“The Arum were created by the freaking laws of nature to keep the Luxen in check and fight them,” Archer said, excitement thrumming in his voice. “They are the only true predator of the Luxen.”
A tiny spark of hope flared in my chest, but I didn’t want to give it too much room to grow. “But the Origins will know how to fight them.”
“They will, but there aren’t thousands and thousands of them,” Daemon said. “And there’s no way they can teach the Luxen that quickly how to defend themselves. Hell, I doubt they even think the Arum will be a problem. Luxen, by nature, are arrogant.”
“Gee, really?” I muttered.
One side of his lips kicked up in a sexy, smug half grin as Archer snickered.
“Origins are probably more arrogant, you know,” Daemon said. “The borderline stupid kind of arrogant.”
The smirk faded from Archer’s face.
“Wow. I feel like Morgan Freeman should be doing a voice-over right now, like, ‘Their weakest link is something already here,’” I said, and when several sets of eyes settled on me with identical looks of confusion, I flushed. “What? It’s from War of the Worlds, and I think it’s totes appropriate for the situation.”
A real smile crossed Daemon’s face, and in spite of everything, my insides melted into goo whenever he smiled liked that, because it was so incredibly rare. “I love how your brain works.”
There’s that love-struck thing you were wondering about in Beth and Dawson’s room. Archer’s words floated through my head, and I cringed. Heat enveloped my cheeks as I cleared my throat. “Do you think this will work?”
“How many Arum are here?” Daemon directed the question at the general and Nancy.
One of the biggest things that had surprised us over the years was the fact that Daedalus had been working with the Arum to keep the Luxen in check, for whatever gross, nefarious reasons.
Nancy’s lips pursed. “We don’t have exact numbers, not like with the Luxen who have been assimilated. Many of the Arum went dark when they came here.”
“Went dark?” I frowned.
“They went underground,” General Eaton explained. “Moving from city to city. They’re damn hard to keep track of.”
“And you guys were more concerned about us and the cool things we could do.” Daemon smirked. “Nice.”
“So how many do we know are here?” I asked before the conversation went downhill.
“A few hundred worked for us,” Nancy said.
“Wait.” Daemon’s eyes narrowed. “That’s in the past tense.”
Oh, no.
General Eaton looked like he wanted to strip out of his jacket. “Many of them left when the Luxen arrived.”
“Many?” scoffed Nancy as she smoothed her hands down her legs. “All of them did. None of us should be surprised. They aren’t the most loyal of all creatures.”
That tiny spark of hope started to fizzle out when Archer spoke up. “But they are still here, on this planet.”
“So what?” Nancy challenged. “You’re going to get them to help?”
A mysterious smile trekked across Archer’s face. “Not me, but I know someone who owes someone else a really big favor.”
Nancy rolled her eyes. “Even if you could get them to help, it would be pointless. There’re too many spread out and—”
“Actually, if I may speak up,” came a voice from the middle of the room. It was a middle-age woman with dark blond hair pulled back into a tight, neat bun. She was standing, her hands clasped behind her back.
General Eaton nodded for her to continue.
“Most of the invading Luxen landed in the United States with manageable numbers overseas. We think this is due to the amount of Luxen we already have here in the States. As you know, we’ve been tracking movement over the last ten or so hours. Many of the invading Luxen have been moving east, toward the capital. If our suspicions are correct, they will be joining forces there and becoming a sizable unit,” she said, glancing toward Daemon and Archer. “Some have integrated themselves into the cities we’ve already lost, but if we were able to make a strike against D.C., we’d take out many of them.”
“And that is what we are planning,” General Eaton said.
“But you’re planning to drop an electrical-whatever bomb on the nation’s capital,” I stated, hands clenching at my sides.
“Actually, if an even more sizable mass of Luxen does appear, it will be several e-bombs,” Nancy said. “Enough that most of Virginia, Maryland, and even the I-81 corridor in West Virginia would be hit.”
“Jesus,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut. That’s where my mom and my friends were. “What are you doing to the cities already lost—Houston, Chicago, and Kansas City?”
“Over the next twenty-four hours, EMPs will be dropped.” Empathy bled into his voice. “Those cities are gone, Miss Swartz. Most of the Luxen have taken on human form and they have killed the humans they’ve found not suitable. There is little to no contact coming out of them from any source that we trust. I pray for whatever humans are left in those places.”
“All right. Those cities are gone, but nowhere else so far. What if we can stop them?” Daemon said. “What if we can do the same thing without killing innocent people on both sides, and without destroying the cities to the point they’ll be unlivable?”
Nancy choked out a laugh as she shook her head in disbelief.
“Think about it,” Archer jumped in. “You’re going to have millions of Americans completely displaced in just those three cities, not counting L.A., and the more you do this, the more refugees you’re creating. The States would go under.”
A muscle flexed along General Eaton’s jaw. “Do you think this is not something we have thought about or have begun preparation for? Right as we speak, we’re planning for an even worse outcome than losing the major cities. We’re planning for a complete loss in case the EMPs fail in some manner.”
The general described the precautions they were taking, moving computers and other valuable electronic-based equipment into underground bunkers stocked with nonperishable items, and he droned on until I felt like I really was going to hurl.
If I thought the invading Luxen were bad, I’d had no idea. We truly were on the verge of a catastrophic disaster.
“We can get the Arum,” Archer said. “I know we can.”
My heart toppled over. Could we really get the Arum? I doubted it would be easy, and I almost couldn’t believe it when General Eaton said the magic words. “If you can get the Arum to fight, then we will hold off on neutralizing the force outside of the capital.”
“Thank you.” I almost jumped. I almost hugged the dude, and I was glad I didn’t, because that looked like it would be all kinds of awkward.
“But we don’t have a lot of time. We’ve got about six days, maybe seven, and then we have to go to the EMPs,” the general said. “I’ll need to make a lot of phone calls.”
“This is ridiculous.” Nancy stood, throwing her hands up. “I cannot believe you’re even thinking of allowing them to—”
“You forget your place, Husher. Like always,” snapped General Eaton. He drew himself up to his full height, pouring authority into the air. “I, just as the president of the United States, am willing to vet out different tactics.”
General Eaton continued to dress Nancy down, and I thought I’d be happier to see that happen, but I ended up experiencing a mad case of secondhand embarrassment and I seriously wished I wasn’t around to see it.
Daemon, on the other hand, looked positively gleeful as I moved to stand next to him while Nancy did the walk of shame.