Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers)

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.

But I cared.

“Talk to me, Samantha.” Bishop dropped his dagger and kneeled in front of me, holding my face between his hands.

“I can feel it,” I managed. “The energy from the Hollow, it’s so dark. Even worse than I thought it would be, but I guess it makes sense.” I cried out as another wave of pain descended. I could feel the branching lines move up onto my face now like icy, cold fingers scraping over my skin.

Close—very close now. I’d chosen this and it was the right thing to do.

Still, I was so scared. My bravery only went so far.

“Damn it,” he growled. “Why did you do this? Why did you want to sacrifice yourself like this?”

I knew the answer to this one. It was a test I definitely wouldn’t fail.

It was something that occurred to me when Nathan was busy telling me how unnatural I was. How unwanted. How unloved.

That was exactly how I’d felt for ages, ever since my parents separated. My father barely emailed anymore, too busy over in England with his new girlfriend to spare more than a thought toward me. I hated him for that, feeling abandoned, just like I felt abandoned by my mother working so hard at her job that she was barely around. They made me feel like they’d never wanted me.

But I now knew they adopted me because they couldn’t have their own biological child. That meant they wanted me—me, in particular.

And my father didn’t stay in touch lately because the last time I spoke with him I told him I never wanted to see him again.

Funny how we forget that every story has two sides, even when one of those sides is our own.

My mother had never abandoned me, she’d just been trying to keep busy while nursing a broken heart. My father hadn’t abandoned me, either. He was giving me space until I got over my deep-seated feelings of betrayal about the choices he’d made to try to find his own happiness.

But they still loved me. They still wanted me. And they had from the very beginning.

I’d never realized how lucky I was.

Until now.

“Why, Samantha?” Bishop asked again. “Why sacrifice yourself?”

For family, for friendship, even for people I couldn’t stand the sight of. For movies about zombies, especially the really bad ones. For sunrises and sunsets. For the possibility of acing a test and going to my first-choice college and maybe becoming a writer or something equally awesome. For my mother’s ability to order Chinese food like a champ. For sandboxes, and swimming pools, and kissing frogs hoping they might turn into princes.

For real love—the kind that lasted forever.

“Because,” I whispered, “some things are worth dying for.”

He held on to me tightly as my life ebbed away. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Then he drew closer and pressed his lips against mine.

A last kiss. I thought that was a nice touch. To kiss the boy I loved before I died.

But I quickly realized it wasn’t that kind of a kiss.

I gripped the material of his shirt and forced my mouth away from his. “What are you doing?”

“I told you I still had the ability to heal—a little left. I’m using it to heal you.” Then he crushed his mouth against mine again.

I tried to stop him, to tear myself away, but he held me too tightly.

He couldn’t do this. To heal me while in his condition, burdened with a soul which dampened all of his celestial abilities—it would take every last bit of life energy he had left.

It would kill him.

And he knew it.

Tears slipped down my cheeks as he kept me locked in this bruisingly hard kiss, and I felt that healing energy move through me, burning away the parts that had been damaged from taking Nathan’s power away.

Then Bishop finally drew back, still holding my face between his hands, which continued to channel the healing into me. His eyes glowed bright blue before the light doused from them completely and he slumped forward against me.

He’d healed me. The dark and deadly energy I’d taken from Nathan was gone as if it had never been here. The pain was only a bad memory. Physically, I felt better than I had in ages.

And Bishop was dying in my arms.

Kraven loomed over us, his expression filled with every emotion I could name—fury, confusion, hate, anguish. All of it directed not at me, but at Bishop.

“This can’t happen,” he growled. “Not now. I won’t let it.”

“What can you do?” I choked out.

“The barrier’s what’s trapping him here. And there’s only two things left keeping that barrier in place.” He turned from us and I saw that he now had the dagger in his grip.

Carly and Stephen. He was going to kill them to complete the mission.

“Sam,” Bishop whispered. “Take this. Be normal again, I know it’s what you want.”

He yanked the chain from around his neck and handed me back the locket I’d given him only last night.

Then his eyes closed and he went still in my arms.

I stared at him, unblinking, squeezing the locket so tightly that it would hurt if I could feel anything other than cold shock.

Be normal again.

“You think it’s that easy?” My words trembled as I eased him down to the ground and stroked the dark hair back from his forehead. “Well, it’s not. I need you, Bishop. Please, don’t leave me. Not yet.”

It was supposed to be the dagger that killed a demon or an angel, not this. Not because he saved my life. It wasn’t fair.

“Both of you are dead,” Kraven snarled, moving toward Carly and Stephen.

“No!” I leaped up from the ground and ran over to block them.

“Get out of my way.”

“Not a chance.”

His eyes blazed bright red. “You don’t think I’ll use this on you, too?”

I had no doubt he would if he had to. None at all. “I knew you still cared about your brother. This is proof.”

“And now he’s dead. Still not too late—the Hollow didn’t take his body. Still a chance to make this right, but the barrier needs to go. This mission needs to end.”

“I agree.” I turned to face Carly and Stephen.

“Sam, do something! Help me!” Tears streamed down Carly’s cheeks.

“Kill me,” Stephen said, his expression stone.

“No!” Jordan shrieked. “Don’t—please don’t!”

He didn’t look at her, instead his gaze moved to me. “I deserve to die after what I’ve done to Jordan, to you. To...other people—so many other people. I can’t take any of it back.”

“You’re right,” I said. “You can’t take it back. But death’s not an option. Not tonight. And not for anybody else.”

Please let this work.

I slid my fingernail into the locket and opened it up. There was something inside, something that shimmered like a translucent ribbon. I pulled it out to see that it was so long and so wide to be able to fit into something so small. I held it in my hand, mesmerized by its beauty and warmth.

My soul.

Be normal again, I know it’s what you want.

“Not anymore, Bishop,” I said aloud. “Not without you.”

Not wasting another second, I tore the soul into two pieces and shoved them each into Carly’s and Stephen’s mouths. They gasped and choked as if I was making them swallow something large and unpleasant.

Please work. Please.

Both gasped, inhaling sharply. The halved soul disappeared into the two grays.

Then there was another tremor—although this one felt more like a lightning strike.

“Don’t know how,” Kraven muttered. “But you did it, sweetness. Congrats.”

Connor and Roth looked at each other with shock as they both let go of Carly and Stephen at the exact same time. I spun around to see Bishop lying so still on the ground. Not moving. Not breathing.

Then the sky flashed with bright, white light and another thunderclap shook the world beneath my feet. The flash of light momentarily blinded me and I shielded my eyes from its glare. The skies darkened again an instant later and I looked around, stunned.

Bishop was gone, a scorch mark where he’d been lying the only evidence he’d ever been here.

Same for Kraven, Connor and Roth.

They were gone.

It had worked. The last of the grays were gone and the barrier had disappeared immediately. The team had been pulled back to Heaven and Hell.

A sob rose in my throat.

Someone grabbed me, pulling me to them and hugging me hard. It was Jordan.

“I thought— Oh, God. You’re alive. You’re, like, seriously the most bizarre person I’ve ever met in my life, but you’re alive. And I’m alive. And...Stephen...”

Stephen and Carly had fallen to the ground, both unconscious.

I rushed toward my friend as she started to come to. Jordan limped over to where Stephen lay and gripped his shoulders as he blinked up at her.

“What...?” he began. “Where am I?”

Carly pushed up from the ground. “Uh, what happened? Why was I lying on my back in a parking lot?”

“What do you remember?” I asked tentatively.

“Crave. We went there to confront Stephen about being a total dick to you. You met up with that hot guy named Bishop and totally blew me off. Nice, by the way. And now I’m here.” She glanced to her left and made a face. “Hey, the total dick’s here, too. Oh, and Jordan Fitzpatrick. Awesome.”

Jordan and I exchanged a glance.

“What about you?” Jordan asked Stephen. “What do you remember?”

He rubbed his forehead. “I also remember being at Crave. I’d come back to visit you. University sucked and...I don’t know. Nothing’s working out the way I wanted it to, except, well, I needed to see you.” He frowned deeply. “That’s it. That’s all I remember...and now I’m here.”

They didn’t remember being grays and they didn’t remember losing their souls.

They had no idea I’d given my soul to save their lives.

And Bishop had sacrificed his existence to save mine.

“You fixed them. You did it.” Jordan’s voice was hoarse. She reached out and pulled me into another tight hug. “And for the record, I remember. I remember everything, okay? You’re not alone.”

I was glad to hear it. But all I could do right now was nod as the tears streamed down my cheeks.