Incubus (4 page)

I glanced out the window to the Guard’s house next door. Lucas’s drapes were closed, but I could

see the light was on. It was close to midnight, but he was still awake. Probably getting grilled by

Gretchen again, going over the whole attack in excruciating detail. As the Guard’s resident spotter in

Puerto Escondido, Gretchen would have been on high alert just knowing there was a Thrall in town.

But the Thrall had just attacked Lucas, the last family Gretchen had in this world. She’d drive herself

to find the Lilitu responsible, no matter what it cost her.

A Thrall in town. We hadn’t seen one since Ais’s death. It hadn’t surprised either Lucas or me to

learn that after she’d fallen through the stained glass window, the Thrall had rolled to her feet and

stood up. What did shock us was that instead of returning to the sanctuary to renew her attack on us,

the Thrall had fled the scene. Thralls don’t give up. Once they have their orders, they pursue their

objective until they are killed or incapacitated—or until the orders are rescinded. I couldn’t guess

what the Lilitu who’d sent that Thrall intended. I only knew that it meant a Lilitu was back in Puerto

Escondido.

I tried to tell myself we’d all known it was just a matter of time before the Lilitu resurfaced. Ais

had made it pretty clear that a growing number of Lilitu were hell-bent on breaking through the Wall

that separated our worlds. This war was ancient, but the final battle was coming.

Knowing it was coming and seeing it begin were two very different things.

I shivered under the blankets, wishing Lucas would fall asleep. I needed to see him, to feel his

arms around me in the only safe place we could embrace—in the dream.

I heard a voice downstairs, full of tension. I tried to push it out of my mind, assuming Hale had

come over to talk about the attack with Dad. Hale might have been the leader of this unit of the Guard,

but he sought out Dad’s advice often. More and more often, it seemed to me. I heard another muffled

voice. This one sent a jolt down my spine. Thane was here, too?

I pushed the blankets back and crawled out of bed, slipping my feet into the cozy moccasins Dad

had given me last Christmas. While the September days were still warm, the nights had grown

sharper, heralding the coming New Mexico winter. I edged out of my room and walked down the hall,

stooping to kneel at the top of the stairs.

I couldn’t see into the kitchen from here, but I could hear the three men talking as distinctly as if I

were sitting around the kitchen island with them.

“Marx split his unit into three groups,” Hale was saying. “He’s leading the search into Canada, but

it’ll still take some time to gather everyone together.”

“How much time do you think we have?” Thane asked, his voice clipped even more than usual.

“Enough,” Dad said.

“Even if we can gather everyone,” Thane shot back, “that’s only about 100 soldiers. If this

intelligence is correct, and the Lilitu have found the way to open the seal—”

“We play it safe,” Dad said. His voice was steady, but there was an anger behind his words that

sent a shiver of alarm down my body.

“We don’t even know where this seal is located,” Thane growled.

“You’re the archivist,” Dad snapped back, losing his calm. “Isn’t that your job?”

“How exactly do you suggest I go about finding information that’s—as far as we can tell—all been

destroyed?” Thane’s voice grew softer, dangerous. “She is our secret weapon, but that only helps us if

we use her.”

A chair scraped the floor. “She’s been through enough,” Dad said hoarsely. “She and Lucas,

they’ve already had to deal with more than any kid should be expected to handle.”

“What do you suggest?” Thane asked, a mocking edge to his voice. “Asking the Lilitu politely if

they wouldn’t mind waiting a few years so our children have time to mature?”

“Thane’s right,” Hale said. “That Thrall went after her, Murphy. Keeping her out of the loop won’t

protect her.”

“I’m not suggesting we keep this from Braedyn,” Dad said. “I’m just asking that we not throw her

directly into the lion’s den.” Hearing my name sent a jolt of anxiety through me. It drove the

exhaustion out of my head in an instant. I strained to hear everything.

Thane made a disgusted sound. “This is what she was raised for, Murphy! Or have you forgotten

that? She needs to be training. We’ve got a very limited amount of time to push her to discover what

she’s capable of.”

“If it were up to you, she’d have no social life at all,” Dad said. Warmth spread through my

stomach. No matter what we’d been through, Dad still fought for me to have a life—a life as normal

as we could make it under the circumstances. I bit my lip, suddenly feeling the urge to tell him about

the angel’s promise. He deserved to know.

“If it were up to me, she wouldn’t even be attending high school,” Thane snarled back. “What does

she need with an education? There’s very little chance she’ll survive the final bat—” But Thane’s

words choked off abruptly. All the warmth that had flooded through me a moment ago vanished.

“Murphy.” Hale’s voice rang with authority. After a moment, I heard Thane drag in a ragged

breath.

“You see this, Hale?” Thane hissed. “He’s not fit for this task. He’s let his feelings for the demon

overrule his common sense. Give me charge over her training and I guarantee—”

“Go home, Thane,” Hale said quietly.

“Hale,” Thane began.

“We all need some sleep. Things will seem clearer in the morning.”

There was a long moment of silence, then I heard another chair scrape the floor. I ducked back into

the shadows at the top of the staircase as Thane marched to the front door. He placed a hand on the

doorknob, then hesitated. He turned toward me, as though he’d known all along I was there, listening.

His eyes found mine, steely and calculating. He lifted two fingers to brush his temple in a mocking

salute, and then he was gone, pulling the door closed behind him.

I shrank back against the wall, frozen.

Hale and Dad walked to the front door a few moments later. They both looked exhausted.

“You know it’s time,” Hale said. “She has to start training again.” Dad didn’t answer. Hale put a

compassionate hand on my dad’s shoulder. “I give you my word, Murphy. I’ll do my best to prepare

her.”

Dad nodded slowly. Hale opened the door and walked into the night. Dad closed the door, then

leaned his forehead against the solid oak. After a few moments, I drew back into the hall and returned

to my room. How long he stood there, I don’t know. I fell asleep before I heard him move.

I found Lucas in his dream.

The campus of Coronado Prep loomed, threatening, against the background. Dark dream-clouds

swirled with too much energy in the sky above us.

“Lucas,” I called. He turned to face me, and I saw the anxiety melt in his eyes. Overhead, the

roiling motion of the clouds slowed.

“Is this a dream?” Lucas asked. I nodded. He was getting better at lucid dreaming every night. His

brow furrowed as his thoughts turned inward. “But today at the mission...?”

“That was real,” I said.

“So they’re back.”

Around us, the campus of Coronado Prep faded, leaving us in the vague half-space between

dreams. I reached for Lucas’s hand. He took it, drawing me close. This time, when our lips met, I

didn’t have to pull away. There was no Lilitu storm to battle, because I couldn’t hurt Lucas in a dream.

His arms tightened around me and I let myself sink into the sensations, relaxing for the first time

since the Thrall had attacked.

I pushed thoughts of tomorrow from my mind.

By Saturday morning, my shoulder was good as new. I slept in, luxuriating in the moment. For this

moment, no one was expecting or demanding anything from me. Even when Lucas vanished, his

dream-presence snuffed out as he awoke next door, I lingered in the sweet remnants of our night

together. Moments like this would become harder and harder to hold onto.

When I finally made my way down to the kitchen, mid-morning sunlight was streaming through

the windows and I had to squint against the glare off the countertop.

Hale was sitting with Dad at the kitchen island, looking over some handwritten notes. They looked

up as I entered.

“Morning,” I said automatically.

“Braedyn,” Hale greeted me with a cordial smile.

“How would you like your eggs?” Dad asked.

“I’m not that hungry.”

“Well, you might want to eat something anyhow,” Dad said. “How about an omelet? Green chili

and cheddar cheese?”

I glanced back at Hale, putting two and two together. “Training?”

Hale nodded.

“In that case, omelet me up.”

“Sure thing, kiddo.” Dad smiled and ruffled my hair on his way to the stove. I grunted, irritated,

and pulled my fingers through the wild tangle, trying to smooth it back down.

“So what are you two conspiring over this morning?” I asked Hale. Dad cracked some eggs into a

bowl and began whisking them.

Hale glanced at his notes. “Your dad and I were considering what made the most sense for your

training regimen.”

“We’re not just picking up where we left off?” I couldn’t keep my surprise out of my voice.

“I think, given the, uh, time constraints,” Hale glanced at my dad at the stove. Dad, acting like he

wasn’t listening, poured the eggs into a frying pan where they hissed furiously. So this wasn’t his idea.

I turned back to Hale. “I think it makes more sense to focus on skills you’ll be able to use sooner

rather than later,” Hale explained.

“Sooner?” I looked at the scribbled notes, hoping to hide my unease from Hale.

“I just want to be prepared,” Hale said, smiling with manufactured confidence.

“What kind of skills?”

“More hand to hand,” Hale said. “And I’d like to start training you against multiple opponents.”

“What about sword practice?”

“No bladed weapons. Not for a while, at least.”

“Order up,” Dad said, sliding a steaming omelet onto a plate in front of me.

Hale stood. “I’ll see you in the armory in an hour.” He left, and I heard the front door close behind

him.

I picked up a fork and started carving the steaming omelet into small chunks. Cheese and green