to Jer, though. The idea that she could have declined to help when he asked her to discreetly transport him that night was silly. Sure, there were other humans who were looking for demonesses, but there was something about Jer that always caused her heart to beat faster.

  He was as geeky and idealistic as they came, but beneath his goofy lab coat and stethoscope was an irresistible man. He always seemed like he was waiting to burst out of his clothes and become powerful in a way she longed for. Besides, Jer was the only person she’d ever met who truly seemed like he was listening when she spoke. Perhaps it was only the therapist in him; maybe it was that he cared what she thought. Either way, those dopey eyes of his eyes made her swoon.

  Originally, Damiana had been attracted to Jasper, like every other North Brother Island monster girl who had a thing for human men, in short demand since copulation between monsters and humans was made illicit. It was hard not to at least consider the sexy scientist who was stealing secrets from GenAdvance and sharing them through Jer and who had become a cult figure among monsters in the borough. Sex between monsters and humans had been made illegal, and that just stoked the fire.

  When news spread that Jer had gotten lucky with Evangeline and Mira, Damiana saw things in a different light. Her instincts took over, and she felt herself being drawn to him instead.

  Jer was the man who flaunted his desire to help monsters; the dominant alpha banging the leader of the furies, Mira; he was the genius psychiatrist who had seduced the mistress of seduction herself, Evangeline. Damiana’s primal urges emerged. Her childish crush on Jasper disappeared, and was replaced by a raging lust for Jer. She knew she was a goner when he shed his baby fat and his chiseled features and high cheekbones emerged. The fact that he was already forming a harem of monster girls only added to the allure. He was a man in demand, and scarcity appealed to her aggressive nature.

  On this night, however, she was feeling annoyed that he was taking so long. If anyone other than Evangeline was keeping Jer, Damiana would have been pissed and maybe even declined to help. However, she knew that Jer’s primary worry was making sure that the stunning feline beastnik was aware of the dangers. His concern for others calmed Damiana’s nerves, and her breathing eased.

  Mira, the third member of Jer’s harem, on the other hand, wouldn’t need any warning or checking up on. She and her tiny-sized furies had spies all over the borough, as well as South Brother Island, sneaking about and hiding in the shadows.

  Despite calming down about how long this was taking and the danger in being out in the open, her eyes squinted as she was distracted by a tingling on her skin. She scratched at a black patch on her scaly forearm.

  “Fucking psoriasis!” She growled and scratched so hard that she drew blood. “Goddamnit, Jasper. What did you do to me?”

  She looked into the rear-view mirror when she heard a tap on the trunk. She smiled when she saw Jer.

  “Attaboy, Jer,” she said, and popped the trunk open.

  Jer climbed inside, leaving a slight crack so he could see out. He held tightly onto the latch. “Time for an adventure,” he whispered through the crack in the trunk.

  With her shaved-down horns and undersized wings protruding from her back, Damiana put the vehicle in gear and coasted out onto Main Street. The Mustang slowed while passing a GenAdvance patrol. The hired guns paid her no attention.

  After another few blocks, she drove into the Verge, the part of town where Jasper hid something for Jer at the old post office. On a side street, Damiana stopped the vehicle. Jer climbed out of the trunk and slipped up to the side of the driver’s seat.

  “Smooth ride, right?” Damiana asked.

  Jer chuckled.

  “Not a bump,” he answered. “Thanks.”

  Damiana then handed him a small can of what appeared to be mace.

  “It’s monster mace,” she explained, “designed specifically to mess with our eyes and mouth, but it won’t do permanent damage.”

  “What’s in it? Some kind of special anti-monster phytochemicals?”

  “Nope. Just a shitload of cayenne.”

  Jer grinned. “Gimme an hour and then we’ll rendezvous at the old Nurses’ Home.”

  “Still calling it that?”

  “If we ignore what’s happened in the past, we’re doomed to repeat it,” Jer replied.

  Damiana grumbled, and her eyes glowed. “Lovely sentiment, but circumstances change. What worked before might not work again.”

  Jer nodded. “Sure, but still, the sentiment holds true. Listen, I have to get to the bottom of what happened to Jasper. I appreciate your help.”

  “Just don’t start kicking over hornet’s nests,” she warned.

  Jer looked at her strangely. “I’ll do what I need to, but I’ll try to avoid trouble. I don’t know how far up this goes.”

  “Oh,” she replied. “I meant that literally, though. There are huge hornets in this part of town. Don’t kick their nests. They don’t take kindly to it, and their stings hurt for days.”

  “Speaking from experience?” Jer asked with a twitching smile.

  She nodded. “My thick skin came in handy, but you’re made of much thinner, delicate flesh. I doubt you’d recover.”

  “Thanks for the tip, Damiana,” Jer said, turning and facing in the direction of the old, abandoned post office. “I’ll try not to kick any hornets.”

  “Their nests,” Damiana corrected. “Don’t kick their nests. They’ll leave you alone as long as you leave their homes alone.”

  “Right,” Jer said, striding away from the Mustang.

  Jer crouched to stay out of the light and scurried deeper into the Verge. He made good time, and nobody had spotted him. The night was eerily quiet. He expected to see the usual delegations of rats running around, but there was nothing.

  Jer shuttled along the shadowed walls toward the post office. He slipped in through the same cracked-open side door that Jasper had used. Inside, Jer snuck down a pitch-black corridor. He froze upon hearing what sounded like skittering, coming from somewhere up on the roof.

  After a few seconds, the noise stopped, and Jer pushed on.

  In
another corridor, Jer ran his hand over the box that was spray-painted with two letters, ‘M.D.’ He pulled the box out and removed the object his friend had placed inside.

  He closed his eyes for second and considered how much the contents could change the world. He wondered if it might be better to keep it hidden. Not finding justice for Jasper was too high a price to pay to be ignorantly blissful. He removed a small jack knife from his pocket and pried the box open.

  Inside was a small vial, wrapped in paper. Jasper’s chicken-scratch covered the paper. Across the surface, he’d written a formula and two sketches. One was of ribosomes. The other was of polypeptides.

  While examining the formula and sketches, Jer was startled at the sound of a tremendous crash coming from another portion of the building. He closed his eyes and listened.

  The unmistakable sound of footfalls echoed down the empty halls. Stomps, then a rapid patter, the noises made by a creature, a very large creature, when it moved briskly across linoleum floors.

  Jer ran in the opposite direction of the commotion. In an adjacent corridor, he pocketed the vial and paper. Once the precious objects were securely tucked inside his jacket pocket, he wiggled the small monster-mace can out of his jeans pocket.

  The ceiling in front of him exploded as a ten-foot tall monster with fangs the length of baseball bats, gigantic horns that curved inward, and clawed dragon-like feet the size of doors dropped down through the ceiling and smashed to the ground, cracking the linoleum under its massive weight and power.

  Jer’s mouth gaped. His eyes widened. He stumbled backward. In all his life, he’d never seen a monster this large or developed, completely overtaken by the Transhumana Monstrare gene.

  “How is this possible?” Jer muttered. He was barely able to get the words out as he caught his breath and bit back a scream.

  The monster rose and bared a mouth full of serrated teeth at Jer in a devious grin. “You’re trespassing, Doctor Bennington,” the monster snarled in a reverberating voice.

  Jer slowly inched backward. “H-how d’you know my name?” he asked.

  A frothing glob of saliva dripped from the side of the monster’s gnarly mouth. “We know all about you, Jer,” it hissed.

  “I-I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name,” Jer managed to say. “P-perhaps I can be of service. I’m a doctor. A psychiatrist. I can help you.”

  The monster cackled. “Call me ‘Death.’”

  “Nice to meet you, Death,” Jer replied when he finally got his bearings. He began hatching an exit strategy. He figured if he could keep the beast talking, he might be able to slip back out the way he came. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be on my way and—”

  The creature swung mallet-sized fists into Jer’s chest and face. The doctor flew to the ground. The can of mace spun away and out of reach, clattering along the floor.

  Jer tried to stand. Blood oozed from his busted lip as the monster lunged for him. Jer ducked at the last second. The beast crashed into the wall, knocking off chunks of plaster. Jer sidestepped the fallen creature, dove, and grabbed the mace. He prepared to counterattack.

  The beast pivoted and hurtled through the air, revealing massive wings that that looked as if they’d been ripped from a dragon. The wings were so powerful that they knocked holes in the walls and ceiling. The flapping sent gusts of wind in Jer’s direction.

  He had to time it carefully. The monster landed and stretched its wings wide. The moment was right. Jer held down the button on top of the mace can, releasing all of its contents at once.

  The liquid hit the enormous beast square in the face. It dropped to the ground with an ear-splitting shriek and writhed like a snake on hot asphalt.

  Without hesitation, Jer forced himself to step to the side of the beast and run along the corridor.

  He burst through a rear door and stumbled outside into the night, tripping over a pile of junk before falling to the ground. ignored the scrapes and bruises and crawled back up to his feet. He continued running as fast as he could. He was physically outmatched, and he knew it. Given the circumstances, he only had one good option.

  Jer dashed across a wide arterial and stopped. He caught his breath and scanned the landscape. In the distance was the fence that surrounded the old Nurses’ Home.

  Jer sprinted across the street and along the fence for several hundred feet. He froze when he reached the main entrance to the building. He took a few steps forward and stopped again. The front door was tapping against the doorframe from the wind. It was wide open.

  Plumes of smoke rose from a broken window. “Oh no. Fucking hell.” He punched in his code to open the gate and rushed into the building.

  Dark forms congregated near the gate, out of the human’s sight. Ritter hid in the shadows, along with a group of monster scouts, turncoats working on behalf of GenAdvance. They pushed through the gate.

  Ritter, the Pharma cop, pulled weapons out of a crate and began handing them to the traitors. He then signaled for his minions to swarm the building.

  Jer heard them coming. As soon as he got inside, he slammed the door and pushed some boxes against it, if only to slow down them for a few seconds.

  He wheeled around, and his shoes crunched on broken glass. He almost slipped in a wet, sticky pool on the ground. Jer’s eyes grew huge, and one hand covered his face as he inched through the carnage. “What have they done?”

  In the main hallway, he came upon destroyed laboratory equipment and crushed computers. Anything useful or helpful had been ripped out of place and smashed. Past the ruined equipment, bodies littered the ground. Humans who had been there to help and monsters who had been there for treatment lay next to each other, lifeless and torn to shreds. Blood glistened darkly around their bodies.

  In the middle of the hall, Jer nearly stumbled over two of his patients. Lars the zombie was doing his best not to eat live flesh. He lay entangled in the arms of Isis, the cat monster, who was still in shock from personal trauma. From their position, with Lars on top and his back full of bullet holes, it was clear that he’d been trying to protect and save her.

  The air was tinged with the funk of gunpowder as Jer waded through small piles of copper casings.

  “Fuckers didn’t even try to cover their tracks,” a female voice said.

  Jer was startled to see Damiana perched like a crow in shadows.

  “They want it known how far they’re willing to go,” she continued.

  Damiana slowly emerged from her hiding spot, tears streaming down her face, overcome with despair. Her eyes were glassy as she stared off in the distance.

  “They finally went and did it, doc,” Damiana said through a sob. “They did what they’ve always wanted to do. Fucking Pharma goons.”

  A moan filtered down the hall. Jer and Damiana turned and sprinted through the destruction toward the source of the sound. A wending trail of blood led around the corner. Jer rushed past the demoness and recoiled at what he saw.

  8

  Scorched Earth

  A man crawled down the hallway, his crimson-splotched body leaving a bloody trail. It was Guy.

  “Oh God!” Jer shouted as he knelt, his eyes welling with tears. He looked down at his colleague.

  Guy tried to rise, but his body had leaked too much blood, and he couldn’t muster the strength. He tried to speak, but gasped and coughed.

  Jer leaned in close and embraced him.

  “There were so many,” Guy whispered. “I couldn’t stop them from planting it.”

  Guy opened his grisly hand. A small wad of silly-putty material with a quartz timer fell from his palm.

  “The lab, Jer,” Guy sputtered. “They planted it in the lab to ambush you after they got me. But I played like I was dead. When they went on their killing spree, I snuck back into the lab and fixed what they left, so that they’ll pay for this. You need to—” Mid-sentence, Guy’s eyes rolled up and his head slumped forward. He wasn’t playing dead anymore. He was gone.

  Jer let Guy gentl
y slip back as he kissed his forehead.

  Before Jer had a chance to say anything, shots rang out. Bullets hissed and ricocheted off the walls as Jer and Damiana dropped to the ground.

  At the far end of the hallway, Ritter and the other turncoats marched their way through the foyer. Their guns blazed down the corridor.

  Jer and Damiana crept along the ground, staying low to reach the lab. Jer reached up and punched in his code, and briefly stood as his eyes were scanned. They slipped through the doors as Ritter’s turncoats gave chase. Once inside the laboratory, Jer sealed the doors behind them.

  Damiana had already slipped further in. She’d never been here before and marveled at the variety of equipment: Vials, beakers, and petri dishes covered the tables.

  “What have you been up to, Jer?” she asked.

  “We don’t have time for that,” Jer replied. He was still overcome with emotion, but he knew he had to hold himself together if he had any hope of surviving.

  Damiana sauntered around the laboratory and saw what Guy had been talking about against the rear wall. “Oh shit, Jer!”

  Stacks upon stacks of explosives lined the wall. They had multi-colored blasting caps and a timer on top.

  Jer looked at the timer on the explosives. “So, it looks like we’ve got fifteen...”

  Ritter and his posse of monster thugs began bashing the doors in.

  Damiana looked over. “Minutes?”

  Jer shook his head. “Seconds.”

  “Oh shit, oh shit!”

  “Let’s go!”

  Jer ran to the rear of the lab and unlatched a hidden door that was masked as a metal cabinet. The door made a pneumatic hiss as it opened. The two of them rushed into the lab’s antechamber. They crossed the length of it in moments, burst through another hidden door, and were out into an empty corridor. Jer checked his watch for the time. Damiana grabbed him and lifted him. The demoness could run significantly faster than the human. With Jer under her right arm, Damiana sprinted into a stairwell. She leaped down the steps six at a time. Jer stole another glance at the time.