The Devil Inside

CHAPTER 21

I awoke lying facedown on an unfamiliar bed. My back felt like it was on fire. I whimpered, and a gentle hand stroked over my hair.

“I’m healing it as fast as I can,” Lugh said, and even in the short time it took for those words to leave his mouth, the pain lessened by a degree.

My face was buried in a wonderfully fluffy down pillow, and I didn’t feel inclined to move or speak. Little by little, the pain faded. His hand slid down from my head to brush over my bare shoulders.

It was only then that I realized I was naked.

I raised my head, turning it just enough to see that a crimson silk sheet covered me from the hips down. But I could feel that silk against my bare butt, and nothing covered the top of me.

Lugh’s hand continued down the center of my back. I’d have jerked away, except it’s hard to do that when you’re lying on your belly and you don’t want to flash someone.

“Is it necessary for me to be naked?” I asked, trying for cool aplomb.

I expected either a flirtatious or a smart-ass comment in reply. Instead, I suddenly found myself wearing comfy cotton knit pajamas. The top was a barely-there camisole with spaghetti straps, but it covered everything important.

I cautiously pushed myself up and turned over. My back felt fine. Lugh fluffed a couple of pillows and laid them against the headboard, a quilted affair covered in the same red silk as the sheets. I took the hint and sat with my back resting against the pillows, hugging my knees to my chest.

The pain was gone, but my whole body felt weak and shaky. I had a feeling that evil black room would feature prominently in my nightmares for years to come.

“As long as you are hosting me,” Lugh said, reading my thoughts, “ you will have no nightmares.”

I appreciated that more than I could say.

“That was a very brave thing you did,” he continued.

I snorted. I’d practically peed my pants in terror, and I’d screamed my lungs out. Not exactly my ideal of courage.

“You can be afraid and still be brave.”

I nodded my agreement, though I wasn’t sure I was convinced. It wasn’t like I’d had much of a choice, not unless I was willing to let Brian die a slow death without even trying to save him. I met Lugh’s eyes.

“Was it brave, or just plain stupid? I mean, will Adam really help me? Because if I went through all that for nothing, someone’s gonna die.”

He didn’t quite smile, but I could see his amusement nonetheless. “I think perhaps you understand demons a little better than either you or I realized. I don’t know if there’s anything else you could have offered that would have reached Adam. But you did reach him, and he’ll keep his word.”

Thank God! But I had to disagree with Lugh’s assessment. I might have figured out how to reach Adam this once, but I couldn’t say I came close to understanding him.

“Now,” Lugh continued, “I believe you and I need to talk about this rescue attempt you’d like to make.”

“Oh?” I sounded suspicious even to my own ears.

His eyes crinkled around the corners, but it was only a brief flash of humor. “It’s going to be dangerous.”

“No shit.” He gave me a quelling look, and I held up my hands in surrender.

“I could stop you from trying. I could tell Adam to keep you under lock and key.”

My stomach knotted and I sat bolt upright. “No! You wouldn’t-”

“I said that I could, not that I would. But if I’m going to allow you to endanger us both, then I must set a condition.”

Why did I think I wasn’t going to like this?

“You mustn’t be captured,” he continued, his eyes boring into mine. “You know what will happen if you are.”

I shuddered. Yeah, I knew. And if you’d asked me a couple weeks ago if I’d be willing to risk being burned at the stake in a rescue attempt, I probably would have said no. I’d have been ashamed of my cowardice, would have hated myself for it, but I wouldn’t have believed I had it in me. There was some small sense of satisfaction in finding out I wasn’t as much of a chicken-shit as I’d once thought.

“Adam is to accompany you on any rescue mission, and he is to stay at your side at all times. He will not allow you to be captured.”

I let out my breath in a loud whoosh. “In other words, if it looks like they’re going to capture me, he’ll kill me?”

“Yes.” He reached out and took my hand, prying my fingers loose from their tight fist. His grip felt firm, strong. More reassuring than it should. “It’s a case of the lesser of two evils. And I am, perhaps, being an irresponsible king in even granting you the option. If I return to the Demon Realm without having defeated my enemies here, there is nothing to prevent them summoning me into another host, and I’m sure they wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.”

His thumb stroked over my knuckles as he held my hand. Maybe I shouldn’t have let him, but I needed that lifeline. He peered at my face, his brows drawn slightly together in an expression that was almost, but not quite, a frown. I read concern and regret in his expression.

“Why would you take the risk?” I asked, meeting his gaze, trying to understand him. “Why would the king of the demons risk himself for a human pawn? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

He smiled at that, but quickly sobered. “It’s Dougal who holds human life so cheaply. I suppose I see myself as a defender of the pawns, so to speak. If I don’t defend them, who will?” He laughed. The sound held no humor. “Or perhaps I’m just a misguided, self-important fool who deludes himself into thinking he can save the world.”

He ran his free hand through that scrumptious black hair. This was the first time he’d seemed even vaguely human to me. It was good to know even demons suffered from self-doubt every now and again.

Before I knew what I was doing, I’d reached out to him, finally allowed myself the luxury of touching his face. Maybe he was using his understanding of my innermost thoughts and feelings to manipulate me. If so, at the moment I didn’t care. I just wanted to give him comfort.

His skin was ever so smooth under my fingers, like he’d never had to shave. I almost giggled at the thought, for, of course, he never had. He closed his eyes at my touch, the corners of his mouth tipping up in a hint of a smile.

I finally gave in to the urge to touch his hair, running my fingers through the length of it. His hair was as soft and silky as it looked. I moved closer to him on the bed, and his arm slipped around my shoulders. Arousal tingled over my body, though the touch wasn’t particularly sexual. I snuggled close to his body and laid my head against his shoulder.

We sat like that for a long time, taking silent comfort from one another. I realized that for the first time in my life, I actually liked a demon. And a demon who’d possessed me against my will, at that! Was this how Dominic had felt about Saul? If so, perhaps I understood a little better how Dom could have been so heartbroken over losing him. I still wanted Lugh gone, wanted my life back the way it was before. But I realized with a little squeeze in my heart that I would miss him.

Lugh turned and planted a soft kiss on the top of my head, then pulled away with every semblance of reluctance.

“I should let you sleep,” he murmured. “You’re always tired in the morning when you’ve dreamed with me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t afford to sleep until morning. Brian needs me.”

“He’ll still need you in the morning. And you need your strength.”

“But-”

He put a finger to my lips. “Adam will be working on the problem while you sleep. Rushing in headlong serves no purpose.”

Tears prickled my eyes. “But they’re going to hurt him again.”

“I know,” he said softly. “But they need him alive. If you mount an ill-planned rescue attempt, that won’t be the case anymore. So sleep. Gather your strength. Be ready.”

I took a deep, steadying breath. “Do I have any choice in the matter?”

He shrugged and his gaze slid away from mine. That was answer enough.

Accepting that I wouldn’t budge him, I did my best to swallow my impatience. “I guess I’d better hurry up and sleep then.”

The last thing I saw before sleep took me was a fond little smile on Lugh’s lips.

The next time I awakened, I found myself in the guest room in Adam’s house. Not the black room, thank you, Jesus!

I sat up tentatively, half-expecting the movement to hurt like hell, but Lugh had done a thorough job. I was even able to do a full-body stretch without a twinge. I sighed with relief.

My arms were still stuck through the sleeves of Adam’s shirt, though it had slid down so low I might as well have been topless. I pulled it off, then shuddered when I saw the dried blood that spotted the edges.

I threw the shirt across the room and slid out of bed. I didn’t want to see what my pants looked like, but my skin felt the crusty texture of the waistband and I couldn’t stand to wear them another moment. With shaking hands, I shoved them down my legs and stepped out, closing my eyes tightly as I tossed them, and my panties, in the same general direction I’d tossed the shirt.

I forced myself not to look as I hurried to the bathroom and turned the shower on as hot as I could stand. The water sluiced over my back and trickled down the drain, tinged with red. I fought another shudder and grabbed the soap, scrubbing frantically.

In reality, there wasn’t that much blood. Adam must have cleaned me up when he brought me back to my room. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him leaving me in the bloody clothes. On the one hand, it showed an admirable respect for my modesty, and I knew I’d have been pissed at him if he’d undressed me. On the other hand, it seemed a cruel reminder.

I didn’t turn off the shower until the hot water started running out. Even then, I felt…unclean.

There had been nothing sexual about what Adam had done to me. Oh, he’d been aroused, but he’d made it crystal clear that had nothing to do with me.

So why did I feel violated?

I stood dripping in the shower, my forehead resting against the cool tile, trying to pull the scattered remnants of my sanity back together.

A knock on the bathroom door startled a shriek out of me.

“Morgan?” Adam asked. “Are you all right in there? The shower stopped running twenty minutes ago.”

God, had I been standing here in a daze that long?

“I’m fine,” I lied. “I’ll be right out.”

“Come down to the kitchen when you’re ready.”

I made a sound he took for agreement, and I heard his footsteps retreat. I finally stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. I checked my back in the mirror, but there was no sign that I’d been whipped bloody the night before.

When I reentered the bedroom, I was grateful to see that Adam had taken the bloody clothes away. He’d laid the bra and shirt I’d worn yesterday out on the bed, along with a pair of police-issue sweatpants. I was grateful for them, since I’d left my shopping bags at Brian’s yesterday.

The sweatpants were huge on me, but they didn’t seem in danger of falling down, so that was okay. I didn’t have any panties, but that wasn’t an article of clothing I expected Adam to provide.

I realized I was stalling, so I forced myself out of the room and down the stairs. I’d gone through hell last night to secure Adam’s help in rescuing Brian. Now it was time to see what my blood had bought me.

I stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to see Dominic. I guess after the way he’d reacted to me yesterday, I’d expected him to avoid me like the plague. I stood in the doorway, my feet rooted to the floor. I couldn’t look at Adam. And I didn’t want to look at Dominic.

Wordlessly, Dominic poured a mug of coffee and brought it to me, surprising me into looking up at him. His eyes showed nothing but sympathy, yesterday’s hatred apparently forgotten. Or at least, pushed aside.

“You all right?” he asked as I took the mug and wrapped both hands around it.

“Yeah.”

“Liar.”

I shrugged. “The bad guys have my boyfriend. When he’s safe, I’ll have a nice little nervous breakdown. But I can’t afford one now.”

He smiled at that. “Come sit down. Adam has news for you.”

By sheer force of will, I dragged myself across the room and sat at the kitchen table beside Adam. I still couldn’t look at him.

“I watched the videotape,” he said. He sounded completely normal, as if nothing had happened between us.

I couldn’t manage that. I finally looked at him, and I know my expression was something ugly. “Did you enjoy it?”

Dominic started to say something outraged-sounding, but Adam cut him off.

“Give her a break, Dom.”

Dominic shut up. I considered apologizing but decided against it.

Adam might be willing to let the smart-ass comment slide, but he wasn’t about to respond to it. “I recognize the room he’s in.”

“What?”

“I know where they’re holding him.”

“How can that be?”

“Because I’ve been there,” he answered in his best talk-slowly-so-the-moron-can-understand-you voice.

I’d never in a million years expected Adam to be able to tell me where Brian was off the top of his head. I’d assumed we’d have to mount some kind of massive search.

“So where is he?” I asked.

“He’s in the basement of a private club on South Street, known as The Seven Deadlies.”

My sluggish brain finally started to make sense of what I was hearing. “You mean it’s an S&M club.” My face must have shown my disgust.

Adam grinned, enjoying my squeamishness. “Not exactly. It caters to quite a variety of sins of the flesh. S&M is just one of them.”

“And you’ve been there. Been in that room.” I remembered the whips, the manacles, the freakin’ rack.

He nodded. His glance slid over to Dominic, then back to me. “When Dom had his demon, we went there every once in a while. They have a wider array of toys than-”

I held up both hands. “Please, spare me the details.”

He laughed. “Okay, okay. The important point is I know that room.”

“And the important question,” Dominic added, sitting down at the table with us, “is why would they hold him in a room that someone might recognize?”

I shook my head. “Certainly they wouldn’t expect me to recognize it.”

“No,” Adam conceded, “but they most likely know you’ve been at my house. And the demons among them at least know I’m one of Lugh’s lieutenants.”

I remembered Raphael’s phone call yesterday. He’d not only known I’d been with Adam, he’d also known I’d called the police on him. I didn’t really want to remind Adam or Dominic about my less-than-noble behavior, but I did anyway.

“Raphael knew I was the one who phoned in the complaint,” I said, then told them about my little conversation with my dear brother. “He’d have good reason to think you’d never see this tape. And I’ve got to admit, keeping him at an S&M club is an effective way to hide him in plain sight. No one there would worry if they heard screams coming from that room.” The thought sickened me.

“You may be right,” Adam conceded, in a voice that suggested he thought I was dead wrong, “but we still have to operate under the assumption that this is a trap.”

If he thought I needed convincing that this was a dangerous situation, he was dead wrong. “Don’t worry, I’m clear on that. Of course, you are the Director of Special Forces, and you have proof that a crime has been committed there. Can’t you just, you know, storm the building or something?”

“That would be a very bad idea.”

“Why?”

Adam and Dominic shared a look I didn’t understand. Then Adam turned his attention back to me. It looked like he was picking his words very, very carefully.

“The owner of The Seven Deadlies is the demon version of a snitch.”

“Huh?”

If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn Adam was uncomfortable. His eyes slid away from mine to focus on his cup of coffee.

“She’s an illegal,” he said, the corners of his mouth tight. “And the club caters to demons. All demons.”

My wits weren’t at their sharpest this morning, so I decided to test my understanding. “So you’re telling me that not only is the owner an illegal demon, but the club is crawling with them?”

He shrugged. “ Crawling with them would be overstating it, but, yes, I’m sure there are others who spend time there.”

I didn’t get this at all. “So basically you’re just pretending to be a demon hunter. In reality, you don’t give a shit about how many demons are out there preying on helpless, unwilling human hosts.” My level of outrage was rising steadily, as was my voice.

“Not true!” he answered, and I could almost see his defenses going up. “ Shae is an excellent informant, and thanks to her I’ve captured demons I’d never have found any other way. It’s just that she won’t give me all of them.”

“Basically,” Dominic interjected, “she gives him the ones she doesn’t like. Luckily, it’s easy to get on her bad side.”

“And you don’t haul her in because…?”

Adam gave me the kind of condescending look you’d give a preschool child. “Because then my number-one informant wouldn’t be on the street anymore. Letting her continue to operate is a necessary evil.” He gave me a look somewhere between a grin and a sneer. “Besides, you should be damn grateful I don’t haul in every illegal demon I meet, or I’d have arrested you the first night I knew you were possessed, and you’d be ashes by now.”

I wanted to debate this some more, but managed to reel myself back in. I had more important things to think about right now than the morality of allowing police snitches to roam free. “Why does any of this mean we can’t storm the club? And please don’t tell me it’s just because you don’t want to offend your snitch.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that she has other contacts within the police department. Contacts who will warn her if we try to orchestrate a raid on her club.”

“And this necessary evil of yours would tell the people who have Brian and they’d, what, kill him? And she wouldn’t have a problem with that?” My voice was rising again, along with my blood pressure. I reminded myself for the millionth time that I needed Adam’s help and that yelling at him wasn’t the best way to get it.

“ Shae is a mercenary, through and through,” Adam said. A tick in his jaw suggested I was getting on his nerves, but so far he seemed better in control of his temper than I was of mine. “Pay her enough, and she’ll be happy to overlook just about anything. But believe me, she’s a lot less malevolent than most illegals. And we’re not debating this. The situation is what it is. If we try to mount an assault, she’ll hear about it, and she’ll take whatever precautions she feels are necessary, up to and including allowing Raphael’s people to kill your dearly beloved. So no police support. What’s your next idea?”

I thought it was a sign of my newfound maturity that I managed to let the subject drop. Not that it was easy when righteous indignation threatened to overwhelm me. But I had to keep focused, had to get Brian out of there. I could complain about the snitch thing later.

“If the frontal assault is out,” I said, and only a hint of my anger showed in my voice, “then I guess we’re just going to have to be sneaky.”

“And you have a plan for this sneaky rescue?” Adam asked, giving me his best bland look.

“No. But I bet someone as intimately familiar with the place as you are can come up with one.” My smile at that point was no doubt sickeningly sweet.

Unfortunately, Adam smiled back. His smile, however, was not sweet. “Oh, I think I can come up with a suggestion.”

Why did I think I wasn’t going to like this suggestion of his? “All right,” I said, accepting the inevitable, “lay it on me.”