“Your mother’s right,” he said. “This is for the best.”
And then the world disappeared.
THIRTEEN
“I’m going to find that goddamned werewolf who mauled me,” Andy said, taking a deep gulp from his silver flask. Darrak had no idea what he kept in there, but it seemed to be working. The man was quickly getting plastered. “And I’m going to make him into a rug. A nice furry rug for in front of my fireplace.”
“You don’t have a fireplace.”
“I’ll have one specially installed.” He paced back and forth and pointed at Darrak. “This is all your fault.”
“Probably. Everything else is, why should this be any different?”
Andy stopped pacing. “You sound kind of whiny today.”
“I know. But thanks so much for mentioning it.”
“You got it all, you know that? No reason for you to be a baby about it.”
Darrak laughed dryly. “I’m feeling sensitive at the moment. You’re going to make me cry if you keep being a meanie like this.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I think you have more important things to think about than my issues, Andy.”
“Maybe, but I’m trying to take my mind off them. What’s up?”
“Nothing, really.” Darrak stared out at the sinking sun over Eden’s parked car. “I went from being a fearsome archdemon with a plan of one day overthrowing Lucifer, to being the amusing sidekick for an unlicensed female private investigator. The woman I’m in love with is feeling a bit blah about me, and I can’t say I blame her. What do I have to offer someone like Eden? Pain, frustration, misery… maybe some hot sex now and then—”
Andy held up his hand. “I don’t want to hear about it. Seriously.”
“Sorry. But it’s true. I’m already a big fat nothing, and I’m slowly coming to the realization that it’s all downhill from here.”
“I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do, Darrak.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
Andy sank down in his chair. “Damn, I don’t know. I’m not good with giving advice. Sorry.”
“Helpful. Thanks.”
“Women.” Andy took another swig from his flask. “More trouble than they’re worth.”
“You said it.” Darrak focused on him for a moment. “It’s going to be okay, you know. You don’t have to be scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“You’re terrified.”
“A real man would never admit something like that.”
“I can guarantee you that nothing bad is going to happen. Well… other than turning into a werewolf, that is. Any minute now.”
Andy paled. “That’s pretty bad.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to be one of the good ones. This is not the end, it’s only the beginning. It’s not what you are, it’s what you make of it.” He grinned. “Make the most of it, Andy. Being a werewolf is going to give you a hell of a lot more than it takes away. Werewolves are cool.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Nobody tells you what you are, you define your own rules. Your own guidelines. You’re a good man, I already know that. There’s no way you’re going to hurt anyone. That’s what you’re the most afraid of, aren’t you? Doing to someone what that bastard did to you.”
Andy looked at him bleakly. “Yeah.”
“Besides, Eden’ll lock you up nice and tight in here the moment she gets back from her mommy/daughter powwow. Triple-A will be like a kennel once a month. Fun times.”
His knuckles whitened on his flask. “Is it going to hurt? I mean, if I change.”
Darrak’s jaw tensed. “Probably a bit. But life is pain. Trust me on that.”
“You give some good advice, if a bit on the unpleasant side. You should take some of it, too.”
“What?”
“You’re so wrapped up in what you’re not — what you’ve lost — you don’t realize what you have.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
Andy shrugged. “You have Eden.”
Darrak tried to summon a smile, but failed. “Only because she has absolutely no choice in the matter.”
He flinched as the first pain hit him. Nothing remotely like what he’d felt earlier that day when his yin-yang, or whatever, had been out of whack, but still enough for him to take notice. It was a warning signal that he was going to be losing his corporeal form very soon.
Just another day at the office.
“She must be having a good chat with her mother. She’s forgetting the time. It’s been more than five minutes by now.”
“Caroline Riley.” Andy grinned. “So hot, you have no idea. I would have sold my soul for her at one time in my life.”
“You really shouldn’t tell a demon something like that. I might get ideas.”
Andy shook his head. “Maybe once, but not now. I would have done a lot of bad stuff once in my life, but I’m different now. Older, wiser. I’m not the smartest guy around, but I know what I want and what I don’t want. You’re the same. Whatever you were back in the day, that Darrak’s gone for good. You hold on to him because you’ve let him define you, but you shouldn’t. I have a feeling he was a real asshole.”
“So what am I now?” Darrak asked quietly.
“Better.”
“By whose definition?”
Andy shrugged. “Mine. What more do you need?”
Darrak laughed and flinched again. “Nice to see Eden’s keeping a close eye on the clock. She’s probably trying to get back at me for a little disagreement we had earlier.”
“About what?”
“I accused her of wanting to date both God and Lucifer at the same time.”
Andy blinked. “Women are moody sometimes.”
“My thoughts exactly. I better go fetch her. Pardon the expression.”
“Yeah, you go. Wish me luck with my… well, you know,” Andy said, his tone turning serious.
Darrak turned to face him and took Andy’s outstretched hand, shaking it firmly. “You won’t need it. But good luck.”
“Thank you.”
Darrak turned toward the door, twisting the handle and pushing forward, but it didn’t budge.
“What the hell?” he mumbled. He checked the lock to see if it had been turned, but it wasn’t. “The door’s stuck.”
“Use your demonic superstrength.”
“Right.” Not exactly as strong as he once was, but he could probably take at least twenty humans on in a fight if he had to without resorting to firepower. He pushed the door as hard as he could.
Nothing happened.
He frowned deeply. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Andy was at his side and he tried the door. “It’s sealed shut.”
“Sealed?” Darrak shook his head. “But Eden hasn’t done the spell yet. She wouldn’t do it with me still in here.”
Andy shrugged. “She’ll be back any second. If she hadn’t destroyed her stupid BlackBerry we could give her a quick call.”
No, something was very wrong. “I need to break this door open.”
“Do you know how much it costs to fix something like that?”
“I’ll repay you.”
“With what? Uneaten donuts?”
But Darrak had already grabbed a chair. Another wave of pain shuddered through him as he slammed it against the door. It would normally be more than enough to shatter the glass.
But nothing happened. It barely rattled.
He swore under his breath.
“It’s the spell,” he confirmed. “It’s working exactly how Maksim told us it would. But where’s Eden? Why would she do this already? Doesn’t she know that it would trap me in here with you? We don’t have time for games.”
“Not good.” Andy sounded worried. “You’ll be trapped in here with a werewolf. A potential werewolf.”
“Believe me, Andy, you turning furry is the least of my worries at this exact moment.” He moved toward the phone
on Eden’s desk, grabbed the receiver, and pecked out the numbers to Maksim’s house. It went directly to voice mail.
“Damn it.” He slammed the phone down.
Fine. He would just be strong for as long as this took — until Eden returned. But he felt the sun slip fully behind the horizon moments later. He knew when it happened since the pain blossomed out from inside of him.
Light and dark. Just like what was going on inside of him. The light helped. The dark hurt.
Based on his history, it seemed like the wrong order to things.
Andy moaned, a long sound that ended in a tiny wolflike howl. He clamped his hands over his mouth. “Oh shit! Was that me?”
“This is not good,” Darrak muttered. “You’re starting to shift. Go with it, Andy. Don’t try to fight it.”
“Like what you’re doing?”
“I have no choice. I have to fight this. I have to wait till Eden gets back. Where the hell is she?” He went to the glass door and pounded on it. “Eden! Damn it! Where are you?”
“So if she doesn’t get here soon, if you’re trapped in here and can’t get out because this place is sealed up tighter than a nun’s panties”—Andy’s voice shook—“you won’t be able to possess her.”
Darrak’s jaw clenched. “Exactly.”
“So what then?”
“Then… then I’m in serious trouble.” He gasped for breath. “Why would she do this to me? Did she say anything to you?”
“No, nothing!” Andy shook his head violently. “Something must have happened to her.”
Yes, of course something happened. Her mother is what happened. She’d wanted to get rid of Darrak from the first moment she strolled her shiny new body in here. Caroline had known what Darrak was without asking any questions or being told anything at all. She’d just known he was a demon.
Was Eden okay? Was she hurt? Had Caroline done something to her? Maybe convinced her to get rid of Darrak once and for all?
No, that couldn’t be it.
Fury rose in his chest that Eden might be hurt right now, unable to return to him, but anger wasn’t going to help him. There was no way he was escaping from this room. The spell had worked perfectly. Nobody was getting in, and nobody was getting out. It had been meant for a werewolf, but it worked on a demon just as well.
Just what kind of a spell was this?
Andy began to shift to werewolf, but he still looked more worried about Darrak. His nose grew longer, turning into more of a snout. His fingernails became long and sharp. His ears bigger and pointier. A thick layer of fur sprouted on his cheeks.
“Darrak—” His voice was a half growl now. “Possess me, if you need to. It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
Darrak’s throat felt thick. “I appreciate the offer, but shifters can’t be possessed.”
“Maybe I’m not…” Andy looked down at his hands. “Oh crap. It’s true!” He looked at Darrak. “I’m so sorry.”
Darrak gripped the side of the desk. “You’ll be okay, I swear it. Just do me a favor.”
“What?”
“Tell Eden…” He shuddered and slid down to the floor. “Tell her that I—”
But it was too late. He couldn’t hold back another moment. His solid form morphed to the swirling mix of black and white smoke as his curse kicked in as it did every single night. His weeks of being able to take form half the time had been a gift. He’d quickly gotten used to it and taken it for granted.
This was who he really was now thanks to that centuries-old curse. This formless creature who couldn’t speak, couldn’t touch anything and was only able to possess and feed and drain and kill.
And he was trapped in a room with no way out. He instinctively moved toward Andy, even though he knew it wouldn’t do any good, and was immediately repelled, glancing off the shifting werewolf’s skin like a tennis ball thrown against a brick wall.
Andy continued to shift form. He howled and fell to the floor, his eyes still filled with a strange mix of fear for himself and for Darrak. Andy had never seen Darrak in this unnatural, incorporeal form. Maybe he’d thought that Darrak was someone to trust as much as a human, as evidenced by his little speech a couple of minutes ago.
But Darrak wasn’t human. He was nothing close to human — even with the recent angel infusion. He had a great deal of humanity in reserve, but that was as close as he got to the real deal.
Would that humanity last? Or would it be taken from him along with everything else?
He already knew the truth. Everything would be taken. Everything that he thought he resented, everything that he thought he didn’t want. The Void would strip away everything and leave nothing behind. Nothing at all.
All gone. His humanity, his emotions, his memories, even his angel side. Funny, it didn’t seem so bad anymore. It was embarrassing for a former archdemon who’d laid waste to many a town in his existence, a former incubus who’d personally helped stock Lucifer’s harem full of willing souls for him to sate his many hungers.
Part angel.
But now he wasn’t even that. Now he was only smoke swirling around a magically sealed room.
He tried the door, tried to seep through the tiny cracks in the walls, the heater grate, anything.
Nothing worked.
Andy now raced back and forth in full werewolf form, claws scratching against the floor, looking very much like a large wild dog, his eyes still so much like Andy’s, full of concern, full of fear.
But Darrak knew Andy didn’t fear for himself anymore. He feared for Darrak.
Darrak always knew it was only a matter of time before this would happen — he’d just thought it wouldn’t be quite this soon. Quite honestly, this was for the best. Eden would finally be free of him. The dark and light that fought within her would have one less daily struggle.
She’d be better off without him.
But he’d miss her. So much.
An exorcism could have harmed her. This way, she wouldn’t have to feel a thing.
That was one of Darrak’s last thoughts as he began to dissipate. This form could only last so long without a human host, and his time was finally up.
The last thing he heard before he vanished completely was the sound of a werewolf howling very loudly.
Nice puppy. Stay and take care of Eden for me. Keep her safe.
No… he thought. I don’t want to go, not like this. There’s still so much I need to—
And then he was gone.
FOURTEEN
Eden had a hell of a hangover. Somehow, somewhere, she’d drank way too much and now had to pay the price.
Her eyelashes fluttered as she opened her eyes.
“Eden, sweetie,” her mother’s brand-new voice said softly. “You’re awake. Good.”
“Give her a minute,” Ben said. “She’ll be woozy for a bit.” Her throat felt like sandpaper. “Wh-what happened? Where am I?”
“You’re safe.”
She was confused, but her vision began to come into focus. “You… have you taken me to the Malleus?”
“No, of course not,” Ben said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with them. They don’t need to know about this. It’s safer that way.”
Safer. Sure, now he gets cautious when it comes to those jerks. Maybe he’d learned a few things in the last little while.
Wait a minute.
She tried to push herself up and looked around the small enclosed space. “Where am I?”
“In a van I rented,” Ben said.
“A van. So you…” She felt her shoulder where the injection went in. “You drugged me and threw me in the back of a van?”
Her mother’s currently young and beautiful face loomed in front of her. “Seemed like a good gathering spot on short notice.”
“And what is this? Your intervention?”
Ben cleared his throat. “Yup. Kind of amateur, I’ll admit it, but it worked well enough.”
Unbelievable. How many times did she have to say she didn’t need anyone�
��s help before they’d leave her the hell alone?
“I don’t have time for this.” She glared at them. “You have no right to approach me ever again, you hear me? I swear to God, if you do then you’re both going to be sorry. I don’t want your help or your stupid intervention.”
“It had to be done,” Ben said. “You’ll see that eventually. Maybe not today, but soon. And you’ll thank us for this.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “You know, I once thought you were a really nice guy, Ben. Someone who wanted to do the right thing, even at a cost. I heard you’d left the police force.”
“Couldn’t balance things as well as I thought. Had to choose.”
“I guess that brand on your arm made that choice nice and simple for you.”
“I know you think the Malleus are evil, but they’re not. Not all of them, anyway.” His jaw clenched as if he didn’t entirely believe his own words.
“Let me out of here. Now.”
They exchanged a look. Great, Ben and Caroline had forged a bond of some kind. United to save Eden from the big bad demon. How did they even meet?
She felt magic spark in the palms of her hands, ready, willing, and able to be used whenever she liked. “You have three seconds to get out of my way. Three, two, one.”
When they didn’t do anything, she cast a focused look at the back doors of the van and they swung wide open. She scooted toward the exit before she noticed something that made her gasp out loud and her heart start pounding hard in her chest.
“Why is it dark out?” She didn’t get an immediate reply so she turned to look at them. “What time is it? How long was I out?”
Caroline pressed her lips together and glanced away.
Ben held Eden’s gaze steadily. “It’s six o’clock. You were out for a little over an hour.”
Eden began to tremble. “No… but — but I need to—”
She leapt out of the van and scanned the parking lot. They hadn’t gone anywhere. They were still here, next to her Toyota. Next to Triple-A. She ran so fast she nearly twisted her ankle. The door was locked and she yanked on the handle so hard it hurt her hands.
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