Seth had been on the streets long enough that there was no helping him with a touch, as I’d been able to do with Bishop up until tonight. His mind had been permanently messed up, his punishment for falling from...Heaven.
Or so I thought.
“Show me your imprint,” I said as firmly as I could. Some things I had to see to understand. To believe. Even when my gut was shouting at me that I already had more than enough proof to know what he really was.
He raised a dark eyebrow as if amused by my request, then turned a little, pulling up the edge of his dirty shirt to show the thick, dark lines of his bat’s-wing-like imprint—the imprint of a demon. My stomach lurched.
“See, beautiful star? I was never an angel. I would take it as a compliment that you assumed me to be one if I was fond of that particular breed of creature. But there’s only been one angel I could ever tolerate. Only one who could tolerate me in return.”
All I could do was stare at him.
Jordan fished into her purse to pull out her phone. Roth snatched it out of her grip and smashed it on the ground.
She shoved him hard, but it didn’t make him budge an inch. “You creep! That was brand-new!”
“I don’t care.”
“You owe me for a new phone.”
“Bill me. And shut the hell up.”
“Samantha!”
But I wasn’t paying attention to her, not to Roth, either. My attention was fully fixed on the demon in front of me, the one I’d assumed from nearly the first moment I’d met him was an angel...just like Bishop. One lost and abandoned by Heaven with no chance to return. No one to help him. No one to care.
He was an exiled demon.
“You’re a smart girl,” Seth said to me. “You already know the truth, don’t you?”
No, please. It can’t be.
I couldn’t have been this blind.
Then Seth moaned as if in pain, bracing his hands on his thighs, his back hunching over. With alarm, I looked down to see the strange, branching black lines move farther down to his hands and onto his fingers.
“What’s happening to you?” I asked, breathless.
“It’s a little sooner than I’d anticipated.” He laughed, a low, pained sound deep in his throat. “Oh, who am I kidding? This is a lot sooner than I’d anticipated, but sometimes, beautiful star, you must make adjustments when necessary. Quick like a bunny. Race to the end so everything can be tied up in a nice, shiny bow. Now, tonight. It will all happen tonight whether I like it or not.”
There was that mad tone of his I recognized more. “Who are you? Who are you, really?”
His gaze moved toward the cityscape to the left. He nodded at the huge outline of the hospital. “When I was first exiled, I woke up in the shadow of St. Edward’s. I took it as a sign that this was where my new life would begin. I wasn’t like the others, I didn’t accept that this was an end and that I had to make peace with losing my mind and losing my power for all eternity. There are always other choices, you just have to know where to look and be willing to do just about anything to achieve your goals. That hospital was my new birthplace. And inspired by that hospital, I was reborn as something much different than I was before.”
I followed his gaze to the tall building with its glowing sign like a beacon in the distance.
St. Edward’s Trinity Hospital.
Each capital letter was large and blue, while the rest of the letters were smaller and white and the now-obvious acronym burned into my eyes.
S.E.T.H.
“My original name was Nathan,” he said softly. “I’m your father, Samantha.”
Chapter 35
It wasn’t shock that hit me like a sucker punch to the gut over this revelation, but more of a sick, sinking sensation that left me cold and shaky. Part of me had already suspected the truth, but my rational mind hadn’t wanted to give it any conscious thought.
Seth wasn’t a fallen angel who’d been in Trinity for years and years while losing his mind to the point that he was stuck on the streets with no home to call his own.
He was Nathan, an exiled demon who allegedly controlled the Hollow and had vengeance as his number-one priority.
My father.
I was having a serious Luke Skywalker moment.
“He’s your father?” Jordan’s words dripped with disbelief. “Seriously?”
All I could do was stare at him—and I tried to use what little clearheadedness I had left to read his mind when he met my gaze directly.
I could read the minds of angels and demons; I’d done it before.
I could find the real truth beyond his twisting words before it was too late. Although, I honestly didn’t know how much more truth I could handle and still remain vertical.
His brown eyes, not quite the same shade as mine—but now that I was looking, pretty darn close—weren’t giving away any secrets. His walls were up and they were as thick as the concrete we currently stood on. It would take a long time to break through.
“So, I brought her to you like you asked me to,” Roth said tightly. “Time for your side of the bargain.”
“You bargained with him?” I asked, my voice quiet.
“I sure did.” Roth didn’t sound the least bit ashamed.
“For what?”
There was a pause before he answered. “For Cassandra.”
I couldn’t help but tear my gaze off the man standing before me to look at the other demon. He tried to hide it but I saw it, that bottomless grief in his dark eyes.