“You have to stop!”
“But this is what you wanted.”
“No, it’s not!”
“Then you really should have been more specific.”
Eden collapsed next to Darrak as he suffered this torture in near silence. She reached to touch his face but pulled her hand back the moment she made contact. His skin burned like fire.
“I’m sorry,” Darrak managed, before a tremor went through him. “I should have told you that Asmo killed the women. I should have told you about Graham. But I didn’t want you to try to get revenge. It was too dangerous.”
“Darrak—”
“Just don’t hate me.”
“Hate you? But, Darrak—”
The next moment he fell to his side. He wasn’t moving anymore. Amber flames burst through his skin to coat his entire body, and she scrambled back so she wouldn’t get burned.
“Almost done,” Lucas said. He sounded remarkably blase about it.
She’d asked for this. She’d even made a deal with the devil to make this possible. In moments Darrak would be gone, and she wouldn’t have to put up with his lies and deceit and body stealing and energy draining. It would be over. Forever.
Be careful what you wish for.
“No,” she said softly.
“Pardon me?” Lucas asked.
“Stop this.”
“But you asked for it. I’m only doing what you wanted me to.”
She raised her gaze from Darrak’s body to Lucas’s deceptively warm brown eyes. “Don’t be a sore loser.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“Sorry you can’t use the angelheart to destroy your inner demon today. But hell if I’m going to let you destroy mine.”
Eden clenched her fists and felt black magic roll down her arms and into her hands. It was an ocean of power deep enough to drown someone in.
Lucas observed her carefully. “And what do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to destroy you,” she said matter-of-factly. “I might not have been able to destroy Asmodeus, but I have a feeling your current form is a little more breakable than his was. You didn’t create me like you did Darrak. You have no power over me.”
His lips thinned. “Killing a defenseless mortal with black magic will turn your soul jet-black,” he warned. “Even if that mortal happens to be me. Besides, it won’t even matter. I’ll just return to Hell.”
“Then I’ll follow you there and kill you again. Stop what you’re doing to Darrak right now or I swear I will. I don’t care what I have to do, I will hunt you down and send you to the Void once and for all. I have a feeling that would make everyone very happy.”
She meant every single word like she’d never meant anything before.
Lucas shook his head. “You’d do that? For him?” He nodded at the Darrak-shaped inferno ten feet away. “He’s a lesser demon. A nobody. And you’d give your soul to save something like that?”
Did Lucas really, truly feel that way about one of his creations? Was that all Darrak was? Sentient, soulless hellfire. A formerly evil monster now infected with a little bit of heaven. A demon who had no home or anyone who cared if he was destroyed forever.
“Yes,” she said. “I would. Now release him or I’ll prove it.”
She allowed the black magic to fill the rest of her body. It felt cool and brought with it the focus she needed. Still, a tear coursed down her right cheek. She didn’t bother to push it away.
With a thought, she made the long bar top next to her splinter down the middle, stopping right before the spot where Lucas stood. It didn’t go unnoticed.
He smiled, but it was tight. “That’s so adorable. I had no idea you cared so deeply for him. Sad, but adorable.”
Eden moved toward him. Her hands were glowing — sparks of energy circled them waiting to be unleashed. Waiting to destroy.
The unfortunate thing was, none of this made Lucas flinch in the slightest. In fact, he looked vaguely bored with her display.
He sighed. “Fine, if he manages to survive this, you’re welcome to him. What’s left of him, anyhow. But don’t ever say I tried to go back on our deal, because I didn’t.”
Eden looked to see the flames surrounding Darrak extinguish as if a switch had been flicked. He didn’t move.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t thank me. Not after what I’m about to tell you.” Lucas drew closer to her, unconcerned with the danger that might pose to his mortal body. “What I did? Or what I
Her throat felt tight. “What do you mean?”
“The only way for this unfortunate situation to end is for you to die or Darrak to be exorcised. And anyone who tells you differently is lying.”
She shook her head. “There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t. However, I do have good news.”
She looked up at him, ready to grasp onto any possible flicker of hope. “What?”
“As a nephilim, you have endless celestial energy for him to draw on. It’s what sets you apart from his previous hosts. Darrak won’t kill you by possessing you. Only. . I do wonder. .”
Eden reeled from this piece of info. They’d been certain Darrak would drain her completely in no more than a year. “You wonder what?”
“How much of that heavenly drink he can lap up before my lesser demon turns into something else. . something a bit more angelic.” Lucas laughed at Eden’s shock. “He’ll never be welcome home then.”
“He has a home,” Eden said firmly. “With me.”
He grasped her chin between his fingers. “I could have finished him, but I didn’t. This means you owe me one. You work for me now.”
“Great. Another shitty job with lousy pay. Just what I need.”
Lucas stroked his hand down the side of her face and something slid behind his gaze — a strange longing. “I haven’t touched an angel for a very long time.”
She pushed his hand away. “I’m not an angel.”
“Close enough.”
She didn’t wait a moment longer. She went to Darrak’s side. He was unconscious, but whole. The flames had all disappeared without leaving any marks. This time when she touched him, his skin was still hot — too hot — but it didn’t burn her.
“Darrak.” Eden smoothed the hair off his forehead. “Wake up. Please.”
He might not survive. She might have been too slow to get Lucas to stop.
If what Lucas told her was true, their curse couldn’t be broken. Darrak would have to keep possessing Eden just as it had been between them up until now, but with no end in sight.
At one time, she would have resisted that idea. She liked to be alone. She didn’t want anyone to butt into her private business or her personal time. Trusting people was hard for her, it always had been. She didn’t ask for this situation with Darrak. It had been a mistake — a textbook example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Being possessed by a demon was the stuff of horror movies.
Yes, it was all of that.
She still didn’t want to lose him. She’d only known Darrak a short time, but he’d come to mean everything to
