Incubus

TWELVE

When Amélie returned back to the waterfall, she left behind the anger and loathing that had been bubbling beneath the surface of her skin. She realized grudgingly that as good as it might feel, it wasn't helping her to achieve anything, only clouding her judgment.

Nothing at a first glance appeared to have changed as she emerged back into the clearing. Leah was still asleep on the rock. Bowab was still playing happily in the shallows. The waterfall continued to run, the water hole continued to sparkle, and the breeze continued to blow. Everything was the same, and yet everything seemed somehow different to before.

Leah's skin was slowly beginning to burn. Bowab's laugh sounded harsher. And, almost as though the light was playing tricks on her eyes, the water appeared less clear. Less clean. Everything had been tainted, Amélie realized, by Adrian's presence. It was as though everything he touched had become cursed. The darkness lurking within his soul had somehow seeped out of him and into all that surrounded him. It made her gut clench and her hair stand on end.

Adrian had as good as admitted to her that he wasn't completely human. That like her, he contained powers of his own. He hadn't told her what they were, but that hardly mattered. If Amélie's strange powers were anything to go by, she dreaded to think what kind of abilities Adrian might possess. Especially seeing as they definitely weren't of the good kind.

And yet, despite Amélie's stubbornness, Adrian was fast becoming a mystery she was determined to solve. His closed off, secretive and darkly seductive demeanor had already grudgingly begun to intrigue her.

Amélie watched from where she sat herself down in the shade of a tall fur tree as Adrian wondered across to Leah's sleeping body, bent down over her, and brushed his fingers lightly down her neck. As he touched her bronze skin, Amélie watched as Leah's entire body shuddered once, then sighed deeply and fell deathly still, the only movement the slight rise and fall of her chest. Adrian closed his eyes and inhaled a series of deep breaths before lifting his hand away from her skin. Eyes opening once again, he rose in one fluid movement, turned in Amélie's direction, and strode confidently across to her.

Lowering himself onto a rock nearby, he regarded her through his dark, enticing lashes, an almost hungry expression lingering on his face. "I don't want to hurt her, you know," he said quietly, eyes fixed on Leah's unmoving body. "She has a kind soul – if not a little too naïve for her own good."

"I know," Amélie replied, regarding her best friend in concern. "And if you know it too, then why are you doing this to her?"

Adrian sighed. "You know why, Amélie. She is your closest friend, and my best chance of being able to spend time with you without you running for the hills."

Internally, Amélie's insides squirmed. She had suspected from the moment she saw Adrian step out of the taxi that there was an alternate motive behind why he was with Leah, but hearing him say it out loud made it somehow more official. More real.

"You're right," she agreed under her breath. "I did know. I just... hoped I was wrong, I guess."

"You're a smart woman," Adrian said solemnly. "I know it, and you know it, too. And yet you doubt yourself more than anyone I've ever met. You went as far as to isolate yourself all the way out here because of it. Why is it that you're so doubtful of yourself?"

Blinking down at her hands, Amélie didn't quite know what to make of Adrian's words. Was his unexpected compliment laced with an insult, or merely an observation?

"Isn't that obvious?" Amélie asked. "I'm... dangerous. I can do things I have barely any control of. Things I don't understand. While you might know what I am, I don't, and I can't let others risk being hurt whenever I get angry or have a bad day. It's already cost three people their lives. I refuse to allow it to take any more."