Incubus Read Online Free Page B

blankets, wishing Lucas would fall asleep. I needed to see him, to feel his
    arms around me in the only safe place we could embrace—in the dream.
    I heard a voice downstairs, full of tension. I tried to push it out of my mind, assuming Hale had
    come over to talk about the attack with Dad. Hale might have been the leader of this unit of the Guard,
    but he sought out Dad’s advice often. More and more often, it seemed to me. I heard another muffled
    voice. This one sent a jolt down my spine. Thane was here, too?
    I pushed the blankets back and crawled out of bed, slipping my feet into the cozy moccasins Dad
    had given me last Christmas. While the September days were still warm, the nights had grown
    sharper, heralding the coming New Mexico winter. I edged out of my room and walked down the hall,
    stooping to kneel at the top of the stairs.
    I couldn’t see into the kitchen from here, but I could hear the three men talking as distinctly as if I
    were sitting around the kitchen island with them.
    “Marx split his unit into three groups,” Hale was saying. “He’s leading the search into Canada, but
    it’ll still take some time to gather everyone together.”
    “How much time do you think we have?” Thane asked, his voice clipped even more than usual.
    “Enough,” Dad said.
    “Even if we can gather everyone,” Thane shot back, “that’s only about 100 soldiers. If this
    intelligence is correct, and the Lilitu have found the way to open the seal—”
    “We play it safe,” Dad said. His voice was steady, but there was an anger behind his words that
    sent a shiver of alarm down my body.
    “We don’t even know where this seal is located,” Thane growled.
    “You’re the archivist,” Dad snapped back, losing his calm. “Isn’t that your job?”
    “How exactly do you suggest I go about finding information that’s—as far as we can tell—all been
    destroyed?” Thane’s voice grew softer, dangerous. “She is our secret weapon, but that only helps us if
    we use her.”
    A chair scraped the floor. “She’s been through enough,” Dad said hoarsely. “She and Lucas,
    they’ve already had to deal with more than any kid should be expected to handle.”
    “What do you suggest?” Thane asked, a mocking edge to his voice. “Asking the Lilitu politely if
    they wouldn’t mind waiting a few years so our children have time to mature?”
    “Thane’s right,” Hale said. “That Thrall went after her, Murphy. Keeping her out of the loop won’t
    protect her.”
    “I’m not suggesting we keep this from Braedyn,” Dad said. “I’m just asking that we not throw her
    directly into the lion’s den.” Hearing my name sent a jolt of anxiety through me. It drove the
    exhaustion out of my head in an instant. I strained to hear everything.
    Thane made a disgusted sound. “This is what she was raised for, Murphy! Or have you forgotten
    that? She needs to be training. We’ve got a very limited amount of time to push her to discover what
    she’s capable of.”
    “If it were up to you, she’d have no social life at all,” Dad said. Warmth spread through my
    stomach. No matter what we’d been through, Dad still fought for me to have a life—a life as normal
    as we could make it under the circumstances. I bit my lip, suddenly feeling the urge to tell him about
    the angel’s promise. He deserved to know.
    “If it were up to me, she wouldn’t even be attending high school,” Thane snarled back. “What does
    she need with an education? There’s very little chance she’ll survive the final bat—” But Thane’s
    words choked off abruptly. All the warmth that had flooded through me a moment ago vanished.
    “Murphy.” Hale’s voice rang with authority. After a moment, I heard Thane drag in a ragged
    breath.
    “You see this, Hale?” Thane hissed. “He’s not fit for this task. He’s let his feelings for the demon
    overrule his common sense. Give me charge over her training and I