Page 10 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

The air shook around Nathan like an explosion.

He doubled over from the force of it, feeling as though he had been punched in the gut.

When he looked up, he saw Jim standing very still in front of him.

Jim had been facing away from Nathan with his final shout, and stood staring down the street at what he had done.

Every sign and lamp post as far as they could see was bent over at a ninety degree angle. Even the little trees planted in front of the hotel next door were bent.

Jim started to back-peddle, too fast to keep on his feet.

When he finally fell, Nathan was there to catch him.

It’s okay, Jim , Nathan wanted to say, but he couldn’t, not when Jim no longer believed those words.

Not when Nathan had seen his brother with those same slit eyes again .

So he helped Jim steady his footing and let his hold linger.

It was an awkward backwards hug but Jim needed it.

Jim needed to know that Nathan wasn't afraid.

Even if that wasn’t true.

“If we can’t even save one girl…” Jim whispered, “...how are we supposed to save each other?”

Nathan flinched at the words. “Jim...we can try, okay? All we can do is try. If that’s not enough then we shouldn’t be doing this at all.” He started to let Jim go but kept contact with his hands on Jim’s shoulders as he turned him around.

A shadow had crossed Jim’s face, but his eyes were pained in a familiar way now, no longer catlike or shimmering. “I know you’re right, Nate," Jim said. "I know I’m just letting it all get to me, but I…I don’t want to screw this up. I can’t. I can’t lose you.”

The stress of those words made Nathan feel like he had been punched in the gut a second time. “Jim…”

“Umm…I got her address.”

Nathan turned to find Sasha standing at the entrance of the restaurant with a piece of paper in his hand, looking as guilty as if he had walked in on a lover’s quarrel. His eyes drifted over the brothers’ heads to stare down the street at the bent over signs.

“Did I miss something?”

There was no way to be certain how long Sasha had been standing there, so Nathan simply shrugged. "Must have been the wind,” he said.

Jim huffed but didn’t contradict the assessment.

“Oh. Sounds about right,” Sasha said. “The protection from these buildings is nothing compared to trees. Happens all the time.” He smiled at Nathan and Jim as if to say he understood and would not press for more. Then he held up Carol's address. “We better get a move on.”

Nathan could not believe their luck when they pulled up in front of Carol’s apartment building.

She was standing outside talking to a man.

It seemed almost certain that they had found their incubus.

But Sasha was wary and, in fact, the man eventually left and Carol went inside her building alone.

From what they could see through the street-facing windows as she entered, there wasn't anyone waiting for her.

Carol had a corner apartment, so they decided to keep watch with two of them waiting out front in the car while another watched her windows from an alley around the side of the building.

Nathan took his turn down the alley first. His gut feeling told him that the killer would show any minute, but after almost an hour of nothing but a flickering TV screen shining at him from Carol’s windows, Nathan’s mind began to wander.

If Jim had been facing a different direction when he made all of those signs and lampposts bend in half like they were pewter, any number of awful things might have happened to some unsuspecting passerby. Or just as likely to Nathan .

Jim had never shown any sign of abilities or power before, other than being able to sense and access aspects of the Veil.

Sometimes Nathan wondered if his brother’s extreme intelligence was a byproduct of being a changeling, but there had never been any other telling signs that Jim was becoming more like a dark fae.

Not until tonight.

Nathan jumped when he glanced down from the windows to find Walter directly in front of him. “I swear to God , man, if I could put a bell on you…”

Walter raised an eyebrow. “Would you prefer I remained visible?”

“No. Knowing you’re always watching is bad enough,” Nathan grimaced. “Now what do you want? Care to be helpful and watch from inside the apartment?”

“Nathan, we need to talk about what happened.”

“ What happened? Jim’s fine. The sign thing was an accident.”

“Exactly. He is not aware of his own power. He is dangerous. You need to take better precautions.”

“Like what ?” Nathan snapped. He was nearly yelling again and quickly thought better about being too loud in the alleyway.

“What, Walt? Huh? You’re supposed to guide me, but you can’t actually tell me what I’m supposed to do or what’s going to happen.

If you can tell me how to help Jim or if…

if he’s going to turn evil on me, then tell me. ”

As disapproving as Walter often looked, he seemed more and more somber and disappointed lately. “I cannot see that clearly, Nathan, you know that,” he said. “Your path is ever-changing. I can only try and keep you on the right one.”

“Walter—”

Nathan jumped, this time because his cell phone was vibrating inside his pocket.

Jim had texted him, My turn .

“Just…be helpful, Walter, okay?” Nathan said, turning to head back out of the alley. “The Doomsday advice is really getting old.”

Nathan returned to the car to switch out with his brother, passing Jim a small smile of encouragement as he reclaimed his spot in the driver’s seat with Sasha beside him. Walter had thankfully disappeared.

The night was quiet. It proved to Nathan how good of a seal Sasha must be for all his charismatic openness, because he was being so serious, so focused right now.

Jim’s time down the alley was half over before Nathan realized he and Sasha had been sitting there almost the entire time without talking.

“Who would win in a fair fight, Optimus Prime or Captain America?”

“What?” Sasha sputtered.

Nathan looked over and saw that the expression on Sasha's face was as amused as his tone implied. “Humor me,” he said.

Sasha snorted like he was half unsure whether or not Nathan was joking, but he soon mulled the question over.

“Trick question. Their goals and personalities are too similar. They’d be friends before someone could throw the first punch.

” Then he added, “But if the cosmos was turned upside down and they did fight? Captain America. Size is no obstacle. He’s taken down Giant-Man. I think he can handle a giant robot.”

Nathan laughed loudly. " Dude . Good answer."

“Your turn,” Sasha said. “Better kisser, Jean Grey or Rogue from X-men?”

“Now that’s a trick question. What do you take me for here?”

“Still gotta answer.” Sasha grinned.

Nathan knew the answer to that question, if his adolescent fantasies counted for anything, and he liked to think that they did. “Easy,” he said, “Rogue. It’d hurt like hell, but damn, it’d be worth it.”

The car filled with laughter from both of them.

“Nice," Sasha said, "but the questions get tougher. Better in the sack, DC this time.”

Nathan already knew the answer if they were talking DC comics, regardless of which femme fatales were named. No one could hold a candle to Wonder Woman. Except maybe Catwoman , Nathan thought, especially if it was the Michelle Pfeiffer version with the—

“Flash or Green Lantern?”

Nathan’s daydreaming came to a halt and he blinked at Sasha dumbly.

“What?” Sasha grinned at him. “Not enough personal experience for you to make a sound judgment?”

A strange, uncomfortable laugh tumbled out of Nathan. He knew Sasha was joking, but that didn’t help the flutters in his stomach. “Do you ever let up?” he asked.

Sasha’s blinding smile gave a slight twitch. “Only when I’m not serious.”

A knock on the window made Nathan jump so high in his seat that he almost hit his head on the ceiling of the car. Jim had returned early.

“What’s up? You have fifteen minutes left,” Nathan said as he rolled down his window. He would swear he could feel Sasha's blue eyes burning little ovals into the back of his head, but he was not about to turn around and look at them.

“It’s a dead end, Nathan. No one’s coming. I think she went to bed,” Jim said, glancing over his shoulder at Carol’s window which was now dark. “The killer must have marked someone else.”

“No,” Sasha countered, completely reverted back to his serious and focused side. “Let’s not give up yet. At least let me take my turn. I don’t want to be wrong about this. Half hour. Then if we still have nothing, we can come up with a plan B.”

Nathan frowned. There was no plan B, other than to pray that some other girl in some other suburb didn’t die tonight. But he didn't want to give up either. A few minutes later the switch had been made.

“I hope he’s right,” Jim said.

“Me too.”

They sat in silence. With all the quiet and inaction while they waited for Sasha’s turn to go by, Nathan’s thoughts began to stray again, and he hated where they strayed to.

Only when I’m not serious.

Just what the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Nate? Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Nathan said reflexively, pointedly looking at Carol’s window.

“Nate, come on,” Jim pressed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Nathan insisted.

“Nathan—”

“It’s nothing , okay?”

Jim quieted, but after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Nathan started to realize that Jim probably assumed he was preoccupied with what had happened on Nicollet Avenue. Which, granted, Nathan had been, but that was not what was plaguing him now.

“It’s just…Sasha,” Nathan said. “I mean…he’s only messing with me, right?”

Jim’s look of concern gave way only too quickly to one of brotherly amusement. “Yeah, Nate,” he said. “He’s just messing with you. Why? Has he done something to make you think otherwise?”