Page 42 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

There were enough first-hand accounts of some sort of creature attacking people near Dahlonega, Georgia, that a golem was almost certain, at least going off of the descriptions.

Witnesses claiming it had looked like a ‘statue come to life’ was usually a dead giveaway.

The conclusion that it must be a stray dog or wolf covered in mud came much more easily to people than assuming it was a hollow stone animal under the control of a mischievous fairy.

Nathan would have been glad they had ended up somewhere warmer during the winter months if it hadn't started raining as soon as they arrived.

The town was already decorated for Christmas despite the weather, and had an upcoming holiday festival that was at risk of losing participants and tourists if the golem attacks continued.

No one was sure where the creature was coming from other than somewhere in the woods, which didn't really narrow things down.

A trek into the muddy terrain was going to take up most of their day and possibly night even if Nathan and the others did manage to track down the golem and its controller quickly.

Nathan had one of their bags slung over his shoulder with a few necessary essentials, including shotguns they didn't think even a small Georgia town would care to see out in the open without good reason.

The rain had let up somewhat but the land was slick with mud once they made it into the actual woods.

There was a campground not too far from the town that they intended to search first. It was technically closed for the season, but that hadn't stopped a few campers, hikers, and hunters from being in the area when they were attacked.

"If we can find and destroy the golem, we should be able to track its power signature back to its control rod," Sasha said.

"The controller has to be a dark fae with this kind of behavior.

The last two campers who were attacked were killed pretty brutally.

" He was in the lead with a map of the surrounding area, navigating through the mud-covered paths.

There were several man-made trails, and occasionally the trees were sparse, making it fairly easy to see long distance.

The further they got into the woods, the less that remained true.

"How do you destroy a golem?" Jim asked, close behind Sasha.

"Three ways I know of. Destroy the control rod, destroy the spot where the signal from the control rod is being received by the golem, which isn't an easy spot to find usually, or...smash the whole thing to pieces."

"Hence the shotguns," Nathan said, taking up the rear with their bag of supplies. He had volunteered to carry the bag but was starting to wish the load on someone else.

"Exactly," Sasha said. "When in doubt, a shotgun is good for killing just about anything.”

The general dampness in the air from the recent rain made Nathan shiver, even though it wasn't very cold.

He had his jacket zipped up tight, and a pair of work gloves on, but his ears were starting to burn and his sinuses ached.

One thing Nathan had always envied about his brother was that Jim never seemed to get sick.

Somehow Nathan doubted Sasha ever had to deal with a cold either.

"The campsite shouldn't be far now," Sasha said. "Quarter of a mile, I think."

"Wait," Jim said, stopping abruptly.

Nathan jolted to a halt. "Do you always have to come to sudden stops when you're in front of me?" he grumbled.

But Jim wasn't listening. His gaze had gone distant, like he was trying very carefully to listen for something.

"What are you sensing?" Sasha asked.

They started to gather in a tight huddle around Jim, but Jim stepped forward, moving toward a tree where he touched his hand to the bark.

"The golem came through here," Jim said, "a few hours ago.

And it knew exactly where it was going." He sidestepped the tree and started moving hurriedly off the path into the woods.

"Wait!" Nathan called after him. "Are you sure? The trees get pretty dense in there. How do you know what you're sensing if it's just an aftereffect?"

Jim paused to turn back and shrugged. "I don't know, somehow I'm just..

.certain this is the right direction." He reached out to touch the bark of another tree, staring this time like he could actually see something.

As Nathan and Sasha caught up, it became clear that there were claw marks dug into the bark.

"Paw prints," Sasha said, moving ahead and crouching down in the mud. "With all the rain, I doubt I would have been able see these if we hadn't veered from the path. Good job, Jim." He smiled back at them.

Nathan couldn't share the expression. The mixed emotions on Jim's face told a similar story—apprehension of ever thinking his powers could be a good thing.

"Come on," Sasha said. "Between sensing this thing and following its tracks, we should be able to find its lair in no time."

According to the map, the path they were creating through the woods was guiding them around the very edges of the nearby campsite.

But, the further along they went, the more of a chill Nathan started to feel in his bones, almost supernaturally deep, until finally he sneezed so hard he nearly dropped the bag of supplies.

Sasha and Jim looked back at him in amusement.

"Guess we should have packed scarves and hats in there too, huh?" Jim teased.

"Shut up," Nathan sniffled.

Sasha came back to take the bag from Nathan's shoulder, ignoring any protests. "You've been carrying everything the whole way. I got it." He smiled warmly and pushed on ahead.

It certainly made it easier for Nathan to keep his jacket tight around him and the collar turned up without the bag weighing him down. He hadn’t realized how tired he was or how many hours had passed while they were hiking through the woods until they stopped.

There was a rocky hill ahead with a few less trees, including a couple that looked like they had been uprooted recently by something very large moving past them. Sasha and Jim both seemed able to sense something, but for Nathan the giveaway was the sudden quiet as they neared the hill.

No birds. No chirping animals. No wind.

They circled the area, climbing halfway up the hill and around it to the other side where they discovered a gaping hole that looked like a perfectly rounded tunnel had been dug into the ground, disappearing into darkness.

"Are there cave systems in Georgia?" Nathan asked as the three of them surrounded the large opening.

"Not that spring to mind," Sasha said. "Even I can't see more than a few feet down this thing. I'm thinking going in there would be a bad idea."

"You think?" Nathan sputtered.

"Well...what about sending in Walter?" Jim said.

Nathan looked around, waiting for Walter to appear after being mentioned. When he didn't, Nathan called out. "Walt! Can you head down there? Walter?"

The stillness of the area was eerie, so quiet and devoid of motion that it was almost like a painting, like they had stepped into a captured moment that would never move again. Nathan called a few more times, but Walter did not appear.

"Nothing," Nathan admitted to the others. "That can't be a good sign."

"Sidhe?" Jim prompted.

"Again?" Sasha said. "The Muses I was almost ready to pass off as a fluke, but if there are some here too.

.." He shook his head and dropped the supply bag heavily to the ground.

"Looks like we're setting up camp. The golem is in that tunnel, and somewhere nearby is its dark sidhe master. This is where we want to be."

"I think that might be a matter of opinion," Nathan said, shifting uncomfortably.

Not being able to hear or see anything did not reassure Nathan that he would know when something was there. He had to wonder if what was lurking nearby would suddenly swoop upon them in the dark, unnoticed.

A few hours later, Nathan couldn't remember the last time he had sneezed so much.

It didn't help that an hour before sunset the sky broke open with another downpour of rain and showed no signs of stopping.

The rain brought at least some sense of life to the otherwise deathly still area around the cave, but without any real shelter, they were caught in the storm without even the comfort of a fire.

"I can feel it in there," Jim said while they were passing the hours, trying to work out their best plan of attack, whenever that time finally came, "but I can't sense anything else. If it's like the Muses, this sidhe controller could be anywhere."

Trying his hardest not to shiver as the rain continued to pour down around them, Nathan glared at Sasha when the incubus looked at him with a clear offer of body heat.

Thankfully, that was the moment when Jim announced he was going to stake out the other side of the hill in case the golem’s master appeared from another direction.

Nathan scooted unconsciously closer to the incubus after only a few moments alone.

"Aren't the shotguns going to be too wet when we need them?" Nathan asked.

"They'll fire. I have them enchanted." Sasha scooted closer too. "You know...you're actually kind of cute with this whole covert relationship thing."

Nathan glanced behind them, just in case Jim was still within hearing distance, but the rain was falling hard enough to mask any other sound.

"Yeah, well...I'm working on it." He scooted the last bit closer so that his and Sasha's sides were flush.

The warmth from the incubus was strong even through their clothing.

"Can I...ask you something about Walter?"

Nathan started a little, unprepared for the question. "Uhh, sure. What did you want to know?"

"Well...have you ever asked him the big questions?"

"You mean like 'what happens after we die?' and 'is there a God?'"

"Yeah."

"When I was a kid." Nathan shrugged.

Sasha sat up straighter. " And ?"

Nathan had to laugh at the redhead’s eagerness, but he shook his head. "He said it wasn't his place to say. Sort of his typical response with things like that."

"Oh," Sasha deflated. "Figures."

"He did tell me one thing though," Nathan added, pleased to see a spark of hope return to Sasha's expression.

"He said that not every human who dies becomes a Spirit Guide, but the ones who do choose to be one, and they choose the person they watch over.

I've asked him a million times why he chose me, and he always says the same thing: because I was the one that needed him. "

The day Walter first said that to Nathan was clear in his mind, during Nathan and Jim's first year without their parents. As he remembered that night, he also remembered a similar night not too long ago.

"You're the only other person who's ever said something like that to me," Nathan said, turning his head to look at Sasha and realizing just how close they were.

Their eyes met with only rain between them, and there was something very potent in Sasha’s shadowed expression.

"I know you were saying that you like to choose people to feed from who need you, not that you were choosing me, but..."

"No," Sasha broke in. "Believe me, I meant it that way too." He smiled, his voice quiet despite having to talk over the rain, with both of them so wet that their hair was dripping water into their eyes.

Even in the dark and rain, Sasha's eyes were so blue . It seemed no effort at all to lean toward him.

“Sasha! Nathan!”

As soon as Nathan heard his brother calling, he started to sense a trend. “What’s up?” he called back, pulling away from Sasha and turning at Jim’s approach.

Jim was panting heavily, having sprinted from the other side of the hill. “No master, but…I think the golem is on the move."