“Thank you so much.” Nancy gave her a tight hug. “Listen, I have to get back to work but we’ll talk soon. What fun!”
Then, with her mood elevated again by good wishes and promises of bridesmaids and impending nuptials, Nancy left them to their coffee and donuts.
If anything, Eden felt a bit queasier now than she did to start with. “I just hope Stanley isn’t using her.”
“When did you become such a Negative Nelly?” Andy said.
“Around the time I was a toddler. And it’s called being a realist, actually.”
“I think it’s wonderful. We could use more good news around here lately.”
“Definitely.” Darrak bit into his donut, then held the other one out to Eden. “Want some?”
Their tryst in the car came back to her with full erotic strength.
Oh, she still wanted some, all right, and she wasn’t talking about donuts. But she’d cooled off from before. Enough to keep her attention fully fixed on the issues at hand.
She gave him a strained smile. “Maybe later.”
Andy grabbed his coat. “I need to head out to meet with a client. Glad you two got here so I wouldn’t have to shut the office down completely.”
“More werewolves?” Darrak asked pointedly.
Andy cringed. “Would you stop with the werewolf stuff, already?”
“It was just a question, not an accusation.”
“Then no. Not werewolves. A human client, believe it or not. Wanted me to investigate a missing sister who ran off with a boyfriend without leaving any forwarding address. I already found her living in Vegas. Quick case, nice and easy.”
“Well, good,” Eden said. “Fine, you go do that. Darrak and I have some business of our own to take care of.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“I’m going to experiment with a little spell removal.”
“Eden, I thought we were going to talk about that first.” There was a warning edge to Darrak’s voice.
She ignored it.
“Well, that’s great. Good luck with that,” Andy said. “But please try not to break anything.”
FOUR
Andy left.
When Eden looked at Darrak she realized he was staring at her sternly with his arms crossed over his chest, his half-eaten donut forgotten.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.
“Just what I told him. Spell removal experimentation.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She hissed out a breath. “Actually, the more I think about it, I believe it’s the best idea I’ve had in a very long time. You heard Maksim. Me and Selina — our magic is exactly the same.”
“According to him. He could have been lying through his shiny white teeth.”
“You don’t trust him?”
“I can’t think of any real reason to trust him, let alone to put your safety in his hands.”
She shook her head. “I feel it, Darrak. Inside of me. He was telling the truth.”
He paced to the other side of the small office next to the coatrack and then turned back to look at her. “It doesn’t have to be now.”
“Why not?”
“We can get a second opinion.”
“I don’t want to wait that long.”
“You can’t be that focused on sleeping with me again, can you?”
She actually laughed at that. “You think that’s all this is? Just some horny witch who needs to get it on with the closest available demon ASAP?”
“Is it?”
“Oh, yes. You’re just that irresistible that suddenly I can’t control myself. I need you, I want you, I have to have you.”
He mock-glared at her. “Sarcasm is not necessary. I’m very sensitive lately, you know.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Who says I’m being sarcastic? I do need you. I do want you. And I do have to have you. Desperately.”
He leveled his gaze with hers. “The feeling is entirely mutual, but I’m not sure about this.”
She didn’t want to argue. She didn’t want everything to be a struggle between them. “He seemed to think there was only one other solution if this doesn’t work, Darrak, and I don’t want you to even think about that. Ever. If I can remove the spell, then I might be able to remove the curse. Problem solved.”
He studied her for a moment. “Just because he said it doesn’t make it true.”
Eden wrung her hands. “Don’t you want to be free again? You could have your own body all the time, not just during the day. No more possessing me, no more feeding off my celestial energy. You’d be free to do whatever you want, go wherever you want.”
Darrak was silent for a moment. “What if I don’t want to go anywhere but here?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Then… well, that would be your choice. But at least you’d have a choice.”
His expression turned thoughtful. “What if this doesn’t work? What if he was wrong and your and Selina’s magical signatures are not identical?”
“Then we’ll figure something else out. But we won’t know unless we try.”
The alternative hung between them like a dark, bottomless pool. She’d resolved herself to having Darrak possess her indefinitely, but according to Maksim, if he was the root cause of her pain, of her erratic black magic, then their days were numbered.
Much like the oncoming bright lights of a truck in the opposite lane, this possibility was too painful to look at directly.
This had to work.
“Come on, Darrak.” She pushed a confident smile onto her face. “This isn’t like you. I’m usually the cautious one, remember? Aren’t you a gambler? Somebody who’s willing to take a chance, roll the dice for a shot at the jackpot?”
His expression didn’t change. “Not at the risk of your immediate safety.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing this isn’t entirely your decision. Because this is happening. Right now.
“Eden—”
“Shhh. I need to concentrate.” She sat down on the edge of her desk. “You can either help or you can get out of my way. What’ll it be, demon?” She squeezed her eyes shut.
Darrak approached and gently grasped her wrist. She opened her eyes to look at him warily.
“I’ll help,” he said, although he didn’t look happy about it.
“Good. So I’m open to suggestion at the moment. I haven’t exactly done anything like this before.”
His handsome face was now set in grim lines. “Okay, well, look at it this way. The spell Selina cast on me when she summoned me out of Hell should still be on me, kind of like a residue. It will be nearly impossible to detect by your average everyday magical practitioner, but it would have remained on the surface. That’s the sign of a spell. A curse is deeper, like rust. A spell is more like a light coating of paint.”
“Magic for Dummies,” Eden murmured.
“Present company excepted. If you share Selina’s magic, you’ll be able to clearly see the spell, and you may be able to focus on it enough to remove it. But don’t delve too deeply into the black magic for this. It’s not worth it.”
She couldn’t disagree with him more. This would be the solid proof of whether her future was bright or dark. It was something she didn’t think would even be possible, so she didn’t want to get her hopes up. But there they were — hopes up high.
“I can’t see anything.” She scanned his body as he took hold of her other wrist as well.
He grinned a little. “Well, no. Not with your eyes open. Human eyes are not the best things with which to see true magic.”
“Then what do I use?”
“Your soul. And you can best access that sight with your eyes closed. Magic 101, Eden. Class is now in session.”