Onyx aln-2

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Leaning closer, I set the cup down before I dropped it. A sharp pang sliced my breath as I got a real good look at the guy who’d been in the picture with Blake’s father.

  The man had his hand clamped on the younger Blake’s shoulder and was smiling at the camera from beneath a wiry, light brown mustache. The caption below listed him as Brian Vaughn.

  Thoughts warred in my head as I quickly clicked on the obituary again, skimming for surviving family members. Brian Vaughn was listed as a stepbrother of the deceased—of Blake’s dad.

  My surprised laugh came out strangled, and I stood, looking around the room expectantly, although I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Shock beat at me, struggling to keep the rising tide of anger at bay.

  Blake was related to a DOD officer.

  How…coincidental.

  I started to pace the length of the living room, my breath coming out harsh and fast. The illogical part of my brain was trying to convince myself that it was just a coincidence, that it was another Brian Vaughn who looked like the DOD officer. But the harsh reality of being fooled…of allowing myself to be played right into the DOD’s hands beat at me.

  His relation to the DOD explained how Blake knew so much about the Luxen and mutated humans. Why he’d asked so many times about who had healed me. How reckless and dangerous he’d grown in his training sessions. I didn’t even know where Blake lived.

  But I knew where Vaughn lived.

  I stopped myself before I reached for my car keys. There was no way I was going to Vaughn’s house. What would I do? Bust up in there? That was worse than Daemon’s typical plans.

  Torn between wanting to talk to Daemon and letting the issue drop until I knew what I was dealing with, I sat back and pulled my knees to my chest. Could I have been fooled this badly? This entire time working with someone who was tied to the DOD?

  Anger and fear kept alternating, gripping me for several minutes, then letting go and allowing the other emotion to take hold.

  My eyes found my car keys. Vaughn hadn’t been home, and Blake claimed he’d be out of town until school picked up, visiting family with his…uncle. And this would be the perfect opportunity to see if I could find any undisputable evidence that would point to Blake working with the DOD.

  “Dammit!” I exploded, jumping to my feet.

  Fury became a living, breathing entity inside me, coloring everything in a reddish-white light. Some of it was directed at me, but most of it had a target. Blake had been in my house, talked to my mom, earned my trust, and kissed me. That kind of betrayal ran so deep it left a permanent mark on my soul.

  Daemon was the last person I needed to go to right now. If Blake was working for the DOD, I needed to keep Daemon far away from this. At least until I knew he wouldn’t fly off and do something even dumber than what I was about to do.

  Done thinking, I snatched my hoodie and tugged it on over my head. Grabbing my keys and my cell phone, I left the house.

  I’d done an incredible amount of stupid things in my life. Petting the baby opossum was one of them, walking out in front of the MAC truck was another. I’d even gotten pissy once about the pirating of books and had posted this manifesto on my blog that hardly made any sense.

  This, though, probably topped the list.

  But as I hit the highway, hands clenching the steering wheel, I was a much different person now. I could kick major ass if need be, and I wouldn’t let Blake get away with this.

  I parked my car two roads down from where Vaughn lived and stepped out into the frigid air that smelled of snow. Tugging the hood up over my head, I shoved my hands into the middle pocket and hoofed it back toward Vaughn’s house. The irony of bitching out Daemon due to his lack of plans didn’t pass me by, but now I understood that sometimes certain situations called for well-thought-out stupidity.

  This was one of them.

  Vaughn’s house looked empty as I approached from the rear. Luckily, the two houses closest to his were spaced out. One had a foreclosure sign, and the other was just as dark. Little flakes of snow started to fall as I crept around to the front. My breath came out in puffs, hanging in the air like clouds.

  The driveway was empty.

  Knowing that didn’t mean the house was completely devoid of people, I debated what to do. I didn’t come all the way here to stare at the outside of the house. I wanted in there. I wanted to find evidence linking Blake to Vaughn, and I wanted to see if there was anything on the location of Dawson and Bethany.

  I went to the back of the house and tried the door. It was locked as expected, but I remembered both Daemon and Blake mentioning how easy locks were to manipulate. It should be a piece of cake.

  An alarm system would be a whole different story.

  Pressing against the door, I closed my eyes and pictured the lock. The rush of static crept down my arms, jumping from the tips of my fingers through the wood. The click of the lock turning sounded like a nuclear bomb going off in my head.

  I took a moment to prepare myself for what could be waiting on the other side of the door. If someone were in there, I’d have to defend myself. The idea of hurting someone, possibly killing him or her, sickened me, but I knew whoever it was wouldn’t stop twice from locking me up in a cage.

  Telling myself I could do this, I opened the door and slowly stepped into the kitchen. A light was on above the stove, casting the room in soft light. I shut the door behind me and drew in a deep breath. This is insane. I crept forward, grateful for the thin soles on my boots.

  Timid Katy no more…I’d moved onto good old B&E.

  Balling my hands up under the sleeves of my hoodie, I moved down the hallway. The dining room was empty with the exception of a rolled-up sleeping bag on the floor. Two couches were pressed against the wall in the living room. There wasn’t a TV. It reminded me of a model home where everything was fake.

  It gave me the creeps.

  Holding a breath, I went upstairs slowly. Nothing about this house seemed real. It had no homey smells like leftover food or perfume. It smelled vacant. At the top of the stairs, there was a bathroom that had clearly been in use. There were hair products on the sink—gel and two toothbrushes.

  My stomach tightened as I left the bathroom. All the bedroom doors were open. Each of them just had a bed and a dresser. All were empty.

  The last room at the end of the hall was an office of sorts. A large desk sat in the middle of the otherwise empty room. There was a monitor on the top, but no hard drive. Moving around the desk, I pulled out the center drawer. Nothing. I checked the side drawers, becoming frustrated when they were all empty. I yanked open the last one.

  “Jackpot,” I whispered.

  I pulled out a file folder that was thick and heavy at the bottom. Lifting the file out carefully, I laid it on the desk and flipped it opened. There were pictures, hundreds of pictures.

  My hands shook as I went through them. A buzzing filled my ears as I turned over picture after picture.

  One of me walking from my car to the front of school in short sleeves. There were several from outside the Smoke Hole Diner, and I could just make out Dee and me sitting in front of the window, then one of us walking out the door, my arm in a splint and Dee laughing. Several more photos showed us together, at school, on my front porch, and in her car. There was one of us hugging in front of the FOOLAND, the first day I’d met her.

  Then there were pictures of Daemon, eyes narrowed and face drawn tight as he was snapped walking around his SUV, keys clenched in his hand. Another was him standing on his porch, shirtless and in jeans, with me on his steps, glaring at him.

  I picked up one, holding it in the light that came through the window. I was in my red two-piece bathing suit, standing on the bank of the lake. I’d been looking off to the side, and Daemon had been watching me, smiling—really smiling—unbeknownst to me. I hadn’t known he ever smiled around me at that time.

  I dropped the picture as if it burned my skin. And it did on a surreal level.

  There
were more. Photos chronicling from the time I arrived in this place up until a few days ago. There were pictures of my mom heading to work, some with her and Will. There were no pictures of Blake and me together.

  But the worst picture, the one that almost dropped me to my knees was one of Daemon carrying me back from the lake the night I’d been sick. The photo was dark and grainy, but I could make out the white sleep shirt, the way my arm hung limp, the look of pure concentration on Daemon’s face as he had one foot on the porch step.

  Hell, could they be watching me now? I couldn’t let myself think about it.

  The sense of violation sliced through skin and bone. They’d been watching us from the beginning. I wanted to take all these pictures. I wanted to burn them. Where there should’ve been fear, there was only anger. Who gave them the right to do this? With an anger so potent I could taste it, I gathered up the photos and placed them back in the file. I knew I couldn’t take them. Shoving them back into the drawer, I stood with hands trembling.

  The bottom of the drawer poked up at the corner. Shoving the file back, I reached down and felt around until I got a grip on the edge. Peeling the contact paper back, I saw several sheets of paper. Most of them were receipts, which seemed odd to hide, considering everything. There were bank slips, too, showing money transfers. My eyes bugged at the amounts. Another slip of paper had an address with the letters DB written under it.

  Dawson Black? Dee Black? Daemon Black?

  Shoving the slip of paper into my pocket, I pressed the contact paper back down and put the file away. I closed the door, feeling numb as I started to stand.

  “What are you doing in here?” a voice demanded.

  Chapter 29

  My heart leaped in my throat at the question. I jerked up, letting the rush of energy move along my skin, but the moment I locked eyes with the person standing in the doorway, I gasped.

  Moonlight coming in from the window washed over Bethany’s pale face as she stepped into the room. Jeans and a T-shirt hung off her slender body. Her dirty hair fell in clumps. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Bethany?” I croaked.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Katy?” Her voice mimicked mine.

  Taken aback by the fact she knew my name, I stared at her. “How do you know who I am?”

  An eerie, faint smile tugged at her lips. “Everyone knows who you are,” she said in a singsong voice that reminded me of a child. “And so do I.”

  I swallowed. “You mean the DOD?”

  “I mean whoever is watching knows. They always know. They always hope, too. Whenever we get close.” She paused, closing her eyes, sighing. “They hope we get close.”

  Oh, boy, this chick was cracked like Humpty Dumpty. “Beth, is the DOD keeping you?”

  “Keeping me?” She giggled. “I can no longer be kept. He knows that. He keeps catching me, though. It’s almost like a game. A never-ending game where no one really wins. I come here…my family. My family is no longer here.”

  She sighed. “You really shouldn’t be here. They will see you. They will take you.”

  “I know.” I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. “Beth, we can—”

  “Don’t trust him,” she whispered, glancing around the room. “I did. I trusted him with my life, and look what happened.”

  “Who? Blake?” Not like she needed to tell me that. “Look, you can come with me. We can keep you safe.”

  She straightened, shaking her head. “You can’t do anything for me now.”

  “But we can.” I took a step forward, reaching out to her. “We can help you, protect you. We can get Dawson back.”

  “Dawson?” she said, eyes going wide.

  I nodded, hoping I’d found the key to make her listen to me. “Yes, Dawson! We know he’s alive—”

  Bethany threw up her hand, and a burst of hurricane-strength winds slammed into my chest, lifting me off my feet. I hit the wall with enough force I swore I heard plaster crack. And I stayed there, pinned several feet off the ground, my hands and legs planted against the wall.

  Apparently bringing up Dawson’s name was not the right thing to do.

  She moved so fast I didn’t see her until she was standing below me. Long, stringy strands of hair lifted off her shoulders, spreading out around her like a modern-day Medusa. Her feet came off the ground as the outline of her body blurred, swathed in a bluish light. Within seconds, she was eye level with me.

  Holy crap…I’d never seen Blake do anything like that.

  “There is no hope for me,” she said, dropping the kid voice. “I’m not even sure there is any hope for you. So you should leave here, take your chances with the Arum, or you’ll end up like me.”

  Icy fear trickled down my spine. “Bethany…”

  “Listen to me and listen closely.” She was now above me, looking down as her head nearly touched the vaulted ceilings. “Everyone is a liar. The DOD?” She laughed, a high-pitched giggle. “They don’t even know what they plan. They are coming.”

  “What are you talking about?” I tried to peel my head off the wall, but she wouldn’t let me budge. “Beth, who is coming!”

  The blue light enveloped her completely. “You need to go NOW!”

  I suddenly dropped from the wall, hitting the floor in front of the door with a loud grunt. Scrambling to my feet, I whipped around.

  Bethany looked just like a Luxen, except her light was blue and less intense. She floated over the ceiling, her voice picking up in my head. Go. Go before it’s too late. GO!

  A pulse of energy nudged me out the door and down the hall. She wasn’t giving me much of a choice. At the top of the stairs, I spun around and tried one more time. “Bethany, we can—”

  She slid down the wall and lifted both hands. Before I could scream, I tipped over the top step and fell backward down the steep stairs. I stopped a foot above the landing, bouncing in air as if I were hooked to a bungee cord.

  My feet swung down onto the landing, and I was suddenly standing.

  Go, her voice urged. Get far away from here.

  I went.

  …

  My hands were cold and shaking by the time I turned the ignition in my sedan. Snow was falling steadily, coating the streets. I needed to get home before I got stuck. I had bad tires, no match for more than an inch of snow. And I really didn’t want to break down out here. These were the things I was busy thinking about. I had to keep everything else at bay until I could get home and successfully freak out. Now I just needed to get there without running off the road and smacking into a tree.

  Halfway to my house, two approaching headlights sped up in the other lane, going in the direction I’d just come from. As the car neared me, the back of my neck tingled. The SUV’s tires squealed as it spun around, rushing up behind me.

  “Dammit,” I whispered, glancing at the dashboard. It was close to midnight.

  Daemon tailed me the whole way home, repeatedly calling me. I ignored the calls, focusing on the ever-increasing lack of visibility due to the snow. The moment I parked in my driveway, he was at the side of my car, throwing open the door.

  “Where in the hell were you coming back from?” he demanded.

  I climbed out of the car. “Where were you going?”

  He glared down at me. “I have a feeling it was the same place you were coming back from, but I’m telling myself that you can’t be that stupid.”

  My look matched his as I stomped up my steps. “Well, since that’s where you were going, I guess that means you’re stupid, too.”

  “You seriously went there, didn’t you?” He sounded incredulous as he followed me inside. “Please tell me that’s not where you were. That you were just out for a midnight drive.”

  I shot him a bland look over my shoulder. “I went to Vaughn’s.”

  Several moments went by as he stared at me. Flakes of snow melted, dampening the locks of hair clinging to his cheeks. “You’re insane.”

  I tugged off my wet hoodie
and tossed it aside. With only a tank top underneath, tiny bumps spread over my skin. “So are you.”

  His full lips twisted into a grimace. “I can take care of myself, Kitten.”

  “And I can, too.” I tugged my hair back. “I’m not helpless, Daemon.”

  He stood still for a moment, and then a shudder rolled through his body. Next second he was in front of me, grasping my chilled cheeks. “I know you aren’t helpless, but there are things I would do that you won’t. Things I know you could never live with, but I can. What would you have done if someone saw you? What would I have done if you were captured or…”

  Daemon didn’t finish, but I knew what he was getting at. I could’ve been captured tonight or worse, and he wasn’t worried about how the connection would have caused his own death. He was worried about me.

  I don’t know why I did what I did next. Maybe it was everything that had happened tonight. Or maybe it was the tone of his voice—the fear behind his words. Too many emotions were building in me. I felt slippery inside, tipping in one direction and then the next.

  I clasped his cheeks. They were warm, like always—a touch of sunlight. His skin was smooth and hummed under my hands. I leaned in, and he didn’t move…or breathe. Like, at all. Knowing that I could do that to him filled me with a heady rush of power. Closing my eyes, I brushed my lips over his.

  “Kitten,” he growled roughly.

  I kissed him softly, sliding my hands into his silky locks, letting the pieces slide through my fingers. I tasted in him my own rising desire, my own need and heartache. Thrilling. Frightening. I pulled back.

  “Kitten,” he said again, voice strained. “You don’t get to do that and then stop. That’s not how it works.”

  I stared at him, my breath stalling in my lungs.

  “Not when you’re mine.” Daemon backed us up and slid down the wall, pulling me onto his lap so I was straddling him. “And you’re mine.”

  I placed my hands on his shoulders as he brought my mouth to his. This kiss was lazy, exploratory…and sensual. For once, I wasn’t fighting the depth of my response. I welcomed it, thrived in the warmth rippling through me. I deepened the kiss. He made a sound in the back of his throat, and his arms wrapped around me, pinning me to him.