Free Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks

seven years ago, MCD regs for dealing with demons limit involvement to persons of faith. Doesn’t seem to matter what faith, so long as the agent has one.”
    Seven years ago… it took a moment for Lily to place the reference, but the story had been sensational enough to stick. “You mean the shoot-out down in New Orleans? That FBI agent shot by his own team—he really was possessed?” Someone had leaked that to the press, but very few had bought it. Too outlandish.
    “Oh, yeah. The powers-that-be didn’t want to alarm the public with the facts.”
    “And this guy who was possessed wasn’t… um, a believer?”
    “Catholic, but lapsed.” Karonski stretched out his legs and laced his fingers over his middle. “Way lapsed. My personal take is that he was more vulnerable than most because he’d lost his faith, but that’s just a guess.” He shrugged. “MCD policy is just a guess, too.”
    “What do you know?” she asked, exasperated.
    The door swung open. “Proximity is a factor,” Nettie said crisply. “The demon must be in close physical proximity to its victim. Possession doesn’t happen at a distance.”
    “How did you do that?” Lily demanded. “Rule can hear me from two rooms away. You can’t.”
    Rule smiled. “You were a little loud.”
    And a little more rattled than she wanted to admit, dammit. Lily took a slow breath, reaching for calm. There was something different about Nettie. She was wearing the same lab coat and jeans. Her hair was braided instead of hanging down in a fuzzy cloud, but Lily had seen it that way before. So what…
    “Another thing,” Karonski said. “Demons can get into animals, especially birds. I’ve been on a couple cases involving possessed birds.” He shrugged. “Don’t know why. Maybe birds are easy for them.”
    “If you’ve dealt with possession before, why is Nettie doing this?” Lily glanced at Nettie. “No offense.”
    Nettie just smiled.
    Karonski shook his head. “I didn’t say I’ve performed an exorcism. I haven’t. When an animal’s involved, the procedure is different. Demons can’t hide themselves as well in animals as they do in humans, so we can confirm possession pretty easily. Then we kill the animal. That forces the demon out so we can kill or banish it.”
    Oh. That was different, all right.
    “Another thing,” Rule said. “They can’t possess cats. Or lupi.”
    “Cats?” Lily couldn’t see behind the surfaces of his eyes. They were dark and glossy in the glare of the fluorescents, reflecting the overhead light and hiding everything else. But he looked tired. “You’ve been talking to Max.”
    Nettie snorted. “I take Max’s pronouncements with a whole lick of salt, but the part about lupi is right.”
    “Who’s Max?” Cynna asked.
    “A friend,” Rule said.
    “He owns Club Hell.” It was Nettie’s face, Lily decided. Or maybe just the eyes. They seemed to hold… more. Which was a silly thing to think. What did she mean, more? More what?
    Nettie nodded at Cynna. “I need you to stand over by Abel, please.”
    Karonski’s eyebrows shot up. “Lupi can’t be possessed?”
    “No. The Lady made them that way.” Nettie approached Lily’s bed. “It’s time for the rest of you to be quiet.”
    “This is a religious belief, then? One of your legends‘?”
    Rule answered. “It’s fact, though I don’t expect you to believe that.”
    “Talk later,” Nettie said, “or you’ll have to leave. Rule—”
    “I’m not leaving.”
    “Stand on the other side of the bed, then. Don’t touch her until we’re finished.” She took Rule’s place by Lily’s bed. “How are you doing?”
    It seemed a genuine question, not mere courtesy. And her eyes, those huge, dark eyes… darker than Rule’s, they were, that deep, bottomless brown people sometimes call black. “I’m okay. I don’t know what to expect. Have you done this before?”
    “I have, yes. Twice. Possession is as rare as true amnesia, so my