Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers) (29 page)

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.”

“Good.” 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.

TRAPPED

“How many are there?” I whispered. “That are like you?”

Jordan didn’t need to translate this to the spirit world before
I had my answer.

HUNDREDS

Horror slid through me. Hundreds of ghosts were in this
house.

“What’s trapping you?”

BARRIER

“Oh, my God.” I inhaled sharply. “The barrier that’s around the
city? The one that keeps supernaturals inside?”

YES

“What barrier?” Jordan asked, looking directly at me, her brows
tight together.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” Her voice turned sharp. “It’s trapping
my best friend’s spirit inside so she can’t go to Heaven. I’m going to worry
about it.”

She made a good point. Besides, Jordan already knew way too
much about what was going on in the city. She may as well know about the
barrier, too.

“Why did you pick this house to be in?” I asked.

NEAR BORDER

And then...

THIN BARRIER HERE

I racked my mind to figure out what Julie meant, then it
suddenly came to me. This house was very close to the city limits. It was only a
block away. Therefore it was close to the edge of the protective barrier that
trapped all supernaturals inside. Here, the barrier must be thinner than
anywhere else. The ghosts—everyone who’d died since the barrier was created—had
been drawn here collectively. “What happens when you try to go through the
barrier?”

PAIN

A violent shiver raced through me. “I’m sorry.”

HELP US

“I wish I could.”

HELP US

My chest tightened. “I don’t know how.”

ONLY YOU CAN

Jordan gave me another dark look. “Why aren’t you helping them?
I mean, you’ve taken the crown as Miss Supernatural right now. Can’t you do
anything?”

The pointer moved again, picking out letters almost faster than
I could follow.

IT’S HERE

Jordan looked down as Julie answered a question we hadn’t even
asked.

“What’s here?” she asked breathlessly.

DEATH ANGEL

“Do you mean the one that made you...” I didn’t want to say it
out loud. Julie didn’t need a reminder that she’d been driven to kill herself.
“Can you see it?”

SO SAD

That would be it. It was here. Panic gripped me. “What does it
want?”

PEACE

“How can I stop it without hurting anyone?”

CAN’T

“But what if...” I’d tried to work it out in my head. If the
angel was a bodiless thing that could possess people, that meant it was
basically like a soul. Grays consumed souls. Could a gray, one who hadn’t gone
through stasis yet, consume this angel and leave the human body it inhabited
intact?

Jordan took her hands off the pointer for a moment to adjust
her black Cleopatra wig. The point began to move all by itself.

We watched in stunned silence as it pointed to a letter at a
time.

RUN

It was only one word spelled out on a board, but it held an
urgency that couldn’t be ignored. I got to my feet so fast I got a head
rush.

Jordan grabbed my arm. “Do you feel that?”

A familiar tingling sensation moved down my arms.

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

I couldn’t feel the ghosts, the souls that were trapped
here—not anymore. But I could still feel the presence of the angel.

Jordan grabbed my arm as the door pushed open. I steeled myself
for what would greet us on the other side.

It was Bishop.

Relief swept through me immediately at the sight of him, but
Jordan’s fingers dug painfully into my skin.

“His eyes,” she hissed.

My gaze shot to Bishop again to realize that she was right. I
didn’t automatically notice it in the shadows, but there was an opaque glaze to
Bishop’s eyes.

Terror clutched my throat. “No.”

“He was looking for me, wasn’t he?” he said in a flat monotone.
“That’s why you’re all here. You want to stop me.”

“Don’t do this,” I managed. “Let him go right now!”

“Fallen. Soul is jagged, pained, so very damaged. Mind filled
with disappointment, sadness, endless regret. He does not make me feel better.
But he holds tight onto me and I can’t be free again to feed here on all these
lovely girls and boys filled with joy and light. There is very little light left
within this angel.”

Bishop’s face became strained, as if he was fighting against
this possession. His teeth clenched. “Stay away, Samantha. Don’t get close to me
like this.”

With that he turned and began moving rapidly away from the room
and down the stairs.

“Stay away?” Jordan repeated. “
He’s
the one who came up here. I mean, was that rude or what?”

I grabbed her arm. “Call the police. Report this party so
everyone will get out of here safely. Nobody else has to get hurt tonight. And
whatever you do, don’t come near us again. Okay?”

She just stared at me, seemingly on the verge of arguing. But
then she nodded. “Okay.”

I didn’t waste another second. I followed after Bishop,
terrified of what would happen next.

This angel had driven Julie and Zach to suicide. She’d nearly
done the same to Stephen. And many of the souls trapped in this house would be
due to her deadly touch.

I couldn’t let that happen to Bishop, too.

Why was she possessing him? Out of everyone in this house she
had chosen him? How was that even possible?

It didn’t matter. This was happening. And I had to do anything
I could to stop it.

I grabbed Kraven as he passed in front of me.

“You going to tell me what happened, or should I guess?” he
asked, cocking his head. “You look like you’ve recovered nicely.”

“Bishop’s possessed. Get the others. Meet us outside.”

His frown deepened. “What are you—?”

“Just do it!” I screamed at him, before pushing past him and
running after Bishop.

He walked slowly, as if his legs were fighting every step.
Finally, we were a full block away from the house before he stopped and stood
there, his back to me. I stuttered to a halt.

“Bishop...” I began.

“Damn it, Samantha, I told you not to follow me.” He sounded
angry, his voice drawn tight to the point of breaking.

A sob rose in my throat. “I’m not leaving you like this.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should have thought of that before you
let yourself get possessed.”

“It happens through touch. I saw a kid get possessed and I
grabbed him. I was going to bring him outside to get him away from the others.
But it transferred to me and now it’s trapped. Kid’s okay. The angel wasn’t in
him long enough to do damage. I can hold it. Better in me than somebody else.”
He hissed out a breath. “Let me figure this out.”

“Great. You do that.” I tried not to panic more than I already
was. “Okay, figured it out yet?”

“Let me go,” he said, his voice quavering. It wasn’t him now;
there was a tonal difference, one that scared me. It was the angel who was now
speaking. “You can’t restrain me forever.”

“I can damn well try,” Bishop said through clenched teeth, as
if talking to himself.

“She gives you happiness—this girl. So many good emotions to
choose from when you look at her. I can taste it—all of it. I can leave you
broken and raw and begging for death. You know what it’s like to be fallen and
anchored to something that mutes your ties to the celestial. To be discarded
from the place you considered home. You gave them everything and they gave you
nothing in return.”

Yes, this was a fallen angel. One who’d been driven completely
insane thanks to her soul. Perhaps this was all she was now—that unnatural soul
given a life outside its destroyed body. An echo of pain and misery that had no
choice but to loop around again and again on itself.

My empathy for her was dampened by how many people she’d harmed
since escaping from the Hollow. But maybe she could still be reasoned with. She
had been an angel—that meant something to me. It represented goodness and
light.

No matter what Bishop had done in his human life, he was an
angel. And no matter what this angel had done after she’d fallen, that didn’t
change what she was at her heart.

At least, I really hoped it didn’t.

I approached slowly. “Please don’t hurt him.”

Those glazed eyes moved to me. “I can’t help what I do. I hurt
those who have what I don’t. And all I want is more.”

“Yes, you can help it. You can stop this.”

“I want peace. I want silence. But death is not an option for
me. I tried to die before. I failed.”

Bishop’s eyes were glazing more. It was now hard to tell what
color they normally were.

“What can I do to help you?” My voice twisted with
desperation.

“No help. Too late. This body...” He held his hands up before
his face. “I could get used to this. He said I could live again if he released
me.”

“Who said that?”