The Demon in Me

Selina laughed. “I can barely believe you’re the same archdemon I summoned. I’d think you’d be thrilled to have corrupted yet another human soul.”

Flames entered his gaze. “You need to fix this.”

Her smile disappeared. “I can’t. What’s happened to Eden isn’t a spell I can break. It’s the result of a spell. Just like what happened to me.”

Eden’s brain was flailing about, attempting to piece everything together and also trying very hard not to freak out over this life-altering avalanche of news. “So anyone Darrak would have — would have been with would become a black witch?”

“My spell was specific to someone with my level of psychic ability.” Selina gave another one of those humorless smiles. “I guess we have more in common than I thought we did.”

“Only I didn’t ask for the ability to do black magic. It really wasn’t on my list of must-haves this year.” There was an edge of barely restrained hysteria in her voice.

Selina squeezed Eden’s numb hands tighter. “You haven’t used the magic inside of you yet. If you never use it, maybe that will keep your soul from any damage.”

Eden tried to stay calm, but it was a losing battle. “I’m seriously going to be sick right now. Right here.”

Selina curled her hand around her wrist and Eden felt a strange calming sensation move through her that helped settle her stomach.

“Try to breathe,” the witch suggested. “I’ll put my book tour on hold for a few days and stay here in the city to help you. I feel a sisterly bond with you now.”

A weak glimmer of hope moved through her in this otherwise hellish scenario. “You’d do that?”

She nodded. “Just try to be in control of your emotions as much as you can. I do yoga daily and take frequent meditation breaks. Scented candles are also very soothing. Anger will automatically bring the dark magic to the surface where it becomes very tempting to use.” She touched her pendant. “As a black witch, our magic is at our fingertips in a way that makes it much easier to use than through books or verbally cast spells. It’s a lot like being a drug addict, actually. The only way to defeat the desire to use the black magic is to ignore it.”

That didn’t sound very good at all. “And there’s no way for me to get rid of it?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

Eden gulped. “Are there any perks at all to this condition?”

“Well, there is the chance to live forever.” Selina smiled. “Just make sure you move and change your name every ten years so people don’t realize you’re not aging. Botox can only account for so much, you know.”

Eden looked at Darrak to see the demon was furious. Selina turned to him as well.

“You’re upset over this,” she observed.

“You’re brilliant.”

“At me or at yourself?”

“Both. This never should have happened. I should have known. Should have predicted it.”

Selina cocked her head to the side. “Are you playing games, demon?”

“I wish. Games are fun. This? Not so much.”

She studied him for a moment longer. “The archdemon I summoned would never blame himself for something like this. You really have changed, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have.”

Selina’s expression remained skeptical. “But that doesn’t mean it will last. You’re weakened right now. If you were to regain your power, these feelings will slip away and you’ll return to how you were before.”

He shook his head. “I won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do.”

She pursed her full red lips. “If you were human once I might believe it. But you weren’t. So you need to stop acting so naive.”

Eden shakily took a sip of her now lukewarm hot chocolate. It slithered unpleasantly down her throat. “I don’t think he’s being naive. I believe Darrak’s telling the truth.”

“You think so, do you? After everything he’s done to you?” Selina’s green eyes flashed. “You need to see something. Now that we share this power inside us, I can share other things as well.” Her grip tightened on Eden’s wrist.

“Wait, what are you—” But the next moment the words were ripped out of Eden’s mouth. The coffee shop shimmered away before her very eyes, and suddenly she was standing in the middle of a small grassy meadow surrounded by trees. It was night and a full moon hung heavily in the dark skies above.

A cool breeze moved past her. She could smell pine needles and wildflowers.

Where was she? What the hell was going on?

“Release me,” a dark voice said from behind her. She spun around and gasped at what she saw.

It was Darrak, in demon form. Tall, huge, and horned. Golden flames licked at the surface of his entire body, lighting the darkness around him, and he stood in the middle of a ring of white powder. His voice was harsh, raspy, and pissed off.

“Release you? Why would I do that?” The words left her lips and she sounded like Selina. She was Selina. It was Selina’s memory she was currently sharing.

“I’ve given you what you want.” Beneath the flames, she could see the demon’s lips curl. Inside the magic circle he couldn’t tempt her by shifting to his human form — a form she did find very tempting indeed. As a human she could pretend that he was only handsome and charming and irresistible, but he wasn’t. It was only an illusion. In the binding circle there was no hiding from what he truly was.

“Release me, witch,” he said again. “Before I lose my patience with you completely.”

She felt the magic simmering inside her. She’d taken everything she could from him and knew he was greatly weakened. But a weakened archdemon was still more powerful than a hundred regular humans. “I want revenge on the men who killed my sister. I command you to destroy them. Make them know a demon stripped the flesh from their bones.”

He nodded once. “I will do as you say.”

“You’re mine,” she reminded him. “Body and soul.”

“I have no soul. But my body is yours to command.”

“Do you love me?” she asked, surprised at the pathetically needy words spewing from her mouth. What happened to being strong and taking control of her life? It was why she wanted to become a black witch in the first place. But she had to know.

He’d been quick to respond to her seduction. Each time they’d coupled during the days since his summoning her magic grew stronger — the dark power inside of her growing until she felt as if it would burst through her very skin. She was ashamed at how quickly she’d fallen in love with him, knowing what he was. It was so hard to remember his dark nature when he was in his appealing human form.

“Do I love you?” he repeated. “You don’t want the answer to that.”

But she did. “Tell me the truth. I command you to, Darrakayiis.”

He flinched as she used the power of his true name against him. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again. It felt as if his fathomless gaze bore right into her very soul.

“I am a demon, created from hellfire,” he said. “I bring pain and death to those who cross me. So, do I love you, witch, who has trapped me, forced me to give you Hell’s power, and commanded me to kill your enemies? Do I love you?” Those soulless eyes narrowed. “An archdemon cannot love anyone or anything. I will kill you the moment I’m able and you will feel my wrath much more acutely than you felt my body. I will taste your blood on my lips as I retrieve the power you’ve stolen from me from your darkening soul. And then I will leave you in pieces for the winds to scatter.”

The cool breeze whipped the long dark hair back from her face as she stifled her fear at his cold threat. “A simple no would have been just fine.”

“Then, no. I don’t love you.” His lips curled again. “However, I’m very fond of the weather tonight.”

She looked down to see that the wind had blown some of her salt away, breaking the circle. Which meant that the archdemon was no longer trapped.

Darrakayiis stepped out of the magic circle and he smiled, showing off razor-sharp teeth as black as the thick obsidian horns extending from his temples. “About that arrangement we had? And the tearing-you-apart thing I