Page 10 of Incubus
"I don’t see him,” Nathan admitted, “but he has to be around here somewhere. Look, we'll get a good look around, make sure there's nothing funny going on, and if we still don't find any sign of this Sasha, we'll bail. Okay?"
Jim’s frown deepened, but instead of moving to leave, he stepped forward to bypass Nathan completely, taking point en route to the bedroom.
“Hey, stay behind me,” Nathan hissed, wedging himself in front of Jim. He heard the huff Jim released at that, but ignored it. He was the one with the gun, after all.The hallway was narrow, the bathroom coming up first on their left—empty—leaving the bedroom as the last unchecked area of the apartment. It was obvious as they approached the end of the hallway that whatever crime occurred here, the worst of it had happened in the bedroom. That was where the most residual yellow tape was shimmering at them like giant strips of highlighter markings.
Before they could reach the mouth of the bedroom door, there was a telling creak of movement. Nathan leveled his gun. He was already under the yellow tape, aiming at theemptycorners of the bedroom when he heard Jim call, “Nathan!”
Nathan whipped around, gun still at the ready. Jim should have been right on his heels, but he must have headed back down the hallway. Racing to the mouth of the living room again, the last thing Nathan expected to find was another gun pointed athim. Or, rather, pointed atJim.
The stranger repositioned his aim onto Nathan immediately. He appeared to be human, not the dark fae Nathan had been expecting, and was casually dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and a short leather jacket. The weird thing, other than that he was pointing a gun at them, was his bright Crayola red hair. He had even gone to the trouble of dying his eyebrows. He looked no older than them, but his eyes blazed blue, and despite the punk dye-job, Nathan recognized the look of an experienced fighter.
“Who are you?” the stranger demanded, his attention darting between the brothers warningly. “This apartment is under police investigation.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “Well, you don’t look like police to me, pal.”
“I could say the same."
The stranger knew to keep his eyes just as steadily on Jim. Jim didn’t need a gun to be a threat any more than Nathan did. Brawling had been just as an essential skill to hone over the years as hot-wiring cars and bartering with fae.
As Nathan moved to be parallel with his brother, Jim started inching closer to him.
The movement caught the stranger’s attention and he pointed his gun back on Jim. “Stay still! Hands where I can see them! Now who are you?” he demanded again. “What are you doing here?”
Nathan didn't like the look of this guy—fierce, steady, calculating. “Listen, pal—” he said, but Jim cut him off.
“Wait! We don’t mean any harm. We’ll tell you.”
Great, Nathan thought,make nice with the guy with the gun.
“We were just looking for the woman who lives here. Sasha Kelly,” Jim said, holding his hands up higher as an apparent show of good faith. “We didn’t know this was a crime scene until we got here. Do you know what happened? Is Sasha still alive?”
Nathan was convinced that Jim was an absolute idiot when instead of asking more questions or shooting Jim in the head, the stranger actually lowered his weapon.
“You’re looking forSasha Kelly?” he asked, losing all of his animosity in a single rush like deflating air.
Jim dropped his arms back to his sides.
Nathan stared over the top of his weapon.
“It’s, uhh...sort of a long story," Jim said. "Is she okay?”
The stranger slipped his gun back into his jacket. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Itchy trigger finger. As for your questions, well, I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is the girl who lived in this apartment was killed days ago.”
Nathan had been afraid of that, rare as it was for Wade to be wrong.
“But the good news is,” he added with a playful smirk, “I’mSasha Kelly.”
Chapter 5
“Dude…you’readude.”
The tall, redheaded,maleSasha Kelly blinked at Nathan in amusement. “Uh…yeah,” he said, grinning wider and looking amazingly relaxed for someone who had been pointing a gun at them. “Guess you were expecting otherwise, huh? Sorry to disappoint. Why did you think I was the girl who lived in this apartment? Should I know you?” He scanned his eyes over Nathan and Jim carefully, not seeming to mind that Nathan had not yet lowered his weapon.
Nathan flinched when Walter suddenly appeared beside Sasha, staring particularly hard at the man’s red hair.
“I was unsure of his intentions initially,” Walter said, talking right at Sasha, though only Nathan could hear him, “but I am certain now that he means you no harm. This is the person Wade meant for you to find.” Walter’s features were scrunched as if in confusion, but he made no further comment.
If Walter was giving the okay then Nathan was more inclined to trust this stranger, though he had a sneaky suspicion that Wade had known all along Sasha was a man.
