fourth."
"You saved my life with Ash?"
"Oh yeah, when she said she could end you, she meant it." He sighed, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. "Dammit. Why not? It's not like you don't already know. 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."
"Okay..." I barely breathed. "Wait. When we saw the bear, I saw a flash of light."
"That was me, and before you ask, I didn't kill the bear. I scared it off. I'm not sure why you passed out. You were close to my light. I think it had an effect on you. Anyway, all of us have some sort of healing properties, but not all of us are good at it," he continued, lowering his chin. "I'm okay at it, but Adam - one of the Thompson boys - can practically heal anything as long as it's still somewhat alive. And we're pretty much indestructible. Our only weakness is if you catch us in our true form. Or maybe cut our heads off in human form. I guess that would do the trick."
"Yeah, cutting off heads usually does." My mind was going completely blank, only capable of processing what he was telling me and about one line of coherent thought every minute or so.
My hands slid to my face and I sat there, cradling my head. "You're an alien." He raised his brows at me. "There is a lot we can do, but not until we hit puberty, and even then we have a hard time controlling it. Sometimes, the things we can do can get a little whacked out."
"That has to be...difficult."
"Yes it is."
I lowered my hands, curling them above my chest. "What else can you do?" He watched me closely as he spoke.
"Promise not to take off running again."
"Yes," I agreed, thinking what the hell. Not like I could get more freaked out.
"We can manipulate objects. Any object can be moved, animated or not. But we can do more than that." He picked up a fallen leaf and held it between us. "Watch."
Smoke immediately started wafting from it.
Bright, orange flames erupted from the tips of his fingers, curling over the leaf. Within seconds it was gone, but his flames still crackled over his fingers.
I scooted forward, placing my fingers near the fire. Heat blew off his fingers. I pulled my hand back, looking at him. "The fire doesn't hurt you?"
"How can something that's a part of me hurt?" He brought his flaming fingers over the ground. Embers flew from his hand, but the ground remained untouched by the fire. He shook his hand. "See. All gone." Eyes wide, I inched closer. "What else can you do?" Daemon smiled and then he was gone.
Pushing back, I looked around. He was leaning against the tree several feet away.
"How...in the world - wait! You've done that before. The creepy, quiet, moving thing. But it's not that you're quiet." I sat back against the tree, dazed. "You move that fast."
"Fast as the speed of light, Kitten." He reappeared in front of me and slowly sat down.
"Some of us can manipulate our bodies past the form we chose originally. Like shift into any living thing, person or creature." I stared at him.
"Is that why Dee fades out sometimes?" He blinked. "You've seen that?"
"Yes, but I figured I was seeing things." I stretched out my legs a little. "She used to do it when she was feeling comfortable, it seemed.
Just her hand or the outline of her body would fade in and out." Daemon nodded. "Not all of us have control over what we can do. Some struggle with their abilities."
"But you do?"
"I'm just that awesome."
I rolled my eyes, but then I sat up straighter.
"What about your parents? You said they work in the city, but I've never seen them."
His gaze fell to the ground again. "Our parents never made it here."
An ache for him and Dee filled my chest.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It was a long time ago. We don't even remember them."
That seemed sad. Even though my memories of my dad seemed worn over the years, I still had them. And I had so many questions about how they survived without parents, someone taking care of them