The Darkest Star

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “And I want to know why you’re here.”

  Frustration pricked at my skin. “Are you like the official club greeter or something?”

  “Something like that.” He kicked a booted foot up onto the square glass table in front of him as he leaned toward me. The distance between us evaporated. His eyes met and held mine. “I’m going to be blunt with you.”

  I barked out a harsh laugh. “You haven’t been blunt already?”

  He ignored that comment and didn’t look away, not once. “You shouldn’t be here. Like, of all the places for you to be, this is the last place. Isn’t that right, Grayson?”

  “Beyond right,” answered the blond Luxen.

  Warmth burst open in my chest, burning up my throat. Sucking in a sharp breath, I willed my face to remain emotionless even though what he said stung for reasons it shouldn’t. It didn’t matter if he was human or not or that I’d never seen this guy before and probably would never see him again once I walked out of this stupid club. Having someone tell you that you didn’t fit in didn’t feel good. Ever.

  No way was I letting him, a complete stranger—an alien—get the better of me. At the end of the day, he was a jerk-face, and I wasn’t going to allow him to hurt my feelings. Absolutely no way.

  Holding his gaze, I summoned a little of my mom—scary mom. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission to be here, Luc.”

  “Well,” he drawled, his broad shoulders tensing, “now you do.”

  I drew back. “Are you serious?” A shocked laugh escaped me. “You don’t own this place. You’re just some—” I cut myself off before I said something incredibly ignorant. “You’re just some guy.”

  Tipping his head back, he chuckled deeply. “Now, I know that’s not what you were about to say or what you’re really thinking.” His fingers tapped along the back of the couch, and I wanted to reach over and smack my hand down on them. “Tell me what I really am. I cannot wait to hear it.”

  “Whatever.” I glanced over at the dance floor, unable to see Heidi, since it appeared the crowd had tripled all of a sudden. Dammit. “I came here to hang out with my friend. That’s all I’m doing. It has nothing to do with you.”

  “Everything has to do with me.”

  I blinked once and then twice, waiting for him to laugh, but when he didn’t, I realized I’d officially met the most arrogant being on this planet.

  “By the way, you’re not hanging out with your friend. Like I pointed out earlier, you were standing by the dance floor … just standing there, all by yourself.” His eerie eyes tracked over my face with such intensity that the tips of my ears started to burn. “Is that what you normally do when you hang out with your friend? Stand by yourself, drinking water?”

  My mouth moved, but there were no words. He was absolutely the most antagonistic thing I’d ever met.

  The one side of his lips tipped up even farther. “You’re not even old enough to be in here.”

  I was willing to bet he wasn’t either. “I’m old enough.”

  “Really?”

  “Your big burly friend checked my ID and let me in. Ask him.”

  Luc’s chest rose deeply. The breadth of his shoulders stretched the worn gray cotton. His shirt read NO DRAMA LLAMA. That shirt was a lie. This boy was all about the drama llama. “Let me see your ID.”

  I scowled. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re some rando dude in a club. I’m not going to show you my ID.”

  That gaze slid back to mine. Challenge was etched into every striking feature. “Or maybe you don’t want to show me your ID because it proves you’re not twenty-one.”

  I said nothing.

  One eyebrow rose. “Or is it because you think I’m a Luxen?”

  “Now that sounds like the real issue,” Grayson chimed in, and my gaze darted to him. He’d finally put his phone down. Unfortunately. “That’s probably also why she’s not comfortable. I bet she’s one of those people.”

  “Those people?” I repeated.

  Grayson’s ultra-blue eyes met mine. “The kind scared of the Luxen.”

  I shook my head as the music and the club seemed to fade into the background. It was then when I realized no one, not a single person in here, approached this area. Everyone gave this alcove a wide berth.

  Luc made a noise under his breath. “Does being around Luxen like this, out of the public eye, bother you? Scare you?”

  “No. It doesn’t.” That wasn’t exactly true, because come on, I wasn’t part of the Hate All Luxen train roaring through every city and small town, but they were scary. You had to have absolutely no common sense if you didn’t fear them a little. They’d killed millions of people. Maybe these two guys hadn’t, but they weren’t wearing Disablers. They could kill me before I even saw it coming.

  But the urge to prove that I didn’t care if they were Luxen or not rode me hard. My ID wasn’t real. It didn’t have my address or real name on it. Showing it to him wouldn’t endanger me. I sat my drink down on the table and pulled the ID out of the thin slot.

  “Here you go,” I chirped, forcing as much brightness into my voice as possible.

  Luc lifted his hand off the back of the couch and took the card. His fingers brushed over mine in the process. Static crackled, sending a tiny jolt up my arm. Gasping, I pulled my arm back.

  His smile kicked up a notch, and my stomach pitched. Had he done that purpose? Shocked me? His lashes lowered. “Nola Peters?”

  “Yes. That’s my name.” That was so not my name. It was a combination of two cities I’d never visited—New Orleans and St. Petersburg.

  “It says you’re twenty-two.” He lowered his hand as he looked at me. “You’re not twenty-two. I bet you’re barely seventeen.”

  I inhaled deeply through my nose. I was not “barely” seventeen. In six months I’d be eighteen. “You know, you don’t look like you’re twenty-one.”

  “Looks can be deceiving.” He moved the card over his fingers, flipping it back and forth. “I have a baby face.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “I like to think I’m going to age gracefully. People will think I’ve found the fountain of youth.”

  “Okay,” I said, drawing the word out. “Look, it hasn’t been nice talking to you, so I have to go. I need to find my friend—”

  “Your friend is busy, you know, having fun.” His grin spread into a cheeky smile that would’ve been endearing if I didn’t want to straight up punch him in the face. “Unlike you. You are not having fun.”

  “You’re right. I’m not.” My eyes narrowed, and I resisted the near primal urge to pick up my water and throw it on him. “I was actually trying to be polite—”

  “Quaint,” he murmured.

  Oh my God, this guy was going to make my head spin right off my shoulders. “But truth time? I really don’t want to spend another minute in your presence.” I started to get up. “You’re a dick and I don’t know you. I don’t want to get to know you. Peace out, home skillet.”

  “But I know who you are.” He paused. “I know who you really are, Evelyn.”

  3

  He knew my name. Not my fake ID name, but my real name.

  It felt like the entire building was moving even though nothing had. My spine turned to steel as an icy sensation drenched my skin. I stared at him for several moments. “How do you know my name?”

  He looked up at me through his lashes as he moved both arms to the back of the couch. “I know a lot of things.”

  “Okay. You just took creepy to a creeptastic level of unknown proportions.” It was time to find Heidi and get the hell out of here.

  Luc chuckled again, and the sound would’ve been nice, attractive even, coming from anyone else. “I’ve been told that a time or two in my life.”

  “Why am I not surprised? Don’t answer that question,” I said when he opened his mouth. “Can I have my ID back?”

  He shifted suddenly, dropping his feet to the floor. W
ithout warning, our faces were inches apart. As close as we were, it was hard not to get a little lost in the beauty of his features. And as close as we were, it was also hard not to get really freaked out. “What if I told you a truth? Would you tell me one in return?”

  I clamped my mouth shut so hard, my jaw ached.

  “You were right earlier. I’m not twenty-one,” he said, the gleam in his eyes now dancing. “I’m eighteen.” There was a short pause. “Almost nineteen. My birthday is December twenty-fourth. I’m a Christmas miracle. Now it’s your turn.”

  “You’re creepy,” I replied. “That’s a truth I will tell.”

  Luc was silent for a moment and then he laughed—laughed long and hard, surprising me. “Now, that is not how you play this game, Evie.”

  I sucked in another sharp breath.

  Suddenly the overhead lights came on, flooding the entire club in a harsh white glare. I squinted, momentarily confused. The music cut off, causing shouts of dismay. Those on the stage froze. People on the dance floor slowed and then stopped, exchanging bewildered looks as they panted.

  “Damn.” Luc sighed. “This is going to be inconvenient.”

  Someone darted past the alcove, heading toward the bar area. Forgetting about the stupid ID, I twisted in my seat and watched the guy disappear down a narrow hall.

  “Hell.” Luc shot to his feet as fast as a strike of lightning. And holy canola oil, he was tall, and if I had been standing, he would have towered over my five-foot-five-inch frame. “Here we go again.” Sounding bored, he looked to Grayson. “You know what to do. Move them out.”

  Grayson slipped his phone into his pocket and stood. Then he was gone, moving so fast he was nothing but a blur. If he’d been wearing a Disabler, he wouldn’t have been able to move like that.

  “You’re coming with me,” Luc announced.

  “What?” I squeaked. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Like, I wouldn’t even walk from here to the dance floor with you.”

  “Well, that’s kind of offensive, but we’re about to be raided and not in the fun way.”

  There was a fun way of getting raided?

  Luc reached down, wrapping his hand around mine. A charge of static passed through me again, duller than before. He pulled me the rest of the way up. “And hey, you’re underage. Don’t think you want to get busted, right?”

  I didn’t, but that didn’t mean I was going anywhere with him. “I need to find Heidi. She’s—”

  “She’s with Emery.” Luc pulled me around the low glass table. “She’ll be fine.”

  “And I’m supposed to trust you?”

  He looked over his shoulder at me. “I didn’t ask you to trust me.”

  That was about as reassuring as a loaded gun pointed at my head, but the door up front burst open and the RAC—Retinal Alien Check—drones entered the club.

  A shudder rocked me.

  I hated those drones.

  They hovered about five feet off the floor, all black with the exception of a white light in the center of the top. RAC drones became a thing about two years ago. There was something about Luxen pupils that the RAC registered as nonhuman. Mom once tried to explain the science behind it, but I’d checked out when she’d gotten to the part about rods and cones doing something with infrared light. All I knew was that it picked up on alien DNA.

  And if they were here, that meant they were searching for unregistered Luxen—aliens like Luc and Grayson, ones without Disablers.

  Those drones weren’t here alone. Pouring into the group like a horde of white insects were the Alien Response Task Force—ART—officers, and they were decked out to take care of business. Dressed in all white, their faces shielded by shiny helmets. Two had normal-looking assault rifles. Another two carried the heavier, thicker version—a rifle that was an electronic pulse weapon. One hit with that and a Luxen was done for.

  Luc pulled me between the couch and a chair, tugging me toward the bar. I started to dig my feet in, because I’d rather be busted being underage in a club than get caught with a potentially unregistered alien.

  That wasn’t a fine.

  That was immediate jail time for harboring and abetting and a ton of other fancy criminal words. I tried to pull my hand free as Luc started dragging me along. “Let go!”

  “Everyone, down!” one of the officers shouted.

  Chaos erupted.

  People ran in every direction, scattering like roaches when the lights were flipped on. Bodies crashed into me. I yelped as my heels slipped on the wet floor. I lost my footing. Fear exploded like buckshot, shooting out darts of panic. I started to fall.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” Luc’s grip on my hand tightened, and he yanked me up. One heel came off my foot and then the other as he dashed behind the bar, pulling me along with him.

  My bare feet slipped in pools of liquid I didn’t even want to think about. A guy vaulted over the bar, landing in a crouch. Another came over, slipping on the spilled drinks. He went down, smacking into the floor, immediately followed by yet another person falling right behind him.

  Everything was happening too fast.

  A rapid firing—pop, pop, pop—commenced. Screams rose over the commotion, and my heart leapt in my throat as I tried to see over the stage. What was happening? I couldn’t see, and I had no idea where Heidi was in this mess.

  Luc dipped down, sliding under the bar and blocking people from entering. I followed as several bottles flew off the wall. Glass and liquid exploded, flying everywhere.

  “Such a damn mess,” Luc muttered, his jaw locked in disgust.

  The mess was the last thing I was worried about as we suddenly raced down a dark hallway, blowing past others who were scrambling to get out of the way. Cutting to the right, he pushed open a door.

  A black void enveloped us as the door swung shut behind me. Terror rose as I threw up my free hand. “I can’t—I can’t see anything.”

  “You’re fine.”

  Luc charged ahead, walking at a fast clip I struggled to keep up with. There was a distinctive smell of laundry detergent. He reached another door and we slipped through it just as the door behind us exploded open.

  “Stop!” a man yelled.

  My heart was going to launch itself out of my chest. We darted into a dimly lit hallway. Luc twisted suddenly, grabbing me around the waist. I shrieked as he lifted me up.

  “You’re too slow,” he complained.

  Luc picked up speed, moving so fast the hall was nothing but a blur of hair and walls. He hung a sharp left and then I was sliding off him, down his side. I staggered back as he placed a hand on what appeared to be just a wall. A second later a door appeared, sliding open.

  “What the…?” I stared in shock. There were hidden rooms here? Why would they have hidden rooms? Only serial killers had hidden rooms!

  Luc shushed me—he actually shushed me as he yanked me forward. I skidded into the dark room. He let go, and I stumbled, bumping into the wall. I whipped around. This wasn’t a room. It was the size of a closet! Barely big enough for one person, and he was sliding the hidden door to the right until the tiny sliver of light disappeared, pitching us into darkness.

  Holy crapola …

  I pressed against the wall. My pulse pounded so fast, it felt like an ocean roaring in my ears as I strained to see anything in the small space. There was nothing but darkness and Luc.

  And Luc was practically on top of me.

  His back was against my front, and no amount of trying to climb into the wall was going to help me put space between us. The piney scent from earlier was definitely coming from him. It was all I could smell. How in the world did I end up here? What series of really bad life choices had I made that led me to this very moment?

  I could be at home, snapping pretty pictures with my phone or separating knee-high socks from the crew-cut ones—

  Something slammed out in the hallway. I jumped, knocking into Luc. I reached out, my hands landing on his back. He shifted suddenly, and
every muscle in my body locked up. My hands were suddenly flattened against his chest, and that wasn’t just a chest. Those were pecs—pecs as hard as the wall behind me.

  I started to yank my hands away, but even in the complete darkness, he caught them, keeping them right where they were. I started to protest, but whatever I was about to say died on the tip of my tongue as I felt his breath skate over my forehead.

  We were close, way too close.

  “They have to be back here,” a disgruntled voice boomed from the hall. Static crackled over a radio. “I’ve checked the other rooms.”

  My breath caught. What would happen if they came in here? Would they shoot first and ask questions later?

  A heartbeat passed, and then the hair around my ear stirred as Luc whispered, “I hope you’re not claustrophobic.”

  I turned my head, tensing as my nose grazed his cheek. “It’s a little late for that.”

  “True.” He shifted again, and I felt his leg brush mine. I shivered. “We just need to play it cool in here for a little bit and then they’ll be gone.”

  A little bit? We’d already been in here for far too long, but I could hear the guy out there, pacing back and forth. “Does this happen often?”

  “About once a week.”

  “Lovely,” I muttered, and I thought maybe he chuckled under his breath. I was going to smack Heidi for coming here, to a club that got raided once a week. “What are you guys doing here to get raided?”

  “Why do you think we have to be doing something?”

  “Because you’re getting raided,” I whispered-yelled back.

  Luc’s fingers moved, and I felt his thumb smooth over mine, sending another acute shiver through me. “Do you really think they need a reason to come in here, search for people? To hurt people?”

  I knew who “they” were without asking. The ART Force answered to our government. “Are you registered?”

  “I already told you.” His breath now coasted over my cheek. “I’m not a Luxen.” There was another pause. “You … you smell.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You smell like … peaches.”

  “It’s my lotion.” I closed my hands into fists as frustration mingled with fear and something … something heavy. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”