Page 127 of Changeling
Sasha cocked his head. “What’s wrong?” he said in that new more resonating growl of a voice. “Don’t you want to fly with me anymore, Nathan?”
Sasha and Jim both moved to close in, taking the cue from Nathan and Alex having backed up as far as they could againstthe cavern wall. Their combined hardhat lights lit up most of the cavern, spotlighting the advancing pair.
It was then that Nathan noticed Sasha was still wearing what remained of his jeans. There was no T-shirt or jacket though, no destroyed shoes, meaning Sasha must have torn the offending items away. It also meant that Sasha wasn’t holding any glamours and not just because he didn’t want to—he couldn’t. Somewhere in the caves was yet another ruined leather jacket.
The two demonized versions of their companions came together, bookending them from just a few feet away. Sasha stretched back and extended his wings to their full breadth with a fresh roar at the ceiling while Jim lifted his head and closed his eyes, arms outstretched, as if they were both drinking in the new sensations running through their bodies.
“It’s…intoxicating,” Jim said, his smile twitching with a sick kind of pleasure. His eyes opened, shimmering. Without having to say a word to each other, they both began to move forward again.
Nathan tugged Alex as close as he could, feeling rock at his back as he pressed himself away from Jim and Sasha’s advance…and raised the gun.
It flew from his hand with a flick of Jim’s wrist.
“You know, it’s funny…” Jim said, looking at Alex as if unfazed by Nathan having pointed a gun at them, “this is exactly the reason I didn’t want to come see you all those years. I never wanted you to see me like this. I didn’t want you to think I was…a monster.” His grin twitched as he said that.
“I don’t think you’re a monster, Jimmy,” Alex said, her dark eyes unwavering as they returned Jim’s piercing amber stare.
“Hn.” Jim regarded her closely, towering over her as he drew closer so that his breath moved the strands of her hair that had fallen from being tied back under the hardhat. His smile faltered for a moment and his brow furrowed. ”You’re not even lying…”
A growl built in Sasha again. Nathan didn’t know who he should be more worried about, but his eyes were drawn to Sasha, and the incubus looked at him with rapt attention. Sasha’s tongue darted out at his lips. “Jim…”
“Not now,” Jim said.
The incubus growled impatiently, almost like a feral whine. Nathan shuddered at what the request was probably for. He looked to his brother again and saw the flash of a smile as Jim stepped back.
“Well, what is everyone waiting for? We really should find our way out of here.”
Neither Nathan nor Alex moved.
“What?” Jim said. “Did you think I was going to sick him on you like a dog to tear you to shreds? I’m sure he could.” There was a sharp snap of fangs from Sasha as if to confirm that, and the incubus chuckled. “But really, it’s in all of our best interest to find a way out of here, isn’t it?”
Nathan knew he couldn’t trust Jim or Sasha, but he had to believe there was a way to fix this. Because if what had happened to them wasn’t temporary then he might have to find a way to make sure…they never got out of the mine.
Jim’s hand slammed into the wall just above Nathan’s head, making him flinch. “That wasn’t a very nice thought you just had,” he said darkly, a hot whisper against Nathan’s face. With his hand propped over Nathan’s head, he leaned in closer, his face brushing past Nathan’s so he could whisper, “Now, Nathan…why would you want to leave us behind?”
Nathan couldn’t allow himself to be bested by fear. He turned his head to Jim’s ear and whispered back, “Because if I don’t…it might be us that never gets out of here.” The tears that had been stinging at Nathan’s eyes dried up as he said that and he felt some part of him go numb.
Jim chuckled low and steady. He backed away from Nathan and stood centered before the pair while Sasha moved to stand just slightly behind him. A large black claw rose up and curled talons over Jim’s right shoulder. Wings shot out behind Sasha and, for a moment, it looked as if the great mass of black skin belonged to both of them.
“We’re still us, Nathan. We still want the same things. And you should know what the most important thing to both of us is right now.” When Nathan gave no reply, Jim’s smile faltered like he was disappointed. “I would never let Malak take you, Nathan. How could you think I would ever hurt you? I want you here.Wewant you here with us. Why would that change? You’re my brother.
“Why would I hurt Alex, either? How would hurting myfriendsbenefit me? Of course I can’t say the same forhim,” Jim smirked, looking up over his shoulder at Sasha whose tongue ran eagerly over his top fangs. “Sasha’s nature is a little more…instinctual than mine. Be a good boy, will you, and behave yourself?”
Sasha snapped his teeth at Jim playfully, close at his neck. It was disturbingly intimate. “Mmm…get me to call you ‘Master’ and we’ll be into a whole new kind ofkink.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Jim said, pushing on Sasha’s chest to knock the incubus slightly back. It was the first act that actually seemed reminiscent of how they really were with each other. Playful. Teasing.
It kind of broke Nathan’s heart.
“But we really should go,” Jim said, turning back to Nathan and Alex. “Sasha can guard from behind and I’ll lead. You never know what might be lurking down here, after all. None of the old openings are clear, I’m sure of it. We have to return to the main cavern.”
“He’s right, Nathan,” Walter added, though Nathan fought not to react or look at him. “You must be cautious but I do not know how else to help you. Following them is the only way.”
That broke Nathan’s heart a little more because this wasn’t Jim and Sasha, not really, and yet it alsowas. He feared this situation more because they were still themselves at the core, not possessed by autonomous sidhe like Leven. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than this being who they were now—forever.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think you’ve imagined worse things, Nathan.” Jim moved so swiftly that Nathan gave an audible gasp at his brother suddenly being closer, pressed in tight against him again like Alex wasn’t even there. Nathan felt a hand snake into his jacket and his stomach flipped.
“Wh-what are you doing?” he stammered.
