[E] Ch 17 – Do I have to beg to make you stop all this poking and prodding?!

[CW: needles, blood]

Healer Aevn proposed an exchange of information—the ingredients she would need for this potion in exchange for a “brief and perfectly safe” medical examination. As reluctant as I was to trust the woman, I agreed. It wasn’t as though I could stop her were she to force the matter, and thus far, this was my only lead toward changing back. I needed to know what information she had.

Upon my agreement, the healer quickly, and forcefully, ushered the others from the room, including Lilis and the notably still-injured student. From the glare that my new roommate shot my way, I knew she wasn’t happy about this. As if her verbal protests weren’t clue enough.

Barely a moment later, Healer Aevn hovered inches from my face as I sat on one of the uncomfortable cots. With a gentle touch, she parted my lips, careful not to poke me with her claws. One of her thumbs pressed down against my tongue as she stared into my mouth.

“I’ll admit, you have quite marvelous teeth,” the healer said as she brushed against a fang.

I bore it all with an indignant scowl, hoping her examination wouldn’t take long. The things I endured just for a chance to be myself again…

Aevn gave me a sly smile. “Bite down on this, would you?”

Before even giving me a chance to respond, something large and soft was jammed into my mouth. I tried to spit it out, but she kept it firmly pressed in. The struggle ended barely after it started, and I sunk my teeth into the strange substance. It tasted like a particularly foul, earthy plant, though it had the consistency of soft clay.

Finally, she released her hold on my jaw, pulling the gray substance past my lips. I made a face, spitting onto the floor. It did little to remove the gross flavor.

“That tasted like dirt,” I said, giving her another scowl.

“It’s made with ash, actually. And a few other ingredients.”

Healer Aevn eyed the strange mold, indented in by my teeth, for a long moment before putting it aside on a metal tray.

When she looked back at me, I crossed my arms. “Are we done yet?”

Perhaps with enough complaining I could convince her to end this nonsense early. Of course, she wasn’t even close to finished. As she continued, moving on to mundane tests like measuring my heart rate and comparing it to her varied collection of notes, my mind began to drift.

Healer Aevn stepped up in front of me, her eyes traveled down. “Take the nightgown off.”

“Take the—” I spluttered.

I glanced over at Lilis, or rather, where she would have been had the annoying healer not pushed her from the room a few minutes before. I’d agreed to an “examination” but I hadn’t expected that I’d need to get naked in front of her. Was this really necessary?

My thighs squirmed together as I remembered that in some ways, I already was partially nude.

I pursed my lips, and said, “Fine,” before scooting off the cot. My bare feet once more touched the cool floor. With trembling hands, I grabbed the shoulder of the gown, and slid the left side from my shoulder.

Healer Aevn eyed me with curiosity. I knew the sensible thing would be to turn around—to preserve my modesty as much as I could—but something stopped me. Instead, I slipped the nightgown down, revealing my bare chest, and then pulled it down past my waist and ass, allowing it to fall to the floor.

Once more, I found myself in the nude before one of the academy staff. Though at least Healer Aevn was much more tolerable than Professor Kheln.

My gaze stared off to the side as the healer eyed me. Could she tell how turned on I was?

As though in answer, she said, “Turn around and bend over the cot.”

I gulped and gave a curt nod before turning. Slowly, I leaned down over the medical cot, waiting for what was to come next.

A hand gripped around the tail curled in front of me, and a squeal slipped from my lips. Blinking, my mind came vaguely back to the present, falling out of the daydream that had grabbed me. In front of me, Healer Aevn was eyeing the appendage, one hand running down its length. I let out a heavy pant followed by a squeak.

At least I still had my clothes on…

“S-stop that,” came my slurred voice.

Despite my weak protest, I found myself leaning forward, until my head was pressed against the healer’s chest. During my daydreaming, one of my hands had found its way up my skirt, pulling it up to my waist. With my legs spread, I realized everything was visible to anyone looking, and now the smell of my own heat and lust seemed to fill the room. I couldn’t bring myself to remove my fingers from their place, nor my head from against her body. Instead, a strange rumble began to build from within my chest. She spoke a few words, but I’d stopped listening, at least until the last line. A haze flooded my mind.

“Perhaps this is a good place to stop,” the healer said, taking a step back from me and releasing my tail.

I nearly fell from the cot as she walked away. My eyes followed her in confusion, reaching forward with sticky fingers. A minute or so later she came back with something in hand. The large flask full of sloshing liquid was pressed against my palm, and I cupped it in both hands.

The woman in front of me sighed as I stared down at it. Then she reached forward and unscrewed the top. A sweet, familiar aroma met my nose, and barely a moment later the flask was against my lips.

The liquid was cold, but I drank it greedily. Far too soon, it ran dry. I glared at the offending object. How could it already be empty when it was so big?

“Are you back with me, Ruby?”

A hand waved in front of my face. I blinked and met the healer’s gaze. Ever so slowly a cloud began to fade from my mind—not completely, but enough for the shame and embarrassment to smack into me like a boulder. My face turned red—redder?—and my lips parted only for no sound to come forth.

The healer hummed. “Perhaps some more?”

I found myself nodding. Barely a minute later, another flask full of what was assuredly blood met my lips. This time, I was able to pay attention to it as I drank. It tasted off, wrong in some way, and cold. It was nothing like when I’d fed from Lilis. I didn’t let that stop me. By the time I emptied the second flask, I was full and my head felt clear.

“Better?” Healer Aevn asked with a raised brow.

I huffed. “I’m fine,” I stated, trying to pass the incident off.

On the inside my gut was twisting itself into knots. ‘Subtly,’ I hid my wet fingers behind me and scooted my damp nightgown back down, though she had to know I’d been masturbating in a daydream barely a moment before. The woman wasn’t blind.

What in the realms was wrong with me?! I’d been ready to throw myself at her, or more accurately, lay across a cot and beg for her to have her way with me. Internally, I groaned. If the healer didn’t know how much I relied on this blood before, she certainly did now. As did I. If this sort of thing were to happen at the wrong time…

I glared at the woman, as though this was somehow her fault. Healer Aevn wasn’t even paying attention to me, instead putting together some kind of device. As she brought it over, my eyes narrowed.

“What is that?”

“A simple method of collecting blood that’s a bit less messy than simply slicing you open,” she said. “It’s rather new, relatively speaking. Something a lot of healers don’t make use of. So I’m not surprised you’re not familiar with it.”

“I never agreed to give you blood,” I sneered.

She turned toward me, the offending object in hand. One side held a tiny glass vial connected to a bit of metal that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. The other end was a long needle, though I highly doubted she’d be using it for sewing. I couldn’t help but eye it nervously.

“I told you my price. Blood for blood,” she said, making her way over. “You don’t have a choice in the matter.”

In other words, she would use force if necessary.

After another long glare, I scoffed. “Fine. Just be quick about it.”

Her smile held both amusement and an odd amount of wild glee. “With pleasure. Hold out your arm.”

I did as she asked, letting her flip it palmside up. Her fingers trailed along my skin, seemingly searching for something. I always found it eerie how thoroughly healers seemed to know a person’s body. Such knowledge didn’t come for free. How many bodies has the woman cut open over the years? How many were still alive?

As she brought the device forward, I looked away. I didn’t need to see it piercing into me; I was already annoyed enough. The pinch on my arm was surprisingly painful, but I gave no reaction. Something so small didn’t bother me. A few seconds later she was done, stepping away without a word to store it somewhere.

“There’s two major ingredients I’ll need before we can do a test on this potion,” she said as she secured the vial of blood. “The first is a demon’s heart.”

I had to stop myself from flinching as the beating within my own chest skipped.

“A demon’s heart? And where exactly do you expect me to get something like that?”

Even as I spoke the words, an answer was coming to mind, however. There was only one sort of person who’d have access to such a thing: diabolists. Professor Kheln was a likely target, but my mind focused on Melkar. Would he have something like that here at the academy?

Healer Aevn waved a hand. “That’ll be something for you to figure out.”

I supposed in the worst case scenario I could take the heart of one of the demons around campus. There was a rule against killing other students and staff but nothing, as far as I was aware, protecting demons.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “What’s the second one?”

“The second is an argentum vicus, or rather, three of them. More would be better.”

I frowned. Argentum vicus? It wasn’t something I was familiar with.

As I pondered the name, the healer continued, “They look like a blue, reflective flower made of crystal. You should be able to find them growing below the underhalls.”

“Below the underhalls? I thought the crypts and things below the academy were a rumor.” It was something I’d thought little about since arriving here, having assumed they were just the fanciful tales of imaginative students.

“Oh, they’re quite real, I can assure you. It’s one of the reasons that the academy was founded here several centuries ago. We sit atop an entrance into the depths of the world. Quite a bit of mana flows through here.”

I hummed. “And how does this potion work exactly? Does it have a name?”

“Not as such,” she said with an odd smile. “Its original purpose was to transform the individual into their ideal self. Though it was never entirely successful. It’s something I tinker with in my spare time. We’ll be adjusting it further, of course. Partly because it was made with humans in mind, not demons.”

“Hence the demon heart,” I grumble.

“Exactly. If I can limit its scope, we should have much more success. Were we to try and change you back to your original self, I have no doubts we would fail. But for a smaller change, like a simple shift toward human,” she shrugged. “Well, we shall see.”

Unsaid, of course, was her desire to use me as a test subject.

My lips twisted into a scowl. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to retrieve them yourself, considering that you seem to already have an idea of their location.”

Her smile turned malicious. “And why would I do that? You’ve nothing else to offer me, so far as I can see. Not to mention, I’m already doing you something of a favor. All of the other ingredients will be provided by me. As well as all the labors of making it.”

“Once I’m human again, I can offer—”

“Perhaps you could,” she interrupted in a hiss, towering over me. “If you become human again and your father accepts you back into the family. A rather big ‘if’ at the moment. Searching for a bunch of underground flowers is a waste of my valuable time,” she said dismissively.

Her eyes pressed in on me like a heavy weight. “You’ll either find them yourself or not at all.”

“Fine,” I hissed back. “Is that all?”

“You may go. I’ll have more blood for you tomorrow. Good luck on your search,” she said, her tone suddenly friendly.

As I left the room, something she’d said struck me as odd. What did she mean by “if your father accepts you back into the family”? Had it been a simple slip of the tongue, a poorly worded sentence? Surely he couldn’t already know. Not even I had a way to contact him right now.

Despite that, an uneasiness snaked into my mind as the door closed behind me.