Red Hot(Sex & Mayhem #5)(90)

The white walls of the room, combined with the bright light and clean tiles, reminded Red Jack of an alien abduction porn movie he’d seen. He sneered at the memory of the large glass speculum being inserted into the ‘patient’s’ ass.

The doctor was hunched over Loki, so all Red Jack could see was Arvelo’s back, but he stiffened when he noticed dark stains on the sheet, where Arvelo was wiping his hands.

Loki tensed under the sheet at yet another strange sound that, Red Jack only now realized, came from a laptop standing on a low desk next to the doctor. He closed the door and watched, completely out of his depth. Loki had some of his hair shaved above his forehead on the left, and while his eyes were covered by a white sleeping mask, he was clearly conscious.

There was a graph on the computer, and each time a loud sound came, it was synchronized with spikes on the diagram. As Red Jack watched, the doctor snaked his hand into a bowl at his side, retrieving a scrap of ugly meat, which he then slipped against Loki’s skin.

“Easy now,” said Arvelo as Loki curled his feet under the sheet.

Red Jack frowned and grabbed his own wrist, unsure what to make of this, but when blood from the raw meat dripped down the part of Loki’s face he could actually see, it became clear Arvelo was pretending to pull that piece of guts out of him. Red Jack was too stunned to act right away and watched, as his last hope, his desperate idea for bringing Loki back to health was proved to be as dead as the pieces of meat in Arvelo’s bowl.

Loki made a choking noise and heaved, as if he were about to puke, and only calmed down when the doctor dropped the scrap into a different bowl. “You‘re doing good. Breathe. I’ve got half of it out.”

Those last words pushed Red Jack into action. Half of it out? The fucker had nothing out. This was pure, unadulterated bullshit, and Red Jack could now hardly believe he’d been desperate enough to fall for it. It was as if someone poured cold water over him and jerked him out of the stupor by adding electricity. He took two steps forward and grabbed Arvelo’s wrist when the fake doctor was about to shove another piece of chicken guts against Loki’s nose.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you shitstain?”

Arvelo’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth wide. “What are you doing here? I’m in the middle of a procedure!”

Loki coughed and turned his blood-stained face toward Red Jack, whispering his name.

“What fucking procedure, huh?” Red Jack laughed, but it turned out weak. “Tell me what you were doing, you useless cunt!”

Another slick sound came from the computer, and Loki pulled off the blindfold, squinting. One of his eyebrows was gone, and with some of his hair chopped off and the blood spread all over his face, he looked like the victim of some weird ritual. “What’s going on?”

“Security!” called Arvelo, pushing his hands against Red Jack.

Red Jack looked at Loki with his heart being put through the shredder. “This human garbage is a fucking scammer!” It sounded more hurt than he’d like. “One of his patients died just yesterday!” He grabbed Arvelo’s arm and twisted it to his back so hard, the man howled in pain.

Loki stared at him, only to glance at the two bowls of bloodied meat. “Fucking fuck,” he said with a shudder.

“I-it’s not true. I faith-heal! Those are just special effects so that the patient’s own belief can assist my work!” hissed Arvelo, struggling to pull away from Red Jack. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with here!”

“There was no talk of special effects! Your assistants said you pull out the illness, and all I see is this fucking shit!” Red Jack kicked the small side table so hard that one of the bowls fell down to the floor, exploding at their feet. He then pushed Arvelo to his knees, not minding the hiss of pain that came when the man must have met the broken glass. Red Jack placed the other bowl in front of him. If it wasn’t for all the witnesses here, he’d kill the motherfucker on the spot. “You’re gonna make all this ‘illness’ disappear. Eat up!”

Loki slid off the bed and hit Arvelo right in the head. The man’s head bounced against Red Jack, and he screamed in pain.

“I think we should help him,” hissed Loki, picking up the bowl.

Arvelo tried to get up with a groan, so Red Jack pushed on the man’s back with his knee. “Go on, make him eat it, see how he fucking likes it.” At least the violence gave Red Jack’s anger and hopelessness a way out of his body, without exploding with blind rage.

Loki showed Arvelo his teeth, dug his hand into the bloody pulp and pushed his fist against the doctor’s mouth. Arvelo turned away.