Oblivion

“For what?”

“For telling me about Bethany.” I smiled slightly.

“You needed to know. I would—wait. We’ve got one.”

Two headlights turned onto the street. It was at least the fifth car to hit the road, but this was an SUV. I squinted. “It’s an Expedition.”

The black Expedition slowed down and pulled into the driveway of a single-story home two houses in. The driver’s door opened and Vaughn stepped out, frowning as he lifted his gaze to the sky. My hands balled into fists. Another car door closed and a figure moved into the light.

“Dammit,” I said, recognizing the woman. “Nancy’s with him.”

“Well, you weren’t really pla

I shrugged. “Yeah, I kind of was.”

“That’s insane. What were you going to do? Bust up in his house and demand answers?” When I nodded, she gaped. “Then what next?”

“Another thing I hadn’t fully worked out yet.”

“Geez,” she muttered. “You suck at this whole spy thing.”

I chuckled. “Well, we can’t do anything tonight. If one of them went missing it probably wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but two of them would raise too many questions.”

They disappeared into the house. A light turned on inside, and then someone I guessed was Nancy passed in front of the window. The curtains were drawn closed.

“Huh,” Kat said. “Private bunch, aren’t they?”

“Maybe they’re getting some bow-chicka-pow-wow.”

She looked at me. “Ew.”

“She’s definitely not my type.” My gaze dropped to her lips. “But now I totally have that on my mind.”

“You’re a dog,” she said, a bit breathlessly.

“If you pet me, I’ll—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Her lips twitched. “And knock the i

Kat yelped, jerking in her seat. Her head hit the roof of the car.

“What?” I demanded.

“An Arum,” she gasped, digging the piece of obsidian out from under her sweater. “An Arum is nearby! You don’t have any obsidian on you?”

Tense, I sca

She stared at me. “Seriously? You left the one thing that kills your enemy in your car?”

“It’s not like I need it to kill them. Stay here.” I started to open the door, but she grabbed my arm. “What?”

“You can’t get out of the car. We’re right in front of their house! They’ll see you,” she reasoned, and dammit, I hated logic. “Are we still close enough to the Rocks?”

“Yes,” I growled. “They protect us for about fifty miles in every direction.”

“Then just sit still.”

Sitting still was not something I was a fan of, but I managed as a shadow moved up the street, darker than the night. I slowly shook my head. How did I not feel it? The Arum glided to the curb and drifted over the thin layer of snow. Its path became obvious. The Arum was going for Vaughn’s house.

“What the hell?” I placed my hands on the dashboard.

The Arum took form, dressed in a black jacket. His pale blond hair moved slightly as he walked up to the front door and pressed his finger on the doorbell. Vaughn answered the door and grimaced. His mouth moved, and I picked up a name, and then he stepped to the side, letting the Arum enter his house.

“Holy monkey balls,” she said. “That did not just happen.”

I sat back. Fury rose swiftly. “That did. And I think we’ve discovered how the DOD knows what we’re capable of.”

“The DOD and the Arum are working together? Sweet alien baby… Why?”

“Vaughn said a name—Residon. Read his lips.”

“What do we do now?”

“What I want to do is blow up their house, but that would draw too much attention.”

She pursed her lips. “No doubt.”

There was one person I thought we could talk to, that we could trust, because at this point, we had to talk to someone else about this. What we saw went beyond Kat and me. “We need to go see Matthew,” I said. “Now.”

Chapter 21

Bringing anyone into the fold was risky and could open up a whole new set of problems, but discovering that the Arum were working with the DOD wasn’t something I could keep to myself. That wasn’t smart. We were going to have to take this risk and see it through.

Matthew lived farther out than we should’ve attempted to reach in this car. By the time the vehicle crawled up his driveway, I was wondering if we were going to make it back in the Prius.

We climbed out and immediately Kat slipped in the snow. I grabbed her arm. “You fall and break something, I’m going to be irritated.”

“Sorry, not all of us can be as awesome—”

She squealed as I lifted her up in my arms. I darted up the driveway, shielding her face against the wind and snow. Once we were in front of Matthew’s door, I placed her on her feet. Kat stumbled to the side. “Could you give me a warning next time?”

I gri

“You’re insufferable,” she muttered.

Matthew opened the door, his gaze swinging from me to where Kat stood shivering, because of course, it was snowing and she didn’t have a jacket on. “This is…unexpected,” he said.

“We need to talk,” I said.

He eyed Kat for a moment and then led us into his living room. Matthew lived in a legit log cabin home. It looked like it had when he first moved here. Like no one lived there. Kat sat close to the fire, obviously needing to thaw out.

“What’s going on?” Matthew picked up a glass of wine. “I’m assuming it’s something I don’t want to know, considering she’s with you.”

Kat looked entirely unimpressed with the statement.

I sat beside her. “I guess we should start from the begi

“Oh, this is starting out good.” He swirled the liquid inside the glass.

Oh, he had no idea. “Katy saw Bethany yesterday with Vaughn.”

Matthew’s brows shot up, and then he took a long drink of his wine. “That’s not what I was expecting you to say. Katy, are you sure that’s who you saw?”

She nodded. “It was her, Mr. Garrison.”

“Matthew, call me Matthew.” He took a step back, shaking his head as he cleared his throat. “I really don’t know what to say.”

“It gets worse,” she said, rubbing her hands together.

“I know where one of the DOD officers lives,” I chimed in. “And we went there tonight.”

“What?” Matthew lowered his glass. “Are you insane?”

I shrugged. “While we were watching his house, Nancy Husher showed up and guess who else did?”

“Santa?” he said drily.

Kat laughed out loud.

I ignored that. “An Arum showed up and they let him in. Even greeted him by name—Residon.”

Looking away, Matthew downed the entire drink. He set the glass on the mantel above the fireplace. “This isn’t good, Daemon. I know you want to rush up there and find out how Bethany is still alive, but you can’t. This is too dangerous.”

“Do you understand what this means?” I rose, stepping forward. “The DOD has Bethany. Vaughn was one of the officers who came and told us that they were both dead. So they lied about her. And that means they could’ve lied about Dawson.”

“Why would they have Dawson? They told us he was dead. Obviously Bethany isn’t, but that doesn’t mean he’s alive. So get that out of your head, Daemon.”

Anger flashed through me. “If it was one of your siblings, would you ‘get that out of your head’?”

“All my siblings are dead.” Matthew stalked across the room, stopping in front of us. “You guys are all I have left, and I will not stand by and humor false hope that will get you killed or worse!”