And it actually earned a small snort of laughter from Malcolm. “From what I’ve seen tonight, my mother was more evil than the two of you put together. I’m sorry this had to happen.”
“Which part?” Eden asked.
“All of it.” He looked back to where his mother had been standing before the archdemons had covered her body like a black blanket from Hell. “Now I know why she wanted me to go back to school. I was going to major in Archaeology. She probably wanted me to learn how to dig up more magical artifacts for her to use in the future like that diamond of hers. She was so insistent that I go.”
“And are you going to?” Eden asked.
He nodded. “I need time to think. After what I’ve seen…” He looked at both Eden and Darrak in turn. “I have a lot to think about.”
Eden stood up and went over to him to give him a hug. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Darrak tense, ready to spring if Malcolm did anything. But she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.
“Good-bye, Eden,” he whispered. “And good luck to you.”
“I’m going to need it, right?”
He smiled and flicked another glance at the demon. “You will. No doubt about it.”
He didn’t hug Darrak. Eden wasn’t terribly surprised about that. He turned, without another word, and went to his car. A few moments later, gravel crunched as he drove away.
Eden turned to Darrak, surprised to see that he looked pissed off at her.
“What?”
He shook his head. “You weren’t supposed to use your new magic and now you’ve already used it as if it was a present you couldn’t wait until Christmas to unwrap.”
She put a hand on her hip. “I didn’t exactly have a choice.” “There’s always a choice. How do you feel?”
She thought about it. “I feel fine. Considering that a mini-apocalypse just went down in this playground of death and destruction.” She glanced with regret and more than a little grief at the empty pile of clothes marking the place where Selina had been killed.
“And when you channeled the magic—?”
“Like I said, I feel just fine. Maybe Selina was wrong. Maybe I can do it without anything bad happening.”
He pursed his lips and walked over to Selina’s clothes, reaching down to retrieve her gray-stoned necklace — which had turned snow white. Now that Selina was gone Eden figured that was its default setting. He brought it over and fastened the chain around her neck. The heavy pendant fell to her chest.
“Look.” His expression was grim.
She looked down to see the stone was slowly changing from unblemished white to a darker shade. Not as dark as Selina’s had been, though. Eden’s was a very light gray with some darker, marblelike veins running through it.
The current state of her compromised soul was now a lovely fashion accessory.
“Okay,” Eden said after a moment. “Maybe channeling the black magic did do a little something after all.”
“How can you sound so calm about this?”
“I don’t exactly have any choice here, do I?”
His lips thinned. “There’s still a choice, of course. We’ll contact someone with the Malleus directly and arrange an official exorcism by someone who—”
She slapped him.
“Ow!” He held a hand to his cheek, frowning. “What the hell was that for?”
“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. I guess I react with violence now when somebody says something outwardly stupid. I’ll try something different next time to mix it up.”
“It’s not stupid. It’s the only way.”
“No it’s not. We’ll find another way to break your curse.”
“Selina’s dead.”
“I know that.”
“You have less than a year to live if I’m possessing you.”
“I know that, too.”
“Then why won’t you consider exorcising—”
This time she kissed him. A bit less violent than slapping but no less dangerous. When she pulled away to see his shocked face, she poked a finger at him.
“I didn’t just tap into my nasty black cesspool of magic tonight so I could call up 1-800-Exorcist tomorrow.”
“Yeah, but—”
Another kiss. Longer this time. Eden grabbed hold of his plain black T-shirt to pull him closer. The night was cold and he felt very warm, despite the fact he wasn’t wearing a coat.
“Then why did you do it?” he asked gruffly when they parted again.
“Because I need you.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “You need me for what?”
“You’re my resident expert on the supernatural. And Andy’s got a stack of cases involving werewolves and other… well, Others.”
He nodded. “Good reason. I can definitely help with that. It’s the least I can do.”
“And… and I also need you to help me deal with this.” She touched the grayish stone. “Selina promised to help me but now she’s gone.” Her voice caught. “She was a black witch but she wasn’t all bad. She could control it. Maybe there’s still hope for me.”
“There’s always hope.”
“You think so?”
He nodded. “If you’d asked me that a couple weeks ago I would have said no, but now I think there might be.”
“Even for a humanity-infused archdemon and a newly black witch?”