The Demon in Me by Michelle Rowen
But what she’d seen was very unlike the man who looked across the table at her with concern etched into his handsome features.
“I saw when she cursed you,” she said quietly.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” His jaw tightened. “Enough of this, Selina. Will you break my curse or won’t you?”
Selina was quiet for a very long time just studying Darrak as if trying to figure him out like a particularly difficult riddle. And then, “Okay, fine.”
His eyebrows went up. “Wow. Really?”
“I’ll do it.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually saying yes.”
She glared at him. “Don’t give me enough time to second-guess myself here.”
He cleared his throat. “When can it be done?”
“Now.”
“Now?” Eden said, still attempting to get over the frightening vision of the archdemon sitting across from her. “Right here?”
Selina stood up and slid her purse strap over her shoulder. “No. Somewhere private and outdoors, preferably similar to where the curse was originally cast.”
“There’s a little wooded area near my apartment,” Eden suggested.
Selina nodded firmly. “Fine. And just a warning. Breaking the curse will send him back to the original location where his body was decimated.”
“It will?” Eden looked at Darrak.
“Yes. So his ass is going on a one-way trip back to Salem, Massachusetts. Hopefully they didn’t build anything on that specific location or it might be a bit of a hard landing. Is that a problem, demon?”
He shook his head. “No. In fact, I’m glad to hear it.”
Eden swallowed. He was glad to hear it? Break the curse and, poof, Darrak was gone. And after everything that had happened, he wouldn’t be taking a plane directly back to Toronto. He’d be on the run from Hell’s agents who wanted to drag him back to the mother ship.
“I’ll also break the black witch spell I put on him while I’m at it. A bit like closing the gate after the horse has run off, but it’s the least I can do. And when the demon is finally out of our hair, we can begin your education.” Selina smiled a little. “I had to learn all this on my own. Believe me, it hasn’t been easy. You’re lucky I’m willing to help you.”
She was lucky. All things considered, her brush with demons, witches, and the supernatural could have turned out much worse. At least she was still breathing.
The power of positive thinking. Maybe she should subscribe to that philosophy. The law of attraction sure hadn’t helped too much lately. The universe had one hell of a strange sense of humor.
Something caught her eye as they stood up from the table to leave. A familiar woman walking out front of the coffee bar and peering in through the bank of windows. She made eye contact with Eden and then rushed in through the doors a moment later.
Darrak swore. “Thought we’d seen the last of her.”
Eden thought so, too. It was Rosa, the exorcist she’d hired the other day—the mother of Malcolm. She wondered if the woman had any idea how knowledgeable her son really was about demons and exorcisms.
“Ms. Riley,” Rosa said, approaching her.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Eden replied. That was putting it mildly. Her current mountain of worries was so high that she couldn’t even see over the top.
Rosa anxiously clasped her hands on top of her walking cane. She wore a bright yellow floral dress covered by a thin red coat that looked handmade. “I think we made a mistake the other night. I feel horrible that an officer of the law had to intervene. I’ve had a few complaints lodged with the police as it is. I wanted to come by today to apologize to you personally and check in on how you’re feeling. Was it really only indigestion?”
“Yes.” Eden smiled tightly and glanced at Darrak. “Uh… trust me, I won’t be having Mexican food again for a long time. Those refried beans are a killer.”
“I didn’t put through the other half of the payment on your credit card and I’ve refunded your deposit. I’m very much hoping you won’t submit an official complaint against me.”
“Let’s just forget it,” she replied.
Finally some good news. Maybe the universe hadn’t given her the finger as much as she’d thought it had.
“Do you get a lot of calls for exorcisms?” Darrak asked her.
“You’d be surprised,” Rosa said. She glanced at him and Selina as if noticing them for the first time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to interrupt. I just wanted to have my say. I hope there are no hard feelings toward me or my son.”
Darrak laughed a little at that.
“Do you know my Malcolm?” she asked.
“We’ve met. Sort of. He’s very dedicated to his work.”
“Yes, he certainly is. I’d hoped he would consider going back to the university. He has a scholarship waiting for him, you know. But he wants to pursue other interests. He’s a stubborn boy.” She looked at Selina. “You’re that author lady, aren’t you?”
Selina eyed her coolly. “I have written a couple of books.”
“What is it that you call yourself… love guru… love something.”
She smiled thinly. “Something like that.”
Rosa scanned Selina’s expensive suit and jewelry, stopping briefly on the gray stone pendant. “That’s lovely.”
“Thank you.” Selina touched it. “It was a gift from an acquaintance a long time ago.”
Yeah, Eden thought. A long time ago.
“Thank you for talking to me and for the refund, Rosa,” Eden said. “And there are no hard feelings. Toward you or Malcolm.”
“I’m so glad.”
They all began to leave the café at the same time.
“Bye Ms. Shaw. Your books have changed my life! Like, seriously!” Nancy called from behind the counter. “And bye, Darrak. So great seeing you again.”
Rosa turned with a frown to look at him directly. “Did she just call you Darrak? Ms. Riley, wasn’t that the name of your demon?”
“No,” Eden said immediately. “That was… uh… Eric. And it wasn’t a demon at all. It was Mexican food. Indigestion. Ugh. Not pleasant.”
Rosa frowned. “Mexican food named Eric?”
Eden clenched her jaw. “I have one heck of a crazy imagination.”
“Oh.” She shook her head and laughed a little, resting her weight on her crystal-topped cane. “Don’t we all. And my memory isn’t what it used to be, anyhow. No surprise. At my age everything is starting to fail me.”
“Right.” Eden forced a smile, but her sudden swell of fresh anxiety had made strange electric tingles course up and down her arms. Was that the black magic inside her sensing a change in her mood?
“I don’t like that woman,” Darrak said under his breath as they parted ways outside. “And not just because of her unfortunate fashion sense.”
“We need to go now,” Selina suggested firmly. “While we still have daylight. That is, if you still want me to break this curse.”
Eden nodded. “Of course we do.”
She thought back to what had happened between her and Darrak earlier. His mouth on hers. How it felt when they’d made love. She’d wanted him so badly, it had blinded her to everything else.
“This shouldn’t have happened.” Darrak’s words echoed in her head.
No, it shouldn’t have.
Sex with a bad boy usually left one with a broken heart. Sex with a demon left you with a broken soul.
She’d have to remember that important little fact for future reference.
———
Eden drove Selina and Darrak back to the apartment complex, although truthfully her attention was not on the road as much as it should have been. Luckily she didn’t get them into an accident. Even though she was a black witch—Oh, my God, she thought—she knew from what Darrak had told her previously that despite her new immortality—Oh, my God again—she was still fragile and as easily killed as a regular, nonmagically infused
Oh. My. God.
So she kept her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel and tried not to think about everything that had gone horribly, horribly wrong. It wasn’t easy.
She entered the outdoor lot and parked with an unhealthy lurching gearshift sound. She might be about to live forever, but her rusty Toyota was another story altogether.
With a nod of her head, Eden indicated the wooded area. “Over there.”
Selina inspected it with a sweeping glance. “That will do. We still have some time before sunset, but we should get to work right away.”
“And you’re sure the curse can be broken?” Darrak asked. Eden jumped. She hadn’t noticed he’d come up behind her after leaving the backseat.
Selina nodded. “You get your wish, demon. Your freedom. Although I’m still not convinced you deserve it.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“To help Eden, of course.” Selina looked at her with strange affection. But then again, she felt like they were sisters now, didn’t she? It wouldn’t be long before they were magically braiding each other’s hair. “She’s got enough to deal with now without you further complicating matters. She’ll be lucky to be rid of you and never see you again. Ten minutes and this will be over.”
“Good,” he replied.
Yes, he was getting his freedom. Just like he wanted. And Eden would live to see another year without the risk of death by demonic possession.
The perfect happy ending for everyone involved.
If that was so, then why was her throat thick and emotion stinging her eyes? She exhaled shakily and tried to compose herself. Ten minutes and this would be over. He’d be gone. And she’d try to forge some sort of normalcy in her life again. If that was even remotely possible.
She’d found a newfound interest in working with Andy at Triple-A. She wanted to help people. Funny how helping others was useful in forgetting other troubles. It was a good lesson to learn. So, black witch or not, that’s what Eden would be doing.
All by herself.
Well, with Andy, too, but suddenly after days of having Darrak with her it still felt oddly alone.
And that was a good thing, she reminded herself firmly. And it was how she wanted her life to be. Independent. Private. Solitary. Much easier that way. Nobody around to let her down or abandon her when she got too used to having them in her life.
“Can I talk to you for a moment before we begin, Eden?” Darrak asked. “In private?”
She swallowed past the stupid and inconvenient lump in her throat. “Of course.”
“Don’t take long,” Selina said tensely. “Time is money.” He led Eden over to an oak tree next to the small clearing—which she now realized, for the first time since she’d moved in last month, was a kids’ playground. She’d seen the area in passing as she went to her car, but had never explored further. A swing set, slide, and teeter-totter stood, unoccupied, a dozen feet away, shielded by a thatch of tall trees. Darrak stood with his arms crossed tightly in front of him.
“What?” Eden asked, and it actually came out sounding a lot harsher than she’d meant it to.
“I want you to know I didn’t mean for this to happen.” His handsome face was oddly expressionless.
The flat statement delivered in a monotone—was this supposed to be some sort of apology?—fell on the cool, late afternoon air. And it took that strange emotion inside of her and hardened it. In other words, he’d managed to officially piss her off.
“Oh?” she said. “And what exactly do you refer to? The original possession, throwing my life out of control? Or maybe draining me of energy on a regular basis and putting my life in danger? Scaring off a man who I really liked spending time with? Or was it neglecting to mention your sexual history and the fact that a meaningless roll in the hay with you might destroy my entire life?”
She was happy to see him wince a bit, and something resembling an emotion flickered in those currently flat blue eyes of his. “Meaningless, huh?”
Strange he’d pick up on that particular word in her rant. “Let’s just end this now, Darrak, and not try to pretend it was anything more important. After all, being an ex-incubus I’m sure you’ve got so many notches in your bedpost it’s… well, you probably needed to work at a bedpost factory to keep up with your past conquests.”
“No, you’re right. Of course. Meaningless.” He nodded with a firm motion of his head. “You need to make me a promise, though.”
She stifled an unpleasantly bitter laugh at that. “A promise? What might that be?”
“Don’t use any black magic in the future. Ever.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” Eden’s jaw tensed and she looked away.
He drew closer, touched her chin and made her look up at him. “I can still see your soul if I concentrate hard enough. And it’s still as bright and shiny as the first time I saw you. I don’t want you to risk that by dipping into the magic inside you.”
“What if it’s really, really important?”
“Even then.”
The heat from his hand seared into her. It was hard not to remember how good those hands had felt on her body.
Meaningless.
She wished she really felt that way about it. About him. It would make everything way easier.
She batted his hand away and stepped back. “Well, that’s no thanks to you, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Let’s not waste any more time with this. Time to finally say good-bye. You’re going to be gone soon. Back to Salem, or wherever.”
“Right. I… wanted to thank you, though.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Thank me?”
“For not exorcising me. For trusting me despite the things you’ve seen or heard.” He moved toward her again and took her face between his hands. “You’ll be better off without me. Just like Selina says.”
She looked into his eyes and hated to admit even to herself what she was feeling inside. She’d miss this demon. Even after everything she knew about him, everything she’d seen, and everything he’d done to her.
She’d miss him horribly.
No way, she thought, angry with herself. She wasn’t letting herself feel like this. She forced herself to step away from him, and his hand dropped back to his side.
“You’re right,” she said as evenly and coolly as she could. “I will be better off without you.”
“Eden—”
“Selina showed me the real truth about you. You’re a monster. You’ve ruined my life. I should have exorcised you when I had the chance, but I was too stupid. I regret everything that’s happened between us. Now, I just want you gone.”
She twisted the words into him like a knife. Darrak’s previously steady, unreadable gaze flickered as he looked away from her. Had she hurt his feelings?
Did an archdemon really have feelings? He’d claimed he now felt human emotions all too intensely. But she had no idea if that was really the truth or just more lies.
“Then let’s not waste another minute,” he said after a moment.
“Fine with me.”
“Good-bye, Eden.” He turned and walked back to Selina and the two of them entered the tree-shrouded playground.
TWENTY-TWO
Out of the corner of her eye, Eden spotted an uninvited guest lurking under a nearby car in the parking lot. A black cat that was trying to appear incognito.
Leena.
She ignored the shapeshifter, but couldn’t help but find it vaguely amusing. The cat wanted nothing to do with her or Darrak, but she was curious enough to stick around to see how things played out?
Selina led them into the small wooded area until they found a bare patch covered with fallen leaves.
“White witches practice nature magic,” she said wistfully. “I dabbled with that in the beginning, but now it’s not even an option for me. Black magic will destroy nature.”
“Vengeance isn’t gained very well with rosebuds and peach nect
She eyed him. “Just stand there.”
“At your mercy, you mean.”
She smiled. “Just like old times.”
Darrak looked at Eden, but she didn’t meet his eyes. It was better that he thought she was mad at him, hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him.
Better for her, that is. It made it easier.
The sun was low in the sky. It wouldn’t be long before sunset. If this worked, Darrak wouldn’t have to possess her tonight.
His curse would be broken.
The thought was a relief, of course. Her feelings for the demon might be a total conflicting mess, but she didn’t want to be possessed by him. By anyone. Ever again.
“Are you ready?” Selina asked Darrak.
“I am.”
“Have to warn you, it’s not going to be a pleasure trip. For you, this is going to sting. A lot.”
“I can take it.”
“Then let’s do this.” She closed her eyes and held her arms up at her sides.
A moment later, Eden felt the energy begin to swirl in the open area they stood in, and small electric sparks flickered off the edges of the playground equipment. In response, her own magic began to wake up—a tingling inside, a growing power that was very difficult to ignore.
But she did ignore it.
She shivered, and it wasn’t just from the temperature; she drew her thin coat closer to her body, crossing her arms as she stood and watched the witch and the demon.
Selina opened her eyes. “Darrakayiis, I use your true name to bind you where you stand.”
Darrak went rigid in place.
Tensely, Eden noticed Selina’s amulet darken a shade of gray as she began to channel her black magic for a specific purpose. It wasn’t until that moment, and the witch’s use of his full name, that she realized how much was currently at stake. Having it exist in theory to having it play out right in front of her were two separate things.
Selina now had the power to break Darrak’s curse or destroy him where he stood.
She then understood how much trust Darrak had put into the witch. He was now at her mercy much as he’d been three hundred years ago. The only difference was she was much more powerful now. Did Selina still hold a grudge? Would Eden really blame her if she did? Had she been lying before by saying she’d help?