The Devil's Playground mk-5

by Jenna Black

  But the truth was, I wasn’t sure Brian and I would have lasted as long as we had if it hadn’t been for Lugh’s help. I’d shot myself in the foot about twenty times since Lugh had moved in, and I’m not sure I’d ever have noticed myself doing it if I didn’t have my own internal psychoanalyst.

  I had a long and strange evening. It’s not like Lugh and I are in constant conversation with one another. We could easily go a couple of days without a word passing between us, and it never bothered me. But now, I hadn’t heard from him in a handful of hours, and I was ready to tear my hair out.

  By bedtime, I felt like a junkie who hadn’t had her fix. As illogical as it was, I could hardly wait to fall asleep and talk to Lugh. Maybe he would understand why my subconscious walls had suddenly gone up again. And, of course, I could ask him if he thought I was being a stubborn, self-destructive bitch for reacting so violently to Brian’s suggestion.

  I wanted to fall asleep so badly that it was actually pretty hard to sleep. But eventually, I drifted off.

  When I woke up at eight in the morning, having slept dreamlessly through the night, I was on the verge of tears. Lugh had been able to talk to me through dreams almost since the very beginning, and yet last night he hadn’t talked to me. What the hell did it mean? I was having trouble believing my subconscious barriers had gotten so strong he couldn’t even talk to me in my dreams. I pressed a hand to my chest.

  “Lugh, where are you?” I asked the empty room. There was, of course, no answer.

  I spent the day trying not to worry about what was going on with Lugh. Of course, you know how successful it is to order yourself not to worry.

  And anticipation of another trip to The Seven Deadlies didn’t make the day any better. But it turned out I needn’t have worried about our planned visit.

  At a little after five, the front desk called and let me know Adam was there. I wasn’t expecting him, so right away I suspected that something bad had happened. I told them to send him up and spent the time it took him to get to my door worrying about what was going on. It sure would be nice if these demons would call me every once in a while instead of just showing up. But I guess talking on the phone is less than discreet.

  The look on Adam’s face when I opened the door confirmed my suspicion that bad news was coming my way yet again. He looked as grim as I’d ever seen him, and I had the cowardly urge to shove him out the door and cover my ears so I didn’t have to know what had put that look on his face. Of course, we’d already established that shutting the door against a demon wasn’t going to do a lick of good.

  “How bad is it?” I asked as I led the way into the kitchen for the ritual pot of coffee.

  “Pretty damn bad,” Adam said as I started shoveling the last of Dom’s Italian roast into the filter basket. “Shae’s dead.”

  I dropped the coffee scoop, scattering grounds all over the counter and the floor. “What?” I asked, hardly believing what I thought I’d just heard him say.

  “Neighbors heard a commotion this morning before dawn, Shae and some guy yelling at each other. It sounded like it started getting violent, so they called the police. By the time the police got there, smoke was pouring out the windows.”

  “Holy shit!” He didn’t just mean Shae’s host was dead—he meant Shae, the demon, was dead.

  “The fire was relatively easy to contain, so at least there were no other casualties,” Adam continued, his voice flat. “It was set in Shae’s bedroom, and the killer made a tidy little bonfire there, complete with some kind of accelerant. It doesn’t take a lot of expertise to tell that her body was ground zero.”

  I swallowed hard. There was something primally terrifying about the idea of burning to death, and as much as I’d disliked Shae, I wouldn’t have wished it on her. “Are you sure it’s her?”

  “The body’s burned beyond recognition and we’ll have to wait for dental records to be legally sure. But I’m sure it’s her.”

  I started sweeping grounds off the counter and into the sink, but I think I was spilling as much onto the floor as I was getting in the sink. I kept doing it anyway, because as long as my hands were moving it was harder to see how much they were shaking.

  “Do you think it’s because she gave me that information?” I asked, and my voice sounded thin and tight to my own ears.

  “I don’t believe in coincidence.”

  Yeah, neither did I.

  I frowned as a confusing thought occurred to me. “The bad guys, whoever they are, beat Mary to death, but they didn’t burn her, didn’t kill the demon. Why did they burn Shae?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but I have a guess. You remember what Mary was like—about as weak and miserable a creature as there is. Shae was anything but weak. Maybe they thought they needed a more permanent solution than killing her host. I doubt she’s the kind of person anyone would want as an enemy.”

  I could see his point. I dusted the coffee grounds off the palms of my hands, then glowered at the floor. I wondered if my vacuum cleaner would work on the linoleum. I didn’t feel like doing the broom-anddustpan thing.

  “You’re not actually feeling guilty about Shae, are you?” Adam asked.

  I winced. “Of course not. Why should I feel guilty that I’ve gotten one woman beaten to death and another burned alive?”

  I bent to open the cabinet under the sink. At least if I did the broom-and-dustpan thing, I could keep my hands occupied. I was pretty sure I had a whisk broom under here somewhere.

  Adam bent over me and closed the cabinet door. I barely got my hands out in time. I was very aware of his body as he loomed there behind me.

  “I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone,” he said. “But the truth is, Shae was bound to get into trouble eventually, considering who she consorted with.”

  I remained where I was, squatting on the floor with my forehead leaning against the cabinet doors. “So that makes it okay that someone burned her alive? She led a high-risk lifestyle, so she was bound to be tortured to death?” My voice was rising, but it wasn’t just from anger. “That’s like saying Helen What’s-her-name was bound to be tortured into summoning Mary because she turned tricks and did drugs.” I’m not given to fits of hysterics, but one might have hit the spot right then.

  Adam grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. “Go sit down for a bit,” he ordered, giving me a little shove toward the living room. “I’ll handle the cleanup, and I’ll brew some coffee.”

  I could have argued with him, but I just didn’t see the point. I trudged into the living room and sat on the couch, pulling my feet up and wrapping my arms around my legs. I ordered myself not to cry over Shae’s death, no matter how horrifying it was, and no matter how responsible I felt.

  Eventually, Adam brought a couple mugs of coffee into the living room. Since the good stuff was now down the drain or scattered on the kitchen floor, we were reduced to plain old Colombian, but at least it was fresh, and the mug was a soothing warmth in my hands.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen with The Seven Deadlies now that Shae’s gone,” Adam said as he sat beside me on the couch. “What I do know is that it won’t be open tonight, or likely anytime in the near future.”

  I grimaced and inhaled the fragrant steam from my coffee. I wasn’t heartbroken that I couldn’t go to The Seven Deadlies tonight, but … “If we can’t troll for illegal newbies in the club, that puts us back at square one. Again.”

  The corners of Adam’s mouth tightened. “That about sums it up. I don’t know about you, but I have a bad feeling about all this. Like we don’t have all the time in the world to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.”

  I had to agree with him. But without the club and without Shae, I didn’t know how we could get our hands on one of these new illegals.

  Then I thought of the new Spirit Society ad campaign, and was struck by an idea. “Did you know the Spirit Society’s been running recruitment ads on TV?” I asked.

  Adam nodded, hi
s lip curled with distaste. “Yeah, and it’s not just on TV. They’ve got recruitment posters all over the buses and subway stations.”

  My idea of public transportation is a taxi, so I hadn’t been aware of the posters. But I imagined there were plenty of citizens of our fair city who were less than pleased to see these Satanist (in their worldview) advertisements leering at them wherever they went. I hoped they outnumbered the impressionable young people who saw those posters and thought, “Hey, I could be a hero!”

  “What do you think the chances are that the Spirit Society is behind the illegal recruitment campaign as well as the legal one?” I asked.

  Adam cocked his head to one side as he thought about it. “It’s possible, I suppose,” he said, though he sounded mildly skeptical.

  “They had no moral qualms about helping Dougal and Raphael with their sick experiments,” I pointed out. Although the Spirit Society supposedly worshipped all demons, there was no doubt that their leadership favored Dougal. Hard to believe they would sell out the entire human race to appease the

  “Higher Powers,” but all the evidence suggested that was exactly what they were doing.

  “Do you really think they wouldn’t be happy to help Dougal and his allies take over humans that even the police sometimes think of as expendable?” I asked.

  Adam scrubbed the top of his head—a gesture of frustration. “Damn it! Of course they’d be happy to help. I keep wanting to think the Spirit Society at least gives lip service to the law, but I know you’re right. Maybe the rank-and-file members know nothing about this, but the upper echelon almost certainly does.”

  I nodded. “Well, then, at least we have a lead we can follow up on.”

  Adam raised an eyebrow. “Cooper again?”

  Bradley Cooper was a regional director of the Spirit Society. Adam and I had questioned him once before about his involvement in Dougal and Raphael’s experiments. Cooper had been less than cooperative, and Adam had ended up taking temporary possession of his body so he could rummage through his mind.

  I nodded. “Might as well go straight to the top.”

  Adam grinned. “What do you think the chances are he’d open his door if you and I paid him a visit?”

  I suppressed a shudder. I loathed Cooper, both because of what he stood for and because he was such a nasty little weasel of a man. But Adam’s amusement at Cooper’s expense still made me uneasy. It was true that possessing Cooper had been more … humane than some of the other ways we might have gotten information out of him, but I would never be comfortable with allowing anyone to be possessed against their will, even temporarily.

  “Slim and none,” I answered, fighting down my unease. “Which is why we won’t be the people he sees on his doorstep.”

  nine

  BARBIE IS ABOUT AS HARMLESS-LOOKING A PERSON AS I can imagine, which made her the perfect candidate to charm Cooper into opening his door when he shouldn’t. We kept our raiding party small—just me, Adam, and Barbie—for the sake of simplicity.

  Cooper was divorced and lived in the suburbs in a house that was meant to hold a family, not a single man. A rich family. Possibly with live-in help.

  The lights were on inside when we drove up, and there were no other cars in the driveway. It looked like we would have Cooper all to ourselves, which was just the way we wanted it.

  We parked by the curb across the street, not wanting to attract Cooper’s attention by pulling into his driveway. If he caught a glimpse of me or of Adam, there was no way in hell he’d open the door without a scene, so we were going for maximum stealth. Instead of walking up the well-lit path to his door, we picked our way across the lawn in the shadow of the decorative privacy hedge that blocked the view from the neighbor’s house. Then we ducked down under the window and crept up to the front porch.

  Adam and I plastered ourselves against the wall beside the door. Cooper wouldn’t be able to see us without sticking his head outside, and if he did that, we’d be inside before he knew it. Barbie raised an eyebrow at us, and we both nodded to indicate we were ready. Then she rang the bell.

  Footsteps echoed in the foyer. Barbie stood up a little straighter and licked her lips, adding a faint wet sheen.

  The footsteps stopped by the door. Cooper was probably checking out the view from the peephole. Like I said, it was hard to imagine anyone more harmless-looking than Barbie—though, of course, she wasn’t as harmless as she looked. I expected Cooper to open the door right away. What middle-aged, heterosexual male wouldn’t open the door when a twenty-something blond bombshell was standing there?

  Apparently, Bradley Cooper.

  “Who is it?” he asked through the closed door.

  Barbie batted her eyelashes. It probably looked pretty sexy, but I knew it was a sign of surprise rather than a come-on. “My name is Barbara Paget,” she said. There was no point in using an alias, since Cooper would recognize Adam and me anyway. “My car broke down, and I was wondering if I could use your phone. I’ll only be a minute.” She smiled up at the peephole hopefully.

  Cooper hesitated a moment longer, but apparently even he wasn’t immune to Barbie’s charms. I heard his faint sigh, then the rattle of chains and locks being undone. Barbie stepped back a bit, and the moment the door started to open, Adam jumped in front of her and gave the door a hard shove.

  Cooper, having been knocked back on his ass by Adam’s shove, cried out in surprise as Barbie and I slipped in through the door that Adam held open.

  “Get out of here!” Cooper commanded, but it was hard to sound too commanding when you were sprawled on the floor. Especially when your looks were a perfect match to your weaselly personality, complete with the buckteeth and beady eyes.

  Cooper scrambled to his feet, glaring at the three of us. “Get out or I’ll call the police!”

  Adam laughed. “Are you forgetting that I am the police?”

  Cooper sneered at him. “It doesn’t mean you’re above the law. Or do you have a warrant you’d like to show me?”

  Adam took a step closer, smiling. It wasn’t a nice smile, and a sheen of sweat broke out on Cooper’s forehead. He took a corresponding step backward and held out his hands.

  “Stay away from me!” Cooper shrieked.

  Adam stopped his advance. “No need to get your panties in a twist,” he said, still smiling. “We just want to have a little chat with you is all.”

  “I remember our last ‘little chat,’” Cooper said, taking another step backward. “I think I’ll pass.”

  I frowned. Cooper’s eyes were darting about nervously, and he was backing away from Adam like he was a dangerous predator, but his words didn’t match his actions. Ordinarily, Cooper wouldn’t know dry sarcasm if it bit him in the ass.

  “Don’t take another step, Brad,” I warned, wondering if he was trying to get within reach of a weapon. Maybe our last visit had made him a little more cautious. “And keep your hands where we can see them.”

  Cooper stopped retreating and put his hands out to his sides, fingers splayed. It was just what I’d expect Cooper to do, but something about him was … bothering me. Still keeping my eye on Cooper, I opened my purse and started rummaging for my Taser. I pretty much never went anywhere without my Taser anymore, but since I hadn’t expected to use it tonight, it was buried somewhere in the depths of the black hole.

  “I’d like to ask you a few questions about the Spirit Society’s new recruitment campaign,” Adam said.

  Cooper blinked like he was surprised. “What kind of questions? There’s nothing terribly mysterious about it. You can go to our website for the details.”

  “Not that recruitment campaign,” Adam said. “The other one.”

  Cooper shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s only one campaign, and the information is all very public. I think you should leave now.”

  Adam clucked his tongue. “Are we really going to have to have a repeat performance of my last visit? I was pretty gentle with you
last time because I knew you had every reason to be afraid of Raphael, but I’m not feeling as charitable tonight.”

  Cooper blanched and swallowed hard. “I can’t stop you from having a ‘repeat performance,’ as you call it, but it won’t get you anywhere.”

  My questing fingers finally found my Taser as my paranoia spiked again. Cooper looked appropriately terrified, but his words … They were too calm, too measured. Something was wrong, I felt sure of it. Maybe Cooper wasn’t alone in the house after all. Threatening him or illegally possessing him in front of witnesses would be really bad.

  Adam didn’t seem to feel the same qualms. He surged forward, slamming into Cooper and tackling him to the floor. I armed the Taser by feel as Adam grabbed both of Cooper’s wrists and pinned them above his head.

  That should have been all it took for Adam to slip out of his host’s body and into Cooper’s. The transfer via skin-to-skin contact takes about a millisecond to complete.

  Adam’s eyes widened at the same time I realized Cooper might be alone in his house, but not in his body.

  “Shit!” Adam said.

  Cooper smiled and drew his legs up, sharply, catching Adam in the gut with both knees. Adam grunted in pain and lost his grip on Cooper’s wrists. Cooper then tossed him halfway across the room as if he weighed no more than a child.

  I tried to fire my Taser, but nothing happened. Damn it! I’d let the charge run down. Cooper grinned at me, then advanced on Adam, who was still looking woozy.

  Barbie leapt between Cooper and Adam. I hadn’t known until this moment that she was carrying a gun. Unfortunately, guns aren’t the best weapons to use against demons. If your first shot isn’t lethal, you might not get in a second.

  Barbie didn’t even manage to get in that first shot. Cooper’s demon-enhanced reflexes allowed him to knock the gun out of her hand before she squeezed the trigger. She yelped and collapsed to the floor, clutching the hand that had been holding the gun. When demons hit, they tend to break things.

  “Get out of the way!” I screamed at Barbie. There was nothing she could do to help Adam—all she’d do was get herself killed. Not being the airhead some people assumed she was because of her looks, she scrambled out from between the two demons. At least she’d distracted Cooper enough to give Adam a little recovery time.