He prowled to the door silently, with the grace of a lethal predator, and there I was, stumbling around like a colt. Inching closer, I told myself I was ready to use this gun. Using the Source, which was just as dangerous, would be too risky. Shooting a gun would draw attention, but hopefully only the local kind.
Daemon leaned in, peering out the peephole. “What the hell?”
“What?” My heart skipped a beat.
He looked over his shoulder at me. “It’s Paris—the Luxen who was with Luc.”
It took me a moment to remember who he was—the really pretty blond Luxen who had been with Luc at his club. “He’s a friendly?”
“We’ll see.” Daemon squared his shoulders and cracked the door open. I couldn’t see anything beyond his bare back, which, if I had to be stuck staring at something, at least it was that. “Surprised to see you all the way out here,” he said.
“Should you be?” came the response.
“You tell me. Why are you here? And why shouldn’t I blast you into next week?”
My palm was sweaty around the gun. Daemon really wouldn’t blast Paris. Wait. Yes he would, risky or not.
“Because that would draw way too much attention,” Paris replied in his smooth voice. “And besides, I’m not alone.”
Daemon must have seen someone else, because his shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch, and he stepped aside. “Well, come in.”
Paris stepped through the door, his strides long and sure. He took one look at me holding the gun. “Nice shirt.”
I glanced down, forgetting I was wearing the extraterrestrial highway shirt. “Thanks.”
Then Archer popped in, looking fresh and clean. Not at all like someone who’d spent the night running around the desert. Suspicion bloomed like a noxious weed. He looked at Daemon. “Were we interrupting?”
Daemon’s eyes narrowed as he closed the door. “What’s going on?”
Archer reached into his jeans and pulled out a glass case. He handed it over to Daemon. “Here is the LH-11. I thought I’d let you do the honors.” He looked at me. “Are you going to shoot me, Katy?”
“Maybe,” I mumbled, but I lowered the gun and sat on the edge of the bed. “Where have you been?”
Archer frowned as Paris milled about, casting a distasteful sneer at the room. “Well, I did have a busy night keeping half the military off your tracks. Then when I was heading back to meet you, I ran into our friend here.”
“I wouldn’t consider him a friend,” Daemon said as he came to stand beside where I sat.
Paris placed a hand against his chest. “You wound me.”
Daemon rolled his eyes, and then in a lower voice, he said. “You can put the gun down, Kitten.”
“Oh.” I flushed. Stretching over, I placed it on the table. Then I addressed Archer. “We owe you a thank-you for…for everything.” I waited for Daemon to chime in. When he didn’t, I kicked his leg.
“Thank you,” Daemon muttered.
Archer’s mouth curved in amusement, and I think it was the first time I saw him really smile. I was blown away by how young it made him look. “You have no idea how gleeful that makes me feel to hear you say that, Daemon.”
“I can imagine.”
“Seriously,” I cut in. “We do thank you. We would’ve never made it here if it wasn’t for you.”
He nodded. “It wasn’t just for you two.”
“Explain?” Daemon said.
Paris huffed as he hopped up on the desk. Thank God the thing didn’t give out on him and wrinkle his pressed pants. “Do you guys really think that Archer enjoyed being Daedalus’s perfect little example of how an origin should be?”
“I guess not.” Daemon sat beside me. “And I guess Luc didn’t, either.”
Paris raised a slender shoulder. “And I guess you didn’t enjoy being their perfect, little mutant-maker?”
“Oh, yeah, and Nancy was totally loving you.” Archer folded his arms. “You were her all-star Luxen. How many humans did you mutate in the short period of time there? More than any other Luxen has.”
Daemon stiffened. “That really has nothing to do with this. Why are you helping us, and why are you with Paris?”
“And where is Luc?” I piped in, figuring he couldn’t be too far.
Paris smiled. “He’s around.”
“We don’t have a lot of time for questions, but I can give you the short and dirty version,” Archer said. “I owed Luc a favor, and Paris is right. You were right, Katy. Being in Daedalus means not having a life. They controlled every aspect. It doesn’t matter how I came into creation.” He spread his arms out, palms up. “What matters, always matters, is living.”
“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—”