“About what?”
“A very long time ago I’d agreed to do a job, one that never had an end date. No yearly assessment. No pay increase. Somebody made me forget about that. Or maybe it was no one’s fault but my own. My memories”—he held his hands to his temples—“they’re cloudy when the years grow long and there’s no one who truly understands how lonely it can be.”
Darrak rolled his eyes. “Maybe
Lucifer smiled. “So you, my lowly creation, no more than hellfire with a personality, are going to take over my throne, my responsibilities. You will control the shadows. You really think you’re worthy enough for that?”
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Darrak’s patience was at an end. The sooner he took over Hell, the sooner he could do something, anything, to help restore Eden’s soul. She was standing right here in front of him. She wasn’t lost to him. Not yet.
“Do it,” Darrak growled. “Now before I change my mind.”
Lucifer approached Eden, who stood up from the chair to face him.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded. “Take it all, Lucas, and then go away. I never want to see you again.”
“As you wish.” Lucifer pulled Eden against him and crushed his mouth against hers. Darrak fisted his hands at his sides, only sheer determination keeping him from pulling the prince away from her and pounding him into the ground.
This wasn’t jealousy, not anymore. This wasn’t a kiss of passion. It was one of a thief. He was stealing her angel half so he could use it for himself.
Greedy bastard.
Darrak had never felt so much hate for anyone in his entire existence. But that hate made him stronger. It would have to. He needed to be strong, stay strong, for Eden. For what was to come.
When the kiss ended, Lucifer staggered back from Eden and inhaled raggedly. Eden collapsed but Darrak was able to grab her before she hit the ground.
And then something caught his eye. Her amulet.
It had turned white. Completely white.
His gaze snapped to Lucifer.
Dark veins appeared around his mouth. His eyes were not brown anymore, but black. Completely black, even the whites.
Darrak’s eyes widened. “You didn’t take her celestial energy. You — you took her black magic.”
Lucifer grinned, but it was shaky. “Not delicious, let me tell you. It was a bit on the bitter side, actually.”
Confusion crashed over him. “Why would you do this?”
Lucifer swallowed hard. “Look after her. Look after both of them. They need you more than I do.”
Eden stirred, her chest hitching as she gained consciousness.
None of this made any sense to Darrak. “But I said I would do your job. I would be the Prince of Hell.”
Lucifer smiled then, an eerie look on his haunted face. “Oh Darrak, I don’t hate you that much.”
The next moment he gasped and hunched over as pain wrenched his body. Flames poured out of him, covering his form in an instant. He grew taller and broader as if taking on a new visage — one Darrak recognized immediately. Nine feet tall, four hundred pounds. His skin turned black as coal. His upper lip peeled back from his teeth to show they’d grown sharp and long as knives.
Eden trembled in Darrak’s arms. “Wh-what’s going on?”
“The darkness he consumed… it’s turning him into Satan.”
Large, batlike wings spread out on either side of Lucifer.
No, not Lucifer. Not anymore. This was a true monster from the fiery depths of Hell. The shadowy beast that controlled everything, that wanted to break free and destroy anything it touched.
It was pure evil made flesh.
“You can’t be here,” Darrak snarled, holding Eden closer to him as if he would be able to protect her from something this horrific. “It’s not allowed! Go back where you came from!”
Satan couldn’t take form in the human world. It was a safety precaution. The only reason Lucifer could be here at all was because he took mortal form. He had some power, but not enough to truly harm anyone, apart from one of his own creations like Darrak.
And yet, here he was. Satan was making his first personal appearance on human soil.
Black eyes tracked to Darrak, and a cold smile snaked across the creature’s face.
Satan snarled at him. “You wanted this for yourself. All this magnificent power. And you would give it up for a mere woman?”
Darrak shielded Eden as the monster drew closer to them.
“Hey, Satan,” he said evenly. “Go to Hell.”
Satan’s smile disappeared.
Lucifer was still in there somewhere, and he knew exactly what he was doing. He was the one chosen for the job in the first place, after all. He’d wrangled this beast many times before.
With a last, soulless, black-eyed glare, Satan wrapped the huge, leathery wings around himself, and disappeared in a violent flash of fire.
He was gone.
That had been too damn close. Pun fully intended.
Darrak pulled Eden closer. The room was lit up by his own fire, the same hellfire from which he’d been created once upon a time. He controlled this fire, it was a part of him in this form, and it would do no damage unless he wanted it to.
He grabbed hold of Eden’s face, checking to make sure she was okay.
“Eden,” he rasped. “It is you? Is it really you?”
She nodded and threw her arms around him. “It’s me.”
“I thought I lost you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“That makes two of us. Only…” He swallowed. “There’s a problem.”
She pulled back. “What?”
“My form… I–I think this might be it. I might be stuck with this demonic visage for a while.”
Her gaze moved over Darrak’s fearsome face, along the curved horns. She touched his sharp cheekbones, ridged jaw, and down his heavily muscled arm until she entwined her fingers with his that were tipped in sharp talons.
“I can get used to it,” she said very seriously.
Darrak couldn’t help but grin, hoping she wouldn’t be too afraid of his razor-sharp teeth. “I’m just messing with you.”
He shifted back to human form.
She punched him in his arm. “Don’t do that.”
“Sorry.”
She kissed him then, very hard on his much more kissable mouth. Considering that he thought he’d never be able to touch her again, it was quite possibly the best kiss they’d ever shared. He took the time to fully explore her mouth, before he kissed every inch of her face. Finally he felt her push against his chest.
He moved back a bit. “Let me guess. Your father is currently standing behind me about ready to unleash heavenly fury on me for defiling his beautiful daughter.”
“Pretty much.”
He turned to look at Daniel, who stood there, his white wings stretching out behind him.
Maybe he hadn’t escaped decimation after all.
