Jenna Black: The Devil Inside

“I’d say so. But Morgan’s too much of an idiot to let him.”

I glared up at him, at the Taser he held steadily pointed at me. Maybe it would be better to let Lugh take over, to be a passenger in my own body while they burned me to death. Andrew’s Taser meant Lugh couldn’t save me, but like Andrew had said, he could take the pain away. I was pretty sure he’d do that for me.

But I didn’t know how to let him in, even if I wanted to.

Wyatt hauled me to my feet and dragged me toward the stake. The pain in my head didn’t let up. I mentally screamed at Lugh to stop it, but he didn’t listen. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to endure. Maybe it would be a relief to be burned to death, if it meant this pain in my head would just stop.

The pain was so bad I hardly felt myself being dragged into that pile of foul-smelling kindling. They didn’t unlock my cuffs, just looped another length of chain through them and attached that chain to the metal base of the basketball hoop.

Lugh let up for a moment-maybe just to let me catch my breath. Wyatt stepped back from the stake, letting one of his flunkies squirt me with lighter fluid. My breath came in quick, frantic gasps. The fumes made me cough.

“You really are a fool, Morgan,” Andrew told me. I looked up and snarled at him, but he didn’t seem to care. “Why should you suffer, when it’s Lugh’s sin you’re dying for?”

“Shut up, Raphael,” Wyatt snapped. “What are you trying to do? Goad her into letting him in?”

Raphael laughed. “Well, yes. I don’t give a shit about Morgan. My quarrel’s with Lugh, and it would be more satisfying if I could hear him cursing me as I finally win our little game.”

“Well he’s a lot more dangerous than she is, so stop it.”

“He’d be dangerous if I couldn’t Taser him. As it is, he’d be as helpless as a baby. I would so enjoy his helplessness.”

He flashed me an unpleasant, shark-like grin, and Lugh put everything he had into another effort. The pain was like nothing I’d ever felt before, and I thought I might pass out. My vision went fuzzy around the edges. Raphael said something, but I couldn’t hear through the roaring of my blood in my ears.

I felt something inside me shift. It wasn’t a physical sensation, not exactly. The best I can describe it is that it felt like a set of doors inside my head cracked open.

I seized upon that sensation, closing my eyes and using the same visualization skills I use when I’m exorcizing a demon. Only instead of visualizing a gust of wind blowing the demon away, I visualized throwing open the doors of my mind to let Lugh in.

Suddenly the pain in my head stopped completely. Not even an echo left. I raised my head and stared at Raphael, but it wasn’t me looking through my eyes.

Raphael grinned delightedly. “Welcome, brother. What the hell took you so long?”

Lugh made a horrible growling sound I wouldn’t have thought my throat could make. Raphael looked even more delighted. Lugh started to struggle against the bonds, and I expected Raphael to Taser him into submission.

But that wasn’t what happened.

With what looked like a respectful nod at Lugh, Raphael turned to Wyatt. And shot him point blank with the Taser.

For a moment that seemed endless, everyone was shocked. Wyatt cried out and crumpled to the ground. Raphael put the Taser down on the ground, then plucked a gun out of the hand of the human standing closest to him. The man was just starting to protest when Raphael shot him in the head.

Lugh recovered his composure quickly and, with a burst of strength, broke free of the handcuffs. I felt the press of the metal against my skin, but it didn’t hurt like it should have. I leapt out of the gas-soaked kindling, but I had no control over my own body.

Later I would panic over the sensation-like I was sleepwalking while wide awake. Now I was just happy not to be burning.

The rest of Wyatt’s people converged, half of them going after Raphael, half going after Lugh. It appeared none of them were demons, because they were about as effective as yapping Chihuahuas. One of them drew a gun and shot at me. At Lugh. Whatever.

The bullet slammed into my shoulder. Painlessly. Lugh swatted the gun out of his hand, then struck him in the side of the head so hard I heard the neck snap. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Raphael shoot two more men who were trying to grab his gun arm.

At this point, smart little minions would have run like hell, but these guys were fanatics. Even as their numbers dwindled, they wouldn’t stop attacking. Lugh and Raphael picked them off, one by one, bodies piling up until the field looked like a war zone.

I suspect if Lugh hadn’t been controlling me so thoroughly, I would have puked my guts out.

Finally, the last of our enemies was down. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but I thought everyone except Wyatt was dead. I’d have felt worse about that if they hadn’t been planning to burn me alive so that demons could take over the world, or whatever it was they’d hoped to accomplish.

Wyatt started to regain control of his limbs. Raphael snatched up the Taser and gave him another jolt.

Lugh crossed my arms over my chest and glared at his brother, who smiled.

“Explain,” Lugh growled. Not much of a talker at a time like this, I suppose.

The smile faded from Raphael’s face. A hint of some darker emotion-anger, maybe-glinted in his eye. “You’re the worst kind of fool, Lugh. So bloody self-righteous and self-absorbed you’re completely blind to the world.”

We took a step toward him. Personally, I’d have been happy to punch the bastard’s lights out. But then, I wasn’t in control.

“If you’d paid attention to the world as it really is,” Raphael continued, undaunted, “you’d have seen this coming. But no, you thought everyone was as honorable as you are-that once you became king, you’d make everything right. Arrogant ass.” His lips twisted in an ugly sneer.

So far, this wasn’t the clearest explanation I’d ever heard.

“Raphael…” Lugh said, a warning in his tone.

Raphael shook his head. “I knew Dougal was up to something. He wasn’t upset enough at the prospect of you taking the throne. He should have been rabble-rousing as hard as he could, but he wasn’t. So I started dropping hints to him that you would make a lousy king. You and I get on poorly enough that he had no trouble believing I would stand against you. And so he let me in on his plan.”

“The plan to force me into a mortal host and then burn me and my host alive.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Yes, that one. And before you ask, if I’d run to you and told you all this, you wouldn’t have believed me. You’d have thought I was just starting trouble. And even if you had, there was nothing you could do about it once Dougal gave your True Name to his human followers.

“The only thing I could do was try to preempt them by summoning you into a human who wasn’t under their control. I’d hoped Morgan would be able to keep you hidden until I’d figured some way out of this mess.”

I felt my eyebrow raise. “And how did you know I wouldn’t be able to take her over? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Raphael hesitated. “Block Morgan out, and I’ll tell you.”

Block me out? I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but before I could start panicking, Lugh spoke.

“I don’t have enough control to do that,” he said. “Whatever you have to say, you can let her hear.”

Raphael shook his head. “Then all I can tell you is that Dougal has been up to more mischief on the Mortal Plain than anyone could have guessed. I’m not sharing state secrets with Morgan, no matter what you order.”