“And every one of them is with him now?” Archer scrubbed a hand over his crew cut, which was starting to grow out.
“Yep.” Lore drew out the word, grinning. “It’ll be like entering a cult. Be prepared.”
“It’s really weird.” Serena twisted her hair and tossed it over her shoulder as she spoke. “They all stare at you like they’re planning to eat you for dinner. The whole Arum thing is kind of freaky, to be honest.” She glanced at Hunter and then Lore. “No offense.”
Lore lifted his arm off the roof of the car with an easy smile. “None taken.”
“So, you guys ready to do this?” Hunter asked.
Not really, but I didn’t scream no when Daemon nodded. All I did was watch Hunter turn to Serena and clasp her cheeks with huge hands. The hold was so incredibly gentle, I was surprised an Arum was capable of it.
He lowered his head, kissed her, and she leaned into him as if it were second nature. I felt like a total ogre for staring, but I couldn’t look away. An Arum and a human. Wowee. It hit me then that they probably thought the same thing when they saw a Luxen and human together.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said when he lifted his head.
Serena frowned. “I can go with—”
“You know I don’t want you around Lotho and Sin, and you know I’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “Lore has promised to keep you entertained.”
Lore nodded as he pursed his lips.
Serena still didn’t look happy, and if she was afraid for Hunter and what he was about to embark on, I thought we needed to seriously rethink this.
But we didn’t have any other options.
She hugged him fiercely, clinging to him for a few moments, and then she let go. Stepping around him, she patted his behind. “I’ll be waiting.”
The look Hunter sent her caused my cheeks to flush, but then Serena stopped and faced us. “Look, I’ve had some real bad experiences with Luxen in the past—the kind of Luxen who knew the rest of them were coming.”
Daemon and I exchanged looks. “Care to give a little more detail?” he asked.
She took a deep breath. “There was a senator who was a Luxen, and he had two sons. My best friend . . . she accidentally saw them do their glow thing, and they killed her to keep her silent. They tried to kill me.”
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“Hunter was brought in by the government to keep me safe. Not because they really cared about me, but they didn’t like how the Luxen thought they could kill whenever they wanted to—not following the rules.” A sad look filled her eyes. “But it was more than that. My friend overheard the brothers talking about this—about Project Eagle. Something that had to do with Pennsylvania and some kids.”
“Anything else?” Archer asked, gaze sharpening shrewdly.
She glanced at Hunter before nodding. “Project Eagle was in response to Daedalus—it was about contacting the other Luxen who were out there, wherever there is. It was about world domination. They’ve been planning this, and they were using the Origins to do it. We thought they were talking about kids—like little people right now.”
“But they weren’t,” Hunter said, frowning. “We did a little digging. They were talking about Origins like him.”
A muscle flexed along Archer’s jaw. “As in, Origins fully grown?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
Holy crap, we were totally right.
“We knew something like this was going to happen, or at least that they were going to try, but we couldn’t do anything,” she said.
“We have prices on our heads,” Hunter explained. “Let’s just say I pissed off the Luxen, some of the Arum, and Daedalus. We were between a rock and a really screwed-up hard place.”
“We wanted to do something but couldn’t, so helping you guys out . . . well, that’s better than doing nothing again.” And suddenly, I knew that Serena was probably the driving force behind Hunter fulfilling the favor he owed Luc. Her gaze drifted over to Daemon. “I know you don’t trust Hunter, but we don’t trust you, either. So if you do anything that puts him in danger, I know how to take a Luxen out, and I’m not afraid to.”
Daemon’s chest rose with a deep breath. “I got you.”
“Good,” she replied.
I liked her.
Hunter grinned. “Come on, guys. We don’t have far to go.”
The three of us followed Hunter over to a lamppost, which was like thirty feet from the car, and then he stopped. “We’re here.”
My brows rose as I looked around, seeing nothing. “Is this like some kind of magical Harry Potter door? Or something?”
He stared at me.
“What?” I asked sheepishly. “You know, like the Room of Requirement? The door kind of just appears . . . Oh, never mind.”
“Okay.” He gestured down by our feet. “We’re going down.”
All I saw was a manhole cover, and then he bent down, lifting the heavy steel, and my heart sank. We were literally going down.
“Here?” Archer asked.
He nodded with a tight smile. “Why else do you think I suggested the airport? It’s not like I like to hang out here.”
“How were we supposed to know?” Daemon responded, eyeing the manhole like it was the last thing he wanted to climb into. Ditto. “You’re an Arum, so . . .”
“I really was hoping you’d drop that damn attitude by now.”
Daemon smirked. “Kiss my ass.”