Page 49 of Client from Hell

“I’m fine. She’s bleeding off some serious energy from her generalized frustration and interest, so I’m getting enough to work with. Not as much as I’d like, but she’s got a strong sex drive. I’m doing all right.”

“You can really feed just from being near someone who wants sex?” I blurted.

“I can,” Jonas confirmed. “It won’t sustain a demon, but it takes the edge off. It delays having to feed, but it can’t replace feeding. I’m as good as it gets for being able to wait right now. A week won’t bother me.”

With narrowed eyes, Diana considered the incubus. “It’s been almost two months since you’ve fed, Jonas.”

“Unlike my sister, who is spoiled and has never had a reason to truly test her limits, I can go three months before Lucifer starts giving me the eye for not having fed. After six, I’m a mess, but two is nothing.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure, but thank you for asking. Has Lucifer given us our next errand list?”

“Yes, I have it with me. He promises that you won’t be dealing with another lab today, but he makes no promises you won’t have to keep an eye out.”

Something about Diana’s tone made Jonas tense. “What is he having us do?”

“He thinks he has a lead on a corporation working with the labs, and he wants Sandra to inquire on their available cancer treatments while showing off Lucille, wanting them to believe she’s an ultra-wealthy possible client they might be able to manipulate. You’re to go with her as her escort, posing as a secretary or servant of some sort. I have the clothes required to dress her up, I have one of Lucifer’s suits for you, and an address. Sandra, we’re hoping to get an information package for their potential treatments, which we think might be linked to the studies they’ve been doing in some of their labs. Jonas, feel free to abuse your ability to teleport, but only do so if you’re confident of Sandra’s safety.”

“But why would I be going there?” I asked.

“A friend tipped you off, and if asked about who tipped you off, you’re unwilling to breach confidentiality.” Diana set the meter on the dresser and went to her purse, retrieving a tablet. “This has all of our current notes on the operation. Go through it, take a look at the pictures of those we believe to be involved, and keep your eyes open.”

I took the tablet in my free hand and eyed it warily. “If I get used as a lab experiment, I’m making the Devil pay for all eternity, Diana.”

“There’s a line, but I’ll let you skip in front of me if it backfires like that. Lucifer’s ruthless, but he doesn’t intentionally endanger his people. Sure, there’s danger and risk, but he won’t deliberately put someone into such a position without giving a complete disclosure of those risks. This should be safe enough.”

“He didn’t warn me those ‘kittens’ were hungry and would be happy to eat me,” I muttered.

“He likely peeked into the future and saw how your adventure into that house would play out. That said, I’ve made a new policy to be very wary if Lucifer asks me to go retrieve any kittens. Your new otters are adorable, though. When I left the manor this morning, they were heading out to build their habitat and add an expansion to your new house. It’s amazing how hard fucking assholes will work to dodge time in the dungeon. And the fucking assholes who have been behaving get to do jobs they actually like.”

With some help from Jonas, I sat up, careful to keep from jarring the line pumping me full of Darian’s blood. Once situated, I put the tablet on my lap and began scrolling through the data. The note describing the company as an off-shoot of Wishing Well worried me. “We’re not going to run into yet another zombie apocalypse doomed to wipe out more cities in Georgia, are we?”

“The idea is to avoid that. Right now, we think we’ve eliminated the labs that were toeing the line. As long as we keep them from crossing the line, the conditions for the End of Days will remain unmet. But yes, it’s a concern. I doubt you’ll encounter many undead on this adventure.”

“Many does not mean none, Diana.” I glared at the woman, scrolling through in search of any information on the potential undead I might encounter. Sure enough, deep within the file’s depths, I found a summarization of the various undead types created by Wishing Well, how to cope with them if I ran into them, and some names and examples of people who’d survived the general purge. “Why weren’t all of the undead destroyed when Atlanta and the other cities were razed?”

“Some of their undead were created through bargains with Lucifer, demons, or devils, so they abided by the universal rules on their creation. Wishing Well attempted to circumvent those rules, which led to conditions for the End of Days being met. The ones Lucifer is responsible for survived. The ones made by other demons or devils were eradicated along with the ones created by other practitioners. The ones Lucifer created are tracked, as we want to see what they’re up to. They will not have a good time once they perish.” Diana wrinkled her nose, went to Darian, and pressed her fingers to his throat to check his pulse. “How are you holding up?”

“My virus is spiking again,” he complained.

“Oh, how I pity you,” the woman replied, and she smirked. “I am so sad I will have to work with you and a spiking virus. I am so terribly saddened by knowing I will have to take you home with a spiked virus.”

Darian burst into laughter. “You say that now, but will you be saying that when I make you miss at least half a day of work?”

“That better not be all talk,” she warned.

“And now that I know too much about what you two will be doing later, how long do we have left before I can be freed from the transfusion line?”

Still smirking, Diana got out her scanner and jabbed my finger with it. After a few moments, the machine beeped. “Your blood pressure is back to where it needs to be, so I’ll free you from my fiancé’s wicked clutches. Leave the bandage in place for a few hours. Your attire has long sleeves, so it’ll be hidden, although once you tell them you are seeking cancer treatments, they’ll make assumptions. Take your time reading the notes I gave you and have Jonas drive. Also, Lucifer had new glasses made for you. Jonas knows where they’re at. You’re to have your eyes checked once a week, and I think Lucifer intends for one of his brothers to do the work. Raguel came in while you were napping and did your first examination last night.”

“Raguel?”

“My father,” Darian answered, holding still while Diana extracted the transfusion line and bandaged his arm. “Lucifer is being flighty and overprotective, and my father is pretty good about not tripping any triggers, so he came over and handled the work. You need to be able to see without squinting.”

“I think that’s a myth. Can people actually see without squinting?”

Darian snorted. “With the correct glasses, yes.”