I wasn’t ready, and I knew it. But other than washing my hands of the whole situation, I had no other choice, so I guessed that meant I was going.

I still hadn’t bothered to deal with the flat tire, so I called a cab to take me to South Street. It was well past ten when I headed for the club. Still pretty early for the Friday night club scene, but then I’d rather get there before the place was completely packed with demons and their groupies. Making sure the cabbie couldn’t see me past the partition, I opened my purse and rearranged everything so that the Taser was in a compartment by itself. Easier to grab that way. All the other pockets were full to bursting, making for unsightly lumps, but oh well.

As soon as I closed the purse, it rang. Great. My cell phone was buried at the bottom by now. I dug through all my junk and reminded myself I had to clean out my purse someday. I finally got my fingers wrapped around the phone, and I knew it was seconds before the call would go to voice mail. I answered just in time, but I hadn’t had the chance to check caller ID yet.

“Hello?”

“Dominic tells me you’re not where I left you,” Adam said, and though my hackles immediately rose, I couldn’t deny the relief that surged through me. I was glad Adam couldn’t see me. I had the feeling I’d never hear the end of it if he thought I’d been worried about him.

When uncomfortable, get angry, that’s my motto. With Adam, it was never a hard one to live by. “Where the fuck are you?” I asked, too loudly. I saw the cabbie glance at me in the rearview mirror. Like about ninety percent of the cabbies in Philadelphia, he wasn’t born in the good old U.S. of A. By the looks of him, he’d been born in a place where they cut out a woman’s tongue if she let such a filthy word leave her mouth. I lowered my voice, and vowed to edit my language.

“Dom and I have both been trying to reach you for hours!”

“So I heard. Let’s just say I needed a little me-time.”

“When those children—” I stopped myself before I finished the sentence. The driver was obviously listening, so it seemed prudent for me to be a tad more discreet.

“I was explaining why I had the phone turned off,” Adam growled. “I don’t mean I’ve been gazing at my navel. I’ve presently got a good friend of ours passed out in the backseat.”

“Oh.” The good news was, I wouldn’t have to go back to The Seven Deadlies. The bad news was. . Well, I wasn’t sure what the bad news was yet. All I was sure of was that there would be some seriously bad news soon. “How did that happen?” I asked, because demons don’t just have attacks of the vapors.

“He had a little too much to drink.”

“Oh,” I said again. A brilliant conversationalist, that’s me. Demons are as capable of getting drunk as humans, although they usually metabolize the alcohol faster so their drunkenness doesn’t last long. Still, it seemed awfully careless of Tommy, especially if he had any inkling that Adam was investigating him.

“I helped him along a bit,” Adam explained. “We’re on the way back to the house now. I thought you might want to meet us there.”

No, I wanted to tell the driver to turn around and take me home. But I supposed that would be irresponsible. I sternly ordered myself not to think about what would happen to Tommy when whatever knockout drops Adam had given him wore off. I didn’t think it was going to be pretty.

“I guess I have to,” I said. I didn’t actually mean to say it out loud.

“Yes. We might need Lugh.”

I closed my eyes for a second, wondering just what Adam thought we might need Lugh for. To exorcize Tommy’s demon? I supposed it was in the realm of possibility that whatever demon had taken Tommy was beyond my ability or Adam’s ability to exorcize. But I suspected that wasn’t what Adam meant. We would need to know Saul’s True Name if we wanted to summon him, and the only people who would know it were his close family members. . and his king.

“I’ll be there soon,” was all I said. I hung up abruptly, because I didn’t want Adam to hear anything suspicious in my voice. Then I gave the driver Raphael’s address and braced myself for one very nerve-wracking phone call.

Convincing Raphael to come with me to Adam’s wasn’t exactly difficult. Even over the phone, I heard what I could swear was repressed excitement. I knew he and my brother didn’t get along, and if he really was treating Andy better this time around, it meant he had to interact with him more than he’d like. Perhaps he was just excited at the thought that he might find a new, more enjoyable host. But I didn’t think that was it.

No matter how loyal Raphael might be to Lugh, I had to agree with Lugh’s assessment of him: he was a liar. He knew more about the Houston project than he’d admitted, and for some reason he was very, very eager to have Tommy host him.

What was it about Tommy that made demons everywhere fall over themselves in order to acquire his body? I suspected I wouldn’t know unless and until one of Lugh’s allies ended up in possession of Tommy’s body.

And therein lay the crux of my moral dilemma. Could I really stand to let anyone, even a fanatic like Tommy Brewster, be possessed against his will? Demonic possession had been my own worst nightmare, and though I had learned to live with it to some extent, I still longed for the days when I was alone in my body. And not only was I a hell of a lot more compatible with Lugh than Tommy would be with Raphael, but I also still had control of my body. It wouldn’t be the same for Tommy, and he would suffer. If I let this happen.

I hadn’t reached anything that resembled a conclusion by the time the cab pulled up in front of my brother’s apartment building. Raphael was waiting at the curb and quickly slipped in while the car behind us honked in indignation at the delay. Gotta love Philadelphia drivers. Always so polite and understanding.

I gave the cabbie Adam’s address, and we were off again.

“Does Adam know I’m coming?” Raphael asked.

I grimaced. “In this case I decided to adopt your philosophy of asking forgiveness rather than permission.”

He looked like he was about to say something, but then his gaze darted to the driver and his mouth thinned into a hard line. I, of course, was not at all unhappy to have our own personal censor available. I didn’t want to talk about what I was contemplating. I’d put off deciding what to do for as long as I could manage it. And maybe even longer.

We rode the rest of the way in silence. I wished Adam lived farther away, though I don’t suppose having more time would have made me any more prepared. I gave the driver a generous tip, which I couldn’t afford, and then stood on the pavement for a long moment, staring at Adam’s house, not wanting to go in yet.

Raphael had no such problems, and before I was ready, he’d hurried up the steps and rung the bell. My throat felt tight with panic, but I fought it off as best I could.

It was Dom who answered the door. I supposed Adam was keeping an eye on our prisoner. Dominic raised his eyebrows when he saw Raphael, but didn’t comment.

“Come on in. The party’s just getting started.” There was a hint of strain in his voice. He was too nice a guy to like Adam’s interrogation methods, but though he disliked them, he didn’t seem inclined to protest. Then again, maybe he already had.

“Adam’s not going to be happy to see you,” Dom said to Raphael as soon as the door closed.

Raphael shrugged. “Doesn’t much matter. I’m a member of your merry band now whether you want me or not.”

Something sparked in Dom’s eyes. He looked like a man about ready to take a swing at a rival. I guess that meant he was really having a hard time with Adam’s methods. He’d always been the calm one in the face of Adam’s or my temper before.