Indeed, there were many things Brendan has agreed to with Valeria that maybe he didn't quite understand. That said Valeria is hardly the worst person to be bound to for eternity, we will see some of her mom later in the story though...

Gotta say I cracked up when I read your apt description of our scientists. They're basically gender flipped versions of Herbert West from Reanimator and Victor Frankenstein from Frankenstein, neither of whom knew when to quit when dealing with supernatural forces they didn't understand. Both of them ended up paying a pretty high price for it in the end of their respective tales.