We took the long way around Kansas City, since we didn’t want to get within a billion miles of the Luxen-controlled city, and we ended up stopping outside of a small, unknown town in Missouri for Daemon and Archer to switch off driving.
Sleep was fitful over the next couple of hours, and it wasn’t just the uncomfortable seating or Archer’s questionable taste in music. My body was a bundle of nerves stretched too thin. We were about to literally drive into an Arum stronghold, and while Luc swore up and down that Hunter was cool, I hadn’t met an Arum yet I didn’t want to run from. But it was more than that.
I missed my mom. I missed Dee and Lesa. I missed my books and my blog, and in the hours when I couldn’t sleep and Daemon had passed out in the backseat, I stared out the window and I couldn’t imagine what tomorrow would be like or what a month from now would look like.
“You okay?” Archer asked quietly.
I hadn’t realized that I’d been shifting restlessly. “Yeah.”
“Can’t sleep?”
“Nope.”
“He doesn’t seem to be having any problems.”
Glancing behind me, I smiled. Daemon was stretched out on his back, one arm tossed over his face. His chest rose and fell in deep, steady breaths. I flipped around. “He needs it.”
“So do you.”
I shrugged. “What about you?”
He passed me a knowing look. “I didn’t spend all my free time making out like the world was ending the next day.”
My cheeks flamed. “You really don’t need to keep reminding me that there’s no such thing as privacy around you.”
A quick grin flashed across his face as he focused on the dark road, but it disappeared as quickly as the star I’d been tracking in the sky earlier. I studied him out of the corner of my eye, the strong jaw and profile.
“Stop staring at me,” he huffed.
“Sorry.” But I looked at him fully, and I thought of—
“Yes.”
I frowned.
“Like I told you before, I worry about her and I think about her. A lot.” His fingers tapped the steering wheel. “I like her. The girl is . . . well, she’s special.”
Probably a good thing Daemon was passed out while we were having this conversation. “She likes you, too.”
“I know.” He chuckled under his breath. “Dee’s not really good at hiding her thoughts. Actually, I don’t even think she tries. That’s one of the things I like about her.”
“And she’s absolutely stunning.” I grinned.
“Yeah, that has something to do with it.” His hands tightened around the wheel.
I folded my arms and returned to staring straight ahead, remembering the garden Dee and I had created around the front porch of my house. A sad feeling pierced my chest.
“We’ll get her back,” he said in a way that brokered no room for anything other than that.
Neither of us spoke for a long while after that, and I must’ve dozed off a little, because when I opened my eyes, Daemon was awake and dawn had broken.
“Where are we?” I asked, voice scratchy, so I reached for a bottle of water.
“Just crossed into Kentucky.” Daemon’s fingers found their way between the headrest and seat. He squeezed my shoulders as I looked out the window.
The highway was chock-full of discarded cars, slowing us to a near crawl as Archer carefully navigated the road. I was clenching the seat-belt strap each time we neared another cluster of deserted vehicles. The farther we went, the worse it got. The cars weren’t just left there. Many were destroyed.
Daemon suddenly gripped my shoulders from behind. “Don’t look, Kitten.”
But it was too late. As we eased around a burned-out minivan, I had to, because there was something so innate, so human, that demanded you watch when everything inside of you was screaming no.
The van had been torched, most likely with the Source, but unlike the other ones I’d seen or could see, the van wasn’t empty. Oh God, no, it wasn’t empty at all.
There were four forms in the van. Two up front and two in the back. One was twisted over the steering wheel, the other pressed against the passenger door as if it had desperately tried to get out but had run out of time. The bodies in the back . . . oh God, they were small, so tiny.
All of them were burned beyond recognition.
And it wasn’t the only car like that. One after another, the vehicles were torched, and there were bodies inside.
Horrified, I pressed my hand against my throat like I was trying to stop the bile from rising. Out of everything I’d seen, this was the worst. This was horrific. Emotion swamped me, tightening my chest.
“Kitten,” Daemon said softly, tugging on my shoulders. “Kat. Stop.”
I forced myself to avert my gaze, and I saw a muscle pounding along Archer’s jaw. Daemon had his hand on my cheek as he passed Archer a dark glare. “Can we get around these cars a little faster?”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” he replied. “Unless you want to take this Explorer off road, and I’m not sure how smart of an—”
“Crap.” Daemon suddenly withdrew his hand as he narrowed his gaze on the congested road ahead.
Archer cursed.
I stiffened. “What?” When no one answered, I about bounced in my seat. “What?”
“I feel it,” Archer said.
The only thing I felt was rising confusion and irritation. “I swear to God if you guys don’t share, I’m going to punch both of you.”
A wry smile twisted Daemon’s lips. “There are Luxen nearby.”
Oh no.
I leaned forward, planting my hands against the dashboard. Up ahead, there was an empty lane in the four-lane highway as far as I could see. “I don’t see anything.”
“You’re looking in the wrong direction, Kitten.”
My heart turned over heavily as I twisted around in my seat, peering out the back window. “Oh, holy alien butt crack.”
A huge-ass Hummer was speeding down the hill we’d just traveled, plowing through the wreckage of the discarded cars.
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re not friendlies.” My stomach tumbled over itself.
“What gave that away?” Archer asked, winging the Explorer around a truck.