“What is it?” Ethan asks, impatiently waiting.
“Hunter sensed something passing over the house but it’s gone now, though I…” I look out the window at the barn. It’s still daylight out and the horses are way out in the back of the pasture. “I feel like I’m being watched.”
“Stay here,” Ethan says and runs upstairs, coming back down only a few seconds later with his shoes on and his gun in hand. He and Hunter go out on the back porch to check things out. Nik comes down stairs as I’m grabbing my coat.
“What’s going on?” he asks, eyes darting from me to the open door.
“I’m not sure yet,” I tell him. “Hunter sensed something dark and right before, I felt like something zapped energy from me.”
“Like a spirit?”
“Kinda, but it’s not a spirit. I’d know if one was here and whatever this was…it took a lot more than what a spirit takes.” I blink several times to keep eyes from fluttering shut from the sudden exhaustion. “The last time I drank too much, it hit me all at once and I had to go lay down and take a nap. It’s almost like that without being drunk, of course.”
Nik comes onto the back porch with me and I hold out my hands, letting my mental shields drop. “There’s something out there,” I whisper, reading the energy. “Watching from the tree line.”
Hunter gets there first, followed by Ethan and I. There’s nothing there, and my breath clouds around me as I stop next to Ethan, throwing my hand out in front of me again. The same feeling of intense dread that I felt back at the ghoul-infested apartments pushes down on me and I whirl around, certain I’m going to see the person who’s watching me.
Because it feels like they’re right here.
“Sense anything?” Ethan asks, gun drawn.
“Yes, but also no.” I shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense. Hunter felt it, and whatever it was took my energy.”
“Let’s get back in the house,” Ethan suggests. I shake my head in protest.
“I want to get the horses in first.” I give Hunter a nod, asking him to shadow out to the back of the pasture and round everyone up, gently herding them to run back to the barn. I take both Mystery and Sundance together, leading them from the pasture to the barn, and Nik and Ethan each get one of the donkeys.
“Sorry to cut your pasture time short, guys,” I tell them. “I’ll give you extra hay to make up for it.” Unclipping the lead rope from Mystery’s halter as soon as he’s in the barn, he walks himself right into his stall. Sundance pulls me toward the stacked bales of hay and I have to pull him away to get him into his stall.
Both horses spook when something moves across the roof, sounding like ice sliding down the shingles. Sundance nearly crushes me against the side of his stall, and I dodge out of the way at the last second. I might have magical powers and can kill demons with a single stab of an enchanted dagger, but leave it to horses to remind me how fragile and human I actually am.
“What the hell was that?” Nik asks, standing in the barn aisle looking terrified.
“I have no idea,” I reply. “It sounded like ice sliding off the roof but it’s been too warm for that.”
Ethan has his gun raised and pointed at the ceiling, waiting for whatever just landed to start moving again. We all stand there, frozen, for what feels like forever. When we don’t hear anything, Ethan motions for Hunter to follow him outside. I follow, holding my right hand out in front of me, ready to summon fire if need be.
Hunter and Ethan go in opposite directions, running around the barn. “If there was something there, it’s gone now.”
“Or maybe not,” I say, breath leaving in a ragged huff. “Because I’m looking at it right now.”
“Where?” Ethan raises his gun and I point to the edge of the barn room. It’s the gargoyle from my dream, but instead of being hot and sexy and taking on the form of my boyfriend, it’s small with a shriveled face and yellow teeth. It jumps back, disappearing from sight once again.
“Wait,” I rush out. “It…it’s gone again. Fuck. Please tell me I’m not going crazy.”
“You’re not,” Nik starts. “Because I saw it too. And I think we should take the advice of getting out of sight now.”
We rush back into the barn, with Ethan standing in the doorway so he can scan our surroundings again. I feel another pull on my energy, and this time it’s invasive.
“You know what it is , don’t you?” Ethan asks.
“I believe I do,” Nik tells us, eyes wide. “We’re dealing with an incubus.”
Chapter
Sixteen
“What?” Ethan and I both ask at the same time.