Onyx

Chapter 14

Lesa practically pounced on me the moment I sat down in class. “Did you hear?”

Half asleep, I shook my head. I’d had a hell of a time going to bed last night after everything with Daemon. The fluttering my stomach was doing had to be a consequence of no breakfast.

“Simon is missing,” Lesa said.

“Missing?” I didn’t pay attention to the warm tingling on my neck or when Daemon sauntered into class. “Since when?”

“Since this past weekend.” Lesa’s eyes flicked up behind me and widened. “Wow. Now that’s even more unexpected.”

Something smelled sweet and familiar. Confused, I twisted around. A single rose in full bloom, a vibrant red, brushed against the tip of my nose. Tan fingers held the green stem. My eyes lifted.

Daemon stood there, his eyes glittering like green tinsel. He patted me on the nose with the rose again. “Good morning.”

Dumbfounded, I stared at him.

“This is for you,” he added when I didn’t say anything.

Every single person in class was staring as my fingers wrapped around the cool, damp stem. Daemon sat down before I could say anything. I sat there, holding the rose until the teacher walked in and started calling off names.

Daemon’s throaty chuckle warmed my chest.

Cheeks flaming, I placed the rose on my desk, and I honestly don’t think I took my eyes off it. When Daemon had said he wasn’t giving up, I had no idea he was going to go all balls-to-the-wall right off the bat. Why would he? Maybe he just wanted to have sex with me. And that had to be all, right? Hatred turned to lust. He’d been so against me months ago and now he wanted to be with me, going against the wishes of his race? Maybe he had a secret drug habit.

The light caught the moisture on the rose.

I looked up, catching Lesa’s gaze. She mouthed, Nice.

Nice? It was nice and sweet and romantic and about a thousand other things that had my heart doing backflips. Sneaking a peek at Daemon over my shoulder, I watched him scribble along a blank piece of notebook paper. His brows were lowered in concentration. Thick, sooty lashes hid his eyes.

They lifted and his lips spread into a grin.

I was in so much trouble.

…

Cops were everywhere over the next couple of days, asking students and teachers questions about Simon. Daemon and I ended up being some of the first people they talked to. As if we were a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, plotting to take out jocks everywhere. Well, the fact that Daemon had beaten the crap out of Simon didn’t look good. But the cops didn’t treat us like suspects. After my first and only questioning with them in the principal’s office, I determined that two of the state troopers were aliens. And I also got the distinct impression they suspected I knew their secret.

I wondered if someone had let the alien out of the bag. Ash was the most likely suspect, especially since Daemon had become the bearer of gifts. One day he brought me a pumpkin spiced latte—my favorite—then an egg and bacon breakfast croissant, glazed doughnuts on Thursday, and a lily on Friday. He did nothing to hide his intentions.

Part of me actually felt bad for Ash. She’d spent her whole life expecting to be with Daemon. I couldn’t even imagine what she was thinking—if she was mourning the final downfall of their relationship or if it was just that she’d lost something she’d believed was hers. If I ended up being found in a ditch somewhere, my bets would be on Ash or Andrew. Adam had left the dark side and was now sitting with Dee at lunch. They literally couldn’t keep their hands off each other…or our food.

Each night, Daemon soaked up my time. Keeping an eye on me was what he claimed to be doing, waiting to see if I was attacked by a chair again. In his world, that translated into time suckage that involved every possible way he could get close to me. Like, really, will-breaking, body-tingling close.

Blake…well, Blake spoke to me in class. He texted a few times at night, and I always had to wait until Daemon decided to leave before I could call him back, but there had been no talk of another date.

Daemon had been successful with the scare tactics, which he was unabashedly proud of.

Saturday afternoon, I was in a marathon review-writing spree when someone knocked on my front door. Finishing up my last sentence—Mesmerizing debut, heart-stopping action, and swoon-worthy romance, The Hidden Circle is a forget-your-homework, don’t-feed-your-kids, and quit-your-job one-sit read—before shutting my laptop.

As I neared the door, I felt the tingling on my neck. Daemon. I tripped over the upturned corner of the area rug and took a second to straighten the ribbed sweater that had ridden up before I snatched open the front door.

Familiar feelings of anxiety slid through me. What did he have up his sleeve today? In other words, how much more could he possibly complicate my life? My no-kiss policy had remained strong since Monday. But strangely, even as innocent and clandestine as our meetings were, there was still a level of intimacy that couldn’t be denied.

Daemon was changing.

I was used to the sarcastic and rude Daemon. In an odd way, that version was easier to deal with. We could trade insults all day. But this Daemon…this one who wouldn’t give up was kind and gentle, funny and—dear God—thoughtful.

Daemon waited on the porch, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. He had been gazing into the distance but pivoted around the moment I pushed open the door.

He brushed past me and into the hallway. The scent of him, a mixture of the outdoors and sandalwood, followed. It was a heady aroma, all completely his.

“You look nice today,” he commented unexpectedly.

I glanced down at my gray hoodie and tucked a tangled strand of hair behind my ear. “Uh, thanks.” I cleared my throat. “So…what’s up?”

His excuse for spending time with me was always the vague “Watching out for you,” so I wasn’t expecting anything different today. “I just wanted to see you.”

“Oh.” Well, hell…

He chuckled deeply. “I thought we could take a walk. It’s nice outside.”

Glancing back at my laptop, I debated. Spending time with him wasn’t something I should be doing. It just encouraged his…not-so-bad behavior.

“I’ll behave myself,” he said. “I promise.”

I laughed at that. “All right, let’s go.”

It was brisk outside, nowhere near as cold as it would become once the sun set. Instead of heading toward the woods, he steered me in the direction of his SUV. “Exactly where are we going to take a walk?”

“Outdoors,” he said dryly.

“Well, I think I figured that part out.”

“You ask a lot of questions, you know.”

“I’ve been told I’m very inquisitive.”

He leaned forward and whispered, “I think I figured that part out.”

I made a face at him, but I was intrigued. I climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Have you heard anything about Simon?” I asked after he’d backed out of the driveway. “I haven’t.”

“I haven’t either.”

An array of golden, red, and brown leaves blurred as Daemon flew down the highway. “Do you think an Arum had anything to do with his disappearance?”

Daemon shook his head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any, but we can’t be too sure.”

An Arum taking Simon wouldn’t make any sense, but kids around here didn’t disappear without it having something to do with the Luxen and Arum. I glanced out the window at the familiar scenery. It didn’t take me long to realize where we were going. Confused, I watched Daemon pull the SUV off the road and park along the entrance to the field the kids partied in.

The same place we’d fought Baruck.

“Why here?” I asked, climbing out. Dead leaves of various colors littered the ground. With each step, my feet sunk an inch or two through the leaves. For a while, the only sound we heard was the rustling of our feet wading through the colorful sea of leaves.

“This place might hold a lot of residual energy from our fight and from Baruck’s death.” He stepped around a fallen tree limb. “Watch out, the branches are scattered everywhere.”

I moved around one particularly gnarly-looking one. “This might sound messed up, but I’ve wanted to come back here. I don’t know why. Crazy, huh?”

“No,” he said quietly. “It makes sense to me.”

“Is it the whole energy thing?”

“It’s what’s left over.” Daemon bent and pushed another fallen limb out of the way. “I want to see if I feel anything. If the DOD has been out here to check it out, it might be good to be in the know.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence. I was following slightly behind him, careful of the rough terrain. I felt a peculiar stirring in me as soon as it came into view. The ground was covered in leaves but the trees were still bent, looking even more grotesque as they twisted toward the ground. I stopped at the edge and tried to find the spot where Baruck had last stood.

I pushed the dead foliage with my foot. Soon, the scarred ground came into view. The soil seemed to remember what had happened that night and refused to let go of the memory.

This spot was like a sick gravesite.

“The ground will never heal,” Daemon said softly from behind me. “I don’t know why, but it took on his essence and nothing will grow from this spot.” He took over, pushing back the leaves until the area was uncovered completely. “Killing at first used to bother me.”

I tore my eyes away from the burned patch of ground. What little sun that peeked through the clouds caught the auburn tint in his dark hair.

Daemon smiled tightly. “I didn’t like it, taking a life. I still don’t. A life is a life.”

“It’s something you have to do. You can’t change it. It only wreaks havoc on you to dwell. It bothers me knowing that I’ve killed…two of them, but—”

“You aren’t wrong for what you did. Never think that.” His eyes met mine for a second, and he cleared his throat. “I don’t feel anything.”

I shoved my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie, curving them around my cell phone. “Do you think the DOD found anything?”

“I don’t know.” He crossed the small distance between us, stopping when I had to tilt my head back to see him. “Depends on if they’re using equipment I’m not familiar with.”

“And if they are, what does that mean? Is it something to be worried about?”

“I don’t think so, not even if the levels of energy are higher.” He reached out, smoothing back a strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail. “It doesn’t really tell them anything. Have you been experiencing any outbursts recently?”

“No,” I said, not wanting him to worry needlessly. Today I’d blown the light in my room. And I’d moved my bed about three feet.

His hand lingered on my cheek for a moment longer, and then he captured my hand, bringing it to his lips, placing the lightest kiss against the center of my palm. A hot shiver went up my arm. Peering through his dark lashes, he burned me with one smoldering look.

My lips parted and my heart fluttered in my chest like the many leaves that fell to the ground around us. “Did you bring me out here just to get me completely alone?”

“That may have been a part of my master plan.” Daemon’s head lowered and his hair fell forward, brushing my cheek. The slant of his mouth tilted and an exhilarating heartbeat later, his lips pressed against mine and my heart swelled.

I jerked back, breathing heavily. “No kissing,” I whispered.

His fingers tightened around mine. “I’m trying not to.”

“Then try harder.” I slipped my hand free and took a step back, shoving my hands back into the pocket of my hoodie. “I think we should head home.”

He sighed. “Whatever you want.”

I nodded. We started back to the car in silence. I stared at the ground, at war with what I wanted and what I needed. Daemon couldn’t be both.

“So I was thinking,” he said after a few moments.

I glanced at him warily. “About what?”

“We should do something. Together. Outside of your house and not just walking around.” He stared straight ahead. “We should go out to dinner or maybe a movie.”

My stupid heart started jumping again. “Are you asking me out?”

He laughed under his breath. “That’s what it sounds like.”

The trees were starting to thin out. Large bales of hay came into view. “You don’t want to take me out on a date.”

“Why do you keep telling me what I don’t want?” Curiosity colored his tone.

“Because you can’t,” I told him. “You can’t want any of this with me, not really. Maybe with Ash—”

“I don’t want Ash.” His features hardened as he stopped, facing me. “If I wanted her, I’d be with her. But I’m not. She’s not who I want.”

“Neither am I. You can’t honestly tell me that you’d risk every Luxen around here turning their backs on you for me.”

Daemon shook his head in disbelief. “And you have got to stop assuming you know what I want and what I would do.”

I started walking again. “It’s just the challenge and the connection, Daemon. Whatever you feel for me isn’t real.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he spat.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I know.” Daemon appeared in front of me, eyes narrowed. He thumped his hand off his chest, directly above his heart. “Because I know what I feel in here. And I’m not the type of person to run from anything, no matter how hard it is. I’d rather face-plant against a brick wall than live for the rest of my life wondering what could’ve been. And you know what? I didn’t think you were the type to run, either. Maybe I was wrong.”

Stunned, I pulled my hands out and brushed my hair back. Knots formed in my stomach—the good warm and twisty kind. “I don’t run.”

“You don’t? Because that’s what you’re doing,” he argued. “You pretend what you feel for me isn’t real or doesn’t exist. And I know damn well you don’t feel anything for Bobby.”

“Blake,” I corrected him automatically. Walking around him, I headed for the car. “I don’t want to talk—”

We came to a standstill at the edge of the woods. Two giant black SUVs were parked on either side of Daemon’s, blocking him in. Two men stood beside one, dressed in black suits. Unease rolled through me like a chilled, dark wave. Daemon moved in front of me, hands at his sides. Tension tightened his muscles. I didn’t have to ask to know who they were.

The DOD was here.