Origin

statue. He was healing her.

“Go,” Luc ordered when he finished. The woman stared back at him. She was in some kind of costume— leather bra and skirt. “Go.”

She scrambled off.

Archer swung around. “They’re coming.”

They were.

Men dressed in SWAT gear edged along the sides of the street—not Vegas SWAT. Daedalus—military. And their guns were big.

PEP.

They shot first—a flare of red light aiming straight for Andrew.

Andrew avoided the hit, flying off the retaining wall and rearing back. A bolt of energy streaked out from him, slamming into the ground before the advancing men. The pavement cracked and rolled, knocking several of them off their feet. Guns fired. Red light flashed into the sky.

There were more—men in camo behind those in black.

“Shit,” Archer groaned. “This is about to get bad.”

Thanks for the update, Captain Dickhead. Shoving Kat behind me, I slammed my foot down, sending a fissure through the road. Raising my arms, I let the Source roll through me.

Placing my hands on the bumper of a Mercedes in front of me, I sent a shock of electricity dancing over the exterior. I lifted it up, tossing it like a Frisbee toward the advancing soldiers, who scattered like cockroaches. It flew through the air, rolling and rolling until it smacked into a palm tree, taking it out.

Red light pulsed, flying over our heads and between Archer and me, narrowly missing Luc. I turned slowly. Oh no, no you did not.

Energy burst from me in a tumultuous wave, smacking into four of the five soldiers, throwing them back into the tourist bus.

Another blast went off to our right, and I spun, grabbing Kat as I saw Paris dart in front of me. He slammed into Luc, knocking him out of the path of the PEP.

Paris took a direct hit.

He jerked to a stop, his body spasming as his form shifted from human to Luxen, back and forth. Electricity crawled across his body, blowing out at his elbows and kneecaps. He went still, his light dulling until he crumbled to the ground. Shimmering blue liquid pooled underneath him.

Dead.

Luc let out an inhuman sound, and a bright glow swallowed him. He rose several feet into the air, static and little fingers of light crackling out from under his body. His light flared once, as bright as the sun at noon, and then there were screams. The smell of burned flesh permeated the air.

Shots rang out, zinging past my head and smacking into the cars. The cavalry had arrived, it appeared, with good old-fashioned guns.

Dawson zipped up to my side, his fingers brushing the back of a sedan. It was flung at the bus, pinning the soldiers.

Stay behind me, I warned when I felt Kat inching around me.

I can help.

You can die. So stay behind me.

Anger radiated from her, but she gritted her teeth and stayed back. There were bigger problems. The grinding of heavy tires drew our attention. Clearing the road had worked against us. A fleet of Humvees came out of the smoke, and a— Is that a tank?

“You have got to be kidding me,” Kat said. “What do they plan on doing with that?”

Its gun moved toward where we all stood, glowing like damn Hit Me Now, Please and Thank You signs.

“Crap,” Archer said.

Racing across the cars, Andrew slammed his fist into the hood of a truck. Flames erupted as he used the truck to Molotov the tank. Soldiers streamed out of the hull, scrambling away seconds before the thing blew. The M1 went up in the air like a firecracker, flinging across the Boulevard. Hitting the gardens in front of the Venetian, it rolled across the parking lot.

Heart pounding like a jackhammer, I willed the pieces of broken asphalt off the ground. I flung them toward the cops, forcing them back. Everything was happening fast. Soldiers were coming out of everywhere, and Luc was going after them, holding nothing back. Cops were coming down the Boulevard shooting at just about anything that breathed. People—innocent people—were hiding behind cars, screaming. Dee was trying to usher them off the road, out of harm’s way, but they were all frozen in fear. After all, she was glowing like a damn disco ball.

Dee slipped into her human form in front of a man and woman clutching two children. “Get out of here!” she screamed. “Go! Go now!”

They hesitated a second, and then the couple picked up their kids and raced back toward the median where Ash still stood guard before Beth.

Red light streamed past my face, spinning me around. A bolt of white light arced, and I heard a body hit the ground behind me. I saw Kat before me, her pupils glowing. I turned slowly, finding a soldier on the ground, a PEP weapon by his lifeless hand.

“I can help,” she said.

You saved my life. I turned back to her. That is so hot.

She shook her head and lifted her chin. “We need to get— Oh my God, Daemon. Daemon.”

My heart tripped in response to the fear in her voice. I started toward her, and then I felt it. I felt it deep and in every part of my being. I saw Dawson stop. I saw Andrew spin back.

Over the neon signs for Caesar’s Palace and the Bellagio hotel, dark clouds moved incredibly fast, blocking out the stars. But they weren’t clouds…or a swarm of bats.

They were Arum.

…

Katy

Things went from bad to craptastic in a matter of seconds.

At no point from the second Daemon had announced his plan, up until the military took down the chopper full of innocent humans, had I believed that it would go down like this. All we’d wanted was to throw them off guard—to cause a little bit of chaos to make our escape.

We hadn’t planned on starting a war.

Now Paris was dead and something worse than monsters under the bed was coming our way.

At no point did I doubt that the shadows racing across the sky were not here on accident. Yeah, there was a lot of Luxen mojo going on right now, but the likelihood of Arum just popping up and joining the fun? Not likely.

They were here because of Daedalus, because they worked with them.

The dark cloud broke apart, streaming across the sky like blotches of insidious oil. It dipped behind Caesar’s Palace, disappearing for a second, and then exploded out of the side of the hotel. Shards of glass and debris flew into the air.

I opened my mouth to scream, but there was no sound.

An Arum came down the Boulevard, moving so fast I couldn’t even say it took a second to get where it was going.

Flying over the back of the Hummer, it slammed into Andrew, lifting him several feet into the air. Ash’s horror-filled scream ricocheted through me. The Arum took shape mid-flight, its skin black and shiny like obsidian. It threw Andrew like he was a rag doll and nothing more.

Another Arum shot down the strip, zipping in and around the cars. It rose, catching Andrew, and the two of them nosedived into the Treasure Island pool.

Daemon leaped off the ground—a burst of bright light and then he was in the air—slamming into the other