That Old Black Magic

the night to take care of a few chores.

It had been a necessary evil, so to speak, although he supposed he could have gone about it in a less deceptive manner.

He’d earned that trust back, and he wouldn’t jeopardize it again. No matter what.

Eden had come close to promising Darrak she’d never use her black magic again, but here they were in jeopardy and her magic automatically slid down her arms and into her hands ready to destroy something. To cause a distraction. To make something explode.

A flaming BlackBerry might come in handy right about now.

She despised Lucas for lying to her, for making them believe he was Maksim.

And she’d been fooled so easily.

In the end, she couldn’t even blame him for their current situation. She’d made the deal of her own free will. She’d promised him her celestial energy.

And now he wanted her to pay up.

They were the ones trying to break the rules, not him.

She wasn’t giving up hope. There was still a chance for her and Darrak to come out of this unscathed, but maybe she was fooling herself. She’d made the deal, and Darrak had just tried to screw Lucas out of it.

They were in deep trouble.

Lucas wasn’t a nice guy who sometimes kissed a bit of her darkness away. He was darkness. That’s why he needed her in the first place.

“Here we are.” Lucas had stopped at the end of the flight of stairs to the basement. A man emerged from a room at the end of the hall. He was tall and handsome with broad shoulders. His hair was red, very red, the color Eden might expect a Viking to have. Erik the Red, or something. It was the color her hair would be if she didn’t make regular trips to the salon.

And just like hers, his face wasn’t covered in freckles as she’d seen a lot of redheads have. No, his face was pale, perfect skin. Straight nose, full lips… green eyes.

Just like hers.

“Oh shit,” she whispered.

“What?” Darrak asked.

Eden had seen this man before. He’d visited when she’d been just a little girl playing in a sandbox a long, long time ago. She’d liked him, she remembered that much. And then he was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.

She never knew why he never returned.

“That’s my father,” she whispered, stunned.

“He’s your… What is he doing here?”

“I have no idea.”

“It’s rude to talk behind my back,” Lucas noted. “I’m assuming that you know who this is.”

“Yes.” Eden forced herself to sound strong. The spark of power in her hands faded away. “What is this, Lucas?”

“A reunion of sorts. Daniel and I go way back.”

“I’m sure you do.” Darrak cocked his head and crossed his arms, walking closer to the angel.

What was he doing? It was as if he had no concern for his own safety. This was Eden’s father, she had no doubt about that, but she was wary. He didn’t look at her as if he recognized her, that he cared that she was in trouble. He seemed utterly clueless, actually.

That worried her more than she already was.

“Nice to meet you,” Darrak said to the angel and held his hand out.

The angel eyed him before shaking his hand. “The pleasure’s all mine, demon. I’ve wanted to meet you for some time, but it never really worked out.”

Lucas grinned. “Are you going to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage? How retro, Darrak.”

“I like to do things Little House on the Prairie style whenever possible. Great show, by the way. I think I developed half my humanity just from watching the Ingalls.” Darrak turned to Lucas. “I know what’s going on here.”

“Do you?” Lucas said.

“Somehow you’ve convinced Daniel here to take over your throne. Which I find a bit hard to believe considering your plan requires you to suck all the angel juice out of his daughter first.”

Eden was holding her magic in reserve, not ready to use it yet. This had all begun by her and Darrak going to Maksim to seek his help only a couple of days ago. Her magic had been uncontrollable, or it seemed that way, anyhow. But the more she used it, the better it got. The stronger it got. If it didn’t destroy her soul it would be the perfect tool.

Or weapon.

She’d find a way to get herself and Darrak out of this tight situation. She just wished she knew exactly how to do that.

“I suppose I’m lucky that angel juice, as you say, is a naturally renewable resource considering how much you’ve absorbed over the last month.” Lucas walked a slow circle around Darrak. “I wonder what it would have done to you if you’d been bound to her longer — another month, another year. Would you have turned completely angel then? Grown a pair of wings? And if so, would that have been enough to break your curse, considering that it had first been cast upon an archdemon?”

“You could do your college thesis on me. I smell an A+. Possibly a movie deal. Exciting stuff.”

“Quite. The demon who became good.”

Darrak’s smile stretched unpleasantly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure you’ve been following along. I might be part angel now, but I’m not all that good. For example, right now I’m feeling a whole hell of a lot of malevolence, and it’s all directed at you, Lucy.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “I think you know what it’s like to feel my wrath. Shall we go down that road again?”

Eden clenched her fists. Her heart felt as if it was going a thousand beats a minute.

Stay calm, just for a bit longer, she told herself. Darrak has this under control.

“Smite me,” Darrak snapped. “Go ahead, you limp-dicked angel. Because that’s what it’s going to take before I let you lay a finger on Eden.”

Well, perhaps “under control” was a bit of an overstatement.

TWENTY-FIVE

Thankfully, no immediate smiting occurred.

“A deal is a deal,” Lucas said simply.

“You can kiss that deal good-bye. Go find your own nephilim and leave mine alone.”

Eden felt the weight of Lucas’s gaze on her.

“How do you feel about his taking ownership of you? You’re an independent woman. Must feel a bit uncomfortable.”

She shook her head. “Feels fine. I am his. And he’s mine. It’s an equal opportunity relationship.”

“Isn’t that special?” Lucas smiled. “So you’re denying me what we agreed to.”

She knew she should be afraid of him, but everything that had happened had just succeeded in pissing her off. She hated games. And he’d been playing with her life, with her emotions, for too long now.

Screw that.