Page 48 of Client from Hell

Darian chuckled. “There was no way in hell Lucifer was letting the intern of his choice die from cancer, but you were at a stage where there were limited options. My father actually suggested us being donors, as our virus would let Lucifer determine your strain later. He beat us to the chase, though. That surprised me. That said, my father is probably partially responsible. Someone slipped and mentioned about how we were pretty tired from the constant donations.” With a grin, Darian glanced at Diana. “One day, you will learn.”

“I was beyond tired. I was exhausted. I needed a jolt from a damned archangel to get back on my feet. Also, we learned that our virus can do a max of two units a day without becoming a spiking mess. I donated three halfway through the first week, and I was a walking disaster. Unfortunately, we had dinner with Darian’s parents that night, and one of his fathers is an archangel. We both got a round with him, which was part of why there was extra blood. Holy fire is useful for that sort of thing.”

“And while Diana can wield holy fire, after a week of donating blood, she was tapped all around.” Darian waggled his finger at Lucifer’s secretary. “Next time Lucifer tells you a sob story, get the details before agreeing. Agree anyway, but at least go in knowing what we’re getting into.”

“That’s fair,” she replied. “I heard the word cancer, and well, that decided me. But your cancer was far, far worse than mine. Mine had just started to develop before Lucifer and his brothers got their wicked hands on me.”

“Did you just call angels wicked?” I blurted.

“Angels are supremely wicked, and archangels are even worse. Then you have Lucifer, who is the prime wicked being. He is just a step below Lucifer on the wickedness chart. In my opinion, of course.” Diana pointed at her scanner. “So, back to the science. The virus has been working overtime fixing your vital organs. Your kidneys and liver are back to good shape, your lungs are healthy, your brain isn’t doing too bad, but I’ll have to get you to a hospital to confirm some of the oddities my scanner is reporting. I’m not concerned about it, but your brain seems to have structural oddities.”

“Well, isn’t that to be expected? The cancer ate parts of my brain.”

Diana stilled. “Nobody had told me the cancer had progressed to your brain. Wait, no. I think I’d been told the cancer had progressed to full-body, but I had assumed that wasn’t in your brain.”

“The lycanthropy virus is restoring my brain, then?”

“That would explain the structural oddities, yes. Anyway, your IQ is reporting at higher than normal, which is to be expected from your general ability in school. There’s odd activity in the temporal and parietal lobes, but that’s consistent with practitioner magic. Have you used much in the way of magic?”

“Yes, I’m a practitioner. Or was—I haven’t really tried to do anything since I was hospitalized.”

Diana retrieved a notepad and a pen. “Do any form of minor working for me, please.”

Drawing a rune with one arm unavailable took more effort than I appreciated, but I drew the rune to create light, set the paper aside, and gave it a shake to activate it. The paper glowed with a pure white radiance.

“Oh, that was nicely done,” Diana complimented before taking the sheet of paper and pressing it to the scanner. “This scanner has a very interesting feature; it can judge the strength of a practitioner from a working.” After a moment, the machine beeped. “And that explains the strange brain activity; you’re probably fairly up there on the practitioner charts, so you’ll need to be trained if you haven’t done a lot of high-level, refined magic. Lycanthropy is essentially concentrated magic, so it doesn’t surprise me you’d become a rather strong practitioner following the infusion of blood you’ve been given. I’m also a practitioner, so my blood probably contributed.”

Somehow, I kept from giggling, and Jonas turned his head away from Diana under the guise of checking his phone, which was on the nightstand. To keep my amusement contained, I asked, “How is my reproductive system doing?”

“Ask Jonas. He’s your personal hormone therapy plan right now.”

“He keeps telling me no, but then wanders around and poses, and I think it’s really not fair.”

Diana rolled her eyes. “Jonas, what are you doing?”

“Keeping you from having to donate an extra unit or two a day due to her virus wanting to permanently tame me. Until you two aren’t coming back here every day for donations, we will just have to suffer through abstinence.”

“Suffering is the correct word to use. I suffer, significantly.” I heaved my most dramatic sigh. “He even gets into bed when I’m cold, but I have to behave. It’s cruel, Diana. Just look at him.”

“Yes, he is an incubus, and incubi are generally attractive.” Diana glanced at Darian with a grimace. “Sorry. It’s true.”

“The rule is look but don’t touch. You can look at the incubi all you want, but you have to come home and touch me,” Darian replied with a grin. “I really don’t mind when you get worked up because you had a bunch of incubi flouncing around you.”

“Flouncing is such a good word for it,” Jonas stated with a hint of good humor in his voice. “Would you like me to spread word that you would enjoy us flouncing around your woman, Darian?”

“I’ll even look the other way should your pranks target those in close proximity to me.”

Diana huffed, but after a few moments, she laughed. “You two are something else. Don’t mind them, Sandra.”

“I want to hear more about this flouncing.”

Jonas snickered. “It’s lewd.”

“That isn’t discouraging me.”

“Except you’re banned from extracurricular activities for at least another week. Lewd is a code word for frustration. Your frustration. It won’t bother me at all. Frustrated women are almost as delicious as virgin ones. Go ahead. Take the bait. I’ll enjoy myself in a week. I’m used to being patient.”

Diana giggled. “He’s got you there, Sandra. And he’s right about the week. Your hormone levels are still a mess. Are you going to be all right for a week, Jonas? You have to be hitting your limit with the amount of work you’ve been putting in. Lucifer wanted me to make sure you aren’t getting excessively hungry.”