“Dick?” I finished for him. “I’m just randomly picking words out of the air. Tell me if you think I’m close.”

Despite how blasé everyone was being about this life-changing experience, I harbored a high level of rage over what he’d done to both me and Carly. It would take a whole lot of convincing to make me see it any differently.

“Yeah.” A grin played at his lips. “I was a total, unforgivable dick to you. Carly let me know in no uncertain terms that my behavior Friday night was unacceptable. She’s very protective of you.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” I couldn’t keep looking at him—it was making me ill. “She said there was supposed to be someone else here tonight. Someone who might be more open with the truth than you’ve been. That’s the only reason I came back—because trust me, it wasn’t to see you again. When do I get to meet this person?”

“How about right now?” someone else said. There was a beautiful girl near the glass barrier overlooking the rest of the club, watching our uncomfortable exchange. She looked about the same age as Stephen, nineteen or so, and had dark hair and brown eyes.

If she was the one Bishop was looking for—the Source—she could be a demon who was able to devour souls. An anomaly, he’d said. One who was now able to create more who could do the same thing and had gotten Heaven’s and Hell’s attention in so big a way they’d slapped a quarantine over this entire city and sent a team of angels and demons to find her.

She approached and extended her hand to me. “Samantha Day. I’m very glad to finally meet you.”

I eyed her hand with trepidation, but made no move to shake it. I wasn’t feeling much like being polite tonight. “Who are you?”

“A friend.”

Terrific. Yet another person who liked to avoid direct questions. Finally, I forced myself to shake her hand. No spark, no electricity, nothing there but a normal handshake. I met her gaze, trying to at least appear to be brave right now. There was something about her eyes—she seemed kind of familiar to me.

With the way my week had been going, maybe I’d had a vision about her, too, and I just couldn’t remember it.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

She shook her head. “We’ve never met before. My name is Natalie.”

“So you’re the one with all the answers?”

“First, I wanted to apologize for how things have gone so far. Stephen has been…” She glanced at Stephen, who stood next to Natalie with his arms crossed over his chest, looking more uncomfortable with every moment that passed. “Like you already said, a total dick.”

I stifled a nervous laugh at that before sobering immediately. A chill moved down my spine. “You were the one—the one who asked him to do that to me on Friday night, weren’t you?”

Natalie held my gaze. “Yes, I asked him to kiss you.”

Fear slithered through me, and I took an involuntary step back from her. At first glance, she looked so normal, so pretty…so harmless. But she wasn’t. “I—I don’t understand. Why me?”

She glanced around at the half dozen other kids up here, minding their own business. Except for Carly, who cast curious glances over her shoulder every few seconds.

“There was no other choice.”

“He stole my soul.” Anger bubbled up in my voice, even though I was trying very hard to remain calm.

She shook her head. “It might be hard for you to believe, but he actually set you free from it.”

“No, he took it without asking. That’s stealing. And now I’m cold and hungry all the time and I can’t get it back. Explain to me how that’s so damn freeing.”

She wasn’t giving me the same shiny “this is awesome, trust me!” look Stephen had given me last night. She observed my stress and anger and recognized it, rather than dismissing it. “Please hear me out, Samantha. That’s why I hoped Carly could convince you to come back, despite your previous problems with Stephen. This is difficult for you, I know that. And I completely understand why you’re so upset.” She nodded at a nearby table. “Let’s have a seat. Stephen, give us some privacy please.”

Stephen nodded and wandered off without any argument.

Another surprise. Before, I’d thought Stephen was the one in control here. Now I clearly saw that it was Natalie—a girl who looked like a pretty, dark-haired college student wearing a tight black dress and four-inch designer heels.

I’d give her a chance. One chance, that’s all.

I tried to summon up some of Carly’s newfound confidence and took a seat across from her.

“Ask me anything you want to know,” she said.

I exhaled shakily. “Why me? Why did you ask Stephen to kiss me on Friday night?”

She didn’t shift her attention away from me for a moment. “Because you’re special, Samantha.”

I made a sound then that sounded like half hiccup, half hysterical snort. “So I’ve been told this week. I don’t feel that special.”

“But you are.”

“Why? What makes me so special that I got tagged to become a gray?”

She looked at me with a sliver of amusement in her brown eyes. “A gray? Is that what they’ve termed it? How…dull. Literally.”

I shut my mouth. I didn’t want to say anything that might turn attention toward Bishop. “I don’t know.”