“I know exactly what he is.”
“Do you? Are you sure about that? So you’re saying that you made a deal with the Prince of Hell himself in order for a fleeting chance to pull my ass out of the Void before it was too late.”
Eden held his gaze. “Well . . . yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
He wanted to be furious, but he couldn’t be. This was the bravest thing anyone had ever done for him. He would have done the same thing for her, so he supposed that made them even in their mutual insanity. “What did you promise him?”
She hesitated, which made him more nervous than he was to begin with. “Lucas wants to go back to Heaven, but he’s bound to Hell, like a chain around his ankle. I still don’t understand why.”
That wasn’t exactly an answer to his question.
He didn’t let go of her. “The darkness here needs to be controlled and that’s Lucifer’s job. That’s what the wraith meant when she talked about the shadows. When he gets upset or loses his composure, that darkness takes him over. They make him into Satan, a being of malevolent energy that likes to destroy and wreak havoc over everything. No one else has control over the darkness. He can’t leave.” An unwanted piece of empathy slid through him for his unpleasant boss. Being the Prince of Hell and dealing with all of that uncontrollable darkness wouldn’t be a fun job for an ex-angel, even if it had plenty of perks.
“He says he has a replacement lined up to take over for him,”
Andy said.
“A replacement.” Darrak frowned. “So he’s found a way to leave the Netherworld permanently?”
When Eden didn’t reply his grip on her shoulders grew tight enough to make her flinch. He released her immediately.
“Talk to me, Eden. Tell me exactly what you promised him.”
She finally met his eyes. “I agreed to give him my angel side for the chance to come here and find you. Freely give every last bit of my celestial energy to him. It will be enough to break his chains down here once and for all.”
He just stared at her for what felt like a very long time. “Please tell me you’re just messing with me right now.”
She just shook her head, her expression pale.
“We need to leave, and we need to leave right now.” He didn’t say another word, he just put his arm around Eden and his other on Andy’s furry back and concentrated on phasing all three of them out of there. He’d been able to channel his phasing ability when he took care of the wraiths, but it wasn’t working anymore.
“Oh come on,” he growled. “Don’t fail me now.”
“Will this help? It got us here.” Eden showed him her wrist that bore the silver chain she was to use on Ms. Brenda N. Franks, potential Antichrist.
“That won’t work both ways.” He snorted. “So Lucifer told you to use that, did he? Did he happen to mention how you were supposed to get out of here when you were finished?”
“He didn’t cover that.”
“No, of course not. He doesn’t care if you were able to leave without his assistance. He’d prefer you remain at his mercy at all times.”
Darrak rubbed a hand over his face, trying to think this through.
Eden looked at the hound. “If Andy’s still here at sunrise, then there’s a problem. He’ll shift back to human form.”
“Hate to break it to you but minutes and hours sometimes work differently here, like a broken clock. Sometimes it’s equal, other times it’s not. Time has moved fast since I got here. I already sense sunrise approaching in the human world.” He looked at Andy. “Do you feel it?”
Andy looked up at him somberly.
“Afraid so.”
“You can’t shift back to human,” Darrak said. “Not here. Fight it.”
“I’ll try.”
“Try very hard.” The only way they were getting out of there was to either find a gateway or for him to figure out what was stopping him from phasing. And he knew for certain that there weren’t any gateways to the human world anywhere close to the Void.
Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was watching them carefully.
Theo. Or, rather, the entity currently using his face.
Darrak looked into Eden’s eyes. “Wait here.”
“But—”
“I’m serious, Eden. Please wait here. I need to talk to him for a second.”
She didn’t argue, which was a relief. Her green eyes were filled with worry, but determination also battled within them. She knew what she’d done was extreme, but she didn’t regret it. She’d agreed to give up half of herself—she didn’t even know how serious a decision it was—in order to save his paltry life.
Darrak would love her forever for that, but he couldn’t let this deal stand. If Eden lost her angelic energy, the darkness from her black magic would grow inside of her at an even faster rate than it already did. Even Selina’s magic hadn’t been so powerful, so dark as this. Her soul would have taken centuries more to rot. Eden’s was turning black at an accelerated rate and it scared him like nothing he’d ever known before.
For as long as she had that magic at her disposal she needed to stay a nephilim, otherwise she didn’t have a chance against that darkness. She’d become an entity whose only desire would be to spread evil throughout the human world until she was killed and sent to Hell.
Eden’s future then, unless she was tagged to become a demon, would be to become a wraith. Black-souled human females starved for energy had few other options here.
Darrak wouldn’t let that happen. Even though Eden didn’t realize it, she was hanging off the edge as much as he had been. Just because she couldn’t see the drop didn’t mean it wasn’t still there.
He’d save her. No matter what.
In fact, he’d already come up with a plan to end this once and for all.
It might get a little tricky, though. Throwing Lucifer into the Void wasn’t exactly going to be easy.
TWENTY-TWO
“Looks like everything worked out,” Theo said.
“I can’t phase right now.”
“No, you can’t. I wanted to talk first.”
“You can control my ability to phase?” Darrak’s eyes narrowed. “Andy’s going to shift back to human any minute. It’ll kill him if he’s still here.”
“Then we should probably talk fast.”
Darrak got a sinking feeling. Well,
more
of one. “What do you want?”
Theo smiled. “World peace. Happy children smiling and dancing together. Love and harmony for all.”
“I’m still demon enough for that adorable image to make me gag a little. Cut the shit, whoever you are. What do you want from me
specifically
?”
“You’re a nobody, you know that, Darrak?” Theo’s expression didn’t change. “How do you feel about that?”
“Is this a trick question designed to make me slam my fist into your stomach really hard? Because that can be arranged.”
“It wasn’t meant to be an insult, believe it or not. More like an observation. You were created from nothing but hellfire and now you stand before me as a new creation—demon and angel combined. How does that feel?”
“It’s a bit itchy around the collar, but I’m sure after a couple washes it’ll soften up.”
Theo’s smile held. “You cover your fear and uncertainty with humor. It’s as charming as it is annoying.”
“Everybody’s a critic.”
“Answer me truthfully, Darrak. How does it feel to be what you are now, having come from your very specific beginnings?”
He was about to say something snarky, some quip to amuse himself, but after everything that had happened he wasn’t feeling much like joking around. This thing in front of him wanted answers and he was somehow in control of Darrak’s phasing ability, which was the only way they could get out of here in one piece.
If they stayed much longer Andy would succumb to his shift, and a human couldn’t survive here. It might look like an urban landscape, but it was far from it. Andy would burn up in about two seconds flat.
Andy had helped Eden on her journey. Darrak would be forever in his debt for that. If Eden hadn’t arrived when she did, he had no doubt that he’d be long gone by now.
He’d faced the Void and lived to tell the tale.
So instead of a joke, he chose to answer Theo with the truth.
“What does it feel like to be changed from what I’ve always been? It scares the hell out of me.” He snorted. “
Literally
scares the Hell out of me. I’m changed inside and out, but if I had the chance to go back to what I was before . . . I wouldn’t take it. I am exactly who I was meant to be, and it’s all thanks to Eden. I love her with every fiber of my being, and if you make a move to hurt her I promise you I’m still demon enough to turn you inside out. And trust me, that can get very messy.”
Theo leaned against the wall behind him. “Yeah, that’s basically what I thought.”
“Great. Now are we done with this little tête-à-tête? Have you gotten what you wanted out of me? Can we go now? I have something I need to deal with as soon as possible.”
Destroying Lucifer. He’d always enjoyed a challenge and this was as challenging as it got.
“Attempting to throw Lucifer in the Void sounds a bit risky,” Theo said.
Darrak froze. “Excuse me?”
“Mind reading.” Theo shrugged and tapped his temple with his index finger. “It helps me in oh so many ways.”
Even Lucifer couldn’t read minds. “Who the hell are you?”
“You keep asking that question. It’s really cute.” Theo smiled. “Just so you know, Lucifer won’t be easily beaten. You should know exactly what he’s capable of. But even he will succumb to the Void if you’re successful. He’s not invincible. And he’s not half as smart as he thinks he is. His mind can be manipulated just like anyone else’s.”
He was taken aback by Theo knowing his very dangerous plans. “If he takes Eden’s angel side, am I right? Will she be lost to me?”
“Not all at once. But soon and forever.”
Darrak’s jaw tightened and he cast a glance toward the gaping mouth of the Void. “Then Lucifer has to be destroyed. There’s no other choice.”
“You certainly seem as if you have the drive to do exactly what you’re saying. There have been attempts to destroy him before, but no one has yet succeeded. He doesn’t let many get close to him lately. But you’re an exception. He likes you.”
Darrak laughed. “Yeah, right. We’re best pals.”
“You’re different from the others, and he respects that. You’re something he created out of nothing, but you’ve taken on a life of your own and a strong, individual personality has evolved. You’re a being of passion and conviction. You were always meant for this, Darrak. It just took you a long time to get here.”
It sounded like a compliment on the surface, but it didn’t sit well with him. This entity using Theo’s face knew him too well, could even read his mind. He didn’t like that at all.
“What do you want me to say?” Darrak asked.
“If Lucifer is destroyed, Hell will be without its prince.”
“Don’t worry. He already has someone lined up.”
“Pretenders to the crown. There are many who would love to take his place—they’d line up for the chance at that kind of power. But none are worthy. There’s a reason a former angel rules Hell, you see. Yes, Lucifer was prideful and not fond of humans, but he was a shining star from the very beginning.” Theo smiled. “That’s his name, you know. The bringer of light. That was why he was needed; why he was created. But he’s forgotten this and now wallows down here in the muck feeling sorry for himself.”
“That sounds like him.” Darrak thought about his many unpleasant dealings with the prince. “Crybaby. Muck-wallower.”
“It’s not an easy job—quite possibly, the most difficult job in the universe for a being of pure light. I don’t entirely blame him for seeking a way out.”
Darrak glanced at Eden. The thought that she’d have to hand over her angel side to Lucifer was too much for him to bear.
“She can’t hear us right now,” Theo said.
Darrak’s attention returned to him. “Why not?”
“Because what I need to ask you, what I need you to agree to, is not something she can know. Not right now.” He was quiet for a moment. “Do you know who I am now, Darrak?”
Darrak studied the face of the demon he’d known for his entire existence. But this wasn’t really Theo. Not even close.
“Yes, I do.”
Even to him, he sounded a bit breathless.
“When Lucifer is destroyed, I need you to agree to take his place.”
Darrak’s throat tightened and he couldn’t speak for a moment. Very unlike him. “You want
me
to be the Prince of Hell.”
“You have proven to me that you’ve changed. You have enough darkness in you still to not let this place or the shadows here drive you insane. But you now have enough light to make you the perfect, levelheaded choice to maintain and control the balance down here.”
Darrak couldn’t remember anyone ever calling him levelheaded before. “I can’t do that.”
“But it was what you and Theo once planned, wasn’t it? To rule Hell together. To take over each demon lord’s throne until you managed to seize control of them all. It would have been quite the coup if you’d succeeded.”
“We never would have succeeded. Lucifer knew too much.”
“You’re right. But he doesn’t know this. His head is full of plans for the future once he takes Eden’s angelic energy.”
“Is it enough to get him back to Heaven? To break his ties here to the shadows?”
“It is. And as an angel he will be accepted again in Heaven if he succeeds in sloughing off his darkness. It’s everything he wants.”
Darrak thought it through. “But nobody would be here, despite him lining up a candidate. Whether he succeeds or I succeed in destroying him.”
“Correct. He doesn’t have the final say on who would take his place. I do.”
“The Prince of Hell.” Saying it out loud didn’t help it sound any more logical than it did in his head. Darrak the incubus turned archdemon, turned cursed and bodiless possessor of humans, turned part angel—although still ridiculously good-looking . . .
The Prince of Hell.
There was a time when this would have been the best offer ever.
Those days were long gone.
Darrak shook his head. “I don’t want this. I want to be with Eden.”
“I know. Which is all the more reason for you to agree to this. Knowing what you’ll be giving up will make your oath to follow through that much stronger.”