“I told you we wanted to help you,” I managed to say.

“I don’t want your help.”

“Let her go,” Bishop growled. There was dark fury in his eyes.

I grabbed hold of the kid’s arm to keep the knife away from me, but he was strong, really strong. Then I tried to summon the same ability I’d used to zap Kraven when I’d felt threatened. I did manage to touch part of that power, as if reaching into a shallow pool of water that I never knew existed within me, but it didn’t work. Nothing happened. It was as if I hit a wall and I didn’t know why.

“I know it must seem really bad for you.” I wanted to keep him talking so Bishop had a chance to stop this. “But you’re not alone anymore.”

“I am alone,” he snapped. “And I’ll protect myself no matter what I have to do.”

“Have you dreamed about me?” I blurted out. The other angel had said it earlier, so it was worth a shot.

He froze at my words. Bishop drew closer, his eyes still glowing blue. Someone got in the car right next to us, the one that’d had its alarm blaring a minute ago, and drove away as if he didn’t see our standoff only a few feet away.

“You have, haven’t you?” I continued, craning my neck a little so I could see him out of the corner of my eye. “Maybe it’s faded a bit, but you have. You knew I was coming. You know I’m here to help you.”

He shot a look at Bishop. “Drop the knife. I won’t say it again.”

I focused on that invisible wall I’d felt, the one that seemed to surround this kid. With a part of myself I’d never even known existed—a sixth sense, I guess—I managed to find a crack in it and I again sought that pool of power within me.

“Let me go.” My teeth were clenched together so I barely got the words out. “Now.”

This time, thanks to that crack in his wall, the zapping worked. He let go of me and staggered back as if he’d been electrocuted, his eyes wide with shock.

“What just happened?” he snarled.

“You let her go,” Bishop said, striding forward.

And then he plunged his dagger into the kid’s chest.

I screamed. It seemed to be my usual reaction to seeing someone get stabbed. The calmness I’d felt a moment ago ripped away, leaving me panicked and uncertain. “Why did you do that? We didn’t check his back to make sure he was the right one!”

“He’s the one. You proved it yourself by repelling him.”

The kid dropped his knife then looked down at the dagger in his chest, which Bishop then yanked back out. He fell to his knees on the hard pavement.

His stunned gaze moved to me. “I did dream about you last night. How did you know that?”

A shiver coursed through me. “Lucky guess.”

He fell face forward to the ground. Bishop crouched at his side and looked up at me, his expression grim as he took in the shock on my face.

“Stay,” he said firmly. “See what happens next. It’ll prove I’m not just doing this to be cruel, even though this one might have deserved it.”

I just nodded, shivering. I moved back until I felt a pickup truck behind me, which helped support me so I didn’t crumple to the ground, as well. Bishop rolled the dead kid onto his back. I gagged as his leather jacket fell open to show the bloodstain from the knife wound in the center of his chest, soaking through his shirt. Bishop wiped his dagger against his black jeans to clean it off.

Angel. Warrior. Killer. At this moment, I was terrified of him. It took a minute for my natural instinct of fear to back off.

Just a ritual. I kept repeating it to myself. It’s just a horrible but necessary ritual.

More people arrived and departed from the grocery store, oblivious to the murder scene right in front of them. At the moment, the “I” in CSI stood for invisible.

I had no soul right now, so why did I care? I thought a soul gave a human morals, humanity and an ability for goodness. But now I wasn’t so sure. I’d lost mine and I still felt the difference between right and wrong. I hadn’t suddenly turned into an unrepentant monster. I felt everything that happened vividly, even when it was happening to someone else.

The kid stayed dead for a long time. Even Bishop began to look uncertain.

I gave him a sharp look. “Don’t start doubting this now.”

“He is the right one.”

“You didn’t check him first.”

His expression was dark and haunted. “He grabbed you. I wasn’t thinking straight. Besides, he never would have shown us his back if we’d asked politely.”

He was probably right about that. I slowly moved toward them, looking down at the boy lying on the ground. His dark, glazed eyes were still open, staring straight up at me. Bishop leaned over and finally closed them.

“Great, that’s helpful.” I fought against my welling nausea.

He eyed me, as if gauging my shifting moods. “You really do hate me right now, don’t you?”

“If he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m going to have to hate myself, too.” I kneeled down at his side. “Check him now. Please.”

Bishop rolled the kid over and pushed aside the jacket. I reached forward, my hand shaking a little, and gathered the thin material of his shirt before pushing it up his back so I could see.

I let out a long, shuddery sigh of relief. There was an imprint there. And just as we’d thought, it was a thick, black tattoo of wings, just like the one Kraven—