Page 22 of Incubus
“We were right here," Jim said. "We were right…here.” He almost could have been crying, but sounded too angry for there to be any real tears.
Nathan put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, turning away from the sight of the already stiffening limbs of the young woman in the bedroom. “Jim…”
A crash sounded somewhere in the apartment.
Jim spun around, pushing past Nathan back down the hallway.
“Jim!” Nathan called after him, but Jim wasn’t listening.
Rushing into the darkness after his brother yet again, Nathan nearly ran into Jim after barely a few feet. Jim stretched out an arm to keep Nathan behind him, creeping slowly along the wall as he continued forward. Nathan wanted to protest being so obviously coddled. He wanted to try calling out for Walter again, but he had to follow Jim’s lead. There was shuffling coming from the other side of the wall.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Jim paused for only a moment, offering Nathan little more than a brief glance back before he leapt around the corner and struck. Nathan’s chest tightened with panic. He hurried after Jim, but what he found on the other side of the wall had the shotgun nearly slipping from his fingers.
Nathan could only stare as he watched Jim pull Nathan's own ankle blade free from where it had been sheathed inSasha'sstomach.
“Oh, shit.Shit," Nathan said, once his brain had caught up to him and he was able to move forward. He tried to help steady Sasha back against the wall.
Sasha looked so horribly shocked. He was shaking.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay. Just a flesh wound. Barely even worth stitches,” Nathan said. He glanced back at Jim, so angry that his brother had acted without thinking, without being sure who he was stabbing in the dark.
Jim merely stood there, staring.
Nathan turned back to Sasha. The cut couldn’t be that bad judging from the small amount of blood left on the knife. "We'll get you patched up," he said, "I promise. It’s not like an iron knife does any extra damage to humans, right?”
Sasha cringed. He was shaking harder and looked about ready to crumble right to the floor. But there was something off about the panic in his eyes, something that looked like fear for more than just his wound.
It was Jim’s voice that spoke too loudly against the otherwise quiet night with a sense of understanding. “No, iron wouldn’t hurt a human," he said, "but then…” Jim stepped closer, and with his free hand, he lifted Sasha’s shirt to reveal the wound.
It was small, just a little cut above Sasha's navel, barely even bleeding. But what Nathan saw and couldn’t believe was the blue veins spreading outward from the cut like a virus. Like poison.
“You’re not human. Are you?"
Chapter 9
Nathanwassoangryall he could see was red.
"Please," Sasha said, reaching out to them for help.
Jim flinched and pulled away. He was still holding the knife, but limply, as if he had gone numb. Nathan was far from numb.
"Please?" he repeated with a sneer, his voice a sudden growl as he raised the shotgun with a sharp pump of the barrel. “You gotta be freaking kidding me!”
Sasha stared at him, left to lean weakly against the wall with half-lidded eyes and a hand pressed to his wound.
“So he's supposed to help us, huh?” Nathan said. “Just once I’d like things to go our way, Jim. Justonce. But no, even when we think we’re getting ahead, some damn dark fae has to come and screw everything up!”
“I’m not…dark fae,” Sasha said.
“Sure you're not," Nathan scoffed. “Was this fun for you? Huh? Was it a game? Make us trust you,likeyou, and all the whileyou’re lying to our faces, killing the same girls you’re pretending to save!”
“No…” Sasha’s knees were starting to buckle and he was sliding slowly to the floor. “No…it wasn’t me. I swear.”
“Nice try, pal, but the evidence is a little against you,” Nathan spat.
“It…wasn’tme,” Sasha said again. His body arched with a wave of pain, and he crumbled the rest of the way to the floor.
Nathan could no longer see the original wound, but he could see the blue veins traveling down Sasha’s hands. They had already spread from his stomach to his chest and arms. Nathan had never seen a fae react like that to iron poisoning before.
