The Devil Inside

CHAPTER 25

There weren’t any guards. I think all three of us took that as something of a bad sign, but it wasn’t like we were just going to run away. If this was a trap, then we’d already stepped into it, so what the hell.

Brian was still chained to the wall, the gag still stuffed in his mouth. Blood crusted his abdomen and soaked the front of his underwear. His head lolled, and my heart constricted to see a pair of burns, one under each armpit.

I ran to him, tears stinging my eyes. “Brian!” I cried, touching my hands to his chest, relieved to feel the beat of his heart. But he was out cold.

Dom and I held him up while Adam freed him from the shackles. His body was a dead weight.

“Oh my God, what’s the matter with him?” I was reduced to a quivering mess, my whole body shaking, my brain hardly functioning.

Dom traced his finger over the crook of Brian’s elbow, finding a small bruise. “They drugged him,” he said. “Let’s get the hell out of here. We’ll figure out what they gave him later.”

Adam bent and picked Brian up, slinging him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He moved as if the weight were nothing, heading toward the door.

I saw Brian’s clothes lying in a heap in the corner, and I snatched them up. We were going to look very conspicuous carrying an unconscious, half-naked, bloody man, though I didn’t suppose we had the time to get him dressed.

When we exited the room, Adam led us to the left, rather than toward the stairway leading back into the club. I supposed we were heading for the “fire escape.” A couple of the perverts watching the show noticed us and made surprised noises, but no one followed.

Adam shoved the small key Shae had given him at me, and I took it. We rounded a corner and burst into another of the rooms, this one designed to look like a doctor’s office, only the stirrups on the exam table came complete with restraints. I shuddered and forced my mind not to go there.

“Here!” Adam said, pointing at what looked like a locked cabinet.

I didn’t question him. I rammed the key in the lock, and Dominic grabbed the edge of the cabinet and pulled.

I gave Adam a questioning look as the cabinet pulled away from the wall to reveal a doorway. He shrugged-an awkward gesture with Brian lying limply over his shoulder.

“Illegal things happen here,” he explained. “Sometimes the patrons need a secret escape route.”

I was definitely going to have a talk with Adam about the wisdom of letting Shae continue to operate when this was all over.

We piled into the secret hallway and pulled the door shut behind us. The screams and other unwholesome sounds cut off, though honestly, I’d been blocking them out so thoroughly it wasn’t until the door closed that my mind acknowledged what it had been hearing.

We hesitated, looking at each other with identical concerned expressions, I’m sure.

“This has been too easy,” I said, deciding to state the obvious.

Adam and Dominic both nodded their agreement. Then Adam took his turn stating the obvious.

“We’re committed now. There’s nothing we can do but move forward.” He took a step down the hall, then looked over his shoulder at me. “Stay behind us.”

I let them take the lead. My heart was pounding so loud I could barely hear anything else. How much time had passed? Had Shae made her phone call yet? Was that even an issue?

The questions buzzed through my head one by one, but I had no answers.

The hallway went on for what felt like a mile, but finally we reached a stairway leading up. I hoped to God it was the exit.

Adam took the lead, taking the steps two at a time despite Brian’s dead weight. Dominic followed close behind, and I brought up the rear.

I hadn’t even set foot on the first step yet when I heard a familiar, awful sound. A Taser shot.

Adam made a grunting noise, then Dominic yelped. I leapt backward as the two of them and Brian came tumbling down the stairs. My leap wasn’t fast enough. When Dominic crashed into my legs, I went down hard, the impact on my tailbone causing me to bite my tongue.

Dominic struggled to roll off me and get to his feet. I heard a muffled hiccup, then Dom screamed and clutched his leg as blood fountained from his thigh.

I looked up and saw a hooded, masked figure pointing a silenced pistol directly at Dominic’s head. Two more masked figures descended behind him. One of those held the Taser.

Adam lay in a helpless bundle on the floor. Brian lay half on top of him, still unconscious. And Dom was in too much pain to do more than moan.

“Make any attempt to run away,” the gun-wielding masked man said, and I recognized Andrew’s voice, “and I’ll kill both the humans.” He moved his aim to Brian, and I almost screamed. But I didn’t want to startle him into anything.

His eyes bored into mine, and I realized he was wearing green contact lenses for some reason. But there was no doubt in my mind that it was Andrew behind that mask, despite the difference in eye color.

“Get up slowly,” he instructed me as another masked man stepped out of the stairway, making a total of four.

I wasn’t entirely sure my legs would hold me, but I didn’t want to know what Andrew would do if I didn’t obey. I made it to my feet and stood facing my brother. Or Lugh’s brother, depending on your point of view.

“Cooperate,” he told me, “and no one gets hurt.”

I looked pointedly from my unconscious, wounded boyfriend to Dominic, who clutched his still-bleeding leg. “What do you call this?” I asked. My voice was a little shaky, but I still thought I sounded rather brave.

“They’ll live,” Andrew said with cold calculation. “All of them. If you behave.”

Why should I believe him? No reason whatsoever, except believing him was my only hope. And so I didn’t fight it when Masked Villain Number Three grabbed me and slapped handcuffs on me. As soon as the cuffs were on, Andrew put away his gun.

Honestly, I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could take out four men-at least one of whom was a demon-even if my hands hadn’t been cuffed behind my back, but at this point, I had nothing left to lose.

I managed to stomp his instep and incite a curse from the man who’d cuffed me, but then Andrew crossed the distance between us and grabbed me. My struggles were useless as he dragged me up the stairs.