Wicked Kiss

Someone grabbed my upper arm and painfully wrenched me away from Colin. Colin staggered back and dropped down into a nearby booth. Thin, black lines branched around his mouth and his skin was sickly pale. His eyes were glazed. His chest moved rapidly as he gasped for breath.

Haven’t taken it all. Just a piece...

The grip on my arm tightened and I turned to see that it was Kraven now in front of me, shaking his head.

“Honestly,” he said. “Can’t let you out of our sight for a minute, can we?”

“Let go of me!” I was working on instinct only, still possessed by the hunger. I stared at Colin. “I need more.”

“You need more?” Kraven grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him instead of Colin. “Try this.”

He kissed me hard, releasing my arm to slide his hands into my long hair. I automatically tried to feed, but there was nothing there. Regular demons like Kraven didn’t have souls. This was the proof. With no soul to feed from, this was just a kiss.

And yet, strangely enough, it still seemed to satisfy me. I wasn’t feeding, but my hunger began to ease a fraction at a time.

But then the kiss stopped. Abruptly.

“What the hell are you doing to her?” Bishop snarled.

He grabbed hold of Kraven and wrenched him away from me, slamming the demon hard against the wall.

Bishop’s eyes blazed bright blue. They did that sometimes. He’d told me it was a bit of celestial energy that rose up when he got emotional. Based on the current neon brightness, he was very emotional.

My head continued to clear, although not as rapidly as I’d have liked it to. I staggered back from them and landed in the booth across from the slowly recovering Colin. A quick sweep of the club showed that nobody was paying us any attention.

Neat trick that demons and angels had—they could cloak an area to gain a little privacy when problems arose.

Kraven shoved Bishop back from him. “Sorry, but your little girlfriend was in need of some help.”

“That was you helping?”

“Worked, didn’t it?”

I sent a look at Colin. My mind had now cleared completely and my control was back. Guilt and horror slammed through me at what I’d done. The black lines around Colin’s mouth had faded completely, but his eyes were still glazed. A gray’s victim seemed to go into a short-term trance while they were being fed upon. Since I’d experienced it from the victim’s side, I knew that it felt way better than it looked. Exciting, exhilarating, amazing—just like a good kiss should be.

But there was nothing good about this kiss. If I’d successfully taken all of Colin’s soul, I could have killed him. Or, if he was strong enough to survive it, he would become another gray, capable of hurting others.

Either thought scared the hell out of me.

My gaze shot to Bishop. “Colin kissed me. I—I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself after that.”

Colin shook his head as if to clear it. He glanced at me, and then at the two tall boys staring at him.

“What—?” he began.

“How do you feel?” Bishop asked him.

He scrubbed his hand over his forehead. “Um, okay, I think. What happened?”

Bishop grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him out of the booth. “Don’t kiss her again. Ever. You hear me?”

Colin gaped at him. “Who are you?”

“You don’t want to know. Leave now.”

Bishop let him go and Colin staggered back, then glanced at me as if waiting for me to defend him. Instead, I forced myself to look down at my hands, which I’d clasped in my lap.

“Sorry,” he began. “I, uh, don’t know what I was thinking.”

Without any further argument, he slunk away from us and was swallowed by the rest of the crowded club.

“Your girlfriend’s a great kisser,” Kraven said drily. “Her tongue is like...wow. She doesn’t hold back. You’re really missing out with that pesky soul of yours.”

Bishop turned on the demon, his eyes flashing. “Stay away from Samantha or I’ll kill you.”

“This is the thanks I get for saving the day? She was going to suck that kid dry right here in the middle of the club. Besides, why are you mad at me? I think some of that angel attitude should be pointed in her direction. Or can gray-girl do no wrong in your eyes, even when she slips up? Or slips someone else the tongue?”

Bishop’s expression didn’t lose a fraction of its fury. “I think you do want me to kill you. Is that your goal?”

Kraven gave him a humorless smile. “Don’t know. How many times can one brother kill the other? Are you looking for some kind of Guinness World Record here?”

“Try me.”

Kraven liked to mess with the minds of others, but I wasn’t in the mood for it now. He wasn’t helping anything by baiting Bishop like this.

“Why do you have to be like this?” I asked.

He finally spared a look in my direction. “Please. You should be thanking me for saving your pretty little ass a minute ago. Instead, I get vilified. Whether either of you wants to admit it or not, the kiss worked. It snapped you out of your monster madness.”

Bishop’s brows drew together as if he was considering this possibility. His gaze then hardened. “We’re leaving.”

Kraven saluted. “Yes, sir.”

I’d wanted to come here tonight so I could find some answers. I’d honestly thought I was in control of myself and my hunger.

But I’d hurt Colin, and if Kraven hadn’t stopped me I could have killed him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Bishop as I pushed myself up from the booth.

Bishop didn’t meet my eyes. “How much of that boy’s soul did you take?”

I couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t replied to my “I’m sorry” with a breezy “it’s okay.” Couldn’t blame him for that.

I let out a shaky breath. “Not much.”

“Be careful. He’ll instinctively seek you out in the future so you can finish the job.”

“How do you know?” Kraven asked.

“Believe me, I know.”

I was definitely ready to leave. I’d done more than enough damage for one night. Stephen wasn’t here so there was no reason to hang out a moment longer. I wanted to run home and hide my face from the world, but instead I tried to stay calm and not let anyone see how devastated I was. I said a quick goodbye to Sabrina and Kelly, who’d thankfully missed all of my drama while they’d been busy dancing.

Roth caught up with us at the front door past a poster advertising Wednesday’s “Halloween Bash.” We exited the club, and the cool, late-October air immediately chilled me. Stars sparkled in the clear, black sky and the moon, along with the parking lot floodlights, lit up the night around us. I ignored the cold, instead pulling my too-thin coat tighter around my shoulders.

Roth scanned the three of us silently trudging along the sidewalk. “Did I miss something?”

Bishop’s jaw tightened. “No.”

“Me and gray-girl just made out,” Kraven said.

Roth made a face. “Disgusting. Why would you want to kiss something like her?”

“Research.”

I expected no less from Roth. I was well aware that he despised me. Tonight only proved that I was in more trouble than I thought.

I scanned the night surrounding us, anything to take my attention off what had happened with Colin and Kraven.

“I’m taking you home,” Bishop said.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “To keep me out of trouble.”

“For starters.”

At that moment I spotted something in the sky that grabbed my attention. I felt the color slowly drain from my face. “Can’t go home. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

I pointed at the sky behind him where a familiar searchlight had just appeared in the distance—although I knew none of them could see it like I could. “Looks like you’re getting a new recruit.”

Chapter 3

“Don’t know why a gray can do this,” Roth grumbled as he trailed after us. “Why can she see the searchlights when we can’t?”

He didn’t know the truth and neither did Kraven. Only Bishop knew and he’d sworn me to secrecy about it.

I wasn’t just a gray.

Bishop always talked about the universal balance and how important it was. Well, I was about as balanced as you could get. Equal parts dark and light thanks to my birth parents—whom I’d never met. Up until a week ago, I didn’t even know I’d been adopted.

My father was a demon named Nathan, my mother was an angel named Anna.

Anna had been killed shortly after I was born and Nathan had joined her in the Hollow, her final resting place. The same place Carly had been sucked up into.

Theirs was a forbidden romance doomed from the start, but it had produced yours truly. Because of this, I was what was termed a “nexus”—the center, the connection—and the fact that I’d lost my soul meant I could allegedly channel the powers of both Heaven and Hell.

It helped me do things, see things. It made me special. It made me valuable. Clinging tightly to this thought after what I’d done to Colin was the only thing keeping me from completely freaking out.

“Why are they sending someone else?” Kraven asked, ignoring the other demon. He didn’t sound happy.

“I don’t know,” Bishop replied. He walked so close to me that I could barely concentrate. My hunger still had me tightly in its grip and the scent of his soul, of him, did crazy things to my head. “You’re sure it’s one of our searchlights, Samantha? Not just a regular one?”

“Positive.” The light that shone up into the sky was restoring my hope with each step I took. I moved toward it like I was following a rainbow to a guaranteed pot of gold.

A sixth member for the team would mean one more chance to find Stephen. At this very moment, I didn’t care if he turned out to be a demon or an angel.

However, when we followed the searchlight to its origin, I found something I wasn’t expecting.

“Well?” Bishop asked when I stopped walking. “Where is he?”

“Not a he.” I pointed shakily in the direction of the girl up ahead. As soon as my gaze locked on her, the light disappeared. It only ever stayed on long enough for me to make visual contact.

She was young—like me. Seventeen, maybe. She had long, pale blond hair. She wore ripped jeans and a black sweater. She wandered along the sidewalk next to a busy street with her arms crossed over her chest as if trying to keep warm.

I’d always thought it was incredibly sexist that Heaven and Hell had only sent boys on this mission to save Trinity. Looked like they’d changed their minds.

“This is ridiculous,” Roth said. “Girls are useless.”

Just the sound of his voice rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t waste my breath in arguing with him, but he must have felt the heat of my glare.

“They are,” he insisted.

“Whatever you say. Obviously, you know everything.”

“Finally, you’re starting to get me.” He laughed darkly. “Let’s hurry up. I’d rather be out killing things like you tonight than play follow the leader. At least, until we finally get a crack at you.”

“Shut up, Roth,” Bishop growled. He’d moved to stand between me and the demon while Kraven watched us, amused.

Fear slid through me at the way he’d said it. So bluntly. Like this was a guaranteed thing. “What are you talking about?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “You’re a gray. As long as things like you are still breathing, that barrier is up, trapping you—and us—in this city. When you’re all dead, the barrier vanishes and we’ll be pulled back where we belong. You think we’re giving you a pass forever because of this magical mojo you can do?”

“Roth.” There was a sharp edge of warning in Bishop’s voice.

Roth snorted. “We’re going to kill her, it’s just a matter of time. You said so yourself.”

My breath left me in a rush. “You said what?”

Bishop’s gaze flashed to me. “I didn’t say that.”

“So he misunderstood you? Please tell me how that sort of message could get messed up.”

Kraven laughed, an unpleasant sound that slithered under my skin. “Bishop didn’t come right out and say we had permission to kill you. But he said if you slip up and start munching on souls then you’d become a problem we’d have to deal with. Better?”

“Is that true?” I shot a searching look at Bishop.

His expression was unreadable. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“No, we’ll talk about it now.”

“Later,” he said again firmly. “Go home, Samantha. We can handle the girl.”

I stared at him, trying to read his frustratingly hard-to-read face. I suddenly wanted to run—far away from here, far away from these three...even Bishop, who normally made me feel safe. At least, I thought he did.

But I stood my ground. I refused to be chased away that easily. I couldn’t let myself give in to my fear. “I’m not leaving yet. I can still help you tonight.”

Disapproval slid through his blue eyes. “Fine. Stay. Your choice.”

I could prove to them that what happened at the club wasn’t really me. It was a slipup, not an indication that I was losing it. And when I got my soul back, my hunger would be gone. The cold I always felt would fade away. I would be as normal as I could ever hope to be.

“Feeling a connection to the blonde chick?” Kraven asked with a smirk. “How sweet. Maybe you can be best friends. I know you’re looking for a new one since the last got flushed away.”

I didn’t know why I was surprised that he could be so thoughtlessly cruel. My only defense was to put on a good game face. The best way to combat sarcasm was with more of the same.

“Or maybe you can bite me.”

His grin stretched. “Is that an invitation?”

“Not tonight...James.”

His smile fell.

I knew his human name. He’d shared it with me in a moment of weakness, and I knew it bothered him when I used it.

“Gray-girl’s got a smart mouth,” Kraven muttered. “It’s going to get her in trouble someday.”

“You’re right,” Bishop said. “It will.”

He was mad that I hadn’t tucked tail between my legs and scurried home like a good little monster. But I was staying for the ritual. I would be there for the new girl, no matter what.

I knew what was coming. She didn’t. Right now, she’d have no memory of why she was here. The invisible barrier that stretched over Trinity, put in place by the combined powers of Heaven and Hell, was designed to keep supernaturals in the city. But it also kept supernaturals out. To get in, angels or demons had to be specially protected against it. It also stripped away memories. The only thing that helped pinpoint a demon or angel was the searchlight—the one only I could see.

The ritual was what restored them to their former demonic or angelic selves. If it wasn’t performed, they’d wander the city forever with no idea who they were.

I would rather not have to witness the ritual again—to put it mildly—but I couldn’t just walk away and let this girl deal with these three without a shred of moral support.

Her pace had quickened. She knew she was being followed. Before long, she found herself in a blind alley, in a less populated neighborhood. She turned to face us, holding her hands up in front of her.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said uneasily.

“Do we look like trouble?” Kraven asked, looking down at himself. “Honestly. I’m a little insulted.”

“Let’s do this,” Roth said.

Bishop shot him a look. “Patience.”

The girl’s gaze moved to me and a measure of relief went through her eyes. I knew I looked pretty harmless. Nothing more than a teenager dressed to go clubbing on a Saturday night, my long dark hair loose around my shoulders. Nothing to fear.

Not at first glance, anyway.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“A friend,” I told her, forcing myself to sound calm. “My name’s Samantha.”

She swallowed hard. “Why are you following me?”

“Because we want to help you. We know you’re having problems. We know you don’t know who you are.”

Her blue eyes widened. “How could you know that?”

“Magic,” Roth said with a thin, unpleasant smile.

Bishop was the one who always performed the ritual, but he wasn’t making any sudden moves.

“I think I hit my head.” She scrubbed her hand through her blond hair. “I woke up earlier and I—I didn’t know where I was. I’m sure I’ll be fine in a little while, so...thanks, but I don’t need any help.”

Despite the chill in the air, sweat dripped down my back and my palms were damp. “You will be fine. I promise.”

“Samantha’s right. You’ll be fine.” Bishop finally pulled the curved golden dagger out of the sheath he wore under his shirt, along his spine.

Her eyes shot to it immediately and widened with fear. “What is that?”

“Check her back.”

Kraven grabbed hold of both of her wrists in one hand. He pulled at her sweater and she let out a frightened shriek.

I stormed forward and punched him in his arm. “Do you have to be such a jerk? You’re scaring her!”

“Sorry, sweetness. There isn’t really a polite way to do this.”

“Samantha, please don’t let them hurt me,” the girl begged. A tear slid down her cheek and she trembled, but didn’t try very hard to break away from Kraven’s grip.

My heart wrenched for her. “I need to check something real quick. Everything will be better soon. You need to trust me, okay?”

“O-okay.” Her voice quaked.

I took a deep breath and pulled her sweater up her back a few inches so I could see her skin. The lines of the tattoo I’d been hoping to see were visible immediately, wrapping right around her sides and past the waistline of her jeans.

“Is it there?” Bishop asked.

A small but immediate measure of relief coursed through me. “She has an imprint. She’s definitely the right one.”

She stared at me with confusion. “An imprint? What’s an imprint?”

I nodded and returned her sweater to its previous position. “Something that will make everything all right in just a minute.” I looked into her blue eyes and the fear I felt for her must have been reflected there. The panic instantly returned to her gaze.

Her breath came quicker. “What do you mean? What are you going to do to me?”

“Do it, Bishop,” I bit out, nausea coursing through my gut. “Quickly.”

I thought he’d hesitate and show some sign of reluctance for what he had to do. Sometimes I mistook him for a gentle angel who struggled with sanity and needed help from time to time.

But he wasn’t gentle. And he didn’t need any help right now. He was a warrior who didn’t flinch when it came to taking action.

He nudged me out of the way and looked in the girl’s eyes. A coldness moved over his face that scared me.

“Be brave,” he said, as if issuing a command. Then he thrust the dagger into her chest without another moment’s hesitation.

My knees gave out at the same time hers did.

It’s the ritual, I told myself over and over. She’s not human. This isn’t really murder.

The only way a demon or angel could get their memories back after passing through the invisible barrier and into Trinity was to temporarily die—provided that death came from Bishop’s very special golden dagger. The dagger did something, some magic, which removed their protective shielding and restored their former sense of self.

If they were ever stabbed again with the same dagger, however, it would kill them.

I stared down at the blonde girl now lying on the ground of the alley with the dagger sticking out of her chest.

“That was so awesome,” Roth breathed.

“You’re sick,” I snarled at him.

“Your point?” The demon leaned over and yanked the dagger out of her chest when Bishop didn’t reach for it first.

My mind reeled over witnessing this horrible act yet again. “I need to talk to you, Bishop. Alone. Now.”

“Uh-oh,” Kraven said. “Somebody’s in trouble.”

“Fine.” Bishop nodded to the left. “Let’s go over there.”

“Need a chaperone?” Kraven asked. “Wouldn’t want her to get any ideas. Maybe fake murder turns gray-girl on.”

Bishop sent a glare in his direction. “Stay here and watch over the girl.”

“Eat me.”

Apparently, Bishop took that as a “yes, I’ll stay here and watch over the girl.” He led me to a spot farther down the alley and just around the corner. I cast a last glance at the blonde now lying as if dead on the pavement of the alley while two demons lurked nearby waiting for her to wake up again.

“I told you to leave,” Bishop said, his voice and expression equally tight. He wasn’t meeting my gaze. “So if you’re upset about what I had to do, you only have yourself to blame. I was doing my job. I didn’t enjoy that.”

I knew he was right. It was his job—one he was remarkably and chillingly good at. “Look, I—I’m sorry about what happened at Crave tonight. I know you’re mad at me.”

“You think I’m mad?”

“You should be mad.”

“Should I?” He raised an eyebrow, his harsh expression finally thawing at the edges. “Okay, then I’m mad.”

“I knew it.”

“Still, you should have left. I know the ritual upsets you. Especially since it was a girl this time.”

“Which is kind of ridiculous. I’d all but gotten used to it happening to boys. Why should a girl be any different? Maybe I’m the sexist one here.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“You didn’t hesitate. Not even a second.”

“Does that bother you?”

“A little,” I admitted, but held his gaze. “Are there a lot of female angels?”

“Is that what she is? I didn’t see the imprint.”

I nodded. Since angels and demons didn’t have actual wings here in the human world—apparently such things were not physical as much as they were metaphysical—they did retain the mark of such wings. It looked like a large tattoo that stretched across their backs and down their sides. Angel wings were pale with delicate, feathery lines. Demon wings were bold and black and webbed. It was the only way to tell them apart at a glance.

“There are an equal number of male and female angels,” he said.

“Equal. Everything’s equal,” I grumbled. “Got to keep the balance on the universal teeter-totter, don’t you?”

He studied my face. “I know you’re upset.”

I didn’t break our eye contact. “Did you really tell Roth he could kill me if I screw up?”

He didn’t speak for a moment. “No.”

The demon had said it with such certainty, there had to be more to this. I needed to know the truth. “Then what did you say that gave him that idea?”

His gaze grew fiercer. “You can’t let what happened earlier with that boy ever happen again. It’s too dangerous, Samantha.”

It was so cold tonight—or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was just me and my soulless side effects. My coat wasn’t thick enough to keep me warm. The tights I wore under my skirt were too thin. I shivered. “That’s the real reason you’ve stayed away from me this week. So I wouldn’t be tempted to kiss you again. So I wouldn’t hurt you again.”

His vivid blue eyes burned into mine. “You didn’t hurt me the first time.”

“But I could next time.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” He wrenched his gaze away from me, his expression shadowing. “I kept my distance because I needed to know if this pull I feel toward you was because of what you are. If this soul inside me has been a magnet drawing me closer to you since the first moment we met.”

It was what I’d also feared. That this—this overpowering thing I felt for Bishop wasn’t real. That it was just another side effect, like me being cold and hungry all the time. All because he had a soul and I longed for it. “And?”

His brows drew together. “Inconclusive. I’ll know for sure when we get your soul back.”

My heart pounded like a wild thing in my chest. “You think it’ll be that simple? Find Stephen, find my soul, pop it back in like a battery pack? Snap, Samantha’s back to normal and you won’t feel so weird around me?”

“Nothing important is ever that simple.” He searched my face. “Let me do my job. Let me find him. And then we’ll figure everything else out.”