I couldn’t force any words out of my mouth, but I managed a nod. My eyes burned, and I was gritting my teeth so hard my jaw ached.
Obviously, Tommy had been too sunk in misery to listen to our conversation or realize that it had to do with him. When Raphael came to squat beside him, he didn’t move.
“Wait!” I cried as Raphael reached out to touch him. I could see him fight the urge to ignore me, and was actually rather impressed when he dropped his hand away from Tommy’s bare flesh.
“I just want to remind you—if Andy comes out a vegetable, I’m going to skin you alive, and damn the consequences.”
Raphael’s shoulders drooped with relief. He must have thought I’d changed my mind. “Have no fear,” he said, his hand moving toward Tommy once more. “He’s fine. As he’ll tell you in a moment.”
My conscience screamed as Raphael’s hand brushed over Tommy’s shoulder. Instantly, Tommy stopped his sobbing. Andy looked up at me, and it was my brother whose eyes met mine, not Raphael. I guess I was relieved Raphael had been telling the truth for once, but I felt too guilty to rejoice. Andy, not looking any happier than I felt, lowered his gaze to the floor.
Raphael unfolded Tommy’s body and rolled to a sitting position. He didn’t seem to care that his new body was naked, but Dom said, “I’ll go see if I can find you something to wear.”
“Thanks,” Raphael said, and he flexed his hands experimentally, familiarizing himself with his new anatomy. He and Andy shared a look I couldn’t interpret, and then Andy stood up and backed away from him.
I wanted to run to Andy, to throw my arms around him and welcome him back, but he wouldn’t even look at me. I suppose his conscience wasn’t feeling too frisky, either. I didn’t know what to say, so I just stood there in brooding silence and waited for Dom to return with the clothes.
“Mind if I take a quick shower?” Raphael asked Adam.
“Suit yourself,” Adam replied. The look on his face was not a happy one, but he wasn’t as pissed off about being Tasered as I would have been in his position. “Bathroom’s down the hall on the left.”
“What happened to your desperate hurry to rescue the children?” I asked, and I didn’t give a damn how suspicious I sounded.
It didn’t seem to matter what face Raphael wore. He was always good at the marrow-chilling glare, the glare that always made me think there was something evil behind those eyes. “I think it would be a tad suspicious if I showed up at the house smelling like gas and piss, don’t you?”
He had a point, but hell if I was going to admit it.
CHAPTER 25
Our rescue plan was hardly to my liking, but then nothing ever is these days. Raphael would take me to Claudia’s house, under the pretext that he’d taken me prisoner because I was getting too close. Adam offered to provide handcuffs to lend some verisimilitude to the scenario, but I flat out refused.
When we got to the house, Raphael would insist I be taken downstairs into the basement with the children. That was about as far as our plan went. We didn’t know what we would find when we got there, didn’t know if the children would be restrained, didn’t know for sure how many demons would be there, didn’t know how careful they might be. If we could get to the girls before the demons did, and if it seemed likely we could extract them without too much danger, we’d just go for it. I’d seen Raphael fight before, and I had every confidence he could hold off the bad guys with ease while I spirited the children away.
But what were the chances the demons would make it that easy for us? With the way my life was going these days, we’d be lucky not to find an entire demon regiment camped out at that house. If it turned out we couldn’t get to the girls without endangering them, we’d have to wing it.
I found myself wishing that it would be Adam by my side for this adventure rather than Raphael. True, I didn’t like Adam. But I trusted him, which was more than I could say for Raphael. It seemed like a bad idea to wing it with someone I didn’t trust, but that was my only option.
I gave careful consideration to the idea of calling Brian before I left. I’d already more than broken my promise to call him if there were any new developments. I told myself I didn’t want to worry him, but in reality I just didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with all the explaining I’d have to do—nor did I have the courage to listen to his objections, of which he was sure to have many. After all, everyone else did.
No one liked the idea of me being directly involved in the rescue, even Raphael, who’d come up with the plan in the first place. Anything that involved risk to me involved risk to Lugh. But it seemed unlikely Raphael could manage a rescue all by himself. Not to mention that I didn’t trust him enough to let him go alone. For all his seeming hurry to launch the rescue, I knew there was something else behind it all. I wished I knew what, but he wasn’t telling, and guessing wasn’t helpful.
Raphael rummaged through Tommy’s memory until he discovered where his car was parked. He had to fish Tommy’s wallet and keys out of the trash bag, but though he made prissy faces about it, he took them.
Adam and Dominic saw us to the door, Andy following behind them looking a little like a lost soul. I didn’t like the way he looked, wished I had time to talk to him. Maybe we could help each other deal with our consciences. But that would have to wait.
Adam drove Raphael and me to Tommy’s car, then dropped us off with stern instructions that Raphael keep me—actually, Lugh, but we were one and the same at the moment—safe. Tommy’s car turned out to be an aging black Corolla sporting an impressive collection of dents and scratches. It wouldn’t have looked out of place up on cinder blocks on a redneck’s lawn, and I wasn’t looking forward to riding in it. I leaned against the passenger door as Raphael unlocked it, my suspicions about him gamboling playfully in my chest.
“Can you find out from Tommy how he ended up ‘volunteering’ to be a host?” I asked.
He shook his head as he walked around the front of the car to the driver’s side. “He was definitely already possessed when he arrived at the courthouse. Some guy brushed against him one day when he was standing in line at Starbucks, and before he knew what hit him, he was on his way to file the paperwork.”
I suppressed a shudder. It was so damn easy for a corporeal demon to take a new host! Everyone was vulnerable. Except me, of course.
I was about to get into the car when there suddenly came a spike of pain through my eye. I winced and hissed. It let up immediately. I knew Lugh was trying to tell me something, though I didn’t know why he didn’t just come out and say it. He seemed to be able to do that much of the time lately. Of course, perhaps my less-than-happy thoughts about demons had put my subconscious back on alert.
Raphael, who’d already gotten into the car, leaned across the seat and looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, scanning the area for anything that might have upset Lugh.
We were in a small private lot on Lombard Street, near The Seven Deadlies. It was getting pretty late, and although South Street was just a block away, here on Lombard it was pretty quiet. Which made it a little easier for me to spot the source of Lugh’s concern.
“Shit!” I said, then said it again, just because.
“What?” Raphael asked, getting out of the car and looking alarmed.
I jerked my chin toward Reporter Barbie, who exited her car now that she’d been spotted. “We’ve got company,” I said grimly. “She’s a reporter.”
“In the mood for a nice car chase?”
I bit my lip, tempted to agree. We could get into the car and put the pedal to the metal faster than Barbie could get back into hers. Maybe we’d be able to lose her immediately. But maybe not.