Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers) (2 page)

“Okay.” He eyed me. “It was Barbara.”

“You’re hilarious.”

“And you still look like you want to punch me.”

“I’m barely restraining myself, actually.”

That smile returned to play at his lips. His gaze moved to the
other side of the club and his expression grew grim again. “I need to talk to
Roth. Wait here.”

Another team member. Another
demon.
Roth, however, made Kraven look like a friendly teddy bear. And Kraven was not a
friendly teddy bear by anyone’s definition.

“I thought you wanted me to leave?” I said.

“I’ll take you home when we’re done here. Give me five minutes.
Stephen’s dangerous and I don’t want you finding him by yourself.”

“I can handle him.”

Bishop returned my challenging look with one of his own. “Five
minutes.”

“Fine.”

I watched as he walked across the club to where tall, handsome
and hateful Roth stood by the long bar that only sold nonalcoholic beverages and
appetizers. The crowd of kids swelled to cut off my view of the two.

Even with Bishop gone, my hunger hadn’t faded one bit. Strange.
I thought I’d get a chance to compose myself better.

“Hey, Samantha.”

Damn. I glanced over to see Colin Richards standing right next
to me. He was poised directly in what I’d termed my “orbit of hunger.” Two feet
or less. The danger zone.

“Colin,” I squeaked out. “Hey.”

I wasn’t romantically interested in Colin at all, but
unfortunately, the feeling wasn’t mutual. He’d taken my rejection hard,
especially when I showed very nonrejection behavior whenever he entered the
orbit and I couldn’t control my hunger quite so well. Most people respected your
personal space. Colin wasn’t one of them.

He swept his gaze over the short, black skirt and silver tank
top I’d chosen to wear so I’d fit in with Kelly and Sabrina and the rest of the
Saturday night crowd.

“You’ve kept a low profile this week,” he said. “Are you
specifically avoiding me, or just generally being a bitch to everyone?”

I winced at his sharp words, but then I smelled the alcohol on
his breath. So much for this being a booze-free club. Some kids tried to sneak
it in, anyway. Colin was becoming well-known for drinking too much and getting
into trouble. When he dated Carly over the summer, he’d made a bunch of
vodka-fueled bad choices, including cheating on her at a pool party.

“Nice,” I said drily. “And maybe when you sober up, you won’t
be such an ass.”

This earned me a humorless snort as he drained whatever was in
his plastic cup. His gaze slid down the front of me again as if he was having
trouble keeping his attention on my face. My cheeks grew warm at his blatant
gaze.

“Who was that guy you were talking to?”

I blinked. “None of your business.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Again, none of your business.”

He was being very confrontational tonight, which made me sad.
Colin was actually a really nice guy, despite some of the more epic mistakes
he’d made in the past. And I knew I’d hurt him last week, so I wouldn’t hold
this particular discussion against him in the future. This time, anyway.

Walk away,
I told myself. But my
feet refused to move. I fought my rising hunger with every ounce of strength I
had. The more I fought, the colder I got until goose bumps broke out over my
bare arms and I shivered, despite the club being at least eighty degrees. The
cold was a side effect of not having a soul.

Colin leaned closer, which only made things worse. I didn’t
smell the vodka on his breath anymore; what I smelled was warm, tempting and
entirely edible. Less so than Bishop, but still more than anyone else in this
club right now.

“Heard from Carly?” he asked.

That woke me up like a glass of cold water thrown in my
face.

Colin, like almost everyone else, believed Carly had run away
with a secret boyfriend and was off having a misguided, but romantic
adventure.

“No,” I said softly. My eyes began to burn.

He snorted again. It was an unpleasant, mocking sound. “Look at
you, all misty over Carly taking off with some guy. Feeling abandoned by your
BFF? Poor Sam. Boo hoo.”

I gave him a careful look. “I know I hurt you—”

“Hurt me?” he scoffed. “Please. I’m over it.”

“Yeah, sure you are.” I studied him, uncertain how to deal with
this problem. “Look, Colin, I’m sorry. Really. But it’s for the best. You don’t
need to be near me right now. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you backed off
before my friend gets back.”

“Jealous, is he?”

I’d had more than enough of this conversation and I needed him
to step away from me now. “Leave me alone, Colin. I don’t like you. At all. Get
it through your head, okay?”

I forced myself to look at the dance floor again.

“You’re such a liar.” His words slurred together, heavy with
enough underlying pain to make me flinch. “Everything that comes out of your
mouth is a damn lie. You liked me. I know you did. I saw it in your eyes. You
think you can just walk away from something like that? That I’d let you?”

Let me?
“I think you need to
go—”

But before I could say another word, Colin grabbed hold of me
and crushed his mouth against mine.

Chapter 2

No!

I tried to pull away from him, to shove against his chest as
hard as I could.

But it was too late. The hunger that had swirled around me the
entire time I’d been at Crave, which had intensified to an impossible to ignore
level when Bishop was close to me, that waited patiently while Colin blurted out
what was on his mind—

It spilled over.

The pounding dance music muted. The sparkling lights faded. The
club disappeared. My rational thinking ceased. And my hunger took over.

This wasn’t a kiss with a drunk boy who liked me and was mad I
didn’t like him in return. This was about feeding—that part of me that was
missing a soul and was constantly trying to devour everyone else’s.

It was what I feared the most. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.
But that was exactly what I was doing.

Feeding on Colin was so natural for me. In this mindless state,
it was the most natural thing in the world—neither good nor bad. And with every
bit of his soul I devoured, delicious warmth spread through me, chasing the
horrible, endless cold away. My thoughts about hurting him vanished. I would
feed until I was satisfied, and since I’d barely ever fed before, that would
take a long time.

Someone grabbed my upper arm and painfully wrenched me away
from Colin. Colin staggered back and dropped down into a nearby booth. Thin,
black lines branched around his mouth and his skin was sickly pale. His eyes
were glazed. His chest moved rapidly as he gasped for breath.

Haven’t taken it all. Just a
piece...

The grip on my arm tightened and I turned to see that it was
Kraven now in front of me, shaking his head.

“Honestly,” he said. “Can’t let you out of our sight for a
minute, can we?”

“Let go of me!” I was working on instinct only, still possessed
by the hunger. I stared at Colin. “I need more.”

“You need more?” Kraven grabbed my chin and forced me to look
at him instead of Colin. “Try this.”

He kissed me hard, releasing my arm to slide his hands into my
long hair. I automatically tried to feed, but there was nothing there. Regular
demons like Kraven didn’t have souls. This was the proof. With no soul to feed
from, this was just a kiss.

And yet, strangely enough, it still seemed to satisfy me. I
wasn’t feeding, but my hunger began to ease a fraction at a time.

But then the kiss stopped. Abruptly.

“What the hell are you doing to her?” Bishop snarled.

He grabbed hold of Kraven and wrenched him away from me,
slamming the demon hard against the wall.

Bishop’s eyes blazed bright blue. They did that sometimes. He’d
told me it was a bit of celestial energy that rose up when he got emotional.
Based on the current neon brightness, he was
very
emotional.

My head continued to clear, although not as rapidly as I’d have
liked it to. I staggered back from them and landed in the booth across from the
slowly recovering Colin. A quick sweep of the club showed that nobody was paying
us any attention.

Neat trick that demons and angels had—they could cloak an area
to gain a little privacy when problems arose.

Kraven shoved Bishop back from him. “Sorry, but your little
girlfriend was in need of some help.”

“That
was you helping?”

“Worked, didn’t it?”

I sent a look at Colin. My mind had now cleared completely and
my control was back. Guilt and horror slammed through me at what I’d done. The
black lines around Colin’s mouth had faded completely, but his eyes were still
glazed. A gray’s victim seemed to go into a short-term trance while they were
being fed upon. Since I’d experienced it from the victim’s side, I knew that it
felt way better than it looked. Exciting, exhilarating, amazing—just like a good
kiss should be.

But there was nothing good about
this
kiss. If I’d successfully taken all of Colin’s soul, I could
have killed him. Or, if he was strong enough to survive it, he would become
another gray, capable of hurting others.

Either thought scared the hell out of me.

My gaze shot to Bishop. “Colin kissed me. I—I’m sorry. I
couldn’t help myself after that.”

Colin shook his head as if to clear it. He glanced at me, and
then at the two tall boys staring at him.

“What—?” he began.

“How do you feel?” Bishop asked him.

He scrubbed his hand over his forehead. “Um, okay, I think.
What happened?”

Bishop grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him out of the
booth. “Don’t kiss her again. Ever. You hear me?”

Colin gaped at him. “Who are you?”

“You don’t want to know. Leave now.”

Bishop let him go and Colin staggered back, then glanced at me
as if waiting for me to defend him. Instead, I forced myself to look down at my
hands, which I’d clasped in my lap.

“Sorry,” he began. “I, uh, don’t know what I was thinking.”

Without any further argument, he slunk away from us and was
swallowed by the rest of the crowded club.

“Your girlfriend’s a great kisser,” Kraven said drily. “Her
tongue is like...wow. She doesn’t hold back. You’re really missing out with that
pesky soul of yours.”

Bishop turned on the demon, his eyes flashing. “Stay away from
Samantha or I’ll kill you.”

“This is the thanks I get for saving the day? She was going to
suck that kid dry right here in the middle of the club. Besides, why are you mad
at me? I think some of that angel attitude should be pointed in her direction.
Or can gray-girl do no wrong in your eyes, even when she slips up? Or slips
someone else the tongue?”

Bishop’s expression didn’t lose a fraction of its fury. “I
think you
do
want me to kill you. Is that your
goal?”

Kraven gave him a humorless smile. “Don’t know. How many times
can one brother kill the other? Are you looking for some kind of Guinness World
Record here?”

“Try me.”

Kraven liked to mess with the minds of others, but I wasn’t in
the mood for it now. He wasn’t helping anything by baiting Bishop like this.

“Why do you have to be like this?” I asked.

He finally spared a look in my direction. “Please. You should
be thanking me for saving your pretty little ass a minute ago. Instead, I get
vilified. Whether either of you wants to admit it or not, the kiss worked. It
snapped you out of your monster madness.”

Bishop’s brows drew together as if he was considering this
possibility. His gaze then hardened. “We’re leaving.”

Kraven saluted. “Yes, sir.”

I’d wanted to come here tonight so I could find some answers.
I’d honestly thought I was in control of myself and my hunger.

But I’d hurt Colin, and if Kraven hadn’t stopped me I could
have killed him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Bishop as I pushed myself up from
the booth.

Bishop didn’t meet my eyes. “How much of that boy’s soul did
you take?”

I couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t replied to my “I’m
sorry” with a breezy “it’s okay.” Couldn’t blame him for that.

I let out a shaky breath. “Not much.”

“Be careful. He’ll instinctively seek you out in the future so
you can finish the job.”

“How do you know?” Kraven asked.

“Believe me, I know.”

I was definitely ready to leave. I’d done more than enough
damage for one night. Stephen wasn’t here so there was no reason to hang out a
moment longer. I wanted to run home and hide my face from the world, but instead
I tried to stay calm and not let anyone see how devastated I was. I said a quick
goodbye to Sabrina and Kelly, who’d thankfully missed all of my drama while
they’d been busy dancing.

Roth caught up with us at the front door past a poster
advertising Wednesday’s “Halloween Bash.” We exited the club, and the cool,
late-October air immediately chilled me. Stars sparkled in the clear, black sky
and the moon, along with the parking lot floodlights, lit up the night around
us. I ignored the cold, instead pulling my too-thin coat tighter around my
shoulders.

Roth scanned the three of us silently trudging along the
sidewalk. “Did I miss something?”

Bishop’s jaw tightened. “No.”

“Me and gray-girl just made out,” Kraven said.

Roth made a face. “Disgusting. Why would you want to kiss
something like her?”

“Research.”

I expected no less from Roth. I was well aware that he despised
me. Tonight only proved that I was in more trouble than I thought.

I scanned the night surrounding us, anything to take my
attention off what had happened with Colin and Kraven.

“I’m taking you home,” Bishop said.

I took a deep breath and let it out. “To keep me out of
trouble.”

“For starters.”

At that moment I spotted something in the sky that grabbed my
attention. I felt the color slowly drain from my face. “Can’t go home. Not
yet.”

“Why not?”

I pointed at the sky behind him where a familiar searchlight
had just appeared in the distance—although I knew none of them could see it like
I could. “Looks like you’re getting a new recruit.”