Page 74 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

They pulled up to the Gatehouse a week and half a dozen sidhe later, and Nathan was famished.

There were several other cars parked around the grounds this time.

Nathan could feel the tension radiating off of Jim and Sasha as they got out of the car.

Even though Jim had been the one to suggest this stopping point, it was still dangerous for either of them to be around seals.

“I’d never let any of them hurt you,” Nathan heard Jim say to Sasha. It was said in that low, dangerous tone of Jim’s that Nathan often tried to pretend his brother didn’t have.

“Don’t say that so much like a threat,” Nathan said, bucking Jim with his shoulder as they headed for the door.

“I’m just saying,” Jim defended. “If there was ever any trouble, I could handle it. My powers aren’t stunted in the Gatehouse.”

“But they’re still unpredictable,” Nathan said. “So cool those jets, Rocket Boy. We’re just here for a meal and Alex’s good company.”

There was no one immediately visible behind the bar when they entered, but Alex had obviously set out several more tables than they remembered, and a number of them were occupied with one or more seals—usually just one doing his or her own thing.

It was customary that they pretty much all glanced up to gauge newcomers, but their gazes didn’t remain long.

By the time they reached the empty bar, Alex appeared out of one of the doorways carrying a couple of boxes.

She looked good; better than good— great .

Her dark brown hair bounced around her shoulders, curled at the ends, and Nathan noticed in appreciation that she was wearing a new leather jacket, dark grey and vintage.

Her eyebrows lifted when she saw them. “Well, I’ll be.

Don’t look too dead, I see. Still don’t know how to use a phone?

” She went straight for behind the bar and set her boxes down beneath the counter.

Her expression was trapped somewhere between amused and annoyed so Nathan could tell she was happy to see them.

“Good to see you too, Alex,” Sasha said, sliding onto a stool. “Place looks like it’s back to normal. Good crowd.”

“Hn,” Alex huffed. “And I’m barely keeping up. Sure could use a vacation.”

“Maybe you could come with us,” Jim said without a single word or glance of warning.

Nathan nearly slipped off his own stool as he turned to stare at his brother.

Alex looked equally shocked. “You need my help?”

“We wouldn’t turn it away.” Jim shrugged, averting his gaze from time to time as he spoke, but appearing far more confident than usual where Alex was concerned.

“We’re on our way to Colorado. I think it might be the last place we need to go to get Nathan’s mark removed.

If you’re interested, we can fill you in on what’s been happening and… well…it’d be nice to have you along.”

A smile spread wide across Alex’s face; she didn’t make much effort to hide it.

“Sounds wonderful. I really need an assistant around here, but I’m due to shut the place down for a few days again.

Why don’t you boys head into the side lounge, let me finish up a few things, and we’ll talk.

” She passed her gaze over all of them, but Nathan saw the way color flushed to her cheeks when she looked again at Jim.

They nodded and got up to leave the bar.

“Oh,” Alex said before they could get too far from their stools, “and if you see an old friend in there, tell her to keep to the back of the couch if she can. She’s been shedding something awful getting in her winter coat.”

Nathan brightened and saw an answering smile on Sasha’s face. They had almost forgotten about the resident mascot.

They made their way through to the lounge, passing by the few seals without so much as a glance their way, and found the room not only vacant but dark.

Nathan remembered where the light was and groped along the wall to flick it on.

There were no windows in the room so it got pretty dark even in daylight.

The second the light filled the room, Nathan heard a telling ‘prrrp’ sound from the couch. Sasha was already reaching over the back of it by the time Nathan looked that way, and a second later the incubus had a large, fluffy grey tabby cat in his arms.

“Wally, you’re so big,” he said, his smile beaming as the ‘cat’ continued to chirp and squirm in his arms so she could better rub her face up against his. She made a beautiful cat, the only real strange thing being her very human looking grey eyes.

Nathan approached the pair so he could reach out and pet Wally himself. She bucked up into his hand. “Remember me, do ya? You behaving?”

Wally chirped as if to say, ‘of course’. And since there wasn’t any great smell of cat about the place, or any wrecked furniture, and all Alex had said was that she was shedding a bit much, he figured they could probably believe her.

“I don’t think it’d be too risky to pop back to your real self for a while,” Nathan said. As much as he liked cats, he really did prefer Wally’s real look, like a baby Ewok with her tiny human hands.

The chimera chirped again. Then, without any seeming effort, there was a fluffy gremlin with floppy ears in Sasha’s arms instead. She definitely looked larger.

Nathan stretched back in a reclining chair and Sasha sat down on the couch with Wally.

Jim had been fairly silent, preoccupied with the thought of Alex joining them, Nathan figured.

He sat down next to Sasha and held out his hand for Wally to sniff, but when he got close to her, she jumped back a little.

“Whoa, it’s okay, girl,” Sasha cooed. “It’s just Jim. Remember?”

Jim frowned. He started to lower his hand, but before he could, Wally ventured out a little again, crawling out of Sasha’s arms so she could sniff Jim properly. She cocked her head at him, maybe a little timid, and then looked back at Sasha.

“It’s really Jim, Wally,” Sasha said. “He probably just smells a little…different is all. You’ve been using your powers so much more since we were last here,” he said to Jim. “I’m sure that’s all it is. Go ahead, Wally.”

The chimera gave a little head bob like a nod and turned back to Jim. She inched closer, sniffing the air, gauging if she trusted her senses, and when she finally reached Jim’s hand and he moved it to pet her, she sank into his touch. A few ‘prrrps’ later and Jim didn’t look quite so devastated.

“I think the day she’s actually afraid of me, we might have to start worrying,” he said, clearly only half joking.

She crawled into his lap, purring like the cat she pretended to be, and Nathan could tell Jim enjoyed the calming effect of an animal’s acceptance.

She was a supernatural animal, granted, but animals of any kind were still one of the best watchmen for knowing if something otherworldly was going on—something evil.

For a few minutes they merely sat there, quiet and relaxed, made easier by the steady rhythm of Wally’s purring.

Alex came in with a plate of sandwiches for them after a while and Nathan resisted the urge to make some kind of June Cleaver comment, which probably would have gotten him smacked.

The lounge had a hidden sliding door that could seal it off from the rest of the building, which Alex had promptly closed behind her when she came in.

She sat on Jim’s other side on the couch, and after some perfuse gratitude, they started to scarf down the food.

Nathan was surprised how good Wally was about not trying to get into their food while they ate.

Though she did sit on the coffee table and watch them with mournful eyes that eventually got Sasha to sneak her a piece of cold turkey.

“So, Colorado,” Nathan said between bites. “Any more clues as to what’s waiting for us there, Jim, now that we’re closer, or still just going off instinct?”

Jim’s brow furrowed. “I think another large gathering but not quite like what we saw at the barn. I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Barn? You guys gonna fill me in or what?” Alex prompted. “What’s really been going on lately?”

Jim set his sandwich aside and took on the burden of explaining.

He started with the growing extent of his powers—without being too blatant about a few details, Nathan noticed—ensuring Alex that he had a strong handle on things and knew what he was doing.

After hearing about how much more Jim was capable of, Alex looked rightly skeptical that the older Grier knew what he was getting himself into, but also a little awed.

He went on to explain everything they’d been through, even about Malak and their night with the twins, which he ended with a long look at Alex and said, “They’re actually part of why I wanted to come get you.

” He didn’t elaborate, but a silent understanding passed between them that they’d take some time to discuss that later—alone.

Nathan wished Jim had mentioned earlier that he planned to invite Alex along, but he couldn’t really think of any dissention.

“So that’s what we’ve been working on the past couple of weeks,” Nathan said, if only to break the stifling quiet that had risen once Jim was done.

He set his empty plate aside. “We’re hunting down as many sidhe as we can, hoping we can make Malak’s deadline.

Even took care of a few stragglers on the way here. ”

“And you’re getting close to meeting your goal, sounds like,” Alex nodded. “I don’t know how I feel about you working with a dark sidhe like this, especially when you think he might actually be—no, I don’t even want to think about it.”

“There’s no other way to get Nathan out of being taken into the Veil,” Jim said. “If we can send back all of the dark sidhe that have broken through then Nathan’s out. Free. I’d say that’s a fair enough trade and worth the risk of doing what Malak wants.”

“But why would a dark sidhe lord, the king himself maybe, want you to do that?” Alex asked. “Sort of a conflict of interest, isn’t it?”

“We think…maybe…” Nathan faltered. They hadn’t said this out loud, not since he had first told Malak to stuff it.

“We think he wants to get Jim to use his powers too much, to make him…hell, I don’t know, turn on us, I guess.

Live up to whatever the dark sidhe planned for the chosen changeling from the beginning. ”

“It’s not gonna happen like that,” Jim said with quiet conviction when Alex’s eyes widened.

“Even if that’s really what he wants, what he thinks he can do to me, I won’t let it happen.

This is about Nathan. I’m using my powers because I have to, not because I want it.

I don’t feel any less like me. And maybe you don’t believe that, but whatever I have to do to save Nathan, I’ll risk it.

You know as much as we know now. If you don’t trust me then…

I’ll understand if you don’t want to come along. ”

Nathan watched the dissent spring to life on Alex’s face, but not fear, not distrust.

“I believe in you, Jimmy,” she said plainly.

“I can’t imagine a less likely person to be evil than you.

That’s something you have to choose and you would never choose that.

And there is no less deserving person to become a Shadow Immortal than Nate.

So if you’re serious about letting me tag along…

I’m there. But you better have a damn good plan for finishing what you’ve started.

There’s about a million different ways this could all end badly. ”

“Thank you,” Jim said earnestly. “We know how dangerous this is. I know. I can’t deny we could use an extra set of hands, but more than that…I’d like if you were with us.”

Another pregnant pause made Nathan wish he could leave the two of them alone. He caught Sasha’s gaze and they shared a knowing smirk.

“We got about a week left,” Nathan explained. “Not a lot a time.”

Alex scoffed. “No shit. So when do you want to go?”

“Today,” Jim said. “If you can manage it.”

“Manage it? Give me five minutes.”

Later, after Alex had authoritatively stood before the Gatehouse patrons and informed them that the place was closed until further notice, the group dispersed to prepare themselves before heading to Colorado.

Nathan had just come from the bathroom when he spotted Jim down one of the narrower and more out of the way hallways talking with Alex.

He had suggested a break before they headed out, not only to digest lunch and swipe a few books from the library, but in hopes that Jim and Alex would get a chance to talk.

“Even if I wasn’t an incubus,” came Sasha’s voice from behind Nathan, soft and thoughtful, “it would be pretty obvious there’s something between those two. Stronger than I first remember.”

“I sure hope so,” Nathan said. “A person never forget the ‘if onlys’. And Alex was a big one. The only one. I’ll have to thank those twins again sometime.”

Sasha chuckled quietly. “I was surprised even the energy high was enough to get him to relax with Eppy and Atty. It’s like waves rolling off of him all the time—need and guilt and loneliness. He needs to stop thinking everything he touches turns to dust. He deserves more than that.”

No one knew that better than Nathan.

They let Jim and Alex continue talking a while longer, and just when they were finally going to break things up and insist that they really needed to get going, the pair came to get them.

“What about Wally?” Nathan asked, holding the chimera close as they gathered by the doors. “We can’t just leave her if you’re coming with us, Al.”

“But she can’t come along,” Jim insisted. “How can we take care of her on the road? It’d be too dangerous.”

“She’ll be fine,” Alex said, taking Wally from Nathan’s arms. “Won’t you, my pretty girl? Or did you guys forget the opposable thumbs already.” She smirked and then set Wally on the bar countertop, moving her hands to her hips in a motherly fashion.

Wally stood up on her feet, fuzzy arms at her sides, as if she were paying Alex the utmost attention—like a soldier.

“You know where the food is. You know to get water. You can run a bath and clean yourself fine. You know how to keep things locked up, and you know how to keep yourself hid if need be. You can take care of yourself just fine on your own, and I expect this place to be in pristine condition when we return. If there’s an emergency, and only if it’s an emergency, call.

I hear one chirp on the other end of my phone, I’ll know to hit the road and come get you. Got it?”

Wally gave an affirmative ‘prrrp’ and nodded. It might have been Nathan’s imagination, but he would swear the chimera wasn’t only bigger than they had last seen her, but more human looking too.

He still didn’t like the idea of leaving Wally alone, but since both Alex and the chimera looked confident, they soon said their goodbyes and headed out the door, locking the Gatehouse up tight behind them.