The Demon in Me (38 page)

It was as though a shock wave emanated out from her and focused directly around the diamond. A moment later it shattered as if it were no more than a lightbulb. The next moment, the heavy weight of Rosa’s demon magic disappeared completely from the air.

The older woman’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “You bitch! You broke my diamond!”

Eden staggered back into Darrak’s arms. “Sorry. Was it expensive?”

How much was the average one hundred eighty carat diamond these days? She suddenly wished that Rosa didn’t currently have her MasterCard number on file.

Magic continued to crackle at her fingertips. It would be so easy to finish this off. Just breaking a diamond seemed so anticlimactic.

But the next moment she felt Darrak’s hands come around her waist from behind and he pulled her backward toward the teeter-totter.

“What are you doing?” she asked shakily.

“Preventative measures.”

“From what?”

“Just trust me.”

Rosa looked supremely pissed off. “Come Malcolm. We need to go back to the Malleus and report that…” She frowned. “What are you looking at, boy? Let’s go!” She reached for him but her son staggered back from her.

Then Eden saw it and a chill ran down her spine.

There were two swirling clouds of black smoke on the ground near Rosa’s feet.

By breaking the diamond, she’d destroyed the prison in which Rosa’s archdemons were trapped. To destroy the archdemons, Rosa would have had to smash it by herself.

Eden had freed them.

“Darrak…” she began.

“Shh. Don’t speak,” he whispered in her ear, his arms still around her waist, holding her tightly in place. “Be very quiet.”

Rosa looked down, finally seeing the black smoke just as it began to move up her legs. Her eyes widened in shock.

“Wait,” she said, holding her hands out. “No. We can talk about this.”

The incorporeal archdemons didn’t seem in much of a mood to chat. They began moving quicker and quicker, swirling and twisting around Rosa’s body like synchronized tornadoes.

“Malcolm!” she yelled. “Do something! You’re a member of the Malleus! Exorcise them!”

Cradling his arm, Malcolm moved farther back from Rosa. “I’m sorry, Mother. But I’ve decided to take a leave of absence from the organization.”

“You what?”

“I’m going back to college.” His jaw set. “Just like you wanted, remember?”

Rosa glared at him. Before she could say another word the smoke moved to cover her completely.

And the moment after that, the blackness dissipated completely, leaving nothing behind.

The first thing Eden did after Rosa disappeared with the
archdemons was run over to check on Leena. The shapeshifter, still in cat form, was unconscious but breathing and her heartbeat was regular. Eden was no doctor—or veterinarian—but that seemed like a good sign.

She was ready for Malcolm to storm at her, furious at what happened to his mother, and wanting revenge. But he leaned against the trunk of a tall tree, his mouth still gaping open in shock at what had just happened. Even though the playground had grown darker with the setting sun, his face was very pale. He suddenly made eye contact with Eden and started slowly walking toward her.

Darrak stepped into his path. “Don’t even think about it.”

“No,” Malcolm managed. “I—I wasn’t thinking about hurting her. I had no idea what my mother was involved with all these years. I’m so sorry. If I’d known…” He shook his head. “The Malleus would never have approved something like this.”

He looked so incredibly disillusioned. His worldview had been shattered in thirty minutes or less. Quicker than ordering a pizza.

“Well, she did say it was to fight evil, right?” Eden said.

It was a shot in the dark. Eden didn’t know why she was trying to defend the woman who’d tried to kill her and trap Darrak other than as an attempt to soften the blow to Malcolm.

And it actually earned a small snort of laughter from Malcolm. “From what I’ve seen tonight, my mother was more evil than the two of you put together. I’m sorry this had to happen.”

“Which part?” Eden asked.

“All of it.” He looked back to where his mother had been standing before the archdemons had covered her body like a black blanket from Hell. “Now I know why she wanted me to go back to school. I was going to major in Archaeology. She probably wanted me to learn how to dig up more magical artifacts for her to use in the future like that diamond of hers. She was so insistent that I go.”

“And are you going to?” Eden asked.

He nodded. “I need time to think. After what I’ve seen…” He looked at both Eden and Darrak in turn. “I have a lot to think about.”

Eden stood up and went over to him to give him a hug. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Darrak tense, ready to spring if Malcolm did anything. But she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.

“Good-bye, Eden,” he whispered. “And good luck to you.”

“I’m going to need it, right?”

He smiled and flicked another glance at the demon. “You will. No doubt about it.”

He didn’t hug Darrak. Eden wasn’t terribly surprised about that. He turned, without another word, and went to his car. A few moments later, gravel crunched as he drove away.

Eden turned to Darrak, surprised to see that he looked pissed off at her.

“What?”

He shook his head. “You weren’t supposed to use your new magic and now you’ve already used it as if it was a present you couldn’t wait until Christmas to unwrap.”

She put a hand on her hip. “I didn’t exactly have a choice.” “There’s always a choice. How do you feel?”

She thought about it. “I feel fine. Considering that a mini-apocalypse just went down in this playground of death and destruction.” She glanced with regret and more than a little grief at the empty pile of clothes marking the place where Selina had been killed.

“And when you channeled the magic—?”

“Like I said, I feel just fine. Maybe Selina was wrong. Maybe I can do it without anything bad happening.”

He pursed his lips and walked over to Selina’s clothes, reaching down to retrieve her gray-stoned necklace—which had turned snow white. Now that Selina was gone Eden figured that was its default setting. He brought it over and fastened the chain around her neck. The heavy pendant fell to her chest.

“Look.” His expression was grim.

She looked down to see the stone was slowly changing from unblemished white to a darker shade. Not as dark as Selina’s had been, though. Eden’s was a very light gray with some darker, marblelike veins running through it.

The current state of her compromised soul was now a lovely fashion accessory.

“Okay,” Eden said after a moment. “Maybe channeling the black magic did do a little something after all.”

“How can you sound so calm about this?”

“I don’t exactly have any choice here, do I?”

His lips thinned. “There’s still a choice, of course. We’ll contact someone with the Malleus directly and arrange an official exorcism by someone who—”

She slapped him.

“Ow!” He held a hand to his cheek, frowning. “What the hell was that for?”

“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. I guess I react with violence now when somebody says something outwardly stupid. I’ll try something different next time to mix it up.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s the only way.”

“No it’s not. We’ll find another way to break your curse.”

“Selina’s dead.”

“I know that.”

“You have less than a year to live if I’m possessing you.”

“I know that, too.”

“Then why won’t you consider exorcising—”

This time she kissed him. A bit less violent than slapping but no less dangerous. When she pulled away to see his shocked face, she poked a finger at him.

“I didn’t just tap into my nasty black cesspool of magic tonight so I could call up 1-800-Exorcist tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but—”

Another kiss. Longer this time. Eden grabbed hold of his plain black T-shirt to pull him closer. The night was cold and he felt very warm, despite the fact he wasn’t wearing a coat.

“Then why did you do it?” he asked gruffly when they parted again.

“Because I need you.”

He raised a dark eyebrow. “You need me for what?”

“You’re my resident expert on the supernatural. And Andy’s got a stack of cases involving werewolves and other… well,
Others
.”

He nodded. “Good reason. I can definitely help with that. It’s the least I can do.”

“And… and I also need you to help me deal with this.” She touched the grayish stone. “Selina promised to help me but now she’s gone.” Her voice caught. “She was a black witch but she wasn’t all bad. She could control it. Maybe there’s still hope for me.”

“There’s always hope.”

“You think so?”

He nodded. “If you’d asked me that a couple weeks ago I would have said no, but now I think there might be.”

“Even for a humanity-infused archdemon and a newly black witch?”

“Even for a couple of losers like that.” He exhaled. “I’ll figure out a way to break this curse.”

“Well, that would be good. I’m kind of counting on it.”

He touched her throat, stroking his thumb gently over where he’d nearly choked the life out of her. “I almost killed you.”

“But you didn’t. You were able to resist her even though she knew your true name.”

“Only because my bond to you is stronger than that. It was still a struggle, though. Thankfully, Pussy Galore arrived to save the day.”

“Our bond,” she repeated. “That growing addiction to each other you mentioned the other day.”

He nodded and stroked the long hair off her face. “For many reasons, it’s going to be difficult. Being with you all the time until we figure out a solution to our problem.”

She swallowed. “I know you wish it hadn’t happened—”

He kissed her this time. Just a quick one. “You really haven’t been paying attention.”

She was confused. “But you said—”

“I said nothing good had ever come of being with someone for me before. And I was right—you’re a black witch because of me.”

“You didn’t know.”

“No, I didn’t.” He exhaled, then met her eyes. “But it can never happen again between us.”

She was about to ask why, but then remembered what Selina had said. The spell she’d put on Darrak hadn’t been removed. If they ever made love again, Eden would lose more of her soul as her black magic increased.

“Oh,” she said after it sunk in. “So I guess we’re really going to be like brother and sister now, aren’t we?”

Darrak nodded, but drew his thumb over her bottom lip. “If the brother had incredibly inappropriate thoughts about his sister every minute of the day.” He managed a small smile. “It’s not going to be easy, but I won’t hurt you again no matter how hard it gets.” He cleared his throat. “You know.
Literally
.”

“You’re so noble.”

“Totally.”

She touched his hand. “And kissing?”

“Kissing is dangerous on many levels for us. It leads to other things.”

“Good point.” She forced herself to pull away from him and looked at the horizon to see the sun was slipping behind it as they spoke. A glance at Darrak’s now shadowed face confirmed he was beginning to show the strain of losing form. But as usual he was fighting it.

“It’s almost time,” he warned her.

She held up her hands. “We need some rules.”

He covered his stomach and hunched over a little. “Such as?”

“I’m going to dampen you when I need bathroom time.”

“Fine.”

“And no taking over my body to trip, slap, or punch people. And if I’m in danger of having another experience like what happened with the foamy salt mouth, you’ll give me a better warning.”

“Understood. Anything else?”

She couldn’t think at the moment. “I’ll make up an alphabetized list.”

“I look forward to reading it.”

She frowned. “And one more thing—”

He kissed her again, hard on her lips. When he pulled away she touched her mouth, feeling passion swell inside her for him even though she really wished she didn’t feel that way. She forgot what she was going to say. “What was that for?”

“Just for the hell of it.”

He grinned, before the pain of fighting against losing form swept that expression away. The next moment he turned to black smoke before her very eyes, swirling around for a moment before he disappeared inside of her. She braced a hand against the nearest tree to support herself after the wave of pleasure weakened her knees.

“Damn,” she managed.

“You are both so screwed,” Leena commented from a dozen feet away. She had returned to human form and shakily pushed up from the ground.

“Oh, I know that,” Eden said. “And your point?”

“Just stating the obvious.”

“Thought you were leaving.”

“I thought so, too. But here I am.”

Eden swallowed. “Thanks for helping out.”

“I guess I’m in this up to my ass now. Maybe I’ll stay after all.”

Eden looked at her skeptically. “Let me guess. Nowhere else to go?”

Leena shrugged. “Sad, isn’t it?”

“Very.” She crossed her arms. “Well, I have to say you were right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You make a kick-ass lasagna.”

Leena grinned. “I knew you’d like it.”

“Do you know how to cook anything else?”

“Are you asking me to move back in with you so I can feed you and protect you from that demon of yours?”

Eden touched her chest. She felt Darrak’s presence as he settled in for the night. “He’s not going to hurt me.”

“Sure he won’t.” She rolled her eyes. “But actually I was thinking more along the lines of a chaperone. No more hankypanky or you get more evil. Is that right?”

Maybe she should take out an ad in the daily newspaper. That way she could make sure everyone in the city knew about her magical sex issues.

“It’s not going to be a problem,” she said as firmly as she could.

Leena laughed out loud at that as she rubbed her hand against her head. She probably had a bump from hitting the tree earlier. “I heard the demon say that he loves you. So, yeah, it’s going to be a problem. A big one.”