Something Wicked

do with what’s going on here?”

“No.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Really?”

A waitress emerged to retrieve the empty champagne glasses in front of Stanley before she was swallowed again by the crowd on the dance floor half a dozen feet away. The music shifted from dance to something slower.

Stanley rubbed his temples. “I mean, I don’t think so. I don’t know what happened to the women for sure, but I’m positive a demon didn’t kill that reporter.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he was strangled to death, right? A demon would never end anyone that humanely.”

Eden repressed a shudder. “Being strangled is humane?”

“Demons enjoy digging in and seeing what makes a human tick before they snuff out the life completely. It’s fun for them. And when they’re done, it’s not unusual for dental records to be necessary to ID the victim. That is, if there’s even anything left over to ID.”

Eden’s stomach lurched. “I can’t imagine all demons are like that.”

Stanley snorted. “What fairy tale are you living in, sunshine? I haven’t seen that much in my career as Maksim’s assistant, but what I’ve seen has shown me demons aren’t anything to mess with. And when they kill, they leave a hell of a mess in their wake. Oh—a hell of a mess. I made a pun. Listen to me. If my elixir business tanks, I should try stand-up.”

“Happy now?” Darrak asked dryly. “He thinks he’s witty.”

Eden stood up on shaky legs. “Tell Maksim I need to talk to him the moment he gets back, okay? That Darrak and I both need to talk to him.”

“You’re going? You’re sure you don’t want some champagne?”

“Positive.”

She turned and walked away from him, still queasy from the mental image of a demon’s carnage. She’d seen Darrak’s demonic form — all talons and fire and sharp teeth. And, yes, horns. If something like that, or worse, chose to end a human life. . well, Stanley was right. They probably wouldn’t use strangulation as their modus operandi.

Then who was the murderer?

And what was the other demon doing here? He’d been looking for Darrak, hadn’t he? And Darrak had dismissed it so she wouldn’t worry.

So what was this other demon’s plan? To drag Darrak back down to home base or destroy him outright? Either option made her feel more ill.

“So, this was pretty much a wasted trip tonight,” Darrak said, sounding weary. “I figured it would be.”

“Who is this other demon?” she said under her breath, anxiety spreading through her. “He’s after you, isn’t he?”

“He’s. . uh. .”

“You said he was your friend, but does he want to find you? Was he sent to hurt you?” She couldn’t hide the growing panic in her voice.

“He doesn’t want to hurt me.”

“How do you know that? You haven’t seen him in three hundred years, right?”

“Right. Yeah. About the demon. .”

“What about him?” Her chest felt tight.

“We’re meeting him for lunch tomorrow.”

Her sharp focus on the exit to the nightclub blurred. She froze in place. “What?”

“Next door to here. It’s a souvlaki place in case you’re curious.”

The music shifted back to a fast hip-hop song she’d heard on the radio during her drive to work that morning. She didn’t speak for a full minute. “What?”

“Uh. . the demon from last night. My old friend. Lunch tomorrow. Souvlaki. Yum?”

Was she hallucinating? Why was he saying things to her that made no sense? He’d made them leave last night, fearful of meeting his “old friend” face-to-face.

“When did you happen to make these plans with him?” she asked slowly.

“Last night.”

“But. . but when last night? We’re together all the time.”

“I know. Cozy, isn’t it?” He was quiet for a moment. “It doesn’t matter when. The fact is, the plans are made and I probably should have told you earlier, but I didn’t.”

It was like a puzzle she didn’t have all the pieces for. “You’re keeping things from me, aren’t you?”

“Nothing major.”

Oh, that was comforting. “So, at some time last night you talked to him? This old friend of yours?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of? What’s that supposed to mean?”

A man walked past Eden on the way to the restrooms, and he looked at her strangely as she stood talking to herself like a crazy person. At the moment, she didn’t really care.

There was silence from the demon for way too long. And then, “Just get us out of here, and we’ll discuss this matter privately.”

She searched her memory from last night. He’d possessed her at sunset like usual. They’d come to the club. They’d left the club in a hurry. She’d gone to bed. That was all that had happened.

Then she had a thought. “What are you doing? Stealing my body when I’m asleep?”

Darrak didn’t reply to that. She’d hoped for laughter at how ludicrous that theory was, especially since she’d only been joking.

She struggled to breathe. “No way. That’s impossible.”

“I can’t help that you’re a good guesser.”

She gasped. “Oh, my God! You’re stealing my body at night!”

Two women on their way to the dance floor gave her a wide berth as they passed and exchanged a look.

“Stealing is such a harsh word,” Darrak said. “Borrowing is much more pleasant, really.”

Eden practically kicked the door open and emerged into the cold night air, ignoring the steady succession of strange looks she was now receiving from anyone she passed. She was livid. There hadn’t been many moments in her life when she’d felt this level of rage before. She felt ready to burst wide open. A tingling electricity coursed down her arms and into her hands. It crackled against her skin.

“Eden, you have to calm down,” Darrak said with concern. “Anger makes the black magic come to the surface. You know that.”

“Shut the hell up.”

However, she couldn’t argue with him. Sharp fluctuations in mood caused the magic to begin to spark inside her, ready to be channeled into destroying something. She wanted to destroy something. And his name began with the letter D.

Darrak borrowed her body when she was sleeping.

She’d trusted him and this is how he repaid her?

“It had to be done,” he explained.

“It had to be done, huh?”

He hissed out a sigh of frustration. “I had to find out what he wanted, and I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You didn’t want me to get hurt.”

“You’re repeating everything I’m saying. You must be pissed.”

“Just trying to wrap my head around this. You didn’t want me to get hurt. But you borrowed my body. If your old buddy had been so inclined to rip out my throat, how would that not be hurting me?”

“I can handle Theo,” he said simply.