The Devil Inside

CHAPTER 10

After my productive interview with Dominic, I took yet another train ride, this time to go back home and stay there. It was Friday night, which would usually be a date night, but I wasn’t what you’d call in the mood. I figured eventually I’d forgive Brian for not giving me an alibi, but not yet. I called him when I got home just to let him know where I was, but our conversation was brief and tense.

When I got off the phone, I straightened up the house a little, then changed my alarm code yet again. I’d showered earlier in the day, but since I wouldn’t be working off all my stress in bed, I figured now was a good time for a hot bath. I let Calgon take me away for about a half hour, and it helped.

I was just wrapping myself in my terry-cloth robe when my doorbell rang and shattered every hint of relaxation in my muscles. I cursed.

I should have known Brian wouldn’t give me time to come to grips with what he’d done. He wanted me to get over it now, and he was going to get in my face about it. It’s one of the things he does that drives me crazy. He can’t just let me be angry for a while without trying to fix it. I think in his life, he’s used to working things out on a short timeline. Arguments in his family are patched up before the sun sets on them.

I’m not that way. Never will be. It’s not that I don’t want to be. I mean, who wants to spend half of their life pissed off? I just wasn’t raised in an atmosphere where I could learn to do it. You might think that because I was the rebel of the family, they had no influence on me. They did. It was just the wrong kind of influence.

I worked myself into one hell of a snit as I stomped toward the front door. I was going to chew Brian a new one then send him packing with his tail tucked between his legs.

Which would have been a perfectly good plan if it had actually been Brian at the door. Instead, it turned out to be Adam.

I groaned and wished I’d had the good sense to look through the peephole rather than letting my anger with Brian make assumptions for me.

“You know that old saying about a bad penny?” I asked, pulling my robe closed a little tighter. I tried not to think about the blood staining Dominic’s back, tried not to imagine Adam with a whip in his hands. It didn’t work.

I guess I hadn’t disliked Adam as much as I’d thought, or I wouldn’t feel so…betrayed by what I’d learned. How stupid is that?

Adam looked at me very closely. I had no clue what he was thinking or why he was here. His eyes lingered a long time on my cheek, and I wondered if I still had suds on it. I was too self-conscious to reach up and check.

“May I come in?” he asked.

I blocked the doorway with my body. “No.” I was not inviting this sadistic bastard into my house. Especially not when I was all alone and wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

“I can push my way past you easily.”

“And watch me file charges so fast your head will spin.”

He laughed grimly. “I’m the Director of Special Forces. I think you’ll need more than a trespassing charge to scare me.”

“Get the fuck off my property, Adam. I mean it.” I tried to slam the door, but he made good on his threat and pushed past me, into my house.

I was so unwilling to be alone in the house with him that I tried to make a run for it, barefoot and in my bathrobe.

Demon-quick, he reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking me back into my house and slamming my door. His fingers dug in hard enough to leave bruises, but I was afraid he might enjoy it if I complained. Of course, he might be enjoying my struggles, too. Didn’t sadists get off on that kind of thing?

Against my will, my gaze dropped down to his crotch. Thankfully, there was no sign of an erection. Maybe he only got off on other men?

“Oh for God’s sake, Morgan!” he snapped. “Are you checking me out to see if I have a hard-on from manhandling you?”

Since that was exactly what I was doing, I couldn’t muster much righteous indignation.

He dragged me up against his body, bending his head so his lips almost brushed my ear when he spoke. “It would have to hurt a lot worse than this to turn me on, love. And if you’re getting ready to stomp my instep, I’d recommend against it.”

I guess he must have felt the tension in my body, but I was surprised he’d been able to read it so well. I seriously considered doing it anyway, but I didn’t want to know how he’d retaliate.

“Let go of me,” I growled through clenched teeth.

He did, but the coiled tension in his body told me he was ready to grab me again if I made the slightest wrong move. My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest, and a sheen of cold sweat broke out on my skin despite the half hour I’d spent in the tub. He could crush me without even trying. And the more it hurt, the more he’d enjoy it. Even my bravado wilted in the face of that threat.

His voice when he spoke was deep, and low, and full of menace. “I would like to hurt you right now, Morgan. I really would. Dominic’s having a hard enough adjustment without you barging into his house and casting aspersions on his lifestyle.”

His words scared the shit out of me, but when I looked up at his face, what I saw there wasn’t so much anger as pain. “What do you care? Your demon pal isn’t living in him anymore. He’s just a puny human now, right?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I told you his host and mine were friends before Saul and I came along. My host cares about Dominic, and I care about my host. Leave him alone, Morgan. Please.”

“Let me get this straight. You whipped him until he bled, but you’re mad at me for hurting his feelings?”

His expression hardened, the pain fading-or at least hidden. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

Maybe Adam really did care about Dominic, in his own sick way. But for whatever reason, I found myself caring about Dominic, too. I glared up at Adam, despite my fear.

“I meant what I said to him. If you hurt him, I will hunt you down. I agree with you that he’s had it hard enough already.”

Adam eased down a bit. “You really mean that.”

“You bet your ass I do.” And please don’t ask me why, ’cause I know I won’t be able to explain it.

I wouldn’t quite call the expression on Adam’s face a smile, but it was approaching one. “Well, that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about.” He fixed me with a penetrating look. “He bled on the first stroke. I gave him plenty more after that and didn’t leave a mark on him. I learned.”

I held up both hands. “TMI, Adam.”

He laughed. “Don’t you want to know how I comforted him afterward?”

I shot him my most vicious glare, but I knew I was blushing again. My mind glommed on to an image of Adam’s naked butt-not that I’d ever seen it, mind you! — doing wicked things. The thought should have been icky, but that wasn’t exactly how I reacted to it. My own reaction…Now, that was icky!

I shook the image off as best I could. “So are you planning to hurt me?” I crossed my arms over my chest, coincidentally pressing the edges of my robe more tightly together.

His smile was almost condescending. “I never hurt anyone for sport without their consent.” The intensity came back into his eyes, and I had to fight the urge to take a step back from him. “I must admit, I’d really like to, though. There’s only so much Dominic can take these days, and I’ve got plenty of excess…energy. Maybe someday I’ll find a way to persuade you to consent.”

“Hah! Hell will freeze over first.”

He grinned at me. “I’ll start praying for an ice age, then.”

I wanted to slap that grin off his face. “Are we finished here? Will you get out of my house now?”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“What if I asked really, really nicely?”

“You don’t have it in you to ask nicely, love.” He seemed to have gotten over his anger, or at least buried it under something else. Amusement, I guess. I liked it better than the anger, but only marginally.

I sighed. “Any chance I could get you to stop calling me ‘love’?”

“Sure. Offer me some hospitality.”

I didn’t like the glint in his eye. “What kind of hospitality?” I couldn’t have sounded more suspicious if I’d tried.

“A drink would be nice. I want to talk to you about the murder charge. I found out something that I think you should know.”

Okay, he’d piqued my interest. “I’ll go put some clothes on. You can wait in the living room.” I gestured with my hand.

Adam’s grin was pure mischief with a lust chaser. “You don’t need to dress up on my account.”

I thought of any number of snappy comebacks, but I figured they’d only make things worse. I pointed imperiously at my couch. “Sit. Stay. I’ll be back.”

I heard him chuckling to himself as I turned my back and made for my bedroom. Putting some clothes on and climbing out the window made for a tempting fantasy, but if he really had learned something important, then I had to know. Of course, considering how he felt about me right now, I didn’t know why he’d want to share information.

Adam was turning out to be quite the little enigma, and I didn’t like it one bit.

I dug out one of my old pairs of jeans, the ones I’d bought before the low-rise style came into fashion, and put on a baggy sweatshirt that I’d stolen from Brian one night when he’d wreaked havoc on my blouse. The combination made me as shapeless as possible, which I figured was a good thing considering how Adam kept looking at me. I wondered if Dominic would object to him looking at a woman that way. Then I wondered why he and Dominic still seemed to be an item now that Dominic’s demon was gone. Then I wondered why I was wondering and pushed the subject forcefully out of my mind.

I regretted my choice of outfit as soon as I walked back into the living room. Adam took one look at me and started to laugh. I plopped onto the yellow love seat and allowed myself to sink into the cushions.

“You were afraid I’d jump your bones if you didn’t dress like a bag lady?” he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching with humor. I noticed for the first time that he had laugh lines around his eyes. If he weren’t a gay demon with a penchant for S&M — heavy on the S — I might have found that sexy.

I stuck my chin out. “You mean to tell me you don’t know you’ve been looking at me like I was Little Red Riding Hood and you were the Big Bad Wolf?”

He sobered a little, but there was still a hint of humor in his eyes. “No, you’re right. I’ve been laying it on rather thick.” The last of the humor faded. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Morgan. I wouldn’t hurt you without consent, and I’m not into rape.”

“Yeah, you’re just an all-around nice guy.”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“You said you had information for me. Why don’t we call a halt to the verbal sparring and get to that part.”

“Fair enough. When Dominic called to tell me you’d stopped by, I knew it hadn’t been out of the goodness of your heart.” I winced, but he ignored me. “I figured it meant you suspected him of setting you up. So I asked him about it.”

My eyebrows reached for my hairline. “You asked your lover if he’d framed me for murder? I guess I’m not the only one with trust issues.”

He waved my snarky comment away. “I knew he didn’t do it. But I also knew if anyone wanted to get you in trouble, they might reasonably think Dominic would want in on it. Why commit a crime yourself if you can manipulate someone else into doing it for you? So I asked him if anyone had asked any probing questions about you since the exorcism. He said no — at first. Then I asked who all he’d talked to since then, and a very interesting name came up. And when he thought about it a little more, Dominic realized this person had poked at him to see how he felt about you.”

“You know, anytime you want, you can stop being coy and just spit it out.”

“All right. I’m talking about your brother, Andrew.”

I clenched my teeth. It shouldn’t have been so painful to hear yet another piece of evidence that Andrew was my enemy. Lugh had pretty much tried and convicted him already. And he wasn’t really my brother anymore, he was the demon Raphael.

Logic be damned, it hurt anyway.

“Just to be sure, I got hold of the 911 call. It was anonymous, made from the victim’s house, and there were no fingerprints on the phone. The voice was muffled, but I’m pretty sure it was Andrew’s.”

I took a deep breath. “So why are you here talking to me? Why aren’t you arresting Andrew?”

“My jurisdiction is violent crime. A 911 call isn’t a violent crime.”

“Performing an illegal exorcism is!”

“Is your brother an exorcist?”

He knew the answer to that, because there’s no such thing as a demon exorcist. Of course, a few days ago I’d have said there was no such thing as a demon who could possess you without you knowing it, so what did I know?

“If he called from the house,” I argued, “then he’s at least an accomplice.”

But Adam shook his head. “My evidence against him is that he talked to Dominic yesterday and I think I recognize his muffled voice on the phone. Not enough. Not even close. But it’s enough for me to tell you to watch your back.”

I cocked my head at him. His face radiated sincerity. “Why would you care? You hate me.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t hate you. I’m mad at you. If you don’t know the difference between the two, then it’s you who needs to get help, not Dominic.”

Geez, did Dominic repeat our conversation word for word?

Adam stood up in one fluid movement. I had to fight my way out of the depths of the cushions. About as graceful and fluid as a hippo.

“I’ll get out of your hair now,” he said. “You have changed your alarm code, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

He nodded his approval, and I walked him to the door. I thought I was going to be rid of him, but he paused in the doorway and reached under his jacket.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said. His hand emerged from his jacket, and he was holding a Taser out to me, butt first. “If you’ve got mysterious masked men breaking into your house at all hours of the night, you probably shouldn’t be unarmed.”

To say I was stunned is an understatement. I couldn’t even begin to understand this guy. How could he go from threatening to hurt me to giving me a Taser to defend myself?

I hesitated a long time, looking at that Taser. For all I knew, it had been used to commit a crime, and Adam was even now setting me up, hammering another nail into my coffin. But as badly as he’d creeped me out tonight, my gut instinct told me he wasn’t the one trying to frame me. So I took the Taser despite all my misgivings.

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat. “And, uh, I’m sorry I upset Dominic. I didn’t mean to, honest.”

He nodded. I didn’t know if that meant he accepted the apology, or if he was just acknowledging that I’d made one.

I started to close the door, but once again he stopped it with his hand.

“One more thing,” he said, and there was that scary intensity in his gaze again. “The bruise that was on your cheek yesterday? It’s gone.”