Something Wicked (4 page)

“How did it go?” Theo had long black hair he always wore tied back by a strip of leather. He had a slight exotic slant to his brown eyes that spoke of many different nationalities, which helped him fit in just about anywhere at any time in the human world.

“Don’t forget the
arch
before demon when you’re discussing my future triumphs. And you will be discussing them since I’ll have many.”

Theo’s grin widened. “Told you so.”

“You did indeed.”

“Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

Darrak laughed. “Reading the Bible again?”

“I love fairy tales. They make me feel all tingly inside.”

“As you can see, I survived the conversion. Which I’m told is rare. Thanks for the warning on that.”

Theo crossed his thickly muscled arms. “Warnings are for cowards. So now you’re finally one of us. One of the chosen few that can do whatever we want and have power left over to spare.”

“All thanks to you.” Darrak’s gratitude surprised even him. If it wasn’t for Theo, he wouldn’t have gotten this rare chance to move up the food chain.

Darrak and Theo had both been incubi created from hellfire at the dawn of their existences. Both created to serve their masters. But Theo had a real drive to become something more, never satisfied with where he was. He made Darrak see it was possible to want more, to achieve more. All one had to do was put one’s mind to it. He was very inspirational—for a demon.

“Follow me,” Theo said. “I need to ask you something very important, but not here.”

That was interesting. Darrak followed him until they were deeper in the palace, a place where they wouldn’t be disturbed or overheard.

“So now what?” Darrak grinned. “Shall we go out and celebrate? Head up to the human world? I can go there now at will, can’t I? I don’t have to wait to be given permission.”

“You can do anything you like now.
Anything
.”

Darrak’s smile faded and he tensed, feeling a strange sense of foreboding. “Is there something wrong?”

“No,” Theo said, although he seemed preoccupied. “Do you trust me, Darrak?”

“Yes,” he responded immediately. “Out of everyone I’ve ever known, I trust you above them all.”

“That’s good.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to tell you something. Something important.” Theo hesitated.

“You can trust me with anything you have to say,” Darrak assured him.

“Can I?” A straight black eyebrow raised.

“Of course. You’re like a brother to me.”

Theo snorted. “Always so emotional, Darrak. You’re just like a human.”

Darrak knew an insult when he heard one. “Am not.”

“I’m jesting, of course. I’ve seen you drain their energy and take their souls. No hesitation, no second thoughts. I’ve seen you tear apart the ones who cross you with your bare talons. Why do you think I’d recommend you for this promotion if I felt otherwise? You have the soul of a killer, don’t you?”

It was an old joke. “Yes, and it was delicious.”

Theo studied him a moment longer. “I don’t know when it will happen, but I need you to be prepared when it does.”

“When what happens?”

A smile snaked across Theo’s face. “I’m not satisfied with being an archdemon. I want more.”

“More? How can you get more? Arch is as far as we can go.”

“Not exactly.” He lowered his voice further so Darrak had to draw closer to hear him. “There are seven lords of Hell. I’ve recently discovered that if they were to be . . .
destroyed
. . . one by one, their power would shift to the one who ended their existence.”

Darrak hadn’t expected this. “You can’t destroy the lords. They’re omnipotent.”

Theo shrugged. “Maybe that’s only what they want us to believe. I’ve been secretly looking into things. There is a weapon that can kill them and send them to the Void just like any other lowly demon.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“I’m still working on the details. It may take time. Patience is a virtue, you know.”

Darrak snorted. “So is chastity. Luckily, demons aren’t required to be virtuous. I have no desire to be either patient nor chaste.”

“I want you to be a part of this. When I rise to power, you have the chance to take some as well. After all, I don’t know if I can handle all seven rings myself.” His grin widened. “Maybe four for me and three for you. We can rule Hell together.”

Darrak’s head felt heavy with this influx of information. “You’ll be destroyed if they ever find out about this.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “And will you tell them?”

“Of course not.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“To kill Lucifer and the others and take their power for ourselves the moment we’re given the opportunity?” Darrak said it very slowly so there would be no misunderstandings.

“Yes. So what do you say? Are we partners? Shall we take over Hell and leave those who oppose us in our bloody wake no matter how long it takes or how difficult it might get?”

Darrak gave his friend a slow grin and felt his newfound power rising inside of him, itching to be used as soon as possible. “I’m so in.”

THREE

“I need to dampen you now,” Eden told Darrak when she entered her bathroom, still disturbed by what had happened at the club.

“Thanks for the warning.”

“Only for five minutes. Just need to do some stuff.”

Darrak sighed. “I know. Your mysterious bathroom routine. But it’s not necessary to dampen me. If you knew half the things I’d seen—”

She held up a hand. “And I don’t want to.”

“I have seen you naked before,” he reminded her. “Trust me, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Your body is gorgeous. Right down to that little freckle on your—”

“You’re not helping.” She glared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“Sorry.” But there was a twist of amusement in his voice that made her think he wasn’t all that sorry.

“Five minutes,” she said again, and before he could protest, she flicked the metaphorical switch in her head that shut the demon off from seeing or hearing anything for a while. It wasn’t without effort. This ability had more to do with her meager psychic abilities than tapping into her black magic. She could tell because it was hard to do. Using magic was effortless and tempting. This was difficult and gave her a headache if she tried to hold him back for too long.

Eden finished in the bathroom as quickly as she could and changed for bed. She used to wear a T-shirt or sleep entirely in the nude, but ever since she’d acquired her new roommate, she’d bought a few sets of full-length pajamas—the least sexy ones she could find. One set even came with feet attached. Tonight she chose the ones with a pattern of small pink poodles all over the thick white flannel fabric. Could not be less sexy if she tried.

Only after she’d gotten in bed, and pulled the covers up to her chin, did she release the dampening. She immediately felt the demon’s warm presence inside of her again.

“That felt like more than five minutes,” he said.

“It was ten minutes. Maybe eleven.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Now I’m exhausted. It’s been a long night and it wasn’t even worthwhile.”

“I know. But we’ll try again,” he told her. “The wizard’s assistant hangs out at that club every night, I’ve heard.”

It still confused her. “And where exactly did you hear this from? You’re with me all the time.”

“Don’t sound so thrilled about that.”

He was inside her head at night. And by day, even though he could take form, he couldn’t stray more than a hundred feet from her side or he would be drawn back to her like a magnet. A magnet in great pain.

“I was in Toronto for a week before we met, you know,” he said. “Even though I didn’t have much control, I did manage to collect some information about potential ways to break the curse.”

Following his “only possess scumbags who deserve to die” philosophy, he’d been in the body of a serial killer who’d tried to kill Eden before he was shot dead, forcing Darrak to make the jump to a new host whether he wanted to or not.

She stared up at the ceiling. “I didn’t like that nightclub. Something felt off about it.”

“You found your old friend.”

“So did you.”

“Touché. However, you didn’t scurry away in the opposite direction of yours.”

“You didn’t scurry. You were—”

“A cowardly fool afraid to face my past?” he finished.

“I was going to say you were being protective of me.”

He groaned. “If you call me your guardian angel again, we’re going to have a problem.”

She smiled, but covered the expression with the edge of the bedsheet. “I’d never use a term you find so morally insulting.”

“Good.” He was quiet for a moment. “I honestly don’t know why you sound so calm about all of this.”

“About what in particular?”

“The curse. Me still harassing you internally. It must be completely frustrating for you.”

“Well, yes it is. But why I’m calm is very simple, really.”

“So why is it?”

“Because I trust you.”

Darrak didn’t respond to that for a moment. “You do?”

“Yes. I know we’ll figure a way to break your curse before anything really bad happens. And until then I trust you to do the right thing.”

“I . . . I appreciate that, Eden. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

“I know that.” Despite all that they’d been through together, it was true. She trusted the demon. He’d done everything in his power to protect her, to keep her safe, and the fact that bad things had happened since they’d met wasn’t really his fault. Even the things that seemed to be
entirely
his fault.

Like she’d said, their relationship was seriously complicated. But she supposed it didn’t have to be. She helped him. He helped her. They were just partners in finding a solution and nothing more. And one day soon they’d go their separate ways, and she’d forget how it felt to kiss him or how good his body had felt against hers when they’d made love. It was something they hadn’t discussed much—kind of like an elephant in the room.

It made it a little easier to pretend it had never happened.

“Go to sleep, Eden,” Darrak said, his voice as warm as his presence. “Everything will be better tomorrow.”

“Promises, promises.” She closed her eyes. It took a while, but just after midnight she finally drifted off.

Darrak didn’t sleep. He zoned out sometimes to restore his energy when needed, but actually being unconscious like a human didn’t happen for him. All those awake hours gave him lots of time to think.

She trusts me
, he thought.

He really wished he deserved her trust. However, if Eden found out what he could do at night, she’d strongly reconsider her position on the subject.

A half hour after she’d fallen asleep, Darrak sat up and swung Eden’s legs out of bed. He’d never been able to do this before with past hosts, but when Eden was unconscious, he could possess her body completely if he wanted to.

And he
did
want to. He had things to do.

He walked to the bathroom and flicked on the light. Eden’s beautiful face stared back at him in the mirror, and guilt twisted in his gut.

Demons really shouldn’t feel guilt. It was so undemonlike.

He dressed quickly without sneaking a look at Eden’s body. Okay, fine. He wasn’t made of stone. He looked. But it was quick.

Several quick looks. That was all.