Anne Bishop - Sebastian

“I’m going back to the cottage,” Sebastian said. “There’s only one bed, but the couch is comfortable enough.”

“You asking me to stay?”

Sebastian shrugged. He wasn’t willing to play scaredy-boy, but he also wasn’t going to insult his friend by indicating he knew which of them really needed company. Besides, Glorianna had said she would be back, and he wanted to be where she could find him easily.

“A couch,” Teaser grumbled. “Course, you’ve also got koffee, so I guess that’s an even trade. All right, I’ll keep you company. You settle with Philo, and I’ll see if I can snag another ride with a demon cycle.”

Sebastian remained at the table, knowing Philo would come to clear the dishes.

“Well?” Philo said, keeping his voice low even though there was no one at the nearby tables. “What happened in Wizard City? Did you get an audience?”

“We’ll get no help from the Justice Makers. They don’t care what happens in the Den.”

Philo sighed. “We’re on our own then.”

Belladonna will help. He didn’t think anyone else in the Den would find that thought comforting, so he said, “Yes, we’re on our own.”

It stretched out beneath the place where the Dark Ones dwelled. In the land above It, dogs howled a warning, only to be hushed or ignored; flocks and herds of animals stirred, alert and edgy, their simple minds aware that a hunter had come among them. But the best prey ignored their instincts, believing themselves powerful and superior.

It unfurled a thousand mental tentacles, sending them into that twilight place between wakefulness and dreams—that place that revealed the heart’s hopes and fears. The wakeful mind denied or caged so many desires. The dreaming mind cloaked fears in symbols. But here, in the twilight, the heart couldn’t hide or be denied. Here, in the twilight, was the true feast upon which It fed.

She’s acting strange. My business depends on her family’s wealth. Has she discovered I have a mistress?

I put those coins in the money box. I did! But they’ll think I’m a thief and will send me to a different landscape. Maybe even a dark landscape.

It fed, and fed on, the fears, glutting Itself as It hadn’t been able to do since that long-ago time when It lost the battle to control the world.

Yes, It whispered through the tentacles. You are right to fear that. It will happen, has already happened.

Sated, It withdrew the mental tentacles. It had found the Dark Ones. But something tickled old memories, nudging them into a different pattern. So It turned away, intending to leave the city, pleased that It knew where to find the Dark Ones but they didn’t know how to find It.

Then a mind, rising up into the twilight from uneasy sleep, caught Its attention. Seduced by the powerful emotions, It extended a tentacle, slipped into that mind.

Yes, It whispered eagerly. Yes, you have reason to fear, reason to hate. Yes.

But the mind was rising to wakefulness too fast. There was strength there…and power that would recognize an intrusion.

It left the city, looking like a rippling shadow as It moved under the landscape. The last mind It had touched puzzled It. So much fear, so much rage, so much loathing. But It didn’t understand the word that was the source of all those delicious feelings.

Sebastian.

Feeling awkward, Sebastian dropped a blanket and pillow on one end of the couch.

Foolish to feel that way. Lee had bunked on the couch any number of times when he’d come to visit.

But Lee was human. Teaser was not.

“Need anything else?” he asked.

“Nope,” Teaser replied, pulling off his boots.

“Sleep well.” Sebastian walked to his bedroom doorway. Before he stepped into the other room, Teaser said quietly, “Pleasant dreams.”

He turned to face the other incubus, who watched him with too much understanding.

“There’s a…feel…about you when you’ve abstained from hunting for too many days,” Teaser said. “I know you need to feed the hunger, but…Just be careful, all right?”

Not knowing what to say, Sebastian nodded, walked into the bedroom, and closed the door.

Was it apparent to everyone? Or was it that Teaser, being an incubus, could spot the signs of a craving that had taken on the sharp edge of need?

He undressed, tossing his clothes on to a chair to deal with them later. Then he slipped into bed, extinguished the oil lamp on the bedside table, and pulled the sheet up to his waist.

In the dark, he felt the steady beating of his heart as he unfurled the power that made the incubi what they were. He let his mind drift as he sought a female mind yearning for a dream lover. This time he wouldn’t try to shape the scenario. She could set the stage for this interlude. And in the twilight of waking dreams, he would provide a face and voice to her imaginary lover, would provide the sensation of touch, would create the stimulation that would arouse her until she came.

And he would feed on that arousal, on that orgasm, until it eased the hunger inside him. It wouldn’t hurt her. He never hunted to cause harm. But the feelings he stimulated in the female were as necessary to his well-being as food and water and air.

Please.

He narrowed his focus to that female thought that resonated with something inside him and tried to strengthen the link between their minds.

I didn’t want him to feel that way. I didn’t encourage him to want…lustful things…from me. I didn’t!

Ssh, Sebastian whispered soothingly. It’s all right.

Why can’t someone love me?

I can. I will.

The Landscapers will send me to a bad place. I just want—

What? What do you want?

I want to be safe. I want to be loved. I want to be someplace where I’m not afraid all the time.

He hesitated. This wasn’t a female yearning for pleasure. Daylight! Why had his power pulled him toward her when she wasn’t going to do anything to ease his hunger?

Please.

Something warm and sweet flowed through the link between them. Something that lived inside her, waiting to bloom. Something elusive and so seductive it took his breath away.

Come to me, he demanded. Come to me.

I—

The link between them snapped.

Sweating and frustrated, Sebastian furled his power.

What had just happened? And why? He had no sense of who she was or where she was. Nothing that would help him retrace his path and find her again.

And why would he want to find an obviously troubled female?

Something warm and sweet inside her and so, so seductive. Something that made him feel as if he’d just gotten the tiniest taste of something he’d been searching for—and craving—all his life.

Sitting up, he rubbed his hands over his face. He was past tired, but he wasn’t going to fall sleep anytime soon.

Come to me, he thought, feeling his heart ache with wanting. Come to me. Because I don’t know how to find you.

We have saved the world with stones and mortar.

And we have made our own prison.

We cannot leave this place undefended. The Dark Guides, the ones who used the malevolent side of the human heart to create the Eater of the World, have disappeared in the shattered landscapes of Ephemera. We cannot take the chance of them finding this place and releasing this evil. We cannot take the chance of anyone breaking that wall.

There are too few of us left. We came from lands all across Ephemera to fight the Eater of the World, but now that the world has become a confusion of shuffled, broken pieces, we can no longer find the places we called home. We have no hope of going back to our lives and the loved ones we left behind.