“And the demons…their eyes glow, too, but it’s red instead of blue.”
“Hellfire. Same sort of principle.”
“Right.” I felt dizzy. “I—I think I need to sit down.”
Bishop slid his arm around my back to help keep me on my feet. I braced both my hands against his chest now. Our eyes met and there it was again—just that easily, my heart did a cartwheel worthy of an Olympic gymnast. I suddenly had the urge to wrap my arms around him and hold on tight—just like I had earlier, before the demon interrupted us. Despite what he was, despite what I’d just seen him do, I felt safe with Bishop.
At least, I felt safe right now.
Maybe we were both crazy.
“So now what?” I asked, my voice a whisper.
His gaze had locked on mine as if he was transfixed. He swallowed hard and shook his head a little as if to clear it. “Now you’re going home. You said you’d give me an hour of your time. It’s been an hour.”
“You hold true to all of your promises?”
He grinned a little. “I try.”
“I have a question.”
“I’m not all that surprised. What is it?”
“Is this how you plan to treat all the grays you come across to make sure they’re not the zombie kind? This, uh…personal attention?”
It took a moment before he replied. His eyes burned into mine. “Not really planning on it.”
“I’m just special.”
“Very.”
“Why?”
“I really wish I knew.” His hold tightened on my waist and he looked as if he was fighting some sort of inner battle. He let me go, then rubbed his hands on either side of his head. “I must be seriously messed up if I’m feeling this way.”
I bit my bottom lip, reminded once again that he might consider me special, but I was still a hungry gray. “I’ll try not to take that personally.”
“No, I…” He sighed. “This isn’t like me, Samantha. Trust me. I was completely and utterly dedicated to this mission from the moment it was put into effect. Nothing should distract me. And now I find I’m all too easily distracted. By you.”Okay, that clarification made a huge difference to me, one that made my heart leap. “Oh.”
He shook his head. “This is complicated. More than you even know.”
“I know. You’re going home in a week. It’s like you’re on a really messed-up business trip, that’s all. When you get back you’ll be…cured. No more crazy.”
He held my gaze. “I promise I’ll help you. Anything I have to do, I’ll do it.”
“Why? I mean, I understand that you’re an angel…” I was still having trouble accepting that as being a real thing, even though I knew it was. “And you’re going back home soon. But I’m supposed to be your enemy.”
“You’re not my enemy. I should have known that the moment I met you. I did, but for a second I doubted my instincts. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“If I’m so different, maybe other grays are just like me.” I thought of Stephen and the others who were in the Crave lounge. “Some of them, anyway.”
“It’s possible. There could be others who can consistently control their hunger as well as you can—who never feed at all.”
My stomach picked that exact moment to grumble. “So what happens if they don’t? If I don’t?”
He blinked and didn’t reply for a moment. “I don’t know.”
I laughed nervously. “Great. That’s helpful, thanks.” Then I swallowed hard. “It’s not easy, you know.”
His brows drew together. “Are you having trouble with the hunger?”
“It’s a constant issue for me now. I need…” I grabbed hold of a long dark lock of my hair and twisted it nervously. “Why does it have to be a kiss? That is so lame. Now I want to kiss pretty much everyone I come across.”
“Everyone?”
I thought about it. “Not everyone. There’s only a couple people I really feel the urge to grab hold of and kiss really hard, like I can barely control myself.”
Something dark slid behind his gaze. If he was a normal boy and I was a normal girl, I might have guessed it was jealousy. “The original demon was said to have an irresistible allure that humans were drawn to. Maybe that’s what happened with Stephen. You couldn’t help but be drawn to him. And maybe that’s what it’s like with you, as well.”
That would explain why lately I’d been attracting more attention than I normally did. And here I’d thought I was just having a really good hair week. “There was a boy at school this morning. He got too close to me and I nearly…” Well, I didn’t have to finish that sentence to make my meaning clear. It did nothing to remove the dark look on Bishop’s face. “And…and there’s also someone else.”
“Someone else you feel the urge to kiss?”
“Well, yeah. But…at least he doesn’t have to worry about his soul around me. He doesn’t have one.”
It took a moment before he understood that I was talking about him. My cheeks heated up. I couldn’t believe I was practically coming right out and saying it—like kissing him was all I could think about whenever he was this close to me.
“Then I guess I’m safe, aren’t I?” he said, the edge of a smile touching his lips.