I considered pulling the Taser to give her some instant motivation. Then I recognized the fundamental problem with that idea. Many demons enjoyed pain, and it seemed likely that a demon who owned a club that catered to the S&M crowd would be one of them. That made threatening her with pain pointless.
“Do you have any personal loyalty to Tommy?” I asked instead.
Shae gave me a droll look. “Honey, do I look like the kind of person who’d have personal loyalty to anyone?”
“Just checking,” I muttered. “If it wouldn’t offend your delicate sensibilities, then, perhaps you and I can reach some kind of arrangement.” She’d played both sides of the fence before. No reason to think she wouldn’t do it again.
I could tell by the sudden glint in her eye that I’d sparked her interest, though her voice remained bland. “What kind of an arrangement did you have in mind?”
I’d never been involved in anything remotely resembling this kind of illicit negotiation, and I realized I didn’t know how to play it. How much should I offer her? I didn’t even know what a ballpark figure might be. When she’d helped me and Adam rescue Brian from Hell, she’d demanded way more money than I could afford, especially while I was still reeling from the financial impact of my house burning down.
When in doubt, lob the ball into the enemy’s court. “How much do you want?” Maybe if I got her to throw out a figure, I could then negotiate her down.
Shae laughed again, and I wished I could stop giving her fodder for amusement. “You don’t have the kind of money it would take to buy me,” she said. “But I’d be willing to consider other forms of payment.”
Remembering the “other form of payment” she’d demanded from Adam and Dominic in the past, I had to fight to suppress a shudder. Fat lot of good that did me, when my face insists on telegraphing everything I’m thinking.
“It all depends on how badly you want the information,” Shae continued. Her eyes traveled up and down the length of my body, and I most definitely did not want to know what she was seeing in her mind’s eye at the moment.
I pushed my chair back. This was a dumb idea. As dumb as coming to the club in search of Tommy Brewster the first time. “Not that badly, I guess. Thanks for the chat,” I said, turning to the door. My hand hovered near the opening of my purse, just in case.
She let me step out into the hallway and close the door about halfway before she stopped me.
“Don’t leave angry,” she said. “I’m sure we can reach some kind of mutually acceptable arrangement.”
I stood in the doorway, hesitating. I had a feeling I was being drawn in like a fish on a hook. But I also had a feeling if I played my cards right, I’d get the information I wanted out of Shae. And really, what girl can’t afford to lose a pound of flesh from somewhere on her body?
“If the arrangement involves me setting foot anywhere near Hell, then no, we can’t.”
Her smile now was almost pleasant. “Honey, I may be mercenary, but I’m not stupid. There’s no point in bargaining for something I know I won’t get. Now, why don’t you shut the door and make yourself comfortable?”
Feeling very much like the fly to her spider, I shut the door. However, I didn’t sit down, and I decided it was time for more blatant self-defense. I drew the Taser out of my bag, but I didn’t point it at her. I tried my own pleasant smile, though I was glad there wasn’t a mirror nearby.
“I think now I’m as comfortable as I’m ever going to be in your presence,” I said. She might not mind the pain of being Tasered, but if I found myself needing to get out quick, I was prepared. Whatever she might think of the pain, the electricity would muck with her control of her host’s body, and she’d be helpless for a good ten to fifteen minutes. If I couldn’t get out in ten minutes, then I was already up shit’s creek.
The drawn weapon didn’t seem to faze Shae. “Suit yourself. You don’t need the Taser. Violence isn’t my style. But I don’t expect you to take my word for that.”
“Good,” I muttered, “because I won’t. Now, if my money’s not good enough to buy information on Brewster, and if you know full well I’m not providing you ‘entertainment,’ then what exactly are you hoping I’ll give you?”
“Information is a very useful currency. For every question I answer about Brewster, I get to ask you a question myself.”
Why was it the idea instantly made all the little hairs on my arms stand on end? How much useful information could I possibly give her? What would I know that she’d care about? Certainly she’d be fascinated to know about Lugh and Raphael, but it wasn’t like I was going to blurt anything out about them.
“How very Hannibal Lecter of you,” I said as I tried to make sense of the request.
She didn’t look insulted, which somehow didn’t surprise me. “Here’s how it would work. You ask me a question. Then I ask you a question. If you answer my question, then I answer yours. If you don’t answer my question, then I don’t answer yours, but you can ask a different one.” She smiled broadly, her teeth looking suddenly very white and deadly against her ebony skin. “You see, I’m even giving you a choice as to which questions you’re obligated to answer.”
If it sounds too good to be true. . “What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch, save for the questions themselves.” Her eyes glinted with amusement. “I’m not going to ask what your favorite color is.”
I thought about it a long time, but I couldn’t see any concrete reason not to at least give it a try. I could answer or not answer as I saw fit, and while I felt sure she’d go for some pretty difficult questions if I asked something she didn’t want to tell me, at least I might be able to get a little bit of information out of her this way.
“Why do I have a feeling this is a bad idea?” I asked out loud as I once again sat in front of her desk. I kept the Taser out and ready, and I pushed my chair back enough to give me some reaction time if she decided to launch across the desk after me for some reason.
“Is that your first question?”
“Ha, ha.” It was surprisingly difficult to figure out what my first question should be. After all, I wasn’t really sure what I was fishing for. “What is your relationship with Tommy Brewster?” I asked, going for something vague and broad. Maybe she’d spill more than she meant to in answering that question. Hey, a girl can hope.
Shae gave me her shark smile. “What is your relationship with Adam White?”
That seemed like an almost innocuous question. I figured that meant I was going to get an answer as vague as my own question in return, but I might as well make an effort to play her game.
“Adam’s my friend,” I said, though I couldn’t speak those words without squirming. Adam was many things to me, but “friend” wasn’t one of them.
Shae arched a shapely brow. “I thought the point of this exchange of information was to get to the truth. If we’re going to deal in falsehoods, then I’ll say that Tommy Brewster is my long-lost cousin. Will that do either of us any good?”
I hate talking to people as sarcastic as I am, though of course she had a point. I squirmed a little more. This was not a question I could answer with any degree of specificity, not without bringing Lugh into the picture, which I wasn’t about to do. “All right,” I said, “I guess he’s not really a friend. It’s a little hard to stick a neat label on him. I guess I’d call him an ally.”
I had the sense Shae made more of that than I’d hoped, but it was too late to take it back. She nodded in satisfaction.
“Tommy Brewster is a business associate. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Ask a vague question, get a vague answer. Score one for Shae. “What kind of business arrangement do you have?”
“Why does an exorcist need a demon ally?”
Yeah, I could definitely see how things could go very, very wrong if I didn’t think carefully before I answered. I wasn’t entirely sure what Shae could do with any information I gave her, but I was entirely sure I didn’t want to find out.