The Demon in Me (23 page)

“Is it really the world’s biggest bookstore?”

“That’s the name of it.”

“But is it? And is that determined by square footage or by the number of books they keep in stock?”

“Stock, I think. But who cares? It’s a big-ass bookstore and she’s going to be there. This is exactly what you’ve been looking for for over three hundred years and I’m not seeing even the slightest glimmer of excitement in your eyes. Your curse is going to be broken. You’re going to be free to go wherever you want. And I’m not going to die in a year. So obviously I’m ready to celebrate.”

He turned to look at her and their faces were very close. He tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear and kept his hand against the side of her face. Just his touch was enough to chase away the chill she now constantly felt during daylight hours.

“I’m happy. Of course I am.”

“But?”

“But maybe I’m going to miss you a little. Can’t help it.” He ran his thumb lightly over her bottom lip and she felt a sudden, unbidden surge of desire for him right then and there.

“Uh,” Andy said. “What the hell are you two talking about? And um… does your brother usually touch you like that, Eden? Because it’s making me very uncomfortable.”

She pulled away from the demon. “We’re a very affectionate family.”

“I think there’s another word for affection like that.”

Sheesh
. It wasn’t as if they were actually making out, or anything.

That damn Devil tarot card and its lustful implications.

She began piling the mess of paper that had accumulated on her desk into a tidy pile. “Forget it, Andy. Just bask in the fact that you’re the 51 percent owner of a newly thriving business.”

“Good point. Strange and awkward sibling love forgotten. How long is Darrak going to be staying with you?” he asked. “Maybe I can put him to work for us.”

“I’m standing right here,” Darrak said. “And the last time I checked I was capable of speaking for myself.”

“He won’t be around much longer.” Eden was surprised by the strange sensation of loss she felt when she said that.

Andy leaned back in his chair and finally lit up his cigar, puffing it slowly. “He’s going back to his, um… home?”

“Yes. It’s almost time.”

Darrak’s home back in the Netherworld. Or Hell itself. Where did he live? Did he have a house? Was it hot there? What about that river of fire she’d always heard about? Was it a completely different existence there than here? How did that even work?

So many questions she wasn’t sure she really wanted answers for.

The phone rang again and Andy grabbed it, pressing it to his ear. “It’s a beautiful day at Triple-A.”

“Long past time for me to go home,” Darrak agreed. “Maybe that’s why I’m not jumping for joy. I’ve accepted how things are for so long that I can hardly believe they might change.”

“We’ll go tonight and talk to her.”

“Then you’ll be going by yourself, won’t you?” he said. “Or, at least that’s what it’ll look like.”

“Right. Well, you can let me know what to say to her.”

“I think it’s better if we just go to the signing and get a feel for her. Like I said before, she’s dangerous. She might not take kindly to unwelcome blasts from her past suddenly coming out of the woodwork.”

“Even if I buy a couple of her books?” Eden clicked through to the excerpt pages. “They actually look pretty interesting.”

Darrak blinked. “We’ll go. We’ll observe. And then we’ll decide how best to approach her. Sound okay?”

“Sure.” The appearance page said that Selina had been in Toronto since last week taking a short vacation in the middle of her book tour, culminating with the signings tonight and tomorrow. Darrak had been right. He’d sensed she was in the area, and here she was.

The witch looked nice enough. She also looked really young—younger even than Eden herself. All of those years, all of what she would have experienced.

What would it be like to be beautiful, powerful, and have the chance to live forever?

Without wasting another minute, Eden called Fay and let her know what had happened with her husband and what they’d discovered. While upset and shocked by the fact that Richard’s body was currently possessed by a drifter, after a minute she sounded extremely relieved.

“Of course,” she said. “Why didn’t I see it before?”

“Apparently drifters are really sneaky.”

“I do know that. And what about the woman?”

“She’s involved with him. But since it’s not really him, I don’t know if I’d call it cheating.”

“No, I agree. To say you’ve literally saved my life wouldn’t be an exaggeration. And you worked so quickly, too.”

“Just be careful. He wasn’t happy with me. He might be dangerous.”

“I can handle him now that I know what’s going on.”

“Still. Humor me and be careful.”

“I’ll forward my check to you immediately. A weight has been lifted off of me.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “I knew my husband loved me. I shouldn’t have doubted him. Thank you, Eden. So much.”

“You’re very welcome.”

A happy customer. It felt really good to know that she’d helped somebody. Maybe Darrak was right. Maybe she could do this “helping others” thing for a while to give her life some meaning. Especially when it worked out really well in the end.

She just had to get over the fact that their clientele at Triple-A were Others.

And just because Darrak would be leaving didn’t mean that she’d automatically forget everything she’d seen in the last couple of days. She didn’t think she’d be able to forget even if she tried. But when Darrak left, would the clients go as well? Would Triple-A still be a paranormal hot spot, as the demon had said it was?

Well, whatever was going to happen, her personal life would be back to normal.

It was a good thing. She had to embrace it. But it didn’t mean she’d ever forget.

The phone rang again. She’d never realized how few times the phone normally rang until now that she heard it every couple of minutes. Andy picked it up to give his oddly cheery, singsong greeting.

“Eden. It’s for you.”

She picked up. “Eden Riley here.”

“Eden, hi. Sorry I didn’t call earlier.”

She immediately recognized Ben’s voice. She bit her bottom lip. “I figured you probably wouldn’t call me at all after what happened last night.”

“Why? Did something out of the ordinary happen?”

She could hear the smile in his voice and was surprised by it. “Only a couple of things.”

“Are you busy right now? I wanted to see you again.”

“Me, busy?” She twisted the phone cord around her finger and leaned back in her chair. “Later yes, but not too bad right at the moment.”

“Good.”

She heard the jingle and looked up. Ben entered the office with his cell phone pressed against his ear. He pulled it away and closed it, then slid it into his pocket.

“The question is,” he said, “do you want to see
me
again.” She smiled and stood up from behind her desk after hanging up the phone. “Of course I do. But last night… I’m so sorry.”

“Are we talking about the slapping me thing?”

She forced herself not to look at Darrak, who stood by the window to her left. “Among other embarrassing issues.”

Ben tilted his head. “So you didn’t really mean to slap me?” “Of course I didn’t.”

“Because I was thinking I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you.”

“Then that would have been a drastically wrong assumption.” She moved out from behind her desk. “Although I understand why you’d feel that way. With the physical violence and all.”

He nodded, studied her intently for a moment, and then closed the distance between them, ignoring both Andy and Darrak. “Then I think it’s best to get this out of the way right now so it doesn’t become an ongoing issue between us.”

“What are you talking about?”

He captured her face between his hands and kissed her very firmly on her mouth. Her eyes widened at the feel of his lips against hers before he let go of her.

He grinned. “See, I feel much better now.”

“Uh… wow, I didn’t expect that.”

“Less time for you to build up a defensive tactic.” His grin disappeared. “Does that mean I shouldn’t do it again?”

“No, I’m definitely not saying that. You have my full permission to do that again.” She cleared her throat. The cop could kiss very, very well. And he looked extremely pleased with himself considering the fact he had a fiery-eyed demon now standing directly behind him with fists clenched at his sides.

“If I wasn’t so busy,” Andy said from across the room, “I’d be very curious to know everything that’s been going on with you lately, Eden. Okay, maybe I’m a little curious. Who’s this guy?”

“Oh, uh… this is Ben Hanson. Or, rather,
Detective
Ben Hanson. Ben, this is my partner here at the agency, Andy McCoy.”

Andy drew closer and extended his hand. Ben shook it. “Good to meet you. Nice to see that somebody’s willing to give our little recluse Eden a good time.”

“Andy!” Eden’s face flushed.

“Well, you know what I mean. You can’t always depend on your brother, especially considering his special condition.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother,” Ben said.

“Right.” She cleared her throat again. It helped to give her a moment to think. “Uh… this is Darrak.”

Ben turned slowly to see the demon. Eden breathed a sigh of relief to see he’d changed his eyes back to their normal blue color. Flame-filled eyes might be hard to explain away.

They were exactly the same height. She hadn’t realized that until seeing them side by side. Ben had short blond hair, while Darrak’s was dark and unruly. Ben wore faded jeans and a white shirt under a dark brown leather jacket. Darrak wore head-to-toe black. They had similar builds to go with their similarity in height. Hard, lean muscle. Broad shoulders and chests.

Ben was smiling. Darrak was not.

“Hey there.” Ben extended his hand in greeting. “Good to meet you.”

Darrak didn’t shake it. “You go around kissing a lot of women without their permission?”

Ben’s smile faded at the edges. “I guess that might not have looked very good to you, did it?”

“No, it didn’t.”

“It’s fine,” Eden interjected. “Really.”

“You’re interested romantically in my… sister?” Darrak asked.

Ben let out a small laugh. “Didn’t know I’d be meeting the family today. But, uh… sure. I’ll play along. Yeah, I like Eden. A lot, actually.”

“But you don’t like psychics. You’re turned off by the supernatural.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say turned off, exactly. But I am a skeptic. Besides, Eden herself doesn’t claim to be able to bend spoons with her mind or anything crazy.”

Darrak crossed his arms. “Crazy, huh? Bending spoons is serious business. If you ever come face-to-face with a true spoon-bending telekinetic, I hope for your sake you don’t piss them off.”

Ben’s eyes shifted back and forth. “Are you being serious with me right now?”

“Deadly.” Darrak eyed the cop distastefully. “Do you normally abandon the women you like at restaurants so they can find their own way home?”

Ben glanced at Eden then back at Darrak. “I can tell we’re not getting off on the right foot here. Last night was hard to explain. There were some issues I had to take care of.”

Yeah, and one of them was Malcolm. Eden was very curious to know what had happened there.

“Did everything turn out okay last night?” she asked.

He nodded. “It’s taken care of. He says he won’t bother you again.”

She had a hard time believing it was that simple. “Well, thanks for talking to him.”

“Maybe the three of us should go out for drinks some time.” Ben looked at Darrak. “It would give you the chance to get to know me a bit better and see I’m not a bad guy.”

“I’m going to be leaving town very soon,” Darrak said. “So that won’t be possible. All I want to make sure of is that Eden is safe and in good hands when I’m gone.”

“She is,” he grinned, with a flick of his eyes to Eden. “My hands have never gotten any complaints before.”

She almost smiled at that but it was chased off when she saw the fire return to Darrak’s eyes at the casual innuendo.

“I think you should leave now,” Darrak suggested firmly.

“Oh, do you?” A less than friendly tone had gathered in Ben’s voice as well. “Look, man. I know you care about your sister, but I don’t understand this attitude. We just met. You don’t know me. So I would prefer if you keep that judgmental tone out of your voice. I might not be perfect, but Eden could do a hell of a lot worse than me.”

“Or, much, much better,” Darrak said dryly.

Ben took a step closer to Darrak, his eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head to the side. “Oh, yeah?”

Darrak pressed his palm against Ben’s chest and shoved him back a step. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Andy said, “I think that’s good enough. We’ve had one broken door this week. Let’s not make it a double. If you two are going to go to fisticuffs, then you should leave right now.”

“
Fisticuffs
?” Darrak repeated.

“Besides,” Andy continued, “Darrak is very special and I would assume sometimes he doesn’t realize what he’s saying. He’s just very protective of his sister.”

“Special, huh? That’s debatable.” Ben glowered. “Eden? Tell your brother to get away from me. He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”

That made two of them, actually.