“I know that, too.”
“Then why won’t you consider exorcising—”
This time she kissed him. A bit less violent than slapping but no less dangerous. When she pulled away to see his shocked face, she poked a finger at him.
“I didn’t just tap into my nasty black cesspool of magic tonight so I could call up 1-800-Exorcist tomorrow.”
“Yeah, but—”
Another kiss. Longer this time. Eden grabbed hold of his plain black T-shirt to pull him closer. The night was cold and he felt very warm, despite the fact he wasn’t wearing a coat.
“Then why did you do it?” he asked gruffly when they parted again.
“Because I need you.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “You need me for what?”
“You’re my resident expert on the supernatural. And Andy’s got a stack of cases involving werewolves and other… well,
He nodded. “Good reason. I can definitely help with that. It’s the least I can do.”
“And… and I also need you to help me deal with this.” She touched the grayish stone. “Selina promised to help me but now she’s gone.” Her voice caught. “She was a black witch but she wasn’t all bad. She could control it. Maybe there’s still hope for me.”
“There’s always hope.”
“You think so?”
He nodded. “If you’d asked me that a couple weeks ago I would have said no, but now I think there might be.”
“Even for a humanity-infused archdemon and a newly black witch?”
“Even for a couple of losers like that.” He exhaled. “I’ll figure out a way to break this curse.”
“Well, that would be good. I’m kind of counting on it.”
He touched her throat, stroking his thumb gently over where he’d nearly choked the life out of her. “I almost killed you.”
“But you didn’t. You were able to resist her even though she knew your true name.”
“Only because my bond to you is stronger than that. It was still a struggle, though. Thankfully, Pussy Galore arrived to save the day.”
“Our bond,” she repeated. “That growing addiction to each other you mentioned the other day.”
He nodded and stroked the long hair off her face. “For many reasons, it’s going to be difficult. Being with you all the time until we figure out a solution to our problem.”
She swallowed. “I know you wish it hadn’t happened—”
He kissed her this time. Just a quick one. “You really haven’t been paying attention.”
She was confused. “But you said—”
“I said nothing good had ever come of being with someone for me before. And I was right — you’re a black witch because of me.”
“You didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t.” He exhaled, then met her eyes. “But it can never happen again between us.”
She was about to ask why, but then remembered what Selina had said. The spell she’d put on Darrak hadn’t been removed. If they ever made love again, Eden would lose more of her soul as her black magic increased.
“Oh,” she said after it sunk in. “So I guess we’re really going to be like brother and sister now, aren’t we?”
Darrak nodded, but drew his thumb over her bottom lip. “If the brother had incredibly inappropriate thoughts about his sister every minute of the day.” He managed a small smile. “It’s not going to be easy, but I won’t hurt you again no matter how hard it gets.” He cleared his throat. “You know.
“You’re so noble.”
“Totally.”
She touched his hand. “And kissing?”
“Kissing is dangerous on many levels for us. It leads to other things.”
“Good point.” She forced herself to pull away from him and looked at the horizon to see the sun was slipping behind it as they spoke. A glance at Darrak’s now shadowed face confirmed he was beginning to show the strain of losing form. But as usual he was fighting it.
“It’s almost time,” he warned her.
She held up her hands. “We need some rules.”
He covered his stomach and hunched over a little. “Such as?”
“I’m going to dampen you when I need bathroom time.”
“Fine.”
“And no taking over my body to trip, slap, or punch people. And if I’m in danger of having another experience like what happened with the foamy salt mouth, you’ll give me a better warning.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
She couldn’t think at the moment. “I’ll make up an alphabetized list.”
“I look forward to reading it.”
She frowned. “And one more thing—”
He kissed her again, hard on her lips. When he pulled away she touched her mouth, feeling passion swell inside her for him even though she really wished she didn’t feel that way. She forgot what she was going to say. “What was that for?”
“Just for the hell of it.”
He grinned, before the pain of fighting against losing form swept that expression away. The next moment he turned to black smoke before her very eyes, swirling around for a moment before he disappeared inside of her. She braced a hand against the nearest tree to support herself after the wave of pleasure weakened her knees.
“Damn,” she managed.
“You are both so screwed,” Leena commented from a dozen feet away. She had returned to human form and shakily pushed up from the ground.
“Oh, I know that,” Eden said. “And your point?”
“Just stating the obvious.”
“Thought you were leaving.”
“I thought so, too. But here I am.”
Eden swallowed. “Thanks for helping out.”
“I guess I’m in this up to my ass now. Maybe I’ll stay after all.”
Eden looked at her skeptically. “Let me guess. Nowhere else to go?”
Leena shrugged. “Sad, isn’t it?”
“Very.” She crossed her arms. “Well, I have to say you were right about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You make a kick-ass lasagna.”
Leena grinned. “I knew you’d like it.”
“Do you know how to cook anything else?”
“Are you asking me to move back in with you so I can feed you and protect you from that demon of yours?”
Eden touched her chest. She felt Darrak’s presence as he settled in for the night. “He’s not going to hurt me.”
“Sure he won’t.” She rolled her eyes. “But actually I was thinking more along the lines of a chaperone. No more hankypanky or you get more evil. Is that right?”
Maybe she should take out an ad in the daily newspaper. That way she could make sure everyone in the city knew about her magical sex issues.
“It’s not going to be a problem,” she said as firmly as she could.
Leena laughed out loud at that as she rubbed her hand against her head. She probably had a bump from hitting the tree earlier. “I heard the demon say that he loves you. So, yeah, it’s going to be a problem. A big
