Page 49 of Mortal Heart

“Can you imagine? I mean…barbs?Why?” When he started to reply, she waved her hand. “No, no, forget I asked. I suppose the answer is obvious.”

“Unfortunately, their use is precisely what you’re thinking.” He reached for Katy’s sketch of the stick figure in bed with a shadowy form hovering above. “As unpleasant as the thought may be, it does give me a theory. Look how the shadow is above the sleeping figure. Are you familiar with incubi and succubi?”

“Notintimatelyfamiliar, at least as far as I know,” she said dryly. “But I get the general idea. Are you suggesting our female demon might be a succubus?”

“Or an incubus.” He tapped the sketch thoughtfully. “Katy said the shadow sits on her throne and wants to be worshiped. It’s a common misconception that a female demon is only a succubus. An incubus is a dominant partner in a sex act. A succubus is a submissive partner. This is true regardless of sex or gender.”

“An incubus, huh? Interesting theory.” She pursed her lips. “I suppose that fits with our tentative profile. But even if you’re right, how does that help us?”

“I’m not sure yet, but the more we know about our adversary, the better.” He considered what he knew of this particular class of demons. “If we’re dealing with a female incubus, whatever she’s posing as, she won’t be a nobody. She’ll be someone of importance. Incubi thrive on power and control. They can’t evenpretendto be subordinate as part of a ruse. It’s just not in their DNA.”

“Messed around with a few incubi in your time, huh?”

“Never—not in the way you’re thinking,” he said with a smile. “I primarily just killed them.”

“Given the barbs, probably the safest route to go.”

“Poison in her biteandon her nails and tail as well,” he warned. “So, yes—a quick beheading is the best and safest option.”

Arkady skimmed back through the information they had on the residents of Carmody Tower’s penthouses. “The woman who lives in 42A is Melody Fullerton. She lists her employment as ‘None.’ Her husband is apparently an agent.”

“Agent as in…?” he prompted.

She typed quickly. “As in an agent for actors and actresses. He must be doing pretty well if they can afford that place on one income.”

“I can’t see a demon, especially an incubus who wants to be worshiped, living as a housewife, even in a penthouse,” Ronan said.

“Me either.” She closed that screen and opened the next one. “42B is Abigail Rouse, a sixty-two-year-old retired private school educator and widow. Not exactly the kind of person a demon would jump at the chance to be.”

“Agreed.”

“Only one adult male in 42C. Steven Apland, sixty-three, divorced three times. President of a chain of banks. Lots of money and authority in that gig.” She pulled up his photo on the bank’s website and wrinkled her nose. “Hmmm. Not exactly a DILF.”

He shook his head. “Female demons can take the form of human males, but incubi are vain. Very unlikely.”

“Scratch off 42C. On to 42D.” She reviewed the information on its resident. “Now, here’s a definite possibility. Dr. Dana McMahon, psychiatrist and executive director of Bright Horizons Mental Health Center. That’s pretty powerful. Plus she’d be likely to encounter teenagers and young adults in crisis, giving her the chance to find potential victims.”

“Best lead so far,” he agreed. “Can we see her picture?”

She located the facility’s website and skimmed the doctor’s biographical information. “Photo looks ordinary enough, but if they can pass for human, we can’t judge a book by its cover—or a doctor by her professional headshot. Education, professional affiliations and awards, past employment…it’s all listed here, and it matches up with what’s in the database. Seems legit, at least on the surface.”

“And it might be,” he pointed out. “Who knows how long this demon has been posing as a human in your world? They may have earned these credentials, or taken over the life of someone who earned them. The latter is probably more likely.”

After a beat, she said, “Inmyworld?”

He cursed himself for the slip. “In the human world, I meant. As opposed to the demon realm.”

“Nice save.” She studied him, then glanced back at her phone. “Moving on for the moment, do we think it’s this Dr. McMahon?”

In her photo, Dr. McMahon wore a white coat over a dark blue suit. She had shoulder-length dark brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses with thick frames, and wore simple jewelry. Her features were strikingly beautiful, but her smile appeared forced—or perhaps his suspicions made it seem that way.

“I can’t tell,” he said finally. “But that seems like our best bet, don’t you agree?”

“Based on our profile, and assuming Katy’s right about the location, yes. And now we’re back to where we were ten minutes ago. How do we get into her penthouse?”

“Maybe we don’t go to the tower. Maybe we go after Dr. McMahon at her place of work.”

“The clinic?” She raised her eyebrows. “I like that idea way better. Still tricky, but not nearly as much security.”

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