What I wanted was wrong, way wrong. Kat had almost been assaulted, for Christ’s sake.
I clicked her seat belt in and then returned to my side of the SUV, turning the key. Reaching over, I kicked on the heat, then I clutched the steering wheel, damn near cracking it as I navigated my way out of the field strewn with cars.
We didn’t talk.
Thick, strained silence filled the inside of the car. I glanced over at Kat several times during the drive. Her head was resting back against the seat and her eyes were closed. I didn’t think she was asleep. Not when her hands were so tightly balled in her lap.
I had no idea what she was thinking, but if she was thinking half of what was going through my head, she had to be going crazy over there. Because I was still thinking about killing Simon. I was thinking about how Kat looked standing there, her eyes filling with tears. I thought about the front of her dress torn and how close…how close she came to something horrific happening. And I wanted to kill Simon more. I was also thinking about those moments when we first got in the car and how close our mouths had been.
I was thinking about the fact that I wanted to kiss her.
And I shouldn’t want that. I couldn’t want that.
Halfway to the house, I decided I needed to hear her voice, to know that she was okay over there. “Kat?” She didn’t respond. Her eyes remained closed, and I figured she was ignoring me. For some reason, I sensed that—
Then I felt it.
As if the air conditioner had suddenly been cranked on high, a blast of iciness slammed into me. My gut clenched. Several feet ahead, a black shadow formed in the center of the road.
“Shit!” I slammed on the brakes.
Kat jerked in her seat, her hands landing on the dashboard as the SUV skidded to a halt. A second later, the car turned off, engine, lights—everything.
Well, hell…
The shadow contorted, taking shape. Within a heartbeat, a man stood where the shadow had been. Dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket, I thought it looked pretty damn stupid wearing sunglasses at night. This one was identical to the one I killed the night at the library.
And he brought his brothers.
A shadow slipped from the side of the road, and then another. Two more joined the one in the center of the road. Three of them.
“Daemon,” Kat whispered. “Who are they?”
My vision tinted with a fierce white light. “Arum.”
Chapter 20
Normally I would’ve welcomed this throw-down, especially after dealing with Simon. I had some pent-up aggression I really wanted to beat out of something, but not with Kat nearby. I didn’t want her exposed to these creatures. They could kill her with a snap of their wrists.
Kat needed to get out of here.
That was the priority.
Keeping my eyes on the Arum, I reached down and yanked up my pants leg. My fingers brushed the leather binding around one end of the obsidian blade and I pulled it free.
“This is obsidian—volcanic glass.” I placed it in her shaking hands, wrapping her fingers around the fashioned handle. “The edge is wicked sharp and will cut through anything. It’s the only thing on this planet, besides us, that can kill the Arum. This is their kryptonite.”
Kat stared at me, shaking her head silently.
“Come on, pretty boy!” yelled the Arum in the front, his voice sharp as razors and guttural. “Come out and play!”
Such clichéd assholes.
Ignoring them, I cradled her cheeks, forcing her terrified gaze to mine. “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.”
Her chest rose and fell heavily. “Please don’t do this! Run with me—”
“I can’t. Dee is at that party.” I held her gaze. “Run when I tell you.”
Kat’s lips trembled, and I let my gaze soak in her features for one more second, committing the height of her cheekbones to memory, along with the bow shape of her lips and those endless gray eyes. Then I let go and opened up the car door. I rounded the grille on the SUV, smiling at the three Arum. “Wow. 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 center bared his teeth like a wild animal. “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.” My hands balled into fists.
The middle Arum tilted his head in confusion.