Page 25 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

Sometime during the night Nathan remembered Sasha passing by his bed, probably while switching out for Jim as lookout. Groggily, Nathan had grabbed onto the incubus’ pant leg and asked him just what the hell were Manolos anyway.

With his usual smirk, Sasha had leaned in close to Nathan and whispered, “Shoes worth more than everything you own, Nathan.”

The next morning Nathan wasn't entirely sure if that encounter had been real or if his half-conscious mind had made it up. Judging by Sasha’s answer, Nathan hoped it was a dream. No pair of heels was worth more than all of his worldly possessions.

Getting a fairly good night’s sleep had at least given him some time to reflect on their situation. He just hoped Jim would keep his big mouth shut about it.

“Sasha, meet Walter.” Nathan gestured to what surely looked like empty space to the redhead. “If you were anyone other than a seal and an incubus, I’m sure you’d think I was nuts, but I swear…he’s there. I can give you a description if you want.”

Sasha stared with apparent awe at the spot where Nathan could see Walter standing amongst them. “You can see your Spirit Guide?” Sasha said breathlessly. “That’s just…I mean, it’s so rare . Has this only been since you were marked by the Messenger or could you always see him?”

“Since the first night without both our parents,” Nathan said. “Walter showed up while we were huddled in an alleyway hiding. He’s how we found our first Veil doorway. Been pretty helpful a few other times too.”

The reaction Nathan might have expected from a normal seal was clearly lost on Sasha. He acted as though he were looking upon something holy when he stared unfocused on a spot in the room that only Nathan could see the truth of.

“They say only humans have them, but I’ve always wondered…

” Sasha shook his head and turned to Nathan.

“Why tell me now? I understand why you didn’t at first. I’m still a seal.

Usually, being able to talk to a Spirit Guide or any spirits is a supernatural sign.

It might even have to do with the fae blood in your family. ”

“Save the supernatural for Jim,” Nathan said. “There’s nothing special about me. I don’t know why I can see and speak with Walter, I just can, and he’s saved our asses plenty. I figured he could help us.”

Walter looked humbled by the attention, which kept him remarkably quiet.

"Walter can't get too close to sidhe," Nathan clarified, "but I figured having him hanging out in their front yard would be less conspicuous than us. While he keeps an eye on them, we can ready our attack."

"Nathan," Jim said with a frown. "These Muses might not be able to see Walter or know he’s there, but they’re not stupid. They have to be expecting us to attack.”

“I got an idea about that too,” Nathan said. "Now, this is going to sound a little crazy at first, but I noticed a ‘for sale’ sign in front of a house next to the one the Muses are staying in...”

By the time Nathan was heading over to the Muses front door to ring the bell, his hands were shaking.

He couldn't help the pang of anxiety he felt that one of them would manage to touch him again before he could pull off his part of the plan.

Jim had called him a fool for volunteering to go, but the thing about bait was that it had to be something the Muses wanted.

Walter had kept them informed that the Muses hadn’t left their house once during the night or yet that morning, almost as if they were waiting for something.

Nathan was not about to disappoint them.

“Hey there,” Nathan said, aiming his grin at the Muse who answered the door. “I was wondering if I might interest you in a set of encyclopedias.”

The dark-haired sidhe grinned back at him, her eyes instantly shimmering into a deep violet with prominent slit pupils.

“No?” Nathan said, holding his ground. “I just figured you’d need one later when you wanted to look up the term gullible .” At which point Nathan turned on his heels and started sprinting across the lawn toward the house with the ‘for sale’ sign.

The Muse gave chase just as Nathan had hoped, moving faster than any normal human should be able to.

Nathan was barely able to keep ahead of her, but the neighboring house was close and he soon flew through the open kitchen door, bypassing the waiting Sasha and Jim as he skidded to a halt on the other side of the room.

The lone sidhe was walking calmly by the time she entered the kitchen after him. “Do you give yourselves up so easily?”

Nathan took in heavy breaths as he stepped forward to stand more evenly with Sasha and his brother, who were each armed with iron. He nodded at the floor below the Muse's feet. “I’d say it was pretty damn easy,” he said.

She looked down, her smirk dropping as she realized she had been caught. An Entrapment Rune had been drawn right where she was standing.

Runes powerful enough to affect sidhe had to be perfect, and Entrapment Runes had to be drawn specific to what they were capturing in order to work—light or dark, fae or sidhe—but, if drawn correctly, even a Weird Sister would be unable to move unless the lines of the symbols were broken.

“Fools,” she hissed, looking up at them with a glare. “I am merely one. The others will come for me.”

“That’s what we’re counting on,” Sasha said.

The kitchen was small, the house being an older model but cleaned well and emptied to be sold.

There were three entrances into the room—the one leading outside, one leading to a hallway that eventually led to the stairs, and one leading out into the living room and the front door.

The kitchen had no dishwasher, only a small sink, a stove, and the empty space where a table and chairs might have stood.

Walter flickered into view before Nathan, able to stay visible only long enough to speak. “They are here."

The remaining Muses appeared at the same time, one in each of the other doorways. They saw the plight of their sister and halted before stepping into the runic traps that had been placed inside the other entrances.

Nathan pulled out his gun, mirroring Jim as they raised their weapons to aim at the Muse who had been caught. Sasha did the same with his shotgun.

“We’ll make this easy for you,” Sasha said. “We want information, and for the three of you to leave this town and return to the Veil. You give us what we want and we’ll let your sister go.”

“If you don’t give us what we want...” Nathan said, “...we'll shoot her. With iron bullets. Even a sidhe can't survive that. Unless you want to call our bluff on that, ladies.”

Weird Sisters were like a twisted Trinity. All three needed to be alive for any one of them to survive. If they lost a sister it would be like losing a major organ and the other two would slowly wither.

The violet eyes of all three Muses glowed brightly in their fury.

“What question could we possibly answer?” said the one from the doorway into the living room.

There was darkness in her, enough that Nathan recognized her as the one who had touched him the night before— Violence . He only allowed himself to be shaken for a moment.

"First," Sasha said, "we want to know how you got here. You weren't summoned. So how? No dark sidhe has managed to escape the Veil in thousands of years."

The Muses laughed.

"Silly seal," said the one from the doorway to the stairs. "Why would we tell you anything when we are free? So you can force us to go back? We like it here." She bit her bottom lip with a coy smile, the embodiment of Desire .

“Then at least tell us this," Jim said. "Who owns the mark on my brother? Even if you don’t know the answer, there has to be a way to find out.”

The one caught in the runic trap, who had to be Want , seemed the least concerned, despite being the one threatened at gunpoint. “Of course we know,” she said.

“Everyone knows about this bounty,” said Desire.

“Nathan Grier is a great prize to accompany his brother," said Violence. "And how glorious it will be when you return to us...James.”

Jim's eyes widened, making him falter in his aim.

Nathan spun around, quick to focus his gun on Violence. “Shut up. Jim isn’t returning anywhere,” he said. “The bounty's on me.”

“Ah, but James is still so important," said Violence. "We won’t even have to come for him, you know.”

“He’ll come to us,” said Desire.

“And then he will be ours ,” said Want. "Just like you."

“Enough!” Nathan shouted, cocking his gun in warning as he turned around to once again aim at Want. “How did you get here? Who did the Messenger I killed work for!?”

The Muses laughed again, like morbid surround sound.

“There is that anger from last night," said Violence with fond remembrance. "So pure. I barely had to coax it out at all. Perhaps another touch will linger properly.” She reached for Nathan, too far away to pose any real threat but mocking in her attempt.

“Mmm, but what about this one?” said Desire, reaching for Sasha in similar fashion. “Passion is radiating from him. He cannot possibly be human. He’s…” She took in a breath, almost labored, and her eyes flashed brightly. “He's an incubus .”

Sasha looked uneasy being near that particular Muse, but he did not move away. He steadied his shotgun on Want. “Enough games,” he said. “We’re going to count to three and then open fire. One…”

“Two,” Nathan said.

“How marvelous it will be indeed when James helps lead us into a new age,” Want spoke over them. “You will be but a pet at his feet, Nathan Grier, and the feet of the one who owns you."

" Two ," Nathan said again.

“I have an idea, sisters," said Desire with far too much gleeful excitement. "Why don’t we take James for a little chat? And leave the incubus to handle Nathan.”

Nathan jerked back to look at Desire, who was staring at Sasha with all the force of her title.