Michelle Rowen: That Old Black Magic

Well, it was changing him on a core level. Only he didn’t exactly know it yet.

Eden knew it would shake his already shaky confidence, not to mention his entire identity, to find out he was becoming a little more… angelic . Whether he liked it or not.

The news could wait a little longer.

“Eden,” Darrak prompted when she didn’t speak for a while. “Are you going to talk to me or what?”

“You mean I have a choice?”

“No. No choices. This is not a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Your amulet is darkening and you say you’re doing nothing to cause this. Is that right?”

Eden didn’t want to deal with this, but sometimes fate didn’t give you a chance to catch your breath before it threw another bucket of water in your face.

She looked up at him. “I can feel it this morning stronger than ever. I’m honestly not sure how much longer I can control it.”

Darrak took her face between his hands. “But you want to control it.”

She touched one of his hands but didn’t pull away from him. “Of course I do.”

“I wish to hell I could protect you from all of this.” His jaw tensed. “Looks like it’s time to get some outside help.”

He walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the phone.

“Who are you calling?” she asked.

Darrak held a finger up to her. She flopped down on a chair at the table, already exhausted from talking about something she would much prefer to continue trying to ignore — magically melted BlackBerry or not.

She really hoped Andy had taken out a warranty on the device.

“Stanley?” Darrak said after a moment. “Do you know who this is?” A pause. “No, it’s okay. Don’t be scared. I’m not going to do that to you.” Another pause. “Seriously, I’m not. Evisceration is extremely messy and the cleanup is a — Come on. Stop crying. Be a man.”

That Darrak’s “outside help” required contacting Stanley didn’t fill Eden with a great deal of confidence. Stanley worked as a minion for just about any supernatural creature who paid or threatened him. Not exactly her favorite guy in the city.

“Is he back?” Darrak asked. “He is? Why didn’t you let me know this already? Oh, come on. Stop crying.”

Eden’s hands tingled. It was so tempting to throw out a spell right here, right now. It still seemed like just a dream that all of this had happened to her. Demons were real. Angels were real. Witches were real, and they came in a few different varieties.

White witches — the good and beneficial nature lovers. Among other things, Eden had heard they could make flowers grow and dying trees come back to life. How nice for them.

Gray witches — able to blend both white magic and black magic with the ability to do this successfully without damaging their souls provided they maintained a perfect balance.

And then there were black witches — able to destroy or kill things with a mere thought if they were so inclined. Not exactly the life of the party.

“We need to see him as soon as possible.” Darrak paced back and forth between her kitchenette and the dinette area. “That sounds fine. Why are you still crying? Suck it up, dude. Seriously.”

He hung up.

“You upset Stanley,” Eden said. “Actually… I’m fine with that.”

Darrak shrugged. “He’s still intimidated by my fearsome archdemon reputation. Nice to know somebody is.”

“Are you going to share what that was all about?”

“We’re seeing Maksim. Today.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment. “The wizard.”

“The one and only. Sounds like he’s finally back from his vacation.”

Maksim the wizard had gone on vacation after surviving a torture session by Theo — Darrak’s former demon friend — a couple of weeks ago. Before he went AWOL, the wizard was supposed to help them find a way to break his curse, even though rumor had it only the witch who’d originally cursed him could do something about that. Since she was now dead it was a moot point.

“You really think he can help me?” She didn’t want to hope for too much from a simple phone call. Disappointment was a heartless bitch.

“I don’t think he can hurt. Wizards and witches go hand in hand, after all. Didn’t you read Harry Potter ?”

Eden stared at him. “Well, yeah.”

“I didn’t read the books,” he continued. “But I did get to see the movies. A previous host was a fan. He even wore dress robes and pretended he’d been sorted into a house. Hufflepuff, if you can believe it. Who liked Hufflepuff best? I mean, seriously.”

“Not sure that’s really helpful in this situation.”

“A wizard, especially one at Maksim’s level, will know how to control black magic, even yours. I’m sure of it.”

It was worth a shot. “Okay, so when do we see him?”

“Now.”

“Now?” She glanced at the clock that read eight thirty. “But Andy’s going to want us in the office.”

“He can wait a couple of hours. He can wait a whole day if necessary. Figuring out how to control your magic is much more important.”

She took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” Darrak’s smile had returned, although this time it didn’t completely reach his eyes. He still looked worried.

Which was worrying.

“Fine.” Eden nodded and clenched her magically tingling hands into fists at her sides. “Then I guess we’re off to see the wizard.”

“Don’t make me start singing.” He snatched the fallen newspaper from the floor and put it back on the table. “You know, he just might be the person from your past whose destiny is intertwined with yours, according to your horoscope.”

“I think I’d remember meeting a wizard named Maksim.”

Darrak crossed his arms. “Then who do you think it was referring to?”

She waved her hand flippantly. “It was just a horoscope. It’s fiction. Totally meaningless.”

“If you say so.”

Out of all the drama in Eden’s life lately, an entertaining but silly horoscope was the least of her problems.

Caroline Riley watched from the shadows as her daughter left the apartment building and headed toward her rusty Toyota. She was about to run up and give Eden a big hug, but held back when the demon came into view.

He was tall with unruly dark hair almost long enough to brush his broad shoulders. He casually pulled on a black leather jacket as he trailed closely after Eden. He was very handsome, of course. Most demons had a highly attractive human visage they wore when not in their demonic form. It made it that much easier to prey upon humans.

He was going to be a problem.

She wondered why Eden would spend time with this evil creature and allow him into her home. Maybe he was threatening her. Blackmailing her.

Or… sleeping with her.

Was her daughter having an affair with a demon?

Eden had always been a rules follower, a perfect student, a hard worker, although one who’d always lacked any specific career direction. A smart girl like that wasn’t one who’d have her head easily turned by one of Lucifer’s minions.

Then again, despite Eden’s natural beauty — that she’d inherited from her mother, of course — she’d never had much confidence in herself when it came to men, poor thing. This must have been what the demon had preyed upon.

Caroline had arrived just in time. Sure, she had other pressing matters to attend to, but rescuing her only child from the clutches of a demon had now risen to the very top of her to-do list.

It would be so nice to talk to Eden again. It had been much too long since they’d last spent time together.

Then again, Caroline had been dead for the last three months.