Wicked Kiss

by Michelle Rowen

  He hates that I can taste her when he can’t.

  Kraven thought that a minute ago, and by the look on Bishop’s face he might have been right.

  “So let me guess,” Jordan’s voice trembled out from her corner, where she was currently huddled in a tight ball. “These are the guys you called here through that meditation thing you did.”

  With effort, I tore my gaze from Bishop’s to look at her, relieved that she seemed unhurt. “You got it. Jordan. Meet Bishop and Kraven.”

  “What are they?”

  “Helpful Boy Scouts,” Kraven said, cocking his head. “Well, look at you. Almost dinner for our gray-girl here.”

  The demon offered her a hand, but she ignored it and shakily rose to her feet on her own.

  “Back off,” she snarled.

  Kraven just looked at her blandly. “Charming.”

  Along with my restored clarity, my anxiety returned. I gestured at the security camera. “Stephen probably saw you get here and escaped.”

  “He didn’t escape,” Bishop said.

  My eyes widened. “Did you—?”

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” He led me out of the room. The door had been ripped right off its hinges. Bishop noted my stunned observation of this. “I’m stronger than I look.”

  I was breathless as we moved away from my previous prison. Jordan silently trailed after us, but she was recovering and her gaze was watchful and fierce. Jordan might be a lot of things, but she didn’t take well to playing the victim.

  Kraven was the last to leave the room. I faced forward so I wouldn’t have to meet his eyes again.

  Now I knew for sure that his breezy exterior was only a mask he wore to throw people off. Underneath, he was every bit as dark, scary and devious as I would have expected a demon to be. His murderous, vengeful thoughts had chilled me down to my bones.

  His hate for Bishop had been palpable. It made my skin crawl, even now.

  “Kraven wants to kill you.” I said it loud enough for only Bishop to hear.

  His jaw was tense. “I know.”

  “You do? What are you going to do about it?”

  He kept his attention fully on the dark hallway before us. “Let me worry about my brother.”

  Easier said than done. I already worried, even before I’d read Kraven’s thoughts. But what I’d seen in Bishop’s memory—that betrayal of one brother by the other in such a brutal, final way...I couldn’t say Kraven’s desire for vengeance wasn’t justified.

  Still, I truly believed what had happened back then had other causes. Bishop may have done the horrible deed himself, but he’d been used by someone or something else.

  Kraven didn’t know that. Or if he did, he still blamed Bishop solely for what happened.

  I followed Bishop up a flight of stairs, through another torn-open doorway and then we were outside. The cold bit into me, but I welcomed the fresh air. The cool breeze made me shiver. The sky was dark now. Clouds covered the stars and moon.

  As I always did at this time of the day, I scanned the horizon for any sign of a searchlight. But there was nothing to be seen.

  “Stephen!” Jordan gasped.

  My gaze shot to where she was staring in shock—the super-gray himself was being restrained by Zach and Connor. Connor held Stephen’s arms tightly behind him, while Zach pressed the golden dagger to Stephen’s throat.

  He hadn’t escaped.

  Stephen’s gaze tracked to us and narrowed.

  “They got to me before I changed your girlfriend.” I couldn’t keep the outrage from my voice. He’d try to force me to do such a horrible thing. He’d knocked me out and imprisoned me for more than a day.

  I was surprised that instead of anger or rage in return, he just looked grim.

  And was that...raw disappointment I saw in his eyes?

  Some super-gray. For a sociopath, he seemed to have a lot of emotions to sort through.

  Maybe love is the hardest emotion to destroy, I thought.

  Oh, please. Give me a break.

  “Why, Stephen?” Jordan’s voice quavered. “Why would you try to hurt me like that?”

  “I never wanted to hurt you.” He struggled against Connor’s grip on him, nearly breaking it.

  “Hold still,” Connor snarled.

  Zach’s gaze flicked toward me and his green eyes warmed a fraction. “Glad you’re okay, Samantha. I was worried about you.”

  I let out a shaky laugh. “That makes two of us.”

  “Move again,” Bishop warned Stephen, “and we’ll kill you.”

  Stephen fixed him with a wry look. “But then you won’t get Samantha’s soul back. Are you willing to take that chance?”

  Bishop’s expression only turned colder as he drew closer to the gray. “Where is it?”

  Stephen snorted. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Bishop slammed his fist into Stephen’s stomach.

  I slapped my hand over my mouth, unprepared for the sudden show of violence.

  Stephen barely flinched from the hit. “That kind of tickles.”

  Jordan paced in short, frantic lines, wringing her hands. I swept my gaze over the building where Stephen had locked us up. It was an abandoned warehouse in an industrial section of town, and we now stood in an empty parking lot. I never came here, so I didn’t know precisely where we were. Beyond the warehouse, a half mile away, I could see the lights of the city.

  “Hit him again,” Kraven suggested. “And don’t hold back this time.”

  Bishop glared at Kraven over his shoulder. “I wasn’t.”

  “If you say so.”

  As Bishop was about to do just that, I found myself at his side, grabbing hold of his arm to stop him. He looked at me with surprise in his blue eyes.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t want to sound like an after-school special here, but violence isn’t the answer.”

  He looked down at my firm hold on his arm, his muscles tensing under my touch. “Let me do what I have to do.”

  “He won’t talk until he’s ready, no matter what you do to him.”

  “We disagree about that.”

  I snorted softly. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Bishop gave me a wry look. “So what would you suggest? He’s gone through stasis. He’s different now, worse than before. And after what he did to you...” The madness sparked in his eyes again, despite my continued grip on him. “I want to tear him apart.”

  “Samantha, you’re hurt,” Zach said, then looked at Kraven. “Cover me.”

  Kraven switched places with the angel. Connor still held Stephen prone from behind, and Kraven now gripped the gray’s throat. “Don’t move. I’m not nearly as nice as the rest of these boys. And I haven’t ripped out any throats lately.”

  I didn’t think he was bluffing.

  Bishop’s brows had drawn together at Zach’s words. He scanned my face. “Is he right? Are you hurt?” He hadn’t noticed how I’d been favoring my right wrist, but now his attention dropped to it and his eyes glowed blue. “It’s broken. That bastard broke your wrist.”

  The craziness growing in his gaze worried me. “Relax. That’s the worst of it.”

  “I could try to heal you. I’m sure I could do it. I’m stronger than I was before, but I—I just need to concentrate.”

  “No, Bishop,” Zach said sharply. “In your current state, healing would take every last ounce of life energy you�
��ve got left. And then some. I’ll do it.”

  Every last ounce he had left? Not a good idea then.

  I glanced over at the other angel. “My shoulder, too. And, uh, while you’re at it, I’m dealing with a bit of sprain in my left ankle.”

  Zach glanced at Bishop warily before he shifted the golden dagger under his arm, and placed his hands on me, sending his momentarily painful healing energy through my injuries one by one to heal me up as good as new.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “Much. Thank you.” I was relieved the dull throbbing pain was finally gone.

  Bishop fisted his hands at his sides and his gaze returned to Stephen. “I strongly suggest you help us out here.”

  “Or what?”

  Bishop sent a frustrated glare in my direction. “Being nice isn’t working.”

  “That was nice?” I cleared my throat, half amused at his minor attempt at calm negotiation. “Believe me, I’m not suggesting we give him a free pass, but beating him into a pulp isn’t going to get my and Carly’s soul back. We need to learn more about stasis, too. I don’t think it turns a gray totally evil.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Bishop replied.

  “Yeah, well, Stephen’s still in love with Jordan.”

  Jordan gasped. “He’s...what? How could he feel anything for me with the way he’s treated me?”

  Zach had returned to grip Stephen’s shoulder and hold the dagger to the gray’s chest. Kraven moved back a few feet to give them space.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” I said, focused on Stephen now. “What you felt before, it’s stronger. But it’s more obsessive now. More crazed.” I swallowed hard. “Still, you’re not completely lost.”

  He laughed, a dry sound. “You’re right. I’m just a friendly puppy. Have your friends let me go and we’ll talk it through over coffee. All is well.”

  “Stubborn, though,” I said, glaring. “We can do this my way, Stephen. Or we can do this Bishop’s way. My way hurts less.”

  The breeze picked up. And a strange crackling energy slid over my skin, making me shiver.

  “What was that?” Jordan gasped. “Did you feel that?”

  “Feel what?” Bishop asked.

  “That sensation.” She frowned deeply, her expression haunted. “I felt that at the mall, I swear I did. Samantha, that was the same feeling I got just before Julie lost it.”

  I stared at her. She’d felt it, too. Now I remembered that I had felt something at the mall, but hadn’t thought anything of it at the time.

  “What is it?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

  There was fear in her eyes. “I don’t know.”

  “You need to kill me,” Stephen whispered. “It’s too much. I’ve hurt too many people.”

  I whipped my head in his direction. He’d slumped a little in Connor’s grip, like he was losing his strength.

  “What game are you playing now?” Bishop said carefully. “You want me to kill you?”

  “He’ll do it,” Kraven said, his arms crossed. “If you say pretty please.”

  Stephen drew in a shaky breath. “They can’t see me. Nobody can. It’s like I don’t exist. But I do. I’m here. I was there for so long, but now I’m back and all it does is hurt. He never should have let me out.”

  I inhaled sharply. “Look at his eyes. They’re not right.”

  Stephen’s eyes were normally a cinnamon color, a medium rusty-brown. Right now they were glazed over with a sheen of white.

  “Do you see me?” he whispered.

  I flicked the briefest of glances at Bishop to register his confusion matched my own, before I returned my full attention to Stephen.

  But this wasn’t Stephen. Not right now. Clarity dawned for me, growing brighter with every second that ticked by.

  “I see you,” I said firmly. “What do you want?”

  “I want it to stop.”

  “What is this?” Bishop asked. “What’s going on?”

  “This...I’m sure it’s the new demon,” I said. “The one that escaped the Hollow. The one driving people in Trinity to kill themselves. That’s who you are, isn’t it? Somehow, someway, you’re able to drain the will to live from those you touch.” Realizing this made me want to run in fear. But I stood my ground.

  Stephen’s spooky eyes stayed on me. He nodded, his expression etched with despair. “Yes. But you’re wrong about one thing...I’m not a demon.”

  When I drew closer, Bishop caught my wrist, keeping me from taking another step. He, like everyone else present, regarded Stephen now with shock.

  “What are you, then?” Bishop asked.

  He drew in another shaky breath. “I am...I was...an angel.”

  Bishop’s eyes widened. “An angel?”

  Zach and Connor exchanged a surprised look, but they didn’t budge an inch. Jordan shivered a few feet to my right, and Kraven watched all of this with interest. He rarely looked surprised about anything that ever happened, even the shocking stuff.

  For me, I was stunned by this revelation. Stunned speechless, in fact. If my aunt had been an anomalous demon that hurt people, that made a twisted kind of sense. She’d been a demon. But an angel...

  They were supposed to be the good guys.

  “How did this happen?” I managed to say.

  “I was expelled from Heaven,” the angel speaking through Stephen explained. “The soul inside me, it drove me crazy. It was torture, every day I existed here in the mortal world. I wandered, trying to find a place for myself, but there was nothing but pain and misery. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. I had to end my suffering. I—I set myself on fire, hoping the flames would purge my pain. That death would give me silence and peace. The Hollow claimed me.”

  “That was stupid,” Kraven said without emotion at this horrific tale. “A fallen angel or an exiled demon can’t kill him or herself with fire. Or a bullet. Or a hungry shark. That soul inside you takes on a life of its own and retains your consciousness, even if the body’s been destroyed.” His lips thinned. “But I suppose you’ve already figured that out, haven’t you?”

  Stephen’s face held endless misery. “I have nothing left except my hunger. When I move through those here in this world, it gives me temporary relief.”

  “But you’re hurting them,” I said, my throat tight. “You have to stop.”

  He nodded. “Tonight I will ease my pain once and for all. It’s why I’m here. Why I was released from his kingdom. I do what he tells me.”

  “What who tells you?” I asked.

  “The only one that matters. The only one that knows the truth.” His eyes locked with mine. “You know, but you don’t. You can’t see, not yet. But you will. You will see everything like I do. Like he wants you to. Soon, very soon.”

  I shivered.

  Bishop met my gaze and his expression was bleak and haunted. This was a fallen angel, just like him, one whose soul had driven him insane. But this angel had chosen suicide as his only way out, which only made things worse.

  He composed himself quickly and turned away from me to face Stephen again. “What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

  Instead of replying, Stephen let out a strangled moan and dropped to his knees. Connor and Zach finally lost their hold on him and seemed uncertain of what to do with this most recent development.

  “Bishop?” Connor asked.

  “Don’t touch him again,” Bishop warned. “Not yet.”

  Stephen’
s eyes lost the opaque sheen and returned to their normal color. Again, I felt that strange crackling sensation slide over my skin. It made my heart race knowing it was caused by a bodiless fallen angel with a touch of death.

  I exchanged a look with Jordan, who was rubbing her bare arms. She’d felt it, too.

  “That was seriously freaky,” she said, her voice trembling.

  Jordan was what Cassandra originally thought I was. A human with supernatural intuition. She saw what others didn’t. She sensed the invisible. She saw the unseen.

  I guess we did have way more in common than I’d originally thought.

  “Too much pain,” Stephen groaned. “Make it stop. Please, make it stop.”

  My gaze shot to him as he crawled toward Zach, reaching a hand up beseechingly. “I hate what I’ve become. I hate that I hurt her. I’m sorry, Jordan. I’m sorry for everything. I want it to end. Please, kill me.”

  “Stephen, no!” Jordan gasped out. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “The angel—” I grabbed her arm to keep her from moving closer to him. “He took Stephen’s will to live—just like what happened with Julie. Bishop, do something! He’s going to hurt himself!”

  Connor and Bishop both moved quickly to grab Stephen and they pulled him back up to his feet. But now Stephen, loose from being restrained, used that super-gray strength of his to fight, shoving Connor with enough force that he flew back, landing hard on the pavement.

  “You’re not hurting anyone else tonight.” Bishop grabbed the back of Stephen’s shirt.

  “Kill me then,” Stephen begged.

  “Sorry. It’s not that easy.” Bishop slammed the gray into the wall of the warehouse hard enough to knock Stephen out. He sent a look in my direction and raised a dark eyebrow. “Too violent for you?”

  I fought to breathe normally, and repressed a nervous laugh. “I’ll allow it.”

  The barest of smiles moved across his lips. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

  “Go team,” Kraven said drily. “So what happens now? When he wakes up? Do we have a suicidal gray on our hands?”