That Old Black Magic

TWENTY-THREE

With a last howl, Andy shifted back to human form.

It wasn’t pretty.

Luckily, a shifter’s clothing went along for the ride, so he was curled up in the fetal position on the floor of Triple-A fully dressed. Eden crouched down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“How are you feeling, Andy?” she asked.

He just eyed her. “Take a wild guess.”

“You need a drink?”

“Oh, yes. Very much so.”

Darrak entered the office. He’d taken a stroll around the block to test his and Eden’s previous hundred-foot tether. It seemed to be gone.

His trip to the Void, and surprise return, had worked to break his curse.

Smashed it, was more like it.

“Look,” Darrak said standing at the glass door and looking out. “The sun’s up.”

It was the first time they’d ever seen a sunrise together.

She grinned. “Pretty.”

“I’ll say.”

Darrak had every chance to go away now, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t. They were together now by choice rather than circumstance.

She loved him. He drove her crazy half the time, and she was sure the feeling was more than mutual, but she loved him so much it hurt. She’d made a deal with the Prince of Hell to save the life of the man she loved and, no matter what, she knew she’d do it again in a heartbeat.

And, quite frankly, she didn’t really give a crap what her mother or anyone else thought about that.

Darrak looked down at Andy recovering on the floor. “You’re looking good.”

Andy studied the ceiling. “I need a vacation.”

Eden helped him to his feet. “Go home and recover.”

He nodded. “Is shifting always this difficult?”

Darrak shrugged. “I don’t think so. As they say about many things, it only hurts the first time. You’ll get used to it.”

“Hooray.” He grabbed his coat. “So what are you going to do about… you know who?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Darrak said. “I have it under control.”

Eden eyed him. Under control? This was news.

“Worry? Who me?” Andy gingerly slid his coat on. “Deals with Lucifer, trips to Hell, growing fur out of places fur should never grow. Totally a normal day for me, nothing to worry about at all.”

That he was able to be sarcastic after everything he’d been through was reassuring.

Darrak put a hand on Andy’s shoulder. “Thank you. Really. I owe you big-time for what you did for me. I won’t forget it.”

Andy patted his hand. “No thanks required. Just be good to Eden. Promise me you’ll do that, okay?”

“I promise everything I do from this day forward will be in Eden’s best interests.”

“That’s the spirit, Romeo.” Andy finally grinned as Eden gave him a tight hug, her throat thick with gratitude toward her brave guide to the Netherworld. She knew she never would have succeeded without him. “I’m heading home. But if you need me for any reason, call.”

Eden watched as he slowly headed out to his car and drove out of the parking lot. Then she made a beeline toward Darrak, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

“So happy to see you.”

“As happy as I am?” He grinned before brushing his lips over hers. “That’s not brimstone in my pocket, you know.”

Despite the joke, there was something sad in his ice blue eyes. He hated that she’d agreed to give up her celestial energy to Lucas, but it had been the right decision. It gave her the chance to find him.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you, too.” A smile played at his lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“We sound like something out of a romance novel. Which I’m thinking about writing, by the way. Maybe I’ll start with our story.”

She laughed. “A romance novel about a demonic possession. Sure, that makes sense.”

Darrak kissed her again, holding her face gently between his hands. She wanted to enjoy this, enjoy him, but something felt off.

She pulled back from him. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

He scrubbed a hand through his hair, his expression darkening immediately. “Wrong? What could possibly be wrong? Other than that little deal you made with our buddy Lucifer, of course.”

She cringed. “My angel side never served any purpose. Just a little unreliable psychic insight. As far as I’m concerned, he’s welcome to it.”

Darrak’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, that’s all it is. May as well give it away to the first person who asks for it.”

She had no argument. She knew he was angry that she’d give anything at all to Lucifer, let alone something he felt was this important. But she didn’t need her angel side anymore. Darrak didn’t possess her. He didn’t require that celestial energy in order to take form any longer.

Besides, backing out on another promise to the prince would be completely impossible given her history with him.

“Tell me what the problem is,” she said.

He stepped away from her and paced the office. “That deal you made is going to take away the only thing holding your black magic back. Your soul will be completely consumed in a matter of months. And when you die — in a year, a decade, a century — you’ll be signing up to be one of those charming wraith chicks you met earlier. That’s your future thanks to saying yes to Lucy.”

She shook her head, but anxiety now churned in her gut. Or maybe it was just morning sickness. “You’re overreacting.”

“No I’m not.”

“Lucas told me I’d be safe, that the baby would be safe, no matter what. He promised that before I agreed to anything. Maybe you’re wrong.”

“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

“What if I promise never to use black magic again?”

He snatched a piece of paper off the floor where it had fallen off her desk. It was the card with the clues to find Brenda on it and he pointed at her with it. “The moment you need it, you’ll use it. You have no self-control at all.”

She wanted to argue, but he was right. She’d made this promise before and when she needed her magic, to save herself, to save someone else, it was as though she didn’t even have a choice but to tap into it.

She shook her head. “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”

He was staring at the card, his brows drawn together.

“What is it?” she asked.

“This is giving me ideas.”

“Brenda’s faulty information is giving you ideas?”

He tucked the card into his pocket. “No, the fact that it’s cloaked to Lucifer is giving me ideas. That she’s cloaked to him. That’s what we need to do. It’ll give me enough time to put my plan into motion.”

“Darrak, what are you talking about?” She felt hopelessly confused, as if Darrak was now operating on a different frequency from her.

He grasped her chin and kissed her quickly. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you.”

“Darrak…”

He went to the phone on her desk, picked it up, and dialed a number. “He better damn well be there this morning or I’m going to… There you are. You’re lucky.” A pause. “Yes, things are bad. Nothing really worked out the way you told us it would… Yeah, I know you didn’t make any promises.”

He was talking to Maksim. Looked like he’d returned from his impromptu trip bright and early this morning.

“We need your help and we need it now. I want you to do a strong cloaking spell. It’s outside of my abilities or I’d do it myself… Yes, now. This can’t wait.”

He hung up.

Eden crossed her arms. “Maksim is going to cloak me.”

“If he knows what’s good for him he will.”

He was taking this so seriously, which made her realize how serious it was. She was in trouble. Darrak loved her and he wanted her to be okay.

“We’ll take your car,” he said. “Phasing is usually a one-person mode of transportation in the human world since it takes so much energy. Too bad, since it’s so convenient.”

“So this is the plan? You’re going to cloak me from him for the rest of my life?”

“No. I get the feeling he’ll be more determined to find you than Brenda. I need a day or two at the most.”

“To do what?”

He looked at her with steely determination. “I have an important date with a prince coming up. And trust me, Eden, only one of us is getting lucky.”

* * *

He’d drugged and detained Eden in the past. Now it was his turn.

When Ben woke his entire body felt as if it had taken a leisurely stroll through a wood chipper. Since he was breathing and his heart was still beating, plus he didn’t see any puddles of blood, he hoped that he was wrong about that.

He was tied to a chair, his legs to the legs, his arms behind him. A quick sweep of the bare and dimly lit room showed that Leena and Caroline were in the same position as he was, against opposite walls. Leena was looking at him with wide eyes. Caroline was still unconscious.

“Now what?” Leena asked quietly. “You’re the one with all the bright ideas.”

“Not feeling all that bright at the moment.”

“If you’d taken my cuff off I could shift and get us out of here. But no. Of course not.”

“What can I say? Hindsight’s a bitch.”

Leena’s gaze moved to the door as Sandy walked in.

“How are we all doing in here?” she asked sweetly.

“Untie us right now,” Ben snarled. He knew it was pointless and almost humorous that he was making demands in his current position, but it was better than saying nothing at all.

She patted the top of his head. “You’re so cute, Ben. Never change.”

“Why are you doing this, Sandy?”

“Sorry it had to go down like this, lover.” She now stroked his thigh. “You’ve probably got questions for me, don’t you?”

“Let them go.” He thrust his chin at the women. “Your problem’s with me.”

She ignored him. “You’re thinking — I thought she was such a nice girl. So young and sweet and helpful. And you’d be right. I was. But you know what they say about power.” She shrugged. “Who knew how corruptible I was?”

His heart sank. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“I’m not.” Sandy straddled his lap and slid her fingers through his hair. Any other time this might be hot. Men paid a lot of money at strip clubs to get this sort of treatment, but he couldn’t be less aroused if he tried. “You really should have eaten that soup. Right now you’d be by my side doing whatever I say instead of in here waiting for death.”

“Don’t do this. You can make a different choice. It’s not too late.”

She leaned closer so her lips brushed his ear. “You were great in bed, by the way. I definitely would have kept you around for a while longer as my own personal sex slave.”

“Why did you kill Oliver?” he growled. He refused to rise to any of her other bait.

“Oh, silly boy.” She patted his head again like one might do to a favorite pet. “Such an upstanding citizen, you are. So good and noble. Too bad it never turns out right and everyone ends up thinking you’re an asshole. The good-in-the-sack thing would have taken you far, though. Trust me on that.” She glanced over at Leena. “He’s not a male slut, in case you were wondering. He’s a damn Boy Scout, this one. But he’s got some moves that’ll make your toes curl. Eden really missed out, didn’t she?”

“It’s funny,” Leena growled. “You don’t look like a skanky ho. And yet, the proof is skanking out right in front of me.”

“Watch it, kitty cat,” Sandy snarled back. “No catnip for you. I believe you’re at my mercy right now. And it’s not exactly something I have much left of.”

“Sandy, you need to—” Ben began.

She covered his mouth with her hand. “Are you going to say you want to save my soul like you wanted to do for Eden? Are you going to tell me everything I’ve done will get me hurt and that I’m headed down a very dark path without your help and guidance? That you’ll forgive me if only I let you and the others go?”

He wrenched his face away from her. “No, I think it’s too late for any of that. Actually, I was going to tell you that there’s an angel standing right behind you and he’s going to kick your ass, but I guess you’ll figure that out when you wake up in Hell.”

Sandy grinned, which wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. She slithered off his lap and went to stand next to Daniel. The angel had seemed frail when imprisoned in that locked cell, but now Ben could see he was tall and broad and looked like he could do serious damage if he wanted to.

“Who, this angel?” Sandy said, sliding her hand up the angel’s muscled arm. “Let’s just say, we have a bit of an arrangement already worked out. So I’m not too worried.”

Ben’s gaze darted between them. It didn’t make any damn sense to him. He wanted to follow the clues, piece them together. He’d been a good cop — if a bit of a hothead, according to his superiors — so he should be able to understand what was going on here.

“I know you’re Eden’s father,” he said, his throat feeling sore. “That you came here to help. I’m sorry you were locked up and that I didn’t act before this. I came back tonight to break you out, but you were already gone. Sandy — she killed the man responsible for your imprisonment. Oliver Gale was consuming your feathers… your celestial energy.”

“Yes,” the angel said. “That’s exactly what happened. Well done, Ben.”

“Then why are you standing by? Why aren’t you doing something to stop this? Sandy killed a man tonight with black magic. She’s evil.”

“That’s not Daniel,” Caroline spoke up, her voice creaky as if she’d just woken.

Ben craned his neck. “What?”

“It looks exactly like him. It looks… like he did thirty years ago, not a single day older.”

“But he’s an angel. They don’t age, do they?”

She shook her head. “It’s still not him. Not really.”

A bark of a laugh from Leena. “I think I get it. Is that why you locked me up in your dungeon? Well, I guess you found your answers without torturing me for the truth, huh? I wouldn’t have been able to help you, anyway, now that I know what you wanted, you sick bastard.”

Ben didn’t understand what she meant for a moment, but then the truth finally hit him.

His widening gaze moved to Daniel again and swept the length of the redheaded angel. So tall, so powerful. His wings were tucked behind him, but they were unmistakably real wings that glowed a little in the half light of the room, as full and beautiful as if they’d never been plucked of a solitary feather.

Oliver had been consuming those feathers because he needed to fill himself with celestial energy. He’d been investigating what the affects of possessing a nephilim would do to a demon like Darrak.

It had all been one big experiment with a single purpose.

“Oliver,” Ben said in no more than a whisper. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re inside of Daniel. You’re using his form and you had to destroy your own body in order to do that. That’s why you had Sandy kill you — a black magic ritual, right? All so you could possess the body of an angel.”

The angel drew closer and cocked his head. “You could have been such an asset to me, Ben. To us all. I’m truly sorry it had to turn out this way.”

“This is why you had power over me since I became a member of the Malleus, isn’t it? I thought you had some ability to tap into witchcraft, but it was the celestial energy you’ve been consuming that was giving you special abilities.” It all began to click into a horrific jigsaw puzzle. “But I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” Oliver’s new smile grew to show off straight, perfect teeth in his handsome stolen face. “Because I’ve recently made a very important deal with a very important being.”

“With who?”

“Lucifer.” Oliver said it reverently.

An icy chill rushed through Ben’s body at the familiar name — one that represented true evil like nothing else in the universe. “Lucifer… but — but why? What for?”

Oliver stood up very straight and that cold self-satisfied smile of his grew larger still. “I’m about to become the new Prince of Hell.”