White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements 1)

“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.”