Blake tapped his straw off my hand before peeling the paper from around the plastic. “It’s not a big deal. Stuff happens.”
I nodded, studying the steamed-over windows. He cleared his throat, frowning again as his eyes narrowed on a middle-aged man near the bar who was looking around nervously. “I think that guy’s about to skip out on his bill.”
“Huh, really?”
Blake nodded. “And he thinks he’s getting away with it. He has so many times before.”
In stunned silence, I watched the man take one last drink and stand without getting his check.
“Someone is always watching,” Blake added with a slight smile.
A couple sitting behind the man, both in flannel shirts and well-worn jeans, were also watching the customer about to flee. The man leaned toward the woman, whispering something. Her heavy face twisted into a scowl, and she slammed her hand down on the table. “No-good bums, always thinking they can get a free meal!”
The outburst caught the attention of the manager who was taking an order by the door. He turned to face the startled man. “Hey! Did you pay for that?”
The man stopped and fumbled in his pockets. He muttered an apology and hastily threw several crumpled bills on the table.
My head snapped back to Blake. “Whoa, that was…uncanny.”
He shrugged.
I waited until the waitress returned with our order and left, my unease growing. “How did you know he was going to do that?”
Blake blew on his spoonful of vegetable soup. “A good guess.”
“Bullshit,” I whispered.
His gaze met mine. “It was just a lucky guess.”
Doubt bubbled up. Blake wasn’t an alien—at least I assumed he wasn’t, and none of the Luxen I knew could read minds or foresee anything, but that was just too weird. It could’ve been a lucky guess, but every instinct was telling me there was something more.
I munched on the fries. “So do you have lucky guesses a lot?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes. It’s just intuition.”
“Intuition,” I said, nodding. “That’s some spot-on intuition.”
“Anyway, I heard about that kid going missing. That totally sucks.”
The abrupt change of subject was jarring. “Yeah, it does. I think the cops believe he ran away.”
Blake twirled his spoon in the soup. “Did they ask Daemon a lot of questions?”
I frowned. “Why would they?”
Blake’s hand stilled. “Well…because Daemon did get in a fight with him. I mean, it seems likely they would question him.”
Okay, he had a point, and I was being way too twitchy about this. “Yeah, I think they did, but he didn’t have anything to do with—” I froze, not believing what I was feeling. Dull heat flared between my breasts.
It couldn’t be.
I dropped the fry back into the basket. The obsidian flared under my sweater. Frantically, I reached around my neck, tugging on the chain. When the obsidian slipped free, I wrapped my hand around it, wincing as the stone scorched my palm. Panic clawed up my throat as I lifted my eyes.
Blake was doing something with his wrist, but my eyes latched onto the front door. It swung open. Fallen leaves scattered across the tile. The low hum of conversation continued, the customers unaware a monster was in their mix. Near-scalding heat radiated from the obsidian. Our table started to rattled softly.
In the doorway, a tall and pale woman with dark sunglasses covering half her face scanned the crowded patrons. Her raven-colored hair hung in thick, ropey strands around her cheeks. Her red lips were spread in a serpent’s smile.
She was an Arum.
I was starting to stand, seconds away from ripping the obsidian off my neck. Would I really charge her? I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t stand here and do nothing. My muscles tensed. Arum always traveled in fours, so if there was one, that meant there were three more somewhere.
Blood pounded in my ears. I was so intent on the female Arum that I hadn’t paid attention to Blake until he was in front of me.
He raised one hand.
Everyone stopped. Everyone.
Some people had forks of food halfway to their mouths. Others were stopped in mid-conversation, mouths hanging open in silent laughter. A few had even stopped walking with one foot off the ground. A waitress had been lighting a candle with a small lighter. She was frozen but the flame still danced above the lighter. No one talked, no one moved, and no one even seemed to breathe.
Blake? I took a step back from him, unsure of whom I should be more afraid of—the Arum or the harmless surfer boy.
The female Arum hadn’t frozen. She was moving her head side to side in slick, fluid motions as she studied the frozen humans and, I assumed, a few Luxen.
“Arum,” Blake accused, voice low.
She whipped around, her head still moving. She took off her sunglasses, squinted. “Human?”
Blake laughed. “Not quite.”
And then he launched himself at her.
Chapter 18
Blake was a freaking ninja.
Moving lightning fast, he dipped under the Arum’s outstretched arm and spun around, delivering a vicious spin kick to her back. She staggered forward a step and whirled. The air around her hand darkened with black energy. She reared back, preparing to deliver a blow.
Dropping down, he spun and knocked her leather-encased legs from underneath her. The dark energy flickered out as they both rose to their feet again, circling each other in the narrow space between the cramped tables and frozen people.
I sort of just stood there, mystified and entranced by the display. There was no expression on Blake’s face. It was like a kickass switch had been thrown, and his whole being was focused on the Arum.
Blake darted in, his palm catching the Arum’s chin, snapping her head back. Teeth rattled, and when she lowered her head, a dark, oily substance leaked from her lip.
She faded out, taking on her true form. Her shadowy body was thick and smoky as it charged Blake.
He laughed.
And pivoted around so fast that his hand was just a blur as it sunk deep into what appeared to be her chest. His watch…wasn’t a normal watch. It was a shred of obsidian currently embedded in the Arum’s chest.
Blake jerked his hand back.
As she took on a human form, her face was pale and shocked. A second later, she exploded in a rush of black smoke that blew my hair back and filled the air with a bitter scent.
Not even out of breath, Blake turned to me and pressed something on his watch. He placed it back on his wrist, then ran a hand through his messy hair.
I gaped at him, the obsidian rapidly cooling under my hand. “Are you, like…Jason Bourne or something?”
Striding over to our table, he dropped a twenty and a ten on the plaid tablecloth. “We need to talk somewhere private.”
Eyes wide, I took a deep breath. My world just got a little more insane, but if I could deal with aliens, I could deal with ninja Blake. That didn’t mean I was going somewhere with him until I knew what the hell he was, though. “My car.”
He nodded, and we headed for the door. Blake held it open for me as he faced the frozen diner. With a wave of his hand, everyone started moving. No one seemed to notice that they’d been frozen for minutes.
We were two steps from my car when I realized my hands were shaking and the back of my neck was tingling.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Blake muttered and took ahold of my hand.
I didn’t even have to look. There was no Infiniti SUV in the parking lot that I could see, but then again, Daemon had his own special method of travel if necessary.
A tall, imposing shadow fell upon us, and I lifted my gaze. Daemon stood there, a black baseball cap pulled low, shielding the upper half of his face.
“What…what are you doing here?” I asked, and then realized Blake was holding my hand. I pulled it free.