“Well, why wouldn’t I? Think about it, princess. I am the reason the fire is in your veins. I put it there! Neither your beautiful father nor even your saint of a mother could give you what I did.” His eyes blazed fire. “Come with me, and I will make you my queen. Let Lilly have this sorry world. You can rule the dead in mine. I know you can feel the flames pulsating and throbbing in your veins.” Suddenly he was pressing his cold lips to mine.
“Never!” I screamed, recoiling from him. “If I go with you Heaven’s flame will become yours, and I will not break the balance! I won’t be your queen of anything!” I threw my arms out as hot fire surged through my veins. “The fire is mine to protect. Lucifer himself will have your heart for this.” I raised my hands, willing it to release.
He sighed. “You are always so eager to jump to the fighting. You don’t think or size up your enemy. You just assume that everything will go up in flames. But not everyone burns, Dawn.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You don’t know me!”
“I know you better than you know yourself. Good lord, you really are a hard-headed vixen, aren’t you?”
He touched my face, and my skin crawled. How did he move so fast?
“You are merely the Warden; you are not the Creator,” he went on. “You hold no alliance to either side of the spectrum. You are a big girl, now: make your own choices.”
“Why bring me here? Why show me this so-called Kingdom of the Dead?” I demanded angrily.
“Well, I couldn’t exactly knock on your door and ask to speak to you, could I?”
I sensed he was losing patience with me, while I was fighting the itch to set him on fire.
“This is only a taste of the kingdom I rule,” he informed me. “You will rule by my side once you relinquish both flames to me.”
“They are not my flames to give!” I boomed. The fire erupted all around me, and to my satisfaction, he looked afraid for the first time.
“Just think about it then,” he said, licking his lips. “I can give you a few days to make up your mind.” He backed away, then turned on his heel and disappeared into black nothingness.
There was a flash, and the room disappeared. When I was able to focus on my surroundings once more, I found I was standing alone on the curb outside Adam’s house. I was confused and disoriented. Then the heavens burst open, and rain pelted down. Steam rose from my body as the rain cooled my hot flesh. I groaned as I pulled my hoodie up and over my head.
There was really nowhere else to go. I didn’t have my phone, so I couldn’t call my mother, and it was too far to walk home. My only option was to trudge up to Adam’s door and create an excuse for why I was standing out there in the rain without my car and with no phone.
Chapter 10
Gunk
Adam answered the door in his pajama bottoms, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looked at me in disbelief. I gave him a weak smile.
“Dawn, it’s three in the morning. What are you doing here?” he asked me sleepily.
“It’s a long story,” I replied through chattering teeth. The rain had cooled the heat and was now starting to freeze my bones.
“Well, get in here before you catch your death.” He held the door open for me and then closed it behind me.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I said, staring at him.
I had never seen him without his shirt on. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on the boy, and his chest was smooth and free of any blemish.
“No, it’s fine. Does your mom know where you are?” he asked, running his hand through his brown hair.
“No. May I use your phone?”
“Yeah, come with me. You can use my cell. It’s in my room.”
He led me upstairs and into his bedroom. I took a seat on his bed, and he handed me his phone. As I started dialing my mother’s cell number, he collapsed next to me and laid his head on my damp lap.
“You smell like rain,” he observed, getting comfortable.
The phone rang only once before I heard my mother’s frantic voice at the other end.
“Adam!” she exclaimed. “Have you seen my daughter?”
I groaned. “Mom, it’s me. Dawn.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” She sounded relieved. “How did you wind up there?”
I looked down at Adam. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing softly. I had never suspected how adorable he was when he slept. Then again, all the times I had been present he had been vibrantly awake.
“Mr. No Name dropped me off outside in the rain about ten minutes ago,” I told her sourly while fighting the urge to stroke Adam’s hair.
“Who’s Mr. No Name? Where did he take you?”
“To Count Dracula’s castle,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Honey, I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“Tell your mom I’ll bring you home in the morning,” Adam murmured. He wasn’t asleep yet. “There’s no need for her to drive all the way out here in this weather.” He yawned.
“Did you hear that, Mom?” I asked, looking down at Adam.
His eyes were still closed, but I was wondering how much of the conversation he had just heard. Not that we had divulged too much information or anything, but it would have been a rather strange bit of dialogue to overhear.
“Yeah...” she said slowly. I had a feeling she was thinking the same thing. “Alright, you get some rest, and I will see you in the morning.”
“I will, Mom. Love you.”
I hung up. Adam sat up and looked at me with sleepy eyes.
“Shorts are in the top drawer, t-shirts in the second drawer. Get out of those wet clothes.” He smiled. “I’ll take the left side of the
