“No, wouldn’t want that.” He cleared his throat. “I know having me and my eyeballs of fire suddenly thrust into your life is difficult for you. If I was human and you were the demon I’m sure I wouldn’t have handled it half as well.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence.” Her anger was quickly fading away. “So you hate Ben because you don’t want me to get hurt.”
“Essentially.”
Also the fact he’d admitted to the cop making him jealous. This was getting complicated. She flicked on the radio and then flicked it off before whatever song was playing even registered. “Would it be different if it was anyone else? What if I was dating Andy?”
“He’s too old for you.”
“He’s not even fifty yet.”
“Still.”
“You said you’re a thousand years old. Or more.”
He looked out the passenger side window. “I’m too old for you as well.”
That made her shut up for a moment. A long moment. And then, “Are you worried about seeing the witch tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He turned to look at her. “The last time I saw her she destroyed my original body in a fit of rage. I would assume she thinks that she destroyed the rest of me as well. She won’t be happy to know that wasn’t the case.”
“What did you do to piss her off?” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked the question yet. It was kind of important.
“Did I have to do anything? She’s a black witch. They’re very mentally unstable. Every time they increase their power level or use their magic they lose more of their souls to the darkness.”
“I’d think as a demon you’d be all for that.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that what you still think about me?”
She clutched the steering wheel tighter as she made a left at a set of traffic lights. “I keep forgetting. You’re a good demon. You used to come here and find those nasties that had escaped Hell and bring them back. Did that happen a lot?”
He raked his hand through his dark hair. “More than you’d probably like to know about.”
“How do they escape?”
“There are gateways. Mystical back doors and cracks in the walls between worlds. There are beings who sense this and it’s their job to patch things up. Other beings are the gatekeepers and they keep watch in front of the largest openings.”
She swallowed hard. “Beings?”
“Do you really want to know all about this?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Your head might explode.”
“It feels like it already has. But who are the beings who are the gatekeepers?”
He leaned back in his seat. “They’re usually angels who have volunteered to temporarily fall from their realm to protect humans from the things that go bump in the night. Some demons were assigned to work in a similar capacity, only from the other team.”
“Angels,” she said flatly.
“Yes.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
“You have a very sensitive stomach I’ve noticed. See? This is why I didn’t want to go into details. I’ve completely messed up your vision of the world around you.”
“Not messed it up so much as completely changed it forever. Did you work with the… the angels?”
He laughed out loud at that. “No. Angels have prejudices toward demons, for obvious reasons. They aren’t quite as open-minded as you might think.”
“They don’t believe a demon can be good?”
“To admit that would mean they’d have to believe an angel can be bad.”
A shiver went down her spine. “I guess that makes sense.” “Now, when I say I was a good demon, I’m not saying I was a Boy Scout. I wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
“I wouldn’t believe you if you said you were.”
She felt his attention firmly on her but didn’t look at him. Taking her attention off the road would be a bad thing, and the demon was so distracting in more ways than one.
“But you believe I’m not that bad?”
“Yes,” she said it without hesitation, then jumped a little when she felt his very warm hand take hers.
“Thank you,” he said. “That means more to me than you know.”
He didn’t let go of her hand and she didn’t try to pull away. “You’d better pull over,” Darrak suggested.
“Why?”
“Because it’s almost time.”
The streetlights flickered on as the sun continued to sink swiftly behind the horizon. She pulled the car off to the side of the road, shifting into park. He entwined his fingers with hers and it felt really good to be touching him. Too good.
“I know this part isn’t fun for either of us,” he said.
It was scary, sure, but the sensation of actually being possessed by Darrak was anything but unpleasant.
“Don’t fight it this time,” she said. “And maybe it won’t hurt you.”
“But—”