Nature or Nurture Ch. 62-64

'What are you doing in our neighbourhood anyway, in the dark, in fur, with two ladies by your side! You'll have to fight your way across!'

That is probably true, and a damned nuisance. Apparently Lukas has never done this before, go out in the dark with others. Maybe they can set a reputation now and win themselves easy access.

Mina apparently has the same idea, for she takes a step forward to stand beside Lukas, and states, 'This man is a doctor on his way to a patient. He has nothing of value to you, and if you hinder him any longer, his patient may die. You cannot harm us, and next time, you may be the one needing the help. So step aside and let the doctor do his job.'

More muttering, 'too expensive' and 'doctor?' being the only words she can make out.

Then they step aside to let them through, except for the one still hugging his leg, he is pulled to the side by one of his mates.

One of the smallest now edges forward to take a good look at Lukas, and asks, shyly, 'Are you the miracle doctor? My little sister was saved by a man in a thick coat with a fur collar.'

'I may be the one who helped your sister, but I don't work miracles, I work medicine, from my bag here. Which is why it is of no use to any of you.'

'I'm sorry we bothered you, doctor.'

The little guy can be very polite if he wants to.

And as they walk on, trying very hard not to look behind them to guard their backs, a voice calls out.

'But doctor! I'm hurt, I need help!'

Then Lukas does turn around.

'I know how hard I kicked you, I'm a doctor, remember? You'll be in pain for a few days, but you don't need medical attention. You need better manners.'

And on they go, still alert, but fast nonetheless. Pretty soon they reach Lukas' destiny, a hovel of a house with a broken window and a rickety door. Lukas knocks on the door, careful for it might just fall apart if treated too roughly.

A teenage girl opens the door and leads them through a dingy hall to a door on the left, and into a really small room. At the back of the room, where the drafts of the broken window lessen a little, there is a pallet on which a woman lies, around thirty, with lank hair and sunken features. Her colour is really bad, almost grey, except for her cheeks and eyes, they are bright with fever. She is labouring for breath.

Adison can see instantly that the woman has a very dangerous, probably lethal, case of pneumonia. If left untreated, she will die within days, leaving her family of, one, three, at least five, children without mother.

Though Adison generally treats people with a better income, pneumonia is dangerous to anyone who contracts it, be they rich or poor. Of course this lady is malnourished as well as very sick, which makes the danger to her greater, and the chances of her recovering infinitely smaller. But Lukas is here, and he can just kill off the cause of the pneumonia, giving her a better chance than a lot of Adison's rich customers with this dangerous sickness would have with ordinary medicine.

Sending the children away except the eldest girl, Lukas kneels beside the bed, and opens the bag, taking out the stethoscope. The girl pulls back the covers, and opens her mother's threadbare nightgown.

Lukas warms up the stethoscope in his hands, then applies it to the front of the woman's chest and listens. He also lets the girl hold her mother upright, Mina assisting the poor girl, barely in her teens yet. Mina does not show any sign of abhorrence or disgust, she is determined to give something back to the people she once preyed on, and she is going to help wherever she can.

When Lukas has listened to the mother's chest he hands Adison his stethoscope, and she listens as well.

'Pneumonia of both lungs,' he says, 'very advanced. I heard of this case only yesterday. What would you do?'

'Solve a few drops of a certain medicine in hot water and let her inhale the fumes, and take really good care of her, keep her warm, give her enough to drink and some rich broth. Everything these people don't have. I'm afraid her body has little power to fight this, Lukas. She needs you, desperately.'

'The bottle with the v-shaped mark, right? That is what you'd use?'

Adison nods.

'Mina, will you stay with me while I check something else? Then Adison can explain the daughter how to apply the medicine, in the little area to the front of the house.'

Adison understands immediately, she is to distract the girl while Lukas treats the woman with magic. Too bad she cannot be there to see him do it, but they'll find a solution for that when they treat their next patient.

She carefully explains to the girl that she needs to put a few drops in hot water to relieve her mother's breathing.

'But ma'am, we dunna have hot water here..' the girl says. 'Will cold water do?'

'I'm sorry, what is your name?'

'Deanna, ma'am.'

'I'm sorry, Deanna, but it needs the fumes of the hot water to bring the medicine in her lungs. You can rub it on her chest, though, the heat of her body will do the same as hot water would.'

Not as well, but Lukas is applying the real treatment as they stand here talking, this medicine is just a cover.

'Then when she starts to feel a little better, she needs the best food you can get her. I know it's hard, but if she doesn't get a little stronger the sickness will come back. If she gets worse, do not just use the medicine, get the doctor back as soon as you can. Do you understand?'

'I do, ma'am. I'll tell dad, he'll be glad to hear she will be able to eat again. She has been eating badly since the last baby was born, dad does bring in the money to eat, though we canna afford a new window or good clothes.'

'Can she still feed the baby, Deanna?'

'No ma'am, she couldn't. The poor little thing was weak from the first and dinna make it. But she's got us, and we need our mum, too.'

That is just heart-rending, that poor baby, and those poor children. How does Lukas cope with this day in day out? He must be done by now.

'Let's go back to your mum, we can show you right now how to apply the drops of medicine.'

She looks so much better already, but Adison ignores that in a performance approaching Vincent's level of acting. Showing the girl how to apply a few drops to her hand, then rub it on her mother's emaciated chest, Adison shows total faith in this remedy.

The girl's mother will be hungry tonight, and if the father indeed brings something to eat she may have a chance at recovery.

Lukas looks a bit worse for wear, remarkably, since Melissa told them he has unlimited magic power. Maybe the whole situation is getting to him, that wouldn't surprise her one bit.

All the instruments back in the bag, they take leave of the mother, who already shows a little interest in her surroundings, and check out the other kids before they go. They all seem fine, it must have been the pregnancy and the birthing that took so much out of the mother that the pneumonia got her.

They cure two more people that night, one broken limb that they fixate with a splint made out of materials present in the charity where they treat the patient. Of course by the time Adison has fixed a splint, the break has already been mended by Lukas, with the patient put out with a little fluid from a bottle, and the staff distracted by Mina, who is getting the hang of this.

Nobody the wiser, the sisters will take off the makeshift splint in two weeks and find the arm completely mended. No miracle, just good doctoring.

The other case is a putrid wound, in that same charity run by a church, a dangerous place to perform magic, but Mina is again very helpful, requesting hot water for cleaning to get the staff out, then distracting the patient while Lukas does his work.

When the water arrives, they still add a little of Adison's herb-mixture to it and clean the wound thoroughly and painfully, in the presence of staff and most certainly the patient. He will remember this for years to come. Instructions to clean the wound the following days, then the usual leavetaking, and their work is done for the night.

They return home, resupply the bag while Mina makes tea, then talk over their cases.

'With your permission, Lukas,' Mina states, 'I will return to that family tomorrow evening and bring them a decent nightgown and blanket for that poor woman, and some rich foods. I know it's a pittance compared to the total need of the people over there, but at least that poor woman will be warm and fed.'

Lukas doesn't speak, he merely sits on Mina's lap and wraps his arms around her, his head on her shapely chest.

She hugs him back gingerly, not used to hugging other men, this is truly taking something out of him, how can he keep it up?

Then he looks up and says, 'Don't worry, when I got this talent I also got a gift to make it bearable: I can detach myself from everything I see and feel, like I did with Vincent's shame when he had assaulted Mr Grey. I'll still remember what happened but it will not take over my life. You must have some of that, Adison.'

Indeed she does, at the moment Deanna told her about the baby not surviving Adison was crushed, but her professional detachment set in immediately, and she could move on to the next patient.

Her usual patients are better fed and send for a doctor before they are dying, but some do suffer, and some do not make it. It comes with the calling.

As Adison describes how this works for her, Lukas moves back to his own spot on one of the sofas, somehow Lukas knows Victor is the jealous kind and will not gladly see his beloved cuddle another man.

They make a few plans for the next excursion, with Victor returning from taking Catherine to bed. She is already asleep, it seems Victor's reading has been approved of for she asked him for another chapter.

Now they wait until Vincent returns, and in Adison anticipation is certainly rising.

Mina and Victor say goodnight, then retreat to their own room, Adison supposes it's suppertime for Mina, they usually do that just before Victor goes to bed, so they can frolic afterwards and he can go to sleep. In winter, Mina wakes up rather early in the day, she cannot go outside as long as the sun is in the sky, but she can roam the house and be with her beloved.

Summer will take some getting used to again, with the days at their longest, and everyone spending time outside when she is forced to stay in. Still, she seems to enjoy her relative freedom in winter, and she and Victor certainly love each other very much, making up just the tiniest bit for what she has lost.

As soon as they have left, Lukas invites Adison over to sit with him, and Adison does so gladly. Despite her professional attitude, seeing people that poor has made an impression on her. She has had such a privileged youth, and still leads a privileged life, though she works for a living, which she would not have had to do had she married in her own class.

She would not even have been allowed to work, which to Adison is unthinkable.

Sitting with Lukas distracts her from her thoughts, he smells so incredibly good, his thick parka hanging on the coat-stand, the man himself now looking almost flamboyant in a beautiful bright shirt of the finest bluest wool. That is ideal for this weather, very warm and still very good-looking. She has often seen him in a jumper, and though they suit him well, they make him look the slightest bit homely, he is not as perfectly handsome as Victor or Paul, and he can use the beautiful shirt to look sophisticated and very noble.

'You look like a noble in that shirt, Lukas,' Adison compliments him.

'I am very noble, didn't you know?' he replies very cheekily.

'My father is a very important person, he lives in a great palace with many servants, he is venerated as not even our lovely queen Victoria is. And I used to work for another very important person, I was his herald and a representative for my father at his court. People would fall on their faces and grovel before him, fortunately I didn't have to since my father was so important.'

'Lucy told Catherine that your father is a god, Hermes. Can that be true?'

'It certainly is, he is the fastest thing on their world. I'm the second fastest. And I used to work for Dionysus, did you ever hear of him? The jolly god of wine? He's not so jolly anymore, he got caught in some involved plot. I sometimes miss him, I truly liked him though he was obnoxious and more than a little smelly. He did not leave people in the streets to die, though he did make them grovel before him.'

'It was really hard, Lukas, to see those poor people suffer.'

The memory makes her snuggle against him as closely as she can, and she finds herself being kissed very gently, his very slim hands holding her cheeks lightly, and again, not like the cheeky young lad, but like a much older, wiser man.

'Do you want me to take the memories away for you? I can do so instantly, for Mina too, should she suffer from them.'

'I can handle them for now, and Mina has worse memories than these, from her life as remorseless predator. I suppose she wants these memories to atone for those.'

'It doesn't work that way, Adison, memories like that poison the mind and take the spirit out of a person. I can take her old memories too, not to make her forget, but to take the pain from them. She'll be much happier, though it would probably make her kiss me, and Victor wouldn't like that one bit.'

'If you can help Mina process those memories, I bet Victor will deal with a little kiss. Better kiss me right now, get in the right mood to deal with Vincent. He used to be very domineering when we made love to Victor. Victor and me both loved it, I hope he's still got it.'

That idea instantly brings out the young man again in Lukas, and he looks at Adison in anticipation. 'I can't wait. I want to run over and get him, away from those old farts keeping him chatting about acting and plays and who knows what else, when he could be having fun with us.'

But Vincent is not dealing with old farts at all. He has had a very good show, they are all really getting into the play, everything is going great. Everything to do with the play at least, even the meet and greet was entertaining and not too exhausting. Vincent is meeting many influential people, nobles, but also people from newspapers, from other theatres, writers, it seems as if everyone is visiting this play, and liking it.

But it is not the meet and greet detaining him.

The person keeping him from his excited lovers is actually rather young, it's Lord Alfred Douglas. Bosie has confided to Vincent that his father, the Marquess of Queensberry, has slandered Mr Wilde publicly, and that Oscar is planning to sue him for it. And his son agrees!

Such an incredible fool, both of them, actually. How can one sue someone for slander if what they are saying is true? Mr Wilde is having an affair with Lord Douglas, and no matter how much Vincent finds they have the right to be involved, society disapproves, and the law puts Bosie's father in the right.

If Mr Wilde sues, he will lose, and he will be financially ruined as well as exposed. Better take the slander, keep a low profile for a while, and try to enjoy life...

But of course Vincent comes from very humble roots, and Bosie will not take his advice, which is his right, but something Vincent fears he will greatly rue some day. One just cannot fight an institution, one can win from a Marquess, but not from the state of England, not from the law of the country, unfair though it may be.

Like practising magic, if what one is doing is illegal, better do it secretly, and try to stay unnoticed. Not publicly deny what can most likely be proven, though Lord Douglas is very discreet about his preferences, Mr Wilde nearly flaunts them and is always riling up everyone he can in whatever way he can. Public opinion will not be supportive of him.

Lord Douglas is handsome, popular, and an heir, coveted by every noble young lady in town, and only a little above half Mr Wilde's age. Though in fact matters are much the opposite, to the general public it will seem as if Mr Wilde is the one who charmed the son away from his rich and influential father.

Of course there is no talking to Bosie, and Vincent is certainly not going to burn himself on Mr Wilde's anger, he knows the playwright does not have the respect for him that his pupil has, and rightfully so. To Mr Wilde, Vincent is the debutant playing a very minor role in his successful play, and nothing more.

So he soothes Bosie until the young Lord settles a little, and then Vincent takes his leave.

'My beloved is waiting for me, and it seems she has a surprise in store for me tonight. Of course I can't wait.'

'Please don't think me ungrateful, Vincent, or arrogant. I value your opinion, and you make solid points. Frankly, all Oscar's friends agree with you. But my father really has gone too far, and if no-one ever stands up to him, I will never be free.

You will come to teach and ride, won't you? And I can come on this raid with you?'

'Of course, Bosie, when have I ever made a point by letting an argument come between our friendship? We can agree to not mention the subject anymore, or you can tell me how things are proceeding, as you wish. You know my opinion, and I'll not trouble you with it again.'

That totally disarms his young friend, and they very secretly embrace for a few moments.

'Be strong, Bosie, and see you tomorrow. I'm off to meet the master of love!'

And without explanation, he retrieves his bicycle and hastens home.

Lukas' bicycle is not in front of the house, but in the shed, where it will be safe. Vincent supposes he will stay the night, so he puts his own bicycle in front of it, hoping Lukas won't want to leave in the middle of the night, having to wrestle it out.

Then he lets himself in, into the eager arms of one young lady, and one young man. It almost seems like old times, when Adison and Victor were pleading for him to boss them around, it looks like Lukas is expecting him to be the creature again tonight. Well, there is but one way to find out.

'Shall we start with a shower? I've cycled hard, and talked even harder before that. Don't ask, I'll tell later.'

They fetch a few towels and move to the showers, using only two of them to make the hot water last.

As in the old days, Vincent finds himself the object of attention for both his partners, though Lukas is a lot more forward than Victor ever was. Somehow, neither Vincent nor Adison are drawn much towards Lukas' differences yet, which is kind of remarkable for they are not slight. Somehow, Vincent is now the centre of the group, probably because Lukas and Adison already spent a little time on each other before Vincent came home, and they were waiting for him.

Vincent finds himself stroked by two sets of hands, and two slick, wet bodies are pressed against his rather broad one. They are both slight, so it's an easy fit, and they stroke and kiss and rub against one another without anyone feeling left out.

From the corner of his eye, Vincent does catch glimpses of a pair of very hairy legs with incredible musculature and no feet, and his hand feels a very small, muscular behind with a tiny upright tail. Lukas' narrow chest is incredibly muscled nonetheless, and he has a scattering of little brown mottles all over his upper body. His curls droop now they're wet, and when Vincent strokes them back from Lukas' face to kiss his cute dented mouth, he feels something hard under the rest of those curls. Those must be the stumps of his horns.

But something else that is hard is starting to distract Vincent a little from his kissing and his stroking. In his left arm, he has the familiar shape of Adison very close against him, and very snug. His right arm is also nicely filled with a taller young man, who is nonetheless as slender as Adison is, and his arms touch him as familiarly and as tantalizingly. But something is touching Vincent below the waist, and it's disconcertingly large and hard against his thighs. Lukas has the most impressive erection Vincent has ever seen or felt rubbing against him.