Read Online Incubus by Janet Elizabeth Jones - Free Book Online Page A

dotage. She didn’t seem elderly, by any means. The sunlight slipped out from behind a cloud and cast the lady in a halo. The radiance suited her, even with a tent for a backdrop.
    â€œ You know how it feels to forget and to be forgotten.” Her gaze returned to his, seeming exquisitely feline all of a sudden. “But in your case, I believe, you’ve forgotten yourself. You, Meical, have abandoned the man you were meant to be.”
    Maybe he had, but he wasn’t going to share that with a stranger, no matter how good her tea tasted. “So, you’re camping out here all by yourself, are you?”
    She hesitated, eyeing him closely. “I came to help an old friend with a difficult situation. And I think I know, now, how I can help him the most. I am here to visit his brother as well. I knew them both long ago, way before your time on this earth.”
    She leaned forward and lowered her voice to a near whisper, as though to impart a secret. “I’ve already been in contact with his brother, but we’re keeping mypresence here a secret from him. I want to see what he’s been up to, before I let him know I’m here.”
    â€œHave you found out yet?” he asked, although he didn’t know why he should.
    â€œYes. He has been working long and hard to accomplish a great feat and he has invested all his hope in it. Many fear him because of it; others regard him as evil. But I have come to understand what he is attempting and know his noble heart well enough to see that it is a worthy goal he seeks to achieve.”
    Meical shifted in his chair, trying to string together some meaning from her words. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t been listening; in fact, the sleepier he became, the more he hung on her every word. “You sound sure of him.”
    Her gaze slipped over Meical, assessing and calculating. “I begin to see the good in what he has done, even as we speak. He can, I believe, be trusted with still greater things. I have plans for him and his brother. You would agree, I’m sure, how vital it is to be needed.”
    That hit too close to home—and this conversation was becoming ever more unreal by the minute. But he was so sleepy he couldn’t pull together a suitable response. Meical rubbed his eyes, feeling as if he could drift away on the breeze.
    What a good joke, to find Death was a woodland mater with a penchant for herbal tea. He’d laugh if he weren’t so sleepy. He could think of worse things than crawling into a cot in the Grim Reaper’s tent and falling asleep forever to birdsong.
    But she wasn’t Death. She couldn’t be. Not with eyes like that. Not with a smile like that. But she was immortal. He could feel it in her presence. Who was she?
    Perhaps he’d simply ask her. He opened his mouth to do so, but was momentarily distracted by a small cat that emerged from the tent and wrapped itself around the woman’s feet. It was as ebony-black and soft as its mistress’s hair.
    â€œYou’re not alone after all,” Meical observed.
    â€œThis is one of many. She brings me information about people I want to know more about. She recently visited a mutual acquaintance of ours, a charming person with great courage and a selfless heart.”
    Among the few people in Meical’s world now, only Caroline fit that description. But, of course, this lady couldn’t possibly know Caroline. None of this could even be real.
    â€œSpeaking of information,” he strove to say, “who are you?”
    â€œI can’t tell you that. It might get back to my friend.”
    â€œI’m not likely to spoil your surprise. I’m not going to be around much longer.”
    The winsome light in her eyes dulled. “It’s a mistake to leave such a beautiful place, don’t you think? You have loved ones who will miss you. She will miss you terribly.”
    She? Caroline? Of course Caroline. No one