The Rose Witch - Chandelle LaVaun Page 0,45

necklace bobbled and pulsed. I groaned and threw myself into the main aisle. Come and get me.

The demon-snakes snapped in response. They looked back and then charged for me.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”

I scurried back, crashing into a bookshelf. The demon-snakes were mere inches away from me when black smoke exploded all around. The demon-snakes vanished. I looked up and found Malachi with his arms out wide and a look of pure terror on his face.

His heavy gold gaze swept over my face, then slid all the way down my body. He looked back up and met my stare. “What were you doing?”

I threw my hands up. “They were sneaking up on you!”

“I was letting them.”

“What?” I shook my head. “Why?”

Spot growled low in his throat but it sounded more like a whine.

Malachi pointed to his hellhound. “So Spot could have them.”

I opened my mouth but then shut it. My heart sank. I hadn’t meant to steal the dog’s food. “Oh no. I’m so sorry, Spot. I thought…I thought…”

Mal shook his head. “Chloe, I appreciate what you were doing, but I am Lucifer’s son. I cannot die. Please, for the love of God, do not use yourself as bait.”

I shrugged. “Oh…I thought I could be a good distraction.”

He stomped over, grabbed me by the jaw, and dragged me towards him. “Trust me,” he said with a hungry growl. He looked down at my legs for a long, long moment then looked back up at me. “You are.”

I blushed. Heat filled my veins. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

He grinned and cupped my face with both hands, then slowly lowered his face down to mine. Our noses brushed. His lips grazed over mine—

Spot barked so loud the bookshelves rattled.

I gasped and leapt back.

“All right, fair.” Malachi let his hands fall. He shook his head. “Come on, let’s go find this journal—"

“Wait!” A crazy, completely unrelated idea came to me. But I couldn’t handle the devastated expression of poor Spot’s face so I had to do something. I grinned and hobbled towards the back exit door. “Come here, Spot.”

He jumped up and sprinted to my side with his big black ears perked up in excitement. I stopped and pulled the door open and then skipped out into the alley. Now that the demons were gone, the pain was vanishing with every step. I rubbed my chest as I led Spot across the alley to where a stack of boxes sat at the back door to the butcher’s shop.

I pointed at them. “Go ahead, check out what’s inside, Spot.”

Spot cocked his head to the side then stuck his nose out and sniffed — then dove for the box. His tail swished back and forth like windshield wipers, little swirls of black smoke and shadow flicking out of his tail. He buried his face in the box all the way up to his shoulders. I bit my lip and waited, praying I hadn’t led him to a mean tease. But then he jumped back with three massive bones in his mouth, sticking out on both sides. I didn’t know what animal they came from and I didn’t want to know. Manny was a butcher. That was enough info for me.

He pranced and bounced before lying down to chew on his bone.

I giggled. “Guess hellhounds are just hounds. Bone is a bone, right?”

Spot was definitely a happy, happy Spot.

I glanced over my shoulder to Malachi and found him watching me with wide eyes that glistened in the moonlight. He didn’t say anything, but there was something in his stare that made my heart flutter and chest fill with warmth.

“So um, I don’t think my father’s journal is in there.”

He blinked and shook himself. “I don’t either. Though it was worth a shot. He left the journal with you, Chloe. He told me he did. He said it had instructions for the locket. It has to be somewhere more significant.”

I frowned. “I have never seen this journal, I don’t even have anything from back then – wait. I’m so stupid. I have a few of his books, but they’re not journals?”

“Maybe they had magic on them to conceal them? He would have done that.” He walked over to where I stood in the middle of the alley. “Where do you have these books?”

“In my flat here at Oxford.”

He grinned and held his hand out to me. “Let’s go then.”

I started to take his hand then froze. “Wait.” I spun and leapt over to where