Love.
Chapter 15
After school on Tuesday, Dawson headed home instead of going straight to Bethany’s house, where he wanted to be. Bethany had promised to get the groceries after dinner as a part of her chores that week, so she’d be pretty busy that evening.
It was that time of the month.
Once a month, he had to check in with the DOD. Every Luxen was required, even more so since he lived outside the colony. And it could be worse. Being summoned by the Elders usually consisted of one, if not both, of the brothers getting their rears chewed out for some reason or another, made to feel guilty for “being like a human,” and getting pestered about when they’d mate. In other words, would Daemon marry Ash at eighteen and would Dawson find another female Luxen of the same age?
The DOD would just ask the same old questions.
Yeah, fun would be had by all. He so didn’t need to do this right now.
A black Ford Expedition was already parked in front of his house when he pulled into the driveway. Counting the ways this was going to suck, he climbed out of his Jetta and headed inside.
The suits—two of them—were in the living room, sitting on the couch. Both were middle-age males and bore the same empty expression. Their postures were stiff, though, probably because Daemon leaned against the wall, glaring at them as if he wished to do something terrible to their bodies.
Dawson recognized one of them—he’d been coming to them since they’d moved to West Virginia, but the other was new.
Dee looked up from where she was perched on the edge of her chair. Relief flickered in her shining eyes. Usually that meant things were not going well between Daemon and the DOD, and Dawson would play peacemaker.
Crossing his arms, Dawson said, “Well, this looks like a happy meeting of the minds.”
Daemon’s pointed gaze slid toward him. “Sounds about right.”
Officer Lane cleared his throat. “How have you been, Dawson?” A wave of revulsion and distrust accompanied his greeting. Lane pretended—barely—to like the Luxen. All of them knew better.
“Good,” Dawson said. “You?”
“Officer Vaughn and I are doing great.” Lane clapped his hands together, while the other left his hanging by his hips, near the gun Dawson knew they carried. Funny. Like a bullet would be faster than them. “We’ve been talking to Daemon here, and he’s been…very helpful.”
Dawson almost laughed. Not likely, and if Daemon’s stance was anything to go by, whatever questions he’d been asked didn’t sit well with him. Unease trickled through Dawson’s veins. Had they found out about Bethany and her faint trace? That couldn’t be the case. The DOD didn’t know it could be left on humans, and no one, not even Andrew, would relay that kind of information.
Vaughn glanced at his partner before he spoke. “There has been some unusual activity over the last month or so—an increase in EM fields in this area. Your brother appears to have no knowledge of how this could be happening.”
Since the government thought Arum were just psycho Luxen, it wasn’t like they could tell them they’d been hunting or fighting. If the DOD ever discovered that the Arum hunted the Luxen for their abilities, then it was game over. Back to New Mexico, back to living in underground housing, treated like freaks and lab rats.
Dawson shrugged. “Well, we’ve been doing a lot of running in our true forms. Maybe that’s it?”
Vaughn’s lips twisted. “As far as our records indicate, being in your alien form would not cause such a disruption.” The man said alien as if he’d swallowed something nasty. “We find that hard to believe, after looking over the last six months of field reports from around here.”
The DOD needed a hobby, something other than monitoring them.
Dee crossed her legs. “Officers, my brothers do like their physical activity. Sometimes they get a little out of hand. See, they like to play a Luxen form of football.”
“And what would that be?” Lane smiled, because everyone smiled at Dee.
She grinned. “Imagine the football being more of a ball of pure energy. They like to toss that at each other. Maybe that’s what’s registering.”
“Really?” Lane shook his head, eyes widening. “That would be interesting to see.”
“You’re always welcome to join in,” Daemon said with a smirk. “Although I doubt you’d enjoy it.”
Vaughn’s face flushed. “You have a smart mouth, Daemon.”
“Better than a dumb one,” Dawson replied. “At least, that’s what I like to say.”
Daemon chuckled softly. “Well, boys, this has been fun, but if there isn’t anything else, you know where the door is.”
Used to Daemon, Officer Lane stood, but Vaughn remained seated and said, “Why has your…family chosen to stay outside the colony?”
“We enjoy taking part in the human world,” Dee said cheerfully, quick to answer. God only knew how Daemon would’ve responded. “You know, being contributing members of society and whatnot. It’s the same reason why any Luxen chooses to branch out.”
Dawson had trouble keeping his expression straight. For real. The truth was that living in the colony was no better than living in one of the DOD’s facilities they used to “prepare” the Luxen for assimilation. If not worse, even.
Vaughn looked doubtful, but Officer Lane managed to get him up and toward the door. Before they left, though, they reminded the three of them they needed to check in by the end of April for mandatory registration. The DOD kept count religiously of how many lived inside and out of the colony.