Page 11 of Incubus

Page List

Font Size:

“Let’s start over," Nathan said, flashing a friendlier smile as he at last tucked his gun away. "I’m Nathan. And this is my brother, Jim. Grier,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Grier?" Sasha repeated. "You’re one of the carrier families. So then…” His attention moved very quickly to Jim. “You’re a changeling.”

Nathan tensed at the casual utterance of the term. Humans who knew about changelings were often more dangerous than dark fae. Usually, they were hunters, what the fae called ‘sealgaire’, men and women who thought that anything not human was inherently evil and therefore needed to be destroyed.

Like Gabriel.

Avoiding dark fae had always been Nathan and Jim’s first priority, but avoidingsealswas a close second.

“Let’s not have another standoff, okay?" Sasha took a step back, holding his hands up in placation. "I don’t have anything against changelings. Unless they’re trying to kill me, which I don’t think you are or you would have done it by now. I’m just here investigating this murder.”

“And you also happen to know who we are,” Nathan said.

“Hey, you’re the ones who seem to know me,” Sasha said. “I’ve just heard the Grier name. And…okay, so the word around more knowledgeable circles is that the family had a changeling named James. I did the math. I forgot for a minute that they also had a human son.” He indicated Nathan.

Jim had a hand on Nathan’s arm so fast that Nathan hadn’t even realized he had started to move forward. He took those kinds of comments personally. Calling himhuman. As if Jim wasn’t.

“I’m obviously saying all the wrongs things here,” Sasha went on. “How about I make it up to you and buy us all a round? I have everything I need from this place, and it sounds like we have a few things to talk about. You have me at the disadvantage. I only know you by reputation. I’d really like to hear how you knew I was going to be here today whenIdidn’t even know that until this morning.” Sasha’s expression had turned friendly, appeasing, even. He was an entirely different person without a gun pointed at them.

Nathan wanted to trust him, he wanted to trust Wade’s premonition that somehow this guy could help them, but he still looked to Walter for guidance before accepting the redhead’s offer.

“Be cautious, there is something…somethingabout this man,” Walter said. “I am not sure what yet, but I do believe he has good intentions. You and Jim should at least speak with him.” Walter turned away from Sasha to look at Nathan directly.

Sasha’s eyes were eerily similar to Walter’s in the dim lighting despite the difference in color, even almost as vibrant.

“Nate…” Jim prompted.

Nathan nodded to Sasha in agreement.

“Great,” Sasha said. “I know a place not too far where we can grab some beers and talk. I’d rather not be here if a patrol shows up. So…Nathan. And Jim. I’m Sasha. Nice to meet you. Shall we?” Sasha turned to make his way to the exit, clearly expecting them to follow.

At first they didn’t. Jim was silent. Walter watched after Sasha closely. Nathan sighed. His dreams for a good romp with their imagined hottie helper had been summarily crushed.

He was put off even more when Jim patted him on the back. “He’s all yours.”

“What?”

“Hey, you called dibs, man. I wouldn’t dream of standing in the way.”

Jim was being so overly sincere that Nathan was about ready to punch him.

“I don’t consider myself that good of a judge in this area,” Jim said with a mock-innocent shrug, “but Sasha is pretty hot.”

“Oh shut up,” Nathan growled, pushing Jim away from him. He moved to follow after Sasha so their new acquaintance wouldn’t think anything was amiss. “Walter came back, by the way. Said Sasha’s cool but something’s off about him, so we better watch our backs.”

“He did?” Jim rushed to catch up to Nathan, not realizing that along the way he walkedthroughWalter, breaking the man’s image into pieces.

“Yep, so stay sharp,” Nathan said, feeling the weight of his gun heavier than ever where it was tucked into his jeans. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Sashagavethemdirectionsto a rather nice looking pub called McCoy’s. Normally, Nathan would have bypassed a place like that for somewhere a little more down-home andcheap, but since Sasha was buying, neither of the brothers complained.

They sat on one side of their booth with Sasha on the other. Walter had perched himself on the window ledge, sitting cross-legged as he followed their conversation. Nathan preferred when Walter simply vanished. If he paid his Spirit Guide too much attention, others inevitably noticed. Thinking he was crazy was one thing, but if Nathan was forced to admit to a seal that he could see and speak with his Spirit Guide, it would lead to far too many questions.

“So that’s the gist of it,” Sasha was saying. His leather jacket was stuffed into the corner of the booth next to him, leaving him even more casual looking in a plain blue T-shirt. “I’ve been here since after the second kill and still nothing. Now there are five dead girls and no more to go on than when I started.”

“And you think the killer is an incubus?” Jim asked.

Nathan’s ears perked at the term. He and Jim had never come across that particular breed of dark fae before. The only thing Nathan knew for sure was that they were some of the few fae that spent the majority of their lives in the human world,feeding.