I didn’t reply. She was baiting me and I didn’t want to play into it. She found all this amusing. My pain was amusing to her.
Even still, the longer I was here, the more I doubted my original plan. Even if Natalie revealed herself to be a totally evil demon without a chance for redemption, could I really kill her?
Maybe not. But Bishop could.
I’d seen him wield this dagger without hesitation. It was his mission to come to this city and find the Source. To stop her because she was a dangerous threat to the balance of the entire universe.
I had to get the dagger to him. But that might be tricky.
Also, the fact that he was so close to me right now that I could feel the heat from his body sinking into mine—that his addictive scent had wrapped itself around me and made it nearly impossible for me to concentrate—my mind wasn’t working right. It never did when he was this close to me.
“What do you want?” Bishop said. It was directed toward Natalie.
She moved her attention from me, her face pinched and displeased now, but it shifted into something else. I recognized that look in her eyes. I’d seen it in Carly’s.
Predator.
“Oh, I don’t know.” She moved closer to him. Her gaze slid down the length of his body. “Happiness, wealth, true love. Just like everybody else.”
“That’s all?”
“What else is there that matters?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Destruction, vengeance, power, world domination.”
Her smile stretched, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Those are fun, too.”
“How did you escape the Hollow?”
She regarded him in silence and it seemed as if she was fighting to hold on to that calm and amused expression. “You know, Samantha, that dagger your friend Bishop carries—or usually carries—is one similar to what was used on your mother.”
Pain twisted inside me.
“Your father really did love her, but their relationship was forbidden. Nothing that threatens the perfect universal balance is allowed to exist, you see. Unfair, isn’t it?”
“Where’s my father?” I asked, trying very hard to keep my voice steady.
“I told you I’d take you to him if you helped me.” Her brown eyes, so much like mine, moved to me. “He’ll be disappointed that you failed to bring me what I asked for.”
“You want the dagger,” Bishop said.
Her smile returned. “I do.”
“What happened to you all those years in the Hollow? What’s it like in there? It’s not supposed to be like anything. It’s supposed to be the end of everything.”
Her eyes flashed red. “Maybe that’s how it is if you’re dead. But I was thrown in there alive, just like my brother was.”
“He wasn’t thrown, he jumped,” I said. “You told me he followed after Anna.”
“Same difference.”
“I’m sure you weren’t the first ones who entered the Hollow that way. It sucks in anything within its radius, not only the dead.”
“You’re right. There’s lots of garbage inside that Heaven and Hell didn’t think would ever see the light of day again. Everyone assumes that Hell is where that darkness and true evil end up. But even they have standards. Anything unacceptable, anything problematic or anomalous that can’t be properly categorized or used, gets tossed.” Her lips thinned. “But it’s not the end. It’s not a black hole of nothingness. It’s so much more than that now.”
“Since when?” Bishop asked. “When did it change?”
She laughed…an unpleasant sound. “Were you sent here to ask me these questions before you killed me? I guess they know something’s up with the Hollow. They’re afraid of what that might mean to their precious balance.”
He shook his head. “They’re not afraid.”
“They should be. Actually, they should be terrified. If I got out, other things will, too. I can promise you that. Other things that will make me look like nothing more than a pretty girl who likes to kiss pretty boys. All here in Trinity.”
“So it’s open here, but nowhere else. It’s stuck, just like you are. Because of the barrier.”
Her pleasant expression washed away, leaving behind something ugly. “I need your dagger, angel.”
Bishop’s face was all cruel, hard lines as he regarded her. Nothing soft. “You think Samantha can help you escape because of what she is.”
She flicked a look at me. “He’ll kill you, you know. It’s only a matter of time. You’re an anomaly, just like me. A threat to the balance. Be careful with this fallen angel, Samantha. Soul or not, he’ll steal your heart just before he slices a sharp blade into it.”
Even though I didn’t trust a word that came out of her mouth, a chill ran down my spine. I braved a look at Bishop, but he kept his attention fully fixed on my aunt. His fists were clenched at his sides, the muscles in his arms tense.
Stephen stayed behind Natalie, his brows drawn tightly together as he listened in on the conversation. Carly moved to stand next to him. Her eyes moved back and forth between us as if she were watching a tennis match.
I hated that Carly was here and had become a part of this. My best friend since kindergarten—my closest ally and confidante. I wanted to save her so badly, but I didn’t know how. I couldn’t accept that she had changed forever from this. Losing Carly’s soul felt even worse than losing my own.
There had to be another way for this all to end. What had Natalie experienced while being in the Hollow for all these years? How had it changed her? I couldn’t hate her for this, I felt sorry for her. And if I still could, I wanted to help her.
“How did you get out?” Bishop asked Natalie again.
“You,” she purred, “are very tenacious. You’re the leader, aren’t you? There are others in the city like you who run around every night killing my brood. I don’t like that very much.”
I scanned the faces of the people around me. Carly stood next to Stephen with a blank look on her face. Stephen’s expression was unreadable, too, but his gaze was now fixed on me rather than Natalie.
It made me shiver.
And the others…
I glanced behind me and nearly shrieked when I saw they’d all gotten to their feet and taken a step closer, their expressions as blank as sheets of paper. They blocked my path back to the staircase.
Not one normal teen had ever tried to climb those stairs to come up here. This had become a grays-only section. It scared me to think what would happen if anyone did venture up to this second-floor lounge.
“Did you make a deal to leave the Hollow?” Bishop persisted. “With whom? And what was it for?”
Her gaze traveled leisurely over his tall, muscular body and broad shoulders. “It was really more of a favor.”
“Why did the Hollow change? It hasn’t always been this way.”
“No, it hasn’t. Only for about seventeen years.”
Seventeen years. Since I was born. Since my real mother was killed and my father and Natalie followed her into the Hollow.
I still clutched the strap of my heavy leather bag, my palms damp with sweat. Throughout this, Bishop had remained sane. But even now I sensed his struggle to keep his focus.
He glared at her, frustration etched into his handsome face. She wasn’t answering his questions; she was only making everything more confusing.
I knew I was right about his ultimate plan for tonight to open the passageway to the Hollow and drag Natalie back into it with him. And now that I’d arrived, I’d complicated things for him. No, scratch that. I’d totally screwed up his chance to sacrifice himself for his mission.
I knew why I’d done it. Even though I knew I couldn’t kiss him again, I refused to lose him. Not like this. No matter what that meant.
The song blasting below us shifted to something frenetic with a driving beat. My heart rate increased right along with it. Bishop drew closer to me until his arm touched mine. It was enough that I felt the spark between us, and a pleasa
nt ribbon of warmth slid through me.
His nearness did crazy things to my head, made me dizzy. I fought to maintain my concentration, but I didn’t make any move to put distance between us. Being close to Bishop might be more distracting than I wanted it to be right now, but it also helped to give me extra courage.
“However you returned, you’re now putting the world at risk by your very presence,” Bishop said to Natalie.
“You say that like I should care.”
“How can you not care?” I asked.
“I know you don’t understand, Samantha.” She gave me a winsome smile. “But you don’t have to. All you need to do is help me get out of this city.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, I can’t do that.”
She closed the distance between us, grabbed hold of my wrist, yanking me forward. “You will.”
Her grip grew so tight I couldn’t help but whimper as I fought to break her demonically strong hold on me. Bishop took her hand and wrenched it back from my arm hard enough that it would have broken a human’s wrist. She shrieked in pain.
Bishop’s eyes glowed with blue light. “Hurt her and I hurt you. See how it works, demon?”
Natalie’s upper lip curled back from her teeth in a half smile, half grimace. “You’re still weaker than you should be with that soul stuck in you. Good to know.”
“It’s been a difficult week.”
“I’m sure. But you got the chance to meet my lovely niece. And it’s obvious to me that you do care about her—probably much more than you should. So do I.”
“You had your underling suck the soul out of her mouth in a single kiss. Doesn’t sound like a caring aunt to me. It sounds like a self-involved demon who only wants to serve her own interests.”
“It was the only way for her to discover her true full potential. It was my gift to her.”
Bishop glared. “You are one cold, deluded bitch if you really think that.”
“Maybe I’m a cold bitch, but I’m not deluded.” Natalie’s amused expression had returned. She liked that she was able to push Bishop’s buttons and get a tangible reaction from him. “I made an exception for Samantha because we’re family. I gave Stephen very specific instructions when he took her soul—for him to take it all in one kiss. That isn’t easy. But my Stephen—” she cast an affectionate look at him over her shoulder “—he’s got a very talented mouth.”
Stephen remained silent, his brows drawn close together.
Bishop’s expression tightened. “What does that mean?”
“Samantha’s soul—” a smile curved her full lips “—it was taken all at once, not in pieces. That means it can be saved.”
My breath left me in a whoosh like I’d just been punched in the stomach. That was the last thing I expected her to say. “You mean it’s not gone forever?”
“He brought it to me when he was finished with you.” The demon’s smile held. “I have your soul, Samantha. And if you ever want it back, you need to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
Chapter 23
A wave of dizziness swept over me as I tried to process this. “Where is it?”
“Somewhere safe,” Natalie replied. “Not here. Only Stephen and I know where it is.”
“That’s why he ran away right after he kissed me, isn’t it?” I asked breathlessly.
“Stephen?” Natalie prompted, flicking a look at him.
Stephen’s throat jumped as he swallowed and he opened his mouth to speak. It seemed like a struggle for him for a moment. “That’s right.”
I met Bishop’s gaze. He looked as surprised as I felt, but there was cautious hope in his blue eyes.
“And what about Carly’s soul?” he demanded. “Did you hide that somewhere, too? That would be the perfect insurance to get Samantha to do as you wish.”
Carly watched us, her expression still glazed and uninterested. But she was paying close attention. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what was going through her mind. She liked how she was without her soul—her new confidence, the attention she got from boys at school and at Crave. She might not want it back even if that was an option. But I had to know the truth.
“Well?” I said, looking at Stephen instead of Natalie. “Did you or didn’t you?”
Stephen nodded. “I still have it.”
Relief and fear crashed over me. Maybe Carly could be returned to her former self. But at what cost?
Natalie crossed her arms and nodded at a couple of the grays behind me and Bishop. “Restrain him.”
Before Bishop could move, two male grays grabbed hold of his arms to hold him in place.
“My boys are extra strong,” Natalie said. “When I create the grays myself, they have that extra something special. They can hold your weakened angel in check quite easily.”
Panic shot though me. “Natalie, what are you doing?”
“I’m moving this along. I have places I need to be. Stephen?”
Stephen was at my side in an instant and he took tight hold of my arm.
“Her purse,” Natalie instructed.
Before I had a chance to struggle, or to even realize what was happening, he’d ripped my leather bag off my shoulder and pushed me back from him so hard that I stumbled to the floor and landed on my butt.
Bishop growled with rage and fought against the grays. “I should have killed you the other night when I had the chance, you son of a bitch.”
“But you didn’t,” Stephen replied. “Your mistake.”
He thrust my bag out to Natalie. She took it, unzipped it and then reached inside and drew out the dagger. The gold glinted under the pot lights in the ceiling above us.
Bishop’s eyes had widened. I’d surprised him. Too bad my plan hadn’t worked out—not that it had been that solid to start with. I’d waited too long, hoping for a chance to convince Natalie to change her mind. Hoping there was a way that everyone could survive this.
Now she had the dagger.
“I knew you were lying, Samantha,” Natalie said as she inspected the blade. “When you said you didn’t have this, the lie was clear in your eyes. You’re a very honest person. That weakness must come from your mother’s genes.”
I hated her. At that moment, I’d never hated anyone more.
“Interesting. This could be the very same dagger that killed Anna.” Natalie glanced at the restrained fallen angel before her. “How many of these are there?”
Bishop’s teeth were gritted. “I don’t know.”
“Even if you did know you wouldn’t tell me, right?”
“Good point.”
“Does it have a name? All of these fancy magical weapons usually have names.”
Bishop glared at her. “Yeah. I like to call it Goldie.”
“You’re funny for an angel.”
“Not really. I’m just inspired at the moment.” Bishop’s gaze flicked to the dagger. “You planning on killing me with that thing? Take revenge on me for the others who shoved you in the Hollow seventeen years ago and forgot you existed?”
My stomach clenched. What was he doing? Egging the demon on to kill him right now?
“You wanted Carly to kiss you earlier.” She drew so close that their faces were only inches apart. She slowly slid the tip of the dagger down the center of his chest and back up. “Your soul smells so good to me—even better than a human’s. How does my little niece manage to keep her lips to herself around you? It must be torture for her.”
She cocked her head as she studied him. “But you don’t have your whole soul, anymore, do you? I can sense that. I guess she did have a nibble. Can’t blame her for that.”
“Are you going to finish it off? Kiss me and suck the rest of it out?”
“Would you like me to? Or is it only Samantha’s mouth you want on you now?”
I pushed up to my feet and surged toward her, wanting to claw her eyes out, but Stephen blocked me.
“Stay back,” he warned.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why not? There’s nothing else that I care about anymore. Might as well align with someone as powerful as Natalie.”
“What about Jordan?”
He flinched as if I’d slapped him. “She’s history. And if she comes anywhere near me again, she’s in serious trouble.”
God, why hadn’t I told Kraven about this? Why had I knocked him out? He could be storming in right now to stop this. Or— I didn’t know for sure. Maybe he’d let this play out just as it was, sacrificing his brother in order for the mission to be successful and he could get his reward. It wasn’t as if there was any love lost between them.