Incubus Read Online Free PDF Page A

the memory grew dark and fuzzy, and thenMeical watched as though through a haze. The girl was only semiconscious now. Her attackers moved in for the kill.
    Wait. She shouldn’t be able to remember any of this, not in her condition. And if she couldn’t remember it, there was no memory for him to see. So he shouldn’t be seeing this at all.
    Yet he did see it, and as her attackers closed in on her, rage shook him, and he sounded a menacing growl.
    The two men spun around to look at him.
    For seconds Meical forgot to breathe, while the two human faces before him contorted with mute terror. They dropped their bats and scrambled out of the cellar as fast as they could.
    Meical was drawn along like a balloon on a string in their wake, as though he were chasing them. Just as he hit the top of the stairs, his strength wavered and drained away, and he couldn’t hold the image in his mind.
    Darkness descended, and he opened his eyes to see the rustic cabin ceiling above him.
    With a curse, he slid the woman off him, weary and hurting. In his condition, there was no telling what kind of confusion he was suffering from. It hardly mattered because there was no way on God’s green earth he was going to make use of this girl. He couldn’t.
    He would leave. Just go. He’d put this feast far behind him. Maybe he’d last long enough without sustenance.
    He made an effort to get to his feet. Half an hour later, he was still trying. His strength had deserted him, and in its place he felt a fire in every muscle and nerve, as though his hunger would tear his flesh from his verybones. He’d never suffered like this as a vampire, even on the leanest nights. But dawn was coming. He could feel it in his flesh. If he could just hang on.
    The girl stirred beside him. His heart pounded like a piston in his chest, and he wrapped his hand around hers. A trickle of her life force flowed into him, a pitiable tease that served only to torture him.
    â€œDo us both a favor, baby,” he gasped. “Don’t wake up.”
    He moaned again, and as if in answer, she rolled over, laid her good leg over his thighs and wrapped her arm around him. Her soft, sleepy breath against his chest felt so soothing, as soothing as her need to be held.
    A throb in his chest shut off his next breath, and he gasped, choked and writhed. Fear consumed him. He wasn’t going to make it until sunrise. To come so close and die without seeing it…. He couldn’t bear that.
    Meical fixed his gaze on the woman’s face and closed the door on his good intentions. Levering his arm underneath her, he lifted her onto him again. When her chin rested on his chest, a momentary smile touched her mouth.
    He cupped her face in his hands, breathing hard. He was too weak now to reach for her mind, so he spoke to her aloud, trying to keep his voice low and gentle. “Wake up. Please?”
    She fluttered her lush dark lashes. When she opened her eyes, they were too dilated for him to see what color they were. Beneath her confusion, he sensed her struggling against the compulsion he had saddled on her, yether unleashed hunger poured over him like warm cream. Hunger for him, as though it were her natural need.
    Her husky, breathless voice touched him everywhere. “Oh…you’re awake…”
    Awake? Meical winced. He was as hard as— “Yes. Very.”
    Her gaze fell to his mouth, and a sigh escaped her. Her face turned white, then red, then white again. She looked down at his bare chest. “What’s happening to me?”
    â€œIt’s all right.” He caressed her face. She shivered all over him. “I’m the guy you saved. Do you remember? I feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel.”
    She nodded. “You’re an empath. Like me.”
    If it made things easier for her, why not let her believe it? It wasn’t entirely untrue. He settled for half a truth, unable to out-and-out lie to