neared Atlanta and was experiencing a major sugar rush. With Daemon behind the wheel and, as he had said, completely fine and dandy after taking the hit, we made up the time spent dealing with the Luxen on the road in Kentucky and might have shaved a few years off my life and Archer’s.
We hadn’t seen any more Luxen, and we didn’t know exactly where they’d sensed us or if they’d communicated to others that we were on the move, or if they even knew who we were, but to be safe instead of sorry, we assumed eventually more would be coming.
As we crossed into Georgia, I saw something that looked like it was straight out of a movie. The trees on either side of the highway had been snapped in two, charred and broken. Wreckage from a plane crash could be seen through the thick stand of vegetation. A tail. A middle section with the tiny windows blown out.
I looked away, heartbroken by all the needless violence and destruction. The more I saw, the harder I believed it would be for us—for the world—to move on no matter what happened with the invading Luxen. Now that humans knew they were around us, how could they go on? How could they ever trust a Luxen after this?
I couldn’t let myself dwell on those worries, kind of like not crossing that screwed-up bridge with a bunch of holes until we got to it. I really couldn’t fathom what life was going to be like for anyone.
Surprisingly, the roads had cleared for the most part. Any abandoned car had been pushed to the shoulders, and the city, from the outer loop of the major highway, looked okay, all things considered.
Probably had something to do with the heavy military presence and the National Guard, but they would only hold the Luxen off for so long. It was close to seven in the evening when we arrived at the sprawling airport, and it looked like a curfew had been put into place, because there was hardly anyone anywhere. Then again, no one was getting on a plane right now.
“There we go.” Archer pointed at a sleek foreign car with all the windows tinted out. “That’s what he said he’d be driving. Nice car.”
“I know asking you to stay in the car is too much, but please stay close to me.” Daemon slowed down as he crossed the parking lot, heading toward the fancy black car. “Luc might trust the douche, but I don’t.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to run up and hug him.”
His expression turned bland. “I’d sure hope not. I might get jealous.”
“You’d get jealous if she hugged a tree,” Archer tossed out.
“Maybe.” Daemon coasted to a stop in a parking space behind the car. “I’m needy like that.”
I lost my urge not to roll my eyes as I opened the passenger door. “You both are ridiculous.”
As we climbed out of the SUV, three doors on the flashy car popped open. Curiosity pecked at me. I’d never really seen an Arum who wasn’t going to try to snack on my energy. So there was a certain level of novelty in really getting the chance to see and interact with one who hopefully wasn’t going to turn into yet another thing that would try to kill us. I focused on the tall form unfolding from the driver’s side.
Holy Arum . . .
The dark-haired man was as tall as Daemon but broader. The black shirt he wore stretched across the sort of shoulders and chest that reminded me of a boxer’s build. Just from that alone, he looked like he could do some damage. From what I could see of the sculpted jawline and profile, his skin was pale, like all Arum, but not a ghastly color. More like alabaster or porcelain. His eyes were hidden behind black shades. Wearing dark denim, he looked more like one of those guys in GQ magazine than a soulless alien version of the goat-sucking chupacabra.
An identical replica of him stepped out of the backseat of the car. Except he wore trousers and a button-down shirt he appeared to have grown tired of buttoning up. Hard, pale flesh peeked through.
Arum came in fours—three males and one female. I expected to see another brother or a sister, but what was standing next to the passenger door was neither.
It was a human woman.
I gaped at the motley crew. What the hell was a human woman doing with them? She turned to where we stood, and I got a good look at the blonde. She was pretty—really pretty—and I couldn’t figure out why she was here.
Then Daemon spoke. “What up, asshole?”
My jaw hit the ground.
“You really know how to greet people,” Archer muttered.
The Arum who had been behind the wheel inclined his head with a sigh. “You again.”
“You sound just as happy as I am to see you.” Daemon’s lips twisted into a mockery of a smile as he folded his arms. “Let’s just get one thing straight before we go any further. If you plan on screwing us over in any way, it will be the last thing you plan to do.”
Hunter smirked as he turned his head toward his brother. “Told you he’s a cuddly one.”
The other Arum leaned his arms on the roof of the car and a brow rose over the dark sunglasses he also wore. “Cuddly as a damn porcupine.”
Daemon raised a middle finger.
This was going well.
Even though Hunter was wearing sunglasses, I could feel his gaze suddenly shift onto me. “So I see you got your girl out of Daedalus.”
What the what?
“And I see that you still somehow have a human woman with you,” Daemon replied. “I feel like I need to ask her if she’s here against her own will.”
Hunter barked out a syllable of a laugh. “Are you, Serena?”
The blonde rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “No.”
“There’s your answer,” Hunter added.
“As amazingly well as this meet-and-greet is going, I think we should get to the point,” Archer suggested. “We were told you’d be willing to take us to wherever the Arum are.”
“I am.” Hunter folded his arms, mimicking Daemon. There was a beat of silence, and I swore I felt his gaze on me again. “Are you guys sure you want to do this?”
Oh, that didn’t sound good. I shifted my weight. “We have to do this.”
The sun finally disappeared behind thick clouds, and dusk rapidly spread over the parking lot. Hunter reached up, removing his sunglasses. The pale hue of his ice-blue eyes was unnerving as hell. “Have any of you ever heard of Lotho?”
“Other than he’s kind of like your little leader or something?” Daemon said. “No.”
“Little leader?” The other Arum ducked his chin and laughed. “More like a little crazy.”
“Or a lot crazy, Lore.”
“Lore?” I said, feeling stupid. “Wait. That’s your name? Lore.”
He flashed straight white teeth. “Wait until you meet our other brother, Sin.”
Sin? Lore? Wow, Hunter’s name really sort of stood out. I shook my head, because seriously, none of that was important. “What do you mean, Lotho is a little crazy?”
“Well. He’s a lot crazy,” Hunter said, leaning against the car as Serena came to stand beside him. “Personally, I think he’s a lunatic and a psychopath by human standards. I won’t let him anywhere near Serena. Hell, I wouldn’t let him anywhere near a pet cockroach if I had one.”
Oh. Wow.
Daemon frowned. “This sounds really fun.”
“And he’s also very powerful,” Hunter continued. “He feeds on Luxen like there’s a shortage of them, and he’s all decked out in opal. As in, it’s sewn into his skin.”
My eyes widened. “Ouch.”
“He hates humans,” Lore interjected. “But he hates Luxen more. And he’s not a big fan of Origins or hybrids, either.”
This whole thing was really beginning to suck.
“Sounds like this is going to be a great time,” Daemon said drily.
Hunter laughed, but it was a chilling sound. “The Arum are loyal to him. They’ll do whatever he wants, even if it means their deaths.”
“And you’re not?” Daemon asked.
“Hell to the no,” Hunter replied as he draped an awfully protective-looking arm over
Serena’s shoulders and tugged her close. “Believe it or not, kid, I had no desire to make war with the Luxen before this whole crap went down. Now it seems like a necessity, but when it’s all said and done, I don’t give two shits what you, or any of your kind, are doing.” He paused, glancing down at the woman in his arms. “I got better things to focus on. So does Lore.”
Shock splashed across Daemon’s face, replicating what I felt inside. The way Hunter looked at Serena? Wow. He really was in love with a woman—a human woman.
Daemon stared at him a moment, and then he tipped his head back and laughed. “All right. I can respect that.”
Hunter didn’t respond for what felt like an eternity. “If you can get him to agree to help, then you’ll have one hell of an army. I’m just not sure you’re going to find Lotho to be very agreeable.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll worry about that.” Daemon cocked his head to the side while I seriously began to worry about that. “How many Arum does he have?”
“Thousands,” Hunter said, and it felt like the ground moved under my feet. “Ones who’ve stayed under the radar, and even those who’d been with Daedalus until the Luxen showed up.”
“And every one of them is with him now?” Archer scrubbed a hand over his crew cut, which was starting to grow out.
“Yep.” Lore drew out the word, grinning. “It’ll be like entering a cult. Be prepared.”
“It’s really weird.” Serena twisted her hair and tossed it over her shoulder as she spoke. “They all stare at you like they’re planning to eat you for dinner. The whole Arum thing is kind of freaky, to be honest.” She glanced at Hunter and then Lore. “No offense.”
Lore lifted his arm off the roof of the car with an easy smile. “None taken.”
“So, you guys ready to do this?” Hunter asked.
Not really, but I didn’t scream no when Daemon nodded. All I did was watch Hunter turn to Serena and clasp her cheeks with huge hands. The hold was so incredibly gentle, I was surprised an Arum was capable of it.
He lowered his head, kissed her, and she leaned into him as if it were second nature. I felt like a total ogre for staring, but I couldn’t look away. An Arum and a human. Wowee. It hit me then that they probably thought the same thing when they saw a Luxen and human together.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said when he lifted his head.
Serena frowned. “I can go with—”
“You know I don’t want you around Lotho and Sin, and you know I’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “Lore has promised to keep you entertained.”
Lore nodded as he pursed his lips.
Serena still didn’t look happy, and if she was afraid for Hunter and what he was about to embark on, I thought we needed to seriously rethink this.
But we didn’t have any other options.
She hugged him fiercely, clinging to him for a few moments, and then she let go. Stepping around him, she patted his behind. “I’ll be waiting.”
The look Hunter sent her caused my cheeks to flush, but then Serena stopped and faced us. “Look, I’ve had some real bad experiences with Luxen in the past—the kind of Luxen who knew the rest of them were coming.”
Daemon and I exchanged looks. “Care to give a little more detail?” he asked.
She took a deep breath. “There was a senator who was a Luxen, and he had two sons. My best friend . . . she accidentally saw them do their glow thing, and they killed her to keep her silent. They tried to kill me.”
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“Hunter was brought in by the government to keep me safe. Not because they really cared about me, but they didn’t like how the Luxen thought they could kill whenever they wanted to—not following the rules.” A sad look filled her eyes. “But it was more than that. My friend overheard the brothers talking about this—about Project Eagle. Something that had to do with Pennsylvania and some kids.”
“Anything else?” Archer asked, gaze sharpening shrewdly.
She glanced at Hunter before nodding. “Project Eagle was in response to Daedalus—it was about contacting the other Luxen who were out there, wherever there is. It was about world domination. They’ve been planning this, and they were using the Origins to do it. We thought they were talking about kids—like little people right now.”
“But they weren’t,” Hunter said, frowning. “We did a little digging. They were talking about Origins like him.”
A muscle flexed along Archer’s jaw. “As in, Origins fully grown?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
Holy crap, we were totally right.
“We knew something like this was going to happen, or at least that they were going to try, but we couldn’t do anything,” she said.
“We have prices on our heads,” Hunter explained. “Let’s just say I pissed off the Luxen, some of the Arum, and Daedalus. We were between a rock and a really screwed-up hard place.”
“We wanted to do something but couldn’t, so helping you guys out . . . well, that’s better than doing nothing again.” And suddenly, I knew that Serena was probably the driving force behind Hunter fulfilling the favor he owed Luc. Her gaze drifted over to Daemon. “I know you don’t trust Hunter, but we don’t trust you, either. So if you do anything that puts him in danger, I know how to take a Luxen out, and I’m not afraid to.”
Daemon’s chest rose with a deep breath. “I got you.”
“Good,” she replied.
I liked her.
Hunter grinned. “Come on, guys. We don’t have far to go.”
The three of us followed Hunter over to a lamppost, which was like thirty feet from the car, and then he stopped. “We’re here.”
My brows rose as I looked around, seeing nothing. “Is this like some kind of magical Harry Potter door? Or something?”
He stared at me.
“What?” I asked sheepishly. “You know, like the Room of Requirement? The door kind of just appears . . . Oh, never mind.”
“Okay.” He gestured down by our feet. “We’re going down.”
All I saw was a manhole cover, and then he bent down, lifting the heavy steel, and my heart sank. We were literally going down.
“Here?” Archer asked.
He nodded with a tight smile. “Why else do you think I suggested the airport? It’s not like I like to hang out here.”
“How were we supposed to know?” Daemon responded, eyeing the manhole like it was the last thing he wanted to climb into. Ditto. “You’re an Arum, so . . .”
“I really was hoping you’d drop that damn attitude by now.”
Daemon smirked. “Kiss my ass.”
“No, thank you,” he replied, but neither of them had any real heat behind their words. Looking up, Hunter glanced at me, and then at Daemon. “I’m guessing you’re going to want to get down there first before she does.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I tugged my hair up into a quick ponytail. Archer crept over to the edge, saluted us, and then disappeared down the ladder. A few seconds later, his voice traveled from the great beyond. “It stinks. Really bad.”
Great.
We quickly descended, and Archer hadn’t been lying. The dimly lit tunnel smelled of mold and butt—moldy butt.
Hunter was the last one down. Not even taking the ladder, he landed in a nimble crouch beside us, since he was all kinds of special, apparently.
Straightening, he glanced over his shoulder as he strode forward. “We’ve got a ways to walk.”
Turned out that “a ways to walk” equaled about a hundred miles to Hunter. In spite of my mutated genes, my legs ached as we walked for forever in the empty subway, which was silent with the exception of our footfalls. We traveled from one tunnel to the next, passing the underground commuter trains that had been abandoned and seemed to be the source of the nasty smell. I was eyeing the dirtied and broken windows on one of the trains when Hunter appeared right in front of me. Startled, I stumbled a step to the side.
Pale eyes met mine. “I w
ouldn’t look too closely at those trains. They’re not empty. Some of the Luxen got hold of them. Lit up the insides. People were onboard and this is where the trains stopped. You get what I’m saying?”
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