The Demon in Me by Michelle Rowen
Her eyes widened. “Literally?”
He looked at her strangely. “Uh, no. But my business—well, our business—has been revitalized by a ton of new cases. It’s been nonstop since I got here this morning. I might even have to hire an assistant.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “And the strangest thing is what that woman, Mrs. Larenby, just said. They all were compelled”—he made air quotes—“to choose Triple-A.”
Darrak leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I think I figured it out. The reason why Others are attracted to you and this place.”
“Do tell,” she whispered back.
“This is where you forced me to take form the first time. The amount of psychic energy you expelled, added to what I am, was enough to create a hot spot. I’ve heard of that sort of thing happening before. Works like a magnet for Others. Now they think this is the go-to agency for paranormal clientele.”
Shit. That wasn’t good. Was it?
“That’s great,” she said then to Andy, smiling though her face felt very tight. “And the cases are… uh, is there anything unusual about them?”
“Unusual? No. The usual stuff. Surveillance, another potential cheating spouse, white-collar crime, background checks.”
Only for werewolves and fairies and witches, Eden thought. Oh my.
“Great,” she said, not liking the pitched, slightly hysterical tone of her voice.
“We should celebrate. I need a cigar. Why don’t I keep champagne on hand around here?”
“No idea.”
“I ordered some fresh coffee from next door. Nancy is going to bring it over.”
“Sit down.” Darrak had rolled her chair closer for her. She sat down. That felt much better.
“Such a nice, helpful young man you are.” Andy clipped the end of the celebration cigar he’d retrieved from his top desk drawer and pointed at Darrak with it. “So good to your sister. Aren’t you, sport? Did you have a nice day today? Did you do some sightseeing around the city? Did you go to the top of the CN Tower? That’s fun.”
Darrak sighed. “Make him stop, Eden.”
She coughed nervously. “Andy, did you have any luck looking for the wi… er, I mean, the woman Darrak’s looking for in the city?”
Andy shook his head. “Didn’t even get a chance to start. And now I’m up to my neck with these new cases. How did the cheating husband stakeout go?”
“Really good,” she said, brushing aside her morning trauma and immediate disappointment that Andy hadn’t solved her problem yet. “You really can’t find any time to look into that?”
“Wish I could. I’m sure it can wait a week or two.”
“A week or two?” Her heart sank. “I really wanted this taken care of right away.”
“To tell you the truth, Eden, if the woman in question doesn’t have any prior convictions or anything to get her into the system, there’s not much chance of finding her based purely on a sketch. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned that yesterday.”
Darrak’s brow was lowered. “That’s too bad.”
“I know. Look, you could always do it the old-fashioned way.”
“And how’s that?”
“If you think she’s in the city, print up a bunch of flyers and paste them up around town.”
“But, Andy—” she began.
“No, Eden,” Darrak stopped her. “It’s fine. We’ll find another way.”
She could see the disappointment in his eyes. He was counting on this. Hell, so was she.
“Fine.” They’d find another way. Another way to locate a witch who might or might not still be in the area. By now she could have taken a plane—or, hell, her broomstick—to Tahiti.
She rolled her chair over to her desk and reached into the bottom drawer to pull out her worn deck of tarot cards. She hadn’t used them since she was let go from Psychic Connexions. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
The phone rang and Andy grabbed it and started chatting to someone in a happy, animated manner. His problems were solved. Hers were only beginning.
“What are you doing?” Darrak asked, his voice tense.
“I’m grasping at straws.”
“Looks like a deck of tarot cards to me.”
“I’m going to see if I can figure out what direction to go from here. It’s not my love life or job prospects, but it’s worth a shot.”
“You don’t think you can just concentrate very hard and pull the witch’s location out of thin air? I know you’ve done that before.”
“One thing at a time.” She closed her eyes, focused on what she wanted, and flipped over one card. That was usually all she needed.
It was the Strength card, inverted.
“Well, that’s not good,” she said.
He’d moved to stand behind her and looked over her shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“The pathetic defeat of losers?”
“That’s the literal meaning?”
“No. But that’s what I’m seeing.” She flipped another card.
The Devil.
Well, that was not too surprising.
Darrak glanced down. “Okay. And what does that mean? Let me guess, true evil?”
“Not in its upright position.” She cleared her throat. “No, I find that it usually means… uh, sexual obsession. Sometimes. And, you know, lust. And stuff like that.”
“The Devil card represents lust?”
She waved a hand. “Among many, many other interpretations.”
“And yet that’s how you interpreted it. You, who are an insightful psychically gifted expert in this sort of thing.”
“I never called myself an expert. I’m an enthusiastic amateur. I can also do some really cool card tricks if I’m so inclined.”
Despite his disappointment that their road to finding the witch was not going smoothly, he looked slightly amused. “Lust, huh?”
“Possibly lust for money. Material possessions.”
“Or?”
She refused to think about waking up in Darrak’s arms that morning and feeling more than a healthy dose of lustfulness. “I’m going to try to concentrate and pinpoint your witch’s position now. No more talking.”
“Take all the time you need.”
She closed her eyes—pushed all thoughts of a naked Darrak out of her mind—and tried to do her thing. Whatever that thing was. Damn, she wished she could control it better. It was like playing roulette. Sometimes her number came up, but usually she just lost time and money trying.
The door jingled and her eyes snapped open to see Nancy, the assistant manager of Hot Stuff, enter with a tray full of coffee and pastries. Andy waved her over to his desk.
Eden closed her eyes and tried to think “witch.”
Instead, she smelled coffee and cinnamon.
Mmm. Freshly baked cinnamon buns. It made her stomach growl loudly.
“Hey!” Nancy exclaimed. “Oh, my God. I love her so much. I can’t wait to see her at the reading tonight. Are you going?”
Eden’s eyes snapped open.
Andy frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
Nancy grabbed the sketch of the witch that Darrak did yesterday. “Selina Shaw, of course. She so rocks.”
FIFTEEN
Eden was on her feet and over on the other side of the room so fast it could have been some kind of a record.
“You know who this woman is?” she asked.
Nancy nodded. “Of course I do. Doesn’t everyone?” “Well, I don’t. Who is she?”
“Selina Shaw.”
“Who is Selina Shaw?”
“Only the coolest writer on the planet.”
“She’s a writer? Like a novelist?”
“No, no. She writes books that empower women and help them find their inner strength and harmony.”
“She writes self-help books?” Eden asked carefully, thinking she might be misunderstanding.
“Not self-help,” Nancy said it as if it
“Love Witch,” Darrak repeated dryly.
Nancy turned to him and her eyes widened. “Well, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met.”
“I’m Darrak. Eden’s… brother.” He extended his hand.
She gripped it tightly. “Wow. Okay, hi. I’m Nancy. It’s really great to meet you. I mean, really great. I didn’t know Eden had a brother. Do you live in the city? I haven’t seen you around before.”
“I’m just… visiting.”
“That’s great. With your… wife? Your girlfriend, maybe?”
“Uh…” He disengaged his hand from her grasp. “Neither, actually.”
“Oh, that’s very interesting.”
“Nancy,” Eden interrupted. “Tell me more about this love witch.”
She reluctantly moved her appreciative gaze away from Darrak. “She’s not a real witch, of course. But she may as well be. She’s worked her magic on me whenever I read one of her books. I left my lousy husband thanks to her advice. It’s like she’s speaking directly to me through her books.” She smiled and her eyes flicked back to the demon. “And yes, I’m still single. I’m just saying.”
Eden could barely breathe. She went back to her desk and computer keyboard where she typed Selina Shaw into Google search.
It yielded 1.5 million hits. The first one being her official website.
Click.
And there she was. A sexy woman, smiling wickedly out at her. Dark flowing hair, perfectly styled. Black-ringed vividly green eyes. Full pink lips. She looked like a movie star, only she wasn’t. She was a self-help guru, and her moniker the Love Witch was there as a flourishly designed logo, along with her two most recent releases, Curse That Creep Right Out of Your Life, and Hocus-Pocus Is the New Black.
Both of which featured Selina’s perfect, smiling face and ample cleavage on the cover.
“So are you going, or what?” Nancy asked.
“Going where?” Eden replied, feeling stunned. One moment she felt that she’d never find this woman, and the next… she couldn’t believe she’d never heard of her. She was a number one New York Times best-selling author, for Pete’s sake.
“To the reading tonight.”
“I… uh,” Eden blinked rapidly. “Where is she going to be?”
“At the World’s Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street.”
“What time?”
“Seven thirty. I’m going earlier so I can get a seat. So exciting. I can barely wait.”
Eden just stared at her, stunned.
Nancy shifted her feet in a nervous manner. “Anyhow, I guess I’ll go now. You know, I have some banana muffins in the oven. I might see you tonight?”
“Yeah, sure. See you.”
“Great!”
Nancy left the office, giving Darrak an appraising look as she went.
Andy finally hung up the phone. He hadn’t paid any attention to this exchange.
“Darrak,” Eden said, clicking through the website. “Selina Shaw’s even been on Oprah. And you didn’t even know her name?”
He shrugged. “My hosts haven’t been big TV watchers.” He paused. “I shouldn’t say that, actually. One was heavily into soap operas. And another had a very unhealthy love of clown porn. But I’ve tried to block that out.”
She cringed at that. “But this is her?”
He came to stand next to her and leaned over so she could feel the heat from his extra hot body. “That’s her,” he said grimly.
“Why aren’t you excited?” Eden had gone from stunned to relieved in thirty seconds or less. “This is it. She’s here, just like you said she was. And we know where she’s going to be tonight.”
“Is it really the world’s biggest bookstore?”
“That’s the name of it.”
“But is it? And is that determined by square footage or by the number of books they keep in stock?”
“Stock, I think. But who cares? It’s a big-ass bookstore and she’s going to be there. This is exactly what you’ve been looking for for over three hundred years and I’m not seeing even the slightest glimmer of excitement in your eyes. Your curse is going to be broken. You’re going to be free to go wherever you want. And I’m not going to die in a year. So obviously I’m ready to celebrate.”
He turned to look at her and their faces were very close. He tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear and kept his hand against the side of her face. Just his touch was enough to chase away the chill she now constantly felt during daylight hours.
“I’m happy. Of course I am.”
“But?”
“But maybe I’m going to miss you a little. Can’t help it.” He ran his thumb lightly over her bottom lip and she felt a sudden, unbidden surge of desire for him right then and there.
“Uh,” Andy said. “What the hell are you two talking about? And um… does your brother usually touch you like that, Eden? Because it’s making me very uncomfortable.”
She pulled away from the demon. “We’re a very affectionate family.”
“I think there’s another word for affection like that.”
Sheesh. It wasn’t as if they were actually making out, or anything.
That damn Devil tarot card and its lustful implications.
She began piling the mess of paper that had accumulated on her desk into a tidy pile. “Forget it, Andy. Just bask in the fact that you’re the 51 percent owner of a newly thriving business.”
“Good point. Strange and awkward sibling love forgotten. How long is Darrak going to be staying with you?” he asked. “Maybe I can put him to work for us.”
“I’m standing right here,” Darrak said. “And the last time I checked I was capable of speaking for myself.”
“He won’t be around much longer.” Eden was surprised by the strange sensation of loss she felt when she said that.
Andy leaned back in his chair and finally lit up his cigar, puffing it slowly. “He’s going back to his, um… home?”
“Yes. It’s almost time.”
Darrak’s home back in the Netherworld. Or Hell itself. Where did he live? Did he have a house? Was it hot there? What about that river of fire she’d always heard about? Was it a completely different existence there than here? How did that even work?
So many questions she wasn’t sure she really wanted answers for.
The phone rang again and Andy grabbed it, pressing it to his ear. “It’s a beautiful day at Triple-A.”
“Long past time for me to go home,” Darrak agreed. “Maybe that’s why I’m not jumping for joy. I’ve accepted how things are for so long that I can hardly believe they might change.”
“We’ll go tonight and talk to her.”
“Then you’ll be going by yourself, won’t you?” he said. “Or, at least that’s what it’ll look like.”
“Right. Well, you can let me know what to say to her.”
“I think it’s better if we just go to the signing and get a feel for her. Like I said before, she’s dangerous. She might not take kindly to unwelcome blasts from her past suddenly coming out of the woodwork.”
“Even if I buy a couple of her books?” Eden clicked through to the excerpt pages. “They actually look pretty interesting.”
Curse That Creep Right Out of Your Life
Is your man unfaithful? A big, fat, cheating creep? Does he look at other women right in front of you? Do you think you deserve much, much better? Selina Shaw, bestselling author ofA Million Little Witches takes you, step-by-step, on a journey of magical self-discovery. Get immediate results! You’ll either have your former Mr. Right eating out of the palm of your hand, or you will find it easier than ever before to show him and his fabulous new, magically inspired case of hives the door.
“Selina helped show me the magic inside myself that I can use to punish my cheating ex-husband. It’s fabulous!”
—Kathy Kilborne,
Darrak blinked. “We’ll go. We’ll observe. And then we’ll decide how best to approach her. Sound okay?”
“Sure.” The appearance page said that Selina had been in Toronto since last week taking a short vacation in the middle of her book tour, culminating with the signings tonight and tomorrow. Darrak had been right. He’d sensed she was in the area, and here she was.
The witch looked nice enough. She also looked really young—younger even than Eden herself. All of those years, all of what she would have experienced.
What would it be like to be beautiful, powerful, and have the chance to live forever?
Without wasting another minute, Eden called Fay and let her know what had happened with her husband and what they’d discovered. While upset and shocked by the fact that Richard’s body was currently possessed by a drifter, after a minute she sounded extremely relieved.
“Of course,” she said. “Why didn’t I see it before?”
“Apparently drifters are really sneaky.”
“I do know that. And what about the woman?”
“She’s involved with him. But since it’s not really him, I don’t know if I’d call it cheating.”
“No, I agree. To say you’ve literally saved my life wouldn’t be an exaggeration. And you worked so quickly, too.”
“Just be careful. He wasn’t happy with me. He might be dangerous.”
“I can handle him now that I know what’s going on.”
“Still. Humor me and be careful.”
“I’ll forward my check to you immediately. A weight has been lifted off of me.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “I knew my husband loved me. I shouldn’t have doubted him. Thank you, Eden. So much.”
“You’re very welcome.”
A happy customer. It felt really good to know that she’d helped somebody. Maybe Darrak was right. Maybe she could do this “helping others” thing for a while to give her life some meaning. Especially when it worked out really well in the end.
She just had to get over the fact that their clientele at Triple-A were Others.
And just because Darrak would be leaving didn’t mean that she’d automatically forget everything she’d seen in the last couple of days. She didn’t think she’d be able to forget even if she tried. But when Darrak left, would the clients go as well? Would Triple-A still be a paranormal hot spot, as the demon had said it was?