“Time for you to go.” He stood up from the table and the chess board shimmered away so there was nothing left on the table. A moment later, there was no table, either.
My panicked gaze shot to his. “But where can I go if I’m dead?”
He drew closer and patted my cheek. “It won’t be much longer now. Angel, demon, light, dark. Even gray. Their destiny is already decided. Soon. Very soon.”
“But I don’t understand.”
“You do. You just don’t want to yet.”
“Wait, I don’t—”
But then the wasteland slipped away. Seth vanished. And everything went black again.
A moment later, my eyes shot wide-open and I sat bolt upright, gasping for breath.
I was in the dark living room again, on the couch where I’d died. I frantically searched the shadows to find Bishop.
He was there. Sitting with his back against the wall, his eyes glazed. Only the light from the moon and streetlamp shining through the window allowed me to see him.
“Bishop...” I began.
“Couldn’t save you, couldn’t heal you. You died in my arms.”
“I’m not dead.”
He shook his head back and forth. “I hear you, but you’re not here. Memories haunt me now—like they always have. Always, forever. I’m okay with that, when it’s you. Haunt me, Samantha. Haunt me till the end. The very end.”
His voice was low and hollow. The sound of it sent a chill straight through me. And his words, his tone—he’d completely lost his mind.
My heart broke for him, for his pain, knowing that I was the one to cause it.
“Couldn’t save you,” he muttered. “Couldn’t save you. It was too late. I failed you. I failed you and now you’re gone.”
My body ached as I gingerly pushed myself up to a sitting position.
“I’m not dead,” I said again, stronger this time.
When he laughed, the sharp sound cut through the dark room. “Saw you die. Watched you die. You’re gone and now you haunt me.” He inhaled raggedly and squeezed his eyes shut. “Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it.”
I shakily got to my feet and moved toward him. He opened his eyes and looked up at me as I approached. The devastation mixed with glazed insanity in his eyes tore me up inside.
I crouched next to him. When I reached out to him, he cringed away from me, and averted his gaze toward the window.
“Bishop.” Fear made my throat so thick it was nearly impossible to speak. “Look at me.”
I didn’t accept that he’d completely lost it. He believed that he could save me right until the moment it was too late, so I wasn’t giving up on him. I didn’t think I’d ever give up on him.
I wasn’t losing him. Even if he’d already lost himself.
“I wanted to save you,” he whispered.
“I know.” I moved closer to him until I was only inches away. “And now I want to save you.”
I grabbed his face between my hands and kissed him.
Electricity sparked between us, visible sparks—but it didn’t hurt. It felt good. It felt better than it ever had before.
This was pure magic.
I was meant to kiss Bishop like this.
His tense muscles finally began to relax. I thought he would pull back, but instead he pulled me hard against him and deepened the kiss, holding nothing back.
I’d always mocked those movies where the characters kissed like this—such passion, such desperation between them as if they would die if they stopped.
I wouldn’t be mocking them anymore. No way.
When Bishop finally pulled back a little, there was surprise in his wide, blue eyes—but the fog of insanity had lifted.
Relief filled me. It hadn’t been too late—for either of us.
“You’re alive,” he managed.
“I am.”
“You kissed me.”
“I sure did.”
“And—” his brows drew together with confusion ”—you’re not sucking my soul out through my mouth. Although, with a kiss like that it would have been very worth it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh nervously. “This is going to sound really strange, but I think part of me stayed dead. That was my stasis. And I didn’t survive it.”
Confusion crossed his gaze. “You’re very lucid for a zombie.”
I didn’t understand any of this, but I knew there were two outcomes to stasis. Death or total evil. Unless this was one big illusion, this was neither. “Luckily, I’m not a zombie. But...the gray parts of me did die—the hunger, the chills.”
Clarity shone in his gaze. “If you weren’t a nexus, the rest of you would have stayed dead, too.”
“I think so.” I nodded, stunned. “But I’m back.”
He pressed his fingertips to my throat to check my pulse. I definitely had one. He shook his head. “So I’m completely insane now. That must be it.”
“Nope, you’re not. Trust me. But we can’t argue about it any longer. We have to get to the party. The team needs their leader.”
Bishop took my face gently between his hands, touching me as if he couldn’t believe I was actually here, with a heartbeat, back from the dead, not a zombie, and I could be near him without his soul making me crazy.
“This is completely unbelievable to me,” he whispered.
He didn’t say it in a “this is a miracle! Hallelujah!” way. More of a “what’s the catch?” I’d been thinking the exact same thing, which helped dampen my joy of being finally relieved of my gray hunger.
“Kind of too good to be true, isn’t it?” I said quietly.
“Kind of.” He nodded gravely.
Bishop might be many fantastical things, and we might have next to nothing in common, but at his heart he was a realist just like me. My resurrection was not exactly textbook. Even I knew that. Especially with that after-death dream starring Seth, the fallen angel.
I quickly shared that with Bishop. “Do you think it was just a dream?”
He studied me. “Knowing you, Samantha, I honestly don’t know.”
As the numbness wore off, the realization that I’d literally returned from the dead—which I’d been for at least twenty minutes according to the wall clock—set in.
I was back, with no hunger, no cold, and I’d allow myself to feel joy at that.
The gray part of me had gone into stasis and she’d died twenty minutes ago on that couch.
The rest of me had come back for more. With a sore chest and bruised lips—and grateful as hell for both.
Together, Bishop and I left the townhome and raced down the street to get closer to the abandoned house—which, at the moment, was definitely not abandoned. Noah must have gotten word that it was haunted and decided that would make it a cool new location for his Halloween party. The iron gates were open enough to squeeze through. Some kids were out on the front lawn smoking. Everyone was in costume.
Well, not everyone. I’d been a bit preoccupied to think of something cool to wear.
The most important thing? Everyone was still alive.
My chilling vision had shown a massacre. The aftermath of the bodiless angel’s carnage. It hadn’t happened yet. Which meant we still had a chance to stop it.
“Are you okay here?” Bishop asked. “I know this place gave you problems before.”
“I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head. “Whatever it was...it’s not an issue anymore.”
“Go
od.” Still, his expression was guarded and watchful as he studied me, as if waiting for something bad to happen. For my head to start spinning, or an alien to burst out of my chest.
It might be Halloween, but I sincerely hoped that my personal horror movie of the night was now running its end credits.
It was crowded here—to put it mildly. The furniture was covered in plastic dustcovers, but that gave it an appropriately eerie feel. Kids milled about. Music blasted from the speakers. There had to be more than a hundred kids from school here, elbow to elbow. Costumes of all kinds—scary, sexy, funny. Some kids wore masks, others makeup.
Seemed like a great party, actually. In another life I would have probably enjoyed myself, if I’d been ignorant to the dangers lurking close by, ready to destroy absolutely everything and everyone.
Yeah, that knowledge put a bit of a damper on potential fun.
Connor caught our eye and waved at us from across the room near the stairs. We went right to him. His gaze was alert, and there was none of the humor I was used to seeing on his face. It had disappeared after Zach’s death.
He’d lost his best friend tonight.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Standard teen fare. Some underage drinking and some weed, but nothing supernatural. And no sign of our friend, Stephen.”
“The angel’s not here yet,” Bishop said.
Connor stared at him. “The angel’s going to be here?”
“I guess you haven’t run into Cassandra yet.”
“No, not yet. Big party. Roth’s around here somewhere, too. We’re ready for anything.” He glanced at both of us before turning his attention to the crowd. “What’s the plan, Bishop?”
“When and if the angel arrives, we need to isolate it. Get it away from the other kids.”
After it possesses someone, I thought. The thought still made me ill, but even I had to admit that we were running out of options.
Was one dead kid worth the lives of a hundred?
Someone caught my eye. Jordan, in full white-and-gold Cleopatra costume and black wig, was quickly making her way down the stairs from the second floor as if she was being chased.
“Bishop,” I said, “I have to find out what’s wrong with her.”
He caught my hand, but not hard enough to stop me. I might have lost my hunger, but the shiver of energy between us when we touched hadn’t gone anywhere. “Be careful.”
I nodded, then without another word, I threaded my way through the crowd of costumed kids and met her at the bottom of the stairs.
She didn’t even notice me until I caught her arm. “Jordan, what’s going on?”
She froze and looked over her shoulder at me. Her face was pale as a sheet of paper, despite her eyes heavily circled in black liner. “You’re here.”
She didn’t say it as an insult, just as an observation.
I grabbed her hand. She didn’t immediately pull away. Her skin was cold as ice. “What’s wrong?”
“I had to be here tonight. Socially, I mean, I couldn’t miss it. But I didn’t know...” Her breath came in rapid gasps.
“Know what?”
“I didn’t know about...the ghosts.”
I stared at her. “Excuse me?”
“This place is haunted. Like one hundred percent total hauntage.”
My eyes widened. The rumors were actually true about this house? “You can feel that?”
She nodded. “It wasn’t too bad when I got here. Just a low hum for me. But then some girls broke out a Ouija board upstairs and—bam. She—she spoke to me.” Her eyes were glossy. “I know it was her.”
“Who?”
Jordan met my gaze. She looked equal parts terrified and stunned. “Julie.”
A chill shot down my spine. “Julie?”
Her forehead screwed up into a frown. “I mean, I know she—she’s gone...but she’s here. And I—I had to get away.”
I’d been stunned into utter silence. This was why I couldn’t approach this house before. As a gray, my hunger had been triggered into overdrive.
Ghosts were disembodied souls. And this house was filled to overflowing with them.
I scanned the party. I couldn’t sense anything now, but Jordan could. She was the one with supernatural intuition.
What was wrong with this place? Why were so many ghosts here? Why was Julie still here?
There had to be a reason, and I had a strong feeling it was vitally important.
“Show me,” I said, clutching Jordan’s arm. “Show me on the Ouija board right now.”
Chapter 27
Jordan gaped at me. “Are you nuts? I’m not going back up there.”
If there were actual ghosts stuck in this house, there was a reason for it. And if they were disembodied souls, then they might be able to point me in the direction of the angel. They might even help me communicate with her so no one else had to get hurt. “I thought Julie was your friend.”
She grew even paler and her freckles stood out even more against her white skin and black Cleopatra wig. “The others weren’t taking it seriously. They think it’s just a big, stupid joke. But it—it scared me.”
“Of course it did.”
“I felt her, Samantha. I felt her...presence. And I felt others, too. What is this?” she asked, her shaky voice betraying her fear. “Why can I feel these things? Am I going crazy?”
I really hated to say this even though it was true. “Because you’re special.”
That earned me a glare that cut through her bleak expression. “Shut up.”
“I’m actually being totally serious right now.” I exchanged a glance with Bishop across the crowded room. I pulled Jordan with me back up the stairs. She didn’t resist this time. From higher up on the stairs, I spotted Kraven over by the stereo speakers. He was drinking something out of a red plastic cup and he looked morose. His gaze flicked to me and his brows shot up.
Yup, still alive, I thought. Shocker.
It had been his suggestion that Bishop put me out of my misery. Part of me hated that he’d done that, the other part knew he’d meant it to help end my suffering.
Even I’d begged for death at one point.
We found the room where three girls I recognized from school were gathered around a Ouija board. Then looked up at us. “Oh, you’re back,” a blonde said. “Good. It’s not working anymore without you.”
Jordan looked at me as if for guidance.
I tried to stay calm. “You need to ask Julie why she’s still here. Why all of them are.”
“Because they’re ghosts,” she replied. “Duh.”
“No. I mean, I don’t know much about this, but to me a ghost sticks around because it has unfinished business. If there are a bunch of them, all stuck in this house, there has to be a reason.” I’d dealt with angels and demons; I couldn’t let the thought of ghosts freak me out. Still, it was incredibly unnerving to think there might be spirits all around us, watching and waiting. But for what?
Jordan finally nodded and sat down and looked at the other girls. “Get out of here.”
“But it’s our board,” the blonde whined.
Jordan sent a razor-sharp glare toward her. “Now. I’m not asking again.”
She had a natural way about her that was incredibly intimidating. This time, I appreciated it. The girls fled the room, leaving us alone in the musty-smelling room. The sound of the blaring music downstairs made it difficult to concentrate,
but when I closed the door it helped muffle it a little.
Jordan looked up at me from the floor as she settled in front of the Ouija board. “Just so you know, I’m doing this for Julie, not because you asked me to.”
I nodded. “Noted.”
She eyed me. “You seem different tonight than you were earlier.”
I sat down across from her and pressed my hands against the smooth wood floor. “I died a little while ago. Went to a dream dimension and had a bizarre chat with a homeless fallen angel.”
She stared at me. “You’re being serious right now, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Dead.”
“On arrival. But I’m back. And I’m not a gray anymore.”
There was more confusion, but then hope lit up her eyes. “Does that mean that Stephen can be cured, too?”
My throat tightened. “I don’t think so. It was something bizarre that only happened to me.”
The hope disappeared from her green eyes and they brimmed with tears. “So he’s not going to get better. Ever.”
I could empathize with what it was like to lose someone you loved—for them to slip out of your grasp no matter what you tried to do to save them. It hurt like hell, even if they weren’t literally dead.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
At that moment, I honestly meant it.
“I’m losing everybody.” She drew in a ragged breath. “But if I can help Julie...”
She placed her fingertips on the Ouija board pointer.
“Do you need me to do that, too?” I asked.
She shook her head. Her forehead furrowed as she concentrated. “Julie, please come back. I’m sorry I ran before. Are you still here?”
I swear the room grew a few degrees colder. The fine hair on my arms rose.
The pointer slid across the Ouija board to YES.
A shiver went down my spine.
Jordan’s gaze shot to mine.
“Why is she still here?” I asked, my chest tight.
“Why are you still here?” Jordan repeated shakily.
The pointer moved toward the alphabet, picking out a letter at a time.
Wicked Kiss Page 30
