Wicked Kiss

She walked right up to Kraven, who was blocking her path.

“You going to give me a problem right now, demon?” she asked tightly.

“No, Blondie, you’re not my concern tonight. Go flutter away where you’re needed. I think Roth’s already in the house. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see you.”

Something in the way he said it—that all-too-familiar mocking edge to his words.

He knew about Cassandra and Roth.

The demon knew too much for his own good.

With a glare that showed that she might be thinking the same thing, Cassandra took off at a run in the direction of the party house.

I drew my coat closer to block out the chill. I assumed Bishop would want me to wait in the car while they checked out the house, but I wasn’t ready to crawl back inside yet.

It was so cold tonight—like below zero. At least, that was how it felt to me.

Increased cold, increased hunger.

I blocked out the sound of Stephen’s voice from inside my head. I wasn’t like him. I wasn’t. My birth parents were very special. I was special, too. I would be different.

I would not lose hope.

“So here we are,” Kraven said, his arms crossed. He moved slowly toward us, his gaze locked on Bishop in a chillingly predatory way. “You, me and your little girlfriend. Or is she? I’m getting confused. You can’t kiss her. She’s basically one of the things we’re fighting against here in this city that will keep us trapped for as long as she’s still breathing. Being around you is torture for her. I wonder what the appeal is. Frankly, I can’t see it.”

“Are you going to whine all evening or get to the point?” Bishop asked.

“Whatever. I do sort of get it, you know. You’re addicted. She’s addicted. It’s kind of adorable, if you’re into junkies. Won’t end well, I can guarantee you that.”

“If I wanted your opinion, James,” Bishop said unpleasantly. “I’d beat it out of you.”

Kraven smirked at him. “Noticed that you got rid of the only weapon in this city that can kill either of us. Did you do that on purpose?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m going to vote yes on that. You’re afraid I’m going to kill you.”

“More like the other way around.” Bishop looked at me. “You should go back home.”

“And miss this brotherly standoff?” I said. “Not a chance.”

Nope. No way was I missing out on this. After what I’d seen, what I’d heard, and the way my imagination was working overtime to put it all together, I wanted to know more about them. Both of them.

Kraven laughed again coldly. “You haven’t fooled her completely, you know, with your angelic sparkle. She knows there’s bad blood between us.”

“I could have spotted that from a mile away,” I told him. “Even without a glimpse at some of Bishop’s memories.”

Bishop cringed at the reminder that I’d seen bits and pieces of his very sordid past.

“Bishop,” Kraven said, rolling the name over his tongue with distaste. “I never asked. Did they give that painfully insipid name to you or did you choose it yourself?”

Bishop stood there, unflinchingly. “They gave it to me.”

“New identity, new existence. You think you can forget who you were? Like it’s that easy?”

“Trying to.”

“It’ll never happen.”

“You saved me tonight, Kraven. Don’t say you were trying to push me into the Hollow. Because you weren’t.” His jaw tightened. “That means something to me.”

Kraven scoffed, his attention turning to the Italian restaurant a block up the street where he’d kissed me the other night to help me deal with my hunger. “It would have solved a lot of problems to see you take a nosedive in there. It was a knee-jerk reaction to save your ass, nothing conscious about it.”

When Bishop turned away from him I saw an edge of pain slide through his gaze that made my heart wrench. Whatever he tried to make either of us believe, Kraven still had the power to hurt him with words.

“Enough of this,” Bishop growled. “We don’t have the time. We have to get to that house and stop a group of kids from committing mass suicide. Understand? What happened to Zach isn’t going to happen to anyone else.”

“If I’d let the Hollow take you,” Kraven continued as if he wasn’t paying attention to a word Bishop said, “then I wouldn’t have been able to witness your continued suffering.”

Bishop looked at him. “Is that what you want? To watch me suffer?”

Kraven’s lips thinned. “That’s what I’ve wanted ever since you sent me to Hell and got a first-class elevator ride up to Heaven as some sort of shining champion.”

“You think it was that easy for me?”

“I don’t give a damn how easy it was.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Both of you?” I snapped, unable to keep it inside any longer. I usually said what was on my mind without too many filters. Tonight wasn’t going to be the exception to the rule. “You could have had this out with each other for the last three weeks, but you wait till now? Why now? Why here?”

Kraven glared at me. “Because I saved him tonight and it pissed me off. That’s what I used to do, you know. Save his ass when he got into trouble. And he thanked me by shoving a knife into me when he knew I was already on Hell’s shortlist.”