Page 32 of Incubus
Nathan was lifted so effortlessly from the ground, he almost forgot to choke. He saw the pavement getting farther and farther away until the succubus finally stopped about the same distance up as the victim’s apartment. If Nathan fell, he doubted he would fare as well as Sasha had. Wings definitely had to have come in handy for that.
“You come here to kill me, Sasha!” the succubus called down to where Sasha stood on the concrete. “And you have to use humans to help you?”
Her words should have sounded more mocking, but they didn’t. They were as calm and dead as the ones she had spoken in the apartment. Only the resonance had changed, low and rumbling, because of her more monstrous form.
Then Nathan felt her grip let go, and there wasn't time to think of much else. That stomach flip he always hated about rollercoasters was far worse when he was falling to a much more possible death.
“Nathan!” Jim called from too far away to help him.
Nathan refused to close his eyes. He was not going to close his eyes and just accept this. If he timed things right, rolled,something, he might get away with a broken bone. Or several.
Preparing for impact, Nathan tried to relax his body to better ease the blow, but before he could meet the pavement, strong arms and clawed hands caught him. Nathan's heart was up in his throat, beating wild. He looked up and saw thatSashahad saved him. There was something very frightening about the incubus’ true form up close. Awesome, in the original sense of the word, but frightening.
Nathan managed a pitiful, “Thanks,” and let Sasha drop him safely the rest of the way to the ground.
Sasha didn’t say anything, but he smiled. He was striking with those eyes, the horns, the wings, and the slight point to his earsthat Nathan hadn’t noticed until now. But Sasha’s smile softened him as if even his fangs were harmless.
Reality snapped back into place when Nathan caught sight of the succubus coming in fast from above. He yelled Sasha’s name, watching as the incubus turned in preparation only to be crashed into yet again. Sasha and his aunt landed against the wall of the building, feet on the ground this time, with Sasha pinned back by the grip Nathan now knew better than he wanted to.
Nathan’s adrenaline was pumping so hot, he almost didn’t notice Walter appear beside him. “Nathan, you must be careful,” Walter said. “Her strength is too great. You won’t be able to take her head on.”
Having lost his gun when the succubus lifted him didn’t help either.
Jim was still struggling to retrievehisgun from beneath the dumpster, but Nathan couldn’t afford to wait for him. Ignoring Walter’s warnings, Nathan moved for the pair against the wall.
“Enough,” the succubus said, holding Sasha firm and glaring back at Nathan as he approached. “You don't understand. You don’t knowanything. What I’ve been through...”
“You want to tell your sob storynow?” Nathan said, readying a mocking voice if only to buy time. “Oh, my life’s been so sad. Nobody loves me for me. Poor little succubus. You want to find true love? Try not killing your victims then.”
“She did love me!” the succubus roared. Her voice was shrill and inhuman as it rang throughout the alleyway.
Nathan cast a glance at Sasha. The succubus’ grip had tightened on his throat, but he gave a small nod for Nathan to continue.
“Some chickie a few years back gave ya the ditch, huh?” Nathan said, inching closer. “She, what, found out you were a sex vampire and said she didn’t want to have any moresleepovers? I’m sure killing her really convinced her of how wrong she was.”
“Shut up! She was just lying to herself, like all of them. She wasn’t willing to love me openly, to admit she loved another woman. She was ashamed…and dared to callmea monster when she found out the truth. You think you understand what it is like to be one of us? Even Sasha has yet to discover what it really means.”
The succubus turned back to look at Sasha, one clawed hand on his throat, with the other holding his shoulder to keep him against the wall.
“Your mother was as rare as…Iam,” she said. “You know that. We don’t get the human happily ever after. We get night after night. We get moments. I just wanted to be with her. Yes, she was afraid. And I wasdesperate. I knew I could convince her if only she’d let me. I didn’t…I didn’t mean to take so much…”
She glanced aside as she remembered, and Nathan dared to wonder if he could grab her and distract her enough for Sasha to regain the upper hand.
“She was dead before I realized what I had done. If she hadn’t struggled so much maybe…maybe I wouldn’t have been so...violent. She said she loved me, but she turned away. And so I kill her…again…and again. So I never—”
“Have to feel hurt like that again.” The voice was Sasha’s but it wasn’t, because it growled as the succubus’ growled, even spoken so tenderly and half choked behind her grip.
The succubus grinned, shocking them both. “No," she said. "So that I never forget howgoodit felt when I realized she was dead.”
Nathan launched himself forward, but he was too late. The succubus moved, still holding Sasha in one hand, and reached out with the other to grab him. This time she had Nathan by theshoulder, and he didn’t doubt for a second that she could rip his arm clean off.
“You’re fond of this one, hmm?” she said, moving her eyes from Nathan back to Sasha. "Shall I tear him into pieces for you?"
Nathan was already preparing to say goodbye to his left arm, which he rather liked and wasn’t too keen on losing, when the strange but familiar sound of Sasha’s laughter filtered over to him.
The succubus' wings spread out wide behind her, black and threatening. “You think you have something to laugh about?” she said, leaning in close to Sasha’s face, though she kept her grip tight on both of them.
Her tone still sounded out of place to Nathan, dead despite her cynical words. What she said next made him finally think he understood why.
