I glanced out the window. "I'm almost to the field. I don't see him."
"Of course you don't see him." He sounded disgusted. "He's made of shadows - of night, Kat. You won't see him until he wants you to." Oh. Well. Shit.
"I can't believe you did this," he said.
My temper snapped under the fear. "Don't you start with me! You said I was a weakness.
And I was a liability back there with Dee. What if he came there? You said so yourself he'd use me against her. This was the best I could do! So stop being such a damn jerk!" There was such a gap of silence I thought he'd hung up on me, but when he spoke, his voice was strained. "I didn't mean for you to do this, Kat. Never something like this."
His voice sent shivers through me. My eyes darted over the blurred shapes of trees. I drew in a deep breath, but it got stuck. "You didn't make me do this."
"Yeah, I did."
"Daemon - "
"I'm sorry. I don't want you hurt, Kat. I can't - I can't live with that." Another stretch of silence passed while his words sunk in and then,
"Stay on the phone. I'm going to find a place to ditch the car and I'll meet you there. It won't take more than a few minutes to get there. Don't get out of the car or anything." I nodded as I pulled the car to a stop inside the field. The moon rolled behind a cloud, turning everything pitch black. I couldn't see anything. A horrifying, sick feeling settled in my stomach.
Reaching down, I grabbed the obsidian blade and held it tight. "Okay. Maybe this wasn't the strongest idea." Daemon barked a short, harsh laugh. "No shit."
My lips twitched as I glanced in the rearview mirror. "So, um, the not living with your - "
There was a shadow there that
looked...more solid than the rest. It moved through the air, thick like oil, slipping over the trees, spreading along the ground. Tendrils reached the back of the car, sliding over the trunk. My throat dried, lips parted.
The blade warmed in my hand. "Daemon?"
"What?"
My heart thudded. "I think - "
The automatic locks unlocked and my driver's door flew open. A scream came out.
One second I was holding the phone and the next I was flying to the ground, my fingers almost losing their grip on the blade. Pain shot through my arm and side as I hid the blade behind me.
I lifted my eyes. My gaze traveled over black pants and the edges of a leather jacket.
Pale face. Strong jaw and a pair of sunglasses covered the eyes even though it was night.
Baruck smiled. "We meet again."
"Shit," I whispered.
"Tell me," he said, bending down and lifting a strand of my hair. His head swiveled to the side as he talked, moving back and forth like a bird. "Where is he?"
I swallowed thickly as I scrambled back across the ground. "Who?"
"You're going to play dumb with me?" He stepped forward and removed his sunglasses, slipping them inside his jacket. His eyes were black orbs. "Or are all humans just so stupid?" My chest rose and fell sharply. The blade was only good in his true form. And it was burning through the leather, stinging my hand.
"I want the one who killed my brothers." Daemon. My entire body was shaking. I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
"And you...you killed one of them, protecting him." He flickered out. There was my chance, but before I could move, he solidified in front of me. "Take me to him or I will make you beg for death." I shook my head, tightening my hand. "Screw you."
He faded out, becoming a mass of dark and twisted shadows. Lunging to my feet, I let out a battle-worthy scream and swung my arm around, aiming for the center of the black goo. The blade burned bright, the color of hot coals.
My jab never landed.
A smoky hand caught my arm. The touch was bone-chillingly cold. His voice was an insidious whisper among my thoughts, like a snake slithering inside my head. Do you think I'd fall for that? Pleassse...
He twisted. I heard the CRACK before I felt the pain. My fingers twitched and the blade fell to the ground, shattering into a dozen shards like nothing more than fragile glass. I screamed as a wave of pain crippled me.