Raphael moved the gun from my side to my head, then let go of my arm to fish through his jeans pocket for a set of keys and open the door. Instead of escorting me in, he grabbed my arm again and threw me in so hard I crashed into the trunk of one of the Brewsters’ Mercedes. Lugh considerately blocked out the pain. With his demon strength and agility, he probably could have kept his feet, but since he was pretending to be just little ol’ me, he keeled over sideways.
Who the hell is he putting on a show for? I complained, wishing Lugh would turn his head so I could give Raphael the dirty look he deserved. There’s no one here to see!
Perhaps he’s getting into character, Lugh’s mental voice said, a hint of humor in it. Or perhaps that was just a cheap shot because he and I still have issues. It doesn’t matter. I won’t allow him to hurt you, and I can tolerate the pain.
You’re not one of those demons who enjoys pain? I asked, then mentally slapped myself upside the head. Like we needed a distraction right now! And like I really needed to know Lugh’s sexual preferences!
Not particularly, he answered, though I’d have preferred he just ignore the question. But as I said, I can tolerate it. Even if things get a lot rougher.
Oh joy! I didn’t want to think about things getting rougher.
Raphael hauled me to my feet. Lugh swayed back and forth as if woozy from the impact with the car. Raphael didn’t give us much time to recover, grabbing my arm again and half-dragging me through a laundry room and into the main house. He had to pause to enter a code in the alarm, but with Tommy’s memories at his fingertips, that was a piece of cake.
The laundry room opened out into the kitchen, which then opened into an enormous, two-story living room with a cathedral ceiling and a chandelier so high off the ground you’d need an oxygen tank to change the bulbs.
Claudia Brewster sat on the uncomfortable-looking antique sofa. She’d traded in the power suit for a velour tracksuit, her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore no makeup. It would be the relaxed, weekend-at-home look, if it weren’t for the tension in her shoulders, the bloodshot eyes, or the blue-gray shadows beneath them.
Beside her, holding her hand, sat an older man with salt-and-pepper hair and laugh lines around his eyes. Despite the laugh lines, he didn’t look any happier than Claudia, and I figured he must be her husband, Devon Brewster III.
The man sitting across from them was much younger, probably no more than twenty-five. He was classic demon-fodder, with the athletic build and the generic good looks the Spirit Society favored as hosts for the “Higher Powers.” He’d apparently been reading a magazine when we entered, though we immediately had his undivided attention. Another demon entered the room from the hallway on the opposite end.
Tommy’s demon had told us there would be two or three demons on duty tonight. It seemed there were at least three, since I didn’t imagine they’d left the children unattended.
Unless the children were already dead.
For once, I was glad Lugh was in control and not me. If it were me, I’m sure my face would have gone white, and I might even have been sick to my stomach.
If they’d killed the children, Lugh said, they wouldn’t still be here. And I doubt the Brewsters would still be alive.
That made a reassuring amount of sense, so I relaxed a little.
The demon across the room looked me over from head to toe then glowered at Raphael. “What do you mean by bringing her here?”
“She was being nosy. I thought it was time to put a stop to it.”
The demon’s glower shifted to Claudia, who wilted under that angry, frightening gaze. “I believe I made it quite clear what would happen if you didn’t call off your bitch.”
Oh shit! If we ended up getting one of those kids killed just by showing up at the house, I was never going to forgive myself!
“Please!” Lugh said, and he had my inflection just right. He even managed to sound like begging hurt him, which is probably how I would have sounded. “It’s not Claudia’s fault. She told me to lay off, and I promised her I would. But I just couldn’t let it go. She had no idea I’d started poking into it again.”
The demon crossed the room, coming so close he invaded my personal space. I tried to take a step backward, but Raphael was behind me and grabbed hold.
I felt almost like I was the one driving my body, because Lugh was doing exactly what I would have done in the situation. He momentarily struggled, as if on the verge of panic, then forced himself to stop and put on the usual mask of bravado. He met the demon’s gaze.
“When the state calls me in to exorcize you, I’m going to pretend to fail, and you’ll go straight to the cremation ovens.”
You’re freaking me out, Lugh. That’s exactly what I would have said!
I know. That’s why I said it. Now hush. I can’t carry on both conversations at once.
The demon backhanded me, and only Raphael’s iron grip kept me from falling. Yup, I was really glad I didn’t have to feel that. It would have sucked, big time.
Lugh let my body go limp in Raphael’s arms. Raphael scooped me up in a fireman’s carry. “I’m going to dump her in the basement. Who’s on guard duty?”
“Alex,” the demon replied. “But give me one good reason why we shouldn’t just kill her. She’s already proven she’s going to keep digging, no matter what.”
“We have to find out what she knows and who she’s told before we kill her,” Raphael said with exaggerated patience.
The other demon didn’t seem to like that much. All I could see from my ignominious position over Raphael’s shoulder was his butt, and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t much to look at. But there was no mistaking the anger in the other demon’s voice.
“You’d better watch your tone of voice when you talk to me, Tommy,” he growled. It was that deep, growling, almost animalistic sound that demons seemed to be able to make, even though humans lacked the proper vocal equipment for it.
“Sorry,” Raphael said. “It’s been a long day.”
“Aww, did the big, bad exorcist make you miss your nightly fuck-fest?”
Raphael was used to being in charge, used to outranking everyone around him—except Lugh. He was obviously supposed to be subordinate to this other demon, but that might be a hard act for him to pull off for long, especially when he was being goaded.
Lugh seemed to agree, choosing that moment to pretend to wake up and start struggling.
“Hold still or I’ll make you sorry you were born!” Raphael snapped, and I stopped struggling. It was the first time Lugh acted differently from how I would have. No way I’d have been intimidated by such a second-rate, cliché threat.
“Another reason not to kill her,” Raphael said as if the angry exchange hadn’t happened, “is that colon cancer runs in her family.” He chuckled. “I guess that’s why she’s such a pain in the ass.”
Groan. Bad enough to be a helpless passenger in my own body, did I also have to listen to cliché threats and bad puns? Talk about your cruel and unusual punishment.
Big Cheese Demon seemed to find it funnier than I did, and he and Raphael shared a bit of a laugh at my expense.
“There’s a spare bedroom upstairs, if you want to give her a test drive,” Big Cheese said when he’d stopped laughing. Apparently I would be allowed to live if I had the potential to be a good broodmare. Lucky me.
“Nah,” Raphael said. “She’s on the pill. Need to let that work its way out of her system before she’s likely to take.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun.”
God, I hate demons. Yeah, yeah, I know, there are plenty of humans who are just as bad. I just don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis.
Raphael snorted. “You try doing it as many times a night as I do, see if you still think it’s fun.” He shifted me on his shoulder like I was heavy, which of course I wasn’t for a demon. “Can I take her downstairs now? I’m sick to death of dealing with her today.”