Oblivion

Chapter 18

Days became shorter, and with each day that passed, the warm breeze swirling through the valley chilled. Leaves turned into bright shades of gold and red before sifting to the ground, a

By mid-October, Kat’s trace had completely faded. It had done so four days after our trip to the used bookstore in town, and I’d done what I told myself I needed to do.

With the exception of seeing her in class and whenever Dee had her over at the house, I stayed away from her. Of course, I still a

I was really begi

I knew she was spending more time with the girls from our class. Therefore so was Dee, and while it irked me that my sister was becoming more and more involved with humans, there was nothing I could do to stop that.

The reality was, unless she eventually moved into one of the colonies, she would always be surrounded by humans. She would always grow close to one of them. Hell, if Adam and her didn’t work out, she could end up…falling for one.

Just thinking about that made me want to punch a hole through the ozone.

There was one other thing that made me want to do that.

Simon Cutters.

The over-touchy jackass was getting on my bad side, and I might have lost my cool just a tad bit when he started talking to Kat in trig class. His backpack took a trip to the floor, and being the good guy that I was, I tried to warn Kat about Simon. That conversation hadn’t ended well.

Kat had accused me of being jealous. Me? Of Simon? Was she insane? There was no way I was jealous of any human. Whatever. If she wanted to help the guy most likely voted to knock someone up on prom night study, then it was her pla

Up until Dee had informed me between classes, with a downright devilish gleam to her eyes, that Simon had asked Kat to homecoming and she had accepted. Fire coated the inside of my mouth as my sister bounced away, so pleased one would think she was just awarded a lifetime supply of rocky road. Why would she be happy about that? Everyone knew how Simon was and no one, not even Kat, could be that naive.

There were more important things I could focus on, like if there was a new episode of Ghost Investigators this week or not, but when I spotted Kat walking all the way to the back of the parking lot after school, near the football field and track, I couldn’t let it go. “Kat!”

She turned around, squinting as a gust of chilled air blew the long strands of dark hair across her face. I approached her slowly, realizing that this was the first time in…in weeks that we were actually somewhat alone.

The strap on her bag was twisted, cutting into her shoulder. I reached out and fixed it, straightening the strap. “You know how to pick a parking spot.”

A moment passed before she responded. “I know.”

We walked to her car, and while she placed her bag in the backseat of her Camry, I waited with my hands in my pockets and tried to come up with a nice, non-jerk way of saying she needed to change her mind when it came to Simon. The “are you insane?” argument didn’t seem like it would be very helpful, but that was what my brain kept cycling back to.

Closing the door, she faced me. “Is everything okay? It’s not…?”

“No.” I shoved my fingers through my hair. “Nothing…uh, cosmic-related.”

“Good.” She leaned against the car, her hands clasped together. Her keys dangled from her fingers. “You scared me there for a second.”

When I twisted toward her, it left only a few inches between us. “I hear you’re going with Simon Cutters to the dance.”

Kat brushed a strand of hair out of her face. The wind tossed it right back. “News travels fast.”

“Yeah, it does around here.” I snagged the piece of hair this time and tucked it back behind her ear. My knuckles brushed against her cheek, and what felt like electricity danced from her skin to mine. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“He’s not bad,” she said, shifting her gaze to the people on the track. “He’s kind of nice, and he asked me.”

Kind of nice? “You’re going with him because he asked you?”

Her gaze sharpened as it returned to mine. She nodded as she fiddled with the keys. “Are you going to the dance?”

I hadn’t been pla

Her lips pursed. “Not really.”

“You shouldn’t go with someone just because he asked you.”

She glanced down at her keys, and I had the feeling she wanted to stab me with them. “I don’t see why this has anything to do with you.”

“You’re my sister’s friend, and therefore it has something to do with me.” My reasoning was total bunk.

And Kat knew that, because she gaped at me. “That is the worst logic I have ever heard.” Whipping around, she headed toward the driver’s door, stopping in front of the hood. “Shouldn’t you be more concerned with what Ash is doing?”

“Ash and I aren’t together.”

Shaking her head, she started walking again. “Save your breath, Daemon. I’m not backing out because you have a problem with it.”

Did she always have to be so damn stubborn? I cursed under my breath as I trailed after her.

“I don’t want to see you get into any kind of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” She yanked open the car door.

Catching the door, I arched a brow. “Knowing you, I can’t even begin to imagine how much trouble you’d get in.”

She glared up at me. “Oh yeah, because Simon’s going to leave a trace on me that attracts killer cows instead of killer aliens. Let go of my car door.”

“You are so frustrating,” I snapped. Although there were some cows around these parts that could probably take her out. “He has a reputation, Kat. I want you to be careful.”

For a moment, she stared at me, and I thought she got what I was saying. “Nothing is going to happen, Daemon. I can take care of myself.”

I was wrong. “Fine.”

What happened next could only happen to someone like Kat. I let go off the door at the same exact second she was yanking it back. “Kat—”

The door caught her fingers, and her yelp of pain was like being doused with cold water. Bright red blood appeared on her pointer finger, and the rest were a deep red. “Christ!” she squeaked. “That hurt.”

My hand was wrapped around her palm before I even realized what I was doing. Heat flashed from my hand to hers, and she inhaled softly.

“Daemon?” she whispered.

The redness faded from her bruised fingers. I lifted my gaze to hers. Our eyes locked. Her pupils were dilated in shock, and what I was doing sank in—what I had done.

I had healed her.

Dropping her hand, I gave a little shake of my head. “Shit…”

“Did you…is there another trace on me?” she asked as she wiped the blood off her finger, revealing completely healed skin. “Holy crap.”

I couldn’t believe what I’d done.

Kat hadn’t been seriously injured. Just a scratch and some sore fingers. She would’ve been fine. I swallowed as I sca

“No! It’s faint. No one will see it. I’m fine. No more babysitting.” Her eyes widened as she drew in a shallow breath. “I can take care of myself.”

Denials formed on the tip of my tongue, but she…she was right. Kat was a hundred percent right. I straightened, stepping back from the car. “You’re right. Obviously you can, as long as it doesn’t involve car doors. You’ve lasted longer than any human that’s known about us.”