Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles 2)

I didn’t give John a chance to answer, because I was pretty sure I already knew. “He’s some kind of Incubus.” I looked at Lena. She was still crying, her arms hugging her waist, but I didn’t try to talk to her. I wasn’t even sure who she was anymore.

“You think I’m an Incubus? A Demon Soldier?” John laughed.

Ridley rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a show-off. No one calls Incubuses Demon Soldiers anymore.”

John cracked his knuckles. “I’m old school.”

Link looked confused. “I thought all you vampire dudes had to stay inside durin’ the day.”

“And I thought all you hillbillies drove Trans Ams with Confederate flags painted on the hoods.” John laughed, but it wasn’t funny. Ridley stayed between them.

“What does it matter to you, Shrinky Dink? John’s not really a rules kinda guy. He’s sort of… unique. I like to think of him as the best of both worlds.” I had no idea what Ridley was talking about. But whatever John Breed was, she wasn’t saying.

“Yeah? I like to think about him as crawlin’ back to his own world and stayin’ outta ours.” Link talked tough, but when John looked at him, all the color drained out of Link’s face.

Ridley turned to John. “Let’s go.” They turned back to the Tunnel of Love, the cars still making the loop under the old wooden arch painted to look like some bridge in Venice. Lena hesitated.

“Lena, don’t go with them.”

She stood there for a second, like she was thinking about running back into my arms. But something was stopping her. John whispered to her, and she climbed into the plastic gondola. I looked at the only girl I’d ever loved. Black hair and golden eyes, instead of green.

I couldn’t pretend the gold didn’t mean anything, not anymore.

I watched the car disappear, leaving Link and me behind. As banged up and bruised as the day we had taken on Emory and his brother on the playground in fifth grade.

“Come on. Let’s get outta here.” Link was already walking away. It was dark now, and the lights from the Ferris Wheel flashed as it turned. “Why’d you think he was an Incubus?” Link was taking comfort in the fact he had gotten his ass kicked by a Demon, not some regular guy.

“His eyes went black, and it felt like I was hit by a two-by-four.”

“Yeah, but he was walkin’ around durin’ the day. And he’s got those green eyes, like Lena’s…” He stopped, but I knew what he was about to say.

“Used to be? I know. It doesn’t make sense.” Nothing about tonight did. I couldn’t shake the way Lena had looked at me. For a second, I was sure she wasn’t going to follow them. I was thinking about Lena, but Link was still talking about John.

“And what was all that crap about the best a both worlds? What worlds? Creep and creepier?”

“I don’t know. I was sure he was an Incubus.”

Link rotated his shoulder, assessing the damage. “Whatever he is, that dude’s got some serious superpowers. I wonder what else he can do.”

We turned the corner, near the exit of the Tunnel of Love. I stopped walking. The best of both worlds. What if John could do a lot more than rip like an Incubus and beat the two of us to a pulp? He had green eyes. What if he was some kind of Caster, with his own version of Ridley’s Power of Persuasion? I didn’t think Ridley could influence Lena by herself, but what if John was helping her?

It would explain why Lena was acting so crazy—why she’d looked like she wanted to come with me, until John whispered in her ear. How long had he been whispering to her?

Link hit my arm with the back of his hand. “Hey. You know what’s weird?”

“What?”

“They haven’t come out.”

“What do you mean?”

He pointed to the exit of the Tunnel of Love. “They didn’t get off the ride.” Link was right. There was no way they could have come out before we turned the corner. We watched as the gondolas kept coming out empty.

“Then where are they?”

Link shook his head, all tapped out of insight for now. “I don’t know. Maybe the three of them are doin’ somethin’ kinky in there.” We both winced. “Let’s check it out. There’s no one around.” Link was already halfway to the exit.

He was right. The cars kept coming out empty. Link hopped over the gate around the ride and ducked into the tunnel. Inside, there was a little space on either side of the track, but it was tricky to walk by the moving cars without getting hit.