That Old Black Magic - By Michelle Rowen Page 0,61
deal with first. Go get the shifter.”
He knew better than to argue. No one wanted to tell him the truth about what he’d seen, so much so that he was beginning to question his own memories.
Ben went downstairs and his hard-soled shoes made an echoing sound against the floor. The walls were narrow down here. A guard accompanied him. He glanced down the hall at the silent cell that held the winged man to whom he’d spoken only once.
No time to think about that. He had other matters to attend to.
“She’s pretty hot,” the guard said. “Maybe after you’re finished with her later, I can play a little bit.”
Ben’s lips thinned. “Maybe.”
The guard slipped his key into the lock and swung the door open. “Hey, little shifter. Looks like your time is finally up.”
The woman cowered in the corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. Everything about her signified that she was afraid . . . except her eyes. They blazed with indignation. With challenge. With pissed off fury.
She wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
Quite honestly, Ben gave her five minutes max before she started telling them anything they wanted to know—and then some. He’d already been shown some of the interrogation tools the Malleus deemed worthy for use on prisoners. Not much had changed since the Salem witch trials hundreds of years ago.
“She’s all yours,” the guard said.
“Thanks.”
Ben slammed his fist into the guard’s face, then grabbed him and whacked his head against the metal door. That was more than enough to knock him out cold.
Then Ben looked in at the woman in the corner—this so-called evil creature he was scheduled to torture for information in a few short minutes.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.
He held his hand out to her. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
FIFTEEN
Eden sat on the floor of Triple-A for what felt like a very long time. It was cold, with the broken door letting in the chill of the mid-November evening, but she barely felt it.
Darrak was gone forever.
And she’d just realized she was pregnant with his baby.
He’d told her demons didn’t carry human diseases, so she was safe with him when they’d slept together. The only unexpected side effect had been her black magic.
She’d assumed—well, hell, obviously she hadn’t given it any thought at all.
If she felt morning sickness now, that meant it likely happened the very first time they’d been together.
She was one month pregnant.
“What am I going to do?” she whispered.
Darrak had been sent to the Void—a place of endless nothing. Death for demons and other soulless creatures. The end of everything with no chance to ever return.
It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened.
Andy whined.
“He’s gone,” she told him, her voice quiet and broken. “It’s too late.”
She’d never felt so incredibly helpless in her life. The control, once and for all, had been completely taken out of her hands. She’d wanted to break his curse in order to obtain her freedom and privacy again, but not at this cost.
Destroying him managed to do the trick. The curse was officially toast.
Damn Ben and Caroline for doing this without her permission, for not even giving her a choice.
That was the negative side, the dark side that was ready to give up and just cry, yell, and break things.
But Eden had another side, one that was screaming for her to get up off the floor, to let go of the werewolf she was clutching, and to bloody well do something to fix this.
“What am I supposed to do?” she whispered.
Something. Anything. She couldn’t just accept this. It wasn’t too late.
“It is too late.”
No, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t let it.
Darrak had been swept away to the Netherworld, to the Void, and he’d always told her that meant the end of everything.
But maybe it didn’t. Maybe there was still a chance to save him.
After all, Eden did have friends in important places.
Friends who wanted something from her, but it hadn’t been the right time. She hadn’t been taken to the very point of desperation before. Not like this.
Lucas could fix this—he was the Prince of Hell. He might not be able to read minds or see the future, but he ruled the Netherworld and had for an eternity.
Darrak thought Lucas had a master plan that involved Eden, the reason why he was willing to forgive her slipups, her excuses for not following through on her previous assignments for him. The quest for the