Page 93 of Incubus
Gabriel scowled, which made him look older, like his illuminated scars. He wasn't a bad looking man, just worn like he had lived in a war zone half his life. Although the seal didn't appear obviously armed, Nathan knew better than to trust first impressions.
“Nathan, I’m sorry,” Walter said. “He’s human. I couldn’t sense him coming.”
Nathan remained staring forward. There had been so few times over the years that he had heard Gabriel’s voice, but the sound of it, low and gruff, always made Nathan nauseous.
“You’re luckier than you think right now, Nathan,” Gabriel said. “I'm not looking to fight you. Not you.”
“Right,” Nathan huffed, standing his ground. “Let me guess. I’m supposed to just step aside now and let you kill my freak of a brother like a good little boy, is that it?”
“The changeling is the most important part, yes,” Gabriel said, irritatingly calm, “but I also intend to kill the incubus.”
Nathan’s eyes widened.
“Oh yes, I know what he is now. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for years because I knew his father, but after seeing him with you it was easy to believe he had been corrupted. No real son of Deklin Kelly would allow himself to be turned into something like that.”
“Turned into?” Nathan repeated, allowing a short, bitter laugh. “You really don’t get it, do you? Sasha was born an incubus. Yourfriendwas the one who decided to be turned. Because he fell in love, not because he was corrupted.” He took a step closer to the older man, steadying his hands from shaking by tightening them into fists. “I used to agree with the way you think more than you might know, but I know better now.”
Gabriel shook his head as if Nathan was nothing more than an ignorant child. “You only prove my point. Would you have ever allowed a creature like that into your company before your brother started to change?”
Nathan's anger flared at the question, especially when he knew the answer. "Maybe I’ve changed too.”
“I don’t think you have. I think you want to believe your brother is still a good, kind person so badly that you would do anything, even lie, to believe it. Even…allow yourself to be seduced by an incubus.” His dark eyes flashed knowingly.
Fists were no longer enough to keep Nathan from shaking. “You bastard…"
“This is the only chance I’m going to give you,” Gabriel said coolly. “If you choose to help those creatures, to side with evil, then you will be counted among evil. Let your brother go, Nathan,” he added almost mournfully, with the barest twitch of his apathetic face. “I had to do it once too. I know how hard it is. I let my sister go rather than see her live making a mistake that would have cost her more than her life. I took no joy in killing your mother that night, believe me. I only did what I had to do.”
"What?” Nathan gaped, shaking harder and feeling the cold around them creep into his skin. “What are you saying?”
"I had no grudge against your father either," Gabriel went on, "but they had been warned. They knew better, were raised to know better as children of tainted families. To mate with another of a fae bloodline is the worst offense. Both of your parents knew that. But Miriam didn't listen to me no matter how many times I warned her. She ran off with your father and had you. We might have let them live if they had handed over your brother, but they chose to run. Don't make that same mistake, son." He paused, holding out an empty hand toward Nathan like an offering. "I know the importance of family."
Nathan stepped back, swallowing down the bile that had risen in his throat. "You arenotmy family," he said with tears welling up in his eyes.
"Your mother and I—"
"I don't care!Youare not family. Family doesn't do this to each other. You're not even willing to give Jim a chance. You killed my parents without even giving Jim a chance!"
"A chance to what?" Gabriel said, hardened as he lowered the hand he had been offering. "A chance to kill them and you himself? A chance to be the one changeling the dark fae have been waiting for, so he can bring about the end of the Veil and destroy everything? You have no idea what you are risking. Are you really willing to take a chance like that for one man's life?"
“Yes,” Nathan said unwaveringly, his fists tightening at his sides as all his horror and grief fueled into rage, regardless of the consequences, even if Jim was the key to ending the Veil. “Because he's my brother. He’s family. And I would rather watch the world burn than let anyone take him away from me."
Gabriel scoffed and shook his head in disappointment. “You could have left him years ago and saved yourself. Instead you join with yet another monster and say I’m the one who is wrong. You have no idea what these creatures are capable of, Nathan. Are you even still human yourself? Or has the changeling enslaved you for his amusement?”
Nathan didn't pause to think, he just rammed forward, tackling Gabriel back and howling from all of the emotion that had risen up within him. He didn’t care that he didn’t have a weapon or a plan. He couldn't run this time. He couldn’t let Gabriel walk away. Not again.
Blinded by his emotions, Nathan didn’t notice that Gabriel had reclaimed his leverage until Nathan’s feet were knocked out from under him. He hit his back hard as he fell, but the impact didn’t wind him, not when his adrenaline was running so hot.
Rolling back onto his shoulder blades, Nathan kicked out at Gabriel’s knees, sending the other man to the ground beside him. That disrupted Gabriel for a moment, but Nathan soon saw that the seal was indeed armed as he reached to pull a gun.
Starting a desperate roll toward the car, Nathan avoided the first two shots easily, but a third bullet grazed past his shin. Cursing loudly as he rolled under the car, Nathan took a breath and then rolled the rest of the way out onto the other side. Standing was a chore, but Nathan knew he had to move.
“You can still get out of this, Nathan!” Gabriel called. "You can still make the right choice!"
Nathan growled low under his breath, crouched down with his back against the car's passenger side door. This was not asituation where Nathan could take the high road. There was no high road. There was Gabriel on one side and Nathan’s family on the other.
“Nathan!”
“Save your breath!” Nathan called back. “Blood has nothing to do with real family, asshole! We have nothing to talk about!”
