Wicked Kiss. Michelle Rowen

      He kept his eyes forward, not looking directly at me. “It wasn’t like this when Natalie was still around.”

      “What?”

      “It starts with the cold. Like...worse than normal. Worse than the cold we feel from not having a soul. And the hunger...” His expression tightened. “You can’t ignore it even if you try. It’s there...a constant need that doesn’t leave for a second, driving you to feed from someone...anyone. And it doesn’t get satisfied when you give in to it...it—it just gets worse.”

      I think I stopped breathing. This wasn’t what I’d expected him to say—not at all. “What are you talking about?”

      He swallowed, and when his gaze met mine I swear I saw fear there. “Stasis.”

      I shook my head. “What’s stasis?”

      When he wrenched his gaze from the food court to look at me again, there was something in his eyes that scared me. Something bleak and defeated.

      Stephen was afraid.

      This realization chilled me right down to my bones.

      “Feeding—kissing someone—it makes you feel better for a little while. But...it doesn’t stop what’s going to happen. We’re changing, Samantha. You will, too. We lose our minds, our control. Everything.”

      I started to tremble. He was talking about the zombie grays. “But—but that’s what happens to the grays that feed too much. Natalie warned us to control ourselves or we’ll end up like that. But if we don’t feed, it won’t happen. Right?”

      “It’s different now. She didn’t know. We go into that state and...then we come back out again. That mindlessness, it’s only the beginning.” He didn’t say it like it was a good thing.

      I stared at him, trying to understand, but then with a sickening feeling it all clicked into place for me. “Oh, God. The gray from last night...”

      “What?”

      “He was different.” My words were barely audible. I tensed up as more people closely brushed past us. “He—he was stronger, more powerful, and...and evil. Like, he had no...” I gritted my teeth before I managed to continue. “Like he had no soul.”

      Stephen didn’t mock me and tell me this was a stupid thing to say—that of course a gray had no soul. Instead, his expression only grew more grave. “That’s right. Any morals, any compassion we have left—after stasis, it’s gone. Stripped. Soulless, completely and totally.”

      I took this in and worked the disturbing information over in my head. “I thought you were already like that.”

      He let out a humorless snort. “I’ve changed from how I was before, but not completely. Not like what I’ve seen in the past few days.”

      I clasped my hands tightly to keep them from shaking. “So this guy—he was one of the zombies, and then he...then he came back from that?”

      He nodded.

      I couldn’t speak for a full minute, just staring at him. “Why are you telling me this? Why did you want to meet me here?”

      He looked at me steadily. “Because it’s my fault you’re like this. I wanted to warn you.”

      There was a big part of Stephen that had been changed forever by becoming a gray, one that could be manipulated by Natalie to do bad things on her behalf—but he wasn’t completely changed yet. There was still some part of him that remained the same Stephen that I’d had a crush on.

      He was afraid of what was to come. For himself...and for me.

      I fought to find the words to speak. “How long before it happens?”

      He didn’t speak for a moment. “All I know is—it’s coming, Samantha. And I don’t know how it’ll go for me.”

      My stomach clenched. “What do you mean?”

      “Stasis either evolves you into something dark, something evil—worse than anything I ever could have imagined.” He hesitated. “Or...it kills you.”

      Chapter 9

      Stephen didn’t start laughing and tell me he was just messing with me. He was totally serious. This horrible situation didn’t have a happy ending, a slow fading of the hunger like my aunt had suggested, and a return to normal life.

      It had a death sentence.

      I grabbed hold of his sleeve as my numbness over his deadly proclamation faded and panic set in like somebody lighting up a firecracker inside me. “You need to give me back my soul...and Carly’s, too. Please, Stephen, before it’s too late.”

      His expression turned stony. “You mean before I change. Or die.”

      I dug my fingers into his arm as he began to pull away from me. “Stephen—”

      “Oh. My. God. You have got to be kidding me right now, right?”

      My stomach sank at the sound of the familiar voice behind me. I didn’t have to turn around. I knew who it was.

      If I had a nemesis, Jordan Fitzpatrick was it. She was a drop-dead gorgeous redhead, and an aspiring model. We went to the same school.

      She hated me. And the feeling was completely mutual. I didn’t like coming face-to-face with her in public places since she never held back on her opinion, especially when it came to me. Sometimes I could take it and throw it right back at her. But other times words could hurt me, even if they weren’t sticks and stones.

      Did I mention that Stephen was her ex, and he’d broken her heart?

      While still reeling from the horrific news Stephen had shared with me, I turned slowly to see Jordan standing there with her best friend and trusty blond sidekick, Julie Travis. Julie was another one who wasn’t thrilled by my continuing existence—and vice versa. Julie was the reason that Colin and Carly had broken up over the summer. She’d slept with him while he’d been drunk at a party.