Anne Bishop - Sebastian

They could still hear the lake performing a slow dance with the sand and stone on the beach.

The waterhorse sighed—and released him.

Sebastian slid off its back, grateful for its help and wary of its nature. “Thank you,” he said, moving around the other demon until he had his hand closed around the handle of the cottage’s front door.

It watched him for a moment, then turned and trotted back the way it had come.

He’d intended to drop his pack and head out for the Den, but a lingering scent of woman made him check the other rooms in the cottage.

He found Glorianna’s note next to the bag of koffea beans.

Sebastian,

There’s something I need to see in another landscape. Then I’ll be back. We need to talk. Be careful.

No signature. She never signed her notes. Not even with an initial. Since he saw her so infrequently anymore, the unsigned notes made her seem less…real.

Considering what the wizards and other Landscapers thought of her, maybe that was her intention.

But—daylight!—the note meant she’d been close by. If he’d waited a few hours before riding out to Wizard City, he could have talked to her instead of facing Koltak.

A shiver went through him. He rubbed the back of his hand over his forehead. Was he ill? He certainly didn’t feel well. But that could be nothing more than a sick feeling in his gut caused by seeing Wizard City again—and remembering things he tried hard to forget.

He rode Philo’s bicycle back to the Den. As he coasted up to the courtyard, he wondered how long he’d been gone. Were the daylight landscapes now passing into another evening or just beginning to see the sunrise?

Since the Den never saw sunrise or sunset, what did it matter?

Admit it. You were disappointed that you hadn’t seen daylight. That’s one of the reasons you were willing to go to that city. To see the world in daylight. To feel the sun on your face. Didn’t happen, though. Hasn’t happened in years. After all, an incubus is the kind of lover women only want to meet in the dark.

Feeling unsettled, and trying to ignore the craving for the hunt growing inside him—a craving that was sharper than anything he’d felt in weeks—Sebastian walked the bicycle to the storage shed at the back of the courtyard. Teaser sat at a nearby table. Since there were plenty of tables available, the other incubus must have chosen to avoid the flirtatious games that usually took place at the tables closer to the street.

Which wasn’t like Teaser at all.

“Why aren’t you out trolling?” Sebastian asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

Teaser gave him a pale imitation of his usual cocky grin. “Wasn’t in the mood for it.” He raised his half-empty mug of ale, then pointed a finger at Sebastian.

A few minutes later, Philo came to the table with a full tray. He set down two mugs of ale, a bowl of melted cheese, and a basket of Phallic Delights.

“He’s been swilling ale for hours now,” Philo muttered, not looking at either incubus. “Get him to eat something before he’s so drunk he can’t even manage a blundering grope.”

Teaser snorted. “Like I’m interested in playing slap and tickle.”

Sebastian, reaching for his mug, froze for a moment. Teaser wasn’t interested? Teaser?

“What’s wrong?” Sebastian looked from Teaser to Philo and back again. “Has something else happened?”

Philo wiped his hands on his apron and kept his eyes focused on the table. “You didn’t tell him?”

“He just got here, didn’t he?” Teaser snapped. “Hasn’t even had time to swallow some ale and wash the taste of Wizard City out of his mouth.”

“What’s wrong?” Sebastian asked again.

Someone at another table called to Philo. He hurried away.

Teaser picked up a penis-shaped roll, swirled it in the melted cheese, and took a bite. Chew, swallow, swirl the next piece of the roll.

Sebastian plucked a Phallic Delight from the basket and swirled it in the cheese. The first bite was a sharp reminder that he hadn’t eaten anything while he’d been away from the Den. Since Teaser didn’t seem anxious to tell him what had happened—or find out what had taken place in Wizard City—he gave his attention to the simple meal.

Then Teaser glanced toward the front of the courtyard and muttered, “Could have done without seeing her. ”

Glorianna? Sebastian looked in the same direction, his heart suddenly pounding. Then he looked away as quickly as Teaser had, hoping the succubus eyeing the other customers was too preoccupied with her own games to notice them.

“Can’t say I’d feel sorry if that one disappeared,” Teaser said, tearing off a piece of the Phallic Delight before dipping it in the cheese.

“You don’t mean that,” Sebastian said sharply.

Teaser flinched. “No, I don’t. It’s just…well… that one. You know the bitch will ooze over here and make snide comments about incubi eating cocks.”

Sebastian huffed. “It’s bread and cheese. We don’t get a vote on what shape Philo chooses to make the rolls.”

“Tell her that.”

I’d rather not get that close. Since they usually weren’t competing for the same prey, the incubi and succubi who lived in the Den tended to get along fairly well—and sometimes even played with one another for a night of mind-blowing sex. But that particular succubus…She didn’t live in the Den, but she visited often enough, and every time he encountered her he felt…uneasy. She was sharper, darker, more predatory than the Den’s residents, and there was a maliciousness to the way she played with her prey that made it clear to those who also played the game that she deliberately stripped all the fun out of sex and turned her prey’s need into desperation and addiction. And she was just as malicious when she tried to lure an incubus into playing her particular game.

They sighed with relief when the succubus turned away from the courtyard.

Breaking the last roll in half, Sebastian scraped the remaining cheese out of the bowl. He handed one piece to Teaser and ate the other. Full, and yet still hungry for something food couldn’t ease, he leaned back in his chair. “You ready to tell me what happened?”

Teaser lifted his mug, then set it down again without drinking. “The alley changed.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s been altered,” Teaser said, his voice sharpened by uneasiness. He paused, clearly struggling with some strong emotions. “We figured we should move the…remains. Couldn’t just leave them there to attract other kinds of predators, could we? But the body was gone. In its place there are green plants growing in the middle of the alley right where the body had been.”

Teaser stared at him. Sebastian looked away.

“Belladonna was here,” he said reluctantly.

“So she did—”

“ No. She wouldn’t bring a killer into the Den. She had to be the one who altered things after we left the alley, but that’s all she did. Although why she’d put plants in a dark alley is anyone’s guess.”

“Covering her tracks?”

Sebastian swore. “How many times do I have to say it, Teaser? I know her.”

“You know the girl she was,” Teaser replied. “Do you really know the Landscaper she’s become?”

No. But he wouldn’t admit that. Not to anyone. Because he had to believe Glorianna wasn’t so different from the girl he’d known.

Teaser hesitated. “Maybe you should stay at the bordello tonight instead of going back to the cottage.”

He almost snapped that an incubus couldn’t afford to be afraid of the dark. Then it occurred to him that Teaser was afraid—afraid to be alone right now and afraid that anyone he invited to his room might give him more than he’d bargained for.