He looked away, jaw clenching. “Adam is dead. My sister almost lost her life.”
I sucked in a painful breath. “I’m so—”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare apologize!” he yelled, eyes glowing through the darkness, through me. “Adam’s death will destroy my sister. I told you we couldn’t trust Blake, that if you wanted to learn how to fight, I would’ve shown you! But you didn’t listen. And you’ve brought the DOD into your life, Kat! Who knows what they know now.”
“I didn’t tell him anything!” My chest was rising rapidly. My breath came out short. “I never told him you healed me.”
Daemon’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think he didn’t guess?”
I winced, at a loss what to say. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He flinched. “And those times you were covered in bruises? That was him, wasn’t it? He was hurting you during training, wasn’t he? And never once did you think there may be something wrong with him? God dammit, Kat! You’ve lied to me. You didn’t trust me!”
“I do trust—”
“Bullshit!” Daemon was in my face. “Don’t say you trust me when it’s apparent you never did!”
There was nothing I could say.
A burst of energy left him, slamming into an ancient oak. It cracked with a loud snapping sound and then folded into a tree beside it. I jumped, gasping for air.
“All of this could’ve been prevented. Why couldn’t you trust me?” His voice cracked, and the sound reverberated through me like a barb-tailed whip.
I wished I had. My trust should’ve been placed in the one person I’d always trusted. I’d been fooled. Worse yet, I’d let myself be fooled. Tears streamed down my cheeks, a never-ending river of remorse.
Daemon drew in another harsh breath as he started toward me, but he came up short. “I would’ve kept you safe.”
Then in a flash of red-white light, he was gone. And I was alone in the freezing night, left with my choices, my mistakes…my guilt.
Chapter 32
When I returned to my house, everyone was gone except Matthew, who stayed to help…clean up after everything. Someone had removed Vaughn’s body, plus his car and Blake’s truck. There were broken picture frames everywhere. The coffee table was scratched all to hell. I had no idea how I was going to explain the broken window in the hallway upstairs.
But the spot where Adam had fallen was worse.
Glistening liquid pooled in two spots. Matthew was trying to clean it up, but his hands were shaking, his jaw working. I grabbed some towels from the linen closet and knelt beside him.
“I have this,” I whispered.
Matthew sat back, lifting his head and closing his eyes. He let out a staggered breath. “This should’ve never happened.”
Tears built in my eyes as I sopped up what was left of Adam. “I know.”
“They are all like my children. Now I’ve lost another, and for what? It doesn’t make sense.” His shoulders shook. “It never makes sense.”
“I’m sorry.” Wetness gathered on my cheeks, and I wiped at my face with my shoulder. “This is my fault. He was trying to protect me.”
Matthew didn’t say anything for several minutes. I worked at the spot, drenching two towels before he placed his hand on mine. “It’s not just your fault, Katy. This was a world you stumbled into, one filled with treachery and greed. You weren’t prepared for it. Neither are any of them.”
I lifted my head, blinking back tears. “I trusted Blake when I should’ve trusted Daemon. I let this happen.”
Matthew twisted toward me, grasping my cheeks. “You cannot take on the full responsibility for this. You didn’t make the choices Blake did. You didn’t force his hand.”
I choked on a broken sob as grief tore through me. His words didn’t ease the guilt, and he knew it. Then the strangest thing happened. He pulled me into his arms, and I broke. Sobs racked my entire body. I pressed my head against his shoulder, my body shaking his, or maybe he was crying for his loss, too. Time passed, and it became a New Year. I welcomed it with tears streaming down my face and a heart ripped apart. When my tears dried, my eyes were nearly swollen shut.
He pulled back, pushing my hair aside. “This isn’t the end of anything for you…for Daemon. This is just the beginning, and now you know what you’re truly up against. Don’t end up like Dawson and Bethany. Both of you are stronger than that.”
…
I spent the rest of the night trying to hide what had gone down from my mom. Eventually, I needed to tell her. No doubt the satellites had picked up on what had happened the night before. And there was the issue that some of what Vaughn had said hadn’t made sense, a lingering feeling that the worst had yet to pass. I figured in the coming days or weeks, it would. There’d also be questions about Adam.
But she didn’t need to know right now.
I convinced her that the wind had thrown a branch into the window upstairs. Believable, since Daemon had knocked down several outside. The pictures were harder to explain.
Then I slept through New Year’s Day, waking the following Sunday morning only to eat sugary Pop-Tarts, and then I went back to sleep to avoid the swamping darkness waiting for me. Guilt ate away at me, even in my sleep. I dreamed of Blake and Adam, even Vaughn. They surrounded me while I swam in the lake, slipping under and pulling me below the surface.
So it was strange that when I did wake that evening, I took a shower, piled on some clothes, and left to go to the place haunting my dreams. Mom was already gone, and I had a vague recollection of hearing Will in the house earlier.