14
{ Daemon }
“Hunter?”
Luc sighed and repeated, “Hunter.”
“The douche who was at your club?” Luc and Kat had come and found me in our room, and I didn’t like where this was going.
“Hmm.” Luc tapped a finger on his cheek as he glanced at where Kat sat on the bed. “There were two douches there. He was one of them. So you were—”
“Funny,” I said.
“I thought so.” Luc flashed a grin as he dropped down beside Kat. “Do you know that saying? beggars can’t be choosers?”
My eyes narrowed. “I’m never the beggar.”
“Guys.” Kat tucked her hair back behind both ears. “So what do you not like about this Hunter guy?”
“Let’s see.” I pretended to think about that. “He’s an Arum for starters.”
Her gray eyes rolled. “Other than that?”
“Does there need to be another reason?” To me, that was good enough for my rabid dislike of the guy.
Luc nudged Kat with his arm. “It doesn’t matter if he likes Hunter or not. The Arum owes me a favor, and if anyone knows where all our natural-born killers are currently holed up? he’ll know.”
“And we can trust him?” she asked.
I snorted. Trusting an Arum? Yeah. Right.
Luc ignored me. “He wouldn’t dare screw around with me, not when he has so much to lose.”
Something ignorant was on the tip of my tongue, but it faded away like a memory just out of reach. I thought about the woman I’d seen with him at the club—a human woman. There had most definitely been a relationship between the two.
I about vomited in my mouth at the thought of that.
“I’ve already talked to him,” Luc said, stretching his arms above his head like a cat in the sunlight. “He’s gonna meet us in Atlanta.”
“Atlanta?” Surprise colored her voice. “And how are we supposed to get there?”
“Probably gonna have to drive.” He shrugged. “There’re no planes in the air, not since ET phoned home and then shot down a commercial jet.”
Kat paled. We hadn’t heard that news yet.
“So, yeah, I don’t suggest flying the unfriendly skies. I’ve already looked it up,” he continued. “It’s gonna take about thirty hours to drive, so it’s going to be an epic road trip. Hunter will meet you at the airport, though—domestic side.” He smiled then, like something about that amused him.
I leaned against the dresser. “So how is Hunter going to help us go after the Arum? Didn’t realize he’s that important of a dude.”
“Hunter’s important but not that significant.” Luc kicked his feet up so his legs were straight. I had no idea if the kid could ever sit still. “He’s your ticket to the Arum playground. He knows where they’re all cooling their feet. Getting Hunter to take you to his leader—master—whatever—isn’t going to be the problem.”
I arched a brow.
“It’s going to be getting the Grand Poo-Bah to go along with it. The Arum are kind of like you guys. All they need is a leader, and then they’ll follow him right off a cliff.” He paused, scrunching his nose. “Never met the guy. Have heard some stuff about him.”
“What stuff?” Kat asked.
He shrugged a shoulder. “Doesn’t matter.”
Kat’s brows knit when she frowned.
“Anyway, I’m going to have to stay behind. Pretty sure my presence is needed to keep Nancy from doing something that will upset the balance of the universe. Archer will go with you guys. Both of you, right?” Luc glanced between us. “I seriously doubt either of you will stay behind.”
“Not likely.” I scrubbed my hand down my jaw. Thirty hours in a car with Kat could get interesting, real fun, but with Archer? I thought I might hurt myself.
“Speaking of Nancy . . .” Kat looked at the closed door before she continued. “You can’t let those kids go back to her, no matter what you promised.”
The corners of his mouth rose in a wide smile that was a tad bit on the creepy side. “Don’t worry. She’s not a problem. The whole thing with her will most definitely work itself out in the end.”
The following morning, I sat at a white rectangular table that reminded me of a school cafeteria. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. Did I miss school? Not really. Did I miss life before this crap, when it was just me, my trusty pen, and Kat sitting in front of me?
Yeah. Sometimes.
But it wasn’t like anyone could go back in time.
Dawson sat across from me, scooping scrambled eggs from his plate onto Beth’s. The chick was definitely eating for two, considering the amount of food she just put down, and she was still going strong.
Pregnancy was weird.
Kat sneaked a slice of bacon off my place.
She had no reason to eat that much other than loving food . . . and bacon. She grinned at me as she snapped it in two, dropping half of it back on my plate.
“I really think you need to stay here,” I said, turning my attention back to my brother as I picked up the slice of my measly share of bacon.
Dawson frowned as he toyed with the bottle of chocolate milk. I knew what he was thinking. I could read him like an open book with big words and pictures.
“Look, you need to be here.” My gaze flickered over to Beth, who had a huge forkful of eggs. “This is where you need to be. It’s too dangerous out there for you or for Beth.”
Beth glanced up. “Isn’t it dangerous for you and Kat?”
“It is.” Kat glanced at me, chewing on her lower lip. We hadn’t told Dawson or Beth yet what Nancy told us about not being connected in the way they were. Kat took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and then Archer seemed to pop out of thin air.
He dropped down on the other side of Kat. “These two,” he said, gesturing at us with a flick of his hand, “aren’t connected—not like you and Beth.”
Dawson frowned as he glanced between Kat and me. “What do you mean? He healed her. She’s a hybrid—just like Beth.”
“Yes, but apparently Daedalus gave Beth one serum and tested out the new one, the Prometheus serum, on Kat,” Archer explained. “Which means they aren’t connected like you and Beth.”
As expected, Dawson argued that was impossible, but after I explained what Nancy had told us, my brother sat back, absolutely stunned.
“So, you see? You have too much to risk,” I told him. “You have Beth and you have this baby to worry about.”
Dawson cursed under his breath as he leaned back, rubbing his hands along the back of his neck. “You guys are really going to go after the Arum?”
“Yep.” Sounded crazy, but it was better than doing nothing.
He shook his head. “Never thought the day would come that we’d go to the Arum for help.”
I snickered. “No doubt.”
“Luc is going to stay behind,” Kat said, pushing what was left of her eggs around her plate. “To make sure Nancy behaves herself. We’ll be leaving in a few hours. Then once we get the . . . when we get the Arum to help, we’ll notify General Eaton. I guess at that point we’ll start to head back here.”
“But you have to leave so soon?” Beth shot a nervous glance at Dawson.
“We don’t have a lot of time to get this done,” I said. “But you two will be safe here.”
“I’m not worried about us,” Dawson said, and I wanted to smack him upside the head because he needed to be worried about them. “Letting you guys go off, meeting up with some damn Arum, and trying to convince them to help us out? That’s crazy dangerous.”
It was.
There was no denying that, and I’d never been a liar before, so I wasn’t going to start now.
Archer leaned forward, resting his weight on his arms. His eyes met my brother’s. “I understand you and I don’t really know each other, and you have no reason to believe anything I say, but I promise you I will make sure Daemon and Katy come back with Dee. You can take that to the bank.”
Sitting back, I stared at the Origin.
I’d never admit it, not in a million freaking years, but Archer . . . yeah, sometimes he was pretty cool in my book, and I did like the way he sounded. Hell-bent on fulfilling that promise and bringing back not only us, but Dee. He just didn’t need to know I felt that way.
We finished up breakfast like it was any normal day, trying to forget that no matter what promises Luc and Archer made, it could be the very last time we saw each other. Kat and I packed up the changes of clothes Archer had found for us.
My heart kicked around my chest as I watched her shove the final sweater into a duffel bag we’d found in the closet. Once we left, things were going to happen fast, and I had no idea what we’d face on the road or when we met up with Hunter.
This literally could be the last time Kat and I were alone.
I wasn’t being a pessimist. The truth was we’d be stuck with Archer. The three of us were glued together for the foreseeable future, and if things went south, well, this would truly be the last time we had a handful of minutes together.
Kat zipped up the bag and turned around. Her hair was down, and I always liked it that way. There was a slight pink flush to her cheeks and her dove-gray eyes seemed to take up her whole face.
Her lips tipped up at the corners, and it said something powerful that she could still smile, like, really smile, when all this crap was going down around us. “What?” she asked.