Authors: Michelle Rowen
Then who?
“Darrak, just forget—”
Then something just clicked.
“Lucas,” he said.
She gasped. “Darrak, please . . .”
That was the reaction he’d been looking for. He’d hit the target.
But . . .
Lucas
? That bland, uninteresting teacher who wanted to borrow Leena’s metaphorical sugar?
Darrak frowned deeply. “Is he . . . a servant of Lucifer’s? Was he sent here to keep an eye on me? Is that it?”
“Please, no. Just forget it,” she said, now panicky. “And don’t mention him again. Ever.”
Darrak studied her face, trying to glean the truth there and wishing again that he could read her mind. Why was she keeping this from him? And why did she look so afraid?
More clickage occurred for him. This time it came with a side helping of shock.
“Wait, I’m wrong,” he said. “Lucas isn’t Lucifer’s servant, is he? Lucas
is
Lucifer.”
Eden looked as if she was ready to hyperventilate. Her face had paled so much it was as white as the wall she braced herself against.
She didn’t reply. That was confirmation enough for him.
Darrak pulled her to him, cupping her face in his hands, feeling a wave of protectiveness toward her at her look of fear. “It’s okay. You can tell me anything.”
Did she still trust him? Or had he managed to completely destroy that between them?
Tears shone in her eyes. “He has my mother’s soul.”
He tensed. “So he can blackmail you?”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
She brought her voice down to a barely audible whisper. “He
knows
, Darrak. About the weapon. About Theo’s plans. And he knows you’re in on it.” Her expression suddenly turned to annoyance. “Why would you be in on something stupid like that?”
He cringed. Terrific. Everybody knew. “I have my reasons. I just don’t understand why I didn’t sense it before. I talked to Lucas twice.”
“Does he look different?”
“Yeah. But, of course, he has different forms, just like me. This is one I’d never seen before.” He swallowed. “I didn’t even know he could enter the human world. Thought it was part of his punishment that he had to stay in Hell.”
“He has to take mortal form when he’s here,” Eden said quietly.
Okay, that was news. “He told you that? When?”
She twisted her fingers through her dark red hair. “We’ve spoken a few times. The marble he gave me yesterday—he called it a summoning crystal. You didn’t even know I was gone.”
She was right. He’d been completely and utterly oblivious, too consumed by his own problems to even notice anything like that.
So this is why she’d been so preoccupied and secretive lately. Lucifer had been summoning her for secret meetings.
“Wait a minute. You said he has to take
mortal
form.” Darrak considered the word. “Do you mean that while in the human world, Lucifer is human?”
Eden nodded. “He’s vulnerable while he’s here. And it’s probably one of the reasons he insisted I didn’t say anything to you about this.”
Lucifer was here. Right next door as their friendly, teacherly neighbor with glasses and an off-the-rack suit. And he had been for days.
There was a moment of fear for Darrak—for himself and for Eden—but it was quickly replaced by a wave of fury that turned his vision dark red.
“I’m going to kill him,” Darrak said softly.
Without another word, he turned toward the door and stormed out of the apartment, headed to the one next door.
TWENTY-THREE
Oh, this was not good. There were no words to describe how completely not good this was.
“Darrak, stop! Don’t do this.” Eden hurried behind him as he stormed out of the apartment.
But he wasn’t listening.
He knocked on the door to Lucas’s apartment. Eden grabbed his arm, but she couldn’t budge him an inch no matter how hard she tried.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” she said, trying to fight against the panic rising in her chest. How could she stop him from making a horrible mistake like this?
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” he replied stonily.
The door opened. Lucas stood there holding a mug of coffee and looking very, totally, utterly human. Just a teacher getting ready for a regular school day.
“Good morning,” he said.
“No, not good,” Darrak replied. “Not for you.”
Darrak’s hand shot out, and he grabbed Lucas by his throat, pushing him back into the apartment. The coffee mug crashed to the ground, the hot black liquid splashing on the clean ceramic tiles. Lucas sputtered and his face began to turn purple.
“Stop it, Darrak!” Eden grabbed hold of his arm again. “Don’t hurt him!”
Darrak’s arm was like an iron bar. He didn’t show the true extent of his power very often and claimed to be weakened by his curse, but he sure didn’t seem all that weak at the moment. Compared to a regular archdemon, then maybe. But matched up against an average, everyday human male there was no comparison.
Lucas—or rather
Lucifer
—could be killed while in the human world. But it wouldn’t change anything. He’d be returned to Hell fully sentient, and Darrak would be in huge trouble. Darrak was in enough trouble to begin with.
Darrak glared at Lucas. “Spying on me, are you?”
“I . . . don’t know what . . . you’re . . . talking . . . about,” Lucas gasped. He fought against Darrak’s grip but didn’t come close to breaking it.
“Yeah, right. By the way, still looking forward to that housewarming party of yours. I already told Eden I want to be in charge of the four-layer fiesta dip. Is that cool with you?”
Darrak threw Lucas across the kitchen counter—identical to Eden’s—sweeping off a few plates. Lucas crashed to the ground on the other side.
Was Lucas really living here? Eating here? Did he have to stay in the human world until his work here was done?
These and other questions Eden had—including where Darrak got that delicious-sounding recipe—could wait until this was over.
Darrak was in front of Lucas again in a heartbeat, grabbing hold of him long enough to toss him farther into the room, shattering the screen of the television set and knocking it off its stand. Blood now dripped from Lucas’s forehead and the corner of his mouth.
With one hand clamped around his throat, Darrak raised Lucas up so he was no longer touching the floor.
“Do you know that I blame you for everything?” Darrak said darkly. “Might be passing the buck a bit from my own personal responsibility, but that’s just how I roll. And now to find you here, completely defenseless. Must be my lucky day. Do you believe in paying a heavy price for your sins, Lucifer? Out of everyone in the Netherworld I’m thinking you just might.”
“Just let him go,” Eden said again as firmly as she could.
“Stay out of this,” he snapped. “You should leave. Go back to the apartment where it’s safe.”
Sure. Like that was going to happen.
Fear coursed through Eden, freezing her in place. Darrak was going to kill Lucas. This wasn’t fun and games anymore. She had to stop the bullheaded demon or he’d only wind up hurting himself. Why couldn’t he see that?
She remembered what Lucas had told her about demons like Darrak and Theo:
“Demons forged from hellfire can be pretty but are ultimately kind of stupid.”
She’d normally debate that statement, but at the moment—it seemed to fit the bill.
Eden had to stop this on behalf of the pretty, stupid demon on the verge of making a huge mistake. And she knew how to stop him.
“
Darrakayiis
,” Eden said firmly, enunciating every single syllable. “Let him go. I command you to.”
Lucas fell to the ground as Darrak released him, clutching at his throat, coughing and sputtering and gasping for breath. Darrak went rigid, his arms held to his sides like a soldier awaiting an order from his drill sergeant. His eyes moved to Eden, and they burned with amber flames before returning to cool blue. He wasn’t happy.
“Why did you stop me?” he bit out through clenched teeth.
“I couldn’t let you kill him.”
“Why would you protect the Prince of Hell?”
She glared at him. “You think I’m protecting
him
? Honestly, you are so annoying sometimes.”
Lucas laughed, and it was a painful sound. “Lesser demons are like a dog with a bone when they get an idea into their heads.”
“I’m not a lesser demon,” Darrak growled. “I’m an
arch
demon.”
“Right. So sorry. I forgot how important titles are to lesser demons.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “Since you’re acting like such a spoiled brat, your official designation slipped my mind. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Not long enough.”
Eden watched the both of them tensely, not sure what to do or say next.
She’d just saved Lucifer’s mortal life. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure what would happen next.
Lucas stood up, but it took him a moment. Blood trickled down his forehead. He brushed his shirt off, then crossed his arms and walked a slow circle around the prone demon.
“
Darrakayiis
,” he said. Darrak’s shoulders grew even more tense, and his attention flicked to Lucas now instead of Eden as the balance of power shifted between them. “Is that how you present yourself to me? I don’t want to see your worthless human form. Have some pride instead of vanity. Show me your demon form.”
Flames rippled forth on Darrak’s body, and he grew taller and broader and more muscular. Long thick curved horns emerged from either side of his head. Razor-sharp talons extended from his fingertips. His body was now covered with shallow, translucent golden fire that made him one of the scariest—no, scratch that—
the
scariest thing Eden had ever seen in her life. The only thing that remained the same were his eyes—ice blue and filled with human intelligence as he scanned the room.
Otherwise, he was a monster.
“See? That’s much better.” Lucas’s voice sounded raspy as if Darrak had done some damage to his larynx by throwing him around like a rag doll. He turned to Eden. “Why did this happen?”
Her mouth felt too dry to form words, but she tried anyhow. “I—I didn’t say anything to him. I swear I didn’t.”
“And yet we are here right now, and I’ve just avoided being killed by a disgruntled employee.”
“I stopped him,” she pointed out, hoping that would help matters.
“Yes, you did. If you hadn’t stopped him, it wouldn’t have ended well for any of us. I can do a great deal more damage from Hell than I can live and in person.”
Eden tried not to look away from Lucas’s intense gaze. She tried not to feel any fear toward him. He looked so broken and beaten and incredibly human that, despite his angry words, it was difficult to remember who and what he really was.
Lucas looked at Darrak. “You know you’re compelled to tell me the truth right now, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he hissed.
“Did she tell you who I am?”
“No.” The demon’s voice was deeper now and filled with darkness like something out of a nightmare. The sound of it raised goose bumps on Eden’s arms.
“Then how did you know?”
“I guessed. And I was right.”
Lucas studied him for a moment. “Interesting.”
“Do I win a prize?” Darrak’s tone was insolent.