The Devil's Playground mk-5

by Jenna Black

  None of us had a chance to react in time. Not even Lugh.

  The Taser made its trademark pop, and the probes hit Lugh firmly in the chest and belly. He collapsed to the floor, though even in his surprise, he acted quickly enough to block me from feeling more than a fraction of a second of the pain.

  Brian and Barbie both gasped. Brian took a step toward me, and Barbie drew a gun from a holster I hadn’t realized she was wearing. Unfortunately, Raphael had a gun in addition to the Taser. I didn’t want to know where he’d gotten it. Holding the Taser—its probes still attached to my body—in his left hand, he menaced the others with the gun.

  “I don’t want to shoot anyone,” Raphael said, his jaw set grimly, “but I will if I have to.” A faint sheen of sweat glowed on his brow.

  Brian gave him a murderous look, but the only person in the room at the moment who could offer Raphael any threat was Barbie. And even her threat was minuscule, considering how little a bullet would harm him.

  “Put the gun down, Barbara,” he said. “Lugh would have been the only one here who could stop me, and he’ll be out of commission for a while.”

  “Stop you from what?” Brian asked, outraged.

  “From going to the duel in Lugh’s place.”

  Lugh couldn’t move a single muscle in my body, but I heard his howl of protest in my head. Raphael came to loom over the two of us. His face was paler than usual. He still held the gun out, though he wasn’t pointing it at anyone in particular. He ejected the cartridge from the Taser and stuck the Taser into the waistband of his pants.

  “You said once before that there was no foolproof plan to defeat Dougal,” Raphael said. “But there is.”

  He reached up with one hand and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt, just enough to show us that he had something—a large flask-shaped bottle—stuck to his chest with adhesive tape.

  “This bottle is full of napalm,” he said, and once again I heard Lugh’s wail of protest in my head as we both guessed what Raphael was planning to do. I sensed Lugh trying to transfer me back into control, since I would be less debilitated by the effects of the Taser than he was, but it didn’t seem to be working. Perhaps the electricity was mucking with that ability as well as all his others.

  “Dougal’s minions will examine my aura and think I’m you. Dougal will know the difference when we check each other’s auras, but by the time he realizes who I am, it will be too late.” He pulled a miniature lighter out of his pocket, then palmed it so it looked like his hand was empty. “I’ll break the glass and light it, then I’ll grab Dougal. His followers may try to put the fire out, but fires fueled by napalm are really hard to kill.” His eyes glimmered with a hint of tears, and I noticed a slight tremor in the hand that held the gun. Raphael was scared shitless, and I couldn’t come close to blaming him.

  “You’re going to kill yourself,” Andy said, the first reaction he’d shown to Raphael’s turnabout.

  Raphael swallowed hard. “Dougal can’t be allowed to survive this duel,” he said. “We can’t take the chance that Lugh might lose, even if Morgan did manage to summon him back here. We’ll never have a better shot at Dougal than we will today. We have to succeed.”

  “You don’t like pain,” Andy said. His voice was flat and uninflected. “Do you really believe you’ll be able to hold on to Dougal while you’re burning?”

  Raphael visibly shuddered. “I can do it. At least long enough to get the napalm on him. I’ll try to get us into the pyre while I’m still capable of rational thought.” He pulled two pairs of handcuffs from his pants pocket, throwing one to Brian and one to Barbie.

  “Put those on,” he ordered. Barbie and Brian looked at each other, then back at Raphael, who managed to muster a pretty scary sneer despite his obvious terror. “Put them on, or someone’s going to get shot. Not fatally, but it’ll still hurt like hell.”

  We all knew Raphael well enough to know he wasn’t bluffing. I could see how much Barbie hated the idea of putting her gun away, but I guess she hated the idea of being shot even more, so she stuck it back in its holster and put on the handcuffs. Brian hesitated a fraction of a second longer, but when Raphael glared at him, he complied.

  “I don’t get any handcuffs?” Andy asked, his voice still that flat, almost uninterested tone.

  Raphael put his gun away. “No.” He walked over to the end table by the door, where I kept my purse, then rooted around until he found my Taser. Andy watched him, but didn’t say anything, and made no effort to stop him. Raphael armed the Taser and then handed it to Andy.

  “Your job is to keep Lugh from coming after me. We all know my plan is better than his plan, but family members rarely act rationally.”

  Andy stared at the Taser. I willed him to take it and give Raphael a jolt. I supposed in theory his plan might be better. I had to admit, there was a better chance of killing Dougal this way. But Lugh’s plan was to accomplish the same thing without getting anyone else killed. I’d never liked Raphael. There were plenty of times when I’m pretty sure I actually hated him. But not enough to let him kill himself.

  Andy reached for the Taser, but he didn’t turn it on Raphael. I hadn’t really expected him to. After everything Raphael had put him through, Andy probably found the suicide plan rather appealing.

  Lugh struggled to get my throat and tongue under control. I don’t know what he was trying to say, but all that came out were incoherent grunting noises.

  Save your energy, I thought at him. You’re not going to talk Raphael out of it even if you could make yourself understood. It’s Andy we’ve got to try to reach, and I’ll have a better chance to do it than you will. Put me back in control.

  He did, and my stomach lurched in protest. I tried to lie perfectly still, not to draw Raphael’s attention. I wasn’t going to be able to talk Andy into anything until Raphael was gone, though I hated to give him a head start.

  While Andy held the Taser loosely at his side, Raphael reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he laid on the coffee table.

  “This is a list of all the lab facilities Dougal and I set up,” he said. “I’ve also put down what each lab was trying to accomplish, and as much as I know about how successful they were. I wasn’t lying when I told you I didn’t know much about the day-to-day operations of the labs other than The Healing Circle. I wish I could give you more, but at least you’ll have enough information to get you started if you want to try to clean up the mess Dougal and I made.”

  Raphael checked his watch. “Adam and Dom will be here any minute,” he said. “I’ll meet them downstairs. In case anyone gets past Andrew and tries to get tricky, let me assure you that calling Adam and Dom would be a very, very bad idea. I can overpower them easily if I have to, but they wouldn’t enjoy the process. For once in my life, I’m trying not to let anyone else get hurt. I hope you will honor the effort.”

  He took a deep breath. It sounded shaky when he let it out, so he did it again. After the third one, he had visibly managed to shove his fear into the background. Color came back to his face, his hands steadied, and the sweat began to dry on his brow.

  Amazingly, he managed to muster one of his sarcastic grins, and if I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought his plans for death by fire didn’t bother him at all.

  “Off I go to save the world,” he said. “Who woulda thunk it, eh?” He nodded at Andy—I guess it was his version of a good-bye. Then he knelt beside me and gave me another jolt from the Taser. I choked on a scream and wished I’d left Lugh in control until Raphael left. “I’m sorry for everything,” he said, and I didn’t know whether he meant the words for me or for Lugh. Possibly both.

  No one said a word as he rose to his feet and walked out the door.

  thirty

  AFTER RAPHAEL LEFT, ANDY PULLED ONE OF MY dining room chairs in front of the door and sat. He wasn’t pointing the Taser at anyone—not yet at least—but he’d obviously set himself up as our jailor.
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br />   “So what happens next?” Brian asked. He was sitting on the floor beside me, not touching, but lending moral support all the same.

  Andy tilted his chair until its back hit the door. “We wait. You and Barbara can make yourselves comfortable, but keep your distance from me. I don’t expect you can do much with the handcuffs on, but I’d rather not find out I’m wrong.”

  Barbie took him up on the suggestion, settling into the love seat with her feet curled up beside her. Brian stayed where he was. I kind of doubted either of them was in a great hurry to rush to Raphael’s rescue. Raphael had, after all, had Brian tortured, and Barbie was dating Saul, whose hatred of Raphael was probably contagious.

  They consider Raphael expendable, Lugh’s voice said bitterly in my head. He didn’t need to put handcuffs on them. They’re happy to just let him die.

  I’d never heard Lugh sound that bitter before. I couldn’t feel his feelings like he could mine, but I could hear his pain in that bitterness.

  Don’t give up, Lugh, I told him. I’ll do everything I can to save him.

  Even if saving Raphael could cost Lugh his life? I asked myself. If we somehow managed to get to the farm before the duel was under way, we could force Raphael to give up Tommy Brewster, and the duel could then be between Lugh and Dougal as originally planned. But we wouldn’t have our summoning circle ready and waiting, so if Lugh lost, there would be no saving him.

  Lugh must have sensed my hesitation, because there was a hint of what sounded like desperation in his voice. Please help me save him, he begged. It is my duty as king to protect my people, and if I have to do it by risking myself, so be it.

  You can’t protect your people if you’re dead.

  And I would not be the king they deserved if I allowed Raphael to kill himself to protect me.

  I thought about that a little while—it wasn’t like I had anything else to do while we waited for the Taser shot to wear off. Demons as a general rule believe that the ends justify the means. I wouldn’t say I was surprised that Lugh would risk everything for his brother, but it didn’t seem to fit real well with what I knew of demons.

  If I didn’t have a fair chance of beating Dougal myself, Lugh said, then I might have to let Raphael do this, no matter how much I hated it. But I do have a fair shot, and I mean to take it.

  Is a “fair shot” really good enough? Maybe when I was waiting here to summon you, but …

  If I fight Dougal, I will win. There was no hesitation, no uncertainty in his voice.

  You said the two of you are evenly matched. You can’t guarantee you’ll win.

  We may be evenly matched in strength, but I believe my will is stronger than his. That will give me an advantage. He sighed. But no, I can’t guarantee it.

  I couldn’t say his argument was particularly convincing. Especially not when I knew how desperate he was to save Raphael. He had never outright lied to me that I knew of, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t, didn’t mean that wasn’t exactly what he was doing now.

  His voice in my head was a snarl of frustration. When Raphael captured Brian, you were willing to do anything, risk anything, to save him. I could have stopped you. I could have protected myself at his expense. But I didn’t do it. Please, Morgan. Please help me save my brother.

  And with that argument, all my defenses crumbled. As Lugh, the manipulative son of a bitch, had known they would. I remembered how awful I had felt when I found out Brian was coming to harm because of me, and Lugh was right. There was nothing I wouldn’t have done to save him. Hell, I let Adam whip my back to shreds for his amusement just so I could get him to help me rescue Brian. I knew the anguish Lugh was feeling right now. And I knew there was no way I could stand by and do nothing while he suffered.

  Of course, that meant I’d have to find a way to get through Andy. Andy, who might feel that Raphael was getting exactly what he deserved.

  I tried to sit up. Unfortunately, while I wasn’t completely incapacitated by a Taser, as a demon would be, I wasn’t in great shape, either. A miserable moan escaped my throat as I collapsed before I got halfway up.

  The legs of Andy’s chair thumped to the floor, and he pointed the Taser at me. I didn’t try to move again. I probably would have fallen flat on my face anyway.

  “Andy,” I said, my voice slurred like I was drunk. “It’s me. Morgan. Lugh’s put me back into control.”

  The Taser remained pointed steadily at me. “I don’t think that changes anything.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, wishing the room would stop spinning and pitching around me. I closed my eyes, but that didn’t help much.

  How could I get through to Andy? How could I get past his anger and hatred? No easy answers leapt to mind.

  “Raphael’s a bastard,” I said, my words slightly clearer now as my tongue decided to cooperate with my brain, “but he doesn’t deserve to die.”

  Andy snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Do you have any idea how many people he’s killed? And let’s not even talk about the people he’s hurt.”

  Hmm. Maybe that hadn’t been the best tack to take. “Yeah, he’s done some terrible things in the past. But he’s changed.” Suddenly, I felt like I was onto something, and I found myself talking faster, more earnestly. “Think of all the good things he’s done over the last few months. He risked everything for Lugh’s sake, even knowing Lugh would imprison him for his crimes if he ever went back to the Demon Realm. He set up that trust fund for Blair Paget’s care.”

  Blair was Barbie’s twin sister, who had been horribly injured in a car wreck when they were teenagers. Barbie had been practically bleeding herself dry trying to keep her sister in the best long-term care facility possible. Then a mysterious benefactor had appeared out of nowhere and set up a trust that covered all of Blair’s medical expenses.

  “He what?” Barbie asked.

  She was sitting behind me, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off Andy. Plus, I was afraid he’d Taser me if I moved.

  “He’s the one who set up your sister’s trust. He refused to admit it because he knew if he did, everyone would assume he had some kind of ulterior motive.”

  “Then how do you know it was him?” she asked.

  “Because I bullied and badgered him until he finally admitted it to me.” It had been an oblique admission—he hadn’t actually come out and said he was responsible—but it was an admission just the same.

  “He didn’t have to do that,” I said. “He had nothing to gain.” Except, perhaps, Lugh’s approval, but I kept talking fast before anyone could mention that. “And think about what he’s trying to do today!

  He’s going to kill himself in what has to be the most painful way possible just to stop Lugh from taking a risk. He’s changed. You know that.”

  Andy wasn’t so quick to argue this time, but argue he did. “Even if he really has changed, I’m not sure that makes such a big difference. We’re much more likely to take out Dougal if Raphael has his way.”

  I tried once again to sit up, because there was only so long I could glare at Andy while lying on the floor without feeling ridiculous. This time, I succeeded. He tensed, but refrained from shooting me as soon as I moved. I didn’t try to get to my feet, and I moved slowly as I turned to face him squarely.

  “Lugh is the demon king,” I said. “It was his decision to fight the duel, and Raphael has no right to take that decision away from him.” I glanced over my shoulder at Brian. “You were the one who taught me that.” There had been many times when I’d made bad decisions in an attempt to protect Brian, when in fact he was perfectly capable of deciding himself which risks were worth taking.

  Brian nodded to acknowledge my point. “But if Lugh loses, Dougal will give the demons free rein to do what they want on the Mortal Plain. There’s just too much at stake.”

  Tell them that if I lose, they should reveal everything to the public. I told Dougal I wouldn’t do it just out of spite, but I would do it to protect your people from our people.


  I relayed Lugh’s message, then gave everyone a moment to absorb it.

  “Lugh is willing to risk his life for this. And he’s got a backup plan to keep Dougal from really winning, even if he wins the duel.” I let a hint of pleading sneak into my voice.

  Andy looked indecisive, which was a step in the right direction. He glanced at his watch. “I’m not sure if we can really do anything at this point,” he hedged. “Raphael’s got a pretty big head start already.”

  “And every minute we spend debating is another minute he has to get ahead of us. Please, Andy. You can think about it some more on the way, and if you change your mind, you can Taser me. But if we don’t get moving soon, it really will be a moot point.”

  It felt like it took about an hour for Andy to make a decision and stand up. He moved the chair away from the door, then tossed the Taser back in my handbag.

  “We’ll need a car,” he said, and I almost wept in relief.

  thirty-one

  WE TOOK BARBIE’S CAR. IT WAS JUST ANDY AND ME riding off to the rescue. We had no way to get the handcuffs off Brian or Barbie, and they wouldn’t be much help—and could easily get themselves killed—if they came with us. Plus, we needed them to spill the secrets of the demons’ labs if we didn’t come back. I suppressed a shiver at that thought.

  I would have preferred to drive, but Andy insisted that he be the driver. I guess so he could Taser me without me wrecking the car if he changed his mind about trying to save Raphael. His knuckles were white where he gripped the steering wheel, and I could see the muscles of his jaw working as he ground his teeth. I wanted to say something to help persuade him that he was doing the right thing, but I got the impression that talking wasn’t a good idea. For the moment, he was doing what I wanted; I needed to keep it that way.

  Raphael had more than a twenty-minute head start on us, but we were driving faster—though not as fast as I would have liked. I found my right foot pressing down on an imaginary accelerator and tried to stop myself. There was only so fast we could go without risking getting stopped for speeding—a delay we could not afford.