Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers)

by Michelle Rowen

  I’d lost it. And the worst thing this time—or competing for worst thing—was that my hunger hadn’t been sated even a bit. I wanted more. Something was changing inside me, making this even worse than it had been before. Before I could control myself, unless I was in extreme conditions. But now...my control was slipping away at breakneck speeds.

  If it hadn’t been for that mind meld, I would have taken it all. And that would have either changed Colin into another gray...or it would have killed him.

  I ran away from the school for a half mile before I finally stopped, bracing my hands on my thighs, and took deep choking breaths of cold air.

  I’d told Bishop to leave me alone. Nobody had been watching me, lurking in the shadows. Nobody was here to stop me. They were all at the church, dealing with other problems.

  I’d never felt so alone in my entire life.

  But I couldn’t go home, which was exactly where I wanted to go.

  After what I’d heard in that mind meld, I knew I had to go downtown. I had to find Jordan. She’d left school to find the model scout who’d touched Julie, inspecting her as a potential model. After that, Julie’s mood had plummeted. Jordan thought that the woman had something to do with that—that her touch had messed up Julie’s mind and driven her to kill herself.

  Eva might be an anomalous demon who’d escaped from the Hollow—just as Natalie had. Instead of souls, she fed on good emotions, leaving only the bad ones behind. All the suicides in the last week could be because of her.

  And Jordan was going to confront her.

  I had to do something. I couldn’t stand back and let her get hurt.

  I checked the phone book to find Divine Model Management. Then I hopped on a bus to get downtown as fast as possible. I entered the building, scanning the area for any sign of Jordan, but she wasn’t there.

  The agency’s office was on the fifth floor. I considered leaving, going to the church and trying to find Bishop to tell him, despite my harsh words—and his—last night. This wasn’t personal. This was business. And I knew he could do something about it. Beyond that, I missed him more than I thought possible. Seeing through his eyes in the mind meld only made that fact impossible for me to ignore.

  However, Jordan didn’t have that kind of time. I had to do this on my own.

  I took the elevator up to the fifth floor. The agency was large, with dark hardwood floors, lots of glass and silver. The logo was on the wall in large, shiny letters.

  “Yes?” The receptionist greeted me from behind the tall, red desk.

  “I’m looking for...” I scanned the waiting room, but nobody was here except for me. “Eva?”

  “What’s your business with her?”

  I scanned my mind for a lie good enough to get me past this gatekeeper. “She gave me her card at the mall, told me to stop by.”

  The receptionist’s gaze moved over me skeptically. I did my best not to look guilty or like I was a big liar.

  “For our petite division?” she asked.

  I could pretend to be an aspiring model. Sure, I could. “Um, yeah.”

  She still didn’t look all that convinced. But she picked up the phone and pecked in a couple numbers. “Eva? There’s a...” She looked at me. “Name?”

  “Samantha Day.”

  “There’s a Samantha Day here to see you. Says you gave her your card?” There was a pause, and the receptionist looked at me. “She doesn’t remember you, but she says to go on in. Third office to your left.”

  My mouth went dry. “Okay, thanks.”

  I walked down the hall nervously. I had to remember that I wasn’t helpless here. I was a nexus, and if she was a demon then I could deal with her. I’d read her mind to get the truth. I could defend myself with my zapping ability. And the skirt made accessing my new knife a lot easier. I slid my hand over its reassuring shape.

  I stopped at the door, which opened in front of me. The woman I’d seen at the mall gave me a once-over. She was definitely middle-aged, with auburn hair, paler highlights and, although I was no expert on the subject, she wore a designer suit that easily could have been featured in a Vogue spread.

  “I didn’t give you a card,” she said. “I remember everyone.”

  “Where’s Jordan?” I asked, my throat tight. I wasn’t playing this game any longer than I had to.

  She frowned. “Jordan?”

  “Jordan Fitzpatrick. Redhead. Way taller than me.” Although that might not help pinpoint someone in a place like this. “Was she here earlier?”

  “Oh, right. Jordan.” She shook her head. “I was very sorry to hear what happened to her friend. Your friend, too, right? Such a shame.”

  “Was Jordan here?” I asked again, firmer. I swept my gaze over her from head to foot. It was so hard to tell if she was a demon. I couldn’t exactly ask her to lift up her blouse so I could see her imprint. And she wasn’t making direct eye contact with me.

  She patted her hair in its perfect chignon. “She stopped by earlier, but she’s gone. Wanted to ask me a couple questions. Seemed so upset. Poor kid. I tried to help, but I couldn’t do much, I’m afraid. Look, Samantha, I’m very busy. I’m about to head out to do a sweep for new talent. We’re looking for girls for a last-minute show at the Trinity Mall this weekend. It could be a onetime thing for you to try it out.”

  “Modeling?” I eyed her warily.

  She looked at me curiously. “Well, of course. This is a modeling agency.”

  “I’m not a model.” Last time I checked, super short and lacking model looks seemed to be a big deterrent in that particular industry.

  Her curious expression turned confused. “Then what are you doing here?”

  “Looking for Jordan.”

  “Right. Well, she’s gone. I figure she’d headed to school.”

  I moved a little so I could look into her eyes. Deep into them. And I accessed that part of me that allowed me to read the minds of demons. It was part of what made me dangerous as a nexus—the unspoken truths of a demon...or an angel...could be used against them. The secrets of Heaven and Hell lay just behind their gazes. That was what I’d use to find out who she was, what she wanted and what had really happened with Jordan.

  However, there was one problem.

  I couldn’t read her mind.

  And there was no wall there to stop me. There was just...nothing.

  She wasn’t a demon. She was human.

  A man walked down the hall.

  “Joe,” she called to him, moving to the doorway. “Listen, it was a great breakfast meeting. Let’s do it again soon, okay?”

  “Sure thing, Eva.” He grasped her hand and shook it firmly.

  She didn’t devour his emotions, leaving him a suicidal wreck. Of course not. This woman was one hundred percent human.

  Jordan was wrong. She must have figured that out herself and headed back to school.

  I let out a huge, shaky sigh as relief washed over me.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “What about the show?” Eva asked.

  “I’m not interested, sorry.” I escaped from Divine Model Management as fast as I could. My heart pounded hard, but my previous anxiety lifted. I’d honestly thought something bad had happened to Jordan on her search for the truth.

  While she wouldn’t have gotten the answer she needed, my nemesis would still be breathing. Who knew I was so concerned with her well-being?

  With a lighter heart and renewed optimism that this was a sign of better things to come, I headed to the bus stop, turning at the corner up ahead.

  “Samantha,” a familiar voice greeted me.

  My breath caught and I pivoted to see Stephen standing there, as if waiting for me.

  “You...” I managed, shocked. Seeing him gave me a rush of conflicting emotions—happiness that he was still alive, and wariness...that he was still alive. He’d been so sure last night had been it for him, that he’d been going into stasis, that he’d convinced me, too. “You’re okay. I thought last
night... I—I thought I’d never see you again.”

  “Yet, here I am.” He drew closer. He wore a knee-length black wool coat that matched the color of his hair. His cinnamon-colored eyes scanned the street before they fell on me. A few cars went by. “I have something for you. Something you need. And it’s time I gave it to you.”

  My soul. He had my soul and he was finally going to give it back to me!

  “Thank you, Stephen,” I said, my throat tight. “Where is it?”

  “This way.” He nodded to a car around the corner, parked at the side of the curb.

  I followed him, still wary, but hopeful. He opened the passenger-side door and pulled out a wrapped cloth. I drew closer to see, my heart pounding.

  “Is that my soul?” I whispered.

  He unfolded it and I waited to see what was inside, but it was only a cloth. And it smelled strange.

  I frowned. “What is that?”

  “Like I said, it’s something you need.” Then he grabbed me, his arm an iron vice across my chest.

  I fought back immediately, shrieking as he pressed the cloth over my mouth and nose. I scrambled under the edge of my skirt to grab the dagger and pull it free from its sheath, and then tried to stab Stephen with it. He caught my wrist before I could make contact. His grip tightened until a lightning bolt of pain wrenched through my wrist and I heard a sharp crack. My cry of pain and fear was muffled by the cloth, and the dagger clattered to the pavement.

  He was strong—so strong. He’d broken my wrist like it was nothing more than a twig.

  All I smelled were harsh chemicals. I kept fighting against him for a few moments longer before darkness welled up all around me, dragging me down, down, down...

  Chapter 20

  Chloroform.

  I was sure that’s what Stephen had on the cloth. I’d only seen it in movies before. Now I’d experienced it in full Technicolor unconsciousness.

  I wasn’t sure how long it was until I started waking up. As soon as awareness began swirling around me and I peeled my eyelids open a little, the cloth was at my mouth again. I barely had a chance to struggle or summon a scream before darkness welled up.

  This happened twice more before I finally came to full consciousness. My head ached. The world around me was blurry. My chest hurt when I inhaled raggedly and hoarsely, followed by a dry, wheezing cough. My broken wrist throbbed.

  I lay on a hard floor in a small, dark room—small enough that my claustrophobia kicked in immediately and my heart began to race. There was a tiny window near the high ceiling that let in enough light to tell me it was late afternoon. I tried to breathe, in and out, and may have let out a small moan.

  Apart from my headache and wrist, the next pain I felt was sheer, unadulterated hunger.

  “Finally. Thought you were never going to wake up.”

  I blinked several times until I finally shifted my gaze in the direction of the voice—also the source of my current hunger.

  Jordan was crouched next to me.

  “Get back,” I croaked out.

  She shifted backward to give me some space. It helped a little.

  “Where are we?” I managed. “What are you doing here?”

  Her expression was pinched as she looked around. “Where we are? No idea. Some room with a locked door. What am I doing here? I’m guessing it’s the same reason as you. You didn’t come here of your own free will.” A bit of her bravado slipped away and I could see the fear in her green eyes. “I thought you were dead.”

  I rubbed my head with my good hand. “And you’re disappointed that I’m not?”

  “Don’t be stupid. Of course not. I don’t like you, Samantha, but I didn’t want you to die. There’s been enough death this week.” Her voice quavered. “What the hell is going on?”

  The room was no more than ten square feet. I hated being in enclosed spaces so much. It made me feel trapped. Now I was literally trapped. “How long was I out?”

  “A day and a half.”

  I forced myself to sit up. “A day and a half?”

  “It was yesterday morning when I was brought here. You were brought in an hour later. And then...all afternoon. Night. Day again...it feels like forever. He threw in a water bottle and a couple energy bars. I saved one for you.”

  I sat up completely. My head throbbed with the effort and I brought my knees up in front of me, hugging them to my chest as I tried to sort things through. I pressed my right hand against my chest. My wrist was definitely broken.

  Panic and anger swirled inside me at the thought that Stephen had kept me unconscious for a day and a half.

  Locked in a basement with Jordan.

  I looked at her. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Gee, what a fantastic idea. I hadn’t considered that before.” Her sarcasm dripped. “The door’s locked. And it’s made of metal. There’s no way out. I already broke three nails trying.”

  “What about that window?” I looked up at it.

  “Do you have a secret identity as Spider-Man I’m not aware of? Besides, you’re small, but that window is still way too tiny to squeeze through.”

  I struggled to get to my feet. Jordan tried to help me but I flinched away from her.

  “What is wrong with you?” she snapped.

  My stomach clenched as I tried to get control of myself. It took a second. “Trust me, you don’t want to get too close to me right now.”

  “You are so weird.”

  “Yeah, I’m weird. But take my word for it, okay? Stay back.” I got to my feet on my own and turned in a circle. It looked like a storage room, cleared of any storage so the room was completely empty. Just white walls. Ceiling-set lights. That small window. Two trapped girls. “Do you have a cell phone?”

  “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. “My cell phone! I could just call someone for help.” She glared. “He took it away from me, of course. First thing he did.”

  I scowled at her. “You’re not helping.”

  “Why is Stephen doing this?” Her earlier smart-ass tone had been replaced by raw pain and confusion. “Why would he do this to me?”

  “Maybe you should have left him alone.”

  “Nice. And let you have him?”

  A cold line of perspiration slid down my back. Being in this tight spot with no idea how to escape was starting to freak me out. “Believe me, I don’t want him. There’s only one thing I want from Stephen and it’s definitely not his body.”

  Jordan’s bottom lip wobbled. “He’s a monster.”

  “Did he kiss you?” I asked with alarm when the thought occurred to me. At her look of confusion, it took all I had in me not to reach forward and shake her. “Did he?”

  Her eyes sparked with fury. “No. He was too busy knocking me unconscious to do any making out. Not that I’d ever kiss him again after what he’s done to me. Bastard.”

  “Good.”

  “Oh, I see. You’re the only girl that psycho can kiss now. Is that it?”

  “Save your jealousy, Jordan. It’s not helpful right now.” I went to the door, pressing my left hand flat against its smooth, cool surface. There was no handle or lock on this side, only flat metal.

  Then I started to pound on it. “Stephen! Let us out of here!”

  Jordan grabbed my shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  I literally shoved her away from me. Her soul was like a tempting second skin she wore, and the last damn thing I wanted to do right now was lose what little control I had left and attack her. “What did I tell you about not getting close to me?”

  She frowned deeply. “Stephen said the same thing to me when he brought me in here.”

  “He did?”

  “Yeah. I figured he just doesn’t like me anymore.”

  “I think he might like you too much,” I mumbled. Then I pounded on the door again until my left fist hurt. It was a very sharp reminder that my nexus abilities did not extend themselves to super strength, at least, not when a demon or an angel wasn’t involv
ed. No, a big metal door was more than enough to keep me trapped. And my only ability as a gray was my current and growing need to devour Jordan’s soul.

  It was my worst fear come to life. No way to escape my hunger. What happened with Colin would only be foreshadowing if I didn’t find a way out of this room.

  “Stephen’s one of them,” Jordan whispered.

  She wrung her hands anxiously. “The ones who hurt people, who can absorb their energy somehow. It weakens them—can kill them. The murders in the paper, the ones where the victims have no sign of trauma, only those strange lines around their mouths. The police don’t know why, but I do. I saw it before, and Stephen’s one of them. He’s got us in here and he’s going to kill us.”

  I looked at her, stunned that she figured it out—even if she had no idea what she’d figured out. “I don’t think his plan is nearly as simple as killing us.”

  “You’re not looking at me like I’m crazy. Why aren’t you freaking out?”

  My heart was going a thousand beats a minute, but I was doing everything I could not to let it show on the surface. “I am freaking out, believe me.”

  “I checked out the modeling agency. But—but that woman...”

  “She wasn’t the reason why Julie killed herself,” I finished. “I know. I checked her out, too.”

  She looked shocked. “You did?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “I was trying to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.”

  The mix of surprise and gratitude in her eyes both froze off quickly. “That wasn’t smart. Since now we’re going to die, anyway.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re welcome. And we’re not going to die. Stephen, he...he has another reason for keeping us here. And I think we’re going to find out what it is very soon.” There was the sound of a lock turning and the door began to creak open. My mouth went dry with fear. “Like...right now.”

  I staggered back from the door and, for the first time since I came to, felt for the knife at my thigh. Only the leather sheath remained.

  “Asshole,” I muttered. He’d broken my wrist when I pulled out the dagger to defend myself. Of course he hadn’t given it back.