Page 56 of Changeling
Pushing from the table, Nathan walked right up to Jim, pulled his fist back, and swung, aiming for his brother’s jaw. His fist stopped just before making contact, caught by Jim’s swift hand as if this time he had been ready for it. The grip was too tight, enough that Nathan felt all of his knuckles crack under the pressure. He cringed.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t his best idea.
Jim pushed Nathan’s fist aside, and Nathan waited for an answering blow as he searched his brain quickly for his nextmove. Nothing came to him but no blow struck either. Jim’s arms wrapped around him, holding him close in a tight enough embrace to make Nathan gasp from the pressure on his sore shoulder and wounds. Was Jim trying to crush him? Then Nathan realized—amber-eyed Jim washugginghim.
“Nathan…” Jim breathed against his ear.
Nathan shivered from the sudden warmth. “Jim…?” he whispered, his own hands finding hold along Jim’s lower back.
“Nathan,” Jim said more forcefully.
“Yeah, man. I’m Nathan. Your brotherNathan.” Nathan pulled out of the hug, and Jim allowed it, though he kept his hands firmly gripping Nathan’s biceps. It was haunting looking into those amber slit eyes but knowing that somehow there was still some of the normal Jim looking back at him. “Jim…? You really in there?”
“Nathan,” Jim said again. His voice didn’t sound any different than usual but it still gave Nathan chills to hear it. Why was ‘Nathan’ all Jim could say?
Nathan glanced around the room. There was no sign of Walter, which meant he had been banished by Jim’s emergence of power again. Wonderful. Returning his attention to Jim, Nathan watched as those amber eyes looked him over as if maybe they had been trying to confirm he was Nathan all along, as if, until that moment, Jim hadn’t been certainwhoNathan was.
Jim smiled, nodding as if to confirm to himself that yes, this was his brother, and the next words that left him were pure determination. “SaveNathan.”
That should have been a comfort to hear but it wasn’t. Something in the changed tone made Nathan shiver again. It was a frightening determination, the kind that would do anything,anythingto accomplish its goals. Nathan didn’t want that of Jim. He had never wanted that.
But what made it all so much worse was hearing the door open behind him and the preceding words from Sasha as the incubus returned.
“So I think it’s all okay now. Not that it wasn’t before. But I asked Ula to have breakfast with us tomorrow since we’re leaving. She’s really a nice…” Sasha trailed, the door already closing behind him before he looked up and noticed that things werenotokay in the room. “Oh god…”
“Sasha, quick—!” Nathan began, but he was cut off abruptly when he attempted to move toward the redhead.
Jim’s hands held him firmly in place and then moved Nathan to the side, effectively putting himself between Nathan and Sasha. Jim finally released Nathan as he began to approach the incubus himself.
“Wait! Don’t!” Nathan tried to sprint forward, to get in front of Jim again and stop him from whatever it was he planned to do, but he barely managed a single step before his whole body went rigid, held in place by Jim’s TK.
Did amber-eyed Jim think of Sasha as a threat?
“Sasha, run!” Nathan screamed. He didn’t want to take any chances. Sasha could still get away; he was so close to the door. “Go!”
For a minute it looked as though Sasha was going to listen to Nathan despite how his eyes betrayed that he did not like the idea of leaving Nathan alone. But, before Sasha could make his move, something happened. Jim was a few feet from Sasha, not even touching him, but Sasha’s eyes went suddenly blank, his body relaxing out of its tension. Sasha stood up straighter with those dead eyes, like he was waiting for something. Waiting for an order.
Jim never said anything aloud but some kind of message was sent, and Sasha gave a slight bow of his head before turning toward the door. He stopped before his hand reached the knob,turned back to Jim, gave another nod, and then headed for his duffle. Nathan watched, horror-stricken, as Sasha pulled out an iron knife and tucked it into his coat before heading back to the door again.
“Stop!” Nathan called after Sasha. “What are you doing!? What are you making him do!?” he shot at Jim next, since Sasha was already out the door and there was nothing Nathan could do to stop him. Nathan couldn’t even move. He glared daggers when Jim turned back to him. “Where did you send him?” he asked through a furious growl. “After Ula? What did you tell him to do? What are you making himdo?!”
Jim walked back to Nathan with a similarly blank expression to what Sasha had been wearing. Nathan tensed. Or he would have if he had been able to move. When Jim reached him, Nathan finally felt his body relax out of that awful hold, but only to have Jim grab him by the arm and lead him forcefully across the room.
“Why are you doing this!?” Nathan screamed when Jim practically threw him at one of the beds. “Why?”
Stepping close to where Nathan was sprawled against the mattress, Jim tilted his head just slightly as if he didn’t realize that any of his actions were harsh or wrong. “Save Nathan,” he said simply.
“Save me?” Nathan spat back. “How does this save me? Tell me.Please. Talk to me!” Nathan couldn’t stand the stunted language Jim was using as if Jim was only half in control or maybe not at all.
Apparently Jim was done with their conversation though because he didn’t respond, he just stepped in closer to Nathan and grabbed him by the shoulders. Before Nathan could even begin to realize what was happening, Jim was lying him down on the bed. Panic ripped through Nathan as he thought of the worst of his nightmares, and he tried to struggle out of Jim’shold. But Jim was too strong and, when he got sick of dealing with Nathan’s resistance, he simply put a small command into Nathan’s brain.
Don’t struggle.
Nathan knew the command was from Jim, that he didn’t really feel any better about the situation himself, but he still couldn’t resist. His body went limp, willing and pliable under Jim’s touch.
This wasn’t happening. Jim wasn’tdoingthis. No horror would be worse than seeing a reality made out of Nathan’s nightmares—and he didn’t know which horror would be worse: if Jim killed him, tortured him, or something else. Too many possibilities were already running through Nathan’s mind. It made him flinch when Jim sat on the edge of the bed next to him and reached to smooth back his hair.
Only after a few minutes had passed where Jim did nothing but gently run his fingers through Nathan’s hair, sitting there but not moving to do anything else, did Nathan allow himself to calm down. Jim was acting rough and foolish and didn’t make any sense, but somehow, for whatever unknown reason, he still seemed to beJimat the core. He still sought to comfort Nathan even while he did these awful things. Of course Nathan couldn’t fully relax knowing that Sasha was out there doing god knows what under Jim’s sway. If it really was something to help Nathan then it just made Nathan feel worse.
