The Demon in Me (19 page)

“You’re the fake private investigator in this car. Not me.”

“Andy said to write down what he does and take pictures.”

“Then that’s exactly what you should do.” Darrak leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “Have you thought about getting your license?”

“No.” She held the camera up and snapped a shot of the back of Richard’s head.

“Just no? Not a maybe?”

“I don’t want to do this sort of thing on a regular basis. This is an exception to the rule.”

“You sure have a lot of rules. You should think about breaking them sometime. You’d probably be a lot happier.”

“I’m happy.”

He eyed her sideways. “Sure you are.”

“I’m ecstatic about life. I’m surprised it doesn’t show.”

“What do you want to do with your life?” he asked.

“Like a career?”

“Sure.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I considered flipping houses for a while but the economy’s not so great anymore. Plus, my credit isn’t fantastic either. So that’s out.”

“Flipping houses. I can’t think of a career that has less permanence to it than buying a house, spending weeks making it better, and then selling it and moving onto something else. Is that really what you want?”

She tried not to glower at his appraisal of her career suggestion. “Maybe I’m not looking for any permanent responsibilities. I’m just like my mother that way.”

“Your mother was a bit flaky?”

“You have no idea.”

“You know what you need?”

That earned him a full-on wary glance. “What do I need?”

His lips curved. “Oh, you need a lot of things. But the first thing that comes to mind is passion.”

Her cheeks heated. “Yeah, and let me guess. You’re willing to provide it?”

His expression didn’t change. “I’m not just talking sex. I’m talking meaning in your life. You need to figure out what you’re passionate about and pursue that. You know, your dreams and hopes. Things that make life worth living.”

“Is this self-help advice from a demon?”

“Guilty as charged.”

“My life is fine just the way it is.”

His smile faded. “I don’t know that much about you, but I can tell by just looking in your eyes that you’ve been hurt in the past by people you’ve let into your life. You’re very guarded. You don’t let your hair down—”

“My hair’s down right now.”

“You know what I mean.”

Darrak’s gaze felt like it was burning a hole right though her. She didn’t like how perceptive he was. How it seemed like he knew her without her even offering up anything about herself. She didn’t want him to know her. Frankly, she didn’t want anyone to know her.

Great.
She was even more screwed up than she even thought she was.

“So you’re saying I need some sort of permanent, passionate outlet. Like a job I’m really into?” She snapped another photo just so she felt like she was doing something constructive.

“I think you might be good at this investigation thing,” he said.

“That makes one of us.”

“Not just the nitty-gritty details of surveillance and writing stuff down. I’m talking about helping people. The ones that come to you desperate and in need. That seems to be something that might suit you.”

“I do tend to attract desperate, needy people. I’m like a magnet for losers. They recognize me as one of their own.”

“I meant more that you’re compassionate and seem to have a natural tendency to want to help people.” He shook his head. “Just my opinion. Take it or leave it.”

They went quiet again, but Eden’s brain was working, turning over what Darrak said. He was right. She did need something in her life to make everything worthwhile. To give her a reason to wake up in the morning. Was it working with Andy at a low-end detective agency? Had fate handed her this opportunity and she wasn’t taking advantage of it?

The universe did work in mysterious and somewhat annoying ways.

And if she applied the law of attraction to her life at the moment it would mean she’d attracted the job at Triple-A, as well as bringing Darrak into her life.

Maybe, down deep—way deep—there was something there she could learn and grow from and find a new path toward her bright, shiny future.

Or… not. Probably not.

Richard Morgan left the coffee shop and headed to work. Eden took a few more pictures, then followed at a fair distance until they got to his accounting office at the intersection of King and Bay. She parked and they waited.

For a long time.

Hours went by.

“This is boring,” Darrak said while he taste-tested the food Eden had grabbed on the corner for their lunch. “I take it back. Maybe there isn’t anything to be passionate about when it comes to investigation work. And this hot dog is disgusting. Do humans actually consider this food? It’s no peanut butter or chocolate donut, that’s for sure.”

“I suppose I could march right up to him and ask if he’s having an affair.”

“That would be the direct approach.”

“So you can’t do any demon thing and probe his mind? Force him to tell the truth? Grow horns and a tail and scare it out of him?”

“Horns and a tail?” Darrak said dryly.

She shrugged. “I’ve seen pictures of demons before.”

“Sounds more like a devil.”

She fished in her purse for more change for the parking meter. “The ones with the pointy genitalia.”

“See, I knew you were paying attention. There will be a pop quiz later.”

She studied Darrak for a moment. He looked a bit on edge. “You didn’t answer my question about the horns and a tail, though. You just diverted it.”

“Did I do that?”

“Yes.”

He gazed out of the window at the cement and glass sky-scrapers that surrounded them. “I can’t believe we’ve been sitting here for so long. Talk about hell on earth.”

His refusal to answer her question was starting to trouble her.

“You mentioned that Fay used some sort of a, what did you call it, a glamour? To hide her fairy appearance and look more human.”

“I did say that, didn’t I? Well, fairies don’t look much different than humans. Just a little bit scarier.”

“You never really answered me before.” She swallowed. “But, is that what you do, too? Is this what you normally look like or is this a glamour so you won’t scare me?”

He turned to look at her and she studied his now-familiar handsome face, his square jaw and lips she had been exploring up close and personal only a couple hours ago. His dark hair, slightly messy and slightly too long. His ice blue eyes that she’d seen shine with good humor or burn with anger or pain. It was hard to remember that he actually was a demon, and sometimes she had to admit that she forgot.

But she did remember her first impression of his physical appearance when he’d taken form. That it was too perfect, too appealing, to be real. That it was some sort of a trap to lure her closer so he could devour her whole.

She shivered.

“There are some things about me,” Darrak began, a bit tentatively, “that it is best you don’t know.”

The fear that had disappeared toward the demon came slithering back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He looked at her sharply. “I tell you that there are things about me you shouldn’t know, and you still want to know?”

“I’m curious.”
And terrified
, she amended internally.

“Don’t be. This is who I am, Eden. The man you see in front of you. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You’re a demon, not a man. Men don’t turn into black smoke at sunset and have to possess people in order to survive. Men aren’t afraid of draining others of too much energy.”

“And a full demon wouldn’t care who he drained.”

“So if you’re not a full demon, then what are you?”

His face was blank of expression, but his brows had drawn together as if he was concentrating very hard. “I wish I knew. Three hundred years of living inside of humans… it’s changed me, Eden.”

She was about to ask how it had changed him when his eyes narrowed as he looked out the windshield. “Your cheater is on the move.”

Richard left through the front doors of his office building at just after two o’clock. She shifted into drive and followed his car as he seemed to go through a list of chores. Drugstore, liquor store, even the library.

She tried very hard not to think about what Darrak had said. Or rather, what he
hadn’t
said. She almost wished he’d lied—said he wasn’t using any kind of glamour. But he hadn’t said that. And what did that mean? Did he look different underneath his handsome exterior? More demonic? More scary and dangerous? Not somebody she could feel relaxed about sitting in a car with for more than a second?

She gripped the steering wheel. She really didn’t know who Darrak was at all. All she knew was what he’d told her. She was going on faith alone. Faith in a demon who’d been cursed to lose his former body—whatever it had looked like then—over three centuries ago by a black witch.

Which sounded completely insane when she actually thought about it.

“Relax,” he said, noting her tense form. “Nothing’s changed. I’m not going to hurt you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, of course not. You’re too weak.” She cleared her throat. “But if you weren’t, then maybe I’d be in trouble.”

“I could have taken way more energy from you yesterday. Or even when you were sleeping and dreaming about your golden boy. But I didn’t.”

“You said you might not be able to stop.”

“But I did stop. I’m not saying it was easy, but I did. We might not get along that well, but I mean you no harm. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me so far.”

Eden pulled the car to the side of the road as Richard stopped in front of another Starbucks. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Sure you have. You’ve accepted something into your life that would make a whole hell of a lot of humans run for the hills screaming. You didn’t know any of this was real until just a couple days ago. And you’ve handled it so well. You’re very strong.”

“Is that the impression I’m giving you?” she said. “Because I’m shaking like a leaf on the inside.”

“Can I do anything to make you feel more comfortable with me again?”

“Again? Did I feel comfortable with you
before
?”

His lips twitched. “Well, you know what I mean.”

She thought about that. “Tell me your true name.”

He turned his attention to their left as Richard left the coffee shop. “Can’t do that.”

“Then I guess we’ve reached an impasse.”

“I guess so.” His jaw clenched.

They continued to follow Richard’s car as he got onto the highway headed west and after twenty minutes stopped in front of a motel by the Toronto airport. The booming sound of planes departing and arriving overhead filled Eden’s ears. Eden parked at the curb and quickly wrote down the address in her notebook.

“Get the camera ready again,” Darrak said. “I think we’ve got something here.”

Eden fumbled with the digital camera and raised it up so she could look at the viewscreen. She zoomed in on Richard getting out of his car and walking up to a motel room door. He knocked. The door opened and a blond woman stepped outside, embracing and kissing him passionately.

She snapped a few pictures, her heart sinking.

“I guess Fay was right,” she said. “There’s the mistress.” Fay herself was a beautiful woman, but this girl—and she couldn’t have been too far into her twenties—had a blatantly sexy appearance.
Bimbo
might be a good word to use. Tight clothes, short skirt. Long bleached blond hair. Big red lips. Big boobs that Eden could tell, even from thirty feet away, were fake.

“See, humans use glamours as well,” Darrak said pointedly. “It’s used to improve on what’s already there.”

“You think that’s an improvement?”

“It’s certainly… eye-catching. But even you use glamours. Your hair color for one, your makeup. When you wear high heels. It’s an unnatural way to enhance your undeniable natural beauty.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you’re trying to get on my good side again, just know you were never on that side to begin with.”

“Can’t say I didn’t try.” His gaze moved down from her face. “Your breasts, however, unlike this woman’s, are completely and flawlessly natural.”

She’d had a feeling that her shirt was too low cut for a Thursday. “Thanks for the newsflash.”

“My pleasure. Really.”

Eden expected Richard to disappear into the fake-breasted woman’s motel room, but instead she got in the car with him. Eden followed as they drove a mile down the street to a strip club called Kristoff’s. The car stopped at the front doors, the girl got out, and Richard drove away.

“Taxi service?” Eden said out loud. “That was unexpected.”

“I tried to sense any magical essence coming from the girl but didn’t get anything. I’m not at full strength so I could be wrong. You should go in there and talk to her. Find out who she is.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“All we need to know is if he’s cheating on his wife against his will by being magically coerced. It happens more often than you think. Needy witches and their spells.” His expression turned sour. “They won’t take no for an answer.”

“Sounds like a really bad date.”

“You have no idea.”

She scribbled down her location in the spiral-bound notebook she’d kept beside her all day. “And what if she is a witch?”

His jaw tensed. “Then you get your cute little ass out of there as quickly as possible.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“No. I’ll have to stay close, but not too close. If she’s really a witch she might be able to sense what I am. And it’s doubtful she’ll be happy to see a demon.”

“Don’t go too far.”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

“Wish me luck.”

Before she got all the way out of the car, Darrak grabbed her hand and squeezed it in his before bringing it to his lips. She turned to look at him with surprise at his heated touch.

“Be careful,” he said.

“I’ll do my best.”

She walked up to the strip club and opened the front door. It was dark and empty inside, but a big, broad-shouldered bartender was behind the bar, wiping the counter with a wet cloth.