Onyx (24 page)

Dee and Adam were joined at the mouth when I sat down. I glanced at Carissa. She rolled her eyes, but I smiled. My sucky love life aside, I was still on Team Love Rocks. The only thing I honestly couldn’t deal with was my mom and Will making out, which I’d gotten an eyeful of yesterday before she left for work. Ew.

“You going to eat that salad?” Dee asked.

“It’s cute how you stopped kissing for food.” I laughed, pushing my tray toward her. “Hey, Adam.”

His cheeks were flushed. “Hey, Katy.”

“Sorry. I worked up an appetite.” Dee grinned.

“And I lost mine,” Carissa muttered.

Blake never arrived at the cafeteria, but Daemon had. He’d taken his seat beside Andrew and Ash. Against my will, I watched him. Daemon glanced up, holding a smoothie. He smirked.

Bastard.

I shifted my gaze to Dee. “How can you eat that? I swear the edges of the lettuce are brown. It’s gross.”

Adam laughed. “Dee can eat anything.”

“So can you.” She offered him the tomato on her fork. “Want some?”

“Okay.” I sat back. “If you feed him, I’m going to have to find a new table.”

“I second that,” Carissa added.

Dee rolled her eyes but relented. “I like to share. What’s wrong with that?” Then she looked at me, her expression hopeful. “I’m glad you’re eating with us…alone today.”

Uncomfortable, I nodded and focused on pulling apart my lasagna. I hated layered food, unless those layers involved chocolate and peanut butter.

Lunch and the afternoon classes finally ended, and I swung by the post office to pick up the mail before Blake came over.

As I was placing the junk and packages on the backseat, I caught sight of one of the black Expeditions parked at the edge of the parking lot, as if they’d pulled over abruptly and left the engine running.

It could be any Expedition
, I told myself as I closed the door, but a shiver danced down my spine and all the tiny hairs rose on my arms. Maybe I’d developed some kind of wicked sixth sense along with my alien mojo?

Going to the driver’s side, I kept an eye on the Expedition. Smoke plumed out of the muffler, choking the air.

Suddenly, the passenger door jerked open and I saw two people. Brian Vaughn, the DOD officer who owned the creepiest laugh ever, was leaning over the passenger, grabbing for the door. His mouth was a thin, angry slash as he groped for the door with one hand while his arm braced a girl against the seat.

Squinting, I took another look at the girl when I should’ve been climbing into my car and getting the hell out of there. The last thing I needed was for Vaughn to catch me peeping at him, but…I
knew
this girl.

I’d seen her face on a flyer, taped on the glass windows of FOOLAND. Her brown hair was pulled back tightly from her pale, elfin face. Her eyes weren’t dancing with laughter when she turned to the door, watching Vaughn pull it shut, closing her in…closing me out.

Her eyes were empty.

But it was her.

It was Bethany.

Bethany—Dawson’s girlfriend—was alive. And she was with the DOD. It sounded insane, and I went through every stage of denial as I made my way home, but it was
her
. That face had been burned into my memory. I paced the house until Blake showed up, stunned by what this could mean.

He took one look at me and frowned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I have.” My hands opened and closed at my sides. “I think I saw Bethany today with this guy from the DOD.”

Blake frowned. “Who’s Bethany?”

It felt wrong telling Blake about this, but I needed to tell
someone
. “Bethany was Dawson’s girlfriend. And Dawson was Daemon and Dee’s brother. They were supposedly attacked by an Arum and killed, but their bodies were taken away by the DOD before Daemon or Dee could see them.”

Understanding dawned in his eyes. “Man, I was curious. Every Luxen comes in threes.”

I nodded. “But if it’s really her—and I’m pretty sure it’s her—what does that mean?”

Blake sat on the arm of the recliner, turning the TV remote over and over above his hands…without touching it. “How close were Dawson and Bethany?”

Then it hit me. It all seemed so clear. The walls tilted a little as panic punched a hole in my chest. “Oh my God, Dawson had healed Bethany. That’s what everyone thinks. That she got hurt somehow and he healed her. And he could’ve changed—mutated—her, right?”

Blake nodded. “Oh, man…”

“And I bet Bethany is a nickname for Elizabeth and… And what did that girl look like—the one who told you about the DOD named Liz?”

His brows rose. “She had brown hair, a little darker than yours. Kind of sharp features, but really pretty.”

It all started to click together. “This is insane. How would the DOD have known about her? She and Dawson disappeared just a couple of days after whatever happened between them, unless…unless someone who suspected that Bethany had been healed told the DOD.” My stomach tumbled over as I pulled my hair back into a messy twist. “Who would do that? One of the Luxen?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past the DOD to have Luxen who are the eyes and ears for them,” he said, rubbing his brow. “Man, that sucks.”

Suck didn’t even cover it. That meant someone close to the Blacks had most likely betrayed them in the worst way. Anger whipped through me. I turned just as the curtains billowed out as if a rush of air had entered the room. A small cyclone of books and magazines moved through the living room, spinning and spinning.

“Whoa, simmer down, Storm.”

I blinked and the cyclone fell apart. Sighing, I picked up the books and magazines now scattered around the room. My pulse thrummed in my ears as my mind raced through what I’d discovered. “If the DOD has Beth, then what did they do with Dawson? Do you think he’s still alive?”

Hope sparked with that idea. If Dawson was alive, that would… It would be like my father still being alive. My life would change. Daemon’s and Dee’s lives would change for the better. They’d be a family again…

Blake grasped my arm gently, turning me toward him. “I know what you’re thinking. How wonderful it would be for him to still be alive, but Katy, the DOD doesn’t want Dawson. They wanted Bethany. And they’d do
anything
to get control of mutated humans. If the DOD told his family he was dead…”

“But you don’t know if they told the truth,” I protested.

“Why would they keep him alive, Katy? If that really is Liz—Beth—then they have what they want. Dawson would be dead.”

I couldn’t believe that. There was a chance he was alive, and there was no way I could live with myself without telling Daemon and Dee.

“Katy, he can’t be alive. They are ruthless,” he persisted, and his grip tightened on my arm. “You do understand that, right?” He shook my arm. Hard. “Do you?”

Surprised by his doggedness, I lifted my chin. My eyes met his, and there was something wrong in his, a quality that was slightly off and scary, like when he’d smiled and threw the knife at my head. Ice trickled through my veins.

“Yeah, I understand. It probably wasn’t even her.” I swallowed, forcing a smile. “Blake, can you let go of my arm? You’re hurting me.”

He blinked and then seemed to realize he’d been squeezing my arm. He let go and choked out a laugh. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you getting your hopes up and being let down. Or doing something crazy.”

“No, my hopes aren’t up.” Rubbing my arm, I backed up. “And what could I do, anyway? I’d never tell Daemon or Dee if I wasn’t sure.”

Relieved, he smiled. “Good. Let’s start training.”

Nodding, I dropped the subject and hoped Blake forgot about it. Our training consisted of freezing things, and as soon as he left, I rushed to grab my cell. It was near midnight, but I texted Daemon anyway.

Can u come over?

I waited ten minutes before I texted him again.

This is important!!!

Another ten minutes went by, and I was starting to feel like I was one of those psychotic girlfriends who texted the crap out of guys until they responded. Damn him. Cursing, I sent him one more text.

Its abt Dawson.

Not even a minute later, I felt the rush of warmth on my neck. Stomach tumbling and twisting, I answered the door. “Daemon…” My words died off and my eyes widened. I must’ve woken him up, because…

No shirt. Again.

It had to be below thirty degrees outside, but he was standing in front of me in flannel pajama bottoms and nothing else but glorious, perfectly formed skin stretched taut over hard muscle. I hadn’t forgotten what he’d looked like shirtless, but my memory had not served him one bit of justice.

Daemon stepped inside, eyes wide and luminous. “What about Dawson?”

I shut the door, heart racing. What if telling him was a mistake? What if Dawson was dead? I’d just be screwing up Daemon’s life even more. Maybe I should’ve listened to Blake.

“Kat,” Daemon snapped, impatient.

“Sorry.” I moved past him, careful not to touch any of his exposed skin, and went into the living room. Popping in front of me, he planted his hands on his hips. I took a deep breath. “I saw Bethany today.”

Daemon’s head jerked to the side and he blinked once, then twice.
“What?”

“Dawson’s girl—”

“I know what you said,” he interrupted me, dragging both hands through his tousled hair. For a moment I was a bit distracted by the way the muscles in his arms and shoulders rippled.
Focus
. “How can you be sure it was her, Kat? You’ve never seen her.”

“I’ve seen her missing person’s flyer. It’s a face I can’t forget.” I sat down, rubbing my hands over my knees. “It was her.”

“Holy shit...” Daemon sat beside me on the couch, dropping his hands between his legs. “Where did you see her?”

I watched the confusion lining his face and I wanted nothing more than to comfort him somehow. “At the post office after school.”

“
And you waited until now to tell me?” Before I could answer, he laughed under his breath. “Because you were training with Bilbo Baggins and you had to wait until he left to talk to me?”

Squeezing my knees, I jerked my chin. Daemon should’ve been the first person I went to. Being shocked by what I saw and the training sessions weren’t nearly as important or a good enough excuse. “I’m sorry, but I’m telling you now.”

He nodded curtly and returned to staring at the Christmas tree. It seemed like forever ago that we’d put it up. “Man, I don’t…I don’t even know what to say. Beth’s alive?”

I nodded, pressing my lips together. “Daemon, I saw her with Brian Vaughn. She’s with the DOD. They’d pulled over on the side of the road and the car door had opened. That’s how I saw them. He was closing the door and he looked angry.”

Daemon slowly twisted his head toward me, and our gazes locked. Time stretched. An array of emotions went through his eyes, turning them from a bright green to a dark, stormy color. I saw the moment he knew what I was getting at—the second that his entire world came crumbling down and was rebuilt within seconds.

Suspecting that Dawson had healed Bethany, and then jumping to Dawson and Bethany disappearing because of the DOD rather than the Arum wasn’t a hard leap to make. Not after discovering that by healing me, Daemon had also changed me. Then you throw Blake into the mix, plus everything he’d told us about the DOD and their search for mutated humans.

Daemon was smart.

He shot to his feet and within seconds, he was out of his human form and blinding me. His light flared a shade of red-white as he pinged across the room. Wind picked up, stirring the bulbs on the Christmas tree.
She was with the DOD?
His voice whispered to me, tight with fury.
The DOD is responsible for this?

Hearing Daemon’s voice in my head always took me a few seconds to get accustomed to, and out of habit I answered verbally. “I don’t know, Daemon, but that’s not the worst part of this. How would the DOD know what happened between Dawson and Bethany unless…?”

Unless someone told them?
His light pulsed and a blast of heat filled the room.
But Dawson didn’t even tell me he’d healed her or that anything happened. How would anyone know? Unless someone had seen them other than me, suspected what happened, and betrayed us…

I nodded, not even sure if he was looking at me or not. All I could see was his form, no features, no eyes. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. It had to be someone who knew, and that probably really limits the pool of suspects.”

Several moments passed and the temperature in the room continued to rise.
I need to know who betrayed us. Then I’ll make them wish they’d never landed on this planet.

Eyes wide, I stood and pushed up the sleeves of my sweater. Swallowing, I took a chance.
Daemon?

His light flickered.
I hear you.

More proof that our connection hadn’t gone anywhere.
I know you’re hell-bent on revenge, but most importantly, what if Dawson is still alive?

Daemon drifted over to me, and tiny beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.
Then I don’t know if I should be happy or sad. He’d be alive, but where? The DOD has him, and if that’s the case, what kind of life has he had? For two years?
His next words sounded choked, even within my mind.
What have they been doing to him?

Tears filled my eyes, blurring his light.
I’m sorry, Daemon. I’m really sorry. But if he’s alive, then he’s alive.
I reached out, placing my hand through the light, touching his chest. The light pulsed erratically then calmed. My fingers hummed.
That’s got to mean something, right?

Yes, yes it does.
Then he stepped back, and a second later he was in his human form. “I need to find out if my brother is alive—and if he’s not…” He looked away, jaw working. “I need to know how and why he died. It’s obvious why they would want Beth, but my brother?”

I sat back down, wiping my palm over my forehead. “I don’t know—” Daemon grasped my hand so quickly, I gasped. “What are you doing?”

He turned my hand over, his brows furrowing. “What is this?”

“Huh?” I glanced down, and my heart stuttered. A deep, purplish bruise circled my wrist, right where Blake had grabbed me earlier. “It’s nothing,” I said quickly. “I banged my arm into the counter earlier.”

His eyes lifted, piercing mine. “Are you sure that’s what happened, because I swear if it’s not, you tell me and
that problem
will be solved.”

I forced a laugh and an eye roll for extra benefit. There was no doubt in my mind that Daemon would do something terrible to Blake even though it was an accident. There were no shades of gray with him. “Yes, Daemon, that’s all that happened. Geez.”

Studying me, he backed up and sat on the couch. Several moments passed. “Don’t tell Dee about this, okay? Not until we get some leads or something. I don’t want her knowing anything until we know for sure.”

Great. One more lie, but I could understand why. “How are you going to get leads?”

“You said you saw Bethany with Vaughn, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, I happen to know where he lives. And he probably knows where Beth is and what happened to Dawson.”

“How do you know where he lives?”

He smiled, a bit evilly. “I have my ways.”

A new panic dug in with icy fingers. “Wait. Oh no, you can’t go after him. That’s insane and dangerous!”

Daemon arched a coal-black brow. “As if you care what happens to me, Kitten.”

My mouth dropped open. “I do care, jerk-face! Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

Watching me a few seconds, his smile turned sad. “I won’t make promises I know I’ll break.”

“Argh! You’re so freaking frustrating. I didn’t tell you so you’d go off and do something stupid.”

“I’m not going to do anything stupid. And even if what I plan is risky and insane, it’s a well-thought-out level of stupidity.”