p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;""I realize it's not really any of my business sir but…"br /br /"Then don't finish that question." Julian snapped back at her, nearly causing her to jump. She swallowed hard and nodded. Probably was best not to finish that question then. He had wanted a doctor, put out an ad for one. She wasn't exactly a doctor, not in a traditional sense but this had made him more excited. Mostly because her license had been revoked for unethical practices. It meant that she'd cross boundaries. It was clear that he was interested in a doctor who wasn't bound to the Hippocratic oath. "Lily was it?"br /br /"Uh yes sir." She said back. His dwelling was nearly terrifying. A decommissioned with a lot of empty cells. The majority of them in working order. Could be sealed down with a switch in the hall. If she weren't so down on her luck and hurting for work and money, there was no way she'd have stayed there this /br /"Right, every Friday night I'll need you to do one thing. Listen very carefully to me Lily, as I am paying you good money." He spoke firmly, looking down into her eyes. She looked up at him, shaking a bit. "You will need to come into this hall, no further than that line, and pull this switch. Eleven o'clock sharp. Not one second later. Understood?" She looked at the line on the floor he was pointing to and then back up to him with a /br /"Yes sir, I understand." She /br /"Good. During that night until the sun rises you are not permitted in that hall for any reason. In the morning I will need you to walk down the hall, the very last cell and look in. Make sure I am not harmed." He /br /"Why would you…"br /br /"There you go, asking questions again when you already know they are not going to be answered." He nearly taunted like she was some silly little child. /p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;""Now, I will show you to your living quarters. It gets cold in here at night, I've provided a space heater for your room."br /br /"Yes sir." She said. He was definitely a weird man. A very weird and terrifying man. This job would get her out of the streets though. Being blacklisted by every hospital and clinic in the country had a way of making someone desperate and very isolated. After what she'd done, he was the only one that would talk to her. She was lucky that there hadn't been charges brought against her other than the loss of her /br /She followed after him, keeping her eyes cast down. Part of her wishing that she wasn't so submissive and broken. At one point in her life she had a fire burning in her, but that had been well snuffed out after almost two years of constant trashing by the media. Being shunned by society. She supposed that she was pretty on par with his own personal experience. Once a respected artist fallen from grace. Under scrutiny for his work, what he did. Allegations of murder, some even claimed cannibalism. All of them turning out to be unfounded, or at least not nearly enough evidence to bring a case against him. /p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;"He still had money, a downright fortune. His art was still being sold, just on a private market. Things were far more in demand from him now that they were also banned in several areas of the /br /p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;""Here." He said, opening a cell door. It wasn't a room, it was a prison cell. One that also looked like it could be locked if it needed to be, and from the outside. She wasn't sure that she liked that, but she didn't have a choice. If he was intending to kill her, maybe it would be for the best. There wasn't much further she could actually go from that place anyway. As far as she was aware this would be the last job she could ever hope to get. "When you killed that ambassador…how did it make you feel?"br /br /"I didn't murder him in cold blood you know." She replied, setting her bag on the bed. It was a queen sized bed, despite the area being a prison cell. "He had a terminal illness, he was of sound mind, and he didn't want to suffer. He feared his people seeing him as weak. Watch him wither away to nothing and take pity on him. He was terminal, there wasn't hope for survival. Where he was from it would have been seen as dishonorable to allow his body to get to such a state. I knew what I was doing was the right thing, even if everyone else said it was wrong. The man deserved to die with dignity and leave a passionate legacy. Not waste away and be a pathetic sob story. It cost me everything I had except my morals." He /br /"I apologize for the terminology I used." He said, his tone of voice softening just a bit. Not much but it was noticeable. "Just know that I am not one of the ones who considers you a monster for what you did. Hard to convince the world though. Best to stop trying."br /br /"I know." She said, "I'm here aren't I. Think it's clear I've given up. No offense."br /br /"None taken. I'm aware that this is more or less the end of the line." He replied. "Kitchen is down the hall, follow the red line. Bathroom is across from there. If you need to smoke do it outside. The courtyard can be found by following the yellow line. The white line leads to my office, but remember this because it's very important. Never, ever get to the end of that green line without express permission. Understood?"br /br /"O-Of course. You deserve your privacy and I respect that." She said, her voice trembling a bit. She felt so small around him. Not that she didn't usually feel small around other people, because she was barely over five feet tall, but he had such a huge presence, was exceedingly dominant. It made her want to run away screaming and fuck the living hell out of him all at the same /br /"I hope that's the truth." He said and patted her on the cheek gently. "Help yourself to anything you need. You'll be paid every Saturday morning after you do what I ask of you. If I require any of your other medical services, you will be informed promptly. See you Friday night then."br /br /"Thank you sir, for the opportunity. I needed this." She said before he could leave. He muttered something she didn't catch and headed down the hall, following the green line. Before he could get out of her line of sight he /br /"Julian is fine. I don't like this 'sir' stuff. I'm not your father." He said. She gave him a quick nod and headed into her cell to put away the few items that she'd bothered to take with her. The things she still actually owned and hadn't pawned for food or other necessities. As tempted as she was by that green line she had a feeling her life would very much depend on not following it./p
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p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;"Over the next two days, he barely interacted with her. It seemed like he might even be going out of his way not to talk to her. She really didn't mind. Her room had a nice TV, every channel she could want. He wasn't wrong about it getting cold in there at night, but the space heater worked well and the blankets were thick and warm. Real fur as far as she could figure. There was always fresh meat in the fridge too. A lot of it. He seemed to be a huge fan of beef. Expensive cuts of it too. She never saw him eat any of it either, oddly enough. Never smelled food cooking, never saw any dishes in the sink. Didn't mean he wasn't eating or cooking, he did keep much more odd hours than she did. If he was trying to avoid her, it definitely meant he'd not allow her to see him eat. Still it seemed odd how much meat he had already seemed to consumed. Far more than what it looked like a man his size could eat. So lean. Not skinny, lots of lean muscle. Seemingly was in good health but there wasn't any exact way to know just by looking at him. Educated guesses could be made but beyond getting to do a physical work up on him she'd never have a /br /Her first task came on Thursday when she was called to his office. It was much more like a combination office and studio. A very large room that seemed like at one point it functioned exactly like a prison infirmary. There was even an area set up for medical usage. Nicely sterilized. Every bit of equipment she could ever need. Even things to perform surgery. That was something that technically she could do if it were an emergency situation but she was in no way an actual surgeon. He was sitting on the table back there with his shirt off. There was a bandage over his chest, the wound that it was covering looked somewhat fresh. She could still see a splotch of blood seeping /br /"What happened?" She /br /"Remember how when I hired you I told you that little thing about not asking questions?" He asked her. She sighed and nodded. "Good, I need you to remove a bullet."br /br /"What?" She /br /"It's not as bad as it sounds. Really." He motioned to his chest very casually. She couldn't believe he was basically fine after allegedly being shot in the chest. It could be a test, see how she'd react. Maybe she wasn't going to find a bullet under there. She didn't know. Julian was a whack job so whatever he was doing it was probably best to play /br /"Lie back I'll take care of you." She said. He did as he was told, laying backing on the examine table and taking in a deep breath. When she pulled back the tape she found he wasn't lying. The hole there was the distinctive mark of a bullet wound. She could even see the metal in there. She glanced up at him. He appeared to be in no pain, or at least very little of it. As if this were a minor annoyance. No more than a paper cut or scraped /br /"Problem? Get on with it then!" He snapped at her. His voice caused her to jump and also realize all she'd been doing was staring. It was such an odd wound. Almost no blood as well. He should be losing it profusely and yet there were only a few trickles lining his /br /"Right." She whispered and got to work. She washed her hands and pulled on gloves before getting a syringe of lidocaine ready. The bullet was right on the surface. Far enough that it would need to be cut out but visible from the surface wound. It made no logical sense. There was no bone there. That metal should have pierced him right through the heart. Exited through the back. It was almost as if there was steel inside of him. This shouldn't even be medically possible. "When did this happen?"br /br /"Questions…" he sang in a warning tone of /br /"Right okay then I'm going to numb you. Just need a small incision to pull it out." She said. He nodded and closed his eyes. She injected him around the area of the wound and got the tools ready as she waited for him to numb up completely. After testing the skin and getting no reaction, she quickly cut into him and was easily able to remove the bullet from that point. It looked like it had impacted into him. The way it had been smashed was reminiscent of what a bullet looked like after hitting a kevlar vest. It was as if it smashed into some sort of iron wall. Yet he wasn't an iron wall or made of kevlar, he was just a man. Or at least, that's what she'd originally thought. Instead of saying anything, seeing as how she wouldn't get an answer anyway, she dropped the projectile into the near by metal dish and started to disinfect the area. He only needed three stitches. The wound was packed with gauze and bandaged /br /"Thank you." He said, sitting up again and reaching for his shirt. "I trust you know how to clean everything up then?"br /br /"Yes." She said, watching him rise from the table and dress himself as if nothing had just happened to him. "When I took this job you didn't say anything about bullets…"br /br /"I didn't mention a lot of things. Do you want the job or not?" He snapped at /br /"Yes of course." She said. With what he was promising to pay her, she wouldn't need to be there forever in order to make a good life for herself. Since he was providing room and board, she could save easily. Plan out her life and eventually leave. A year or two at most, provided he lived that long…or she /br /After she was finished cleaning up, she walked out of the studio. He was already gone and she was stuck in her own head trying to figure out how he'd gotten shot in the chest and stopped a bullet. That didn't seem humanly possible. Maybe he had been wearing some sort of vest, but if that were the case there was no way the bullet would have gotten in that far. Even if it had gone through something before hitting him, the entry wound was too clean. It made no sense. He couldn't have stopped a bullet like that. He had also been in very little pain, or distress. The blood loss was minimal, the swelling was minimal. He'd barely flinched when she'd done her procedure. If he was immortal, for whatever reason, then there was no wonder he didn't want her to ask questions about this. It also made sense he wanted a doctor that the rest of the universe didn't trust because she'd done something horrible in her /br /This was either a terrible situation to be in or a good one. As a doctor it was positively fascinating what she'd seen. At the same time, there was no one she'd ever be able to tell. He had her under contract to keep things confidential. Besides, who would even believe her? She needed a drink, that much was clear. When she rounded the corner to follow the correct colored line to the kitchen she heard an animal shriek down the hall. The hall where the green line led. The one that she absolutely wasn't allowed to go down. She paused and stared down in that direction. There was only silence. Taking a deep breath she kept walking but it happened again, a shriek and then a howl. It sounded like a wolf but far more terrifying, monstrous. He had said never to go there without his express permission. She couldn't go against those orders and given what she had just seen it was perhaps best not to stray towards the /br /It wasn't easy ignoring the fact that she was now in some sort of prison where there was a man who may or may not be immortal while wolf howls echoed through the halls, but she had to. The only thing that was really necessary was staying there as long as possible and was safe, saving her money, and getting the hell out of dodge once the opportunity presented itself. She was going to start filling out other job applications as well. Maybe enough hype around her had died down that she could at least get a job at McDonalds, possibly a clinic at an amusement park. Anything would be better than her current situation. ANYTHING/p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;""Now, I will show you to your living quarters. It gets cold in here at night, I've provided a space heater for your room."br /br /"Yes sir." She said. He was definitely a weird man. A very weird and terrifying man. This job would get her out of the streets though. Being blacklisted by every hospital and clinic in the country had a way of making someone desperate and very isolated. After what she'd done, he was the only one that would talk to her. She was lucky that there hadn't been charges brought against her other than the loss of her /br /She followed after him, keeping her eyes cast down. Part of her wishing that she wasn't so submissive and broken. At one point in her life she had a fire burning in her, but that had been well snuffed out after almost two years of constant trashing by the media. Being shunned by society. She supposed that she was pretty on par with his own personal experience. Once a respected artist fallen from grace. Under scrutiny for his work, what he did. Allegations of murder, some even claimed cannibalism. All of them turning out to be unfounded, or at least not nearly enough evidence to bring a case against him. /p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;"He still had money, a downright fortune. His art was still being sold, just on a private market. Things were far more in demand from him now that they were also banned in several areas of the /br /p
p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;""Here." He said, opening a cell door. It wasn't a room, it was a prison cell. One that also looked like it could be locked if it needed to be, and from the outside. She wasn't sure that she liked that, but she didn't have a choice. If he was intending to kill her, maybe it would be for the best. There wasn't much further she could actually go from that place anyway. As far as she was aware this would be the last job she could ever hope to get. "When you killed that ambassador…how did it make you feel?"br /br /"I didn't murder him in cold blood you know." She replied, setting her bag on the bed. It was a queen sized bed, despite the area being a prison cell. "He had a terminal illness, he was of sound mind, and he didn't want to suffer. He feared his people seeing him as weak. Watch him wither away to nothing and take pity on him. He was terminal, there wasn't hope for survival. Where he was from it would have been seen as dishonorable to allow his body to get to such a state. I knew what I was doing was the right thing, even if everyone else said it was wrong. The man deserved to die with dignity and leave a passionate legacy. Not waste away and be a pathetic sob story. It cost me everything I had except my morals." He /br /"I apologize for the terminology I used." He said, his tone of voice softening just a bit. Not much but it was noticeable. "Just know that I am not one of the ones who considers you a monster for what you did. Hard to convince the world though. Best to stop trying."br /br /"I know." She said, "I'm here aren't I. Think it's clear I've given up. No offense."br /br /"None taken. I'm aware that this is more or less the end of the line." He replied. "Kitchen is down the hall, follow the red line. Bathroom is across from there. If you need to smoke do it outside. The courtyard can be found by following the yellow line. The white line leads to my office, but remember this because it's very important. Never, ever get to the end of that green line without express permission. Understood?"br /br /"O-Of course. You deserve your privacy and I respect that." She said, her voice trembling a bit. She felt so small around him. Not that she didn't usually feel small around other people, because she was barely over five feet tall, but he had such a huge presence, was exceedingly dominant. It made her want to run away screaming and fuck the living hell out of him all at the same /br /"I hope that's the truth." He said and patted her on the cheek gently. "Help yourself to anything you need. You'll be paid every Saturday morning after you do what I ask of you. If I require any of your other medical services, you will be informed promptly. See you Friday night then."br /br /"Thank you sir, for the opportunity. I needed this." She said before he could leave. He muttered something she didn't catch and headed down the hall, following the green line. Before he could get out of her line of sight he /br /"Julian is fine. I don't like this 'sir' stuff. I'm not your father." He said. She gave him a quick nod and headed into her cell to put away the few items that she'd bothered to take with her. The things she still actually owned and hadn't pawned for food or other necessities. As tempted as she was by that green line she had a feeling her life would very much depend on not following it./p
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p style="margin-top: 5px; font-family: Tahoma; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; text-align: justify;"Over the next two days, he barely interacted with her. It seemed like he might even be going out of his way not to talk to her. She really didn't mind. Her room had a nice TV, every channel she could want. He wasn't wrong about it getting cold in there at night, but the space heater worked well and the blankets were thick and warm. Real fur as far as she could figure. There was always fresh meat in the fridge too. A lot of it. He seemed to be a huge fan of beef. Expensive cuts of it too. She never saw him eat any of it either, oddly enough. Never smelled food cooking, never saw any dishes in the sink. Didn't mean he wasn't eating or cooking, he did keep much more odd hours than she did. If he was trying to avoid her, it definitely meant he'd not allow her to see him eat. Still it seemed odd how much meat he had already seemed to consumed. Far more than what it looked like a man his size could eat. So lean. Not skinny, lots of lean muscle. Seemingly was in good health but there wasn't any exact way to know just by looking at him. Educated guesses could be made but beyond getting to do a physical work up on him she'd never have a /br /Her first task came on Thursday when she was called to his office. It was much more like a combination office and studio. A very large room that seemed like at one point it functioned exactly like a prison infirmary. There was even an area set up for medical usage. Nicely sterilized. Every bit of equipment she could ever need. Even things to perform surgery. That was something that technically she could do if it were an emergency situation but she was in no way an actual surgeon. He was sitting on the table back there with his shirt off. There was a bandage over his chest, the wound that it was covering looked somewhat fresh. She could still see a splotch of blood seeping /br /"What happened?" She /br /"Remember how when I hired you I told you that little thing about not asking questions?" He asked her. She sighed and nodded. "Good, I need you to remove a bullet."br /br /"What?" She /br /"It's not as bad as it sounds. Really." He motioned to his chest very casually. She couldn't believe he was basically fine after allegedly being shot in the chest. It could be a test, see how she'd react. Maybe she wasn't going to find a bullet under there. She didn't know. Julian was a whack job so whatever he was doing it was probably best to play /br /"Lie back I'll take care of you." She said. He did as he was told, laying backing on the examine table and taking in a deep breath. When she pulled back the tape she found he wasn't lying. The hole there was the distinctive mark of a bullet wound. She could even see the metal in there. She glanced up at him. He appeared to be in no pain, or at least very little of it. As if this were a minor annoyance. No more than a paper cut or scraped /br /"Problem? Get on with it then!" He snapped at her. His voice caused her to jump and also realize all she'd been doing was staring. It was such an odd wound. Almost no blood as well. He should be losing it profusely and yet there were only a few trickles lining his /br /"Right." She whispered and got to work. She washed her hands and pulled on gloves before getting a syringe of lidocaine ready. The bullet was right on the surface. Far enough that it would need to be cut out but visible from the surface wound. It made no logical sense. There was no bone there. That metal should have pierced him right through the heart. Exited through the back. It was almost as if there was steel inside of him. This shouldn't even be medically possible. "When did this happen?"br /br /"Questions…" he sang in a warning tone of /br /"Right okay then I'm going to numb you. Just need a small incision to pull it out." She said. He nodded and closed his eyes. She injected him around the area of the wound and got the tools ready as she waited for him to numb up completely. After testing the skin and getting no reaction, she quickly cut into him and was easily able to remove the bullet from that point. It looked like it had impacted into him. The way it had been smashed was reminiscent of what a bullet looked like after hitting a kevlar vest. It was as if it smashed into some sort of iron wall. Yet he wasn't an iron wall or made of kevlar, he was just a man. Or at least, that's what she'd originally thought. Instead of saying anything, seeing as how she wouldn't get an answer anyway, she dropped the projectile into the near by metal dish and started to disinfect the area. He only needed three stitches. The wound was packed with gauze and bandaged /br /"Thank you." He said, sitting up again and reaching for his shirt. "I trust you know how to clean everything up then?"br /br /"Yes." She said, watching him rise from the table and dress himself as if nothing had just happened to him. "When I took this job you didn't say anything about bullets…"br /br /"I didn't mention a lot of things. Do you want the job or not?" He snapped at /br /"Yes of course." She said. With what he was promising to pay her, she wouldn't need to be there forever in order to make a good life for herself. Since he was providing room and board, she could save easily. Plan out her life and eventually leave. A year or two at most, provided he lived that long…or she /br /After she was finished cleaning up, she walked out of the studio. He was already gone and she was stuck in her own head trying to figure out how he'd gotten shot in the chest and stopped a bullet. That didn't seem humanly possible. Maybe he had been wearing some sort of vest, but if that were the case there was no way the bullet would have gotten in that far. Even if it had gone through something before hitting him, the entry wound was too clean. It made no sense. He couldn't have stopped a bullet like that. He had also been in very little pain, or distress. The blood loss was minimal, the swelling was minimal. He'd barely flinched when she'd done her procedure. If he was immortal, for whatever reason, then there was no wonder he didn't want her to ask questions about this. It also made sense he wanted a doctor that the rest of the universe didn't trust because she'd done something horrible in her /br /This was either a terrible situation to be in or a good one. As a doctor it was positively fascinating what she'd seen. At the same time, there was no one she'd ever be able to tell. He had her under contract to keep things confidential. Besides, who would even believe her? She needed a drink, that much was clear. When she rounded the corner to follow the correct colored line to the kitchen she heard an animal shriek down the hall. The hall where the green line led. The one that she absolutely wasn't allowed to go down. She paused and stared down in that direction. There was only silence. Taking a deep breath she kept walking but it happened again, a shriek and then a howl. It sounded like a wolf but far more terrifying, monstrous. He had said never to go there without his express permission. She couldn't go against those orders and given what she had just seen it was perhaps best not to stray towards the /br /It wasn't easy ignoring the fact that she was now in some sort of prison where there was a man who may or may not be immortal while wolf howls echoed through the halls, but she had to. The only thing that was really necessary was staying there as long as possible and was safe, saving her money, and getting the hell out of dodge once the opportunity presented itself. She was going to start filling out other job applications as well. Maybe enough hype around her had died down that she could at least get a job at McDonalds, possibly a clinic at an amusement park. Anything would be better than her current situation. ANYTHING/p