Michelle Rowen - That Old Black Magic

Ready to hear your ultimate fate?

Eden glanced warily at the shirtless demon sitting at the tiny dinette table in her tiny apartment with the daily newspapers Horoscope section in front of him. Seemed harmless enough, and yet a chill ran down her spine. Something about Darraks statement felt like an omen. A bad one.

Maybe she was just being paranoid. Nothing new there.

She pushed back against the unpleasant vibe. Sure.

Darrak absently raked his messy dark hair back from his forehead. Youre a Gemini, right?

Present and accounted for.

Be prepared for a blast from the past as an old acquaintance, one whose destiny is irreversibly intertwined with yours, wants to reconnect. Also, buy more crunchy peanut butter as soon as possible.

She nodded. Let me take a wild guess here you added the last bit yourself.

Doesnt make it any less true. Were out. And I love it.

Ill put it on my grocery list.

Life is good. He studied her for a moment longer before his grin began to fade at the edges. Whats wrong?

Wrong? Eden crossed her arms. Nothings wrong. Nothing at all. Everythings wonderful. Fabulous, in fact.

Overcompensating in your reply only leads me to believe that somethings seriously wrong. When he stood the Horoscope page fluttered to the carpeted floor at his feet. His brows drew together. What is it?

It was surprising how quickly Darrak could switch from amusement over a horoscope and a craving for crunchy peanut butter to deep concern for her well-being.

He wanted to know what was bothering her. That was a very dangerous question these days.

Ever since Eden woke this morning, shed felt the unrequested tingle of magic moving down her arms and sparking off her fingertips. She didnt allow herself to tap into her recently acquired powers despite it being a constant itch for her. Magic at least her magic came with nasty consequences.

She could control it, she kept telling herself. She could.

Sometimes she even believed it.

You need to get dressed, she said instead of answering his question. Her gaze moved over his very bare and very distracting chest. We have to leave for the office in five minutes.

Black jersey material immediately flowed over Darraks skin. Since hed come into Edens life a month ago, shed wanted to take him shopping at a mall, but other than a leather coat he occasionally wore short sleeves in Toronto in chilly mid-November might be a tip-off that he wasnt exactly human he magically conjured his own clothing, which seemed to solely consist of black jeans and black T-shirts.

She slid her hands into the pockets of her navy blue pants and turned away from him.

Darrak caught her arm. Its your magic, isnt it?

The peanut-butter-loving demon could be very insightful. My magic?

I can feel it, you know. Right now. Its coming off you in waves.

Im fine. Dont worry about it.

She grabbed her purse, which was hanging off the back of one of the dinette chairs, to fish in it for her new BlackBerry. Andy McCoy, her partner at the investigation agency they co-owned, insisted they become more technically savvy now that their caseload had increased, so hed bought them both brand-new phones. Triple-A Investigations had been on the brink of bankruptcy only a month ago, but now they were busy with new cases.

The sudden surge in business was directly related to Darrak coming into Edens life. While working as an occasional psychic consultant for the police, shed been possessed by the cursed demon after the death of his previous host, a serial killer gunned down right in front of her.

Darrak was able to take solid human form during daylight hours, but when the sun set, he became incorporeal and had to possess her body. Shed recently had the chance to end the possession once and for all, but that would have destroyed him completely. Her privacy was a great motivator to find a solution to their problem, but not at such a high price.

After all shed come to care a great deal for the demon since theyd first met.

Unfortunately, all roads in their search for mutually beneficial separation had led to dead ends. Some deader than others.

She finally tore her gaze away from the screen of her phone to look at him and cringed when she noticed the searching look in his ice blue eyes. I said nothings wrong. Please, Darrak, dont worry.

Your phone is on fire.

He was right. A spark from her magic had ignited her BlackBerry. She shrieked and threw it before it burned her. It skittered across the breakfast bar and landed with a sizzle in the kitchen sink. Well, damn.

Before she had a chance to move Darrak was right in front of her. He pulled out the chain she wore around her neck so her amulet lay flat against her freshly ironed white shirt.

Its even darker than it was yesterday.

She clamped her hand over the visible state of her soul. The more she used her magic, the more damage it did. A black witch, even an extremely reluctant one like her, started with a pure white soul, but it grew darker and darker every time she accessed her very accessible black magic. Edens amulet was still pale gray, but it had darker veins branching through it, making it look like a piece of marble.

She shook her head. I havent done anything.

Then what are these? He pushed her hand away and slid his index finger over the veins.

She grimaced. A glitch.

A glitch, Darrak repeated skeptically. Not sure it works like that.

Then I dont know what to tell you.

Eden All amusement was gone from his voice now. Im worried about you.

A demon from Hell was worried about her immortal soul. It sounded like a joke. But Darrak wasnt any normal demon. And she wasnt any normal black witch.

Once upon a time, Darrak had been just as bad as any demon whod ever existed as immortal as he was immoral, sadistic, powerful, selfish, manipulative, and deadly. Hed even conspired with a demonic pal to overthrow Lucifer himself in an attempt to take his power as Prince of Hell. However, theyd failed. Rather spectacularly, in fact.

Darrak had been summoned into the human world over three hundred years ago and a curse put on him that destroyed his original body and his ability to manifest a new one. Hed been forced to possess humans ever since. A side effect of this was that hed absorbed humanity slowly but surely, and it infused his being. The demon had developed a conscience. Morals. A sense of right and wrong.

But that wasnt the whole story.

To add to Edens growing paranormal resume, shed recently been shocked to learn in addition to being a black witch she was also a nephilim.

A human mother plus an angel father equaled one very confused twenty-nine-year-old woman black witch plus half-angel in the same body. It wasnt exactly a combination that was working out perfectly, kind of like oil and water.

And the bonus prize she was possessed by a demon.

It had been an interesting year to say the least.

Her angel side infused her with celestial energy, something shed never even sensed before apart from a smidgeon of unreliable psychic insight. But it was what Darrak had absorbed over the last month due to their situation. And hed absorbed a lot of it.

Bottom line, a human conscience was the least of Darraks troubles. A demon whod been neck-deep in celestial energy as he had been in the last month

Well, it was changing him on a core level. Only he didnt 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 didnt speak for a while. Are you going to talk to me or what?