“Cut the crap and get to the point.”

One corner of his mouth tugged downward in a hint of a frown. Maybe I was getting to him more than I thought. I surreptitiously glanced at my Taser, reassuring myself that it was fully charged.

“Fine,” Tommy said with a pout he must have learned from his host. “The point is I know my parents want you to exorcize me.”

“They aren’t your parents,” I snapped. “They’re Tommy’s.”

He rolled his eyes. “All right. I’ll rephrase: I know my host’s parents want you to exorcize me. They are under the delusional impression that Tommy was coerced into hosting me. Let me assure you, that’s just their wishful thinking. Tommy is a legal, registered demon host, and if you exorcize me, you’ll be guilty of murder.”

“Yeah, that’s a real news flash. Thanks for letting me know.”

His frown was more pronounced now. Apparently that hadn’t been the reaction he was hoping for. “I have warned my. . associates that I have been threatened. If I were to leave Tommy’s body, you would be up on murder charges before you knew what hit you.”

“Again, not a news flash. I told your parents no. I’m not a moron.”

He raised his eyebrows as if surprised. “No? Then what were you doing looking for me at The Seven Deadlies last night?”

“How did you know I was at the club?” I countered.

He gave me a droll look. “Because Shae told me.”

Warning bells clanged in my head. Shae wasn’t exactly my bosom buddy, and she hadn’t even bothered to question what I was doing at her club last night. How could she possibly have known I was looking for Tommy? My question must have showed on my face, because Tommy answered it before I had a chance to ask.

“An exorcist who I know has been hired to exorcize me shows up at a demon nightclub and stakes the place out like an amateur detective. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together, especially since I asked Shae to tell me if you showed up.”

I supposed that made a kind of sense, though it suggested a closer relationship between Tommy and Shae than I would have guessed. Of course, since they were both illegals, they had things in common that perhaps would lead them to be close friends. Nah, I didn’t think Shae was into the whole “friends” thing. She was a mercenary through and through. If she and Tommy had teamed up, it was because she was being well paid. The question remained, what for?

“Now that I’ve satisfied your curiosity,” Tommy continued, “why don’t you satisfy mine and tell me what you want?”

I’d had enough of my pseudo-relaxed pose, so I put my feet back down on the floor and sat up straight. “I sympathize with your host’s mother. If I were in her shoes, I’m sure I’d be doing the same thing she is. But I’m not stupid enough to perform an illegal exorcism. If you’d like to confess to me that you’re an illegal, I’d be delighted to hear it and I’d set up that exorcism so fast it’d make your head spin. But somehow, I don’t see you being that obliging.”

He chuckled. “No, not likely. But none of this explains why you were looking for me.”

At this point, I wanted nothing more than to get rid of him. I knew Adam was right, and that I should leave the investigating to the professionals. But it wasn’t like I was going to admit that to Tommy.

I shrugged. “If I ignore your mother’s request without looking into it at all, I’ll never be able to live with myself. It’s hard for me to imagine a God’s Wrath fanatic agreeing to host you. I just wanted to hear your explanation firsthand for why he’s doing it.”

His smile looked genuinely amused. “And if you don’t like my explanation?”

I shrugged again. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

He laughed softly. “You’re almost as entertaining as Shae said you were.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “It’s been lovely talking to you.”

“If you’re here legally, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t explain to me why Tommy decided to host you.”

“There’s also no reason why I should.” He smiled at me pleasantly. “And here’s a friendly word of advice for you: wasting your time trying to find evidence that Tommy didn’t summon me of his own free will is not your wisest career move.”

Naturally, I bristled. “That sounded suspiciously like a threat.” Making a threat—even one more blatantly phrased than that—isn’t considered a “violent crime,” so I couldn’t earn the right to exorcize him that way. But in a manner of speaking, it could be considered a step in the right direction.

There was a predatory gleam in Tommy’s eyes, though his smile remained firmly in place and he made no response to my accusation. He mimed tipping his hat, then turned to the door.

For a moment, I considered shooting him just on general principle. But of course, the authorities frowned on that sort of thing.

I’m not sure just what he’d hoped to accomplish by confronting me like this. If he thought I’d be intimidated and back off, then clearly he and his cronies didn’t know me at all.

Reciting a list of curses under my breath, I let him go.

CHAPTER 12

I was still in my office at four o’clock that afternoon when Brian called. I hadn’t exactly gotten much done, and the ring tone I’d assigned to Brian jerked me out of a reverie that had been on the verge of becoming a doze. I cursed myself roundly, knowing that it would only take a few short minutes for Lugh to use my body to make the phone call I didn’t want him to make.

On some level, I knew I was being needlessly stubborn about this. After all, I couldn’t go without sleep indefinitely. But so little of my life was under my control these days, I’d take any excuse I could find to hold on to the reins, even if just for a little while.

I should have expected Brian’s call. He’d given me the requisite two days to think about what had happened between us, and now he was going to start pushing. It was an MO with which I was intimately familiar. I’d have liked to ignore the ringing phone and let him stew awhile, but I figured wrangling with him was sure to keep me awake. With a sigh of resignation, I dug my phone out of my purse and answered.

“Hey,” I said, a neutral greeting.

“You sound tired.”

On cue, I yawned. “You could tell that from one word?”

“I can read you like a book, remember?”

I shook my head, refusing the second yawn that tried to bubble up. “Especially when Lugh’s given you the CliffsNotes?”

There was a moment of silence. “Was it that obvious?”

I scrubbed at my gritty eyes. “Yeah.” I didn’t elaborate.

Another silence, longer this time. “Aren’t you going to tell me what you think of me?” he finally asked.

“No. I already reamed Lugh out about it. I’ll let you off with a warning: don’t do that again.”

“Do what?” I made a snarling noise, and Brian hastened to clarify. “Talk to Lugh, or—”

“Either!” I snapped. Of course, my treacherous mind called up the intoxicating sensations he’d awakened in my body when I’d surrendered to him, and my pulse kicked up. Damn it, it had felt so good! And here I was telling him never to do it again. Not that my words were likely to have much of an effect.

“Maybe this is something we should discuss in person,” Brian suggested, and I could almost see the suggestive waggle of his brows.

As usual, my first instinct was to push back. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him no, but then I considered my alternatives. I could sit here in the office for another hour or two, getting little to nothing done and struggling against sleep. Or I could go home by myself and face the same struggle. Or I could meet up with Brian. At least if I was with Brian, I’d be facing a struggle that would keep me awake.

“You’re right, it is,” I said, smiling as I imagined the look of shock that his face must have been wearing at the moment. “If you want to talk, meet me at my apartment at six-thirty. And bring food.” I hung up before he could answer, but there was no doubt in my mind that he would come.