Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers)

Chapter 25



“We can take my mom’s car,” I said, grabbing the keys before I left. “But I can’t drive.”

“Why not?” Cassandra asked.

“No license. I’ve been meaning to get around to it.”

“I can drive,” Bishop said, taking the keys from me.

“You have a license?”

“Well...not technically. But that’s never stopped me before.”

“Good enough for me.” I climbed in the backseat. Cassandra got in the passenger side. “Just—promise me not to hurt the car.”

“I’ll try.”

“Try, like, really hard. Despite dealing with angels, demons and otherworldly death vortexes, you haven’t seen my mother when she’s angry.”

“I could grab a different car,” he offered. “I’ve hot-wired them before.”

“Stealing cars,” I said under my breath wryly. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I preferred to think of it as borrowing.” He flashed me a wicked grin that made my heart race even faster before he turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the driveway.

I didn’t want to think about how this night would end, but I knew that everyone at that party was currently at risk. If we didn’t do something to stop the bodiless angel, it would be a massacre.

As we neared the house, I felt the harsh stirrings of my hunger. It cramped my stomach. “Wait. Don’t get any closer.”

Bishop must have heard something in my tone that alarmed him. He pulled up to the curb and backed up twenty feet. “Better?”

“Yeah, a little. This house—it’s the same one where I had a hunger freak-out before. When I was with Kraven.” I recognized the neighborhood immediately. Even from where we were—a block away—I could see my mom’s real-estate sign out front.

This was where the Halloween party was being held.

“What is it?” Bishop asked. “What’s triggering your hunger here?”

“I don’t know. Although...maybe...” I got out of the car when he and Cassandra did, sending a wary gaze down the street.

“What?”

“It’s stupid, but my mother said this house is haunted. That’s why she was having a hard time selling it. Maybe I can sense the ghosts? Does that make any sense?” Noah had arranged for his Halloween party to be held in an allegedly haunted house. If I was my normal, everyday self I would have thought that was really cool.

“We’ll check it out. You—” Cassandra gave me a concerned look “—wait here by the car.”

I hated that I’d have to hang back and not be a part of this, but with the way that house made me feel, I knew there wasn’t any other answer.

Something else approached from the shadows nearby. It took a moment for me to realize it was Kraven.

“Good party,” he said. “You’re missing all the fun.”

“You took Jordan home?” Bishop asked.

“I did. She’s a charmer. And by that I mean she’s a total bitch.”

“But she’s safe.”

“Debatable. She’s already here at the party—must have gotten into her costume in record time. I gave her the evil eye when I saw her ten minutes ago, and got the middle finger in return. Like I said, charming.” He swept a glance back toward the house. “I know this is a problem area, based on gray-girl’s reaction the last time we were here.” He eyed us. “Why are you here?”

“I had a vision,” I explained. “The angel that killed Zach is coming here.”

“Visions.” He raised an eyebrow, scanning me. “Right. Forgot you could do that. You’re like a veritable toolbox of supernatural handiness, aren’t you? No wonder my brother doesn’t want to see you dead. Yet.”

There was something off about him, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Something crueler and ruder than normal.

“What’s your problem?” Bishop asked, a hard edge of unpleasantness in his tone.

This made Kraven laugh. The cold sound shivered down my spine.

“My problem. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s happened earlier tonight. Crazy stuff, right?” He glanced at each of us in turn. “I keep coming back to the moment I saved your ass, brother.”

I had wondered if they’d forgotten about that. I sure hadn’t. The moment when Kraven saved Bishop from being swept into the Hollow right after Zach was burned into my brain.

Bishop studied him with his arms crossed over his chest. “If you have any problems with me, we can deal with them later.”

Kraven shrugged. “Nah. I want to deal with them now.”

I looked at Bishop to get his reaction to this; there was a look of deep annoyance on his face. He turned to Cassandra, and unstrapped his sheath and dagger from under his shirt, then handed it to her.

“Go,” he said. “We’ll catch up to you. Survey the party and see if there are any problems. If there are, you know what to do.”

Cassandra flicked a glance at me, her gaze worried...and there was something else there. An edge of sheer determination and resolve.

She was good at her job. This was what she’d been sent here for—to deal with this lost angel. After that, I knew Cassandra would be able to focus on helping the guys with the continuing gray situation—as well as dealing with whatever was going on with her and Roth.

The sooner this bad angel was destroyed, the better. I just hoped Cassandra would be able to think of a way to reason with her.

She walked right up to Kraven, who was blocking her path.

“You going to give me a problem right now, demon?” she asked tightly.

“No, Blondie, you’re not my concern tonight. Go flutter away where you’re needed. I think Roth’s already in the house. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see you.”

Something in the way he said it—that all-too-familiar mocking edge to his words.

He knew about Cassandra and Roth.

The demon knew too much for his own good.

With a glare that showed that she might be thinking the same thing, Cassandra took off at a run in the direction of the party house.

I drew my coat closer to block out the chill. I assumed Bishop would want me to wait in the car while they checked out the house, but I wasn’t ready to crawl back inside yet.

It was so cold tonight—like below zero. At least, that was how it felt to me.

Increased cold, increased hunger.

I blocked out the sound of Stephen’s voice from inside my head. I wasn’t like him. I wasn’t. My birth parents were very special. I was special, too. I would be different.

I would not lose hope.

“So here we are,” Kraven said, his arms crossed. He moved slowly toward us, his gaze locked on Bishop in a chillingly predatory way. “You, me and your little girlfriend. Or is she? I’m getting confused. You can’t kiss her. She’s basically one of the things we’re fighting against here in this city that will keep us trapped for as long as she’s still breathing. Being around you is torture for her. I wonder what the appeal is. Frankly, I can’t see it.”

“Are you going to whine all evening or get to the point?” Bishop asked.

“Whatever. I do sort of get it, you know. You’re addicted. She’s addicted. It’s kind of adorable, if you’re into junkies. Won’t end well, I can guarantee you that.”

“If I wanted your opinion, James,” Bishop said unpleasantly. “I’d beat it out of you.”

Kraven smirked at him. “Noticed that you got rid of the only weapon in this city that can kill either of us. Did you do that on purpose?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m going to vote yes on that. You’re afraid I’m going to kill you.”

“More like the other way around.” Bishop looked at me. “You should go back home.”

“And miss this brotherly standoff?” I said. “Not a chance.”

Nope. No way was I missing out on this. After what I’d seen, what I’d heard, and the way my imagination was working overtime to put it all together, I wanted to know more about them. Both of them.

Kraven laughed again coldly. “You haven’t fooled her completely, you know, with your angelic sparkle. She knows there’s bad blood between us.”

“I could have spotted that from a mile away,” I told him. “Even without a glimpse at some of Bishop’s memories.”

Bishop cringed at the reminder that I’d seen bits and pieces of his very sordid past.

“Bishop,” Kraven said, rolling the name over his tongue with distaste. “I never asked. Did they give that painfully insipid name to you or did you choose it yourself?”

Bishop stood there, unflinchingly. “They gave it to me.”

“New identity, new existence. You think you can forget who you were? Like it’s that easy?”

“Trying to.”

“It’ll never happen.”

“You saved me tonight, Kraven. Don’t say you were trying to push me into the Hollow. Because you weren’t.” His jaw tightened. “That means something to me.”

Kraven scoffed, his attention turning to the Italian restaurant a block up the street where he’d kissed me the other night to help me deal with my hunger. “It would have solved a lot of problems to see you take a nosedive in there. It was a knee-jerk reaction to save your ass, nothing conscious about it.”

When Bishop turned away from him I saw an edge of pain slide through his gaze that made my heart wrench. Whatever he tried to make either of us believe, Kraven still had the power to hurt him with words.

“Enough of this,” Bishop growled. “We don’t have the time. We have to get to that house and stop a group of kids from committing mass suicide. Understand? What happened to Zach isn’t going to happen to anyone else.”

“If I’d let the Hollow take you,” Kraven continued as if he wasn’t paying attention to a word Bishop said, “then I wouldn’t have been able to witness your continued suffering.”

Bishop looked at him. “Is that what you want? To watch me suffer?”

Kraven’s lips thinned. “That’s what I’ve wanted ever since you sent me to Hell and got a first-class elevator ride up to Heaven as some sort of shining champion.”

“You think it was that easy for me?”

“I don’t give a damn how easy it was.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Both of you?” I snapped, unable to keep it inside any longer. I usually said what was on my mind without too many filters. Tonight wasn’t going to be the exception to the rule. “You could have had this out with each other for the last three weeks, but you wait till now? Why now? Why here?”

Kraven glared at me. “Because I saved him tonight and it pissed me off. That’s what I used to do, you know. Save his ass when he got into trouble. And he thanked me by shoving a knife into me when he knew I was already on Hell’s shortlist.”

“Don’t try to pretend you were a good guy, James,” Bishop said darkly. “You weren’t.”

He snorted. “Nah, I was as badass as they came back then. But I was also young and stupid. I didn’t even get a chance to try to redeem myself for the things I did. I might have succeeded.”

Bishop hissed out a breath. “Whether you believe this or not, I wish I could go back and change what I did.” Again, he averted his gaze from his brother as pain slid through his eyes.

A small muscle in Kraven’s cheek twitched. His dark gold hair had fallen into his eyes and he swiped it back. His amber eyes held the same pain I saw in Bishop’s. “Like I’d believe a damn thing you say.”

“It’s the truth. Believe it or don’t believe it. Right now, I don’t care. There are bigger things to deal with in this city tonight than our feud.”

“Feud?” Kraven snapped. “You think this is as simple as a feud?”

Bishop straightened his shoulders and wiped the pain from his face before he turned to Kraven again. “It’s ancient history.”

“Doesn’t even bother to apologize,” Kraven said, flicking a glance at me. “How do you like that? Total son of a bitch.”

My chest felt so tight listening to all of this, I could barely breathe. I understood Kraven’s outrage, and I also believed that Bishop regretted what he’d done. “You two need to talk about this later.”

The demon shot me a dark look. “And here I thought you were drooling to learn the truth about my brother. Maybe you’re scared to know it now. Might change how you feel about the two of us. Might make you like me more.”

“You don’t even give me a chance to like you,” I snapped. “Before you go and say something to make me hate you again.”

“Ouch.”

“But...I know there’s still good in you, Kraven,” I continued, forcing myself to stay calm. “You proved that by saving Bishop earlier.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, bite me, sweetness. Seriously.” Then he returned his gaze to Bishop. “By the way, I know she’s a nexus.”

My stomach dropped.

Bishop froze. “What?”

“Angel and demon parents. I think you’ve been acquainted with nexi in the past as one of Heaven’s lapdog assassins. Killing them, anyway. Not whispering sweet nothings in their ears.”

Bishop’s expression darkened. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So I guess that makes three that should be put on your kill list, right? A dangerous angel-demon hybrid like sweetness here, and two rule-busting renegades like the romantically inclined Cassandra and Roth.”

Bishop stared him down. “Are you finished running your mouth?”

“Oh, I’m just getting started.”

Bishop stormed toward Kraven, grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him down on the hood of my mother’s car hard enough to make me shriek. “No, you’re definitely finished. It’s over. I’ve tolerated you long enough. Your hate has made you blind—you keep us from getting to that house and helping those who need help because you’re so consumed by your own self-pity. You destroy anything you touch—just like old times. I see that now. You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Screw you,” Kraven spat out. “What do I care what you think? You’re crazy. You’re losing it.”

“How about this, James? Make a threatening move toward Samantha and I will kill you. And this time there won’t be any deals or rituals to resurrect your sorry ass again.”

I couldn’t help but agree with the demon. Bishop had every right to be angry with him, but there was something erratic about his behavior now, something crazed flashing behind his gaze. Something dangerous.

“Bishop, let him go,” I said, my voice shaky. “Please. We don’t have time for this.”

When he looked at me, Kraven shoved Bishop back from him.

“You think you can kill me? Not if I kill you first. You can’t even handle being leader as it is. You can cut yourself up as much as you like, you can hold hands with gray-girl all day long, but soon it won’t help. You’re going to be completely bat-shit insane soon, no matter what quick fix you have in place. And I’ll be happy to sit back and watch the show with popcorn in hand.”

Bishop’s fists were clenched at his sides. “I’ve felt guilty for killing you all this time. When I saw you for the first time in that alley with no memories...knowing I had to stab you...”

Kraven’s eyes glowed red in the darkness, betraying his anger, his pain. “You did it without any hesitation. Both times.”

“You don’t know what’s going on in my head.”

“I don’t want to know. I hate you.”

Kraven grabbed Bishop’s shirt and slammed him against a brick wall so hard that the surface cracked. Bishop shook it off and launched himself at the demon, grabbing him hard. They started to fight in earnest now, years of anger and pain built up to overflow tonight. Two immortal beings raging against each other, able to hurt, to draw blood, to break bones, but not kill each other. Not without the dagger.

“Stop it,” I growled. “Both of you.”

It was so cold I swear my skin was turning to ice. My hunger hadn’t stopped for a moment. It had only increased, doubling every minute, even though we were far enough away from the house that it shouldn’t have bothered me, and there was enough distance between me and where Bishop and Kraven were fighting.

My heart pounded faster and faster. My breath came so quickly I thought I might hyperventilate. A wash of darkness moved across my vision.

I let out a harsh cry and collapsed to my knees. The world spun—reminding me of the one time me and Carly did vodka shots before a house party to give ourselves courage, but ended up violently ill instead. But this was worse—much worse than that. I clawed at the pavement, breaking my already short nails.

“Samantha—” Bishop was at my side a moment later. There was a bloody gash on his forehead.

I moaned, then dragged in a ragged breath that hurt my throat. “No, don’t get close. Too close. Too much. So cold, Bishop. It’s so cold. Please...”

Kraven stood nearby. His face was bleeding, too. “You know what’s happening to her. You know what this means.”

“Be quiet,” he snarled.

“It’s time. Don’t wait to see what happens to her next—or how much she’ll suffer. Put her out of her misery now.” Instead of joy in the demon’s tone, there was dark certainty. He didn’t say this to be cruel. This was something they’d discussed before.

What to do when I finally went into stasis.

“I thought you actually gave a damn about her,” Bishop said tightly. “Guess I was wrong.”

Kraven shot him a look of disdain. “Suggesting a quick, clean death, rather than melting on the sidewalk? Rather than seeing her turn into a total sociopath? Yeah, you’re right. Guess I don’t give a damn.”

Bishop swore. “Go to the party. Find the others. Help them. Stop that angel any way you have to.”

“Wait. What about...I can kiss her again if it’ll help.”

“It won’t help. Not anymore.”

“But—”

“No. You’ll never kiss her again.”

Bishop picked me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing more than a feather and cradled me against his chest. Then he turned away from Kraven and began running down the street in the opposite direction. I could barely lift my head to see Kraven still standing there watching us get farther and farther away, a bleak look in his amber-colored eyes.

He knew the same thing I knew—whether I lived or died, this was the end for me.