Finding Blood (City Underdark #1)

The Troublemaker

"What do you think you were doing?" asked Hugo before Vanja had the time to reply.

"What do you mean, incubus?" said Vanja, indignant. "You have no--" He noticed Barmond's presence. He immediately changed his tone. "I am a very nice incubus, I promise, I never hurt anyone if I can help-- I mean I never do at all, ever."

"What have you done to Patricia?" said Hugo.

"Erm, do you really want to know everything or do you want the child-friendly version--"

"Don't try that game."

"She's just resting! She's not unconscious or anything--" Vanja gestured at the tent. "I just took a little bit of her energy, not much, you could go and shake her and she would wake up."

Hugo didn't answer. He just crossed his arms and raised a brow.

"Well, maybe she's actually sleeping a little bit deeper than that. But she's still fine!"

"Still? I dragged you over her body and she didn't react."

Barmond suddenly felt a little worried. Incubus could kill while feeding just as vampires could, although of course incubus would never gather half as bad a reputation as vampires because they were generally quite nice. Generally. If that was Patricia in there and she wasn't feeling good-- Well, maybe she had shot once with a bold but, really, she must have known he wouldn't die from it. And then she had been okay-ish with him. Nicer than Hugo had been, at least in Barmond's book. He rounded Hugo and ducked into the tent to check on her.

She looked as if she was breathing, that much he could tell. There wasn't much visibility but he could still see that the darkness was her only covering. Barmond threw her discarded clothes on her and then, not really knowing what else to do, searched for her pulse. He quickly concluded that she seemed fine, just unresponsive. What there anything else he could check?

He tapped her cheek but she didn't respond. If she would have been a vampire, he would have offered her blood on the spot just to help her through it. He remembered when he had gone through a similar experience, how foggy and lethargic he had felt. This wasn't a good feeling. He didn't wish it on anyone, not even Hugo.

Outside, Vanja was still protesting his innocence, recounting how she had agreed to take him back to her tent and that her intentions had been very clear. A little further off, the other werewolves were gathering. Their expressions ranged from worried to outright hostile towards the intruder.

"Did she even know what you were?" asked Hugo.

Vanja interrupted his story and bit his lip, looking mildly panicked.

"No..." he said. "But she didn't seem to really mind when-- She didn't mind at all when I made myself attractive to her--"

"By using your glamour, right?" said Hugo.

"Well--"

"So you tricked her?"

"I mean--"

"At no point did she agree, then."

Vanja opened his mouth but he didn't seem like he had anything else to say.

Barmond used that moment of quiet to step in. "She's not responsive but she seems otherwise fine," he said.

Hugo nodded and passed Barmond on his way inside the tent. And while Barmond did step to the side, that smell of Hugo, that was so him, hit Barmond in the face. For a brief second, he had a flashback to the taste of Hugo's blood, what it felt like to be close to him. And then Hugo was gone.