I gave him a cold look. “Ignorance is bliss, is that what you’re telling me?”

He didn’t answer, but I could see my words had hurt him. This time, I wasn’t entirely sorry. If he was going to condone whatever it was Adam was doing, then he should be willing to face it head-on.

I slid out of the car without another word, closing the door with unnecessary force. Dominic drove away as soon as I’d crossed the street.

For one agonizing moment when I shoved the key in the lock, I was tempted to follow Dominic’s lead and run away. I didn’t want to face this battle, didn’t want to see what Adam had already done to my former best friend. But I couldn’t abandon her to his mercy, no matter what she’d done.

The house was still and quiet when I stepped inside. My palms were damp, and I wiped them on my pants legs as I dragged myself toward the stairs. I knew where I’d find Adam and Val.

A whip cracked. Val screamed.

I lost my reluctance and charged up the staircase. The door to the black room was closed, but not locked. I burst into the room, then skidded to a halt.

Val’s hands were attached to the footboard of that huge iron bed by two sets of handcuffs, one for each hand, arms stretched to each side of her so there wasn’t much wiggle room. Adam stood behind her, a long, vicious-looking whip dangling from his hand. The back of Val’s shirt was ripped open, but I didn’t see any marks. It seemed that so far, Adam had done no more than scare the shit out of her.

“Well, well,” Adam said, turning to look at me, “how nice of you to join us, Morgan. I was just asking your friend Valerie to tell me who she’s working with. She’s been reluctant to answer. Perhaps you can convince her that I’m not bluffing.”

He swirled the handle of the whip like he was stirring batter, and the leather thong circled like a mini-cyclone.

“Morgan!” Val said, looking over her shoulder at me. Her eyes were almost swollen shut with tears. Rivers of mascara smeared her cheeks. “Please help me!”

I swallowed down all my anger at Adam. He hadn’t actually hurt her. Yet. And if I could get her to talk, he wouldn’t have to-and I wouldn’t have to try to stop him.

“I’m not really in a position to help you, Val,” I said, hoping I sounded calmer than I felt. “I’m at quite a disadvantage against Adam in hand-to-hand combat. Your best bet is to tell him what he wants to know.”

She sobbed. “I don’t know anything! Please, Morgan — ”

“You were on your way to report me as an illegal demon so I’d be executed, and now you’re asking for my help?”

Adam grinned at me. “I thought I was supposed to be the bad cop.”

“Shut up, Adam.”

He was still twirling the whip. He moved it closer to Val, so that the circling leather brushed her pants leg. She yelped and tried to jerk away, but of course she didn’t have anywhere to go.

“Val, please tell him what he wants to know. He…gets off on hurting people. Don’t give him an excuse.”

Adam raised his eyebrows at me, then glanced down pointedly at his crotch. I followed his gaze even though I didn’t want to. Apparently, he wasn’t enjoying himself at the moment. Of course, he hadn’t actually hurt her yet.

“I’d tell him if I knew anything!” Val said, sounding desperate.

“That would have sounded much more convincing before our little chat at lunch,” I said, and Val had no clever response.

“I suggest you back up a bit,” Adam said to me as he stopped his little twirling game. “I’m very good with this, but you’re still better off keeping your distance.”

“Morgan!” Val screamed.

“Don’t do it, Adam. Please. Let’s just — ”

He didn’t wait for me to finish. The whip sliced through the air. The crack was almost deafening in the closed room. Val’s scream tore at my conscience, but I honestly didn’t know how I could stop Adam unless I could talk him out of it.

An angry red welt rose on the skin of Val’s back. She sobbed, sucking in great gulps of air.

“That was a warning stroke,” Adam said. His voice was dead calm, no hint of emotion in it. “The next one draws blood. Tell me who your associates are, and there won’t be a next one.”

“Please,” she begged in a tear-ravaged voice. “Morgan, don’t let him do this to me.”

I should have been content to see Val in pain after what she’d done, but she’d been my best friend for too long. I couldn’t make myself stop caring about her, at least not this fast. My eyes pleaded with Adam to stop, or at least to slow down so I could think of some way out of this.

“If you’re too squeamish for this, love, then I suggest you leave. The unpleasant reality is that people are trying to kill you, and if we don’t find out who they are, they’ll eventually succeed. Considering the manner in which they plan to do it, I think a few lashes from a bullwhip are rather inconsequential.”

It was hard to argue his logic, though I wanted to. I decided perhaps I had a better chance of influencing Val than Adam.

“Val, please. I can’t stop him from hurting you. How much of this do you think you can stand before you break? Why put yourself through this?”

She didn’t answer me, but she looked at me through those tear-filled eyes, and there was a hardness in her expression that chilled me. I don’t know what she was about to say to me, because at that moment, the whip cracked again.

Another scream tore from Val’s throat. As Adam had threatened, this time he’d drawn blood. My gorge rose, and for a moment I felt sure I was going to be sick.

“I’m not playing with you anymore, Valerie,” Adam said. “Talk now, or you’ll regret it more than you can possibly imagine.”

In desperation, I took a step closer to them, reaching out a hand toward Adam. The whip flicked casually, almost playfully, in my direction. I jumped back with a little gasp, though he hadn’t come close to hitting me.

“I mean it, Morgan,” he said, his voice still calm and devoid of emotion. “If you can’t take this, then get out. There’s more at stake here than just your life, remember. I’ll do whatever I have to do to break her.”

“Please, no more,” Val sobbed. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just…don’t hurt me anymore.”

I hugged myself, wondering if Dominic hadn’t had the right idea all along. But no, if this was happening on my behalf, then it was my duty to bear witness, no matter how much I hated it.

“Who do you report to?” Adam asked.

“Andrew Kingsley,” she answered.

“No, you don’t,” Adam countered. “You just know we already suspect Andrew, so you’re throwing out a name you feel safe giving us. Try again.”

Val hiccupped. “I don’t know his name,” she said, and it was almost a wail. “I call him Orlando, but that’s a code name, not his real name.”

“Human or demon?”

“Human.”

“Describe him.”

She was still sniffling and hiccupping, so the description came in short little bursts. “About five-ten…two hundred pounds…blond hair, blue eyes. Looks like a good candidate for a host, but isn’t one.”

“And who else is in on this plan?”

“I don’t know. They make sure us small fry don’t know enough to give everything away. Andrew would know a lot more than I do.”

“Why, Val?” I asked. I knew there were more important questions, but my broken heart needed to know. “Why did you do this to me? Why did you let Andrew force this… thing …on me, and then try to — ” My voice cut off, because I was going to start crying myself if I said another word.

“I’m really, really sorry, Morgan.” She looked at me over her shoulder, and her eyes were wide and oh-so sincere. “You weren’t supposed to be the host. Andrew acted on his own before we were ready. He has his own agenda, and it doesn’t always mesh with ours. I would never have let this happen to you if I’d known. I didn’t even know Andrew was one of us until after you showed me that note. When I reported it, he paid me a visit, and that’s how I found out. I’m just a foot soldier, not even close to a general.”