That Old Black Magic

EIGHTEEN

The moment Eden slid the bracelet over her wrist, the floor dropped out beneath her feet. Alternating darkness and light flooded her vision, and she clung to Andy’s furry neck as they fell.

A few moments later, they hit the ground, hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Sprawled on her back, she looked up at a dark, starless sky.

Noise assaulted her ears. Traffic, shouting, the bustle of a crowd.

“Eden, watch out!” Andy called.

She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a cart with large wheels that would have gone right through the middle of her forehead. She scooted to the side of the road and realized she was in the middle of a mass of people — or, rather, not people. Some of these creatures were in human form, but others were in… other forms. Tall or short, big or small, horned, unhorned. All sorts of colors and shapes. It was like something out of Sesame Street if the children’s show had been set in the middle of Hell itself and the Muppets had sharp teeth and scales, or slimy skin and octopus-like appendages.

“What is this?” she whispered.

“Some sort of a market.”

A demon market in the Netherworld. And she’d forgotten her camera.

“We need to find Darrak,” she said.

A demon walked past, pushing a smaller cart full of some kind of product. It seemed to be a cross between a lemon and a multicolored sea anemone, its tentacles waving in the air. Other demons approached and sifted through the lemon things, shoving them into bags while the lemons made high-pitched squealing noises.

“You’re not moving.”

“I’m currently frozen with fear.”

“Some scary black witch you are. You don’t want these things sniffing around you. Call me crazy, but I’m thinking humans — or mostly humans — aren’t too common around here.”

Eden got to her feet and moved behind a tall stack of boxes to escape the searching gaze of the eight-foot-tall puce-colored vendor.

She turned to look into Andy’s glowing red eyes. “Why do you sound so calm, anyway? You do realize where we are, right?”

His forehead wrinkled. “Don’t know. I just am. It’s eerie, really.”

“This isn’t a dream.”

“When that guy from before—”

“Lucifer.”

“Thanks for the reminder. Anyway, when he changed me, it gave me some sort of serenity that just kicked in down here. I guess that’s why I get to be your guide. I’m sure I’m going to have a complete meltdown when this is all over. I mean, I was still getting used to the werewolf thing. This — well, this is in a whole different ballpark.”

He was right about that.

Funny, this place reminded her ever so slightly of the Kensington Market in downtown Toronto. Food and crowds and entertainment, an energetic mix of pedestrians and vendors.

Only… not.

There were hundreds of demons here, but the storefronts weren’t emblazoned with colorful signs for local businesses. They were blank. And it was night — she glanced up again. Not a star in that sky. Or a moon. Just blank, black velvet. The only light came from streetlamps that only served to cast a spooky glow over the street.

But this wasn’t the same sky she was accustomed to looking at. Funny, she hadn’t even expected the Netherworld to have a sky.

Was this where Darrak spent time before he was cursed? Had he ever attended this market before?

And what exactly were those lemon things for?

A large burst of fire erupted from one of the carts down the street, followed by a scream of pain and a rousing cheer of appreciation.

“What the hell was that?” she managed.

“Looks like a pet dragon,” Andy said. “It’s for sale. Interested?”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” She scanned the crowd one more time. “What direction do we need to go in to get to the Void? Do you know?”

“I’m supposed to know?”

“You’re the guide, remember?” Her stomach sank. “How can we even go to the Void? It’s a place of nothing, according to Darrak. How do we travel to nothing?”

“Maybe you’re being too literal. We’ll ask for directions.”

“Damn it,” she mumbled. “Lucas didn’t make this even slightly easy for us, did he?”

“Why do you keep calling him Lucas?”

Good question. Denial was powerful, but not all that practical. “Because it helps me to pretend that he isn’t really the Prince of Hell.”

Saying his title out loud earned her a few gasps, and a couple cleared throats, and any demon within hearing distance moved away from her.

Well, at least now she knew what to say to get some privacy.

“Let’s go,” she said firmly and started walking away from the crowd. If there was a Void around here it wouldn’t be close to a busy street market like this. Both she and Andy owned a private investigation company. If they couldn’t figure out where they were going they weren’t worth that much.

“Are you and Darrak still connected somehow?” Andy asked. “That would be helpful.”

She exhaled shakily. “I can’t feel anything. For a month he’s been such a huge part of my life, but… I–I can’t believe this has happened. All I wanted in the beginning was to get rid of him, to have my freedom again, and now… Andy, we have to find him.”

He looked up at her with concern and his pointed ears folded back flat against his head. “What if we’re too late?”

She couldn’t even think about that. Not now. “We have to hurry.”

Eden picked up her pace as she weaved her way out of the thick crowd. She would find him. She had to. There was no other way this could turn out.

Her mother used to call her a “stubborn little thing” when she’d been growing up. Caroline had been exaggerating then, feeling that any kind of disagreement constituted stubbornness. She’d been wrong then.

But she’d be right now.

“I’ll find you, Darrak,” she whispered. “No matter what.”