White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)(12)
Author: J. Lynn

My heart didn’t agree, but I could see the metal bolts holding the arm bones together. “Oh, sweet baby Jesus…”

Grinning, Roth tossed the skeleton aside. I winced as it bounced, bones clattering when it hit whatever Roth had thrown it at.

And then something growled.

I froze.

Roth flipped on the overhead light. “Whoops,” he murmured.

It stood in front of the boiler, a fake arm bone in its blackened hand and the rest of the skeleton lying at its feet. Thin wisps of air wriggled out of the patchy skin like brown worms. Areas of its face were missing flesh. A strip on the cheek flapped against the purplish lips, and what skin remained hung from the bones, heavily creased and resembling dried-out beef jerky. It also wore a suit that had most definitely seen better days—days that didn’t involve seeping bodily fluids.

Behind the boiler, the only window in the room was broken. That explained how it had gotten into school, but gave us no clue about why it was here.

Roth let out a low whistle.

The zombie’s eyes moved to Roth and kept on moving. At least one did. It went right out the eye socket, flying through the air, splattering across the muck-covered floor.

“Oh! Oh, no. No. I didn’t sign up for this!” I clamped my hand over my mouth, gagging. “I’m not going near that thing.”

Roth stepped forward, eyeing the mess on the floor as if fascinated. “That was pretty gross.”

I felt exposed standing in the doorway by myself. Inching closer to Roth, I kept my gaze on the zombie. I’d never seen one in such bad condition. God knows it had to have chomped on people by now, but the Wardens should’ve been notified through their contacts.

My movement drew the zombie’s one good eye. “You,” it gurgled.

I stopped. They could talk? Guess George Romero missed out on that. “Me?”

“Hey. Don’t look at her. Look at me,” ordered Roth, his voice heavy with authority.

It struggled to get its mouth to work right. “You…needs…”

“Um…why is it staring at me?” I gripped the strap on my back until my knuckles hurt.

“Maybe it thinks you’re pretty,” Roth quipped, stepping back as a rat ran in front of him.

I shot him a hateful look.

The zombie lurched, its left foot sliding forward. I stepped back, bumping into more boxes. “Roth…?”

With slow, purposeful movements, the zombie winged the skeleton arm at Roth’s head. Bones in the zombie’s body cracked and splintered. Pus leaked out the tear in its jacket.

Roth snatched the arm out of the air, face incredulous. “Did you just throw this at my head? My head? Are you insane?”

It lumbered at me, groaning incoherent words.

“Roth!” I screeched, dodging the stinky arm. “This was a terrible idea!”

“You have to rub it in?”

I reached behind me, grabbing a box. I threw it at the zombie, hitting it on the side of the face. An ear fell off, landing on its shoulder. “Yes! Do something!”

Roth crept up behind it, wielding the skeletal limb like a baseball bat. “I’m trying to.”

“What are you doing?” I darted to the side as it reached for me. “Don’t you have any evil powers of darkness or something?”

“Evil powers of darkness? None I can use here without bringing the whole school down on us.”

This seemed ridiculous. “Can’t you come up with a better plan?”

Roth scoffed. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Feed it to Bambi or something!”

“What?” Roth lowered the arm, his expression dumbfounded. “Bambi would get indigestion eating something that rotten.”

“Roth! I swear to God, I’m—” My sneaker slipped on the gunk and my leg went right out from underneath me. I hit the dirty, wet cement with a loud oof. Sprawled out on the floor, I held up my slimy hands. “I’m going to barf. Seriously.”

“Move out of the way!” yelled Roth.

My head jerked up as he swung the makeshift weapon. I scrambled back, getting hung up on my book bag. The skeleton arm hit the zombie’s head and then went through it. Mottled blood and flesh flew through the air, plopping off the floor…and onto my jeans.

Skin, muscle and bone sank in on itself. The thing sort of imploded, collapsing until nothing was left but a puddle of muck on the floor and the filthy clothing it had worn.

Roth threw the arm down, anger tightening his expression. “That was slightly irritating.” He turned around, looking at me. His amber eyes took on a sheen of amusement. “Oh, you’ve made a mess of yourself.”

I stared at my goo-covered pants and hands before fixing Roth with a glare. “I hate you.”

“Hate is such a strong word.” He swaggered to my side, bending down. “Let me help you.”

I kicked out, catching him in the shin. “Don’t touch me.”

He hobbled back, cursing and shaking out his pants leg. “You got brains on my new jeans. Thanks.”

Muttering under my breath, I pushed to my feet and grabbed my bag. Luckily, there wasn’t any yuck on that, but me? I didn’t even want to look at myself, I was that gross. “Well, this was really fun.”

“Hey! Don’t be upset. The zombie problem has been taken care of.”

I pointed at myself with both hands. At the moment, I didn’t give a crap about why he was following me. “Look at me. I have zombie spew all over me, thanks to you. And I have classes the rest of the day.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I can take you back to my place. I have a shower you can use. Then maybe we can get a drink and check out my Porsche.”

My palms itched to make friends with the sides of his face. “You’re disgusting.”

He chuckled, turning back to the corpse. “What in the Hell were you doing here?” he said, mostly to himself. “And what did…?” He looked over his shoulder, gaze falling to my chest. His eyes narrowed. “Oh, great.”

“Hey! God, you are such a dog!”

Roth arched a brow. “I’ve been called worse. Go get cleaned up. I’ll take care of this.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I spun around. I made it to the door before he stopped me. He said something like “lamb” under his breath. Shaking my head, I left him in the boiler room, smelling of rotten zombie.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day in my gym clothes with soaking wet hair.

I hated Roth.

Morris looked surprised when I slid into the passenger seat. Typically I tagged every day after school, but today I wasn’t feeling it. Unlike yesterday, silence greeted me as I walked into the house and dropped my bag inside the door.

I headed through the foyer, pulling my damp hair into a messy bun. I needed to tell Abbot about the zombie at school. Roth issue aside, the zombie was something serious. There was a good chance that Abbot was still asleep, though.

The last time I’d woken him up, I’d been eight and had only Mr. Snotty for company. I wanted someone to play with me, so I knocked on Abbot’s stone shell while he slept.

That hadn’t gone over well.

This time was different. He’d have to understand, but I could at least ease his temper with a cup of coffee. It took me a couple of minutes to find the damn coffee grounds and filter, then another five minutes of trying to figure out if I should use the coffee or the cappuccino setting. The thing required a degree in engineering to figure out. I tugged on the stainless-steel lever, frowning. What the Hell did this do?

“It’s really not that complicated.”

Every muscle in my body locked and yet I managed to drop the little metal measuring spoon. It clattered on the tile floor. I bent down and grabbed the spoon, trying to calm the sudden bundle of nerves in my stomach. My legs felt weak as I straightened.

Petr stood in the doorway. His thick arms crossed a barrel-sized chest. “I see you haven’t gained any grace since the last time I saw you.”

Coming from anyone else, that dig might have stung. I put the spoon on the counter. Coffee be damned. I stopped a few feet in front of him. “Excuse me.”

He didn’t move. “And you’re just as rude and bitchy.”

My chin shot up. Petr was only a year or two older than me, but the dark stubble across his chin and jaw made him look older. “Can you please move out of the way?”

Petr stepped aside, leaving about a foot to go through. “Happy?”

I was anything but happy with the idea of my body being in the same zip code as his. I squeezed past him, wincing as my hip rubbed against his leg.

“Thought you were making coffee?” He fell in step behind me. “I could help you.”

Ignoring him, I picked up my pace. I wouldn’t fall for his cajoling tone again. Not in this lifetime or the next.

Petr stepped around me, blocking my way upstairs—to safety. He sighed. “So who were you making coffee for?”

A flicker of fear curled around my heart. “Can you move? I need to go upstairs.”

“You can’t talk to me for five minutes?”

Out of habit, I felt for the circular object under my shirt, clasping my hand over it. I tried to move past him. He shadowed my movements. “Petr, please let me by.”

Faint sunlight from the nearby window reflected off the small stud pierced into his hawkish nose. “I can remember a time when you liked talking to me. When you looked forward to when my clan would visit.”

A faint flush crept over my face as my grip tightened on my shirt. The ring bit through the clothing, pressing against my palm. I used to have a crush on the jerkwad. “That was before I realized what a creep you are.”

The line of his jaw hardened. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong? I told you to stop and you wouldn’t—”

“You were being a tease.” His voice dropped low. “And since when do demons really get a say in anything?”

I sucked in air. “I’m a Warden.”

He rolled his eyes, laughing. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re only half-demon. Like that makes a difference. Do you know what we usually do to the spawn of demons and humans?”

“Love them and hug them?” I tried to slide past, but he slapped his palm against the wall in front of me.

“We kill them, Layla. Like Abbot was supposed to do with you, but you’re just so damn special.”

I bit down on my lip. He was too close. If I breathed too deeply, I could taste his soul. “I need to go see Zayne.”

“Zayne is still resting.” He paused. “He stayed up pretty late this morning talking to Danika.”

Irrational jealousy flooded my system, which was so stupid considering the current situation. “Then I’m going to see—”

“Jasmine and the twins?” he asked. “Yeah, they’re taking a nap. No one is up, Layla. It’s just you and me.”

I swallowed. “Morris is here. Geoff is up, too.”

Petr laughed. “You’re so clueless.”

A slow burn began under my skin. I held my breath. If there was anyone in this world I wanted to suck a soul out of, it was Petr. Out of everyone, he’d deserve it the most.

His heavy hand landed on my shoulder, forcing me around. Petr smiled. “You’re in so much trouble, you little half-demon bitch.”

Anger flooded me and I tried to shake off his hand. Dropping the ring, I prepared to break the no-fighting-a-Warden rule. “Are you threatening me?”

“No. Not at all.” He moved his hand to my throat, circling his fingers much tighter than Roth had. Ironic that a demon seemed to have gentler hands than a Warden. “You want to fight me, don’t you? Do it. It’ll make everything easier for us.”

My stomach tumbled over itself. Petr knew I’d get in trouble, and there was more than a hint of cruelty in his pale eyes. Worse yet, I knew that he saw nothing wrong with what he was doing. His actions would never taint his soul, because it was pure, no matter what he did. It was like a free pass to him. Petr pressed forward, his breath too warm against my cheek. “You’re going to wish Abbot had snuffed out your miserable little life when you were a baby.”

Screw the rules.

I brought my knee up, hitting him where it hurt. Petr let out a low growl and let go, cupping himself. Spinning around, I flew up the stairs without looking back. In the hallway, I came face-to-face with Petr’s father. I tried not to react, but the jagged scar that tore through his upper and lower lips was hard not to notice. Abbot had once told me a King demon had given Elijah that scar.

Elijah eyed me with a look of revulsion, but said nothing as I raced around him and into my bedroom, locking the door behind me. Not that it would stop any of them if they decided to come through that door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Abbot sat behind the desk, his leg propped over his knee. “You didn’t eat very much at dinner. Are you still feeling unwell?”

I threw myself in the chair. I’d managed only a bite or two during the tense dinner. Petr eyeballed me the entire time. “I don’t want them here.”