[Charlie Rhodes 06.0] The Incubus Impasse

by Amanda M. Lee

  “I’m not saying it’s dirty or anything. It’s just ... different.”

  “That can be said of any city.” He turned back and fixed me with a pragmatic look. “Okay. Here are the rules.”

  Ugh. I hated rules. “Can’t we just sort of wing it? I’m good at winging it.”

  “So I’ve noticed ... and no. Once we get out of this vehicle I need you to be quiet. I know that’s difficult, but you can’t speak unless you actually see something, and then I want you to whisper.”

  “I think I can handle that,” I said dryly. “In fact ... .” I almost came out of my skin when the back door opened and Millie hopped in behind us. She looked agitated, and maybe a little amused.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Jack snapped, agitation on full display. “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “No, Mr. Dramatic,” Millie replied. “I’ve been waiting outside for the two of you for ten minutes. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I followed you here because I knew you would come and now you’re just sitting in the rental car like great lumps of nothing.”

  I pressed my lips together as fury filled Jack’s eyes. This was not going to go over well.

  “You followed us?” he practically exploded. “Why would you possibly do that?”

  “Because I know that Charlie can’t stop herself from chasing an adventure ... especially when she thinks she might be able to save someone,” Millie said. “I knew the moment Chris said he was calling the police first that you guys were going to head here. I’m not an idiot.”

  “Yes, you’re the smartest woman in the world,” Jack drawled. “You followed us to an intersection and wandered around in the dark by yourself even though there might be a demon on the loose. How have you not been named to head Homeland Security?”

  I felt a headache coming on, so I rested my elbow on the passenger door and rubbed my forehead. As far as I could see, we were the only ones on the street. The rest of the neighborhood was quiet.

  “You’re just upset that you’re not as stealthy as you think you are,” Millie shot back. “By the way, you might want to warn your partner in crime that she shouldn’t speak so close to windows because it creates an echo chamber. I think Laura might’ve heard you guys, but it was so dark she couldn’t see out the window.”

  Jack shot me a look. “I told you.”

  We’d barely started and already the arguing had gotten out of control. “Can we please not fight?” I meant it. I wasn’t in the mood. “We’re here to protect a potential victim, not win an argument. We need to focus on the important things and not this ... well ... whatever this is.”

  Jack grunted but nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “We’ll focus on our potential victim. But later I’m totally going to win the argument.”

  “Only in your dreams,” Millie scoffed.

  I honestly didn’t care which one of them won the argument. I just wanted them to stop talking. And they said I was the loud one. “Let’s head out,” I suggested. “There’s no talking unless we actually see something, Millie. We need to be quiet.”

  The older woman frowned in response. “Why do I get that admonishment and not you?”

  I risked a glance at Jack and found him smiling.

  “This is my crack investigative team,” he said. “I must’ve ticked somebody off somewhere.”

  “I happen to think you’re lucky to have us,” I countered.

  “I am lucky to have you.”

  “Oh, and you totally should’ve noticed Millie was following us,” I added as I opened the door. “That’s on you.”

  He turned sheepish. He couldn’t deny the charge.

  WE MADE AN INTRIGUING TRIO. Jack apparently didn’t think we were stealthy enough.

  “I feel like I’m going on a covert mission with my grandmother,” he muttered.

  “Shh.” I lifted my finger to my lips and gave him a pointed look. And he was worried about me being loud.

  “Grandmother?” Millie was understandably insulted. “At best I could be your older sister.”

  Jack shot her a dubious look and then continued moving. He linked his fingers with mine — it would’ve been easier for us to fade into the background if Jack and I had been allowed to make the trek alone – but that wasn’t the scenario we were dealing with. If it was just the two of us we could pass for a couple out for a moonlit stroll. With Millie in tow, it looked as if we needed a chaperone.

  Jack’s gaze was keen as he glanced around the area. He was obviously trying to get a feel for the buildings. He stood in the same spot and studied them for a long moment and then pointed toward a small park sandwiched between two buildings on the other side of the road.

  He lightly tugged on my hand, casting a look over his shoulder to make sure Millie followed. When we reached the heart of the park, we found a swing set, one of those barbecue grills you need to add charcoal to and a picnic table. That’s it. It wasn’t much of a park, but Jack apparently believed it would serve our needs.

  “What are we doing here?” Millie asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

  “Watching,” Jack replied simply. He inclined his head toward the swing. “Hop on and I’ll give you a push.”

  The notion sounded absurd, and yet there was something so sweet about the offer I couldn’t turn it down. I happily sat in the swing while Millie rolled her eyes and settled at the table.

  “How long do you expect us to sit here?” Millie asked.

  I shot her a look and shushed her, something she proceeded to ignore.

  “It’s okay,” Jack offered. “We look like a couple of people just hanging out and talking. Just don’t talk too loudly.”

  Millie made a strange sound. “Why did you look at me when you said that? I’m not loud in the least. You should tell Charlie to be quiet.”

  “Charlie is being the good one right now,” Jack countered. “She’s not the one giving me grief. She’s being an angel.”

  Instead of being offended, Millie snorted. “Oh, you’ve got it bad. It’s a little sad how bad you’ve got it.”

  Jack ignored her and began pushing me on the swing. I decided to focus on the buildings. “The architecture looks old here,” I noted. “These buildings must be about a hundred years old.”

  Jack nodded as he lifted his eyes. “That sounds about right. They’re cool-looking, ornate. A lot of the buildings they erect today are sleek, without character. I like a building with character.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I kind of miss my mansion,” Millie announced, taking me by surprise. She’d once told me that she didn’t care about the trappings of wealth, which was one of the reasons she and Myron were destined to fall apart. It made me like her more, if that was even possible.

  “I thought you were happy to give up the mansion,” I said. “You said the house was too big and drafty in the winter.”

  “Yeah, but it had a wine cellar, an indoor pool, a sauna and a butler. I’ve never been one for hiring a lot of help, but I do miss that butler. He used to run errands for me because I was too lazy to do them myself.”

  Picturing Millie with a butler made me smile. “You could have your own butler, right? You got enough in the divorce.”

  “I did, but I really don’t miss that life. There are times — like now, for instance — when I wish I had a butler so I could send him on surveillance missions with the two of you. But I’m much happier now.”

  I could see that. “I don’t ever think I’ll be rich — and I’m fine with that — but being poor sucks.”

  Jack held on to the back of the swing long enough to kiss my ear before letting me go again. “You’re not poor any longer. You just got a raise and you’re getting a bonus,” he reminded me.

  “I know. I’ll be able to eat something other than pizza.”

  I couldn’t see his face, but I heard his groan of disgust. “You didn’t have to eat the pizza before. All you had to do was let me buy all the food. How hard is that?”

  I didn�
��t answer, so Millie did for me.

  “It’s harder than you think,” she said, turning her body to face us. “Charlie has been taking care of herself for a very long time.”

  “So have I. I understand pride,” Jack noted. “I don’t want her going hungry, though.”

  “I very much doubt she was risking going hungry. It was more that she was subsisting on Ramen noodles to survive.”

  Jack let loose an involuntary shudder, obviously unhappy at the prospect. “Well, now she can eat. I’m going to force her to vary her diet and fatten her up.”

  “I’m not getting fat,” I interjected quickly.

  “It was a joke,” he shot back. “I didn’t mean fat — not that there’s anything wrong with that — as much as ... um ... rounder. You’re very thin.”

  “That’s because I run.”

  “You don’t need to run.”

  “I do if someone is chasing me.”

  This time when Jack caught the swing and held it he peered around to stare into my eyes. “Do you think about running a lot?”

  “Not from you. Don’t worry about that. It’s a foregone conclusion that someone is going to come for me eventually. I’m not naive enough to think otherwise.”

  He held his breath and then let it out on a prolonged sigh. “You’re not going to be running alone. You’re going to have me. Don’t ... just don’t think about that.”

  “You’ll have me, too,” Millie said. “We’ll all run together. It will be a fantastic road trip. In fact ... .”

  The sound of footsteps on the pavement caused her to trail off. Someone was closing in. Jack stopped pushing and held the swing close again, his eyes trained on the road. At first I thought whoever it was had headed in another direction. Then, right under the lamppost, a figure appeared.

  I held my breath and watched as a man stopped in the middle of the road and stared. He was young, in his early to mid-twenties and ... .

  “Holy crap!” I jumped out of the swing when I recognized him.

  Jack was immediately at my side. “That’s your buddy from the bar, right?”

  I nodded. “Liam.”

  “Wait ... you know him?” Millie was obviously confused.

  As if momentarily mired in quicksand, Liam remained rooted to his spot. He recognized us. That was obvious. I thought he might actually say something — it was possible he lived in the area after all — but instead he turned on his heel and booked down the street.

  “Well, that’s not normal,” Millie said.

  “Stay here,” Jack ordered as he gave chase.

  “Like hell.” I was right on his heels. There was no way I was going to be left behind this time.

  WE LOST HIM. TOGETHER. We thought we would be able to catch him until he cut through the gate of a cemetery and disappeared inside.

  Jack held up a hand for me to slow my pace — and I did — but once we were inside there was no sign of him. The cemetery was old, one of those ornate ones with the beautiful mausoleums and tombstones. There were cement statues all around, too.

  Liam could’ve been hiding behind any one of them.

  I tried using my magic to track him, but the trail was confusing — overlapping lines that caused me to scratch my head and curse under my breath. Jack finally drew me back toward the gate.

  “We can’t stay here all night,” he explained. “If someone sees us they could call the cops.”

  “So? We’re not breaking any laws.”

  “The hours were posted on the gate. We’re definitely past them.”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t even seen them. “I guess that means we’re going.”

  “We’ll come back and take a look around tomorrow.”

  “He’ll be gone tomorrow.”

  “Yes, but now we have a face and another name. It’s more than we had before we came out here.”

  We did have that ... though it didn’t feel like nearly enough. “We should probably find Millie. I bet she’s still in the park.”

  He grabbed my hand and moved me in front of him, his eyes busy as he searched the shadows. “Did you sense anything different about him?”

  I shook my head. “No. I didn’t sense anything tonight. We were too far away. The other day, he just seemed like a normal guy.”

  “Maybe he’s more than that.”

  Twenty-Two

  When we got back to the park, Millie was annoyed.

  “I could’ve died,” she announced, hands on hips.

  “You didn’t,” Jack pointed out. “You should be happy about that.”

  “Ha, ha, ha.” Her expression was dark. “The incubus could’ve come for me while you were gone.”

  “You’re not exactly the incubus’s type,” Jack pointed out.

  Her eyes narrowed, dangerous energy pooling off her. “Are you insinuating I’m old?”

  “No.” Jack’s expression never changed. “I think you’re in your prime. Most women would be thrilled to look like you.”

  “At my age?”

  “At any age.”

  I had to hand it to him. He was smooth ... much smoother than I’d ever given him credit for. It made me think about things I wasn’t exactly keen to think about.

  “Well ... that’s true,” Millie sniffed, looking at her fingernails. “What were we talking about again?”

  Jack’s lips quirked, but he managed to contain his smirk. “About the fact that you’re not the incubus’s type. You don’t have long, dark hair. I think Charlie should’ve stayed with you so you could protect each other, but I don’t always get a vote in her actions.”

  “And that’s not going to change,” I offered.

  He barreled forward as if I hadn’t spoken. “I’m sorry we left you behind. I wanted to talk to him.”

  “Where do you even know him from?” Millie turned serious. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  “We met him our first day in town. He was at a bar Savannah Billings frequented. He hit on Charlie.”

  I stiffened. “He didn’t hit on me,” I argued. “I mean ... he flirted a little bit, but he didn’t hit on me. I swear it.”

  “I didn’t say you flirted back,” Jack reassured me. “He was most definitely flirting with you. He bought you a drink and seemed extremely disappointed when I showed up.”

  “Only because the men outnumbered the women and he saw a fresh face and thought he might be able to move in before anyone else did.”

  “Yeah, I think it was more than that, but it’s not worth an argument.” He moved his hands to my shoulders and started rubbing. “He disappeared into a cemetery a few blocks away. We couldn’t find him.”

  “A cemetery is a creepy choice for a place to hide,” Millie noted. “Do you think he ran in there on purpose or was it just a convenient escape route?”

  “That I don’t know. Do you remember what he told you about himself, Charlie? Did he say he was local?”

  I racked my memory. “Actually, I think he did. He mentioned a place called Drum Island. All I remember thinking at the time was that a chicken drumstick sounded really good. I was anxious for dinner.”

  Jack gave me a light hug from behind. “You’re always hungry. That’s one of my favorite things about you. As for Drum Island, it’s real. It was created by the dredging in the harbor. It’s all marshland.”

  “He said his parents lived there but he couldn’t afford the house once they were gone and he moved into the city to be closer to work. I can’t remember if he told me where he worked.”

  Jack worked his jaw in such a manner that I was instantly alert.

  “What?”

  “People don’t live on Drum Island,” he replied. “I think kids boat out there to party occasionally, but nobody lives there.”

  I didn’t know what to say. “Should I have known that?” I asked finally.

  “Not unless you decided to study up on Charleston geography during the trip down.”

  “He lied to me, though. If I’d have known that wasn’t a thing we could’ve
caught him right then.”

  Amusement flitted over Jack’s features. “Really? You would’ve assumed a guy who lied about his parents having a nice house on an island was a demon? That seems quite a stretch.”

  He had a point, but still ... . I was feeling obstinate. “It would’ve proved he’s not a local like he pretended,” I insisted. “A local would’ve known to pick an inhabited island.”

  He hesitated. “I guess that’s true, but that’s still a leap, especially when you’re talking about a demon.”

  “I agree with Jack,” Millie offered. “Not that you asked or anything. By the way, seeing as you two have decided to play the ‘You’re the only person in the world who matters’ game, I’m going to head out. We’re done here, right? There aren’t any more adventures to be had, are there?”

  “We’re done,” Jack confirmed. “We’ll walk you back to your vehicle.”

  Goodbyes were non-existent and Millie offered only a half wave before tearing out. She was obviously over the evening’s hijinks.

  “Well, that sucks,” I lamented. “I thought we might actually cover some ground tonight.”

  He slid his eyes to me, his expression unreadable. “Who says we’re done?”

  “You just told Millie the adventures were over.”

  “Because Millie would stick out where we’re going. As much as I love her — and I do — I’ve had my fill for the evening. The next adventure is going to be just you and me.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The one place we’ve seen Liam before.”

  Why didn’t I think of that?

  BLESSED WAS HOPPING, the music pounding in the background and people spread out all over the beach. The atmosphere felt sweaty and closed in ... which was fairly impressive because we were outside.

  “I thought this place was much cooler during the day,” I complained, wrinkling my nose.

  Jack, who wasn’t much for busy places, slid his arm around my waist and anchored me to his side. “Make me a promise.”

  I didn’t even have to ask what he was fishing for. “I won’t leave your side this time.”