Well, whatever was going to happen, her personal life would be back to normal.
It was a good thing. She had to embrace it. But it didn’t mean she’d ever forget.
The phone rang again. She’d never realized how few times the phone normally rang until now that she heard it every couple of minutes. Andy picked it up to give his oddly cheery, singsong greeting.
“Eden. It’s for you.”
She picked up. “Eden Riley here.”
“Eden, hi. Sorry I didn’t call earlier.”
She immediately recognized Ben’s voice. She bit her bottom lip. “I figured you probably wouldn’t call me at all after what happened last night.”
“Why? Did something out of the ordinary happen?”
She could hear the smile in his voice and was surprised by it. “Only a couple of things.”
“Are you busy right now? I wanted to see you again.”
“Me, busy?” She twisted the phone cord around her finger and leaned back in her chair. “Later yes, but not too bad right at the moment.”
“Good.”
She heard the jingle and looked up. Ben entered the office with his cell phone pressed against his ear. He pulled it away and closed it, then slid it into his pocket.
“The question is,” he said, “do you want to see me again.” She smiled and stood up from behind her desk after hanging up the phone. “Of course I do. But last night… I’m so sorry.”
“Are we talking about the slapping me thing?”
She forced herself not to look at Darrak, who stood by the window to her left. “Among other embarrassing issues.”
Ben tilted his head. “So you didn’t really mean to slap me?” “Of course I didn’t.”
“Because I was thinking I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you.”
“Then that would have been a drastically wrong assumption.” She moved out from behind her desk. “Although I understand why you’d feel that way. With the physical violence and all.”
He nodded, studied her intently for a moment, and then closed the distance between them, ignoring both Andy and Darrak. “Then I think it’s best to get this out of the way right now so it doesn’t become an ongoing issue between us.”
“What are you talking about?”
He captured her face between his hands and kissed her very firmly on her mouth. Her eyes widened at the feel of his lips against hers before he let go of her.
He grinned. “See, I feel much better now.”
“Uh… wow, I didn’t expect that.”
“Less time for you to build up a defensive tactic.” His grin disappeared. “Does that mean I shouldn’t do it again?”
“No, I’m definitely not saying that. You have my full permission to do that again.” She cleared her throat. The cop could kiss very, very well. And he looked extremely pleased with himself considering the fact he had a fiery-eyed demon now standing directly behind him with fists clenched at his sides.
“If I wasn’t so busy,” Andy said from across the room, “I’d be very curious to know everything that’s been going on with you lately, Eden. Okay, maybe I’m a little curious. Who’s this guy?”
“Oh, uh… this is Ben Hanson. Or, rather, Detective Ben Hanson. Ben, this is my partner here at the agency, Andy McCoy.”
Andy drew closer and extended his hand. Ben shook it. “Good to meet you. Nice to see that somebody’s willing to give our little recluse Eden a good time.”
“Andy!” Eden’s face flushed.
“Well, you know what I mean. You can’t always depend on your brother, especially considering his special condition.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother,” Ben said.
“Right.” She cleared her throat again. It helped to give her a moment to think. “Uh… this is Darrak.”
Ben turned slowly to see the demon. Eden breathed a sigh of relief to see he’d changed his eyes back to their normal blue color. Flame-filled eyes might be hard to explain away.
They were exactly the same height. She hadn’t realized that until seeing them side by side. Ben had short blond hair, while Darrak’s was dark and unruly. Ben wore faded jeans and a white shirt under a dark brown leather jacket. Darrak wore head-to-toe black. They had similar builds to go with their similarity in height. Hard, lean muscle. Broad shoulders and chests.
Ben was smiling. Darrak was not.
“Hey there.” Ben extended his hand in greeting. “Good to meet you.”
Darrak didn’t shake it. “You go around kissing a lot of women without their permission?”
Ben’s smile faded at the edges. “I guess that might not have looked very good to you, did it?”
“No, it didn’t.”
“It’s fine,” Eden interjected. “Really.”
“You’re interested romantically in my… sister?” Darrak asked.
Ben let out a small laugh. “Didn’t know I’d be meeting the family today. But, uh… sure. I’ll play along. Yeah, I like Eden. A lot, actually.”
“But you don’t like psychics. You’re turned off by the supernatural.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say turned off, exactly. But I am a skeptic. Besides, Eden herself doesn’t claim to be able to bend spoons with her mind or anything crazy.”
Darrak crossed his arms. “Crazy, huh? Bending spoons is serious business. If you ever come face-to-face with a true spoon-bending telekinetic, I hope for your sake you don’t piss them off.”
Ben’s eyes shifted back and forth. “Are you being serious with me right now?”
“Deadly.” Darrak eyed the cop distastefully. “Do you normally abandon the women you like at restaurants so they can find their own way home?”
Ben glanced at Eden then back at Darrak. “I can tell we’re not getting off on the right foot here. Last night was hard to explain. There were some issues I had to take care of.”
Yeah, and one of them was Malcolm. Eden was very curious to know what had happened there.
“Did everything turn out okay last night?” she asked.
He nodded. “It’s taken care of. He says he won’t bother you again.”
She had a hard time believing it was that simple. “Well, thanks for talking to him.”
“Maybe the three of us should go out for drinks some time.” Ben looked at Darrak. “It would give you the chance to get to know me a bit better and see I’m not a bad guy.”
“I’m going to be leaving town very soon,” Darrak said. “So that won’t be possible. All I want to make sure of is that Eden is safe and in good hands when I’m gone.”
“She is,” he grinned, with a flick of his eyes to Eden. “My hands have never gotten any complaints before.”
She almost smiled at that but it was chased off when she saw the fire return to Darrak’s eyes at the casual innuendo.
“I think you should leave now,” Darrak suggested firmly.
“Oh, do you?” A less than friendly tone had gathered in Ben’s voice as well. “Look, man. I know you care about your sister, but I don’t understand this attitude. We just met. You don’t know me. So I would prefer if you keep that judgmental tone out of your voice. I might not be perfect, but Eden could do a hell of a lot worse than me.”
“Or, much, much better,” Darrak said dryly.
Ben took a step closer to Darrak, his eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head to the side. “Oh, yeah?”
Darrak pressed his palm against Ben’s chest and shoved him back a step. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” Andy said, “I think that’s good enough. We’ve had one broken door this week. Let’s not make it a double. If you two are going to go to fisticuffs, then you should leave right now.”
“Fisticuffs?” Darrak repeated.
“Besides,” Andy continued, “Darrak is very special and I would assume sometimes he doesn’t realize what he’s saying. He’s just very protective of his sister.”
“Special, huh? That’s debatable.” Ben glowered. “Eden? Tell your brother to get away from me. He doesn�
��t know who he’s dealing with.”
That made two of them, actually.
“Darrak,” she said with a warning tone to her voice. “Back the hell off. Right now.”
A slow smile crept onto Darrak’s handsome face. He raised his hands and stepped back from the cop. “Of course, sis. Anything you say.”
“Maybe I should take off,” Ben said.
“That’s a great idea,” Darrak agreed.
Ben’s eyes narrowed. “Eden, I’ll be in touch soon. Maybe we can continue from where we left off. When there are fewer people in the room.”
She walked with him to the door. “That sounds really good. And, I’m sorry about Darrak. He’s very protective of me.”
“I can see that.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Ben was focused now only on Eden. “Count on it.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers again. “Bye.”
He left with another look over his shoulder at her before he got into his car.
The phone rang and Andy picked it up.
Eden turned and cast a very unfriendly glare in the demon’s direction. “Could you have been any less friendly to him?”
He shrugged. “I could have killed him. That would have been much less friendly.”
“Darrak—”
“I can’t help it.”
“Sure you can. You just don’t even try.”
He focused on her completely, his jaw tense, and then he blew out a long breath. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“And I appreciate that, but I’d prefer if you stay out of my business.”
“The cop’s intentions are not pure. He wants to have sex with you. I can tell.”
“I’m actually counting on that.”
“You like him?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Are you in love with him?”
“Love?” she repeated. “Let’s not go overboard. I like him a lot and I want to go out with him again to see if there might be something between us in the future.”
A couple of days ago she was practically picking out her and Ben’s china pattern and now, even though Ben seemed to like her in return, her feelings had cooled toward him a bit. Why was that?
Damn. It was Darrak, wasn’t it? He’d gotten under her skin—literally—even though she tried to fight it. And he was totally ruining her mental wedding registry with Ben.
Darrak looked at Andy when he hung up the phone. “What do you think about the cop?”
“Me?” Andy pointed at himself. “I don’t know. He seems nice enough. I have to agree with your sister, sport. You’re overreacting. Ben seems like a perfectly nice guy with a good job and I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t have three wives and a dozen kids hiding somewhere. Eden will be fine. And when you go back to your normal home I promise to keep an eye on her for you, okay?”
Darrak closed his eyes for a moment. “I am overreacting. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t normally get this way. Like, ever.”
“You’re not taking your medication. It’s rough sometimes, kiddo.”
His eyes snapped open. “Let’s get something straight. I’m not slow. I don’t live in a special home. And if you call me sport, buddy, chum, or kiddo one more time you’re going to have to retrieve your Porsche from the bottom of Lake Ontario.”
Andy shot Eden a surprised look.
She gulped. A glance out the glass door showed that the sun was getting very low on the horizon. “Uh… we need to leave now. I have some things to take care of.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Andy said. “Uh… bye Darrak. Sorry for any, um, misunderstandings. If I don’t see you again, it was very nice to have met you.”
Darrak’s face was tight but he managed a smile. “Likewise.”
Eden grabbed her purse, and the demon, and they left the office. She was furious with him so she didn’t say anything as they got into her car and she pulled away from the parking lot.
“I’m sorry,” Darrak said after a few minutes had passed.
“No, you’re not.”
“I actually am. I don’t mean to hurt you. I can’t help the fact that I’m an asshole sometimes.”
“You’re not an asshole,” she said.
“I’m not?”
She sighed. “I know on some level you’re just trying to be helpful. I think your heart is in the right place.” She eyed him sideways. “You do have a heart, right? I felt it beating earlier.”
He hesitated. “Demon anatomy is a bit complicated.”
That was not the answer she’d hoped for. “Can I ask what’s the deal with the fire eyes?”
He frowned at her. “What?”
“Sometimes your eyes look as though they’re filled with flames. Usually when you’re mad or upset.”
“They do?”
“Yes. It’s kind of freaky.”
He blinked a couple of times. “It has to do with what I am, of course, and where I’m from. I’m not human and never was. My eyes—and every other part of me—were created in the Netherworld. Sometimes when I lose my concentration, it shows. Luckily I don’t lose all of my concentration when I get pissed off.”
“What would happen then?” She chewed her bottom lip as she waited for his response.
“It’s probably best you don’t think about it at all. Seriously.”
“Wouldn’t want to give myself nightmares, would I?”
“No, wouldn’t want that.” He cleared his throat. “I know having me and my eyeballs of fire suddenly thrust into your life is difficult for you. If I was human and you were the demon I’m sure I wouldn’t have handled it half as well.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence.” Her anger was quickly fading away. “So you hate Ben because you don’t want me to get hurt.”
“Essentially.”
Also the fact he’d admitted to the cop making him jealous. This was getting complicated. She flicked on the radio and then flicked it off before whatever song was playing even registered. “Would it be different if it was anyone else? What if I was dating Andy?”
“He’s too old for you.”
“He’s not even fifty yet.”
“Still.”
“You said you’re a thousand years old. Or more.”
He looked out the passenger side window. “I’m too old for you as well.”
That made her shut up for a moment. A long moment. And then, “Are you worried about seeing the witch tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He turned to look at her. “The last time I saw her she destroyed my original body in a fit of rage. I would assume she thinks that she destroyed the rest of me as well. She won’t be happy to know that wasn’t the case.”
“What did you do to piss her off?” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked the question yet. It was kind of important.
“Did I have to do anything? She’s a black witch. They’re very mentally unstable. Every time they increase their power level or use their magic they lose more of their souls to the darkness.”
“I’d think as a demon you’d be all for that.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that what you still think about me?”
She clutched the steering wheel tighter as she made a left at a set of traffic lights. “I keep forgetting. You’re a good demon. You used to come here and find those nasties that had escaped Hell and bring them back. Did that happen a lot?”
He raked his hand through his dark hair. “More than you’d probably like to know about.”
“How do they escape?”
“There are gateways. Mystical back doors and cracks in the walls between worlds. There are beings who sense this and it’s their job to patch things up. Other beings are the gatekeepers and they keep watch in front of the largest openings.”
She swallowed hard. “Beings?”
“Do you really want to know all about this?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Y
our head might explode.”
“It feels like it already has. But who are the beings who are the gatekeepers?”
He leaned back in his seat. “They’re usually angels who have volunteered to temporarily fall from their realm to protect humans from the things that go bump in the night. Some demons were assigned to work in a similar capacity, only from the other team.”
“Angels,” she said flatly.
“Yes.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
“You have a very sensitive stomach I’ve noticed. See? This is why I didn’t want to go into details. I’ve completely messed up your vision of the world around you.”
“Not messed it up so much as completely changed it forever. Did you work with the… the angels?”
He laughed out loud at that. “No. Angels have prejudices toward demons, for obvious reasons. They aren’t quite as open-minded as you might think.”
“They don’t believe a demon can be good?”
“To admit that would mean they’d have to believe an angel can be bad.”
A shiver went down her spine. “I guess that makes sense.” “Now, when I say I was a good demon, I’m not saying I was a Boy Scout. I wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
“I wouldn’t believe you if you said you were.”
She felt his attention firmly on her but didn’t look at him. Taking her attention off the road would be a bad thing, and the demon was so distracting in more ways than one.
“But you believe I’m not that bad?”
“Yes,” she said it without hesitation, then jumped a little when she felt his very warm hand take hers.
“Thank you,” he said. “That means more to me than you know.”
He didn’t let go of her hand and she didn’t try to pull away. “You’d better pull over,” Darrak suggested.
“Why?”
“Because it’s almost time.”
The streetlights flickered on as the sun continued to sink swiftly behind the horizon. She pulled the car off to the side of the road, shifting into park. He entwined his fingers with hers and it felt really good to be touching him. Too good.
“I know this part isn’t fun for either of us,” he said.
The Demon in Me Page 19