Page 39 of Incubus
As much as it soured Nathan’s stomach to play the couple alias with Sasha again, Becca from the flower counter was more than happy to offer them further information. She told them that the gorgeous young woman they described from the surveillance tape had only just recently moved to town and was fixing up an old house on 4thStreet.
The'Historic'ArgoHotelwas actually a bed and breakfast, and the only available lodging in town. There were drapes on every window, flowers on every table, and that kind of old-fashioned charm littered with antiques that was supposed to be romantic.
Nathan felt suffocated by the low ceilings and over-use of decorative pictures and hanging chandeliers. The only trulyrustic thing about the place was that they had to share the bathroom since it connected their room to Sasha’s.
“We’ll gather some things together and then head over to that house this woman is staying in,” Sasha said once they had returned from the store. “We need to be careful, but typical fae protection should be enough.”
“Iron, iron, and more iron?” Nathan said.
“And if you feel like adding a protection rune or two,” Sasha said. “I know this is still new for you guys, but it shouldn’t be—” He cut off, startled when his cell phone started ringing from inside his jacket pocket. Sasha frowned when he saw the caller ID. “It’s my aunt. For real this time. I…I need to take this.”
“Of course,” Jim said.
Sasha was out the door a moment later.
“That’s not going to be a fun conversation,” Nathan said. He looked to Jim as they collapsed in the chairs in their room. There was far more guilt on his brother’s face than Nathan felt the situation deserved. “Hey.” He kicked Jim’s foot. “Knock it off. You probably saved all of our lives when you killed that succubus.”
“I know,” Jim said. “But that doesn’t exactly make it easier. I’ve never thought about family left behind when we’ve had to kill fae in the past. You sort of forget that bad guys can be mothers and aunts too.”
“The important thing to remember is that shewasa bad guy,” Nathan said. “Sasha isn’t holding any grudges, Jim. He’s helping us. He would have had to kill his aunt all on his own if we hadn’t been there, and maybe she would have ended up killing him instead. Life isn’t all black and white. Or so you keep telling me.”
Dark blue eyes stared back at Nathan, surprised and filled with something that might have been pride. “You mean you’re actually listening?” Jim said with a subtle smile. “Sasha must be rubbing off on you.”
“Shut up,” Nathan scowled, not liking the thought of Sasha rubbing off on any part of him. “He’s a good guy, okay, I admit that. Doesn’t mean this whole mess doesn’t still freak me out a little.”
“I know,” Jim said. “I was actually thinking…well…just go with me on this for a minute.”
Nathan eyed Jim warily. “What?”
“Well…Walter,” Jim began. “He can be pretty helpful. Getting a look in places we can’t go, sensing things I can’t. So…I was thinking maybe we should tell Sasha about him. Then, if you want to call on him, you don’t have to hide it and—”
“Jim,” Nathan cut him off, “I like the guy. I trust him for the most part too. But we’re asking a lot from Sasha already. I’m not too keen on telling him I have an imaginary friend.”
“Walter is your Spirit Guide, Nathan, he’s not imaginary.”
“Yeah, well…as far as I know,” Nathan mumbled. “Look, Sasha has enough to deal with right now. Who knows what he’s talking about with his aunt out there.”
“Actually, I can’t hear him,” Jim said a little more seriously. “Can you?”
Nathan perked his ears toward the hallway outside. Jim was right—there was no sound at all. Sasha couldn’t have gone into his room either, or they would have been able to hear at least some of the conversation through the thin walls.
“Nate?” Jim prompted.
“You did say Walter could be useful, right? Walt!” Nathan called to the room. “Can you see where Sasha went?”
Walter materialized beside the TV. “He was pacing at first but left the building for more privacy. He is around back now. Nathan...the conversation is rather heated. I think something may be wrong.”
Chapter 15
“Wrong?”Nathansaid,frowningas he pushed up out of his chair. “Damn it. Come on, Jim. We better go check on him.”
Nathan knew only too well what it was like to lose family. He couldn’t imagine what Sasha must be going through having to explain to one aunt that they had killed the other one.
Sasha’s voice became distinguishable the moment Nathan and Jim exited the hotel’s main door, even from all the way around the back of the building. Sasha didn’t notice them at first when they joined him behind the hotel. He was half facing the wall and half facing away from them at the fields beyond the town, but his body language was as telling as his tone—shoulders tight, free hand clenched, the quick shuffling pace of his feet.
“No, I’m not!” Sasha yelled into his phone, revealing a touch of the growl Nathan had heard when they saw Sasha in his incubus form. “Because it’s not the same, Shi! You know it isn’t! This isn’t fair!”
Sasha paused only to listen to the voice on the other end of the line. When he spoke again, his own voice had lowered a few decibels, but not by much.
