“Daemon,” I whispered, dropping to my bleeding knees in front of him. My lips, hands—everything—trembled. “Daemon, please say something.”
His light flared, throwing off a wave of heat, but he made no sound or movement, not even a whisper of words in my thoughts. What if someone came by? How in the world could I explain any of this? And what if he was injured, dying? A sob rose in my throat.
My cell phone! I could call Dee. She’d know what to do. She had to. I started to stand when I felt a hand on my arm.
I whipped around and there was Daemon, in human form, kneeling on the ground, his head bowed but grip strong. “Daemon, oh God, are you okay?” I knelt, placing my hand on his warm cheek. “Please tell me you’re okay? Please!” He slowly lifted his head, placing his other hand on mine. “Remind me,” he paused, drawing in a stuttered gasp, “to never piss you off again. Christ, are you secretly a ninja?”
I laughed and sobbed in the same breath. Then I threw my arms around him, almost knocking him flat on his back. I buried my face in his neck, inhaling his earthy scent. He didn’t have a choice but to hug me back. His arms swept around me, a hand delving deep into the curls that had fallen loose.
“You didn’t listen to me,” he murmured against my shoulder.
“I never listen to you.” I squeezed him hard. Swallowing, I pulled back a little, searching his weary but beautiful face. “Are you hurt? Is there anything I can do?”
“You’ve already done enough, Kitten.” He stood, bringing me along with him. Drawing in a breath, he looked around. “We need to get out before anyone comes.”
I wasn’t sure how that would help. It looked like a tornado had come through here, but then Daemon backed off and waved his hand. All down the road, trees were lifted off the road and rolled to the sides, clearing the path. The action barely fazed him.
“Come on,” Daemon said.
On the way back to the car, I remembered I still had the obsidian in my fist. The car started as soon as Daemon turned the key, much to our mutual relief.
“Are you okay? Hurt in any way?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” I was shaking. “It’s just…a lot, you know?”
He gave a short laugh, but then he hit the steering wheel with his fist. “I should’ve known there would be more coming. They travel in fours. Dammit!”
I held his obsidian closer, staring straight ahead. The adrenaline was fading and I was trying to process everything that had happened tonight. “There were only three of them.”
“Yeah, ’cuz I killed the first one.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “And I’m sure they were pissed about that.”
We’d killed two more, so I figured that meant the one remaining would be really pissed. Angry aliens. A small, hysterical laugh bubbled up, and I clamped my mouth shut.
He called his sister then, ordering Dee to get the Thompsons and to stay with Mr. Garrison until it was daylight. Whereas the Arum were stronger at night, using the darkness to move undetected and feeding on the shadows, the Luxen were opposite, stronger during the day. Daemon gave them bare details of what had happened, and I heard him tell Dee I was okay.
“Kat, are you okay? Seriously?” he asked after he hung up, concerned.
I nodded. I was alive. He was alive. We were okay. But I couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t forget the sound of Daemon’s scream.
…
Daemon wanted me to stay the night at his place. His reasoning was the bare truth. There was another one out there, and until they knew where the Arum was, it was safer being with him. For the second time that night, I didn’t argue. I didn’t kid myself his invitation was out of concern for me. It was more from necessity.
After I called my mom and told her I was staying the night with Dee, which she protested but eventually relented to, Daemon took me up to the guest room I’d woken up in the morning after finding out about them. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
Daemon had been quiet since we arrived at his house, his thoughts a million miles away. He left me in the guest room with a pair of worn flannel pajama bottoms and a shirt that looked like it belonged to Dee. In the guest bathroom, I quickly stripped off the ruined dress, rolling it up and tossing it into their wastebasket. I never wanted to see it again.
The hot water couldn’t soothe the ache in me. I’d never felt the way I did now. Every muscle screamed, and my mind was weary with exhaustion. I stepped out of the shower, my legs shaking, and even in the heat of the steamy bathroom I felt cold.
I slowly wiped the steam off the mirror, shocked by the reflection that peered back at me. My eyes were wide. My cheeks were ghastly pale and drawn tight over my cheekbones. I looked more like an alien than my friends did.
I laughed and then immediately cringed. It sounded choked and ugly, shocking in the quiet room.
Baruck would come back. Wasn’t that why Daemon had been quiet? Knowing that the Arum would seek revenge against his family, there was nothing he could do. Or I could even hope to do.
“Are you okay in there?” Daemon called through the closed door.
“Yeah.” I quickly ran my fingers through my damp hair, pushing thick sections off my face. “Yeah,” I whispered again. I changed into the clothes he’d brought me, and they felt warm, smelling faintly of laundry detergent and crisp leaves.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed when I came back, looking tired and young. He’d already changed into a pair of sweats and a shirt.
“Are you okay?” I asked.