White Hot Kiss

The first installment in The Dark Elements series is set in a version of Washington, D.C. where gargoyle-like beings called Wardens publicly protect humanity from demons. The Wardens were created by the Alphas, angelic overseers who maintain the balance between good and evil. Ten years before the story begins, the Alphas ordered the Wardens out of hiding after demons began flooding through portals into the human world. Most humans know about the Wardens but remain unaware that demons walk among them.

Seventeen-year-old Layla Shaw is a rare hybrid, half-Warden and half-demon, raised since age seven by Abbot, the leader of the D.C. Warden clan, and his son Zayne. Layla can see souls shimmering around humans and detect their absence around demons. By touching a demon, she can "tag" it with a glowing mark visible only to Wardens, who then hunt the marked creature down. Her demonic heritage also gives her a dangerous hunger: She can extract a person's soul through a kiss, which means she can never be physically close to anyone with a soul, including Zayne, on whom she has a deep, unrequited crush.

While following what she believes is a low-level demon through the streets, Layla discovers it is actually a Seeker, a breed sent to locate specific targets. It says "Gotcha" (17) before attacking, implying she was its quarry. An unknown demon boy intervenes, commanding a massive snake tattoo named Bambi to peel off his arm and destroy the Seeker. Layla flees, losing her phone.

The next day, the demon appears in Layla's biology class as a new student and introduces himself as Roth. He drops her phone on her desk, then follows her into a bathroom and destroys the phone to prevent her from calling the Wardens. He reveals he knows she is half-demon and half-Warden, orders her to stop tagging, and warns that Hell is searching for her. He hints that a demon who shared Layla's soul-taking ability was her mother, then cautions her not to tell the Wardens about him.

Layla defies his warning and keeps tagging, but trouble escalates. A possessed taxi driver rams the car carrying Layla and Morris, the Wardens' chauffeur, off the road. Bambi appears and swallows the demonic essence from the possessed man. At the compound, Abbot bans Layla from tagging entirely, stripping her of the one activity that made her feel useful.

Roth inserts himself further into Layla's life. He shows her that some lower demons called Fiends cause only harmless mischief, unsettling her belief that all demons deserve death. Over dinner, he kisses her, proving she can safely kiss someone without a soul. He then reveals that her mother is Lilith, the legendary first wife of Adam who birthed a race of soul-stealing demons called the Lilin before being imprisoned in Hell. Layla refuses to believe it.

Meanwhile, tensions at the compound deepen. Danika, a young female Warden and potential mate for Zayne, arrives with her older sister Jasmine's family. Abbot pressures Zayne to court Danika, and Zayne begins spending more time with her, forgetting his long-standing Saturday tradition with Layla. The visiting Warden Elijah Faustin and his son Petr bring open hostility; Petr corners Layla and threatens her, telling her she should have been killed as a baby.

When the Alphas visit the compound, Layla hides in an old tree house because her demonic blood reacts painfully to their divine light. Petr finds her and attacks with lethal intent, strangling her. Desperate, Layla forces her mouth onto Petr's and takes his entire soul. Roth arrives, kills Petr, and carries Layla to his loft apartment, where he tends her wounds.

Roth reveals the full scope of the danger. Lilith escaped Hell nearly eighteen years ago, conceived Layla with a Warden as a deliberate act of defiance, and was recaptured by the Boss, Hell's ruler. An ancient text called The Lesser Key of Solomon contains an incantation to raise the Lilin. Its known requirements include the dead blood of Lilith, contained in the stone of a ring Layla wears on a necklace, and the live blood of Lilith's child. The Boss sent Roth to protect Layla because reborn Lilin would strip humans of their souls, turning them into wraiths that belong to neither Heaven nor Hell. Some demons want to use Layla to raise the Lilin, while others want to kill her to prevent it.

Layla returns home and lies to the Wardens, telling them an unknown demon killed Petr. The soul she took makes her violently ill for days. She and Roth investigate together, visiting a child seer who gives a cryptic riddle about the Key's location. At Roth's loft, Layla discovers his entry in a commercial copy of the Lesser Key: His full name is Astaroth, and he is the Crown Prince of Hell, the latest in a line of identical replacements. Each predecessor who failed was condemned to the fiery pits, the demon equivalent of permanent death. Their emotional and physical closeness deepens.

Layla's friend Sam decodes the riddle, identifying the Washington Monument's reflection in the reflecting pool as the Key's hiding place. On a Saturday during a full moon, Roth and Layla descend beneath the pool through an enchanted illusion and retrieve the Key from a sealed underground chamber. But Abbot has been suspicious since Layla came home wearing Roth's clothes after Petr's attack. He allowed her outing so the Wardens could follow. When Roth and Layla surface, Wardens ambush them and seize the Key. Roth looks at Layla with betrayal before vanishing.

At the compound, Abbot reveals the Wardens have always known the incantation's full requirements: They include the loss of one's "innocence," both sexual and through taking a soul. Layla realizes that by taking Petr's soul, three of the four conditions are already met. Abbot also reveals that Elijah is Layla's biological father; Lilith seduced him years ago. When the Wardens found Layla, Elijah wanted her dead, but Abbot stopped him. This means Petr was Layla's half-brother.

Roth disappears for over a week, then briefly returns to save Layla from a demon attack at school before vanishing again. Abbot pulls Layla from school entirely. Zayne reconnects with Layla, taking her for ice cream, where she confesses to taking Petr's soul. He responds with compassion. On the drive home, a Hellion, a massive ape-like beast forbidden from the surface, attacks their car. Zayne fights it and orders Layla to run.

In the woods, the demon king Paimon captures Layla using enchanted roots and takes her to the school gymnasium. Tied inside a pentagram, Layla learns Paimon's true motive: He is in love with Lilith and wants to raise the Lilin only to lure the Boss out of Hell so he can free her. His lackey cracks Layla's ring, spilling Lilith's dead blood, and cuts Layla's wrist for her live blood.

Rack demons, torture demons from Hell's depths, drag in Zayne and Roth. Paimon demands Layla take Zayne's soul or he will kill Roth. Instead, Layla reveals she already took a pure soul, satisfying that condition. When Paimon orders Zayne killed anyway, rage triggers Layla's first shift: Her skin turns marbleized black and gray, and she sprouts wings, horns, and claws in a fusion of Warden and demon. The three fight side by side until Wardens led by Abbot burst in. Roth and Zayne drag Paimon into the pentagram, but Paimon breaks free and seizes Zayne. Roth shoves Zayne clear and holds Paimon inside the circle. Abbot throws black salt to seal the devil's trap, a ritual circle that banishes powerful demons to the pits. Before vanishing, Roth tells Layla: "I lost myself the moment I found you" (372).

In the aftermath, Bambi fuses onto Layla's skin as a permanent tattoo. Zayne stays close, their bond restored. When Layla visits Roth's empty loft, she finds her silver necklace repaired and gleaming on a rooftop table that was empty moments before, accompanied by Roth's unmistakable scent. Roth's demon friend Cayman tells her that demons do not truly die in the pits and that the Boss has always favored Roth. Zayne clasps the chain around Layla's neck, and as they walk away, she keeps looking over her shoulder. She does not find Roth, but the necklace and Cayman's words leave her with a sliver of hope.