To save him from our own mother, who doesn’t care if we live or die.
“Good,” Kara says, smiling again. “It’s done.”
“What’s done?” I grit out.
“You’ll kill them for me, my darling. Every last one who’s ever done me harm or stood in my way.”
“I’ll kill nobody for you. I dig up your dead bodies, but I don’t make them dead.”
Her expression hardens. “You’ll do exactly as I say now, child. Stand up.”
I stand up as if there are strings attached to my shoulders.
Her eyes are so cold they freeze me in place. “You’ve made me very angry, Adam. You made me sacrifice my favorite son. You’ve made me sacrifice you.”
“Sacrifice?” I frown, confused. Frightened. “But I’m still here. I’m still breathing.”
“I wanted to protect you because I loved your father. You took that from me. You gave me no other choice. I take revenge toward those who’ve done me wrong. You’ve now done me wrong, Adam, my sweet. So now you will kill my enemies one by one without hesitation, without question. And tomorrow, when I’ve ensured he’s forgotten all about his little visit down here, you will kill James. You will kill him as your punishment so you have no one left alive who cares for you. No one who wants to help you. Do you understand me?”
I stare at her with horror. “Mother, no...”
“Say it, Adam. Say it!”
Just as the ashes wrapped around my throat, now something invisible tightens in their place, leaving me cold and empty and unable to fight. My mind fogs—the past unclear, the present hazy, the future entirely at her command. “Tomorrow I will kill James. For you, Kara.”
She smiles again. “That’s my good boy.”
I will do whatever she tells me to. I have no choice.
No choice.
She’s damned me every bit as much as she’s damned my brother.
Chapter 34
Snap!
Both Bishop and Kraven let go of me at the same time and staggered backward. It had all been so real. As if I was Bishop, experiencing every painful emotion, every horrible thought. I felt his fear, his disgust and his inability to resist whatever dark magic his mother and her friends had performed on him.
Symbols drawn in blood. The darkness and evil in the ashes rising up and taking him over, clouding his memories, but leaving him conscious enough of what he was doing. Just not why he did it.
“It was supposed to be me,” Kraven whispered. “But that selfish, murderous bitch didn’t care in the end, as long as it got done. She made me forget being down there with them, but now I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all.”
Bishop’s expression was stone, but there was something in his eyes that worried me. What he’d been forced to remember, forced to see, had unhinged him. I reached for him, hoping to lend him some sanity, but there was no spark of energy this time when I touched his skin. He looked down at where my fingers curled around his wrist, his expression grim.
“Wasn’t sure when that would stop working. Guess it’s tonight.”
“Bishop, no.” Guilt lanced through me. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have done the memory meld. It must have messed this up.”
“I think it’s just a coincidence and was bound to happen sooner or later. But my mind...” He pressed his hands to either side of his head and swore under his breath. “It’s getting worse by the minute.”
Kraven had gone silent, watching us from the shadows as if we were complete strangers. “How long do you have before you lose it completely?”
“Don’t know. Not long.”
The demon’s expression was guarded, untrusting. “I don’t know what to think right now. How do I know if any of that was real? Maybe you’re lying to me, trying to manipulate me.”
I shot him a look. “I guess that’s something you’re going to have to work out for yourself. But if you ask me, it was real. Totally real. And if there’s somebody you should hate, it’s your mother.”
“Believe me, I’m way ahead of you on that one.”
“What happened wasn’t Bishop’s fault. And it wasn’t your fault, either. You thought he killed you of his own free will to get some sort of Heavenly reward. Well, guess what, James? You were wrong. And for a hundred years you’ve hated the one person who would have done anything for you.”
He just stared at me bleakly before turning away and going into the church without another word.
“So he chooses avoidance when faced with the truth,” I muttered. “Not a huge surprise.”
“I need to talk to Connor,” Bishop said, his voice hoarse. “I can’t get sidetracked by any of this. Not now. If what he said about your father is true, then we need a plan in place to deal with it.”
He was right. The many problems between the brothers weren’t going to be fixed in a few minutes. Even with the truth about Bishop still playing like a movie in my head, I knew I had to stay focused.
“This isn’t over yet, you know,” I told him. “None of it, so don’t lose hope. You can still be fixed.”
“There’s no fallen angel who’s ever been welcomed back to Heaven.”
“You’re no normal fallen angel, Bishop.” I actually smiled at that as I pulled him closer to me. What I’d seen had been horrible, but it had set my mind at ease about him being evil. “Seriously, you’re the most abnormal guy I’ve ever met in my life.”