Oblivion

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  hooked my fingers around the back of her turtleneck. My fingers brushed the back of her neck, and she gasped, stilling.

  “And I think we were just about done,” Blake said, his eyes fixed on me. “Weren’t we, Katy?”

  “Yeah, we just need our check.” Under the table, Kat’s hand landed on my thigh. I liked where this was going until she pinched—pinched hard.

  I tugged on her turtleneck. “What were you planning to do after dinner? Was Biff taking you to a movie?”

  Douche Bag’s grin started to falter. “Blake. And that would be the plan.”

  “Hmm.” I glanced at his glass of water and idly curled my finger.

  His glass toppled over. Water sloshed over the table, spilling into his lap. The guy jumped up. “Shit.”

  My finger moved again.

  His plate of half-eaten spicy noodles slid onto the front of Blake’s sweater.

  Kat’s mouth dropped open.

  “Jesus,” Blake muttered, hands at his sides as he stared down at himself.

  Grabbing napkins, Kat’s glare promised death as she handed the napkins to Douche Bag. I smirked. “That was…really strange.”

  Face red, he glanced up from patting at his sweater and crotch. His eyes met mine, and for a second, something I saw in them sent my instinct flaring. Something about those eyes wasn’t…normal.

  Then again, I had just dropped a glass of water and a plate of noodles in his lap, so his murderous stare was kind of expected.

  Quietly and with stiff, jerky movements, he brushed off the brown noodles. The waitress rushed to his side with several more napkins.

  “Well, anyway, I’m actually here for a reason.” I picked up Kat’s glass and took a drink. “You’re needed at home.”

  Douche Bag halted his movements. “Excuse me?”

  “Did I speak too fast, Bart?”

  “His name is Blake,” she snapped. “And why am I needed at home? Right now, at this very moment?”

  I met her eyes. “Something has come up and you need to check it out now.”

  She started to respond, and then she got what I wasn’t saying. She stiffened and then turned to Douche Bag. “I’m really, really sorry about this.”

  His gaze darted between us as he picked up the check. “It’s okay. Things happen.”

  “I’ll make it up. I promise.”

  He smiled. “It’s all right, Katy. I’ll take you home.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” I smiled, but there was nothing warm about it. “I got this, Biff.”

  Kat looked like she wanted to smack me. “Blake. His name is Blake, Daemon.”

  “It’s okay, Katy,” he said, lips thin. “I’m a mess.”

  “Then it’s solved.” I stood and Kat scooted out.

  Everybody was all kinds of happy as Douche Bag took care of the check and our awesome threesome headed outside. I waited, oh so patiently, when she stopped by his car.

  “I am so, so sorry,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t knock the stuff on me.” Douche Bag looked at me, and I raised my brows. “Although that was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. But anyway, we’ll make up for it when I get back from break, okay?”

  “Okay.” She started to give him a hug but halted.

  Douche Bag laughed and then leaned in, kissing Kat, and it took everything in me not to pitch him into oncoming traffic. “I’ll call you,” he said.

  Kat nodded as I walked to where I parked. Opening the door for her, I waited. “You ready?” I asked, and she stalked over to the car and climbed in, slamming the door. I frowned at her. “Hey. Don’t take your anger out on Dolly.”

  “You named your car Dolly?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  I jogged around the front of the car and slid in. The moment I closed the door, Kat hauled off and legit punched me in the arm. “You are such a jerk! I know you did the glass and plate thing. That was so wrong!”

  I held up my hands, unable to hold my laughter back any longer. “What? It was funny. The look on Bo’s face was priceless. And the kiss he gave you? What was that? I’ve seen dolphins give hotter kisses than that.”

  “His name is Blake!” She punched my leg this time. “And you know it! I can’t believe you acted like that. And he doesn’t kiss like a dolphin!”

  I snorted. “From what I’ve seen, he does.”

  “You didn’t see the last time we kissed.”

  My laughter ended with a quickness as I looked over at her. “You’ve kissed him before?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Her cheeks flushed.

  Oh man, a huge part of me wanted to point out that she yelled at me for assuming I was hooking up with Ash after kissing her when she, in fact, just admitted to doing what she accused me of. It took an act of God to make me not go there. “I don’t like him.”

  “You don’t even know him.”

  “I don’t need to know him to see that there’s something…off about him.” The car roared to life. “I don’t think you should be hanging out with him.”

  “Oh, this is rich, Daemon. Whatever.”

  I glanced over at her again, catching her shivering. “Are you cold? Where’s your jacket?”

  “I don’t like jackets.”

  “Did they do something terrible and unforgivable to you, too?” I turned up the heat. Warm air blasted out of the vents.

  “I find them…cumbersome.” She sighed loudly. It was rather impressive. “What was so freaking imperative that you had to go stalker mode and find me?”

  “I wasn’t stalking you.”

  “Oh, you weren’t? Did you use your alien GPS system to find me?”

  “Well, yeah, sort of.” I was so not about to tell her Dee had told me where she was.

  “Argh! This is so wrong.” For a second, I thought she was going to hit me again. “So what’s the deal?”

  I waited until I hit the highway. “Matthew has called a meeting of the minds, and you should be there. It has to do with the DOD. Something’s happened.”

  “What?” she whispered. “What’s happened?”

  My hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I don’t know, but I’m…”

  “You’re what?”

  “We haven’t heard from the DOD since before Halloween. That’s not normal, especially with all the energy we put out while fighting Baruck. Something’s up and I…I don’t think it’s good, Kitten.”

  When the Thompsons arrived a few minutes after we got back to my house, Andrew looked at Kat sitting in the chair and rolled his eyes. “Anyone have a clue why she’s here?”

  Kat sighed. Andrew knew Matthew had texted Kat needed to be here. He was just trying to make her feel uncomfortable.

  “She needs to be here.” Matthew closed the door behind him and walked into the center of the room. Dee waved at him in between shoving fistfuls of popcorn into her mouth. “I want to keep this little get-together short.”

  “The DOD knows about her, right? We’re all in trouble?” Ash asked, running her hand over purple tights.

  Kat paled. “Do they, Mr. Garrison?”

  “As far as I know, they don’t know about you,” he said. “The Elders called a meeting tonight because of the increase in DOD presence here. It appears something has caught the DOD’s attention.”

  Adam stared at a buttery piece of popcorn. “Well, what did they see? No one’s done anything wrong.”

  Dee set the bag of popcorn aside. “What’s the deal?”

  Matthew’s gaze circled the room. “One of their satellites picked up the light show from Halloween weekend, and they’ve been out to the field, using some sort of machine that picks up on residual energy.”

  I scoffed. So now we knew they were aware of what went down, but that was nothing in comparison. “The only thing they’re going to find is a burned patch of ground.”

  “They know we can manipulate light for sel
f-defense, so from what I’ve gathered, that’s not what caught their attention.” Matthew looked at me, frowning. “It’s the fact that the energy was so strong it disrupted a satellite’s signal and they weren’t able to snap any pictures of the event. Nothing like that has ever happened before.”

  I schooled my expression blank. “I guess I’m just that awesome.”

  Adam laughed under his breath. “You’re so powerful you’re disrupting signals now?”

  “Disrupted only the signal?” Matthew barked a short laugh. “It destroyed the satellite—a satellite designed to track high-frequency light and energy. It zeroed in on Petersburg, and the event destroyed the satellite.”

  “Like I said, I’m that awesome.” I smiled despite the tension creeping into my muscles.

  “Wow,” Andrew murmured. Respect gleamed in his eyes. “That’s pretty awesome.”

  “As awesome as that is, the DOD is very curious. The Elders believe they will be here a while, monitoring things. That they’ve been here.” Matthew paused and glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s imperative that everyone is on their best behavior.”

  “What do the other Luxen have to say about this?” Dee asked.

  “They aren’t too concerned at this point. And they have no reason to be,” Matthew said.

  “Because it was Daemon who caused such a disruptive burst of energy and not them,” Ash said, and then she gasped. “Does the DOD suspect we have more abilities?”

  “I think they want to know how it’s possible that he was able to do something like that.” Matthew studied me. “The Elders told them there was a fight among our kind. No one implicated you, Daemon, but they already know you’re strong. You can be expecting a visit from them soon.”

  I shrugged, sort of welcoming their visit, because their being absent was more worrisome than their being all up in my shit.

  “Katy, it’s very important that you’re careful when hanging around the Blacks,” Matthew continued. “We don’t want the DOD suspecting that you know anything you shouldn’t.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Andrew muttered.

  I faced him. “Andrew, I’m going to knock the—”

  “What?” Andrew exclaimed. “I’m just telling the truth. I don’t have to like her because you’re infatuated with the stupid human. None—”

  Shooting across the room, I shifted into my true form as I snatched up and slammed Andrew into the wall. Pictures rattled. Plaster probably cracked, but I was so done with the shit he kept saying about Kat, so fucking over it.

  “Daemon!” Kat shrieked.

  Ash jumped out of her chair. “What are you doing?”

  I thought I heard my sister say, “Here we go. Popcorn?”

  And then from Adam, “Honestly, Andrew needs his ass kicked. The DOD’s being here isn’t Katy’s fault. She has just as much to lose as we do.”

  Ash spun. “So you’re taking her side now? A human’s?”

  “This isn’t about sides,” Kat argued.

  Matthew shifted and placed his hand on my shoulder. When he spoke it wasn’t out loud. You need to let him go, Daemon. Now.

  He needs to stop talking shit.

  Andrew wasn’t saying a word now. I think he got the point.

  Daemon, please. Fighting among ourselves isn’t going to make this situation easier.

  I pressed into Andrew. Knock this shit off with Kat. I’m being serious, man. I love you like a brother, I really do, but I’m not going to tolerate this. No more.

  “None of this would be happening if you hadn’t shown up here. You would’ve never gotten the original trace on you!” Ash shouted, drawing my attention. “The Arum would’ve never seen you, and this whole messed-up chain of events would’ve never happened!”

  “Oh, shut up, Ash,” Dee shot back. “Seriously. Katy risked her life to make sure the Arum didn’t know where we lived.”

  “That’s great and dandy,” Ash snapped back. “But Daemon wouldn’t have gone all Rambo on the Arum if his precious human weren’t in danger every five seconds. This is her fault.”

  “I’m not his precious human!” she shouted, and Andrew flickered back into his human form. Matthew was still talking, but I wasn’t listening to him anymore. “I’m just his…his friend,” Kat said. “And that’s what friends do. They protect each other. Well, it’s what human friends do, at least.”

  “And it’s what the Luxen do,” Adam said. “Some just forget that.”

  Ash wasn’t having it. “I’ll wait outside.”

  In a few seconds, Andrew sidestepped me. I watched him closely. “Dude,” he said. “That was just wrong. Knock me around all you want, but I’m not going to be okay with her.”

  “Andrew,” Matthew warned.

  “What?” Andrew threw up his hands. “Do you really think she can hold her own against the DOD if they question her? Because of how close she is to Dee and you, they will ask her questions. And you, Daemon, are you planning to do a repeat of your brother? Wanna die for her, too?”

  My light flared brighter, and I was seconds from putting Andrew through a wall when I felt Kat’s hand wrap around my wrist. The touch in my true form jolted me. Calmed me.

  “That was a low blow,” Kat said, her voice shaking. “He doesn’t even deserve your ass-kicking, Daemon.”

  “She’s right,” Adam said. He moved to stand next to me. “But if you want to put him out of commission for the next week after that comment, I’ll help.”

  “Gee, thanks, brother.” Andrew scowled.

  Yeah, I wanted to knock him into next week, but what did that solve? Nothing. I shifted into my human form, looking down at where Kat’s hand was still wrapped around my wrist. A charge passed between us, a crackling shock. She let go.

  “This is the kind of display we cannot afford.” Matthew ran his hand over his head. “I think that’s enough for this evening. Both of you need to cool down and keep in mind that they are here. We need to be careful.”

  Everyone, including Dee, left the house. My sister wanted to make sure Adam didn’t murder his brother. Understandable. Kat and I were left alone.

  Thirsty and needing something to distract myself with, I walked to the kitchen. Kat followed, her voice soft. “I’m sorry about what Andrew said. That was wrong.”

  “It is what it is,” I said, grabbing two cans of Coke. I handed her one.

  “Still not right.”

  I searched her face intently for some sign of fear. “Are you worried about the DOD being here?”

  There was a pause. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Don’t be,” I said, even though she should be.

  “Easier said than done.” She played with the tab on the can. “It’s not me I’m worried about. They think you’re responsible for what happened—the crazy energy thing. What if they think you’re…a danger?”

  How could I answer that? “It’s not just me, Kitten. Even if I had done that, it’s never been about me. It’s about all the Luxen.” I looked away, wetting my lips. “You know what Matthew believes?”

  “No.”

  A cynical grin pulled at my lips. “He believes that one day, probably not in our generation, but someday, my kind and the Arum will nearly outnumber yours.”

  “Really? That’s kind of…”

  “Scary?”