Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers) (37 page)

His dark brows drew together. “I never said you were unworthy
to me. Just to
them
you are. They would kill you in
a heartbeat and they would use you for their own gain—as they already have.”

“And you don’t want to use me?”

This earned the shadow of a grin. “Touché. The truth is, I need
what you and I share. That hunger that has awoken inside you. It’s powerful,
that hunger. Some might call it an anomaly, but it’s an asset. It’s not like
what you felt before with the need to devour souls. This serves you...and it can
serve me.”

My stomach convulsed at what he was suggesting. “I’m not
helping you destroy the world.”

“Of course not. I know you wouldn’t agree to such a thing. Not
now, anyway.” He grimaced again and the lines moved all the way down his hands
to his fingertips. He looked at them grimly. “Seventeen years of absorbing the
energy of the Hollow—the energy of each discarded demon or angel who found his
or her way into its belly. I took as much of it as I could get. It wasn’t until
it was too late that I realized it was too much.”

“What do you mean, too much?”

“The energy is overwhelming me. I need to release it so I can
gather my strength again. Otherwise, it will break me into pieces.” A glimmer of
knowledge came over his expression and, if I wasn’t mistaken, an edge of
fear.

“Sorry,
Dad.
” I said it as harshly
as I could, despite quaking inside. “But you being destroyed before you put your
nasty plan into action? Doesn’t sound like a tragedy to me.”

He laughed at this, a sharp crack of a sound. “No, I’m sure
you’d think that, given all evidence to the contrary. But you’re wrong. Those
pieces of me will each become a Hollow of its own. Countless hungry mouths
seeking energy with no conscious being controlling it. I might relish chaos and
the destruction of my enemies, but not at the risk of my own existence. I want
to be the one to destroy Heaven and Hell. Me alone.”

Could it be that the power inside Nathan was ready to shatter
tonight and that one of those pieces was what destroyed Trinity as it did in my
vision?

No one to control it. No one to stop, because there was no one
to
stop.

My throat tightened, as if gripped by an invisible hand as I
stared with fear at the man I’d always thought harmless from the moment I met
him. Harmless and in need of help. I’d been only half right. “You want me to
take some of that power away with a touch because I’m the only one who can. Take
it into myself—that poison you’re dealing with right now that’s causing you so
much pain.”

“From what I’ve seen of you, beautiful star, you have a need to
help others. Even though they would turn their backs on you, abuse you, use you
and underappreciate you. You want to help them. You want to save them.” His jaw,
covered in those strange black lines, tightened. “This is the only way you
can.”

Jordan continued to look on in shock, following this
conversation as if fascinated and horrified by everything said.

That made two of us.

What Nathan was asking settled over me like a rancid, moldy
blanket. “You’re asking me to sacrifice myself tonight to save this city.”

He shook his head. “No, not sacrifice your life—that would
require taking all of my power. I’m the only one capable of using that power to
destroy. You’re too young, too fragile to handle that. It would kill you.”

“Sam, no...” Jordan whispered.

“You don’t belong here, beautiful star,” Nathan continued. “Not
here. You’re not one of them and you never have been. Taking part of my energy
to relieve the pressure on me temporarily will not kill you, but it will change
you into what you were always meant to be. You will become a permanent part of
the Hollow, just as I am. And if you refuse, everything in the world will suffer
and there’s not even anything I can do to stop it. It’s as simple as that.”

“Simple.” I swallowed. “You think any of this is simple?”

“It is to me. I see the truth. Even your adoptive family
rejects you. Nobody cares about you at school. Even the girl who stands here
shivering before us both hates you and has caused you only pain.”

“He’s wrong, you know,” Jordan spoke up, her voice strained but
steady. “I don’t hate you. I actually like you. I think you’re all kinds of
strange and make stupid decisions nearly every day, but I like you. Normally I
wouldn’t admit this out loud, but I feel like the situation sort of calls for
it.”

I turned to her with surprise, my eyes stinging. But before I
could say anything, the demon surged forward until he was right in front of
her.

“If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask.” Nathan backhanded her and
she went flying through the air and slammed down against the pavement fifteen
feet away.

It had happened so fast, all I could do was look at him in
shock and fury.

Out of the darkness, another figure now approached. Fast. It
was Stephen, a furious expression on his face.

“I’m going to kill you for that,” he snarled.

Nathan sighed. “More teenage romantic drama. Never ends well,
boy. Consider this a lesson for you.”

As Stephen’s fist was about to make contact with Nathan’s jaw,
the demon grabbed it, twisting. I heard Stephen’s wrist break and he gasped in
pain.

Nathan held on tight and Stephen made a wheezing sound, as if
he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. The demon was feeding on more life
energy, draining Stephen of his life right before my eyes.

“Stop it,” I yelled. “Stop it now! If you want me to help you,
don’t do this!”

Nathan let go of Stephen and the gray crumpled to the ground,
unconscious.

I stood there facing my demonic birth father with three
unconscious bodies surrounding us as if this was a battlefield.

“You’ll help me?” he asked.

I’d quickly found myself cornered with no chance to run, no
opportunity for escape. Natalie may have lied shamelessly to me in order to
attempt to get me to do what she wanted. But with Nathan—I had no doubt he’d
been telling the truth.

Unless I took away some of the energy that was currently trying
to shatter him into countless pieces and which would then destroy everything in
their paths, everyone and everything was doomed.

This definitely wasn’t a multiple-choice quiz with the
possibility of full marks.

“I’ll help you,” I said finally, my chest tight. “But I need
you to do something for me first.”

“What?”

“Bring Carly back.”

“Your little blonde friend.”

“She was taken still alive. And I know you can release people
like that. You did it for Natalie. Do it for Carly, too.”

He cocked his head. “Always trying to help others. You must get
that from your mother’s genes.”

Nathan’s eyes began to glow red and a moment later, the Hollow
opened up behind him. Just like that. One moment there was nothing there, the
next, a swirling black vortex, eight feet in diameter, hung in the air. The
sound was as thunderous and ear-splitting as always.

The vortex disappeared a moment later, but there was someone
left standing in its place with her back to us. Someone very familiar.

It was Carly.

Chapter 36

She scanned the area and slowly swiveled around to face
me, her face even paler than her light blond hair. “Sam?”

“Carly! You’re here!” I jerkily moved toward her, grabbing her
shoulders so I could inspect her for injury. She looked fine—unhurt, undamaged,
healthy—and she wore the same clothes as the last time I’d seen her: a cute
dress that hugged her curves she’d worn the night I’d confronted Natalie at
Crave.

She blinked hard. “What the hell just happened? I shoved that
knife in Natalie and—that black thing grabbed me and...and suddenly I’m here.”
She glanced around. “In the middle of freaking nowhere. With that weird homeless
guy and...oh, my God. Is that Jordan Fitzpatrick? Can I suck out her soul?
Please?”

She didn’t remember anything about the Hollow. But she was
still a gray.

I’d wanted to save her from the Hollow. Mission accomplished.
But now, before I could allow myself a measure of relief that she’d be okay, I
had the chance to save her from being a gray.

Stephen was waking up and I left my best friend to run back
toward him, frantic. “I need Carly’s soul. I need it now, Stephen. She can still
be saved.”

He’d crawled over toward Jordan to check on her, but she was
still unconscious. He cradled her head in his lap.

“Stephen!” I yelled, punching him hard in his shoulder. “I need
it
now.
”

He just shook his head. “It’s gone.”

That imaginary hand that had been around my throat now clutched
my heart. “It can’t be gone. You saved mine, you said you saved hers, too.”

His expression was grim. “Natalie wanted me to, but it’s
different. It was different from yours. Yours was stronger, it survived the
transfer. Carly’s was... It fell apart when I was trying to encase it. I lied so
she wouldn’t be mad. Carly’s soul is gone, just like mine is, Samantha. I’m
sorry.”

I went cold inside, so cold that I couldn’t even get angry. I
couldn’t yell or scream at him. The promise that I could make Carly the way she
used to be was gone.

Now that she was back, soon she’d go through stasis. And
knowing how the other grays had fared, she likely wouldn’t survive it.

“Sam, what the hell is going on?” Carly’s words now twisted
with panic.

The tremor that shook the ground brought my attention back to
Nathan. His face was covered in black lines now and he convulsed, bending over
as if he couldn’t stand the pain a moment longer. “No time,” he gasped. “You
must do it now or everything ends.”

A demon who had caused so much pain now experienced it
himself.

I should be happy about that. I wasn’t.

My vision was about become a reality if I didn’t do something
to stop it.

And Nathan was very right about one thing. There was no time.
No time to try to contact Bishop through that thread that joined us. For all I
knew, it wouldn’t work anymore, now that I wasn’t a gray. Maybe the part of his
soul I had inside me was gone now, too, just like the power to help him fight
his madness.

Jordan inhaled sharply as she finally woke up, her gaze darting
around the scene before her she probably hoped had been a nightmare. “The
demon...the creep. Where’d he go?”

I shot a look over to where Roth had been. She was right; he’d
disappeared. The moment he’d had the chance, he’d taken off and left us all
behind to deal with this mess. He didn’t get his end of the bargain, so he’d
settle for self-preservation.

I wasn’t all that surprised. Disappointed, but not
surprised.

“I think my ankle’s broken,” Jordan groaned, sliding her hand
down her leg. Then she glanced at the person sitting on the ground holding her.
“Oh, hell. Stephen...it’s you.”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

She sat up and quickly scooted away from him, grimacing from
the pain in her ankle. “Why— Where did you come from? What are you doing?”

He looked at her bleakly, shrugging. “I have this weird impulse
to protect you.”

That earned him a dark look of disdain. “When you’re not
knocking me unconscious and holding me prisoner while asking someone else to
devour my soul? Based on recent experience, the only person I need protection
from is you. Well, and the homeless demon dude who’s about to go all
apocalyptic.”

“Good point. And yet, here I am anyway, when I should be
anywhere else.”

“Sam,” Carly said, drawing close enough to touch my arm. “Can
you please explain to me what’s going on?”

I looked into the face of my best friend since we were little
kids, playing in sandboxes and swimming pools. Running through sprinklers.
Catching frogs and kissing them, hoping they might turn into princes.

It was a phase when we were ten. It passed.

I thought I’d be able to save her.

At the moment, it seemed as if there was only one person I
might be able to save. And it was the last person who deserved it.

The tremors were growing more intense. The entire city shook as
if the earth was about ready to split open and swallow it whole.

I took a deep breath in. “You know how I’ve always been a
realist, despite loving monster movies? How I’ve always looked at facts and
figures and tried to understand things in black-and-white terms?”

“Yeah. So annoying.” Carly laughed shakily. “Why?”

I hugged her hard. “If I was a dreamer, I’d believe there was
another solution. But there’s not. Not this time.”

“Wait, Sam, what are you talking about?”

I let go of her and walked straight over to Nathan. The lines
on his skin were alive, writhing, and in between, there was a glow emanating
from them, as if the energy inside him was ready to burst free and shatter him
into a million sharp and hungry pieces.

I reached my hand out to him. It trembled.

He grabbed it so tightly, I winced.

“Do it,” he gritted out. “Save me, Samantha.”

“I’m not doing this for you.”

This ability was still new to me and it had happened with
Connor by accident. Still, that hunger woke up again now the moment I touched
Nathan. Supernatural energy surged beneath my touch, bigger and brighter than
anything I’d ever felt.

Dark energy. It had no purity to it, no true light. It was
messy, cluttered, angry and filled with muck. And yet, I hungered for it
anyway.

Nathan had said he was in control of this ability—and so was
I.

I guessed we’d soon find out if that was true.

A greediness rose up inside of me and I began to absorb that
energy into myself. So natural, it was as if I’d done this all my life—same as
drinking a milkshake. And it was much different from being a gray. This
ability—this anomaly—felt right.

After a minute, Nathan’s shoulders relaxed. “That’s right,
beautiful star. You’re doing so well.”

I gripped his other hand and we stood there, face-to-face, as I
absorbed his supernatural energy—the energy of the Hollow he’d taken so he could
control it; that had begun to control him, to destroy him.

I took enough of it to save him and keep him from destroying
the world.

But then I kept taking some more.

My stomach roiled from the darkness of it, like mounds of junk
food, full of fat and sodium, with no nutritional value. This was the Hollow.
Bad things had been cast inside. This was the essence of that.

No wonder it had changed Nathan so much. After all, you are
what you eat.

I could still think, still reason. This wasn’t controlling me,
I was controlling it.

Good.

“You said before that there are those destined to create,” I
said, “and those destined to destroy.”

He managed a smile. “I did say that. Which are you?”

I locked gazes with him. “Let’s just say, I think I take after
my father.”

I tightened my grip on him and his grin faltered at the edges.
“You’ve taken enough now. Let go of me.”

I didn’t let go. I continued to absorb his energy. And the more
I took, the more I wanted.

He hissed, trying to pull away, but failing. “Let go of me. I
told you already, you can’t take too much or it will kill you.”

“Yeah, you did say that, didn’t you? But this is the only way
you’ll be stopped. The power of the Hollow—the part that you were able to
control—is going to die with me.”

“Samantha, no! Don’t do this!” Jordan yelled this while the
other two looked on with shock.

“Get out of here!” I yelled over my shoulder at them as I felt
the moment when I’d taken everything I could from Nathan. “I honestly don’t know
how this is going to end. Get somewhere safe where you can—”

Then something hit me, grabbing hold of me and pulling me to
the side and away from the demon. I landed on the ground and Bishop was there,
staring down at me.

“Samantha, what did he do to you? Are you all right?”

Funny, I felt fine. I felt really good, all satiated and
satisfied. But that feeling began to fade as soon as it arrived.

“How did you know to come here?” I said, not answering his
question.

“Roth came for us, told us what was going on.”

I tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a sob. “I thought
he’d taken off, abandoned us. Of course not. He really cared for Cassandra... He
has a heart buried deep down somewhere. Even though he’s a demon, he isn’t a
monster. He’s not like my father.”

Bishop pulled me up into a sitting position. His expression was
etched in worry. “You don’t sound right.”

“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.