Page 105 of Incubus
“Why is he sleeping?" Kitty asked, trotting into the room softly and stopping at the foot of the bed with her tiny form peering over the top of the mattress.
It was surreal hearing Schuester explain calmly that Sasha was not an angel but an incubus, that he was hurt and they didn't know how to wake him. The wave of sentimentality Nathan had been feeling washed out of him and his fists clenched tight at his sides.
They didn’t know how to wake him.
Nathan and the others left the room to better think of ways they might help Sasha, but everything felt so futile. Nathan was in such a daze with the rush of everything that had happened that he barely realized Schuester was pulling him aside until they were in the corner of the kitchen, alone.
"Nathan, I have no problem allowin’ Sasha safe harbor while we look for a way to heal him," Schuester said in hushed tones, "because I know even if worst came to worst and he was awake but out of control, he would be no threat to Kitty—even a frenzied incubus has no interest in someone who hasn’t come of age. I do not feel that way about yer brother." He glanced out of the kitchen to watch his daughter and Jim in the living room as if he feared Jim might suddenly turn around and snatch her up like a storybook monster.
"Schu, really, can we not talk about this now," Nathan said.
"Ya need to understand the truth," Schuester insisted. "All changelings kill their family in the end. I had to learn that the hard way with Avery and her brother. I'm just a man, I haveno abilities or special senses, and even I can tell that Jim is changin’. He is not the same boy he was when I first met ya."
"Of course he isn't," Nathan nearly growled, too frazzled to handle this now. "Neither am I. He's not Awakened, Schu, and he's nowhere near it. He barely has control over his powers."
"And that reassures ya?"
“Hey!" Jim called, practically jogging over to them.
"What is it?" Nathan asked, glad for the interruption.
"I think I thought of something else we might try,” Jim said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Sasha’s cell phone, something he had been careful to claim from Sasha’s leather jacket before they left the pieces of it back in the alleyways of Chicago.
It took Nathan a moment to understand what Jim was implying.
“Do it,” Nathan said, firmly and uncaring to the consequences. “I think it’s about time we met Sasha’s other aunt.”
Chapter 41
Nathanhadcompletelyforgottenabout his wounded leg, being so focused on Sasha. He remembered that it had started aching in the car, but the bleeding had stopped again so that Nathan didn’t think it mattered enough to mention. Schuester was the one who reminded him, having noticed the bloodstain and tear in Nathan’s jeans. Their friend had fetched a first aid kit, setting to work to clean the wound out regardless of Nathan's protests that he was fine. The wound was borderline infected and angry after hours of going untreated, but once some antiseptic had been applied and Nathan's calf was wrapped in bandages, the pain lessened again to a dull throb.
Sasha’s aunt arrived at Schuester's apartment only a few hours later, hours of waiting that Nathan spent mostly gritting his teeth. Jim answered the sharp rapping of knocks when she arrived, though Nathan stayed close, peering around Jim to get a good look at the succubus he had only heard about in passing.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she was probably the most beautiful woman Nathan had ever laid eyes on in real life. She put supermodels to shame with her long legs, shown off to perfection in a short black skirt and heels. Her sweater was the same royal blue as her eyes, like Sasha’s, and it clung in all the right places, hanging off her shoulders to show pale perfect skin. Her face was almost identical to the face of Sasha’s mother and other aunt, but her hair was raven black and wavy down her back.
Nathan held back a whistle, threatening to form out of old habit, and contented himself with a long once-over of the ravishing woman. The only thing that marred the picture was her fierce expression, as frightening as she was beautiful.
“Where is my nephew?” Shiarra all but growled, pushing past Jim without awaiting an invitation.
Nathan took a step back since she headed straight for him. He gestured further into the apartment. “First bedroom up the stairs.”
Shiarra's eyes passed a sharp, icy glare at him. She barely acknowledged the figure of Schuester or his daughter in the living room as she headed for the stairs.
As wary of the succubus as Nathan was, he was not about to abandon Sasha. He followed Shiarra into the room and approached the bed on the opposite side. Jim came in behind him.
A delicate looking hand passed over Sasha’s brow, the same gesture all of them kept repeating even though Sasha had never shown signs of a fever, no signs of anything other than his endless sleep. Then Shiarra's hand brushed gently over the jagged scar left on Sasha’s chest and her fierce blue eyes looked to Nathan.
“You said a seal did this?”
“Yeah, but he's not one of the men in this apartment so you can quit with the accusing looks,” Nathan shot back.
“Where is he?"
“We don't know,” Jim said. “He got away while we were trying to help Sasha.”
Shiarra released a small huff of air. “Well done, boys,” she said, and Nathan thought as he listened more to her voice that he detected a faint accent, though it was slight enough that he wasn’t sure he could give it an origin. “And here Sasha told me not to worry. You’ve certainly proven otherwise, now haven’t you?”
“Now you listen to me,” Nathan started in, no longer caring if Shiarra could technically rip him apart, “Sasha means a lot to us too, so you can shove that self-righteous bullshit right up your ass.” Nathan thought he heard Jim gasp, but he pressed on, staring across the bed into burning blue eyes. “We did everything we could. We calledyoubecause we’re sorry, but we don’t know how to bring an incubus out of a damn coma. You want to help with that, good. You want to stand there and look down on us because we weren't able to do more, then you can get the hell out of here."
