Brian had been in Adam’s house once before. He’d even been on the second floor, but I didn’t know if the door to the black room had been open at the time.

I cleared my throat. “When you were in Adam’s house, did you see his, uh. .” I didn’t know what to call it. I supposed “dungeon” was the proper term, but I couldn’t make myself say it. I cleared my throat again. “Did you see the black room?”

“Black room?” Brian asked in a voice that told me the answer was no.

I stared at the pavement, trying not to remember too much about that damn room. “Yeah. At the head of the stairs. It’s where Adam keeps his, uh, S&M stuff.” I’d never told Brian about what Adam had done to me in that room, what I’d let him do to me. I didn’t want him to feel guilty about the hell I’d gone through to get Adam to help me rescue him.

“What about it?” Brian asked softly.

“I think they’re in there now. And I think I could shoot a cannon through the front door and they wouldn’t bother to come check it out.”

“Oh,” Brian said. Thankfully, he left it at that.

“Wish me luck,” I mumbled, then let out a deep sigh and tried to relax. I closed my eyes and visualized opening the doors of my mind. The wail of a siren broke my concentration, and my eyes popped open in time to see a police car zoom down a cross street.

I closed my eyes again and ordered myself to focus. Which lasted about ten seconds. Then a pimpmobile cruised by with its stereo blasting rap loud enough to make the sidewalk vibrate. After that, I was distracted by the roar and stink of a bus traveling in the opposite direction.

All typical city sounds. Sounds that I ignore with ease every day of the week. But each was an excuse to let my mind shy away from what I asked it to do. Just this once, I cursed the strength of my subconscious defenses. I tried reminding myself that the lives of two innocent children might lie in the balance, but although stress had helped erode the barriers of my mind before, it wasn’t working now.

Sorry, Lugh, I thought. I just don’t know how to let go. He didn’t answer me, which was just as well.

Regretfully, I opened my eyes. “No dice,” I told Brian. He probably gave me a reproachful look, but since I was staring off into space, I didn’t see it.

“So what’s plan C?” he asked.

I was about to admit that I didn’t have a plan C, but then I realized that I did.

The only reason I’d tried to let Lugh take control was because I needed a demon’s strength to break Adam’s door. There was nothing to say it had to be my demon’s strength.

“I guess I call in the cavalry,” I said, though in my case the cavalry wore very black hats. Trying not to clench my teeth too hard, I fished out my phone and called Raphael.

“Morgan or Lugh?” he asked as soon as he answered.

I was severely tempted to say it was Lugh, thinking perhaps Raphael would be more willing to help if he thought he was getting orders from his king. I managed to resist the temptation, though, not sure if I could pull it off.

“It’s Morgan,” I said. “I need your help.”

“Where are you? Are you in trouble?”

The alarm in his voice might have been gratifying if I thought it had anything to do with concern for me. “No more trouble than usual,” I assured him. “But I need your help just the same. How fast can you make it to the corner of Twenty-Second and Walnut?” His apartment building was only about five blocks away, so I figured it would be pretty fast.

“I’m on my way now,” he said, and I could hear his hurried footsteps. “I’ll be there in ten minutes, tops.”

He hung up before I had a chance to say thank you. Not that I’d been going to thank him anyway, not until after he’d actually helped me. I figured he might be a bit peeved when he got here and found out what I wanted him to do. And why. Somehow I doubted he’d be anxious to play the white knight and rescue those little girls. In fact, he’d probably blow a gasket when he found out what I’d been up to.

For all his many faults, I didn’t think Raphael would like the idea of any harm coming to those children. His moral compass was severely bent, but I didn’t believe it was completely broken. However, he would consider protecting Lugh a higher priority, and making any attempt to rescue the children was bound to put Lugh in some kind of danger. I just had to get him to break that door down before he knew why I wanted him to.

I was planning out my argument when my cell phone rang. When I saw the call was from Adam, I felt a rush of mingled relief and irritation.

I answered the phone, practically shaking with outrage. “Isn’t there some kind of rule that you have to be available by phone at all times?” I snapped. Saying hello is highly overrated.

“I am,” he said simply.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for hours!” An exaggeration, but it sure felt like hours.

I could almost hear him shrug. “My office has my emergency number.”

I reminded myself to stop by his office and thank the whining asshole who’d answered the phone for all his “help.” “Where are you? I need to talk to you. Now.”

“I’m at home. I’ll be at your place in twenty minutes.”

“No, I’ll be at yours in two. I guess you didn’t hear me knocking.”

“Oh. That was you?” He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I was, uh, busy.”

“I’ll bet,” I muttered. “How’s Dom?”

Adam hesitated. “He’s fine,” he finally said, but there was something funny in his voice.

I wanted to ask what was wrong, but there was no reason to talk about it on the phone when I was right around the corner. “Whatever,” I said, figuring I’d grill him about it in a couple of minutes. “I’ll be there in a few. And just so you know, I’ll have Brian and Raphael with me.”

“Wonderful,” he said sourly. “I’m in the mood for a party right now.”

“Don’t get pissed at me! If you’d answered your phone when I first called, this would have been a lot simpler.”

“Whatever,” he said, and I guessed that funny voice was supposed to be mimicking mine. His impersonation could use a little work.

I couldn’t think of anything else to say, at least nothing that wasn’t so snarky it would get us off on even more of a wrong foot, so I just hung up and waited for Raphael.

Raphael must have been alarmed by my call even though I’d told him I wasn’t in any more trouble than usual. He showed up in less time that it would take me to cover half the distance. People had gathered at the bus stop, and though like typical city dwellers they were all pretending they were the only people around, I knew full well we couldn’t afford to talk about the situation in anyone’s hearing. So when Raphael strode toward me with the obvious intention of giving me the third degree, I jerked my thumb toward the corner.

“We’re going to Adam’s,” I said, and started moving before he had a chance to reply. I felt his eyes boring into the back of my head, but I did my best to ignore it. Brian fell into step beside me, and moments later, I heard Raphael hurry to catch up.

“You gonna tell me what’s going on?” Raphael asked when he reached my other side.

I wished Adam’s call had come just a couple minutes earlier so I could have avoided Raphael’s company, but I supposed if he was to serve as one of Lugh’s advisors, it was for the best that he come along. Besides, if he’d been following Lugh’s orders, maybe he’d found some more information about the Houston facility. And maybe the information I’d gotten could fill in some of the gaps.

“When we get inside,” I answered. I still felt like Raphael was staring holes in me, but I refused to confirm my suspicion by looking at him.

Adam was waiting for us when we arrived. I didn’t even have to knock. It looked like he’d dressed in a hurry. His T-shirt was only haphazardly tucked into his jeans, his feet were bare, and his hair was mussed. He gave Brian and Raphael each a long look, then opened the door wide enough to let us in.