“We’ll fix this.”
“Tell me how to dampen you.”
“Pardon me?”
“Tell me how to get some privacy from you. It’s the only thing that will help right now. I need to be alone.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Please.”
“Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t. It goes against my nature to give someone power over me, even something small like dampening.”
She collapsed backward onto her bed. “I hate you.” “Harsh words, Eden. I think you should be focusing that hate toward Malcolm the exorcist. Not me.”
“I hate both of you.” She pushed the tears off her cheeks and sat up again, gathering a pillow against her chest and hugging it firmly. “What’s the Malleus, anyhow?”
“A bunch of assholes who banded together to make the lives of Others complete torture. Sometimes literally. They took their name from the Malleus Maleficarum—that’s Latin for ‘the hammer of witches’—which was the book used to prosecute and punish witches back in the day.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a walking encyclopedia.”
“Some things I know about firsthand without doing any extra research. The Malleus has been a pain in the Netherworld’s ass for ages — at least, for any of us who try hanging out on the human realm of existence for more than an hour or two.”
Her head hurt just trying to wrap itself around what he was saying. “So they were around during the Salem witch trials?”
“Among other human atrocities. Because, of course, those weren’t really witches they were executing. Not all of them, anyhow. They were regular women who pleaded for their lives right until their last breath. If the Malleus had come face-to-face with a powerful black witch they would have been the ones on fire. These men — because there are no women allowed in their exclusive gang — have no mercy for anyone they consider an enemy.”
A chill went down her spine. “And now they know about me.”
“Well, Malcolm does. Not sure if he’s told his new buddies yet. I get the feeling he wants to take care of this little problem all on his own. He wants to save your immortal soul.”
“Lucky me.”
“No, you’re definitely not lucky. I don’t want you at risk because of me. This asshole won’t leave you alone. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She crossed her arms. Shouldn’t he be more concerned with his own well-being? Darrak was what Malcolm was after. Not her.
She got up, walked into the bathroom, and started brushing her teeth. “Can’t somebody talk to the… the Malleus organization? Explain that all… Others or whatever, aren’t that bad?”
“A lot of Netherworld citizens are pretty bad, actually.”
She spit out a mouthful of toothpaste and looked in the mirror. “Define ‘pretty bad.’”
“Completely and unrepentantly evil.”
She paled. “Oh.” She’d started to believe that all demons might be like Darrak. But they weren’t. He was obviously the exception to the rule.
“So,” Darrak continued, “even if you did tell Malcolm that our situation is different, not to mention temporary, he’d never believe you. He’s obsessed now.”
He sounded disturbed by this again.
“Ben said he’d talk to him,” Eden said.
“I don’t have much confidence in that conversation.” His voice turned sour.
She clenched her fists at her sides as her thoughts turned to the earlier festivities. “I still can’t believe you slapped him.”
“Believe it.”
“You ruined everything.”
“Are we going to go over this again? Yes, I slapped him. I couldn’t help myself.”
“Don’t give me that. You easily could have helped yourself. It’s things like that that make me want you to go away and never come back.”
“I thought we were forging some sort of friendship here.”
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We’re not friends.”
“But, Eden—”
“We’re not friends,” she said it louder. “And every time I forget about that little fact, you do something to remind me.”
“If I say I’m sorry, will you forgive me? Pretty please?”
She turned away from the mirror and crossed her arms. “No.”
“I know I wasn’t much help tonight.”
“I thought you wanted to help me get on Ben’s good side.”
“I thought I did.”
“So what happened?”
“I think I…” His voice in her head trailed off.
“You think you what?”
“I think I got jealous.”
“Jealous,” she repeated. Darrak was jealous? Of Ben?
“You looked all gorgeous and then you went out with another man and expected me to help you get lucky with a guy who seemingly can do no wrong in your eyes. Plus he’s got the dead girlfriend thing that makes him seem way more huggable or whatever. What can I say? I guess since we first met I’ve become a little… now I don’t want to use the word possessive, because that would make it seem like I’m trying to make a joke. But, okay, I was feeling possessive. What can I say?”
“Jealous,” she said again, still not believing her ears. “This is unbelievable.”