“Not yet.” He paced back and forth before stopping and looking at her. “You know, there is a way to take it back a few shades before it gets too much darker.”
She shook her head. “No, Darrak.”
“You think I like the idea of it? But if necessary, it’s what you have to do—”
“Stop it.” Her voice cracked on the words.
“Another kiss from Lucifer wouldn’t really be so bad, would it?” His eyes burned bright with immediate jealousy, but a dark smile twisted on his face.
“Keep it up, Darrak, and the next time I see him I might not only kiss him.”
That helped erase the humorless smile completely.
However, she couldn’t exactly argue with his logic. It had already been proven that kissing the Prince of Hell, even a chaste, emotionless kiss, drew the darkness out of her and straight into him. He was the ultimate magnet for evil. But he was a devious, manipulative man. Fallen angel. Demon. Prince. Prisoner. A split-personality Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
All of the above.
She didn’t trust him. That her life was now irrevocably intertwined with his didn’t exactly help her sleep that well at night.
In a way she felt sorry for him, and that didn’t help much either. Lucifer, or Lucas, which was the name she preferred to use for him, felt trapped in Hell. His only desire was to go back to Heaven where he thought he truly belonged, but his darkness was an eternal anchor keeping him stuck in the Netherworld.
Lucas thought he was cursed. Eden couldn’t very well say he was wrong about that.
When the prince chose to come to the human world, he did so with one drawback. Here he was mortal. He still had power, especially over beings like Darrak, whom Lucas had created himself, but his mortal body could be killed. And if so, his essence would be sent back to Hell with no chance to escape again for a very long time.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“What for?”
“Everything.”
“You’re taking my lines again, because I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“Maybe we’re just a sorry pair.”
He snorted. “No kidding.”
She slid her hands up his chest. “There is some good news, though.”
“Oh?”
“Your spell is broken.” She smiled. “You can’t give me any more black magic than I already have.”
“Oh.”
“Can you feel it?”
“I think so.”
“How does it feel?”
He lowered his face so they were eye to eye. “It feels very good.”
“This means we can be together. Whenever we like.”
She thought he was going to pull away, tell her to wait, but instead he kissed her, a kiss that didn’t hold back anything. It was deep, searching, passionate, and she wanted more. Desire swelled within her swiftly, immediately.
“Here?” he asked.
She just nodded.
A smile spread across his handsome face. “Your wish is my command.”
He pressed her back against the desk, his mouth moving down the column of her throat, and then she heard the sound.
A jingle. Somebody had entered the office.
Damn it. They should have locked the door. They were lucky no one had walked in during the spell removal.
She swore against Darrak’s lips as he kissed her one more time before releasing her, and they turned toward the door. A young and pretty raven-haired woman stood there looking at them with a hand on her hip and a raised eyebrow.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked.
Eden cleared her throat and stood up. Her legs felt shaky, and she ran a hand through her long hair to neaten it.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That must not have looked very professional.”
Darrak shrugged. “Sometimes I just can’t keep my hands off her. She’s irresistible.”
Eden couldn’t help but laugh as she cast a look in his direction. “Anyway, let’s start again.” She moved toward the woman and stretched out her hand. “I’m Eden Riley. Welcome to Triple-A Investigations. And you are?”
The young woman grasped Eden’s hand tightly in hers, her eyes sparkling with happiness. “Honey, it’s me.”
Eden frowned. “Excuse me?”
“It’s me,” the woman said again. “Your mother. I’m back!”
FIVE
Eden tried to process what she’d just heard.
Her mother? That was impossible.
This dark-haired woman was barely in her midtwenties and was completely different from her mother. Caroline Riley had looked just like Eden, only with blonde hair rather than the bright red Eden always dyed to a less attention-grabbing auburn.
“I know this comes as a shock, sweetie,” the woman said. “But it’s true. Maybe you should sit down.”
Eden did just that, staggering behind her desk and dropping back into her swivel chair. “What the hell is going on?”
The woman spread her hands. “Okay, so I died.”
“I know that part.”
“Next thing I know I’m in a holding cell in Hell scared out of my mind. I had no idea why I was there and it truly felt like forever, before they told me I was free. Next thing I know I’m back here, but I had no body. I had to improvise.”
“You’re a drifter,” Darrak said, eyeing her carefully.
The woman eyed him right back. “Is that what I am? Sounds like a good term for it.”
Eden’s heart sank. A drifter was a bodiless spirit who was able to possess humans at will, pushing aside their consciousness to make way for their own. Unlike Darrak, who was stuck with one human host until their death or his exorcism — or, preferably, his curse removal — a drifter could change bodies as easily as changing their outfit.
Her mother had died three months ago after breaking her neck falling down a flight of stairs in Las Vegas. She already knew Caroline had been sent to Hell. Lucas used her mother as blackmail to get Eden to help him out recently. She’d agreed, albeit reluctantly, and the last she knew her mother’s soul had been released.
Eden assumed she’d gone to Heaven.
Instead she’d flitted around until she’d found a suitable body — a young, pretty brunette.
“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Caroline laughed at her own joke. “Listen to me. Still hilarious after everything I’ve been through. But seriously, thank God I was able to find a body. Otherwise I’d be totally screwed. No way to communicate with you or anyone else. That would be so horrible. You know how much I love to talk.”
“Where did you get this body?” Eden said tightly.
She turned in a circle as if modeling a new dress. “She’s an aspiring actress. Twenty-three. She’s done a little lingerie modeling to pay the rent in the past. Adorable, isn’t she? I barely remember having boobs this perky.”
“And you just stole her body like it means nothing?”
“Borrowed. There are agencies out there who help set up this sort of thing. Who knew, right? This girl has rented out her body to me for six months. It’s not cheap, believe me.”
“Are you serious? You rented it?” Eden had never heard of anything like that.
“You think I’d just steal a body? What kind of person do you think I am?” Caroline pouted. “And here I thought you’d be thrilled to see me. Guess I was wrong.”
The nausea Eden had felt earlier again rose in her throat. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Can I do anything to help?” Caroline asked, moving closer.
Eden held up her hand. “You should leave.”
“But I just got here.”
“Seriously… Caroline, right?” Darrak said. He’d gone back to finishing off his donut from before. “This is a lot for her to take all at once. It’s been a difficult day already.”