That Old Black Magic (11 page)

“Wake up, Eden.” He stroked the long strands of dark red hair off her forehead. He studied her face, as if committing it to memory. Every part of her, right down to the very faint and adorable freckle just under her right eye, burned into him for the rest of his existence—a scorch mark where his soul would be if he actually had one.

Instead, she had become his soul.

Damn. He really
should
start writing those romance novels. He’d kick ass at it.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and her sleepy gaze took in the sight of him lying next to her. This didn’t happen anymore, not since he’d been trying to be well behaved. Too dangerous to be this close when there had been nasty spells to contend with.

“Darrak . . .” she whispered.

“That’s my name.”

For a moment he thought she’d pull back from him. It was what she’d done in the beginning, when she’d woken to find her unconscious self had been getting a bit too close for comfort with a naked demon.

But she didn’t pull back. Just the opposite, actually. She pulled his face closer to hers and kissed him hard and deep. He didn’t try to stop her.

Eden loved him for his body, for how he made her feel when they had sex.

That wasn’t all this was. It wasn’t.

Come on, Darrak
, he admonished himself.
Can’t you just enjoy the ride and stop second-guessing everything?

He could enjoy the ride. Sure he could.

Her cold amulet pressed against his chest as her lips moved down his throat. Lucifer had kissed her behind his back, sweeping her away to some alternate dimension so he wouldn’t be around to disrupt them. It bothered Darrak a lot, and it wasn’t because he was jealous.

Then again, jealousy wouldn’t be completely unheard of. Lucifer might be the ultimate hellish asshole, but he
was
a prince. Influential, powerful, and if he really did have a thing for Eden, the things he could give her . . .

Oh, this was not good at all. Thinking about his ex-boss was deflating more than just his ego.

“Is there a problem?” Eden asked.

“Problem? No, of course not.”

“I thought you wanted us to . . .” She cleared her throat, her expression now uncertain.

Thinking about Lucifer was pretty much the equivalent of taking an ice-cold shower. Not exactly firing up his libido. Quite the opposite, in fact.

How embarrassing. An ex-incubus who couldn’t get it up.

“It’s not you,” he assured her. “It’s Lucifer.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“Thinking about him isn’t exactly helping matters.”

“Then stop thinking about him.”

He flicked her amulet. “A bit difficult to do. I feel like there’s three of us in this bed right now.” At her amused expression, “Don’t get any ideas about having a ménage à trois from Hell. He’s really not my type.”

“As if I would.” She shook her head. “You’re funny.”

“So hilarious I forgot to laugh.”

She took his face between her hands. “Sometimes you just prove to me that you’re so much more than just a demon. Sometimes you’re practically human.”

“Let’s not get insulting.”

“Not an insult. You have doubts, worries, issues.”

Darrak groaned. “This is not an issue that’s going to be long-term. Seriously. Just give it a moment. This has never happened to me before.” He glared at her. “Okay, you look way too amused right now.”

She was grinning at him. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Maybe once upon a time, but not anymore.”

She nodded. “Let’s do this.”

“I thought I already explained in flaccid detail that it’s not going to happen. Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes. I need some peanut butter or something. Protein.”

“I mean the curse.” Her expression had grown serious very quickly. She shifted so she pushed him onto his back and straddled him. Even though she was wearing full flannel pajamas, he found that his issues were disappearing as quickly as they’d arrived. The woman could make even flannel sexy. He ran his hands up her thighs.

“This is much better,” he said. “I can work with this.”

He pulled her down and captured her mouth again.

Eden pushed back from him. “I want to break the curse. Now. Let’s get it over with. Why would we want to wait another minute?”

He eyed her warily. “Now? You’re sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

“That’s pretty sure.”

She pressed her hands against his chest. “So should I approach this the same as the spell? Maksim said a curse is made of denser magic and I was supposed to be careful with it.”

“Yes, you definitely want to be careful. And he was right. A curse will feel different than a spell on that level. It’s stronger, tougher. Think about gum stuck to someone’s shoe. Only it’s not gum and no shoes are involved.”

Eden’s expression was filled with enthusiasm, hope, and sheer determination. He didn’t want to say anything to break this mood. He liked seeing the worry gone from her green eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said.

He almost smiled at that. He was more concerned for her, not him at this moment. “The spell could have gotten worse, but a curse is as bad as it gets. Not sure you could do more damage than was already done.”

Eden nodded. “Then kiss me again for good luck.”

“I can definitely do that.” He flexed his abdomen and sat up, doing just as she asked. She tasted good. Addictive. His body responded immediately.

Sure,
now
it responded. What happened to this surge of desire five minutes ago?

Stupid Lucifer.

He slid his hands under the edge of her flannel top to trail up the length of her spine.

“Should touch you skin to skin again,” he said. “It will help.”

“It’s helping.”

“Now try to concentrate, Eden, and break this damn curse once and for all. One shot. That’s all we’re doing right now. Just a test of the emergency broadcast system.”

“Just a test.” She kissed him one last time, then closed her eyes and pressed him back down to the mattress. “I can do this.”

Darrak watched her guardedly. There was no change for a moment, but then she frowned, her eyebrows drawing together. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing . . . but I—I think I can see something. I think it’s your curse. It’s . . . it’s so dark and horrible.”

He did hope that was the curse she was seeing, not simply his true demon self. “Tell me exactly what you see.”

“The darkness is filled with evil like a black hole. It scares me.”

“What else?”

She hesitated. “On the other side there’s a glow, a—a brightness. Filled with light and life and goodness.”

That was probably the celestial energy he’d absorbed from her like an undigested candy bar in his gut. “Focus on the dark part. Try to grab that darkness and test it out—you’ll be able to see if it’s really the curse then or if it’s, uh, just a part of . . . yours truly.”

“Okay, I can do that.” She was silent for a long moment, her forehead creased with concentration. “I’m almost there. I can move it—right now . . . it’s hard to budge . . .”

Something was wrong, he sensed it deep in his gut. “Eden, wait a minute. Something about this doesn’t feel right. We need to hang off for just a—”

And then he felt it. Pain—a searing agony more intense and acute than he’d ever felt before crashed over him like a tidal wave. It was quite possible he literally screamed. He pushed Eden off of him and rolled off the side of the bed. And then, suddenly, his body was gone, and there was only smoke.

This is it
, he thought past the white-hot pain tearing through his entire being.
The end. It’s over. It’s all over . . .

EIGHT

Eden panicked, scrambling off the bed so fast and hard that she bruised her knees. “Darrak! No . . . no! Please!”

He was gone; only black smoke remained for a long, horrible drawn-out moment.

And then his body returned. Darrak lay on his back on the carpet, next to an old copy of
Glamour
magazine.

“Oh, my God!” She grabbed hold of his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to hurt you! I’m so sorry! Darrak . . . are—are you okay?”

He blinked, then squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them and meeting her gaze. “How do I look?”

“You . . .” Eden gulped and scanned his body—currently in all its naked glory. “You look fine. Great. Normal. How do you feel?”

He forced himself into a sitting position. “
That
was extremely unpleasant.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Hot tears streaked down her face. “And I don’t think it even worked. I had to stop before I could really try to do anything else. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

He touched her face to push the tears away. “I’m fine now. But you’re right, the curse is still with me. I feel it. Nothing’s changed.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She’d tried, but she knew it hadn’t done a bit of good. The bright light had blocked what she’d tried to get at—that dark, nasty sludge that she was certain represented the curse on a metaphysical level. As soon as she’d tried to separate the light from the dark she’d sensed Darrak’s distress. It had come across to her loud and clear.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “We tried. It was enough to know it’s not nearly as simple to remove as the spell.”

Darrak was still bound to Eden, as much as he’d ever been.

But she wasn’t disappointed she’d failed. She was filled with relief that he was okay. For a horrible moment there, she thought she’d lost him completely.

Looked like Maksim’s advice
had
been too good to be true after all.

“So . . . it looks like you’re stuck with me,” Darrak said cautiously.

She leaned back against the side of her bed. “Looks that way.”

“We can go see Maksim again if you like. Get some more advice from the Wiz.”

“Maybe another day. But today we have other plans if you’re up to it.”

“I’m up. Or I will be momentarily.”

She finally let go of him. The near-romance of earlier had momentarily passed. Nothing like wrenching pain and a near death experience to help spoil the mood.

For now, anyway.

“What was the guy’s name again?” Darrak asked.

“Good question. Lucas gave me a card that has info on it, but since the guy is magically cloaked from him the card was blank. I’ll check it in a minute.”

When he didn’t reply, she glanced over her shoulder at him. He was pushing himself up to a standing position, and in three seconds flat had conjured clothing to cover his body. He gave her a quizzical look.

“What?” she asked.

“You don’t like calling him by his real name, do you?”

She swallowed. “I don’t know.”

“Makes you feel like he’s not as dangerous, maybe?”

“What’s the difference?”

Darrak shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. Call him Gertrude if you like.”

“He might not answer to that.”

“Where’s the famous summoning crystal?”

“Why?”

“Maybe I should hang on to it for you so there are no more unplanned trips.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Her eyes narrowed at his pinched look. “Lucas isn’t interested in me. I mean, come on. I’m a nobody in the grand scheme of things.”

“Right. Nobody. You really think that, don’t you? Just Caroline Riley’s daughter, the slightly psychic loner who doesn’t let anyone get close to her.”

Eden cringed. “I wasn’t asking for a psychological evaluation. Besides, today’s not about me. Or you. We gave it a shot just now, and it didn’t work. Now we need to find this blank card guy, and then we have to focus on Andy. Our problems will wait for another day.”

Darrak nodded. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

He left for the kitchen. He didn’t sound completely sincere, and Eden tried not to think about that.

They had to get along. Fighting or major disagreements wouldn’t serve them at all. Besides, she’d just proven to herself that the two of them were stuck together. And she had no idea how long she had to find another solution for them.

The moment Eden pulled the previously blank card out of her coat pocket, she realized it wasn’t blank anymore. After all, Lucas wasn’t near it anymore.

BRENDANFRANKS

55 BL _ _ RST _ _ E _ W _ _ _

She could read the name, but whatever it said beneath it wasn’t very helpful. Letters were missing, smeared or blurry, or just totally unreadable.

Well, the name was a good start.

“Okay, Brendan Franks,” she mumbled to herself. “Little do you know, but you have a conversation with Lucas coming up very soon.”

Just a conversation. He’d promised her that.

And she trusted him, right?

Yeah, right.

They left for Triple-A. If anyone could help them locate Mr. Franks, it would be Andy.

“Well, let’s have a look-see,” he murmured as he ran the name through the special government database he had access to on his office computer. Eden didn’t think the access came courtesy of the government itself, but through some talent Andy had for hacking into places he shouldn’t be. Eden didn’t ask for details. She really didn’t want to know. “All right, I’ve found one hit on that name here in the GTA.”