The Demon in Me

She smiled thinly. “Something like that.”

Rosa scanned Selina’s expensive suit and jewelry, stopping briefly on the gray stone pendant. “That’s lovely.”

“Thank you.” Selina touched it. “It was a gift from an acquaintance a long time ago.”

Yeah, Eden thought. A long time ago.

“Thank you for talking to me and for the refund, Rosa,” Eden said. “And there are no hard feelings. Toward you or Malcolm.”

“I’m so glad.”

They all began to leave the cafe at the same time.

“Bye Ms. Shaw. Your books have changed my life! Like, seriously!” Nancy called from behind the counter. “And bye, Darrak. So great seeing you again.”

Rosa turned with a frown to look at him directly. “Did she just call you Darrak? Ms. Riley, wasn’t that the name of your demon?”

“No,” Eden said immediately. “That was… uh… Eric. And it wasn’t a demon at all. It was Mexican food. Indigestion. Ugh. Not pleasant.”

Rosa frowned. “Mexican food named Eric?”

Eden clenched her jaw. “I have one heck of a crazy imagination.”

“Oh.” She shook her head and laughed a little, resting her weight on her crystal-topped cane. “Don’t we all. And my memory isn’t what it used to be, anyhow. No surprise. At my age everything is starting to fail me.”

“Right.” Eden forced a smile, but her sudden swell of fresh anxiety had made strange electric tingles course up and down her arms. Was that the black magic inside her sensing a change in her mood?

“I don’t like that woman,” Darrak said under his breath as they parted ways outside. “And not just because of her unfortunate fashion sense.”

“We need to go now,” Selina suggested firmly. “While we still have daylight. That is, if you still want me to break this curse.”

Eden nodded. “Of course we do.”

She thought back to what had happened between her and Darrak earlier. His mouth on hers. How it felt when they’d made love. She’d wanted him so badly, it had blinded her to everything else.

“This shouldn’t have happened.” Darrak’s words echoed in her head.

No, it shouldn’t have.

Sex with a bad boy usually left one with a broken heart. Sex with a demon left you with a broken soul.

She’d have to remember that important little fact for future reference.

— Eden drove Selina and Darrak back to the apartment complex, although truthfully her attention was not on the road as much as it should have been. Luckily she didn’t get them into an accident. Even though she was a black witch— Oh, my God, she thought — she knew from what Darrak had told her previously that despite her new immortality— Oh, my God again — she was still fragile and as easily killed as a regular, nonmagically infused human.

Oh. My. God.

So she kept her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel and tried not to think about everything that had gone horribly, horribly wrong. It wasn’t easy.

She entered the outdoor lot and parked with an unhealthy lurching gearshift sound. She might be about to live forever, but her rusty Toyota was another story altogether.

With a nod of her head, Eden indicated the wooded area. “Over there.”

Selina inspected it with a sweeping glance. “That will do. We still have some time before sunset, but we should get to work right away.”

“And you’re sure the curse can be broken?” Darrak asked. Eden jumped. She hadn’t noticed he’d come up behind her after leaving the backseat.

Selina nodded. “You get your wish, demon. Your freedom. Although I’m still not convinced you deserve it.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“To help Eden, of course.” Selina looked at her with strange affection. But then again, she felt like they were sisters now, didn’t she? It wouldn’t be long before they were magically braiding each other’s hair. “She’s got enough to deal with now without you further complicating matters. She’ll be lucky to be rid of you and never see you again. Ten minutes and this will be over.”

“Good,” he replied.

Yes, he was getting his freedom. Just like he wanted. And Eden would live to see another year without the risk of death by demonic possession.

The perfect happy ending for everyone involved.

If that was so, then why was her throat thick and emotion stinging her eyes? She exhaled shakily and tried to compose herself. Ten minutes and this would be over. He’d be gone. And she’d try to forge some sort of normalcy in her life again. If that was even remotely possible.

She’d found a newfound interest in working with Andy at Triple-A. She wanted to help people. Funny how helping others was useful in forgetting other troubles. It was a good lesson to learn. So, black witch or not, that’s what Eden would be doing.

All by herself.

Well, with Andy, too, but suddenly after days of having Darrak with her it still felt oddly alone.

And that was a good thing, she reminded herself firmly. And it was how she wanted her life to be. Independent. Private. Solitary. Much easier that way. Nobody around to let her down or abandon her when she got too used to having them in her life.

“Can I talk to you for a moment before we begin, Eden?” Darrak asked. “In private?”

She swallowed past the stupid and inconvenient lump in her throat. “Of course.”

“Don’t take long,” Selina said tensely. “Time is money.” He led Eden over to an oak tree next to the small clearing — which she now realized, for the first time since she’d moved in last month, was a kids’ playground. She’d seen the area in passing as she went to her car, but had never explored further. A swing set, slide, and teeter- totter stood, unoccupied, a dozen feet away, shielded by a thatch of tall trees. Darrak stood with his arms crossed tightly in front of him.

“What?” Eden asked, and it actually came out sounding a lot harsher than she’d meant it to.

“I want you to know I didn’t mean for this to happen.” His handsome face was oddly expressionless.

The flat statement delivered in a monotone — was this supposed to be some sort of apology? — fell on the cool, late afternoon air. And it took that strange emotion inside of her and hardened it. In other words, he’d managed to officially piss her off.

“Oh?” she said. “And what exactly do you refer to? The original possession, throwing my life out of control? Or maybe draining me of energy on a regular basis and putting my life in danger? Scaring off a man who I really liked spending time with? Or was it neglecting to mention your sexual history and the fact that a meaningless roll in the hay with you might destroy my entire life?”

She was happy to see him wince a bit, and something resembling an emotion flickered in those currently flat blue eyes of his. “Meaningless, huh?”

Strange he’d pick up on that particular word in her rant. “Let’s just end this now, Darrak, and not try to pretend it was anything more important. After all, being an ex-incubus I’m sure you’ve got so many notches in your bedpost it’s… well, you probably needed to work at a bedpost factory to keep up with your past conquests.”

“No, you’re right. Of course. Meaningless.” He nodded with a firm motion of his head. “You need to make me a promise, though.”

She stifled an unpleasantly bitter laugh at that. “A promise? What might that be?”

“Don’t use any black magic in the future. Ever.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Eden’s jaw tensed and she looked away.

He drew closer, touched her chin and made her look up at him. “I can still see your soul if I concentrate hard enough. And it’s still as bright and shiny as the first time I saw you. I don’t want you to risk that by dipping into the magic inside you.”