Dark Kiss (Harlequin Teen) (28 page)

Bishop turned to me. “I understand. But—wait here. I’ll take Connor inside and then walk you home.”

I crossed my arms and leaned against the brick exterior near the open door. “Okay.”

He looked surprised that I’d agreed without any argument. A smile touched his lips. “Two minutes.”

I just nodded, and he and Connor disappeared into the building.

Those two minutes felt like a long time to be left alone in the dark. And my hunger continued to rage. It had gotten worse since I’d left the nightclub, going from a dull throb to a thunderous roar. Maybe I should have had some of those half-price chicken wings while I’d had the chance.

When Bishop returned, the expression on my face must have caused him some alarm. He was at my side in an instant.

“Samantha, what’s wrong?”

And that did it. The fragile glass was knocked off the edge of the counter and crashed to the ground. I started to cry. Sob. I’d even go so far as to say I was wailing uncontrollably. It was like I couldn’t hold it in any longer. The dam had finally broken.

Bishop put his arms around me and pulled me against him. He stroked the long hair back off my face. Through my blurry vision, all I could see was him. It was all dark behind him, cold except for his touch.

“What?” he said again, almost demanding. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Everything’s wrong. I—I’m so scared.”

That only made his expression fiercer than it was to start with. “I know I’ve kept the full truth from you, I’ve scared you over and over, I’ve put you in danger so many times.” He frowned deeper. “I’m really not helping my case much with this line of reasoning, am I?”

I managed a small laugh through my tears. “Don’t become a lawyer.”

“What I’m trying to say is that, despite our shaky start, I’m here for you. I’m here for you like you’ve been here for me.”

My heart clenched at his words. “You are?”

He nodded. “You told me earlier that I had to learn to accept help from others. That’s hard for me. I’ve always done my own thing, thinking I was invulnerable. Trust me, I have a whole lot of pride for an angel. It’s one of the reasons I was first in line to volunteer for this mission without being shielded like the others. I thought I could handle it, no problem.”

“You’ve done really well,” I said.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been a mess from day one. I was cocky to think it wouldn’t be a big deal. It is. I tried to deny it, to fight it, but I can’t. Not on my own. Not without your help. And now you need help, too.”

The whole time he made his speech, he’d been stroking the hair back off my face, his touch bringing me much needed warmth this cold night.

“I do need help,” I finally said. “And it’s not because of what happened between us. It’s…something else.”

“What is it?”

Still, I was afraid to say it out loud. I didn’t even know how to get into this and sound halfway cohesive. “What Connor said about me earlier. About me being a
nexus…
”

He searched my face. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

I just nodded. I half expected him to push back from me, maybe go inside and tell the others, but he stayed right where he was.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

I tried to catch my breath, but that seemed impossible right now. “I didn’t know, not until tonight.”

“How did you find out?”

I hesitated a moment before I said anything else. “I didn’t know for sure that I was adopted until earlier tonight. All my life, I had no idea…” I trailed off, looking up at him with uncertainty.

He gazed back at me with undivided attention. “Who told you about this? How did you learn the truth?”

“The Source,” I said it so softly it was no more than a whisper. “It’s my aunt. My real father’s sister—she’s a demon.”

Anyone else would have reacted with shock or, more likely, total disbelief. But not Bishop. He took it in stride.

“You’ve met her,” he said.

I nodded and it took a moment before I could continue. “Natalie’s the one you’ve been looking for. And you were right…she does go to Crave regularly. That’s where I saw her tonight—Tuesday night, too.”

“Is she the same demon as last time? The anomaly I told you about?”

I nodded, feeling ill. “She was pushed into the Hollow.”

He frowned deeply. “And she’s back? How?”

“I don’t know how, but she is. And now if she kisses someone—she can create more who have the same hungers as she does. Before, it was just her.” My brain felt like it had the consistency of mush as I tried not to make the situation even worse than it already was. “She told me my mother—an angel named Anna—was killed. And my father jumped into the Hollow after her. He must be back, too. Natalie and my father both escaped the Hollow. So it’s not what everyone thinks it is. It must mean that if they can, then there are others that aren’t killed, that were just sucked in by accident, or whatever, that can escape. It’s not one-way—or at least, it isn’t anymore.”

If my words shocked Bishop or freaked him out, he didn’t let on that they did. He braced a hand against the brick wall behind my left shoulder and studied me intently, absorbing every word I spoke. “I’m glad you told me this.”

“I was going to keep it a secret, but I couldn’t. You needed to know.”

He cast a glance back at the door to the church. “Don’t tell the others about the reason behind your abilities. I don’t want them to know. Connor was only guessing before. Like I said, it’s incredibly rare. Heaven and Hell…well, they don’t have a great appreciation for anything outside of regulations. And that’s exactly what a
nexus
is, especially the ones they’re not even aware exist.” His eyes met mine again. “They’d view you as something very dangerous.”

I took that in. “And how do you view me?”

“
Very
dangerous.” His gaze sank into me for a moment, but then his jaw tensed. “I want you to introduce me to your aunt.”

I tensed. “Bishop, I don’t know…”

“I need to understand what her plan is, what she wants. And if she can stop this before it gets any worse.”

“She told me she thinks the other grays’ hunger will fade. That
my
hunger will fade. Then grays won’t be a risk anymore. Is that possible?”

His brows drew together. “I don’t know. I hope so. This is why I need more information.”

My breath caught. “Roth seems to go hunting for the fun of it. Does he care which kind of gray he kills?”

“Roth’s…different. The demons view this mission as more of a scoreboard. But I’ve made him well aware of the rules. And if I can talk to Natalie, figure out some other solution, maybe this can end without anyone else getting hurt.”

“Do you think you might be able to help her?”

He nodded. “If she wants to be helped.”

“You mean it?”

“I mean it.” He stroked my hair back and pushed it behind my ears, keeping his warm hand on the side of my face. His heat sank into me. “When we first met, I thought there was something special about you.”

“And what do you think now?” The closer he got to me the more difficult it was to think normally. Or logically. He smelled so good it was all I could focus on.

He raised an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”

I nodded.

“What do I think now?” he whispered. “I think that even though you keep saving me, I’m still in danger whenever I’m close to you.”

I could barely breathe. “Danger? How?”

“Like every single time I’m close to you, I want to do this.”

When he brushed his lips against mine, I stopped thinking. My hands tangled in the soft material of his shirt, then slid up over his shoulders.

“That’s kind of a coincidence,” I whispered. “Because I feel exactly the same way.”

He kissed me again, soft at first, but it quickly grew deeper and more passionate. Until this moment, I would have had to say my kiss with Stephen had been the best I’d ever had, even though it had ended badly. But this was…
way
better. No wonder I’d never fallen hard for any guy at school before. I’d been waiting for Heaven to send one directly to me.

I pulled him even closer, changing our positions so he was the one against the wall. I had to stand on my tiptoes to keep kissing him, my hands now sliding up into his hair.

“You taste so good,” I murmured against his lips.

He did. He tasted good—heavenly. Delicious. My hunger rose up and spilled over and as the kiss grew and grew, my hunger finally started to fade. I’d never experienced anything so satisfying in my life, anything so good, so sweet and intoxicating. I never wanted to stop kissing him.

There were no more worries, no more problems, only him. His kiss. I wanted it all—every delicious piece until there was nothing left…

Suddenly I felt a tight and painful grip on my arm. I released Bishop with a yelp and glared into the face of Kraven. Roth stood right next to him.

I wanted to kill them both.

“What?” I snarled.

I expected some smart-ass reply, but both demons just stared at me with eyes filled with shock before moving to Bishop. I turned to look at him to see he had begun to sink down to the ground, his back still pressed against the wall. His eyes were glazed, his skin pale white, and there were dark lines around his mouth.

Watching through the fog surrounding my mind, I tried to piece together what I was seeing, what it meant, but it didn’t make any sense. He looked just like Paul had when I’d stopped Carly from kissing him.

She’d been feeding on his soul.

And, even though it should have been impossible, I’d been doing the exact same thing to Bishop.

Chapter 19

Angels didn’t have souls.

But I didn’t care that it didn’t make sense. I just wanted more. I wanted to be left alone so I could kiss Bishop again. There was nothing else I wanted.

Before I could move toward him, Kraven grabbed tightly onto my arms and peered into my eyes.

“Oh, hell, gray girl,” he said grimly. “Just couldn’t keep your pretty little lips off him forever, could you?”

“Let go of me.” It was like I was hearing myself from a mile away. I had to get back to Bishop. I had to kiss him again. I wanted more—so much more. I struggled against Kraven’s hold on me, trying to push and claw my way out of his grip.

“Sorry about this,” the demon said.

“What?”

He smacked me hard enough to make my ears ring. I yelped and my hand shot to my burning cheek.

And reality set in as fast as a bolt of lightning. The fog surrounding me disappeared and the horror of what I’d done became crystal clear.

“Good, you’re back,” Kraven said, nodding. “Didn’t want to have to knock you out. Or did I? I guess we’ll never know.”

I stared at him. “What happened?”

“What happened?” Kraven repeated, the mocking tone returning to his voice. “Don’t you think that’s painfully obvious by now, sweetness?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the angels join us and take in the scene. Zach looked shocked, but Connor looked bleak.

Roth, as expected, just glared at me, his arms crossed over his chest.

I shook my head. “But he’s an angel.”

My gaze tracked to Bishop to see he was slowly recovering. The lines around his mouth had faded to nothing and color was returning to his face. Shakily he got up from the ground, still leaning back against the cold brick wall, and he touched his mouth, staring at me with shock and confusion—a mirror of how I looked at him.

“Sorry to interrupt your romantic interlude,” Kraven said. “But we can sense when an attack occurs nearby.”

I felt sick right down to my bones.

“But I don’t have a soul,” Bishop said. He hadn’t looked away from me for a moment. While he still looked confused and shaken, there was still desire in his gaze that only continued to grow. I remembered my kiss with Stephen—it hadn’t been unpleasant, despite what it was doing to me. It had been exciting, exhilarating and filled with passion. I would have kept kissing him if he hadn’t stopped.

And the kiss with Bishop had been so much better than that.

I still ached to kiss him again. And if no one else was here, I think he might have let me.

“Why were you kissing a gray in the first place?” Roth asked, clearly confused and disgusted by the thought of it. “Some sort of experiment?”

“Doubt that,” Connor said. “Bishop doesn’t strike me as all that scientific.”

“Bishop—” Zach moved toward him, concern on his face. “How do you feel?”

“Angels don’t have souls,” Bishop said again.

“Fallen angels do.” Connor leaned against the wall a few feet away from him, watching him warily.

Bishop blinked at him. “Yeah, it’s an anchor to keep them in the human world—a punishment so they have no hope of returning to Heaven. They’re cast out forever. But I’m here only temporarily, for the mission. I’m going back.”

Connor didn’t reply to that, but his expression remained grim. It was different from the sarcastic guy we’d walked back to the church with.

I almost said something to defend Bishop, but I bit my tongue and stayed where I was, shivering in the shadows. There was nothing in the other angel’s expression that made me think he was speaking anything but the truth right now.

A soul. Bishop had a soul.

And I’d kissed him because I’d felt that hunger for him from the moment we first met.

This wasn’t happening.

“Did you know already?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

Connor looked at me. “Yes.”

“How?”

“It’s why I was sent here.” He turned to study Bishop. “Something went very wrong when you left. Somebody screwed up. They made you fall. For real.”

Bishop stared at him, his brow furrowed. “How could that happen?”

Connor’s expression tensed. “There are those who want you to fail, for this mission to fail. The gatekeeper who sent you was one of the old guard—the
very
old guard. A zealot who thought the only answer to purge the human world of this new infection would be to destroy the city all Sodom-and-Gomorrah style. But to do that, you’d need to fail. When I got here, I expected you to be in bad shape, but you weren’t. So I figured maybe they’d been wrong and didn’t say anything. A soul usually messes up a fallen angel’s head big-time.”

Bishop just stared at Connor with shock as this sank in.

Zach’s expression was tense. “The rest of us were protected. But if nobody found us…we’d still be wandering the streets with no idea who we were.”

“Yeah,” Kraven agreed, eyeing me. “If you hadn’t found us, gray girl, we would have wandered the city forever.”

“She’s a damn gray,” Roth snapped. “Is this enough proof for you? She needs to die.”

“Back off,” Bishop growled at him. “She didn’t know this would happen.”

“She found us and that gives her a pass,” Kraven said. “This time, anyway.”

Roth sank back into the shadows. I was surprised they weren’t all ganging up on me at this point. I’d just proven that I was every bit as horrible as they thought I was.

I wanted to go to Bishop, to touch him, but I knew that would be the worst thing I could do right now. “This—gatekeeper who did this to him. Where is he now?”

“Punished. I hope he sees the irony when he’s cast out of Heaven for his crimes.” Connor swept his gaze around the group. “There was no way to know how badly Bishop was affected by this. The barrier blocks nearly all attempts to monitor the situation. So they sent me to help.”

I stared at him. “But if he couldn’t find the others, he couldn’t find you, either.”

He nodded grimly. “See, I didn’t know he couldn’t spot the searchlights. I just knew he’d be messed up mentally. Hindsight’s a bitch, isn’t it? But now I’m here and I’m in it to win it. Five are better than four, I say. The mission stands. This is just a minor setback.”

I gazed around, as if the night might have answers. The only light out here came from the full moon above and a lamp over by the street. A pair of headlights moved along in front of the church from a rarely seen car. I scanned the sky, but it was dark. No more searchlights, just stars.

“Sodom-and-Gomorrah style,” I murmured. “Just like my vision.”

“What?” Connor asked.

“I—I had a vision that the city was destroyed. Everyone gone. It was…epic.”

He frowned. “Do you usually have disturbing visions of the future?”

I cleared my throat. “Not usually. But is that a possibility? If the old guard wants to do that, will they? If the mission fails?”

“The mission
won’t
fail,” Kraven said. “So it’s a moot point. Put that out of your mind, sweetness. We have it covered.”

Somehow, his assurance didn’t help. A chill went through me then, which was surprising. I thought I’d gone completely numb.

Bishop raked a hand through his hair, his posture slumped as if he’d grown very tired. What I’d done to him had weakened him. “I can’t go back now.”

“Don’t say that.” I moved toward him, but stopped myself from getting too close. Even a few feet away his scent made me dizzy and triggered my hunger again. I wanted to kiss him so badly it was like I was going into withdrawal from keeping my distance. He affected me now even more than ever before. I clenched my hands until my short fingernails bit into my palms. The pain helped clear my mind.

“Why? It’s true. I might be crazy a lot of the time, but I’m not stupid.” He held my gaze, his face strained as if he might feel the same need to get closer to me, but then he tore his attention from me to look at Connor. “I was supposed to be extracted early, once I dealt with the Source. I got in through the barrier, so I could be pulled back out. That won’t happen now. And with this soul inside me, I might not get back at all, not if they can’t reverse this.”

“I’ll do what I can when I get back,” Connor said.

“Have you ever heard of a fallen angel returning to Heaven?”

Connor didn’t speak for a moment. “No.”

“Exactly my point.”

My heart twisted. It sounded as if he’d already accepted that this was the end.

Going back to Heaven and being cured of the madness that plagued him—it was all he’d wanted since he’d arrived, his beacon. If he couldn’t go back, he’d be like the homeless guy I’d met. I realized then that I didn’t even know what the guy’s name was. I hadn’t asked.

“I met someone,” I said, breaking the silence. “A homeless man who hangs out near Crave. He was kind of out of it, rambling. When I touched him, I felt the spark similar to when I touch Bishop. He’s an angel, too.”

A fallen angel.

“Not surprised,” Kraven said. “There are plenty of fallen angels in the human world. Heaven has a way higher fail rate than Hell. When a demon stays in the human world, it’s usually a reward, not a punishment. Unless he’s been officially exiled.”

Bishop stared at me and I saw the pain shadowing his eyes as he absently touched his lips again. His gaze flicked to Kraven. “Did you know this?”

“Which part?” the demon asked. “I’m having trouble keeping track.”

“That I was fallen? That what was wrong with me wasn’t just disorientation caused by the barrier?”

Kraven’s lips thinned. “I saw the signs. And yeah, I thought it could be this. I wasn’t sure.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

There was nothing compassionate in Kraven’s harsh expression. “It’s not my fault you didn’t do your homework. I guess it’s just like old times, huh? Trust the wrong person, you end up screwed.”

With no warning, Bishop attacked him, grabbing the demon and slamming him down hard on the ground. If Kraven had been a human, it probably would have broken his back. Bishop even got a couple punches in, directly to the demon’s face, before Zach and Connor forcibly pulled him back and tried to restrain him. He looked completely crazy right now, and it scared me. I was frozen in place—all I could do was watch and try to make sense of all this.

“Get control over yourself,” Zach warned Bishop. “You’re only making things worse.”

It was the first time I’d heard an edge of anger in the angel’s voice. Maybe he wasn’t always the kindhearted healer.

Kraven wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth and pushed up off the ground. His eyes glowed red. “Yeah, I know. It sucks. But you can’t blame me for this. It’s not my fault.”

“You should have told me,” Bishop hissed.

“Why? What good would that have done? Your brain is toast. If it wasn’t for her—” he thrust a thumb at me “—you’d be off in a rubber room somewhere, drooling and rocking back and forth and the rest of us would be eating out of Dumpsters and sleeping on park benches. Just before the city was wiped off the face of the planet with us in it, like in your girlfriend’s vision.”

The pain on Bishop’s face tore me up inside. “What can I do?” I asked.

Kraven shot a dark glare in my direction. “You can stay the hell away from him.”