and sent him to Hell? Shocker.” I honestly didn’t mean it to sound as smart-ass as it came out. But there it was.
“Let’s keep looking for Stephen,” Bishop said tightly.
I deflated. My confidence came and went, really. Right now, it went. “Sorry, but you’re the one who gave me that enticing piece of information and now you want to pretend you never said anything.”
He studied me for a moment, expressionless, then a grin finally tugged the side of his mouth. “You are bound and determined to learn my deepest, darkest secrets, aren’t you?”
“Determined is a good word. Obsessed might be another one.”
His smile only grew, the expression working like an arrow shooting straight into my heart. “Obsession can be a dangerous thing, Samantha.”
My gaze moved to his lips. “Don’t I know it.”
He wrenched his attention from me to scan the club, and then turned around to face me full-on. “Am I too close? I’d rather not make this difficult for you.”
I swallowed hard, ignoring the constant hunger being near him brought forth. “It’s always difficult when I’m close to you.”
His jaw tensed, and he turned away. “Then I should give you some space.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s better now than it was before.” I grabbed his arm, and electricity sparked between us. He tensed and turned back to face me.
Then he immediately directed me away from the crowd and off into a quieter alcove, past a translucent crystal-beaded curtain. The loud music still blared from the live band and I couldn’t even make out what the lead singer was singing, but it was slightly muted here, giving the illusion of privacy.
“Bishop, last night when I saw your memory...” I began. I had to get this out. It weighed on me like a two-ton elephant sitting on my chest.
“Let’s forget about that.” His attention moved to something over my shoulder, but I think he was simply trying to avoid eye contact.
“But that’s just it—I don’t want to forget it. I know you think I might have seen something that you didn’t want me to see. That somehow it’s going to make me dislike you or fear you. But you’re wrong.”
He gave me a wry look. “Then I guess you didn’t see nearly as much as I thought you did.”
“Why can I do that?” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “I know I can do the mind-meld thing, but it’s not like I can control it.”
“You’re a nexus.” He moved closer so he could also speak quietly in case we were overheard. The song had ended and the band slowly eased into the next one. The buzz of conversation beyond the curtain swirled around me. “You have a strange power over the ethereal and the infernal. That includes me. Add that to the fact that you took a piece of my soul...well, that gives you certain powerful abilities.”
As much as I’d love to be someone who just readily accepts every mind-blowing thing that has happened to me over the past couple of weeks, I wasn’t that girl. The less I thought about my birth parents and what that meant—and I honestly didn’t know exactly what that meant—the less freaked out I got.
“I don’t feel so powerful,” I said, swallowing hard. “I don’t know why anybody would even be concerned with someone like me. There’s no way I could throw anything off balance.”
“I think you underestimate yourself.”
Bishop was still too close to me, and his warm, spicy scent made it nearly impossible for me to concentrate. “Have you ever known of another nexus?”
“They’re rare, but yes. Once, years ago, I met one.”
“What happened?” I asked, breathless.
He met my gaze. “I killed him.”
I gasped. “Oh, my God.”
His brows drew together and he watched me, as if wary of my reaction to this jarring statement. “You always say that you’re the one who doesn’t hold anything back and I’m the secretive one. But I don’t want this to be a secret. I need you to know this, now that you’re aware of what my job was.”
I worked it over in my mind, trying to reject it, but I knew I couldn’t. “So it was an assignment for Heaven—this nexus was bad. A real threat.”
He nodded, his jaw tight. “This is exactly why I know you’re different.”
“Why?”
He surprised me by giving me a small grin. “That you even have to ask me that proves it all the more. You know that a nexus—while very rare—can’t access their powers while their human soul covers up what