Page 20 of Incubus
The night was quiet. It proved to Nathan how good of a seal Sasha must be for all his charismatic openness, because he was being so serious, so focused right now. Jim’s time down the alley was half over before Nathan realized he and Sasha had been sitting there almost the entire time without talking.
“Who would win in a fair fight, Optimus Prime or Captain America?”
“What?” Sasha sputtered.
Nathan looked over and saw that the expression on Sasha's face was as amused as his tone implied. “Humor me,” he said.
Sasha snorted like he was half unsure whether or not Nathan was joking, but he soon mulled the question over. “Trick question. Their goals and personalities are too similar. They’d be friends before someone could throw the first punch.” Then he added, “But if the cosmos was turned upside down and they did fight? Captain America. Size is no obstacle. He’s taken down Giant-Man. I think he can handle a giant robot.”
Nathan laughed loudly. "Dude. Good answer."
“Your turn,” Sasha said. “Better kisser, Jean Grey or Rogue from X-men?”
“Nowthat’sa trick question. What do you take me for here?”
“Still gotta answer.” Sasha grinned.
Nathan knew the answer to that question, if his adolescent fantasies counted for anything, and he liked to think that they did. “Easy,” he said, “Rogue. It’d hurt like hell, but damn, it’d be worth it.”
The car filled with laughter from both of them.
“Nice," Sasha said, "but the questions get tougher. Better in the sack, DC this time.”
Nathan already knew the answer if they were talking DC comics, regardless of which femme fatales were named. No one could hold a candle to Wonder Woman.Except maybe Catwoman, Nathan thought,especially if it was the Michelle Pfeiffer version with the—
“Flash or Green Lantern?”
Nathan’s daydreaming came to a halt and he blinked at Sasha dumbly.
“What?” Sasha grinned at him. “Not enough personal experience for you to make a sound judgment?”
A strange, uncomfortable laugh tumbled out of Nathan. He knew Sasha was joking, but that didn’t help the flutters in his stomach. “Do you ever let up?” he asked.
Sasha’s blinding smile gave a slight twitch. “Only when I’m not serious.”
A knock on the window made Nathan jump so high in his seat that he almost hit his head on the ceiling of the car. Jim had returned early.
“What’s up? You have fifteen minutes left,” Nathan said as he rolled down his window. He would swear he could feel Sasha's blue eyes burning little ovals into the back of his head, but he was not about to turn around and look at them.
“It’s a dead end, Nathan. No one’s coming. I think she went to bed,” Jim said, glancing over his shoulder at Carol’s window which was now dark. “The killer must have marked someone else.”
“No,” Sasha countered, completely reverted back to his serious and focused side. “Let’s not give up yet. At least let me take my turn. I don’t want to be wrong about this. Half hour. Then if we still have nothing, we can come up with a plan B.”
Nathan frowned. There was no plan B, other than to pray that some other girl in some other suburb didn’t die tonight. But he didn't want to give up either. A few minutes later the switch had been made.
“I hope he’s right,” Jim said.
“Me too.”
They sat in silence. With all the quiet and inaction while they waited for Sasha’s turn to go by, Nathan’s thoughts began to stray again, and he hated where they strayed to.
Only when I’m not serious.
Just what the hell was that supposed to mean?
“Nate? Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Nathan said reflexively, pointedly looking at Carol’s window.
