Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers)

by Michelle Rowen

  “Adam, darling. Wait. I know you’re angry with me.”

  I tense up. “Forget it.”

  “I can’t forget it.”

  “I don’t want to interrupt your meeting. You’re having one now, right?”

  She glances back toward the door to the basement, the one part of this house I’ve never been invited to see. For years, it’s only been a mysterious locked door leading to the place she holds her secret meetings.

  Her secret magic meetings. The same ones I’ve always laughed at behind her back.

  Now that my eyes are fixed, I’m not laughing quite as loud.

  “You should be careful,” I warn her. “I don’t know what you all get up to down there...or why you need the bodies you don’t send on to the medical school...”

  “Darling, please forget all of that.” She gives me a tense smile that fans fine lines out around her eyes. “It’s my little thing. Nothing to worry yourself about.”

  “I never said I was worried.”

  She presses her hands to my cheeks and looks deep into my eyes. “So much like your father, always trying to do the right thing, to convert me from my wild ways.”

  The subject of my father’s always been a sore point. Mostly because she’s told me next to nothing about him other than the fact he’d left her. I wasn’t even sure if he knew I existed.

  “Not like James’s father,” she says, her expression darkening.

  She hates Thomas Kraven and has for nineteen years since he got her pregnant and discarded her. He already had a wife and two mistresses, so he didn’t want any more obligations. When she threatened to go public with James and tell everyone that he was Thomas’s child, he’d made it clear that both she and James would die if word got out about his bastard. He would never acknowledge James as his son, and Kara would never get any money from him.

  He was a cold and heartless man—and very dangerous. Kara never doubted he’d follow through with his threats.

  My mother has changed since those days. Now she took money for other people’s bodies...but not her own. At least, not to my knowledge.

  “You need to let go of the hate you have for him.” This isn’t the first time I’ve told her this.

  “I can’t.”

  “You’re not even trying. It’s consumed you all these years.”

  Something in her eyes sparks. “Perhaps it’s finally time for those who’ve wronged me to get what they deserve.”

  A shiver goes down my spine when she talks like this because I know she means every word.

  “I love you, Adam.” She pulls me into a hug that I try to return. “You’re the only one who cares if I live or die.”

  “James does.”

  “James is just like his father. Arrogant, selfish, a user from the day he was born.”

  Always exaggerating, my mother. “From the day he was born? An arrogant, selfish infant?”

  “You know what I mean.” She pulls away, her eyes damp with tears. “You’ve always been my favorite.”

  “Don’t say that.” I hate it when she dismisses James as if he’s meaningless to her.

  “But it’s true. Your father was my one true love.”

  “A man who abandoned you and never looked back?”

  “He had his reasons. One day you might learn what they were.”

  “Yeah, right.” I had to get out of here. “If you see James, tell him I’m looking for him.”

  “Yes, my darling.”

  She hasn’t even noticed I’m not wearing my specs. Hasn’t noticed that I can see without bumping into things for the first time in ages.

  Her favorite. Sure, I am.

  As I reach the front door, I freeze when I hear a sound.

  Raised voices coming from downstairs. One I recognize immediately as James’s.

  But Kara said he wasn’t here.

  Instead of leaving, I turn and slowly and quietly move toward the door leading to the basement. Kara’s already gone downstairs, but she left the door slightly ajar behind her.

  I push the door open farther and take a step down. The stairwell leads to a short hallway and a room beyond. It’s in there that Kara must have her meetings. It’s there that I’m drawn to as if I have no choice but to see for myself what’s going on.

  “Get away from me!” James’s voice is raised, angry.

  “Stop acting like a fool,” our mother replies. “You agreed to this.”

  “Agreed? To join your little soirée? Yeah, I agreed to check it out. Wanted to finally see what you all get up to every week. But if your friend touches me again with that, I swear I’m going to cut off his hand.”

  “James,” Kara soothes, her words strong and steady. “To be welcomed as a new member of the group we must first draw these symbols on you.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to join anymore.”

  “Strange. You were so eager last week when I promised to give you the name of the man that could help your brother.”

  “That was then.”

  I move closer and peer around the edge of the doorway to see them inside. James’s back is to the door and he stands shirtless before Kara and five men dressed in black robes. The room is dark, lit only by candles and torches set into the stone walls. There’s a pit filled with smoldering ash in the center of the room. Chains and manacles are attached to the walls.

  It looks chillingly like a dungeon.

  “We helped you.” Kara gives him one of her special smiles, the one that’s made many men over the years lose their coins into her purse. “And now you will help us.”

  “Not sure about that, Mother.”

  She grimaces. “I’ve asked you not to call me that.”

  “Sorry, keep forgetting. Don’t want these nice men to know you’re ancient enough to have a son my age, do you?”

  She nods at another man, her expression impassive. “He’s going to be a problem.”

  “What should I do?”

  “Whatever you feel you must to gain control over this situation.”

  He draws out a long metal bar from under his robes. James doesn’t even see it coming as he’s struck in the back of the head. He falls to the ground unconscious and bleeding.

  I don’t hesitate before racing into the room.

  “What are you doing?” I demand.

  Kara looks at me with shock, which shifts swiftly to disappointment. “Adam, you shouldn’t be here.”

  “Why did you knock him out? You told me he wasn’t even here and now you do this to him?”

  “He agreed to be a part of this.”

  “Sounded like he changed his mind.”

  “It was stupid to render the boy unconscious,” another man in robes says through clenched teeth. “The vessel needs to be conscious. It has already begun. There’s no stopping it now.”

  The ashes in the pit begin to swirl as if touched by an unseen wind and the room grows colder until I can see my breath freeze before me with each exhale. I crouch over James, a fierce need to protect him from these strangers—even Kara, whom I’ve never totally trusted but never considered a true threat.

  “Oh, Adam,” she says, shaking her head. “You don’t know what you’ve interrupted here.”

  “Some sick ritual to help you get revenge over Thomas Kraven?”

  “Him and many others.”

  “Is that all that matters to you? Revenge, power, money?”

  She looks at me as if confused. “Yes, of course. It’s what I want, what I’ve been working for all these years. Why I had two children—one to sacrifice to the darkness when the time came. It was never supposed to be you, my darling. James’s soul is already spoken for.”

  Three years ago she admitted to selling James’s soul to give her access to black magic. I’d assumed she was drunk and hadn’t taken a word she said seriously. But James had gone very quiet.

  He believed. He’s always been the one to believe in Heaven and Hell. Every time we dug up a body for Kara, he’d pray to be absolved of his sins afte
rward. He didn’t think I heard him, but I did.

  The idea that his mother had sold his soul for her own gain had hit him hard even when I tried convincing him it was all lies. He’d barely spoken to her since, even when I tried to convince him she’d been lying.

  “Do it,” Kara now says quietly.

  Two of the men grab me, their grips so tight I can’t break free. Another man cuts open my shirt with a dagger, then dips his finger into a bowl of thick red liquid and begins to trace symbols on my chest. It’s blood. He’s drawing on me with blood.

  My stomach clenches with fear and disgust.

  “What are these symbols? What are you doing to me?”

  Kara nods. “It’s right that it’s you. This is a true sacrifice. They will see that and they will reward me.”

  “Kara!”

  “You should have minded your own business. Your brother didn’t need your help. You think you’ve saved him?” She pats my cheek hard enough to hurt. “There’s no saving him. His soul belongs to Hell.”

  “You’re such a bitch.”

  “Only because life presented me with no other options, my darling.” She looks over her shoulder at the swirling ashes. “It’s here.”

  The two words turn my blood to ice.

  The ashes begin to rise up from the pit. The air is so cold it’s like it’s suddenly the dead of winter despite it being midsummer.

  They wanted to do this to James. Whatever this is.

  I can’t move. All I can do is stare at the ashes as they draw closer to me, forming a line like a rope that slithers around my wrists, my waist, my throat. It’s choking me. It’s killing me...

  But as quickly as it starts, it’s all over.

  I fall to my knees, reaching out to grab James’s arm, hoping to shake him awake so we can get out of here. I’ve survived whatever the hell that was and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone hurt my brother. He’s always been there for me and I’d give my own life to save his.

  To save him from our own mother, who doesn’t care if we live or die.

  “Good,” Kara says, smiling again. “It’s done.”

  “What’s done?” I grit out.

  “You’ll kill them for me, my darling. Every last one who’s ever done me harm or stood in my way.”

  “I’ll kill nobody for you. I dig up your dead bodies, but I don’t make them dead.”

  Her expression hardens. “You’ll do exactly as I say now, child. Stand up.”

  I stand up as if there are strings attached to my shoulders.

  Her eyes are so cold they freeze me in place. “You’ve made me very angry, Adam. You made me sacrifice my favorite son. You’ve made me sacrifice you.”

  “Sacrifice?” I frown, confused. Frightened. “But I’m still here. I’m still breathing.”

  “I wanted to protect you because I loved your father. You took that from me. You gave me no other choice. I take revenge toward those who’ve done me wrong. You’ve now done me wrong, Adam, my sweet. So now you will kill my enemies one by one without hesitation, without question. And tomorrow, when I’ve ensured he’s forgotten all about his little visit down here, you will kill James. You will kill him as your punishment so you have no one left alive who cares for you. No one who wants to help you. Do you understand me?”

  I stare at her with horror. “Mother, no...”

  “Say it, Adam. Say it!”

  Just as the ashes wrapped around my throat, now something invisible tightens in their place, leaving me cold and empty and unable to fight. My mind fogs—the past unclear, the present hazy, the future entirely at her command. “Tomorrow I will kill James. For you, Kara.”

  She smiles again. “That’s my good boy.”

  I will do whatever she tells me to. I have no choice.

  No choice.

  She’s damned me every bit as much as she’s damned my brother.

  Chapter 34

  Snap!

  Both Bishop and Kraven let go of me at the same time and staggered backward. It had all been so real. As if I was Bishop, experiencing every painful emotion, every horrible thought. I felt his fear, his disgust and his inability to resist whatever dark magic his mother and her friends had performed on him.

  Symbols drawn in blood. The darkness and evil in the ashes rising up and taking him over, clouding his memories, but leaving him conscious enough of what he was doing. Just not why he did it.

  “It was supposed to be me,” Kraven whispered. “But that selfish, murderous bitch didn’t care in the end, as long as it got done. She made me forget being down there with them, but now I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all.”

  Bishop’s expression was stone, but there was something in his eyes that worried me. What he’d been forced to remember, forced to see, had unhinged him. I reached for him, hoping to lend him some sanity, but there was no spark of energy this time when I touched his skin. He looked down at where my fingers curled around his wrist, his expression grim.

  “Wasn’t sure when that would stop working. Guess it’s tonight.”

  “Bishop, no.” Guilt lanced through me. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have done the memory meld. It must have messed this up.”

  “I think it’s just a coincidence and was bound to happen sooner or later. But my mind...” He pressed his hands to either side of his head and swore under his breath. “It’s getting worse by the minute.”

  Kraven had gone silent, watching us from the shadows as if we were complete strangers. “How long do you have before you lose it completely?”

  “Don’t know. Not long.”

  The demon’s expression was guarded, untrusting. “I don’t know what to think right now. How do I know if any of that was real? Maybe you’re lying to me, trying to manipulate me.”

  I shot him a look. “I guess that’s something you’re going to have to work out for yourself. But if you ask me, it was real. Totally real. And if there’s somebody you should hate, it’s your mother.”

  “Believe me, I’m way ahead of you on that one.”

  “What happened wasn’t Bishop’s fault. And it wasn’t your fault, either. You thought he killed you of his own free will to get some sort of Heavenly reward. Well, guess what, James? You were wrong. And for a hundred years you’ve hated the one person who would have done anything for you.”

  He just stared at me bleakly before turning away and going into the church without another word.

  “So he chooses avoidance when faced with the truth,” I muttered. “Not a huge surprise.”

  “I need to talk to Connor,” Bishop said, his voice hoarse. “I can’t get sidetracked by any of this. Not now. If what he said about your father is true, then we need a plan in place to deal with it.”

  He was right. The many problems between the brothers weren’t going to be fixed in a few minutes. Even with the truth about Bishop still playing like a movie in my head, I knew I had to stay focused.

  “This isn’t over yet, you know,” I told him. “None of it, so don’t lose hope. You can still be fixed.”

  “There’s no fallen angel who’s ever been welcomed back to Heaven.”

  “You’re no normal fallen angel, Bishop.” I actually smiled at that as I pulled him closer to me. What I’d seen had been horrible, but it had set my mind at ease about him being evil. “Seriously, you’re the most abnormal guy I’ve ever met in my life.”

  His lips twitched. “Thanks. I think.”

  Bishop went back into the church, but I stood out there for a few more minutes trying to breathe. Trying to stay calm. Trying not to get overwhelmed.

  Yeah. Good luck with that.

  It had been exhausting, but if there was one thing I’d done right tonight, it was to show Kraven and Bishop the truth. What they’d do with it after so many years of bad blood between them, I honestly didn’t know.

  As I turned toward the door to go back inside and join the others, something caught my eye. Somebody was walking along the sidewalk on the other side of the road
without sparing a glance toward the church.

  It was Roth.

  Despite our many issues, my heart ached for him. It was only last night that Cassandra had been lost to the Hollow—torn right out of his arms.

  Is this what he’d been doing ever since? Walking the city all alone?

  I needed to talk to him, to tell him to come back to St. Andrew’s to be with people who cared about him, who might be able to help him with his grief.

  Before he turned the corner up ahead, I started after him. I was about to call out his name when a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

  A scream caught in my throat and I spun around to face...Jordan.

  “Hey,” she said, her brows drawn together. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Uh...I need to—”

  “You’re just going to leave me here with the Three Stooges? By the way, for three hot guys, they are seriously weird, and not just because they’re all supernatural. If you’re leaving, so am I.”

  Roth was getting farther away and I couldn’t let him out of my sight. I grabbed Jordan’s arm and started walking faster. Her long legs helped her more than keep up.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “I need to talk to Roth.”

  The demon was fifty yards ahead of us and moving fast. “Doesn’t look like he wants to talk to you.”

  “I need to help him.”

  “From what I’ve heard tonight, you need to be a little more concerned with helping yourself.” She glanced to the left to see the outline of downtown, including skyscrapers and office buildings. The glow from the sign on the side of the massive St. Edward’s hospital lit up the night.

  “Thank you for your opinion.”

  Her gaze tracked behind us and there was something about her expression. Something wounded and lost.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “He’s close.”

  “Who’s close?” Then I grimaced. “Are you talking about Stephen?”

  She inhaled sharply. “Who else? He’s around, Samantha. I can feel it.”

  I hesitated, knowing this was a dangerous subject to get into with Jordan. “It was rough for a couple days there, but I honestly don’t think he’s going to try to hurt you again, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”