Jenna Black - The Devil Inside

But it wasn’t an enemy who’d stepped out of the car. It was Adam.

He walked slowly toward us, looking from Lugh to Raphael, then to the bodies that lay strewn on the ground around us. I was relieved to see him alive, and I knew he deserved a hasty explanation for the carnage, but at that point, explanations weren’t my first priority. I hammered away at Lugh, trying to gain control, trying to force his mouth- my mouth-to form questions.

He remained in control, but asked my questions anyway. “Are Brian and Dominic all right?”

Adam’s hand hovered near his sidearm. “They will be,” he said, cautiously. “They’ve both been taken to the emergency room, but the EMS folks said their prognosis was good.” He looked at the bonfire, still burning brightly, then back to Lugh and Raphael.

“Care to explain what’s going on?” he asked.

Lugh did most of the talking, probably because he didn’t expect Adam to trust Raphael. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t that sure I trusted Raphael. I mean, yeah, obviously he was on Lugh’s side, but I wasn’t so sure his motives were as pure as he claimed. And I don’t care how bad the blood was between him and Lugh, he should have told me that he was one of the good guys. Even if he thought Lugh and I wouldn’t believe him, he could have saved us both a lot of pain.

The fire was starting to burn down when Lugh finally stopped explaining. Adam looked over the collection of bodies and shook his head.

“Well,” he said, in something of an understatement, “this is a bit of a mess, isn’t it?”

Raphael found that funny, which made me dislike him even more. Lugh cut him a sharp look, but Raphael ignored it.

“What did you tell the police about Brian and Dominic?” Raphael asked.

“I told them my informant warned me a demon was holding an unwilling human captive in the basement of the club. The demon escaped and shot Dom to keep me from chasing him. I’ll take plenty of heat for not calling in backup and for taking a civilian in with me, but I’ll weather the storm eventually.”

Raphael seemed satisfied with that explanation. “Then no one knows any of us has anything to do with these losers.” He drew the gun with the silencer out from under his jacket. “This is the gun I shot Dominic with,” he said. He handed it butt-first to Adam, who took it without a question, though the look on his face suggested he wanted to punch Raphael’s lights out.

Raphael took a deep breath as if bracing himself for something. He gave me/ Lugh a long, searching look, then faced Adam. “The demon who kidnapped Brian was Andrew Kingsley. He attacked you, afraid you’d be able to identify him, and you shot him.”

What the fuck…?

As usual, I was a little slow on the uptake. Adam’s brows drew together, but even slow as I was, I knew the expression wasn’t so much puzzlement as indecision.

“I’d do it myself,” Raphael continued, patting the gun tucked in his belt-the gun he’d taken from the human henchman, “but I don’t think any of us want the ballistics to match the gun that shot all these idiots.”

My mind finally caught up with what Raphael was suggesting. For half a second, I hoped Lugh would object, but when Adam looked at him for confirmation, he nodded.

“No!” I screamed mentally, frantically shoving on the door, but it was too late.

Adam drew his gun. “I’m sorry, Morgan,” he said. Then he shot Raphael…shot Andrew, my brother.

The bullet slammed into Andrew’s chest and knocked him backward. He fell in what seemed like slow motion, landing on his back.

With a massive burst of will, I shoved the doors of my mind shut and regained control of my body.

“Andy!” I screamed, and ran to kneel beside him where he lay. His eyes were open, his face twisted in a grimace of pain. I grabbed his hand, feeling like an enormous fist closed around my heart. So much for my thought that I’d stopped loving my brother long ago.

I couldn’t form words around the lump of despair in my throat. I watched the blood spread over Andrew’s chest, and knew Raphael had no intention of healing the wound.

Impotent rage freed my voice. “Heal my brother, you bastard!” Tears streaked down my cheeks. “Don’t you do this! ”

“Have to,” he grunted. “Need to…go back home…infiltrate again.” He coughed blood. “This is…good cover story.” His eyes slid shut, but I could still hear his labored breathing.

“No! Raphael! Heal him. Please. I’ll exorcize you, send you back.”

But I knew he wasn’t going to do it, even before he shook his head. “Too strong for you,” he gasped. “Sorry.”

Adam knelt beside me. I turned to him, my rage so huge I thought I might kill him with my puny human hands. He gave me a grave, regretful look.

“I had to do it, Morgan, but don’t give up hope.”

That made me blink. I’d expected excuses and explanations. I sucked in a sobbing breath.

“Let Lugh surface again,” Adam continued. His voice was soft and gentle, like he was talking to a frightened child. At that moment, I’m not sure that was so far off. “He’s a very powerful demon-perhaps the most powerful of us all. He might still be able to heal Andrew after Raphael has fled.”

I blinked stupidly. “Raphael can’t ‘flee’ unless Andrew is dead.”

“Raphael can flee as soon as Andrew’s heart stops beating. If I do CPR and Lugh transfers to Andrew, we might be able to get his heart beating again and heal him.”

I sniffled and tried to think straight. If I let Lugh surface again, I could heal Andy and be rid of my unwanted guest at the same time. My life could go back to normal-assuming I didn’t die or go catatonic when Lugh left me, that is. Somehow, I thought that was unlikely. If I could still function as myself even with a demon living in me, it stood to reason that I’d function without him as well.

But even if this killed me, I couldn’t just let my brother die.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves, then closed my eyes and imagined opening the doors.

Nothing happened at first. I’d been so frantic when I’d let Lugh surface the first time that I wasn’t sure I knew exactly how I’d done it.

“Hurry, Morgan,” Adam said. “He stopped breathing.”

Adam’s words injected a shot of panic into me, and the adrenaline gave me the strength I needed to open the doors. I felt Lugh fill me, felt the slight changes in my posture and facial expression that said I was no longer myself.

“Don’t let go of his hand,” Lugh said. “I’ll try my best to save him, but if I fail, I need to be able to return to you.”

Then I felt him drain away.

Adam leapt into motion, positioning his hands on Andrew’s sternum and starting CPR. The pressure made more blood pour out of the wound. All I could do was pray.

It seemed to go on forever. Adam pumping away at my brother’s chest, then breathing into his mouth. Despair settled over me, even as I told myself that the wound didn’t seem to be bleeding as much.

Finally, Adam rocked back on his heels. Grief threatened to overwhelm me. Until I saw Andrew’s chest rise and then fall.

Another rush of tears crawled down my cheeks, and I squeezed his hand convulsively.

“You did it!” I said. I wasn’t sure whether I was talking to Lugh or to Adam. “Thank you.”

Adam nodded, then gave me a pitying look. I didn’t like it.

“What?” I asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“For Raphael’s cover story to stay intact, Andrew can’t be hosting a demon. Raphael will have to tell Dougal’s people that his host was killed. And if any of their operatives on the Mortal Plain discover he’s still hosting…The fact that I managed to resuscitate him at all will put some doubt into the story, but as long as it’s clear he’s not hosting when it’s over, Dougal’s people should believe it.”