Page 30 of White Hot Kiss
Like demon-level bad.
And all I could do was brace for it.
6
“And you?” Assistant Principal McKenzie continued as he waddled toward us, looking Roth up and down with a distasteful eye. “Whatever class you’re supposed to be in, you need to get to. Now.”
Roth dropped my hand and folded his arms across his chest. He returned the look, but an odd light radiated from his pupils. “Assistant Principal McKenzie? As in Willy McKenzie, born and raised in Winchester, Virginia? Graduated from the Commonwealth and married the sweetest little gal from the South.”
The man was obviously caught off guard. “I don’t know—”
“The same Willy McKenzie who hasn’t slept with that sweet gal since the creation of the DVD, and who has a stash of porn in his closet at home? And not just any porn.” Roth stepped forward, lowering his voice until it was nothing more than a whisper. “You know what I’m talking about.”
My stomach turned sour. Assistant Principal McKenzie had questionable soul status—not as obvious as the man on the street the night I met Roth, but there’d always been something about him that made me wary.
McKenzie had a totally different reaction. His face turned a mottled shade of red as his jowls flapped. “H-how dare you. Who are you? You—”
Roth raised a finger—his middle finger—silencing him. “You know, I could make you go home and end your miserable life. Or better yet, walk right outside and throw yourself in front of the truck that collects garbage like you. After all, Hell has had its eyes on you for quite some time.”
I experienced a moral conflict at that moment. Either I let Roth manipulate the pedophile into offing himself or I stopped him—because, pervert or not, Roth would be stripping the man of his free will.
Crap. This was a tough decision.
“I’m not going to do either of those things,” Roth said, surprising me. “But I am going to mess you up. Royally.”
My relief was short-lived.
“I’m going to take away the thing you love most in this world—food.” Roth smiled beatifically. At the moment, he looked more like an angel than a demon—a mind-numbing beauty that couldn’t be trusted. “Every doughnut you see will look like it’s sprinkled with a heavenly dose of maggots. Every pizza will remind you of your dead father’s face. Hamburgers? Forget ’em. They’ll taste like rotten meat. And milk shakes? Soured. Oh. And those jars of chocolate cake icing you hide from your wife? Filled with roaches.”
A thin line of drool escaped McKenzie’s gaping mouth, dropping down his chin.
“Now go away before I change my mind.” Roth waved his hand, dismissing the man.
Stiffly, McKenzie turned around and went back into his office, a strange wet spot spreading down his leg.
“Uh...is he going to remember any of that?” I stepped away from Roth, clutching my bag close to my body. God, this demon’s abilities were astronomical. I didn’t know whether I was more frightened or impressed.
“Only that food is his worst nightmare now. Seemed kind of fitting, don’t you think?”
I raised a brow. “How did you know all of that?”
Roth shrugged, the light fading from his eyes. “We’re attuned to all things evil.”
“That’s not much of an explanation.”
“Didn’t intend for it to be.” He took my hand again. “Now let’s get back to business. We’ve got a zombie to check out.”
I bit my lip, weighing my options. I was already way too late to join class and there was a zombie in my school, which I should check out for Abbot’s sake. But Roth was a demon—a demon who followed me to school.
Roth sighed beside me. “Look. You do realize I can’t really make you do anything you don’t want to do, right?”
I peeked up at him. “What do you mean?”
His stare turned incredulous. “Do you know anything about what you are?” He searched my face, gaining the answer to his question. “You aren’t susceptible to demon persuasion. Just like I can’t sway a demon or a Warden to do something they don’t want.”
“Oh.” How I was supposed to know that was beyond me. It wasn’t as if there was a demon operation manual or something. “So why do you want me to check out the zombie thing? Shouldn’t the idea of a zombie running amok in a high school be a good thing for you?”
Roth shrugged. “I’m bored.”