Go give Grace the cure

When you left the forest and returned to the town, the night has already fallen. You wasted no time and drove straight to the G&M book shop, so that you could find and cure Grace as soon as possible.

You opened the door and heard the familiar bell ring again. The shop was clearly still open at this time; however, no one was sitting behind the counter to greet you. You called out for Grace or George, but no one answered.

You went to the hall where the bookshelves were and checked, yet still you couldn't find anyone.

On the other side of the main hall was a reading room. You decided to go there and check if Grace was there.

You were standing in the middle of your hotel room.

It's 11 p.m. right now. There were several missed calls displayed on the screen of your cellphone. The lights in the room were off. Fran was sound asleep in bed. And you had no idea how you ended up back here.

You didn't remember anything from the moment you stepped into the book shop's reading room. You couldn't recall what you had done there. Roughly 4 hours of your memory was lost. Yet you felt no sense of upset or confusion. Instead, an unnatural calm settled over you regarding the entire unusual situation.

You stumbled into the bathroom and checked yourself in the mirror. You looked pale. Your lips were dry, and your hands were shaking terribly. A splash of cold water on your face didn't wash away your tiredness or the increasing discomfort in your stomach. When you turned your head to the side, you noticed something strange.

There was a pair of red dots on your neck. However, when you looked closer and touched them, they disappeared as if they had never been there. You smirked at your reflection for several minutes. You had absolutely no idea what was going on, but you just didn't care anymore.

You undressed yourself and went into the shower for a hot bath. When the hot water ran over your body and reached your thighs, you were rushed by a stream of pleasure that made you almost moan aloud and barely able to stand. You noticed that there was another pair of red dots on your left inner thigh. It disappeared quickly like the previous ones, but the pleasure lingered and your manhood hardened.

Overwhelmed by this sensation, you began to jerk yourself off. Every stroke was becoming more intense and you growls were turning more beast-like. At first you feared that you might wake Fran up, but soon you didn't feel fear anymore. A part of you believed that, by doing this, you could relive the unimaginable pleasure which was lost along with your memory.

Your hand moved back and forth, faster and faster. You could almost feel a soft, cold breath against the side of your neck where those red dots had been, which made your spine tingle. You smiled as you loved the feeling. You wanted it to last forever.

A low, guttural groan tore out of your throat when you finally tipped over the edge. The climax exploded through every nerve ending, blanking your mind for a long, dizzying moment. When the haze cleared, you were leaning against the cold shower tile, chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath.

You stood there under the running water until it started to run cold. What am I doing? You noticed the sticky liquid on your hand and looked confused. You seemed to have come out of the trance as you finally thought that masturbating in the middle of the night in the bathroom was weird as hell.

You finished your shower, wrapped a towel around your waist and walked back out into the dark bedroom. Fran hadn't stirred, still curled up under the sheets, quiet and still. You sat on the edge of your side of the bed and started to think, yet again you couldn't remember anything.

The more you thought, the more painful your head became. You threw yourself onto the bed and closed your eyes. You fell asleep almost instantly.

June 1st.

You woke up at around 10 a.m. and Fran was nowhere to be seen. You noticed that she left a message on the table, stating that she would like to buy a fish at the local market and cook it herself. You couldn't help but laugh.

Then you began to remember what happened when you came back to the hotel room last night. You went to find your suit, which had been put back into the closet kindly by Fran, and checked the pocket.

You found 3 doses of monkshood solutions there, 1 less than you remembered. Does that mean that I had found Grace last night and given her the cure already? Only one way to find out. You dressed up and immediately left the room.

When you once again arrived at the book shop, you were greeted by George.

"Hello, James. Want to find another book?" He smiled.

"Hi, George." You answered while you continued to walk towards the reading room. The room was surrounded by bookshelves. There were several sets of tables and chairs, and even a sofa, in the room. No one was here, and nothing was unusual.

"James, are you alright?" George followed you and asked with concern.

"Oh, actually I'm looking for Grace. Is she here?" You asked nervously. You didn't want to act weird and make George suspect what happened between you and his sister, but this was very urgent and you went straight for it.

"No, she hasn't come home since she went out last night." George didn't seem to be worried as he replied calmly, "I know you're worried. I'll tell her about the medicine and let you know when she's back, okay?"

"The... medicine?"

"Yeah, you came here last night and told me that you got the medicine for Grace, remember? I'm keeping it for her, don't worry, James." George gave you a strange look when he replied.

"Right... Appreciated. Well, I have other arrangements later, so I'd better get going. See you." You nodded and left the place immediately.

Something was wrong and you could not tell what it was. You felt uneasy as you sat in the driver seat of the Sentinel. At times like this, you really wished to talk to someone. You grabbed your cellphone and called Fran right away.

"Hi, James, you're finally up?" Fran sounded happy to hear your voice.

"Yeah. Sorry to have worried you." You took a deep breath, "Fran, we need to talk. Where are you?"

"I'm still in the market. Well, how about we meet at the bar on the east end of Sirius Street later? It's called the Wolf Dreamer. The name's a bit weird but I heard their cocktails are really good."

"Sure."

Doses of monkshood solution remained: 3.