OALN

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “I know,” I whispered, clutching the shawl to the front of my torn dress. “Please don’t say it.”

  “Say what? That I told you so?” He sounded disgusted. “Even I’m not that much of an ass. Are you okay?”

  I nodded and drew in a deep breath. “Thank you.”

  Daemon cursed again and then he was moving closer, dropping something warm that smelled like him over my shoulders. “Here,” he said gruffly. “Put this on. It will…cover up everything.”

  I looked down. The lacy shawl did nothing to hide the ripped bodice of my dress. Flushing, I slipped my arms into his tux jacket. Tears were clogging my throat now. I was angry at Simon—at myself—and embarrassed. Once I had the jacket on, I hugged it and the shawl close. Daemon was never going to let me live this one down. Right now he might not be throwing it in my face, but there was always tomorrow.

  Daemon’s fingers brushed over my cheek, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen loose behind my ear. “Come on,” he whispered.

  I lifted up my head. There was an unexpected softness in his eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Now he’d be nice?

  “I’m taking you home.”

  This time it wasn’t an arrogant command or assumption. It was just simple words. I nodded. After the disaster that happened and the fact I figured I had another trace on me, I wasn’t going to argue. Then it struck me. “Wait.” He looked like he was ready to come through on his earlier threat and throw me over his shoulders. “Kat.”

  “Won’t Simon have a trace on him, like me?”

  If the thought had crossed his mind, it didn’t look like it bothered him. “He does.”

  “But—”

  Daemon was in my face in the blink of an eye. “It’s not my problem right now.”

  Then he took my arm. His grasp wasn’t tight, but it was firm. We didn’t talk as he led me through the brisk night air toward his SUV parked near the main road. Several of the cars we passed were fogged up. Some were even moving. Every time I glanced at him, his eyes were narrowed and jaw clenched.

  Guilt chewed through my insides like acid. What if the Arum were still around, and they saw the trace on Simon? Yeah, he was borderline date rapist, but what would the Arum do to him? We couldn’t leave him out there, roaming around with a trace on him.

  He let go of my arm and opened the passenger door of his SUV. I got in, wiggling the clutch’s strap off my wrist and placing it beside me. I watched him head around the car, texting on his phone.

  Daemon climbed into the driver’s seat, passing me a sheltered look. “I let Dee know I was taking you home. When I got here, she said she saw you but couldn’t find you.”

  Nodding, I started yanking on the seatbelt, but it wouldn’t move. All my frustration rose up, and I pulled on it hard. “Dammit!”

  Daemon leaned over me and pried my fingers off. In such a small space, there wasn’t much room to move around and before I could protest, he was already tugging on the seatbelt. His jaw grazed my cheek and then his lips followed. There were quick touches, all accidental, but I found it hard to breathe nonetheless.

  Daemon got the seatbelt unstuck and as he brought it across my stomach, the back of his knuckles grazed over the front of my dress. I jerked in the seat.

  He lifted his head, startled. And I was just as surprised. Our mouths were nearly touching. His breath was warm and sweet. Intoxicating. His gaze dropped to my lips, and my heart started doing all kinds of crazy stuff in my chest.

  Neither of us moved for what seemed like an eternity.

  And then he clicked it in and returned to his seat, breathing raggedly. He clutched the steering wheel for several strained minutes while I tried to remember how important it was to take normal breaths and not gulps of air.

  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.

  Good God, I was so going to reconsider pissing Daemon off next time.

  The Arum dodged the asphalt and trees, throwing back what looked like globs of oil. Where the murky stuff landed, the road smoked. Burnt tar filled the air.

  Then Daemon was nothing but blinding white light, a being that was not human, but otherworldly, beautiful and frightening in the same breath. The glow heightened around his outstretched limbs, forming a crackling ball of energy that snapped. Light dripped onto the road. Power lines overhead snapped and then exploded. The Arum blinked out, but their shadows couldn’t hide from Daemon’s light. I could see them moving toward him still. One darted out to the side, rushing him.

  Daemon brought his hands together and the blast that followed shook the car. Light erupted from him, zinging straight into the one nearest, sending the Arum spinning up into the air, where for a moment he was in a human form. Dark sunglasses shattered. Pieces floated in the air, suspended. Another clap followed and the Arum exploded in an array of dazzling lights that fell like a thousand twinkling stars.

  Daemon threw out his arm, and the other Arum flew back several feet, spinning and tumbling through the air, but he landed in a crouch.

  Run. The voice came in my head. Run now, Kat. Don’t look b ack. Run!

  I threw the car door open and stumbled out. Falling to my knees, I scrambled down the ditch, wincing at the sound of the Arums’ howls. I made it to the first tree that was still standing and stopped. Instinct told me to keep running, to do as Daemon instructed, but I couldn’t leave him there. I couldn’t run away.

  With my heart leaping into my throat, I turned around. The two remaining Arum were circling him, fading out to nothing more than shadows and then reforming back into the tall, imposing figures.

  Thick globs of midnight oil shot past Daemon, narrowly missing the halo of light surrounding him. One of the dark streams smacked into a tree on the other side of the road, splitting it in two.

  Daemon retaliated by throwing balls of light at them, wicked fast and deadly. They whizzed through the air, forming walls of flames that fizzled out when they didn’t hit one of the Arum. The Arum were not as fast as Daemon, but they managed to avoid each of his missiles. After about thirty were lobbed, I could tell Daemon’s light form was slowing down, the time between bombs stretching longer and longer. I remembered what he’d said after he’d stopped the truck. Using his powers wore him out. He couldn’t keep this up.

  Terror trickled through me as I saw them close in on Daemon, their darkness nearly enveloping his light. A ball of bright red flames formed and shot out toward the Arum, but Daemon missed. The ball of fire skidded across the road, fizzing out harmlessly.

  One of the Arum flickered out completely, while the other kept throwing oily bombs at Daemon over and over, never slowing down. Daemon flickered in and out, reappearing a few feet away from each projectile. He was moving so fast, the entire scene started to look like I was watching it unfold under strobe lights.

  Daemon was focused on the one Arum lobbing oil bombs and he didn’t see the other reappear behind him. The shadowy arms wrapped around what appeared to be Daemon’s head, bringing him down to his knees on the side of the road. I cried out, but the sound was lost in the Arum’s laugh.

  “Ready to beg?” the Arum in front of him taunted, taking human form. “Please do. It would mean a lot to hear the word ‘please’ leaking from your lips as I take everything from you.”

  Daemon didn’t respond, but his light was crackling and intense.

  “Silence to the end, eh? So be it.” The Arum stepped forward, lifting his head. “Baruck, it is time.”

  Baruck forced Daemon to stand. “Do it now, Sarefeth!”

  A part of my brain clicked off. I was moving without thinking, running toward the very thing Daemon had ordered me to run away from. The obsidian grew warm in my hand as I rushed up the gully, burning like coals. A heel on my shoe snapped off when it became tangled in the downed branches, but I kept going.

  I wasn’t brave. I was desperate.

  Sarefeth turned into a shadow, thrusting an arm forward, into the center of Daemon’s chest. Daemon’s scream tore through me, heightening the fear, flipping it into anger and desperation. Daemon’s light flared, blinding and concentrated. The ground shook with a giant tremor.

  Only a few feet behind Sarafeth now, I threw my arm back, obsidian in hand, and jumped forward and brought it down with every ounce of strength I had. I expected to meet resistance, flesh and bone, but the obsidian cut through the shadow, like Sarefeth was made of nothing more than smoke and air, and I stumbled to my knees.

  Sarefeth jerked back, pulling his arm free of Daemon’s light. He spun around, his shadowy arms reaching for me. I scrabbled backward, falling down. The obsidian glowed in my hand, humming with energy.

  And then Sarefeth stopped. Pieces of him broke free from his form, clumps of darkness drifting into the sky, obscuring the stars until all of him was there one minute and floating away the next.

  Baruck released Daemon, taking a step back. For a moment he was in human form, dark jeans and a jacket, his expression horrified, gaze locked on the glowing obsidian in my grip. His eyes met mine for only a second. Vengeance had been promised in that minute stare. And then he was a shadow, pulling the darkness into him, fleeing toward the other side of the road like a coiled snake and disappearing into the night.

  I scuttled over branches and cracked pavement in a mad dash to reach Daemon’s side. He was still nothing more than light, and I had no idea where to touch him or how badly he was hurt.

  “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 fl
at 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.