White Hot Kiss

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Skipping school for, well, for the very first time to see a seer had trouble written all over it. So did the way Roth drove his Porsche, like he was the only person who had the right to be on the road. Naturally, “Paradise City” was blaring from the speakers.

“You may be an immortal demon,” I said, holding on to the seat belt’s chest strap, “but I’m not.”

He flashed a wild sort of grin that made me think really stupid things. “You’ll be fine.”

The possibility of dying in a massive car accident aside, this was far better than sitting around pretending that nothing was going on. I was being active. In a way, I was taking care of this myself with Roth’s help and that eased the panicky restlessness that had been building inside me.

As we entered Manassas, Roth did the unexpected and pulled into the lot of the first grocery store we came upon. I stared at him as he cut the engine. “You need to get groceries, like right now?”

Roth sent me a look but didn’t answer. Sighing, I got out of the car and followed him into the market. I half expected someone to jump out at us and demand why we weren’t in school, but once inside the store, I saw about six other teenagers and figured we’d blend right in.

He stopped in the poultry section, frowning.

“What are you looking for?” I asked, curious.

“A chicken,” he said, poking around the shelves. “Preferably a live chicken, but doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”

I leaned closer to him. “Do I want to know why you want a live chicken right now?”

“I thought it would make a good traveling companion.” He smirked when my eyes narrowed. “You should always bring a token of thanks when you visit a seer. I’ve heard that chickens make a good gift.” He picked up a wrapped whole chicken that claimed it was raised on a farm. “Everyone loves Perdue, right?”

“This is so weird.”

A lopsided grin appeared. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Ten minutes later, we were back on the road, heading toward the Manassas Battlefield with our Perdue chicken. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when we passed the old wooden fences and stone walls and pulled into the driveway of a house that looked like it probably had bullet holes in it from the Civil War battle, I tried to prepare myself for the bizarreness that was about to go down.

Roth strode ahead of me, his eyes scanning the neatly trimmed bushes lining the walkway like he expected a garden gnome to attack us. We stepped up on the porch. A swing to the far left moved in the slight breeze. There was a wooden scarecrow sitting on a pumpkin hanging from the door.

The door opened before Roth could even raise his hand to knock.

A woman appeared. Once the faint blue hue of her soul faded, I got a good look at her. Her blond hair was pulled up in an elegant twist. Fine lines surrounded razor-sharp gray eyes. Her makeup was immaculate. Her light pink cardigan and linen trousers were free from wrinkles. She was even rocking a pearl necklace.

Totally not what I expected.

She swept a cool gaze over us and then settled on Roth. Her lips thinned. “I am not happy about this.”

He arched a dark brow. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t mean it.”

I opened my mouth to apologize, because that kind of attitude wasn’t going to get us anywhere, but the woman stepped aside nonetheless. “In the den,” she said, gesturing to her right.

Carrying the chicken in a plastic bag, Roth went down a narrow hall first. The house smelled nice, like roasted apple. Sounds of a video game radiated from the den, and as we stepped inside the large room, my gaze went straight to the TV.

Assassin’s Creed. Sam would dig this place.

“I appreciate the chicken, but it’s not quite what you’d bring a seer.”

My jaw hit the floor.

At first it was just a blur of pearly white goodness—a pure soul. Seeing a human with a pure soul was like winning the lottery; that was how rarely they were sighted outside the Warden race. My mouth dried and my throat constricted. A bone-deep yearning kicked me right in the stomach, one that didn’t go away when the soul faded, revealing the seer. Roth put his hand on the small of my back, and I hadn’t realized I’d stepped forward until then. The look on his face said, “don’t eat the soul of the seer,” but honestly, the only thing that eased the craving was the shock that rippled through me when I turned back to the seer.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the TV was a boy about nine or ten years old, game controller in hand. It couldn’t be...

Roth shifted his weight. “Sorry, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to get a live chicken on such short notice.”

The game on the TV paused, and the little boy turned toward us. Several golden curls tumbled onto his forehead. He had a cherub’s face. Dimple in the chin and all. “It’s a good thing I’m craving roast chicken anyway.”

“You’re the seer?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Why aren’t you in school?”

“I’m a seer. Do you think I actually need to go to school?”

“No,” I mumbled. “Guess not.”

“You seem shocked.” Bright blue eyes landed on me, and I took a step back, hitting the arm of the boxy, plaid couch. The center of his pupils were white. “You shouldn’t be, child of Lilith. If anything is truly shocking in this room, it’s the fact that you are here. With a demon.”

My mouth was gaping like a fish out of water. I had no idea what to say. The seer was a kid.

His mother cleared her throat as she stepped up behind us and took the chicken from Roth. “I’d offer drinks, but I don’t expect the two of you to be here long.” She paused. “Tony, what did I tell you about sitting so close to the screen? You’re going to ruin your eyes.”

I turned to Roth slowly, and his lips twitched.

Tony’s little face scrunched up. “My eyes will be fine. I’ve seen it.”

Well, that ended that part of the conversation. His mom left us alone with the seer, and when he stood, he only came up to Roth’s hip. This was beyond weird.

“I know why you’re here,” he said, crossing chubby arms. “You want to know who wants to raise the Lilin. That I don’t know. And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I’d like to make it to an age when I can grow facial hair.”

Roth’s eyes narrowed. “How is it that a seer doesn’t know who wants to raise the Lilin?”

“How is it that a demon of your stature doesn’t know? If you don’t know, why would you expect that I would? I look into things I want to look into and things that affect me. Like I knew you were coming here today with a Perdue chicken, so I told Mom not to bother laying anything out. I also know that if I took a peek at the demon behind this, my eyes would be sitting in a jar on someone’s mantel like a trophy. And I prefer to keep them intact.”

It was sort of disturbing to hear a child talk like that.

Tony cocked his head to the side as he eyed me. “And you should be really careful.”

Hair all over my body stood. “Why?”

“Besides the obvious?” he asked. “All the time you fight what you truly are. It must be exhausting. So much so that when it comes time to truly fight, you’ll be too worn down for much of anything.”

I sucked in a soft breath. “I—”

“Didn’t come here for my advice? I know. You want to know where The Lesser Key of Solomon is.” Tony gave a world-weary sigh that sounded way too strange coming from a kid. “Did you know that a Warden and a demon hid the Key? It’s the only time the two have ever worked together. The two races will be working together in the future again.”

Impatience radiated from Roth and it gave his voice a steel edge. “Do you know where the Key is, seer?”

Tony’s pupils flared. “Let me ask you a question. Who do you think stands to gain from raising the Lilin?”

I glanced at Roth and said, “I don’t see how anyone has anything to gain. The Lilin can’t be controlled.”

“Not exactly true,” the seer responded. “The Lilin can be controlled by Lilith, but that’s neither here nor there. If the Lilin are set loose, no one will stop them. And you’re right. No one will be able to stop them once unleashed.”

“So?” Roth folded his arms. “You already know the answer to that question. Why ask?”

The boy smiled, flashing small, straight teeth. “Because I posed the question to get you to think, but apparently trying to get a demon to think is asking too much.”

Roth’s eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. I knew he wasn’t above picking up a pint-sized seer and throwing him across the room. I jumped in. “Why do you think a demon is trying to do this?”

The seer didn’t take his eyes off Roth. “Only one thing can result from this, and that’s the start of the apocalypse.” He sounded as if he was discussing a cartoon. No big deal. “If the Lilin walk the Earth again, the Alphas will step in. They will try to take out every demon topside, which will start a war. And a war between the Alphas and demons sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Armageddon ain’t scheduled to kick off for another couple hundred years, but the Lilin will fast-track that little party with the Four Horsemen.”

My stomach dropped. “The demon wants to start the apocalypse?”

“That is what I just said.” The kid turned his back and picked up the game controller. “Sorry, buds, but demons don’t run things topside, and the only way they can is by kicking off the apocalypse and hoping to win. It’s a risky gamble to take, but...” He looked over his shoulder at Roth. “You know how bad Hell sucks. Demons want out. And some are willing to destroy the whole world to get out. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about what it would be like to be able to come topside whenever you want and not have to worry about the Wardens hunting you down. Freedom—that’s all any living creature wants.”

The knots in my stomach tripled, magnified by the fact that Roth didn’t deny what the seer said. Would he really risk the world? Who was I kidding? Roth would, because he was a demon and demons operated on a self-serving sort of basis. But Hell did have to suck on a massive level, so who was I to judge?

“All I have to say is, if this demon succeeds, mankind better hope that God’s more New Testament than Old Testament, because shit’s about to get real.”

“Tony!” His mother’s voice rang out from somewhere in the house. “Watch your language!”

Roth smirked. “Yeah, watch your mouth, kid.”

His cheeks flushed, and I had the feeling that he was about to kick us out before we got any information. “Can you tell us where the Lesser Key is?”

Tony took a deep breath and exhaled loudly through his nose. “Why should I tell you anything? He hasn’t been very nice.”

“I’m not nice to anyone,” Roth replied casually.

“You’re nice to her,” the boy pointed out.

Roth lowered his voice. “That’s because she’s pretty. One day, when you grow up, you’ll understand why.”

“One day, you’re going to find yourself chained in the fiery pits of Hell, and I’m going to be laughing,” Tony shot back.

Instead of laughing it off or trying to outsnark the ten-year-old, Roth paled and straightened as if someone had put steel in his spine. An emotion flickered across his face, something like terror, and my unease multiplied. It was brief, gone before I could really say he had that moment of vulnerability.

A tight smile appeared on Tony’s face. “Find where the monolith is cast back during the full moon and you’ll find the entrance to where the true Lesser Key is seated. Now, as you can see, I have some butt to kick—”

“Wait. That made no sense whatsoever,” I interrupted. I had no idea what a monolith was. So much for all the time I spent in the library.

“It makes perfect sense.” He waved the game controller. “And I’m busy.”

On what planet did that cloak-and-dagger sentence have any meaning? “Can’t you just tell us where it’s located?”

“And draw you a map, too?”

“That would be great,” I replied drily.

Tony made an exasperated sound and clenched the game controller. “I can’t tell you exactly where the Key is located.”

“Because that would be too easy,” Roth muttered under his breath.

“No. Because those are the rules,” the seer said. “If I tell you guys exactly where the Key is located, then I have to give the same information to the next demon that strolls through the doors. I can’t pick sides or even come across like I have. I’ve told you enough for you to figure it out.” He plopped down in front of the door. “So go figure it out. Like now.”

“But there’s a good chance the other demon knows what it takes to raise the Lilin,” I protested.

“Then you better get crack-a-lackin’.” Tony restarted the game. An arrow zoomed across the widescreen, smacking into the gap between a knight’s armor. “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split ya.”

“Well, that was about seven different kinds of weird,” I said, staring out the window. Gray walls separating the beltway from the neighboring subdivisions blurred. “Do you have any idea what he was talking about? The monolith?” I glanced back at my phone, at the results of my Web search for monolith. “A monolith is a massive rock. Any idea where a handy massive rock would be?”

“No.”

I looked at him. Since we’d left the seer’s house, he hadn’t said much of anything. “Are you okay?”

His gaze flicked up to the rearview mirror. “As okay as I can be.”

Biting down on my lip, I sat back. “Do you believe him?”

“What part?”

“The part where he said you’d be chained in the fiery pits of Hell?” I felt cold saying those words.

“No.” Roth laughed, but something about the sound made me even colder. “Anyway, we need to figure out what he meant about the monolith and casting back. We need the Key.”

I nodded, turning my attention back to the road as Roth cut in front of a taxi. A quick glance at the clock in the dashboard told me that if we headed back to school now, we’d get there just before lunch. Going back to class like I hadn’t just met a ten-year-old seer and been given a riddle I had no hopes of figuring out. And we’d made no headway on discovering the demon behind any of this.

“Do you want to go back to class?” Roth asked.

“You sure you can’t read minds?” He angled the Porsche around a car in front of us, and my eyes popped wide as we narrowly avoided clipping the front end. “Or drive,” I added under my breath.

Roth grinned. “I’m sure. Though I’d be curious to know what goes on in your head.”

Right now I was wondering if we’d make it back to the city alive. “No. I don’t want to go back to school,” I admitted.

“Look how the mighty have fallen.” His voice dropped, teasing in nature. “I was totally planning on showing up in time for math.”

“Sure you were.”

Hitting the exit at breakneck speeds, he laughed softly. “We can go back to my place.”

My stomach tumbled, and not because he’d slammed on the brakes. “I don’t know about that.”

Roth cast me a sidelong look. “What? Are you worried that I’m taking you back to my lair to have my way with you?”

Heat blossomed across my cheeks. “No.”

“Damn. That was my master plan.” He hung a right. “Roaming around town isn’t really smart considering there’s a demon after you. So it’s either school or my place.”

Feeling like an inept preteen, I shrugged stiffly. “Your place is fine.”

“I thought we could use the time to figure out what the seer said about where the Key was kept.”

Sounded like a good plan, but nervous excitement buzzed through me like a hummingbird for all the wrong reasons.

Roth coasted the Porsche into a dark parking garage. Curious, I looked at him. “This isn’t your place.”

“I know, but it’s only a few blocks away.” He turned off the engine. “This baby isn’t getting parked along the street. Someone might touch it.”

His love for his car made him so human in that moment, it was hard not to smile. He got out of the car and had opened my door before I could even blink.

Bowing at the waist, he extended his arm. “May I escort you?”

I couldn’t hide my smile then. Placing my hand in his, I let him pull me out of the car. He threaded his fingers through mine, and I felt like I was on a roller coaster. “So what do you do with your car when you’re...uh, downstairs?”

“Remember Cayman? He’s a good friend. Keeps an eye on it.”

Glancing down at our joined hands, I almost tripped over a crack in the pavement. “You have friends?”

“Ow.”

I cracked a grin. “What? It’s an honest question.”

“There’s some like me who live in my apartment building. I trust them.”

“Really?”

He nodded, tugging me down the incline leading to the lower levels of the parking garage. Overhead lights spaced every few feet cast patches of light along the aisles, reflecting off the hoods of cars. “So, yeah, Cayman takes care of my baby while I’m downtown.”

“Cayman seems an odd name for a demon.”

He laughed deeply. “Cayman is an infernal ruler who remains topside. He, like most infernal rulers, is a demon manager. He keeps them in check and reports back with weekly and monthly updates. He’s also like an assistant to me.”

So middle management existed even in Hell.

I shook my head as we rounded the second level and, as if by unspoken agreement, both of us came to a complete stop. A bone-deep dread settled in my stomach like stones. My feet felt rooted to the cement. Roth dropped my hand and stepped forward, his eyes narrowed.

Before I could ask what was happening, the overhead lights began to flicker. Then, in rapid succession, they blew out one after another, showering sparks like raindrops. Each explosion was like a gunshot. Only one light remained, wavering rapidly.

Thick shadows seeped from between the cars, shooting up the walls. A clicking noise filled the air as the shadows crawled up, swallowing the red EXIT sign and covering half the ceiling. The shadows rippled and pulsed, and for a stuttered heartbeat, they swelled like an overripe berry and then stilled.

Roth cursed.

As though a string had been cut, the shadows dropped, blanketing the floor before us in a thick, boiling oil slick. Out of the mess, columns shot into the air, over a dozen of them taking form in a nanosecond. Their bodies hunched over, lumps protruding from their skin and bony backs. Fingers bent and sharpened into claws. Pointy ears flattened and horns broke through hairless scalps. Their skin was a pasty gray and wrinkled in heavy layers, nearly overcoming the red, beady eyes. Thick, ratlike tails slapped off the ground.

Rack demons were from the inner bowels of Hell—the kind that spent an eternity torturing souls. And we were completely surrounded.