Jenna Black - The Devil Inside

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.”

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 straps. 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.