I watched her with widening eyes. “Souls.”
She nodded, her expression bleak. “It became an addiction, one I knew would lead me to trouble every time I came to the human world. But I couldn’t stop. Nathan tried to help me, but I finally ran away. I hid out here and my hungers only got worse. Of course, that meant that I showed up on the proverbial radar screen of Heaven and Hell like a bright blip of trouble. I was destroying what they valued most. I was a renegade that needed to be hunted down. They sent a team of angels and demons to do just that. On that team was my brother whom they’d enlisted in the hope that he could help control me—and your mother, Anna. That’s how they met.”
Anna. Her name immediately seared into my brain. I swallowed hard. “So what happened?”
“They found me, of course. But it took them many months. By then, Anna was already very pregnant.” She let out a humorless laugh. “Believe me, they were shocked that it happened as much as anyone else could be—at the time, they hadn’t even known it was possible. But—” Natalie turned to clutch my hand and looked deeply into my eyes “—they wanted you, Samantha. They loved you even before you were born.”
I didn’t pull away from her, but my palms were sweating. “Then what happened?”
“Even though they tried to keep it a secret, the other team members figured out they had an illicit relationship. They were torn apart and told they would never be allowed to see each other again. You’d been born and hidden away by then. Anna planned to get you back as soon as she could.”
“But she didn’t.”
“No.” Natalie’s grip on me grew so tight it was nearly painful. “There was a fight. A big fight. Anna—she was stabbed with a dagger just like the one Bishop carries. The Hollow opened up and swallowed her. Nathan was so devastated at the thought of losing her, he jumped right in after her.” Her face tensed. “And the rest of the team made sure to shove me in right behind them. Wouldn’t want to waste an opportunity to get rid of three problems at the same time.”
I stared at her in shock. My heart was pounding three times as fast as normal. “They killed her?”
Natalie nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Grief for a woman I’d never known gripped my throat. Tears welled in my eyes.
I forced myself to hold them back. “Wh-what is the Hollow? I keep hearing that but I don’t understand what it is. It’s where supernatural beings go when they die. Right?”
Her lips thinned. “It’s a black pit where all the unwanted garbage from Heaven and Hell is tossed—and it doesn’t discriminate. It opens up here in the human world only when a supernatural is destroyed—like a vacuum that will suck up anything in its immediate path. Nothing has ever returned from there. It’s the ultimate garbage disposal.”
It sounded like a nightmare. A horrible, endless nightmare.
But then something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. You said that nothing has ever returned from there. But…you’re here. You returned.”
The haunted, serious expression was still there, but a small glimmer appeared in her eyes. “I did, didn’t I?”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the Hollow isn’t what they think it is. It’s changed.” There was a large helping of disdain in her voice, and some smugness, too. “They have no idea what’s possible now. They dumped me in there like garbage because I was different. Did they think about helping me, like my brother wanted to? No, of course not. I was a problem. And their solution to a problem is stomping their foot on it and kicking what’s left into the trash. But I’m back.”
I stared at her with cold shock. “You’re back and…now you can create more who do the same thing that you do.”
“That was a surprise, believe me. It never used to be like this, and I’m sure Heaven and Hell were shocked when that little news item showed up on their radar. When I kiss someone—like I did with Stephen—it changes them. Turns them into something like me. But they need to be careful not to take too much. Their bodies have transformed to become supernatural, but their minds are still frail as a human.” She gave me a small shrug. “And humans are traditionally very greedy creatures. Give them a taste of something delicious and they come back for more.”
I focused on breathing as normally as possible. “So you kissed Stephen without knowing what it would do to him.”
Her lips curved into a genuine, wicked smile. “What can I say? He’s cute. I like cute boys. They’re fun.” She cast a glance across the lounge toward him. “He had a girlfriend, but he dumped her. I vainly thought it was so he could be with me full-time, but I have a funny feeling he wanted to save her. He didn’t want to take her soul.”
That shocked me. Jordan had been hurt that Stephen had dumped her and had been seen with me. But maybe he’d been trying to save her.
Maybe. I wasn’t convinced that Stephen was capable of anything that selfless.
Natalie got my attention again by grabbing my hand tightly and I looked at her with alarm.
“You must get the dagger so that we can escape, Samantha. They can’t find me. And if they find out what you are, they’ll see you as just as much of an anomaly as I am. My hunger isn’t as bad as it was. I can control it now. I’ll admit I did some damage here before I realized what was happening. I’m not proud of it.” She scanned the lounge with dismay. “But, just like with you, I believe the others’ hunger will fade in time if they resist it. Humans can survive just fine without their soul. It’s not really needed and it frees them in so many ways. Stephen is a perfect example of this. He’s stronger now than he ever was before.”
He’d told me the same thing. Having a soul had weighed him down, filled him with doubt and unhappiness. Now he was improved. Better. If Natalie was right and the hunger began to fade, then could it really be okay for grays—unsouled humans—to live side by side with regular humans?
If they felt anything like I did, then I didn’t see why not.
“You and I need to get out of this city tonight,” she said firmly. “Tomorrow at the very latest. There’s no time to waste. No one else needs to get hurt. Please, Samantha. We’re family. We need each other, especially now.”
“My father…” I whispered. “Is he okay? Can I see him?”
“Bring me the dagger and I’ll take you directly to him. He’s the one who wanted me to find you again.”
“So you’re saying that he got out, too? He escaped the Hollow with you?”
She gazed into my eyes and I realized hers had welled with tears. “I can’t tell you anymore right now. First you must prove yourself to me. But let me say that Nathan will be so happy to see you, so proud of how beautiful you’ve become. He’d do anything for you, just as he would have for Anna.”
My father. A demon who fell in love with an angel. Who’d followed her without hesitation into an endless black pit knowing that there might be no way back. But there was—Natalie was the proof of it. This Hollow place…it wasn’t what everyone thought it was. It wasn’t the end.
I would have thought that I’d be afraid of a demon, but I wasn’t. I wanted to see him. I wanted to know him.
To do that I had to help Natalie. I had to get Bishop’s dagger.
“I want to go now,” I said softly.
“Please think about everything I’ve told you. You’re my only hope now, Samantha. And your parents—I know both of them would be so proud of how you’ve turned out. You are so very special, never doubt it.”
Slowly, carefully, I got up off the sofa, testing my legs and finding them solid enough to walk on. Stephen watched as I moved toward the stairs, but he didn’t make a move to stop me.
Was it all true, what Natalie had just told me? Grays were under control except for a few exceptions that Bishop’s team could take care of. Their hunger would fade if they didn’t give in to it. My gifts came from the powers of both Heaven and Hell combined. And I had the ability to open a hole in the barrier with Bishop’s dagger and help my aunt escape before she was hunted
down and killed for being different.
I started down the stairs, barely able to focus on the direction I was headed. My conversation with Natalie buzzed in my head, threatening to overwhelm me.
Bishop didn’t know what I was. He’d been just as confused as anyone else about why I was able to do what I did. Just as confused as I was about our strange connection and the fact that whenever we were near each other, I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing him.
Carly was still with Paul in the booth in the corner. I didn’t want to interrupt them, but I did want to say a quick hello before I took off. By the looks of things, their date had progressed at a rapid rate. They’d moved straight from chicken wings to rounding first base.
It was sort of funny, actually. Carly had never been the most forward girl in the world. I knew for a fact she and Colin hadn’t kissed until their fifth date. This was only her and Paul’s first date and—
Wait a minute.
Carly was kissing Paul. Passionately. Didn’t she remember what that meant?
I raced over to their table and grabbed her arm. “Carly, wait! You can’t—”
When she turned to look at me I almost screamed. Her eyes were black, completely black, and the look in them, like a predator that had been interrupted while feasting on its prey, turned me ice-cold inside.
Paul slumped next to her in the booth. His breath came in rapid gasps, like he was having trouble getting any air into his lungs. His expression was frozen, his eyes glazed and there were strange black, branching lines around his mouth that immediately faded away. His skin was pale, like a ghost.
That wasn’t just a first kiss…Carly had been feeding on his soul. Right here in the middle of Crave.
As I watched her with horror, her eyes shifted back to their normal blue, and the cold look on her face vanished. She smiled up at me. “Hey, I didn’t know you were here yet.”
“I—I’m here.” My gaze quickly moved between her and Paul. He was recovering himself enough to pick at the French fries in front of him.
“Hey, Sam,” he said. “How’s it going?”
“Great,” I squeaked out. “Really fantastic. You?”
He shrugged and grinned at me, still looking extremely pale. “I’m with Carly, so I guess I’m pretty happy.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed. He didn’t even realize what had happened. He thought he’d just kissed a girl he liked while they were on their very first date.
I felt ill.
“Join us.” Carly scooted over.
She looked so normal now I could almost forget what I’d just seen—a black-eyed monster feeding on a human soul. A monster who, for a moment, had looked at me as if she wanted to tear me apart for stopping her.
She’d said she wouldn’t do this. That she had it under control. That I should trust her.
The monster was gone now, without a trace. Carly was back to normal.
But she wasn’t normal. I glanced behind me, but it looked as if no one had noticed what happened except for me.
“I, um, can’t stay. I just wanted to say hi.” I looked at the plate in front of her, still half full of food. If that had been my plate, it would have been shiny clean by now.
She frowned and reached out to touch my arm. Her skin felt ice-cold and I flinched away from her. “You don’t look so good. You sure you can’t sit down for a minute?”
This was not the time for accusations. Maybe she didn’t even realize what she’d just done.
I shook my head. “I really need to go.”
“Me, too,” Paul said. “It’s been great, Carly. Sorry I have to take off early. Maybe we can do this again?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a big grin. “Thanks so much for dinner.”
I didn’t think she was only talking about the daily special.
I lingered to make sure Paul got out of the club, watching him walk slowly to the exit as if he was inexplicably exhausted. Carly gave me a big hug then studied my face. A frown creased her brow.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But it’s no big deal, okay? He’s fine. I barely took anything. But…I had to. I couldn’t help it. I was so hungry.”
I just nodded. “If you say so.”
As I headed for the door, I looked over my shoulder to see she was on her way upstairs to hang out with the other grays.
As for me? I headed out to find an abandoned church on Wellesley Avenue.
“Find your answers?” the homeless guy asked as I passed him. “Or just more questions? You saw her, didn’t you? She’s just like she was last time only worse…much worse.”
He knew about Natalie. That she’d been here before. I’d planned to keep walking, but instead I crouched down in front of him so we were at eye level. He looked at me with surprise, as if he’d expected me to ignore him.
I reached out and grabbed his dirty hand in mine.
Electricity sparked up and down my arm—shocking, but not painful. And familiar. I watched him closely and, yes, just the slightest edge of that confusion seemed to disappear from his eyes this time.
“You’re an angel, aren’t you?” I asked.
He inhaled sharply, his dark brows drawing together. “I screwed up once—according to them. Now I’m punished forever. They have no idea what they did to me.”
“Can you think clearly?” I asked, squeezing his hand. “Does this help?”
He looked down at my grip on him. “Nothing eases my pain, not for long. I try and try and try, but I can’t escape it. The shackles are heavy. I feel them even now. One day I will be free.”
He still sounded crazy. I’d hoped he wouldn’t, that I could help him and he could help me in return.
“How do you know about her?” I asked.
He just shook his head back and forth, his lips sealed tightly until he finally spoke. “Tried to help. Didn’t matter. She was out of control, had to be destroyed. Couldn’t stay, had to go.”
Was he a part of the team of angels and demons who’d killed my mother? Who’d sent my father and Natalie to the Hollow? Grief and anger clenched my chest at the thought.
No. I couldn’t assume these things. Not now. They were too major to even wrap my head around. “I have a friend, his name’s Bishop,” I said. “He’s like you, I think, but he just got here. Can you tell me anything that might help him?”
“Watcher of the night, angry and vulnerable. Won’t be long now. Without you, he’ll be lost as his chains grow thicker and thicker. You must help me, beautiful star. You’re the only one who can.”
“I don’t know how.”
He was an angel, just like Bishop, but he hadn’t gone back to Heaven. He was stuck here for some reason, and his mind had been permanently damaged. Bishop said that when he went back he’d be fixed. This guy—how long had he been here? Natalie said that demons and angels remained the same age as when their human self died, so I knew I couldn’t go just by appearance alone.
I didn’t have time tonight to help this angel, even though I wanted to.
“I’ll see you again,” I told him, my chest tight. “And if I can, I’ll try to help you, I promise.”
He didn’t try to stop me as I walked away. I needed to see the other angel, the one I knew I could still help. The one I desperately hoped could help me in return.
Chapter 17
St. Andrew the Apostle, the abandoned church I’d been looking for, stood tall in front of me despite being run-down and boarded up. The sign out front was broken, the glass from it scattered on grass that looked like it hadn’t been mown in a couple of years. The building was both ominous and sad-looking.
This part of the city had been hit hard by the economy, and most of the stores and businesses had shut down. I guess the same applied to churches.
I approached it apprehensively, eyeing the front doors as if they might swing open and suck me inside. It was difficult to get the image of black-eyed Carly out of my head. One moment a monster, the next the best friend I’d had since kinde
rgarten who’d known what she’d done would upset me. It scared me so much I wanted to run away from it and pretend it hadn’t happened.
But it had. And now I had to deal with what that meant. Bishop had to promise me to restore Carly’s soul, too. I didn’t want her to lose herself to this—to the hunger. As afraid as I’d been of her for that moment, I’d been just as afraid for her.
I could fix this. I could. I grabbed hold of that belief with both hands.