Incubus (9 page)

“I’m not sure,” I said. “We found something at the mission.”

“When was this?” Gretchen turned on Lucas.

“You went back to the mission?” Dad asked with a frown, echoing Gretchen’s disapproval.

“It was something one of the kids at school said,” I pressed on. “We didn’t want to bother you

guys until we knew more, just in case it turned out to be nothing.” I glanced at Lucas. He watched me,

eyes mirroring the tension we’d both felt since leaving the mission. Only part of it was tied to our

discovery, but the Guard didn’t need to know about the almost-kiss.

“What did you find?” Hale asked, setting his fork down.

I looked back at Lucas. “You tell them,” he murmured. “You’re the one who figured it out.”

“What if,” I felt my cheeks redden, suddenly acutely aware of how crazy this sounded. But

everyone was listening. Even Thane put his fork down, waiting. I cleared my throat. “The floor of the

mission,” I started again. “Most of it’s covered by this one huge round stone. It’s got these carvings,

like the ones on our daggers. But there are more symbols that I’ve never seen before, all around the

stone.”

“When you say, ‘like the ones on our daggers,’” Dad began.

“They’re exactly the same,” Lucas said, anticipating him. “No question. Braedyn spotted them

first, but we both recognized the symbols immediately.” Lucas gave Dad a humorless grin. “It’s not

like they’re easy to confuse with something else.” The room grew silent, dinner laying forgotten for

the moment.

“Go on, Braedyn,” Hale said quietly.

“We know Ais came to Puerto Escondido looking for the seal, hoping to open it for the Lilitu to

come through, right?” I asked. Hale nodded, waiting for me to get to the point. I took another breath.

“What if the monks found the seal centuries ago, and built their mission to hide it? What if that
stone

is
the seal?”

For a long moment, no one spoke. Hale sat back slowly, lost in thought. Thane and my dad traded a

glance.

“Hm. Interesting.” Dad picked up his fork, spooling a strand of spaghetti around it absently.

“It does make a kind of sense,” Hale said.

I’d expected a bigger reaction. Something closer to shock and amazement, not this calm

consideration of the idea. Lucas glanced at me, sharing my surprise at the group’s measured response.

“How does that make sense?” he asked Hale.

But it was Thane who answered us. “Puerto Escondido has been a stronghold of the Guard for

centuries. This is one of the few places on earth where the Guard has maintained an almost continual

presence.” Lucas and I turned to stare at Thane. “We’ve long known that this place has some kind of

significance to the Lilitu, but what exactly?” Thane shrugged unhappily. “Too much of the history of

Puerto Escondido has been lost.”

Gretchen gave a little laugh of disbelief. “Lost? If those monks knew they were sitting on top of

the seal, how exactly do you lose track of information that significant?”

“Off the top of my head? I suspect the Lilitu had something to do with it,” Thane snapped.

“Regardless,” Hale said. “We’ve got our new priorities. Thane, I need you to dig into this. Find out

whatever you can. Make some calls.”

Thane nodded.

“Gretchen, you and Matthew swing by the mission tomorrow. Recon only.”

“On it,” Gretchen said.

“That means no hunting, you two,” Hale said, gesturing at Matthew and Gretchen with his fork.

“You find any trace of Lilitu presence, you report back immediately.”

“I think it’s time for us to do a full inventory of the armory,” Dad said.

“Right.” Hale and Dad exchanged a grim look. “We’ll start tomorrow.”

With that, everyone turned back to their food, lost in unhappy thoughts. Everyone except for Lucas

and me.

“That’s it?” I asked. “You’re sending Gretchen and Matthew to swing by the mission?”

“We don’t have the resources to put a guard on the place full time,” Hale said around a bite of

spaghetti. “But we’ll add it to our rounds.” He took another bite, ending the conversation.

“What about us?” Lucas asked. “What should we be focusing on?”

Hale looked up, but Dad answered before he had a chance to swallow his food. “School.”

“But, we can help.” Lucas looked at Gretchen, hoping for some support. She avoided his gaze. He

looked around the table, frustration edging into anger. “You wouldn’t even know about the seal if it

weren’t for Braedyn and me.”

“So, as a reward for stupidly risking your safety, you want us to let you throw your future away?”

Dad spoke quietly, but there was a dangerous edge to his voice. Lucas glanced at me helplessly.

“The boy has a point,” Thane murmured. “What good will school do either of them if the Lilitu

win?”

Dad’s fork hit the edge of his plate with a sharp clatter. “School matters. Braedyn’s education

matters. It matters to me, because it means we live in hope. I am fighting to give Braedyn a future. In

this future, she graduates high school. She goes to college. She builds a life of meaning for herself.

I’m not giving that up. It’s what she deserves.”

I felt my chest tighten. Hot tears sprang into my eyes. Dad believed in me absolutely, and listening

to him talk, I could almost see the future he dreamed of.

“How?” Thane glanced at me impersonally. “She is Lilitu, Murphy. What kind of future do you

really think she’ll have? Marriage? Children? These things are impossible for her.”

“That’s not true,” Lucas said. His whole body was coiled tight with anger. Thane eyed him,

unmoved.

“If you think the Guard will allow her to take the life of a human man in order to create a Lilitu

child, you’ve missed the entire point of our existence,” Thane said. He turned back to his plate,

dismissing the entire conversation.

“This discussion is moot anyway,” Hale said. “We’ve got bigger problems.”

“You’re fools if you believe that,” Thane said around a mouth of spaghetti. “More immediate

problems, yes. But bigger problems?”

“Enough,” Dad said, pushing back from the table and standing to loom over Thane. “She has done

nothing to earn your distrust.”

“She’s Lilitu, Murphy,” Thane said, sounding almost bored. “She earned my distrust the day she

drew her first breath.”

“Sit down,” Hale commanded. But Dad didn’t budge.

“It’s no wonder you drove Karayan away,” Dad said through gritted teeth. “You don’t have the

capacity for fatherly love.” That got Thane’s attention.

“Karayan should have been a warning to us all,” Thane hissed, lurching to his feet. “Instead of

trying to raise up another demon, we should have drowned it at birth.”

Dad lunged across the table, grabbing Thane by the throat. Chaos erupted. Gretchen and Matthew

tried to pull Thane back while Hale worked to pry Dad’s hands free from his throat. Everyone was

shouting.

Lucas turned toward me, pleading with his eyes.

“If I ever have children,” I said, surprised by the strength in my voice. “They will be
human.
”

This pronouncement cut through the chaos, leaving a stony silence in its wake. Dad turned to look

at me, uncomprehending. Hale took advantage of the moment to wrest Dad back from Thane. Thane

was breathing hard. His hands lifted to massage his throat, but he kept his glare fixed on Dad.

Everyone else in the room was watching me.

“I don’t—” Dad started. “Braedyn?”

“Sansenoy made me an offer,” I said. Uncertainty edged a tremor into my voice, but the time had

come to tell him. “He has the power to make me human.”

Dad’s face lit from within. Unbidden, tears glistened in his eyes. He grabbed me, pulling me into a

fierce hug. “God... thank you, God,” he murmured into my hair.

As Dad embraced me, I saw Gretchen and Matthew turn to Lucas. Gretchen’s face broke into a rare

smile as she pulled Lucas close. Matthew caught them together in a hug and ruffled Lucas’s hair,

beaming.

“That’s, I’m—” Hale looked stunned. A slow smile spread across his face and he shook his head.

“I’m so happy for you, Braedyn.”

“Just like a Lilitu,” Thane growled. Dad released me and turned to Thane, genuinely stunned.

Thane’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Have you forgotten why she was suffered to live in the first

place?” Thane said. “Without a Lilitu ally, the Guard has virtually no chance of victory in this coming

battle.” Thane glanced at me, eyes simmering with outrage. “And she abandons her duties now, at the

critical moment.”

“I’m not abandoning anything,” I snapped. “Why do you think I haven’t taken him up on his offer

yet?”

“No,” Dad looked at me, urgently. “We can find another way to defeat them,” he said quietly.

“This isn’t your responsibility.”

“The hell it isn’t,” Thane said. “If you won’t do your part, demon, then—”

“Thane!” Hale grabbed the front of Thane’s coat, cutting the older man off mid-sentence. “Get

out.”

“You know what’s at stake,” Thane growled.

“
Out.
” Hale’s voice left no room for argument. Thane straightened, summoning what dignity he

could, and left. When we heard the front door slam, Hale turned back to me, eyes heavy. “It’s your

choice, Braedyn. But Thane isn’t wrong.”

“No,” Dad said again.

“Dad, it’s okay.” I took Dad’s hands in mine, willing him to listen to sense. “There are things I can

do to help as a Lilitu that I wouldn’t be able to do as a human.”

“Those things put you at risk,” he whispered.

“I’m at risk anyway,” I said. “We all are.” I glanced around the room. Gretchen and Matthew still

had their arms looped around Lucas, but they were watching us with solemn expressions now. Lucas’s

met my eyes and nodded grimly.

“There’s something else,” I said, taking a deep breath. “A caveat.”

Dad stiffened, drawing back to get a better look at me. “Which is?”

“I can’t harm humans.” I glanced at Matthew unintentionally. His expression hardened as our eyes

met, and I knew he was remembering our kiss. I’d fed off his life energy, drawing enough to weaken

him badly. That he’d volunteered to give me that energy to find and save Lucas didn’t matter. It was

after that kiss that I’d discovered the deep red petals on all the roses in my dream garden. “Every time

I feed off someone’s energy, I lose another bit of my humanity.”

“I didn’t know,” Matthew said.

“Me neither.” I smiled a thin smile and shrugged. Dad put a hand on my shoulder, drawing my

attention back to him.

“Braedyn, think carefully about this. The longer you go on as a Lilitu, the more you’ll face

temptation.” his eyes flickered to Lucas before he could stop himself.

“I know,” I whispered. “But this is something only I can do.”

After a long moment, Dad nodded. I could tell he wasn’t convinced, but he held his tongue. Lucas

met my eyes with a warmth I could almost feel.

“So,” he said into the sudden quiet. “School. I think we can manage that.”

The group chuckled, and returned to their seats at the table. As we continued with dinner, I saw

Lucas staring wistfully at Hale and Dad. I could see how much he wanted to be included as a full

member of the Guard, but for my part, I wasn’t in a hurry to take on more responsibility. Deep down I

knew Lucas would be getting his wish sooner rather than later. And even if I became human

tomorrow, I didn’t have that much longer to pretend to be a normal girl.

Finding the seal affected Lucas more than I would have guessed. When I went over to the Guard’s

house the next morning, Gretchen, sifting through a handful of mail in the living room, pointed

wordlessly into the kitchen.

I found Lucas leaning against a cracked tile counter, picking through a bowl of dry cereal

listlessly.

“Hey,” I said gently. “You ready for school?”

He looked up and I felt my stomach twist a little. His beautiful eyes were drawn, tired. His hair

even more tousled than normal. He didn’t have to tell me he hadn’t slept all night. I’d waited for him

in the dream, but he’d never materialized.

“How do you do it?” he breathed. “How do you act like everything’s the same as it was