Page 52 of White Hot Kiss
Like most things that Alphas did, that just didn’t make sense to me. Through the birthing of so many demons, Lilith turned into one herself—and because the Alphas had punished her, they accidentally created the Lilin, a legion of demons so feared and powerful that they could ensure no human ever made it past the pearly gates.
Humans who died without souls, no matter how good they were in life, existed between Heaven and Hell, stuck in the in-between for all eternity. Plagued with endless thirst and hunger, they turned into violent, vengeful wraiths that even demons were wary of. Wraiths could interact with the living world, and when they did, it usually ended in a gory mess.
Tucking my hair back, I watched a shimmery blue soul trail behind a man in ragged jeans. My mother couldn’t be that Lilith. Because if she was, what did that really say about me? How could I ever overcome a bloodline like that? And if Lilith was really my mother then Abbot would have to know and there was no way that anyone would let a child of Lilith walk around. Besides, there was the whole problem of her being chained to Hell. It wasn’t like someone let her out to get knocked up and birth a kid.
Hell’s Most Wanted List? I shuddered. Was that why the Seeker and a zombie—I cut that thought off. Nothing Roth had told me could be true. What was I even doing considering any of it? Trusting him would be like smacking the Wardens in the face. Demons lied. Even I lied. Well, my lying really didn’t have much to do with being a demon, but still.
Roth was just messing with me, trying to get me to stop tagging. And if Hell was after me, then that could be the only true reason.
Squeezing my fingers around the ring, I stopped a groan from escaping. I’d kissed a demon. Or he’d kissed me. The semantics probably didn’t matter. Either way, my lips had been all up in a demon’s. My first kiss. Dear Lord...
I almost squealed when I spotted the black Yukon, seriously needing a distraction from my troublesome thoughts. I stood and shouldered my bag. A strange shiver wiggled its way down my neck, raising the tiny hairs on my body. It wasn’t like the time before while I waited for Morris. This was different.
I turned, scanning the pedestrians on the sidewalk. Blurs of faint pink and blue and a few darker auras, but no one was missing a soul. Craning my neck, I stretched onto the tips of my toes and tried to see around the corner, past the fleet of cabs lining up. There didn’t seem to be anything demonic, but still, the feeling was familiar.
Morris honked the horn, drawing my attention. Shaking my head, I darted between two cabs and yanked the passenger door open. The feeling hit me again, like a cold hand traveling around my neck.
Shivering, I climbed into the front seat and pulled the door shut, my eyes on the line of taxis. Something...something wasn’t right.
“Do you feel that?” I asked, twisting toward Morris.
He raised his brows and, as usual, said nothing. Sometimes I pretended we had a conversation. I’d even acted it out once or twice for Morris. I liked to think it amused him.
“Well, I feel something weird.” I leaned forward as he eased the SUV out into the congested streets. Three cabs pulled out, too, blocking most of the storefronts and sidewalk. “It’s like there’s a demon nearby, but I don’t see any.”
Three blocks later and the feeling not only lingered, but grew like an ominous cloud. Malice and evil filled the streets, seeping into the Yukon, its presence choking. Beads of sweat appeared on Morris’s creased forehead.
“You feel it now, don’t you?” I gripped the edges of my seat. “Morris?”
He nodded, gaze sharp as he veered around a slow-moving truck and then cut in front of it, hitting the exit ramp. Two cabs were right behind us, plus a whole slew of cars were also entering the beltway.
The malicious feeling hung thick and murky. So potent that it felt as if whatever was causing the suffocating feeling was in the backseat, breathing down our necks. That was a feeling of raw evil, something I’d never picked up on around a Fiend.
“Morris. I think we need to hurry up and get home.”
He was already on it, foot slamming down on the gas as he weaved in and out of the congested traffic. Twisting around in my seat, I peered out the back window—and my heart tripped.
Behind us, a cab was so close I could see its silver cross dangling from the rearview mirror. The fact that the cabbie was inches away from kissing our rear end wasn’t a big deal; cabbies were insane when it came to city driving. No, it was the driver behind the wheel that sent a shot of fear straight through me.
Now I knew where the bad feeling was coming from.
The space around the hunched driver was blacker than any shadow, thick like oil. Thin slivers of silver, tiny specks of humanity, peeked through the darkness of his soul, barely there. His soul spread out from him, seeping through the front of the taxi, slipping over the dashboard and crawling over the window.
“Oh, my God,” I whispered, feeling the blood drain from my face. “The driver’s possessed!”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Morris wrenched the steering wheel to the right. A horn blared. Tires squealed. He slammed down on the brakes, whipping me around as he narrowly avoided clipping the back end of a delivery truck. A series of quick maneuvers later, and several cars were between us and the possessed cabdriver.
I stared at Morris. “Damn. For an old man, you sure know how to drive.”
Morris kept a tight grip on the steering wheel, but he smiled in acknowledgment.
A second later, we were on our exit ramp, flying down the road. The Yukon fishtailed as he hung a quick right, and I shrieked, grabbing the “oh, shit” handle. Then the heavy vehicle lurched forward as he put the gas pedal all the way to the floor. We hit the narrow two-lane stretch of private road at breakneck speeds.
And we weren’t alone.
The taxi was gaining on us, and then it was in the other lane, going in the wrong direction, inching up on us. My heart jumped in my throat as I stared into the taxi.
The blackness of the man’s soul faded, revealing a pale, empty face. The human was on autopilot, completely under the thumb of the demon that had possessed him. Possession, next to murder, was one of the worst crimes, and it was forbidden according to the Law of Balance. Humans lost all free will once a demon breathed its essence into them, possessing them. Only Upper Level demons could possess humans.