Page 55 of Incubus
Sasha had tossed aside his towel, clothed only in the tattoos and that below the waist covering. Nathan knew he should not be so turned on by a gargoyle that fed on sex. Sasha had horns. Sasha had claws. Sasha had…really awesomewings.
Nathan needed to leave the room now to avoid any further embarrassment, but then he started wondering whether or not the feel of Sasha’s skin would change if he ran a hand from that pure white to the gradual fade into black on his hands, feet, and wings. Nathan was walking back toward Sasha before he could stop himself.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Nathan,” Sasha said, standing there seemingly oblivious to how much Nathan’s eyes were devouring him. “I’m the one who messed everything up, even if you don’t want me to say that. After this morning…” He glanced down at himself and his eyes went wide, as if he hadn’t realized until just then that he was in his true form. “Like what you need right now is to see me like this. Let me grab something to wear so I can change back.” He made to move across the room.
Some unstoppable force had Nathan reaching out to stop the incubus, and he touched Sasha’s bicep right where the white started to fade darker toward his hand. “Don’t,” Nathan said, and then knew he had to elaborate when Sasha turned worried red eyes on him. “I mean…you don’t have to change. I don’t mind when you’re like this. I’d be a pretty crappy friend if I did,especiallyafter this morning.”
Sasha looked shocked to hear Nathan say that, but he was soon smiling brilliantly, enough to light up his entire face. Nathan had never seen Sasha’s eyes look more beautiful, sparkling at him so bright andred.
“Do you always take a shower like that?” Nathan asked, forcing his hand to drop from Sasha’s arm.
“No,” Sasha said with a light chuckle. “Sometimes I just like to feel the water on my wings. It doesn’t matter either way. Both forms are the real me. Both get clean if I shower.”
“Meaning this time you’re…actually naked instead of hiding clothes?”
Sasha’s brow furrowed at the question. “Technically...yeah, this time. It depends on the glamour. I wouldn’t really need clothes at all if I didn’t want to bother. I could just make people think I was wearing them and no one would know the difference. But I like actually wearing clothes. Touchable or not, I would still feel naked.” He glanced down his body again. There was still the covering but that didn’t cover much. “Uhh…maybe I should get something on.”
“No!” Nathan said a little too desperately. He forced a casual smile when Sasha’s expression turned doubtful. “Just stay like this. I never get to see you like this. Not unless bad things are happening around or to us anyway. It’s nice to be able to…see you.”
Sasha’s concerned expression softened and Nathan wondered if there was more to what he was saying than just the pheromones’ desperation.
“You know...my whole life I’ve thought that anything other than Jim that wasn’t human had to be evil,” Nathan said, more candid than he would normally allow. “Other kids got to go to monster movies and think, how cool, while I had to live with the truth. But you’re one of the good guys. For the first time I can think, how cool, and it’s okay. I mean…that sounded wrong. You’re not some sideshow attraction to me, I just…”
“It’s okay, Nathan,” Sasha said. “I know what you mean. I don’t mind being something like that for you. You’re kind of the same thing for me. A person I can let my guard down around, something I’m so used to being dangerous, but with you it isn’t, so I can just…enjoy it. You and Jim are the only humans who have ever seen me like this.”
Nathan nodded dumbly. He knew he had to be smiling like an idiot so he gave a little cough and tried to shrug the sentimentality off of him. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
Nathan allowed his gaze to travel along the contours of Sasha’s wings, awed by them. “Do you...feel different when you’re like this?”
Sasha grinned. “Why don’t you touch me and find out,” he said.
It was obvious that Sasha meant the comment in jest, much like most of his more playful advances, so it was understandable that he looked rather surprised when Nathan responded, “Can I? I just mean…your wings. I’ve been wondering what they feel like. Unless that’s too weird.”
Of course it’s weird, Nathan thought. He knew he was acting on pheromones. He shouldn’t even be in the room anymore, but being so close to Sasha destroyed all of his previous resolve.
Something of recognition flashed across Sasha’s face, as if he realized finally that Nathan was not in full control of his actions. But although Sasha’s brow was tightly knit, he extended one of his wings closer to Nathan and said, “Go ahead.”
For a moment Nathan had no control at all. There was no little voice in the back of his mind to warn him or talk him down as he reached out and his fingers grazed the very edge of Sasha’s wing. He thought it would feel like a bat’s but it didn’t. It felt like skin, only a little rougher than the skin on Sasha’s chest, which was amazingly soft, Nathan noted, as his other hand touched Sasha there.
He told himself it was just to compare, maybe even said that exact half-truth to Sasha, and then his hands were moving, one along the skin of Sasha’s chest and the other over the inside of Sasha’s wing, feeling the groves and changes in texture. Nathan was going to ask Sasha what it felt like to be touched like that, whether or not having his wing touched felt like touching other places on the body. When Sasha gave a slight moan at Nathan’s caresses, he was pretty sure he had his answer.
Red eyes stared back at Nathan hazily, clouded. Nathan hadn’t realized how close they had gotten. The smell of Sasha was all around him.
Nathan wanted to touch Sasha more. He wanted to touch everything. So he reached up to touch the horns black and curling from Sasha’s temples that were firm and smooth, like bone.
“Nathan,” said a voice that was not Sasha, maybeWalter, only Nathan didn’t want to listen. The voice was too far away.
Nathan’s body moved and he could do nothing to stop it. His chest was flush against Sasha as he moved his hands to Sasha’s slightly pointed ears and traced his fingers around the shape and cartilage to their tips. His touch was light. Too light. Teasing.Intimate. Sasha made a strange noise like a deep-throated purr, and Nathan smiled.
This was what he wanted. He knew now. He lifted up onto his toes since Sasha was so much taller in this form, moved his hands from those ears to grab Sasha by the back of his neck, and leaned up toward the lips he so loved kissing.
Nathan could feel breath on his face, see the intensity behind Sasha’s red eyes as they looked at him, but before he could find the kiss he so desired, Sasha spoke.
“Nathan…”
Nathan loved the way his name sounded coming from a growl. “Yeah?”
