Page 33 of The Succubi's Choice

“Would that get you in trouble?”

“My job is literally dealing with humans who find out,” she says, pushing herself up with a groan. Literally everything aches. “I’m gonna shower, please don’t be weird.”

* * *

She stepsout of the shower to so many missed texts her head swims, so she sits on the floor of her bathroom, still wrapped up in her towel, holding her head with one hand and scrolling with the other.

KATYA WORK (8:55 AM): If it’s an issue let me know but I’m drowning under paperwork.

KATYA WORK (8:56 AM): And cases I need you on.

KATYA WORK (9:01 AM): And people who want to file with you instead of a human.

LUNDY: (9:05 AM): Correct.

LUNDY (9:11 AM): I will be sending adjusted feeding schedule tonight.

Her heart turns over at that, and she puts her head down against her knees and breathes hard for a few seconds, before she squeaks herself up off the wet tile floor and texts back Katya.

MIRI (9:15): Apparently I am. These are things I would have liked to know.

KATYA WORK (9:17): Did he really tell me and not you?

MIRI (9:17): *Finger Guns emoji

After taming her curls into something resembling a professional bun and getting into her work clothes, she traipses out to find Gabriel sitting on the couch, cradling his head.

Jacqueline’s no longer sitting on the counter, and Miri’s not sure she has the energy right then to deal with whatever emotional crater is going to come her way.

“Did she sleep here last night?” Miri asks, and he startles like she’s caught him doing something shameful.

“I think she slept in the armchair,” he says, his voice a hair rough. “She’s...”

“Not happy with you?” Miri picks up her purse, leafing through it, her head swimming at the idea of driving and putting in a full day of work.

“Much more that I shot someone than over keeping a secret.”

Miri stills, then turns to look at him, and his face twists again. “You didn’t kill him, I told you.” The words taste like ash in her mouth, and the Archdemon’s smile springs, unbidden, into her mind. Like he had gotten exactly what he wanted from the situation and not a little bit less.

“She went into the whole ‘but your intent was there’ thing, and I’m...not sure what else I was supposed to do? I thought he was threatening...?”

“No, he was very threatening, don’t feel bad,” she blurts out, at a loss on how to solve this mini emotional breakdown. “I’ll say something to her, don’t worry.”

Gabriel doesn’t look comforted. “Should you be driving?”

“I mean, probably not,” Miri says, cause her head is swimming and her skin feels like it’s on fire. “Lundy says he’ll send over a food schedule tonight, so at least that’s stopped.”

Gabriel blanches, for just long enough that she catches it. “Did the demon change his mind on that?”

And isn’t that a question. Did the demon somehow, someway, exert some sort of influence against how the Organization deals with her? Did he twist something in Lundy’s mind, simply to help her?

Could he change her own mind on things?

With that shudder, she shrugs and grabs her keys. “Who the fuck knows.”

* * *

Her phone doesn’t stop beepingthe entire time she’s tackling the paperwork mountain at work, and even though Katya’s out of sight, Miri can tell she’s just raising her eyebrows the entire time.

---