The following day was chaotic as Hell, less so because of the reports Rosie finalized for me last night. Today, I have Carmilla's conference with the rest of the overlords in Hell, and then I have to meet Charlie for lunch. If this meeting runs late, I will be leaping out the window without a second of hesitation. Charlie has invited me for lunch, and I will attend no matter how today goes. I was up early this morning to prepare for the day; I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to pick the right outfit for lunch. I asked the opinions of my staff. Nurse Toppan was difficult as usual, but everyone else loved my outfit. I do one last check in the mirror to ensure I look presentable as Meko rubs against my leg approvingly. I pack the reports away in a black bag that I sling across my shoulder and go over everything with Soran before I head out for most of the day. I also instructed Frazzle to follow me around today. The walk over to Carmilla's is usually pretty standard, but today, I had the misfortune of running into Vox and his goonies.

"Why, if my eyes don't deceive me, you look just stunning today, Vesper. That dress is perfect on you; I love what you have done with your hair; it's looking extra radiant this Hellish morning," Vox matches my step as I do my best to keep my upbeat mood. I get to see Charlie. Nothing could go wrong today; I won't allow it.

"Thank you, Vox. You three are looking lavish this morning as well," I pick up my pace to make it to Carmilla's faster; maybe I should have just gotten a driver to take me over instead of walking out in public like this. I could have even had Soran drop me off; now, I'm stuck with the consequences of my actions. Since there were now four overlords just roaming the streets, they cleared out quickly; there wasn't a single sinner around. Not even the Hellborns were sticking around to figure out what was happening today. Vox was going on and on about the stocks of his sales as I zoned him out, to be completely honest. I enjoyed these walks because Alastor and Rosie would always meet me in front of the hospital, and we would all head in together. There was a lot of complaining about the recent shenanigans of Susan and the one and only Nurse Toppan. I caught her sneaking into the medicine room again this morning. I was considering locking her up in solitary confinement, but Soran convinced me that he had the situation under control. Alaster and Rosie would always share the latest tea with me like we always used to do.

"Ah, Vesper dear! There you are; I was starting to get worried that I was too late to walk in with you," Rosie saunters down the block as a grin crosses my face, and I meet her halfway, abandoning Vox in the middle of whatever rant he was trying to vocalize.

"Good morning, Rosie! I'm glad I ran into you. Thank you for the lovely meal you left me yesterday and for helping with the reports! You are truly a life savour," I hope; her two hands are in mine as I jump around excitedly like a kid in a candy shop.

"It was my pleasure, darling. I absolutely adore that outfit; you look adorable today! The boys of Hell will be falling over themselves to get a glance of you," she scans me up and down with a happy nod. "I'm so happy that you enjoyed the food I left you, I made it from the finest human meat I could get my hands on," she giggles as my blood runs cold and a shiver runs down my spine. "Oh, I'm just kidding, dear! That gets you every time, I swear. It was normal meat from the store. The look on your face is always priceless," we continue our walk to Carmilla's as my soul slowly returns to my body in an orderly fashion. We arrive just in time for the other overlords to make their appearances; we all take our assigned places as the chair to my right remains empty.

"Thank you for attending, everyone. I have summoned you here once again to discuss an ever-growing crisis that we are facing. Millions of souls are at risk of being lost to extermination. Thanks to the efforts of the hospitals and clinics run by Vesper, some are being saved every time, but her sole efforts are inadequate to combat this growing tribulation. I personally will continue to show my support to this medical system and will stand by Vesper should she need assistance to keep these souls from vanishing. How many sinners were lost in this latest genocide?" she turns to me as I open my briefcase and disperse the papers across the room; I use my power to float them around for everyone to take a look at.

"According to the information I have amassed over the past few weeks, during the extermination, the hospitals and clinics got overrun with injured and dying sinners. My doctors did what they could, and we managed to save six thousand nine hundred and four sinners from fatal injuries. However, the total number of sinners lost that day was twenty-three thousand and ninety-eight. From the remains, we could find and accurately determine was a sinner. These results are a slight increase from last year's numbers, as last year, there were under six thousand sinners spared from the extermination. I pull up some holographic charts showing Hell's hardest hit areas and where most remains were found around the Pride ring.

"Regardless, those are six thousand souls still here with us today. I heard there were a few clinics that were targeted during the attacks as well this year," Carmilla turns back to me again as I nod slowly.

"The sinners heading towards the smaller clinics have been drawing the attention of the angels. It won't be long until they figure out that some of the sinners they have 'killed' didn't die, and I fear that the hospital will become a target in the future. I have been slowly upping the amount of security at each location in hopes of keeping the injured out of the line of fire." I bite my bottom lip; if they start to realize what I have been doing all this time, it could become perilous for the hospital and its staff. My staff has a sanctuary from the slaying while they work inside the hospitals, but if the clinics start to get attacked, I can't protect them all.

"I will aid in security during the next exterminations; if the hospitals start to fall, there will be nowhere else to turn to. Even for us overlords if any of us need medical assistance in the future," Carmilla gives me a nod of approval as I return the gesture. I'm not surprised she is stepping up for the hospital at all; I have been buying all of my supplies from her company, and let's say there is a lot of money in medicine. Especially in Hell, where playing with knives is a leisure activity and shoving things in certain orifices is common to practice.

"The hospital also has the support of the Vees. Personally, Vesper has helped me a few times with medical care. It would only be honourable to return the favour to our medical companion," Vox chirps as I don't give him a nod of approval, and Carmilla gives him a look of annoyance. I take my seat once again as the time bothers me; why is this taking so long? Some of us have places to be and things to do. Carmilla drones on about some more numbers as I consider jumping right out the window; the thought crosses my mind with every passing second. Rosie could tell I was getting anxious because she politely implied that we wrap things up for the day, and we concluded the meeting. She gives me a thumbs up as I make my way out of there before Vox can corner me with more of his business talk. I check the time to see it's almost noon; even if I make a mad dash across Hell, I will not make it on time.

"Oh, Frazzle, I think it's time we went for a ride," I convey as Frazzle cheerily flies around me in circles; it has been a while since I have taken him out to fly. He does a few more laps around me and finally transforms, and I quickly hop on his back as he bounds forward twice and then leaps off the ground and gets us soaring high above the establishments of Hell. I hold on tight as the air whips my face and hair as Frazzle does a few flips to get the excitement out of his system. I joyously chortle on his back as he dances his way through the clouds like a free bird and he finally lands us down on top of our destination, forlorn that the flight was over. He gives me his giant puppy dog eyes that I can't resist as I give in to my trusty companion.

"You can go flying; just try not to draw too much attention to yourself and play nice with the other sky demon goats if you come across anyone," I scratch behind his ear as he happily bounds back off the building and disappears into the sky. I make my way over to the ladder of the building and start climbing down to head for the front entrance of the establishment; I was about halfway down when I felt my foot slip off the rung while I was changing hand positions. I couldn't even let out a noise as I felt myself falling the rest of the way down. In the brief seconds it took me to fall, I was mentally preparing myself for a world of pain. Only I didn't harshly crash down to the hard surface below but into the arms of a stranger. I sit in his arms, stunned and perplexed, as I meet the carmine eyes of a tall blonde man who stares back at me in equal confusion. I jump out of his arms quickly and stumble down the alleyway, where I take a moment to compose myself and straighten out my dress. I observe my accidental saviour; he is tall and pale with golden hair that covers some of his left eye. Piercing red eyes observe me as well as he straightens his own attire; one black horn protrudes from his head with a twisted branch look. An expression of amusement crosses his face as I remain speechless; this would be a great time to make a joke about falling from heaven.

"Uh, thank you for catching me. I lost my grip, climbing down; I hope you didn't get hurt from me falling on you," I trail off, my stomach feeling fuzzy as he continues to observe my every movement.
"I simply couldn't let a falling princess land on the dirty grounds of Hell," I pause in horror; how could he possibly know who I am? I think my face gave me away as he continued to look at me. "Did I say something weird? I do apologize; let me start over. My name is Helia; I have never seen you around here before. Are you here to meet someone, or did you move into this area?" I relaxed; he didn't mean I was literally a princess. My paranoia is getting the better of me; it could also be the inconsistent sleep, but who's keeping track anyway?
"Nice to meet you; my name is Vesper. I am just here to meet with a friend," I hold out my hand as he hesitates for a moment.
"Vesper? As in the medical overlord?" My guard goes up instantly as he reacts strongly to the mention of my name; he takes a step back from me as I get the clear message. He then does something that throws me off guard as he undoes his shirt and starts stripping it off his body.
"WHOA HEY WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" I scream at this strange blonde man who looks back at me; I jump back and away from him as my heart starts pounding loudly in my chest. I throw my book bag at his head, which causes him to step back further away from me. "WHAT KIND OF ALLEY WAY IS THIS?!" I freak out even more; maybe this is Valentino's part of town? Why is this man undressing?! Is Angel Dust going to pop out of the wall as well? Is this some twisted trap?
"I think you misunderstand; please don't run away from me, and please don't throw your bag at me again! It's not what you are thinking, I promise! I come peacefully," he yells back at me half-naked as I think of ignoring his advice not to run away.
"And what am I supposed to think about a random man who starts stripping in front of me in a random alleyway on a Tuesday afternoon?!" I fire back at him, still baffled by this entire situation.
"No! No! You have it all wrong. I need your help!" he finally rips off his whole shirt to reveal a black, spiralling injury on the right side of his torso. Black veins wrap around his stomach area like little vines, spreading their roots over his body. I cease my frantic freakout as I gradually step closer to the weird stripper man. I inspect his lower stomach area; this is something that I have never seen before. I touch the affected area as my curiosity grows further, a rough texture of infection, its almost like whatever this is has crawled under his skin and embedded itself there. A unique mark of unknown origin, a curse with no known name.

Dear Charlie,
If you ever run into a weird stripper in an alleyway, my advice is to run as fast as you can or get Vaggie to take care of it. Unless the said stripper has a medical abnormality attached to his body, then you should bring him to my office for observation immediately. Just know this encounter will change your fate whether you want it to or not. And Charlie, I can say with certainty this random weirdo I met in an alleyway did change my fate; this man, Helia, turns out to be an important part of my story. Our chance meeting will be one to remember, that is certain.

Love, Vera