The Devil You Know

CHAPTER 17

Keeping Brian in the dark about what was going on was getting harder. He’d managed to keep his questions to a bare minimum so far, but I knew if he sensed an opening, he’d take full advantage. He wasn’t a trial lawyer, but I suspect he has the skill set for one. When he starts asking questions, he tends to learn far more than you mean to reveal.

Which meant I really didn’t want to meet with “Dr. Neely” in my apartment. I couldn’t imagine any explanation I could give Brian that would satisfy his curiosity. Nor could I imagine how we’d keep him from overhearing things he didn’t need to hear. Not unless we tied him up in the closet. I’d threatened both Andy and Brian with violence. I wasn’t going to do it again. Ever.

After my conversation with Andy and Adam, I went to my own room and locked the door behind me. Then I dragged my cell phone into the closet—call me paranoid—and closed that door after me, too. I didn’t exactly have Dr. Neely on speed-dial, but I called The Healing Circle and got semi-lucky. He was actually in his office to take my call.

“Why, Morgan!” he said when I’d identified myself. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“I’ll bet,” I muttered. “You and I need to have a conversation.”

“I’m always delighted to talk to you. You’re like a sister to me, you know.”

“Why don’t you shove it up your—” I shut myself up at the last moment. Like Adam, Raphael really got a kick out of getting a rise out of me. The last thing I wanted to do was give him what he wanted.

He chuckled. “You and Lugh are well suited. I can usually get him cursing me within a couple of sentences, too.”

“And that’s your goal in life?”

“Let’s just say I’m much more successful that way than if I try to win his approval.”

I felt an unaccustomed tug of pity. I knew what it was like to abandon all hope of winning approval from your family. Was he such a bastard because he couldn’t win approval, or was it the other way around?

I shook the pity off. Yeah, my whole dysfunctional family thing made me bitchy; it didn’t make me into the kind of person who tortured innocent bystanders. “Do you feel even slightly bad for what you did to Andy and Brian?”

I expected a glib answer, but instead he seemed to think the question over. “Not really,” he said finally. “If I were human, I probably would, but I’m a demon. I did what I had to do under the circumstances. I may not be as noble as my sainted brother, but I’m not a monster, either. It was never anything personal.”

“Just like your desire to kill Andy now isn’t personal?”

“Don’t tell him this, but I have no desire to kill him. I’m under orders to do it, but there are advantages to being the king’s brother. No one’s going to ride me too hard if I don’t get around to it. I have nothing to gain by killing him, and I’m quite secure in the knowledge that he won’t tell you anything I don’t want you to know.”

Only because he didn’t know I’d sic Adam on my own brother. Perhaps I should examine my own moral compass a little more closely before I started taking potshots at Raphael’s.

“So what is it you’d like to talk about?” Raphael asked.

“It’s not something we can do on the phone.”

“All right. I’ll come to your apartment later.”

“No. It doesn’t matter what you say—I don’t trust you around Andy.”

“You cut me to the quick.”

“I wish.” We definitely needed privacy for this conversation. And I knew the perfect place, even though I wasn’t overly anxious to set foot in it again myself. “Adam White is kind of acting like my bodyguard while Der Jäger is after me.”

“That’s hardly a permanent solution. You and Lugh are going to have to do something about him. I can’t help you without blowing my cover.”

I knew exactly what he meant, but it wasn’t something I wanted to think about right now. If I could lure Der Jäger into some kind of a trap and then let Lugh take over, we probably stood a chance against him if only because of the element of surprise. But there were too many holes in the plan.

“Let me worry about Der Jäger for the moment. That’s not what I want to talk to you about.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Meet me at Adam’s house at”—I looked at my watch—“nine tonight.”

“And speaking of blowing my cover…Adam and I are on different sides of this little conflict, in case you’ve forgotten. I can’t just go drop in on him for a chat.”

“You’ll find an excuse.”

“I’d have an excuse if Andy were there. In all honesty, I can’t take a legitimate shot at him in your apartment. I’d have to get by the security guard, and I believe there are security cameras in the elevator. Not to mention killing him might be noisy and attract a lot of attention. If I attacked him at Adam’s place, the only significant witness would be Adam himself, and I can handle him. It would make a damn good excuse.”

Yeah, and it would give him a damn good chance of getting to Andy if that’s what he really wanted. “I guess you didn’t get my subtle hint—I don’t want you anywhere near Andy. That’s why I didn’t want you to come to the apartment.”

“Yes, I got the hint. I’m just ignoring it. I give you my word I will not harm your brother. We’ll figure out a good way to make my fake plan fail.”

Did I trust Raphael’s word? Hell no! But as long as we were prepared for him, we should be able to keep Andy safe. I hoped. I wasn’t looking forward to hearing what Andy thought of me for volunteering him as bait.

“All right, then,” I said. “I’ll see you at Adam’s at nine.”

“I look forward to it.”

“That makes one of us.”

I wasn’t about to leave Brian alone in my apartment, so that meant we had to drag him with us despite my desire to keep him as far from Raphael as possible. I told him we were going to interview what Adam would call a “person of interest.” I also told him he would not be privy to said interview, even though we were bringing him along. I watched him debate internally whether to start pushing for answers. And I saw him decide to bide his time just a little longer. His eyes told me that the day of reckoning would soon be upon me.

Getting to Adam’s house was harrowing, not because of anything that happened, but because of all the bad things that could have happened. All it would take was the most casual of touches of skin on skin for Der Jäger to transfer from his current host into Brian, Andy, or Dominic. Which meant Adam and I had to make sure no one got within touching distance.

Adam left the apartment first, retrieving his unmarked and parking right in front of the elevators in the garage to wait for us. We gave him a five-minute head start, then the boys and I piled into the elevator. I made them all stand behind me, and I clutched an armed Taser in one hand, keeping it concealed by tucking my hand into my jacket. The grip was still damned awkward with my fingers taped together, but I figured I could fire if my life depended on it. Dominic had the other Taser, and he made only the most halfhearted attempt to hide it behind his back. The tension in that elevator was palpable, and I thanked God we didn’t have to stop for anyone else on the way down.

When the elevator doors opened in the garage, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. As promised, Adam was waiting for us, the car idling with its doors open.

“Coast is clear,” he said, barely looking at us as he kept his eyes peeled for any suspicious pedestrians.

I ended up in the backseat, sandwiched between Andy and Brian. It was a good-sized car, but none of us was exactly petite. Andy was still giving me the cold shoulder, but Brian slipped his arm around me. Pretending that he was just making more room, but I don’t think he expected me to believe it. Just like I don’t think he believed me when I pretended not to notice.

It occurred to me that Andy and Brian might be in for something of a shock when they got a look at Adam’s house. Even if they were completely dense, they had to know by now that Adam and Dom were a couple. What they couldn’t know about was the evil black room that loomed at the top of the steps on the second floor of Adam’s house. The black room that held Adam’s impressive collection of whips. The black room that would have had a starring role in my nightmares, if I didn’t have Lugh to keep said nightmares at bay.

I would have liked to have warned them in advance, but it wasn’t exactly something I could bring up in casual conversation. I would just have to hope the door to that damn room was closed or that we would all stay on the first floor.

We got to the house without incident, parking in the tiny private lot across the street. Adam and I shepherded the others inside, covering them like soldiers in a war zone. I’d have laughed at us for being so melodramatic if I weren’t wound so tight myself.

Once we got there, we still had more than a half hour to wait before Raphael was due to arrive. So we talked strategy. Adam showed a rare hint of sensitivity and suggested that both Dominic and Brian hang out upstairs for the duration. I think if we’d tried to single Brian out, we’d have had a fight on our hands.

Of course, it might not have been sensitivity. It might have been that Adam expected his lover to keep Brian from eavesdropping. But for once in my life, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We couldn’t be sure that Raphael wouldn’t show up early, so Adam sent them upstairs as soon as we had our roles figured out. I wanted to ask about the black room, but I still couldn’t imagine bringing it up in front of so many people. I prayed the door was closed.

I must have been wearing my thoughts on my face, because Adam took one look at me and started laughing. My face went red.

“What?” Andy asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Nothing,” I mumbled.

But of course Adam couldn’t resist the temptation to make me miserable.

“Morgan’s worried what her boyfriend will think when he sees my collection of BDSM paraphernalia at the top of the stairs.”

“Oh,” Andy said, and looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt.

“There’s no such thing as TMI with you, is there?” I asked Adam.

He laughed again. “I’d be happy to provide more details if you’d like.”

I was saved from having to come up with a good retort by a knock on the door. Adam went to let our guest in, and I moved to stand beside Andy. His cell phone rang, startling us both, and he frowned.

“Who could that be?” he mused.

As far as I could tell, he hadn’t talked to a single soul outside my apartment since he’d gotten out of the hospital. He pulled out the phone and stared at it. After looking at the number, he shrugged and stuck the phone back in his pocket.

I double-checked my Taser and pointed it as Adam guided Raphael inside.

“Stay behind me, Andy,” I said.

Raphael smiled and put his hands up. Behind him, I saw that Adam had drawn his gun. Not the optimal weapon to use against a demon, but I supposed a gunshot wound to the leg might slow Raphael down if necessary.

“It’s so nice to feel welcome,” Raphael said, stopping when Adam ordered him to.

Andy’s cell phone rang again. I was tempted to tell him to turn it off, but then I had a disturbing thought—what if it was Mom and Dad, calling from wherever they’d disappeared to? Without looking away from Raphael, I said, “Answer it, just in case it’s important.”

“May I put my hands down now?” Raphael asked.

“No,” Adam and I said in concert.

Behind me, I heard Andy answer the phone. A voice buzzed on the other end of the line, but it was too faint for me to recognize or make out words. Andy said “yeah” and “uh-huh” a couple of times, then hung up.

“Who was it?” I asked.

“Just The Healing Circle, checking up on me. They must not realize Dr. Neely is paying me a house call.”

I thought I heard a little something off about his voice, but I figured this wasn’t a good time to pry.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” Raphael asked.

“I told them everything I know,” Andy said, shocking the hell out of me. That so was not part of the script.

I turned my head partway. “Andy? What are you doing?”

“I’m tired of being scared,” he said, sounding scared shitless. “I want everything out in the open.”

Raphael shrugged, which looked kind of funny with his hands still up. He didn’t look particularly surprised by Andy’s admission. Considering how certain he’d sounded that Andy would keep his mouth shut, that kind of surprised me.

“Water under the bridge now,” Raphael said with a bland smile.

“Morgan,” Andy said, and his voice was shaking. “Shoot him. That’s not Raphael.”