Page 44 of Incubus
Sasha nodded.
“Ever track him down?”
“Didn’t need to. He got himself killed a few weeks after that, I heard. Some hunt gone wrong. No one else knew my dad had become an incubus. The other seals thought the guy just snapped. Maybe it was some of them that did him in and not a hunt at all. Sometimes I like to think it was karma, that he got what he deserved. Other times…”
“You kind of wish he was still around so you could do the job yourself?”
Sasha didn’t say anything, just stared forward with his smile wavering.
“I know the feeling,” Nathan said. “The seal that got our parents is still out there. Been hunting us for years. We’ve had run-ins with other seals too, but somehow he always manages to catch up to us. Almost got the better of us a few times too. We always run, and every time I think about how much I just want to…” Anger rose to the surface as Nathan trailed, thinking ofGabriel, but he didn’t finish the threat. “One day I’d love to be rid of him, but watching out for Jim has to come first.”
“Yeah, I sort of got that impression,” Sasha said with an honest curve of his lips again. “I don’t know many other seals. Too much of a risk that they might find out what I really am. I doubt there are any as enlightened as my dad was, so I can sympathize. It might not seem like much consolation, but at least you and Jim always had each other, even without your parents.”
“Yeah…except the two weeks those bastards took him away. This life is one thing, but this lifealone…” Nathan caught himself when he looked over at Sasha and those false blue were glowing at him in the dark.
Sasha had donealonehis entire life.
“Hey,” Nathan said with guilt rising in his throat, “I didn’t mean…”
“Don’t worry about it. I won’t lie that being alone has been hard, but I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m happy to be helping you guys. Really.” Sasha's eyes were heavy-lidded. “Even if just for the company.”
A rush of heat filled Nathan’s face. He wasn’t used to anyone relying on him, not anyone other than Jim, and certainly not for the joy of his company. “Hey, but…you always had your aunt, right?” he said quickly. “You weren’t completely alone. And she’snot about to abandon you even if those elders of yoursareidiots.”
Sasha laughed quietly, much as it had to sting to be reminded of that.
“I’m real sorry about…that whole banishing you thing,” Nathan tried to say as comfortingly as he could. “It’s bullshit if you ask me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Thanks,” Sasha said, smiling still if a little sorrowfully. “And my aunt, Shi…she really has been great, even with what happened with Sabine. Back when I was younger, she helped me find my parent's Veil Slip. It was my mom's originally, but Dad had stored stuff in there too, so I have all of his notes on being a seal, his equipment, even these old guitars. Sometimes it feels like they're with me, leading me along through everything.”
“Yeah.” Nathan nodded, clutching absently at his father’s ring. “Hey, did you say your dad had guitars? What kind?”
“Just a couple acoustics. Nice though.”
“Sweet. Our dad used to play too. When we were real little I remember he loved that old guitar. You play or just keep them around for show?”
Sasha gave an almost mockingly modest shrug. “I don’t suck. Better at singing. And it gets the bills paid once in a while.”
“Bills paid?”
“Sure. You have to have some way you guys make quick cash besides fae trades.”
Nathan shuddered at the thought. “I’ll play cards or hustle a little pool now and again, but only if we get desperate.”
“Well, I hate poker and black jack, and I pretty much suck at pool,” Sasha said. “But if I pass a bar or someplace needing a night’s entertainment, I’ll play and sing a little. Usually, I’d have one of my dad’s guitars with me, but one of them got smashed a few hunts back. Haven’t had the heart to pick up the other one.”
“Hazard of the trade, huh?" Nathan said. "Too bad. Might have been nice to hear you play." He shared an appreciative smile with Sasha and, even though they were close, their chairs practically touching, with the scent of Sasha thick in the air, Nathan didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
A yawn caught him by surprise, and he glanced down at his watch. There were still a few minutes left before Sasha was supposed to take over his shift.
“I got ya covered if you want to hit the hay early,” Sasha said.
“Nah, I got time yet.”
“Don’t sweat it. I’m up anyway.”
Another yawn stretched at Nathan’s mouth. “Well, if you're going to insist,” he said, and gratefully stood to head for the open bed.
"We'll figure this all out tomorrow," Sasha said quietly after him. "Night, Nate."
