Page 118 of Incubus
Nathan hated to give Gabriel any credit but he was pretty sure things had to be the latter. There was no guarantee Sasha was even in there, but Nathan had enough incentive that he couldn’t care that this was so obviously a trap.
Before getting out of the car, Nathan glanced at the rearview mirror, not surprised to find Walter visible with a look of clear concern and even a little guilt.
“This isn’t your fault, Walt,” Nathan said. “Why would you think to follow him? You’re supposed to watch me. It isn’tanybody’s…fault.” Nathan’s lips twitched despite his words, because he didn’t really believeno onewas at fault.
“Nathan,” Jim said, always so good at reading what Nathan was thinking the way Sasha was so good at knowing how he felt—practically supernatural.
“Let’s go.”
They got out of the car, but Nathan stopped Jim when he made to go around to the other side of the building.
“We’re not doing that again,” Nathan said. “Gabriel wants us to split up. He wants you alone, Jim. We’re going in together.”
After barely a moment’s pause, Jim nodded. The snow had started coming down harder, still light fluffier flakes with little wind, but it was enough that Nathan had to blink several times to see his brother clearly through the curtain of white.
Since there was no chance of taking Gabriel by surprise, going through the main doors seemed just as logical as anywhere else. Nathan and Jim positioned themselves on either side of the double doors, pleased that the area seemed deserted because worrying about people passing by and noticing their readied guns was more than a slight annoyance.
Nathan had an extra gun tucked in his jeans, as well as his ankle blade. He had almost grabbed a shotgun but, as satisfying as blowing a whole through Gabriel’s chest would be, it wasn’t as practical.
Almost like trained professionals, much as theyweren'tactual seals, Nathan and Jim stormed inside the building, guns cocked and steady, with their eyes darting like soldiers on the front lines to secure all immediately visible areas. The main entrance led into the largest part of the warehouse with the other rooms leading off elsewhere through closed doors. Those doors posed the most threat, but what Nathan and Jim couldn’t figure out was why the main area, so open and bare, held no sign ofGabriel, but did reveal the alarming sight ofSashain a chair in the middle of the room.
The incubus was slumped forward, tied to the chair, and unconscious rather than dead if his heavy breathing was any indication. He was still wearing Nathan’s T-shirt.
“Where’s the trap?” Nathan whispered to his brother.
They remained nearly shoulder to shoulder or back to back as they moved further into the warehouse. Nathan looked up at the ceiling, especially the area above Sasha’s head, but he couldn’t see anything suspicious. The walls were just as bare.
“I don’t see anything,” Jim whispered back. “You don’t think he booby trapped the chair, do you?”
Now Nathan was even more anxious, but he didn’t think Gabriel seemed the pyrotechnic type. The chair looked clean, something Gabriel had probably pulled out of one of the rooms. They could see almost all of it, even with how Sasha was slouched.
Inching closer, eyes and ears still perked to every possible sign of ambush, and guns more than ready to take a shot at anything that moved other than Sasha, Nathan and Jim eventually were close enough to be sure there was no immediate danger. There was a table behind Sasha. On top of it rested Jim’s coat that Sasha had taken and three empty vials that looked like they would have held some of Sasha’s normal antidote. That didn’t make any sense to Nathan, but neither did the fact that Sasha was breathing when the incubus’ arms, neck, and face were covered in cuts that Nathan could only assume were made by iron.
“Jesus,” Jim said, risking a moment to stop his watchfulness of their surroundings and reaching for the hem of Sasha’s borrowed shirt. The T-shirt rose up a little, Sasha’s torso being longer than Nathan’s, and revealed a trail of more cuts as Jim lifted the shirt up past Sasha’s ribs.
The cuts were everywhere.
Nathan moved to untie Sasha’s hands from the chair, just barely finishing the task when Sasha gave a sudden start and his eyes fluttered open. Both brothers crouched on either side of the incubus as he came to. Now that he was untied, Sasha started to slouch further and Nathan had to steady him with his hands on Sasha's shoulders.
Immediately, Sasha tried to pull away, his face contorting with pain. “No…st-stay away…” he said, teeth chattering. Sasha’s skin felt ice cold to Nathan’s touch even though Nathan was the one who had just come inside from the snow.
“Sasha, it’s okay,” Jim said, steadying Sasha on the other side. “It’s us. Nathan and Jim.”
“No,” Sasha said again, his eyes barely focusing as they turned to each of the brothers, bloodshot and filled with those awful blue veins. The cuts showed signs of the veins too, but only in the immediate areas, not spreading out and joining together the way they should have. “You’re…you’re not…you’re not them. I’m…imagining you again.”
Hearing Sasha say that, his voice near tears and so childlike, crushed something in Nathan. “Look at me,” Nathan said, pulling Sasha’s face toward him and trying to find some recognition in the dim blue eyes. “See, it’s Nathan. It’s not your imagination. I’m right here.”
Even blinking wearily at Nathan’s face, Sasha just shook his head. “No…how can Nathan…find me? He doesn’t know where I am.”
“Gabriel told us where to find you,” Nathan assured him, hating the way Sasha spoke as if he wasn’t crouched there right in front of him. “Do you know where he is?”
Again, Sasha blinked slowly at Nathan’s face, his expression sagging with fatigue and confusion. “He has…a name?”
Clearly, Sasha wasn’t in his right mind, and Nathan didn’t know how to respond. He was pleased when Jim took on the burden, putting a hand on Sasha’s knee to get his attention.
“Sasha, you know his name. You know him, remember? He’s an old…friend of your dad’s.” Jim paused understandably on the word ‘friend’.
Now Sasha was blinking at Jim and seemed to be thinking Jim’s words over as his mind cleared enough to remember. “Gabriel…” he said slowly, his voice dreamy and far away. “Like the angel.”
