Incubus (The Daughters Of Lilith) Read online

  But when I spotted her, hovering in the doorway to the girl’s locker room, I moved into action. Amber saw me coming and ducked inside the building.

  “Braedyn?” Lucas chased after me, but drew up short when I darted into the girl’s locker room. “Braedyn!”

  I ignored Lucas, determined to settle this score now. I skidded into the empty locker room. Amber was sitting calmly on a bench, waiting for me.

  “Leave my friends alone,” I growled, advancing on her.

  “It sucks, doesn’t it?” Amber purred. “Not being able to help your friends when someone messes with them. Like Parker.”

  I stopped. “Parker.”

  “I know you did something to him,” Amber said, standing. “You messed with his head. No. With his mind.” She walked toward me, curtains of ice blond hair framing her face.

  “He hurt Cassie,” I said. “My friends have done nothing to you.”

  “So it was revenge.”

  “It was a mistake.” Even as I said it, I felt a twinge inside.

  “But you admit it.”

  Something was terribly wrong. I was the one with the supernatural powers, why was Amber the one controlling the situation? Just like middle school, I thought. I winced, remembering the years I’d been powerless before Amber’s taunts. I could protect myself now. It’d be easy. So why wasn’t I acting?

  Because it would be the end of my life at Coronado Prep, I told myself.

  “How did you do it?” Amber walked right up to me, so close I took a step backwards involuntarily. “Did you say something to him? Did you kiss him?” I tried to turn and walk away but Amber shoved me back into a bank of lockers. “I want some answers, demon.”

  “Leave me alone,” I said. My voice sounded weak, and I tried to muster some confidence. “Leave us all alone.”

  “Or what? You can’t do anything to me. I’m a girl.”

  “You have no idea what I can do,” I mumbled.

  “Oh? You want to fight me?” She flipped her hair back from her shoulders, as though giving me a cleaner target. “Go ahead. You’ll be expelled before the lunch bell rings.”

  “I don’t have to hit you to hurt you,” I said, dropping my voice.

  “Sticks and stones,” Amber shrugged. “You think I care what you say to me?”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Enlighten me.” Amber’s eyes gleamed hungrily. When I didn’t say anything, her grin deepened. She brushed some imaginary lint off my shoulder. “That’s what I thought. You’re not as powerful as you’d like me to believe, are you?”

  I stepped forward. Startled, Amber fell back a few paces. “You want to know what I did to Parker?” I asked, my voice low and threatening. “I found him in a dream and planted a seed in his sleeping mind.”

  “A seed?” Amber tried to scoff at this, but her voice wavered.

  “Into that seed, I channeled my anger, my hatred for Parker. It was easy; all I had to do was think about Cassie, and what he’d done to her. The seed grew heavier and heavier, until I couldn’t hold it any longer. And I left it to grow in Parker’s mind like some kind of slow-acting time bomb. It worked on him, until those thoughts I poured into the seed became his thoughts.” I took another step forward and this time Amber stumbled back away from me.

  “He tried to kill himself—” Amber stared at me. For the first time she seemed aware, really aware of what she was looking at.

  “Now you know why,” I answered, feeling sick. What I’d done to Parker—I hadn’t known what the consequences would be. Yes, I wanted him to suffer for breaking Cassie’s heart. I never wanted him to try to take his own life. By a lucky twist of fate, he’d survived the suicide attempt. But the incident had left a stain, literally. I’d returned to my dream garden after planting the seed to find the rose petals had darkened, red reaching farther toward the heart of each rose, a clear symbol of my transgression. “You don’t want me for an enemy,” I said. “Trust me.”

  Amber shrank back against the locker bay. “I told you,” she breathed. “I told you she was a demon.”

  An icy wash of fear poured down my back. I turned and saw Ally emerging from an empty locker behind me.

  Amber had set me up.

  I spun on Amber, who was already regaining her composure. “I think,” she said, forcing her shoulders back. “If you could hurt me in a dream, you would have done it already.”

  I blanched. Amber was right—but not for the reasons she thought. I wouldn’t risk my own humanity to punish some self-absorbed prom queen, no matter how satisfying it might feel at the time. Amber, watching my face closely for any reaction, smiled as I confirmed her suspicion.

  “That’s what I thought,” she said.

  “Leave my friends out of this,” I warned.

  “Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it?” She asked. “You want me to leave them alone, you know what you have to do.”

  Amber and Ally walked smugly out of the locker room, turning their backs on me confidently. Unless I wanted to sacrifice my future I was no threat to them, and now they knew it.

  I skipped lunch. I didn’t have it in me to share the dining hall with Amber.

  Instead, I retreated back to the edge of the faculty parking lot, sitting under an aspen tree and playing the scene from this morning over and over in my mind.

  I was a wreck when Lucas found me. He’d smuggled a plate of food out of the dining hall for me, but I wasn’t hungry. After I told him so, he nodded.

  “I figured it was worth a shot,” he said, joining me at the base of the Aspen tree.

  “What’s the word on Rick and the others?” We’d been waiting for an announcement from the headmaster.

  “This isn’t going to make you feel any better,” Lucas said.

  “Why? What happened?”

  “They’re claiming it was just a prank that got out of control.”

  “What?! The held him down and shaved his head completely bald!”

  “I know. But apparently Fiedler believes them. They got a three-day suspension.”

  “That’s it?” I pulled back to read Lucas’s face, stunned. It was barely a slap on the wrist.

  “That’s it.” He didn’t look any happier about it than I was. The bell rang, announcing the end of lunch. We had five minutes to get to fifth period. Lucas stood, offering me his hand. I let him help me stand, and dusted leaves and dirt off the back of my plaid skirt.

  “Cassie. Now Royal,” I said. I looked at Lucas, my worry evident in my gaze.

  Lucas pulled me close. “I’d like to see her try to mess with me.”

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “I don’t know. I think I’d look kind of badass with a shaved head.”

  I smiled, but my heart wasn’t in it.

  “Speak of the devil,” I heard Lucas mumble.

  I looked up and saw Amber walking across the quad towards us. Behind her, Ally walked hand-in-hand with Parker. I looked around, desperate to avoid her, but we were standing at the edge of campus—there was nowhere to hide. Amber’s eyes caught on me.

  An irrational swell of panic kicked up inside me - all I wanted was to disappear. And just like that, my Lilitu instinct kicked in. Leathery wings—invisible to most mortal eyes—materialized around me, cloaking me from view.

  Lucas uttered a startled curse under his breath. “Braedyn? What are you doing?” he whispered.

  But my eyes were locked on Amber. She froze, staring at me, stricken. Ally and Parker came to a stop beside her, sharing a strange look. I saw Ally ask Amber something. Amber barely reacted.

  “Amber can see me,” I hissed. “She’s a spotter.” My skin crawled. I felt naked, laid bare under her gaze.

  Lucas turned and saw Amber’s face. “Oh, man. You go. I’ll deal with Amber.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I ran, feeling Amber’s eyes on me all the way into the South Hall. The hall was empty; most kids were already in fifth period, waiting for the bell to start class.

 
; I pulled the door closed behind me and slumped against the wall, uncloaking.

  I’d thought the hall was empty, but I’d been wrong. Someone gave a strangled cry. I looked up. Seth was there, staring at me, horrified.

  “Seth.” I held out my hands, trying to soothe him with the gesture.

  Seth jerked back. His eyes raked over my face, but whatever he saw there did nothing to calm him. He turned away from me and ran down the hall. So much for keeping my secret. There was no going back. Seth knew I was Lilitu.

  Chapter 6

  Seth was nowhere to be seen after school that day.

  “I should have run after him, tried to do some damage control,” I said, full of self-recrimination.

  Lucas, leaning against the hood of my car, shook his head. “Wouldn’t have made it any easier. He just needs time.”

  “How much time?” I worried aloud.

  By the time the parking lot had emptied of everyone not staying for an afternoon practice of some variety, I was pacing in front of my car.

  “I don’t think he’s coming,” Lucas said. “We should get home.”

  “He didn’t let me explain.” All I could see was that look of horror on his face, replaying itself in my mind over and over. “He must think—” I covered my face with my hands. “I don’t know what he must think.”

  “Come on, Braedyn. He’s smart. He knows Gretchen’s a spotter.”

  I looked up sharply. Lucas reached out a hand to me, his gaze steady.

  “He’ll work it out,” Lucas murmured. “And when he does, he’ll realize you’re on our side.”

  I took Lucas’s offered hand and let him draw me close. “Okay.” But that left another problem. “Amber,” I whispered. “What do we tell the Guard?”

  Lucas shook his head, miserable. Spotters were rare—and they were critical to the Guard’s mission. You could always train more Guardsmen to fight, but being a spotter wasn’t something you could learn. The Guard had lost Dina last year, the spotter for Marx’s unit. They’d come to help us battle Ais and Dina had died—killed by Ais in the first moments of our fight. Since Dina’s death, no new spotter had been found for Marx’s team, which left them dangerously exposed.

  “I think for now,” Lucas said after a long moment. “We keep it to ourselves.”

  It was what I wanted to hear him say, but I still felt a twinge of guilt. The Guard needed people like Amber—regardless of what I thought of having her embraced by my friends and family.

  Lucas stood and opened the driver’s side door for me. With a heavy heart, I drove us both home.

  That night, after practice and dinner with the Guard, Dad and I returned home.

  “Feel like watching some TV with your old man?” Dad asked.

  “I think I’m going to turn in early tonight,” I said.

  Dad’s eyebrows jumped a little in surprise. “You’re feeling okay?”

  “Yeah. Just tired.” That was true, but it was only one part of the truth.

  As I lay down in bed, I willed myself into a dream. I was aware of my head hitting the pillow, but the sensation was far away; I was already standing in the odd rose garden that waited for me every night.

  I knelt and put my hand on the ground at my feet, sensing for the world beyond this tiny dream. I’d learned that perceiving this place as real—a real garden, with clouds and dirt and roses—made it real to my sleeping mind and trapped me here. But once I could sense the dream for what it was, I’d slip out of my secluded bubble and into the larger dream space shared by all living things.

  A pool of darkness opened at my feet, and the swirling stars of other sleepers’ dreams came into view. I sat there for a long time, until I sensed the dream I was waiting for spring alight in the darkness.

  “Karayan,” I said, calling her dream out of the crowd. It rose up to the surface of my pool. I reached down and touched it, willing myself inside.

  Karayan turned as I entered her dream, her perfect mouth dropping open in silent surprise.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said. Karayan’s dreamscape was dotted with bluebells, which stirred in a sudden breeze; Karayan’s unease manifesting itself.

  “How did you—” With visible effort, Karayan struggled to regain her composure. “It’s generally considered rude to force your way into another Lilitu’s dream,” she said crisply.

  “You do it all the time,” I retorted.

  “That’s different,” Karayan said, waving this away. “I’m like your mentor.”

  “My—” I stared at her, momentarily stunned into silence.

  “Uh, yes?” Karayan’s eyes narrowed. “Or are you forgetting coming to me, asking for help with your little extra-curricular revenge project?”

  The irritated response died on my lips. Karayan was right; I’d gone to her for help to punish Parker. Karayan was the one who’d showed me how to plant the seed in his sleeping mind—but only because I asked her to.

  “Fine,” I said, swallowing my pride. “Mentor me.” I willed two chairs into being and sat in one of them. The leather felt soft under my fingers, warm and comforting. Karayan eyed the chairs with a strange look in her face, but sat. She ran a hand over the surface of her chair, reluctantly appreciative. “I need to know how someone becomes a spotter,” I said.

  Karayan turned her beautiful eyes back to my face. “Why? Don’t tell me you want more of them out there?”

  “No,” I said impatiently, “there’s a girl at school. She saw me.”

  Karayan leaned back, considering this for a moment. “Amber,” she said at last. “Of course.”

  “Why ‘of course’?”

  “Because of Derek.”

  “But they weren’t even dating when—” I faltered. “When he died.”

  Karayan gave me a pitying look. “Braedyn. Do we need to talk about the birds and the bees again?”

  I blushed hotly. “What does sex have to do with any of this?”

  “Everything,” she said simply.

  I waited, but when she didn’t offer anything further, I was forced to speak. “I don’t understand.”

  Karayan tilted her head to study me with a condescending smile. “I know you don’t, sweetie.”

  “Just tell me what you’re talking about,” I snapped.

  Karayan’s smile widened, but she settled in her chair to explain. “When two people have sex, they forge a bond whether they want to or not. It’s not just a physical act. It’s a union of spirit. And when one of those spirits is damaged, sometimes the other is impacted as well.” Karayan’s eyes grew thoughtful. “Spotters are usually deeply in love.”

  “When you say Amber was impacted...” I prompted.

  “Altered. Unblinded to the larger world, somehow. That change allowed her to see through a Lilitu’s defenses after—” but here Karayan stopped.

  “After you turned Derek into a Thrall,” I finished.

  The bluebells on the hill around us shivered. I glanced at them, then back at Karayan, surprised. She’d never indicated any remorse for attacking Derek. But that was definitely an emotional reaction.

  Karayan stood abruptly. “You should go.”

  “I have more questions,” I protested.

  Karayan glared at me and I felt a strange pressure, like the larger dream world was trying to suck me out of Karayan’s dream. My eyes snapped back to Karayan’s face.

  “Stop,” I said.

  The pressure ceased. Karayan staggered back almost as if buffeted by a gale-force wind. Her face registered shock.

  I was dimly aware of my alarm clock, blaring back in the real world. Time to wake up. I stood, and Karayan took another step away from me, eyeing me like I was some kind of venomous snake.

  “If you don’t want to talk in dreams, meet me in the Plaza today after school,” I said. “Four o’clock.”

  I opened my eyes. Sunlight crowded the edges of my drapes, eager to flood the room with dawn. I felt a moment’s irrational resentment, then sighed. Ready or not, the day was
beginning. Pushing back the covers, I rose out of bed.

  I tried to catch sight of Seth before first period, hanging out by his locker. He didn’t show. First bell rang and I gave up, resigning myself to seeing him in physics. Provided he had even come to school today. What if he told his mom and she kept him home from school to keep him away from me? I wondered. What if I never get the chance to explain?

  I walked into first period. Amber was back in her usual spot in the second row of class, talking with Missy. She pointedly ignored me as I entered, which was fine by me.

  Cassie was scribbling notes into the margins around another costume drawing.

  “Nice,” I said, admiring the design of another tunic, this one encrusted with some kind of rubies.

  “Sorry,” Cassie said without looking up. “Can’t talk right now. My fabric estimates are due today.”

  “Right.” I opened my history book, pretending to look over last night’s chapter, feeling awkward and lonely. Not a great start to a very long day.

  The morning classes seemed to last forever. I found myself checking the clock every two or three minutes, urging time to leap forward. But when the time came for physics class, I found myself dragging my feet, suddenly unsure about whether or not I wanted to see Seth after all. I got to class just before the bell rang announcing the start of class.

  Seth was sitting in a desk near the back of the classroom, head bent over his book. Just in front of him, Ally and Amber spotted me and shared a whispered conversation I’m pretty sure featured me as the main subject.

  I was trying to summon the courage to go talk to Seth when Cassie and Royal entered. I felt my heart surge when I saw Royal, and forgot about Seth for the moment. Royal wore a light grey knit skullcap. He gave me a thin smile, tugging on the back of the hat self-consciously.

  “Not my favorite choice, but the alternatives were my brother’s baseball cap or my mom’s beret.”

  “I told you,” Cassie said. “It looks fine.” She turned to me for back up. “Tell him, Braedyn.”

  “Actually,” I said, eyeing him critically. “It looks kind of edgy and cool.”