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I cant leave you alone for two seconds, Kitten.
I sprung from the mess of clothing and threw myself in his arms. All of it came out in an incoherent babble of words and run-on sentences. Several times he slowed me down and asked me to repeat myself before he got the general gist of what went down.
He took me downstairs and sat beside me on the couch, his fingers moving over my bottom lip as his eyes narrowed in concentration. Healing warmth spread along my lips and across my aching cheeks.
I dont understand what happened, I said, tracking his movements. She was normal last week. Daemon, you saw her. How did we not know this?
His jaw tightened. I think the better question is, why did she come after you?
The knot that had been in my stomach moved upward, settling on my chest and making it hard to breathe. I dont know.
I didnt know anything anymore. I kept rewinding every conversation with Carissa, from the first time I met her up until she was out of school with the flu. Where were the clues, the red herring? I couldnt find one that stood out.
Daemon frowned. She couldve known a Luxen-known the truth and knew not to tell anyone. I mean, no one inside of the colony knows that youre aware of the truth.
But theres no other Luxen around our age, I said.
His gaze flicked up. None outside the colony, but there are a few who are only a couple years older or younger than us in the colony.
It was possible that Carissa had always known and we didnt. Id never told her or Lesa, so it took no leap of the imagination to think that Carissa knew but never told anyone. But why did she try and kill me?
Entirely possible that I wasnt the only person around here who knew what lived among us, but dear God, what went wrong? Had she been hurt and a Luxen tried to heal her? You dont think
I couldnt finish the question. It was too sickening, but Daemon knew where I was going with it.
That Daedalus took her and forced a Luxen to heal her like with Dawson? Anger darkened the green hue. I seriously pray thats not the case. If so, its just
Revolting, I said hoarsely. My hands shook so I shoved them between my knees. She wasnt there. Not even a flicker of her personality. She was like a zombie, you know? Just freaking crazed. Is that what instability does?
Daemon moved his hands away and the healing warmth ebbed off. When it did, so did the barrier that had kept the truth of everything from really breaking free and consuming me.
God, she
she died. Does that mean
? I swallowed, but the lump was pushing its way up my throat.
Daemons arms tightened. If it were one of the Luxen here, then Ill hear about it, but we dont know if the mutation held. Blake has said that sometimes the mutation is unstable and that sounded pretty damn unstable. The bonding only happens if its a stable mutation, I believe.
We need to talk to Blake, I said, and a shudder rolled through me. I blinked, but my vision blurred even more. I took a breath and choked. Oh
oh, God, Daemon
that was Carissa. That was Carissa and that wasnt right.
Another shudder racked my shoulders and before I knew what was happening, I was crying-those big, breath-stealing sobs. Vaguely, I realized that Daemon had pulled me over to him and cradled my head to his chest.
Im not sure how long the tears came, but every part of me ached in a way that couldnt by repaired by Daemon. Carissa was wholly i
The tears
they flowed, practically soaking Daemons shirt, but he didnt pull away. If anything, he held me tighter and he whispered in that lyrical voice of his in a language I could never understand but felt drawn to nonetheless. The unknown words soothed me and I wondered if long ago someone, a parent maybe, had held him and whispered the same words to him. And how many times had he done it for his siblings? Even with all the bark and bite he carried, he was a natural at this.
It calmed the dark abyss, dulled the edges of the sharp blow.
Carissa
Carissa was gone, and I didnt know how to deal with that. Or with the fact that her last act had been to try to take me out, which was so, so unlike her.
When the tears finally subsided, I sniffled and wiped at my face with my sleeves. The one on my right was charred from the energy blast and was rough against my cheek. The scratchy feeling poked a memory free.
I lifted my head. She had a bracelet Id never seen her wear before. The same kind of bracelet that Luc had on.
Are you sure? When I nodded, he leaned back against the couch, keeping me in his embrace. This is even more suspicious.
Yeah.
We need to talk to Luc without our unwanted sidekick first. He tipped his chin up, letting out a long sigh. Worry touched his face, roughened his voice. Ill let the others know. I started to speak, but he shook his head. I dont want you to have to go through telling them what happened.
I lowered my cheek to his shoulder. Thank you.
And Ill take care of your bedroom. Well get it cleaned up.
Relief coursed through me. Cleaning up that room, seeing the spot on the floor, was the last thing I wanted to do. Youre perfect, you know.
Sometimes, he murmured, brushing his chin along my cheek. Im sorry, Kat. Im sorry about Carissa. She was a good girl and didnt deserve this.
My lips trembled. No, she didnt.
And you didnt deserve to have to go through that with her.
I didnt say anything to that, because I wasnt so sure what I deserved anymore. Sometimes I didnt think I even deserved Daemon.
We made plans to go to Martinsburg on Wednesday, which meant wed be missing our second day of onyx training, but I couldnt think about that right now. Finding out how Carissa ended up a hybrid and in possession of the same kind of bracelet Luc wore was paramount. If I could figure out what happened to her, then there would be some kind of justice.
I had no idea what I was supposed to say at school when Carissa never came back and the inevitable questions began. I didnt think I had it in me to pretend to be clueless and tell more lies. Another kid missing
Oh, God, Lesa
What would Lesa do? Theyd been best friends since grade school.
I squeezed my eyes tight and curled up against Daemon. The aches of the fight had long faded, but I was weary to the core, mentally and physically drained. It was ironic that Id spent the last month avoiding the living room and now it would be my bedroom. I was ru
Daemon kept up talking in his beautiful language, a streaming melody, until I drifted off in his arms. I was only a little aware of him placing me on the couch and drawing the afghan over me.
Hours later, I opened my eyes and saw Dee sitting in the recliner, legs tucked against her chest, reading one of my books. A favorite YA paranormal of mine-about a demon-hunting girl living in Atlanta.
But what was Dee doing here?
I sat up, pushing my hair out of my face. The clock below the TV, an old-fashioned windup one that my mom loved, read a quarter till midnight.
Dee closed the book. Daemon went to Walmart in Moorefield. So that will take an absurd amount of time, but its the only place open that has throw rugs.
Throw rugs?
Her features tightened. For your bedroom
There werent any extra ones in the house and he didnt want your mom looking for one and finding the spot, thinking you were trying to burn down the house.
The spot
? Sleep faded away completely as the last couple of hours resurfaced. The spot on my bedroom floor where Carissa had basically self-destructed.