“Yeah, I’m sure you can’t wait to get out of here, just like Bishop. But I’m not sabotaging anything. In case you’ve been asleep and haven’t noticed it, I’ve been helping.”

“Sorry, but I don’t trust that easily.” He was silent for a moment.

I swallowed hard. “Look, Kraven, I know you hate me and don’t want me to be a part of this. We have that in common. I want this over with. Quickly. And then I want to forget all about it.”

“Bishop told you to go to school like normal. Are you going to do that?”

I hadn’t really thought about it much yet. “Maybe.”

He made a sour expression. “Remember, he’s crazy. I think you should stay home. Stay out of trouble. Just fake being sick and hang out in your house and wait it out. You’ll be less of a problem for us that way.”

I gave him a withering look. “You just helped me make my decision. I’m definitely going to school tomorrow, just like Bishop suggested. Thanks for making that easier for me.”

I picked up my pace, leaving him a few steps behind me again. He was such a pompous jerk I didn’t even know how to handle it.

“Wait, I want to test something. Stop a second.”

Reluctantly, I stopped and turned to face him. “What now?”

The light from a streetlamp shone down on his hair, making it seem much lighter blond than it had earlier, a fiery gold color. “I’m thinking of a name. Can you read my mind right now when there’s no drama involved?”

There was no humor on his face. He was being dead serious. I hissed out a sigh, met his gaze directly and tried to focus. He wasn’t fighting me and there was no wall up around him like I’d felt with Roth in the beginning. What he was thinking about came to me easily, as if I was reading it off a page in a book. In my mind’s eye, it even looked like fancy handwriting—black ink on yellowed paper, being written with a quill.

“James,” I said. “That’s the name you’re thinking about right now. Isn’t it?”

His brows drew together. “Let’s keep going.”

He started walking again, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. Nothing was said the rest of the way to my house. For a second, I tried to read his mind again, but my attempts hit a wall similar to Roth’s. He was shielding his thoughts from me now.

I guess I’d passed the test.

We finally reached my house. As I walked up the driveway, my mother pulled her car up alongside me. Another late night at the office.

I tensed as she got out of her car and glanced at the two of us.

“Hello there.” She reached out a hand to Kraven. “I’m Eleanor Day, Samantha’s mother.”

The smile that had been missing from Kraven’s face for the last twenty minutes reappeared as he shook my mother’s hand. He sent an amused glance in my direction, no doubt to see how mortified I was at the thought of a demon touching my mother.

“You can call me Kraven,” he said. “It’s an honor to meet you, Mrs. Day.”

My mother smiled back at him, clearly charmed by the tall and handsome blond boy standing in her driveway. I tried very hard not to roll my eyes. Or gag.

“Kraven was just leaving,” I said firmly.

“Yes, that’s right.” He grinned. “Lots to do, worlds to save. You know the drill.”

My mother actually laughed out loud at that. It was a light and joyful sound I hadn’t heard in ages. “Well, I’ll let you two say your goodbyes. Don’t mind me.”

She gave me a look that clearly stated that I needed to fill her in on the details the first chance I got. My mother now thought Kraven was my boyfriend. Great. Just what I needed.

When she went into the house, I looked at Kraven. He was staring at the front door.

“Something wrong?” I asked. “Other than everything?”

“Your mom and you…”

“What?”

“Are you adopted?”

I blinked. That was the absolute last thing I would have expected him to say. “No.”

“You sure?”

“I think I’d know something like that.”

He shrugged. “It’s just that you look nothing alike and I didn’t really feel any…” He sighed. “Wait. For a second I forgot that I don’t care. I’m out of here.”

He turned and began walking down the driveway, dismissing me without so much as a goodbye.

“Wait!” I called after him.

He cast an unfriendly look over his shoulder at me. “What?”

“Who’s James?”

The demon stared at me for a few seconds as the remainder of the smile left his eyes. “That was my first name back when I was human.”

He turned and started to walk away, but I caught up to him and grabbed his arm, looking up at him with shock. “You were human?”

He didn’t smile. “Didn’t you know? A whole lot of angels and demons began their lives as human.”

“No, I—I didn’t know that.” I couldn’t find my voice for a moment. “Even Bishop?”

He snorted softly. “You didn’t read that in my mind before? I’m surprised, since you’re so fixated on anything to do with him. Would have thought you’d hone in on that info immediately. There’s a bunch of memories of him stuck in my brain, whether I like it or not.”

“What do you mean? Do you—did you know him? Before?”