Incubus (75 page)

“She figured it out. And now I’ve got what I need to bury that bastard.” Seth looked at me. “We’re

going to make him pay.”

I knew that look. It was the look on Lucas’s face whenever he talked about the Lilitu who’d killed

his brother. I’d seen that look in Gretchen’s eyes, Hale’s eyes, Thane’s eyes. I’d seen it in Dad’s eyes,

when he’d told me about the night of my biological father’s death.

But this time, the enemy was an incubus.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “This is something the Guard needs to hear.”

When I pulled up outside my home, Dad rushed out to meet us.

I could tell by the look on his face that I was in deep trouble.

“Inside,” he said.

“Just wait,” I said. “You have to listen to—”

“
Inside.
” He glanced at Seth, who withered under his look. “You too.”

Instead of obeying, I ran to the Guard’s front door.

“Braedyn,” Dad growled behind me.

I pushed open the door. No one was in the living room. I heard Dad’s step on the stair and raced

for the basement.

Hale was sifting through a massive crate of ancient weapons, so corroded by the years that they

looked almost black. Lucas sat at the armory’s table, polishing one of the ancient weapons to a

brilliant shine. When he saw me, he dropped the dagger and stood.

“What the hell, Braedyn,” he said. Hurt and anger warred across his face. He must have realized

we’d left him behind when we didn’t show up to lunch. So he’d come home to report us.

Hale turned, his eyes narrowing when he saw me.

“We have to do the ritual on winter solstice,” I said. “If we don’t, we won’t have another chance

for 20 years.” My eyes slid back to Lucas. He blinked, processing this news. When the enormity of the

consequences hit him, he took a step toward me.

“Your father’s looking for you,” Hale said, advancing on me.

“That’s what Angela figured out,” I said, losing my calm. “That’s why she died!”

“It’s true,” Seth said from the top of the stairs. Dad gripped him by the upper arm and guided him

down the stairs. “Listen to her. Please.”

“All we have to do,” I gushed when Hale and Dad turned to me, “is find the vessel. It’s got all the

answers we need.”

“We have to find the vessel
first,
” Seth said as he and Dad reached the bottom of the stairs.

“First?” Hale glanced at Seth, but Dad turned to me.

“What does he mean?”

“We saw someone at Seth’s house.” I glanced at Lucas. He was watching me, his expression

haggard. “I think it was the incubus.”

Dad closed his eyes, letting go of Seth to grab the stair railing for support.

“The Guard has the vessel,” I said. “We just have to figure out where it’s being kept.”

Lucas’s eyes lit up. “Of course. It looked familiar because there’s a similar design on-”

“
Lucas,
” Dad snapped. “Go call Gretchen. Ask her to tell the others they can stop looking for

Braedyn and Seth now.” Lucas jumped to obey. Dad turned on me. His eyes were full of fury. “This is

not what I meant when I asked you to be there for Seth today,” he said quietly.

“But now we know who the incubus is,” I said. “We’ve seen him. And now we know we have to

figure out this ritual within the next two weeks. Seth and I can reconstruct Angela’s research, we have

her—”

“No.” Dad’s tone silenced me. “This is a matter for the Guard.”

“But we’re so close,” Seth said.

“
It isn’t up for discussion,
” Dad roared. I stumbled away from the rage in his voice. I’d never seen

Dad this angry before. Seth fell silent, but he glared at Dad, mutinous.

Hale glanced at Seth’s face, then turned to include me. “You’re part of the Guard,” he said.

“Decisions like this are made at the top.”

“Fine,” Seth said through gritted teeth. “So who do we have to ask for permission to save the

world?”

“Terrence Clay,” Dad answered. Two simple words, but beneath them I could sense a virtual ocean

of roiling emotion about this man.

“He’s been the head of the Guard for the last two decades,” Hale explained. “Something this

important, we have to run it by him before we make any decisions.”

“Why?” Seth asked. “You’re here now, doesn’t that make you more qualified to...?”

“Trust me,” Dad cut in. “Clay would not like us acting on this without consulting him.”

“So how do we reach him?” Seth asked.

“Thane,” I murmured. “Thane’s already on the way, isn’t he?”

Dad gave me an appraising look and nodded. “We think Clay’s somewhere in Canada.”

“But this is stupid,” Seth said, starting to lose it. “We can’t wait for permission for some stranger

in another country! We’re running out of time!”

“He’s right,” I said. “We’ve only got two weeks until winter solstice.”

“If Angela was killed over this, and you go poking around in it—” Dad stopped himself, but I

understood.

“Tell Thane to hurry,” I said. “Please.”

Dad took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. He kissed me on the forehead. “I will. I will.” He

drew me close into a tight hug, then released me. “Go back to school.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“Gather the Guardsmen,” he said. “It’s time to find this incubus.”

I led Seth up the stairs. We could hear Lucas talking to Gretchen on the phone in the kitchen. Seth

grabbed my arm, stopping me in the privacy of the hall.

He lowered his voice, but the emotion was clear in his eyes. “So, that’s it? It’s over?”

“It’s not over,” I said. Let Thane go to Terrence for permission. If he gave it, great. But I wasn’t

going to wait for some old man I’d never met to decide the course of my future. Even if it meant

hiding from Dad. Even if it meant lying to Lucas. “We’re going to do this ritual. But we’re going to

have to do it on our own.”

Chapter 12

The new moon, curved in the sky like a silver thread, had set hours ago. Stars glittered with fierce

determination, but their light was too distant to offer much comfort. So different from the vast

darkness of the dream reality. There, the glimmering lights of dreams responded in swirling gusts of

motion to my every thought.

I sat at my window, waiting for Dad to fall asleep. I could hear him moving through his room,

pacing anxiously. It was all I could do not to follow suit. All afternoon I had been plagued by the

knowledge that if we couldn’t stop this war from starting in the next two weeks, I might not get the

chance to become human for the next two decades. I’d watch Lucas grow and age, while the Lilitu

within held me back. And if I slipped? If waiting became too great a test of our patience? If I hurt

Lucas?

I shuddered, and leaned my head against the window frame. Lucas’s light had gone out over an

hour ago. I felt a pang of longing to join him in his dream, where I knew I couldn’t accidentally hurt

him. But I had other plans tonight.

Finally, Dad’s pacing ceased. I heard the springs on his bed groan, followed by the faint click of

his light switch. I forced myself to wait another half-hour, then eased my bedroom door open. At the

door to Dad’s room, I could hear the steady, deep breathing of sleep. My shoulders unknotted,

releasing a tiny fraction of the tension from the day. At least now I could
do
something.

I hurried down the stairs, slipping down the back hall to the guest room. I could see light spilling

out from the crack under the door. I knocked, and heard a soft thud as Seth jumped out of bed.

Moments later, the door opened.

“We’re good?” he asked.

“He’s asleep. What did you find out?”

“You better come in.”

Seth opened the door a little wider. I entered the room, and Seth closed the door behind me. His

bed was still made, strewn with notes he’d taken while reading his mother’s journal. On one page he’d

made a rudimentary sketch of the vessel. I picked it up. It was nowhere as detailed as the drawing that

had burned up on Angela’s desk, but it was a start.

Seth stood behind me to get a look at the drawing over my shoulder. “It’s an instruction manual,”

he said. “The vessel, I mean.”

“An instruction manual for what?”

He shuffled through the notes on his bed and came up with a handful of crinkled pages. “For the

ritual. Apparently it’s kind of complicated.”

“No surprise there,” I said, an edge of bitterness pushing through my voice.

Seth glanced at me and smiled. “We’ll get it. I mean, the monks only had the vessel. We’ve got the

internet.” He handed me the page. “Here. This is the list of ingredients we’ll need.”

I scanned the notes. “
Ericameria nauseosus, Juniperus scopulorum, Pinus edulis, Rosa canina
hips

—” I looked up. “The ingredient list is in Latin?”

“Don’t panic. According to Google, it’s mostly a bunch of plants.” Seth leaned over to point at the

page in my hand, translating. “Basically—chamisa, juniper, piñon, dog rose hips, et cetera.”

“So, we just have to go out into the desert and pick some wildflowers?”

“Not exactly,” Seth said. “Some of them have to be tinctures, like the juniper and the rose hips.

The problem is, we’ve only got two weeks.”

“Hm. Yes,” I said. “And that might mean something to me if I knew what a tincture was.”

Seth ducked his head. “Right, sorry. A tincture. It’s just basically alcohol infused with a berry or

something. So, like, take some juniper berries, soak ‘em in vodka for a month or two, then strain them

out and
voila,
tincture.”

“Vodka, huh?”

“Well, the clearer the alcohol, the better. Medicinal alcohol would be best, but vodka works in a

pinch.”

I shook my head. “Those monks must have really liked their moonshine.”

Seth chuckled.

I returned to scanning the page. “Herbs and tinctures.”

“Yes, mostly,” Seth said. I heard something in his voice and looked up. He avoided my gaze. “It

shouldn’t be too hard to get our hands on most of that stuff.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Seth hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Here.” He pointed back at the list. “The last ingredient.”

I read it off the page. “
Sanguinis lamia.
” I looked up, suddenly chilled. “
Sanguinis?
Doesn’t that

mean—”

“Yeah,” Seth said. “Blood.”

“So, what is
lamia?
”

Seth squirmed in his socks. He couldn’t meet my eyes. “It’s the Latin word for Lilitu.”

“Oh.” I turned and sat on the edge of Seth’s bed.

“But we don’t need much,” he said. “Just a few drops should work.”

“You think the monks stopped with just a few drops?” My voice sounded faint in my ears.

“I think if more was needed, they would have detailed it in the ingredients list.” Seth sat beside me

on the bed. “Seriously, Braedyn. They took crazy insane notes about every single ingredient. Which

juniper berries could go in the tincture, how to harvest the perfect rose hips—but when it came to

sanguinis lamia...
” he shrugged. “That’s all they wrote; no annotation, no explanation.” He studied my

face, concerned. “Braedyn? I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I thought—”

“No,” I interrupted him. “It’s okay. I’ll do it.” And as I said the words, I knew that I had to do it. If

I wanted to be free of this curse, if I wanted a normal life, this was the way.

“Are you sure?” Seth asked.

“Why? Are you hiding another Lilitu in here somewhere?” I asked.

Seth smiled. “No. ‘Fraid not.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Seth let out a long sigh. “The only problem left is—”

“The vessel.” I finished the thought for him. Seth nodded, his eyes solemn. “Well, we’ll have to

cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said. “In the meantime, you’ve got our shopping list. There’s

a lot we can do to prepare.”

“Yes,” Seth agreed. “But we don’t have a lot of time left.”

I could see the worry in his eyes. We had two weeks to find this mysterious vessel, or all the

tinctures in the world wouldn’t help us lock the Lilitu out.

“Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing?” Lucas asked, leaning against the locker bay. It was

the first time we’d been alone together since Seth and I had ditched school to search his mom’s house.

“You’re right. I should have,” I said, closing my locker. I was exhausted. I’d left Seth’s room at