The Demon in Me (17 page)

“You have.”

“Do you think it was an allergic reaction? I can take you to the hospital.”

“Seriously, Ben. I’ve completely recovered.” She couldn’t help but smile. “You wanted to make a good impression on someone you consider a crazy psychic troublemaker?”

He laughed a little. “Did I use those exact words?”

“Not the crazy part. But I think it was implied.”

He reached in his pocket for his keys as they stood by the trunk of his LeBaron. “I’m so out of practice at this dating thing.”

“You think you’re out of practice? I was the one foaming at the mouth.”

He grinned. “I’m surprised you didn’t psychically predict you were going to do that.”

“Like I said before, I really should have checked my horoscope this week. I’m sure it would have read: Gemini—stay away from seafood restaurants unless you want to foam at the mouth.”

“That would have been very specific.”

“Besides, my abilities, such as they are, seem to be only applicable to tarot cards or sensing the location of people or things.”

“Clairvoyancy without the ghost whispering.”

She smiled. “You’ve done your research.”

“I have indeed.” He moved around to her side and leaned against his car door. “So, can you see ghosts?”

“Nope. No ghosts. Just little white dogs. And serial killers”—
and really good-looking but annoying and insensitive demons
—“and a friend once lost her keys and I was really helpful there, too.”

“You know, you’re different.”

“I’ve heard that one before.”

“I mean different in a good way. You seem so—I don’t know. Like everything about you is right on the surface. Like you don’t hide anything. You like to get it all out front and center.”

She could have sworn she heard Darrak snicker inside of her. She ignored him.

“Well, thanks,” she said. “I have been going through some stuff recently, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to fix it.”

“You’re all determined.”

“I get that way about the things that matter to me.” Eden studied the pavement for a moment. Then she looked up at him, realizing he was right next to her now. He brushed her long hair back over her right shoulder and brought his hand to her face. She forgot to breathe for a moment.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” he said. “Is that wrong?”

Her breath caught and a shiver ran down her arms. “Aren’t you afraid of catching my rabies?”

“Surprisingly, no.” He grinned and lowered his mouth to hers.

A moment before his lips would have brushed against hers, she slapped him.

His eyes widened and he stepped back from her.

Wait…
no
.
She
hadn’t slapped him. Her hand had acted all on its own. She had nothing to do with it.

Her eyes narrowed.
Darrak.

“Huh. Just like your leg earlier,” the demon in question murmured inside of her. “Didn’t realize I could do that, but I really didn’t want him to kiss you right now. Don’t be mad.”

A flash of white rage moved across her vision. He’d made her slap Ben before he kissed her. Because he didn’t want him to?

She tried to contain her anger and not let it show on the outside. It was a struggle.

“Ben, I’m
so
sorry,” she managed. “I don’t know why I did that.”

He still looked shocked. “Not much for kissing on the first date, I take it?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

No, she didn’t. She was currently fighting being embarrassed, mortified, and furious. Her brain felt as if it was about to explode.

The man she really liked—who liked her in return despite her awkward and foamy ways—tried to kiss her and she’d just belted him.

She tried to summon up something inside of her to explain it away in an amusing and endearing way, but came up blank. Ben’s gaze moved away from her and narrowed.

“Maybe you sensed someone else was nearby that you’d need to defend yourself against,” he said. “I don’t know how this psychic thing works exactly, but you never know.”

She frowned. What was he talking about? She looked over her shoulder. Malcolm stood a dozen feet behind her.

“Ms. Riley,” he said.

“Oh, great,” Darrak said inwardly. “Just what I need right now.”

Ben put his arm out and pushed Eden behind him. “What the hell do you want?”

“To talk.”

“I think I witnessed what you consider ‘talking’ yesterday. And you were doing it with your fists.”

Malcolm nodded. “I know what it must have looked like to you. But Eden herself knows there’s more to the story.”

“We need to get out of here now,” Darrak said.

She shook her head. “Leave me alone, Malcolm.”

“I can’t do that. Please, listen to me. I only ask for a minute of your time.”

It was strange. Malcolm didn’t sound confrontational or dangerous. In fact, he just looked like a skinny college kid out for a walk, not an exorcist who could recite Latin as easily as if it was his first language.

“So talk,” she said.

“I want to help you. Your situation is dire. Your life is in danger.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Ben growled.

“Doesn’t your friend know?” Malcolm asked.

Eden tensed. “I have everything under control. I never should have hired you and your mother. Please, just go away and leave me in peace.”

“You’ll never be in peace now.” Malcolm’s jaw clenched. “You’re in the grip of an evil being that needs to be destroyed. I don’t just work with my mother; I’ve also been newly recruited into the Malleus. It’s an organization that’s been around for hundreds of years. We protect the world from that which is unseen and misunderstood. The dark forces that secretly lurk in our society.”

Darrak swore under his breath. “The Malleus. There’s a term I haven’t heard in a long time.”

What did that mean? Eden hadn’t heard about anything like that before.

“You are talking nonsense,” Ben said. “Get the hell away from us or I’m going to arrest you for harassment.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “If you knew the truth, you wouldn’t stand in my way. In fact, you need to know all this so you can help protect Eden.”

Ben looked at Eden. “Let’s go.”

That sounded like a very good idea.

But Malcolm continued undeterred. “You can’t see the darkness that is corrupting her soul. If you care about her, you’ll let me do what I have to do to save her.”

“What are you, some kind of religious freak?”

“This is beyond religion. It’s beyond anything you’ve ever faced before. You think you’ve seen evil in the human crimes you deal with day to day?”

“I know I have,” Ben growled.

Malcolm shook his head. “You haven’t looked into the face of true darkness.”

“You are a kook from a cult and I want you to back the hell up right now.” His hand tightened on Eden’s waist as Malcolm drew nearer. “Eden wants nothing to do with you.”

“You don’t understand…”

Eden knew she had to get Ben away from Malcolm. Slapping him was one thing—something she might be forgiven for eventually. If he found out she was possessed by a demon, then all bets were off.

“… Eden is possessed by a demon,” Malcolm finished.

Well,
damn
.

“What the hell did you just say?” Ben snapped.

Malcolm stood under a streetlamp that lit up his young, angelic face. “Eden is possessed by a demon that will slowly but surely drain her life away in its single-minded need to survive on this realm of existence. It’s part of what the Malleus fights against. Demons and witches—the army of Lucifer himself.”

“She’s possessed by a
demon
,” Ben repeated incredulously. “I should lock you up right now so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else.”

A flash of frustration came over Malcolm’s face and he looked directly at Eden. “Do you refuse my help?”

She’d seen what he considered help. Even though she was furious with Darrak at the moment, she didn’t want him to be exorcised. She’d get rid of the demon on her own terms. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“You would willingly assist a demon?” His expression darkened. “That makes you no better than the creature itself.”

“You need to—” she began, but Malcolm grabbed her throat and effortlessly pulled her away from Ben’s side.

What the hell?
How strong was this kid?

“I will finish what I started with or without your help. I
will
save your soul.”

“Let go of her!” Ben snapped, and grabbed his arm, although despite being larger than Malcolm, he wasn’t able to budge the exorcist one inch.

Malcolm closed his eyes and began to speak in Latin again.

“Eden,” Darrak gasped. “You have to stop him.”

How was she supposed to stop him? His grip on her throat was so tight it was all she could focus on.

Then she gritted her teeth and glared at him, feeling a surge of anger fill her insides. She grabbed his arm and twisted it away from her. Malcolm yelped in pain and struck her with the back of his other hand, which hurt like hell but only helped the hot anger she was feeling burn away any other thought. Without thinking twice, she grabbed the front of his sweatshirt and shoved him as hard as she could.

He flew backward across the parking lot as if launched from a cannon and he hit a parked car, cracking the driver’s side window. He slumped to the ground unconscious.

She looked at Ben, who had been fumbling for his gun but had stopped in midfumble. He’d just watched her toss a grown man fifteen feet away from her as if he was no more than a rag doll. The same man he’d been unable to move.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked.

Good question.

“You’re stronger with me inside,” Darrak said. “It’s a protective measure in case someone tries to do us harm.”

Great.
She was like a demonically enhanced Wonder Woman now. And how exactly was she supposed to explain that to Ben?

She licked her dry lips. “Ben, I—I don’t know how I managed to do that.”

“You had good leverage,” he replied. “That’s all.”

“Leave it to someone who’s not a true believer to draw their own acceptable conclusions,” Darrak said. “Despite that cross he wears around his neck, golden boy doesn’t want to know any of this exists. Even when he sees it right in front of his own eyes.”

“That makes two of us,” she muttered under her breath.

“Well, you might not want to believe it, but he flat out refuses to. There’s a difference.”

“You need to go home now,” Ben said. “We’ll have to grab dinner some other night.”

“What?” She was distracted, and she turned toward the cop.

“Go home, Eden. Get the restaurant to call you a taxi.” He moved toward Malcolm and looked at her over his shoulder. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Are you going to arrest him?”

Ben cleared his throat. “No, but I sure as hell plan to tell him when he wakes up that if he comes near you again he’s making a huge and regrettable mistake.”

She felt completely powerless. It wasn’t as if she really knew what to do in this situation. Malcolm knew that she was possessed. He wouldn’t give up. She’d seen it now.

“Do what he says,” Darrak said. “It’s the first thing he’s said tonight that I agree with.”

“Okay,” she said out loud. “And I’m… I’m sorry, Ben. For everything.”

He shook his head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“Now you’re just being nice.”

“I don’t do nice so well. But I do truthful great. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

She nodded. Ben didn’t make any move to come near her again. After the slapping incident she couldn’t very well blame him. Without another word, she left. The maître d’ called her a cab, and she took it back to her apartment.

She was quiet the whole way there. For that matter, so was Darrak, who hadn’t said a word since leaving the restaurant. But she knew he was still there. She could feel him.

Leena was curled up, in cat form, sleeping on the couch. She raised her furry head, blinked once, and went back to sleep.

Eden threw her keys on the kitchen counter and went directly to her room. She shut the door.

“I can’t deal with this,” she said out loud.

“Which part?” the demon replied.

“All of it. I’ve been trying to be patient, but this isn’t working.” She sniffed and realized with a sinking feeling that she was crying.

“Hey.” Darrak sounded disturbed by her outpouring of emotion. “It’s going to be fine. Really.”

She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. “No, it’s not. You’re ruining my life.”

“We’ll fix this.”

“Tell me how to dampen you.”

“Pardon me?”

“Tell me how to get some privacy from you. It’s the only thing that will help right now. I need to be alone.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Please.”

“Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t. It goes against my nature to give someone power over me, even something small like dampening.”

She collapsed backward onto her bed. “I hate you.” “Harsh words, Eden. I think you should be focusing that hate toward Malcolm the exorcist. Not me.”

“I hate both of you.” She pushed the tears off her cheeks and sat up again, gathering a pillow against her chest and hugging it firmly. “What’s the Malleus, anyhow?”

“A bunch of assholes who banded together to make the lives of Others complete torture. Sometimes literally. They took their name from the
Malleus Maleficarum
—that’s Latin for ‘the hammer of witches’—which was the book used to prosecute and punish witches back in the day.”

“I thought you said you weren’t a walking encyclopedia.”

“Some things I know about firsthand without doing any extra research. The Malleus has been a pain in the Netherworld’s ass for ages—at least, for any of us who try hanging out on the human realm of existence for more than an hour or two.”

Her head hurt just trying to wrap itself around what he was saying. “So they were around during the Salem witch trials?”

“Among other human atrocities. Because, of course, those weren’t really witches they were executing. Not all of them, anyhow. They were regular women who pleaded for their lives right until their last breath. If the Malleus had come face-to-face with a powerful black witch
they
would have been the ones on fire. These men—because there are no women allowed in their exclusive gang—have no mercy for anyone they consider an enemy.”