Dark Kiss

  So much for avoiding the ongoing problem he presented.

  “Sam…hey,” he said cautiously. “Are you okay?”

  I looked up at him. “I think I have a small chance for survival, but I’m not totally sure about that.”

  “You’re funny.” He grinned a little, but a frown still drew his brows together. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have a bad headache.”

  “I’ll try to be quiet.”

  “You don’t have to stay with me.”

  “I don’t mind.” He sat down next to me and reached over to brush the hair off my forehead. Not good. He was way too close to—

  Snap! The hallway disappeared and suddenly I was back in the church.

  “I need to find her.” Bishop sounded angry. “You can’t keep me here forever.”

  “You’re not going anywhere near her,” Zach replied calmly. “Not when you’re feeling like this.”

  “I’m fine. I’m thinking straight.”

  “Doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing. The demons—well, they don’t understand why it’s such a big loss to know you’re cut off from Heaven—especially like this. But I do. To think there’s a chance it could be taken from me forever would be too much to bear.”

  Bishop barked out a short, humorless laugh. “Are you trying to help or make this worse?”

  Zach grimaced but moved closer to put a hand on Bishop’s shoulder. “Sorry, really. All I’m saying is you can confide in me, anything at all, for as long as I’m here. And when I go back, I’ll do whatever I can to help you. Connor feels the same way. I know you think she can help you, but she can only make this worse. Samantha’s dangerous, Bishop. You just need to stay right here and—”

  Snap!

  I was back in the school hallway as if someone had changed the channel on a television. Colin gripped me by the shoulders, and he looked confused and concerned. My head was seriously throbbing now and my heart pounded hard and fast. I pressed back against my locker, feeling the cold metal through my thin blue shirt.

  Bishop wanted to find me. My heart swelled. I thought he might hate me now that he’d had time to process what happened last night, but he wanted to see me again. But they weren’t letting him.

  “You’re so pale. Do you want me to take you to the nurse’s office?”

  “No, I’m fine.” I made myself get to my feet. After opening my locker, I shoved my binder inside and pulled out my bag.

  Zach was right. I was dangerous to Bishop. If I kissed him again, I could destroy him completely.

  Colin stood up, too. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Thanks, but…you don’t have to be.” I really didn’t want him involved in any of this. I was dangerous to more than just Bishop.

  He sighed. “Look, I know you’ve been trying to avoid me all week.”

  And here I thought I’d been all sneaky and subtle about it. And also, based on this conversation, a total failure.

  He continued, “I’m sorry if it seemed like I was pushing you for an answer. I understand that you don’t want to mess up your friendship with Carly, but I do feel like we have something between us.”

  I eyed him, wishing for the time when a high school love triangle might have been my biggest problem. “You think so, huh?”

  “Well, yeah. Don’t you?”

  I reminded myself that none of this was Colin’s fault; he was just an innocent bystander. But having him near me only made everything more difficult. My hunger had been MIA ever since I’d kissed Bishop, but it was beginning to make its thunderous return the longer Colin stood here. He smelled so good, I couldn’t help but notice.

  Even though Colin being close to me did trigger my hunger, it was still nothing compared to what I felt when I was with Bishop. Colin smelled good and I felt that lure—but he wasn’t Bishop.

  Nobody affected me like Bishop did.

  Still, Colin was a serious distraction and another reminder of my hunger and what it could mean if I gave in to it.

  “Oh, Colin,” I said, shutting my eyes for a moment before opening them again to look at him bleakly. “You’re making everything worse just by being around me.”

  He blinked. “Oh.”

  I shook my head, my heart clenching. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I didn’t see any other way to keep him safely away from me. “I have to go.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Home, probably. I…I don’t know. I just need to get away from here.”

  His expression tightened. “You mean, away from me.”

  I hissed out a breath, hating that my hunger made everything so much more difficult than it had to be. I had to end this right now.

  “God, Colin, just take the hint, would you?” I forced the words out. “I’m not interested in you. I’m sorry if I made you think differently, but I don’t like you that way. I don’t like you at all after what you did to Carly. So just stay away from me.”

  I tried not to flinch as the pain slid through his eyes. “Yeah, no problem. I think I can take the hint when it’s delivered that loudly.”

  He walked away as students filled the hallway after class.

  I sighed and leaned back against my locker, bashing the back of my head gently against it.

  “Nice,” somebody said. I turned to see Jordan standing there with her arms crossed, her long red hair like a curtain over her left shoulder. “Let ’em down nice and easy, huh?”

  “You heard that?”

  She shrugged. “Couldn’t help it. You were practically yelling at him. You actually had me fooled after being all over him the other morning. Thought you liked him.”

  “Get lost,” I mumbled. I didn’t have the energy to deal with her this morning and she was just making me feel worse about what I’d said to Colin.

  It was for his own good, I reminded myself. But that didn’t make it any easier.

  “Get lost?” Her eyebrows went up. “Is that the best you’ve got for me today? Pretty pathetic.”

  “That’s me, pathetic. But you already think that so what the hell do I care?” A lump was growing in my throat at a rapid pace. It hurt to swallow past it.

  Jordan eyed me. “You’re kind of a freak, you know that? I don’t know how you managed to keep any friends at all. First with the klepto thing, then with the boyfriend-stealing thing. It’s almost like you’re completely losing your—” Her voice broke off and a frown creased her brow. “Hey, you don’t look so good.”

  My bottom lip was wobbling of its own free will; I had nothing to do with it. “Just leave me alone.”

  “You told Colin you’re going home. How are you getting there?”

  “I’ll walk. It’s not far.” I pushed at a tear that had managed to escape, annoyingly enough, and turned away so she couldn’t see it.

  She groaned. “No, forget it. I’ll drive you myself. You can’t go anywhere like this. You’re a total wreck. You’ll probably walk out in front of a bus.”

  I shot her a look. “You’re going to drive me home.”

  “I guess I am.”

  “Why?”

  “You want a ride or not? Stop overanalyzing, Samantha. It’s really unattractive.”

  I felt too tired to overanalyze at the moment. Or even just analyze.

  Going home sounded good. So I ended up trudging after Jordan out to her car—a white Mercedes SLK convertible—expecting her to take this opportunity to be cruel, cutting or a general bitch.

  She didn’t, other than looking put out by her own suggestion to drive me home.

  “Nice car,” I observed as we got inside. “Let me guess, it’s a present from your parents?”

  “Just my mother. She’s in Hollywood, you know, doing her soap opera.” She didn’t say it with much pride, more like resentment. “This was my birthday present to make up for the fact she’d rather be there than here these days.”

  “I have a father like that,” I said. “He usually sends fifty-dollar bills and emails, though, not luxury sp
orts cars.”

  I also had a mother who’d barely noticed me for two years and now could barely look me in the eye. But my personal family drama would have to take a backseat right now. Not that this car had a backseat.

  Jordan reversed out of the parking spot and shifted into Drive. “Maybe we have more in common than we thought.”

  Absentee parents aside, I sincerely doubted that.

  Although, I couldn’t help but eye her a little, curious about her and Stephen.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I said.

  “What?”

  “Why did you and Stephen break up?”

  She glared at me. “You’re seriously asking me that?”

  “Did he want to see other people?” Or had he done it so he wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her—and take her soul?

  Her face paled and her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. “He didn’t give me a reason. He sent an email and then refused to take any calls from me. The one time I saw him after that, he started walking in the other direction. Happy now?”

  It didn’t give me any information other than the fact that he was a jerk who wanted to avoid confrontation. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sure you are. Now shut up.”

  I did as requested.

  As Jordan pulled away from the school, I felt guilty about leaving early, or rather, leaving Carly there. It felt like I was abandoning her. But I wasn’t. Not for long, anyway.

  I’d see her again tonight. I knew exactly where she’d be.

  No catastrophes happened on the short drive to my house. None at all, which was a bit surprising. Bracing myself for the worst did take some effort.

  “Thanks for this, but I don’t understand,” I said to Jordan as I stepped out of her car after she arrived in my driveway. “You don’t like me. I don’t like you. Why did you bother to drive me home?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Because I’m nice, stupid.”

  She pulled away and I watched the car disappear into the distance.

  Jordan Fitzpatrick had been nice to me today. Well, her version of nice, anyway.

  I’d take it.

  When I let myself into the house, I felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion, plus the headache from earlier hadn’t let up yet. I tried to tell myself I’d only imagined seeing through Bishop’s eyes because I’d been thinking about him nonstop since the kiss last night. It really was too bad I was such a realist. I believed what I saw with my own two eyes.

  Besides, if it had been my imagination sending forth a fantasy, I would have much preferred to see him. Not everybody else.

  When I lay down on the couch in the living room, I planned to close my eyes for about five minutes before I got up and dealt with everything. But when I opened my eyes again, I realized one very important thing.

  It was dark outside.

  I sat bolt upright. The house was eerily quiet, except for the soft tick of the clock on the mantel above the fireplace that gently informed me it was after seven o’clock.

  The stress that had kept me awake the past few nights must have caught up to me. Or maybe the vision of being in Bishop’s head had given me a bad headache and exhausted me.

  I hurried into the kitchen to see that my mother hadn’t come home from work. She’d scribbled a note this morning and tacked it to the fridge to tell me she had a client meeting. She’d be home by around nine o’clock and—

  Snap!

  I was outside of the church, on the overgrown front lawn.

  Despite the glass being broken on the sign and it missing a few letters, I could still make out the last message it had to give: Down in the Mouth? Time For a Faith Lift.

  “You don’t understand,” Bishop said, his voice quiet but steady. “I have to do this.”

  Kraven stood in front of him as if blocking his path. “You don’t know what will happen. Getting the rest of your soul sucked out could kill you.”

  Bishop snorted. “Didn’t think you’d care so much. Brotherly love? After all this time? Who are you trying to fool?”

  Kraven glared at him. “Screw you. The only thing I care about is this bloody mission. You going off and doing your own thing is not for the better of the team.”

  “Somebody like you lecturing me on leadership. Fantastic. I’m surprised you’d try to stop me at this point. If I’m gone, you get to make all the rules. You’re second-in-command here.”

  Kraven’s expression didn’t change. “I’ll take over if you’re gone, but Roth still shouldn’t have put that idea into your scrambled-up head.”

  “He speaks his mind.”

  “He’s an ass.”

  “He’s a demon.”

  “Touché. But we’re not all that stupid. It’s not worth the risk you’re taking.”

  There was a heavy pause. “Speaking of risks, what deal did they make you to agree to this mission? I know Hell offers up a lot of temptation. Money, prestige, power…women. All your weaknesses.”

  Kraven glared. “Funny, I always thought those were your weaknesses.”

  “What did it, James?” Bishop’s voice twisted unpleasantly. “Why do you give such a damn if this mission is successful? And did you have any idea I’d be part of this or were you as shocked to see me as I was to see you?”

  A car drove by, the headlights illuminating Kraven’s light hair. It also showed that his expression had darkened. He crossed his arms, walked back toward the sign, kicked at the broken glass, before turning back to look at Bishop. “If those bosses of yours decide to go old school, we’ll all get wiped off the map if we fail. Sounds like a good reason to succeed.”

  “Exactly. Which means you’re risking your very existence to be a part of this. But for what? What’s the shiny reward?”

  “If we’re successful?” Kraven said grudgingly after a moment. “I don’t have to go back to Hell. I get a fresh shot here.”

  Bishop let out a soft snort. “Right. A fresh shot. You’re addicted to making bad choices. You think that will ever change?”

  Kraven shot a dark glare at him. “Like I care what you think. I want a second chance and I’ll do anything to get it.”

  It took Bishop a second to respond. “Then maybe you should have one.”

  A huge grin slowly spread across the demon’s handsome face. “Oh, dude. You’re so pathetic—that much hasn’t changed. You actually believed me. What a joke. Yeah, I’m willing to sacrifice my entire existence for the chance to stay here in this pathetic city. Sure.”

  “You were lying?”

  “Yeah, I was lying, idiot. I signed up for the babes and the power, of course. Can’t wait to collect my reward. It’s going to be a major party—no crazy, self-involved angels invited.”

  I didn’t know if he was lying. But the flat look in his amber-colored eyes did hold a glimmer of something else there. Longing, envy…I wasn’t sure. And then he turned away so I couldn’t keep trying to figure him out.

  I didn’t particularly want to figure Kraven out.

  “This has been a fun talk.” Bishop’s words were tinged with anger and something else—familiarity. This kind of joking around by Kraven wasn’t new to him.

  “So much fun.”

  “Are you going to try to stop me from leaving?”

  Kraven looked over his shoulder. “Nah. You go face your destiny. Roll those dice to see if you get a trip back to harp-land. I guess I’m in charge now. Feels good, actually.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Go find yourself a gray willing to suck out the rest of your soul. I think that Carly chick was giving you the eye the other night outside that nightclub. Go let her stick her tongue down your throat. Party on.”

  “Maybe I’ll do that.” Bishop stretched out his hand. “Give me the dagger.”

  The sheath Bishop normally wore was now strapped to Kraven’s back. “And risk this falling into the Hollow? Not a chance. With you gone, I need this to help me do my job so I can reap my rewards. Now why don’t you go find yourself a deadl
y blonde babe and get out of my face? And try to make it forever this time.”

  Kraven walked away from him, back toward the church, and—

  Snap! I was in my kitchen again, leaning heavily against the counter while my heart hammered against my rib cage.