entire world. You must be destroyed.”
He laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
She didn’t pull out a weapon, but she stalked closer to him. I
held my breath, watching, trying not to look at the dead girl again. I hadn’t
seen anything like this before. I’d seen the kiss before, I’d been guilty of the
kiss myself, but I’d never seen it kill anyone.
This was proof that it could. That what I was, and what I could
do—that this ravenous hunger I felt every hour of every day—was one hundred
percent evil.
I felt no pity for this gray. Instead, all I felt was rage. I
wanted Cassandra to kill him right here and right now. She was a warrior like
the others; there was no doubt in my mind about that.
But as she drew closer to him, the gray watched her with open
amusement. “You’re one of the people I’ve been hearing about. The ones trying to
stop us from having any fun in this town.”
She launched herself at him, her hands out as if prepared to
grab his throat and strangle him. But with a flick of his wrist, he backhanded
her. It was so hard that she went flying through the air and hit the wall on the
opposite side of the street with a violent smacking sound.
Cassandra crumpled to the ground unconscious.
I spun to face the gray, stunned. “What did you—?”
He grinned at me. “Impressed?”
I rushed toward Cassandra and snatched a jagged piece of wood
from the side of the road, holding it in front of me.
The gray watched me carefully. “What exactly do you think
you’re doing?”
“Defending myself from a killer.” My voice shook.
He laughed. “Seriously? You’re one of us, in case you weren’t
aware. I saw you last week with Stephen at Crave.”
Suddenly, I recognized him. He was one of my Aunt Natalie’s
minions who’d hung out at the nightclub. This was one of the grays who’d held
Bishop in place while Natalie tortured him.
Fear and hatred stormed inside me.
“You’re not supposed to feed!” I held the sharp piece of wood
out in front of me like I was a vampire slayer. I wanted to check Cassandra and
make sure she was all right, but I knew I couldn’t turn my back on this monster
for a second.
“I didn’t. Not for a long time. I tried to follow the
rules.”
“Why are you so strong? Grays aren’t any stronger than humans.
What are you?”
He studied me without looking the least bit concerned about my
impromptu weapon. “You know butterflies start as ugly caterpillars, right?”
My heart pounded so hard I could barely hear over the sound of
it. “Is this science class?”
He shrugged. “You need to come with me. We can be friends.”
“I don’t want any more friends. Not like you.” Something
occurred to me. My gaze snapped to his. “Where’s Stephen? I need to find
him!”
His lips stretched over straight, white teeth. “Come with me
and we’ll all have a nice chat.”
Crap. Even the possibility that he knew where to find Stephen
was like throwing out tantalizing bread crumbs and then asking me to follow him
to the loaf. But I couldn’t trust him.
“No way. Tell me where Stephen is.”
“Nah. Not if you’re hanging around friends like these.” He
flicked a glance at Cassandra.
I swallowed hard, not sparing more than a worried glance at the
unconscious angel. “Why are you different than other grays?”
“Am I?” He gave me a grin—one of those frustrating ones that
showed that he believed he knew something I didn’t know...and he wasn’t
talking.
Even from a distance, I felt his evil like thick slime
spreading over my skin. He had no remorse about the dead girl lying four feet
away from him. Not even a glimmer.
It was as if he had become one of the zombie grays—but he
wasn’t mindless. It shouldn’t have been possible.
Whatever he was, it was wrong. Dark. Malicious. He knew right
from wrong, yet he’d chosen to destroy someone’s life anyway. He might have
control, but he didn’t bother to use it.
When he stepped closer to me I
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