“What the hell was that?” Nik asks, standing in the barn aisle looking terrified.
“I have no idea,” I reply. “It sounded like ice sliding off the roof but it’s been too warm for that.”
Ethan has his gun raised and pointed at the ceiling, waiting for whatever just landed to start moving again. We all stand there, frozen, for what feels like forever. When we don’t hear anything, Ethan motions for Hunter to follow him outside. I follow, holding my right hand out in front of me, ready to summon fire if need be.
Hunter and Ethan go in opposite directions, running around the barn. “If there was something there, it’s gone now.”
“Or maybe not,” I say, breath leaving in a ragged huff. “Because I’m looking at it right now.”
“Where?” Ethan raises his gun and I point to the edge of the barn room. It’s the gargoyle from my dream, but instead of being hot and sexy and taking on the form of my boyfriend, it’s small with a shriveled face and yellow teeth. It jumps back, disappearing from sight once again.
“Wait,” I rush out. “It…it’s gone again. Fuck. Please tell me I’m not going crazy.”
“You’re not,” Nik starts. “Because I saw it too. And I think we should take the advice of getting out of sight now.”
We rush back into the barn, with Ethan standing in the doorway so he can scan our surroundings again. I feel another pull on my energy, and this time it’s invasive.
“You know what it is , don’t you?” Ethan asks.
“I believe I do,” Nik tells us, eyes wide. “We’re dealing with an incubus.”
Chapter
Sixteen
“What?” Ethan and I both ask at the same time.
“An incubus, a demon that feeds on sexual energy, not the band” Nik explains, though I already know what an incubus is.
“Why would a—” I start but it suddenly makes sense. I’ve been feeling so drained after sex, like more than normal. I’m usually exhausted or at the very least winded after a good romp with Ethan, and I chalked this up to normal post-sex tiredness.
But it was more than that.
I was drained, and when we were in the house and I felt something take my energy, it was when Ethan and I were kissing. Holy shit.
“Are you sure?” Ethan looks in at us for a few seconds and then goes back to watching the skyline.
“I think I can test this theory.” I step forward, taking a fistful of material of Ethan’s shirt. I pull him to me and then spin him around, pushing him up against the wall. Holding his gun to his side with one hand, he brings his other to my waist, unable to help himself. The second our lips touch, Hunter can sense an increase in dark energy, and I feel like something is trying to take more energy from me again.
“Definitely an incubus,” I breathe, pulling away from Ethan, missing the way his body feels against mine as soon as we’re apart. Bringing my hand to my head, I rub my temple and slowly inhale, feeling weaker yet again.
“It already seems to have made a psychic connection with you, Anora.” Nik’s eyes widen and he steps closer to the large barn doors, ducking as he looks outside.
“Is it still out here?” Ethan raises his gun again.
“It was never actually here,” Nik goes on. “Not on our plane. It lives in the astral realm, mostly hidden from view. Anora, Hunter, and I have the ability to see into other planes of existence. That’s how we were able to see glimpses of it.”
“Shit,” I mutter, remembering reading an entry about them in my demon encyclopedia. “These things don’t just take energy and leave you tired. They’ll take and take until you’re too weak to fight and then they kill you and eat your, uh, sex organs.” I put my hand over my stomach. “I don’t want my uterus ripped out of my body and eaten by demons.”
“I don’t want that either.” Ethan flicks his gaze to me. “I’m not letting anything hurt you. How do I kill it?”
“I’m not sure. There wasn’t anything in the book about killing them, but I do know they can take energy when they’re hidden in the astral plane. That’s why they’re sometimes referred to as psychic vampires. But they can feed best when they’re here, in our world.”
“And if they’re here, I can kill them.”
“It would seem so,” I say and look at Nik. “Right?”
“It makes sense,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I only know a bit about them because I had this cousin.” He rolls his eyes. “He claimed he was so good at sex an incubus followed him around, feeding off anyone he fucked.”
“Wait,” Ethan starts, turning toward me. “You’re saying the reason this thing is targeting Anora is because I’m so good in bed?”
“I don’t think it works quite that way. Though, they are attracted to sexual energy. So the better the sex, the better it would feed, I guess.” I shudder. “This is too personal. Has it been watching us?”
“If it has, we gave it a good show. Many, many times.”
I purse my lips and give Ethan a glare before letting out a sigh. The demon took a decent chunk of my energy and I’m tired, which isn’t good. Not when I’m going to be fighting this thing.
“There’s a spell in my book,” I start, lowering my voice, still a little paranoid about being telepathically stalked after the last demon attack. “I might be able to pull it out of the astral plane and into ours.”
“The barn is spelled, right?” Nik asks, taking another quick step back into the dirt aisle. “Same as the house?”
“Right.”
“Good, because I’m starting to remember now how Gran got mad at my cousin Tomir for joking about seeing an incubus. Because if it’s flitting between planes enough for you to see it, it means it’s getting ready to make a kill.”
“Of course,” I huff and tip my head, mind going a mile a minute. “I cast my warding here, in the physical plane. The demon probably can’t walk through the front door, but like with X, it’s still able to affect me psychically. But if I can project to the astral plane and recast the same warding, that would up the protection ten-fold.”
“That might be true, but you’re not doing that,” Ethan replies. “Not now at least. That thing has weakened you to the point of making you sick. You’d be a sitting duck if you went to the astral plane.”
“Trust me, I know.” The horses spook again and Hunter lets me know the incubus is circling us, still on the astral plane. “I’m a sitting duck here as well.” Flicking my eyes back up to the roof, I cross the barn and slice twine off a bale of hay and toss everyone several flakes. I check water buckets and make sure all the stalls are locked.
“Ready to make a run for it?” I ask as Ethan slides the large doors shut, leaving about a foot and a half open for us to slip through. Holding out my hand, I let magic start to gather around my fingers. When in doubt, throwing a fireball at a demon seems like a good option.
“Go first,” Ethan tells me, stepping out of the barn and motioning for me to go ahead. Hunter stays by my side, shadowing around me as I run into the house, leaving the door open behind me so Nik and then Ethan can come in.