Without saying a word, he pulled out onto the road. There was a thick, strained silence in the car. The ride home was near torturous. I wanted to thank him again and ask about what he planned to do with Simon, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t go over well.
I ended up resting my head back against the seat, feigning sleep.
“Kat?” he said, about halfway home.
I pretended I didn’t hear him. Childish, I know, but I didn’t know what to say. He was a complete mystery to me. Every action was in contradiction of another action. I could feel his eyes on me, and it was hard to ignore that. Just as hard as it was to ignore whatever it was between us.
“Shit!” Daemon exploded, slamming on the brakes.
My eyes snapped open, shocked to find a man in the middle of the road. The SUV skidded to a halt, throwing me forward and then the seatbelt painfully biting into my shoulder and yanking me back. Then the car simply turned off, engine, lights—everything.
Daemon spoke in a language that was soft and musical. I’d heard it before, when the Arum had attacked at the library.
I recognized the man in front of our car. He wore the same dark jeans, sunglasses, and leather jacket I’d seen the day outside the dress shop. And then another man appeared, nearly identical to him. I couldn’t even see where he came from. He was like a shadow, slipping out from the trees. Then a third appeared, joining the other to stand behind the first guy. They didn’t move.
“Daemon,” I whispered, my heart leaping into my throat. “Who are they?”
A fierce light, blinding white, lit up in his eyes. “Arum.”
Chapter 24
Fear rose so quickly it left me dizzy, almost numb. And how could I be so numb when surely I should be feeling a dozen emotions?
Daemon reached down and yanked up his pants leg. There was a ripping sound, like Velcro. He held something long, dark, and shiny. Only when he shoved it into my shaky hands did I realized it was some kind of black glass shaped into a dagger, sharpened to a fine point on one end and a leather binding on the other.
“This is obsidian—volcanic glass. The edge is wicked sharp and will cut through anything,” he explained quickly. “It’s the only thing on this planet, besides us, that can kill the Arum. This is their kryptonite.” I stared at him as my fingers wrapped around the leather sheath.
“Come on, pretty boy!” yelled the Arum in the front, his voice sharp as razors and guttural. He had a thick, foreign-sounding accent. “Come out and play!”
Daemon ignored them and grabbed my cheeks, his hands steady and strong. “Listen to me, Kat. When I tell you to run, you run and you don’t look back no matter what. If any of them— any—chase you, all you have to do is stab them anywhere with the obsidian.”
“Daemon—”
“No. You run when I tell you to run, Kat. Say you understand.”
There were three of them and only one of Daemon. The odds weren’t good. “Please don’t do this! Run with me—”
“I can’t. Dee is at that party.” His eyes met mine for a second. “Run when I tell you.”
And then he turned, letting out a resigned sigh, and opened the car door. Daemon’s shoulders squared, and his swagger was full of confidence. That cocky smile, the one I’d wanted to smack off his face many times, appeared on his lips.
“Wow,” Daemon said. “You guys are uglier as humans than in your true form. Didn’t think that was possible. You look like you’ve been living under a rock. See the sun much?”
The one in the front, presumably their leader, snarled. “You have your arrogance now, like all Luxen. But where will your arrogance be when we absorb your powers?”
“In the same place as my foot,” Daemon replied, hands balling into fists.
The leader looked confused.
“You know, as in up your ass.” Daemon smiled and the two Arum hissed. “Wait. You guys look familiar. Yeah, I know. I’ve killed one of your brothers. Sorry about that. What was his name? You guys all look alike to me.” Their forms started flickering in and out, turning from human to shade and back again. I reached for the door handle, clenching the dagger in my hand. Blood pumped through my body so fast, everything slowed down.
“I’ll rip your essence from your body,” the Arum growled, “and you will beg for mercy.”
“Like your brethren did?” responded Daemon, voice low and cold. “Because he begged—he cried like a little girl before I ended his existence.”
And that was it. The Arum bellowed in unison; the sound of howling winds and death. My breath caught in my throat.
Daemon threw up his hands and a great roar started under the car, shaking the road, and the trees thrashed outside. A loud crack sounded, like a blast of thunder, quickly followed by several more in succession. The earth seemed to shake and rumble.
I turned to the window and gasped. Trees were being ripped from out of the ground, their thick and gnarled roots dripping clumps of moist dirt. An earthy scent filled the air.
Oh my God, Daemon was uprooting trees.
One smacked right into the back of an Arum, taking him several feet down the road. Trees toppled over. Some landed in the road, cutting off the potential for any innocent driver to happen upon the scene. Branches broke off, flying through the air like daggers. The other two Arum avoided them, blinking in and out as they advanced on Daemon, the branches shooting through their shade form without resistance.
The ground under the SUV trembled. All along the side of the road, chunks of the shoulder broke free from the road. Huge sections of asphalt spun into the air, turning bright orange as though heated from within, and zinged straight at the Arum.