“We need to see him immediately.” Darrak paced back and forth between her kitchenette and where she sat at the dinette table, her feet curled up under her as she watched him. “Okay. That sounds fine.” He sighed. “Why are you still crying? We’ll see you soon, Stanley.”
He hung up.
“You made Stanley cry,” Eden said. “I actually don’t have a problem with that.”
Darrak shrugged. “He’s still intimidated by my fearsome reputation. Nice to know somebody is.”
“Are you going to share?”
“We’re seeing Maksim. Today.”
She stared at him blankly for a moment. “The wizard master.”
“The one and only. He’s back from his vacation.”
Maksim the wizard master had gone on vacation after surviving a torture session by a demon—a friend of Darrak’s—a couple of weeks ago.
“You think Maksim can help me?” She didn’t want to hope for too much from a simple phone call. Disappointment was a heartless bitch.
“I think so. Wizards and witches go hand in hand. Didn’t you read Harry Potter?”
She just stared at him.
“I’m kidding, of course,” he continued. “I didn’t read the books. But I did see the movies. A previous host was a fan. He even wore dress robes and pretended he’d been sorted into a house. Hufflepuff, if you can believe it. Who liked Hufflepuff best? I mean, seriously.”
She didn’t speak for a moment. “I don’t think a knowledge of children’s literature is going to be much help here.”
“A wizard, especially one at Maksim’s level, will know about all kinds of magic and the practitioners of it. At the very least, he’ll be able to point us in the right direction to get help for you.”
She did see his point and that it was at least worth a shot. “Okay, so when are we seeing him?”
“Right now.”
“Now?” She glanced at the clock that read eight thirty. “But Andy’s going to want us in the office. He has a new case he wants to talk to us about and—”
“And it can wait a couple of hours. It can wait a whole day if necessary. This is more important, Eden.”
She took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. Besides, the full moon isn’t until tomorrow night. Andy will be just fine on his own until then.”
They exchanged a knowing glance. Andy had been bitten by a werewolf recently and was in total denial about what that meant.
The denial would only last another day before the fur started to flow. That was, unless there was some sort of random miracle between now and then. Eden believed in a lot of things these days, but random miracles weren’t one of them.
“Fine.” She nodded with a firm shake of her head and clenched her tingling hands into fists at her sides. “Then we’re off to see the wizard.”
“Good. And, hey, maybe he’s somehow related to your horoscope this morning. That person from your past whose destiny is intertwined with yours.”
“I think I’d remember meeting a wizard master.”
Darrak glanced down at the paper now laying crumpled on the floor. “Then who do you think it was talking about?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Out of all the drama in Eden’s life at the moment, an entertaining, but silly horoscope was the least of her worries.
Caroline Riley watched from the shadows as her daughter left her apartment building and headed toward her rusty Toyota. She was about to run up to Eden and give her a big hug, but held back when the demon came into view.
He was tall with unruly dark hair that fell almost to his broad shoulders. He casually pulled on a black jacket as he trailed closely after Eden. He was handsome, of course. Most demons had a highly attractive human visage they wore when not using their demonic form. It made it that much easier for them to prey upon humans.
He was going to be a problem.
She wondered why Eden would choose to spend time with this creature and allow him into her home. Maybe he was threatening her. Blackmailing her.
Or . . . sleeping with her.
Was her daughter having an affair with a demon?
Caroline ran the scenario through her mind, but it didn’t sound right to her. Eden had always been a rule follower, a perfect student, a hard worker, although one who lacked career direction. Someone like that wasn’t one who’d have her head easily turned by one of Lucifer’s minions.
Despite her natural beauty—that she’d inherited from her mother, of course—Eden had never had very much confidence in herself, poor thing. That must have been what the demon had seized upon.
Caroline had arrived just in time. Sure, she had other pressing matters to attend to, but rescuing her only child from the clutches of a demon had now been added to her lengthy to-do list.
It would be nice to talk to Eden again. It had been much too long since they’d last spoken.
Then again, Caroline had been dead for the last three months.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
Teaser chapter
Something Wicked Page 32