“Good definition.” Something suddenly clicked for me. “You seem strangely okay tonight. What happened?”
The smile fell from his lips completely. “I’m not okay. But I’ve found another way to deal with my problem when I have to.”
“How? I didn’t think your particular problem came with a multiple choice solution.”
“Neither did I.”
He might look like a gorgeous eighteen-year-old boy, but Bishop was actually an angel who’d been sent here to Trinity to take care of the gray problem. But something went horribly wrong when he left Heaven. Another angel who wanted to sabotage his mission had made him a “fallen” angel—one with a soul. The soul was a punishment to those truly fallen. It wreaked havoc with their mental stability, causing them to go slowly insane. But it was also necessary for their ongoing survival. A soul to a fallen angel was a true double-edged sword. It messed up their minds, but without it they would perish.
I’d kissed Bishop once and taken part of his soul—it had been the most amazing and horrible kiss of my entire life. Now I instinctively wanted more. And part of him—like any gray’s victim—wanted to be kissed again.
Yeah. You could say it was a complicated relationship.
“Well, I’m glad,” I said. “I guess now I know why I haven’t seen you lately. If you don’t need me to help you find your sanity, then you can focus on the mission instead. Sooner it’s completed, the sooner you can find a permanent solution to your problem. Right?”
“You think that’s why I’ve stayed away? You don’t think it’s hard for me to be this close to you right now?” He leaned dangerously closer. “Remember, it’s not just you suffering here.”
My hunger level shot through the roof.
Oh, yes. I remembered.
When his hand closed on my wrist, a shiver of electricity zipped across my skin. My eyes snapped to his. “You really shouldn’t touch me if you don’t need to.”
“I know.”
The rest of the club seemed to fall away so there was only he and I left behind.
Right now, Bishop was too close and smelled way too good.
“I haven’t had any slipups since I last saw you,” I said, my voice strained. “I can control this until we find Stephen.”
“I know you’ve been on your best behavior.”
I looked up at him, confused. Then clarity dawned. “Wait. Are you saying you’ve been watching me the past few days?”
“It’s not always me. And it’s not all the time.”
I gaped at him, the thought that he’d been monitoring me made me feel like a potential shoplifter. “You don’t trust me.”
His brows drew together. “This isn’t about trust.”
“Sure it is.”
“If Stephen tries to contact you when you’re alone, then I need to know.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m worried you—or one of the others—is going to find him first and stick your dagger through his chest with no questions asked. One less gray to clean up later. But that can’t happen. I need him alive, so you need to back off.”
That painfully sexy smile touched his lips again as he studied me. “Yes, definitely feisty tonight.”
I snorted softly, but refused to let down my guard completely. “I need my soul back. I can’t live like this.”
“I know.”
The music shifted to a new song, even louder than the one before, if that was possible. The ground shook with the nearby dancers stomping on it. A waitress holding a tray of fried appetizers moved past us.
“Are you here alone?” I asked.
He glanced toward the far corner of the dark and noisy nightclub. “No. Brought some backup to help with the search while the others are out on regular patrol.”
I looked to see who it was and cringed at the sight. Someone tall and blond and familiar.
Kraven worked with Bishop to save the city from things like me. At first glance I would have guessed that Kraven was another angel.
Nope.
Heaven and Hell worked together very occasionally on problems that threatened the integral balance of light and dark, good and evil.
Soul-eating monsters were just such a threat.
Kraven represented the dark side of the scale.
He was with a girl off in the corner and it was obvious that he was hitting on her. Heavily. He braced his hand over her shoulder, creating a partial cage she looked in no hurry to escape from. She grinned up at him as if in love. For all I knew, maybe she was.
As I watched him warily, wondering what his plans for that innocent—or not so innocent—girl were, he glanced over his shoulder at me. A cool smile curled the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, he looks like he’s really helping the search,” I said with disdain. “If you’re searching for slutty girls.”
“Distractions happen.”
I chewed my bottom lip and looked up at him. “I’m surprised that out of the whole team you’d pick your demonic brother to spend the evening with.”
Bishop’s expression tightened.
When he finally released his hold on my wrist, I grabbed the front of his shirt before he could move away from me.
“Are you ever going to tell me more about the two of you?” I’d come up with no reasonable explanation of how one brother became an angel and the other a demon, despite the tiny breadcrumbs of info I’d collected along the way.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Yeah, right. How about you at least tell me the name you had when you were human? I know one thing for sure—it wasn’t Bishop.”
“Okay.” He eyed me. “It was Barbara.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“And you still look like you want to punch me.”
“I’m barely restraining myself, actually.”
That smile returned to play at his lips. His gaze moved to the other side of the club and his expression grew grim again. “I need to talk to Roth. Wait here.”
Another team member. Another demon. Roth, however, made Kraven look like a friendly teddy bear. And Kraven was not a friendly teddy bear by anyone’s definition.
“I thought you wanted me to leave?” I said.
“I’ll take you home when we’re done here. Give me five minutes. Stephen’s dangerous and I don’t want you finding him by yourself.”
“I can handle him.”
Bishop returned my challenging look with one of his own. “Five minutes.”
“Fine.”
I watched as he walked across the club to where tall, handsome and hateful Roth stood by the long bar that only sold nonalcoholic beverages and appetizers. The crowd of kids swelled to cut off my view of the two.
Even with Bishop gone, my hunger hadn’t faded one bit. Strange. I thought I’d get a chance to compose myself better.
“Hey, Samantha.”
Damn. I glanced over to see Colin Richards standing right next to me. He was poised directly in what I’d termed my “orbit of hunger.” Two feet or