“I’ll take you on as a volunteer.” Her voice was harsh. She wasn’t happy with her decision.
“Dara Perdue Strong, mark my words, you will live to rue this day.” Behind her, the old woman’s gaze was pure venom. Belial stayed by the door, out of range.
“That’s probably true, but I need his grant. My only other choice is to close the clinic, and I’m not willing to do that. Too many people would suffer.” Dara looked at him with the same dislike she’d shown the first day he came into the clinic. He might have succeeded at volunteering, but he’d made negative progress on his real mission, to convince Dara to curse the Enemy.
He eyed Esther. The old hag was furious. He might make progress with her granddaughter—he had to make progress with her granddaughter—but Esther would be his bitter enemy until the end. Her knowledge of demons was problematic. His arm still stung from the demonweed sachet, the skin on his face and arm burned like they had been drenched with acid, and his scalp felt like it might reignite at any moment.
“Thank you.” He tried to sound humble and reassuring. “You won’t regret it.”
Esther snorted. “If you do anything to harm my granddaughter, I’ll teach you a whole new meaning of the word regret.”
He inclined his head to show that he understood, but inside, he knew that wouldn’t happen.
He already knew all there was to know about regret.
Chapter 19
Belial arrived at the clinic at three p.m. the next day. Through the reception window, he gave Gabby a dazzling smile. She smiled back as though she couldn’t help herself, but there was a crease between her brows. She made no move to buzz him in.
“Dara said to let her know when you arrived.” She picked up her phone and punched a button. “Dr. Lyle is here.”
According to her DemSec dossier, Gabriella Munoz lost her nursing license after medicating a patient without doctor’s order. The doctor in question, a candidate high on Hell’s prospect list, had already cursed her out once that night, telling her to use her brain instead of interrupting his sleep. When the patient’s pain escalated, she bumped up his dosage, assuming the doctor would back her up. Instead, he’d filed a complaint. Dara was the sole employer in Alexandria who would hire her. Despite Gabby’s dazed smile, it was unlikely she could be swayed against the woman who had stood behind her.
Belial turned to check out the waiting room. Although an adult clinic was scheduled, the movie Pinocchio played on a small television. A couple of children sat cross-legged in front of the screen. Nearby, a curly-haired toddler pulled a battered toy from a basket on the floor. She tasted it and squealed. Her mother yanked the toy from her mouth. “No te lo metas a la boca.” Don’t put that in your mouth.
Then, to Belial’s horror, the infant lurched over to him and clutched his pant leg. He flinched. Even through the barrier of fabric, the touch of one so innocent made his flesh burn. He looked down. At his knee, a round baby face stared up at him. He forced himself to smile at her, but as soon as her big eyes met his, she screwed up her face and wailed. She released his pant leg and sat down with a thump, shrieking as tears rolled down her face. Her mother scooped her up with a quick apology.
Behind him, Dara cleared her throat. “You don’t like children?” Her tone said she’d expected as much.
“Of course,” he said. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie. He had no opinion one way or the other about children. He’d never had any as mission targets, so he’d never spent any time with them.
He followed Dara past the high counters of the Pit. It was surrounded by the painted white walls of the clinic. He breathed in the stinging smell of rubbing alcohol and disinfectant. These people had no idea what a real pit was.
Inside her office, Dara closed the door and picked up a plastic spray bottle and a baggie of crushed vegetation from her desk. His skin prickled.
“Here are the rules for working in my clinic,” she said. “First, you work with me as your nurse at all times. If I discover you alone with a patient, I will douse you with holy water, sprinkle on demonweed for good measure and close this place down.
“Second, you will use AMA-approved best practices for diagnosis and treatment. Another doctor will review every test and treatment you order. If you deviate from those practices by so much as a tonsil check, I will douse you with holy water, sprinkle you with demonweed and close this place down.
“Third, you are not to try to win anyone over to your master’s way of thinking. If I see you attempting that, I will douse you with holy water and I will close this place down.”
“You forgot the demonweed,” he said. Her hand moved toward the spray bottle. He held up both hands in surrender. “Just joking.”
“Not funny.” She didn’t smile. “Fourth, you may not bring any other demons into this building.”
He held one palm toward her. “I am not here to harm your clinic.” If you discounted the collateral damage that would occur when he succeeded in destroying her, it was a true statement. “I’m only here to observe.”
“Fifth,” she went on as though he hadn’t spoken, “you may not be in contact with any other demons, including Satan, while you’re working.”
That actually sounded pretty good. Since he’d been on this mission, the boss had been driving him crazy. Like a needy girlfriend, he called or texted twenty times a day.
“I don’t know that I can control his texting me,” he said. “He is my boss, after all.” And Satan.
“Figure it out.” Dara stuck out her chin. “It’s bad enough I have to deal with one demon. I am not taking on a whole army of them.”
He nodded.
“Sixth,” she said, “do not flirt with any of the workers.”
He glanced at the sheen of VapoRub on her upper lip, proof that she wasn’t immune to his charms. “Are you feeling possessive?”
“No, I’m trying not to feel possessed.” Her tone was tart, but color rose in her cheeks. She hadn’t forgotten their little rendezvous. “Seventh, do not form relationships with any of the workers or volunteers.”
“Including you?”
“That won’t be an issue.” As though to make up for blushing a moment before, her tone was icy.
“I won’t fraternize with the troops. I’m here on a mission, and the boss doesn’t like it if it looks like we’re having a good time.”
“Finally,” she said, “I had Javier create a special login for you. It will give you access to the records of the patients you’re scheduled to see and will leave an audit trail of every screen you access in our system and every piece of information you add or change.”
She was locking the door to a barn he had no plans to enter, but he nodded.
“If I see you taking any photographs, or making any recordings, I’ll—”
He held up his hand. “I know the drill.”
“Be sure that you do.” She looked at him, unsmiling. “Follow my rules and you can stay for the next six weeks.”
The wager expired in thirty-nine days. Six weeks would be more than enough time.
Lilith lifted a small plastic box from the console of the Miata and opened the car door. Swinging her legs out, she set her Jimmy Choos on the cracked asphalt of the Strong clinic parking lot and exited the car in one fluid motion. Across the lot, a young man in a white lab jacket with the UFL Medical School logo on the breast pocket smoked an electronic cigarette. He looked at her legs. She put a little extra swivel in her hips for his benefit as she crossed the lot.
At the front desk, she introduced herself. “Lilith Rojas. I’m on the board of trustees. Is Dara available?” To her delight, the receptionist said Dara was currently occupied.
“Is it all right if I look around?” She glanced at the woman’s nametag and added, “Gabriella. What a pretty name.”
Gabriella’s smile wavered. The lobby was packed, and it was almost time for evening clinic hours to begin. She clearly wanted to say no but knew that wasn’t an appropriate answer to a member of t
he board.
“How about if I have Javier, our volunteer coordinator…” Gabriella began a counterproposal as the medical student from the parking lot came into the lobby. She buzzed him through the locked door to the clinic area.
Lilith followed on his heels and headed for the closest examining room.
Once inside, she pulled the little plastic box from her pocket and dumped the contents on the paper sheet covering the examining table. Three dozen lice scattered in all directions. It was a minor action, but one she hoped Dara would associate with Belial’s first night in the clinic. She slipped the box back into her pocket just before Javier came into the room and introduced himself.
“Gabby said you wanted to see the clinic?”
For the next fifteen minutes, she followed him on a screamingly dull tour. Why in the world Javier thought anyone would be interested in the huge windowless file room or the cramped little staff kitchen, she couldn’t imagine. He insisted on showing her every office, explaining in detail what each boring occupant did. They returned to the clinic area as Dara and Belial exited Dara’s office.
Both of them caught sight of her at the same moment. Their reactions were so comical it was almost enough to make up for the boredom she’d endured. Dara’s cheeks flamed as though she’d been caught in flagrante with the handsome doctor. Belial looked pissed.
Dara recovered first. “Lilith. What are you doing here?”
Lilith gave Dara a saucy smile. “I came to offer moral support.”
Dara’s face grew even redder. Lilith eyed Belial the way she might eye a handsome doctor she’d never met. Dara introduced them.
“Oh, Dr. Lyle,” Lilith cooed, offering him her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“All good, I hope?” He gave her hand the briefest of shakes before dropping it.
She slid her gaze sideways to Dara and smiled. “Good doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
Dara’s face look like it might catch fire. When the receptionist called her to the front desk, she excused herself and escaped.
“What are you doing here?” Belial asked as soon as Dara was out of earshot.
“Being supportive,” Lilith said. “She didn’t want you here, and I want her to know that if anything goes wrong, I’m here for her. It’s what friends do.”
He glared at her. “Why are you really here?”
“The boss thought it would be good to have one demon around she hasn’t recognized.”
His fists clenched and his pupils squared off. Lilith trilled a laugh. He was so easy to provoke. At the reception desk, Dara turned to stare at them. Lilith waggled her fingers in a cheeky wave. Dara blushed again and turned her back.
“Why didn’t the Prozac work for me?” His gaze should have scorched her to a cinder. It was all she could do not to hug herself.
“You mean the pill you stole from my purse?”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
“That wasn’t Prozac,” she said. “That was for menstrual cramps.” She sashayed away. Behind her, Belial cursed under his breath.
The clinic was growing more crowded. Nurses, student nurses and medical students stood in clumps around the large, rectangular counter, making it difficult to traverse the room. The waiting room was filled to capacity with patients. Then, like a conductor leading an orchestra, Dara directed patients and workers into various examination rooms. In a matter of minutes, every exam room was full and the lobby and the area Javier called the Pit had breathing space again. Belial remained in the open area.
“What made you stop by?” Dara asked Lilith when things had finally settled down.
“I knew tonight was Dr. Lyle’s first volunteer shift. I thought you might want some backup.”
Dara’s mouth twisted. “Helping me keep him out of here in the first place would have been more useful.”
Lilith patted Dara’s arm. “Even if I’d backed you, we would have been overruled. You know that as well as I do. And, to be honest, I still can’t see what your problem is with him.” She waited for Dara to answer that, but she didn’t respond. “He’s kind of hot.”
Dara’s face turned pink again, but before she had to answer, one of the student nurses came running from exam room one.
“Ms. Strong,” she said, “I think we have lice.”
Dara hurried away. Lilith wandered back to where Belial stood. He was reading a medical article on a computer screen. Her lips pinched. To see him, you’d think he was a real doctor.
A moment later the triage team and the patient came out of room one, relocating to one of the back offices. Dara fastened yellow caution tape across the door of room one and directed the receptionist to call the cleaning service.
“What did you do?” Belial glared at Lilith. Her only reply was a taunting smile. When Dara returned, Lilith asked what happened.
“We have lice,” she said.
“You don’t seem very concerned.”
Dara shrugged. “It’s pretty common. Kids bring them home from school and pass them to the parents, who bring them in here. The cleaning service will take care of the exam room.” She turned to Belial. “It does mean we’re down a room for the evening, so it looks like you and I will be restricted to working in room five. As soon as the nurses finish triage, I’ll have them put a patient in there.”
A few minutes later, they disappeared into room five. Lilith frowned at the closed door. They were far too cozy. They were already beginning to form a team. Dara’s lack of response to the lice was also disappointing, but Lilith wasn’t worried.
She had a lot more tricks up her sleeve.
Chapter 20
The demon’s first evening in the clinic went better than Dara expected. He’d said Hell had spent years training demons for this mission. Maybe that was true. She had paired with a lot of doctors in the dozen years she’d been a nurse. His skills and knowledge were on par with the best she’d ever seen.
More unnerving—although she guessed it shouldn’t have been—was how gifted he was at dealing with patients. The only downside to the evening, as far as she could see, was being cooped up in the tiny exam room with him for three straight hours.
His nearness made it difficult to ignore his allure. Her body tingled with awareness of him. The smear of VapoRub on her lip only partially cloaked his scent. Maybe she’d be better off not taking any antihistamines—when her head was clogged, she couldn’t smell him at all. Unfortunately, she also couldn’t breathe through her nose.
Inappropriate questions pestered her like gnats as they worked. Would his dark hair feel crisp beneath her fingers, or smooth? Was his well-muscled chest bare or covered in the same fine black hair as his arms? He bent forward, and the smattering of hair that showed at the neck of his polo shirt answered that question, but from there it was far too easy to follow the trail of hair southward.
Whenever it got too bad, she wrapped her fingers around the ruby cross. That made the images scatter, but he caught her at it and slowly smiled a knowing smile that made her want to smack him—or do something else with him. Well, if he thought she’d act on her fantasies, he was mistaken. Only a self-destructive idiot would fall for a demon.
When he checked out the computer in the exam room, he’d touched the black tape she’d used to cover the camera.
“Don’t remove that,” she told him sharply. “It’s there to ensure patient privacy.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he’d said. “The computers in the exam rooms don’t have speakers?”
“Or microphones,” she said. “There’s no need.”
She had the sense he was pleased, but she didn’t know why.
All in all, though, it was worth it. Viola Finch lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as he walked into the exam room. She insisted on giving him full details of her battle with nighttime heartburn. He listened with an attentiveness that surprised Dara, asking questions about Viola’s diet, exercise and sleep habits. Her answers were more straightforward than Dara ha
d ever heard her give before. When she finished, he turned to Dara.
“She needs to see a gastroenterologist.” He dropped her chart onto the counter with a thud. They hadn’t had time to enter Viola’s extensive history into their system, so it was still on paper. “The doctors here have been treating her for nearly three years with no real progress.”
Warmth rose into Dara’s cheeks at the accusation beneath his words.
“Unfortunately, the clinic doesn’t have a relationship with a digestive specialist.” She fought to keep the defensiveness out of her tone. Over the years, she’d cultivated affiliations with the specialists in town. Many had agreed to see a limited number of clinic patients pro bono. Alexandria was a small town, though, and there were only a couple of gastroenterologists. She hadn’t been able to enlist their support. “That’s why we’ve been treating her here.”
“Give me a name,” he said. “I’ll persuade them to see her.”
That riled her. “Why would they do it for you when they refused me?”
“Call it professional courtesy.”
Viola cackled. “You know any woman doctor will say yes.”
That was probably true.
“I’d like to see one of those specialists, doc, if you can arrange it,” Viola said.
He turned his smile on the old lady. “I’m sure we can.”
Viola beamed back at him, her former cantankerousness completely gone.
He finished up his exam. Viola slid off the table. “You’ve finally got a good doctor in here. You hang on to him, you hear?”
At the end of the evening, Jeremy invited everyone to go out for drinks to celebrate the new recruit’s successful first night.
Dara was surprised to see Lilith still there. Despite her career in healthcare, spending time watching a free clinic operate didn’t seem like her kind of evening. Then Dara remembered Lilith was interested in Jeremy, who also didn’t seem like her type. Dr. Demon, at least on the surface, seemed a better fit for her—they were both exceptionally good-looking, and in the same dramatic way. And they were both quick thinkers, able to respond to complex questions in an instant.
The Demon Always Wins: Touched by a Demon, Book 1 Page 12
