The Demon in Me (22 page)

“Uh… great,” she managed when he released her. “Thanks, I guess.”

Before she could ask who he was, or who the beaming woman next to him who gave her a big thumbs-up was, he left and they made their way to the VW Beetle parked next to Eden’s Toyota.

She looked at Darrak, who was frowning deeply. “What?” she asked.

“That’s strange.”

“What?” she repeated.

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I’m sure I’m just imagining things, but…”

“But what?”

“I could have sworn those were a couple of werewolves.”

“
Were
—?” She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from shouting. Then she whispered, “Werewolves don’t exist.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not slipping into denial all of a sudden, are you?”

“No, I wish. But
werewolves
?”

He waved a hand. “They’re just shifters like your werecat. Only I sensed wolf in those two.” He grinned. “You are so lucky I’m around. I’m like your guide, or something.”

“Or something.” Her stomach felt queasy. Could she not just have a couple hours of normal to help balance out the not-so-normal? Was that too much to ask for?

“Andy?” she said, tentatively, hoping that he wasn’t freaked out or terrified by being visited by Others. Maybe he had no idea. Come to think of it, if they were all over the place and looked human, it was very possible she herself, back in her blissfully ignorant days, had met more than her share of them and never been the wiser.

The good old days.

There were a couple of people standing in front of Andy’s desk, and he shook their hands. “That’s Eden right there,” he said. “Speak of the devil.”

There was an expression that wasn’t as innocent as it used to be.

They turned to look at her with smiles on their faces. “Wonderful,” a woman with short brown hair said. “Then I take it my case is in good hands.”

“The best,” Andy assured her.

“You’ll be in touch?” she asked.

“In a few days at the most. Thank you for choosing Triple-A.”

She smiled. “It’s as if it chose me, not the other way around. I was compelled to come here.”

“Our ad in the Yellow Pages is eye-catching.”

“Yes.” Her smile held. “I’m sure that’s what it was. Come, darling.”

She and her companion left the agency.

Darrak leaned toward her. “That was a white witch and her shifter lover.”

She tensed. “Please stop.”

“White witches are all nature- and animal-loving vegetarians. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, I just want you to stop talking.”

They were alone in the agency. Andy looked at her with a huge smile on his face. “You are not going to believe my day. I texted you! I wish you’d been here!”

She cleared her throat nervously. “What happened?”

“A phoenix has risen from the flames.”

Her eyes widened. “Literally?”

He looked at her strangely. “Uh, no. But my business—well,
our
business—has been revitalized by a ton of new cases. It’s been nonstop since I got here this morning. I might even have to hire an assistant.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “And the strangest thing is what that woman, Mrs. Larenby, just said. They all were compelled”—he made air quotes—“to choose Triple-A.”

Darrak leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I think I figured it out. The reason why Others are attracted to you and this place.”

“Do tell,” she whispered back.

“This is where you forced me to take form the first time. The amount of psychic energy you expelled, added to what I am, was enough to create a hot spot. I’ve heard of that sort of thing happening before. Works like a magnet for Others. Now they think this is the go-to agency for paranormal clientele.”

Shit. That wasn’t good. Was it?

“That’s great,” she said then to Andy, smiling though her face felt very tight. “And the cases are… uh, is there anything unusual about them?”

“Unusual? No. The usual stuff. Surveillance, another potential cheating spouse, white-collar crime, background checks.”

Only for werewolves and fairies and witches
, Eden thought.
Oh my.

“Great,” she said, not liking the pitched, slightly hysterical tone of her voice.

“We should celebrate. I need a cigar. Why don’t I keep champagne on hand around here?”

“No idea.”

“I ordered some fresh coffee from next door. Nancy is going to bring it over.”

“Sit down.” Darrak had rolled her chair closer for her. She sat down. That felt much better.

“Such a nice, helpful young man you are.” Andy clipped the end of the celebration cigar he’d retrieved from his top desk drawer and pointed at Darrak with it. “So good to your sister. Aren’t you, sport? Did you have a nice day today? Did you do some sightseeing around the city? Did you go to the top of the CN Tower? That’s fun.”

Darrak sighed. “Make him stop, Eden.”

She coughed nervously. “Andy, did you have any luck looking for the wi… er, I mean, the woman Darrak’s looking for in the city?”

Andy shook his head. “Didn’t even get a chance to start. And now I’m up to my neck with these new cases. How did the cheating husband stakeout go?”

“Really good,” she said, brushing aside her morning trauma and immediate disappointment that Andy hadn’t solved her problem yet. “You really can’t find any time to look into that?”

“Wish I could. I’m sure it can wait a week or two.”

“A week or two?” Her heart sank. “I really wanted this taken care of right away.”

“To tell you the truth, Eden, if the woman in question doesn’t have any prior convictions or anything to get her into the system, there’s not much chance of finding her based purely on a sketch. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned that yesterday.”

Darrak’s brow was lowered. “That’s too bad.”

“I know. Look, you could always do it the old-fashioned way.”

“And how’s that?”

“If you think she’s in the city, print up a bunch of flyers and paste them up around town.”

“But, Andy—” she began.

“No, Eden,” Darrak stopped her. “It’s fine. We’ll find another way.”

She could see the disappointment in his eyes. He was counting on this. Hell, so was she.

“Fine.” They’d find another way. Another way to locate a witch who might or might not still be in the area. By now she could have taken a plane—or, hell, her
broomstick
—to Tahiti.

She rolled her chair over to her desk and reached into the bottom drawer to pull out her worn deck of tarot cards. She hadn’t used them since she was let go from Psychic Connexions. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

The phone rang and Andy grabbed it and started chatting to someone in a happy, animated manner. His problems were solved. Hers were only beginning.

“What are you doing?” Darrak asked, his voice tense.

“I’m grasping at straws.”

“Looks like a deck of tarot cards to me.”

“I’m going to see if I can figure out what direction to go from here. It’s not my love life or job prospects, but it’s worth a shot.”

“You don’t think you can just concentrate very hard and pull the witch’s location out of thin air? I know you’ve done that before.”

“One thing at a time.” She closed her eyes, focused on what she wanted, and flipped over one card. That was usually all she needed.

It was the Strength card, inverted.

“Well, that’s not good,” she said.

He’d moved to stand behind her and looked over her shoulder. “What does that mean?”

“The pathetic defeat of losers?”

“That’s the literal meaning?”

“No. But that’s what I’m seeing.” She flipped another card.

The Devil.

Well, that was not too surprising.

Darrak glanced down. “Okay. And what does that mean? Let me guess, true evil?”

“Not in its upright position.” She cleared her throat. “No, I find that it usually means… uh, sexual obsession. Sometimes. And, you know, lust. And stuff like that.”

“The Devil card represents lust?”

She waved a hand. “Among many, many other interpretations.”

“And yet that’s how you interpreted it. You, who are an insightful psychically gifted expert in this sort of thing.”

“I never called myself an expert. I’m an enthusiastic amateur. I can also do some really cool card tricks if I’m so inclined.”

Despite his disappointment that their road to finding the witch was not going smoothly, he looked slightly amused. “Lust, huh?”

“Possibly lust for money. Material possessions.”

“Or?”

She refused to think about waking up in Darrak’s arms that morning and feeling more than a healthy dose of lustfulness. “I’m going to try to concentrate and pinpoint your witch’s position now. No more talking.”

“Take all the time you need.”

She closed her eyes—pushed all thoughts of a naked Darrak out of her mind—and tried to do her thing. Whatever that thing was. Damn, she wished she could control it better. It was like playing roulette. Sometimes her number came up, but usually she just lost time and money trying.

The door jingled and her eyes snapped open to see Nancy, the assistant manager of Hot Stuff, enter with a tray full of coffee and pastries. Andy waved her over to his desk.

Eden closed her eyes and tried to think “witch.”

Instead, she smelled coffee and cinnamon.

Mmm. Freshly baked cinnamon buns.
It made her stomach growl loudly.

“Hey!” Nancy exclaimed. “
Oh, my God
. I love her so much. I can’t wait to see her at the reading tonight. Are you going?”

Eden’s eyes snapped open.

Andy frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”

Nancy grabbed the sketch of the witch that Darrak did yesterday. “Selina Shaw, of course. She
so
rocks.”

Eden was on her feet and over on the other side of the
room so fast it could have been some kind of a record.

“You know who this woman is?” she asked.

Nancy nodded. “Of course I do. Doesn’t everyone?” “Well, I don’t. Who is she?”

“Selina Shaw.”

“Who is Selina Shaw?”

“Only the coolest writer on the planet.”

“She’s a writer? Like a novelist?”

“No, no. She writes books that empower women and help them find their inner strength and harmony.”

“She writes self-help books?” Eden asked carefully, thinking she might be misunderstanding.

“Not self-help,” Nancy said it as if it was an insult. “Her books
transcend
self-help. Selina Shaw is the Love Witch. I heard she even trademarked the phrase.”

“
Love Witch
,” Darrak repeated dryly.

Nancy turned to him and her eyes widened. “Well, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I’m Darrak. Eden’s… brother.” He extended his hand.

She gripped it tightly. “Wow. Okay, hi. I’m Nancy. It’s really great to meet you. I mean,
really
great. I didn’t know Eden had a brother. Do you live in the city? I haven’t seen you around before.”

“I’m just… visiting.”

“That’s great. With your… wife? Your girlfriend, maybe?”

“Uh…” He disengaged his hand from her grasp. “Neither, actually.”

“Oh, that’s
very
interesting.”

“Nancy,” Eden interrupted. “Tell me more about this love witch.”

She reluctantly moved her appreciative gaze away from Darrak. “She’s not a real witch, of course. But she may as well be. She’s worked her magic on me whenever I read one of her books. I left my lousy husband thanks to her advice. It’s like she’s speaking directly to me through her books.” She smiled and her eyes flicked back to the demon. “And yes, I’m still single. I’m just saying.”

Eden could barely breathe. She went back to her desk and computer keyboard where she typed
Selina Shaw
into Google search.

It yielded 1.5 million hits. The first one being her official website.

Click.

And there she was. A sexy woman, smiling wickedly out at her. Dark flowing hair, perfectly styled. Black-ringed vividly green eyes. Full pink lips. She looked like a movie star, only she wasn’t. She was a self-help guru, and her moniker the Love Witch was there as a flourishly designed logo, along with her two most recent releases,
Curse That Creep Right Out of Your Life
, and
Hocus-Pocus Is the New Black
.

Both of which featured Selina’s perfect, smiling face and ample cleavage on the cover.

“So are you going, or what?” Nancy asked.

“Going where?” Eden replied, feeling stunned. One moment she felt that she’d never find this woman, and the next… she couldn’t believe she’d never heard of her. She was a number one
New York Times
best-selling author, for Pete’s sake.

“To the reading tonight.”

“I… uh,” Eden blinked rapidly. “Where is she going to be?”

“At the World’s Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street.”

“What time?”

“Seven thirty. I’m going earlier so I can get a seat. So exciting. I can barely wait.”

Eden just stared at her, stunned.

Nancy shifted her feet in a nervous manner. “Anyhow, I guess I’ll go now. You know, I have some banana muffins in the oven. I might see you tonight?”

“Yeah, sure. See you.”

“Great!”

Nancy left the office, giving Darrak an appraising look as she went.

Andy finally hung up the phone. He hadn’t paid any attention to this exchange.

“Darrak,” Eden said, clicking through the website. “Selina Shaw’s even been on
Oprah
. And you didn’t even know her name?”

He shrugged. “My hosts haven’t been big TV watchers.” He paused. “I shouldn’t say that, actually. One was heavily into soap operas. And another had a very unhealthy love of clown porn. But I’ve tried to block that out.”

She cringed at that. “But this
is
her?”

He came to stand next to her and leaned over so she could feel the heat from his extra hot body. “That’s her,” he said grimly.

“Why aren’t you excited?” Eden had gone from stunned to relieved in thirty seconds or less. “This is it. She’s here, just like you said she was. And we know where she’s going to be tonight.”