Dark Kiss (Harlequin Teen) (26 page)

His gaze caught mine again and held. “It’s good. That’s why it’s so bad.”

When he entwined our fingers, for just a moment I forgot about everything else—it all slipped away and there was only him. When Bishop was totally sane, I wanted to kiss him so badly I could barely restrain myself.

And the way he looked at me, too, with gratitude and something else, something way deeper and more intense…

“I can practically hear the violins playing,” Kraven drawled. “So romantic, I could die. Should Zach and I leave the room so you two can go at it, or what?”

I gave him a sharp look. “Are you ever
not
a jerk?”

“Not ever,” he confirmed.

“What about when you were human?”

His smart-ass grin faded. “I don’t talk about that.”

“But you wanted me to know your human name. And that you and Bishop were brothers. Care to share any more about that? Either of you?”

His unfriendly gaze moved to the left as the door clanged shut. Roth had returned from his temporary pity party. He looked at us sullenly but didn’t say anything.

“That was just a test of the emergency broadcast system, sweetness,” Kraven said. “Don’t let it go to your head that I was trying to get personal with you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,
James.
” I think I’d just discovered the demon’s Achilles’ heel. Talking about his human life was off-limits. But I guess I wanted to test those limits just a little. It had been one of those nights.

My using his real first name earned me a look of sheer disdain. “Sucked any souls out of mouths tonight, gray girl?”

“No. Stabbed any helpless victims?”

“Our victims aren’t helpless,” Bishop said.

My gaze shot back to him. “Sure, they aren’t.”

“You haven’t seen a gray after they’ve fed too much.”

I frowned as a memory of Carly flitted through my mind.

“Samantha.” Bishop squeezed my hand to get me to keep looking at him instead of the jerk of a demon. “What happened? What did you see?”

My throat thickened. “My friend…I think she’s in trouble.”

“The one you were with the other night?”

I nodded, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “I’m worried about her.”

“Did you see her feed?” Zach asked.

I didn’t reply right away and they all exchanged a look that made me nervous. I couldn’t admit what Carly had done. I couldn’t put her in danger. I knew what they’d do to her if they learned the truth. “Bishop, you said you can restore my soul. Well, I want you to restore her soul, too.”

“Restore souls?” Roth finally spoke up. “Somebody’s living in a dreamworld, aren’t they?”

I looked at him sharply. “Excuse me?”

“You can’t restore a human’s soul once it’s gone.” He glanced at Bishop who was sending a dark glare his way. “What?”

My mouth was suddenly as dry as the desert. “But Bishop said—”

“Yeah, I’m sure he would have said anything to get you to use that mysterious mojo of yours, right? Good going, angel.” A smile stretched across Roth’s handsome face. “Nice and devious. I approve.”

For the second—or third?—time tonight, it felt as if the floor had fallen away beneath my feet and I was about to fall into a pit of darkness. “Bishop…is that true?”

Bishop gave Roth a dark look that might completely shrivel a weaker demon to the size and consistency of a raisin. When Bishop finally turned his gaze to me his fierce expression had only softened a fraction.

“If there is a way to restore your soul I will find it.”

I let go of his hand and staggered back from him. “You lied to me? You—you told me angels don’t lie.”

“Oh, angels can definitely lie when they need to,” Kraven said. “Trust me on that. They just prefer not to since it makes them feel all dirty inside.”

Bishop’s jaw tensed. “It wasn’t a lie. I told you I’d help—that I believe there’s a way. And when I go back to Heaven, I’ll find it.”

Panic gripped my throat. “That’s not what you promised me!”

His brows drew together. “Yes, it was.”

“Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise,” Kraven murmured. “News at eleven.”

Despite my other misgivings, I’d had faith that Bishop was being truthful with me about this. And now, to learn that it had all been a lie—that this was it for me and for Carly…

He was no better than a demon.

Before Bishop had a chance to say anything else, I stormed away from him and back down the dark hallway to the open door. I made it outside the church by the broken sign before I had to take a moment to try to get control over myself. I braced my hands on my thighs and gulped in big mouthfuls of air.

I’d agreed to his deal and done everything I’d promised to do, and all the time he’d known he might not be able to hold up his end of the bargain.

I’d fallen for a guy who’d promised to save me only so he could get something in return. My heart felt like it had broken into pieces, scattered on the front lawn of this abandoned church just like that sign.

How could he do this to me?

I didn’t remember his exact words, but he’d left me with the certainty that he had a solution.
The
solution. I wanted to give him my trust—and, yes, my heart, too—but how could I do that now?

Angels might not usually lie, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t shamelessly manipulate a girl who’d developed a major crush on a beautiful, blue-eyed angel.

“Samantha, stop!” Bishop rushed after me while the others stayed inside. He grabbed hard onto my wrist to keep me from going any farther.

I slapped him as hard as I could across his face. The stunned and outraged look he gave me was almost comical. I guess no hysterical teenage girl had ever hit him before.

I felt something hot and wet on my cheeks and realized the tears I’d been holding back all night were starting to fall. I wiped at them with annoyance. “You led me to believe there was a way to restore my soul, but you were just guessing. Why would you do that to me? You know how much this means to me!”

He let out a snarl of frustration. “What? You think I’m a shameless jerk who gets off on lying to innocent girls? I thought you knew me better than that.”

“I don’t know you at all! You and Kraven
are
brothers. Maybe you’re a lot more alike than I thought. Maybe you should be a demon, too.”

His jaw tightened. “You’re right, I should be.”

My breath caught. “What?”

“A long time ago, I was one of the bad guys.” His face was stone. “Real bad, Samantha—you don’t know. But I’ve changed. New name, new job…new existence. Everything’s different now.”

He’d knocked me totally off balance with this unexpected glimpse into his past. But, really, for all I knew he was just lying again. I glared at him with more intensity than I’d ever felt in my life, our gazes locked on each other. Nothing existed at that moment but the two of us. “You’re
still
one of the bad guys, Bishop. This just proves it.”

I forced myself to turn away from him, but he grabbed my arm and spun me back around so he could look at me angrily. “Did I knowingly lead you to believe something that wasn’t one hundred percent true? Maybe I did. But you said you
hated
me. I had to say something that would keep you around. No matter what.”

“I do hate you.”

His fingers bit into my shoulders. “That’s your decision. But when I go back to Heaven, I
will
find an answer. I will save you.”

“Leave me alone.” I pulled away from him and started to walk again.

He was persistent, though. He still followed me, which only made this harder. Having him near me, even now, made it too difficult to think straight.

He said he was one of the bad guys.

I shivered. Who was he? What had he done—and how long ago? And why had he become an angel if Kraven became a demon?

Finally, I stopped and turned to face him. I glared up at his face. Despite the shadows surrounding us, there was a dim, unnerving glow in his beautiful eyes as he watched me.

As I was trying to form words around my racing thoughts, something surprising caught my eye. I stared up into the sky behind him.

He frowned. “What is it?”

It took me a moment to find my voice. “Kraven said there were supposed to be four of you on your team, right? Two angels and two demons?”

“Yeah, four.”

I kept staring at the column of light that had just appeared in the night sky. “Looks like you’re getting a bonus member.”

He turned to look in the same direction. “You see another searchlight?”

I just nodded.

He stayed silent, but I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted me to lead him to the right spot, just as I’d done with the others. Sounded like somebody had their signals crossed—literally—when it came to the total number of demons and angels currently in the city. If there was another one tonight, then there might be even more than that.

My possibility of getting back what Stephen had taken from me had fizzled and died tonight, no matter what the angel was ready to promise me now.

The question was, did I completely blame him for what he’d let me believe? Would I have done the exact same thing in his position, knowing what was at stake if I couldn’t find the others?

Damn it, I probably would have.

It didn’t make any of this right, nor did it lessen the anger or betrayal I felt toward him, but part of me did understand.

He wanted to help me. He just wasn’t totally sure if he could.

If he’d put it that bluntly, maybe I wouldn’t have agreed to help him in the first place.

I hissed out a long breath. “This is it, Bishop. This is
definitely
the last time I’m ever going to help you.”

Two of us could play the lying game.

Natalie wanted the dagger so I could help her leave the city. I wasn’t ready to do that just yet. My heart ached from hearing her tell me about my parents, but I couldn’t do what she wanted me to do. Not yet, anyway.

But I also couldn’t lead Bishop to the Source and let him destroy my aunt—the only connection I had to my real father.

Looked like I was still right in the middle. It sure didn’t feel like the best location to hang out for very long.

It almost felt routine now, following the searchlight that would lead us to an angel or a demon. I kept several feet between us so I wouldn’t feel as drawn to him as I normally did. Didn’t help much. Even with my lingering pain over feeling betrayed and lied to, my attraction to him was stronger than ever before as I felt his heated gaze on me while we walked.

So damn unfair.

This searchlight didn’t lead us too many blocks away from the abandoned church. It was practically deserted in this neighborhood, compared to where we’d found Roth on the busy downtown sidewalk in the shopping district. Abandoned, empty, lonely—depressing, really. A good chunk of Trinity was like this now, as if any life that had existed before had died off, leaving a shadowy ghost town behind.

The light led us to another boy, not that I was all that surprised about his gender. He was an inch or two shorter than Bishop, which still meant he was at least six feet tall, with cocoa-colored skin and dark eyes. Attractive, of course, no big surprise there, either. He wore ill-fitting khaki pants and a green button-down shirt. His black hair was so short it was nearly shaved.