Page 123 of Incubus
Jim stood when Nathan reached the trap, like he knew, leaving Sasha on the floor. Breaking eye contact only for a moment, Nathan released the seal of the trap by kicking his foot through the paint. Then he reared back, and though Jim had to expect it, had to be ready for it, he still looked stunned when the blow struck.
Nathan punched Jim clear out of the trap on the other side, knocking him back against the frame of the door behind him. “Never…pull shit like that on me again. You…don’t get to…choose for me. You…you don’t…you have…no…” But his words started to trail, and he felt the energy falling out of his body suddenly like rain.
Likeblood.
The world fell to darkness and Nathan cringed as his body hit the floor. He was still half-conscious, aware of hands rearranging his limbs more comfortably and speaking soothing words. Nathan heard both Jim and Sasha’s voices drifting in and out around him as he fought to stay awake.
“I’m…fine…” he tried to say, but he wasn’t sure if his words came out loud enough to be heard.
Nathan couldn’t be in shock. He wouldn’t allow it. He still had to yell at his brother for being a damn idiot and a selfish bastard. He would never shoot Jim.Never.
“Jim…”
“Nathan, it’s going to be okay!”
“Jim.”
“Yes, Nathan, I’m right here!” Jim’s voice came again, so close that Nathan imagined he felt his brother’s breath on his cheek.
“Y-You’re a…f-fucking asshole.”
Nathan could have sworn he heard Sasha laugh but the sound was far away. He thought he heard Walter's voice join in with concern too, back from wherever he had disappeared to. Then the sound went from dim to nothing and Nathan welcomed the peace of a deep sleep.
Chapter 49
ThelighthurtNathan'seyes when he woke up, having been in darkness for so long, but the fact that he was opening his eyes at all made it bearable.
Nathan took stock of his surroundings very slowly. He was in a hospital. It was daylight, sunny, even, so Nathan knew he had at least slept through the night. He wasn’t in pain, which meant he probably had a morphine drip, and that was fine too. He had a single room and there weren’t any voices. But there was pressure; soft, warm, heavy weight that Nathan could feel all the way down the left side of his body. Hospital beds were small, but Nathan had company anyway.
He smiled, moving the fingers of his left hand and finding a T-shirt covered back. Sasha was curled into the crook of his arm.
Nathan did his best to pull Sasha in closer with a weak attempt at a one-armed hug. “I never should have let you leave…”
That too-red hair came into view as Sasha lifted his head, and Nathan saw beautiful, healed, sparkling blue eyes. Sasha’s face looked perfect too, free of any cuts and completely smooth.
Nathan swallowed deeply, feeling strange, unwelcome tears rising to the surface. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Sasha smiled back. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got shot in the chest with a shotgun?”
Sasha snorted. “Funny story about that.”
An answering laugh built in Nathan’s throat but he knew it would hurt too much to release, regardless of the wonders of morphine. “What about you?”
“Good as new,” Sasha said.
Nathan didn’t buy that for a second and narrowed his eyes to fish out the truth.
“My whole body aches,” Sasha admitted, “but I’m okay. Really. After Jim got you settled here, he came back to the car to help me with the cuts. It took forever and used up most of my remaining stash of antidote, but really, I’m fine.”
It wasn’t that Nathan didn’t believe Sasha, there was just so much left unspoken. “Sasha, I…I’m so sorry. If I could go back and get you away from that psycho sooner…”
“Nathan,” Sasha interrupted softly, his body still comfortably fitting against Nathan’s side. “It was just a big, horrible mess, and there’s nothing we can do about it now. It wasn’t your fault. How could I think that?” His smile twitched and his eyes lowered to the sheets pulled up over Nathan’s chest. “But there's...something I have to tell you. Something I've kept from you, but now…after Gabriel…after…almost losing youtwice…I need you to know.”
Nathan stared down at the top of Sasha’s head, wanting to see blue, but Sasha kept his eyes on the sheets.
“I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, even though I…I don’t know what you’ll think of me once you know this,” Sasha went on, snuggling in closer and tighter to Nathan’s body.
