Page 13 of Incubus
Sashaansweredhismotelroom door the next morning wearing nothing but low-hanging sweatpants. He flashed a grin at Nathan and Jim. “Come in,” he said, “I’ll only be a minute.” He disappeared inside, leaving his door open for them to follow.
They entered to see Sasha quickly stripping off his sweatpants down to a pair of grey boxer briefs. He crouched on the floor to dig through his duffle for clothing, not seeming to feel any shame over being so undressed in front of them.
Jim promptly closed the door, but since he was smirking again, Nathan jabbed him in the side for good measure.
Sasha’s room was very similar to Nathan and Jim's room down the hall, except that it had only one bed with a brightly colored comforter glaring garishly at them from the center of the room.
“I know we don't have much to go on, but I have some ideas for how we might spot the next victim,” Sasha said, choosing a pair of jeans from his bag and tossing them onto the bed. “I can fill you in once we're downtown. Sound good to you?”
“Sure,” Nathan said. “We just need to stop at our friend’s place for a quick trade.”
“Leslie Schuester, right?” Sasha said. “I actually know him pretty well. We can stop there first and move on to downtown afterward.” Sasha found what he deemed a suitable white T-shirt from his bag and added it to the bed beside his jeans.
As he stood from the floor, Nathan’s eyes were drawn to the low rise of Sasha’s underwear, revealing an intricate tribal tattoo. The edges of the design were sharp but winding, almost Celtic, and they were the darkest black Nathan had ever seen, as if brand new, though there were no signs of scarring or redness. The tattoos were perfect, wrapping around Sasha's hips and dipping down to where they disappeared beneath the elastic of his underwear.
“Enjoying the view?”
Nathan jumped at the sound of Sasha’s voice. He hadn’t realized how much he was staring. “Just, uh…admiring the ink work, dude. Exactly how far down does that thing go?”
Sasha was pulling on his jeans. As he clasped them closed, he let his hand linger near the zipper. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said with a teasing grin.
Grabbing his T-shirt from the bed, Sasha headed for the bathroom. This gave Nathan a clear view of how the tattoo wrapped low around Sasha’s back. There was also a separate tattoo with the same black tribal design spreading over Sasha’s shoulder blades like wings. Then they were gone, hidden by white cotton.
As Sasha disappeared into the bathroom, Nathan's eyes landed on Jim. “Shove it,” he hissed in response to Jim's amused expression.
Jim held his hands up in defense. “I didn’t say a word."
LeslieSchuesterlivedinone of the more expensive apartment buildings by Lake Calhoun. Nathan and Jim had traded with him enough times that they knew the layout of his building well and had no trouble getting to the twenty-second floor to reach his skyrise apartment.
“So you know Schu, huh?” Nathan asked Sasha as they made their way down the hallway.
"Our paths crossed a few years ago," Sasha said. "He's a good guy. Good for intel occasionally too. Fewer doorways mean less monitoring, so the Midwest can be a pretty big target for rogue fae. I pass through here a lot.”
“I bet Schu loves that you hunt these things," Nathan said. "There aren’t too many traders I know of who hate fae as much as I do.”
“Darkfae,” Jim said, moving ahead of Nathan to knock on Schuester’s door. “Schu doesn’t hate all fae, Nate. That’s just you.”
Nathan frowned. Jim sounded so disapproving, but if fae didn’t exist then Jim wouldn’t be a changeling. Dark fae weren’t the only ones to blame for that.
He offered Sasha a shrug in excuse for his brother's naivety, but Sasha didn't seem all that bothered. He was definitely different from the seals Nathan and Jim had encountered in the past.
“He’s not answering,” Jim said after a few silent moments. “He buzzed us up, didn’t he? What if something’s wrong?”
“Don’t be paranoid,” Nathan said, pushing his brother away from the door and knocking louder. “Just because one apartment we went to turned out to be a murder scene doesn’tmean we’re bringing that around with us. I’m sure Schu’s fine. Probably just in the john or something. Yo!” he called, and knocked again.
The door opened, startling Nathan as it creaked slowly inward until about a foot of space was visible inside the apartment. There was no obvious figure standing there who might have opened it.
Jim looked at Nathan with panic in his eyes.
“Shhh,” Sasha said, bringing a finger to his lips as he came up between them. “I think I know what’s going on. Guess we’re being invited in, hey, guys?” he called out, and pushed on the door to walk inside.
As they entered, Nathan caught a glimpse of a small pink blur vanishing around the corner to their left. Grinning knowingly now, he watched as Sasha flattened himself to the wall and started slinking toward the bend at the end of the entryway.
The apartment had two floors, with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and several other potential areas to hide. But Nathan, like Sasha, knew that their disappearing pink friend had not gone far.
“No one here, huh?” Nathan said, calling out as Sasha had before. “Well, if we’re not wanted then I guess we better head on out!”
A muffled giggle was all the confirmation Nathan needed.
