That Old Black Magic - By Michelle Rowen Page 0,45

you need to fix him. I’ll see you again, Eden. Very soon.”

He snapped his fingers, and the next moment she wasn’t on the beach any longer. She was back in her apartment.

Darrak stood directly in front of her, holding on to her wrist. “I’m serious, Eden. You can’t see Lucifer again. It’s too dangerous. Put that damned summoning crystal down, will you?”

Lucas had returned her within the exact millisecond she’d left. Darrak had no idea she’d even been gone. She put the marble back in her pocket and hung her coat back up in the hall closet.

He sighed with relief. “That’s better.”

“I need you back in bed,” she commanded.

He leaned against the wall. “I appreciate the interest, but I’m not feeling all that frisky at this precise moment.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her to the bedroom. He didn’t argue again as she put him back into bed and sat on the edge with her hand on his forehead.

“It’s okay,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt that much.”

“And here I thought you were a good liar.”

“It’s over, Eden. I can feel it.”

“No it’s not. Not even close.”

She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to get what Lucas had told her. She’d made this mess, she’d done something, shifted something, messed with something that shouldn’t have been messed with when she’d tried to remove the curse. Nothing else had changed in order for him to feel this lousy.

This wasn’t his inner angel and demon doing battle inside him. This was merely a glitch.

She looked down at his pale face as he looked up at her uncertainly.

“I’m going to fix you,” she said. “So get ready.”

ELEVEN

“Not that I don’t have every confidence,” Darrak began, “but are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Do you trust me?”

He eyed her. “Should I?”

“Do you?” Eden asked again.

“I don’t want you to use your magic again for this.”

“Tough. It’s the only way. I need to go back in and shift things back to the way they were before. When I tried to remove the curse, I rearranged the furniture in there. I know what I did wrong—I shifted the light and dark sides of you when they were already in perfect feng shui position.”

“So you’re trying to say you did an Extreme Home Makeover on me?”

She snorted. “Pretty much.”

He leaned back against the pillow. “Fine. Do your worst.”

“I think I already did that.”

“Andy’s got less than three hours before sunset.”

“I know. Now, shhh.”

Eden pressed her hands against his chest and closed her eyes so she could concentrate. This time it didn’t take long at all to sink down to the metaphysical level. She wouldn’t be able to explain it to somebody else, only to say that it felt very natural. Very right. If it didn’t do damage to her soul while she was down here fiddling around, it would prove to be a very useful talent.

She scanned Darrak’s being, and yes, the light and the dark were bumping up against each other violently now. Of course. How couldn’t she have noticed that before? It was like two lions infringing on each other’s territory, both equally powerful but very, very different.

A turf war was going on in Darrak’s body between who he was and the new part of himself he refused to accept.

Something else caught her attention. She hadn’t noticed it before. She’d been too distracted thinking the pure darkness was the curse, when really it was his demonic side. But now she saw it hiding at the edges, staring out at her. His curse. It was slimy and evasive, and one look at it told her it would devour her if she even attempted to reach toward it.

If the spell from before had been like a puppy returning to its master at its first opportunity, this was a snake, winding around everything, both light and dark, until it was too tangled to untie.

One day, she might try again. But not today. She instinctively knew that grabbing hold of it now would only do more damage.

Darrak gasped out loud as she shifted the light and dark parts of him back into their comfortable positions. The raging jutting turf war stopped immediately.

Putting Darrak back together was a lot like putting IKEA furniture together. Only this didn’t come with instructions.

Eden opened her eyes to see Darrak was staring up at her.

“Done,” she said. “How do you feel?”

“Better.”

Relief flooded her. “Thank God.”

“If you say so.” He grinned and slid his fingers into her hair. “Yeah, I feel