Fury and panic ripped into my skin, shredding muscle and tissue. I pushed it away, shoved it down, and shut it off as I raced across Petersburg.
Snow had started to fall as I burst through the trees, hitting the snow-covered access road leading to our houses. I saw Dee’s car, but she and Adam were nowhere near. Dammit. I knew they hadn’t listened. The thick, oily presence of the Arum was the first thing I noticed, and as I cleared the small hill, I saw two cars in front of Kat’s house.
Blake’s truck.
An Expedition.
Intense white light radiated from Kat’s living room, shining through the window. Energy shifted inside me, pulling me forward. In an instant I knew it was from Kat. How she was pulling the Source from me, I had no idea, but I felt it. The tugging motion didn’t weaken me nor was it unpleasant, but the fact that she was doing it sent me flying forward. I didn’t slow as I raced up the porch steps and threw open the front door, coming face-to-face with fleeing Arum.
In their true form, they appeared as if they were made of smoke and oil, their black tendrils crawling up the walls and smacking into the ceiling.
“Leaving so soon?” I said. “I’m offended.”
I shifted immediately, drawing on the Source. I took out the closest Arum with a blast, followed by the other. It spun up in the air, shattering like the ceramic bowl Ash had dropped. Inky fragments floated to the ceiling and faded into thin wisps.
What I saw in the living room enraged me.
Dee was on the floor. Her chest was rising and falling in shallow breaths. Lying beside her was Adam and he… Adam was gone. His nearly translucent form was still and no blood pumped through the network of silvery veins.
Adam was dead.
Raw pain lanced me, nearly taking my knees out from under me. Adam was a brother to me, and it was like losing Dawson all over again. The hurt twisted into a red-hot, deadly fury as I lifted my head.
I saw another Arum between Kat and me, and Kat…holy shit, she was in the air, her long strands of hair floating around her head. She was glowing a bright white tinged in red, like me. Her light pulsed, and mine flared in response as she drew the Arum closer to her.
We were two sides of the same coin.
Beyond the glow surrounding her, I saw the bruises on her, on her cheeks. I saw the dried blood around her mouth, under her nose. And I knew then that what I’d always suspected about that bastard had been true. He had been the one hurting her.
Tell me what happened, I asked, not speaking out loud.
The light around her throbbed brightly. It was Blake. He was working for the DOD the entire time, with his uncle. It’s Vaughn. Blake was sent here because they have the one who mutated him. Chris. They’ve been using him as leverage over Blake… She struck out at the Arum, pushing him back toward me. Vaughn was going to make some kind of exchange that Blake didn’t know about. Vaughn was going to let the Arum—Residon—take Adam’s—take his body and Dee. I couldn’t let that happen.
I’d heard enough.
Kat turned her head toward where Vaughn was trying to work the window open. When that didn’t work, he grabbed the floor lamp. Kat stopped him with a wave of her hand, whipping the lamp out of his hands.
The bastard Blake rushed past me and the Arum darted, shifting up toward the ceiling. Spinning around, I took off after both of them. Three forms streaked up the driveway—Andrew, Ash, and Matthew. I wanted to stop them. They didn’t need to see Adam like that, but there was no time. The Arum and Blake were getting away.
The Arum raced down the driveway. I hit him with a blast of the Source, stronger and more concentrated than the blow inside. All it took was one hit. The Arum spun into the air and then froze. A heartbeat passed, and then the Arum imploded, dark ash mixing with the falling snow.
Whirling around, I scanned for Blake. I saw him standing near Kat’s car, but then Vaughn launched out from behind it, stumbling to his knees. On his feet, he ran for the Expedition, ducking behind it with a gun in his hand.
Oh no, he was going nowhere.
I threw out my arm, flipping the Expedition in the air. It landed on its roof. Metal crunched and gave way. Glass exploded.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blake start to run. I crossed the distance in an under a second. His eyes widened when he saw me. He opened his mouth, but I caught him around the throat, cutting off whatever it was he was going to say.
I flipped him over, slamming him down on the hood of Kat’s car. I shifted into my human form. “You have no idea how painful I’m going to make this for you. Every bruise you gave Kat, I’m going to return to you tenfold.” I lifted him off my hood. The boy’s feet dangled in the air. “And I’m going to seriously enjoy this.”
“Daemon!” Kat shouted, running off the porch.
A gun went off. Once. Twice. A third time.