The Demon in Me

That was completely and utterly ludicrous.

She didn’t need his help. She didn’t want anything to do with the demon at all. He’d turned her life into a complete nightmare in only a few hours.

However, nightmare or not, after what had nearly happened with the exorcists she’d hired, she was feeling very guilty. A few more minutes and she knew that Darrak would have been completely destroyed.

And he was right about one thing. She seriously needed some help in the romance department.

Was she actually considering his offer? She’d do whatever she could to find the witch and he’d help her not be a shrinking violet in front of Ben?

It was so crazy it just might work. A give-and-take partnership. With a demon.

“Okay, fine,” she finally said.

Ben grabbed his sunglasses and put them in his pocket. “So I guess that’s it. Do you need a ride home?”

She shook her head “My car’s here.”

It was a rusty old Toyota with over two hundred thousand miles on the odometer, but she still liked to use the word car to describe it, anyhow. She’d taken a cab into the heart of the city earlier for the police case so she could avoid driving on the busy highway.

He nodded. “And what about the door?”

She eyed the broken glass. “There’s actually a guy around the corner I can call to patch it up right away.”

“I can wait with you.”

“No, really, it’s not necessary.”

He frowned. “You’re sure?”

“I am.”

Ben hesitated as if ready to argue with her, but then had second thoughts. He nodded firmly instead. “I’ll send you a check to cover the damages.”

“Not necessary. We could use a new door anyhow. Maybe a sturdier one this time. Obviously the old one was a bit flimsy. Not that I’m complaining or anything since its flimsiness came in real handy tonight.”

Real sexy, come-hither talk if ever she’d heard any.

“Ask him to dinner tomorrow night,” Darrak suggested.

She swallowed.

“Ask him,” Darrak said again.

“Good-bye, Eden.” Ben smiled. “Again. And if those people come anywhere close to you again, give me… or the precinct… a call right away, okay?”

He reluctantly pushed the doorframe open.

“Do it,” Darrak urged.

“Ben,” she called just before he left.

He turned. “Yeah?”

She cleared her throat. “I know I kind of said no before, but listen, I want to change my mind.”

“About what?”

“Um… I was… uh, kind of wondering if you had any dinner plans tomorrow night?”

A glint of surprise entered his dark blue eyes. “Dinner?”

“Yeah.”

“With you?”

She faltered and felt her cheeks heat up. He was going to turn her down. This was Detective Ben Handsome, after all. She had no idea why he was single when any woman in the world would kill for the chance to date him. “Unless you don’t want to. I totally understand.”

Another smile touched his lips. “You’d understand, would you? Why, because I called you a troublemaker before? Or because that ass called you a dangerous woman?”

“Well… both. To start with.”

“I’d love to have dinner with you.”

She was honestly surprised by his answer. “Oh… well, good.”

“Good.”

Darrak groaned. “Sounds like you’re definitely going to need my help.”

She gritted her teeth.

“So I’ll call you?” Ben asked. “Tomorrow afternoon? And we’ll go from there?”

She grabbed a business card off her desk and gave it to him. “I’ll be here.”

He nodded and tucked the card into his jacket pocket. “Have a good night. And try to stay out of trouble, okay?”

She tried to think of a fantastically witty comeback for that, but came up blank. “Yeah, you, too.”

He grinned at her and left the office.

“Yeah, you, too?” Darrak repeated. “That was smooth. Why do you have such a hard time talking to him? Are you like this with every man you meet? You’re too attractive to be a spinster. Do you live alone with a great many cats?”

She pressed her lips together. “Shut up, please.”

He went silent. She still couldn’t feel him as much as she could earlier. Before, he’d been like a weight on her chest — not enough to hurt, but enough to be noticeable. Now there was nothing but his faint voice as if he was speaking from an adjoining room.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“You mean, did I survive your attempt to exorcise me? Obviously, or I wouldn’t be talking to you now, would I?”

“I didn’t know it was going to be like that.”

“Did you think they were going to lure me out with a bowl of warm milk and put a leash on me?”

“No. But I didn’t know it would cause you so much pain.” She swallowed, then crossed her arms and looked out of the broken door at the parking lot. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t blame you. You didn’t ask for this. You’re going through the five stages of demonic possession. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression… eventually you’ll finally reach acceptance.”

“Aren’t those the five stages of dying?”

“Same stages, different issue. Right now I think you’re still dealing with the anger. But we’ve moved into the bargaining stage because you agreed to help me out.”

She turned and went back to her desk, straightening her keyboard, which had detached from the computer during the attempted exorcism. “I look forward to my inevitable depression.”

“I think you’ve done great so far.”

“Great? I just spent fifteen hundred bucks on a crazy exorcist whose son slapped me around.” She held her hand against her cheek.

“Some people pay much more than that. For the exorcism, that is. Although some people also pay to be slapped around. Humans are strange.”

She concentrated on his voice. “You still don’t sound too good.”

“No, well… it was mostly from when he launched into the Latin. That part of an exorcism always tends to be a bit draining. Literally.”

“I thought you said you’ve never been faced with a real exorcism before.”

“I haven’t. But I’ve seen them performed — from a safe distance, of course. It’s not pretty. Another thirty seconds and I would have been only an unpleasant memory for you.”

She sat on the edge of her desk. “Sure, now you tell me.” He was quiet for a moment. “So you really like that cop?” She nodded. “That’s an understatement.”

“Fair enough. Tomorrow night we’ll make sure you look extremely gorgeous. You’ll go out for dinner with him. I’ll guide you into not saying anything too embarrassing—”

She frowned at that.

“And he’ll be eating out of your hand in under an hour. Guaranteed. Then we will focus on finding my witch. Deal?”

She still felt more than a little uncomfortable with the oddly helpful Darrak. “You’re asking me to officially