Chapter 2.

Doctor Henry Jekyll stirred in his bed as he awakened. It took some seconds for the Doctor to regain his wits upon waking during which he was plagued by the realisation that something was amiss. The first detail he was able to ascertain that he would term out of the ordinary was that he had by some means disrobed himself as he slept and that he lay upon the bed as naked as the day he was born. His nudity led directly to his second discovery as he became aware that he had awoken with a nocturnal erection, popularly although somewhat crudely termed a morning glory. This second fact for the moment eclipsed the mystery of his cast-off nightgown. He tentatively poked at his erection with a finger in astonishment and confirmed that his male organ was indeed fully engorged and as stiff as a fire poker.

"Good gracious!" Henry exclaimed in surprise.

It had been a good ten years since Jekyll had been able to maintain such an erection and even then only with the ministrations of a skilled fellatrix. Being a man of science he immediately racked his mind to determine why an unbidden reawakening of his virility might have occurred. The sole incident that could explain such an occurrence was the unintended injection of his serum the previous evening during his tussle with Sir Francis Dashwood. Vague images flashed through his mind, his disturbing dream before waking of a dark-haired and full-breasted beauty shamelessly touching and pleasuring herself as she lay unclothed upon this very bed. The wanton harlot was unfamiliar to him, but the memory of her face inspired both arousal and a sense of ominous fear in the Doctor. The first reaction Henry thought was quite natural given the woman's louche beauty, yet could not see a rational explanation for the sense of dread the woman's visage induced in him.

Henry dressed, somewhat hampered by his stiffened member which seemed remarkably **** to return to a flaccid state. As he was about to slip his pocket watch on its brass chain into his waistcoat breast pocket he was astonished to discover he had slept unusually late into the morning and indeed midday was little over an hour away. Another fact to add to his list of out of the ordinary details since waking. He supposed that all of these details were related to the accidental infusion of his serum. His alleviation of impotency gave rise to the sordid dream of the raven-haired slattern which in turn caused tossing and turning during his slumber which had cast off his nightgown and the fitful nature of his mind transpiring in his oversleeping. Of course, further testing was needed, but as a businessman as well as a physician Henry was not unaware that an elixir that returned virility in a gentleman of advanced age was highly marketable. However, Henry himself could by no means put his esteemed reputation and name behind such a venture.

"Tumblety!" Jekyll exclaimed.

The Irish quack from whom Henry purchased the urine of pregnant whores which served as the source to extract the oestradiol base of his serum was the purveyor of various elixirs of dubious efficacy but apparently prosperous return. Though Henry was **** to associate openly with such a charlatan, a business partnership where his name could be shielded from connection with such a base venture was certainly possible. The blasted man had been badgering Henry for a meeting already. He could at least explore the possibility and determine if Tumblety was amenable to such collaboration. The Doctor, if he was indeed even qualified as such held a practice in Whitechapel where he administered predominantly to prostitutes.

Henry gathered a few belongings before setting forth for Whitechapel. The remaining sample of his refined serum he filled into a pair of syringes and secured them in a leather wallet designed for just such a purpose. He dressed further in an overcoat and top hat to insulate himself from the chill and a stout silver-headed walking cane to offer some means of protection should he be accosted in such a disreputable borough of the capital. His preparation complete Jekyll exited the asylum and hailed down a hansom carriage on the street outside to drive him to the practice of Doctor Tumblety.

"Henry, what a pleasant and unexpected surprise!" Tumblety was effusive in his greeting once Jekyll had entered the man's offices. "I was more prepared for a letter than a personal visit in response to my request for a meeting."

"Always happy to accommodate a professional colleague." Doctor Jekyll lied glibly, by no means regarding Tumblety as either professional or a colleague, adding with more honesty. "I was also intrigued to view your practice."

The Doctor's practice had been something of a surprise. Though certainly not of a standard with Harley Street, Tumblety's practice was at least clean and tidily organised. Henry had of course bypassed the three young women waiting to be seen and entered the Doctor's office as he ushered out his previous patient, also a youngish woman. Jekyll noted the extensive syphilitic red rash and sores upon the woman's lips as they passed and he involuntarily took a pace away to distance himself.

"Henry Jekyll! What a pleasant surprise." Tumblety was effusive in his greeting as he rose from the seat behind his desk and came to greet Jekyll with an energetic and overlong handshake. "I was hoping for a written reply to my missive, but a personal visit? I feel honoured indeed."

Doctor Jekyll **** a friendly smile to his lips, his need for the lesser physician's assistance necessitated some guile to feign acceptance of Tumblety almost as an equal rather than merely a useful tool for his own ends. He endured and returned the Doctor's handshake in a more reserved manner. The office was like the rest of the practice he had seen clean if modest. A screen stood across one corner for patients to disrobe behind and a brown leather topped examination couch was nearby. Shelves with medicinal bottles and flasks were neatly filled. On the wall were several framed diplomas of medical training, though Henry recognised none of the names of the Irish and American colleges and universities from which they were purportedly issued. Jekyll took a seat when offered a made a show of smiling warmly as he inspected the office.

"I see you run a tight ship Tumblety," Henry remarked. "A most cleanly and organised practice given the borough in which it is situated."

"Indeed, indeed," Tumblety responded heartily, either failing or ignoring the damning by faint praise in Henry's choice of words. "I see myself as something of a philanthropist. Just because most of my clients are women of low virtue I see no reason they should be treated to lower standards of care. Haha, forgive my little pun there Henry old chap."

"Most noble of you," Jekyll replied. "I see most of your equipment seems new and of good quality. I confess I am a little surprised that this practice would be profitable."

"Oh, you might well be surprised, Henry." Tumblety beamed a smug smile. "The whores of Whitechapel are not without lucre, after all, they sit upon a veritable goldmine do they not. Besides I have my commercial venture in patent elixirs, tinctures, and remedies that sell in considerable quantities to apothecaries."

"So I had heard, yes indeed that was the reason for my visiting in person." Henry explained. "The wholesale purveying of a bottled curative is outside the scope of my experience. I was contemplating seeking a partnership with a physician more versed in such practice and your name was foremost in my consideration."

"Really! I am most flattered Henry." Tumblety seemed intrigued by the offer. "I can see how your esteemed name and my business acumen behind such a venture could be extremely solvent. May I ask to what malady you have devised a medicinal treatment?"

"But of course. I confess my discovery was not entirely intentional, a side effect of pursuing a treatment for a far different ailment, but to put it bluntly an alleviation of impotence for gentlemen." Jekyll revealed. "Further testing and refinement will be required, but preliminary results are encouraging to say the least."

"A cure for male impotence you say." Tumblety seemed surprised, but his eyes alighted with interest. "Such a remedy if efficacious would indeed sell in considerable quantity. If we are to discuss business in more detail though perhaps a more convivial setting for such negotiation is in order. If you would pardon me for a few minutes I could dispense with my waiting patients. I expect they are here for repeat prescriptions for socially contracted infection and can be speedily satisfied."

Tumblety took only a short while to dispense with his remaining patients who were as he suggested seeking remedial treatment of the disease most prominent to those of the prostituting profession. Luckily for Jekyll, the gentleman physician's club had not as yet opened its doors so Henry was spared the embarrassment of inviting Tumblety to dine there. Instead, the two Doctors decamped from Tumblety's practice to a modest though respectable gentleman's teahouse just outside the borough of Whitechapel in the City of London proper. There followed some negotiation over a light meal where Jekyll although insisting his name be kept from bottles agreed his qualifications could be referenced and that Tumblety after deducting his cost of manufacture would share equally the profit from a joint venture. Coming to a mutually agreeable conclusion the two men shook hands on the matter and Henry walked with Tumblety partway back to his practice before bidding him farewell. Henry Jekyll orientating himself found his location to be on the border of Westminster and Whitechapel and resolved to hail a cab back to his asylum as the hour had by this time reached the evening.

"Looking for company sir?" The feminine Irish lilt startled Henry out of his reverie and he turned to regard the speaker.

A fetching young woman barely in her early twenties by Henry's judgment stood before him. Accosting him with such a question obviously betrayed her purpose and intention. Henry was about to dismiss her, it had been many years since he was functional to make use of prostitutes but that fact was no longer so. He looked the whore up and down with a critical eye. Wearing a gaily coloured green dress and bonnet a mass of red curls cascaded over her shoulders and her tightly corseted bodice revealed a lush and slim but curvaceous form. Henry hesitated a moment before succumbing to temptation.

"At what cost is this company?" Jekyll asked bluntly.

"Half a crown sir." The pretty red-haired prostitute immediately replied. "Got a nice clean bedroom nearby, and I ain't got no pox either."

Henry was sure her price was inflated due to his obvious station and wealth though was disinclined to haggle for his use of her so without further word he held out his arm for the prostitute to take and guide him to her room. As she had intimated her garret room was but a short walk away, though deeper into the borough of Whitechapel. As they walked the woman prattled incessantly informing Henry her name was Jackie recounting any random thought that passed through her pretty head and extolling her dubious virtue, but more enticingly her skill in the art of fellatio. The climb up the flights of stairs to the garret was somewhat taxing for Jekyll, but once inside the attic room was well-lit and neatly if sparsely furnished. Jackie slipped from Henry's arm retrieved a bottle of gin from the bedside cabinet and poured a glass for Jekyll.

"You have a little gift for me sir before we begin?" She asked coquettishly.

Jekyll pulled a half-crown from his pocket and laid the large heavy silver coin on the palm of Jackie's outstretched hand and the girl grinned like a Cheshire cat as she folded her fingers around the coin. Her hair was ruddier than than the light gingery hue of the Montague sisters, her face more notably pinched, and her voice unsurprisingly more common but she had a passing resemblance to the twin inmates of Henry's asylum. He recalled observing Doctor Granville's electrotherapy treatment of those young ladies for their hysteria just the previous day and felt his manhood begin to stir to life at the mental image of the Montagues strapped upon the couch with pale smooth legs spread wide and their exposed copper fleeced womanhood. Once in possession of her payment Jackie dropped her hand to the front of Henry's trousers and cupped his genitals through the material.

"Excuse me a moment sir while I undress." She cooed winsomely, she turned around and looked back across her shoulder. "A hand perhaps with my stays sir?"

Henry did as requested, undoing the hooked stays running down the spine of Jackie's green dress. Once the bodice was loosened the girl turned back her arms clasped across her chest to hold the dress in place. Slowly and provocatively the whore lowered her arms and shrugged her shoulders from the short sleeves of the dress. As the bodice fell away from her slim body the corset beneath was revealed to be green satin of a different hue to that of the dress. Reinforced with whalebone and tightly cinched the corset thrust upward the whore's pale breasts its low cut cupping rather than covering the soft orbs of flesh. Jackie's nipples were as ruddy as her hair had suggested they might be, small but stiffly erect in the chill of the evening in the unheated garret. Henry reached tentatively out and flicked one teat with his finger and felt the pliant perkiness of the reddened nubbin.

"That tickles sir." Jackie giggled girlishly and took a step back away from Henry.

Lowering her arms the whore allowed her dress to slide downwards over her body before stepping free of the garment as it pooled around her feet. The woman wore white stockings and ankle-length laced boots but no undergarments other than her corset. As was the practice with prostitutes her mons venaris was shaved bare, both to prevent the spread of pubic lice and to more conveniently display the asset her profession peddled. The hairless cleft of her labia appeared tight and unblemished to Henry's inspection and he imagined it would clasp his manhood most satisfactorily. Falling to her knees Jackie began to unbutton the flies of Jekyll's trousers with a deftly practised skill. Reaching a slim hand into the unbuttoned crotch the Doctor felt warm fingers caress his half-stiffened cock and ease it out from its concealment. Rouged lips closed around his member and Jackie's cheeks hollowed as she suckled upon his rod.

"Ahhh, that feels heavenly my dear thing." Henry sighed as the warm and moist interior of the whore's mouth closed around his flesh.

Jackie suckled upon Henry's member for several minutes and her earlier boasts of skill as a fellatrix proved to be well founded, however despite her undoubted art Jekyll's cock refused to engorge to more than a partway erect state. The Doctor felt a pang of disappointment comparing the partial arousal of his member to the impressively ramrod stiff condition he had awakened with. He reasoned that his serum rather than a permanent cure for impotence might alleviate the condition for several hours with waning efficacy. The leather wallet with syringes filled with his serum still resided in his pocket however and this provided an opportune test of the veracity that his concoction restored virility.

"A moment sweet thing." Henry patted the red curled tresses bobbing at his loins to halt her movement. "I must take my medication before we continue."

Henry produced the leather wallet and withdrew one brass syringe, rolling up his left sleeve he tapped his forearm to locate a suitable vein. With professional ease, he injected the serum and gave a long satisfied sigh as the whore watched on silently with an amused but puzzled expression. A few seconds passed and he heard Jackie let out a gasp and then a quiet squeal. He felt his member stiffening even before he glanced down to confirm that his manhood had recommenced its swelling to hardness most impressively.

"Blimey! And here I was thinking I was earning an easy half-crown." Jackie laughed, evidently more amused than disappointed by the effect of Jekyll's serum. "Never seen opium put lead in a pencil like that before."

"There is a drop or two of the poppy in the mixture, but more besides." Henry conceded indulgently. "But my serum is not for you to tax your womanly intellect over. There is a better use for your pretty lips than questioning my dear."

If Jackie took offence to Jekyll's slight of her gender's intelligence she concealed it well. She took Henry's member in both her hands, although now her slender fingers could barely encompass its girth. Dropping her head the whore's mouth engulfed the swollen glans at his cock's tip and the Doctor sighed in pleasure at the moist warmth surrounding the engorged plum of his manhood. Bobbing her head rhythmically she commenced to fellate him, taking more of his hardened flesh rod into her mouth each time her head slid down upon his erect flesh. With Jackie silenced by the thick meat stretching wide her lips and stilling her tongue only wet muffled gagging came from the red-haired prostitute and Henry uttered nothing but pleasured sighs and moans in response to her ministrations. The Doctor soon found that in addition to restoring and enhancing his erection his ability to endure such pleasure without releasing his seed seemed superior. It took many minutes even with the whore's skill until he felt his member throb and the release of his ejaculate flood her mouth.

"Lord in heaven!" Jackie exclaimed as she drew her head from Henry's cock, his pearly spending spluttering from her lips and flowing down her chin as she gasped for breath. "Never had a throat full the like of that before."

To Jekyll's delighted surprise, his member showed not the slightest sign of wilting despite the enormity of his ejaculation. His phallus, now coated with whore's spit and dribbling with seed stood as thick and hard as before. He looked down at the pretty curly-haired slattern with lusty fire in his eyes.

"Turn around and raise your behind." Henry ordered."I will take you like a dog couples a bitch."

The ginger whore did as she was commanded, somewhat shocked and nervous by the newly dominant tone of the Doctor. The pale orbs of her buttocks rose as her hands stretched out before her as she fell upon all fours akin to a bitch awaiting mounting in an alley as he had instructed. She turned her head to stare wide-eyed back and up at Jekyll.

"If you're taking my arse it will be a florin extra." She demanded, though with nervous and trembling protest.

Henry ignored the haggling and slapped the girl's lily-white buttocks before seizing her around the waist and pulling her bodily back towards himself. Guiding his member with one hand he thrust his fleshy rounded cock head against the split peach of Jackie's labial lips that were framed between her pale trembling thighs. With a thrust of his hips, he slid half the length of his phallus into the moist vice of her sex and proceeded to piston his hardness within the woman with an energy that belied his advanced years.

It was perhaps three hours later by Henry's estimation that he concluded his use of the whore. In the intervening time, he had made use of her four or five times further in various postures. Jackie now lay curled upon her bed thoroughly exhausted and though the Doctor felt less drained than she he was certainly fatigued. Henry laid a golden guinea in the girl's palm, fair recompense he judged and doubtless much more than Jackie could normally have earned from a half dozen clients. Redressing himself he took his leave, a glance at the near comatose prostitute assuring him that though well used she would recover soon enough with rest. Dusk had fallen in the meantime once he exited the garret and descended to street level, the familiar London smog roiling up from the Thames River shrouding the narrow alleyed warren of Whitechapel tenements. No carriages of course plied their trade in this labyrinth of narrow streets so Henry turned and made his way in the direction of a broader thoroughfare.

Henry became aware of footsteps behind him as he traversed the foggy and half-deserted path back to a less disreputable borough. Two sets he judged and heavy enough that he reckoned they came from the heavy boots of grown men. Their pace was faster than his own and gaining upon him, he gripped his silver-topped cane defensively and quickened his pace. The footfalls to his rear broke into a run and as Henry turned to face his pursuers a shoulder crashed into his back and he was sent stumbling to his side towards an alley. Further shove from large strong hands pushed the Doctor from the street entirely and into the narrow passage unlit by gaslights. It was at this moment as Henry was presented with the option of flight or confrontation that a crippling cramp struck his body and he cried out in pain and alarm as he staggered to the alley wall and fell to his knees doubled over in discomfort.

"Ere Bill, what ails him?" A coarse and common male voice asked, presumably to his fellow attacker. "You never even hit him, reckon it's his heart giving out?"

"He's faking it like as not." Came the reply and then a threat directed at Henry. "You stop them tricks you hear me? Just hand over your wallet, watch and that fancy cane nice and peaceable or I'll beat you, old man."

"If he drops dead from his heart exploding we'd swing just as surely as if we shanked him, Bill." The first voice protested, alarmed by Henry's continuing cries of pain and quaking of his body. "Robbery is one thing, but I ain't going to the scaffold for no ****."

One set of footsteps broke into a run, diminishing as the first speaker fled the scene of the ****. Bill however was made of sterner mettle or simply more **** for Henry's valuables. He cautiously approached Henry, balling his large calloused hands into fists as the Doctor clutched at the wall moaning and trembling and wreathed in smog.

"Oi, just hand over your loot or I swear I'll swing for you," Bill demanded again as he closed to an arm's length of the crouched figure in the alley.

To emphasise his threat the ruffian aimed a blow, not at Henry directly but to the Doctor's tophat. The tall headwear was knocked from the head and tumbled to the ground. Raven black curls of hair fell from beneath the hat as it was struck off, long enough that they extended halfway down the back. turned towards Bill. The pained moaning coming from the figure ceased along with the trembling of the crouched body. A husky woman's chuckle could be heard in the alley.

"If you want the cane you can surely have it." An undeniably female voice avowed.

Though shocked and confused that his intended victim seemed somehow transformed from the elderly gentleman he had pursued and assaulted Bill bent forward reaching out to take the cane. The body beneath with the swiftness of a striking cobra whipped around with their arm striking outwards and upwards as they rose to their feet. The silver top of the cane struck Bill in his temple just above his eyes and he howled in pain and dismay. Staggering back a pace or two the ruffian grasped at his face as his scalp bled profusely and partially blinded him as it flowed into his eyes. The woman from Henry's half-remembered dream laughed softly and circled the injured robber much like a cat playing with a mouse that it had caught.

"Fucking bitch!" Bill swore, barely able to see and unnerved by the woman's laughter. "I'll make you fucking regret that."

The woman in her badly fitting gentleman's suit and overcoat giggled, her dark brown eyes alight with excitement as she stalked around her prey. She took her leisure in striking the near-blinded man, seemingly unconcerned at his much greater size and strength. The second strike of the heavy cane came down upon the wrist of the arm Bill had stretched out defensively toward the woman and the crack of snapping bone could be heard as the would-be robber's wrist bent at an unnatural and he shrieked in agony. The injured man half turned intending to flee from the alley and his tormentor, but another blow to the back of his head sent him reeling to his knees with his damaged wrist clasped protectively to his body. Chuckling with delight his victim turned assailant closed and began to rain blows from her cane down upon his head and shoulders, bludgeoning him inch by inch until he was sprawled semi-conscious on the cold cobbles of the alley. Giggling maniacally the dark-haired amazon dropped to her knees astride Bill's body grasped the collar of his jacket to haul his head from the floor and continued to strike a flurry of blows at his head with such **** that the cane snapped near its silver-shod head.

Long seconds after Bill had ceased all movement or sound the frenzied attack finally abated and the woman leaned back breathing heavily and gasping in a manner not dissimilar to that she had displayed when reaching sexual climax the previous night in Jekyll's bedchamber. She shook her head, the dark curls flowing around her beautiful blood-streaked face. As her manic anger subsided the woman became aware of several voices near the entrance of the alley, drawn by Bill's screams and her laughter. Scrambling back to her feet the woman snatched up the fallen top hat and with an expression of feral desperation hurried toward the exit at the far end of the alleyway just as the crowd emboldened by numbers found the courage to approach from the opposite direction.

Doctor Tumblety looked up with a momentary expression of panic as a loud and insistent hammering came from the door of his apartment. He had been preparing notes for his solicitor to be used in drawing up a contract between himself and Doctor Jekyll for the joint venture of producing and marketing Henry's serum. He heard the cry commanding him to open up with the person without identifying themselves as a police officer. Cautiously he approached the door, taking a moment to retrieve a scalpal and conceal it in his sleeve as he walked to the vestibule of his property. Through the thick frosted glass panel of the door, he could indeed ascertain that the person outside was wearing the uniform of the constabulary, though it appeared there was only one officer of the law.

"What is your purpose at this hour?" Tumblety shouted, making no movement as yet to unlock the door. "I was about to retire for the night, can whatever business you have not have awaited the morning?"

"Sorry to disturb you sir, but there has been a **** close by." The reply was respectful but urgent. "My inspector wishes to enlist your assistance to examine the body in situ. It would be an hour or so until we could summon a physician to the scene otherwise."

Tumblety was intrigued, though there had been a spate of murders in Whitechapel in recent months he could be certain that this slaying was by a different hand. He opened the door to find a sergeant of the metropolitan constabulary standing outside. The thick-set man saluted him and introduced himself.

"Sergeant Thicke sir, metropolitan police ****." The officer informed him. "My apologies to rouse you at this late hour but the matter is most urgent."

"Yes, yes of course sergeant," Tumblety replied. "Always an honour to assist the forces of law and order in our capital. Just a moment whilst I put on my coat and I will provide whatever help I can. Is this another young woman slashed to ****?"

"Not in this case, no sir. The victim is a man." Thicke explained. "Of course, you would be best skilled to confirm the fact, but he appears to have been beaten to **** rather than stabbed."

As Doctor Tumblety entered the alley where Bill's lifeless body lay upon the cobbles he smirked to himself at the sight of several police officers and a man dressed in a brown tweed suit and derby hat gathered around the crumpled corpse. He wiped the snide grin from his face before introducing himself to whom he assumed was the detective inspector in charge.

"Chief Inspector Abberline." The senior officer responded to the introduction. His face was grim and dour behind the military-styled moustache and mutton chops. "I am grateful for your assistance sir, the procedure you see. A suspected **** victim should be examined on the scene by a physician before the unfortunate is removed. We should not need to detain you long at this late hour sir, a preliminary examination would suffice."

Tumbety knelt on one knee beside the corpse and briefly felt for a pulse on the man's neck lest against the odds he was merely comatose rather than deceased. There was none of course, but the body still retained warmth so his demise was very recent. The Doctor turned the head examining the wounds closely as an officer held a lamp above for illumination. The numerous welts upon the man's face and head were a testament to a savage and sustained ****. Tumblety briefly examined the rest of the dead man's body and discovered the badly fractured wrist.

"**** was the result of blunt **** trauma, within the last hour or less I would say," Tumblety reported. "A most frenzied ****, it would take a more detailed study to determine exactly but I would estimate a couple of dozen blows at least. The initial attack was from the front. See how his wrist is broken, a defensive wound as he held his arm out to fend off the attacker. There were several blows to his face and then a sustained attack to the back of his head, probably after he had fallen and no longer offered resistance. The bleeding from the wounds at the back is far less, either he was already dead or close to it but the murderer continued to beat him. The welts indicate a heavy but narrow blunt weapon, a truncheon or baton of some description perhaps."

"A cane I believe." Abberline corrected dourly. "This was discovered close by in a search of the alley."

The Chief Inspector drew a handkerchief from his jacket and unwrapped it to reveal the silver knobbed end of a gentleman's walking cane, broken and splintered about four inches in length. Engraved upon it were the intertwined initials of H and J. Tumblety masked his surprise and recognition, he had seen this cane just a few hours ago in the hand of Doctor Jekyll.