Opposition

10

{ Daemon }

There were moments in my life when I seriously couldn’t believe things could get any more fucked up than they already were, especially with Dee running off to join the damn Luxen circus.

But each time, I was proven, yet again, how wrong that thought was.

Nancy stared down at us with dark eyes, her face devoid of any emotion, a total blank slate.

Dawson swore and started to shift, but Nancy spoke before he could do something that would end with a lot of explosions and general mayhem.

“If you want to live,” she said, voice clipped, “you’ll get in this damn helicopter. Now.”

We really didn’t have much of a choice. Either we put up a fight and got taken down with one of their weapons, or we got in the helicopter. Then what? We were out of the frying pan and smack-dab in the middle of the fire. But one option most likely involved dying now, while the other was probably dying later. Later gave us some time to figure a way out of this latest mess.

I shot Dawson a look that said, Simmer it down, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say to hell with it, but his shoulders squared, and then he hoisted himself up into the helicopter.

Turning to Kat, I met her eyes, and the wariness in her gray gaze, the exhaustion and pain, were tinged with fear. It cut me deep seeing that and knowing there wasn’t anything I could do at this moment to change it.

I bent my head and brushed my lips across hers. “It’ll be fine.”

Kat nodded.

“How cute,” Nancy said.

My lip curled as I turned my gaze to her. “Remember how it ended last time you thought you had us under control?”

A flicker of anger crawled across her otherwise stoic face. “Trust me. It’s not something I’ve forgotten.”

“Good,” I growled, hoisting Kat to where Dawson waited just inside. He pulled her toward him as I leaped in, crowding Nancy. The woman backed up, dropping down onto a bench as she met my stare. “But this time will end differently.”

“Will it?”

I got all up in her face and lowered my voice so that only she could hear as the chopper propellers blocked out my words to anyone else. “Yeah, because this time, I will make sure you’re dead.”

Nancy stiffened as I drew back and reached for Kat. My brother handed her to me, and Nancy said nothing. Instead, she tipped her head back and closed her eyes. The woman had bigger balls than I did, all things considered.

I tucked Kat against me as Dawson sat on her other side. Two of the soldiers jumped in, taking the seats beside Nancy. One leaned back, motioning with his arm to the pilot to take us up.

The moment the bird left the ground, Kat squeezed her eyes shut. A shudder rocked her as she balled her fist into my shirt. Her heart was pounding too fast. She wasn’t a huge fan of flying, so being in a copter probably had her one step from full freak-out mode.

Keeping my eyes trained on Nancy and her little minions, I lifted Kat up and sat her in my lap. I wrapped my arms around her, curling one hand against the back of her head, positioning her so that her heart rested against mine.

One of the soldiers propped his gun between his legs and reached up, pulling off his helmet. Shoving a hand through his sandy-brown hair, he worked out a kink in his neck as he opened his eyes.

Amethyst.

Freaking Origin.

Obviously one of Nancy’s successful products, like Archer and Luc. I couldn’t pick up jack shit from the guy, but I hadn’t picked up anything from Archer before he revealed what he was. The same with Luc. I always knew there was something off about the kid but could never put my finger on it. And Sadi had felt like a Luxen to me.

Another Origin talent, I assumed, seamlessly blending into something that they weren’t. There was a lot about them I didn’t know, and right now, didn’t give a crap about.

Lowering my head, I kept a steady watch on the three across from me as I spoke into Kat’s ear. I talked absolute nonsense. The last Ghost Hunters show I’d seen and how I wanted to check out the abandoned asylum one day. I told her about the time I’d convinced Adam that I’d seen the Mothman one night when I’d been out scouting for Arum. Then, I reminded her that with Halloween only a month or so away, we needed to find us Gizmo and gremlin outfits. I talked to her about anything, trying to keep her mind off the fact that we were winging through the air, heading to God knows where. It worked to an extent. Her heart rate slowed a little and she loosened her death grip some.

No one talked during the ride except what I was saying to Kat. Wasn’t like you could really hear anything unless you were right up on someone. The drone of the helicopter traveled through our bodies, making it feel like we were in a steel drum.

I had no idea how long we were in the air. Maybe an hour or so before the copter started to tilt to the side, and I was almost positive Kat started praying under her breath. Any other time I would’ve laughed, but wariness settled into every cell.

What were we about to face now? Being locked up? As I watched Nancy open her eyes and smooth her hands across her black pants, I doubted she wanted to keep us alive. Her obsession with breeding Luxen and hybrids to create the perfect race could only go so far. She had a huge bone to pick with us. After all, we’d broken out, taking down a lot of soldiers; had a hand in destroying an entire city; and had exposed what we were before the Luxen came.

Hell, what we did might’ve had something to do with why the others chose this time to arrive.

Then again, if she wanted us dead, it would’ve been an easy feat to carry out on the road outside of Coeur d’Alene, so I had no clue what she was up to.

The helicopter landed, and the doors were drawn open immediately. As Kat leaned away, I got my first glimpse of the outside. All I saw was a tall chain-link fence, and beyond that, a gray mountain in the distance. Maybe the Rockies?

One soldier climbed down, motioning us out. Dawson went and then Kat. We kept her between us, and the moment my feet hit the ground, I grabbed her hand. Getting a better look around, I didn’t like what I was seeing.

It was obvious we were at a military base, a huge one that spread as far as I could see. Row after row of bunkers and planes and tanks and other major inconveniences when it came to forming an escape plan. Up ahead, there was a wide and tall U-shaped building.

And a whole crapload of soldiers.

Some dressed in fatigues. Others wearing black like the soldiers on the road. I had a feeling they were extra special.

“Welcome to Malmstrom Air Force Base,” Nancy said, stalking past us. As we passed the lines of soldiers, I expected them to salute Nancy. They didn’t. “The whole base is under lockdown. No one gets in or out, including the Luxen.”

My eyes narrowed on her back.

God, that woman had a bull’s-eye on her head. Not just for what she did to Kat, but also for my brother, for Beth, and for every other life her twisted hands had touched.

I didn’t get off on the idea of snuffing out someone’s life, even someone like her. But damn if I wasn’t looking forward to the moment when I paid her back tenfold for everything.

“Why did you bring us here?” Dawson demanded.

Nancy kept walking at a rapid clip. “You’ll find that the base is wired to deal with your kind.”

Meaning there was weaponized onyx and diamond and a ton of other delightful little things that Daedalus had whipped up over the years.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Dawson replied.

Nancy stopped in front of double steel doors. We obviously weren’t going in through the main entrance. She turned to the side, looking back at us, and for the first time since I’d known the woman, I saw something in her dark eyes I’d never seen before.

I saw fear.

What the . . . ?

The steel doors opened, metal grinding as they spread wide, revealing the brightly lit tunnel and one person standing in the center. Hands shoved in the pockets of faded, ripped-up jeans.

Kat recoiled in surprise, bumping into me.

“It’s about time you guys got here. I was getting really bored.” Luc rocked back on the heels of his boots, grinning widely. “But I think you’re missing one, Nancy.”

Nancy stiffened as she drew in a deep breath through her nostrils. “Dee left with the Luxen. She’s under their control.”

The smile slipped off his face. “Well, that sucks.”

“Sucks” didn’t begin to cover it, but I had no idea what to do with any of this. I shook my head as I stared at him. “What the hell is going on, Luc?”

He arched a brow. “How about a thank-you first? Maybe? I mean, I did get your asses out of trouble, didn’t I? I really would like a thank-you. Maybe a hug? I’m feeling kind of needy.”

“Where’s Beth?” Dawson stepped forward, seeming to forget that Nancy was right there. Not that he appeared to care. “Please tell me she’s not—”

“Calm down,” Luc replied, pulling his hands out of his pockets. “She’s doing well. She’s actually here. I’m sure one of these helpful . . . people”—he gestured at the soldiers in fatigues outside the doors—“that I really don’t know what the hell their job is can take you to where she’s at.”

Dawson started to turn as one of the soldiers stepped up. I lurched forward, grabbing his shoulder. “Wait a minute,” I cut in before my brother could run off blindly. “What in the hell are you doing here with her, Luc?”

Luc’s smile returned. “It’s okie dokie smokie, Daemon. No need to Hulk out on anyone. You’re safe here. Nancy won’t be a problem. Will you?” he asked the tight-lipped woman.

She looked like she had something really uncomfortable shoved up a really awkward place.

Her lack of response didn’t soothe me, but even if she had said no, I wouldn’t have been convinced. I didn’t budge. Neither did Kat, but Dawson was ready to go Road Runner on us.

Luc sighed as he raised his hands. “Look, this is not a trap, a test, or a drill. Archer’s here, too. He’s waiting for us, actually, and I’m more than willing to explain everything to you, but I’m not doing it standing here. Not when I found a Lunchables just a few minutes before you guys showed up, and I’m ready to make myself a delicious buffet of ham and cheese on crackers.”

I stared at him.

“What? It’s the kind that has Oreo cookies included,” he replied. “That shit is banging.”

“God, you had so much potential,” Nancy muttered under her breath.

Luc turned violet eyes on her and spoke in a voice that was barely audible to those around us. “And you are really wearing on my last nerve. I don’t think you want that, do you?”

Holy crap if that woman didn’t turn as white as a sheet of brand-spanking-new paper. I glanced back at Kat, seeing if she’d noticed, and her wide eyes told me she had.

I still hesitated.

“The Lunchables also comes with a Capri Sun,” Luc added. “Fruit punch. That Lunchables of Awesome isn’t joking around.”

Man, no matter what I did or decided from here on out, there was a risk, and I never knew where I stood with Luc. I don’t think anyone did. The fact was that we really didn’t have much of a choice.

My gaze settled on Luc. “If you’re screwing with us, I swear to—”

“God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost that you’re going to kill me or whatever,” he cut in. “Got it. And although I might not appear appropriately threatened, I am. So, kids, can we move this group along?”

Drawing in a shallow breath, I let go of Dawson’s shoulder. The soldier waited until Dawson joined him. Nancy stepped aside, allowing them both to pass through. I didn’t like it, but he had one focus—Bethany. He didn’t look back, not once.

Just like Dee hadn’t looked back.

Thinking of my sister slammed weight down on my shoulders, and I let out another breath as I reached for Kat’s hand. She was already there, threading her fingers through mine.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

Luc clapped his hands together as he pivoted on his heel. We headed down the tunnel, veering off to the right, when Dawson had gone in the other direction. The place reminded me of Area 51. Wide halls. A lot of closed doors. Strange antiseptic smell.

In some ways, it was better than being with the other Luxen. At least this was the enemy we knew and all that jazz.

Luc kneed open a set of double doors and caught one side with his hand. Nancy followed him in, and like he’d claimed, at one side of a long table was a Lunchables. Archer sat at the other side, his legs kicked up, arms folded behind his neck.

When the door shut behind us and only Nancy had come in, I knew something really strange was up. Before, the woman had traveled with an entourage.

“You’re okay,” Kat breathed out as she broke free, limping around the side of the table. “I’ve been so worried.”

Archer pulled his long legs off the table and rose. A second later, he enveloped Kat in a hug. “I told you to stay where you were. But oh no, you didn’t listen.” He looked over her head at me. “I totally told her to stay.”

Luc scowled. “Why didn’t I get a hug?”

He was ignored.

“Sorry.” Kat’s voice was muffled. “I had to, you know?”

“I get it. But damn, girl, it might not have worked out so well,” Archer replied. “Could’ve all gone to shit, and then who would take me to Olive Garden so I can try out the endless breadsticks?”

Kat laughed, but the sound was thick and choked.

I stood where I was, telling myself that the ugly heat invading my veins was indigestion and not jealousy. Totally not that, because Archer had nothing on me.

But did he need to hug her that long? And that hard? Come the hell on.

Archer’s purple gaze met mine over her shoulder. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of do.

My eyes narrowed. I still don’t like you.

Grinning, he pulled back, relinquishing his embrace, and then reached for a chair. “You look like you’re about to fall down. Why don’t you grab a seat?”

Kat did look worn out as she eased into one of the metal folding chairs. “What’s going on, guys? Why are you all here and with her?”

Archer glanced at me again as he sat. “Where’s Dee?”

The pressure increased as I moved to the seat beside Kat. As I sat, tension flickered across Archer’s face, gathering around his eyes. “She . . .” I shook my head, at a loss as to how to explain what was up with her.

His hands clenched together atop the table. “She’s not . . . she’s not gone, is she?”

“No,” Kat spoke up. “She’s not the same. She’s kind of batting for the other team right now.”

Archer opened his mouth, but as he sat back, he snapped it shut. I wasn’t sure how much they knew about everything, but I couldn’t get into that stuff until I knew what the hell was going on here.

I turned to Luc, arching a brow as I watched him stack slices of cheese and ham on a cracker. “What’s going on?”

“Nancy’s going to play nice,” he said, nudging the cheese onto the center.

She had sat next to Luc and looked like she wanted to start breaking things. Her gaze met mine. “Trust me, if I had a choice right now, you’d all be dead.”

Luc tsked softly. “Now, that isn’t very nice.”

I didn’t understand. As Luc chomped down on his snack, I leaned forward. “What’s stopping you from taking us out?”

“Let’s just say everyone has an Achilles’ heel, and I found hers.” Luc set about making another cracker. “It’s not pretty. Not something even I wanted to stoop to. But oh wells.”

That didn’t tell us jack.

Kat shifted closer. “How did you all end up together?”

“I made it back to the cabin. And after I told Luc what went down at the store, we considered hitting the road,” Archer explained. “But we didn’t get the chance before Daedalus showed up.”

Nancy’s lips formed a tight line.

“She thought she had us.” Luc plopped a mini Oreo on top of his ham-and-cheese cracker, and well, that was just sick. “But—”

“You said you were working on that,” Kat said, glancing at a silent Nancy. “A way to deal with Daedalus? You found something?”

“I’m a very well-connected person,” Luc said around a mouthful of junk. “When they kicked down our door and Nancy strode in as if she was the biggest, baddest thing this side of the country, I proved just how well connected I am.”

“How?” I watched Nancy.

“Like I said, everyone has an Achilles’ heel. Nancy’s is pretty obvious.” Luc stabbed a straw through his Capri Sun. “There’s only one thing that she cares about in this whole entire world, that she’d throw her family in front of a tank for—if she even has a family, because I’m pretty sure she was hatched from an egg—and it’s those baby Origins.”

“Baby Origins?” I repeated.

“Micah? Those?” Kat asked.

Luc nodded. “Yep.”

“Fun fact is that most of the hybrids and older Origins, the ones who left with her to retrieve you guys, aren’t really thrilled with the Daedalus treatment.” Archer smiled, but there was no humor. “The ones who were loyal, well . . .”

“Bastards,” Nancy hissed. “Do you know how long it took to cultivate something that was so loyal and so tested—?”

“Something?” Kat’s voice rose. “See, that’s why you’re so messed up. The hybrids and the Origins, they aren’t a something. They are living, breathing people.”

“You don’t understand.” Nancy turned a dark look on Kat. “You’ve never created anything.”

“And you have? Just because you forced two people to have children and then ripped them away doesn’t mean you created anything.” Anger tightened Kat’s lips. “You’re not their mother. You aren’t anything but a monster to them.”

Something akin to pain flickered across Nancy’s face.

“Either way, they mean a lot to her, and I know where they’re being kept,” Luc explained, finishing up his last cracker. “Tell them what the bigwigs wanted, Fancy Nancy.”

She gripped the edges of the table. “After the arrival of the Luxen, I was told to dismantle the Daedalus project.”

“Dismantle?” whispered Kat, and I already knew what she meant. I think Kat did, too, but didn’t want to believe it.

“I was told to clear out the program, erase everything,” Nancy explained.

“Oh my God,” Kat murmured.

I closed my eyes. Dismantle. Erase everything. In other words, she’d been given an order from someone higher up than her in the food chain to wipe out any proof of the program. “They wanted you to kill them?”

She exhaled noisily as she nodded. “Plausible deniability, they said. That the public couldn’t know that we had not only been aware of alien life-forms but had been working with them for decades.”

“Jesus.” I rubbed a hand across my brow. “Not just the kids, right? Every Luxen who was in there of their own free will? The ones who were allowing you to do tests? And even the ones who hadn’t assimilated to your standards?”

“Yes,” she responded.

“Of course, she had no problem wiping them out. They are expendable after all, at least according to her. But those Origins?” Luc shook his head slowly. “She couldn’t do it.”

My brows rose. Did the woman have a heart somewhere in her chest?

Luc laughed as he picked up on my thoughts. “No, Daemon, she doesn’t have a heart. Not in the way a normal person would grow attached to a classroom full of little freaky, and yet oddly adorable, kids. She didn’t want all of her work to go to waste, so she moved them out of Area 51, and she thought she had them hidden.”

“But she didn’t?” Kat tucked her hair behind her ear.

He shook his head. “As I said, I’m pretty damn well connected. I know where they are and I know how badly Nancy wants to return to them when this is all over, given that any of us are still alive, and cultivate the little freaks into big freaks.”

“Like I did with you?” Nancy asked.

Luc flipped her off. “Nancy knows that if she harms one hair on any of our bodies, even looks at us in a way that I find annoying . . .”

The casual indifference that he always rocked slipped off his face like a mask falling away. He leaned forward, his eyes glowing like purple diamonds, as Nancy turned to him.

In that moment, I was seeing the Luc who caused grown men to piss themselves, the Luc I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of, and that Luc was downright disturbing-looking as his features sharpened.

“She knows I will have every single one of them killed in seconds,” he said, his voice low. “And if my people don’t hear from me, even if I can’t make it to a phone in time, they are all going to die. And then Nancy has nothing.”

Good God.

Kat stared at the kid like she’d never seen him before.

There was no doubt in my mind that Luc was capable of doing something like that. As messy and wrong as it was, he’d do it, but I also didn’t believe that he’d ever let those kids fall back into Nancy’s hands.

And I wondered if she really believed that. Then again, what choice did she have? “Why didn’t you just kill her?” I asked.

“We kind of need her,” Archer explained. “At least, we need the government, someplace safe until . . . well, hopefully there’s an ‘until’ and not a forever. We also needed to get you all out and we—”

“As freaking awesome as we are,” Luc threw out, slipping back into the not-so-disturbing Origin mafioso.

Archer sent him a bland look. “Going up against that many Luxen would prove difficult. Right now, she’s a necessary evil.”

“And boy, do we mean evil.” Luc grinned.

Sitting back, I thrust my hand through my hair. Looked like Luc had Nancy on a leash. There was so much running through my head.

“What now?” Kat asked, drawing my stare. “We need to get Dee away from them.”

That made me want to get her name tattooed on my freaking forehead.

“And we need to find a way to stop what is happening, what—”

And that made me want to lock her in a closet or something.

“What you need is rest and probably something to eat,” Archer jumped in, glancing at me. “Both of you. That is the priority.”

“There are things that are going down. Stuff I’m sure Nancy will be happy to share with you, but that’s for a different day.” Luc reached over, patting Nancy’s hand like she was a small child. “But there’s something else she does need to tell you.”

Nancy’s jaw jutted out.

I smirked. “I doubt there’s anything she can tell me I’ll give a crap about.”

“Actually.” Luc drew out the word. “I think you and Katy will care about this.”

Kat tensed. “What now?”

“Tell them,” he goaded, and when Nancy didn’t speak, he said in a hard voice, “Tell them the truth.”

Oh shit. My stomach took a drop off the deep end. “The truth about what?”

Nancy’s lips pursed.

Archer stood, folding his arms like he was about to be the muscle in the room, and I really didn’t like where any of this was heading. “What the hell? Just spit it out.” My patience was reed thin.

Nancy took a deep breath and then squared her shoulders. “As you know, Daedalus worked on many serums before we had any amount of success, and in some cases . . .” She paused, looking pointedly at Luc, who smiled brightly. “The successes proved to be failures in the end. There was the Daedalus serum, which was given to Beth and Blake and so on.”

Kat drew in a sharp breath at the name of the bastard I hoped was rotting in a special corner of hell. I hated the mere mention of him in her presence. Kat had taken him out, in defense, but I knew that what she’d had to do still got to her.

“Then, of course, there was the Prometheus serum,” she said, her eyes lighting up like a kid catching the Easter Bunny hiding eggs. “The serum that was given to the men you mutated.”

“You mean the men you forced to be mutated?” I challenged.

“The volunteers you mutated were given the Prometheus serum, just like the hybrids that the most recent batch of Origins were created from,” she explained, surprising me.

“Wait,” Kat chimed in. “You were just testing out that serum when we were there.”

Luc shook his head. “What she means is that humans who were accidentally mutated on and off throughout the years were given the Prometheus serum in test batches. Not ones like Daemon mutated, but people like you and Beth and anyone else out there who was healed by a Luxen.”

Confusion poured into me. “So you were testing the Prometheus serum for the first time on forced mutations?”

“Like I said, they volunteered,” she corrected.

I was about to volunteer my foot upside someone’s head. “Okay. This is great info, but basically useless to me.”

A smirk graced Nancy’s lips for the first time since our lovely reunion. “The Prometheus serum is different from the Daedalus serum. It ensures that the mutated human, that the hybrid, is not connected to the Luxen.”

My head cocked to the side. “Okay?”

“When you healed Kat, and Dr. Michaels alerted us when she fell ill, we didn’t use the Daedalus serum.”

Kat stiffened. “What? He said—”

“Do you think he really knew what we were handing him?” Her dark gaze fixed on Kat. “He believed what we told him and that was it. He was given the Prometheus serum, which is what was given to you.” Her attention flicked back to me. “It was the same thing given to those you also mutated, Daemon.”

“No.” I leaned forward. “That doesn’t make any sense. When Kat was shot—”

“You got sick. Thought you were dying? Oh, save us from the dramatics.” Her eyes rolled. “It’s because you truly bonded with her on an emotional level. You love her.” She spat out the L word like it was an STD. “Yeah, we’ve figured that out. The whole true want and need crap.”

“Well, yay for you, but I was dying.”

She shook her head. “You were weakened and you were ill, but if she had died, you would’ve survived. You would’ve gotten better. Life would’ve gone on. You just didn’t get to that point because obviously someone else healed her.”

Kat gasped.

I stood. The floor under my feet seemed to shift. I locked my knees together. I was rocked through and through, almost unable to believe her.

Nancy took a deep breath. “Your lives aren’t joined like you think they are. If one of you dies, the other will feel it—feel everything, down to the last breath, the last heartbeat—but the other one will take another breath and their heart will beat again.”