Page 36 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

All the warmth in Nathan drained away. He felt chilled at the mention of that name— Gabriel —especially now, after everything that had happened, and so many months without any seals knowing their whereabouts other than Sasha.

And then, foolishly, they had ended up at the Gatehouse.

Nathan stared at his brother, noticing the sharp glances Jim was tossing between him and Sasha. The gears were spinning in Jim’s head, and they had to be clicking together practically screaming: Sasha. Without a shirt. Sasha and Nathan. On Sasha’s bed. Together .

That couldn’t be good.

“Wait, did you say Gabriel ?” Sasha asked, coming around from the other side of the bed. “Are you talking about a seal?”

“He’s the one who killed their parents,” Alex said somberly, taking on the burden of explanation. She looked frazzled since her midnight expedition to the library. “He almost never comes here. Never. He must have been tracking you.”

Nathan pushed thoughts of what had been happening with Sasha aside, his stomach twisted in knots for another reason now. Somehow, Gabriel always found them. It must have been the car. They had kept it for too long instead of taking doorways.

“Alex stalled him downstairs,” Jim said. “She told him she wasn’t sure what rooms she had available this late and was going to check, but he’s going to start wondering what’s going on. What should we do?”

The first suggestion that sprung to mind was that they should stay, gear up, and take Gabriel head on, especially now that they had a professional with them who actually knew how to fight. Sasha’s super-strength was a nice bonus too. But Nathan thought better of the idea before opening his mouth.

They couldn’t risk Alex getting caught up in all of this, and they couldn’t risk a fight inside the Gatehouse. If they started shooting at each other, the wards could blow them right through the walls.

“The seal that’s been hunting you is named Gabriel?” Sasha asked, walking up to Nathan and grabbing him suddenly by the arm. “Is he older? Maybe fifty? Curly black hair dusted with grey?”

Nathan blinked back at Sasha in surprise. “Uh…yeah. Just like that.”

“Shit.”

“What is it? You know him?”

Sasha looked at Nathan with tightly knit brows, then to Jim and Alex, pursing his lips.

“If it’s who I’m thinking…then yes. He’s an old friend of my dad’s.

Well…acquaintance. He’s always scared me a little.

He has this… drive . I had no idea he was the seal who killed your parents. I haven’t seen him in years.”

The coincidences were starting to add up a little too much for Nathan to ignore. “First Schu and Alex, and now Gabriel too? I guess Wade’s whole prophecy thing isn’t as bogus as I thought,” Nathan said. Sasha had been tied up in every part of their lives from even before they met.

“Look, there’s a simple solution here,” Alex spoke up. “Just because I stick to the code about letting anyone through those doors, doesn’t mean I have to let him stay. I’ll tell him we’re full up and ask him to leave.”

“No,” Jim said. “He’ll know something’s up. There aren’t enough cars out there for him to believe you. We have to get out of here.”

“Then I’ll go down and keep stalling him,” Alex countered. “I’ll say I have to put him up in the side lounge because I’m not sure which rooms are empty and I don’t want to risk waking anyone. Once I have him clear of the bar, you can take off out the front door.”

“And just let him stay here for the night? With you ?” Jim exclaimed.

Alex softened at his concern. “It’s my job, Jimmy. I’ll be fine and you’ll be safe. You can’t fight him here anyway, and you can’t risk him following you. Give me two minutes alone with him and then be ready to sneak downstairs.”

She turned to leave without hesitation, no sense of fear in her at all other than worry for their sakes.

Nathan would have stopped Alex on principle if they had any other option. As it was, Jim tried , but Alex was gone before he could really do anything.

“Gather your stuff, Sasha, and we’ll do the same,” Nathan said. “It’s time to leave. Now .”

They met in the hallway laden with their bags moments later, thankful that they always mostly kept their belongings packed.

The hallway was as quiet as it had been when Nathan was out before, making every creek of movement sound deafening.

The murmur of Alex and Gabriel’s voices was barely audible below them, but loud enough that they would be able to tell when the bar was empty.

Even Gabriel’s voice, just a whisper of noise, chilled Nathan to the bone. He had never spoken to the man, but he remembered that voice too well from when he had overheard Gabriel with his mother. He caught his brother’s eye and tried to put on a brave face.

A dozen other close calls flashed through Nathan's mind as they waited for their chance to escape downstairs.

Narrowly diving through a doorway in some tiny village in England when they were fifteen.

Running through a crowded shopping mall in Vancouver at eighteen.

Stealing a car outside a bar right when they had been about to enjoy their first legal drinks, trying for just a brief moment to be normal. And so many other incidents in between.

Gabriel had nearly caught them each of those times, fully ready to kill them no matter their age. It made Nathan seethe that they had been running for so long.

The bar had gone silent. Sharing quick looks of agreement with Jim and Sasha, Nathan started down the stairs and the others followed, hurrying as quietly as they could.

There was only one overhead light on in the main part of the bar, right over the bar’s counter.

The otherwise dimness of the large room made every corner look like it was holding a hidden villain about to jump out at them.

Nathan gestured ahead toward the main doors. They had a clear shot to freedom.

“Wait!” Sasha called in a harsh whisper, grabbing Nathan by the shoulder to stop him. The incubus pulled Nathan and Jim down close to the side of the bar, hiding them from view to the door into the lounge.

“I can get your bag. Just make yourself comfortable,” came Alex’s voice. She sounded calm, sensible, but Nathan knew her well enough to catch a tinge of panic.

Gabriel was heading back into the bar.

“I’ll get it. Really,” Alex tried again, but by the sound of her voice growing closer, Gabriel wasn’t listening.

Sasha motioned for them to move around the bar, remaining crouched and attempting to hobble forward without upsetting any of the stools.

Nathan could see what must be Gabriel’s forgotten bag on the floor only a few feet from them.

He could also hear the persistent sound of footsteps heading their direction.

“Here it is,” Alex said, and she was there, in plain sight, moving around the bar to claim the bag, and managing more nobly than Nathan would have at keeping an entirely straight face as she walked right past them.

Gabriel had to be as close as just the other side of the bar.

Alex walked back around the counter, making it easier for Nathan and the others to continue moving and keep ahead of wherever Gabriel might be. They paused at the sound of footsteps fading and shuffling out of the room again.

The kitchen door was closer than the double doors at the front, leading out to the back entrance. Sasha moved ahead of them in that direction and soon all three of them were scrambling into the small alcove hallway that lead to the kitchen.

The kitchen may have been closer than running for the front doors, but it also shared a wall with the downstairs lounge.

They kept their tongues carefully held, gesturing silently that they needed to move.

Once again Sasha took point, leading them silently over wooden floors and then linoleum as they crossed the kitchen threshold. The door out was only a few yards away.

“Nate!” Jim called out, glancing back at him— past him at the door they had come through. When Nathan looked back, he already knew what he would find standing in the doorway.

Gabriel looked just as Nathan had always remembered him.

Older but still fit and more than formidable being a seal, with somewhat curled salt and pepper hair and a prominent snarl on his face.

He was unremarkable in many ways, and yet the sight of him shook Nathan, even before the man started to pull a gun.

Jim tugged on Nathan’s arm, yelling, “Nate! Run!”

They were still crouched, practically crawling and, for a moment, Nathan was frozen in place with Gabriel staring down at him.

Nathan had a gun too. Somewhere. He wasn’t defenseless.

They had been running for so long from dark fae and seals, from Gabriel especially, that part of Nathan wanted to stand and fight.

But he couldn’t. A part of him always became a little boy again in Gabriel’s presence.

“Nathan, please! We can't fight here!”

But Gabriel wasn’t thinking about the Gatehouse wards.

He had pulled his gun and was taking aim.

Not at Nathan, closest to him. But at Jim .

There was no guarantee the wards could protect them at such close range, even if Gabriel was blasted backwards.

Nathan readied himself to jump in front of the coming bullet.

“ Stop !”

Then Nathan froze. Literally froze, not from nerves but from actual immobilization. Gabriel had frozen too.

Trying to shake his head to clear away whatever power had taken hold of them, Nathan found he couldn’t move at all. The power was all-encompassing, and all simply from the sound of Jim’s voice telling them to stop.

“ Stop ,” Jim said again, slow and calculating despite his surprise that whatever he was doing was actually working. “ Put down your weapon .”

Those few feet from them, standing in the kitchen doorway, Gabriel listened, placing his gun neatly on the ground in front of him. He stood again only to remain frozen as Nathan was.

“I'm not what you think I am,” Jim said to the now motionless and unarmed Gabriel. "I don't have to be like other changelings. I don't have to be anything. I can make my own choices. I don’t want to be like them. I don't want to be like you ."

Fury flashed in Gabriel’s eyes, but he couldn’t move or so much as flinch in response. Jim seemed to realize that Nathan had been affected by the power as well, because he lifted Nathan to stand upright beside him.

" You're going to listen to me now ,” Jim went on, focused on Gabriel, while his hold was solid on Nathan. “ You are never going to come after us again . Understand ?"

Nathan trembled at the palpable power in his brother's voice. He could feel his limbs loosening as Jim’s power directed more on Gabriel alone.

"Wait!" Sasha called out from behind them, where Nathan couldn't turn to look. He had almost forgotten the incubus was with them. "He has a charm around his neck. Your power isn’t strong enough to hold him, Jim. Not in here."

Still mostly frozen, staring forward, Nathan could see a cord around Gabriel's neck with a small round pendant carved over its entire surface with protection runes.

Slowly, Gabriel was regaining control of his arms, twitching.

In another few minutes, he would be able to reach for his gun again.

Changeling powers were not as suppressed as other fae in the Gatehouse, but they were still dulled, and with a charm on Gabriel's side, Jim's power wasn't enough.

Jim stumbled back, pulling Nathan along with him away from Gabriel. "I... wait. Stop ," he said, but his voice wasn't having the same affect.

“Jimmy! Nathan!” Alex burst into the kitchen from behind Gabriel and went straight for his gun, disarming it with practiced ease until the bullets were plinking out onto the floor. "Go!" she said, tossing the emptied gun onto a nearby counter, and buying them what little time she could.

Nathan still felt stiff, moving painfully slow as he hung on tight to his bag and turned toward the door along with his brother. He was thankful when Jim turned some of that unpredictable power back on him.

" Nathan, come on! "

Intentional or not, the influence in Jim’s message had Nathan finally free of the spell. Together they raced to Sasha already at the door. He didn’t seem to have suffered the same immobility, but looked haunted as he stared beyond them at Alex and Gabriel.

Nathan risked a glance back and saw a fierce scowl on Gabriel's face that seemed entirely meant for Sasha.

“Go!” Alex called again.

This time they took off running.

The car seemed too far away, coming from the side entrance instead of the front, but they still had a head start. Walter appeared the moment Nathan was outside the doors, urgently asking him what was wrong and why they were running, but there was no time to answer him.

Sasha made it to the driver’s side door, still being the owner of the keys. It wasn't until after the doors had been unlocked and they were about to climb inside that Nathan started cursing.

“What’s wrong?” Jim asked.

“That bastard slashed the tires!” Nathan shouted.

"He slashed all of the tires," Sasha said, looking around at the few other vehicles nearby. "He knew we were here."

Nathan cursed again, but their only option was to use the car they had. They climbed inside and Sasha soon had the engine revving to life.

"Sasha, go!" Jim cried.

The sudden panic in Jim’s voice had Nathan flinching to look behind them. Gabriel was sprinting out of the Gatehouse toward the car, weaponless, but determined.

Sasha gunned the accelerator, spinning the car in reverse to face the road. The rims of the car would bend quickly if they didn't find another vehicle or change out the tires. Their only hope was that Gabriel wouldn’t be able to get a clear enough trace on where they were headed.