“She took it all.” Nathan growled as he rose up off the ground. The lines were gone from his skin, but his eyes blazed red with fury. “Give it back, you little bitch.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, shaking my head. “Sorry, can’t. I’m busy digesting that nasty-ass meal. Shouldn’t take much more than a minute or two.”
“You’re going to die if you don’t do as I say right now.”
“Sorry, Daddy. But you can bite me.”
Bishop turned a look of horror on me. “What did you do, Samantha?”
Kraven came into my peripheral vision as he moved swiftly to hold Nathan in place.
“What now?” he asked, his expression grim.
Nathan turned a furious glare on the demon and I knew he was about to drain his energy. I tried to open my mouth, to warn him, but then both Roth and Connor were there to shove Nathan back.
“This isn’t what I wanted.” There was madness on the demon’s face, true madness that chilled me even now that it was too late.
Too late to help him, to help myself.
“Give it back!” He surged toward me and shoved Bishop out of the way to grasp me by my throat, raising me up off the ground. His fingers dug in so tight I couldn’t breathe. He was going to crush my larynx.
Now that I wasn’t draining him anymore, he had every last bit of his demonic strength back.
And zero sanity in those blazing red eyes.
You could take the demon out of Hell, but you couldn’t take Hell out of the demon.
It took all four guys to pull him off me. A moment later, the bright glow from Bishop’s dagger caught my eye as I sputtered and wheezed in a heap on the ground.
As Nathan lunged forward to attack anyone who stood in the way from getting to me, Bishop sank the Hallowed Blade deep into the demon’s chest and immediately pulled it back out.
He hadn’t hesitated.
This was his specialty, after all—he was an angel of death.
Nathan staggered backward a step, finally stilling as if all the fight had left him in the space of a single breath. The hellfire left his eyes so they returned to their normal shade of brown.
“Too late to save her,” he whispered. “Gone forever. No second chances. Should have been me...never her. I didn’t deserve her. I never did.”
I knew he was talking about Anna.
The Hollow opened its roaring mouth behind him.
His gaze found me in the shadows. “You didn’t have to die tonight, beautiful star.”
I shook my head. “Neither did you.”
And then he was gone. And when the Hollow closed up this time, I felt the power I’d stolen from Nathan bristling under my skin. I sensed that it had closed forever this time.
Connor swept his gaze over the rest of us. “That was close.”
“Too damn close,” Roth agreed.
“Says the guy who nearly helped that dude destroy the universe.” Kraven didn’t give the other demon a friendly look. “Not exactly forgiving you for that yet. Or probably ever.”
Roth returned the glare with one of his own. “If I didn’t come get you losers, you never would have realized anything was happening. It was a mistake, I see that now. But it’s over and everything’s all right.”
“You’re right.” Kraven scanned the area, his gaze landing on Carly and Stephen. “Looky here. It’s the last two grays in the city all lined up, no waiting. Who ordered delivery?”
“No...” I grabbed Bishop’s arm. “Please. You can’t let him hurt them.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Kraven asked. “Hard night, sweetness? Too much for you to handle? Considering what just went down, I’m thinking we’re all lucky to still be breathing.”
Bishop hadn’t taken his attention from me for a second. “Was he telling the truth? Are you dying?”
The pain gripped me a moment later and I cried out. I looked down at my arms to see the black lines branching now down my skin. “It’s okay. It won’t hurt anyone else. I have it contained. When I’m gone, it’ll be gone, too. The Hollow’s closed for business.”
“Samantha!” Carly cried out. Connor had taken her firmly by her arm, holding her in place. Roth did the same with Stephen, wrenching him away from Jordan.
Only two grays left alive in the city. Right here, right now. And there wasn’t anything I could do to stop this.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Carly was supposed to get her soul back. And Stephen...Stephen was supposed to be one hundred percent evil so I didn’t care if he lived or died.
But I cared.
“Talk to me, Samantha.” Bishop dropped his dagger and kneeled in front of me, holding my face between his hands.
“I can feel it,” I managed. “The energy from the Hollow, it’s so dark. Even worse than I thought it would be, but I guess it makes sense.” I cried out as another wave of pain descended. I could feel the branching lines move up onto my face now like icy, cold fingers scraping over my skin.
Close—very close now. I’d chosen this and it was the right thing to do.
Still, I was so scared. My bravery only went so far.
“Damn it,” he growled. “Why did you do this? Why did you want to sacrifice yourself like this?”
I knew the answer to this one. It was a test I definitely wouldn’t fail.
It was something that occurred to me when Nathan was busy telling me how unnatural I was. How unwanted. How unloved.
That was exactly how I’d felt for ages, ever since my parents separated. My father barely emailed anymore, too busy over in England with his new girlfriend to spare more than a thought toward me. I hated him for that, feeling abandoned, just like I felt abandoned by my mother working so hard at her job that she was barely around. They made me feel like they’d never wanted me.
But I now knew they adopted me because they couldn’t have their own biological child. That meant they wanted me—me, in particular.
And my father didn’t stay in touch lately because the last time I spoke with him I told him I never wanted to see him again.
Funny how we forget that every story has two sides, even when one of those sides is our own.
My mother had never abandoned me, she’d just been trying to keep busy while nursing a broken heart. My father hadn’t abandoned me, either. He was giving me space until I got over my deep-seated feelings of betrayal about the choices he’d made to try to find his own happiness.
But they still loved me. They still wanted me. And they had from the very beginning.
I’d never realized how lucky I was.
Until now.
“Why, Samantha?” Bishop asked again. “Why sacrifice yourself?”
For family, for friendship, even for people I couldn’t stand the sight of. For movies about zombies, especially the really bad ones. For sunrises and sunsets. For the possibility of acing a test and going to my first-choice college and maybe becoming a writer or something equally awesome. For my mother’s ability to order Chinese food like a champ. For sandboxes, and swimming pools, and kissing frogs hoping they might turn into princes.
For real love—the kind that lasted forever.
“Because,” I whispered, “some things are worth dying for.”
He held on to me tightly as my life ebbed away. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Then he drew closer and pressed his lips against mine.
A last kiss. I thought that was a nice touch. To kiss the boy I loved before I d
ied.
But I quickly realized it wasn’t that kind of a kiss.
I gripped the material of his shirt and forced my mouth away from his. “What are you doing?”
“I told you I still had the ability to heal—a little left. I’m using it to heal you.” Then he crushed his mouth against mine again.
I tried to stop him, to tear myself away, but he held me too tightly.
He couldn’t do this. To heal me while in his condition, burdened with a soul which dampened all of his celestial abilities—it would take every last bit of life energy he had left.
It would kill him.
And he knew it.
Tears slipped down my cheeks as he kept me locked in this bruisingly hard kiss, and I felt that healing energy move through me, burning away the parts that had been damaged from taking Nathan’s power away.
Then Bishop finally drew back, still holding my face between his hands, which continued to channel the healing into me. His eyes glowed bright blue before the light doused from them completely and he slumped forward against me.
He’d healed me. The dark and deadly energy I’d taken from Nathan was gone as if it had never been here. The pain was only a bad memory. Physically, I felt better than I had in ages.
And Bishop was dying in my arms.
Kraven loomed over us, his expression filled with every emotion I could name—fury, confusion, hate, anguish. All of it directed not at me, but at Bishop.
“This can’t happen,” he growled. “Not now. I won’t let it.”
“What can you do?” I choked out.
“The barrier’s what’s trapping him here. And there’s only two things left keeping that barrier in place.” He turned from us and I saw that he now had the dagger in his grip.
Carly and Stephen. He was going to kill them to complete the mission.
“Sam,” Bishop whispered. “Take this. Be normal again, I know it’s what you want.”
He yanked the chain from around his neck and handed me back the locket I’d given him only last night.
Then his eyes closed and he went still in my arms.
I stared at him, unblinking, squeezing the locket so tightly that it would hurt if I could feel anything other than cold shock.
Be normal again.
“You think it’s that easy?” My words trembled as I eased him down to the ground and stroked the dark hair back from his forehead. “Well, it’s not. I need you, Bishop. Please, don’t leave me. Not yet.”
It was supposed to be the dagger that killed a demon or an angel, not this. Not because he saved my life. It wasn’t fair.
“Both of you are dead,” Kraven snarled, moving toward Carly and Stephen.
“No!” I leaped up from the ground and ran over to block them.
“Get out of my way.”
“Not a chance.”
His eyes blazed bright red. “You don’t think I’ll use this on you, too?”
I had no doubt he would if he had to. None at all. “I knew you still cared about your brother. This is proof.”
“And now he’s dead. Still not too late—the Hollow didn’t take his body. Still a chance to make this right, but the barrier needs to go. This mission needs to end.”
“I agree.” I turned to face Carly and Stephen.
“Sam, do something! Help me!” Tears streamed down Carly’s cheeks.
“Kill me,” Stephen said, his expression stone.
“No!” Jordan shrieked. “Don’t—please don’t!”
He didn’t look at her, instead his gaze moved to me. “I deserve to die after what I’ve done to Jordan, to you. To...other people—so many other people. I can’t take any of it back.”
“You’re right,” I said. “You can’t take it back. But death’s not an option. Not tonight. And not for anybody else.”
Please let this work.
I slid my fingernail into the locket and opened it up. There was something inside, something that shimmered like a translucent ribbon. I pulled it out to see that it was so long and so wide to be able to fit into something so small. I held it in my hand, mesmerized by its beauty and warmth.
My soul.
Be normal again, I know it’s what you want.
“Not anymore, Bishop,” I said aloud. “Not without you.”
Not wasting another second, I tore the soul into two pieces and shoved them each into Carly’s and Stephen’s mouths. They gasped and choked as if I was making them swallow something large and unpleasant.
Please work. Please.
Both gasped, inhaling sharply. The halved soul disappeared into the two grays.
Then there was another tremor—although this one felt more like a lightning strike.
“Don’t know how,” Kraven muttered. “But you did it, sweetness. Congrats.”
Connor and Roth looked at each other with shock as they both let go of Carly and Stephen at the exact same time. I spun around to see Bishop lying so still on the ground. Not moving. Not breathing.
Then the sky flashed with bright, white light and another thunderclap shook the world beneath my feet. The flash of light momentarily blinded me and I shielded my eyes from its glare. The skies darkened again an instant later and I looked around, stunned.
Bishop was gone, a scorch mark where he’d been lying the only evidence he’d ever been here.
Same for Kraven, Connor and Roth.
They were gone.
It had worked. The last of the grays were gone and the barrier had disappeared immediately. The team had been pulled back to Heaven and Hell.
A sob rose in my throat.
Someone grabbed me, pulling me to them and hugging me hard. It was Jordan.
“I thought— Oh, God. You’re alive. You’re, like, seriously the most bizarre person I’ve ever met in my life, but you’re alive. And I’m alive. And...Stephen...”
Stephen and Carly had fallen to the ground, both unconscious.
I rushed toward my friend as she started to come to. Jordan limped over to where Stephen lay and gripped his shoulders as he blinked up at her.
“What...?” he began. “Where am I?”
Carly pushed up from the ground. “Uh, what happened? Why was I lying on my back in a parking lot?”
“What do you remember?” I asked tentatively.
“Crave. We went there to confront Stephen about being a total dick to you. You met up with that hot guy named Bishop and totally blew me off. Nice, by the way. And now I’m here.” She glanced to her left and made a face. “Hey, the total dick’s here, too. Oh, and Jordan Fitzpatrick. Awesome.”
Jordan and I exchanged a glance.
“What about you?” Jordan asked Stephen. “What do you remember?”
He rubbed his forehead. “I also remember being at Crave. I’d come back to visit you. University sucked and...I don’t know. Nothing’s working out the way I wanted it to, except, well, I needed to see you.” He frowned deeply. “That’s it. That’s all I remember...and now I’m here.”
They didn’t remember being grays and they didn’t remember losing their souls.
They had no idea I’d given my soul to save their lives.
And Bishop had sacrificed his existence to save mine.
“You fixed them. You did it.” Jordan’s voice was hoarse. She reached out and pulled me into another tight hug. “And for the record, I remember. I remember everything, okay? You’re not alone.”
I was glad to hear it. But all I
could do right now was nod as the tears streamed down my cheeks.
Chapter 37
I guess you could say life went back to normal after that night.
Normal, however, was a relative term now.
Carly and Stephen didn’t remember anything about being grays. It was for the best, especially for Stephen. He’d unquestionably done some bad things. To have to live with that now that he understood what he’d done wrong when his morals had been unnaturally off balance, well...I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Which Stephen actually was for a short time.
Carly, admittedly, had to deal with everyone who thought she’d run away from home with some random guy and had now come crawling back. She was understandably confused, but couldn’t account for the missing time. Therefore, she decided that that’s exactly what must have happened. She’d had a romantic adventure and then—she figured—hit her head and got temporary amnesia.
If she believed such a fantastical explanation, I wasn’t going to try to convince her otherwise. Bottom line, I was just happy beyond words to have my best friend back.
And speaking of friends, I now counted Jordan Fitzpatrick, my former nemesis and tormenter, among them, as crazy as that sounded. But I guess it didn’t sound all that crazy. What we’d experienced together...well, it changed us forever. Both of us.
Jordan knew things about me that nobody else knew. And if she tried to tell anybody, they’d think she was nuts. For the foundation of a new friendship, that was about as solid as it got. She could still be a total bitch from hell, though. Now I preferred to think of it as part of her charm.
She was still seeing Stephen. Even if he didn’t remember the bad stuff that had happened, she remembered the good stuff—that even when he’d been turned into a super-gray, he still loved her. They were kind of meant for each other if you asked me.
My mother returned from Hawaii with a fantastic tan and a digital camera full of pictures. She was as relaxed and happy as I ever remembered her being. And, total bonus, she’d met a man while away, one who lived in a city only a couple hours’ drive from Trinity.
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