7
{ Katy }
Daemon had the TV turned on in the bedroom, volume low, when I walked in with a towel wrapped around me.
He glanced over at me, and his lashes lowered as his gaze moved from the tip of my now-clean toes, all the way to the top of my wet head. “Hey there.”
It seemed like he’d forgotten what he was watching, which was one of the world news channels. I hadn’t seen any reports since I’d left the cabin.
“Come here.” He extended an arm from where he sat on the edge of the bed.
The room had been restored to how it had looked before Sadi and I had gotten into it, with the exception of the curtains and the chair. They still lay in a pile on the floor. The sheets and pillowcases had been replaced.
Holding the towel where it was knotted, I padded over to the bed. I started to sit beside him, but he looped an arm around my waist and tugged me onto his lap. The room was chilly, but his body heat immediately seeped into me. He was like a walking, talking electric blanket.
On the TV, a silvery-haired newscaster solemnly stared into the camera as he spoke. At the top of the screen, there was a live video of an affiliated station in L.A. Filmed from what appeared to be a helicopter circling the distressed city, the snapshots of smoking buildings, bumper-to-bumper traffic on the major highways, and streets crowded with people didn’t bode well. Then the tiny screen on the right switched to a live stream of New York City, spitting out the same kind of images.
“Sources believe that the initial strike started in Las Vegas, and we’re trying to get confirmation of that.” Weariness etched into the lines of the newscaster’s face and clouded his tone. “It is now believed that the meteorite shower three nights ago was not, in fact, meteorites, but . . .” He cleared his throat and seemed to struggle with the next words. “But was the first arrival of a widespread . . . extraterrestrial invasion.”
“I think he just choked on the word ‘extraterrestrial,’” Daemon commented drily.
I nodded. The guy looked like he couldn’t believe he’d just said that on national television.
The newscaster glanced down at the papers in front of him, shaking his head slowly. “We’re still waiting on Dr. Kapur to see if we can gain any insight into the . . . biology and the possible endgame involved, but at this time, what we do know is that there was a period of silence after the mass arrival and then”—he looked up at the screen, his features tense—“a strategic, targeted attack all across the world, in every major city. There are no definite numbers, but we do expect that the loss of life will be substantial in the areas and the surrounding cities.”
I shuddered at the overwhelming horror of it all. Even being what I was and seeing so much in the last year or so, it was almost too much to fully wrap my head around. It wasn’t just my world that had changed anymore. Everyone’s world had changed.
Daemon’s arms tightened around my waist as he watched the TV. He didn’t say anything, because it was one of those moments where there weren’t any words powerful enough to describe what either of us was feeling.
On the television, the man’s fingers curled around the sheets of paper in his hands. “What we do know is the attacks on the cities lasted for a few hours, but this . . . this alien life-form has not been seen since.”
Glancing over at Daemon, I watched a muscle along his jaw flicker. I had a feeling why they hadn’t seen any Luxen. They were no longer in their true forms.
“We also have received word of a very frightening and . . . and frankly disturbing development. There honestly are no words for it, and if you haven’t seen this video yet, I will warn you that it may not be suitable for younger viewers.” He looked off-screen and nodded. “This was sent in by a viewer in the Miami, Florida, area. We believe it was captured on a camera phone at some point yesterday, during the attacks.”
The screen to the right switched to a shaky recording and then expanded, filling the television. My eyes widened.
It looked like whoever was filming had hidden behind a car on its side. A Luxen was on the screen, in full glowworm mode as it stalked a human male who looked like he was in his twenties. The Luxen’s movements were as fluid as sculpted water as it backed the human male up against an abandoned city bus. Horror etched into the guy’s face as the Luxen launched forward and placed a glowing white hand on the center of his chest.
I knew what was about to happen.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” whoever was filming whispered over and over again as the Luxen rapidly assimilated the DNA of the human male, taking on the physical form and characteristics until there was nothing left of the human but a dried-out husk crumpled on the ground.
The video started shaking more, and then I could tell the person was getting the hell away from what had just gone down.
When the video ended, the newscaster appeared as if he had aged a decade. “We are still waiting on the press conference from the president of the United States, but we have received word that many government figures in the sieged cities will be making statements later in the day.”
“How are they doing it?” I asked.
Daemon knew what I was asking. “When we arrived and were brought in by Daedalus, we were assimilated.” His hands slid down my arms to my cold hands. He folded his over mine. “We were exposed to a human—the three of us—over a period of time. It took several months, and when we finally shifted into our human forms, we had his characteristics—the dark hair, skin color, facial features. He was like a surrogate, but we didn’t kill him. At least as far as I know. Once we were moved out, along with . . . Matthew and the Thompsons, we never saw him again.”
Daemon had never gone into this kind of detail before, and trying to fully picture three little toddler-like aliens assimilating a human over a period of time made my brain hurt. How in the world had Daedalus gotten humans to sign up for that?
“So these Luxen are doing what you did but faster—too fast?” I said.
He nodded. “They’re doing exactly what we were taught to do.” He brought our joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss against my knuckles. “It’s strange. They know so much, too much for not being here, but then there’s a lot they don’t know. Someone or something had to be working with them from here.”
“Sadi?”
His brows rose.
“I don’t mean just her, but haven’t you noticed? She doesn’t move or talk like the other Luxen,” I explained. “She’s more human. I think she’s been here.”
The corners of his lips pulled down. “I hadn’t noticed, but I try to stay away from her. She’s a little bit touchy.”
A slow burn of anger blazed through my veins. “I really don’t like her.”
“I know.” He kissed my cheek and then gently lifted me out of his lap. I swayed a bit on my feet, drawing a concerned look from him. “You need to rest. We have a few more hours before the sun breaks and the press conference happens.”
I folded my arms over the edge of the towel. “Why does he want us there?”
“That I can’t figure out. Rolland says he can’t get a read on me, and I can’t get one on him, either.” Daemon reached behind him, picking up a long shirt. “I was able to find this for you to sleep in.”
It was a man’s shirt, and I really tried not to think about where it came from when I took it and slipped it on over my head. I shimmied out of the towel, and the shirt almost reached my knees.
“I’ll stay with you.” He rose, glancing at the door. “I don’t think that will raise any suspicions.”
Not when they thought Daemon and I were banging our brains out. My cheeks heated, even though it was stupid to be embarrassed over it, but it was like the Luxen saw me simply as Daemon’s property and nothing else.
That made me itchy in my own skin and sick to my stomach.
I climbed into the bed and rested on my side. Daemon floated around the room, checking the door and the windows even though we both knew it was pointless, and then he turned off the TV. The bed dipped behind me as his weight settled. An arm snaked around my waist, urging me against his chest and into all his warmth.
He smoothed my hair behind my ear as his breath danced along my temple. My eyes closed when his lips brushed over my skin. “We’ve been in worse situations,” he whispered. “We’ll get out of this one.”
Had we been in worse? At least with Daedalus we knew they wanted us alive. Alive to do horrible things for them, but that somehow sounded better. With the Luxen, I knew deep down they couldn’t care less if we woke up dead tomorrow.
I think Daemon realized that, too.
“We need to get out of here.” I stared into the darkness of the room. “Tomorrow, when they take us outside, it will be the perfect opportunity.”
Daemon didn’t respond, and after a few moments, I squeezed my eyes shut. Tomorrow might be our only opportunity to get out of here, but there was one big thing in our way, one thing that would stop Daemon right in his tracks.
And that was Dee.