I stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to see Dominic. I guess after the way he’d reacted to me yesterday, I’d expected him to avoid me like the plague. I stood in the doorway, my feet rooted to the floor. I couldn’t look at Adam. And I didn’t want to look at Dominic.

Wordlessly, Dominic poured a mug of coffee and brought it to me, surprising me into looking up at him. His eyes showed nothing but sympathy, yesterday’s hatred apparently forgotten. Or at least, pushed aside.

“You all right?” he asked as I took the mug and wrapped both hands around it.

“Yeah.”

“Liar.”

I shrugged. “The bad guys have my boyfriend. When he’s safe, I’ll have a nice little nervous breakdown. But I can’t afford one now.”

He smiled at that. “Come sit down. Adam has news for you.”

By sheer force of will, I dragged myself across the room and sat at the kitchen table beside Adam. I still couldn’t look at him.

“I watched the videotape,” he said. He sounded completely normal, as if nothing had happened between us.

I couldn’t manage that. I finally looked at him, and I know my expression was something ugly. “Did you enjoy it?”

Dominic started to say something outraged-sounding, but Adam cut him off.

“Give her a break, Dom.”

Dominic shut up. I considered apologizing but decided against it.

Adam might be willing to let the smart-ass comment slide, but he wasn’t about to respond to it. “I recognize the room he’s in.”

“What?”

“I know where they’re holding him.”

“How can that be?”

“Because I’ve been there,” he answered in his best talk-slowly-so-the-moron-can-understand-you voice.

I’d never in a million years expected Adam to be able to tell me where Brian was off the top of his head. I’d assumed we’d have to mount some kind of massive search.

“So where is he?” I asked.

“He’s in the basement of a private club on South Street, known as The Seven Deadlies.”

My sluggish brain finally started to make sense of what I was hearing. “You mean it’s an S&M club.” My face must have shown my disgust.

Adam grinned, enjoying my squeamishness. “Not exactly. It caters to quite a variety of sins of the flesh. S&M is just one of them.”

“And you’ve been there. Been in that room.” I remembered the whips, the manacles, the freakin’ rack.

He nodded. His glance slid over to Dominic, then back to me. “When Dom had his demon, we went there every once in a while. They have a wider array of toys than-”

I held up both hands. “Please, spare me the details.”

He laughed. “Okay, okay. The important point is I know that room.”

“And the important question,” Dominic added, sitting down at the table with us, “is why would they hold him in a room that someone might recognize?”

I shook my head. “Certainly they wouldn’t expect me to recognize it.”

“No,” Adam conceded, “but they most likely know you’ve been at my house. And the demons among them at least know I’m one of Lugh’s lieutenants.”

I remembered Raphael’s phone call yesterday. He’d not only known I’d been with Adam, he’d also known I’d called the police on him. I didn’t really want to remind Adam or Dominic about my less-than-noble behavior, but I did anyway.

“Raphael knew I was the one who phoned in the complaint,” I said, then told them about my little conversation with my dear brother. “He’d have good reason to think you’d never see this tape. And I’ve got to admit, keeping him at an S&M club is an effective way to hide him in plain sight. No one there would worry if they heard screams coming from that room.” The thought sickened me.

“You may be right,” Adam conceded, in a voice that suggested he thought I was dead wrong, “but we still have to operate under the assumption that this is a trap.”

If he thought I needed convincing that this was a dangerous situation, he was dead wrong. “Don’t worry, I’m clear on that. Of course, you are the Director of Special Forces, and you have proof that a crime has been committed there. Can’t you just, you know, storm the building or something?”

“That would be a very bad idea.”

“Why?”

Adam and Dominic shared a look I didn’t understand. Then Adam turned his attention back to me. It looked like he was picking his words very, very carefully.

“The owner of The Seven Deadlies is the demon version of a snitch.”

“Huh?”

If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn Adam was uncomfortable. His eyes slid away from mine to focus on his cup of coffee.

“She’s an illegal,” he said, the corners of his mouth tight. “And the club caters to demons. All demons.”

My wits weren’t at their sharpest this morning, so I decided to test my understanding. “So you’re telling me that not only is the owner an illegal demon, but the club is crawling with them?”

He shrugged. “ Crawling with them would be overstating it, but, yes, I’m sure there are others who spend time there.”

I didn’t get this at all. “So basically you’re just pretending to be a demon hunter. In reality, you don’t give a shit about how many demons are out there preying on helpless, unwilling human hosts.” My level of outrage was rising steadily, as was my voice.

“Not true!” he answered, and I could almost see his defenses going up. “ Shae is an excellent informant, and thanks to her I’ve captured demons I’d never have found any other way. It’s just that she won’t give me all of them.”

“Basically,” Dominic interjected, “she gives him the ones she doesn’t like. Luckily, it’s easy to get on her bad side.”

“And you don’t haul her in because…?”

Adam gave me the kind of condescending look you’d give a preschool child. “Because then my number-one informant wouldn’t be on the street anymore. Letting her continue to operate is a necessary evil.” He gave me a look somewhere between a grin and a sneer. “Besides, you should be damn grateful I don’t haul in every illegal demon I meet, or I’d have arrested you the first night I knew you were possessed, and you’d be ashes by now.”

I wanted to debate this some more, but managed to reel myself back in. I had more important things to think about right now than the morality of allowing police snitches to roam free. “Why does any of this mean we can’t storm the club? And please don’t tell me it’s just because you don’t want to offend your snitch.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that she has other contacts within the police department. Contacts who will warn her if we try to orchestrate a raid on her club.”

“And this necessary evil of yours would tell the people who have Brian and they’d, what, kill him? And she wouldn’t have a problem with that?” My voice was rising again, along with my blood pressure. I reminded myself for the millionth time that I needed Adam’s help and that yelling at him wasn’t the best way to get it.

“ Shae is a mercenary, through and through,” Adam said. A tick in his jaw suggested I was getting on his nerves, but so far he seemed better in control of his temper than I was of mine. “Pay her enough, and she’ll be happy to overlook just about anything. But believe me, she’s a lot less malevolent than most illegals. And we’re not debating this. The situation is what it is. If we try to mount an assault, she’ll hear about it, and she’ll take whatever precautions she feels are necessary, up to and including allowing Raphael’s people to kill your dearly beloved. So no police support. What’s your next idea?”

I thought it was a sign of my newfound maturity that I managed to let the subject drop. Not that it was easy when righteous indignation threatened to overwhelm me. But I had to keep focused, had to get Brian out of there. I could complain about the snitch thing later.

“If the frontal assault is out,” I said, and only a hint of my anger showed in my voice, “then I guess we’re just going to have to be sneaky.”

“And you have a plan for this sneaky rescue?” Adam asked, giving me his best bland look.