Dark Kiss

He kissed me again, soft at first, but it quickly grew deeper and more passionate. Until this moment, I would have had to say my kiss with Stephen had been the best I’d ever had, even though it had ended badly. But this was…way better. No wonder I’d never fallen hard for any guy at school before. I’d been waiting for Heaven to send one directly to me.

I pulled him even closer, changing our positions so he was the one against the wall. I had to stand on my tiptoes to keep kissing him, my hands now sliding up into his hair.

“You taste so good,” I murmured against his lips.

He did. He tasted good—heavenly. Delicious. My hunger rose up and spilled over and as the kiss grew and grew, my hunger finally started to fade. I’d never experienced anything so satisfying in my life, anything so good, so sweet and intoxicating. I never wanted to stop kissing him.

There were no more worries, no more problems, only him. His kiss. I wanted it all—every delicious piece until there was nothing left…

Suddenly I felt a tight and painful grip on my arm. I released Bishop with a yelp and glared into the face of Kraven. Roth stood right next to him.

I wanted to kill them both.

“What?” I snarled.

I expected some smart-ass reply, but both demons just stared at me with eyes filled with shock before moving to Bishop. I turned to look at him to see he had begun to sink down to the ground, his back still pressed against the wall. His eyes were glazed, his skin pale white, and there were dark lines around his mouth.

Watching through the fog surrounding my mind, I tried to piece together what I was seeing, what it meant, but it didn’t make any sense. He looked just like Paul had when I’d stopped Carly from kissing him.

She’d been feeding on his soul.

And, even though it should have been impossible, I’d been doing the exact same thing to Bishop.

Chapter 19

Angels didn’t have souls.

But I didn’t care that it didn’t make sense. I just wanted more. I wanted to be left alone so I could kiss Bishop again. There was nothing else I wanted.

Before I could move toward him, Kraven grabbed tightly onto my arms and peered into my eyes.

“Oh, hell, gray girl,” he said grimly. “Just couldn’t keep your pretty little lips off him forever, could you?”

“Let go of me.” It was like I was hearing myself from a mile away. I had to get back to Bishop. I had to kiss him again. I wanted more—so much more. I struggled against Kraven’s hold on me, trying to push and claw my way out of his grip.

“Sorry about this,” the demon said.

“What?”

He smacked me hard enough to make my ears ring. I yelped and my hand shot to my burning cheek.

And reality set in as fast as a bolt of lightning. The fog surrounding me disappeared and the horror of what I’d done became crystal clear.

“Good, you’re back,” Kraven said, nodding. “Didn’t want to have to knock you out. Or did I? I guess we’ll never know.”

I stared at him. “What happened?”

“What happened?” Kraven repeated, the mocking tone returning to his voice. “Don’t you think that’s painfully obvious by now, sweetness?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the angels join us and take in the scene. Zach looked shocked, but Connor looked bleak.

Roth, as expected, just glared at me, his arms crossed over his chest.

I shook my head. “But he’s an angel.”

My gaze tracked to Bishop to see he was slowly recovering. The lines around his mouth had faded to nothing and color was returning to his face. Shakily he got up from the ground, still leaning back against the cold brick wall, and he touched his mouth, staring at me with shock and confusion—a mirror of how I looked at him.

“Sorry to interrupt your romantic interlude,” Kraven said. “But we can sense when an attack occurs nearby.”

I felt sick right down to my bones.

“But I don’t have a soul,” Bishop said. He hadn’t looked away from me for a moment. While he still looked confused and shaken, there was still desire in his gaze that only continued to grow. I remembered my kiss with Stephen—it hadn’t been unpleasant, despite what it was doing to me. It had been exciting, exhilarating and filled with passion. I would have kept kissing him if he hadn’t stopped.

And the kiss with Bishop had been so much better than that.

I still ached to kiss him again. And if no one else was here, I think he might have let me.

“Why were you kissing a gray in the first place?” Roth asked, clearly confused and disgusted by the thought of it. “Some sort of experiment?”

“Doubt that,” Connor said. “Bishop doesn’t strike me as all that scientific.”

“Bishop—” Zach moved toward him, concern on his face. “How do you feel?”

“Angels don’t have souls,” Bishop said again.

“Fallen angels do.” Connor leaned against the wall a few feet away from him, watching him warily.

Bishop blinked at him. “Yeah, it’s an anchor to keep them in the human world—a punishment so they have no hope of returning to Heaven. They’re cast out forever. But I’m here only temporarily, for the mission. I’m going back.”

Connor didn’t reply to that, but his expression remained grim. It was different from the sarcastic guy we’d walked back to the church with.

I almost said something to defend Bishop, but I bit my tongue and stayed where I was, shivering in the shadows. There was nothing in the other angel’s expression that made me think he was speaking anything but the truth right now.