The Devil's Due

by Jenna Black

  The angry voices came closer, and I realized it wasn’t just anger I heard in Claudia’s voice—it was hysteria. Tommy bellowed something, but the basement was just deep enough that I couldn’t hear his words clearly. Claudia’s voice rose to a scream.

  Big Cheese and Crony had both sat up and were staring at the ceiling. Crony looked amused, but Big Cheese looked pissed off. I guess the commotion was interfering with his beauty sleep. Alex still sat like a statue with the sleeping girl on his lap.

  The door at the head of the stairs crashed open. Both Big Cheese and Crony leapt to their feet. Alex tightened his hold on the girl, who woke up and immediately started crying. Her sobs woke her sister, who cried in chorus, curling up into the smallest ball she could manage and pulling the blanket over her head.

  Tommy, his face red with rage, eyes glowing with demonic fury, started down the stairs. Claudia followed behind him, grabbing uselessly onto his arm and screaming.

  “Don’t! Please!” she begged, but she couldn’t hold him off any more than she could a speeding train. He dragged her all the way to the base of the stairs.

  “What’s going on?” Big Cheese demanded.

  “Bitch!” Tommy shouted, and flung Claudia away from him. She hit the wall beside the stairs with a cry of pain, then crumpled to the floor.

  “What’s—” Big Cheese started to repeat, but Raphael cut him off.

  “We’re not waiting until tomorrow to settle things!” he snarled, striding across the room toward the screaming little girl on Alex’s lap.

  A part of me knew this had to be just an act. If Raphael were betraying us, he’d simply have left us here, and we never would have heard from him again. Certainly he’d have had no reason to pick a fight with Claudia, whom he didn’t even know. But distrust dies hard, and watching him stride across the floor toward that helpless child with murder in his eyes inspired a kind of horrified terror I hoped never to feel again.

  Lugh rolled over onto his side, ostensibly to watch what was happening. But by rolling over, he made it so his cuffed hands were hidden from view. I felt him use my own fingers to jerk open one of the bracelets, the lock no match for a demon’s strength.

  Raphael snatched the screaming child from Alex’s arms. Her little arms and legs flailed wildly, and my heart ached with pity for her even as I finally recognized what Raphael was doing.

  “Calm down, Tommy!” Big Cheese snapped. “We have better things to do with that hostage.”

  From across the room, Raphael met my eyes briefly, flicking his glance toward the other little girl, who cowered under her blanket. Lugh and I both got the message loud and clear.

  Lugh surged to his feet, launching himself across the room until he was between the girl and the room full of demons. At this point, it was finally dawning on Big Cheese and company that all was not as they’d first assumed. But it was too late.

  Keeping his body between the child he held and the other two demons, Raphael lashed out with his right fist, catching the gaping Alex right under the chin. The punch landed with a sickening crunching sound, and Alex immediately went limp, probably dead.

  Lugh reached under my sweatshirt and ripped the Taser off my belly. He would fight as if he were no more than human unless forced by necessity to use his demon strength. It wouldn’t do to have any of these demons return to the Demon Realm with news that I was possessed. Too many people would guess that meant I was still hosting Lugh.

  He used his body to keep the child pressed up against the wall, out of harm’s way, while he fired the Taser at Crony. His aim was good, and Crony went down with a shriek.

  I wasn’t sure what we were going to do about Big Cheese. It would be hard for Raphael to attack him while still protecting the child, and I doubted Lugh’d have had the time to reload the Taser even if I happened to have another cartridge on me, which I didn’t.

  But before I had time to put too much thought into it, the deafening blast of a gunshot echoed against the basement’s stone walls. Blood exploded from Big Cheese’s chest, and the life had left his eyes before he hit the floor.

  I turned to see Claudia, standing with her back against the wall by the staircase, both arms held out in front of her as she braced one hand with another, the barrel of her gun following Big Cheese’s body as it slumped to the floor. Her eyes were wide and ringed with white, but her hands were steady, her jaw set with fury and determination.

  Even with Lugh controlling my body, my ears rang from the sound of the gunshot. But even through the ringing, I could hear Tommy’s voice as he turned to Claudia while still holding the struggling, screaming child.

  “Nice shot,” he said with a sardonic lift of his brow. “But you can put the gun down now.”

  Claudia visibly swallowed hard and stayed in her shooter’s stance. “Put my daughter down first!”

  “Believe me, Claudia,” he said as he followed her orders, “I wouldn’t have given you my gun if I had any intention of hurting your children.” He stood up slowly, hands away from his sides.

  So, the whole screaming argument had been an act, on both their parts. I wasn’t surprised that Raphael could be so convincing, seeing as he seemed to spend half his life lying and deceiving people, but Claudia’s performance had been pretty impressive.

  The little girl ran to her as soon as her feet hit the ground, throwing her arms around her mother’s leg and bawling against her thigh. Claudia lowered the gun with a sigh of relief, her free hand stroking her daughter’s hair.

  Behind me, the other girl finally gave up hiding under her blanket, wriggling free and running to join her sister in Claudia’s embrace. Still moving slowly and carefully, Raphael approached the tearful trio.

  “May I have my gun back?” he asked. “That way you can use both arms to hug them.”

  Claudia gave him a look that said she trusted him about as much as I did. But hugging two little girls while holding a gun was a bit awkward, so after a moment of hesitation, she handed it over.

  Thank you, Morgan, Lugh whispered in my head.

  For what?

  For not panicking. For letting me take control. For letting me stay in control. For trusting me.

  Strangely moved by his words, I didn’t immediately answer. And by the time I did, I was back in control.

  “You’re welcome,” I said, so softly no one but Lugh could hear me.

  Chapter 28

  That had been the longest Lugh had ever been in control while I was conscious and aware, and it felt kind of strange to move my own limbs. My chest ached where Big Cheese had kicked me. I’m pretty sure he’d broken the rib, though Lugh had at least partially healed it. Nausea roiled in my stomach, most likely from stress overload. My legs were none too steady as I crossed the room to Raphael. Actually, I felt kind of like I’d just gotten back to land after six months at sea, and I swayed on my feet when I came to a stop.

  “What’s the story?” I asked Raphael out of the corner of my mouth. Claudia was still busy hugging and comforting the children, and she paid no attention to us.

  “I told her I was a friend of yours,” Raphael answered. “You exorcized Tommy and had me transfer from my usual host to him for this rescue. All highly illegal, of course, but I doubt she’s going to complain when our actions saved the kids.”

  “And what about Tommy?”

  His voice lowered to a near whisper. “I told her I’d transfer back into my original host and send Tommy back to her, though I warned her his psyche was not in good shape.”

  I still had plenty more questions—like what was Raphael really going to do—but the Tasered Crony was starting to regain control of his limbs. Raphael gave me a little push toward Claudia.

  “Why don’t you all go upstairs,” he suggested. “Get the children out of here.” He indicated the bloody battlefield with a sweep of his arm. “They’re in for enough nightmares already.”

  “Yes, of course,” Claudia agreed. She scooped up the three-year-old, and took the other girl’s hand to
lead her up the stairs. But it turned out both girls wanted to be carried, and neither Claudia nor I had the heart to deny them.

  So I ended up carrying a still-sniffling, clinging five-year-old girl up the stairs, leaving Raphael alone in the basement. My conscience wasn’t entirely happy about it. I knew Raphael was going to kill Crony. The demon deserved it, but it wasn’t the demon who would die, it was his host. That really sucked for his host, who might have been totally unwilling to participate in this plot. But we couldn’t let him live, couldn’t have him testifying to his version of what had happened down in that basement. Hell, I wasn’t sure what the legal ramifications of this night’s work were going to be. I didn’t think I’d like them.

  “Where’s your husband?” I asked Claudia when we emerged from the basement. Yes, it took me that long to wonder why Devon Brewster III hadn’t come running at the sounds of the argument or at the gunshot.

  “He went to bed,” she answered. I must have made some kind of face, because she hurried to clarify. “He hasn’t slept in two days.” A faint, exhausted smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “Neither have I. But I talked him into taking a sleeping pill tonight, so I expect it would take more than a little shouting and the sound of a gunshot in the basement to wake him.”

  “You should take one, too,” I said as I followed her through the living room and up another flight of stairs. The children’s sniffles were calming, though both still clung with arms and legs.

  “I will,” she assured me. “After I’ve put the girls to bed.”

  I followed Claudia into what was perhaps the girliest bedroom I’d ever seen. Everything was pink, and it looked like a lace factory had exploded inside. I suppose to a three- and a five-year-old girl, the place looked like the absolute height of femininity and romance. Myself, I felt immediately like a barbarian invading the royal palace.

  I was very happy to have played the hero and saved the children, but I was now more than ready to go home. Claudia set her charge down on a ruffly, cloud-pink bed, then pried the other girl out of my arms.

  “I’ll take things from here,” she said with a smile.

  Yup, my poker face was working as well as ever.

  “We’ll talk again tomorrow,” Claudia continued, her eyes misting with tears. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you, how I can ever—”

  I held up my hand to cut her off, even more uncomfortable now. “Please. I just did what I thought was right. No thanks are necessary.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue, but then one of the girls pulled on the leg of her tracksuit, demanding attention.

  “We’ll talk again tomorrow,” Claudia repeated, then sat on the bed and gathered both children into her arms again.

  Not if I could help it, though I wasn’t sure it was possible. Surely we’d have to get our stories straight! A frown puckered my face.

  “Um, what about the bodies in the basement?” I asked.

  “Your friend said he’d take care of everything,” she responded without even looking at me, her attention riveted on the girls.

  I had no idea how Raphael planned to “take care of everything,” but it was clear Claudia wasn’t inclined to discuss it just now, so I backed out of the room and closed the door softly behind me.

  I made my way downstairs just as Raphael emerged from the basement. He held up his car keys.

  “I’m going to pull my car into the garage. We’ll have to see if we can fit all the bodies into the trunk.”

  I looked at him skeptically. These were all demon hosts we were talking about, which meant none of them was exactly tiny. “I don’t know if we could fit two of them in the trunk, much less three.”

  Raphael shrugged. “We’ll take two cars if we have to. I’ve got a key to Claudia’s Mercedes.” His gaze darted to something behind me, and his eyes widened.

  Because I still didn’t trust Raphael, I had the feeling I was falling for the oldest trick in the book when I looked over my shoulder. But I wasn’t. Devon Brewster III was descending the stairs, fully clothed, his hair showing no signs of having encountered a pillow, his eyes too clear to be those of a man under the influence of a sleeping pill.

  “Mr. Brewster?” I asked. “Claudia said you were asleep.” And if you weren’t asleep, why are you coming downstairs instead of hugging your children and helping your wife put them to bed?

  Brewster smiled, but it wasn’t a nice expression. “My wife is mistaken. In many things.”

  Belatedly, I saw the Taser he’d been concealing by holding it slightly behind his leg.

  “Get down!” Raphael bellowed, and for once, I followed orders without hesitation. I was about halfway between Brewster and Raphael, and from my vantage point on the floor, I had a decent view of the showdown.

  Raphael drew his gun as Brewster raised the Taser. Raphael was just a hair faster, and for the second time tonight, the sound of a gunshot split the air. The bullet slammed into Brewster’s forehead. There was a squirt of blood as a small, circular hole appeared right in the center of his forehead. He grunted in pain, but didn’t immediately crumple to the floor as he should have.

  Brewster blinked a couple of times. From upstairs, I could hear the renewed screams of the children, and I hoped like hell that Claudia was staying up there with them, protecting them. Surely she wasn’t the kind of heroic fool who would come running toward the sound of gunshots!

  I was still waiting for Brewster to collapse, but he just stood there blinking. Raphael, still pointing the gun in Brewster’s direction, reached my side and hauled me to my feet. Neither one of us took our eyes off of Brewster, and we both gasped when the edges of that hole in his forehead pulled toward each other and then knitted together.

  “Oh shit,” Raphael said, which I thought was the understatement of the century.

  Raphael got off another perfect shot, but this time Brewster didn’t let a little thing like a bullet wound to his head distract him. The Taser popped, the probes digging squarely into Raphael’s chest. Raphael went down with a choked cry of pain.

  Brewster and I faced each other. He ejected the cartridge from his Taser, but didn’t seem to have another one handy. Not that that would be much of an inconvenience for him. I’m sure he Tasered Raphael because he wanted to preserve Tommy’s precious body. He had no reason to do the same for me. He also didn’t need a weapon to break me in half, so I couldn’t take any comfort from the fact that his Taser was empty.

  Pain stabbed through my eye. Lugh, trying to take control again.

  Wait, I ordered him. Imagine, me giving orders to the demon king!

  But—

  Wait, I repeated. I’ll let you in if I need you, but I’d rather keep you hidden if I don’t.

  He could have tried the same argument Raphael had used on me in the car, could have tried to convince me that if I waited until I needed him, it would be too late. But that argument didn’t fly, and he must have known it. If I could voluntarily let him in right this moment, then I could voluntarily let him in when I determined once and for all that I needed him.

  Brewster took a couple of steps down the stairs. I could still hear the children crying, and I realized that whatever was going to happen, I had to get Brewster out of this house before Claudia couldn’t stand it anymore and had to investigate. Or before Brewster realized he could use those kids as hostages against me, just as his “friends” had.

  So, I did what many would agree was the most sensible thing at a time like this: I ran like hell.

  Demons have superhuman strength and agility, and they’re able to control their host’s bodies well enough to run with great efficiency. However, the human body has its limits, and an experienced human runner can actually outrun a demon in an untrained body, for a time, at least.

  I wasn’t a trained runner, but I was naturally athletic and had long legs, so I was out the front door with a bit of a lead. My lead improved when Brewster made an ill-advised attempt to tackle me. I dodged and pulled farther ahead when he b
elly-flopped onto the driveway.

  Raphael had the car keys, so if I was going to escape Brewster, I was going to have to do it on foot. I briefly wondered if I was better off trying to attract attention by going for the main road and flagging down passing cars, or avoiding attention by running through darkened backyards.

  I didn’t know what Brewster’s story was, didn’t know how he’d come to be possessed, didn’t know why he’d been able to heal a bullet wound to the head as if it were no more than a minor inconvenience, but I didn’t want to risk innocent passersby being hurt by him in a fight, so I chose the darkened backyard option.

  Being past the Main Line, we weren’t in the city proper, but we weren’t exactly in the country, either, so there was plenty of light to see by, even in the semi-wooded backyards of the wealthy.

  I sprinted across a beautifully maintained lawn that could have been plucked straight from the fairway of a golf course, and had just enough light to see and jump over the croquet wicket that jutted from the grass. Behind me, I could hear Brewster’s heavy footfalls as he relentlessly pursued.

  The coast ahead of me looked pretty clear for a stretch, so I diverted a little of my attention to grabbing and arming my Taser. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a spare cartridge on me, but the Taser could still work like a stun gun if this came down to hand-to-hand combat. I didn’t really want Brewster to get close enough to me for me to use the Taser, but though I could outrun him in the short term, his demon would give him more stamina than I had on my own.

  Let me in, Lugh urged.

  Not yet, I said again. I trusted you enough to leave you in control before. Now it’s your turn to trust me.

  I didn’t think he liked it much, but Lugh didn’t try to take over by force.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Brewster was catching up. I guess I was starting to slow down, though I was still running as fast as I could. My breath burned in my throat and chest, and my heart slammed against my rib cage.