That Old Black Magic

“Sex magic would. It’s the whole reason for it to exist. It’s like pheromones on crack. Probably explains your behavior in the car. I mean, I know I’m hard to resist, but…”

She grimaced. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“Good idea. Much too distracting.”

She focused on Darrak’s warm skin against hers. “So what do I do now?”

“This I can’t help you with. But if your magic is identical to Selina’s, that spell you can see belongs to you, too. You might be able to just suck it back up and send it back from whence it came, easy as pie.”

“Easy as pie?”

“Well, probably not as easy as pie. Piece of cake, maybe?”

She exhaled shakily. “I’ll try.”

“Just… try your best not to make it any worse than it already is.”

She stiffened. “Wait a minute, worse? What do you mean?”

“If you make the spell worse, it’s possible I won’t even be able to touch you at all anymore. That’s one of the reasons I’m touching you right now so you can sense if something bad is happening.”

“That really could happen?”

“Sex is the extreme. Touching is the safe end, but it’s still in the same realm. I have agreed not to have sex with you again for your own good, but not touching you at all for an eternity of being bound together like this would be much too cruel. It would mean I could never kiss you again. Hold your hand. Brush against you. Nothing.”

Her breathing sped up. “That would be bad.”

“Glad to see we agree about something.”

“Can we stop this and regroup?”

“No, it’s too late. You’re too deep and you’ve already accessed the spell enough to see it. Keep going, but take as much time as you need.”

She’d dived in headfirst without thinking much about it first. Didn’t sound like her usual self — that had been much more reckless than she normally was.

They couldn’t stop. But she had to be very careful.

Eden concentrated and went deeper still, a few more floors down. She was in this now, for better or for worse. She’d already touched the spell — the gossamer coating that covered his form on this level of consciousness. That was what she focused on.

Go now, she thought. Leave here. I no longer need you. As she thought the command, sending out the magic through what she now knew was her soul, she felt it respond. It was as if the spell had a personality — like a puppy. It recognized her magical signature and wagged its tail. And then it extracted itself from Darrak to return to her and… disappeared.

Hocus-pocus.

She inhaled sharply and tried to stand up from her chair, but her knees buckled. Darrak caught her in his arms.

“Eden…” he said from what sounded like a great distance. “Eden!”

She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering as she opened her eyes and smiled up at him. “I think I did it.”

His expression looked strained, concerned, but hopeful. “You should be teaching Magic 101. I can’t help but be impressed.”

“Maybe Maksim’s advice was too good not to be true.”

“Maybe.” Darrak looked conflicted by this possibility. Part of him, though, looked cautiously optimistic. But then his gaze moved to her chest. It only took her a moment to figure out why.

Her amulet.

Damn.

“It’s darker,” she said. “Isn’t it?”

“Maksim said this wouldn’t use your black magic in a destructive manner.” He swore under his breath. “But he was wrong. It used your magic and your soul at the same time. It was like introducing two horny people on a blind date. They went for each other immediately. It was a direct conduit to your soul for that black magic.”

She glanced down at the amulet, taking the cool piece of oval-shaped stone in her hand. It was significantly darker by at least two shades. It was now a medium gray with lines that were the color of charcoal. It was quite pretty, actually, if you didn’t know what it really meant.

Instead of panicking, she felt a strange sense of resolve.

“It was worth it,” she said, mostly to herself. “Besides, I don’t feel any different.”

“Not yet.” He paced back and forth before stopping and looking at her. “You know, there is a way to take it back a few shades before it gets too much darker.”

She shook her head. “No, Darrak.”

“You think I like the idea of it? But if necessary, it’s what you have to do—”

“Stop it.” Her voice cracked on the words.

“Another kiss from Lucifer wouldn’t really be so bad, would it?” His eyes burned bright with immediate jealousy, but a dark smile twisted on his face.

“Keep it up, Darrak, and the next time I see him I might not only kiss him.”

That helped erase the humorless smile completely.

However, she couldn’t exactly argue with his logic. It had already been proven that kissing the Prince of Hell, even a chaste, emotionless kiss, drew the darkness out of her and straight into him. He was the ultimate magnet for evil. But he was a devious, manipulative man. Fallen angel. Demon. Prince. Prisoner. A split-personality Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

All of the above.

She didn’t trust him. That her life was now irrevocably intertwined with his didn’t exactly help her sleep that well at night.

In a way she felt sorry for him, and that didn’t help much either. Lucifer, or Lucas, which was the name she preferred to use for him, felt trapped in Hell. His only desire was to go back to Heaven where he thought he truly belonged, but his darkness was an eternal anchor keeping him stuck in the Netherworld.

Lucas thought he was cursed. Eden couldn’t very well say he was wrong about that.

When the prince chose to come to the human world, he did so with one drawback. Here he was mortal. He still had power, especially over beings like Darrak, whom Lucas had created himself, but his mortal body could be killed. And if so, his essence would be sent back to Hell with no chance to escape again for a very long time.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“What for?”

“Everything.”

“You’re taking my lines again, because I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“Maybe we’re just a sorry pair.”

He snorted. “No kidding.”

She slid her hands up his chest. “There is some good news, though.”

“Oh?”

“Your spell is broken.” She smiled. “You can’t give me any more black magic than I already have.”

“Oh.”

“Can you feel it?”

“I think so.”

“How does it feel?”

He lowered his face so they were eye to eye. “It feels very good.”

“This means we can be together. Whenever we like.”

She thought he was going to pull away, tell her to wait, but instead he kissed her, a kiss that didn’t hold back anything. It was deep, searching, passionate, and she wanted more. Desire swelled within her swiftly, immediately.

“Here?” he asked.

She just nodded.

A smile spread across his handsome face. “Your wish is my command.”

He pressed her back against the desk, his mouth moving down the column of her throat, and then she heard