Her hand squeezed the obsidian. “I have to be able to defend myself and the people I care about. Because I can’t expect you to always be there to protect me. It’s not right or fair to either of us. That’s why I’m training with Blake. Not to piss you off. Not to get with him. I’m doing it so that I can stand beside you, as your equal, and not be someone you need to protect. And I’m doing this for myself, so that I don’t have to rely on anyone to save me.”
I sat back, closing my eyes. All the terrible things I’d said to her when I first met her, about her being weak and not being good enough, smacked me right in my face. I had caused this need to grow and fester in her.
“I know,” I said after a few minutes, realizing that I probably knew this whole time, but I’d been too stuck up my own ass to accept it. “I know why you want to do this. And I respect that. I do, but it’s hard to stand back and let this happen.”
“You don’t know what’s going to happen, Daemon.”
Rubbing my jaw, I stared out the windshield. Tiny flakes of snow drifted down, melting the moment they hit the hood. “It’s hard. That’s all I can say about this. I’ll respect what you want to do, but it’s hard.”
A long stretch of silence passed, and then Kat moved on. “Anyway, what are we going to do if we see Vaughn?”
“Haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“Wow. This was a good plan.” She paused. “I really doubt Bethany is in one of these houses. That would just be too dangerous.”
“I agree, but why did they have her out in public like that? Where anyone could see her?”
She shook her head. “I got the distinct impression that Vaughn wasn’t too happy. Maybe she escaped.”
I looked at her. “That would make sense. But Vaughn, well, he’s always been a punk.”
“You know him?”
“Not extremely well, but he started working with Lane a few months before Dawson ‘disappeared.’” The last word was hard to say and wrap my head around. “Lane had been our handler for God knows how long, and then Vaughn showed up with him. He was there when they told us about Dawson and Bethany.” Bitter memories clogged my throat. “Lane seemed genuinely upset. Like Dawson wasn’t just a thing that had died, but a person. Maybe he grew attached to Dawson over the years. See…” I cleared my throat. “Dawson had that kind of effect on people. Even when he was being a smart-ass, you couldn’t help but like him. Anyway, Vaughn couldn’t have cared less.”
Kat reached over the small space between us and squeezed my arm. I looked at her, and after a moment, I placed my hand over hers. Something infinite flared between us—stronger than physical, much deeper. I pulled back, watching the snow fall in larger flakes. “You know what I’ve been thinking?”
“What?” she asked after a moment.
I leaned back against the seat to keep my legs from cramping. “If the DOD knows what we can do, then none of us are really safe. Not that we’ve ever been safe, but this changes everything.” I looked over at her. “I don’t think I said thank you.”
“For what?”
“For telling me about Bethany.” I smiled slightly.
“You needed to know. I would—wait. We’ve got one.”
Two headlights turned onto the street. It was at least the fifth car to hit the road, but this was an SUV. I squinted. “It’s an Expedition.”
The black Expedition slowed down and pulled into the driveway of a single-story home two houses in. The driver’s door opened and Vaughn stepped out, frowning as he lifted his gaze to the sky. My hands balled into fists. Another car door closed and a figure moved into the light.
“Dammit,” I said, recognizing the woman. “Nancy’s with him.”
“Well, you weren’t really planning on talking to him, were you?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I kind of was.”
“That’s insane. What were you going to do? Bust up in his house and demand answers?” When I nodded, she gaped. “Then what next?”
“Another thing I hadn’t fully worked out yet.”
“Geez,” she muttered. “You suck at this whole spy thing.”
I chuckled. “Well, we can’t do anything tonight. If one of them went missing it probably wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but two of them would raise too many questions.”
They disappeared into the house. A light turned on inside, and then someone I guessed was Nancy passed in front of the window. The curtains were drawn closed.
“Huh,” Kat said. “Private bunch, aren’t they?”
“Maybe they’re getting some bow-chicka-pow-wow.”
She looked at me. “Ew.”
“She’s definitely not my type.” My gaze dropped to her lips. “But now I totally have that on my mind.”
“You’re a dog,” she said, a bit breathlessly.
“If you pet me, I’ll—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Her lips twitched. “And knock the innocent look off your face. I so know—”
Kat yelped, jerking in her seat. Her head hit the roof of the car.
“What?” I demanded.
“An Arum,” she gasped, digging the piece of obsidian out from under her sweater. “An Arum is nearby! You don’t have any obsidian on you?”
Tense, I scanned the road. I didn’t feel a single thing. Weird. “No. I left it in my car.”
She stared at me. “Seriously? You left the one thing that kills your enemy in your car?”
“It’s not like I need it to kill them. Stay here.” I started to open the door, but she grabbed my arm. “What?”
“You can’t get out of the car. We’re right in front of their house! They’ll see you,” she reasoned, and dammit, I hated logic. “Are we still close enough to the Rocks?”
“Yes,” I growled. “They protect us for about fifty miles in every direction.”
“Then just sit still.”
Sitting still was not something I was a fan of, but I managed as a shadow moved up the street, darker than the night. I slowly shook my head. How did I not feel it? The Arum glided to the curb and drifted over the thin layer of snow. Its path became obvious. The Arum was going for Vaughn’s house.
“What the hell?” I placed my hands on the dashboard.
The Arum took form, dressed in a black jacket. His pale blond hair moved slightly as he walked up to the front door and pressed his finger on the doorbell. Vaughn answered the door and grimaced. His mouth moved, and I picked up a name, and then he stepped to the side, letting the Arum enter his house.
“Holy monkey balls,” she said. “That did not just happen.”
I sat back. Fury rose swiftly. “That did. And I think we’ve discovered how the DOD knows what we’re capable of.”
“The DOD and the Arum are working together? Sweet alien baby… Why?”
“Vaughn said a name—Residon. Read his lips.”
“What do we do now?”
“What I want to do is blow up their house, but that would draw too much attention.”
She pursed her lips. “No doubt.”
There was one person I thought we could talk to, that we could trust, because at this point, we had to talk to someone else about this. What we saw went beyond Kat and me. “We need to go see Matthew,” I said. “Now.”
Chapter 21
Bringing anyone into the fold was risky and could open up a whole new set of problems, but discovering that the Arum were working with the DOD wasn’t something I could keep to myself. That wasn’t smart. We were going to have to take this risk and see it through.
Matthew lived farther out than we should’ve attempted to reach in this car. By the time the vehicle crawled up his driveway, I was wondering if we were going to make it back in the Prius.
We climbed out and immediately Kat slipped in the snow. I grabbed her arm. “You fall and break something, I’m going to be irritated.”