It took me a while to process what Daemon was telling me. A problem? Is Dee okay? Did the D.O.D. find us? Thoughts raced through my head as Daemon stood out in the cold rain. I probably looked like an idiot just standing there, but after a while I gained some composure and opened the door for him to come in.
Daemon walked in like he owned the place, and sat on our couch. He was getting it soaked with his wet clothes. I frowned but sat on the other side of the room on a chair. Safety in distance.
"What's wrong? What happened Daemon?" I asked, worry lacing my voice. Worry? To hell with that. I got up and started pacing the room, hands behind my back, not sure if I wanted to hear his answer, but not wanting to sit still at the same time. Daemon watched me with narrowed eyes.
"Kitten, if you keep pacing like that, there'll be a hole in your floor." He said, sighing and clapping his hands together.
"Just, sit down." He said softly. I looked over at him, and finally decided that the quicker I heard what he had to say, the faster I could finish being worried about what the news might be. I didn't dare to look in his eyes as I sat down. This was no time to start drooling over my neighbor.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked, much calmer this time. Point for me. Daemon leaned back into the couch and looked over at me. I still refused to make eye contact though.
"Kat, you have to look at me sometime." He said. I raised my gaze slowly up to his eyes. Bad move. Just his eyes made me want to jump him right there. I brought my hands to the sides of my head. Daemon's lips came up in a small, sad smile. As quick as his smile had come though, it vanished.
"Some of the Arum have come back. We were out patrolling and we found about a dozen, and that was only in the woods. There are probably dozens more around town. We managed to take care of the ones in the woods, but if we don't take care of them all, then the D.O.D is going to come out here, searching for anything and everything to take away and examine for alien traces...including us." Daemon said grimly. He looked like he had more to say, but stopped there. I didn't want him to stop if there was more to say. After taking a minute to breathe, I sat up in the chair and looked over at him again. His bangs were covering those deadly, sexy, dangerous eyes. He looked so...serious.
"What else is there Daemon? You're not telling me something." I said. His eyes shot up to mine.
"Isn't what you heard enough?" He asked, quietly.
"Oh, trust me, it is and I'm sure I'll start freaking about it later, but you might as well tell me everything so I can freak out about it at the same time." I said. Daemon gave a small nod and sat on the edge of the couch, getting only a little closer to me.
"The Arum took Andrew and Ashley. Only Adam and I came back from patrolling." He said furiously. He shot out of his seat and started to walk around the room, almost going so fast that I couldn't see him.
I stood out of the chair and slowly made my way over to where he was walking. Andrew and Ashley gone? Not that I really liked Andrew or Ashley, but that doesn't mean that him getting taken isn't going to spring some concern from me. The Arum had gotten close and took some of our friends. That pissed me off like no tomorrow.
When I reached Daemon, I cautiously put my hand on his shoulder. He stopped moving altogether and looked at me, then at my hand, back to me. It felt like fire was spreading between my hand and his shoulder. I quickly removed it, watching his eyes.
"We'll be fine Daemon. We'll find them and bring them back." I said, trying to offer some form of comfort. Andrew and Ashley were like his family, and from what I've seen, no one in their right mind would mess with Daemon's family.
He shook his head. "Kat, the Arum are everywhere. We can't just go out and search for Andrew and Ashley all heroic and fearless. They could already be dead for all we know, but they can take care of themselves. Right now I need to worry about you and Dee. You guys are my main priority, and I won't let anything happen to you." He said. His voice made little shivers dance on my skin and I had to look away for the sake of my sanity.
"Well, we have to do something." I whispered just barely loud enough for myself to hear. Of course Daemon could hear it though. He brought his arms around me in a hug and brought his lips down to my ear. I could feel his warm breath tickle my ear as he began to speak.
"It'll be okay Kat. We'll figure something out, but for now I'm going to stay and protect you and Dee. Do you understand?" He asked me. I felt like such a child, but I nodded as a tear fell down my cheek. Arum were taking our family, and that crossed a line. Daemon sighed and held me tighter. I ignored the crazy warmth between us, even though it didn't make sense because he's soaked to the bone, and just let myself be comforted by him. However, I didn't let myself have that luxury for long. Too much of a good thing can be very bad. I pulled out of his embrace and smiled sadly. We would figure something out. We'd have to. Daemon looked back at me like I was about to break and took a step closer to me. I held up a hand.
"You need to get out of those wet clothes Daemon. I'll be fine while you go change. Besides, you probably should go check on Dee while you're over there. She can't be taking this well." I said softly. Dee would probably need Daemon way more than me right now. She'd just lost some of her family. Daemon met my gaze.
"I haven't told her yet, but I'm going to. While I'm gone, you should probably change too. I kind of got your clothes wet." He said, quite pleased with himself. I could only imagine what he was thinking, but I just motioned towards the door.
"Go tell Dee, Daemon. I'll be fine being alone for a while." I said, walking towards the stairs to go up to my room.
"What time does your mom come home?" He asked. I smiled at his concern.
"In about an hour. I wasn't lying when I said that I'm going to dinner with her tonight." I smiled. Daemon glanced away, smirked, and then was gone in the blink of an eye. I hate it when he does that.
I walked up to my room and then shut my door as I exchanged my tee for a second one and my jeans for some sweat pants. Ah the comforts of sweats. I paced around my room uneasily after that. I couldn't shake the feeling now that Arum were everywhere. Could they be watching right now?
The phone rang, releasing me from my stupor. I ran to the phone downstairs, thankful for a distraction.
"Hello?" I asked when I answered the phone.
"Hey, Katy." My mom said. I was instantly soothed by her voice.
"Hey mom. What's up?" I asked.
"Listen Katy, I'm really sorry but we'll have to go to dinner some other night. We just got some burn victims in and well, they're not doing so hot. No pun intended." She said, not being funny at all. I frowned. I had really been looking forward to having dinner with my mom, but I guess that'll just have to wait until some other time. Fabulous.
"Okay mom. It's no problem." I said. I could practically hear my mom's smile on the other end of our conversation.
"Great. I'm sorry Katy, it's just work. We'll go out some other time. Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll be home, so are you sure you'll be okay?" She asked.
I gulped. Alone for a night? I quickly shook off my fear. I'll be fine, heck I'm almost alone every night. Tonight is no different. Hopefully.
"Yeah, I'll be okay." I said, not so sure of it myself. Apparently though, it was enough to fool mom. I was half hoping that it wouldn't to be honest.
"Alright then. I'll see you whenever I get home. Bye Katy." She said. She hung up before I could say goodbye back. I gently placed the phone on the receiver and took a deep breath. I would be fine. I scoffed myself. I needed to loosen up a little.
I went to the bathroom closet and grabbed a towel to put on the couch. After making it somewhat dry, I sat down and continued to read my book. It took another hour to finish, but it was worth it. Yet another book boyfriend added to the swiftly growing list. I sighed and put the book down, facing a different problem. Now I had to find something to do, which is pretty impossible if you're bored, because you don't want to get up to actually find something to pass the time.
I got up off the couch and looked out the window. Still raining? I groaned and began sulking to the stairs. I loved the rain, but right now it just looked depressing. When I reached my room, I was about to shut the blinds on my window so I could sleep, but something caught my attention. I got closer to my window and squinted. Something dark was moving out there. Close to my house. I stifled a scream as it moved along with the shadows. An Arum. Of course with my luck it would be an Arum. Just peachy. A blinding light came from Dee's house. So they had seen it also. The glowing figure came bounding out of their house. By the size of it, it was definitely Daemon. Thank the heavens. The destruction of the Arum occurred so fast that I wasn't even sure how it happened. Knowing Daemon, it was probably either strangled or crushed to death, or zapped with Daemon's alien light. Whichever way it happened, it was still dead. I gasped in shock. Had it been coming for me? I shook my head. No, there was nothing alien about me...was there?
Daemon's form quickly switched from blinding to just plain old human. He looked up at my window and frowned. I quickly looked away and shut my blinds. Was I not supposed to see that? A knock on my bedroom door answered that. I opened it, not surprised to see Daemon. He probably had forgotten to lock the door once he left.
Daemon put both hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes.
"Are you alright?" He asked desperately. I had believed him when he had said that there were a lot of Arum, but I didn't think that one would appear this fast. I stood there, not answering.
"Katy!" Daemon yelled. I zoned back in and looked him in the eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said softly. "Just a little shocked." I shook his arms off of me and walked over to my bed, sitting down. He came and sat right next to me, putting an arm over my shoulders and pulling me close to his chest. His other hand went to my hair, gently running his fingers through it.
"Are there any more out there?" I asked, letting myself be held by him. It felt so good.
"Well, yes and no. Obviously there are more, but I don't think there are any more around here." He said. I could tell that he was lying. I sat up, sad to leave his arms, but needing to. He had been a jerk earlier and I wasn't going to forgive him that quickly. Lately though, I had seen the nonjerkish Daemon, which was nice. I sighed and wrapped my arms around myself. Daemon stood up.
"You're staying the night with Dee." He said. I looked up at him.
"What? Why? The Arum didn't even get inside." I said, knowing I sounded stupid. Daemon proved my point.
"Kitten, you're staying over. I don't want to have to worry about you being alone all night. I could drag or carry you over to our house if that would be more convenient." He said, raising his eyebrows. He was waiting for me to challenge his offer, just so he could take me up on it. That's fair.
"Let me text my mom." I grumbled. After that was done, I put on some shoes and a jacket, finding Daemon already by the door, waiting to go. I sighed and walked out onto the porch. He followed and shut the door behind him. After I didn't move from the porch, Daemon gave me a little nudge on my back, forcing me to go forward. I glared back at him, just to see him smiling. That smile calmed my nerves a little as we walked through the storm to get to his house.
Daemon opened the door and let me in, his eyes watching everywhere, always on the lookout. Those beautiful green eyes. I caught myself staring before he did and quickly looked away, but not fast enough. He grinned devilishly at me as he shut the door.
"You don't have to stare to catch my attention Kitten. You already had it." He smirked. I gulped. Staying the night may not be so good for my hormones or my sanity.