Maksim exhaled and went to sit casually in an armchair close by. Darrak didn’t relax even a little bit. The prince was like a lion. Just because he was taking a break from the hunt didn’t mean he still couldn’t rip the leg off a gazelle with one crunch of his powerful jaws.
The wizard templed his fingers in front of him. “I’m actually surprised she managed to rescue you in time. Not completely surprised, but a little. No one’s ever escaped the Void before, you know.”
“Can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“The odds were against you.”
He couldn’t help but be curious. “Oh yeah? What were they?”
“I’d say ninety-ten. At best.”
Darrak nodded. “I should head to the casino. I think I’m on a lucky streak.”
“This is going to happen, you know.”
Darrak’s lips thinned. “No, actually it isn’t.”
The wizard only looked amused by this challenge. “We seem to have a bit of a problem then, don’t we?”
“Looks like.”
Eden clutched at Darrak’s hand. The look on her face told him that she’d been following along and had managed to catch up. He always thought she should take her job at a private investigation company more seriously. She could be a fully fledged investigator if only she’d give herself a chance.
She’d figured out this mystery fairly quickly, all things considered.
“Lucas?” she asked. “Why — why are you playing this game?”
He brushed his hand absently along the unwrinkled, designer jacket sleeve he wore. “Is that a trick question?”
“Stop this.” Her grip on Darrak’s hand tightened. “Just show me who you really are.”
“Eden, darling, you couldn’t handle who I really am. But I’d be happy to humor you.” In a shimmer of light, Maksim was no longer sitting in the chair. It was Lucifer, with his rumpled suit. Nothing too noticeable. Handsome, but not as hot as an incubus had to be. Brown hair, brown eyes. Warm smile. Hands folded on his lap. At first glance he appeared to be harmless and approachable.
Despite his nonchalant appearance, Lucifer regarded each of them with a look of certainty in his eyes like a cat who’d cornered a couple of mice but wasn’t quite hungry enough yet to kill them.
“You made the deal, Eden. You can’t take it back. And yet, here you are attempting to do just that.”
Her hand had grown cold and clammy. Darrak wanted to storm forward, grab Lucifer, and phase to the Void, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He had to bide his time just a while longer. When that happened, when there was no other choice, he knew he’d never see Eden again. Not like this, anyway. Sure, he could see her. In time, he might even be able to take day trips to the human world. But she wouldn’t know who he really was.
After all, he’d made his own deal recently.
“I’m not going to resist,” she said.
“Good.” Lucifer stood, and she inadvertently took a step back from him. “Even now you’re afraid of me when you know I’ve never harmed a hair on your head.”
“I guess I finally clued in that you’re not somebody I can trust. Takes me a while, but I get it eventually.”
“This is the most wonderful day of my existence. Nothing will go wrong from this point forward. I won’t let it.”
Darrak felt his anger coming to a boiling point. How he despised this monster before them. Angel, his ass. Lucifer was a self-serving creature of darkness. He might at one time have meant that as a compliment. But, no more.
He willed himself to sound relaxed. “Don’t suppose I can say anything to change your mind, can I? I can help you find another nephilim. They’ve got to be all over the place if you keep looking. Kind of like Waldo.”
Lucifer’s gaze swept over him. “I honestly had you out for the count, Darrak. And yet, here you are again.”
“Just like a bad penny.”
“That sums it up nicely.” He shook his head. “I want you both to meet someone. Come with me.” In one smooth motion he stood up from the chair and breezed past them toward the hallway.
Darrak found himself compelled to follow after him. It was a subtle reminder that the prince held great power over him. It was going to be tricky to get the upper hand.
He leaned closer to Eden as they walked. “When I tell you to run, you run. Understand?”
She looked at him sideways as if warning him not to say anything else.
He tugged on her hand. “Understand?”
Her expression turned bleak, but she finally nodded.
Eden had no idea what Darrak planned to do but she still trusted him. He’d lost that trust by doing some stupid things behind her back, such as borrowing her body when she was asleep and heading out in the middle of the night to take care of a few chores.
It had been a necessary evil, so to speak, although he supposed he could have gone about it in a less deceptive manner.
He’d earned that trust back, and he wouldn’t jeopardize it again. No matter what.
Eden had come close to promising Darrak she’d never use her black magic again, but here they were in jeopardy and her magic automatically slid down her arms and into her hands ready to destroy something. To cause a distraction. To make something explode.
A flaming BlackBerry might come in handy right about now.
She despised Lucas for lying to her, for making them believe he was Maksim.
And she’d been fooled so easily.
In the end, she couldn’t even blame him for their current situation. She’d made the deal of her own free will. She’d promised him her celestial energy.
And now he wanted her to pay up.
They were the ones trying to break the rules, not him.
She wasn’t giving up hope. There was still a chance for her and Darrak to come out of this unscathed, but maybe she was fooling herself. She’d made the deal, and Darrak had just tried to screw Lucas out of it.
They were in deep trouble.
Lucas wasn’t a nice guy who sometimes kissed a bit of her darkness away. He was darkness. That’s why he needed her in the first place.
“Here we are.” Lucas had stopped at the end of the flight of stairs to the basement. A man emerged from a room at the end of the hall. He was tall and handsome with broad shoulders. His hair was red, very red, the color Eden might expect a Viking to have. Erik the Red, or something. It was the color her hair would be if she didn’t make regular trips to the salon.
And just like hers, his face wasn’t covered in freckles as she’d seen a lot of redheads have. No, his face was pale, perfect skin. Straight nose, full lips… green eyes.
Just like hers.
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
“What?” Darrak asked.
Eden had seen this man before. He’d visited when she’d been just a little girl playing in a sandbox a long, long time ago. She’d liked him, she remembered that much. And then he was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.
She never knew why he never returned.
“That’s my father,” she whispered, stunned.
“He’s your… What is he doing here?”
“I have no idea.”
“It’s rude to talk behind my back,” Lucas noted. “I’m assuming that you know who this is.”
“Yes.” Eden forced herself to sound strong. The spark of power in her hands faded away. “What is this, Lucas?”
“A reunion of sorts. Daniel and I go way back.”
“I’m sure you do.” Darrak cocked his head and crossed his arms, walking closer to the angel.
What was he doing? It was as if he had no concern for his own safety. This was Eden’s father, she had no doubt about that, but she was wary. He didn’t look at her as if he recognized her, that he cared that she was in trouble. He seemed utterly clueless, actually.