The Demon in Me

“Why did you have to start this?” His voice sounded strained. “I gave you the chance to end this. You really are crazy.”

She nodded. “Maybe you’re right.”

He’d released her, but hadn’t stepped back. She brought her hands up to his face and looked into his eyes.

Then, without another word, he kissed her hard enough to make her gasp against his lips. She slid her fingers into his dark hair, and his hands moved down to the small of her back and over the curve of her butt, pulling her even closer to him.

“Eden, please,” he managed after a moment. “This is a mistake. You shouldn’t be with me. You should be with your golden boy. He won’t hurt you.”

“He shot me.”

Darrak blinked. “Well, other than the near-fatal gunshot wound and his tendency to use violence to solve problems, he only wants what’s best for you. I see that now.”

She nodded. “You’re right. But there’s only one problem.”

“What?”

“I don’t want him. I want you.”

“You want me,” he repeated with disbelief. “But don’t you—”

She pulled his face down to meet hers again and kissed him. After a moment, he effortlessly picked her up without breaking the kiss for a moment.

The next thing she felt other than Darrak’s lips against hers was the softness of her mattress against her back. He’d taken her to her bedroom — all of fifteen feet away.

Okay, so her big plan of kissing him to get him to forget about calling Malcolm had worked.

Like, really well.

“Tell me to stop and I will,” Darrak said, looking down at her and bracing himself on his forearms.

Instead, she pulled the black T-shirt off, over his head, and ran her hands over the hard, muscled planes of his chest and abdomen before her hand drifted lower.

He sucked in a breath. “Eden.”

She smiled up at him. “Very human right now, aren’t you?”

“At this very moment, excruciatingly so.” His gaze burned into hers. “You’re playing with danger.”

“Is that what I’m playing with?” Her smile grew. “Thanks for the clarification.”

He groaned, then crushed his mouth against hers. She felt strangely victorious to have broken through all of his annoying protests.

Ten points to her.

And then, as he stripped her clothes off piece by piece and slowly kissed every inch of her body, she was reminded of the previous morning when she’d stopped herself, embarrassed at the extent of her need for this man she barely knew.

This demon.

But she did know him. Even though it had only been a few days, she knew him better than anyone else she’d known in her entire life.

And this time when he finally entered her, it wasn’t because he’d turned to black smoke first.

“Eden… you feel so good…” he breathed as their bodies moved together. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

His dark hair felt so soft sliding through her fingers. “You’re not. Believe me.”

She thought he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. His blue eyes bore into hers. There was none of the cocky, smart-ass flirtation from when she’d woken to find him in her bed before. He was serious. He desperately didn’t want to hurt her. Was he afraid of being so swept away with passion that he couldn’t control himself with her?

That was as hot as it was scary.

But despite his multiple warnings, she trusted him more than he trusted himself. And she now knew she wanted this — wanted him—since nearly the first moment she saw him.

Maybe she was crazy.

She’d been closed off before, afraid of trusting, afraid of being hurt after everything that had happened in her life — abusive boyfriends, cheating fiances, unreliable mothers, bad and unfulfilling jobs — but Darrak was different.

In more than the obvious ways.

Despite being a demon — an archdemon — he was also her guardian angel, her friend, and somebody she cared about despite herself. He was a part of her.

And now he was her lover.

Even though he didn’t realize it, when he possessed her it actually felt really good. But that was nothing compared to the real deal.

She let herself open up to Darrak completely, body and soul, in a way she’d never opened up to anyone before. She ran her hands over his beautiful body. Smooth, hot — very hot — skin over hard muscle. She kissed him over and over to show him that she wasn’t afraid of him hurting her. Because he wouldn’t.

She moaned his name — well, his nickname, anyhow.

And then something really strange happened as Darrak cried out her name, his breath hot against her lips.

A glow of amber light moved from Darrak to her, and it surrounded her body like a golden aura. It burned into her — as hot as Darrak’s skin, as hot as his mouth as he took hers again. He didn’t seem to notice the light.

Then suddenly the light entered Eden and disappeared completely.

What the hell?

“Eden,” Darrak murmured against her lips as he kissed her for a long time and stroked her auburn hair back from her face. She wrapped her arms around him and promptly forgot about the light.

“That is my name,” she said with a smile.

He brushed his lips against hers and grinned. “The garden of paradise.”

“My mother had an interesting sense of humor.”

“I think it’s fairly appropriate.”

“You do, do you?”

He lay, breathing hard, wrapped in her arms for a moment more before she felt him suddenly tense up. Then he pushed up from the bed and looked down at her.

“Something wrong?” she asked tentatively.

His expression was suddenly grim. “Eden… this… shouldn’t have happened between us.”

She frowned. “Not something I really want to hear at this very moment.”

“Sorry. You’re right.” He kissed her softly, and then sat up and grabbed for his clothes.

“Then what do you mean?”

“It’s just… my history.” His jaw clenched. “You said Selina told you I was an incubus, right?”

“She did,” she said cautiously. “She said incubi drained their victims of power. But you’re not an incubus anymore, and you didn’t drain me at all that time, so if that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be.”

“You’re okay?”

She shook her head. “I feel fine.”

“Good.” He nodded firmly, then pulled his T-shirt on over his head. “When I was exclusively an incubus, I did drain women’s energy after seducing them to increase my own power level.”

She raised an eyebrow and pulled the sheets up over herself. “Do I really want to know this right now?”

“Probably not. But you should. After the first step was over, I’d pick and choose the best souls to bring down to Hell to be part of Lucifer’s harem. He has a very large harem of women. And men. About the size of New York City, actually.”

She felt herself pale, then she sat up and drew her knees up to her chest. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Oh, but it was.” He didn’t sound happy about it. He sat stiffly on the edge of her bed. “I had a completely different idea of fun back then.”

“Why are you telling me this?”