Probably not such a good idea.
Demons were energy mosquitoes when they had to be. Vampires from hell, only his drink of choice wasn’t blood—it was life itself.
Something was bothering Eden, above and beyond what had happened with Andy. And it wasn’t only to do with Theo since she’d had this cloud over her since earlier. Darrak watched her carefully, trying to figure out what she wasn’t telling him. It would really help if he could read her mind. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t.
They dropped Andy off at his house. Eden volunteered to stay with him, but he waved her off.
“I’m fine,” he said and began to peel his bandages off to reveal the almost fully healed skin beneath. He touched it gingerly as if he couldn’t believe it was for real after how much that werewolf had torn him apart.
Darrak supported him as they walked to the brown corduroy couch. An old TV Guide and an empty bottle of Coors Light sat on the coffee table.
“You’re sure?” Eden asked, skeptically.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
She still looked concerned. “What about that werewolf who attacked you? Do you think he’ll come after you again?”
Andy grimaced. “The last thing he said before he shifted was for me to leave him and his girlfriend the hell alone. If I don’t go near him again, he won’t have a reason to finish the job, will he?”
But Eden still looked worried. “Not if he knows what’s good for him.”
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “Really.”
She touched his face. “Really?”
He swallowed and then grinned a little. “Well, maybe I’m a bit traumatized. I’ll admit it. But I’ll survive.”
Eden hugged him, and Darrak watched her emotional outpouring with a tight feeling in his chest. Andy wasn’t really a father figure to her, or even an uncle. He supposed she thought of him as a good friend. He knew she didn’t have very many friends in the city since she kept to herself a lot. It would make her cherish the ones she did have.
“Hey.” Andy leaned back so he could see her. “What’s this?”
“What?”
“Tears? Don’t cry over me, Eden. It’ll make your eyes all puffy and unattractive.”
She laughed. “Wouldn’t want that.”
“Definitely not.”
Her expression sobered. “This is all my fault, you know. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have werewolf clients in the first place. And you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
“And Triple-A wouldn’t be thriving at the moment, allowing me to start paying off my monumental debt. Our new supernatural clients seem to have plenty of money, and that’s more than okay with me.” He looked at Darrak. “Take her home. She’s exhausted. And growing puffier all the time. I can’t handle anyone crying around me. It’s going to make me start crying, too.”
“I’m not crying. Demons don’t get emotional like humans.” Darrak didn’t even know if he could cry. It had never been an issue before.
“Demons are manly creatures, aren’t they?”
“Except for the demonesses. They’re even manlier.”
Andy finished removing his bandages and threw them on the coffee table in a white gauzy pile. “I’ve decided to look into Luxuria later today and find out if something funny’s going on there.”
“The hell you will.” Eden had her arms crossed. “What you’re going to do is recover and deal with your own problems. The last thing I’m going to let you do is investigate something else that might put you in danger again.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Yes, mom.”
She huffed. “I’m just trying to think logically.”
“You’re very logical for a possessed redhead. Fine, I’ll take today off and watch some soap operas and talk shows.”
“Good. Just heal.”
His forehead wrinkled. “Is that a dog-trick command? Because I might have to start taking offense to that.”
“Not heel. Heal. With an A. And don’t just take today off. Take tomorrow off as well. Nothing at the office is urgent enough that it can’t wait until Friday. Got it? That’s a direct order from your equal partner in the business.”
“You only own 49 percent,” he reminded her.
“Whatever.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “And, just so you know, if you get hurt like this again, I’m going to kill you.”
Andy laughed. “Such an angel our Eden is, isn’t she, Darrak?”
Yes, Darrak thought. She sort of is.
And he didn’t even mean it as an insult.
Eden wasn’t in a happy place when she and Darrak got back to the apartment. Her neck strained from keeping an eye out for Ben and Oliver. She wasn’t complaining, but it was a little, uh, eerie, that they hadn’t even attempted to make contact since she’d knocked them out last night. She knew she hadn’t killed them.
What were they planning next?
She had too much on her mind and thoughts were beginning to overlap, threatening to drive her totally batty. Too much to do, too much to think about, her life had begun to spin completely out of control.
“I’m so bored,” Leena announced. She was sprawled on the sofa. “Seriously. Bored. To death.”
“You can leave the apartment, you know,” Darrak said dryly.
“Leave? Are you kidding? I told you, people want to kill me if I step foot outside, especially if I’m in human form. D-E-A-D. I can’t leave. Not yet. I’ve been making some calls.”
“Long distance?” Eden asked weakly.
“Well, yeah. Of course. My issues are not local.” She twisted a finger into her hair, and her eyes flicked to Darrak. “Speaking of local issues, somebody called for you, gruesome.”
“Is that your new nickname for me?” he asked.
“Seems fitting enough.”
“I have a few nicknames for you, too,” he replied. “But I’ll keep them to myself for the time being. They’re not family-friendly.”
“Someone called for Darrak?” Eden asked, frowning. Then she cringed. “Was it Theo?”
Leena shrugged. “No idea. I hung up on him before he could say.”
She didn’t sound particularly sorry about this.
Who else would be calling for Darrak? Who else would know he was even here?
Theo.
Just the name alone was now enough to fill her with rage. She’d been trying—sort of—to give him the benefit of the doubt since he’d been willing to help out her and Darrak. But Theo had proven himself to be an opportunist, a devious manipulator, and a scumbag without any conscience.
So, basically your average, everyday demon.
Your average, everyday demon she’d helped to completely drain an angel’s energy. Funny, but that didn’t sit so well with her.
She couldn’t believe Darrak had actually been friends with this guy. And he was willing to conspire with him to destroy Lucifer?
It just proved that she didn’t know Darrak half as well as she thought she did.
“What’s up with you?” Darrak directed the question at Leena. “For someone bored, you look remarkably happy. Did you get a new cat toy to play with? A little catnip mouse to merrily bat around?”
Leena glared at him, but then a grin appeared on her lips. “I think I’m going to ask him out.”
“Who?” Eden asked.
“Lucas from next door. Could he be any more adorable? And he’s a teacher. Not normally my type, but I’m willing to make an exception. I don’t usually get the attraction vibe right away, but I felt it between us this morning, you know?”
Darrak snorted. “Go for it. He looked pretty hard up for a date. You’re perfect for him.”
Leena ignored that. “Do you think he has a girlfriend already?” she asked Eden.
“Uh . . . I really don’t know.” Good question. Did Lucifer, the Prince of Hell, have a girlfriend, or would he be willing to take her shapeshifting roommate out to dinner and a movie?
The phone rang and Leena answered it, holding her
index finger up to them and turning her back. The call must have been for her.
Eden’s head began to throb. Oh, wait, it already did. The pressure had simply ramped up. She rubbed her temples and went to sit down heavily on her sofa, pushing aside an issue of Cosmo that was in her way.
“How are you holding up?” Darrak asked. “I know it’s been . . . a bit of a difficult day.”
“Difficult? Today? You really think so?” Sarcasm dripped.
“Can’t say it’s been boring, though.”
“I’m fine.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
She snorted. “Oh, really?”
“I mean . . .” He sat down next to her, a bit tentatively, and took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. She didn’t pull away. “I know what happened with Andy was rough on you.”
“Yeah, it was.” His concern was oddly touching. She looked up and met his blue eyes. Even after everything that had happened, she still desperately wanted to trust him.
His gaze moved to her mouth. It helped a memory of him kissing her to vividly return.
Even after a day like today, the demon was still able to turn her on with just the direction of his eyes?
So not fair.
Did he feel it, too? This undeniable attraction between them?
Sometimes she couldn’t give a smaller crap about the black-witch-imbuing spell Selina had cast on him hundreds of years ago. All Eden wanted was to touch Darrak and for him to touch her and to hell with the consequences. To feel his hands on her body again. His mouth on hers.
It was overwhelming.
I want you, she thought. Badly.
But then she cleared her throat and yanked her hand away from his, before standing up from the sofa without another word.
When Leena hung up the phone, Eden walked toward her in the kitchenette, behind the counter.
“What do you know about werewolves?” she asked.
Leena made a face. “Hate them.”
“Why?”
“They’re territorial, mean, and the mortal enemy of werepanthers like me.”
“Werepanthers?” Darrak said. He remained seated on the sofa a dozen feet away, and he leaned forward to absently flip through the copy of Cosmo. “I thought you were a werehousecat.”
“I’m more dangerous than I look. Size really doesn’t matter.” She eyed him. “I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that.”
“Size has never been one of my problems, kitty cat.”
“Sure. That’s what they all say.”
Eden’s headache was getting worse just listening to them.
Darrak stood up and came toward Leena with an unpleasant smile on his face. “I know it’s difficult for you.”
She frowned. “What is?”
“Not only having to use a litter box, but also being responsible for cleaning it out. Kind of disgusting, actually.”
Why did they have to squabble like this all the time? It was getting old. And it was starting to piss Eden off. She was already way too edgy today as it was, and this wasn’t helping one little bit.
“Is that the best you can do, you impotent incubus?”
He laughed. “I’m not impotent.”
“May as well be.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really.” The shapeshifter’s eyes narrowed. “I know you’re holding out hope you and Eden can be together, but that’s a stupid and pointless thing to do.”
Darrak’s smile disappeared. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She doesn’t love you, gruesome. Trust me. Despite how good you might look in that body, nobody loves you. She tolerates you because she has to, that’s all. You need to get that through your pin-sized demonic brain.”
Fire ignited in his gaze, and his lips twisted humorlessly. “Oh, Leena. Are you trying to tell me you think I’m hot? That’s kind of sweet.”
She sneered at him. “No.”
He shrugged. “Sorry, though. Shifters repel me. In more ways than one. Alas, I won’t be able to make your many lust-filled dreams about me come true.”
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Come on. You don’t really mean that.”
She grimaced. “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot scratching pole, you disgusting piece of—”
“Enough!” Eden smashed her fist down on the kitchen counter. “Could you two stop squabbling for one god-damned minute? Seriously, it’s annoying as hell.”
Leena and Darrak both looked at her with surprise.
Anger simmered under her skin, bringing with it her very-hard-to-resist black magic. Trying to keep an even mood at the moment was hard enough, but dealing with the bickering between these two was going to put her right over the edge.
Destroying something sounded pretty good right about now. The world was at risk of becoming her own personal stress ball.
“Look, Leena, listen to me,” she continued, willing herself to remain as calm as possible. Her heart thrummed in her chest. “I get that you and Darrak have a hard time communicating, okay? I understand it. But you both live with me at the moment. And if you can’t get along, then one of you has to leave.”
“But—”
She held up a hand. “And since Darrak is kind of attached to me at the moment, it won’t be him who’s doing the leaving. Do you understand?”
Leena’s cheek twitched. “I was trying to help.”
“It didn’t sound like it to me.” Eden let out a long, shaky exhale.
“Why are you defending him? In case you didn’t hear everything, he was giving as good as he was getting.”
“I’m not defending Darrak.”
“Jesus, Eden, you’re not actually in love with this jerk, are you?” Leena’s dark brows drew together with confusion.
Eden didn’t need this. Not now. Not ever.
“Of course not,” she said as firmly as she could. Her throat felt thick, and her eyes began to sting. The events of the day—Theo, Lucifer, the angel, Andy—washed over her like a tidal wave, and she thought for sure she’d burst into tears any second.
“Eden—” Darrak began.
She turned away and went to her bedroom. “I need to be alone for a minute. Don’t follow me. This is a no demon or werekitty zone for at least a half an hour. Capiche?”
“I’m a werepanther,” Leena corrected her. And then, “This is all your fault, demon.”
“I hope you get fleas,” he snapped back.
Eden shut the door and pressed her back against it. She could still hear them, but at least it was muffled now.
Being alone was a good thing, but it didn’t help her relax much. She had things to do.
She embraced the silence for all of five seconds, then reached into her pocket and pulled out the marble Lucas gave her this morning.
Had it only been this morning?
She really didn’t want to do this. Too bad she didn’t have much of a choice.
Clenching the marble in her right hand, she whispered, “Lucifer.”
Snap.
Bright light blinded her and she blinked. The next moment her bedroom—including her unmade bed and the movie posters that adorned her walls—were gone and she stood on the now-familiar beach again. It was sunset this time, and the skyline was ablaze with red, purple, and pink light.
Lucas stood at the waterline skipping stones across the calm surface. He glanced over his shoulder. “Hello again, Eden.”
“What is this place?” she asked.
“My little piece of heaven. I come here a lot. Too bad it’s not real.” He brushed his hands off on his loose white pants. “Does Theo have the weapon?”
Business first. Sunsets and palm trees second.
She nodded, feeling tense despite the beautiful surroundings. Could have something to do with the company she kept lately.
His expression didn’t change. “What is it?”
She hesitated before she spoke. “A black diamond with angelic energy t
rapped inside. All the energy of one angel, actually. Theo called it a . . . an angelheart.”
Lucas took her chin between his fingers and looked down into her eyes. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.” Why would she lie about something like this? There was a bit too much at stake for her at the moment.
A flicker of surprise went through Lucas’s gaze. “Theo’s more resourceful than I gave him credit for.”
“Are you afraid?” She bit her bottom lip. Probably shouldn’t have asked something like that of the Prince of Hell.
“No. But I am concerned.” He studied her for a moment. “I never thought he’d be able to get that close to an angel, but I didn’t account for the fact that you’d be there. Yes, black witches have a certain affect on our angelic friends, don’t they?”
“So I’m learning.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason to wait. Bring the diamond to me as soon as possible.”
A breath caught in her throat. “That might be difficult. Theo can’t stand me and, uh, the feeling’s mutual. It’s doubtful he’ll let me get close enough to grab it.”
“Then have Darrak get it for you.”
She almost laughed. “And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Ask him.”
“What should I say?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe something along the lines of ‘Darrak, I want that weapon. Get it away from Theo, will you?’ ”
“And you think he’ll do it?”
“I think it’s worth a shot. And if you’re denied, well . . . then we’ll both know where you really stand with your resident demon, won’t we? But you can’t tell him why you want it. You must say nothing about me or our deal is off. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” Only too well.
“Good.”
She paced back and forth, wringing her hands. “And if I manage to get the angelheart, and I give it to you, you’ll let my mother’s soul go?” Her chest tightened with anxiety as she said it.
“I will.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
“Because I am,” he replied simply. “Once I get what I want, there’s no reason for me to renege on our deal. It’s a very fair trade, I think. Your mother’s soul for the angelheart.”