“Are you going to see Maksim again?”
“Not sure. I got a bad vibe off him, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. For his sake, I hope he wasn’t screwing around with us.”
“Will you hurt him if he was?”
A slow smile snaked across Darrak’s face. “You know, everyone always assumes all a demon ever cares about is violence and mayhem and the sound of tearing flesh. But, trust me, that’s actually only 95 percent of the time. We do have a few other hobbies, you know.”
The look of horror that crossed Stanley’s face shouldn’t have amused him, but it did anyway. Maybe he was still evil down deep.
It was a comforting thought, actually.
Eden spent the day organizing Andy’s files. It was what she typically did on Thursdays, nice mindless work — mostly deciphering her partner’s lousy handwriting. She went out midafternoon to Hot Stuff to grab a sandwich, which sat heavily in her queasy stomach.
Stomach flu. Definitely.
She had to look on the bright side — she’d removed Darrak’s spell. That was a huge step in the right direction and it made today a wonderful one.
Visit from dead mother and darkening amulet notwithstanding.
Her mother was back. Her dead mother had returned from both the grave and Hell itself to show up on her doorstep. This revelation brought with it conflicting emotions in Eden. On one side she was glad Caroline had survived her trip to Lucas’s domain unscathed. It showed that he did follow through with his promise to release her. On the other hand, the last thing Eden needed right now was a mother set on redemption who wanted to pitch in and help save her daughter from the big bad demon.
She’d deal with Caroline, and of course she’d want to see her again and try to work things out between the two of them. Just not today. Today she needed to deal with the black magic. If only it didn’t come at so heavy a price, she would use it for just about anything. Housework would be a breeze, for instance. And cooking. And getting dressed. She’d be Samantha Stephens and Darrak could be Darrin. A happy couple who made the differences between them work, no matter what.
Was that possible? Did they really have a future together, despite how many odds were stacked against them?
It sounded like a pipe dream at best to a realist like Eden. There were just too many difficulties for her to just ignore.
Love didn’t fix everything, even if she really, really wished it could.
But still, she couldn’t help but be hopeful.
When it was close to sunset, it was time to shut down the office and go get Darrak and leave before his curse hit and he lost corporeal form. Eden grabbed her coat from the rack near the door and slid it on, grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, then reached into her pocket for her keys. Something else was in the pocket, something small and hard; for a moment she didn’t know what it was until she pulled it out.
A marble.
She looked at it. “I don’t remember putting you in my pocket.”
The marble immediately heated up and she squinted against the bright light it emanated.
“Oh—” she began, but by the time she finished she wasn’t in the Triple-A office anymore—“shit!”
Eden was now standing on a beach.
The marble was a summoning crystal given to her a couple of weeks ago. It always brought her here, to a place that looked exactly like a beautiful tropical beach at sunset, with ocean waves lapping gently against the shore, golden sand, and a warm breeze scented with papaya and lilies.
She’d just been summoned here, to a place that didn’t actually exist in real life.
And she already knew by whom.
Another feeling of queasiness went through her, but this had very little to do with a stomach flu. Turning her head slightly to the right she saw him approach from down the beach. He wore white pants and a white shirt. No shoes. He was smiling.
A shiver raced down her spine.
“Hello Eden,” Lucas said.
She cleared her throat. “What am I doing here?”
“You’re looking well.”
“Thank you. What am I doing here?”
“You think I sent for you?”
That’s exactly what she thought, and it made her nervous. “Did you predict I’d touch the marble just now?”
“I’m afraid I’m not capable of predicting the future, so no. A gift like that would come in handy, though, I have to say.”
“I guess I find it difficult to believe that someone like you doesn’t have that ability.”
He laughed. “Oh? I guess my reputation gives the impression I’m much more powerful than I really am.”
This was one of the biggest problems with Lucas. He was so disarming, so charming, so friendly. Even the way he looked — or chose to look when in Eden’s presence — didn’t help. Short brown hair, a bit shaggy. Warm brown eyes. A very attractive, but not intimidatingly handsome face. He looked like the perfect guy next door.
He’d also nearly destroyed Darrak with a mere thought the last time they’d been face-to-face. Lucas might be charming, but the Prince of Hell didn’t take disappointment very well.
He was powerful, dangerously so, even if he didn’t readily admit it.
Eden felt a great need to fill the uncomfortable silence that fell between them. “My mother is back.”
“Is she?”
“I think you already know that. She’s a drifter now.”
“You don’t seem pleased by this.”
“I’m not. How do I get her to Heaven?”
He studied her. “You don’t. She is where she needs to be. Her soul is an in-between case, Eden. Not dark enough for me to keep in Hell indefinitely, but not light enough for her to ascend to Heaven.”
“So she stays in the human world forever?”
“The slate is not cleared for Caroline Riley, but this is a chance for her to redeem herself — or damn herself further. Her actions now will tilt her one way or another. And one day she might be given the chance to move on, be it up or down. It’s nice to have choices. It’s something I never got.”
Eden wasn’t going to touch that bitter comment with a ten-foot pole. Lucas had issues when it came to his fate. She had no idea how many years, centuries, millennia it had been since the original fallen angel was first sent down to Hell, but he had a chip on his shoulder the size of the planet Jupiter about it.
“Fine. So I guess I’m stuck with my mother.”
“You saved her soul. Does she even know that?”
“No. And I’m not planning on telling her.”
“So modest.” He walked a slow circle around her, and she felt very uncomfortable as his gaze slid leisurely over her.
“Why am I here, Lucas?”
“I like that you call me Lucas. It makes me feel more human.”
“No comment.”
“But you’re right. I did want to see you. Approaching you when Darrak’s around probably isn’t such a good idea.”
She snorted. “Believe it or not, he mentioned you earlier today. Said that I should—”
She clamped her mouth shut before she finished that sentence. Perhaps it was best not to venture into that territory.
