White Hot Kiss

CHAPTER TWENTY

We’d left a little before midnight, parking several blocks away from the monument. A Porsche like Roth’s would draw too much attention, and I was already worried that we’d stumble across a Warden. They’d be out hunting demons...demons like Roth.

Starting off on Constitution Avenue, I wasn’t surprised by the amount of foot traffic for this time of night. Most were humans barhopping, but mixed in among them were a few with no souls. One Fiend, her wine-colored hair pulled up in a high ponytail, was hailing a cab, which struck me as odd. Beside her was a human male, and I wondered if he knew what he was standing next to.

As we got closer to the National Mall, the full moon was high in the sky, fat and bloated. Roth took my hand in his and I glanced at him. “What? Are you scared again?”

“Ha. Actually, I’m making us invisible.”

“What?” I glanced down at myself, expecting to see through my leg. “I don’t feel invisible.”

“And what does invisible feel like, Layla?” Amusement colored his tone.

I made a face at him.

Roth smirked. “The National Mall closed about half an hour ago. The last thing we need is a park ranger getting all up in our business.”

He had a good point. “We’re invisible now?”

Sending me a quick grin, he pulled me right in front of two young men who were loitering alongside the street. Under the street lamps, the ends of their cigarettes flared red as they inhaled. We walked right in front of them, so close I could see the tiny stud in the one guy’s nose. They didn’t even blink when Roth flipped them off. No reaction whatsoever. To them, we weren’t there.

Farther down the street, I finally found my voice. “That is so cool.”

“It is.”

We crossed the wide street and the tops of the sandstone museums peeked through the starry night sky. “Do you do the invisible thing often?”

“Would you if you could do it?” he asked.

“Probably,” I admitted, trying to ignore how warm his hand felt in mine.

Tight knots formed in my stomach as the Washington Monument came into view. Having no idea what was going to happen, I was expecting some kind of Indiana Jones booby traps lying in wait.

When we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, the moon was behind a thick cloud and the reflecting pool was vast and dark, still as always. Trees lined the pool, and the wet, musty smell of the Potomac teased my nose.

I waited until a park ranger moved on before I spoke. “What now?”

Roth glanced up. “We wait until the moon comes back out.”

A minute and ten thousand years later, the cloud rolled on and the silvery light of the moon was revealed inch by inch. Swallowing hard, I watched the water, wondering if we really did have the right place.

In the pale light of the full moon, the Washington Monument’s reflection started at the center of the pool farthest from where we stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The pillar sped across the pool as the reflection grew, until the pointed end reached the edge of where we stood.

I held my breath.

And nothing happened. No doorway suddenly appeared. Horns didn’t hail. Indiana Jones didn’t appear out of thin air. Nothing.

I looked at Roth. “Okay. This is really anticlimactic.”

He frowned as he scanned the area. “We’ve got to be missing something.”

“Maybe Sam was wrong or the seer was just messing with us.” The level of disappointment I was feeling sucked. “Because everything looks the same.... Wait.” I took a step forward, still holding on to Roth’s hand as I knelt at the edge of the pool. “Is it just me or does the water where the monument is reflected look sort of...shimmery?”

“Shimmery?”

“Yeah,” I replied. It was faint, but it looked like someone had tossed buckets of glitter on the water. “You don’t see it?” I looked up at him.

His eyes were narrowed. “I do, but that could just be the water.”

With my free hand, I reached down and dipped my fingers into the water and jerked my hand back. “What the Hell?”

“What?” Roth was kneeling in a second, his eyes glowing in the darkness. “What?”

It was way too hard to explain. The water...wasn’t water at all. My fingers had gone completely through it and were dry as the desert. “Put your fingers in it.”

The look on his face said he had a really disgusting comment to follow that up with, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Using his other hand, he put his fingers into the pool.

Roth laughed. “Holy crap, the water...”

“Isn’t there!” Amazed, I shook my head. “Do you think the whole thing is an optical illusion?”

“Can’t be. There are idiots who jump in this thing all the time. It has to be some kind of enchantment that’s reacting to us.” He moved his hand along the fake water, covering about a six-foot space until he must’ve hit the real deal, because a small ripple moved across the pool. “It’s in this space.” His gaze followed the center of the pool and then flicked up. “It’s the entire length of the reflection.”

I hoped so, because I was pretty sure the pool was at least eighteen feet deep and drowning didn’t sound like a lot of fun.

“You ready to do this?”

Not really, but I nodded as I stood. Roth went first, testing the theory of the water not really being water. His boot and then his jean-clad leg disappeared. There was no ripple or movement.

He smiled. “There’s a step, and it’s not wet.” He moved farther down until the darkness swallowed him up to his thigh and our arms were stretched as far as they’d go. “It’s okay. Whatever this is, it’s not really here.”

Taking a deep breath, I took the first step. Water didn’t soak through my sneaker or my jeans, and then I took another step and I was inches from Roth. “This is so damn weird.”

“I’ve seen weirder.”

Part of me wanted more of an explanation than that, but then I’d just be delaying the inevitable, which was my head going under whatever this stuff was. When the darkness reached my shoulders, I shuddered. It was like stepping through thick fog that had substance you could feel but couldn’t grab on to. My gaze flicked up, meeting Roth’s, and he smiled reassuringly. Out of habit, I held my breath as I slipped under.

The crashing weight of thousands of gallons of water didn’t come down on me. My hair was still a dry, wavy mess falling over my shoulders and down my back. I inhaled through my nose and didn’t choke on water. There was a wet, musty smell that tickled the back of my throat.

“Open your eyes, Layla.” Roth’s voice was close to my ear.

I pried one eye open and my jaw dropped. “Crap on a cracker...”

He chuckled as he let go of my hand. “Elegantly put.”

We were inside the reflecting pool, or at least that was what I assumed, but it was like being in a different world.

Lit torches lined the tunnel every few feet on both sides, casting flickering shadows over the damp pathway. The roof above us wasn’t really a roof, just the bottom of whatever the substance was that we’d come through.

“I’m going to hazard a guess and say we’re on the right track,” I said, smoothing my damp palms along my jeans. “Or we drowned and are hallucinating.”

Roth’s chuckle was as dark as the tunnel. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

We started down the tunnel, our footsteps echoing off the cement walls. Roth was humming what I now thought of as his song. Walking for what felt like forever, we had to be nearing the museums when we came to a spot where the tunnel branched off into two sections.

“Too bad there wasn’t a map we could’ve picked up for this,” Roth joked as he started toward the right. About six feet down, he stopped and backtracked. “This door is cemented over. So I’m going to hope that’s not where we’re heading.”

Left with no other option, we chose the tunnel to the right. Wrapping my arms around my chest, I shivered in the cold and damp air. Another block or so down the corridor, it curved to the right. Up ahead was an old wooden door. With its wide wooden planks and steel joints, it looked like something straight out of medieval times.

“Any second, a Knight Templar is going to come barreling out that door,” I said.

Roth’s lips curved up at the corner. “That would actually be kind of entertaining.”

“Wouldn’t it be? And then he’ll ask us to choose—”

A gust of wind whipped down the tunnel, lifting my hair and causing the torches to flicker in a mad dance. All the fine hairs on my body rose as I twisted around. “Roth...”

The sound of something clicking on cement rose in a crescendo, like a wave of superfast tap dancers. I took a step back, my stomach sinking to my toes. The clicking grew, drowning out the sound of my pounding heart.

“LUDs,” Roth said, hands curling into fists.

“What?”

“Little Ugly Demons,” he explained. “You’ve seen The Princess Bride, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Roth grimaced. “Remember those really big rats in the dark woods?”

My eyes popped wide. “Oh, dear.”

“Yeah, so try to get that door open. Like real fast.”

Spinning around, I darted toward the door and let out a ripe curse. The thing wasn’t locked, but it had a steel bar across the front. Wrapping my hands around the bottom, I tried to lift it. Even with the demon and Warden strength in me, the thing didn’t budge.

“Uh, Roth, this isn’t—” The words faded as the clicking gave way to chattering. I turned, seeing shapes barreling down the tunnel.

A scream got stuck in my throat as Roth cursed.

Rising about three feet in the air, LUDs were like rats that walked on two legs. Their long snouts gaped wide, revealing mouths full of shark teeth. Beady red eyes gleamed in the shadows. Clawed hands outstretched as their tails smacked off the ground.

“Good God,” I whispered, backing up.

“This is about to get real ugly,” Roth said, all kinds of Captain Obvious.

A LUD sprang into the air, launching straight at Roth. He darted to the right and the furry creature smacked into the wall. It hit the floor, its little legs flopping and arms failing as it tried to get back on its feet.

Okay. Obviously they weren’t the smartest creatures, but what I didn’t understand was why they were attacking us. They were from Hell, and didn’t Hell want us to find the Lesser Key? And even if they were being controlled by the demon responsible, why would he want to stop us at this point? If he didn’t know what the incantation was, the information was in the Lesser Key. It didn’t make sense, but it wasn’t like I could press Pause and ask any questions.

Roth sent a LUD flying into the nearby wall with a sickening crunch. Another landed on his back. He bent over, tossing it back into a cluster of other LUDs. There were dozens of them, snapping at Roth’s legs and arms as he whirled around, kicking out. One ripped a jagged tear through his jeans.

There was no way we could fend them all off. Not with our backs to a dead end in the form of the heaviest door in the world. We were trapped.

My gaze swung to the torches.

Pushing away from the door, I ran over to the wall and stretched up, grabbing the slimy base of the torch. A smaller LUD grabbed hold of my leg, climbing up. Letting out a high-pitched shriek, I shook my leg until the damn thing lost its grip and fell onto its belly.

It sprung up and spun toward me, hissing like a cobra. I swung the torch around, wincing as the first of the flames licked the creature’s furry body. It was like holding a match to gasoline. Flames covered the LUD. The bitter smell of burnt hair rose swiftly.

The LUD let out a piglike squeal and ran in little circles until it slammed into the wall and fell to the floor, collapsing into reddish-tinted ashes.

Roth grabbed the LUD shooting toward his throat and slammed it into another one jumping into the air. They were swarming him, biting and grabbing ahold of his clothes with their claws. Two were on his back.

Rushing to his side, I held the torch back as I grabbed one of the furry freaks by the scruff of its neck and pulled it off. The thing wriggled and snapped at air. I threw it aside and caught the other one before it made it to his head. Tossing it to the floor, I shuddered and was in desperate need of some antibacterial solution and intense therapy.

Roth sent me a grateful smile as he grabbed the torch from me. “Thanks.”

Dipping down, he shoved the torch out. The flames jumped to the nearest LUD. Squealing, the LUD flailed and knocked into another. From there it was a chain reaction. They kept running into each other, spreading the flames like a virus.

He turned back to the door. “Hold this and keep them back while I try to get it open.”

“Got it.” I followed him to the door, keeping an eye on the squealing mass of furry bodies and ashes. My gaze shot to Roth, quickly checking him over for injuries. Blood dotted his white shirt. My stomach twisted. “You’re hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.” He grabbed the steel bar. Muscles in his back bunched as he lifted the bar. “Just keep those little bastards back.”

Swinging back, I grimaced. “I don’t think they’ll be a problem. They’re all dead.”

“Until more come.” He grunted as he got the bar out of the latch. “Jesus. What is this thing made of?”

I stepped back, giving him room as he dropped the bar on the floor. The impact resonated through the tunnel, cracking the floor. A moment later, the clicking sounds began again.

“Ugh,” I muttered.

“Come on.” Roth grabbed my free hand as he pulled the door open. A wave of frigid air blasted us as we stepped inside. Letting go, he slammed the door shut a second before bodies hit the other side of the door. “God, they just keep coming.”

Swallowing hard, I turned to see another freaking tunnel. At the end was another door. We rushed toward it, and I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting the LUDs to take down the door behind us. Roth lifted another massive steel bar and dropped it, causing me to jump when the sound pierced the tunnel. He ripped open the door.

Shadows swarmed out of the door. No—not shadows. Wings beat the air. Roth whirled and grabbed my arm. Startled, I dropped the torch as he pulled me into a small enclave, pressing me back against the wall with his body.

“Bats,” I whispered against his chest, gripping his sides.

He nodded. “Lots of bats.”

They squeaked and their wings flapped like a disturbing chorus that sent shivers down my spine. The sounds went on for what felt like forever, but eventually I became aware of something else. Roth’s body was pressed against mine so tightly I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began.

His hands dropped to my hips, fingers sliding up under the hem of my sweater. His thumb traced idle circles against my skin as the fluttering continued in the hall and picked up in my chest.

He made a sound deep in his throat. “Forget the Key. Let’s stay right where we are.”

“You’re so bad,” I said.

His deep chuckle rumbled through me. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

I tilted my head up and his mouth landed on mine. I wasn’t prepared for the intensity in the kiss, but I quickly caught up. My lips parted as the piercing slipped inside, dragging across my lower lip. A strangled, needful sound rose up to break the silence.

That meant...

Roth lifted his head, breathing deeply. The hall had quieted. When he stepped back, I willed my heart to slow and followed him out of the alcove. It took a few seconds to form words. “Where did the bats go?”

Roth lifted his chin. “My guess is they went through the crack in the ceiling.” Picking up the forgotten torch, he moved toward the open door.

I followed him through the opening. It was a small, circular chamber dimly lit by torches. Toward the back of the chamber was an archway leading to another tunnel. Roth held his torch close to the wall, casting light on strange carvings etched into the cement.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The old language,” he said, moving the torch farther along.

“Latin?” The words covered the entire chamber, from ceiling to the floor.

Roth snorted. “No. This predates Latin. The Key has to be here.” He turned to the center of the room and knelt. “What do we have here?”

I peered over his shoulder. A square about three feet wide in diameter was cut into the floor. In the center of the square were two handprints. Both roughly about the same size, and something about the prints reminded me of a Warden’s hands. The fingers were long and slender, palms wide.

Just like Roth’s hands in his true form.

Roth placed the torch on the floor and glanced up at me. “Put your hand in one of the prints.”

I got down on my knees beside him and watched him stretch out and place his hand in the one on the left. I thought about what the seer had said about a Warden and demon working together to hide the Key. I fitted my hand to the print. Mine was much smaller.

A low rumbling started underneath the chamber, and I started to move back but Roth said, “Don’t. It’s working.”

Tiny rocks fell to the chamber floor. A crack broke out across the ceiling. Dust plumed, catching in the flames, turning into tiny sparks that glided through the air. Man, I hoped this chamber didn’t cave in on us.

The square trembled and then began to rise. I pulled my hand back then, as did Roth. Standing together, we took a step back as the hunk of cement erupted out the floor in a loud groan of cement grinding.

“Bingo,” Roth said.

In the middle of the cement block was a cubby, and in that cubby was what could only be the original Lesser Key of Solomon.

Roth swiped up the torch and held it close. The cover was just like he’d said before. It looked like aged beef jerky. Bound in human skin—really old human skin.

I already wanted to hurl.

Carved into the cover was the same symbol that had been on the replica Roth had. A circle with a star in the middle was outlined in gold. The star was slightly crooked to the right, making it off center. Tiny numbers and letters were carved near the four points.

Roth handed me the torch, which I took gladly. No way did I want to touch that thing. I watched him reach inside and gingerly place his hands on either side of the book. It would totally suck if the thing imploded in dust, and I almost laughed at the image, except in reality it wouldn’t be so funny.

Roth stepped back with the Lesser Key in his hand. The crack in the ceiling suddenly exploded. Chunks of the roof crashed to the floor. Roth jumped forward, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the way of a large section. It hit where I’d just been standing.

Another piece came down, blocking the way we’d come in. Horror poured in, as thick as the dust filling the cavern. “Roth!”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me around the raised square. We darted under the archway. “Do you know where this goes?” I yelled.

There was a wild sort of laugh. “No. But it has to go somewhere.”

Somewhere was better than where we were. We hit the tunnel at a dead run. The entire chamber came down behind us, triggering some sort of faulty seam in the craftsmanship. Or maybe it had been designed this way. That once the Lesser Key was moved, the whole thing would collapse, trapping the Key and whoever took it.

Hearts pounding, we raced down the tunnel, hanging a right when we came to an intersection. A plume of dust and rocks chased us through the maze of tunnels, snapping at our heels. I stumbled once, nearly face-planting the floor, but Roth caught me at the last minute, hauling me to my feet.

When we finally passed under a larger archway, there was a drop. We landed roughly, stumbling over tracks. Gaining my balance, I turned just as the very last section of the tunnel came down, sealing it off.

I let out a harsh breath. “Well, we won’t be returning the book, will we?”

“No.” Roth stepped off the track and placed the book up on a ledge. He grabbed my waist and lifted me up. “There you go.”

Scrambling along the ledge, I stood and realized we were in the subway system. In the distance, there was a flashing light. “My God, we have to be miles from the Monument.”

Roth was beside me in an indecent amount of time, Lesser Key in hand. I glanced at him. Exhilaration lit his eyes. “That was kind of fun, right?” he said. “It got the heart pumping.”

“That wasn’t fun! There were rats walking on two legs. Bats! And then the whole thing came—”

He moved so fast there was no chance to prepare myself. One second he was there, and then he was curving a hand around the nape of my neck. “You need something,” he said, and when I stared at him, he added, “Your face.”

“My face?”

“It’s in need of my kisses.”

I started to laugh, but his lips found mine as if they were made specifically to do so. My mouth parted on a gasp and the kiss deepened, stealing my breath. His fingers dug into my neck in a firm hold. Time slowed to a crawl and his mouth never left mine, his lips soaking up my responses like he was starved for water. The kiss felt good—really good—and it made me think of what we’d done back in his loft.

But reality got in the way. When he did pull back the slightest bit, he rested his forehead against mine. Those beautiful eyes were closed. “We need to get out of here and take a crack at the book.”

“Boo,” I murmured, but I disentangled myself and walked ahead, giving my heart time to slow its rhythm, along with my body. There were much more important things we had to focus on. I wasn’t surprised when Roth caught up with me easily. “I can’t believe we actually got the book, huh?”

“I didn’t doubt it for one second.” He stepped in front of me as we entered a narrow tunnel that opened up into a metro station stop. “We make a good team.”

There was that stupid fluttering in my chest again. A team—like we were together. And, dear Lord, the girlie-girl part of me was doing a very happy dance, which was ridiculous, because a future together was riddled with problems. There was the problem that I was part Warden and the whole “my kind was meant to kill his kind” thing, but it was more than that. Roth couldn’t stay up here forever. He was just doing a job.

And we were getting closer to his job being completed.

Once we came out of the metro station, I realized we were a couple of blocks from Union Station. The musky smell of the tunnel lingered on us, and I drew in a deep breath of the somewhat-fresh air as I stared up at the stars peeking out from behind the clouds.

I squinted.

One of the stars was falling.

Dread formed like a cannonball in my stomach and then exploded a second too late. It wasn’t a star falling.

It was a Warden.