“I was such a newbie back then. I should have made sure that the job was done correctly.”
“Water under the bridge.”
“It is?”
He shifted in his seat. “I’m trying to be diplomatic. But being incorporeal and voiceless for three hundred years has a tendency to weigh heavily on one’s mind.”
“And yet you have a body right now. A very fine one.”
“Are you coming on to me? I think that’s a bit inappropriate at the moment, Selina. Given our history.”
She scowled at him. “I don’t even know how it’s possible for you to have a body. I destroyed your previous one.”
He visibly tensed. “Haven’t forgotten that. Believe me.”
“So, what’s changed? Is it her?” Selina nodded at Eden.
“I believe so.”
“There’s something about Eden’s psychic energy that makes it possible for you to draw enough strength from her to take corporeal form during the day. But at night you have to possess her body.”
“Insightful as ever, Selina.”
Eden kept her attention on the mug of hot chocolate in front of her.
Selina smiled thinly. “You’re trying to resist the urge to strangle me with my purse strap right now, aren’t you?”
“I was eyeing my coffee stir stick as the weapon, actually. It could do a great deal of damage in the right hands.” He looked at Eden. “Despite Selina’s ability to work magic and her… well, moldy Swiss cheese soul, a black witch is still essentially human. Despite her potential for immortality, her body is vulnerable to all kinds of damage.”
Eden didn’t like how he said that. There was the threat of true violence behind it. She wondered then, and not for the first time, if it had been a mistake to bring these two back together after all this time.
Oh well. Too late now.
“Yes, the only way to break his curse is if I do it willingly or he kills me with his own hands,” Selina said. “So excuse me if I’m not terribly comfortable at the moment.”
“Selina, please sit down,” Eden said.
“I’d rather stand.”
“It looks a bit conspicuous.”
“Like I care. I thought I told you that you had five minutes. I believe that time is nearly up.” Her eyes narrowed. “I feel your weakness, demon. Not quite the same as you were all those years ago, are you?”
“No, I’ve changed. I’m much more pathetic and needy now. I believe that’s the point of this meeting.”
“Then I’ll give you another minute to convince me to break your curse. Beg if you like.”
Darrak nodded grimly. “I can do that if I have to.”
“Oh. My. God.” A voice from Eden’s right exclaimed. It was Nancy, the barista, who must have just come on shift. “Selina Shaw. Here at Hot Stuff. I can’t believe this.”
“Wonderful,” Selina said sarcastically under her breath. “A fan. Just what I need right now. I should have done a camouflage spell on this table the moment I walked in here.”
Nancy rushed over. “Can I get you a coffee, Ms. Shaw? A biscotti?”
“No, thank you.”
“Perhaps a blueberry scone? I can heat it in the microwave for you and put some butter on it. Are you lactose intolerant at all?”
Selina sighed. “I’m going to decline. But I appreciate the offer.”
She beamed at the writer and then looked at Eden. “And look at you, talking to Selina Shaw herself. If it wasn’t for me you would never have found her in the first place. And now you’re friends!”
“Found me?” Selina asked. “You’re the one who helped them locate me?”
“Yes! Can you believe they’d never heard of your books before? Eden never would have known about your signing last night if I hadn’t told her.”
Selina smiled. “Go now. Before I tear out your intestines and stomp on them with my new Ferragamo pumps.”
“Sure thing. If you do decide you need anything to eat or drink, just holler.” She sauntered away, happily oblivious to the threat of evisceration she’d just received.
Selina turned to leave. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“No. Please, stay,” Eden said. “Darrak’s changed. Just like you.”
She froze. “He’s nothing like me.”
“Having to possess humans all of these years has infused him with humanity.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Is that what you think has happened?”
“It is,” Darrak confirmed.
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought I sensed something oddly human about you. For a moment I thought it was simply residue from your recent and ill-advised horizontal romp with this girl.”
“What makes you think we were horizontal?” Darrak’s lips twitched.
She glared at him. “Do not make light of this.”
Darrak’s grin widened at her outrage. “Don’t be jealous. It’s not becoming to a woman of your age.”
“Jealous is the last thing I am right now.”
“Look, Selina. Here it is. You summoned me years ago. You sucked all the energy out of me you could possibly get and left me an empty husk. Then you tried to destroy me completely.”
“You were going to kill me. Do you deny that, demon?”