Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Holding my breath, I flattened myself against the building as two men dressed in all black came around the front, talking softly. The orange glow of a cigarette flared and then it flickered through the air, fading out when it hit the ground.
I was trapped.
Stark terror forced the air out of my lungs so quickly it left me dizzy. My muscles locked as I turned my head to the side. The taller man—the smoker—looked up. I knew the second he saw me.
“Hey!” Smoker yelled. “Stop right there!”
Like hell. Pushing off the wall, I sprinted away. I made it a couple of feet before he yelled out again. “Stop! Or I’ll shoot!”
I stopped, throwing my hands up. Each breath I took sawed painfully in and out of my lungs. Crap. Crap. Crap.
“Keep your hands up and turn around,” Smoker ordered. “Now.”
Doing as instructed, I pivoted in place. They were a few steps away, sleek black guns drawn and pointed directly at me. They were dressed like paramilitary or something, in full combat gear. Jesus, what had Daemon stumbled upon?
“Just stay right there,” the shorter one said, approaching me cautiously. “What are you doing here?”
I clamped my mouth shut and felt the heady rush of Source pooling in my veins, provoked by fear. Static built under my clothing, raising the tiny hairs on my body. It demanded to be called upon, used. But tapping into it would seriously expose what I was.
“What are you doing here?” the shorter one demanded again, now just a foot away.
“I’m…lost. I was looking for the interstate.”
Smoker glanced at the shorter officer. “Bullshit.”
My heart was pounding so hard I felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, but I kept the Source locked inside. “I’m serious. I was hoping this was, like, a visitor’s center or something. I got off at the wrong exit.”
The closest one lowered the gun by a fraction of an inch. “The highway is several miles from here. You must’ve taken the wrong exit by a long shot.”
I nodded eagerly. “I’m not from around here. And all the roads and signs look the same. Like the towns all sound the same,” I rambled on, playing the dumb girl. “I’m trying to get to Moorefield.”
“She’s lying,” Smoker spat.
Any hope that had sparked in me died in a fiery crash. Smoker came closer, keeping the gun trained on me. With one hand, he reached out and placed his palm against my cheek. His hand smelled of cigarettes and disinfectant.
“See,” the shorter one said, starting to put his gun back into the holster attached to his thigh. “She’s just lost. You’re getting paranoid. Go ahead, honey, get out of here.”
Smoker grunted and grasped my other cheek, ignoring his partner. Something warm and sharp was in his palm. Fear spiked my heart rate. Was it a knife?
“I’m lost. I swear—”
Red-hot, needle-sharp pain streaked across my cheek, slicing down my neck and over my shoulder. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
The pain rushed at me in waves. Blackness inched across my vision, and I doubled over, breaking contact with whatever he held in his hand.
“Christ,” the shorter one said. “You’re right. She’s one of them.”
I dropped to my knees as the pain ebbed, leaving a dull ache throbbing deep in my skin. Gulping in air, I placed my hand against my cheek, expecting to find my skin split open, but it was only warm.
“Told you.” Smoker grasped my arm, yanking me forward. When I lifted my head, he had a gun pressed between my eyes. “What’s in this barrel will do far worse. So you better think carefully before you answer the next question. Who are you?”
Speechless, fear held me paralyzed.
He shook me. “Answer me.”
“I…I…”
“What’s going on out here?” a new voice asked, coming up from behind the two men.
Smoker stepped to the side, and my heart dropped. It was Vaughn.
“We found her sneaking around back here,” Smoker said, sounding like he’d just caught the biggest catfish to date. “She’s one of them.”
Vaughn frowned as he moved closer, his bushy mustache blowing as he breathed heavily. “Good job. I’ll take this one.”
I couldn’t breathe. Vaughn had been inside, where Daemon was. Had he caught Daemon, done something to him? If so, it was entirely my fault. I’d started this by telling him I’d seen Bethany. I may not have controlled where the rock went, but I’d pushed it down the hill.
“Are you sure?” asked the shorter officer.
Vaughn nodded, reaching down and grasping my other arm, hauling me to my feet. “I’ve had my eye on this one for a while.”
“The cages should be prepped,” Smoker said, letting go of my other arm reluctantly. “It took a while for it to work on her. You might want to double it up.”
Cages? My mouth dried up.
The shorter officer looked me over, eyes narrowing. “Since we caught this one, shouldn’t we get a reward?”
“Reward?” asked Vaughn, voice low.
Smoker laughed. “Yeah, like with the other one. That was one hell of a reward. Husher won’t know any different as long as we don’t mess her up.”
Before my brain could come to terms with what he meant, Vaughn pushed me to the side hard enough I lost my balance and hit the ground. He threw up his hand. Lightning crackled around his arm, flaring red-white as it enveloped his body until he was nothing more than light.
I gasped, realizing Vaughn was…Daemon.
“Dammit!” yelled Smoker, reaching for his gun. “It’s a trick!”
Pulsing with light and power, he released the energy. It struck Smoker first, sending him several feet back. The light arched, smacking into the shorter officer. He too went flying into the side of the building. There was a sickening crunch, and he fell to the ground, skin and clothing smoking. The man shuddered once, and then his face turned to… ash.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
A slight breeze moved down the building, stirring the fallen man. Pieces of him flicked up into the air, floating away until nothing remained. It was the same where Smoker had fallen. There was nothing left of them.
Daemon’s light dimmed, and when I looked at him, he was in his human form. I expected him to flip out about my not staying in the car, but all he did was reach down and take my hand, gently pulling me to my feet. The baseball cap hid his eyes, but his lips were pressed in that hard, unyielding line.
“We need to get out of here,” he said.
I agreed.
Chapter 28
Back at my house, we sat on the couch, facing each other with our legs crossed. I held a steaming cup of hot cocoa that he’d placed between my hands, but I couldn’t get warm enough. I kept running down everything that had happened, ending with the men turning into ash. It reminded me of the videos of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. The blast of heat had been so intense it had turned people to ash and permanently implanted their shadows into buildings.
We’d driven their car into the woods, and Daemon had then fried it, burning it until there wasn’t much of anything left. Any evidence of us being there had been removed, but eventually people would miss the two men and questions would start getting tossed around, especially from their families. Because they had families…
The baseball cap had been tossed onto the coffee table, but I couldn’t read anything in Daemon’s eyes. He’d been quiet the whole way back.
I squeezed the warm mug. “Daemon…are you okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
Taking a sip, I watched him from under my lashes. “What was inside the building?”
He rubbed the back of his neck as he closed his eyes briefly. “There wasn’t anything in the first couple of rooms. Just empty office space, but it’s obvious the place is used a lot. There were empty coffee cups, filled ashtrays everywhere. The farther I got in, there were…cages. About ten of them; one looked like it was used recently.”