Incubus

TWELVE

"That's very noble of you," Adrian remarked darkly. "But it isn't going to solve your problems. You're just avoiding facing your demons. You would do much better if you learned to control them instead. It would save you a lot of trouble."

Amélie snorted before she could stop herself. She would sooner wade back into the swimming hole and drown herself before she took any advice Adrian had to give her, although she couldn't deny that he had a point, and a valid one at that. "What is it you think I've been doing out here all these years? She eventually asked, unable to hide the bitterness in her voice. "I'm not just taking a leisurely vacation from civilization, if that's what you think."

"I thought no such thing," Adrian replied. "Like I said – your motives for being here are noble. Selfless, even. But unfortunately for you, neither will do much in the way of helping you."

"And what? You will?" Folding her arms over her chest, Amélie shot Adrian a pointed stare to which, to Amélie's astonishment, Adrian inclined his head.

"I will," he said simply. "If you will allow me to. All you have to do is ask."

Amélie swallowed. He had refused to tell her a single thing she had asked him all day, and yet now, astonishingly, he was telling her outright that he was more than happy to teach her how to control the abilities she'd been struggling to tame for years. Something was off. "Why do I get the feeling that there's a catch?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

Shooting her a sly grin, Adrian almost purred, "Because there most definitely is."

"And what might that be?"

"That tomorrow afternoon you'll pack your bags and come back home with us, and that after you have you'll agree to meet with me on a regular basis so that I can continue to... get to know you."

A flash of lightning and the distant rumble of thunder, followed moments later by a gust of wind several degrees below the balmy afternoon air all but answered Amélie's question. Sarcastically, she remarked, "Oh, is that all? Just pack up my life, skip back home like I never left and start rendezvousing with my best friends fiancé? Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

It was at that exact moment that Leah began to stir. Rolling onto her side, she slowly pulled herself to her knees, yawned so widely you could just about see her vocal chords, and stretched her long arms out above her head.

"That's the deal," Adrian murmured under his breath. "Take it or leave it." Then, smiling broadly, he picked himself up and strode gracefully back to Leah, who, with glazed over eyes and a slightly confused grin, pulled herself to her feet and all but threw herself into his arms. He caught her with ease as she melted into him, and Amélie quickly averted her eyes. If there was one thing she would least rather see, it was Adrian making a puppet out of her dear friend.

Guilt crept up Amélie's spine like a snake and wrapped itself tighter and tighter around her neck as the seconds ticked by. It was her fault Leah had become involved in the dangerous game Adrian was playing with her. If only she had confronted him all those years ago when he first appeared in her life, her friend would have been spared. She knew it in her gut. But now, because of her, Leah would at some point or another have her heart completely crushed.

There was nothing Amélie could do to prevent what had happened. What was done was done. All she could do now was try to put an end to Adrian's cruel toying with Leah before the damage became irreparable, even though she knew that meant she was going to have to do something that terrified her.

Sucking in a deep breath, Amélie tried her best to ignore Adrian and Leah's embrace as she stood and forced her stiff limbs to move towards them. She concluded as she did so that the sooner this weekend was over, the better, and that in the meantime she would do her damnedest to stop Adrian from doing whatever exactly it was that he was doing to Leah, starting now.