The Brightest Night

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Why would you be?” His fingers started tapping along the arm of the chair. “Did you know him?”

  “Actually, I did meet him. Briefly.” I explained how I’d run into him outside the club. “He didn’t attack me or anything. Sort of said goodbye and went inside.”

  A muscle flexed all his jaw. “Lore didn’t make it a habit of attacking teenage girls.”

  “Good to know,” I murmured.

  “What are your questions?” he prodded, obviously not wanting to focus on his brother’s loss.

  More than anyone, I got that. Every time the image of Mom appeared, I immediately thought of anything else. I wondered if Luc did the same. “You sensed me, right? Or you sensed Sarah or both of us. How did you? Other Arums have—”

  “Lore?”

  I nodded.

  His gaze flicked to Luc. “You can’t sense her?”

  “Nope. Neither can Luxen,” he replied.

  “Interesting,” Hunter murmured. “I can do something you can’t.”

  “That must be an amazing feeling,” Luc replied. “I wouldn’t know. You see, I’ve spent my entire life doing things you can’t do.”

  Uh.

  Hunter chuckled. “You’re such an asshole.”

  “That’s why you like me.”

  “True.” He nodded. “I could sense the Arum in you, but it didn’t feel right. It was too faint. I don’t know if I was sensing just you or both of you. It felt like a heaviness in the air—”

  “And on your skin?” I clasped my knees.

  He was still for a moment, and then he nodded. “Exactly.”

  Looking back at Luc, I asked, “I wonder why Arums can feel me but not Luxen or Origins?”

  “Hunter?” Luc asked.

  The Arum gave a half grin. “I imagine it has to do with how we are able to perceive and see Luxen and anything with Luxen DNA. We are more sensitive.”

  “The auras I see now? You’re talking about that?” I asked.

  “Yes. Luxen like to think they are hunters. They’re not. We are. Biologically, we are natural predators. Our senses are far more heightened than Luxen’s—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling. Apparently, the Daedalus has been able to replicate that. They have been trying for as long as I can remember.”

  “I felt Sarah as soon as I approached that house. I just didn’t know what I was feeling.” I took a deep breath. “I was able to communicate with her like I can with Luc, and I think I heard her in my head when she was mutating.”

  “Makes sense. We can communicate with one another that way.” His fingers continued to move. “Can you hear other thoughts like Mr. Special beside you?”

  I shook my head.

  “Is that really a relief?” Luc asked.

  Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “Now you’re just trying to prove a point, and you’re going to annoy me.”

  “Can you communicate with me like that?” I asked before the whole meeting went down the drain.

  “Already tried. You didn’t hear me. And I can’t hear you.”

  I frowned. “Maybe it’s only other Trojans.”

  “That doesn’t explain you two.”

  “He’s healed me a couple of times or a dozen.” I shrugged.

  Hunter’s pale gaze sharpened as he focused on Luc. Something was clicking together behind his eyes.

  “How badly did you wound the Trojan?” Luc asked.

  “Blew a hole through its chest. Like I could see through the bastard,” Hunter answered. “That bad.”

  “Wow,” I whispered.

  “He didn’t go at us like you did with the other Trojan. He could’ve blown up any of the buildings around us.” Hunter’s fingers stilled. “I’m guessing that’s why a bullet took you down for the count. You expelled all your energy. Drained yourself dry, I imagine.”

  Luc shifted forward, all lazy arrogance gone. “Refresh my memory, Hunter. What happens when you go empty on the Source? When you don’t feed?”

  He arched a brow. “Like when we almost hit rock bottom? Not many choose to live that kind of life, but when they do, we grow weaker, become practically human. The first time is the worst. It’s like detoxing. We get hungry.”

  I locked up. “What?”

  “Hunger that no food can quench. Like the gnawing type of hunger that seizes up your stomach and chest,” he explained, and it felt like the couch moved underneath me. “Many end up sleeping the worst of it off.”

  “Sleeping?” I squeaked. “Like for a couple of days?”

  He eyed me. “Yes. Sometimes more.”

  “Oh, crap,” I whispered.

  “Jesus,” Luc muttered as he looked at me. “I should’ve thought of that. You’re part Arum. You started getting hungry after the woods, and then you slept for four days.”

  “Well, that should’ve been a dead giveaway,” Hunter remarked.

  Sitting there, I could only stare at the bear.

  “Maybe to you, but she’s not completely an Arum. I’m sure you’ve been filled in on her background.”

  “I have, but I didn’t know she slept for four days,” Hunter replied. “What happened when you woke up?”

  Blinking, I eased my death grip on my knees. “I felt fine.”

  “You’re part Luxen, so you probably took that time to replenish what you used. It was the first time you’d used the Source to such an extreme after activating, right? Doesn’t poke holes in the doc’s theory. Sort of proves it,” he said, then laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” I demanded.

  “Nothing,” Hunter said, lips curling into a smile as he focused on Luc. “So how do you feel about becoming her own personal energy drink?”

  29

  “What?” I jumped to my feet. “You’re saying I’m going to need to feed off Luc?”

  Hunter arched a brow as he looked up at me. “Either him or a Luxen. Hybrids really won’t be worth it. You feed off one of them and you’re starving a few hours later. Humans, well, you’d feed off them for different reasons.”

  I started to ask why, and then, luckily, I thought of Serena and realized I really didn’t need to ask that question.

  My gaze bounced to Luc. His expression had gone thoughtful. My stomach dropped to my toes. “I’m not feeding off you.”

  He cocked his head to the side but said nothing.

  “Then I’m sure you can find a willing Luxen to step in.” Hunter dipped his chin. “You know, it doesn’t have to be painful—”

  “It’s painful?” I whispered, clasping my hands against my chest.

  “Only if you want it to be.” Dropping his foot the floor, he tipped forward. “But you can make it so that the willing donor thoroughly enjoys themselves.”

  Warmth flared across my face. “I don’t even know how to feed.”

  Hunter slid a knowing look in Luc’s direction. “I know an Arum or two who would be more than happy to walk you through it.”

  Luc’s gaze snapped in his direction. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “You sure? Sin should be here soon.” Hunter bit down on his lip. The Arum was clearly enjoying himself, the jerk. “And you know how helpful he is.”

  Luc’s smile was all fire. “I also know how painful my fist in your face is about to be.”

  “It’s just a suggestion.”

  “Oh yeah, you’re being really helpful.”

  Chuckling, Hunter leaned back in the chair. “That’s my middle name.”

  “And if I don’t feed?” I sat back down. “I end up in a coma for days again?”

  “Seems like that’s the case. You sleep until your body can replenish what you’ve lost.” Hunter put his foot back onto the coffee table. “In a way, you’re lucky. If you were Arum, your only option would be to feed unless you wanted to lose the ability to harness the Source completely.”

  “Lucky?” I coughed out a dry laugh. “I guess.”

  “There is something else,” Hunter said. “Opal.”

  “Opal?” I looked between them. “Like t
he gemstone?”

  Luc nodded. “Remember how I told you beta quartz can hide the Luxen, neutralizing their wavelengths? That’s not the only naturally occurring stone that has an impact. Some are good. Some are bad.”

  “Like onyx? I know that can hurt Luxen.” It was everywhere outside these walls, installed like sprinkler systems in many of the public buildings, emitting a fine burst of onyx. The mixture had a bizarre effect on the alien DNA, causing Luxen to feel like their very cells were bouncing off one another. I’d forgotten about that. Would it affect me?

  I shook my head. Focus on one WTF at a time.

  Luc must’ve picked up on my thoughts, because he said, “Onyx and diamond mixtures have no effect on Origins. I imagine it will be the same for you.”

  “Diamonds?” I hadn’t heard anything about diamonds before.

  Luc nodded. “Diamonds have the highest index of light refraction. It won’t hurt a Luxen or hybrid, but in large quantities, it can drain them of the Source.”

  “But opal is entirely different.” Hunter let his head rest on the back of the chair. “It refracts and reflects specific wavelengths of light, changing the speed and direction. For anyone with Luxen DNA, it’s a power booster. And for an Arum, if we have one, it gives us more power and limits how much we have to feed.”

  “Do you have a stray piece of opal lying around?” I asked Luc, hopeful.

  He shook his head. “Ever since President McHugh took office, opal has been hard to come by. Most of it has been seized or destroyed.”

  “You don’t have a stash of it?” Surprise filled Hunter’s tone.

  “I did,” he replied dryly. “Two places, actually. One of them I had to leave rather unexpectedly from, and the other is quite the distance from here. Trust me, if I had one, Evie would be wearing it.”

  “Well, then, that’s a shame.” Hunter’s gaze slid to me. “Feed or sleep. Those are your choices.”

  * * *

  “There is no choice,” argued Luc. “You need to feed.”

  Hands planted on my hips, I glared at where he was all but sprawled on the couch, one arm tossed along the back of the cushion, a bare foot resting on the edge of the coffee table. He looked mighty comfortable for someone who was five seconds away from getting smacked upside the head.

  We’d been at it since we’d stopped by to see the doc, which was right after we’d left Hunter’s place. I’d wanted to see if she thought there was anything I could do. Like, I don’t know, a diet of all red meat or raw veggies. Maybe she had some vitamin B shots lying around. Luc humored me with the visit. There was nothing Viv could do or suggest. Apparently, she hadn’t seen an Arum who didn’t feed before. All the ones here, which weren’t many, had willing Luxen donors.

  Which had led to me asking Luc on the way back, “Who is Hunter feeding off?”

  “You know, I don’t want to even know,” was his answer.

  Like Luc, Viv had been annoyed that she hadn’t picked up on the fact that since I had Arum DNA in me, I may need to feed. But who would’ve guessed that? Trojans were brand spanking new, and I was even uniquer.

  I had learned on the walk home that the other stash of opal was at Luc’s “small villa” in Greece, so no help there.

  “I don’t get why you’re so worried about this.” Luc kicked his other leg up, crossing them at the ankles. “Hunter explained how to do it.”

  And that had been as awkward as it sounded. The Arum had thoroughly amused himself, giving step-by-step instructions while repeatedly referencing “Luc or someone else who is willing.”

  To be honest, I was surprised Hunter was still alive.

  When Hunter explained how to feed, he made the whole thing sound easier than I’d imagined it to be. Claiming that my body would know what to do, he admitted that he was shocked I hadn’t already unintentionally fed on Luc. And then he explained how he’d accidentally done that with his wife, and frankly, that was just TMI for me at the moment.

  “He also said it doesn’t have to be painful,” Luc continued. “And even if it were, I’d still be down for it.”

  I frowned at him.

  “Look, I’ll do anything to make sure you’re okay—”

  “I’m okay now.”

  One side of his lips twisted. “You just ate again and you’re still hungry. How long before you start to feel dizzy and then pass the hell out?”

  “I don’t know.” I threw my hands up. “I’ll make sure I let you know when it’s about to happen.”

  “It’s not going to get to that point.” Luc thrust a hand through his hair. “You slipping into what is equivalent to a coma is not an option. The fact that you even think it is actually boggles my mind.”

  “Boggles? Really?”

  “Yes. Boggles. The. Mind. You were unreachable for almost four days. I had no idea if you’d ever wake up, and knowing that you will this time around doesn’t make that any easier,” he went on. “And what if something happens while you’re sleeping?”

  “That’s a title of a movie, by the way.”

  His expression turned bland. “I know. It was one of your favorites,” he said, and my heart skipped. I knew I had never told him that as Evie. “What if we’re under attack here? Or what about when we’re out there, fixing the world, and you have to replenish what you’ve used? You just going to take a time-out and sleep?”

  My lips thinned.

  “You think the Daedalus is going to give you that break? Call a truce while you recoup? Better yet, summon the Source now, Evie.”

  I pulled my hands from my hips.

  He lifted his brows. “Or have you already tried and couldn’t?”

  I was seriously going to hit him.

  “You already tried.”

  I had.

  While I was in the bathroom, I’d tried to summon it, and only a weak, flickering ball of energy had appeared before quickly sputtering out.

  I crossed my arms. “Why are you even asking that? You already know everything.”

  “So then you do realize you can’t even work with the Source until you replenish it. Too bad there’s no power here. We could marathon Buzzfeed Unsolved.”

  “You don’t need to be such a smart-ass,” I snapped. “Of course I’ve thought of that. I thought of all of that.”

  “And you still are fighting me on this? Seriously?”

  “Besides the fact I’m not sure if I am going to hurt you or not, he also said I could lose control and drain you dry,” I reminded him, which was something Hunter mentioned while we were on our way out the freaking door. “I don’t like the idea of taking something like that from you. It’s yours, and you need it. It feels wrong.”

  Luc stared at me, and then he leaned forward, dropping his feet to the floor. “What do you think I did when I took the Source from you the night you lost control? Did that feel wrong to you?”

  I jerked.

  “Because it’s sort of the same thing, Evie.”

  “But you had to—”

  “And now you have to.” His voice softened. “I doubt you will lose control, but if you do, I’ll stop it.”

  Taking short, quick breaths, I looked away. “I’m not trying to be difficult.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you? Do you get why this is…” I didn’t even know how to describe it.

  “Too much?” he suggested, and my head turned back to him. “Yeah, I get it. If our positions were changed, I’d be fighting you tooth and nail on this, and you know what? You’d be doing the same thing I am right now.”

  I pressed my lips together, hating when he was right, but it was even more than that. Just yesterday, Luc had used the Source to try to save Spencer and then to heal me. He’d been exhausted, and if Grayson hadn’t done what he did, would there be dark shadows under his eyes, the taut line of tension around his mouth?

  “I would’ve been fine without Grayson,” he said quietly, startling me. “I didn’t learn that by reading your thoughts. I knew. He doesn’t know I do. It s
tays that way.”

  “You were exhausted, Luc. That was yesterday—”

  “And today I’m a hundred and twenty percent charged. It’s not like I won’t make more of it,” Luc said. “I just don’t need to sleep for days to do that. I’ll only need an hour or so tops to recover, and it’s not like something you’d have to do all the time. If Hunter is right, it’s only after you use extreme amounts of the Source.” He scooted to the edge of the couch. “Do you know how many times when you were sick I wished there were more I could do? That I could somehow be your miracle cure? I couldn’t then, but I can now. I’m not saying that to you as some form of emotional blackmail. It’s just the truth. Let me give you want you need.”

  Unfolding my arms, I closed my eyes as I let out a ragged breath.

  “I have no problems being your personal 5-hour Energy.”

  I shook my head as I opened my eyes. “This is not funny.”

  “There is humor in everything.” His gaze caught mine. “If we forget that, we lose everything.”

  Something about the words rattled me. They were an echo in my mind and in my soul. Without a doubt, I knew I had heard him say them before, many times. I had no idea why that pushed me to make up my mind.

  I was moving before I realized what I was doing, coming around the coffee table and sitting beside him. My heart was thundering as if I’d raced a mile to get there instead of walking a few feet.

  His gaze never left mine, and he didn’t speak as he angled his body toward me. I told myself I was going to do this, that I needed to. Because somewhere between his comment and when I sat beside him, I realized that if I didn’t, I would be weak.

  Therefore, Luc would be weak. Far weaker than he would be if I fed, because he’d spend days distracted and worried, and anything could happen in just an hour.

  He waited until I was ready, and that took a small eternity, but when I made up my mind, it happened.

  The hollowness in my chest pulsed, and the Source sparked. It was weak like before, but there, and it was as if it knew what I was about to do. I placed a trembling hand on Luc’s arm.

  “If I hurt you, you’ll stop me.”