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anything we’re sharing with the general public, so I hope you’ll be circumspect and keep it to yourself.” He waited for me to nod my agreement before he continued. “A brand-new demon host was found in an alley late last night. The ceremony to invite his demon in was only two days ago, but he was found catatonic, very obviously no longer possessed.”
    I shivered in a nonexistent chill. “What happened to him?”
    “Good question. I interviewed his family to see if there was anything unusual about his situation. I found out the Grand Poobah of their chapter of the Spirit Society had instructed the host to invite a specific demon, using his True Name.”
    By “Grand Poobah,” I assumed Adam meant the Regional Director, a man by the name of Bradley Cooper. A close personal friend of my mom and dad, and one of the slimiest bastards I’d ever met who wasn’t a politician or a lawyer. But for all that I couldn’t stand the guy, I’d never heard of him taking that kind of a personal interest in one particular member of the Society. Nor had I ever heard of him wanting to summon a particular demon by name.
    “You think it’s Raphael,” Andy said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “You think he’s come back and abandoned his host so no one will know who he’s in.”
    Adam shrugged. “The thought has occurred to me.”
    “Lugh didn’t think Raphael would trust his buddies enough to tell them his True Name,” I said.
    Adam frowned at me. “Lugh must know it, and if he knows it, then I can’t imagine Dougal doesn’t.”
    I cocked my head curiously. “Why must Lugh know it?” I asked, racking my brain to remember whether Lugh had out and out denied knowing, or if he’d just led me to believe he didn’t.
    “Because he’s the king,” Adam replied, as if that were all the answer I needed.
    “And the king is omniscient?”
    But Adam seemed to realize he was on the verge of volunteering information and gave me a tight-lipped glare. “The number of demons who have True Names is relatively small. Only the truly extraordinary—like the royal family—earn them.”
    “Have you?” I asked before I had time to think better of it.
    He smiled. “If I had, I doubt I’d tell you. We may be working together, but you don’t exactly have my best interests at heart.”
    “Like you have mine, you mean?” I retorted instantly.
    He gave me one of his coldest looks. “As you know perfectly well, I don’t give a shit about you. But I do have Lugh’s best interests at heart, and you’re his host.”
    I really hated the hurt that stabbed through my chest at his words. It wasn’t like he was telling me anything I didn’t already know. And it wasn’t like we’d ever been anything even resembling friends. I didn’t really care if he liked me or not, but the calculated indifference stung, and it took everything I had to keep from lashing out.
    “Unfortunately,” Adam continued as if he hadn’t just taken that nasty jab at me, “with the original host catatonic, we have no idea who’s hosting Raphael now—if it really is him—and we don’t know what exactly he’s up to. He no longer has any reason to keep us in the dark about his plans, so you’d think he’d have contacted us as soon as he crossed to the Mortal Plain—unless he was up to something he knew Lugh wouldn’t approve of.”
    Yeah, that sounded like Raphael, all right. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission?”
    “Something like that.”
    I frowned. “But Raphael agrees with Lugh’s stance on possessing unwilling hosts, right? So why would he come into the world in one body and then transfer to someone else?”
    To my surprise, it was Andy who answered. “Because he’s a demon,” he said bitterly. “He might agree with that idea in theory, but if he thinks it’s to his advantage to misplace his morals, he’s more than happy to do so.”
    Adam raised an eyebrow at him. “I gather yours was not a blissful union?”
    Andy