The Devil's Due

by Jenna Black

  The sensory memory became stronger, and I remembered the acrid after-scent of burning matches and smoke. I sat my imaginary self down across from Tommy, closed my imaginary eyes, and took a very real deep breath. If I didn’t know I was making this all up in my head, I would have sworn I caught the scent of vanilla.

  The orange glow faded from behind my closed lids, and my otherworldly eyes opened. Beside me glowed Raphael’s crimson aura. I’d done it! I’d reached the trance state. Now all I had to do was let Lugh in.

  I felt tension building in my muscles as I contemplated opening those mental doors, and before I even had the chance to try, my eyes popped open. I tried to curse in frustration, but my mouth wouldn’t open and my throat wouldn’t form the words.

  Raphael smiled. “How kind of you to join us, brother,” he said.

  I snorted. Actually, Lugh snorted. I tried not to panic.

  I hadn’t opened my doors yet! I protested to Lugh.

  “Your defenses go down almost entirely when you’re in the trance,” Lugh responded, using my own vocal cords to speak to me. Have I mentioned how much I hate it when he does that?

  So anytime I do an exorcism, you can just waltz on in? He didn’t answer, but then he didn’t need to.

  I really like Lugh. I think he has a good heart, and I admire his ideals. He can be a good friend, when he wants to be. But he is one manipulative son of a bitch. Always for a good cause, but still…

  Were you ever planning to mention this little tidbit to me?

  “Not if I didn’t have to.” Well, at least he was honest, unlike his brother.

  “Are you talking to me? Because if you are, you’re making no sense,” Raphael said.

  “I was talking to Morgan. But it’s time for us to go rescue a couple of children, don’t you think?”

  Raphael nodded. “You and me playing hero together. Who would have believed it?”

  Not me, I said, still fighting my subconscious, which really wanted to kick Lugh out and take control of my body again. Raphael is up to something. There is no way he’d have been so all-fired eager to put on the white hat.

  I know, Lugh agreed, keeping the conversation just between the two of us for now. He’s my brother, remember? He might not be quite so bad as I once thought, but I know rescuing children isn’t one of his major goals in life.

  Do you have any idea what he’s up to?

  Raphael started the car, heading toward the driveway of the Brewster residence.

  I think your guess before was right. I think he knows more about the Houston project than he’s saying, and I think he wanted Tommy Brewster as a host very, very badly. Any pretense at an urgent need to save the children was just a way to get you to agree to let him take Tommy.

  Alarm trickled through my system. But he’s going to go through with the plan, right? He’s not going to drop the pretense now.

  He’ll go through with it, Lugh assured me, and his mental voice held more than a hint of steel.

  It sounded like there was a threat behind his words, but I didn’t think it did much good if Raphael didn’t hear it. Still, we were pulling into the driveway, and if Raphael were planning to back out, he would have done it by now. At least, I hoped that was the case.

  It was almost midnight, but there were plenty of lights on in the Brewster house. I suppose it’s hard to sleep when there are demons holding children hostage in your basement. Raphael parked in front of the garage, the car coming to a stop with a squeal that set my teeth on edge. Before we got out, Raphael reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. I was pretty sure those were the same ones Adam had offered earlier. Shows how much good my refusal did.

  We’re not going down there in handcuffs! I protested.

  I can break out of them easily, Lugh reminded me.

  Yeah, but what if I lose my nerve and end up back in the driver’s seat? I can’t break them.

  Then don’t lose your nerve.

  I wanted to strangle him, but my body was useless to me. Lugh allowed his brother to cuff his hands behind his back. Raphael then grabbed my arm in a brutally tight grip, stuck a gun in my side—had he been carrying that all along?—and dragged me toward the side door, where there was less light.

  My body’s heart was thumping along steadily, pulse not even elevated. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like my heart was in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

  Raphael moved the gun from my side to my head, then let go of my arm to fish through his jeans pocket for a set of keys and open the door. Instead of escorting me in, he grabbed my arm again and threw me in so hard I crashed into the trunk of one of the Brewsters’ Mercedes. Lugh considerately blocked out the pain. With his demon strength and agility, he probably could have kept his feet, but since he was pretending to be just little ol’ me, he keeled over sideways.

  Who the hell is he putting on a show for? I complained, wishing Lugh would turn his head so I could give Raphael the dirty look he deserved. There’s no one here to see!

  Perhaps he’s getting into character, Lugh’s mental voice said, a hint of humor in it. Or perhaps that was just a cheap shot because he and I still have issues. It doesn’t matter. I won’t allow him to hurt you, and I can tolerate the pain.

  You’re not one of those demons who enjoys pain? I asked, then mentally slapped myself upside the head. Like we needed a distraction right now! And like I really needed to know Lugh’s sexual preferences!

  Not particularly, he answered, though I’d have preferred he just ignore the question. But as I said, I can tolerate it. Even if things get a lot rougher.

  Oh joy! I didn’t want to think about things getting rougher.

  Raphael hauled me to my feet. Lugh swayed back and forth as if woozy from the impact with the car. Raphael didn’t give us much time to recover, grabbing my arm again and half-dragging me through a laundry room and into the main house. He had to pause to enter a code in the alarm, but with Tommy’s memories at his fingertips, that was a piece of cake.

  The laundry room opened out into the kitchen, which then opened into an enormous, two-story living room with a cathedral ceiling and a chandelier so high off the ground you’d need an oxygen tank to change the bulbs.

  Claudia Brewster sat on the uncomfortable-looking antique sofa. She’d traded in the power suit for a velour tracksuit, her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore no makeup. It would be the relaxed, weekend-at-home look, if it weren’t for the tension in her shoulders, the bloodshot eyes, or the blue-gray shadows beneath them.

  Beside her, holding her hand, sat an older man with salt-and-pepper hair and laugh lines around his eyes. Despite the laugh lines, he didn’t look any happier than Claudia, and I figured he must be her husband, Devon Brewster III.

  The man sitting across from them was much younger, probably no more than twenty-five. He was classic demon-fodder, with the athletic build and the generic good looks the Spirit Society favored as hosts for the “Higher Powers.” He’d apparently been reading a magazine when we entered, though we immediately had his undivided attention. Another demon entered the room from the hallway on the opposite end.

  Tommy’s demon had told us there would be two or three demons on duty tonight. It seemed there were at least three, since I didn’t imagine they’d left the children unattended.

  Unless the children were already dead.

  For once, I was glad Lugh was in control and not me. If it were me, I’m sure my face would have gone white, and I might even have been sick to my stomach.

  If they’d killed the children, Lugh said, they wouldn’t still be here. And I doubt the Brewsters would still be alive.

  That made a reassuring amount of sense, so I relaxed a little.

  The demon across the room looked me over from head to toe then glowered at Raphael. “What do you mean by bringing her here?”

  “She was being nosy. I thought it was time to put a stop to it.”

  The demon’s glower shifted to Claudia, who
wilted under that angry, frightening gaze. “I believe I made it quite clear what would happen if you didn’t call off your bitch.”

  Oh shit! If we ended up getting one of those kids killed just by showing up at the house, I was never going to forgive myself!

  “Please!” Lugh said, and he had my inflection just right. He even managed to sound like begging hurt him, which is probably how I would have sounded. “It’s not Claudia’s fault. She told me to lay off, and I promised her I would. But I just couldn’t let it go. She had no idea I’d started poking into it again.”

  The demon crossed the room, coming so close he invaded my personal space. I tried to take a step backward, but Raphael was behind me and grabbed hold.

  I felt almost like I was the one driving my body, because Lugh was doing exactly what I would have done in the situation. He momentarily struggled, as if on the verge of panic, then forced himself to stop and put on the usual mask of bravado. He met the demon’s gaze.

  “When the state calls me in to exorcize you, I’m going to pretend to fail, and you’ll go straight to the cremation ovens.”

  You’re freaking me out, Lugh. That’s exactly what I would have said!

  I know. That’s why I said it. Now hush. I can’t carry on both conversations at once.

  The demon backhanded me, and only Raphael’s iron grip kept me from falling. Yup, I was really glad I didn’t have to feel that. It would have sucked, big time.

  Lugh let my body go limp in Raphael’s arms. Raphael scooped me up in a fireman’s carry. “I’m going to dump her in the basement. Who’s on guard duty?”

  “Alex,” the demon replied. “But give me one good reason why we shouldn’t just kill her. She’s already proven she’s going to keep digging, no matter what.”

  “We have to find out what she knows and who she’s told before we kill her,” Raphael said with exaggerated patience.

  The other demon didn’t seem to like that much. All I could see from my ignominious position over Raphael’s shoulder was his butt, and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t much to look at. But there was no mistaking the anger in the other demon’s voice.

  “You’d better watch your tone of voice when you talk to me, Tommy” he growled. It was that deep, growling, almost animalistic sound that demons seemed to be able to make, even though humans lacked the proper vocal equipment for it.

  “Sorry,” Raphael said. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Aww, did the big, bad exorcist make you miss your nightly fuck-fest?”

  Raphael was used to being in charge, used to outranking everyone around him—except Lugh. He was obviously supposed to be subordinate to this other demon, but that might be a hard act for him to pull off for long, especially when he was being goaded.

  Lugh seemed to agree, choosing that moment to pretend to wake up and start struggling.

  “Hold still or I’ll make you sorry you were born!” Raphael snapped, and I stopped struggling. It was the first time Lugh acted differently from how I would have. No way I’d have been intimidated by such a second-rate, cliché threat.

  “Another reason not to kill her,” Raphael said as if the angry exchange hadn’t happened, “is that colon cancer runs in her family.” He chuckled. “I guess that’s why she’s such a pain in the ass.”

  Groan. Bad enough to be a helpless passenger in my own body, did I also have to listen to cliché threats and bad puns? Talk about your cruel and unusual punishment.

  Big Cheese Demon seemed to find it funnier than I did, and he and Raphael shared a bit of a laugh at my expense.

  “There’s a spare bedroom upstairs, if you want to give her a test drive,” Big Cheese said when he’d stopped laughing. Apparently I would be allowed to live if I had the potential to be a good broodmare. Lucky me.

  “Nah,” Raphael said. “She’s on the pill. Need to let that work its way out of her system before she’s likely to take.”

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun.”

  God, I hate demons. Yeah, yeah, I know, there are plenty of humans who are just as bad. I just don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis.

  Raphael snorted. “You try doing it as many times a night as I do, see if you still think it’s fun.” He shifted me on his shoulder like I was heavy, which of course I wasn’t for a demon. “Can I take her downstairs now? I’m sick to death of dealing with her today.”

  Big Cheese hesitated a moment, thinking it over. I mentally held my breath, praying he would go for it. And for once, something actually went my way.

  “Yeah, sure,” he finally said. “It’s late, and I don’t feel like dealing with her tonight, either.” I heard him turn around, though I still couldn’t see anything except Raphael’s ass.

  “Here’s a little something for you two lovebirds to think about tonight,” he said, addressing the Brewsters in a nasty voice. “Someone’s got to pay for your inability to stop the exorcist from poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. In the morning, you’re going to tell me which kid you like better, and you’ll get to keep her. You do that, and I’ll take care of the other one quick. But if you make me pick, it will be very, very slow, and you’ll get to watch every minute of it.”

  Even Raphael had trouble swallowing that threat. I could feel him tense beneath me.

  I started struggling again as Claudia burst into sobs and Raphael carried me out of the room.

  Chapter 27

  Raphael carried me down a long hallway, then opened a door and stepped through into a dimly lit stairwell. In my peripheral vision, I could see Big Cheese and the other demon following. No way we’d get lucky enough to be allowed into the basement without an escort.

  My body jounced against Raphael’s shoulder as he carried me down the stairs. Then, instead of just setting me down on my feet, he slung me off his shoulder and let me fall to the floor. The hard, cement floor, I might add. Once again, I was glad to have Lugh blocking out the pain.

  Lugh managed to wriggle around until we could see the room into which we’d been deposited.

  I’d known the hope that we could just snatch the kids and run with minimal risk was very low. But even that tiny hope faded when I looked around.

  An unfamiliar demon—Alex, I presumed—sat on a straight-backed chair near the stairs, holding the younger girl on his lap. She was fast asleep, and though in her disheveled state she wasn’t as cute as she’d been in the photo, her vulnerability brought out maternal instincts I hadn’t thought I had. I wanted to snatch her from that demon’s arms and make him pay for touching her.

  The other girl was wrapped up in a blanket on the floor. She, too, was asleep, her thumb stuck in her mouth, her knees curled to her chest. I suppose if you’re young enough, and tired enough, you can sleep anywhere, even on a cold cement floor while being held hostage by demons.

  We couldn’t make any aggressive moves while the demon had his hands on the little girl. She’d be dead or possessed as soon as we tipped our hand.

  The situation went from bad to worse when I noticed the air bed and the cot set up just to the right of the stairs. Big Cheese and his crony were heading for them, and I realized they all slept down here with the kids. As if one of them couldn’t handle a three-year-old and a five-year-old with ease! Hadn’t they ever heard of overkill?

  Raphael stood there for a moment, assessing the situation. His face didn’t give away much, but he had to be coming to the same grim conclusion I was: this was not going to be a piece of cake, and we were now into the “winging it” stage of our plan.

  “I presume you don’t need me anymore?” Raphael asked Big Cheese, who’d sat down on the air bed and started stripping off his sneakers and socks.

  Big Cheese sneered a bit, not looking up from his task. “I didn’t need you in the first place.”

  Raphael shrugged. “Well then. Good night, all.”

  And then he started plodding up the stairs. I wondered what the hell he was up to. My only guess was that he was going to turn aro
und at the last moment and try to shoot the demon that was holding on to the little girl. He was our biggest, most immediate threat. But that still left two demons and two children for us to take care of. The kids would probably wake up and panic when they heard a gunshot. If the demons were smart, which I was betting they were, they’d immediately go for the kids and use them as hostages. Then what would we do?

  But Raphael didn’t turn, didn’t even look over his shoulder. He just marched to the top of the stairs, opened the door, and stepped out. I held my breath, still expecting him to make a surprise attack. But he didn’t.

  Big Cheese came to squat beside me so he could meet my eyes. “If I hear so much as a peep out of you, the girls are going to pay for it. Got it?”

  I didn’t respond, and Big Cheese punctuated the point with a vicious kick to my rib. I heard something snap, and Lugh stifled a scream.

  “That ought to give you some extra incentive to stay still and keep quiet,” Big Cheese said. Then he left me lying there and flopped onto the air bed. Crony-man had already stretched out on his back and folded his hands behind his head. Making himself nice and comfortable.

  And still no Raphael. My spirits sank, and I cursed both myself and Lugh for fools.

  We should never have trusted him, I said bitterly. We should have known he’d never risk his ass for a couple of kids. He just used them as an excuse to get Tommy, and now that he’s got what he wants, to hell with you and me.

  Maybe he would have followed through on his promises if the rescue had looked easy enough. But when he’d seen the odds were against it, he’d decided to cut his losses and abandon us here. After all, he had what he wanted, didn’t he?

  Don’t give up on him yet, Lugh said. He may well have something up his sleeve.

  Yeah, the knife he’s using to stab us in the back!

  I lay there stewing, wondering how the hell Lugh and I were going to get out of this without getting the children killed, for about five minutes, my rage increasing with every tick of the clock. Then I heard the sound of angry voices upstairs. I recognized one of them as Claudia’s. The other was Tommy’s, which made me hope Raphael hadn’t abandoned us after all.