DAEMONEUM

by Laney McMann

  “Right …”

  “And Araneum means spider’s web in Latin.”

  “Yes.” He glanced down at their hands, side by side, his lines clearly larger than Kade’s now.

  She pushed his long sleeve up to his elbow where the lines traveled up his forearm. “They aren’t identical anymore.” Every inch or two there were solid, defined red dots.

  Cole nodded, knowing that.

  “Maybe this was a map of underground Britain and maybe it did lead to the Araneum—maybe it still would lead us there—I don’t know, but you told me the electromagnetic field that surrounds the planet resembled a net, and everywhere the loops of the net met, those were the Leyline gates. Just like a spider’s web.”

  Cole let out a breath, staring at their hands. “It’s the magnetic grid. That’s why it looked familiar,” he said under his breath.

  “Yeah,” Kade nodded, “smaller scale. I think it is.”

  “What does that mean?” Danny stared.

  “The Nexus is transforming,” Cole said. “Is this what the Shadow outside of Crystalline meant? The lines on our hands—which are a depiction of the magnetic grid—are moving—transforming.”

  Danny lifted a brow.

  “Positive and negative energy. The egg and the snake,” Cole mumbled to himself. “Just like the opposite poles on the planet. The Shadow said, ‘all Primordial will go under. Even the Primeva are not safe.’”

  “The moon,” Danny pointed at Kade, “and the sun,” he pointed at Cole, “align.”

  Kade shook her head. “It said the moon and stars align, right?”

  “What are stars but suns?” Cole glanced at their hands again. “And where are the Primordial born?”

  “The Celestial Plane. Stella Urbem,” Danny said. “The Star City.”

  Cole nodded. “And what necklace do we wear when we’re born? Primori?”

  “Astrum necklace.” Kade let out a breath. “A lodestar—the star that guides us home.”

  “Home. That’s why my grandfather was so adamant,” Cole said under his breath. He glanced at Danny. “Dracon said it to me. During the attack,” he whispered. “That he’d planned it. For me and Kade to meet. That was why he moved her here.”

  Kade eyed him. “What are you talking about?”

  “During the attack, Dracon said he wanted to bind you to me—to one of the strongest Primori—and he thought he was going to have to settle on Jake, but he was so glad that wasn’t the case.” He paused for a second. “He was giddy that you and I were dating.” He stared at Kade, reached for her hand, and held it open-palmed in his. “I think these lines mean you and I are the moon and the star, positive and negative, dark and light. We are the alignment the Shadow was talking about. You and me. And when we held the fusionem crystal at the same time, it reacted and combined us energetically in some way. And in the same way the fusionem crystal seemed to be able to ‘read’ and apparently memorize my avian knowledge of where the Araneum is located, and then transfer that information on to you for the Daemoneum to use, it’s reading everything else I know as well.” He gave a low whistle. “Son of a bitch. My grandfather was right. These lines are like a transmitter from me to you to—”

  “The Daemoneum,” Kade whispered. The revelation made her sick. “They’re sucking your knowledge through me.”

  Cole stared at her like he wanted to say something more, but didn’t, and glanced at Danny. “If that’s true, then the Daemoneum are always one step ahead of us. Which would be the reason we’ve found no traces of them anywhere but that pit. They just leave before we get too close because they know we’re coming.”

  “And set up traps if they think we might come back.” Danny eyed Cole again. “How are we going to get around that?”

  “Wait,” Kade murmured, “the Eldership.” She glanced up at Cole. “What if that’s what the Daemoneum want? Not the Araneum. What if they just wanted to see if the bond between us would work?” It made complete sense. “And it did, the fusionem crystal worked. It’s working. Maybe the sun and moon aligning means they want the Star City . . .”

  Chapter 10

  After going round and round with Kade and Danny for over an hour about the possible repercussions of the Daemoneum taking over the Star City, Cole didn’t seem to have the energy to deal with anything else. The more they talked it about it the less sense it made. There didn’t seem to be a point. Daemoneum wanted destruction. When it finally ended in nothing but the same arguments, Danny had left and gone upstairs to his dorm room in the Brotherhood.

  “Sorry.” Cole’s eyes were closed, his head resting on the couch. Kade wondered if he was really tired or just upset. Either way, she knew something else was wrong, and that he wasn’t telling her or Danny the whole story about the coiled ring or the meeting with his grandfather.

  “You can tell me, you know,” she said. “You can tell me the truth. I know you’re keeping something from me.”

  He turned his head and faced her, his eyes washed a soft blue-gray color. “I promise you I will tell you everything as soon as I know everything.”

  She let out a breath. “That’s fair.”

  “When’s Giselle getting back?” He glanced at the clock on the T.V. “It’s getting late.”

  Kade shrugged. “She stays at the Kinship and eats dinner, hangs out for a while before she heads this way. Plumb says it’s less suspicious if she’s seen there every day.”

  Sitting up with a groan, Cole leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m staying until she gets back.” He pushed to stand and wobbled, righting himself.

  “Cole? When was the last time you slept?” Kade stood up beside him, holding his arm, and recalled he had gone days and days with very little sleep keeping watch over her house before Dracon had been killed. She wondered if, with the discovery of her Astrum necklace well over a week ago, he’d gone back to keeping watching over her in the bunker hallway or something.

  “Uh … I’m not sure, really,” he said with a drawl. “A few days ago?” He took a step, and Kade steered him into her room where he collapsed onto the bed, clothes and all, and was overcome by the overstuffed white down comforter. “I’m fine, though,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “Lie down with me?” One eye peeked halfway open, and he smiled that cocky smile she loved.

  Damn, he was sexy. Half asleep, wide awake, stumbling, upright—it didn’t matter. She came forward when he beckoned her with his hand and lay beside him, nestling her head on his chest. His arms cradled her, and within seconds, his breaths were steady and deep, and he was asleep.

  You are the gift, my fledgling. The gift unparalleled. Just look at yourself. There is no one who compares. I can help you.

  Kade sat up in a cold sweat from her bed.

  Cole reached for her shoulder. “You okay?” His voice was heavy and slurred from sleep.

  She hadn’t meant to doze off, she’d meant to just watch him and wait for Giselle to get home, but there they were, cuddled together in her bed. A charge of heat thrummed in her veins and wiped the nightmare away. She turned and molded her body against Cole’s again without a word.

  “Guess that’s a yes.” He tugged her closer.

  “I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep. What if Plumb comes down here?” Kade asked, but she didn’t shift her position. She wanted him there.

  “Then I’ll move to the couch.” Cole kissed her forehead, sounding much more rested than he had when he’d stumbled from the living room and fallen in her bed. She kissed him back, but unlike his kiss, quick and sweet, hers was heated and on his lips. She could tell he didn’t expect it. His were eyes still partially closed from just being woken up, but his mouth yielded completely to hers, and the next thing she knew, Cole had shifted her on top of him, and she was straddling his hips. The kiss deepened. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, they were alone in bed, and so tired from everything that had been going on, but the sudden urgency between them was intense and palpable.

  Cole’s hand
s slid down her body and slipped underneath her sweatshirt, onto bare skin. Kade pressed her hips against him, kissing down his neck, and Cole let out a breath, blown-black eyes opening, staring up at her. His hands guided her hips in fluid motion against his, and Kade’s stomach dropped. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt, and she didn’t want him to stop. Their tongues met again, and he moaned against her mouth. One of his hands tangled in her long hair, his breaths ragged between kisses.

  “Sparrow,” he whispered, his hand firmly pressing her hips against his. “Mmm. Shit.” He let go with obvious difficulty and shifted her off him, rolling to the other side of the bed. “You are making me crazy.” He stared up at the dark ceiling, chest rising and falling.

  Kade was breathless, hot, and reeling. Was sex like that? If it felt even half that good, then—

  Cole shifted onto his side, braced by his elbow, and looked down at her in the darkness. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  No thoughts were coming to her—it was as if her mind had been wiped blank. The last time he’d said something like that, she’d asked him if he didn’t like it, and they’d ended up making out again. But Cole was staring at her with concern in his eyes, not the black fire she’d seen moments before and known was desire. This look was a worried one, the same fear she’d noticed before when Danny had been there. It knocked the wind out of her sails and cooled her body down. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, heart still hammering. “I started it.”

  “True, you did,” he conceded with a small smile. “But I wanted to finish it.”

  Her cheeks flooded with heat, her entire body burning, as she stared up at him and rolled over to his side of the bed.

  The edge of his lip lifted upward in a half-smile. “You are not helping my cause.” He traced her mouth with his finger and drew circles over her cheek.

  “Sorry. Should I stay on my side of the bed?”

  “I was hoping,” he said, still tracing soft lines on her face, “that we could do this the right way—when the time came. I want to do everything with you right.” He moved his hand away from her mouth and glanced down at the blankets. “Hiding out down here in the bunker, keeping you hidden, not even being able to hold your hand in public … I hate it.” He fell back against the pillows with a groan. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”

  Kade rested her chin on his chest. “It’s not ideal, I’ll give you that, but it could be worse. And at least we can be seen together at school now. We can eat lunch together. That’s something.”

  He pulled his fingers through her hair, still staring at the ceiling. “I want to kiss you at school, Kade. I want to put my arms around you and hold your hand, at school—not just act like I’m your friend while your newfound ‘protection squad’ of Primordial guys hit on you and I stand there trying not to kill someone.”

  She held back her grin and shifted his face over to see her. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Their gazes met.

  “You’re the only guy I want hitting on me.”

  “I … do you remember when Dracon … that night in the mine clearing, when he had you … and, you know—” he sighed. Kade knew he hated to talk about the night she was attacked by Dracon and Cole ended up killing him. She hated it, too.

  “Yeah,” she held her voice steady.

  “Remember what you said that night?”

  She gave him a shy smile.

  His smile back was just as shy. “We haven’t brought it up since.” His gaze stayed steady on her face. “Any reason why that is?”

  “I …” She didn’t know what to say.

  “Did you mean it? What you said?” He searched her eyes. “I know we were in the throes of near death, and sometimes people say things—”

  She put her hand on his lips. “I meant it.”

  “I love you, Kade.”

  Her eyes prickled. Being with someone like him was a dream she’d never really let herself have. This might not be the best of circumstances to find themselves in, but she would take it. All of it. “I love you.”

  He grinned and rolled on top of her, kissing her neck, and his fingers trailed across her throat. He froze. “What’s this?” All the playfulness in his tone was gone as he held the tiny star of her Astrum necklace between his fingers.

  “It’s …” Kade stared up at him, at the dark eyes that weren’t full of love and want, but anger, possibly betrayal, and had no idea how to explain. “I … just … Cole,” she sat up, “my parents gave me this when I was born—they had to have,” she explained in a small, apologetic voice. “It’s all I have left of who I was before … before I was Turned into what I am now, and I just thought …” she shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s all I have of them. No pictures—nothing. This is it. I’m sorry.” Her gaze lowered.

  Cole lifted her chin as he exhaled, his head tilted in the way she loved so much—like he wanted her to look at him. “I’m sorry. I thought … god, I don’t know what I thought. I’m really sorry.”

  “You thought I was wearing a necklace Dracon gave me.” She wasn’t being malicious when she said it, it was simply the truth.

  “I’m really sorry, Kade.” He shook his head. “It’s just … I don’t want to lose you.” He rested his forehead against hers. “And sometimes I feel like no matter what I do, it’s inevitable.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “The Eldership has summoned you. It’s easy for us to lie here together and forget that fact for a little while, but it doesn’t change it. And they might be our people, but they aren’t always kind—or understanding—not in situations like this. There’s an army of Daemoneum likely tracking you as we speak. And like it or not, right or wrong, a part of you belongs to their world.”

  “You do believe I’m a monster.” She held in the choke in her throat as she said the words.

  “No. Sparrow, no.” His eyes were glistening in the dark. “God, no. I think you’re an angel.”

  “With devil’s blood.”

  “Tampered blood.”

  Kade realized his eyes were wet.

  “I’m afraid,” he whispered. “For the first time since my father died, I’m actually afraid. What if I can’t stop what’s coming? What if no matter what I do, I still lose you?”

  “That won’t happen, Cole. I won’t let it happen. I’m sure once the Eldership sees I’m not a threat, they’ll drop this whole thing.” She’d been trying not to think about leaving—trying to stay focused on Cole and the issues at hand, but she wanted to cry. She couldn’t, though. She had to stay strong for Cole and for the Warden. “And then hopefully the Eldership will help protect me, too. I’m one of you. Where it matters, I’m still a Primori in my heart.”

  Cole’s arms wrapped tightly around her. “You are. Don’t forget it. But you’re not going to Stella Urbem,” he whispered. “We have to leave. I couldn’t say anything before with Danny here. He doesn’t know.”

  “Leave where?”

  Cole let her go. “The Warden is concerned that the coiled ring … I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you this, but you need to know.” He looked at her. “That ring may have the power to track your exact location.”

  “What?”

  “If that’s true, the Daemoneum could track you here to the Brotherhood—or to Stella Urbem—anywhere.” He lifted a brow. “And if they do want the Star City—and I’m not so sure about that angle—then following you there will make it easy for them. And if they’re able to read what I know through you somehow, then they’ll know where you’re headed. My grandfather figured that out.” He rubbed his forehead. “Whatever I know, you’ll know. Whoever has the ring can use it to connect to these damn lines on us. From me to you to the ring. We’re like a walking magnetic grid. I think it shifts when we move. The star and the moon have aligned. We are the map.” He stared at her. “The map to everything they want. And we are the guiding force leading these assholes straight to us. The Warden is having the Araneum moved, which is a
huge process. But it will lessen the risk of the Daemoneum needing you if they’d already found out where it was before Dracon died. The Daemoneum would likely have met us there if we’d gone looking for it with Danny and the others like we’d planned. And if you go to Stella Urbem, they could meet you there as well. They didn’t just need you—an Anamolia—they need me. A Primordial to feed information off of.”

  Kade’s brain was reeling.

  He let out a harsh laugh. “It’s freaking genius. I mean, think about it … how in the hell do we hide from someone who can’t be hidden from?”

  “We separate.” Kade glanced at him, and his jaw muscles hardened like steel cables. “That’s crazy, I know, don’t even say it, but … is there any other way? They can’t use your knowledge if we aren’t together. Right? And without you, I won’t know where the new location of the Araneum is, or Stella Urbem, or anything else they might want. Cole, they’re using me against you. They’re using our entire relationship as a means to an end.” She wanted to hit something. “We need to separate.”

  He stared at her, posture tense, eyes focused. “You’re serious?”

  “I’m the reason your entire race is at risk—yes, I’m serious. It’s one thing when we were talking about keeping me out of the hands of the Devil’s Children and rerouting the Araneum in the process, but it’s something else if my thoughts are being tampered with and I’m feeding the Deamoneum information without knowing it—and I’m being tracked to the ends of the Earth.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “Cole . . .” she glanced away. “Yes, I’m serious. Do I want to hide out somewhere without you? No, of course I don’t, but … this is insane. All of it. I’m the problem. I’ve been the problem since day one—your problem. Whatever I can do to actually stop being the problem, I want to do that. This is your life, Cole, and I’m steadily messing it up. The Warden was summoned because of me. If living alone in the woods somewhere will stop this—”