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.”
CHAPTER 18
I was too slow on the uptake. Andy’s words hadn’t even begun to sink in yet when Dr. Neely lunged at me. I tried to fire my Taser, but Andy tackled me.
It was a heroic gesture, trying to get me out of the way of Neely’s charge, but I could have done without it. I cursed him as we both fell down and the Taser was knocked out of my hand.
“Get off!” I screamed at Andy, and jabbed him with my elbow to punctuate the point.
Neely grabbed my arm in a brutal, crushing grip, dragging me up to my feet.
A gunshot nearly deafened me, and something hot and sticky splashed my face. Neely grunted in pain, but he didn’t let go of me. He spun around, putting me between him and Adam and wrapping an arm around my neck.
“Shoot, and I’ll take her head off before I die,” Neely said.
I reached up to grab the forearm he had pressed against my neck, prying at it uselessly. It wasn’t that I expected to be able to make him let go, especially with my taped fingers. I was just playing the helpless human female in hopes he’d underestimate me.
Adam’s gun was still pointed straight at us, but he didn’t fire. Footsteps pounded down the stairs.
“Stay away!” Adam bellowed, but Brian and Dom both ignored him and came charging into the room.
I felt Neely turn to look at them, and in that moment of distraction, I stomped down on his instep as hard as I could.
I already knew pain didn’t bother this particular demon much, but it did startle him. I let myself become a dead weight in his arms, and he had to readjust his grip to keep me from falling.
Everything else seemed to happen pretty much in a split second, and it wasn’t until afterward that I was able to piece together the sequence of events. At the time, all I noticed were the sounds.
Gunshot.
Scream of pain, but it wasn’t from Neely.
Another gunshot.
Utter silence.
Time resumed moving normally, and my other senses caught up with me, when I collapsed to the floor with a limp body on top of me. I shoved Neely away and got to my knees.
Brian and Andy were standing around in shock. Adam was on the floor on his knees, bent over. A trickle of blood obscured my vision, and I had to wipe it away before my mind could finish figuring out what I saw.
Adam was bent over on the floor, clutching someone to his chest. Andy and Brian were still standing, and Neely was dead as a doornail. That left…
“No!” I choked, stumbling to my feet and crossing the short distance between me and Adam.
Dominic lay in Adam’s arms, a huge bloodstain spreading across his chest.