“Her mother has ambitions within God’s Wrath,” the demon said. “What better way to prove her loyalty and commitment to the cause than to sacrifice her own daughter? Besides, I think she truly believes she’d be saving Melanie’s soul.”
There was a loud knock on the front door, and we all froze. Melanie let out a bleat of terror, and I couldn’t blame her. Sure, it could be just a neighbor asking to borrow a cup of sugar—does anyone really do that?—but I wasn’t counting on it. I checked the charge on my Taser, and Barbie drew her gun, flicking off the safety.
Rick shook his head. “They’ve done this before, and they know how many people are in this apartment. There will be too many of them for us to take. And no one in this building will stick their neck out for us.”
Of course, Rick didn’t know that he wasn’t the only demon in the room. I had a feeling Lugh would even the odds.
Not against a mob armed with Tasers, he reminded me.
The knock sounded again, more firmly. A male voice shouted something authoritative-sounding, though I couldn’t make out the words.
“Call the police,” Rick said. His voice was still calm, but his eyes were wide and frightened-looking, and he was holding Melanie so tight he was practically crushing her. “Tell them what’s happening, and tell them if they don’t get here in time, they’ll find us at Melanie’s house. God’s Wrath has what they call a ‘facility’ in the basement.”
There was a loud crash from the front of the apartment. I had a sinking feeling that was the sound of the front door being broken down. “Hold them off as long as you can!” I ordered Barbie as I whipped out my cell phone and hit speed dial.
If I had to go through 911, I’d never get through an explanation before it was too late. However, Adam White, the director of Special Forces—the branch of the Philly PD responsible for demon-related crimes—was a member of Lugh’s council, and I could enlist his aid with a minimum of bullshit.
Barbie, standing in the bedroom doorway, fired off a warning shot down the hall, and Melanie screamed.
“Don’t come any closer,” Barbie yelled to someone out in the hallway. “The police are on their way!”
Yeah, well, sort of.
I figured that from her defended position, Barbie might be able to hold the bad guys off for a couple of minutes. What I hadn’t counted on was the canisters of tear gas said bad guys lobbed our way. It wouldn’t have a whole lot of effect on demons, but it would take Barbie and Melanie out of play in no time.
I didn’t hesitate to let Lugh take control—I wouldn’t be able to tell Adam diddly-squat if I was coughing up a lung, as Barbie was starting to do. She fired off one more shot blindly, then was overcome by the gas.
It seemed like a century before Adam answered the phone. He started in on some sarcastic greeting—I never called him with anything resembling good news—but Lugh cut him off.
“Get to 125 Oak Grove Court, fast,” he gasped, the tear gas making his breath come short even if it didn’t incapacitate him. “Basement. God’s Wrath is taking us—”
A masked figure suddenly appeared out of the cloud of gas. Lugh tried to dive out of the way, but twin Taser probes latched onto his chest and stomach, and fifty thousand volts of electricity short-circuited his control of my body. The phone fell from his limp fingers as he collapsed to the floor.
Put me back in control, I ordered him, though I dreaded what would happen when he did. With him in control, I didn’t feel any of the pain or misery that the gas and electricity were causing my body. However, humans and demons respond differently to Tasers, and the last thing I wanted was for God’s Wrath to figure out they had more than one demon they could throw on the bonfire.
Lugh faded into the background of my mind, and I lost myself to misery.