Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers)

Chapter 21



I focused on that piece of Bishop that was always with me. The memory of our kiss. The warmth of his touch. The deep and endless way he looked at me, even when I was frustrating him and vice versa.

His soul, the thing that had caused him so many problems, was beautiful—a ribbon of silver that stretched outward from me to a point in the distance I couldn’t see.

And this I saw with my eyes closed. I’ll admit it was bizarre, but I wasn’t going to second-guess myself. It was real. It was him. I knew it.

I held on to that ribbon of silver like a rope and let it guide me to him. I didn’t fight it, I didn’t force it. I just let it happen.

“Hurry up,” Jordan urged.

I pried open one eye with annoyance. “Would you give me a—”

Snap!

“—has to be somewhere in the city.” Bishop paced back and forth along the sidewalk. Dusk had fallen. Tall buildings surrounded him—glass, concrete, steel. Out of the corner of his eye there was traffic visible on the road, rush hour as everyone headed home from their jobs. He was right downtown, a nameless street I was sure I’d been on a million times before.

“Or she’s dead,” Roth said from nearby.

Bishop turned on him. “Shut your mouth.”

Whatever look was on Bishop’s face earned a dark glare in return. “I’m sick of shutting my mouth.”

Bishop cast a glance over the rest of them—all were present, Roth, Cassandra, Kraven, Zach and Connor—watching the angel with varying degrees of wariness, uncertainty or disdain.

He fixed his attention on Cassandra. “Take Roth somewhere out of my sight.”

She approached Bishop, her expression cautious. “We’re all worried about her, you know. When she didn’t come home last night—”

“You should have told me immediately, not waited until today.”

She winced at the harshness of his words. “She wanted us to leave her alone. I didn’t think—”

“That’s right. You didn’t.” He brought his hands up to his face to cover his eyes, hunching over a little. “Not thinking...can’t think...can’t keep it together. My head, it’s messed up, more and more.”

“Come on, Bishop,” Zach said. “You’re strong. You have this. We believe in you.”

Bishop snorted at that, a dry, humorless sound—a trait he shared with his brother. “This soul.” He took his hands from his face and clawed at his chest through his black T-shirt. “It’s destroying everything.”

“So make yourself bleed again,” Kraven suggested. He was the farthest away, leaning casually against the glass door of a building. “If you need someone to hold the knife, I’m happy to help.”

“Why would you say something like that?” Connor snapped. For the one who usually had all the jokes and quips, he was uncharacteristically pissed off.

Kraven shrugged. “Sheesh. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, sunshine.”

“Doesn’t help anymore. Nothing helps. Only...her.” Bishop fisted his hands at his sides as he turned a furious glare on his brother.

Kraven raised his eyebrows. “Why do I get the look of death? It’s not my fault gray-girl went AWOL.”

When Bishop swore, there was a harsh, insane edge to his voice that scared me. He was seriously losing it. And the more crazy he sounded, the more our connection began to get staticky, like a TV station with interference. “I need to find her. Can’t find her, can’t sense her—not like I used to. Where is she?”

Cassandra tentatively moved closer and hugged Bishop against her. “We’ll find her. I promise we will.”

Bishop looked beyond the blonde angel to Roth, who looked back at him with open animosity, his eyes glowing red in the fading light of dusk.

So supportive, that demon. It made me want to kick him as hard as I could in his demon crotch.

Zach and Connor stood together to Roth’s left, both watching Bishop with tense expressions.

“What do you need us to do?” Zach asked. “Name it.”

“Help me find her.”

Zach frowned. “How?”

Roth let out an exasperated groan. “Enough already. We need to hunt grays. And in case you’re forgetting, we have that other demon in town doing his best to make your precious little humans off themselves. Remember that?”

Cassandra paled and she drew a shaky hand through her hair. “He’s right. We do need to keep focus. I’ll go with Roth and patrol. You and the others keep searching for Samantha.”

Bishop didn’t reply for a moment, but his gaze was unflinching on both Cassandra and Roth. “Fine. Go.”

They didn’t hesitate. With a final searching look from the angel, and an unpleasant one from the demon, the two ran down the street to disappear around the next corner.

It was a hopeless feeling, watching this and not being able to do anything.

But wait...maybe I was underestimating how much I could do. I’d taken hold of that piece of Bishop’s soul to lead me here—that had been intentional.

Maybe I could intentionally communicate with him.

“Bishop!” I sent his name through the razor-thin connection, along that silvery ribbon that joined us.

He brought his hands up to his head, his breath ceasing completely for a moment.

“This is ridiculous,” Kraven said. “Pull yourself together. What do you want us to do, boss? Speak now or forever hold your tongue.”

“I thought I heard...” Bishop whispered. “No, it’s impossible.”

I kept watching, now stunned. Had he heard me?

“What is it?” Zach asked, drawing closer, concern in his green eyes.

“I thought I heard...her. Calling to me.”

Zach and Connor exchanged a look.

“Bishop!” I said it louder, my heart pounding. “It’s me. I’m here!”

“Oh, give me a—” Kraven began.

“Quiet! I need to concentrate. I need to clear my head so I can know if this is real.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Kraven asked.

Bishop yanked the dagger from his sheath and held it against his bare arm.

My view of what he saw flickered in that moment of craziness. For a second, I feared I was losing the connection completely.

Connor grabbed him before he made the cut. “Don’t do this!”

Bishop pushed him back. “I have to. It’s the only way.”

Horror crashed over me. “Don’t you dare cut yourself!” My scream wasn’t delivered out loud. It was fully internal and my words sped along the ribbon that joined us. It was the same one that allowed me to see through his eyes—a metaphysical television cable.

The blade stilled.

“It’s her,” he whispered.

“Bishop...” Zach said cautiously.

I couldn’t believe this was really happening. He heard me!

“Samantha?” Bishop said hoarsely. “Is that really you?”

A million thoughts and questions raced through my mind about how this was possible and what it all meant. But none of that mattered right now. “I swear, Bishop, if you cut yourself again I’m going to kill you!”

He snorted softly, still half-uncertain. “This is incredible. Where are you?”

“Oh, boy,” Kraven said, coming into Bishop’s sightline to peer at his brother curiously. “He’s definitely gone completely off the deep end this time.”

I did what I usually did when it came to the demon and ignored him. “Stephen grabbed me yesterday morning. He has me in a locked room, but I don’t know where.”

“How can you do this? How can I hear you in my head?”

“Now he’s talking to himself,” Kraven said, bemused.

“Shut up,” Zach snapped at him. “You’re not helping.”

Kraven rolled his eyes. “Whatever. He’s crazy, that’s all. Don’t you see that?”

God, he was so frustrating. “Tell James I told him to shut the hell up.”

Bishop snorted. “He’d just talk more.”

The image I saw through Bishop’s eyes went staticky again, it flickered to black, to white and then back to normal. “I don’t think this is going to last much longer. Bishop, listen to me. I got to you from that piece of your soul I took—it’s still inside me. It’s what our bond is, why I can see things. It works both ways, I’m sure of it. So you need to find that, too. You have to follow it.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll find you. I swear it.”

“Hurry, though. I—I don’t have much time.”

“What do you mean?” His voice turned harsh and raw. “Did that son of a bitch hurt you? I’m going to kill him.”

“Stephen locked me in a room with someone—someone with a soul. Please, you need to find—”

Snap!

The thread connecting us disappeared and my mind returned fully to the small, locked room. My eyes popped open.

“What are you doing?” Jordan demanded. “Do you really think meditation is going to help us right now?”

I sent a look at her across the room. “You sure better hope so.”

So strange, but just being in Bishop’s head helped to bring me some much-needed warmth. The whole time I’d seen through his eyes I didn’t think once about the previous memory melds, not once. I wasn’t afraid of him. All I felt when I’d been in his head was that warmth. He wasn’t the same person now that he’d been back then.

I’d told him I wanted him to stay away from me. He’d believed me, even though I’d never told a bigger lie in my life.

“Now what?” Jordan asked, the anger fading from her voice.

I swallowed hard. “Now we wait.”

I concentrated on the sound of my heart beating, but I lost count at a thousand. My stomach growled. It was so empty after being locked in here for so long. Food might help a little; the more I ate the better I felt. But not enough.

Something hit me and I opened my eyes to look down at the energy bar that had pinged off my leg.

“Eat it,” Jordan said.

“It won’t help.”

“Eat it anyway.”

I ate it. And then I tried to come up with a Plan B. Because with every minute that ticked by, my resolve and my control were slipping away like the sand in a very scary hourglass.

My chills returned and my arms broke out in goose bumps. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to keep from shivering.

I could figure this out. I had to use my brain, which had rarely failed me before—not including the F I’d received on my English test. I’d assumed I knew enough. One can’t assume. One had to know for sure, because guessing could lead to failure.

I could pretend to take Jordan’s soul. Stephen would see through the camera and he’d come in. I’d use Jordan’s brick to knock him out. Yeah, that was a plan.

A really lousy one.

“Come on, brain,” I mumbled under my breath. “Start thinking.”

Sadly, it wasn’t cooperating today. A full hour had gone by and Bishop wasn’t here. We were stuck and nobody was going to rescue us.

“I don’t like the way you’re looking at me,” Jordan said uneasily. “I swear, if you come anywhere near me, I’m clobbering you.”

She scrambled to her feet as I moved closer to her. My wrist and shoulder were still in pain, but it was a distant echo now. My hunger had steadily moved to the forefront, impossible to ignore. Impossible to fight.

“I can take you,” she managed shakily. “You’ve never intimidated me before. I mean, look at you. You’re the size of a hobbit.”

Normally, I’d resent that. I wasn’t the size of a hobbit. Five-two wasn’t that short, but compared to statuesque aspiring models like Jordan...

Size didn’t matter. Not in a case like this.

I’d made it across the room, so close now that she gasped and raised the brick over her head, ready to smash it down at me like she had before.

But this time I stopped her, snatching the makeshift weapon away like taking candy from a very tall baby. It was time to end this. Stephen had won. And once this was over, when he came in here after watching me devour his girlfriend’s soul through that security camera and turning her into a gray, I was going to kill him.

My vision blurred at the edges as I reached for her.

And then the door burst inward.

“Get them apart,” Bishop instructed sharply. “Now.”

There was no argument. The next moment, I was wrenched away from Jordan. I fought hard against the very strong person who held me.

“Missed you,” Kraven growled into my ear. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece, gray-girl.”

My struggling only made my wrist and shoulder hurt worse, but I was still in a daze, unable to focus on anything except my hunger. “Let go of me!”

“As hot as it would be to see you kiss another girl, I’m going to have to decline your request.”

Only Bishop and Kraven had entered the room. Zach and Connor were nowhere to be seen. My breath came fast and shallow, my attention now focused on Bishop. He scanned Jordan, checking if she was okay while she cowered in the corner, staring at the rest of us in shock.

Then his gaze moved to mine. And locked.

He was so beautiful, it took my breath away. And even though I’d only been apart from him for a short time, every fiber of my being reached out to him.

“Samantha...” He began moving closer to me, as if hypnotized by whatever he saw in my eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kraven growled.

I managed to slip out of the demon’s grip bonelessly, dodging him as he tried to grab me again. Bishop and I moved toward each other, meeting in the middle of the room. I didn’t hesitate for a second. I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me against him and crushed his mouth against mine.

From the broken-down door to the kiss, it had all happened in a matter of seconds.

The taste of his lips only ignited the fire inside me more. I burned for him—I always had. And his mouth on mine...it was perfection.

But I didn’t have a chance to kiss him longer—or to start to feed. Kraven was there, grabbing me by the shirt to violently yank me back.

He looked disgusted. “You two are a couple of addicts, aren’t you? Pathetic. Get away from her. I mean it.”

Bishop made a strangled sound, as if he was fighting the urge to kiss me again with every ounce of strength he had. The way I was feeling right now—this utter abandon—I knew I’d take it all.

Bishop might be going steadily crazy, but he was still sane enough to listen to his brother.

He gave Kraven an agonized look. “Do it. Just do it and get it over with.”

I didn’t know what he meant. I still saw the world through that gray daze, those with souls in the room brighter and more beautiful than anything else.

So hungry, please...

But the one who didn’t have a bright and beautiful soul captured my face between his hands and forced me to look at him instead of the dark-haired, blue-eyed angel.

“Third time’s a charm,” Kraven mumbled. Then he kissed me bruisingly hard, forcing me to remain still with one hand now gripping my long hair, the other circling my throat.

No...I want Bishop...not Kraven, not...not...

But I only fought it for a moment. Then my thoughts cut off and I was kissing him back every bit as hard as he kissed me. My hunger slowly, very slowly this time, began to ease. My arms slid over the demon’s shoulders to cling to him, otherwise I knew I’d collapse to the floor in a heap.

I had to kiss him—there was no choice for me. It was the only way I could regain my control.

Bishop grabbed Kraven’s shoulder. “Enough.”

Finally, the demon broke off the kiss, leaning back a few inches to look into my eyes. “Are you back?”

I nodded, holding his gaze. I stared into the depths of those amber-colored eyes. Same shape as Bishop’s. Different face. Similar lips. Different kiss.

She’s okay. But barely this time.

Kraven’s thoughts. His walls were down, so I could piece through his mind. I didn’t know what I was looking for until I found it.

She doesn’t hate me. She can say she does, but she doesn’t. No girl kisses like that if she doesn’t like it. He hates it so much, hates that I have this power over her. He hates that I can taste her when he can’t. She could fall for me. She’s halfway there already. And when she does...such sweet revenge. I can watch him suffer before I finally shove that dagger through his heart.