There were more cries of distress from the humans, and again metal groaned as the demon struggled. My heart pounded in my throat, and fear almost stole my concentration.

None of the three demons I’d failed to exorcize had come close to escaping, thankfully. I may be the scourge of demon-kind, but I do not want to be trapped in a room with a loose, angry demon in need of a new host.

The fear radiating from Jenkins and the Walkers pounded against my concentration, worse than my own fear, because there were three of them feeding one another’s panic. I prayed Jenkins wouldn’t do anything really stupid, like open the door to take himself out of harm’s way.

As soon as I thought it, though, it happened. My concentration snapped completely, and I was out of the trance in time to see Jenkins shove the Walkers out the open door before he dove out himself.

At least he had the good sense to swing the door shut behind him. I really didn’t want to see what would happen if the demon got loose in the containment center halls with all those inexperienced armed guards wandering around.

Of course, I really didn’t want to be trapped alone in a room with a powerful, pissed-off demon, either.

I looked at the table, and my heart stuttered at what I saw.

Steel restraints bolted to the table held Lisa’s thin arms and legs down, and there was another steel restraint around her waist. She’d pulled so hard on those restraints that the table had buckled beneath them, though so far she hadn’t managed to break free. Blood poured from her wrists and ankles-the demon didn’t much care what happened to this poor little body. It just wanted out. It pulled Lisa’s lips back in a feral snarl. The metal groaned again.

Shit.

I drew in a deep, quavering breath and forced myself to close my eyes. If I gave it enough time, this thing was going to free itself. And I was going to become an unwilling host to an illegal demon myself.

No pressure.

Sweat trickled down the small of my back. I tried to calm myself. My life depended on it.

I slipped back into the trance more easily than I’d expected. Amazing what desperation will do for you. Once again, I hit that demon aura with a blast of wind. It wavered for a moment, then settled firmly back in place.

The metal didn’t groan now so much as scream. The temptation to open my eyes and see what progress the thing was making was almost unbearable, but I resisted.

A small, delicate hand clapped onto my arm with a bone-crushing grip. But her hand was over my sweater, no skin-to-skin contact.

I stifled a scream and sent another blast of wind at the aura. Somehow I managed to stay entranced, even with a demon squeezing my arm so brutally I’d wear bruises for days even if it didn’t break anything.

My breath burned in and out of my lungs and my heart slammed against my chest. I was so scared I could taste it, but if I let the fear win, I was demon-chow.

I gathered my power into me, concentrating on drawing every ounce of my strength into my center for one last try. There was another scream of tortured metal, and a second small hand grabbed me.

I almost panicked and let my next blast loose at that moment, but I knew I had only one more chance. If I didn’t throw enough power against the demon, I was toast. So I fought my instincts and held myself together a few seconds more.

The demon’s fingers tore through the fabric of my sweater, and that little demonic hand pressed against the skin of my forearm.

I screamed louder than I’d ever screamed in my life, overwhelmed by terror, horror, revulsion. My worst nightmare come true. A demon forcing itself into my body, taking me over, destroying everything I was without actually killing me…

I shoved my gathered power at it, knowing it was already too late-demons can transfer from one host to another instantly. The millisecond it touched me, I was gone.

Except, I wasn’t.

That red, red aura crept up my arm from the demon’s hand, and then withdrew, half a heartbeat before my power hit it.

I’d thrown everything I had into that blast. The aura shattered into a million tiny pinpricks of color; then it was gone.

I opened my eyes, hardly believing my good fortune, hardly believing I was still myself.

I wobbled on my feet. The floor bucked under me. I felt myself falling in slow motion but couldn’t even get my hands under me to cushion the fall. My head hit that cold tile floor, and I was out.

I woke up staring at a white panel ceiling. My head ached like a son of a bitch. My arm throbbed where the demon had squeezed it. And I was so weak it tired me out to breathe.

I blinked a couple of times, happy to be alive and myself, but wishing I didn’t feel like I’d been run over by a truck. My body groaned in protest when I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

I was still in the containment room, sitting on the white tile floor. But the room was completely empty. My candles were gone, as was my bag, my coat, Lisa Walker, the now-ruined table. Even the bench the parents had been sitting on was gone.

What the hell…?

I pushed to my feet, wobbly and woozy. My stomach turned over, and I almost lost my lunch. I clutched my belly and felt something that shouldn’t have been there. When the nausea passed, I lifted my sweater to find myself equipped with a stun belt.

And I suddenly knew what had happened.

I glanced up at the ceiling, and, sure enough, spotted a surveillance camera. Somebody had watched my little performance, had seen Lisa Walker touch me. Which explained my lovely new fashion accessory. Someone thought I was possessed.

About the only thing that has any effect on a rampaging demon is electricity, which messes with their ability to control the body. I supposed trying to take the belt off would be a very bad idea.

This was turning out to be just a joy of a day.

“Hello?” I yelled. “Can anyone hear me?” And does anyone care?

No one answered, so I tried again. “Hello out there! I’m not possessed. I cast the demon out. You can let me out of here now.”

Still no answer. Can’t say as I was shocked. After what they’d witnessed, the staff here was bound to be paranoid. They were going to treat me with the same caution they might treat Satan himself.

“Can you at least tell me how Lisa’s doing?”

A microphone clicked on. “She’s alive,” a disembodied voice told me. Jenkins, I think, though the voice sounded tinny over the speaker.

“How badly is she hurt?” Human bodies just aren’t made for ripping themselves free of steel restraints. If I hadn’t felt those little hands digging into my flesh, I’d have thought the arms would give before the steel.

Another click. “She’ll recover. Physically, at least.”

Well, shit. That meant her mind was gone. Not that I hadn’t expected it, but it still sucked. There was a slim chance that someday her mind would come back. Most likely, she’d be a vegetable for the rest of her life.

I wanted to say I was sorry, but I had a feeling Jenkins would take that as some kind of confession. Like I was harboring a demon with a guilty conscience.

“I’m really not possessed, you know,” I said.

“We saw the demon touch you.”

“Yeah, and I felt it touch me. But it didn’t take me. Maybe I didn’t taste good.” I couldn’t imagine why the demon would choose not to transfer to me when I was its only chance of escape, but it hadn’t.

“Was that supposed to be a joke, Ms. Kingsley?” The speaker might be tinny, but the disapproval came through just fine.

I glared up at the camera. I had plenty of disapproval to go around. “Was it supposed to be a joke when you locked me in here with a demon that was obviously not as contained as you claimed?” I hadn’t had time to get really angry about this yet, but give me a few minutes and I’d be pitching a world-class fit. “You’ve got a stun belt on me. Why didn’t you have one on it?” I knew the answer to that: they’d believed she couldn’t break free of the restraints. Hell, I hadn’t believed it, either, or I’d have complained the minute I stepped into the room.