It was quiet then, enough for her to hear her rapid breathing. Her upper arm still ached from where Ben had stuck the needle earlier, and she tenderly rubbed the spot. She felt cold and stunned and confused and very afraid by all of this. “So you’re saying that good and evil are playing tug-of-war, using my body as the rope?”
Oliver’s gaze was serious. “Yes.”
She already knew she was in deep trouble just by being possessed by Darrak. This definitely upped the ante. While everything she’d been told had come as a shock, it was as if these were pieces to the puzzle she’d been trying to put together for a very long time.
Ben stood a few feet away with his hands clasped behind his back like a guard. Sandy remained seated in a chair across from the sofa, watching Eden and Oliver’s conversation carefully. Eden suddenly felt incredibly tired, and her head ached.
“I can help you,” Oliver said. “But you need to let me. Will you do that?”
She looked at his kind face. Her first reaction had been mistrust, but now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe the Malleus could help her. Maybe Oliver could help her right now.
“I . . .guess so,” she agreed, tentatively.
“Very good. Now, I must concentrate.” He closed his eyes, and a moment later Eden felt a strange sensation, as if something was searching her with cool, invisible fingers. She tried to sit very still.
Oliver’s brow furrowed. “There’s a shield over you.” He looked over at Sandy. “Come here, please.”
Sandy did as he asked. “Yes?”
“I’m having trouble sensing the demon. All you did was dampen him, right? You didn’t exorcise him completely, did you?”
Panic shot through Eden at the thought. No, Darrak couldn’t have been exorcised. She would have felt it. She would have known.
“No, it was just a dampening,” Sandy confirmed.
Oliver peered at Eden’s face. He stood up and pressed his hand against her forehead. “There’s a strange energy coming from her. Please figure out what it is before I continue.”
Eden’s gaze flicked to Ben, and he nodded and gave her a small smile. “I told you everything would be okay.”
That remained to be seen, but she was feeling cautiously—very cautiously—optimistic. This was much better than trusting Darrak’s demonic friend to lend a hand. The Malleus was a strong organization of supernatural experts. This was the better solution.
Still, she felt nervous.
Sandy’s cool hand replaced Oliver’s against her forehead.
“Can you hear me?” Sandy’s voice was suddenly in her head. Her lips didn’t move.
Telepathy? Eden’s gaze moved to her with surprise. “I can hear you.”
“You’re a black witch. I sensed it before and I shielded it from Oliver, but the shield is starting to slip.”
This worried her. Eden’s attention flicked to Oliver who was waiting with his arms crossed over his chest, then back to the witch. “Why would you shield it from him?”
“Because he’ll kill you when he finds out.”
Her eyes bugged. “What?”
“Malleus policy. Black witches are executed immediately upon their discovery.”
Cold fear slid through her. “He said he wanted to help me.”
“He lied. It’s that demon inside you he’s really after. He wants to see what possessing a nephilim does to a demon. You need to escape.”
Eden struggled to breathe. “And then what?”
“Place wards around your home so you’ll be protected from those who mean you harm.”
“How do I put up wards?”
“You’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out.” Sandy smiled grimly. “By the way, sorry about what I have to do right now.”
“What?”
“She’s a black witch,” Sandy said aloud. “She was trying to shield it from us.”
Great. Eden’s stomach dropped right down to the ground, and the fear she’d felt earlier returned in full force. So much for thinking she’d found an ally in the other witch.
A hand clamped down over her throat before she could move an inch. Oliver had moved in quickly. The warmth in his gaze had been replaced by ice. “I would have thought a nephilim filled with black magic was impossible. She’s more dangerous than I thought, especially with that demon inside of her.”
Eden grabbed his wrist, but the man was inhumanly strong. “Take your damn hands off me, you bastard. Ben, help me!”
Ben stood with his fists clenched at his sides. “Oliver, let her go. You said she wouldn’t be harmed.”
“That was before I learned she was a black witch.” Oliver’s head twisted to the side. “Come here and hold her still. Do it.”
Ben grabbed Eden’s arms and pulled her off the sofa to hold her firmly in place in front of him.
“What are you doing?” she managed, trying to look at him over her shoulder. His fingers dug painfully into her skin.
“I don’t seem to have a choice,” Ben said, his voice strained. “I have to do what he says.”
Eden gasped when she felt the bite of cold, sharp steel against her throat. Oliver held a dagger there. Her gaze went to Sandy. The witch’s gaze held fear for Eden, but she made no move to help.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this so quickly,” Oliver said. Panic sliced through her as she felt a warm trickle of blood run down her throat. “I don’t want to destroy a nephilim—such a rare, special creature. But you’re a black witch, so I have no choice. Earlier I wasn’t sure how to extract the demon without hurting you. With your death it won’t be an issue.”
He wasn’t joking. He was going to kill her. She had seconds left. Her rapidly beating heart would soon stop forever.
“I’m so sorry, Eden.” Ben’s voice caught on the words, but his grip didn’t lessen for a moment.
Ben had wanted to help her. Would he feel guilty for holding her in place while another man slit her throat? Or would he be able to justify it to himself as another case of good triumphing over evil?
“You’re making a huge mistake,” she managed to say.
Oliver shook his head. “I don’t make mistakes. I make decisions, and they are always the right ones.”
He moved to slash her throat and a scream caught in her chest, but the knife froze in midair before it made contact. For a split second, Eden thought it was Sandy coming to her rescue. But it wasn’t Sandy.
It was her.
Eden’s skin tingled and something that felt like electricity moved down her arms and into her hands.
It was her black magic.
Oliver gripped the blade tighter and arched it toward her again. The rage that had been simmering inside Eden until now rose completely to the surface, and she gave in to it since she had no other choice. With a mere thought she was able to pull the dagger from Oliver’s grasp and launch it across the room where it embedded itself into the wall.
Eden’s mind cleared of all the fear and pain and panic she’d felt before as she opened herself to her magic. She didn’t want to die. They’d left her with no choice but to tap into the very thing she’d promised never to use again.
Her soul was in jeopardy. But, at the moment, her life came first.
“Kill her now,” Oliver snarled. He was instructing Ben.
Without hesitation, Ben’s hands went around her throat from behind, and he began to squeeze. He was very strong, and it didn’t take long before Eden began to see spots before her eyes as he choked her.
“I’m so sorry, Eden. I never meant for this to happen.” His voice was hoarse with pain.
“I’m sorry, too.” She grasped more of her magic and launched him backward. She spun on her heels just in time to see him hit the wall hard and slide down to the ground unconscious.
Her eyes widened at what she’d done so easily, but any guilt disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The more she used the black magic, the more her anger increased, like a huge, rolling wave ready to crash into the shore. She really wanted to destroy
something—channel this energy that was growing inside of her with every passing moment. She knew she could level this entire house with a well-placed thought.
Hopefully Ben had a good insurance policy.
She turned to check where Oliver was, only to receive a backhanded slap across her face that sent pain skittering through her.
“Ow.” She glared at him. “That’s no way to win friends and influence people.”
“Witch”—he’d retrieved the knife and had it in his grip again—“I will end you.”
She cocked her head to the side. “And here I thought we were going to be buddies.”
His teeth were clenched. “Black magic will destroy you.”
“But not if you get me first, right?”
“I can help you,” he said, raising the blade. “This is the only way.”
“The only way you can help me is to kill me? Sure, that made heaps of sense, you sanctimonious prick.”
When Oliver lunged at her, a ripple of magic exited her and wrapped him up in dark light. It raised him up off the floor, and he hovered in the air for a moment. The fear in his eyes made it clear that he thought she would kill him.
Why should she care about his life? He’d nearly ended hers. And he would have, if she hadn’t tapped into her shiny black magic.
Her stomach twinged with pain from using her magic this time, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. A couple Midols would take care of these cramps.
“Come near me or Darrak again and I’ll kill you. Understand me?” Her voice, just like her body at the moment, was filled with darkness.
Oliver nodded. “Yes.”
Another focused magical thought from her and Oliver’s eyes rolled back into his head. He dropped to the ground unconscious.
Eden cast a dark look at Sandy, who’d crawled away from them into the corner.
“Thanks for the head’s-up,” Eden said.
Sandy just nodded, her eyes filled with fear and apprehension.
Eden left the house, and the black magic continued to swirl around her. Her heart pounded hard, and the rage she felt earlier wasn’t in any hurry to leave.
It scared her. And it also . . . excited her.
“Darrak. Are you there?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t respond, but she could feel him under layer after layer of dampening.
Her head felt foggy, cloudy, dazed. She didn’t remember how exactly she got home, but suddenly she was there. Her body trembled. The black magic continued to spark through her, but she felt drained, like an empty glass waiting to be filled.
She let out a shaky breath and looked up at her apartment building through the darkness. Sandy said she’d know how to put up wards. She did. With the magic flowing freely it was easier than she ever would have imagined.
She waved her hand through the air and turned slowly around in a circle.
North, south, east, west. No one shall enter this place who wishes deadly harm to me.
The area shimmered for a moment before going dark again to indicate that the wards were set.
Eden raised her eyebrows with surprise. Well, that was easy.
She barely remember traveling up in the elevator. The door to her apartment opened smoothly in front of her. No key required.
Home sweet home.
The black cat curled on her sofa stood up, stretched, and looked at her curiously.
“Hi, Leena,” she said hollowly, and her throat felt tight.
The cat tilted its head, as if questioning her strange mood.
Despite everything, despite her worries about using her black magic and what it was doing to her soul, she felt . . . good. The more she used her power, the better she felt. The stronger she felt. She didn’t want anyone to be able to harm her or Darrak again. Using her black magic had ensured that. She’d escaped. She’d lived.
Thanks to the magic she wasn’t supposed to use.
The thought didn’t make her feel the least bit guilty now, but she was weakened from using it. She needed more power and she needed it now.
Nosy chaperone shapeshifters would only get in the way.
“Go back to sleep, Leena.” Eden flicked a finger in the cat’s direction. The cat lay down and went back to sleep, no questions asked.
Good.
Eden walked into her bedroom and touched her chest. “Darrak, I need you. Right now.”
She needed him. She wanted him. And she would have him.
Clarity was a wonderful thing.
Being dampened wasn’t fun.
Especially not when Darrak desperately wanted to know what was happening. It was as if he was held prone and covered by a thousand heavy blankets. Suffocating and impossible to move no matter how hard he struggled.
Golden boy was up to no good. He could see that coming from a mile away. However, he hadn’t seen this. So what had happened? Ben got a witch to dampen Darrak so he could talk some sense into Eden without Darrak being around?
Was Eden at risk? Would Ben hurt her?
He didn’t think so, but he wasn’t certain.
The thought was driving him insane.
Maybe he’d stepped over the line by borrowing her body. Maybe she’d finally see the light and want to get rid of him once and for all.
She had been pissed.
He ignored the twinge of guilt he felt. Seeing Theo had been vital. Not telling Eden about it had been . . . well, also vital. The woman could be stubborn.
What was happening? Damn it. He hated being powerless like this.
Hanging out down here in the dampening darkness, he couldn’t do anything but wait and try to remain calm.
There was a time when it would have been much harder to keep him down. Back when he was a full-power archdemon ready to lay waste to the human world as a fun Friday guys’ night out with Theo.
The good old days. Weren’t they? He wasn’t sure anymore; the memories were a bit unclear. But back then at least he knew no one could have defeated him this easily.
Just a little, common witch—not even a full black magic practitioner—was able to bring him to his knees tonight. It was embarrassing.
Eden, he thought. Please be okay.
Worrying wasn’t very demonic of him, but he really couldn’t help it. Stupid humanity.
He didn’t know how long it had been before he felt something—saw something. It was as if a hand had been held out to him. Not a literal hand, but . . . it was there.
He grabbed hold of it.
Then, before he could figure out what was happening, he was pulled at lightning speed up through the layers of dampening. He felt the cold air as he exited Eden’s body, and then he concentrated on taking form. It was instinctual but it still required effort. He clothed himself as he became corporeal.
Eden stood in front of him.
He felt an immediate and almost overwhelming wave of relief at the sight of her.
“What the—?” He looked at his hands, his eyes wide. “Eden . . . what happened?”
“I did it,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I could.”
He came toward her and took her face between his hands, his brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”
“Very much so.”
“Ben . . . he was with a witch.”
“Old news.”
Her hair felt so soft and silky that he couldn’t help but slide his fingers through it. “Where are they now?”
“They’re gone. I took care of them.”
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Quarter after four.”
He frowned at that. “But . . . it’s not even sunrise yet.”
“No.”
“Then how . . .” He blinked, then looked around to see that they were in Eden’s apartment, in her bedroom. “How is this possible? What happened?”
“Ben’s working for the Malleus now. He introduced me to his boss. His boss tried to kill me. I escaped. That’s a quick overview.”
Darrak shook his head, confused. “What?”
Eden took his hand in hers and brushed her lips against it. He drew in a sharp breath. She wasn’t acting like someone who’d just survived a murder attempt. “Eden . . . what did you do to escape?”
She slid her hands up over his chest, her expression serene. “What I had to do.”
It felt good when Eden touched him like this. Too good. She didn’t do it very often—at least not when she was awake. What did this mean?
Oh, no.
He grasped hold of her amulet and looked at it closely, then swore under his breath.
It was a shade darker, just like he’d thought it would be.
“You used your magic,” he said.
“I had no choice.”
“You shouldn’t have—”
But then he couldn’t speak again because she kissed him.
ELEVEN
Darrak hadn’t tasted her for much too long. A brush of her lips against his when she was asleep and dreaming wasn’t nearly the same and not nearly as good. Eden managed to make him as weak as a human male with only a kiss. When her mouth was on his, he lost the ability to think.
“I want you, Darrak,” she whispered, as their lips parted and her mouth moved over his jaw to his throat. Her hands slid up under his shirt, fingernails sensually scratching his skin as she pulled the material higher.
He was about to comment, but her tongue swirled over his left nipple and he had to struggle to remain standing.
Underrated, male nipples were—even the ones belonging to demons. Very underrated.
Eden pushed him backward until he hit the edge of the bed and sat down. Her hands went to the waistband of his pants, and she very effectively undid the top button and slid the black jeans over his hips, then kissed a hot line down his chest and abdomen. She didn’t stop there.
He swore harshly. “Eden—”
This wasn’t right. She wasn’t thinking straight.
They couldn’t do this.
Or . . . well, maybe they could.
No. No, they couldn’t.
She’d used her magic to escape from Ben. The cop had threatened Eden, and she’d had to use black magic to get away. That powerful magic was still flowing freely through Eden’s body. It allowed her to summon him before he was normally able to take form. Now it had condensed and changed into this . . . this need.
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