Jenna Black: The Devil's Due

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.”

Big Cheese hesitated a moment, thinking it over. I mentally held my breath, praying he would go for it. And for once, something actually went my way.

“Yeah, sure,” he finally said. “It’s late, and I don’t feel like dealing with her tonight, either.” I heard him turn around, though I still couldn’t see anything except Raphael’s ass.

“Here’s a little something for you two lovebirds to think about tonight,” he said, addressing the Brewsters in a nasty voice. “Someone’s got to pay for your inability to stop the exorcist from poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. In the morning, you’re going to tell me which kid you like better, and you’ll get to keep her. You do that, and I’ll take care of the other one quick. But if you make me pick, it will be very, very slow, and you’ll get to watch every minute of it.”

Even Raphael had trouble swallowing that threat. I could feel him tense beneath me.

I started struggling again as Claudia burst into sobs and Raphael carried me out of the room.

Raphael carried me down a long hallway, then opened a door and stepped through into a dimly lit stairwell. In my peripheral vision, I could see Big Cheese and the other demon following. No way we’d get lucky enough to be allowed into the basement without an escort.

My body jounced against Raphael’s shoulder as he carried me down the stairs. Then, instead of just setting me down on my feet, he slung me off his shoulder and let me fall to the floor. The hard, cement floor, I might add. Once again, I was glad to have Lugh blocking out the pain.

Lugh managed to wriggle around until we could see the room into which we’d been deposited.

I’d known the hope that we could just snatch the kids and run with minimal risk was very low. But even that tiny hope faded when I looked around.

An unfamiliar demon—Alex, I presumed—sat on a straight-backed chair near the stairs, holding the younger girl on his lap. She was fast asleep, and though in her disheveled state she wasn’t as cute as she’d been in the photo, her vulnerability brought out maternal instincts I hadn’t thought I had. I wanted to snatch her from that demon’s arms and make him pay for touching her.

The other girl was wrapped up in a blanket on the floor. She, too, was asleep, her thumb stuck in her mouth, her knees curled to her chest. I suppose if you’re young enough, and tired enough, you can sleep anywhere, even on a cold cement floor while being held hostage by demons.

We couldn’t make any aggressive moves while the demon had his hands on the little girl. She’d be dead or possessed as soon as we tipped our hand.

The situation went from bad to worse when I noticed the air bed and the cot set up just to the right of the stairs. Big Cheese and his crony were heading for them, and I realized they all slept down here with the kids. As if one of them couldn’t handle a three-year-old and a five-year-old with ease! Hadn’t they ever heard of overkill?