“Very well. Then she’ll be spared.”

But if my vision was right—and if it was something that would happen tonight—no one would be spared.

“What do you want from me?” I asked. “Enough of the small talk, tell me the truth. You wanted Roth to bring me here to talk to you. Whatever’s happening to you right now seems—” I swept a gaze over his scary, branching lines “—severe. So tell me why I’m here. Why now? And why me?”

He was silent for a moment, his hands fisted at his sides. “I need your help.”

“My help?” I shook my head, sickened by what he could be suggesting. “To do what? To help you destroy Heaven and Hell? This world? All out of your need to avenge Anna’s death? Is it really as hard for you now as it was then to accept that she’s gone?”

A tremor went through him, and again I felt its echo beneath my feet.

Nathan didn’t turn away, didn’t convulse with whatever pain he was experiencing. He just watched me as if curious. The insanity that had been growing in his eyes a minute ago had dissipated, thanks to his light snack on Roth’s energy. I spared a quick glance at the demon who was still unconscious nearby. Jordan stood next to his still form, wringing her hands.

I wanted her to run. But I had a funny feeling she wouldn’t get very far.

“Can I tell you something important about yourself, Samantha?” Nathan asked. “Something that is vital for you to know, to believe and to accept?”

“I already know a bunch, no thanks to you.” I inhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. Or as calm as I possibly could. “I’m a nexus. Demon father, angel mother. I can see things others can’t—things that have to do with the supernatural. I can read the minds of the team members if they don’t try to fight me too hard. I could see the searchlights that helped find the lost demons and angels sent to this city on this mission.”

I can zap you really hard if you come  close to me and I might be able to knock you out, too.

And I have a special dagger strapped to my  thigh that an angel gave me to help protect myself when needed.

I didn’t share these facts, of course. I had to keep a couple surprises at the ready. I had a very strong feeling I would need them before the night was over.

“What else?” he asked.

“Now that I’m free from having the symptoms of a gray, I can absorb energy. From one hunger to another. I guess I have you to thank for that, too, right?”

This made him smile, but it wasn’t an expression filled with joy. “Right. And that is key to what I need tonight from you, beautiful star.”

“Why do you call me that? You’ve called me that since the beginning.”

Nathan looked up at the velvet-black sky dotted with bright stars. “Stars once were navigation points. Still are for those who know how read such things. For me, finding you was like finding my way again. I had worried that all was lost. And yet, there you were. Like magic.”

“Actually, I’ve been here in Trinity since I was born. Anna dropped me off at a local adoption agency. Never left this city for seventeen years, so don’t try to act all surprised I’m here.” I snorted. “And don’t try to convince me that you’re my dear old dad who finally wants to connect. Maybe see a movie on the weekends? You want to convince me you care about my future and that when you look at me you see Anna and how much you loved her?”

I expected my words to affect him, maybe reach down under those dirty clothes and grab hold of whatever heart he still had left. Instead, he regarded me with a wry smile.

“Psychology. And I thought you were only a high school student.”

I swallowed hard. “I need answers, Nathan. You said you wanted to tell me something important about myself, right? What is it that I don’t already know?”

His gaze turned thoughtful as he swept his brown eyes over the length of me until they returned to my face. “That you shouldn’t exist.”

My breath caught. That was actually the last thing I expected him to say. “What?”

“Throughout history, nexi have always been destroyed by Heaven and Hell on the rare occasion they are created either through a forbidden romance or through...darker means.” He didn’t go into detail about what “darker means” meant, which was a relief. “You are something that is so unnatural and wrong that the fact you’ve managed to live this long is a genuine surprise to me.”

Every word worked its way under my skin, each as painful as a sharp sliver.

Unnatural. Wrong. Shouldn’t exist.

I half expected Jordan to add a well-placed quip agreeing with him, that I’m a freak of nature. She remained silent.

“When I look at you, I don’t see Anna. Frankly, I don’t want to see Anna. She’s gone. A long time ago. It’s given me plenty of opportunity to reflect over what I was willing to give up for her. It was our relationship that exiled me. The pain I’ve felt since then is entirely her fault.”

If there was one thing I believed since I learned the truth about my origins, it was that Nathan and Anna had been deeply in love. To me, their love was epic and immortal, surviving even after tragedy and death.

Who knew I was such a romantic?

It was an unexpected blow to my spirit to know it wasn’t like that at all.

“You blame her?” I asked quietly.

“I did for a time. I’ve since come to realize that there is only Heaven and Hell to blame—for everything. I will destroy them, Samantha. But first I will take their little world filled with souls. The Hollow will rise up and swallow all of this so I will control those souls. I will control all the mortals that walk this world...instead, they will walk mine. And I will be able to watch as Heaven and Hell begin to fight in earnest against each other for survival.”