Free A Demon Does It Better by Linda Wisdom Page B

had to settle for adding thick layers of soft wool lining to the inside of the restraints. She didn’t miss Jared’s soft sigh of relief. She conjured up coffee and a thick juicy burger and fries.
    “Gotta say, I like your service, Doc.” He munched away happily. “Or is this the carrot-and-stick method? You have me all sated with good food, then you bring in the electrodes or fire whips?”
    “Fire whips were outlawed in 1822 when many strove to improve the lot of the afflicted.”
    Jared snorted. “Saying so isn’t the same as being on the receiving end. You’ve been here, what, a week? Maybe a little longer? You only see what you want to see, Doc. Not what really goes on around here. How old are you? How long have you been practicing healing?”
    “Old enough to know better, and I was born a healer,” she told him, tamping down hurtful memories of long ago.
    She shouldn’t have abandoned her mother to suffer a horrific death alone.
    Jared froze as his loaded cheeseburger hovered near his lips. He slowly set the food down and stared at her across the table.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” She threw up shields. She didn’t think he could rummage around inside her mind. She hadn’t seen signs of it before, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Not with her lack of knowledge about shadow demons.
    “You look devastated.” Shadows crawled from the corners of the room toward Jared’s chair. They started to wrap around his ankles, stealthily making their way up his legs.
    “Tell them to back off.” Her voice was sharp, filled with command, as she glared at the darkness. Her head shot up when he didn’t respond. “ Now .” Lili held up her forefinger, the tip glowing red. She didn’t indicate she was in any pain from the flame that engulfed her skin.
    Jared’s smile was filled with malice. “Make me.”
    It wasn’t the shadows that caused his world to suddenly go black.
    ***
     
    Jared’s eyes popped open at the same time that a blinding pain tortured the inside of his head.
    “What the fuck?” He found himself sprawled on the floor while Lili looked on as if there weren’t anything unusual about sending a patient into la-la land with the snap of the fingers. “What did you do to me?” he rasped as he finally managed to crawl back into his chair. He swore his shackles had easily gained a thousand pounds since the ogre slapped them on him. He reached for the coffee cup and found his hands trembling from the violent shocks still racing through his body. A glance at the clock on the wall said he’d been unconscious for at least a half hour, yet his drink and food were still hot.
    Terrific. She zaps me but thinks enough to keep my lunch warm. Not that he thought he could handle solid foods just now.
    “Any reason for what you just did?” He winced as the coffee burned his tongue. Damn, he must have bit his tongue when she zapped him.
    “I told you to force your shadows to back off,” she told him with a shrug of her shoulders. “You didn’t comply, so I did it for you.”
    Jared’s arms felt as heavy as his shackles as he lifted his hands to rub his aching head. No wonder it all hurt. The room was as bright as the noonday sun. She’d not only managed to knock him out but destroyed his shadows too. He felt suddenly bereft.
    “You witches pack quite a wallop.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck.
    “Be grateful I didn’t use full power. You would have been lucky if you could even drool by now. Speech wouldn’t have returned for at least forty-eight hours.” She smiled cheerfully.
    “And I thought Dumb and Dumber were bad enough.” He started to scowl at her but discovered even that hurt. “Does Dr. Mortimer know about that trick of yours?”
    “Does he know you have a way to leave the hospital when you want to?” Lili countered.
    “Point taken.” He took an experimental bite of food and discovered his head was no longer trying to squeeze his