Page 6 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

“Dude…you’re a dude.”

The tall, redheaded, male Sasha Kelly blinked at Nathan in amusement.

“Uh…yeah,” he said, grinning wider and looking amazingly relaxed for someone who had been pointing a gun at them.

“Guess you were expecting otherwise, huh? Sorry to disappoint. Why did you think I was the girl who lived in this apartment? Should I know you?” He scanned his eyes over Nathan and Jim carefully, not seeming to mind that Nathan had not yet lowered his weapon.

Nathan flinched when Walter suddenly appeared beside Sasha, staring particularly hard at the man’s red hair.

“I was unsure of his intentions initially,” Walter said, talking right at Sasha, though only Nathan could hear him, “but I am certain now that he means you no harm. This is the person Wade meant for you to find.” Walter’s features were scrunched as if in confusion, but he made no further comment.

If Walter was giving the okay then Nathan was more inclined to trust this stranger, though he had a sneaky suspicion that Wade had known all along Sasha was a man.

“Let’s start over," Nathan said, flashing a friendlier smile as he at last tucked his gun away. "I’m Nathan. And this is my brother, Jim. Grier,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“ Grier ?" Sasha repeated. "You’re one of the carrier families. So then…” His attention moved very quickly to Jim. “You’re a changeling.”

Nathan tensed at the casual utterance of the term. Humans who knew about changelings were often more dangerous than dark fae. Usually, they were hunters, what the fae called ‘sealgaire’, men and women who thought that anything not human was inherently evil and therefore needed to be destroyed.

Like Gabriel.

Avoiding dark fae had always been Nathan and Jim’s first priority, but avoiding seals was a close second.

“Let’s not have another standoff, okay?" Sasha took a step back, holding his hands up in placation. "I don’t have anything against changelings. Unless they’re trying to kill me, which I don’t think you are or you would have done it by now. I’m just here investigating this murder.”

“And you also happen to know who we are,” Nathan said.

“Hey, you’re the ones who seem to know me,” Sasha said. “I’ve just heard the Grier name. And…okay, so the word around more knowledgeable circles is that the family had a changeling named James. I did the math. I forgot for a minute that they also had a human son.” He indicated Nathan.

Jim had a hand on Nathan’s arm so fast that Nathan hadn’t even realized he had started to move forward. He took those kinds of comments personally. Calling him human . As if Jim wasn’t.

“I’m obviously saying all the wrongs things here,” Sasha went on.

“How about I make it up to you and buy us all a round? I have everything I need from this place, and it sounds like we have a few things to talk about. You have me at the disadvantage. I only know you by reputation. I’d really like to hear how you knew I was going to be here today when I didn’t even know that until this morning.

” Sasha’s expression had turned friendly, appeasing, even.

He was an entirely different person without a gun pointed at them.

Nathan wanted to trust him, he wanted to trust Wade’s premonition that somehow this guy could help them, but he still looked to Walter for guidance before accepting the redhead’s offer.

“Be cautious, there is something… something about this man,” Walter said. “I am not sure what yet, but I do believe he has good intentions. You and Jim should at least speak with him.” Walter turned away from Sasha to look at Nathan directly.

Sasha’s eyes were eerily similar to Walter’s in the dim lighting despite the difference in color, even almost as vibrant.

“Nate…” Jim prompted.

Nathan nodded to Sasha in agreement.

“Great,” Sasha said. “I know a place not too far where we can grab some beers and talk. I’d rather not be here if a patrol shows up. So…Nathan. And Jim. I’m Sasha. Nice to meet you. Shall we?” Sasha turned to make his way to the exit, clearly expecting them to follow.

At first they didn’t. Jim was silent. Walter watched after Sasha closely. Nathan sighed. His dreams for a good romp with their imagined hottie helper had been summarily crushed.

He was put off even more when Jim patted him on the back. “He’s all yours.”

“What?”

“Hey, you called dibs, man. I wouldn’t dream of standing in the way.”

Jim was being so overly sincere that Nathan was about ready to punch him.

“I don’t consider myself that good of a judge in this area,” Jim said with a mock-innocent shrug, “but Sasha is pretty hot.”

“Oh shut up,” Nathan growled, pushing Jim away from him. He moved to follow after Sasha so their new acquaintance wouldn’t think anything was amiss. “Walter came back, by the way. Said Sasha’s cool but something’s off about him, so we better watch our backs.”

“He did?” Jim rushed to catch up to Nathan, not realizing that along the way he walked through Walter, breaking the man’s image into pieces.

“Yep, so stay sharp,” Nathan said, feeling the weight of his gun heavier than ever where it was tucked into his jeans. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Sasha gave them directions to a rather nice looking pub called McCoy’s. Normally, Nathan would have bypassed a place like that for somewhere a little more down-home and cheap , but since Sasha was buying, neither of the brothers complained.

They sat on one side of their booth with Sasha on the other.

Walter had perched himself on the window ledge, sitting cross-legged as he followed their conversation.

Nathan preferred when Walter simply vanished.

If he paid his Spirit Guide too much attention, others inevitably noticed.

Thinking he was crazy was one thing, but if Nathan was forced to admit to a seal that he could see and speak with his Spirit Guide, it would lead to far too many questions.

“So that’s the gist of it,” Sasha was saying.

His leather jacket was stuffed into the corner of the booth next to him, leaving him even more casual looking in a plain blue T-shirt.

“I’ve been here since after the second kill and still nothing.

Now there are five dead girls and no more to go on than when I started. ”

“And you think the killer is an incubus?” Jim asked.

Nathan’s ears perked at the term. He and Jim had never come across that particular breed of dark fae before. The only thing Nathan knew for sure was that they were some of the few fae that spent the majority of their lives in the human world, feeding .

“Either an incubus or a succubus. Could be either one, but I can't seem to track the killer down,” Sasha said. “I’ve had to start over after every victim, a week apart like clockwork. It’s just been so many now. It has to stop.”

Nathan set his now empty beer mug down on the tabletop. “Sounds like a plausible enough reason for you being in that apartment today,” he said, “but you'll understand why we might be a little hesitant to believe anything coming from a seal.”

"I do," Sasha said, not denying the label Nathan had given him. "I really do. Changelings are hunted by seals more than any normal fae, and there aren’t many changelings around, so I’ve heard the name James Grier quite a few times. And you don’t know me, so you have no reason to trust me.

But remember, you're the ones coming to me for help here, and I still don't know what it is exactly you expect me to do for you. "

Nathan and Jim looked at each other. That was another problem; they didn't really know. Wade had pointed them in a direction and they had gone, having only a name and the promise that ‘Sasha’ could help them. They didn't actually know how Sasha was supposed to help them.

"Just give me the short version," Sasha said when the brothers did little more than cast glances at each other. "I'm guessing the friend who told you I’d be at that apartment today is a seer. So what did they see? What do you need my help for?"

"Well…it goes back a couple weeks ago," Nathan began, and continued to explain what had happened to them up until the Messenger marking him before she died. “Our friend, Wade, yeah, she's a psychic. She did a reading for me, and it said that you might be able to help us remove the mark."

Sasha's bright blue eyes were wide. "I'd say you must be joking if that wasn't one hell of a story,” he said. “Okay, so…which of the dark fae lords did the Messenger work for?"

“ Lords ?” Nathan practically choked. “What are you talking about?”

Sasha was naturally pale, like maybe he spent a little too much time hunting fae and not quite enough out in the sunlight.

The remaining color drained from his face.

“Nathan, Messengers might be sidhe, but they are the lowest of the low. Each of them serves a higher ranking master, usually a lord of the upper court. That means a dark fae lord owns your mark. Whoever tries to claim the bounty would turn you over to him.”

Nathan felt the color drain from his face too.

He had assumed the mark would belong to another Messenger, not a sidhe of the upper court.

They were the oldest and most powerful dark fae in existence.

Risking a glance at Walter, Nathan saw that his resident ghost looked more disappointed than surprised.

“Messengers are just…well, that ,” Sasha went on, “messengers, couriers. If you’re going to have any chance of getting rid of that mark then you’re going to have to find out who the Messenger worked for first.”

"The book you used," Jim said. "It had to have said which Messenger you would be summoning, and at least something about its master.”

“It didn’t say anything,” Nathan said. “Trust me. I read through that thing a million times. Memorized it. I figured I was just summoning the closest Messenger, not a specific one. I don’t know who she worked for.”

“Then we have to find out,” Sasha said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but…

helping people is what I do. I'm not your average seal.

Not like you're thinking. I don't chase down every fae I see just because of what they are.

Changelings included. Plenty of innocent people get caught up in fae business and need saving.

You say this friend of yours told you where to find me because you need my help getting rid of your mark.

Fine. I'll help however I can. But I could use some help in return. "

"Hang on," Nathan tried to interrupt.

" Please ,” Sasha implored them. “I didn’t tell you about the hunt I'm on for conversation.

The next victim is supposed to die tomorrow night .

I can't work with other seals. Most of them don't agree with my methods.

And I can't count on the police. You're...pretty much all I got for backup right now.” His eyes were down-turned like Jim's same pleading look that Nathan always had trouble resisting, just in a slightly different shade of blue.

"You're obviously armed and you know how to handle yourselves.

I'm not trying to blackmail you, I just..

.need you. And if you need me, why not help each other? "

“That…sounds like a sensible argument,” Jim said, glancing sideways at Nathan for corroboration.

Nathan resisted glaring at his brother in reply. "Maybe you are what you say," he said to Sasha, "but we're not trained for this kind of thing. We know how to defend ourselves, sure, but we've never actively hunted anything before. That’s why we came to you for help."

The smile that widened on Sasha's face was playful, like it had been when he first introduced himself at the apartment.

"Then it's a good thing you'll be working with a professional," he said.

"I won't refuse to help you if you say no, but I have to finish this case.

So either you help me," he crossed his arms, entirely casual despite the weight of his words, "or you might have a long way to wait. Any questions?"

Nathan considered that, but since they had few options, he decided on a smirk. “Just one. Where did you find the box that stuff came in, anyway?" he asked, indicating Sasha's red hair. "Your head looks like a frickin’ fire engine.”

Even Jim snorted at the comment.

Sasha didn’t laugh, but his grin was wide. “What box? This is my natural color.”

Nathan and Jim both chuckled.

“Nice trick with the eyebrows, man, but you’re not fooling anyone,” Nathan said.

“Oh really?”

There was something predatory in Sasha’s eyes as he stood and leaned over the table, but since Nathan didn't really know Sasha yet, he wasn't sure whether or not to take it seriously.

“Well, Mr. Grier, I could prove it to you,” Sasha said, giving Nathan a playful once over, “but I don’t think that would be appropriate in public.” He finished with a wink before turning toward the bar. "I'll go get us another round."

As soon as Sasha was gone, Jim busted out laughing.

"Oh shut up," Nathan grumbled.