by Jenna Black
Critical Raves for Jenna Black’s Novels
THE DEVIL INSIDE
Nominated for the 2007 Romantic Times Reviewer’s
Choice Award for Best Urban Fantasy
Finalist for Love Romances and More Café’s Best of
2007 Award for Best Book All Around
“An exorcist with an attitude, Morgan Kingsley is sure to win Black a legion of fans.”
—Kelley Armstrong
“A sassy heroine who’s not afraid to do what it takes to get the job done or to save a loved one’s life. Add to that a sexy hero, great secondary characters and a story line that keeps you reading, and this one is definitely a keeper.”
—Keri Arthur
“[Black’s] got a winning heroine, a well-crafted contemporary world where demonic possession is just a part of life, and a nice balance of mystery, action and sex, making this light but engaging novel an urban fantasy series kickoff full of promise.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Talk about your odd couples! The delicious irony of trapping a sexy demon and a cranky exorcist in the same body gives rising star Black lots of room for conflict and action. It’s inventive in the extreme! 4½ stars. Top pick!”
—Romantic Times
“The plot is nonstop from the first page and the romance is sprinkled throughout…. A wonderful new addition to the genre, The Devil Inside is an intriguing story and Morgan Kingsley an engaging heroine. I can’t wait to see what the next book, The Devil You Know, has to offer.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“Another great paranormal book by Jenna Black, [who] weaves a new world and new concepts into every story she writes…. Morgan is a strong heroine who will have you cheering her along.”
—NightOwlRomance.com
“With characters you can’t help but love, and those you love to hate, Ms. Black begins her new series with a story line that’s full of action and surprises. It’s sometimes dark, often loving and completely sexy.”
—Darque Reviews
“Buckle up your seat belt and be prepared for a wild ride…. The characters in this book are incredible!… Fast-paced with a dark, edgy feel, The Devil Inside is one urban fantasy not to be missed and Ms. Black is proving herself an author to watch out for.”
—LoveRomances.com
“5 Ribbons. The Devil Inside is nail-biting, powerful and passionate all in one… a fast-paced, nonstop adventure that I’m sure everyone will love as much as I do.”
—RomanceJunkies.com
“A dark, edgy, and erotic paranormal. [Black’s] writing is intense and she really makes her world come to life. I was hooked from the beginning…. A truly sinister tale that reaches out and grabs your attention. Ms. Black has created a spine-chilling new series.”
—FreshFiction.com
“An outstanding beginning to a new supernatural series! The book starts out with action and only gets faster. I never noticed the story to slow down at all. The plot slowly unfolds to reveal that more is going on than anyone can possibly guess. I sincerely believe the author to have a major winner on her hands with Morgan Kingsley. Five stars.”
—Huntress Reviews
WATCHERS IN THE NIGHT
“Clever plotting and terrific supporting characters elevate this novel into a first-rate romantic thriller.”
—Romantic Times Book Reviews
“Jenna Black has crafted a fine story with Watchers in the Night. She supplies deft handling of plot, characters, and genre, and I enjoyed the novel tremendously. I see many more fascinating novels coming from this author in the future!”
—Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author of Kiss of Darkness
“You’ll want to bare your throat to Jenna Black’s enthralling heroes. This cleverly plotted romantic tale will leave you hungry for more!”
—Sabrina Jeffries, New York Times bestselling author of Only a Duke Will Do
“Jenna Black’s Watchers in the Night is a sexy, fast-paced, totally engaging read. She’s built an exciting world of vampires and added a ‘to die for’ hero and a kick-butt heroine! This is a book you can really sink your teeth into!”
—Ronda Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Untamed One
“Mystery, magic, and vampires! In Watchers in the Night, Jenna Black has created a fresh and fascinating vampire universe. What more could any lover of the paranormal ask for?”
—Lori Handeland, RITA Award-winning author of Midnight Moon
“Jenna Black’s Watchers in the Night is sexy, suspenseful, and what a great read! Vampire Gray James hits the top of my Hot-O-Meter from the moment he comes back from the dead to save his girlfriend, Carolyn Mathers— who just happens to be a kick-ass PI able to take care of herself. Just the right mix of mystery, vampires, romance, great characters, and underworld shenanigans to keep me happy. I can’t wait to see what happens next in the world of the Guardians!”
—Tess Mallory, author of Highland Fling
“Inventive, sexy, sassy twist on the vampire mythos. These are not your mother’s vampires; Black serves up a strong heroine and plenty of delicious humor as well as a sly twist on the clichéd ‘tortured hero.’ Very enjoyable! It struck me as kind of a Stephanie Plum Meets Old Anita Blake.”
—Lilith Saintcrow, author of Working for the Devil
“Grabs you from the very beginning and doesn’t let you go until the very end. Even then, you’re hoping for more. Peopled with an intriguing supporting cast, and a plot-line that twists and turns like a maze, Ms. Black does a wonderful job creating a world where you’re never sure what’s going to happen.”
—Vivi Anna, author of Hell Kat
SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS
“Paranormal romance at its finest! Black writes the kind of hero I want to date!”
—Gena Showalter, author of The Nymph King
SHADOWS ON THE SOUL
“Dark, magical and deliciously brooding, just how I like them!”
—Gena Showalter, author of The Nymph King
ALSO BY JENNA BLACK
The Devil You Know
The Devil Inside
Watchers in the Night
Secrets in the Shadows
Shadows on the Soul
To the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.
I can’t tell you how much your
unfailing support has meant to me.
Acknowledgments
Thanks first to Anne Groell, my fabulous editor, who saved me from leaving a plot hole big enough to drive a truck into. Editors are worth their weight in gold! Thanks also to my agent, Miriam Kriss. I don’t know what I’d do without your enthusiasm and savvy. And last but certainly not least, thanks to all the readers out there who have dropped me a line to tell me you enjoy my books. It makes my day every time!
Chapter 1
It was my first time in the office in more than a week. Somehow, my actual paying job as an exorcist didn’t seem so satisfying these days. Finding out that exorcizing demons doesn’t actually kill them had robbed me of my joie de vivre. Of course, being possessed by the king of the demons myself had something to do with it, too.
Still, harboring the demon king and trying to protect him from his brother, Dougal, the would-be usurper of the demon throne, didn’t pay the bills, and I had a lot of them piling up. It had been less than two months since my house had burned to the ground with all my worldly possessions inside, and my insurance company had yet to begin showering me with largesse.
I was seriously behind in my paperwork, and was disappointed to discover that the Paperwork Fairy hadn’t taken care of everything during my absence. With something between a sigh and a groan, I dropped into my chair and turned on my computer. While I waited for the dinosaur to muster the energ
y to boot up, I checked my phone messages. There were a bunch from the U.S. Exorcism Board reminding me that (a) I was late paying my dues, and (b) I was late filing the paperwork on my last three exorcisms. There were also the usual calls from telemarketers who were desperate for me to change long-distance phone companies, but I was much more interested in the three messages—each one more urgent than the last—from a woman who identified herself as Claudia Brewster. She didn’t say what she wanted, but I made an educated guess that she had a loved one who’d been possessed by an illegal demon.
I frowned as I took down her number, because it was local. In Philadelphia and the surrounding area, I’m almost always contacted by the court system when there’s an illegal or rogue demon in custody, and I hadn’t heard anything. It wasn’t unusual for me to be hired by distraught family members (not to brag or anything, but I have the best record of any exorcist in the U.S.), but those were usually out-of-state cases.
I called the daytime number Ms. Brewster left and got her secretary. Ms. Brewster was in a meeting, but the secretary took a message and said I should receive a call back within a couple of hours. I hung up, and my shoulders slumped. So much for my reprieve from the dreaded paperwork.
My computer had finally roused itself from its slumber, so I began slogging my way through my backlog. As you might have guessed by now, this wasn’t my favorite part of my job, and I had to work hard to resist the lure of a rousing game of Spider Solitaire.
About an hour later, I was feeling conspicuously virtuous about my productivity—and about my willpower—when there came a tentative rap on my office door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and, as far as I knew, no one knew I was here. I pulled my bag from the desk drawer and grabbed my Taser. Hey, better safe than sorry, right?
“Come in,” I beckoned, holding the Taser, now armed and ready, in my lap, where my desk would hide it from view.
The door opened, and a lovely forty-something woman walked in. Dressed in a dark blue pinstriped pants suit that looked like it had been made exactly to her measurements, she screamed conservative corporate America. That image was enhanced by the blond hair fastened in a well-sprayed French twist and a makeup job that was supposed to make her look like she wasn’t wearing any. She’d have fit right in as the token female in a boardroom full of old fogies.
I took a wild guess as to who my visitor might be. “Ms. Brewster?” I asked, wondering why she hadn’t bothered to call first. Paranoia—which was my constant and very reasonable state of mind these days— created any number of unpalatable suggestions, so instead of standing up and offering to shake hands, I remained seated with my Taser at the ready.
“Please, call me Claudia,” she said with a brittle-looking smile as she closed the door behind her.
“Claudia,” I agreed, taking an instant dislike to her for no good reason. “I usually meet with clients by appointment only, and I’m very busy at the moment.” I idly tapped a couple keys on my keyboard, turning my face to the screen while keeping a watch on her out of the corner of my eye. “I can fit you in tomorrow at…” I pretended to scrutinize a calendar. “Three o’clock. Will that work for you?” I turned to face her once more, putting on my blandest smile.
Claudia licked her lips and shifted her grip on the designer pocketbook that hung from her shoulder. It was only then that I noticed how she clutched the strap of that bag as if it were a lifeline.
“Please, Ms. Kingsley,” she said, and she sounded like she might be on the verge of tears. “I’ve been trying to reach you for a week, and I’m … Well, I’m desperate.”
My opinion of her softened, and I realized my initial dislike had been a result of her looking like she had her shit together—in deep contrast to myself. But no power suit and fancy makeup could camouflage her misery for long, and I felt a surge of kinship.
“You can call me Morgan,” I said, and I let my curiosity get the better of me. “Please, have a seat.” I indicated the pair of chairs in front of my desk, and, with a sigh of relief, she sat in the one on the right and put her bag on the one on the left. I folded my hands on the desk in front of me, leaving the Taser on my lap, where I could easily reach it if necessary.
“What can I do for you, Claudia?”
She took a deep breath as if steeling herself for a mighty effort. Strain showed in the tightness in the corners of her eyes, and she wet her lips again. “I don’t know where else to turn,” she said, giving me a pleading look.
“Okay,” I said slowly, then gestured for her to continue when she seemed to stall out.
“I’m in desperate need of your… services.”
People were often reluctant and uncomfortable when they hired me. For reasons that escaped me, they often found having a loved one possessed to be a source of embarrassment. However, Claudia was taking it to the extreme with this strange hesitancy. I’d been sympathetic for about sixty seconds, which I think is a personal record. I decided it was high time to revert to my usual bluntness.
“Just spit it out already,” I said, with more than a touch of impatience. “You want me to exorcize a demon.”
A hint of fire flared in her eyes, and it seemed like my prickly bedside manner had steadied her some. “Yes. But of course it’s not quite that simple or I’d have gone through more traditional channels.”
She crossed her legs, her foot jiggling restlessly. “It’s about my son, Tommy.” She grimaced. “Tom,” she corrected herself, and I had to suppress a smile.
“You think your son is possessed.”
She shook her head. “I know he’s possessed.” She seemed to notice her jiggling foot and stopped herself with what looked like a concerted effort. “He was possessed while his father and I were on vacation.”
I still didn’t get why she was here. “It’s a police matter at this point,” I told her. “Once they take him into custody, I can come to the containment center and make an official diagnosis.” I held up a hand to forestall her attempt to interrupt. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you—it’s just that we have to follow standard procedures. After I diagnose him—”
“Ms. Kingsley,” she cut in, “let me get right to the crux of the matter. All the evidence except for common sense says that my son is a willing host.”
“A willing host,” I repeated stupidly. I’d pictured Tommy Brewster as a petulant teenager, but he had to be at least twenty-one to be a legal host. I nudged my estimation of Claudia’s age up a few years.
She nodded. “They’ve got the signed forms and everything. But there is no way in hell my son volunteered to host a demon.”
And to think I’d believed she had her shit together! I thought I was the queen of denial, but it looked like there was a new contender to the throne. “You do understand the process of registering to be a legal demon host, don’t you?” I asked.
She made an impatient tsking sound. “Of course I do, but—”
I counted off the points on my fingers. “He had to sign the documents before witnesses. In a courtroom. On videotape. And after he’d been interviewed by a shrink to establish competency. Are you seriously trying to tell me he did all that against his will? And that no one noticed?”
She pressed her lips tightly together. “I know how it looks. And I know you think I’m just the distraught mother who can’t accept that her baby has grown up.” She managed a rictus of a smile. “That last part’s even true.” The forced smile faded. “But volunteering to host is the last thing in the world Tommy would do. He hates demons. Hates them with a passion.”
I wasn’t so fond of them myself—hence my career choice—but I had to admit getting to know Lugh, the demon king, had lessened my hate by approximately one hair. “People change their minds.”
“Not like this they don’t. You see, when my husband and I left for the Bahamas, we’d finally given up hope that we could extricate Tommy—Tom—from God’s Wrath.”
I couldn’t suppress a gasp. God’s Wrath is the most militant of the anti-demon hate groups.
They specialize in roasting people alive to destroy the Spawn of Satan, as they consider demons. They’re so radical, they even hate exorcists, because when we kick a demon out of its host, its host gets to live. Of course, about eighty percent of them live the rest of their lives as vegetables, but God’s Wrath didn’t think that was a severe enough punishment for those sinners who’d invited demons into our world. So I had to admit, the idea of a God’s Wrath member volunteering to host a demon was a bit… out there.
“We were gone ten days,” Claudia continued. “Do you really believe someone could be a card-carrying member of God’s Wrath one day, and then ten days later be a willing demon host?”
There was no denying it sounded hinky. Hell, I didn’t even see how a former God’s Wrath member could get accepted into the Spirit Society in such a short time, much less get accepted, get an appointment with a judge, get all the paperwork approved, and have a summoning ceremony.
“I presume you voiced your concerns to the police?” I asked.
She nodded. “Naturally. Everyone agrees it sounds like an unusual case, but there’s no evidence of a crime having been committed.” Her voice turned bitter. “Everyone tells me with great sympathy that there’s nothing they can do to help me.”
“What do you think happened?”
Claudia blinked away what might have been the start of tears. “I think he had to have been possessed already when he signed the papers.”