Free Something Wicked by Michelle Rowen Page B

sounded shaky. “I guess he was right.”
    “Missing women?” Ben repeated. “Like Selina Shaw?”
    The two cases weren’t remotely connected, but letting Ben know that would only dig her in deeper. “I don’t know. He said there were six women missing, all regulars at Luxuria. So he was investigating the club, trying to find some leads.”
    “Had he found anything?”
    She shook her head. “Nothing when I talked to him. It was just a gut instinct on his part. But . . . there’s something else . . .”
    “What?”
    “When I touched him, I had a flash. This overwhelming feeling of dread and fear came over me.”
    “Is that some sort of psychic thing?”
    Even now that Ben was a believer in all things supernatural, there was still a hard edge of skepticism in his voice.
    “Yeah,” she said dryly. “A psychic thing. But I didn’t know what it meant. I guess I do now.”
    “You think you sensed that he was going to get murdered?”
    “I’m not sure. It felt like there was a dark aura around him. I can’t explain it.” Grief constricted her throat for a moment. Damn it. Why couldn’t it have been more clear? Maybe she could have helped him.
    “A dark aura,” Ben repeated, his expression turning sour. “Great. That’s helpful.” His eyes flicked to Darrak. “You were there, too?
    “In spirit.”
    Ben snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m sure you were. And did you happen to see anything. . . .well, I hesitate to use the word strange since murder and mayhem would likely be your regular worldview—”
    “What is your problem?” Andy interjected. “Sorry if things didn’t work out between you and Eden, but that’s no reason to come into my office this morning and be a dick to her and her brother.”
    “For Christ’s sake,” Ben said, disgusted. “You have no damn clue, do you?”
    “About what?” Andy replied, and there was no more friendliness toward the cop in his voice.
    “Ben, enough,” Eden said. Her heart pounded hard. She didn’t want him to say anything he’d regret. Because, by the look on Darrak’s face, Ben was getting too close to the edge and had no idea how far the drop was. Darrak was good-humored and amiable up to a point—but he was nobody you wanted to mess with. He was a demon, after all.
    “Darrak’s evil,” Ben stated.
    Fabulous. This conversation wasn’t looking up.
    “Says who?” Andy challenged. “You?”
    Ben clenched his fists at his sides. “Eden, I’m giving you one more chance. There’s still time to fix this mess you’ve gotten yourself into before it gets totally out of control. You don’t know what’s happened to me . . .” He swallowed hard, his expression tense. “I’ve changed . . . and it’s all so I can help you. I want to help you.”
    She really wanted to be completely and unforgivingly pissed off at him. But why did he have to have that pleading tone to his voice? Ben was truly worried for her safety.
    All he’d seen of Darrak’s demon form was seven feet of hellfire and horns towering behind Eden at her apartment the day he’d nearly killed her by mistake. He had to be filled with guilt and rage and powerlessness about that.
    Ben wore a small gold cross around his neck on a chain. He had strong beliefs about good versus evil. It wasn’t his fault he had a hard time believing anything different.
    And it wasn’t Eden’s fault, either.
    “You need to go now,” Darrak said darkly from behind him.
    Ben’s shoulders stiffened. “He’s killing you, Eden. Little by little. You can’t deny it.”
    It was true, she couldn’t deny it. So she said nothing.
    Darrak remained silent as well. After all, he was killing her slowly but surely. The fact someone, especially a cop, might take issue with that wasn’t surprising.
    Andy, who knew nothing of this, wasn’t so quiet. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “Darrak’s a demon,” Ben said bluntly. “From Hell. Didn’t you know that?”
    For a moment, the only sound in the