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

by Leighton Lawless

  “Nine seconds!” he screamed.

  Back in the lab, the doors ripped from their hinges with a screech. Guns pointed into the room. Ritter and his turncoats entered the empty lab. Ritter strode toward the explosives. He glanced at the timer. His face fell. “That is not the countdown I set,” he gasped. “Fuck!”

  At the same moment, Damiana and Jer burst through a basement door into a much older section of the building. Damiana’s clawed feet smacked against the concrete floor as bare fluorescent bulbs flickered above. Across the corridor, she spotted a large grate in the ground up ahead. It’s a run-off hole. She knelt.

  “Four seconds!” Jer yelled.

  Damiana wrenched off the grate-cover and slid inside.

  Jer stared down into darkness, unable to even see Damiana’s face.

  “Get down here, you fool!” she hissed at him. Damiana’s hand reached up and yanked Jer into the hole.

  The cluster of explosives thrummed with energy as the timer ticked down its final seconds. Ritter and his monsters raced out into the hallway, trying to escape their own weapon.

  In the underground passage, Jer and Damiana sloshed through water. Jer tried to read his watch but couldn’t see in the darkness. He stopped.

  “Maybe they won’t—”

  A rumbling sound erupted from behind them, and then a concussive boom echoed as a blast wave knocked to duo to the ground. Jer turned over and saw an eerie orange light flickering off the passage’s walls. He hoped that the explosion had taken the lives of Ritter and everyone else who’d murdered his co-workers and clients.

  Up above, Ritter and the monsters were a step too late. The shockwave from the explosion killed some of them instantly. Those that survived turned in horror as a wall of flames swept over them, turning their bodies to ash.

  Deep inside the GenAdvance headquarters, Jakoff stared at the blast on a wall-sized screen. He had been tensely watching the assassination attempt on Jer in real-time. He’d taken a gamble, a calculated one, but a gamble nonetheless. He’d asked for and gotten approval from the Board to order the hit on Jer. It was a risk, but one that he had to take to ensure all the loose ends were taken care of. There would undoubtedly be questions to answer once the press caught wind of the explosion, but nothing that he couldn’t handle. An assistant stood on his left.

  Jakoff stood and scratched his patchy scalp.

  “Shouldn’t we have told Ritter about the explosives?” the assistant asked.

  Jakoff smiled and whispered, “Why would we have done that, Stern? The fewer witnesses we have to deal with, the better.”

  Jakoff turned around, to a horizonless room filled with a cacophony of murmurs. He walked to a large, circular table which was surrounded by dozens of holographic board members. The lights dimmed.

  The holographic image of an authoritative man in a bespoke charcoal suit stood and planted his hands on a mahogany boardroom table. A diamond-studded watch sparkled on his wrist while he slowly clapped.

  “Quite the show,” Dick Perle, the no-nonsense GenAdvance CEO, said with a firm voice. He and the other board members had remained far away from the danger. Still, some of their faces displayed worry. As the other board members murmured, their words appeared suspended in the middle of the command center, as if recorded by an invisible transcriber.

  “It was necessary, Mister Chair,” Jakoff said. “Including the elimination of the turncoats working on our behalf.”

  “The shareholders are still concerned,” Perle replied. “This is going to be a P.R. nightmare.”

  Jakoff suppressed a sneer. “My analysts have concluded that the share price will drop by, perhaps, five-eighths of a point at most when the news breaks,” he replied. “A mere blip on an endless continuum of upward growth.”

  “What if the authorities connect us?” Perle asked.

  “That’s why you hired me, sir,” Jakoff said. “I know the territory. I know how to deal with the scum. I even pretended to build a monster girl harem before all of this started to get in good with them and learn their ways and illicit extremist networks. Besides, we are the authorities, Mister Chair.”

  In response, more murmurs and a few chuckles from the shareholders filled the space.

  “What about this so-called magic formula?” Perle asked. “The key to cracking the monster code? I want confirmation that the threat has been eliminated.”

  “Destroyed in the explosion,” Jakoff said. “I give you my word. This was all part of the plan. Let the monster sympathizer acquire it, let him return to the one place he thinks is safe, and eliminate the threat.”

  In the corner of the room an older board member stood and stepped forward, adjusting her dress.

  “But what about this Matthias?” she asked. “What are you doing about him?”

  Jakoff chuckled. “An urban legend, madam. Matthias is nothing more than an underground agitator, riling up false hope and spreading lies. He’s nothing. All the same, I’ve put plans in motion to end the threat of his myth. The last thing we need is a symbol for them to rally around.”

  The woman returned to her seat, seemingly satisfied.

  “What of the monsters themselves?” Perle asked. “We can’t have riots again.”

  “We’re preparing to enforce martial law and internment within their domain, Mister Chair,” Jakoff answered, and paused to consider Perle’s reaction. Everything seemed in order.

  “After all, were it not for their latent acts of aggression and violence, their production of incendiary devices meant for an attack on the GenAdvance Headquarters building, this explosion never would have occurred.”

  Jakoff watched with pleasure as the board members cackled and nodded their approval over the holographic projection.

  Perle smiled and took his seat.

  “Strike my prior statement, Jakoff,” he commanded. “It would appear that things are well in hand. Excellent work. Your actions will not go unrewarded.”

  “I live to serve, Mister Chair,” Jakoff said as he made a slight bow of his head.

  The words ‘Hearing Adjourned’ appeared in the air. The holographic feed ended.

  Jakoff turned to Stern.

  “Have every available unit ready by eighteen hundred hours tomorrow,” he ordered. “It’s time to butcher some animals.”

  Clouds of dust from the explosion clogged the pitch-black underground passage as a battered figure pushed forward. With wobbly legs, Damiana stood up and searched for Jer, coughing as she splashed through the tunnel. Not far away, Jer rose unsteadily to his feet.

  “C’mon, doc,” Damiana said. “I think we’re still alive.”

  9

  Glimmer of Hope

  A manhole cover rattled in an alleyway. The cover popped up and clattered to the side. Damiana emerged, looked, and hauled Jer up.

  They crossed the street to a battered car. Damiana thrust a fist through the window and climbed inside. She ripped off the cover on the steering column and clawed through two wires. She touched them together and sparks flew.

  Jer slid into the shotgun seat with tears in his eyes. “I didn’t think it could get this bad,” he said. He tried to will away the images of those that had died back in the clinic.

  “You thought wrong, doc.” Damiana revved the engine and looked at Jer. “I fuckin’ told you they’ll never accept us.”

  Jer’s face dropped as his emotions overwhelmed him. Had he done anything to make things better? Had he actually made a difference? Or had he made things worse?

  “Nothing?” Damiana raised an eyebrow. “Usually you’ve got words of wisdom or snarky quip.”

  “Sorry,” Jer said. “It’s just that I can’t their faces out of my mind. Guy, Isis, Lars.” He turned his head toward the window to wipe away a tear without her seeing.

  Damiana’s jaw clenched. “Comes with the territory. I got used to losing my people a long time ago.”

  Jer looked back and watched the flames lick the sky, which grew brighter. He turned back and glanced
at the clock on the dashboard. It was five a.m.

  “Dakota!” Jer said. “I was supposed to meet her at the clinic!”

  Damiana screeched the tires as she peeled out and sped back to the ruined Nurses’ Home. The battered car pulled up and stopped just short of the debris. Jer ran into the rubble and began helplessly picking through it. Damiana joined him, searching a few yards away.

  “Dakota!” Jer shouted. “Please be ok.”

  A pile of rubble shifted off to the right. Jer rushed over and pushed a heavy slab of concrete with piping sticking out of the sides. “Damiana! I think someone’s over here!”

  The demoness ran over to him and helped lift the huge slab. Once the concrete was cleared, the pile opened up, and Dakota pushed out. Her face was drained of color, and her clothing was covered in dust and soot. She turned around and stared in shock at the flames that still devoured the fallen structure. Her body grew wobbly. Jer reached out and grabbed her before she collapsed.

  “If you’d been early, you’d be dead now,” he murmured.

  “Good thing I can’t afford a bus ticket,” she replied. “This gig doesn’t have good enough benefits to justify near-death experiences.”

  The two of them almost managed a smile.

  “It’s not so bad a job as your first day would make it appear,” Jer said.

  Dakota just stared at the doctor. “Oh? Really? I certainly hope not. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  Damiana slipped into the car and blared the horn.

  Dakota shakily stood up and looked at the fire. She sat back down again, hard. “Do you think there are any other sur—”

  Jer shook his head wordlessly, picked her up, and carried her to the car. The young woman was bleeding from multiple wounds, and from the way she stood, he thought she might have sprained her ankle, maybe even broken it.

  Dakota tried to hang onto him, but winced with every step he took. “Did you know the urban myth that Transhumana Monstrare is contagious through sexual contact was started by none other than Elizabeth Lavenza?” The intern’s eyes were huge. “Her plan was to start a ridiculous story in hopes that it would make other rumors lose credibility. It backfired, as is clear from the ban on monster and human copulation. People believed it, and GenAdvance made a ton of money from the so-called ‘monster STD’ antibiotics.” She nodded as she talked, blood trickling down her pale forehead. “Also, did you know—”

  “You’re in shock and rambling,” Jer cut her off as he carefully placed her inside the trunk. He climbed in with her and pulled the trunk shut over the top of them. The lock had been broken out, and a tiny bit of morning light shone through the hole.

  “No, I’m correct. There’s a difference,” Dakota insisted. She took a moment and looked around the darkness of the trunk. “Also, I think I’m in shock. We should probably do something about that.”

  Pharma cop sirens bleated nearby as the stolen vehicle darted off.

  Inside the dark and cramped trunk, Jer was overcome with claustrophobia. Sweat beaded his face, his palms grew clammy, his ears rang, and he became light-headed.

  “You ok, Doctor Bennington?” Dakota asked, slightly more lucid than before.

  Jer met her eyes. Seeing her was just enough to calm him down a bit and exactly what the ‘doctor ordered.’

  “I’m fine,” he lied. His breathing was fast and shallow.

  “You don’t like tight spaces,” Dakota said.

  Jer coughed and laughed a little. “No. No, I don’t,” he admitted.

  She patted the side of his face.

  “It’s fine,” she said, trying to comfort him. “Just think about it like this…We can open the trunk at any time, which means we’re not trapped at all. So technically, you’re not really in a confined space. You’re still connected to all that space on the outside. There’s just a little metal in between, like a jacket. Now listen to me breathe, and try to breathe along with me.”

  Jer could hear the smile in her voice. He found that his palms had stopped clamming up, and his breathing steadied in a few minutes.

  Face-to-face and curled in fetal balls, the two of them actually felt at ease and relaxed for a brief moment.

  “So,” Jer began, “is the internship everything you dreamt it would be?”

  “Sure,” she answered. “The clinic has been destroyed, my records are charcoal, and everybody I met yesterday is probably dead.”

  Jer considered Dakota’s words. “They are. My friends included,” Jer added. “Don’t forget that you’re probably on GenAdvance’s list now too.”

  “Which one?”

  “The ‘to kill’ list.”

  “Super,” Dakota said. “Always wanted to be important enough that someone would put me on a list. It’s not what I had in mind, but, hey, I’ll take what I can get.”

  “It’ll be ok, I promise,” he said. He reached up to her hand, still on his cheek, and gave it a squeeze.

  “Hope so,” Dakota said.

  Jer struggled to shift his body over so he could look out through the broken keyhole.

  Through the rusty hole, he could see that they’d passed by the checkpoint on the North Brother Island side of the bridge and they were moving across to the secondary checkpoint.

  “Fuck,” Jer said softly.

  “What’s happening?” Dakota said. “And why are we in a trunk?”

  “We’re almost to South Brother Island. Either Damiana has decided to turn us over in desperation, or she’s found a way to circumvent their detection systems,” Jer whispered. “I’m not sure what to think right now.”

  “I imagine every day is like this for monsters,” Dakota said. “Can you imagine what it’s like? Not having single moment that you can just relax and not worry that someone might decide to kill you because of the way you look?”

  “Can we talk about this later?” Jer whispered.

  “Uh-huh, of course,” Dakota nodded.

  “In the meantime, let’s enjoy being smuggled, ok?”

  The sky above the Nurses’ Home glowed on the horizon as the vehicle continued across the bridge. Jer thought he could still smell smoke.

  The car stopped, and they heard footfalls as a guard approached the driver’s side.

  “What’s with the busted window?” the guard asked.

  “Fucking beastnik tried to hijack me,” Damiana answered with a rather human-sounding tone and no indication of her usual growl. “I had to speed off.”

  In the darkness, Jer’s eyebrows flew up almost to his hairline.

  “Your ID,” the guard demanded.

  Jer listened with anxiety as Damiana flipped open papers.

  “Seems in order,” the guard said. “What were you doing over there?”

  “Picking up some…well, monster moonshine, if you must know,” Damiana answered. “I suppose there’s no point in hiding it. The cases are in the trunk if you want to take a look. Feel free to keep a bottle for yourself if you’d like, but I must warn you, the stuff is harsh.”

  The guard hesitated.

  “I don’t have time to search. We’re understaffed,” the guard said, annoyed that he even had to deal with her in the heat of all the chaos. “Just go. And make sure to drop a bottle off later, when all this has died down. I’m noting your tag number, so don’t forget.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Damiana said. “Will do.”

  As the car began moving again, Jer noticed a phalanx of Pharma cops rushing past on motorbikes going the other direction.

  “Martial law,” Jer said. “They’ve already pinned this on monsters somehow.”

  “That won’t go well,” Dakota said.

  “What, in your many years of experience has gone well?” Jer asked.

  “Have a little faith, Doctor Bennington,” she replied.

  Jer shifted back around inside the trunk and faced her. “You’re right,” he said. “And even though it would be better for you if you weren’t here, I’m glad you are.”

  Dakota blu
shed and hid her eyes.

  The vehicle jerked as it sped up in a hurry and they made their way onto South Brother Island.

  In the underground basement of an upscale hotel, Damiana brought the vehicle to a stop and popped the trunk. Dakota crawled out and carefully stretched her arms and legs.

  Jer stared at Damiana’s human features in shock.

  Her horns were gone, she didn’t have a tail, her fangs were absent, and her skin wasn’t crimson in hue, but a soft peach color like a human of European descent. Her features hadn’t changed, but she looked much different without her physical monster traits.

  “You look—”

  Damiana cut him off. “Pretty?”

  “You do. You always have,” Jer spluttered, “but—but—that’s not what I was going to say.”

  She just smiled. A second later, Damiana’s monster features begin to reappear. Her horns pushed through her skin, her claws extended, her tail curled around her leg, and her skin reddened to its usual crimson. She smiled again, and this time flashed her fangs.

  “What were you going to say?” Damiana asked with a low growl.

  “You look like you’re experiencing something similar to…”

  “Evangeline?” Damiana asked.

  Jer nodded, confirming.

  “Apparently, it only happens with her when she’s aroused,” Damiana said. “With me, it’s any amount of adrenaline.”

  “I don’t understand how this is even possible,” Jer said.

  “We volunteered to be part of Jasper’s experiments,” Damiana said. “This wasn’t his goal. It was a side effect of the tests he was running. I’m stuck with it.”

  “Does it hurt?” Dakota asked.

  “The transition?” Damiana asked.

  Dakota nodded.

  “It’s like picking a scab. No serious pain, just a twinge.”

  “Fascinating,” Dakota said. “What I wouldn’t do to get my hands on Jasper’s research.”

  Damiana flinched and glared into Dakota’s eyes. “Right. We all would.” The demoness continued, “Anyway, we’re here.” She led the way.