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.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Maksim waited for them by the front door. None of his maids or butlers seemed to be around this time of the morning. He escorted Eden and Darrak into his parlor immediately.
Darrak hurriedly explained the situation, while leaving some of the more incriminating details out. Bottom line, they needed a strong cloaking spell put on Eden to hide her here in the human world from a very powerful supernatural being.
Simple.
Okay, not simple at all considering who that powerful supernatural being was, but it had to work anyway.
Eden shook her head. “This is Lucifer we’re talking about, not just some guy on the street.”
“He’s not omnipotent,” Darrak explained. “He doesn’t see all, know all. He can’t read minds. Thankfully. He is a very powerful fallen angel who has a lousy day job, that’s all. If it could work on that Brenda chick it will work on you. It isn’t perfect. I figure it’ll buy me a day, maybe two at the most before he figures out something’s wrong. And you can’t go back to the apartment since that’ll be the first place he’ll check. You’ll have to stay at a hotel. Preferably on the other side of the world. What is that, Australia? Perfect. You’ll love Australia. Forget chocolate donuts. I have two words that will make this all better: Tim Tams.”
The auctioneer-like speed of his speech didn’t seem to help her relax in the slightest. “You really think this can work?”
He glanced at Maksim. “It will, right? You’re powerful enough to do this.”
“Of course I am,” Maksim replied confidently. “I just need a moment to prepare.”
“Right. You do that.” Darrak was just glad he wasn’t arguing. Not everyone would work magic against Lucifer. It was a job that could come back to bite the wizard on his magical butt, even if it was for all the right reasons.
Maksim moved toward the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that he scanned. He didn’t seem the least stressed about the prospect of doing this spell.
No emotion, this guy. It was a bit creepy, considering he was about to help them screw Lucifer out of a tasty piece of angel food cake.
Eden had her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “I’m not saying I’m sorry for what I did. I’d do it again if I had to.”
“You shouldn’t trust Lucifer so much.”
“I just — I don’t know. I feel like I’ve gotten to know him a little and he’s… he’s in pain. He hates his existence. I guess I can’t help but feel sorry for him.”
His jaw clenched. “You go ahead and believe in his good side. I’ll stay focused on the side that’s ruled Hell for the last few millennia.”
She grimaced. “That long, huh?”
“Don’t worry about Lucifer, Eden. It’s not all sour lemons for him. He’s had his fun, too. I have to say, though, I’m glad you let Brenda go. One less victory for that guy.” He pulled the card from his pocket to glance down at Brenda’s name and blinked hard at what he saw.
Nothing.
The card was blank.
This was not good. Not good at all.
Eden frowned. “Darrak, what’s wrong?”
He slipped the card back into his pocket and glanced across the room at the wizard scanning his extensive collection of books.
Stalling for time was more like it.
Tricky, Lucy, he thought. Very tricky.
Darrak should have seen this coming from a mile away, but he hadn’t. He’d wondered why Maksim had known so much about them during their last visit here. Too much. He’d given Eden advice about her powers. He’d known she and Selina had twin magic. He’d given advice, which helped to break the sex magic spell perfectly, but then nearly destroyed Darrak when Eden tried to do the same to break his curse.
He should have known that spells and curses couldn’t be approached in the same manner without doing serious damage.
Darrak had never met Maksim before. All he had was Stanley’s word and gut instinct that this was the guy. Stanley said the wizard had called him just before Darrak called looking to see if he’d returned to town.
Talk about coincidental.
Darrak’s gut had failed him this time. They’d been set up from the very beginning. Their every move had been monitored, and it had all brought them here. And now.
He just wondered how much still remained a secret, other than Ms. Franks and her magically disappearing location card.
Darrak went to Eden’s side and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her back a few feet from the wizard.
The jig was up, but Darrak knew he wasn’t the one leading the band.
He could play along and pretend that he still believed that they were speaking with the wizard master, but Darrak wasn’t that good of an actor. Not when it came to the boss.
“Before you do that spell, Maksim, maybe you and me can have a little talk first.”
Maksim raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder. “A talk about what?”
“Stuff.”
The curve of Maksim’s lips made Darrak know that maybe Lucifer wasn’t a mind reader or omnipotent, but he was a hell of a good judge of character.
Maksim’s smile grew. “Have you managed to discover my secret?”
“Maybe.”
“May I ask how?”
Darrak flashed him the blank card. “Surprise.”
He nodded. “You don’t really think you have a chance here, do you?”
“Uh-huh. Sure I do.”
“I’ve always admired your tenacity, Darrak.”
“And I’ve always admired your…” He frowned. “Well, I can’t really think of a thing. Sorry.”
“What are you two talking about?” Eden asked.