Dark Kiss

I would save him. Even from himself.

And if Carly even thought about kissing him, I was going to punch her in the face.

“Beautiful star.” A voice sank through my cloudy thoughts. “She’s come out tonight to battle the world. To save us all from the darkness.”

The homeless fallen angel stared up at me from his seat on the ground, legs splayed across the sidewalk. Dirty, ripped blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt that had seen better days completed the look. It was disconcerting how much seeing him tonight reminded me of when I’d first found Bishop. It worked just like a hand reaching in my chest and squeezing.

“You’ve picked a different spot tonight,” I said. I was halfway to Crave.

“I move,” he replied. “I have legs. They help.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they do.” I frowned down at him and studied his face as if trying to find clues there to help him—help Bishop, too. “What’s your name?”

He sighed. “I had a name a long time ago.”

“What was it?”

“Seth,” he said after a moment as if he had to concentrate very hard to remember it. “Rhymes with breath. Rhymes with death. Two sides of the coin, breath and death. Lose one, gain the other—a gift or a curse, but I guess that’s up to you. Or them. Or him. Or anybody.”

I wanted to know more about him, but I didn’t have time for this right now. I had to hurry or I wouldn’t be able to stop Bishop from finding Carly. “I have to go.”

“Your lost love walks the dark night without watching where he’s going. Another pair of lips he seeks, but he wishes they were yours.”

A breath caught in my chest. “You know about Bishop? You can see what he plans to do?”

Seth pressed his fingers to his temples. “I see things. Jumbled, together and apart, can’t sort through them all. Past, present, future. Don’t know what’s real and what’s false. What’s good and what’s evil. Here, black and white become gray. And the mouth is open, always hungry, feeding on everything.” He reached forward to clutch my hand, and electricity sparked up my arm. “He doesn’t want you to stop him. He’s chosen this dark path so he can end this.”

A chill went down my spine, making the night even colder than before. “I need to stop him even if he doesn’t want me to.”

This close to the fallen angel, I could sense his soul—now that I knew he would have one. It triggered my hunger. But there was no way I’d be tempted to kiss him, and it wasn’t just because he was dirty and old. I mean, gross.

“The dark mouth is already open and waiting,” he said. “Just a crack, but it leaks its poison slowly, slowly. It’s changed. It’s grown. It hates as much as it loves. It’s how she returned.”

The Hollow. It wasn’t one-way. It wasn’t endless. How did Seth know?

I’d have to tell Bishop and the others. When I fixed this mess tonight—and I refused to think that I’d fail—I’d tell them to find Seth. Despite talking crazy, he had information that could help them.

I had to get to Bishop. If he didn’t want me to stop him? That was too damn bad, because I was going to do it anyway.

When I turned the next corner, something was blocking my path. Something with broad shoulders, blond hair and a sour expression.

Kraven.

Chapter 21

Clouds had rolled in overhead, blocking the stars and moon. More rain was scheduled for tonight. I felt a mist start to come down, not enough to drench me, but enough that the cold sank into my skin.

Now that Bishop had abandoned his position as leader to go off on his personal mission, his word wasn’t enough to protect me anymore if Kraven decided to start treating me like any other gray, especially now that he was in possession of that sharp dagger.

Or maybe I was being paranoid.

“Get out of my way,” I said as strongly as I could.

“What? No greetings for a good friend?”

“If I saw one, then maybe.”

“Are you taking a stroll over to our new digs to see your boyfriend again? You need to stay away from him.”

I hissed out a breath, but decided to change my approach. Kraven had tried to stop Bishop earlier. Maybe, just maybe, he could help me. “I know what he’s planning to do. I want to stop him.”

He frowned. “How do you know anything? Have you been reading my mind again?”

There was no way he could guess how I’d know something like this. I didn’t want him to know. Bishop had warned me not to tell the others about the origins of my abilities, and this might tip him off. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not all that interested in your thoughts.”

“Bishop’s gone AWOL. But don’t worry…I’m extending your grace period for the time being. Who knows? We might need your mojo again before all this is over.”

“I need to find him.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t budge one inch from his place in front of me. “Wow, you’re all determined. Is my angelic brother really that good a kisser? Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”

Did he honestly think that was all this was? God, he was so frustrating to be around. “Kraven, just do me a favor and step—”

Snap!

Bishop entered the front doors of Crave. He scanned the dark interior, his gaze moving across the sweaty faces of kids already on the dance floor, a sparkle of colored lights hitting them. Compared with other weeknights, Fridays were the busiest by far. There had to be a couple hundred teens already here. The deejay played a remix of Britney Spears’s old song “Toxic” with a bass-heavy throb.