Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers) - By Michelle Rowen Page 0,93
Any broken bones had been healed.
We were lucky. It really could have gone much worse than this.
“I’m so sorry. It was my fault.” Zach shook his head. “I had him, but he slipped away from me.”
Connor had pushed himself to his feet. “I’m fine. A couple bruises. Nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, forget it,” Bishop said. “He was possessed. You’re lucky he didn’t attack you, too. His strength is off the charts.”
“But I’m the one with the dagger.” Zach looked down at the golden weapon in his grip. “I should have been the one to stop him.”
“Like I said, forget it.”
“I can’t. I can’t forget it. It’s always this way. I have potential, but I don’t live up to it. My father told me that once. Nothing I did ever impressed him. Nothing.” He let out a shaky sigh. “He was ashamed of me. It made me ashamed of myself. I hated him so much. I—I can’t believe that hate didn’t turn my soul dark and heavy. There were times that I wanted to kill him.”
I’d completely stopped breathing. “Zach...the angel...did it touch you, too?”
He turned his anguished gaze toward me. Tears began to streak down his cheeks. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much. I thought I was strong, but I’m not. Trinity is doomed. We were set up to fail. Do you know what happens then? The city will be destroyed—wiped off the face of the earth because I failed. I have nothing to live for. Nothing!”
“No, Zach! Don’t!” I screamed.
But it was already too late.
Zach turned the dagger toward himself and plunged it into his chest.
Chapter 23
There was nothing we could do to stop him.
“Zach!” I screamed again, but the sound of my voice was swept away by the thunderous roar of the Hollow opening up.
Zach dropped to his knees.
“I’m sorry,” he said, before collapsing completely.
“What—what is that?” Jordan shrieked. “What’s going on?”
“Stay back.” I held out my arm to block her from coming another step closer. Panic shot through me as Bishop started moving toward Zach. “What are you doing?”
He met my eyes, his expression grim. “The dagger.”
Oh, God. The Hallowed Blade...it was still in Zach’s chest. And the Hollow was reaching out for him with its fingerlike tendrils of darkness.
Bishop was ten feet away from Zach. I was farther back, but even I felt the powerful suction.
My throat hurt, and I realized it was because I was screaming. Losing Zach like this was bad enough, but Bishop was risking everything to get the dagger back.
“Leave it!” I yelled. “Don’t get closer to him!”
But Bishop rarely did what I wanted him to do.
I hated that dagger, an instrument of death that had taken Zach and was about to take Bishop, too. I started to move closer to stop him, but Jordan held tightly to me to keep me back.
Bishop made it to Zach’s body and didn’t waste a second before pulling the dagger from the dead angel’s chest.
The very next moment, the Hollow’s dark fingers wrapped around Zach’s body and snatched him back into the horrific, swirling vortex.
Then it reached out for Bishop. He struggled against its pull as those smoky, black tendrils moved around his wrists, his chest, his throat.
“Bishop!” I screamed.
Suddenly, Kraven was on the move, nearly too fast to see. For a second, I was terrified he was going to shove Bishop all the way into the Hollow. I let out another strangled cry. Connor appeared at my side to help Jordan hold me back and keep me out of the vortex’s pull.
But instead of pushing him, Kraven tackled Bishop hard and rolled them both out of range.
The Hollow didn’t disappear; instead, it swiveled as if on an axis. When I was lined up in its sights, it stopped. I swear it stared at me—a hurricane of darkness.
I stared back as my heart thundered in my chest. I couldn’t have looked away if I tried.
So close now. Can you feel it? I will need you soon—sooner than I thought. Prepare yourself, Samantha. He can’t save you. Only I can.
The words sounded hollow in my head, loud and clear, but empty and devoid of emotion. And a sudden, terrifying realization froze me in place.
This thing, this horrible thing, had a mind I could read. It was sentient.
And it knew who I was.
I couldn’t keep looking at it. I forced myself to tear my gaze away toward Bishop and Kraven, who scuttled away from the Hollow’s roaring mouth.