Page 47 of Incubus
"Two," Nathan said again.
“I have an idea, sisters," said Desire with far too much gleeful excitement. "Why don’t we take James for a little chat? And leave the incubus to handle Nathan.”
Nathan jerked back to look at Desire, who was staring at Sasha with all the force of her title.
“You’d like that…wouldn’t you, Sasha?” Desire lunged forward, moving into the runic trap in front of her and imprisoning herself purposely so that she was close enough to grab Sasha by the shoulders and pull him back against her.
Sasha’s eyes shimmered at her touch, not changing to their true red, but making the blue glow vibrantly. He crumbled to the floor, losing the grip on his shotgun as he dropped to his knees beneath her.
“Sasha!” Jim cried, rushing toward him only to halt in fear of also being touched.
“Sasha…” said Desire. Her hands were all over his face and neck, deliberately touching skin, and, with every brush of her fingers, Sasha’s eyes seemed to glow brighter.
And his eyes were locked on Nathan.
“Stop,” Nathan demanded, pointing his gun at Desire and then back to Want. “I’ll shoot her. I’ll shoot her right now! Let him go!”
“You won’t shoot,” Violence said from behind him. “Our offer is preferable.”
“What offer?” Jim asked, poorly veiling the panic present in his voice.
“You come with us, James,” said Want.
“We leave your brother and the incubus here,” said Desire.
“And, when you finally understand the truth,” said Violence, "we will turn in what is left of your brother for the bounty."
“No…” came the breathless voice of Sasha, speaking through clenched teeth. He had pulled his eyes away from Nathan, forcing himself to stare down at the linoleum floor. “You can’t…do this. Your powers won’t work on me.”
Desire laughed. “They already are,” she said. Then, grabbing a handful of Sasha’s hair, she snapped his head back to look at her. “We are sidhe. We are not what you expected when you thought you could hunt dark fae without effort,sealgaire. Perhaps my sisters would not be able to sway you, but you and I are almost one in the same. Can you not feel it...?”
As Desire spoke, her voice grew more and more resonant, and before Nathan’s eyes, her body began to change. She was so much more brilliant than the Messenger as she shifted seamlessly into her true form. Her black hair had a shimmer of violet in it like her eyes, and her skin became as white as Sasha's when he was changed. There was a point to her ears and added radiance to her face, almost as if her skin, hertouch, was alive. Her newly flowing garments carried power in them as well, deep purple and gold that formed a gown like a beckoning hand.
She caressed Sasha on either side of his head, gently running sharpened nails through his hair. Her touch appeared unassuming, but the moment she had a firm hold of Sasha's face again—skin to skin—he began to scream.
Nathan could do nothing, not unless he shot one of the Muses, which also risked Sasha getting killed. And, if he moved in too close, he risked getting touched by one of them again himself.
When Desire finally pulled her hands away from Sasha, Nathan prayed that the incubus would get up, attack her,something, but all Sasha did was fall forward onto his hands and knees, shaking as the sound died from his throat. Sasha’s fallen body broke the barrier of the runes, nullifying the hold they hadon Desire. She stepped from the trap without resistance, leaving Sasha where he lay.
Jim stumbled back into Nathan, raising his gun to fire at Desire as she approached, but a slam like a fist into concrete alerted them that Violence was just as much of an immediate threat. She had also transformed, so similar to her sister, but her clothing and dark hair were covered in shades of red. She had punched the floor so hard that the linoleum was cracked all the way through the runes of her trap, leaving both alternate entrances into the kitchen open.
By the time Nathan thought to fire at Violence, Jim was pushing him to the floor.
“Don’t let them touch you, Nathan, stay back!”
Desire easily freed Want, whose garments and hair were green as she transformed to join her sisters. All three Muses were soon closing in on them with faces so radiant that Nathan could barely look at them.
“Come, James,” said Desire.
"We'll take you home," said Want.
“Our brother,” Violence added with a laugh, and the other two joined her.
“Nathan, get out of here!” Jim yelled, panicked as the three of them descended on him, clutching at his limbs and pulling him from the kitchen.
Nathan scrambled to his feet, forgetting his gun on the floor in his haste. He raced after Jim toward the door that now had cracked linoleum from Violence’s punch, but before he could reach it, all three doors leading out of all three separate exits slammed shut with a resounding bang.
“Jim!” The door in front of Nathan barely budged when he pushed on it, as if it had been fused closed. “Jim!” he called again. He could hear the Muses laughing.
