Frozen, I did not back away when he reached out a hand to touch my face. With the skin to skin contact, I felt a rush of sudden heat, not unlike when Alex touched me. Now confusion surged stronger than my fear. Was Michael exerting his incubus control to make me feel this way? If so, did that mean Alex lied to me about my reaction to him? Did he use his abilities on me, even though he swore he didn’t? Or did this mean I found both men attractive?
Michael leaned in for a kiss and this time I did respond. By stepping back. I simultaneously noticed white mist leaving my mouth and an angry, surprised expression on Michael’s face. Clearly, he had not expected this. Though the mist did answer at least one of my questions.
Michael was trying to suck out a part of my soul.
I noticed I wasn’t as angry as that thought seemed like it should make me. In fact, I felt funny. I smoked pot once and it was kind of like this; funny, yet pleasant. I smiled goofily at Michael. He smiled back, oozing self-confidence now, and moved closer to me again. He ran his fingers along my cheek and jawline, his eyes locked on mine. He stepped closer, our heat mingling. He leaned in once more for a kiss and just before his lips touched mine, a loud banging sound erupted.
I barely noticed, but Michael turned his head, breaking contact with me to look toward my door. Anger emanated from him. It didn’t pierce the pleasant fog surrounding me. I heard words from the other side of the door that I did not understand. Michael obviously did. Confusion, anger, and worry flashed across his face. He released me and turned fully toward the door, hands fisted at his sides.
I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. Enough self-awareness returned that I acted on impulse.
“Michael!”
Hearing his name, he turned back toward me. I grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed him in the groin. He cradled himself and fell to his knees in pain. The door to my condo broke open. I stared in shock at the splintered wood surrounding one beautiful, dangerously angry and scared incubus.
Alex’s look of worry vanished when he saw Michael curled on the floor in the fetal position, still holding himself. Alex smirked, “I guess I don’t need to come to the rescue.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Alex!” I threw myself into his arms. He held me close and I felt our heartbeats, at first rapid from the excitement, then slowing as we calmed. His arms circling me provided a cocoon of safety. I closed my eyes and inhaled his clean, intoxicating scent. That reminded me.
“Can I ask you something?” I mumbled this into his shoulder.
“Of course. What is it?”
“When Michael touched me, I felt a similar reaction to when you touch me.” Alex stiffened, and not in a good way, so I hurried to continue. “Why is that, if you weren’t using your incubus powers on me?”
“They’re not powers, just abilities,” he corrected, though I heard the smile in his voice. He released me, keeping his hands on my shoulders and holding me at arms’ length. “Listen to me very closely Catherine. Every incubus possesses the ability to simulate physical, um, bodily attraction,” he appeared slightly uncomfortable, “and what that means is that what an incubus can create would mimic what really happens when someone is truly attracted.” His eyes searched mine to determine if I had understood.
“What you’re saying is that Michael was able to create a fake version of what you naturally create.” Now I blushed furiously.
Alex smiled happily. “Yes, that’s exactly it. It was the same because between us it’s real.”
“It is?” Part of me hated that I sounded so sappy. Another part of me was thrilled my feelings were reciprocated.
An unwelcome voice from the floor interrupted. “Oh, please, are you buying any of that?” Alex and I watched in horror as Michael slowly rose to face us. The mask was gone and for the first time, I could truly see the demon lurking below the human exterior. Michael laughed at Alex. “Tell the woman the truth. You know you drew her in.” He winked at me. “He isn’t that attractive. Didn’t some of it feel wrong?”
And so help me, I felt a stab of doubt. Michael smiled smugly and Alex rapidly shifted his gaze from Michael to me and back again, clearly wanting to address me directly, but without taking his eyes off the killer.
“Catherine, you don’t believe him, do you?”
“Is he lying?”
“Yes.”
A sob caught in my throat. “You’re lying,” I told him softly. “When we first met, of course I could appreciate that you were attractive. However, I was drawn to you in a way that didn’t feel natural. I couldn’t understand it. Now I’m beginning to.”
“That’s not how it is,” Alex responded. Our eyes met briefly and my heart contracted at the pain I saw. I looked back at Michael.
Michael continued to smirk at our exchange. I wanted to smack the expression right off his face, but he was controlled at the moment, and I needed this resolved with Alex now.
“Do you deny that you … amplified … my natural reaction to you at the audition?”
Alex paused for too long and I had my answer. “That’s not the whole story though,” he insisted.
A single tear tracked down my cheek. “Why?”
I sensed more than saw his shrug. “It was an audition; I wanted to make sure you agreed to represent me. It wasn’t personal.”
I spun on him. “It wasn’t personal? You manipulated my response to you. For a job.” Disgust filled me. Motion caught my eye and I glared at Michael, who leaned back against the dining room table, lifting his hands in surrender. “You stay put. It’s not your turn yet.” I looked back at Alex. “Anything else?” I knew there was more. Would he be honest?
“What do you mean?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. “That’s not an answer. When we first met, did you use your abilities in any other ways?” I could not be more explicit than that and his sharp intake of breath confirmed what I suspected. “Please do me the courtesy of the entire truth.”
His shoulders slumped. “I entered your dream. Only once,” he hurried to add.
“That’s rich,” Michael crowed, slapping his hand against his thigh. “Look who’s high and mighty now.”
I took a step toward Michael and pointed at him. “Shut up. Regardless of anything Alex did or did not do, YOU are a serial killer. So shut up.” My finger shook. Not with fear. With rage. Adrenaline from the night’s events, including these nasty revelations, coursed through me. Michael gave a mock salute and continued to casually lean against the table.
My eyes met Alex’s and I saw sorrow reflected there. “Why?” The word barely an audible whisper.
“It was an accident. I didn’t consciously do it.”
That was true, but… “What else?”
“Once I was in your dream, curiosity got the better of me and I didn’t immediately leave. You didn’t respond the way I expected.”
“I didn’t just swoon over you.”
He flushed. “You were clearly interested, but. No, you didn’t.” He paused. “What are you?”
That tripped me up. “What am I? I don’t understand the question.”
“Your response to me, how you always know whether I’m telling the truth. I know you’re different, but you seem human.”
I barked an unhappy laugh. “I am human.”
Alex and Michael waited for me to continue.
“But, I am different.” I hesitated. “I don’t know what or how exactly. An empath seems to be the closest fit.” I shrugged. Understanding dawned in the men’s eyes. “I can feel what others around me are feeling and I can tell if they’re being truthful or deceptive.”
“Not all the time, though?”
“No, Alex, not all the time. I’m like a living, breathing lie detector, though with the same flaws. If someone truly believes what they’re saying, I’ll read it as true. Even if it’s a lie. Also, sometimes psychopaths can mask whatever it is my brain reads and feed me what they want. And, sometimes it’s blank.
I haven’t figured out yet what that is; maybe some people can block themselves entirely. I don’t know.”
Michael slow clapped. Alex and I stared at him. “That’s pretty good. I knew Alex was on to me. I didn’t know you were going to be bait. Excellent job.”
“Why did you do it?”
Michael took my conversational redirect in stride. He shrugged. “My first one was an accident.” He tilted his head in Alex’s direction. “Just like him accidentally entering your dream.”
Alex scowled. “It was an accident. And I made sure it never happened again.”
My heart swelled at the truth in his statements. He never meant to enter my mind that first time and he never did it again. That meant our feelings were real. My body flooded with warmth at the thought and I grinned at Alex. “I know.” I turned back to Michael. I needed to know the whole story. “And then?”
He shrugged again. “It’s such an interesting phenomenon,” he waxed philosophical. “There I was, this beautiful dead girl at my feet. And, what can I say, I found that I liked it. So I kept doing it.”
I gaped at his nonchalance and he laughed.
“Don’t look like that, little empath. We’re at the top of the food chain. When I accepted that, and truly accepted who I am and what I liked... well, it was easy after that. I moved from city to city.” He frowned. “Until now. You two screwed up my system.” He stepped forward hands fisted at his sides.
“Don’t move, Michael,” Alex commanded him. “You know I can’t let you leave here.”
Michael laughed. “Are you going to call the police?”
“No, I’m going to call—” Alex glanced quickly at me “—someone better equipped to take care of you.”
“No, you’re not.” Michael looked at me, imploring me. “Are you really going to let him kill me?”
Kill him? I looked at Alex in confusion – we needed to call the police – and that was the opening Michael wanted. Without waiting for a response to his question, Michael attacked Alex, launching himself, hoping the element of surprise would be sufficient.
It wasn’t. Alex rebuffed the attack, then struck with an uppercut that rocked Michael backward. The incubus fell, his head cracking on the dining room table.
Alex grabbed Michael by the neck in a grip so tight that I could see white knuckles on Alex and an increasingly red face on Michael.
Alex leaned in and breathed deeply. Michael tried to shake his head, to break eye contact, to disrupt the flow. A white mist left Michael’s mouth and entered Alex’s.
He’s breathing in his soul. The panicky thought whirled in my mind.
Michael’s face paled. Alex had said he could call someone in the paranormal world to handle this, not kill the other incubus.
“Alex! No!” I grabbed his head and turned him toward me. He released Michael, who fell to the floor, gasping. Alex stared at me, comprehension dawning.
“I almost—”
“But, you didn’t.”
“Thank you,” he whispered and leaned toward me.
Michael staggered to his feet, touched his fingers to the back of his head. They came away bloody. “You tried to kill me.” The outrage in his little boy’s voice saddened me. Had he always been like this?
Michael jerked forward, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell to the ground.
Alex and I stared in shock at the unconscious demon on my concrete floor.
“What the heck?”
The incubus began vibrating.
“What’s happening?” I dropped to Michael’s side.
“I think he’s having a seizure,” Alex answered and dropped to Michael’s other side.
“Do we need to get something for him to bite down on?” I swung my head around, trying to identify what might work in my condo.
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary.”
I sat back on my heels, stunned. Michael’s shuddering decreased until stopping completely.
“Is that normal?”
Alex’s wide eyes met my own. “I have no idea.”
Our stares returned to Michael.
The murdering incubus was dead.
I had a dead demon in my condo.
Now what?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Such a shame he couldn’t disintegrate like a vampire does when he dies,” I quipped. Yes, I made jokes when I was nervous. And right then, my nerves were beyond frayed. I stared in both consternation and horror at the dead body of the incubus. “That is what happens when vampires die, right?” I turned to Alex for confirmation. He tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.
“Yes, it is. Am I going to be your living, breathing Google for monsters?”
“Probably. Wait, is that offensive?”
“Not in the least, Catherine. I’m not a delicate flower.”
I laughed, pleased to note it was only slightly hysterical, and then sobered quickly. “We’d better call the police.”
“That seems the practical thing to do.”
“Or do we need to call the other…group…you mentioned?”
“That’s not necessary now,” he answered without explanation.
I guess we’d deal with that later. I focused on the issue of the dead body. “How are we going to explain this? Even though he’s the killer, there’s still only circumstantial evidence that he is. And our word. Against the dead guy on the floor. Do you see where I’m going?”
Momma slunk out of the bedroom and approached the dead incubus. She sniffed at him, hissed and took a swipe at his head. Satisfied the beast was dead, she meowed up at the two of us and then padded softly back into the bedroom. I assumed I’d find her later, either under the bedspread or under the bed itself. Alex and I faced each other.
“Don’t worry about it,” he assured me.
I hesitated.
“I promise it’ll be okay, Catherine.”
“Okay. I trust you.” I grabbed my phone off the dining room table and unlocked it to call 9-1-1. Alex put his hand on mine.
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” With the threat of Michael gone, I found my about Alex returning. “I’m angry that you lied to me. My instincts tell me what you said earlier tonight was the truth. That you…amplified…a little at the audition and then accidentally entered my dream that night. And you haven’t done either since. I know that. But…”
He smiled. “Trust your instincts.”
My return smile was a ghost of his. “I don’t know whether to believe my feelings.”
“You can. I promise that after that first day—”
“I know.” And I did. Completely. I smiled then.
He frowned.
“Why are you frowning?”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth about your abilities?”
I dug my foot into the floor, looked anywhere except at him, while I gathered my thoughts. “It’s something I’m still coming to grips with.”
“Have you always been an empath?”
Tears flowed from my eyes at his simple question and he reached for me before pulling back. “I’m sorry. What did I say?”
I shook my head, waited for the tears to pause. I had to spit the words out. “After my mother came back into our lives, my father and I shared her.”
“Like shared custody?”
A small smile flitted on my lips. “Something like that. I had recently graduated high school. The next few years were bliss. There had been such a hole in our lives after my mother died, that getting her back, even in such a peculiar way, made us whole again. On the night of my 21st birthday, while out celebrating with friends, I started having these weird impressions when I talked with people. I chalked it up to mild inebriation. It didn’t stop. If anything, it became stronger. Everything people said triggered a truth or deception response in my brain. I tried to ignore it, but it was tough. I thought I
was going crazy. Then one day, while visiting my father, he had a coughing fit. I asked him if he was okay. When he said yes, it pinged as a lie. I dismissed it. Six months later he was dead. Lung cancer.”
I tensed when Alex wrapped his arms around me, and then I relaxed. He rested his chin on the top of my head. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured.
“Thank you. I never challenged him. Maybe if I had, he would still be alive.” My voice cracked on the last word.
Alex pulled back, used the pad of his thumb to wipe the tears from my cheek. “Catherine, you are not responsible for your father’s death. If he lied to you, he knew what was going on. What could you have done to make things different?”
Tears fell faster and my voice dropped. “I don’t know what treatment he was getting, if any. Maybe he thought with my mother back, I’d be okay. He never recovered from her death, even when she returned.”
“Oh, honey, this is not your fault. Do you think your father would want you living like this?”
I shook my head. “No. He wouldn’t.” I inhaled deeply and let out a trembling breath. “And that’s why I’ve tried to pay attention to my gift. Not dismiss it. But I did anyway.” This last said harshly as I ripped myself from his arms and turned to look out the windows on the city below. “I knew you were hiding something and rather than push it, I ignored it. And you used me.”
Alex put his hands on my shoulders from behind. I stiffened and he released me, though didn’t move away. “I know.”
I closed my eyes, let the hurt wash over me.
“If I could go back and change it, I would. I don’t know what compelled me to even try. I haven’t gone into someone’s dreams since the beginning, even accidentally. I…” he stopped.
I glanced over my shoulder at his head hung in shame. The rest of my body turned and I faced him. “Look at me.” The expression of hope in his eyes floored me. “Do you genuinely want a relationship with me?”
Lights, Camera, Action Page 8
