That Old Black Magic lie-3

by Michelle Rowen

  “Maybe.”

  “May I ask how?”

  Darrak flashed him the blank card. “Surprise.”

  He nodded. “You don’t really think you have a chance here, do you?”

  “Uh-huh. Sure I do.”

  “I’ve always admired your tenacity, Darrak.”

  “And I’ve always admired your…” He frowned. “Well, I can’t really think of a thing. Sorry.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Eden asked.

  Maksim exhaled and went to sit casually in an armchair close by. Darrak didn’t relax even a little bit. The prince was like a lion. Just because he was taking a break from the hunt didn’t mean he still couldn’t rip the leg off a gazelle with one crunch of his powerful jaws.

  The wizard templed his fingers in front of him. “I’m actually surprised she managed to rescue you in time. Not completely surprised, but a little. No one’s ever escaped the Void before, you know.”

  “Can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “The odds were against you.”

  He couldn’t help but be curious. “Oh yeah? What were they?”

  “I’d say ninety-ten. At best.”

  Darrak nodded. “I should head to the casino. I think I’m on a lucky streak.”

  “This is going to happen, you know.”

  Darrak’s lips thinned. “No, actually it isn’t.”

  The wizard only looked amused by this challenge. “We seem to have a bit of a problem then, don’t we?”

  “Looks like.”

  Eden clutched at Darrak’s hand. The look on her face told him that she’d been following along and had managed to catch up. He always thought she should take her job at a private investigation company more seriously. She could be a fully fledged investigator if only she’d give herself a chance.

  She’d figured out this mystery fairly quickly, all things considered.

  “Lucas?” she asked. “Why — why are you playing this game?”

  He brushed his hand absently along the unwrinkled, designer jacket sleeve he wore. “Is that a trick question?”

  “Stop this.” Her grip on Darrak’s hand tightened. “Just show me who you really are.”

  “Eden, darling, you couldn’t handle who I really am. But I’d be happy to humor you.” In a shimmer of light, Maksim was no longer sitting in the chair. It was Lucifer, with his rumpled suit. Nothing too noticeable. Handsome, but not as hot as an incubus had to be. Brown hair, brown eyes. Warm smile. Hands folded on his lap. At first glance he appeared to be harmless and approachable.

  Despite his nonchalant appearance, Lucifer regarded each of them with a look of certainty in his eyes like a cat who’d cornered a couple of mice but wasn’t quite hungry enough yet to kill them.

  “You made the deal, Eden. You can’t take it back. And yet, here you are attempting to do just that.”

  Her hand had grown cold and clammy. Darrak wanted to storm forward, grab Lucifer, and phase to the Void, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He had to bide his time just a while longer. When that happened, when there was no other choice, he knew he’d never see Eden again. Not like this, anyway. Sure, he could see her. In time, he might even be able to take day trips to the human world. But she wouldn’t know who he really was.

  After all, he’d made his own deal recently.

  “I’m not going to resist,” she said.

  “Good.” Lucifer stood, and she inadvertently took a step back from him. “Even now you’re afraid of me when you know I’ve never harmed a hair on your head.”

  “I guess I finally clued in that you’re not somebody I can trust. Takes me a while, but I get it eventually.”

  “This is the most wonderful day of my existence. Nothing will go wrong from this point forward. I won’t let it.”

  Darrak felt his anger coming to a boiling point. How he despised this monster before them. Angel, his ass. Lucifer was a self-serving creature of darkness. He might at one time have meant that as a compliment. But, no more.

  He willed himself to sound relaxed. “Don’t suppose I can say anything to change your mind, can I? I can help you find another nephilim. They’ve got to be all over the place if you keep looking. Kind of like Waldo.”

  Lucifer’s gaze swept over him. “I honestly had you out for the count, Darrak. And yet, here you are again.”

  “Just like a bad penny.”

  “That sums it up nicely.” He shook his head. “I want you both to meet someone. Come with me.” In one smooth motion he stood up from the chair and breezed past them toward the hallway.

  Darrak found himself compelled to follow after him. It was a subtle reminder that the prince held great power over him. It was going to be tricky to get the upper hand.

  He leaned closer to Eden as they walked. “When I tell you to run, you run. Understand?”

  She looked at him sideways as if warning him not to say anything else.

  He tugged on her hand. “Understand?”

  Her expression turned bleak, but she finally nodded.

  Eden had no idea what Darrak planned to do but she still trusted him. He’d lost that trust by doing some stupid things behind her back, such as borrowing her body when she was asleep and heading out in the middle of the night to take care of a few chores.

  It had been a necessary evil, so to speak, although he supposed he could have gone about it in a less deceptive manner.

  He’d earned that trust back, and he wouldn’t jeopardize it again. No matter what.

  Eden had come close to promising Darrak she’d never use her black magic again, but here they were in jeopardy and her magic automatically slid down her arms and into her hands ready to destroy something. To cause a distraction. To make something explode.

  A flaming BlackBerry might come in handy right about now.

  She despised Lucas for lying to her, for making them believe he was Maksim.

  And she’d been fooled so easily.

  In the end, she couldn’t even blame him for their current situation. She’d made the deal of her own free will. She’d promised him her celestial energy.

  And now he wanted her to pay up.

  They were the ones trying to break the rules, not him.

  She wasn’t giving up hope. There was still a chance for her and Darrak to come out of this unscathed, but maybe she was fooling herself. She’d made the deal, and Darrak had just tried to screw Lucas out of it.

  They were in deep trouble.

  Lucas wasn’t a nice guy who sometimes kissed a bit of her darkness away. He was darkness. That’s why he needed her in the first place.

  “Here we are.” Lucas had stopped at the end of the flight of stairs to the basement. A man emerged from a room at the end of the hall. He was tall and handsome with broad shoulders. His hair was red, very red, the color Eden might expect a Viking to have. Erik the Red, or something. It was the color her hair would be if she didn’t make regular trips to the salon.

  And just like hers, his face wasn’t covered in freckles as she’d seen a lot of redheads have. No, his face was pale, perfect skin. Straight nose, full lips… green eyes.

  Just like hers.

  “Oh shit,” she whispered.

  “What?” Darrak asked.

  Eden had seen this man before. He’d visited when she’d been just a little girl playing in a sandbox a long, long time ago. She’d liked him, she remembered that much. And then he was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.

  She never knew why he never returned.

  “That’s my father,” she whispered, stunned.

  “He’s your… What is he doing here?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “It’s rude to talk behind my back,” Lucas noted. “I’m assuming that you know who this is.”

  “Yes.” Eden forced herself to sound strong. The spark of power in her hands faded away. “What is this, Lucas?”

  “A reunion of sorts. Daniel and I go way back.”

  “I’m sure you do.” Darrak cocked his hea
d and crossed his arms, walking closer to the angel.

  What was he doing? It was as if he had no concern for his own safety. This was Eden’s father, she had no doubt about that, but she was wary. He didn’t look at her as if he recognized her, that he cared that she was in trouble. He seemed utterly clueless, actually.

  That worried her more than she already was.

  “Nice to meet you,” Darrak said to the angel and held his hand out.

  The angel eyed him before shaking his hand. “The pleasure’s all mine, demon. I’ve wanted to meet you for some time, but it never really worked out.”

  Lucas grinned. “Are you going to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage? How retro, Darrak.”

  “I like to do things Little House on the Prairie style whenever possible. Great show, by the way. I think I developed half my humanity just from watching the Ingalls.” Darrak turned to Lucas. “I know what’s going on here.”

  “Do you?” Lucas said.

  “Somehow you’ve convinced Daniel here to take over your throne. Which I find a bit hard to believe considering your plan requires you to suck all the angel juice out of his daughter first.”

  Eden was holding her magic in reserve, not ready to use it yet. This had all begun by her and Darrak going to Maksim to seek his help only a couple of days ago. Her magic had been uncontrollable, or it seemed that way, anyhow. But the more she used it, the better it got. The stronger it got. If it didn’t destroy her soul it would be the perfect tool.

  Or weapon.

  She’d find a way to get herself and Darrak out of this tight situation. She just wished she knew exactly how to do that.

  “I suppose I’m lucky that angel juice, as you say, is a naturally renewable resource considering how much you’ve absorbed over the last month.” Lucas walked a slow circle around Darrak. “I wonder what it would have done to you if you’d been bound to her longer — another month, another year. Would you have turned completely angel then? Grown a pair of wings? And if so, would that have been enough to break your curse, considering that it had first been cast upon an archdemon?”

  “You could do your college thesis on me. I smell an A+. Possibly a movie deal. Exciting stuff.”

  “Quite. The demon who became good.”

  Darrak’s smile stretched unpleasantly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure you’ve been following along. I might be part angel now, but I’m not all that good. For example, right now I’m feeling a whole hell of a lot of malevolence, and it’s all directed at you, Lucy.”

  Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “I think you know what it’s like to feel my wrath. Shall we go down that road again?”

  Eden clenched her fists. Her heart felt as if it was going a thousand beats a minute.

  Stay calm, just for a bit longer, she told herself. Darrak has this under control.

  “Smite me,” Darrak snapped. “Go ahead, you limp-dicked angel. Because that’s what it’s going to take before I let you lay a finger on Eden.”

  Well, perhaps “under control” was a bit of an overstatement.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Thankfully, no immediate smiting occurred.

  “A deal is a deal,” Lucas said simply.

  “You can kiss that deal good-bye. Go find your own nephilim and leave mine alone.”

  Eden felt the weight of Lucas’s gaze on her.

  “How do you feel about his taking ownership of you? You’re an independent woman. Must feel a bit uncomfortable.”

  She shook her head. “Feels fine. I am his. And he’s mine. It’s an equal opportunity relationship.”

  “Isn’t that special?” Lucas smiled. “So you’re denying me what we agreed to.”

  She knew she should be afraid of him, but everything that had happened had just succeeded in pissing her off. She hated games. And he’d been playing with her life, with her emotions, for too long now.

  Screw that.

  He couldn’t help her, but she still had questions that needed answers, that might help her put the pieces of her life together after all this time.

  Eden turned to the angel. “Is that really why you’re here? To take over Lucas’s throne?”

  “Lucas?” Daniel repeated with a flick of his gaze to the prince.

  Lucas shrugged. “I have many names. That’s one of them. Although, I do prefer it to Lucy, I must say.”

  “You didn’t answer me,” Eden said to Daniel. “Why would you do this? Why don’t you help me? You’re my father.”

  “Biology works in mysterious ways.”

  The flippant answer only worked to enrage her more. This might be her only chance to find out the truth. “Why would you leave my mother pregnant and alone? You didn’t even tell her what you were. I should have known I was half-angel. It might have made a difference.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Sorry.”

  She gaped at him. “Sorry? That’s all you have to say to me?”

  “I’m probably not exactly the one you should be having this conversation with anyway.”

  “No? Well, that’s convenient, isn’t it? Why did you visit me that one time when I was a kid? Were you feeling guilty about leaving us? I’m not saying we could have been a family, but I don’t understand. It was one thing when I could have convinced myself you were some one-night stand or a traveling salesman, or whatever, but you’re an angel? And you just turned your back on us for all that time?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Angels rarely procreate. It’s fascinating to me, really, that this could have even happened.”

  Yeah, that was such a good answer. It solved so many mysteries of Eden’s life. No, actually it just made her angrier. His green-eyed gaze moved to her hands where the black magic had been triggered by her roller coaster of emotions. Darrak put his hand on her back. The warmth of his touch was enough to calm her for the time being, but only slightly.

  She turned to meet his eyes and felt the sting of tears. “He didn’t want me.”

  “His loss.”

  Daniel laughed then, a sharp crack of sound that made chills run down Eden’s spine. “This is rather awkward, Lucifer. Shall we get on with it?”

  “What?” Darrak snarled. “You’re going to do it right here, right now? Drain Eden’s angelic energy and then attempt to swap places like this is some sort of relay race?”

  “Yes, that’s the plan exactly,” Daniel said.

  “This doesn’t have to be unpleasant,” Lucas soothed. He was speaking to Eden directly. “It won’t hurt you. And there are ways to keep your soul from turning darker without the angelic energy to balance you. I promise no harm will come to you.”

  “How can you promise that?” Darrak demanded.

  Lucas’s jaw clenched. “I’ll discuss this matter with Eden alone.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “Don’t stand in the way of this, Darrak. I’ve given my word that Eden and your unborn child will be protected no matter what happens.” Lucas shook his head. “I still don’t understand how something like you could have created a new life.”

  Darrak glared at him. “It’s kind of sad, if I gave a moment’s thought to feel sorry for your hellish ass. You’ve never felt true love, not a moment in your entire existence. It’s all been about serving your own interests. Your own worldview. Oh, you have a shitty job. Boohoo. I had the worst job ever for hundreds of years and did you ever hear me complain?”

  “Yes,” Lucas replied. “Constantly.”

  “Yeah, well, I like to air my grievances. It’s healthy.”

  “Are we finished here?” Daniel asked. “I’ve sacrificed much and am not in the mood for a pissing contest.”

  “You think that’s what this is?” Lucas’s tone turned sharp. “A pissing contest? Be patient or you will get nothing from me at all.”

  Daniel looked cowed by this. “My most sincere apologies, my prince.”

  Eden couldn’t help but be disappointed. Her father was a wussy peon who caved at the slightest challenge. She’d thought he might be able to he
lp her, but she saw that was only a pipe dream now. She had to figure out how to save herself and Darrak and she needed to do it now.

  If that required her giving up her celestial energy in order to get everyone out of this in one piece, then that was exactly what she’d do. But first she needed to know something.

  She turned to Daniel. “Why are you willing to become the next Prince of Hell? Is this an official assignment? A changing of the guard?”

  That would be enough to reassure Eden that this was the right thing to do. After all, Lucas had served in Hell for a very long time. She had to admit, even he deserved a break.

  Daniel moved closer to her and gently cupped her face in his hands. This close to him she could feel the celestial energy radiating off his tall and strong angelic form. It felt nice and warm and safe.

  “Yes, that’s it,” he said softly. “It is my time and I shall do what I must to help the greater good of the universe. Do you believe me, my daughter?”

  She dug her fingers into his hand and wrenched herself away from him. “Nice try. But you’re a very bad liar. What the hell are you?”

  The warmth in his expression and from his heavenly energy had never once touched his eyes.

  “Eden!” A shout came from the room down the hall. It sounded like Ben.

  She didn’t wait; she ran directly over and pushed the door open all the way.

  Ben, Leena, and her mother’s rented aspiring-actress body were tied to three wooden chairs. Standing next to Ben, her fingernails digging into his throat, was Sandy, a gray witch Eden had met before. She’d helped Eden escape once when she’d been in a bit of a bind.

  She took the entire room in in a split second.

  “See, Ben?” Sandy purred. “I told you I could make you scream her name if I wanted you to. Looks like I was right.”

  Magic sparked into Eden’s hand and she focused it at Sandy without a second thought. She didn’t need a program to tell who the players were here. Despite her issues with Ben, he was in trouble, big trouble. And so were Leena and her mother.

  Sandy flew backward and hit the wall hard enough to knock her out.

  “Eden!” Caroline called out to her. “You need to run! This is a trap!”