Michelle Rowen: That Old Black Magic

“Consider it done,” Sandy replied. “He’s mine.”

There were footsteps on the hardwood floor, but by the time the witch had left her boss’s office, Ben was already gone.

Ben had signed away his freedom, his life, in order to do the right thing. And now he was being betrayed by those he trusted. By a woman he was sleeping with.

Nothing made sense anymore. Maybe it never had in the first place.

* * *

Eden stayed quiet on the twenty-minute drive from Maksim’s bachelor-pad mansion to the small office that housed Triple-A Investigations as they absorbed the information presented to them by the wizard. Darrak had chosen not to try to get her talking. He wasn’t feeling too chatty at the moment anyway.

Something felt off about visiting the wizard, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Perhaps it was that Maksim had “helped” them without asking for anything in return. Darrak was accustomed to practitioners of magic being on the greedy side. Greed was one of the most popular deadly sins, after all. Right after lust.

It was also one of the most reliable.

“We’ll check in with Andy,” Darrak said. “Then you and me — we need to talk. In private.”

He reached for the door handle to let himself out, but felt Eden’s hand on his arm stopping him. He looked at her cautiously. Her beautiful face was tense.

He immediately worried she was experiencing the tearing pain again. “Are you all right?”

She just nodded.

“Then what?”

“What you said back there when he asked you what you felt about me.”

“Oh, that.”

“I just…” She rubbed her lips together, and her gaze flicked up to meet his. “Sometimes… I–I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“You didn’t have to be so blunt with him. You could have held something back.”

“Why would I want to do that? What I said was the truth.” He almost laughed at the shadow of doubt in her gaze. “Do you think I was lying to him?”

“No, but…” She shook her head. “Nobody’s ever felt like that about me before.”

He drew closer to her. “Stupid of them, but less competition is not necessarily a bad thing. I’m a little rusty on my sword fighting against other suitors. And pistols at dawn isn’t that appealing. I’m not really a morning person if I can help it.”

She searched his expression. “You really think this has a chance?”

“What?”

“You and me.”

Darrak thought he understood that doubt in her eyes. He wasn’t thinking quite so far ahead, but Eden was already looking years into the future to try to figure out if a relationship between someone like her and someone like him had a chance in a world of white-picket-fence dreams competing with a high-divorce-rate reality.

He knew he wasn’t Eden’s perfect choice in a man. He wasn’t even a man, really. Never had been, never would be. Some demons were former humans, with lives and memories and morals that they could cling to even if they’d made a few wrong choices in their lives that caused them to sell their soul to a demon lord or Lucifer himself.

Darrak had been reminded time and time again by the big boss that he was a big fat nothing. A lesser demon created at Lucifer’s whim once upon a time with a bit of hellfire and some powerful magic. That he lived, breathed, desired, lusted, loved, wanted, needed, and hungered was only a side effect of that magic.

How could something like that aspire to anything more than an eternity of servitude?

But he did. He aspired.

There was a fire inside of him that had nothing to do with Hell anymore. It was a fire ignited by the auburn-haired woman who studied him intently like whatever he said next was going to be some sort of prophecy for their future together.

“Kiss me,” he said.

It appeared to be a prophecy that had immediate results. She drew closer, took his face between her hands, and pressed her lips against his with a kiss that would have swelled his immortal soul if he’d been in possession of one. Her tongue slipped past his lips and slid against his own.

The kiss grew heated very quickly and his body responded in kind, hardening with a need he could barely hold back, especially when her hand moved up his thigh to brush against his groin. He didn’t stop her; he only managed a dark groan from the back of his throat.

He wanted her. In a parking lot at eleven o’clock in the morning, he desperately wanted her.

And it looked like he could have her as she crawled onto his lap to straddle him in the passenger seat. He moved his hands up to cup her full breasts, slipping underneath her crisp white shirt and bra. He ached to slide inside of her. Feel her heat, her need, make her cry out his name as he took her with long, sweet thrusts.

It seemed as if she was currently a mind reader since she began fiddling with the zipper of his jeans.

“Wait, Eden,” he managed. “We can’t do this…”

“You don’t sound completely convinced of that.”

“Eden,” his tone turned sharper. The woman was insatiable. Twice they’d made love, and both times had been incredible. Maybe he’d inadvertently managed to addict her to his demon loving just a little bit too much.

Sounded conceited, but it could actually be the truth. The spell on him could unconsciously drive her to seek more black magic by any means possible.

“Oh, hell.” His mind went foggy when she slipped her hand into the front of his pants and wrapped her fingers around him.

“Did you really mean it?” she whispered. “When you said you loved me?”

There was no parking lot anymore. No chance of being discovered. The world had narrowed to only Eden — sexy, desirable, incredible Eden — the only woman he’d ever truly loved in his entire existence. One who wasn’t sure about their future together since there were so many odds stacked against them. A black witch who was part angel.

One he’d corrupted so much that her soul was currently at risk of being sent directly to Hell upon her death.

Damn.

Yes, that thought definitely helped to douse his mindless desire.

He grasped her wrist and pulled her away from him. He turned his head when she attempted to kiss him again. He zipped up his jeans and took her firmly by her upper arms, directing her back to the driver’s seat. Her face was flushed and the need in her eyes hadn’t left yet.

“Yes,” he said very seriously. “I meant every word.”

Then he got out of the car and headed into the office on shaky legs.

The black magic made her do it.

It drew her to Darrak like a moth to a flame. While there was a whole lot of celestial energy swirling inside him, more than even he was aware of yet, there was still a large amount of Hell energy, too — the darkest of the dark. And that worked like a magnet for a black witch. And a black witch’s sex drive.

She wanted him so badly it hurt, but he’d put on the brakes.

Darrak loved her.

And he’d just soundly rejected her seduction attempt in the parking lot of Triple-A for her own damn good.

She had to focus. Too much was at risk here if she kept losing her mind like that.

A gorgeous, dark-haired, blue-eyed immortal demon had told her he was in love with her. But that same demon was cursed to possess her — and according to Maksim, that was the reason for a great many of her problems.

But she already knew that. Most of it, anyway.

Was it still considered an abusive relationship if the abuse wasn’t intended?

There was a time in college when she’d been involved with a man who’d intentionally abused her. She hated looking back at how weak she’d been then, how willing she was to accept a heartfelt apology and shiny gifts to make up for the occasional bruise or broken rib. She knew she’d never be in another relationship like that. Ever.