Sex didn’t normally make him lose his mind like that. First time for everything.
It was sort of humorous, actually. A cursed archdemon asking someone to be his wife in holy-freaking-matrimony. And the entire idea had been put into his mind in the first place by the romantic lothario Stanley, of all people.
Hilarious. Maybe someday he’d be able to laugh about it.
That day was not going to be today.
Fine. So the proof was in the proverbial pudding. He had sensed it all along, but now he knew for sure. What he felt for Eden was not returned in full. She cared about him, she lusted after him, she might even love him a little. But it wasn’t nearly the same as how he felt about her.
Point taken. He didn’t need any further embarrassment, thank you very much. He could take a hint when it hit him in the face with the force of a city bus.
He caught a glimpse of himself in the oval mirror attached to the wall. “This is what happens with all that angel inside of you. It’s turned you into a romantic dope.”
He was soft, sensitive, and making offers of marriage.
It was the beginning of the end, just as he’d predicted for himself.
Lucifer must have been laughing his ass off about his least favorite ex-employee. Darrak was nothing more than sentient hellfire with a soft side.
There were bigger issues to be concerned with at the moment; he knew that. Much, much bigger.
But still. How embarrassing.
TWELVE
Ben was getting better at lurking. Practice made perfect.
He currently lurked outside of Eden’s apartment building. He hadn’t been here for a while, but he was determined to do something now — something that would redeem him from his recent lousy decisions. He’d gone into everything with the Malleus because he wanted to save Eden from the demon who possessed her, and that was exactly what he’d do.
The only question was how.
Do this and everything goes back to normal.
Yeah. Unlikely at best, but it was a nice thought.
The chill in the air made him draw his coat closer. He’d been standing there staring at her building for nearly a half hour now trying to concentrate, but his mind kept going back to that shapeshifter.
Big trouble, that one. Her being locked up in a cage wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Still, something about her situation had struck him as wrong. She was locked in that cell because she had information Oliver wanted. She was also locked up because she was a shifter, since the Malleus deemed anything Other to be evil. Just like the police, the Malleus had rules and guidelines that governed their actions. They were trying to make the world a better, safer place.
He’d honestly believed that in the beginning.
“You look troubled.”
Ben glanced next to him with surprise. He hadn’t seen the man approach, now leaning against the car next to Ben’s. He was tall, with short messy brown hair and an ill-fitting suit that looked like it could use an ironing.
“Do I?” he replied.
“Definitely.”
“Who’re you?”
“Just a concerned citizen. I want to help you… if you want my help, that is.”
“You can help me? You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough, Ben. Enough to know you’re a good person who wants to do the right thing. Just like her.” The man nodded off to their left.
Ben was taken aback that this guy knew his name, but he turned to see that they weren’t alone in their survey of the apartment. There was a pretty, dark-haired young woman sitting in a Corvette nearby, her gaze fixed on the building.
“Who’s she?” Ben asked.
“Someone like you who’s looking for redemption. Her name’s Caroline. You two have a lot in common.”
“Like what?”
“You both care about the ultimate fate of Eden Riley.”
Ben tensed. “What do you know about Eden?”
“A fair amount.”
“Who are you?”
“A friend.”
“I don’t need any more friends.”
“No? Could have fooled me. Here I thought you currently have”—he cocked his head to the side—“exactly zero friends, right? At least ones you can count on in a pinch. You know what they say, a friend can help you move. A good friend can help you move a body. It’s all very true.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He nodded toward the parked car. “You and Caroline should become friends. Together, I think you can help Eden. After all, that’s what you both want: to help her. And you both think you know how to do that.”
Ben took all this in. “She knows about… Darrak? Do you know about Darrak?”
“I can’t directly help you, but I can give you some advice if you want to hear it.”
“What do you want in return?”
“Nothing. Not from you, anyway.”
“Who the hell are you?” Ben demanded again.
The man’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t move closer. He just sat against the car’s hood and looked up at the building. “Like I said, a friend.”
“Whose friend?”
Finally the man cast a glance in his direction. “Do you want the advice I have to give you or not?”
Ben didn’t like not being in control. He didn’t like not having his questions answered. But at the end of the day he’d come here for one reason — to help Eden. And he currently had no damn idea how to go about that.
“Yes,” he said. “I want the advice.”
The man’s smile grew. “Somehow I just knew you were going to say that.”
A sense of foreboding followed Eden when she and Darrak left the apartment and headed toward her car. It passed, but it was unpleasant, like walking through a thatch of spiderwebs.
Darrak was trying to act like everything was fine, but she knew it wasn’t. She’d broken something between them — something she didn’t know was breakable.
Why did he have to go and ask her to marry him? Why now when there were a million other things to concern themselves with?
“So, did you buy a leash for our new puppy?” He was trying to make a joke as he got into the passenger side of her car, but his lips were tight as he smiled.
She put the key in the ignition and pulled out of her parking spot. “Didn’t get around to it. It’s on the list.”
“You don’t have to worry. Even if he’s a mindless, vicious werewolf, it’s only one night a month. We can contain him with that spell. Andy’s just lucky he has you looking out for him.”
She had Maksim’s containment spell tucked safety into her coat pocket. He said even a human could do it, so she didn’t think it would require her tapping into her black magic. She’d just have to read the incantation aloud when the time came and the office would be sealed up nice and tight until she decided to remove it again.
And according to the wizard it would also work as a cloaking spell, so no one who wandered past would see anything weird going on.
“Tomorrow I’m going to track Maksim down and we’ll see him again,” Darrak said. “There has to be some other options for us.”
“You really think so?”
“Sure. In the beginning, we thought it was only Selina that could help us, but now we know for sure that you share her magic. Just because the curse removal didn’t work the first time doesn’t mean that something else can’t be done to help us.”
“You sound so positive today.”
“That’s me. Sunshine to go.” A bitter smile stretched over his face. “It’s probably the angel half.”
She didn’t want to broach the subject, but it was still five minutes till they arrived at the office. She returned her attention to the road. “Lucas said that other demons would come after you if they found out. Maybe we can find a way to cloak you from them.”