Page 9 of Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)

They finished their food as amiably as they could, barely realizing when the shift finally started to change and the girls they had been watching were different.

They didn’t even notice at first that the girl who came to collect their empty plates was not the same waitress who had taken their order.

“I’ll be back with your check,” she said, reaching over the table to take the empty dishes.

Jim smiled noncommittally.

Nathan sat back to give her room to take his plate.

Sasha stared .

Nathan noticed the way Sasha’s attention had become trained on their waitress and turned to look after her as she walked away.

Black hair. Blue eyes. Beautiful . She fit the profile perfectly.

Sasha didn’t say anything, but as soon as the waitress was gone, he gestured Nathan and Jim closer and opened his coat to give them a peak at the flashing scanner.

“Holy shit, where’d she come from?” Jim gawked.

“The kitchen, dipstick,” Nathan said. “This is a good thing, right?”

Sasha patted the spot where the scanner was hidden inside his coat. “She’s our gal. I’d call that a good thing. She’s still here, for one. Which means the killer should be showing up about the time she gets off.”

“She’s bringing our check,” Jim said. “We can’t exactly stick around another four or more hours waiting for her shift to end.”

“Why not?" Nathan said, struck by a decidedly devilish idea. He grinned at his companions. "Dessert and a couple more rounds, boys?"

Jim frowned at the suggestion, but Sasha echoed Nathan’s grin in complete agreement.

The waitress was going to hate them by the end of the night, but if all went well, she would still be breathing in the morning.

Close to ten o’clock, Nathan was certain that if they ordered any more food from the kitchen, it would not reach their table unsullied.

Jim didn’t seem to trust the drinks brought to them anymore either, so he sat nursing a beer while looking like he was trying to burrow inside of himself and disappear.

Nathan didn’t get what the problem was. They weren’t being rowdy or attracting attention from other patrons. Though it did seem as if all of the other waiters and waitresses had been told about the table that just wouldn’t leave. Nathan could feel annoyed eyes on them every time someone walked by.

Their waitress, Carol, was friendly by nature, but had all but lost her patience. Her tone with Nathan and Sasha had turned forcibly polite, and she seemed to only tolerate Jim because he kept whispering apologies to distance himself from the other two.

They had all tried several times to find out when Carol’s shift ended, but she consistently shied away from the question. After Nathan attempted yet again, she finally said, “Look, I don’t think that’s any of your business,” and stormed off.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Jim said, fidgeting anxiously with his still mostly full beer as they waited for Carol to return.

“We haven’t really seen her talking to anyone.

Other than us. If the killer is already here, he’s too well hidden.

And if he—or she —is waiting for Carol somewhere then we can’t afford to lose track of her. ”

“It’s not going to be any easier loitering out on the street,” Nathan said. “Especially if we don’t know what exit she might go out of when she leaves. This makes it easier to keep an eye on her, Jim. Lighten up.”

“Look, she’s already coming back,” Sasha offered.

Only when they did look, and Sasha had the chance to look more closely, they realized that the waitress heading their direction was not Carol.

The new waitress, who had dark hair and brown eyes, slammed a fresh check onto their table. “Carol may be a pushover, but I am not,” she said. “Please pay and leave. There are other customers in existence and you have worn out your welcome.”

Nathan was somewhat impressed with the woman’s bluntness, but Jim stared at the check as if it was diseased.

“Don’t tell me we scared her away,” Sasha said coolly, “because we’ll gladly apologize for taking so much time and be on our way.”

“You can keep your apologies to yourself,” said the waitress. “Carol’s off and rid of you. Lucky her for having a short shift tonight. Now move it.” And with that she left, assuming they would pay and leave as instructed.

“She’s…off?” Jim repeated.

“She’s gone ,” Sasha said.

But Nathan felt he summed up the situation perfectly. “ Shit .”

Within the next few minutes they had paid their bill and were outside the restaurant looking frantically down Nicollet Avenue for signs of Carol.

"We’ll never find her in this city,” Jim said. “We don’t know where she lives. It could be Minneapolis, or one of the million and one suburbs. We don’t even have a starting point.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Give me five minutes,” Sasha said, and dashed back into the restaurant.

“Wait!" Jim called. "We don’t have time! We have to find her now!" He stared after Sasha a moment more before beginning a quick and angry pace up and down the sidewalk.

Nathan frowned as he watched his brother stalk to the end of the block in a fury.

“If she dies it could be another week before we catch this thing. Damn it!” Jim called out, kicking the side of the bus stop shelter on the corner so hard that Nathan grimaced.

“Hey. Jim, it’ll be okay—”

“No!” Jim whirled around. “Don’t say that, Nathan. Don’t treat me like a child.”

As Jim started pacing back in front of the restaurant, Nathan was struck still by how his brother's eyes looked… slit . “Jim…”

“Just don’t, Nate, okay," Jim said, growing louder the longer he paced, as if something was building beneath the surface of his skin.

Something was building. Nathan could feel it. “Jim, just hang on—”

" No . Don't tell me not to worry, Nathan. You're going to die if Sasha can't help us. So don’t say it's going to be okay when you know that isn’t true. It’s never true. It’ll never be okay! ” Jim shouted the last of his words and, like a whirlwind of power, the shockwave struck.