The Devil Inside

  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.”

  Chapter 11

  I checked in the mirror before bed, just to make sure Adam hadn’t been jacking with me. He hadn’t. The bruise was gone.

  The last faint hope I’d harbored that I wasn’t possessed died. I’d had enough bruises in my life to know there was no way one would disappear overnight without help. I tend to heal fast, but not that fast. I thanked my lucky stars no one at the police station had noticed.

  That led me to question why Adam hadn’t arrested me just now. He knew I wasn’t a legal, registered demon host. And now he knew I was possessed. And he’d just walked away. Yet another puzzle to add to the growing list.

  Stress and confusion are an exhausting combo, and after chewing over the puzzles for an hour with no success, I climbed into bed and tried to will myself asleep. For the first time, I found myself wanting to talk to Lugh. Maybe he could tell me something more about Adam’s demon, explain some of the mysteries of the universe.

  It took me the better part of forever to finally drift off. I felt like I hadn’t been asleep more than five minutes when I woke up again.

  Lugh was getting better at manipulating my dreams. The room was no longer that solid, featureless white. The walls were a light, warm beige, and a thick, rusty-brown carpet covered the floor. The furniture was back, with a few flourishes. The top of the coffee table was coated with a shiny varnish, and a scattering of dark red velour throw pillows dotted the sofa and love seat.

  Lugh stood across the room from me, looking proud of his achievement. When my eyes found him, I lost all interest in his decorating skills.

  Black leather was still his weapon of choice, but he was wearing a hell of a lot less of it tonight, at least on his upper body. I wasn’t even sure what to call the arrangement of straps that crisscrossed his mouth-watering chest. They might be a shirt of some sort, or they might just have been random leather stra
ps. They hid very little.

  His chest was smooth and golden, with only a smattering of night-black hair. His nipples, framed by the black leather straps, were the color of milk chocolate. And, yes, he had the classic six-pack.

  The leather pants clung lovingly to his hips and legs, showing off powerful muscles. And other assets.

  Was it a coincidence that I’d had a few inappropriate thoughts about Adam and Dominic, and now Lugh appeared to me dressed like the S&M poster boy? I really hoped so, but I had a queasy feeling in my stomach. Just how much of my head could Lugh see into? And did I really want to know what he saw?

  Apparently, I was gaping like an idiot, for his lips twitched into a grin, and he turned a slow circle for me. The rear view was spectacular. I had to clasp my hands just in case I might give in to the urge to grab a double handful.

  Shit. This wasn’t me. I mean, yeah, I like a nice-looking man as much as the next girl, but I’d never fallen in lust at first sight like this. What was the matter with me?

  But of course, this was a dream—a dream Lugh was manipulating. Maybe it suited his purpose to cloud my mind with sex.

  That thought helped drag my mind out of the gutter. This guy had a frightening level of power over me. I couldn’t let myself forget for a moment what he was, or what he could do.

  “So,” I said, “you made my bruise go away.” I sounded almost accusatory, but he didn’t seem offended.

  “I thought you deserved to have at least some of the beneficial effects of being a host,” he said. He watched me from behind thick black eyelashes as he took a seat on the sofa.

  There was plenty of room beside him on the sofa for me. I sat on the love seat. He smiled at me knowingly. It pissed me off.

  “Yeah, it would have been real beneficial if Adam had decided to arrest me as an illegal demon host.”

  The corners of his mouth tipped downward. “I hadn’t thought of that. Please forgive me. I had no intention of endangering you.”

  I figured he probably hadn’t, but it wasn’t like I trusted him. Right now, there wasn’t a single person—or demon—whom I trusted. That was one hell of a depressing thought.

  “The sooner you get me exorcized, the better,” he said.

  Forgetting for a minute that I could end up brain-dead—and forgetting my reluctance to destroy this manly work of art—there was a gaping hole in this plan. “Yeah, that sounds all noble of you and everything, but you said you weren’t optimistic that there was an exorcist strong enough to cast you out. If I go to an exorcist, and they can’t cast you out, then they’re going to report me. I suppose if you have access to all my memories, you know this is an execution state.” At least the state would anesthetize me before burning me alive—something I kind of doubted Lugh’s enemies would bother with—but that wasn’t high on my list of preferred outcomes.

  He nodded gravely. “I know. I hadn’t thought of that last time we spoke. For that, I apologize. It was…careless of me. But I believe your friend Adam provides us an option.”

  My back stiffened. “Adam is not my friend.”

  “Be that as it may,” he continued smoothly, “he already knows you’re possessed and he hasn’t arrested you. Go to him tomorrow, as soon as possible. Ask him to exorcize me.”

  I blinked and shook my head. “Ask Adam to exorcize you?” As if I hadn’t heard him right the first time.

  “Yes. He may not have the power to do it, but he has the power to try.”

  “So a demon can exorcize another demon.”

  “Yes. As a general rule, we prefer not to. And we prefer humans not to know.”

  It made me wonder what else demons preferred humans not to know. I had a feeling it was a long list.

  “And how would I explain to him that I’m a demon wanting him to exorcize me? I’ve never heard of a suicidal demon. Or would he know you’re not in full control?”

  “Probably not. Before this happened to me, I wouldn’t have known it was possible myself.”

  I noticed he said “before this happened to me.” As far as I was concerned, it had happened to me, but I decided to let it slide.

  “Yeah, so how do I explain?”

  “Don’t.”

  I grabbed one of the red velour throw pillows and clutched it. “You think he’ll just exorcize you, no questions asked?”

  “He’ll ask. You just don’t have to answer.”

  “And you think he’ll do it anyway.”

  Lugh nodded. His face was devoid of expression. For whatever reason, it made me think he was hiding something. I worked the idea over in my mind. I felt the frown lines forming between my brows but didn’t bother to smooth them.

  I stared at Lugh’s gorgeous, blank face and had a sneaking suspicion. I clutched the pillow more tightly to me and leaned forward, meeting his eyes.

  “Do you really die when we exorcize you?” His face didn’t change expression. But he didn’t answer me, either, which was answer enough.

  Rage heated my blood, and without pausing to think, I hurled the throw pillow at him with all my might. The pillow blinked out of existence about halfway to its destination. Not that it would have hurt him, of course.

  I was on my feet, so mad I wanted to kick something. All the damn guilt Adam and Dominic had been piling on my shoulders, and Dominic’s demon wasn’t dead! At that moment, I’d have been happy to kill them both.

  “It is against our laws to let humans know this,” Lugh said. He seemed unaffected by my temper tantrum, which just made me madder. I opened my mouth to say something scathing, but he cut me off before I got started. “Dominic really believes his demon is dead. And Adam is forbidden by our laws to tell him the truth. It is, no doubt, one of the reasons he is so angry right now.”

  I swallowed down my own anger as best I could. “Then why are you telling me the truth? Or are you above your laws?”

  For some reason, that made him smile. “I told you nothing. You came to a conclusion on your own. I simply chose not to contradict you.”

  He had a point, but I wasn’t about to admit it. “Why would demons pretend exorcism kills them?”

  He arched one elegant, dark brow. “If you didn’t think exorcism would kill a rogue demon, what other method would you use?”

  “Oh. Right.”

  A lock of his hair slid forward, and he brushed it back behind his ear. My fingers itched to touch the silky strands. I bet they’d be soft against my skin.

  “Stop that!” I snapped.

  “Stop what?”

  “Whatever it is you’re doing to my hormones. And don’t pretend you’re not doing anything!”

  His smile was as sexy as it was sinister. “Would you prefer me to look hideous for you? I can manage it if you like.”

  As I watched, his image wavered and blurred, then slowly came back into focus. The stud muffin was gone, replaced by something that looked like what you’d get if you crossed a Klingon with a warthog.

  “Is this better?”

  Great. A smart-ass demon. Just my luck. At least I’d lost the disconcerting urge to jump his bones.

  “Much,” I declared.

  He raised his heavy brow ridges, and I think looked surprised, though it was hard to tell in that misshapen monstrosity of a face. Unfortunately, he shifted back into Mr. Gorgeous.

  “Look, at least put a real shirt on, okay?”

  “You don’t like this one?” He smoothed his hands over his chest, his eyes never leaving mine.

  I reminded myself that I was in love with Brian, and Brian looked damn good. But that didn’t stop me from squirming. No doubt about it, Lugh was doing something to me. Maybe if I closed my eyes, I’d spoil his fun.

  It was embarrassingly hard to force myself to do it, but I closed them. My arousal level went down a notch, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “This is just a dream, you know,” Lugh said, and he was much closer to me than he should have been.

  My eyes popped open. I was no longer sitting on the love s
eat, but had somehow moved to the sofa. Right next to Lugh, who’d removed the leather contraption that had posed as a shirt and was now spectacularly bare-chested.

  “You’re allowed to be aroused even when you wouldn’t be in real life.”

  Yeah, I suppose technically it was a dream. But it didn’t feel very dream-like, and Lugh was real. I don’t think Brian would like me drooling over him like I was. Hell, I didn’t like me doing it.

  “I’m not in the market for a demon lover, so back off.”

  He leaned toward me, amber eyes going dark as that fabulous hair slid forward to brush against my bare arm.

  Bare arm? Hadn’t I been wearing a sweatshirt when this dream began?

  I was afraid that soon I’d be wearing even less, because I didn’t seem to be able to pull away. He licked his lips, and it was all I could do not to gasp at the tug of arousal in my center. I tried to think of Brian, but Lugh’s face filled my vision.

  Then two things happened simultaneously. I heard a strange ringing sound. And Lugh pulled back, his nostrils suddenly flared.

  “Something’s wrong!” he said, not looking at me anymore. “Wake up.”

  And I did.

  The ringing came from my phone. Rubbing my bleary eyes, I reached over to the nightstand and fumbled for the receiver. I almost knocked it to the floor, but managed to catch it.

  “Hello,” I said, holding the phone to my ear as I turned on the bedside lamp.

  A fax machine screeched at me. I muttered a couple of curses and slammed the phone down. The bedside clock showed it was three AM. Who sends faxes at three AM? And why did they have to pick my number?

  I almost lay down and went back to sleep, but I remembered Lugh saying something was wrong. I didn’t think he’d meant the ringing phone.

  I swung my legs over the side of the bed, finding my slippers. And that’s when I noticed it. The smell of smoke.

  I moved away from my bed and saw a wisp of smoke seeping in from under my door. As I watched, the wisp thickened and grew, pouring in more aggressively.

  Why wasn’t my smoke alarm pitching a hissy fit?

  I bit my lip and went to the door, tentatively touching the wood to see if it was hot. It was. The smoke came ever more heavily, and now I heard the distinctive crackle of flames.