Something Wicked

truth with his own eyes. He’d wanted to save her. Instead, he shot her. An accident, of course, but the pain was something she wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. Pain was one thing she now associated with Ben.

The crush she’d once harbored for the handsome cop had all but disappeared. A bullet to the chest did wonders in dousing any romantic aspirations.

Eden touched her throat, her heart aching at imagining Graham’s sudden end. What had he found? Who had he pissed off enough last night to get himself killed?

Andy sat perched on the edge of his desk watching them. “Darrak’s staying with his sister while he’s in Toronto. Of course they’re close.”

“Right. His sister.” Ben glared at her. “Forgot you two are supposed to be related. After all, there’s not much of a family resemblance, is there?”

“They’re half siblings,” Andy replied defensively.

“Sure. That makes much more sense, doesn’t it?”

Sarcasm, table for one. It was obvious that Ben could barely keep his disgust for the demon under control.

The whole thing was making her feel ill. A twinge of pain flittered through her stomach.

“What did you talk to Graham about?” Ben asked.

She glanced at Darrak. He was so tense that veins stood out on his neck and along his arms as he crossed them tightly over his chest. He looked ready to forcibly drag Ben out of there.

She licked her dry lips. “He was doing an investigation of the club, that’s why he was there. He’s a — he was a journalist. Several women have gone missing in the area, and he thought something strange was going on.” She exhaled and it sounded shaky. “I guess he was right.”

“Missing women?” Ben repeated. “Like Selina Shaw?”

The two cases weren’t remotely connected, but letting Ben know that would only dig her in deeper. “I don’t know. He said there were six women missing, all regulars at Luxuria. So he was investigating the club, trying to find some leads.”

“Had he found anything?”

She shook her head. “Nothing when I talked to him. It was just a gut instinct on his part. But. . there’s something else. .”

“What?”

“When I touched him, I had a flash. This overwhelming feeling of dread and fear came over me.”

“Is that some sort of psychic thing?”

Even now that Ben was a believer in all things supernatural, there was still a hard edge of skepticism in his voice.

“Yeah,” she said dryly. “A psychic thing. But I didn’t know what it meant. I guess I do now.”

“You think you sensed that he was going to get murdered?”

“I’m not sure. It felt like there was a dark aura around him. I can’t explain it.” Grief constricted her throat for a moment. Damn it. Why couldn’t it have been more clear? Maybe she could have helped him.

“A dark aura,” Ben repeated, his expression turning sour. “Great. That’s helpful.” His eyes flicked to Darrak. “You were there, too?

“In spirit.”

Ben snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m sure you were. And did you happen to see anything. . well, I hesitate to use the word strange since murder and mayhem would likely be your regular worldview —”

“What is your problem?” Andy interjected. “Sorry if things didn’t work out between you and Eden, but that’s no reason to come into my office this morning and be a dick to her and her brother.”

“For Christ’s sake,” Ben said, disgusted. “You have no damn clue, do you?”

“About what?” Andy replied, and there was no more friendliness toward the cop in his voice.

“Ben, enough,” Eden said. Her heart pounded hard. She didn’t want him to say anything he’d regret. Because, by the look on Darrak’s face, Ben was getting too close to the edge and had no idea how far the drop was. Darrak was good-humored and amiable up to a point — but he was nobody you wanted to mess with. He was a demon, after all.

“Darrak’s evil,” Ben stated.

Fabulous. This conversation wasn’t looking up.

“Says who?” Andy challenged. “You?”

Ben clenched his fists at his sides. “Eden, I’m giving you one more chance. There’s still time to fix this mess you’ve gotten yourself into before it gets totally out of control. You don’t know what’s happened to me. .” He swallowed hard, his expression tense. “I’ve changed. . and it’s all so I can help you. I want to help you.”

She really wanted to be completely and unforgivingly pissed off at him. But why did he have to have that pleading tone to his voice? Ben was truly worried for her safety.

All he’d seen of Darrak’s demon form was seven feet of hellfire and horns towering behind Eden at her apartment the day he’d nearly killed her by mistake. He had to be filled with guilt and rage and powerlessness about that.

Ben wore a small gold cross around his neck on a chain. He had strong beliefs about good versus evil. It wasn’t his fault he had a hard time believing anything different.

And it wasn’t Eden’s fault, either.

“You need to go now,” Darrak said darkly from behind him.

Ben’s shoulders stiffened. “He’s killing you, Eden. Little by little. You can’t deny it.”

It was true, she couldn’t deny it. So she said nothing.

Darrak remained silent as well. After all, he was killing her slowly but surely. The fact someone, especially a cop, might take issue with that wasn’t surprising.

Andy, who knew nothing of this, wasn’t so quiet. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Darrak’s a demon,” Ben said bluntly. “From Hell. Didn’t you know that?”

For a moment, the only sound in the office was the quiet whir of the ceiling fan. Eden stared at Ben bleakly before her attention turned to Andy.

“Your brother is a demon?” Andy said, stunned. “You said that before, but I thought you were kidding.”

“He’s not her brother,” Ben spat out. “He’s a disgusting, evil minion of Satan who’s seduced Eden into doing his bidding, and he’s sucking her dry of every last ounce of her energy. He’s killing her and she’s letting him.”

Well, put that way it didn’t sound so great, did it?

Darrak laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “I haven’t been Satan’s minion for a long time, cop. And for what it’s worth, he prefers to be called Lucifer most of the time.”

“Darrak’s not evil,” Eden blurted out. She suddenly wasn’t feeling so good. This whole conversation had only helped the pain still swirling distractingly through her stomach to increase.

Ben shook his head. “You’re a fool if you believe that.”

Eden turned to Andy, who looked pale with shock at the direction of this conversation. “It’s not true. He’s not making me do anything I don’t want to.”

“So it’s all a lie? Darrak’s not a demon who seduced you?” Andy managed.

“Uh. .” She cleared her throat. “Well. . no comment.”

Ben groaned. “I was speaking figuratively. I hoped I was, anyhow.”

“So let me get this straight.” Andy paced to the far side of the room and then back to his desk. He pointed at Darrak. “He’s a demon.”

“I am,” Darrak admitted. “And at this time I, uh, have no comment on the seduction issue, either.”

Eden held her breath, waiting to see what would happen next. This had to be enough to put Andy right over the edge, wasn’t it?

Andy went behind his desk, sat down heavily, and pulled a silver flask from his top drawer. He unscrewed the lid and drank deeply from the contents before wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand.

“Christ on a cracker!” he exclaimed. “This has been the craziest day ever!”

Okay. That was better than she’d expected, at least.

Ben’s face was red. “Damn it, I didn’t come here for this today. I’m not ready, I have more training to do