Page 101 of Sidhe (The Incubus Saga #3)

Later, after all of the wounded had made it back to the Gatehouse and the dead had been gathered, the remains of the fields vanished.

The land simply shifted, changing back to the way it was meant to look, grass-covered and even, as if no battle had taken place and no lives had been lost, save those that had been brought in.

Many of the dead and wounded were taken away by their fellows to their own homes for burial or treatment once it was safe enough to travel, leaving only a few stragglers and those that had their own place at the Gatehouse.

Those who had fallen without someone to take them away each had their own pyre, spreading out almost all around the Gatehouse, but despite the great mass of it, Nathan had insisted they each have their own.

He stood before one now beside Solrin, who’d asked to stay until this last deed was done.

Several others were out with them, Jim and Sasha closest beside Nathan.

“Take care of them, Dave,” Nathan whispered into the fire, a new kind of peace washing over him as he said that, knowing more surely than he had ever thought possible that there was indeed a Heaven, a God, and something wonderful waiting for those who lived good lives.

Not necessarily righteous lives, or pious, or any of that other crap, just good .

Once the fires had died, the ashes spread, Solrin turned to Nathan and held out a hand. Nathan accepted it without a word and they shook. Solrin vanished into the night toward a new life that Nathan had no doubt he would make good use of with his second chance.

Everyone who remained gathered in the Gatehouse. Nathan knew before he even glanced up and saw Walter heading toward him that his Spirit Guide was coming to say goodbye.

“I must go now, Nathan. I am not meant to be here alive, but as your guardian. I will remain, ever-watchful by your side, as I promised, but it is no longer necessary for me to appear before you like this. Should you need me, all you need to do is call, and you will see me again.”

“Guess I better get one more hug in while I can, then, huh?” Nathan grinned and wrapped Walter in his arms before he could respond.

His Spirit Guide melted against him and held on tight.

“It is my greatest pleasure to be the one to look after you, Nathan Grier. One day the Veil may indeed fall, but today it is once again strong because of you. Perhaps there will come a time when it will be brought down for good reasons. Fae and humans did once live in harmony, after all. Malak and other powerful dark sidhe are still a threat, but maybe…someday.”

Wouldn’t that be something? Nathan thought.

Then it dawned on him as they pulled apart that there was still an unanswered question from the fight.

“Hey, Walt? I was just wondering, ya know…about the whole horsemen thing. Jim, he brought Sol back to life. And you healed Sasha to break Solrin’s control on him.

Sasha gave Solrin peace. But what about Alex? She never used any power.”

“Oh…she did,” Walter said, a small smile creeping onto his face.

“Then what was it? Opposite of Famine… I never figured it out.”

Smiling a little wider, Walter leaned in closer to Nathan and said softly, solely for him, “It’s simple really. In this case, this time, the opposite of Famine…was Fertility .”

That word echoed in Nathan’s mind a while, not quite settling. When it did, he pulled back, practically eyeing Walter accusingly. Walter just chuckled.

Nathan couldn’t help seeking out Jim amidst the crowd, finding his brother over with Sasha. Jim caught Nathan’s stare, which must have been pretty intent, because Jim immediately mouthed, “What?”

There was no way Nathan was going to spoil that surprise.

It was difficult, only a few minutes later, watching Walter fade away.

No amount of goodbyes would have been enough, even if Nathan could call on his Spirit Guide like he used to.

It had been nice having him really there, a physical presence.

But Walter had one last surprise for them as he disappeared.

Nathan had never found the right time to tell the others that everyone has a Spirit Guide, a changeling and incubus included.

As Walter faded, a light seemed to wrap around him first, engulfing him and filling the whole of the bar.

Spirit Guides couldn’t normally enter the Gatehouse for all its interference and power, and so it was a true miracle that for one brief moment…

Walter was not the only one standing there.

Nathan wouldn’t have been able to decipher which outline belonged to the Spirit Guide of which of his companions, but he could see on his friends’ faces that they knew who belonged to them even seeing them for the first time.

When the light faded, the Gatehouse—the world—was finally back in equilibrium.

Wally, perched on the bar countertop exhaustedly, stretched and yawned.

“Oh, I bet you’re tired,” Alex said, scooping the chimera up into her arms. “I saw you, little fire-starter. I think this girl has some surprises in store for us yet.”

Wally, of course, chirped innocence.

Nathan made a point of pulling Alex aside then, but when he finally had her alone, all he could manage was, “You and Jim are…good, right?”

Alex smirked at him. “Of course. We’re together. You know that’s all I ever wanted.”

Part of Nathan had wondered if Jim would ever be able to find someone who meant enough to him to get over his fears; seemed fitting it would be Alex all along.

“If we have your blessing, that is,” she said, mostly joking.

Looking around for Jim, Nathan caught his brother’s gaze from across the bar again. Jim smiled, as happy as Nathan had ever seen him. “You have it gladly,” he said.

“He doesn’t know yet,” Alex added, somehow sensing that Nathan knew her secret.

“Walter told me. Apparently, my power could have manifested all sorts of ways, but during the fight, all I could think about…” She glanced to Jim as Nathan had and sighed.

She’d still managed to kick ass, while a spark of life from their brief time together had been ignited at the same time.

Jim came over to join them. “Am I missing something?”

“Nothing I’m at liberty to tell you,” Nathan said, and then coughed when Alex elbowed him in the side.

“Just, uhh…thinking about what we’re going to do now that this is all over.

See, I had an idea. Well, you proved more than enough that changelings can turn out just fine.

And Solrin…well, he’ll pay his dues, and as much as the things he did can’t be easily forgotten, he’s going to try to be something better too.

That means something. Maybe it means it’s up to us to find other changelings before they Awaken and, you know…

help. Normal humans aren’t the only ones who need saving. ”

A wider smile spread across Jim’s face. No one had needed more convincing than him that he could be something good even as a changeling. “I like that idea.”

“I had a feeling you might…Jesse James,” Nathan said, and jerked his hand up in the shape of a gun as if pulling it from a holster.

Jim laughed before doing the same.

BANG.

Letting Jim and Alex go off together after that, since they had some things to discuss, Nathan scanned the room for Sasha.

He was at the bar with Ula and Oberon, laughing and talking like old friends.

Blue eyes looked up and caught Nathan’s stare, the smile on Sasha’s face stretching as he excused himself to join Nathan instead.

Even though Sasha had slipped on a T-shirt at some point, or maybe he simply manifested one, the St. Anthony pendant was not hidden beneath the cotton this time, but out in the open for all to see.

Nathan reached for it, snatching up the small silver disc in his fingers.

It glittered at him brightly, as if it had never seen battle.

Tired green eyes drifted up to meet blue—loving, devoted blue. Nathan couldn’t help himself, he really couldn’t, as a prayer sprang to mind and he sent it out into the cosmos for Dave.

Thank you…

Nathan wasn’t entirely sure at what point staring into Sasha’s eyes, surrounded by the remaining people who hadn’t yet escaped for rest or left the Gatehouse, turned into being yanked by the hand through said bar toward the stairs and their waiting bedroom at the top of it.

They had all showered in shifts once the last of the wounded had been brought back to the Gatehouse, feeling filthy covered in so much blood and grime and sweat from battle.

Seeing as how they were clean then, and aside from the general pull to just nap, there wasn’t anything keeping Nathan and Sasha from taking a hiatus from the celebration to celebrate alone.

If someone happened to notice the way they sped through the bar, any calls made after them were only of encouragement.

Nathan stumbled after Sasha gladly. Then cursed when his cell phone rang the second they threw open the door.

When the power had gone out, there had been no reason to hang onto cell phones.

Nathan had tossed his away entirely after becoming one with Malak.

It was sitting on the nightstand now, where it had remained, turned off.

At least Nathan had been pretty sure it was turned off, only now it looked like some Good Samaritan had turned it on and plugged it into the charger.

Probably Jim, that practical putz and Grade A cockblocker.

“Ignore it.” Nathan pushed on Sasha’s back to get the incubus to keep moving inside the room. He promptly shut and locked the door behind them.

“Nathan,” Sasha whirled on him, his flushed face filling with concern, “it’s your first call since this started. You can’t just ignore it. What if it’s important?”

“We just averted the apocalypse. What could possibly trump that?” But Nathan was already heading over to the phone and snatching it up to look at the glowing screen to see who the call was from. It blinked ‘ Leven’ and Nathan sighed.