“Nicht bewegen.”
“He’s telling you not to move,” says Lucifer.
“Being shot is one thing. Bug food’s another.”
“Be quiet and take your medicine like a good boy.”
As the beetles eat the oil, they nibble the dead skin around my wounds, leaving a filament behind. When they’re done, both wounds are closed with a kind of thick spiderweb patch.
The doctor puts his beetles away and says something to Lucifer.
“He says that you’ve already stopped bleeding internally and that you won’t even have scars. He says that all your scars, including the burn on your arm, are healing very nicely.”
“Does he know any way to stop them?”
Lucifer says something to Allwissend. The doctor looks at me and laughs.
“I know. Only an idiot doesn’t want to heal. Forget it,” I say.
After the doctor puts away his tools, he and Lucifer talk for a couple of minutes. Allwissend looks at me and nods a good-bye.
Lucifer takes two Maledictions, lights both, and hands me one.
“To answer your question, I don’t know which Sub Rosa or civilian would want to kidnap me. If they’re working for one of my enemies, why not just kill me? I’d go straight back to Hell, to where whatever general hired them could pick me off.”
“What about the missing guy, Spencer Church? Do you own his soul?”
“No, I’m not sure I even met the man.”
“Seems like there’s other people around town missing. It’s practically all Lurkers at Bamboo House. Do you know anything about that?”
“No.”
Now that my right side feels better, I can feel my neck and the pins and needles on my left side more.
“You need to be careful. And you need more help than just me. Who else do you have here?” I ask.
“I’ll make some calls. But until this is resolved, I’ll be doing most of my business from this suite.”
“Good, ’cause I think I’m going to want tomorrow off.”
“Of course. We can stay in touch by phone and through Kasabian. Let’s talk and I’ll let you know when I need you again.”
I pick up the shirt the doctor sliced up.
“Can I borrow something to wear?”
Lucifer gets up and goes to the bedroom. It lets me get a good look at him and confirm what I thought I saw earlier.
He comes back and drops a pile of neatly folded silk dress shirts onto the table.
“Take whichever you like. Take a few extras, too.”
I go through the pile shirt by shirt, dropping each one onto the table.
“You like these colors, don’t you? Black, dark reds, and purples.”
“Why do you ask?”