She didn’t think. She didn’t have to. The magic flared inside of her in an instant and it was enough to knock Rosa backward. The woman stumbled and fell to the ground.
“Leave us alone, you bitch,” Eden warned. “I’m serious.”
“I can help you,” Rosa said.
“You just tried to stab me with the pointy end of your cane. How exactly is that helping me?”
“Let’s forget about what’s happened in the past and move on from here with a fresh slate.”
“I want you to go now and never bother us again.” The magic Eden had promised never to use crackled down her hands into her fingertips. She shot a look over at Malcolm. “Both of you.”
“Then I won’t trap him. I’ll exorcise him. You wanted him gone,” Rosa reasoned. “You called me in a panic, remember? You paid me money to get rid of him for you.”
Eden clenched her hand into a fist at her side. “It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”
Rosa had the audacity to look concerned for her. “He’ll destroy you. Let us destroy him for you.”
“No.” It was such a simple word for something Eden felt so strongly about.
Rosa’s lips thinned. “Then I’ll have to destroy both of you.” She held her cane up, muttered something indiscernible in that dead language under her breath, and the diamond on the top began to glow. “I need three for full power, but the archdemons I already have are enough to give me the magic I need right now.”
“Eden—” Darrak’s voice was strained. “Run!”
Rosa’s eyes lit with fire, similar to Darrak’s. She honestly thought she was channeling a pure power? She was either deceiving herself or lying to everyone else. Eden was willing to bet on the latter.
Eden felt powerful magic emanating from the diamond. It trapped her in place and it was like moving through taffy just to turn her head. It was too late to run. She watched, as if in slow motion, as Rosa turned the cane, blade side up, and moved toward her again.
“I will have him,” she said firmly. “The archdemon is mine.”
“No,” Eden replied, struggling to speak. “He’s mine.”
And again, the magic was at her fingertips. She focused everything she had on Rosa’s cane.
It was as though a shock wave emanated out from her and focused directly around the diamond. A moment later it shattered as if it were no more than a lightbulb. The next moment, the heavy weight of Rosa’s demon magic disappeared completely from the air.
The older woman’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “You bitch! You broke my diamond!”
Eden staggered back into Darrak’s arms. “Sorry. Was it expensive?”
How much was the average one hundred eighty carat diamond these days? She suddenly wished that Rosa didn’t currently have her MasterCard number on file.
Magic continued to crackle at her fingertips. It would be so easy to finish this off. Just breaking a diamond seemed so anticlimactic.
But the next moment she felt Darrak’s hands come around her waist from behind and he pulled her backward toward the teeter-totter.
“What are you doing?” she asked shakily.
“Preventative measures.”
“From what?”
“Just trust me.”
Rosa looked supremely pissed off. “Come Malcolm. We need to go back to the Malleus and report that…” She frowned. “What are you looking at, boy? Let’s go!” She reached for him but her son staggered back from her.
Then Eden saw it and a chill ran down her spine.
There were two swirling clouds of black smoke on the ground near Rosa’s feet.
By breaking the diamond, she’d destroyed the prison in which Rosa’s archdemons were trapped. To destroy the archdemons, Rosa would have had to smash it by herself.
Eden had freed them.
“Darrak…” she began.
“Shh. Don’t speak,” he whispered in her ear, his arms still around her waist, holding her tightly in place. “Be very quiet.”
Rosa looked down, finally seeing the black smoke just as it began to move up her legs. Her eyes widened in shock.
“Wait,” she said, holding her hands out. “No. We can talk about this.”
The incorporeal archdemons didn’t seem in much of a mood to chat. They began moving quicker and quicker, swirling and twisting around Rosa’s body like synchronized tornadoes.
“Malcolm!” she yelled. “Do something! You’re a member of the Malleus! Exorcise them!”
Cradling his arm, Malcolm moved farther back from Rosa. “I’m sorry, Mother. But I’ve decided to take a leave of absence from the organization.”
“You what?”
“I’m going back to college.” His jaw set. “Just like you wanted, remember?”
Rosa glared at him. Before she could say another word the smoke moved to cover her completely.
And the moment after that, the blackness dissipated completely, leaving nothing behind.
The first thing Eden did after Rosa disappeared with the archdemons was run over to check on Leena. The shapeshifter, still in cat form, was unconscious but breathing and her heartbeat was regular. Eden was no doctor — or veterinarian — but that seemed like a good sign.
She was ready for Malcolm to storm at her, furious at what happened to his mother, and wanting revenge. But he leaned against the trunk of a tall tree, his mouth still gaping open in shock at what had just happened. Even though the playground had grown darker with the setting sun, his face was very pale. He suddenly made eye contact with Eden and started slowly walking toward her.
Darrak stepped into his path. “Don’t even think about it.”
“No,” Malcolm managed. “I–I wasn’t thinking about hurting her. I had no idea what my mother was involved with all these years. I’m so sorry. If I’d known…” He shook his head. “The Malleus would never have approved something like this.”
He looked so incredibly disillusioned. His worldview had been shattered in thirty minutes or less. Quicker than ordering a pizza.
“Well, she did say it was to fight evil, right?” Eden said.