The Darkest Star

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  I sucked in a shallow breath, feeling a sudden burn in the back of my throat.

  I slowly lowered the camera and watched kids race back and forth from one playground set to another. Everything about them was carefree and happy. Innocent. They were lucky. None of them remembered that utterly all-consuming fear. None of them remembered what it was like to go to bed wondering what kind of world they were going to wake up in come morning, if there would even be a world. They had the freedom the rest of us had had the minute and second before our lives had imploded.

  The invasion had been so traumatic that I had a hard time remembering anything before it. I mean, I could remember things, but those memories were fuzzy and faint compared to that night the Luxen came and the days afterward. I’d looked it up once, to see if that was common, and it was. These kids, though, they’d never have—

  Stop.

  Closing my eyes, I forced a long, deep breath out. When I held the camera, I didn’t think. When I took a picture, I didn’t feel.

  Today was not going to change that and ruin it.

  Pressing my lips together, I shook it out—shook my shoulders and arms, wiggled all the way down to my butt planted in the grass. It probably looked weird, but I pictured all the fears and worries being rattled right off me, and it worked. I opened my eyes again, and the unwanted knot of emotion was gone.

  Once I got myself in check, I lifted the camera again, moving away from the playground and over the walkway. I started to get a long shot of the lake, but my attention was snagged. My finger slipped over the zoom button before I even knew what I was doing.

  Blue Mohawk?

  What the hell?

  It was the guy from the club. It was so him standing on the edge of the pathway, hands shoved into his pockets. In the daylight, his blue hair was even more striking against his pale skin. I bet he was a redhead. He wore a black shirt with some kind of symbol on it. Two snakes, mouth to end.

  What was his name? Kent. Yeah, that was his name.

  He turned toward the hill I sat on. Sucking in a sharp breath, I jerked the camera away from my face. There was no way he could see me. He was human, but God, it was almost like he’d looked right at me.

  I thought about the feeling I’d had in the school parking lot.

  Well, now I was being paranoid, because those two things had nothing to do with each other.

  I shook my head and then scanned the pathway down below. No Kent. Frowning, I craned my neck to see if he’d gone around the bend. It shouldn’t be hard to see him. He kind of stuck out. And what was he doing here? Yeah, this was a public park, but what was the likelihood of seeing him at the lake, especially when I’d never seen him here before, and right after—

  “Fancy seeing you here.”

  Instantly I recognized the deep voice coming from behind me. My stomach dropped at the same time my heart rate kicked up. Twisting, I looked up … and up some more. I nearly dropped my poor camera.

  Luc.

  He crouched so we were face-to-face. Somehow I’d forgotten how striking his eyes were up close. A purple so intense, it reminded me of the most vibrant of wolfsbane. “Surprised to see me?”

  “Yeah,” I said, checking out his wrist. Still no Disabler. Just that leather cuff and weird stone. “A little.”

  One dark brow lifted. “You probably thought you were never going to see me again. You probably even hoped for that.”

  I laid my camera down in the grass, figuring it was better to have my hands free at this point. “Honestly? After my mom pointed a shotgun at you, I figured I would never see you again.”

  He laughed, but it made every muscle in my body tense. “Yeah, usually that would deter people, but then again, I’m not like most people.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year.”

  Letting his hands hang between his knees, he nodded slowly. “True.”

  Mouth dry, I glanced around, but I didn’t see Kent anywhere. Actually, it seemed like no one was near us. Luc gave off this vibe, like an invisible barrier that kept people back from him. “I didn’t tell anyone about what I saw Saturday.”

  “I know.” His gaze flickered over my face. “I make you so incredibly nervous, don’t I?”

  Warmth crept into my cheeks. It was true. He made me nervous on nearly every level, even ones I didn’t quite understand, and the fact that he noticed this ticked me off to no end.

  I rose to my knees, meeting his stare head-on. “Yeah, you make me nervous.”

  “Because you think I’m a Luxen?”

  “It has nothing to do with what you are.” I pressed my palms into my thighs. “You make me nervous because the last time I saw you, you unlocked the door and entered my house without permission, and before that, you tried to kidnap me.”

  “We’re still disagreeing on what kidnapping involves, I see.”

  “You tried to kidnap me, Luc.”

  “Hmm,” he murmured. “That means I like you.”

  I arched a brow. “Okay. That’s messed up on about a thousand different levels.”

  “Probably. I don’t people well.”

  “Gee, really,” I replied dryly.

  He seemed to consider that for a moment and then said, “I have good reasons for why I thought it would be better for you to stay there.”

  Both of my brows lifted now. “And I’m sure most serial killers have ‘good reasons’ for cutting up their victims and eating them too.”

  Luc’s lips twitched. “That’s a bit extreme.”

  “You’re a bit extreme.”

  His gaze lowered, his thick lashes shielding his eyes. “You’re a bright girl. I know that. You saw more than one Luxen without a Disabler. You also saw frightened Luxen hidden. You were there when we were raided. I know you can put two and two together.” Those lashes lifted. “Obviously that knowledge you possess is dangerous, and it requires me to be a bit extreme to protect what I’m doing.”

  As much as I hated to admit it even to myself, I understood. Reluctantly. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Besides … hiding them?”

  He gave a little shake of his head. “You’re not ready for that.” A sigh shuddered through him. “I’m not ready for that.”

  That didn’t make much sense. “Why?”

  “Because I can’t trust you. Not like that.”

  I was kind of offended by that. “We’re talking about trust? When you entered my locked home and proceeded to melt a shotgun barrel with your bare hands?”

  A small grin appeared on his lips. “I did do that.”

  I gaped at him. “And I’m also pretty sure the last time I saw you illegally in my house, I tried to knock your head off with a candleholder, so I would think you’d realize I didn’t want to see you.”

  Luc laughed.

  Anger rushed over the confusion and fear, squelching out the nervousness. “Do you think I’m funny?” I demanded.

  “Well.” His gaze moved to the sky like he was really thinking hard about this. The sun glanced off his angular cheekbones, creating shadowy hollows under them, and my fingers itched to capture the moment with my camera. “Yeah, I kind of do think you’re funny.”

  “Well, I don’t think you’re funny,” I snapped. “At all.”

  He arched a brow again, and when he spoke, there was a playful quality in his tone. “If I thought everyone who wanted to knock my head off didn’t want to be my friend, then I’d be friendless.”

  My jaw clenched down. “Wow. That’s something to be proud of.”

  “I like to think so.” The curve of his smile said he knew how much he was getting to me. “You take pictures?”

  I almost answered his question. The “yes” was burning on the tip of my tongue, but I shut that right down. “Why are you here?”

  “I just happened to be around and I saw you.”

  “Oh, just like you happened to be outside my house on Sunday and you just happened to have my ID with you? Which, by the way, you could’ve given back to me on Saturday
.”

  “Yeah.” He bit down on his lower lip, and it was ridiculous how much that drew my attention, so I forced my gaze up. “How much trouble did you get in for that?”

  “A lot,” I gritted out.

  “Not exactly surprised.” He focused on the lake. “Sylvia is … she’s a hard-core woman.”

  It was still super-weird that he knew my parents. Part of me knew I should get up and get the hell away from him, but nope. I was still perched on my knees. For some reason, as I stared at him, I thought about that guy who’d been hurt. “How is he? Chas?”

  A muscle flexed along his jaw. “Better. He woke up this morning.”

  “That’s good news, right?” When he nodded, I bit down on my lip. “Did he tell you what happened?”

  “He was jumped. Didn’t see the person.”

  My brows creased. “It’s got to be hard to jump a Luxen.”

  “It is. Really hard,” Luc agreed. “Which is very concerning.”

  I looked away, thinking about Colleen. “Do you know that one of my classmates has gone missing? I saw her Friday night at the club, and her purse and shoes were found in that alley.”

  “I’d heard that.”

  My gaze crawled back to his. “Do you think what happened to Chas is related to Colleen?”

  “I wouldn’t see why.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. “Have you contacted the police or anything, about what happened to Chas?”

  “No.” He laughed as if I’d suggested the most ridiculous thing possible. “No way.”

  I looked back at him, eyes narrowing. “I get that you—”

  “You don’t get anything, Evie.”

  I sat back on my legs and lifted my hands in surrender. “Whatever, dude.”

  “The police aren’t going to care about an unregistered Luxen nearly being beaten to death.” Those eyes churned a restless purple. “If anything, they’d immediately blame Chas for the girl’s disappearance.”

  “And you’re sure he had nothing to do with it?” I asked.

  A smirk formed as he laughed under his breath. “Oh, because he’s a Luxen, he’s automatically responsible for some human girl—”

  “That’s not what I’m saying,” I argued. “Maybe he saw something and that was why he was hurt.”

  “He didn’t see anything.”

  I drew in a shallow breath. “Well, I’m glad he’s okay.”

  Luc was quiet as he watched me. “Me too.”

  I looked away then, drawing in a shallow breath, and then I refocused on him. “You know, Mom told me.”

  Shock splashed over his face as his gaze flew back to mine. “She did?”

  I nodded. “She told me about…” I glanced around, but there was still no one near us. “She told me about how you guys were here long before the invasion.”

  His expression smoothed out. “Oh, really?”

  “She also told me about my dad.”

  Everything about Luc changed in that moment. His features hardened and his shoulders tensed. His gaze was glacial as it locked on to mine. “She did?”

  “She said he was responsible for you losing someone … close to you?”

  His pupils seemed to stretch, and wow, that was … different. “He was.”

  Feeling a little out of my element, I rose from my haunches and my mouth just started running. “I didn’t know my dad was like that. I didn’t know my dad at all, it seems. Obviously. But I mean, he wasn’t around a lot, and now I think maybe Mom and Dad weren’t getting along—” What in the world was I telling him? I shook my head, refocusing. “None of that is important, but what I’m trying to say is … I’m sorry.”

  His eyes widened slightly as he stared at me. “Are you apologizing for him?”

  “I … think so? I don’t even know why, which would usually mean that’s a crappy apology, but mainly because I don’t know exactly what he did, but I just know that my mom wouldn’t lie about something like that—”

  Luc’s laugh was harsh.

  My lips started to turn down. “Are you laughing while I’m trying to apologize for my father?”

  “Yeah, I am.” Straightening, he rose. “You don’t need to ever apologize for a damn thing that man did.”

  “Oh.” I was still for a moment and then scrambled to my feet so he wasn’t some giant towering over me. “That still doesn’t—”

  “I’m not here to talk about Jason Dasher,” he cut in.

  I took a tiny step back. “Then why are you here?”

  His head tilted to the side, and a slow grin tipped up one side of his lips. “I don’t know,” he said, pausing. “Maybe I was looking for you.”

  My hands tightened on the camera as my stomach dipped and twisted. Good. Bad. Both. “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

  He chuckled as he leaned forward about an inch. “And here I thought I was in stealth mode.”

  “Not exactly.” I glanced down at the camera. “So why were you looking for me?”

  “Why aren’t you running away?”

  My gaze shot to his. That was a good question, but whatever. “Is this how every conversation is going to go? You answer a question with a question?”

  “You do realize you just did exactly that.”

  Irritation prickled over my skin, as did reluctant amusement. “I think it’s weird to ask someone why they aren’t running away from them.”

  “Maybe, but I—” His head swung to the left and his eyes narrowed. I followed his gaze, unsure of what I was going to see, but I expected something. I didn’t see anything. He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, I need to go.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  Luc’s gaze slid back to mine. “Do you know how easy it was to find you? The answer is really easy. In a city that has—how many humans? A little over a hundred thousand? It took nothing for me to find you.”

  My heart banged around in my chest. “Why should I be worried about how easy it is to find me?”

  “You never considered that before?”

  “That’s not something I’ve really ever thought about,” I answered truthfully, because seriously, who thought about that unless they were trying to hide? Or had something to hide?

  His eyes held mine. “You should probably start doing that.”

  12

  The house was too quiet when I got home, so like any other normal person out there, I turned on every light—and I mean, every light, even the hallway bathroom. And turned on the TV in my bedroom.

  It still felt too dark in the house.

  I’d uploaded the pictures I’d taken at the park and was flipping through them, but I didn’t really see any of them. My mind was someplace else as I sat on my bed.

  Namely, it was still in the park.

  What the hell was up with Luc? After he said that creepy thing that kind of felt like a warning, he’d just strolled on off like he hadn’t freaked me the heck out. And I like to think anyone in my shoes would’ve been creeped out. Why did it matter how easy it was to find me?

  Shivering, I rubbed my hands down my arms. I just didn’t get why Luc felt the need to search me out in the first place. It was literally the weirdest conversation I’d ever had.

  Ever.

  And I’d had some weird conversations with Zoe and Heidi, the kind you didn’t want to repeat and you hoped no one was listening to.

  My phone dinged from where it rested beside my laptop. I leaned over and picked it up to see it was a text from Heidi. Excitement sparked to life when I saw it was a picture of her and Emery, their cheeks pressed together. Emery was smiling, and wow, she was truly a stunning girl. Her skin tone was rich and earthy next to Heidi’s paler skin. Of course Heidi’s lips were puckered, like she was blowing a kiss at the camera. It looked like they were at a restaurant.

  I quickly texted back: You guys look adorable.

  Then I added about a dozen exclamation points, which earned me a heart emoji, the kind that exploded into little baby hearts. I sent another text, telling Heid
i to call me when she got home so she could tell me all about her date.

  I tossed my phone back onto the comforter. I was still too antsy to go through the pictures I’d taken. I scooted off the bed, and my sock-covered feet whispered against the hardwood floors as I decided to grab something to eat, because shoving chips into my mouth was the only way to kill time when I was feeling antsy.

  Stopping near the window seat, I frowned. I walked over to it and lifted the gray cushion to see if there was a handgun or a sword stashed inside.

  There wasn’t.

  Thank God.

  I’d half expected a gun or knife to slip out of the pile of towels in the linen closet that morning when I grabbed a clean one. I honestly didn’t know what to think about Mom having weapons hidden. Part of me kind of understood even without all she told me on Saturday. Things had been tense in the weeks and months after the invasion; it had been scary. Any noise sounded like an explosion, and for a long time it felt like we were waiting for the end to come. So I guessed having weapons within reach wasn’t too bad of an idea.

  As I dumped about three handfuls of chips into a bowl, I glanced at the clock on the stove. It was close to eight, and Mom still wasn’t home. It seemed like she was working later and later each week.

  I missed her.

  I wished I missed Dad.

  My entire body clenched with guilt.

  Since I didn’t have access to therapy to sort out all those messed-up feelings, I added another handful of chips to my bowl and made my way back upstairs. Munching on the crispy, salty goodness, I started flipping through the pictures I’d taken once more.

  I almost missed it, since my head wasn’t all there, but something caught my attention as I flipped through the pictures of the swing set. Right after I’d taken a picture of the swing, I’d zoomed out and snapped another picture without realizing it. Two people stood behind the swing set. Wait. My eyes narrowed as I clicked on the zoom. A chip fell out of my open mouth.

  That was … I leaned in, squinting. I’d taken a picture of April. Hell, I hadn’t even realized she was there. It made sense that she’d be at the playground, though. I knew she had a younger sister, so one of those little girls was probably her.