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“Happy?” Daemon lost his smile and stared. “I’m never happy around you.” “What did you say?” My eyes narrowed on his blank expression. He did not say what I thought he did. “Nothing. You better get in before that blush reaches your toes.”
“I’ve always found that the most beautiful people, truly beautiful inside and out, are the ones who are quietly unaware of their effect.”
I was always able to lose myself in reading. Books were a necessary escape I always gladly jumped into headfirst.
“Your sister acts as if this is her fault.” “She doesn’t like it when people get hurt,” he said softly. “And people tend to get hurt around us.”
“They were triplets, too. Dee and there were two brothers, Daemon and Dawson. They were completely identical, like the two Thompson boys. Couldn’t tell them apart if your life depended on it.” I stared at them, rooted to the floor. Carissa smiled sadly. “It’s really sad. The one brother—Dawson—he disappeared a year ago. Everyone pretty much believes he’s dead.”
Holy Hawt Chemistry, Batman. I looked over at her, shaking my head.
And then Daemon began to fade out, his body, along with his clothes, disappearing and being replaced by an intense reddish-yellow light that swallowed him whole. People made of light. Holy crap…
Daemon stilled above me. “I won’t hurt you, Kat.” His tone was softer, but still laced with fury as he tried to control me without doing any real damage. “I could never hurt you.”
“Are you…human?” Daemon’s short laugh was without humor. “We’re not from around here.” “You think?” His brows rose. “Yeah, I guess you’ve probably figured out we’re not human,”
“What are you? A vampire?” He rolled his eyes “Are you serious?” “What?” Frustration whipped through me. “You say you’re not human, and that limits the pool of what you can be! You stopped a truck without touching it.” “You read too much.” Daemon exhaled slowly. “We’re not werewolves or witches. Zombies or whatever.”
“In this vast, neverending universe, do you think Earth—this place—is the only planet with life?”
“You don’t look like an alien!” It seemed important to point that out. He arched a brow. “And what do aliens look like?” “Not…not like you,” I sputtered. “They aren’t gorgeous—” “You think I’m gorgeous?” He smiled. I shot him a dark look. “Shut up.
And when he spoke, it wasn’t out loud. It was in my head. This is what we look like. We are beings of light. Even in human form, we can bend light to our will. There was a pause. As you can see, I don’t look like a giant insect. Or…sparkle. Even in my head I could hear the disgust on that last one.
One arm made of light stretched out toward me. A hand and fingers formed, opening palm up. You can touch me. It won’t hurt. I imagine that it’s pleasant for humans.
“Where we’re from is beyond the Abell.” “The Abell?” “It’s the farthest galaxy from yours, about thirteen billion light years from here. And we’re about another ten billion or so. There is no telescope or space shuttle powerful enough to travel to our home. There never will be.”
Not that we need to breathe oxygen, but it doesn’t hurt. We do it out of habit now more than anything else.” Another memory tugged loose. “So you don’t need to breathe?” “No, not really.” He looked sort of sheepish. “We do out of habit, but there are times we forget. Like when we’re swimming.”
I do remember the name of our planet. It was called Lux. And we are called Luxen.”
“You said you came during a meteorite shower? Where’s your spaceship?” I felt stupid for even saying that. He raised a brow at me, looking like the Daemon I knew. “We don’t need things such as ships to travel. We are light—we can travel with light, like hitching a ride.”
All of us can control light. We can manipulate it so that we’re not seen if we don’t want to be. We can dispel shadows, whatever. Not only that, but we can harness light and use it. And trust me when I say you don’t ever want to be hit with something like that. I doubt a human could survive.”
Humans are weak. They bring us nothing but trouble.” My eyes narrowed. “We aren’t weak. And you’re on our planet. How about a little respect, buddy.”
“They will use you to get to me.” Daemon reached out, pulling a leaf from my hair. His hand lingered near my cheek for a second before dropping to his knee. “And if they get ahold of you…death would be a relief.”
Her lip trembled. Tears turned her eyes into shimmering jewels. “You don’t hate me? I like you, and I don’t want you to hate me or be scared of me.”
“Daemon can do about anything. He’s one of the most powerful of us. Most of us can do one or two things easily—the rest is a struggle. Everything is easy for him.”
A smile pulled at his lips as he looked away. “I had more fun that day than I can remember.
I could feel every breath he took, and when he shifted his hips, my eyes went wide and I gasped. Oh yeah, certain stuff was definitely working.
You’ll be safe.” He was guiding his thumb across my hand in a silent alphabet. It was sort of soothing, comforting. “And if not?” “Then I’ll kill them, too.”
“My brother fell in love with a human…and now they’re both dead.”
My old Camry, with its leaky exhaust and loud muffler, was no match for the speeds he wanted to go. I’d brake-checked him several times. He’d blown his horn.
One brow rose as he waited. “Kat?” Mentally kicking myself, I looked away. “Did you get hit by an ice cream carton?” “Yes.” “Damn. And I missed that.” “I’m sure Dee would love to do a replay for you.”
“At least I don’t look like a Christmas tree.” “You look like the star atop the tree.” His breath stirred the hair around my cheek.
Either he was a perv or an alien. Or both, which would be a winning combination.
God, what was up with alien DNA? I got that they were otherworldly, but Jesus, did that include perfect breasts, too?
“That is so not the look he gives you.” “Then what’s the look, Dee?” She knocked her book off the bed and climbed to her knees, placing her hands over her chest. “It’s the ‘I hate you but I want you’ look.”
I wanted a dress that didn’t look like it’d been bedazzled by a grandmother or swallowed by a bow factory.
“I didn’t tell you this because I’m sure you would’ve changed your mind about the dress.” “What?” I frowned. “Does it make my butt look big?” She laughed. “No. You looked stunning in it.” “Then what’s the deal?” Her smile turned downright mischievous. “Oh, you know, just that the color red is Daemon’s favorite.”
Daemon cleared his throat as he glanced away. “You…you look beautiful, by the way. Really too good to be with that idiot.”
“You need to turn him back, but first, I’d like to do something.” Daemon cocked a brow in curiosity. Dragging in a deep breath, which still tasted like cheap beer, mints, and Simon’s tongue, I kicked him straight between the legs. Simon didn’t react, but he’d feel it later. “Whoa.” Daemon let out a strangled half laugh. “Maybe I should’ve killed him.”
“You have your arrogance now, like all Luxen. But where will your arrogance be when we absorb your powers?” “In the same place as my foot,” Daemon replied, hands balling into fists. The leader looked confused. “You know, as in up your ass.”
“I didn’t say thank you,” he said, staring up at me. “You should’ve run, Kat. They would’ve…killed you without thinking twice. But you saved my life. Thank you.”
You’re super bright. It’s kind of like looking at the sun.” Now that was odd. I held up my hand, faintly able to see the outline of it in the darkness. “It’s going to be hard for you to sleep, then.” “Actually, it’s kind of comforting. It reminds me of my own people.”
I promise you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I had the funny feeling that he was sizing up the situation and somehow I was to blame for his sleepy—albeit really, really nice—fondling. Like any of this was my fault.
“I say we drive her out to the middle of nowhere and leave her ass there,” Andrew muttered. “Thanks,” I said, rubbing my temples. “You’re so very helpful with all of this.” He smiled at me. “Hey, just offering my suggestions.” “Shut up, Andrew,” Daemon said. Andrew rolled his eyes.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Funny, but not a good idea. Humans are fragile.” “How about I shove my fragile foot up your ass,” I said, irritated.
“My people believe that when we pass on, our essence is what lights the stars in the universe.
“We could always have sex. I hear that uses up a lot of energy.”
Daemon kissed me. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. His mouth was on mine, and I stopped breathing.
“I don’t think he meant to kiss me,” I said finally. “What? Did he slip and fall on your mouth? Those things are known to happen.”
“I don’t know. I mean we haven’t talked about it. He literally left afterward, and all he’s done since then is poke me with his pen.” “Probably because he wants to poke you with something else,” she said drily. My eyes bugged. “I can’t believe you said that.”
Because this was absolutely insane—the craziest thing I’d ever done. Worse than giving a one-star review, scarier than asking for an interview with an author I’d give my firstborn to eat lunch with, more stupid than kissing Daemon. But this was all I could do.
