Page 54 of Demon of Dreams

Sean’s voice brought me back down to reality. Of course. It was Sean who was behind me the whole time. Not Noah. I was stupid. It wasn’t Noah, and it never would be.

On shaky feet, I turned and looked at Sean. He’d never done more than pull his cock out of his boxers, and he was already putting himself away. I leaned back against the wall and watched. He looked deeply satisfied.

“Well, that was more fun than I anticipated. See you around, Cory.”

Before I could figure out what to say in response, he was gone.

12

NOAH

Ishoved open the door to Isaac’s study with a bang.

He was harsh with people who interrupted him without permission. Isaac had a thing about respect. But I was in no mood to humor him.

“What the fuck was that about?” I asked, the door bouncing off the study wall. It swung shut with a crash that reverberated through the room.

Isaac looked up from his desk, holding a crinkled, yellowing scroll delicately with his fingertips. Against my expectations, he smiled pleasantly.

“I’m afraid I’m lost, Noah. Would you care to enlighten me?”

He knew exactly what I was talking about, and that smile said he’d predicted my reaction. I balled my hands into fists, not to punch him so much as to keep from strangling him. Or attempting to, anyway.

“Enlighten you? Try enlightening me. Did you think it was clever, not telling me we had a new student? Not telling me he’s a fuckingincubus? Did you think it would be fun, springing that on me when he showed up in my class today?”

Isaac’s smile faded. “I thought you were enough of an adult to be able to control your emotions, both in front of the students and in front of me. Was I mistaken?”

The truth was, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I noticed the kid from the Balsam Inn in my class an hour ago. Years of practice kept me from displaying that shock for more than a moment, but the fact that I’d let it show at all bothered me. I’d turned that anger on the kid, hoping I might drive him out of the class, hoping none of the other students had noticed my surprise. But inside, I’d been dumbfounded.

Not just because I recognized him, but because of what he was. An incubus. How had I missed that, back at the Balsam Inn? I cringed, thinking back to the bolt of energy that tore through me when I saw him for the first time. I’d thought I was just turned on. Thought it was attraction, nothing more. God, I’d been wrong. And now I was paying the price for it.

An incubus. At Vesperwood. One I’d never heard of, never seen before two nights ago. One who seemed innocent, in every sense of the word.

Half-human incubi were rare, and finding one who hadn’t been turned was rarer still. But this kid didn’t seem to know his right foot from his left. He barely looked old enough to be out of high school. There was no way he’d been turned.

Unless Argus got to him even younger than he managed with you.

Argus excelled at manipulating the truth and he spread that skill to his followers like a contagion. But I didn’t think so. Something in the kid’s face made me sure. His eyes were guileless, and not a little fearful. I believed the dumbstruck, deer-in-headlights look on his face.

Which was good. That fear might mean I could drive him away.

“Don’t sit there looking smug,” I said. “You could have warned me, and you didn’t, and I want to know why.”

“It’s not obvious?”

I glared at him. “No, it’s not fucking obvious.”

“I didn’t tell you about him because I was counting on your restraint to keep you teaching. If you knew about him ahead of time, I wouldn’t have put it past you to leave. Or to insisthehad to leave Vesperwood. Neither of which would be desirable.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not that dramatic.”

“No?” Isaac arched an eyebrow.

I scowled but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” he continued. “Because Cory needs a teacher.”

So that was it. That was what was behind this little charade. An incubus at Vesperwood who I was supposed to somehow teach.

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