I gave Brian a little prod with my elbow. “Not that kind of friends,” I said.

Adam chuckled and slung his arm around Dom’s shoulders. “Definitely not.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you two start.”

Adam blinked at me innocently. “Start what?”

“Anyway,” Dom said loudly before Adam and I could escalate, “with Der Jäger on the hunt, we really do need to take precautions. Andrew is staying here with Morgan, and I’m staying with Adam.” He looked at Brian. “That leaves only you. It isn’t safe for you to just go back to your apartment and act as if nothing’s wrong.”

Brian stared at Adam. “You’re the Director of Special Forces. If you think I’m in danger from this demon, you can assign me some protection.”

But Adam shook his head. “I’m not here in any official capacity. There are some facts about this case that I can’t divulge.”

“Like why this demon is after Morgan?”

Afraid I was about to be caught in a lie, I tried to keep Adam from commenting. “I told him—”

Brian spoke over me. “Don’t tell him what you told me! I want to hear from Mr. White himself why he believes this demon is after you.”

“Whatever Morgan told you is a lie,” Adam said, and it was all I could do not to leap out of my chair and smack him. “She can’t tell you the truth about this any more than I can. There are things you are better off not knowing. This is one of them.”

Brian ignored me like I wasn’t even there. “This doesn’t have anything to do with why Andrew—that is, Andrew’s demon—kidnapped me, does it?”

Adam grinned. “Would you believe me if I said no?”

We all knew the answer to that.

“If my life’s in danger,” Brian said, “I have a right to know why.”

“I’m not at liberty to reveal that. And as I said, you’re better off not knowing.”

“That line of reasoning doesn’t work for me. I don’t buy into the whole ignorance is bliss thing.”

Adam shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve told you everything I can at the moment.”

Brian stood up. “Then I guess I’m going home.”

Adam arched an eyebrow. “And how, exactly, are you planning to get past me?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“In a manner of speaking. I’m not letting you leave this apartment on your own.”

Brian rubbed his jaw. “And what would your superiors have to say if I reported that you threatened me?”

Okay, this was starting to get ugly. I reached for Brian’s arm. “Don’t mess with Adam. He’s got the conscience of a tapeworm.” Dominic swallowed a laugh as Adam’s face reddened. “I don’t agree with his methods, but he’s right.”

Brian stared down at me. “Considering you threatened to Taser me, I don’t think you have any room to throw stones at his methods. And let me get this straight—am I being kidnapped again?”

Luckily for everyone involved, levelheaded Dominic intervened. “All we’re trying to do is keep everyone safe. You can’t have official police protection, but you need to take some kind of precautions. You don’t want a hostile demon rampaging around in your head.”

“I can tell you from personal experience that he’s right,” Andy said. He’d been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was in the room. His eyes were haunted and miserable as he stared into some inner distance.

Brian’s jaw worked as he thought that over. Both Adam and I managed to keep our mouths shut, which was no doubt a very good thing. Finally, Brian let out a deep, frustrated breath and returned to the couch.

“What exactly do you suggest I do? Morgan suggested I take some vacation time, but I can’t just take vacation on the spur of the moment.”

Dominic shrugged. “Can you call in sick? The easiest way for Der Jäger to get to you is just to brush by you on the street. We have no idea who he’s taken as a host, and as you know he can transfer to you in less than a second. You need to severely limit your contact with other people.”

Brian is a goody-two-shoes through and through. I could tell from the look on his face that the idea of lying about being sick didn’t sit well with him. A lawyer who’s uncomfortable lying. You gotta love it. But though he was angry about the whole situation, he wasn’t a dummy. With that first shot of indignation out of his system, he had to know how limited his choices were.

“Okay, so I call in sick. Then what? I lock myself in my apartment and hide there until someone tells me it’s safe to come out?” He looked almost sullen, which was completely unlike him.

“Actually,” Dominic said, “I don’t think that would be a great idea, either. I doubt Der Jäger would have much trouble breaking into your apartment, and if you’re there all by yourself, you’ll be far too vulnerable.”

Suddenly, I knew where he was going with this, and my emotions rioted. I would have blurted out some kind of incoherent protest, if only my brain were functioning well enough to muster one. Instead, I sat there at a loss for words, not even knowing how to label what I was feeling.

“I’m confident that I’m safe with Adam,” Dominic said, “seeing as he’s a demon. But I’m not so confident that Morgan and Andrew are safe together, being only human. If you would stay here, too, the three of you could guard the door in shifts.”

Yup, that’s what I thought he was going to say. It was a great way to try to salvage Brian’s male ego, but I didn’t know if I could bear it. It had taken more willpower than I’d thought I had to push Brian away in the first place. If he was right here in the apartment with me, would I be able to resist the temptation? If I gave him even the faintest hint that I still loved him, I’d never be able to shake him. Of course, Adam might have let the cat out of the bag when he shoved Brian through that doorway.

And in the deep recesses of my selfish heart, I wanted him back so desperately, I could taste it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a quick smile flash across Brian’s lips, gone in the blink of an eye. “Now that’s an imprisonment I think I could bear,” he said, and I saw a calculating gleam in his eye.

I groaned and lowered my head into my hands. One of the ways I had guarded my heart against Brian had been to keep him as far away from me as possible. That light in his eye told me he had hopes our forced proximity would let him break down my defenses. “Thanks a lot, Dom,” I grumbled, once again wondering whether this was some kind of matchmaking scheme. But that was ridiculously self-centered of me. The fate of the world lay in the balance, and I suspected Dominic of matchmaking? Yeesh!

“Fine,” I said, trying to sound annoyed, even while my heart leapt with hope I tried my damnedest to suppress. “Brian can stay here for a while. But we can’t just sit around waiting for Der Jäger to attack. We’ve got to do something about him.”

Adam raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you have something in mind?”

I gave him a narrow-eyed glare, but I was proud of myself for not making a smart-ass remark. We both knew I didn’t have a plan. At least, not yet.

“Let’s play defense first,” Adam said. “We can’t do much that’s very useful until we’ve got some sense of security.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Taser. “I thought it might be a good idea if you had a backup piece,” he said, putting the Taser on the coffee table. “Just in case. I’d like the three of you to sit tight for tonight. Dom and I are going to go interview some, uh, persons of interest.”

I clenched my teeth. Hard. I had a sneaking suspicion these “persons of interest” were my parents. I shot a pleading look at Dom—I knew my protests would be useless with Adam. Dom gave me a reassuring smile, and I hoped that meant he wouldn’t let Adam do anything drastic. Not that he had the power to stop Adam from doing whatever he damn well pleased.

“After that,” Adam continued, “we can get together again and talk strategy. Maybe we’ll figure out a way to trap Der Jäger.”

I hoped so, but I knew our problems would be far from over even if we did. Der Jäger was an illegal and a rogue, which meant he would be executed by the state if caught. Unfortunately, the state thought exorcizing a demon would kill it. If an exorcist sent him back to the Demon Realm, that wouldn’t do us a lick of good, because he’d be back in no time.