Speak of the Devil (mk-4) by Jenna Black

Author:Jenna Black [Black, Jenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf_horror, sf_fantasy_city
Published: 2009-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

I stared at the piece of paper Adam had handed me with the intern’s name and address scrawled on it. It was near Penn, not surprisingly. If I’d had a working automobile, we’d have driven there. As it was, I had to call a cab.

I was still trying my hardest not to think too much. If I did, I’d keep replaying the moment right before Brian walked out the door.

I hadn’t been able to resist reaching out to him, wishing that he would give me some reason to hope that the damage could be repaired.

“Brian, we need to—” I’d started.

“Not now,” he’d answered. “Maybe not ever.” And then he’d walked away from me once again.

I was sure Raphael was going to give me a hard time about it, poking at my open wounds. I was more relieved than I could describe when he didn’t.

We had twenty minutes to wait before the cab was due to arrive. I wasn’t all that eager to have a conversation with Raphael, but I started one anyway, with my usual tact and diplomacy.

“What did you do to my brother?” I asked, remembering once again the gaunt, haunted look on Andy’s face. He hadn’t said a single word throughout the meeting. That wasn’t like him at all.

“I didn’t do anything to him,” Raphael said.

I wanted to hit him. “You sure as hell did! Don’t lie to me.”

He let out a dramatic sigh. “Why bother to ask the question if you’re not going to believe the answer?”

Raphael had told so many lies, sometimes I wondered whether he even knew what the truth was anymore. I’d rarely, if ever, managed to get him to spit out the truth when I didn’t have him backed into some kind of corner, but that didn’t stop me from trying now.

“I’m supposed to believe it’s just a coincidence that he was fine before you took him, and now he’s a wreck since you left?” Actually, Andy hadn’t really been “fine” beforehand, but he’d been in a lot better shape than he was in now.

Raphael gave me one of his infuriating mocking smiles. “What can I say? He misses me.”

I leaned back into the cushions of my sofa and crossed my arms over my chest. If I kept my arms crossed, I wouldn’t be able to deck the son of a bitch. “If you’re going to keep pulling shit like this, then stop getting your panties in a twist when we treat you with a certain amount of…”

“Hostility?”

“That works.”

“I’m telling the truth, though I know it’s my own fault you don’t believe me. But I promised you I’d take better care of Andrew this time, and I kept my word.”

“Then why does he look like he’s the walking wounded all the time?” Andy had originally volunteered to host a demon out of the misguided desire to be a hero. He’d been a firefighter, and I know that he and Raphael together had saved many lives, even if that hadn’t been Raphael’s primary purpose, and even if they’d hated each other’s guts.

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