“Why now?” Daemon asked, a hard edge of distrust to his tone.
“And that’s the question of the year, huh?” Paris chimed in, grinning like he ingested some happy pills or something. “Why would Archer pick right now to risk everything—his life, what little life he had?”
Archer sent the other Luxen a dark look. “Thanks, Paris, for adding that. Escaping Daedalus is not easy. Besides Luc and a handful of others, no one has ever succeeded. Yeah, I could’ve run a hundred times over, but they would’ve found me. I also needed a diversion.”
It hit me then. “You used us as a diversion.”
He nodded. “Nancy and Sergeant Dasher are going to be more concerned about finding Daemon and you. I’m not going to be at the top of their priority list.”
Some of the tension eked out of Daemon’s frame. “Nancy had said that there were other origins out in the world pretending to be normal humans.”
“There are some,” Archer confirmed. “I doubt they’ll be a problem right now. They have high-profile lives, so they won’t come within ten miles of any of us.”
There was still something I didn’t understand. “Why didn’t Luc just have you get him the LH-11? He could’ve hidden you.”
Paris laughed softly. “Do you think there’s a method to Luc’s madness?”
“I hoped there would be,” Daemon muttered, running a hand through his hair.
“Actually, there is a method. Besides the fact that I could play spy to keep Luc…and a few others up to date on what Daedalus was doing, I knew that they changed the LH-11 strain, and that’s what Luc wanted, the new version—Prometheus. I was never around the new drug. No one was. Not until they brought you in,” Archer said to Daemon. “It was sort of the perfect storm for everyone. But I don’t know why Luc wants the drug.”
“And I wouldn’t ask him,” Paris said ominously.
I shivered at his tone, but then I thought of what Archer had told me. “What about the Luxen—the ones Sergeant Dasher claimed wanted to take over? Was that true?”
Archer slid a look at Daemon. “It’s true, and your boy toy over here seems to know one of them.”
Daemon’s eyes narrowed. “Stay out of my head.”
I turned to him. “What is he talking about?”
“It’s just something Ethan White said. Remember him?” he asked, and I nodded. I’d met the Elder Luxen briefly. “When I left the colony to come looking for you, he said something about Earth not belonging to the humans forever, but I really didn’t give it much thought, because come on… I’m sure there are Luxen out there who want to be in control, but it would never happen.”
Archer didn’t look convinced, and neither was I, but then the origin cocked his head to the side. “Speaking of the devil…”
A moment later, the hotel door opened. Daemon shot to his feet, eyes turning all white as I started for the gun, my heart leaping into my throat.
Luc strolled in, holding a plastic bag and a pink box. His hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, a big grin plastered across that angelic face. “Hey, guys!” he said cheerfully. “I brought doughnuts.”
I blinked slowly as I settled back down. “Good God, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I’m pretty sure I locked that door,” Daemon growled.
Luc set the box of doughnuts down, and I eyed them like they held the answer to life. “And I’m pretty sure I let myself in. Hey, Katy!”
I jumped at my name. “Hey, Luc…”
“Look at what I got.” He dug into his bag and pulled out an extraterrestrial highway shirt. “We can be soul twins now.”
“That’s…um, really nice.”
Paris’s lip curled. “Are you actually going to wear that shirt?”
“Yeah, I am. Every day of my life. I think it’s ironic.” Luc’s amethyst gaze circled the room, landing back on me. “Now, I think you two have something for me?”
Daemon let out a low breath and picked up the glass case. He tossed it over to Luc, who snatched it out of the air. “There you go.”
The kid popped open the small and narrow case, exhaling slowly. He closed it reverently and slid it into the back pocket of his jeans. “Thank you.”
I had a feeling that, like Daemon, he didn’t say thank you a lot. “So…what do we do from here?” I asked.
“Well…” Luc drawled out the word. “Shit’s about to get real. Daedalus will spare no expense or life to get their grubby little hands on you, Daemon. They are going to tear this town apart. They already are. And they will use every means possible to drag you back in.”
Daemon stiffened. “They’re going to go after my family, aren’t they?”
“Most likely,” he replied. “Actually, you can count on that. Anyway!” Luc spun on Archer so fast that the older origin took a step back. “I got us some new wheels.”
“Really,” Archer replied.
“And it’s roomy enough for the five of us.” Luc turned back to Daemon and me with an impish grin that spelled no good. “I have a surprise for you guys. But first, I’d suggest putting on some clothes.” He reached in his bag, pulled out a shirt, and tossed it at Daemon. It was a plain white T-shirt. “Me and Katy look adorkable in extraterrestrial highway shirts. You would just look stupid. You can thank me later.”
I wondered how in the world Luc knew that Daemon also had one of those shirts.
“And eat some damn doughnuts. In either order will do.”
Daemon scowled, while I was just happy to start eating doughnuts. I peeked inside the box. Glazed. My favorite.
“What kind of surprise?” Daemon asked, holding the shirt and making no attempt to put it on.
“Now if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. But we need to get on the road soon. So eat and pack up. We’ve got places to go.”
Daemon exhaled through his nose and then glanced at me. I could tell he didn’t take too kindly to being bossed around by Luc, but my mouth was full of glazy goodness, so I really didn’t have anything to add at the moment.
Finally, he nodded. “All right, but if you—”
“I know. If I’m screwing with you guys, you’re going to find a way to make my death slow and painful. Got it.” Luc winked. “I consider myself warned.”
“By the way,” Archer said as Daemon leaned over my shoulder and started poking around the doughnuts. “Don’t forget the box of condoms on the floor.”
My focus shot to the floor. There they were, right where Daemon had dropped them last night. My face burned like holy hell, and I almost choked on the doughnut, the sound of Daemon’s laughter ringing in my ears.
…
Daemon
I so didn’t forget the condoms when I packed what little stuff we had into our alien tote. Kat still looked a little red in the face, and it took everything in me not to tease her mercilessly about it. I went easy on her because she looked so damn cute standing there in that stupid T-shirt and those cheap plastic flip-flops, clutching the alien doll to her chest.
I dropped my arm over her shoulders as we headed out into the bright glare of the August desert sun.
Archer brushed past us, his gaze falling to what I carried. “Nice bag.”
“Shut up,” I replied.
He snorted.
We rounded the corner of the motel, and I got my first look at our ride. “Whoa! That’s your wheels?”
Luc threw his new T-shirt over his shoulder as he patted the rear bumper of a black Hummer. “It suits me, I like to think.”
Kat shifted the doll to her other arm as she took in the monster. “Did you drive this small village crusher all the way from West Virginia?”
He laughed. “No. I borrowed this.”
Yeah, I had a feeling that Luc’s “borrowing” was the same way I had “borrowed” Matthew’s car. Heading around the driver’s side, I opened the back door for Kat. “Think you can climb up in this thing all by yourself?”