Section 1

“Kevin! Thank god!” Reanna threw her arms around him as he opened the door.

Carefully disengaging, Kevin stepped back to get a good look at her. “What’s the matter?”

Reanna seemed to pull herself together for a moment. “Can I come in? Please?”

Kevin just shrugged, and stepped aside, an inquiry in his eyes. “Thank you.” She held together long enough to take the step through the door, and close it behind her.

Then she obviously lost control for a moment, and was on her knees, scrambling at his crotch. “Oh god, I need…”

He instinctively stepped back, distancing himself from her. “Reanna! What’s going on?”

She put her arms to her sides, with an obvious effort. “I’m sorry, I meant to explain first, I just… It’s getting hard to control.” She looked away. “I’m infected, Kevin. RMCS. The plague, the virus, whatever you want to call it. I’ve been trying to hold out, but…” She turned back to him. “Please, I need to imprint on someone. Someone I trust. I know it’ll mess up things between you and Sandra, at least for a while, but… I can’t think of anyone else.” She couldn’t hold his gaze, and looked down. “I don’t want it to be anyone else. I love you.”

“Reanna?”

“Sorry, I know my timing stinks. And you and Sandra are great together, really, you are. I didn’t want to get in the way of that. I just… Don’t have many choices here. I’ve been trying to work up the courage to come here, and… Well, I’m out of time.” She looked up again. “Please. I won’t make it home again. Not without taking someone in the street. I want… I want it to be someone who knows me. I trust you. Sandra will understand.”

They stared at each other in silence.

Ages later: “Please?”

Kevin closed his eyes and looked away. “I’d never be able to live with myself if I sent you away.”

“Thank you!” She crossed the distance between them, and opened his pants. A wave of relaxation hit her as his cock slid into her mouth, and obvious pleasure flowed over her face.

He put his hands to her hair, just stroking her lightly in comfort.

She felt him tense, and looked up, finding herself meeting his eyes.

He saw the gratitude there, as he came in her mouth.

Then here eyes rolled back to expose only the whites, she slid off him, unconscious.

“Reanna!”

The doctor rose to greet them. “Hi, I’m Dr. Rask, but please, call me Erica. Have a seat.” She said, taking their hands in turn, then gesturing to the chairs available.

Kevin and Reanna took the seats indicated.

“I have your lab results Reanna, and yes, you have an active case of RMCS.” She turned to Kevin. “I assume she imprinted on you?”

He nodded, then expanded. “She came to my apartment, desperate. How could I turn her away?”

Erica nodded, then turned to her notes. “I’ve been interested in RMCS, but I have to admit, you are the first active case I’ve seen. I’ll try to walk you through what you’ll need to expect.”

She looked back at the couple. “First off, I want you to know that Reanna probably was not infected recently. Calling her ‘infected’ is actually a bit misleading: Eighty percent of the population is infected. Most people though have inactive cases. Reanna’s is now active.”

“So what activated hers?”

Erica shrugged. “We don’t know. Major injury can do it, as can direct blood-to-blood exposure to another active case, but most of the time it appears to be spontaneous. Luckily, it doesn’t happen often — there are only a few cases a year, and we haven’t had one around here before at all, at least not one that’s been reported to us.”

“But it has happened to you, so you’ll have to learn to deal with it. How much do you know about RMCS, Mr. Truman?”

“Just what I’ve seen on the news, I guess.”

“Then let’s make sure you’ve got the facts straight. I have a pamphlet for you here…” She dug around in her folder to find it, then handed it over, “But I’m not going to make you read it. First off, Reanna’s decision making capability has been compromised, severely. The most obvious sign of that is if you tell her to do something, or if someone tells her that you told them to tell her to do something, she’ll do it. No matter what it is.” She let that sink in a moment. “It’s recommended that you give her a password, so that people can’t just claim to have your authority to her. She’ll need it.”

“Now, she can live a mostly normal life, if you let her, but high-stress decision making is out, entirely. She’ll collapse, and I mean that literally. And her judgment is off as well. Besides the fact that you are the most important thing in her life now, it’ll be… odd. Not always safe, or logical.” She shrugged. “It’s hard to say how it will manifest, but it’s supposed to be obvious, if you watch her.”

“So, because of that, she’s been relegated to essentially the same legal status as a child, when it comes to legal contracts and such. You are her guardian, you’ll have to take responsibility for her decisions, if you let her make them. You’ll be signing papers saying you understand this before you leave here.”

“Secondly, her concept of ‘happiness’ has been completely screwed up. Nothing that made her happy before will ever make her happy again. In fact, her happiness is now dependent on only one factor: How recently she’s had sexual intercourse with you, her imprint. If you’ve just had sex — any type — she’ll be ecstatically happy. This will fade out over time; after about four weeks she’ll get to the point where she’s basically suicidally depressed. Given enough time, she will commit suicide, unless she re-imprints.”

“That’s possible? She can re-imprint?”

“It is possible. It takes a lot of work, and she won’t seek it herself, but it is possible. If you are around, and keeping her even moderately happy, she won’t re-imprint, but if you die or something happens to you, it can be done.”

Kevin actually relaxed at that.

“That said, you are expected to keep her in humane conditions. While she can be happy starved, dehydrated, with her bones broken, you will end up in jail if people find out you are abusing her. Just a warning.”

Erica was glad to be able to say the idea of abusing Reanna apparently completely shocked Kevin.

“Ok, I have a couple of papers saying that I’ve gone over all of that with you, and that you understand it, that I need you to sign.” She passed the packets over; both Kevin and Reanna signed without much comment.

“One last thing you need: Reanna is required to wear a medical and legal warning, stating that she has RMCS, and that it is active. It has to be visible and prominent. It’s become standard to wear that warning as a necklace of sorts, but it doesn’t have to be.”