#c: liena

     Working at Inferno was a compromise that Lana had to make with herself every day. Walking into the building, she had to reconcile the fact that for all intents and purposes, she was a part of an establishment that existed to facilitate selfish gain. Casting a quick, surreptitious gaze toward the patrons gathered on the first floor, she knew that she was within earshot of various nefarious plans and business transactions taking place; goods and services being exchanged by people who basically trafficked in human misery. And making her rounds on the second floor, the syren princess understood profoundly that the people she was helping, the people she was healing, might take the strength she gave them and go on to cause other people harm.

     But she did it anyway, because the alternative was to walk right by knowing there were people inside who might desperately need medical attention; and leaving people in need to their own devices was something that she simply could not do. It was not her job to be judge, jury, or executioner. No, Lana’s job was to first do no harm.

     “Do you know what I’d like to do to you?”

     Today had been particularly challenging, with the patients under her care being more prickly and demanding than usual, to put it mildly. Having people swear or scream at her when she tried to help them was something that the brunette could easily live with. Being catcalled or harassed or even threatened with violence was something that she in her 280 years of living had simply gotten used to. It didn’t make it easy, and being used to it didn’t make her any less uncomfortable, but if it was the price she had to pay for being who she was, then she was willing to put up with it. She could ignore it. Or at least, she could try.

     That was, until she was being physically grabbed to the point that it almost made her visibly wince, certain that at the very least, the grip on her wrist would leave a nasty bruise.

     “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

     “Sir,” Lana said politely, doing her best to tamp down on her accelerating heartbeat as she tried and failed to pull away. “Sir, please, I’m---I’m just trying to do my job.”