Oblivion

“I know what you are,” Blake choked out.

“That’s not helping,” I growled, letting more of my true form slip through, just enough for him to see exactly what he was dealing with. “Try again.”

“I just killed an Arum, and even though you’re an arrogant prick, we’re not enemies.” A choke cut off his next words, and Kat grabbed both of my shoulders. “I can help Katy,” he wheezed. “Good enough for you?”

“What?” Kat demanded, dropping her hands.

“Yeah, see, you saying her name alone makes me want to kill you. So, no, not good enough for me,” I told him.

His eyes darted to her. “Katy, I know what you are, what you will become capable of, and I can help you.”

Oh man, this…this was something else. I leaned in to him, my eyes pure white and glowing. “Let me ask you a question. If I kill you, will these people unfreeze?”

His eyes widened.

I smiled.

Kat was beside me. “Let him go, Daemon. I need to know what he’s talking about.”

“Get back, Kat. I mean it; get the hell back.”

“Stop it,” she said, and then screamed, “Stop! Just freaking stop for a couple of minutes!”

I glanced at her, and Douche Bag took advantage of the distraction. He swiped his arm across mine, breaking my hold. He scrambled to the side, putting distance between us.

“Jesus.” He rubbed his throat. “You have anger management problems. It’s like a disease.”

“There’s a cure,” I said. “And it’s called kicking your ass.”

He flipped me off. Boy had a death wish. I started forward, but Kat darted in front of me. She placed her hands on my chest. “Stop. You need to stop now.”

My lips curled into a snarl. “He’s a—”

“We don’t know what he is,” she cut in. “But he did kill an Arum. And he hasn’t hurt me or anyone else, and he’s had plenty of opportunity to do so.”

I exhaled roughly. “Kat—”

“We need to hear him out, Daemon. I need to hear what he has to say. Besides, these people have been frozen, like, twice now. That can’t be good for them.”

“I don’t care.” I glared at the boy, wanting to turn his skin inside and out, and I think he saw that in my eyes, because he actually took a step back. “He’ll talk. And then I’ll decide whether or not he gets to see tomorrow.”

Kat swallowed and then motioned at the man in a fla

“Sure.” He flicked his wrist.

“…police,” Fla

“Everything’s fine. Thank you.” Kat spun around. “My car—if you guys can get along in such an enclosed space?”

I stalked over to where her Camry was parked and slid into the passenger seat. Kat got behind the wheel, and Douche Bag made himself damn comfy in the backseat.

Kat turned the heat on and then looked back at him. “What are you?”

“The same thing I suspect you are,” he said to her.

“And what do you think I am?”

I cracked my neck, keeping my mouth shut. Nothing I was going to say at the moment was going to move this conversation along.

“I didn’t know at first,” he answered. “There was something about you that drew me to you, but I didn’t understand what it was.”

“Proceed with caution when it comes to your next word choices,” I growled.

Kat squirmed as she wrapped her hand around the obsidian necklace. “What do you mean by that?”

Douche Bag shifted forward in the backseat. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were different. Then when you stopped the branch and I saw your necklace, I knew. Only those who know to fear the shadows wear obsidian.” Seconds ticked by in silence. “Then our date…yeah, that glass and plate didn’t just fall into my lap on its own.”

I snickered as my hand curled into a fist. “Good times.”

“How much do you know?” she asked.

“There are two alien races on Earth: the Luxen and the Arum.” He paused as I twisted in my seat. He swallowed. “You’re capable of moving things without touching them and you can manipulate light. I’m sure you can do more. And you can also heal humans.”

“How do you know this?” I asked.

There was a pause. “When I was thirteen, I was leaving soccer practice with a friend of mine—Chris Johnson. He was a normal kid like me, except he was super fast, never got sick, and I never saw his parents at any games. But who cares, right? I didn’t until I was goofing around and stepped off the curb, right in front of a speeding cab. Chris healed me. Turns out he was an alien.” His lips twisted into a wry grin. “I thought it was pretty cool. My best friend was an alien. Who gets to say that? What I didn’t know and what he never told me was that he lit my ass up. Five days later, four men entered my house.

“They wanted to know where they were,” he continued, hands clenching into fists. “I didn’t know what they meant. They killed my parents and my little sister right in front of me. And when I still couldn’t help them, they beat me within an inch of my life.”

“Oh my God,” Kat whispered.

“Not sure he really exists,” he said, letting out a dry laugh. “Anyway, it took me a while to figure out that when you’re healed, you take on their abilities. Shit just started flying everywhere after I was sent to live with my uncle. When I realized that my friend had changed me, I researched as much as I could. Not that I needed to. The Arum found me again.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The Arum in the diner, she couldn’t sense me because of the beta quartz—yeah, I know about that, too. But if we were outside of the quartz range, we are just like your…friend to them. We’re actually tastier.”

Tastier? My fist rested on my knee.

“When I realized how much danger I was in, I started training physically and working on my abilities. I learned about their weakness through…others. I survived the best I could.”

Instinct was firing off left and right. This guy happened to be healed by another Luxen, confirming what I suspected had happened to Kat, the whole changing her part, and he just coincidentally ended up here, in the middle of Bum Fuck, West Virginia? This wasn’t the only place in the U.S. that was protected by beta quartz. This was bullshit.

“This is all great, the caring and sharing crap,” I said. “But how did you end up here of all places?”

“When I learned about the beta quartz, I moved here with my uncle.”

“Awful convenient,” I murmured.

“Yeah, it is. The mountains. Very convenient for me,” he replied.

“There are plenty of other places packed with beta quartz,” I pointed out. “Why. Here?”

“Seemed like the least populated area,” he reasoned. “I couldn’t imagine there being that many Arum here.”

“So everything was a lie?” Kat asked suddenly. “Santa Monica, the surfing?”

“No, not everything was a lie. I’m from Santa Monica and I still love surfing,” he said. “I’ve lied as much as you have, Katy.”

He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He sank into the shadows inside the car. “You’ve been hurt, haven’t you? And healed by one of them?”

I stiffened.

Douche Bag sighed again. “You’re not going to tell me which one it was?”

“It’s not your business,” she said. “How did you know I was different?”

“You mean besides the obvious obsidian, the alien entourage, and the branch?” He laughed. “You’re full of electricity. See?” He reached between the seats and placed his hand over Kat’s. Static crackled, jolting us both.

My hand snaked out and grabbed his, throwing it back at him. “I do not like you.”

“Feeling’s mutual, bud.” He looked at Kat. “It’s the same whenever we touch an Arum or a Luxen, isn’t it? You feel their skin hum?”

She was quiet for a moment. “How do you know about the DOD?”

“I met another human like us. She was under the DOD’s thumb. Apparently she exposed her abilities and they swooped in. She told me everything about the DOD and what they really want, which isn’t the Luxen or the Arum.”