by Jenna Black
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 around 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. Cronyman 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.
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.