Onyx (A Lux Novel)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “It is,” he agreed. A distant look crept into his eyes. “Surfing is probably the only thing that clears my mind. When I’m out there on the waves, I don’t think about anything. My brain is officially empty. It’s just the waves and me. It’s peaceful.”

  “I can understand that.” Silence stretched out for a long moment. “It’s the same thing when I’m gardening or reading. It’s just me and what I’m doing, or the world I’m reading, and nothing else.”

  “Sounds like you do it to escape.”

  I didn’t respond because I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but now that he said it, I did use those things to escape. Discomfited, I idly separated the noodles on my plate into groups. “What about you? Are you trying to escape?”

  Several seconds passed before he answered. “That’s the funny thing about trying to escape. You never really can. Maybe temporarily, but not completely.”

  I nodded absently, struck by the depth of what he said. It was the truth. After I finished a book or potted a plant, Dad was still dead, my best friend was still an alien, and I was still attracted to Daemon.

  Blake started talking about plans for Thanksgiving break next week. He’d be out of town for most of it, visiting family. I glanced up, my gaze sweeping the small restaurant. Warmth jolted down my spine.

  Oh, holy hell to the no. I couldn’t believe it. This was not happening.

  Behind the tall partition walls, a dark head moved through the tiny rows. I fell back against the seat, wholly aware of him and horrified. This was my date—my date. What was he doing here?

  Daemon navigated around the clusters of tables with a grace I envied. Women stopped eating or ceased mid-conversation as he passed. Men scooted back to give him more room. He had a profound effect on everyone who saw him.

  Frowning, Blake twisted around, and his shoulders stiffened as he faced me. “Overprotective type…?”

  “I don’t…even know what to say,” I mumbled helplessly.

  “Hey guys.” Daemon slid into the seat next to me, which left very little room. The whole left side of my body was pressed against his, tingling and warm. “Am I interrupting?”

  “Yes,” I said, mouth agape.

  “Oh, sorry.” Daemon didn’t look sincere. Or make any attempt to leave.

  A half smile formed on Blake’s lips as he sat back and folded his arms. “How are you doing, Daemon?”

  “I’m doing great.” He stretched, draping his arm along the back of our booth. “How about you, Brad?”

  Blake laughed softly. “My name’s Blake.”

  Daemon’s fingers tapped off the back of the booth, brushing my hair. “So what were you guys up to?”

  “We were having dinner,” I said and started to scoot forward, but Daemon’s fingers hooked around the back of my turtleneck, fingers gently sliding against my skin. I shot him a death glare and ignored the goose bumps peaking my skin.

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

  “Yeah, we just need our check.” Very discreetly, I lowered my hand under the table, found Daemon’s thigh, and pinched. Hard.

  He tugged me back, causing my knee to hit the table. “What were you planning to do after dinner? Was Biff taking you to a movie?”

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

  “Hmm.” Daemon’s gaze flicked up, and a second later, Blake’s glass tipped over.

  I gasped. Water sloshed over the table, spilling into Blake’s lap. He jumped up, letting out a curse. The movement shook the table again. His plate of spicy noodles slid—well, flew—onto the front of Blake’s sweater.

  My jaw dropped. Holy mountain mama, Daemon had taken my date hostage.

  “Jesus,” Blake muttered, hands at his sides.

  Grabbing napkins, I turned to Daemon. My look promised a vengeful death as I handed Blake the napkins.

  “That was really strange,” Daemon said, smirking.

  Red-faced, Blake glanced up from patting his crotch dry. For a moment, his eyes fixed on Daemon and I swore he was going to come across the table. And then his eyes shuttered. Quietly and with stiff, jerky movements, he brushed off the brown noodles. The waitress rushed to Blake’s side with several more napkins.

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

  Blake halted his movements. “Excuse me?”

  “Did I speak too fast, Bart?”

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

  Daemon met my eyes, his stare heavy and intense with meaning. “Something has come up and you need to check it out now.”

  Something obviously meant alien business. Unease crawled down my spine. Now his sudden appearance made sense. For a few minutes, I was really beginning to believe it had been pure, primal jealousy that drove him to go all stalker on us.

  And as much as it ticked me off to do this, I knew I had to leave.

  Turning to Blake, I winced. “I’m really, really sorry about this.”

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

  I felt like a tool, which seemed fitting, since I was sitting next to the biggest wiener ever. “I’ll make it up. I promise.”

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

  “That won’t be necessary.” Daemon smiled tightly. “I got this, Biff.”

  I wanted to face-palm myself. “Blake. His name is Blake, Daemon.”

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

  “Then it’s solved.” Daemon stood, allowing me to scoot out.

  Blake took care of the check, and we headed outside. I stopped by his car, aware of Daemon’s intense stare. “I am so, so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. You didn’t knock the stuff on me.” He paused, brows narrowing as he stared hard at something over my shoulder. Two guesses what—or who—that was. Pulling his cell out of his back pocket, he checked the display before shoving it in his jeans. “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.” I started to give him a hug but halted. The front of his sweater was stained and moist looking.

  Laughing, Blake leaned in and placed a quick, dry kiss on my lips. “I’ll call you.”

  I nodded, wondering how one person could single-handedly ruin everything within a minute. It was a talent. With a wave, Blake was gone, and I was alone with Daemon.

  “You ready?” Daemon called, holding open the passenger door.

  I stalked over to the car and climbed in, slamming the door behind me.

  “Hey.” He frowned from outside the car. “Don’t take your anger out on Dolly.”

  “You named your car Dolly?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Daemon jogged around the front of the car and slid in. The moment he closed the door behind him, I twisted in my seat and punched him in the arm. “You are such a jerk! I know you did the glass and plate thing. That was so wrong!”

  He held up his hands, laughing. “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!” I punched his leg this time. “And you know it! I can’t believe you acted like that. And he doesn’t kiss like a dolphin!”

  “From what I’ve seen, he does.”

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

  His laughter died off. Uh oh. He turned to me slowly. “You’ve kissed him before?”

  “That’s none of your business.” My cheeks flushed, giving me away.

  Anger sparked in his magnetic eyes. “I don’t like him.”

  I gaped at Daemon. “Y
ou don’t even know him.”

  “I don’t need to know him to see that there’s something…off about him.” He turned the key and the engine rumbled to life. “I don’t think you should be hanging out with him.”

  “Oh, this is rich, Daemon. Whatever.” Staring straight ahead, I hugged my elbows and shivered. I was so angry my head was two seconds from spinning.

  “Are you cold? Where’s your jacket?”

  “I don’t like jackets.”

  “Did they do something terrible and unforgiveable to you, too?” He turned on the automatic temperature setting. Warm air blasted out of the vents.

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

  “I wasn’t stalking you.” He sounded offended.

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

  “Well, yeah, sort of.”

  “Argh! This is so wrong.” I seriously doubted Blake would be calling me again. Not that I blamed him. If I were him, I wouldn’t be. Not when a psychotic alien was shadowing me. “So what’s the deal?”

  Daemon waited until we pulled onto 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.”

  Chapter 12

  We got back to his house before the rest of them showed up, and I was trying to keep calm as I settled into the recliner in the corner. Daemon wasn’t panicking, but he didn’t know what was going on yet. Outside, several car doors slammed shut. I wrapped my arms around my waist, and Daemon moved to my side, sitting on the arm of my chair.

  Ash and the Thompson boys were the first to come in. Adam smiled at us before sitting next to Dee. She offered him the bag of popcorn she’d been scarfing and he dug in. Andrew took one look in my direction and rolled his eyes. “Anyone have a clue why she’s here?”

  I loathed Andrew.

  “She needs to be here,” Mr. Garrison said, closing the door behind him. He moved to the center of the living room, all eyes on him. Outside of school, he always dressed down in jeans. “I want to keep this little get-together short.”

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

  My breath caught. I wasn’t mad at the scornful tone in her voice. A lot was at stake if the DOD found out about me, about them. “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.”

  I sank back against the chair, relieved. But then it hit me. I may be off the hook, but they weren’t. I glanced around the room, not wanting to see any of them in trouble. Not even Andrew.

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

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

  Matthew’s ultra-bright blue 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.”

  Daemon scoffed. “The only thing they’re going to find is a burned patch of ground.”

  “They know we can manipulate light for self-defense, so from what I’ve gathered, that’s not what caught their attention.” Mr. Garrison glanced at Daemon, 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.”

  Daemon kept his 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?” Mr. Garrison 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.” Daemon’s smile was smug, but I was filling with anxious energy.

  “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.” He 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 Daemon. “The elders told them there was a fight between our kind. No one implicated you, Daemon, but they already know you’re strong. You can be expecting a visit from them soon.”

  He shrugged, but fear spiked in me. It hadn’t been Daemon who’d taken out Baruck, so how could he explain what happened? And would the DOD guess the Luxen were far more powerful than they realized, capable of almost anything?

  If so, my friends—and Daemon—were in danger.

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

  “Speak for yourself,” Andrew muttered.

  I shot him a look, but Daemon responded before I could. “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—”

  Daemon was across the room in a flash. Fully enveloped in intense reddish-white light, he snatched Andrew up and slammed him into the wall with such force the pictures around them rattled.

  “Daemon!” I shrieked, rising to my feet at the same time Mr. Garrison shouted.

  Ash jumped from her chair, gasping. “What are you doing?”

  Grabbing her snack, Dee sighed and sat back. “Here we go. Popcorn?”

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

  His sister whirled on him. “So you’re taking her side now? A human’s?”

  “This isn’t about sides,” I said, keeping an eye on the boys.

  Both were in full Luxen mode. So was Matthew. Nothing but a male-shaped form of intense bluish light, he grabbed Daemon and yanked him off Andrew.

  Ash glared at me for a long moment. “None of this would be happening if you hadn’t shown up here. You would’ve never gotten the original trace on you. The Arum would’ve never seen you, and this whole messed-up chain of events would’ve never happened!”

  “Oh, shut up, Ash.” Dee threw a handful of popcorn at her. “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 wasn’t in danger every five seconds. This is her fault.”

  “I’m not his precious human!” I took a deep breath. “I’m just his…his friend. And that’s what friends do. They protect each other.”

  Ash rolled her eyes.

  I sat down. “Well, it’s what human friends do, at least.”

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

  With a disgusted sigh, she spun around and headed for the door. “I’ll wait outside.”

  Watching her go, I wondered if she’d find a reason to blame me for everything, even those gaudy purple tights of hers. But in a way, this si
tuation was my fault. It had been my bizarro output of energy that had drawn the DOD here. My chest ached.

  Mr. Garrison finally broke the boys apart. Andrew flickered into his human form, eyes narrowed on a still-iridescent Daemon. “Dude, that was just wrong. Knock me around all you want, but I’m not going to be okay with her.”

  “Andrew,” Mr. Garrison warned.

  “What?” He backed off, though. “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?”

  Daemon’s light flared brighter, and I knew he was going to charge Andrew again. This was ridiculous. Without thinking, I shot across the room and wrapped my fingers around his glowing wrist. It was strange to touch him like this. Warmth and electricity shot up my arm. The back of my neck tingled.

  “That was a low blow,” I said to Andrew, because someone needed to. “He doesn’t even deserve your ass kicking, Daemon.”

  “She’s right,” Adam said. Until then I hadn’t realized he’d moved, but he was on the other side of Daemon. “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.

  Tense silence followed, and then Daemon’s light faded and he settled back into his human form. He glanced down to where my hand curved around his wrist, and then his gaze flicked up, meeting mine. Charged air passed from his skin to mine, shocking me with a crack. I let go of his wrist and stilled under his intense stare.

  “This is the kind of display we cannot afford.” Mr. Garrison drew in a deep breath. “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.”

  They left after that, including Dee. She wanted to spend time with Adam and also make sure he didn’t end up mauling Andrew, which left Daemon and me alone. I should’ve left, but after Andrew’s thoughtless comment, I needed to know that Daemon was okay.