Page 34 of Incubus
“I’m…okay,” Sasha said, offering a small smile—one Nathan didn’t believe. “Sabine was never that big a part of my life. Not like Shiarra. I hate to think Shi might have known about this. My kind don’t kill. It goes against everything we believe in. But whenone of us does, everyone kind of just…looks the other way. No one wants to have to stop them.”
“Being a seal can’t make you too popular with your fellow sex vampires then,” Nathan said.
“No. Popular I’m not,” Sasha said. “Let’s just say…I’m welcome in my aunt’s home. And that’s about it.” A shadow crossed Sasha’s face as he spoke.
Nathan was starting to recognize that something of that sadness must be in Sasha all the time.
"So…I think I have a lead for us to follow as far as figuring out who owns Nathan’s mark,” Sasha went on. “We’re shorter on time because of me, because you were willing to wait and help me on this case. I’m grateful for that, but we shouldn’t waste another day. We need to question dark fae to find out who that Messenger of yours worked for. Since we can't do that safely in the Veil, we’re going to have to find a few here in the world."
"Find? How are we supposed to find dark fae?" Nathan asked. "Usually, we're trying to avoid them."
"That's why you have a seal on your side, remember? I already had word of some possible fae activity in Nebraska. I was planning on heading there after this hunt was over. I'm not exactly sure what we'll be dealing with, but it's definitely a dark fae."
“Thank you, Sasha,” Jim said earnestly. “I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to repay you for this.”
“Repay me?" Sasha laughed. "I haven’t done anything yet.”
Even though they had spent the last few days helping Sasha, Nathan never could get his mind around the idea of getting anything for free. They couldn’t pay Sasha. He didn’t seem the type to care much about money or possessions anyway, but he was still willing to put his life at risk for them.
For Nathan.
"We'll think of something," Nathan promised.
"Oh?" Sasha said with a quick smirk. "And, uhh...what would you have in mind?"
Nathan’s initial reaction was to grin. Even Sasha’s sultry, flirty tone of voice was an improvement over a depressed one. But then...Sasha moving his foot up and down Nathan’s shin was a new development.
The table gave a loud smack as Nathan jerked his knee up into the bottom of it. He couldn’t help reacting that way. It was reflex.
“Nathan,” Jim said. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just a…a cramp.”
“Right.”
Nathan scrutinized Sasha across the table, met by that familiar, blinding smile. “I’m…going to get another round,” he said, and rose to leave the booth.
“Another?” Jim said. “But, Nate, we just got this one.”
“I know. I think we’re going to need some shots.”
Nathan escaped to the bar feeling flushed throughout his entire body. He wanted to brush the whole thing off, chalk it up to Sasha just being like that, maybe not being able to help his flirtatious nature, but that deliberate brush of Nathan’s leg had been anything but subtle.
“Nathan.”
The sudden sound of Walter’s voice made Nathan flinch, and he bumped into the man standing beside him at the bar. He shrugged weakly in apology before turning to look at Walter with wide, questioning eyes.
"We should talk," Walter said. "Privately."
The only private place in a bar was the bathroom, which seemed like such an insult to injury after the last time they had a bathroom conversation. But Nathan gave a small nod, called to the bartender for some tequila shots to be delivered to their table, and headed for the men's room. Thankfully, it was empty.
"What do you want, Walt?" Nathan hissed. He knew that if he started being loud someone would inevitably come in and think he was either drunk or crazy. "We finished the case without much help from you, if you weren't paying attention. I've even made friends with Sasha like you wanted. We're good."
The mirror behind Walter showed no reflection of him as he leaned against the sink. "Yes, I've...noticed you and Sasha," he said.
Nathan hated how visible his own reactions were in the mirror behind Walter’s back. "Meaning what, exactly? So Sasha has a thing for me. Big deal. I'm not looking to complicate things, Walt. He's aguy."
"He is also an incubus. He can read emotions, Nathan. He can feel what other people are feeling. That's how an incubus knows who to target when they feed. Your attraction to him—"
