by Мишель Роуэн
Panic ripped through him. This was all Theo’s fault. Stupid plan. But he hadn’t heard any more about it in a hundred years.
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Lucifer waved a hand, sealing Darrak’s mouth shut. It felt as if he was being choked. Demons couldn’t die as humans do, but they could feel pain and they could be destroyed — some more easily than others. Since Lucifer was the one who’d originally created Darrak from hellfire, he had more power over him than any other being in the universe. A simple thought from him would be enough to end Darrak’s existence.
Darrak hated being at another’s mercy.
If nothing else, at least he was dealing with a coherent Lucifer. Sometimes he wasn’t like this — he turned into more of a beast, one that couldn’t be reasoned with. One that only wanted to destroy anything that came into his path. That was when Lucifer insisted on being called Satan.
Total split personality.
“I know you’ve been working with Asmodeus,” Lucifer said evenly. “He hired you to destroy me so he could take my throne.”
Huh? That was surprising. Darrak had seen Asmo briefly last year, but it hadn’t been a meeting of conspiracy. Asmo, being the Lord of Lust, had needed some input from an ex-incubus about his own growing harem of human souls. Darrak happened to be an expert on the subject.
That was all it was.
Where had Lucifer gotten this information?
“The thing is,” Lucifer said, “I will get to Asmodeus before he comes close to destroying me. But I won’t destroy him completely. I’m going to make him suffer for his sins.”
Terrific. The Prince of Hell lecturing a demon about sinning. Something seemed wrong about that.
“As for you—” Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “What shall I do with you?”
Let me go on my merry way, you crazy ex-angel? Darrak thought. Being that he had no mouth, presently, he couldn’t speak this aloud.
“Shall I return you to your incubus self?” he mused. “Or should your punishment be a bit more severe than a slap on the wrist?”
Darrak waited to be decimated. It couldn’t hurt any more than three months of torture had. He hoped. He’d been totally faking it when he said he’d enjoyed it.
Torture was not enjoyable, even for a demon.
Lucifer smiled. “I think I have it. There was a time that I went against the rules set forth for me and I was cast out of Heaven. Have you heard that story?”
Many times. Yawn.
“For my beliefs, for my so-called pride and untrustworthiness, I was evicted from the only home I’d ever known. The protection and love of Heaven was no longer mine.” His voice twisted with pain, and Darrak could have sworn there was a shine of tears in his black eyes. “Being here, created by me, you have been under my protection for all these centuries. This is something that you’ve obviously taken for granted. You’ve attempted to use my trust in you against me. Believe me when I say this, Darrakayiis, it will not happen again.” He was quiet for a thoughtful moment. “So that is how it shall be — my decision is made. I wish you luck. You will need it.”
Darrak’s mouth appeared again, and he gasped as a light breeze touched his leathery skin, the flames that coated him extinguishing for a moment before they lit again as bright and hot as before. He looked down at himself, expecting to see a change, but saw nothing different.
He looked up at the throne, but Lucifer had already disappeared.
“You have been under my protection for all these centuries. This is something that you’ve obviously taken for granted.”
Whatever that meant.
Maybe this was a test to see how Darrak would react. To see if he’d sell out Theo at the first opportunity to divert attention from himself. Lucifer was wrong, after all. Asmodeus hadn’t conspired with Darrak to destroy Lucifer.
Uh, that had been Theo.
Asmo was in big trouble. That demon lord wasn’t the smartest one in Hell — usually he ignored Hell’s politics in favor of being preoccupied by his dens of lust and building his harem to be bigger than Lucifer’s. It was his hobby. Asmo would never see it coming.
Oh well, not Darrak’s problem.
He stood from his position on his knees and stretched. He felt fine. Better than fine, really. There was nothing like three months of torture to give you a new lease onThere was a sudden twinge in his chest. Then his left horn began to tingle. What was that?
He looked around the dark room. Could he hear. . chanting?
Yes, chanting. A woman’s voice. Latin words. Familiar, somehow.
It was a — he listened closely before his eyes widened in recognition. It was a summoning ritual. And it wasn’t originating from Hell itself.
But how could he—?
He gasped as he was suddenly pulled upward through Hell’s core, through the gates, up through the vast expanse of nothingness, and into the human world. It felt as if he’d been crushed by a huge hand and then mashed down into the soft ground and grass and. . he blinked. . were those daisies?
He was crouched in the center of a circle of salt.
Looking up, he saw a beautiful dark-haired woman staring at him, her hand held to her mouth in surprise.
“But you are a. .” She inhaled sharply. “An archdemon. I only meant to summon an incubus.”
Summon. She’d summoned him?
Archdemons didn’t get summoned. They couldn’t be summoned. It was in the job description.
He really didn’t have time for this.
He bared his razor-sharp teeth at her, and she cowered away from him.
“Let me out of this circle, woman,” he snarled.
It took only a moment for the fear to leave her expression. He couldn’t move, couldn’t escape. And she knew it.
Her lips began to move again. Another spell, but he wasn’t sure what it was. When she was finished, she took a deep breath.
“Tell me your true name, demon,” she said with command in her voice.
“Darrakayiis,” he replied without hesitation, but then fury rippled through him. How did she make him say it aloud? Giving her his true name gave her near-absolute power over him.
It had to be a spell.
“You’re a witch,” he said.
“Yes. But I want to be a much more powerful one,” she told him. “Show me your human visage, Darrakayiis.”
He tried to resist, but it was impossible. He shifted form as she requested. Her gaze swept appreciatively over him.
“Very good,” she said. “You’re going to make me a black witch. That’s why I’ve summoned you. I’ve already cast a spell over you that will make this possible.”
Ah, a woman with aspirations. Intriguing. Still annoying, but it was vaguely intriguing as well. “That’s truly what you want?”
“Yes.”
“What else do you want from me?” he asked.
She smiled and he could see the dark greed in her eyes. “Everything you’ve got to give.”
Lucifer was responsible for this. Whatever happened now to Darrak was entirely Lucifer’s fault. Lucifer had removed Hell’s protection over Darrak, leaving him vulnerable to be summoned by this common witch.
One day soon he’d get his revenge. Right after he’d killed this witch for having the audacity to think she could use him as she pleased.
This wouldn’t take too long, would it?
EIGHT
Andy proceeded to get so drunk thanks to his hidden supply of alcohol that he had to call a taxi to take him home at five o’clock. Darrak spent most of the day at Hot Stuff next door — no more than a hundred feet away — giving Eden the chance to concentrate on Andy’s poorly written case files as she tried to make sense of them.
It was good to have something to focus on, even if it was trying to decipher really bad handwriting.
She forced herself not to think about anything that had happened earlier. But not thinking didn’t change a damn thing.
The bell jingled at ten after six. Eden looked up to
see Darrak had returned.
“It’s time,” he said.
Sunset.
Darrak held his hand over his stomach. Perspiration had broken out on the demon’s forehead, his shoulders were hunched, and he looked like he was in severe pain. She knew why.
Her heart began to race, but she nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
As the sun slipped fully behind the horizon, Eden watched as Darrak’s six-foot-tall form grew darker and more transparent until he changed completely into a cloud of black smoke hanging in the air in front of her.
She shrank away from him. It was an unconscious reaction. Every time, every evening, the sight of him losing form filled her with fear. Seeing it made everything that was happening even more real and impossible to deny or rationalize. Especially when the black smoke began to edge closer to her.
She backed away from it until she hit the edge of her desk.
The smoke appeared to hesitate.
“Just do it,” she said out loud. Her voice shook.
It swirled for a moment longer before launching itself at her. It only needed to touch her skin — that was enough to find entrance to her body.
Darrak thought this act caused her pain, but he was dead wrong. As much as being his official human host and being possessed by him every evening at sunset filled her with fear and apprehension, the actual act itself as he entered her — that was. . orgasmic.
At the moment, though, it was her little secret.
After all, just because it felt good didn’t mean it was good. She wasn’t born yesterday. There was a reason demonic possession had screen time in horror movies, not erotica.
“You okay?” Darrak asked after a moment, his voice now in her head.
“Yeah,” she managed. Her knees felt weak, but she remained standing.
“I guess I see why Ben has a problem with our relationship. If he got to see that, he’d probably have me exorcised on the spot.”
“Forget him. I already have.”
It was a lie. What Ben had said earlier still weighed heavily in her mind.
Two men who claimed to care about her. Despite their obvious differences, they did have a lot in common, actually.
Ben had short, light hair, and Darrak had longer, dark hair.
Ben had dark blue eyes. Darrak had light blue eyes.
Ben was a police detective from Toronto. Darrak was an archdemon from Hell.
Very similar.
She sighed. Okay, not similar at all. But they were both exactly the same height. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
Luxuria looked exactly the same as it had last night when Eden arrived — a sea of singles looking for love.
And if Graham had been right, dying for love as well.
What did you find? Eden wondered. And what got you killed?
Maybe it had been completely unrelated to his investigation. An unfortunate coincidence.
No. This wasn’t a coincidence. She sensed something here. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, even past the strange feeling of desperation and lust. Something threatening. Her heart picked up its pace the moment she walked through the entrance and into the large, dimly lit club with music throbbing from one end of the indigo interior to the other.
She didn’t enter Luxuria easily. Apprehension helped slow her down. This was where Graham had been killed. This was where Darrak spotted his demonic friend lurking in the shadows.
It was dangerous here.
The only thing that pushed her forward was the thought of talking to the wizard’s assistant. Something good had to come of that and then this would all be worth it.
“There he is, same spot as last night,” Darrak said. “Do you see him?”
She scanned the club until her gaze fell on her target. Pushing aside her apprehension and running her hands absently down the sides of her low-cut, form-fitting red dress, she walked directly toward him.
“Drink this.” Stanley held out a glass of champagne toward a reluctant-looking brunette. “It’s delicious.”
“Ah, so that explains it,” Darrak said.
Eden stopped just short of reaching the wizard’s assistant. “Explains what?”
“I wondered why Stanley had women crawling all over him last night. It’s obvious to me now that he’s using a lust elixir.”
“A what?”
“A potion that makes the victim lustful and unable to keep his or her hands off their object of desire.”
“Victim?” she repeated, outrage quickly filling her and cancelling out all other worries at the moment.
“Uh. .” Darrak began. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She closed the remaining distance between her and Stanley’s table and snatched the glass away from the woman before she’d taken a sip.
“Hey!” Stanley swiveled around, and his eyes widened as he scanned the length of her. “Well, hello there, gorgeous. Yes. . please feel free to drink the champagne if you like. There’s definitely enough to go around.”
The brunette just glared at Eden.
“Is there lust elixir in here?” Eden demanded, peering down at the clear bubbly liquid.
Stanley’s eyes grew even wider. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, right.” She tipped the glass and poured its contents onto the floor.
“Okay, I’m out of here. I’m not into three-ways,” the brunette victim-in-waiting said unpleasantly.
“Wait, baby. . I can change your mind.” Stanley held up a hand to stop her, but it was too late. She stood and teetered away on five-inch heels. “Great. Thanks a lot. She was a total hottie, too.”
“How dare you use a magical date-rape drug on an unsuspecting woman.”
“Date-rape drug?” He grimaced. “Baby, you have me all wrong.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Did you put a lust elixir in that glass without that woman’s knowledge, or not?”
“Well. .” He tugged at his shirt collar. “Yeah, I did. But it’s not like it’s a roofie or anything shady like that. My elixir only works if there is mutual desire from both parties involved.” He grinned, but it faded as Eden continued to stare daggers into him. “It simply breaks down any potential barriers that would get in the way of a perfect sensual experience. It takes the attraction that’s already there and multiplies it by. . oh, about a million times. It doesn’t make anyone do something they don’t want to do down deep. If it worked on her, then it would mean she already wanted to, uh, rock my world. But her inhibitions just wouldn’t get in the way to stop her.”
“That’s sick.”
His expression turned wary. “You’re not a cop, are you?”
“No, but I know one. And he’s recently found out about the supernatural side of the city. He’s dealing with some pent up anger right now that he might like to aim at a weaselly scumbag like you.”
“Eden,” Darrak cut in. “What’s up with the badass routine tonight? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it. But don’t you want this weaselly scumbag to help us? Or are you trying to scare him back into his hole in the ground?”
Damn. The demon was absolutely right. She just hated seeing women used and abused without their knowledge or consent. It was a major hot-button issue for her.
Better to pour on the sugar a little if she wanted Stanley’s help. Just a smidge.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” she said, extending her hand and pushing a smile onto her face. “I’m Eden.”
He eyed her warily and then slowly and visibly relaxed. He shook her hand. “Great to meet you, Eden. I do appreciate a woman with an outgoing personality. Please have a seat. Champagne?” He raised another glass.
That wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m with Darrak,” she said.
He audibly gasped. “Oh.”
“You know who that is?”
“Of course I do.” He swallowed hard
, then forced a shaky smile to his thin lips. “Why didn’t you say so to begin with? Any friend of Darrak’s is a friend of mine.”
“He’s not my friend,” Darrak noted. “I’ve never met him before face-to-face. But it’s good to know my reputation precedes me.”
“Where is he?” Stanley’s gaze shifted nervously around the room.
“Close. But he sent me to talk to you.” Stanley didn’t know she was possessed. It was best to keep that fact tucked away for the time being. “I need to talk to your boss. It’s urgent.”
Stanley cleared his throat and sipped on his own glass of bubbly. “That’s going to be a problem, I’m afraid.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“He’s gone.”
“Gone?”
He nodded. “He left town the other day for an extended vacation. He’s recovering from some, uh. . recent injuries. . and needed the time alone to recuperate.”
He was gone? How could he be gone? Her chest felt tight. She’d hoped this would go smoothly tonight.
“Where did he go?” she asked, her throat suddenly thick.
“He didn’t say. He really wants to be alone right now. He’s all Greta Garbo. Knowing him, though, it’s somewhere with palm trees and drinks served in coconuts, but I don’t know the exact location. My boss is super secretive about everything in his life. Maksim doesn’t even want anyone to know his first name.” Stanley paused. “Whoops.”
“Maksim, huh?” Eden tried to remain calm. “I need to get in touch with him. How do I do that?”
“You don’t. Sorry.”
“Darrak is not going to be happy,” Eden said, not liking that she felt the need to resort to veiled threats. Then again, this guy hadn’t made a fabulous impression on her so far, so scaring him a little was okay with her. “You don’t want an archdemon to get angry with you — all talons and sharp teeth and, um, horns. Big scary horns.”
Darrak sighed. “I’ll leave any horny jokes alone. Way too easy. And sadly accurate at the moment.”
Stanley swallowed and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “Trust me, I don’t want him to be angry. But there’s nothing I can do. If Darrak wants to disembowel me because of this, it’ll be a waste of his valuable time.”