Текст книги "Opal"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

“You’re right.”

Her body shimmered for a second. “Okay. Okay

all of that aside. If you had told me about what was going on with Blake, Adam and I would’ve known what we were walking into. We still would’ve done it-believe me, we would’ve gone into that house to help you-but we wouldn’t have been blindsided.”

My throat seized up. There was a stain on my soul, dark and cold. I hadn’t murdered Adam, but I had a hand in his death. Like an accessory after the fact. People made mistakes all the time, but most of them didn’t cause someone’s death.

Mine did.

My shoulders sagged under the weight. Saying sorry wasn’t going to smooth that over, not for her or me. I couldn’t change the hand of time. All I could do now was move forward and try to make up for it.

The anger seeped out of Dee as she watched me. Walking back to the window seat, she sat, tucking her legs against her chest. She rested her cheek on her knees. “And now you guys are making another mistake.”

“We don’t have a choice,” I said. “We really don’t.”

“Yes, you do. We could take care of Blake and whoever he’s told.”

“What about Dawson?” I asked quietly.

She didn’t answer for a long time. “I know I should be able to put aside how I feel about Blake for him, but I can’t. It’s wrong. I know. But I can’t.”

I nodded. “I don’t expect you to, but I don’t want things to be like this between us. There’s got to be a way

” Pride went out the window. “I miss you, Dee, and I hate that we haven’t been talking and that you’re upset with me. I want to get past this.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Tears burned the back of my throat. “What can I do to fix this?”

“You can’t. And I can’t, either.” Dee shook her head sadly. “I can’t fix Adam’s death. I can’t fix why you and Daemon think working with Blake is a good thing. And I can’t fix our friendship. Some things are just broken.”

Armentrout, Jennifer L.

Opal ( A Lux Novel)

Chapter 13

Lesa came over after school on Tuesday to help study for our bio exam the next day, which sucked, because the last thing I could concentrate on was schoolwork. Part of me expected Matthew to reschedule, since he knew what I had to do tomorrow night. I even suggested it on Monday after class, but oh no, no can do.

I rocked back in my computer chair, my barely read bio textbook in my lap. Lesa was reading her notes, and I was supposed to be listening, but I cracked open my advanced copy of a new young adult novel for my Teaser Tuesday post.

Typing up a quick post, I picked a couple of quick lines with an evil grin. ‘I was his power-up-the ace up his sleeve. I was the beginning and he was the end. And together, we were everything. ’ I hit post and then closed the pretty amber cover of the book.

“You are so not paying attention,” Lesa said, sitting up.

“Yeah, I am.” I wheeled around, fighting a grin. “You were saying something about cells and organisms.”

She arched a brow. “Wow. You got this in the bag.”

“I’m gonna fail.” I dropped my head back, closed my eyes, and let out a long-suffering sigh. “I just can’t concentrate. I’d rather read something interesting-like this.” I waved toward the book I’d just posted about and then to where I knew a whole stack of other books sat. “And there’s this thing I have to do tomorrow night.”

“Oh! What thing? A thing with Daemon, and if you say yes, please tell me that thing starts with an s and ends with an x .”

I opened my eyes and frowned. “Geez, you’re worse than a dude.”

Her curls bounced as she nodded. “You know it.”

I threw my pen at her.

Laughing, she closed her notebook. “So, what are you doing tomorrow that has you so distracted?”

There wasn’t much I could tell her, but I was full of nervous energy, and the need to talk about it snaked past my lips. “Daemon and I are going to this

club or something in Martinsburg to visit some of his friends.”

“Well, that sounds like fun.”

I shrugged. I’d already told my mom that I was going to the movies and, since she worked tomorrow night, curfew wasn’t an issue. What was an issue was the fact that I had no idea what to wear and the stuff with Dee had put me in a huge funk.

I popped up from my seat and stalked over to my closet. “I’m supposed to wear something sexy. I don’t have anything sexy.”

Lesa followed. “I’m sure you have something in here.”

There was a sea of jeans and sweaters, nothing like what Blake hinted at. Anger crept up my throat. With Blake being back in school, it was just messed up. He was a murderer-my lab partner was a murderer.

Queasy, I pushed a stack of jeans to the side. “Yeah, I don’t know about any of this.”

Lesa brushed me aside. “Let me take a look. I am the queen of smexy stuff. At least that’s what Chad thinks and, well, I kinda got to give it to the boy.” She flashed me a quick, saucy grin. “He’s got good taste.”

I leaned against the wall. “Do your magic.”

Five minutes later, Lesa and I stared at the items placed on my bed as if an invisible hooker was wearing them. My cheeks were already beet red. “Uh

”

Lesa giggled. “You should see your face.”

I shook my head helplessly. “Do you see what I normally wear? This-this isn’t me.”

“That’s the fun thing about going to clubs, especially ones out of town.” Her nose wrinkled. “Well, there ain’t any clubs here, so everything is out of town, but anyway, you get to be someone else. Let your inner stripper come out and play.”

I busted out laughing. “My inner stripper?”

She nodded. “Haven’t you ever snuck into a bar or a club?”

“Yeah, but they were on beaches and everyone was dressed for summer. It’s not summer.”

“So?”

I rolled my eyes as I turned back to the bed. Lesa had found a denim skirt I’d ordered online last year for summer, but it had ended up being way too short. Like barely-covering-the-butt short, and I’d been too lazy to return it. Spaced above the scrap of denim was a cropped black sweater I’d usually wear over a shirt or tank. It was long sleeved, so it would cover the scars on my wrists but barely anything else. On the floor was a pair of knee-high boots I’d gotten on sale last winter.

And that was all.

Yep, that was it.

“My butt and my boobs are going to be showing.”

Lesa scuffed. “Your boobs will be covered.”

“Not my entire stomach!”

“You have a nice stomach; show it off.” She picked up the skirt, holding it to her waist. “When you’re done with this, I so want to borrow it.”

“Sure.” And then I frowned. “Where are you going to wear it?”

“School.” She laughed at the look on my face. “I’ll put some tights on underneath it, you priss.”

An idea struck. “Tights!” I spun toward my dresser and started rummaging through my socks. I pulled out a pair of black opaque tights. “A-ha! I can wear these.” And a jacket

maybe a mask, too.

She snatched the tights from me, tossing them across the room. “You can’t wear tights.”

My face fell. “No?”

“No.” She peered over my shoulder and then grinned as she reached around me and pulled something else out. “But these you could wear.”

My mouth dropped open. A pair of ripped tights dangled from her fingers. “That was, like, a part of a Halloween costume.”

“Perfect.” She placed them on the bed.

Oh, dear Mary, mother of God

I sat cross-legged on the floor. “Well, I think Daemon will approve, at least.”

“Damn straight.” She flopped on the bed, her grin fading. “Can I ask you something and you answer it honestly?” Warning bells went off, but I nodded. She took a deep breath. “Seriously, how good of a kisser is Daemon? Because I imagine he just makes you-”

“Lesa!”

“What? A girl’s gotta know these kinds of things.”

I bit my lip, flushing.

“Come on, it’s sharing and caring time.”

“He

he kisses like he’s dying of thirst, and I’m water.” I smacked my hands over my hot face. “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

Lesa giggled. “Sounds like one of those romance books you read.”

“It does.” I started giggling. “But, oh Lordie Lord, it’s true. I’m like a puddle of mush when he kisses me. It’s embarrassing. I’m so, like, ‘Thank you, can I have another?’ Sad.”

We both broke into giggles. It was weird, because a lot of tension seeped out of my body. Giggling over boys was so amazingly normal.

“You love him, don’t you?” she asked when she took a breath.

“I do.” I stretched out my legs on a sigh. “I really do. What about Chad?”

She slipped off the bed and leaned against it. “I like him-a lot. But we’re going to different colleges. So I’m being realistic about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Chad and I are having fun and seriously, what’s the point in anything if you ain’t having fun? That’s my motto in life.” She paused, pushing her springy curls off her face. “I think I need to teach Dee that motto. What the hell is up with her? She still hasn’t talked to me or Carissa.”

All my humor vanished and I tensed up. I can’t fix our friendship. I had tried-really tried-but the damages I inflicted on our friendship had been irreparable.

I sighed. “A lot of stuff has gone on with her-Adam and with Dawson coming home.”

Lesa jumped on that. “Isn’t that the strangest thing, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird? You didn’t live here then, but Beth and Dawson were like the Romeo and Juliet of West Virginia. I can’t believe he hasn’t heard from her.”

Unease slid down my spine. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

Lesa looked away, chewing on her bottom lip. “It’s just weird. Like Dawson is way different now. He’s all sullen and broody.”

I struggled for something to say. “Well, he probably still cares for her and is upset about things not working out, and he misses Adam. You know, there’s a lot going on there.”

“I guess.” She looked at me sideways. “Some people have been talking.”

Instincts flared. “Talking about what?”

“Well, it’s mostly been the usual suspects-Kimmy and them. But so many strange things have happened around here.” She pushed to her feet and yanked her curls into a messy ponytail. “First, Beth and Dawson just drop off the face of the Earth. Then Sarah Butler dropped dead last summer.”

Ice coated my skin. Sarah Butler had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The night I’d been attacked by the Arum, Daemon had showed up and chased him off. Out of anger, the Arum had killed the girl.

Lesa started to pace. “And then Simon Cutters disappeared. No one has heard from him. Adam dies in a freak car accident, and then Dawson pops up out of nowhere, minus the supposed love of his life.”

“It’s weird,” I said slowly, “but totally coincidental.”

“Is it?” Her dark eyes gleamed. She shook her head. “Some of the kids-Simon’s friends-think something’s happened to him.”

Oh, no. “Like what?”

“That he was killed.” She sat beside me, her voice low as if people were listening. “And that Adam had something to do with it.”

“What?” Okay, I was so not expecting that.

She nodded. “They don’t think Adam’s really dead. No funeral that anyone could go to and all. They think he ran off before the police could figure out he did something to Simon.”

I stared. “Trust me, Adam’s dead. He’s really dead.”

Lesa’s lips pursed. “I believe you.”

I didn’t think she did. “Why do they think Adam had something to do with Simon?”

“Well

some people know that Simon tried something on you. And Daemon beat the crap out of him. Maybe he tried something on Dee and Adam snapped.”

I laughed, more out of shock. “Adam wouldn’t have snapped. He wasn’t like that.”

“That’s what I think, but others

” She leaned back. “Anyway, enough about this crap-you’re going to look hot tomorrow night.”

The conversation eventually went back to studying, but I had this icy feeling in the pit of my stomach, a piercing sensation. Like when you did something bad and knew you were about to get caught.

If people were starting to pay attention to all the weird stuff around here, how long would it take them to follow the clues back to the source of everything? Back to Daemon, his family, his kind, and to me?

Armentrout, Jennifer L.

Opal ( A Lux Novel)

Chapter 14

Martinsburg wasn’t really a town, but it couldn’t be called a city, either, at least not by Gainesville standards. It was on the cusp of growth, about an hour from the nation’s capital. It rested right off the interstate, nestled between two mountains-a gateway to larger cities like Hagerstown and Baltimore. The south side of the town was heavily developed-shopping centers, restaurants I’d give my favorite book for Petersburg to have, and office buildings. There was even a Starbucks, and dammit if it didn’t suck to have to drive past that. We were running late.

The whole trip started off badly, which didn’t speak well for how the night would progress.

First off, Blake and Daemon had gotten into it before we even made it out of Petersburg. Something about the quickest way to get to the eastern panhandle of the state. Blake said to go south. Daemon said to go north. Epic argument ensued.

Daemon ended up winning, because he was driving, which made Blake pout in the backseat. Then we hit a snow squall around Deep Creek, slowing us down, and Blake had felt the need to point out that the southern roads were probably clear.

Also, the amount of obsidian I was decked out in and the lack of clothing had me all kinds of twitchy. I went with Lesa’s choice in attire, much to Daemon’s happiness. If he made one more comment about the length of my skirt, I was going to hurt him.

And if Blake did, Daemon was going to maim him.

I kept expecting a fleet of Arum to arrive out of the middle of nowhere and knock our vehicle off the road, but so far, the obsidian necklace, bracelet, and knife strapped inside my boot-for crying out loud -had stayed cool.

By the time we arrived in Martinsburg, I wanted to jump from the moving vehicle. As we neared the Falling Waters exit, Daemon asked, “Which one?”

Blake popped forward, dropping his elbows on the backs of our seats. “One more exit-Spring Mills. You’re going to take a left off the exit, like you’re heading back to Hedgesville or Back Creek.”

Back Creek? I shook my head. We’d gone farther into civilization, but the names of some of these towns begged to differ.

About two miles off the exit, Blake said, “See the old gas station up ahead-the pumps?”

Daemon’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah.”

“Turn there.”

I leaned forward to get a better view. Tall weeds surrounded old, worn-out pumps. There was a building-mostly a shack-behind them. “The club is in a gas station?”

Blake laughed. “No. Just drive around the building. Stay on the dirt road.”

Muttering about getting Dolly dirty, Daemon followed Blake’s sketchy directions. The dirt road was more like a path cleared by thousands of tires. This was so shady I wanted to demand we turn around.

The farther we went, the scarier the scenery got. Thick trees crowded the path, broken up by rundown buildings with boarded-up windows and empty black spaces where doors once stood.

“I don’t know about this,” I admitted. “I think I’ve seen all of this in Texas Chainsaw Massacre .”

Daemon snorted. The SUV bumped over the uneven terrain, and then there were cars. Everywhere. Cars parked in haphazard lines, beside trees, crammed across a field. Beyond the endless rows of vehicles was a squat, square-shaped building with no outdoor lighting.

“Okay. I think I actually saw this in Hostel-One and Two.”

“You’ll be fine,” Blake said. “The place is hidden so it stays off the grid, not because they kidnap and kill unsuspecting tourists.”

I totally reserved the right to disagree on that.

Daemon parked as far away as he could, obviously more afraid of getting dings in Dolly’s sides than us being eaten by Bigfoot.

A guy stumbled out from among a pack of cars. Moonlight glinted off his spiked collar and green Mohawk.

Or getting eaten by a goth kid.

I opened the door and climbed out, hugging my peacoat close. “What kind of place is this?”

“A very different kind of place,” was Blake’s answer. He slammed his door shut, and Daemon about snapped off his head. Rolling his eyes, Blake stepped around me. “You’ll have to lose the jacket.”

“What?” I glared at him. “It’s freezing out. See my breath?”

“You’re not going to freeze in the seconds it takes us to walk to the door. They’re not going to let you in.”

I felt like stomping my feet as I looked at Daemon helplessly. Like Blake, he was dressed in dark jeans and a shirt. Yep. That’s all. Apparently, these people didn’t care about the male dress code.

“I don’t get it,” I whined. My jacket was my saving grace. It was bad enough that the torn tights did nothing to hide my legs. “So not fair.”

Daemon sauntered up to me, placing his hands on mine. A lock of wavy hair fell into his eyes. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I mean it.”

“If she doesn’t, then this was one huge time waster.”

“Shut up,” Daemon growled over his shoulder and then to me, “I’m serious. Tell me now, and we’ll go home. There’s got to be another way.”

But there wasn’t another way. Blake, God forgive me, was right. I was wasting time. Shaking my head, I stepped back and started unbuttoning my jacket. “I’m fine. Pulling on big girl undies and all that jazz.”

Daemon watched quietly as I stripped away what felt like armor. My jacket off, he sucked in a low breath as I tossed it on the passenger seat. As cold as it was, my entire body somehow managed to feel like it was on fire.

“Yeah,” he muttered, stepping in front of me like a shield. “I’m not so sure about this.”

Over his shoulder, Blake’s brows shut up. “Wow.”

Daemon whipped around, arm flying out, but Blake darted to the left, narrowly missing Daemon’s hand. Whitish-red sparks flew, lighting up the dark lot like firecrackers.

I crossed my arms over my bare midsection, exposed by the cropped sweater and the low-rise skirt. I felt naked, which was stupid, because I wore bathing suits. Shaking my head, I stepped around Daemon. “Let’s get in there.”

Blake’s eyes drifted over me quickly enough to avoid certain death from the irritated alien behind me. My hand itched to smack his eyeballs out of the back of his head.

Our walk to the steel door at the corner of the building was quick. There were no windows or anything, but as we drew closer, the heavy beat of music could be felt outside.

“So do we knock-?”

Out of the shadows, a huge mother of a dude appeared. Arms like tree trunks were shown off by the torn overalls he wore. No shirt, because it was, like, a hundred degrees out here or something. The guy’s hair was spiked into three sections across the center of his otherwise shaved skull. They were purple.

I liked purple.

I swallowed nervously.

Studs glinted all over his face: nose, lips, and eyebrows. Two thick bolts pierced his earlobes. He said nothing as he stopped in front of us, his dark eyes roaming over the guys and then stopping on me.

I took a step back, bumping into Daemon, who placed a hand on my shoulder.

“See something you like?” Daemon asked.

The dude was big-pro wrestler big-and he smirked like he was sizing Daemon up for dinner. And I knew Daemon was probably doing the same thing. The likelihood of us getting out of here without a massive brawl was slim.

Blake intervened. “We’re here to party. That’s all.”

Pro Wrestler said nothing for a second and then reached for the door. Eyes fastened on Daemon, he opened the door and music blared. He gave a mocking bow. “Welcome to The Harbinger. Have fun.”

The Harbinger? What a

lovely, reassuring name for a club.

Blake glanced over his shoulder and said, “I think he liked you, Daemon.”

“Shut up,” Daemon said.

Blake let out a low laugh and went in, and my legs carried me through a tight hallway that suddenly spilled into a different world. One full of shadowed enclaves and flashing strobe lights, and the smell alone was almost overwhelming. Not bad, but a potent mixture of sweat, perfume, and other questionable aromas. The bitter taste of alcohol was thick in the air.

Blue, red, and white lights streamed and dazzled over the teeming throng of undulating bodies in dizzying intervals. If I were prone to seizures, I’d be on the floor in a heartbeat. All the bare skin-mostly female-shimmered like the girls had been dusted with glitter. The dance floor was packed, bodies moving, some in rhythm, others just thrusting. Beyond it was a raised dance stage. A girl with long, blonde hair whirled in the center of the chaos; her slender body was short but she moved like a dancer, all graceful and fluid motions as she spun.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She stopped spinning; her lower half still swayed in tune to the beat as she shoved the damp hair back. Her face was radiant with innocence, her smile beautiful and wide. She was young-too young to be in a place like this.

Then again, as my eyes scanned the crowd, a lot of the kids were definitely not of drinking age. Some were, but the vast majority looked like they were our age.

But the most interesting part was what was above the stage. Cages hung from the ceiling, occupied by scantily clad girls. Go-go dancers was what my mom would’ve called them. I wasn’t sure what the name was now, but the chicks had on some kick-ass boots. The top halves of their faces were covered with glittery masks. All of them had hair that was all the colors of the rainbow.

I glanced down at the skin between my denim skirt and cropped sweater. Yeah, I really could’ve gone crazier.

Even stranger, there wasn’t a table or set of chairs anywhere I could see. There were couches peeking out of the shadowed sidelines, but there was no way in hell I’d sit on those things.

Daemon’s hand was firmly on my back as he bent over, speaking into my ear. “A little out of your element, Kitten?”

Funny thing was, Daemon still stood out in this crowd. He was a good head taller than most, and none of them moved like him or looked like him. “I think you should’ve gone with the eyeliner.”

His lips quirked up. “Not ever going to happen.”

Blake moved in front of us as we followed him around the dance floor, the fast techno beat easing off and another picking up, heavy on the drums.

Everyone stopped.

Fists suddenly shot into the air, followed by shouts, and my eyes widened. Was there going to be a mosh pit? A part of me kind of wanted to try that out. The angry beat may have had something to do with it. The cage girls slammed their hands against the bars. The pretty girl on the stage with all that blond hair had disappeared.

Daemon’s hand slid to mine and squeezed. My ears strained to pick up the lyrics over the screams. Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils

The yells picked up, drowning out everything except the drums.

The hair rose on the back of my neck.

There was definitely something up with this club. Not right

Not right at all.

We rounded the bar and entered a narrow hallway. People were against the walls, so close to one another I couldn’t tell where one body began and another ended. A guy peered up from the neck he was busy with, and his heavily kohl-outlined eyes met mine.

He winked.

I quickly looked away. Note to self: do not make eye contact.

Before I knew it, we’d stopped at a door that read Personnel Only, but the Personnel part had been scratched out and someone had written Freaks in permanent marker.

Nice.

Blake went to rap his knuckles on the door, but it cracked open first. I couldn’t see who was behind it. I glanced over my shoulder. Kohl Eyes was still watching. Skeevy.

“We’re here to see Luc,” Blake said.

Whatever the mystery person behind the door said didn’t look good, because Blake’s spine went rigid. “Tell him it’s Blake, and he owes me.” There was a pause and the back of his neck flushed red. “I don’t care what he’s doing; I need to see him.”

“Great,” Daemon muttered, his body tensing and relaxing in intervals. “He’s friendless as usual.”

Another garbled response and the door opened a little more. Then Blake growled, “Dammit, he owes me. These people are cool. Trust me. No bugs here.”

Bugs? Oh, another word for implants.

Finally Blake turned to us, his brows drawn tightly. “He wants to talk to me first. Alone.”

Daemon drew up to his full height. “Yeah, not gonna happen.”

Blake didn’t back down. “Then nothing’s going to happen. Either you do as he wants and someone will come for you, or we made this trip for nothing.”

I could tell Daemon wasn’t cool with this, and I hadn’t sat through the car ride from hell and brought out my inner stripper for nothing. Rising onto my toes, I pressed against his back. “Let’s dance.” Daemon turned halfway, eyes flashing. I tugged on his hand. “Come on.”

He relented and as he turned completely, over his shoulder I saw the door open and Blake slid through. A bad feeling settled in my stomach, but there wasn’t anything we could do now that we were here.

The drums had faded off, and a somewhat familiar song had started. Taking a deep breath, I pulled Daemon out to the floor, slipping around bodies as I searched out a spot. Finding one, I pivoted around.

He watched me curiously, almost like he was saying, Are we really doing this? We were. Dancing seemed crazy when so much rested on the information we’d come for, but I pushed away our reasons for coming here. Closing my eyes and drawing on courage, I stepped up to him, draped an arm around his neck, and placed my other hand on his waist.

I started to move against him, like the other dancers were, because in reality, when guys danced, they sort of just stood there and let the girls do all the work. If I remembered correctly from the few times I’d snuck off to clubs with friends in Gainesville, the girls made the guys look good.

It took a few seconds of stiffness to find the beat to the song and loosen up muscles that hadn’t really seen any action recently, but when I did, the rhythm of the music resonated in my head and then through my body, my limbs. Swaying to the music, I whirled around and my shoulders moved with my hips. Daemon’s arm crept around my waist, and I felt his chin graze my neck.

“Okay. I might have to thank Blake for being friendless,” he said into my ear.

I smiled.

His arm tightened as the beat picked up and so did my movements. “I think I like this.”

All around us, bodies were slick and shiny with sweat, as if they’d been dancing for years. That was the thing about places like this-you get caught up and hours go by but it only feels like long minutes.

Daemon spun me back to him, and I was on the tips of my boots, facing him. His head lowered, forehead pressing against mine, our lips brushing. A rush of power went through Daemon, transferring to my skin, and in the flashing lights, we were lost in this world. Our bodies surged with the beat, fitting together fluidly while others seemed to thrash beside us, never able to find the right sync.

When Daemon’s lips pressed more firmly against mine, I opened up, not losing the rhythm even though he was stealing my breath. My-our hearts were pounding, hands grabbing, clutching, his slipping over the curve of my back, and behind my lids, I saw a pinprick of white light.

Sliding my hands across his cheeks, I kissed him back. Static flowed, cascading off our bodies in streams of reddish-white light that was hidden under the flickering strobe lights, flowing over the floor like a wave of electricity. And all around us, people danced, either oblivious to the shocks or fueled by them, but I didn’t care. Daemon’s hands were on my hips, tugging me closer, and we were so gonna end up like one of those ambiguous couples in the hallway.

The music may’ve stopped or changed or whatever, but we were still pressed together, practically devouring each other. And maybe later, tomorrow or next week, I might be embarrassed by the PDA, but not now.

A hand landed on Daemon’s shoulder, and he whirled away. With a second to spare, I grabbed his arm, stopping his fist from saying hello to Blake’s jaw.

Blake smiled and yelled over the blaring music, “Are you guys having sex or dancing?”

My cheeks flared. Okay, maybe right now I’d be embarrassed.

Daemon growled something and Blake took a step back, hands going up. “Sorry,” he shouted. “Geez. He’s ready to see us if you’re done eating each other’s faces.”

Blake was going to get punched at some point.

Taking my hand again, I followed Daemon and Blake back through the snake-like bodies and down the hallway. My heart was still racing, my chest rising and falling too fast. That dance

Kohl Eyes was gone and this time when Blake went to knock, the door opened all the way. I followed, hoping my face wasn’t burning.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to find behind the door. Maybe a smoky, dark room with men wearing sunglasses, cracking their knuckles, or another big guy in overalls, but I wasn’t expecting what I found.

The room was large and the air clean, vanilla-scented. There were several couches, one occupied by a boy with shoulder-length brown hair tucked back behind his ears. Like the girl I’d seen dancing earlier, he was young. Maybe fifteen, if that, and he had holes in his jeans the size of Mars. Around his wrist was a silver cuff that circled a strange stone. It was black, but not obsidian. In the center of the stone, there was a reddish-orange flame and below it, speckles of blue and green.

Whatever stone it was, it was beautiful and expensive looking.

The kid glanced up from the DS he was playing on, and I was kind of dumbstruck by his boyish beauty. Eyes the color of amethyst locked with mine briefly and then went back to the game. That kid was going to be a looker one day.

Then I realized Daemon had stiffened and was staring at a guy in a leather chair. Stacks of hundreds were splayed across the desk in front of an icy-blond guy who was staring back at Daemon, brilliant silver eyes wide with shock.

The guy was probably in his early thirties, and my God, he was gorgeous.

Daemon stepped forward. The guy stood. And my heart sped up. My worst fears spread through me like wildfire. “What’s going on?” I asked. Even Blake seemed nervous.

The kid on the couch coughed out a laugh, closing his DS. “Aliens. They have this wacky internal system that lets them sniff each other out. Guess neither of them was expecting to see the other.”

I turned to the kid slowly.