didn’t want him to?
She tried to contain her anger and not let it show on the outside. It was a struggle.
“Ben, I’m
He still looked shocked. “Not much for kissing on the first date, I take it?”
“I don’t know what to say.”
No, she didn’t. She was currently fighting being embarrassed, mortified, and furious. Her brain felt as if it was about to explode.
The man she really liked — who liked her in return despite her awkward and foamy ways — tried to kiss her and she’d just belted him.
She tried to summon up something inside of her to explain it away in an amusing and endearing way, but came up blank. Ben’s gaze moved away from her and narrowed.
“Maybe you sensed someone else was nearby that you’d need to defend yourself against,” he said. “I don’t know how this psychic thing works exactly, but you never know.”
She frowned. What was he talking about? She looked over her shoulder. Malcolm stood a dozen feet behind her.
“Ms. Riley,” he said.
“Oh, great,” Darrak said inwardly. “Just what I need right now.”
Ben put his arm out and pushed Eden behind him. “What the hell do you want?”
“To talk.”
“I think I witnessed what you consider ‘talking’ yesterday. And you were doing it with your fists.”
Malcolm nodded. “I know what it must have looked like to you. But Eden herself knows there’s more to the story.”
“We need to get out of here now,” Darrak said.
She shook her head. “Leave me alone, Malcolm.”
“I can’t do that. Please, listen to me. I only ask for a minute of your time.”
It was strange. Malcolm didn’t sound confrontational or dangerous. In fact, he just looked like a skinny college kid out for a walk, not an exorcist who could recite Latin as easily as if it was his first language.
“So talk,” she said.
“I want to help you. Your situation is dire. Your life is in danger.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Ben growled.
“Doesn’t your friend know?” Malcolm asked.
Eden tensed. “I have everything under control. I never should have hired you and your mother. Please, just go away and leave me in peace.”
“You’ll never be in peace now.” Malcolm’s jaw clenched. “You’re in the grip of an evil being that needs to be destroyed. I don’t just work with my mother; I’ve also been newly recruited into the Malleus. It’s an organization that’s been around for hundreds of years. We protect the world from that which is unseen and misunderstood. The dark forces that secretly lurk in our society.”
Darrak swore under his breath. “The Malleus. There’s a term I haven’t heard in a long time.”
What did that mean? Eden hadn’t heard about anything like that before.
“You are talking nonsense,” Ben said. “Get the hell away from us or I’m going to arrest you for harassment.”
Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “If you knew the truth, you wouldn’t stand in my way. In fact, you need to know all this so you can help protect Eden.”
Ben looked at Eden. “Let’s go.”
That sounded like a very good idea.
But Malcolm continued undeterred. “You can’t see the darkness that is corrupting her soul. If you care about her, you’ll let me do what I have to do to save her.”
“What are you, some kind of religious freak?”
“This is beyond religion. It’s beyond anything you’ve ever faced before. You think you’ve seen evil in the human crimes you deal with day to day?”
“I know I have,” Ben growled.
Malcolm shook his head. “You haven’t looked into the face of true darkness.”
“You are a kook from a cult and I want you to back the hell up right now.” His hand tightened on Eden’s waist as Malcolm drew nearer. “Eden wants nothing to do with you.”
“You don’t understand…”
Eden knew she had to get Ben away from Malcolm. Slapping him was one thing — something she might be forgiven for eventually. If he found out she was possessed by a demon, then all bets were off.
“… Eden is possessed by a demon,” Malcolm finished.
Well,
“What the hell did you just say?” Ben snapped.
Malcolm stood under a streetlamp that lit up his young, angelic face. “Eden is possessed by a demon that will slowly but surely drain her life away in its single-minded need to survive on this realm of existence. It’s part of what the Malleus fights against. Demons and witches — the army of Lucifer himself.”
“She’s possessed by a
A flash of frustration came over Malcolm’s face and he looked directly at Eden. “Do you refuse my help?”
She’d seen what he considered help. Even though she was furious with Darrak at the moment, she didn’t want him to be exorcised. She’d get rid of the demon on her own terms. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“You would willingly assist a demon?” His expression darkened. “That makes you no better than the creature itself.”
“You need to—” she began, but Malcolm grabbed her throat and effortlessly pulled her away from Ben’s side.
“I will finish what I started with or without your help. I
“Let go of her!” Ben snapped, and grabbed his arm, although despite being larger than Malcolm, he wasn’t able to budge the exorcist one inch.
Malcolm closed his eyes and began to speak in Latin again.
“Eden,” Darrak gasped. “You have to stop him.”
How was she supposed to stop him? His grip on her throat was so tight it was all she could focus on.
Then she gritted her teeth and glared at him, feeling a surge of anger fill her insides. She grabbed his arm and twisted it away from her. Malcolm yelped in pain and struck her with the back of his other hand, which hurt like hell but only helped the hot anger she was feeling burn away any other thought. Without thinking twice, she grabbed the front of his sweatshirt and shoved him as hard as she could.
He flew backward across the parking lot as if launched from a cannon and he hit a parked car, cracking the driver’s side window. He slumped to the ground unconscious.
She looked at Ben, who had been fumbling for his gun but had stopped in midfumble. He’d just watched her toss a grown man fifteen feet away from her as if he was no more than a rag doll. The same man he’d been unable to move.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked.
Good question.
“You’re stronger with me inside,” Darrak said. “It’s a protective measure in case someone tries to do us harm.”
She licked her dry lips. “Ben, I–I don’t know how I managed to do that.”
“You had good leverage,” he replied. “That’s all.”
“Leave it to someone who’s not a true believer to draw their own acceptable conclusions,” Darrak said.
