“You’re not looking at me like I’m crazy. Why aren’t you freaking out?”

My heart was going a thousand beats a minute, but I was doing everything I could not to let it show on the surface. “I am freaking out, believe me.”

“I checked out the modeling agency. But—but that woman...”

“She wasn’t the reason why Julie killed herself,” I finished. “I know. I checked her out, too.”

She looked shocked. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I was trying to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.”

The mix of surprise and gratitude in her eyes both froze off quickly. “That wasn’t smart. Since now we’re going to die, anyway.”

“Yeah, well, you’re welcome. And we’re not going to die. Stephen, he...he has another reason for keeping us here. And I think we’re going to find out what it is very soon.” There was the sound of a lock turning and the door began to creak open. My mouth went dry with fear. “Like...right now.”

I staggered back from the door and, for the first time since I came to, felt for the knife at my thigh. Only the leather sheath remained.

“Asshole,” I muttered. He’d broken my wrist when I pulled out the dagger to defend myself. Of course he hadn’t given it back.

Stephen entered the room and closed the door behind him.

He studied us each in turn before casually leaning against the wall. “So we meet again.”

I eyed the door, knowing it was my only escape. The key must be in his pocket. “Planning to knock me out again?” I asked icily.

“Not right now. Maybe later.”

“You need to let us out of here,” Jordan said, her voice breaking.

I watched for his reaction to her, and was surprised to see there wasn’t one. His face remained cold and impassive.

“You’re not going anywhere. Not yet.”

“Start talking,” I snarled. “What do you want?”

“What makes you think I want something?”

“Basic deduction. You dragged both of us here and locked us up. You haven’t hurt Jordan.”

He shrugged. “I knocked her out. Didn’t get to the chloroform in time. Had to slam her head against a cement wall. I’m sure that hurt.”

I glanced at Jordan to see her flinch at the reminder. I finally noticed that there was dried blood along her right temple. I narrowed my eyes at Stephen. “What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?”

He held my gaze steadily. “Sometimes you have to make tough decisions.”

I grabbed his shirt with my left hand, furious now. “Let us out of here.”

He eyed my grip on him before he smirked. “Nah.”

Then he took hold of my shirt, balling the material in his grip, and shoved me backward with inhuman strength. Jordan’s scream pierced through the small room as I went flying backward and hit the wall. I fell flat onto the ground and lay there dazed and gasping for breath.

Grays didn’t have strength like this. The super-gray who’d broken Cassandra’s back had. The realization made my blood run cold.

“You’ve gone through stasis.” I forced out the words as I tried to sit up.

“My evolution was quicker than I thought it would be.” Stephen towered above me, his cinnamon-brown eyes glinting. When I tried to get up, he pinned my shoulder to the ground with the heavy sole of his shoe. “Don’t make me hurt you more than I have to. Stay down.”

I didn’t take direction very well. I struggled, but the pressure only increased as he shifted his weight to my collarbone.

“No angels here to heal you. I suggest you don’t move unless you want me to break some more bones, Samantha. For what I need from you...you don’t have to be in one piece.”

I stopped struggling. He leaned over and yanked me up, slamming me into the wall hard enough to knock my breath out of me.

“Let go of her!” Jordan shrieked. She was fighting him now, clawing at his arm. But, while she was tall, she wasn’t any stronger than a typical seventeen-year-old girl. Not compared to something like Stephen.

He shoved her away from him. She stumbled and fell to the ground.

Stephen glared at her. “Stay down.”

He had me raised off the ground, my feet dangling. While he hadn’t broken any bones this time, I’d definitely sprained my shoulder. The pain only fueled my anger and helped my claustrophobia take a backseat.

“Does it make you feel like a man to beat up two girls like this?” I asked. “You’re a pathetic lowlife. You always have been.”

His hateful smirk returned, making his handsome face very ugly. “Wrong. I’m an example of the highlife, the best yet. Do you know what it feels like after going through stasis? I thought losing my soul was a good thing in the beginning. It gave me confidence all of a sudden. It made girls look at me more than they already did—and every one of them wanted me. That extra something we have, it’s to draw our victims closer. Gives us a chance to feed. And they like it, even when you’re draining every last bit. You know that, right?”

I didn’t say anything. He didn’t need the confirmation.

“It tastes better now, taking a soul,” he said. “And we take the whole soul, every time.”

Repulsion shot through me. “Now when you kiss them, you can’t change them into another gray. You kill them.”