As such, I decide to pull the garbage and recycle cans out to the road before heading to bed. I check the kitchen garbage, see it’s still only half full so I leave it in place. I head out the side kitchen door where we keep the cans just off the small porch. The light is off, so I reach back to flip the switch, only to find out it’s in the “on” position. Stupid bulb must have burned out, so I step back inside and turn left into the small laundry room where we keep household supplies above the washer and dryer. I grab a yellow bulb from inside the cabinet before heading back to the door. The sconce is eye level with me if I stand on the raised threshold entrance and I start to reach under the open space to unscrew the bulb when I notice there’s not one there.
Strange?
Had Myles or someone been in the middle of changing it and just forgotten? Or couldn’t find a replacement bulb, which is not likely as they’re sitting where they’ve always been for the past four years?
Shrugging, I screw the new bulb in, and the tiny porch is flooded with warm light. I don’t bother shutting the door behind me as I trot down the three porch steps to get the first rolling can to take out to the road.
Tilting it so the wheels catch purchase, I drag it across some of the gravel of the driveway, then move it over to the grass as soon as I reach it, not wanting to make too much noise since it’s late at night. After setting it in place, I head back for the recycle bin. Adira must still be up because I see the glow of lights around the edges of the curtains she’d hung over the small square windows in the pull-up garage door.
Maybe she got a second wind.
I reach for the recycle bin when a loud thud resounds from the side wall of the detached garage closest to me. Normally, this wouldn’t alarm me, but the sound was so intense it sounded like something big had hit it.
It could have been that Adira knocked something over.
It could be that she had a seizure and slammed into the wall.
That settles any indecision left, so I ignore the recycle bin and walk to the back of the garage where the entrance is. The door is prefab with paned glass Adira hung white lacy curtains over, but they’re sheer enough to see in.
I give a slight rap on the door just as I’m looking in, and I can see a hulking figure inside, much larger than Adira. Without hesitation and with no regard for the fact maybe she has a secret boyfriend stashed inside, I twist the knob, which is thankfully unlocked, and burst inside.
At first glance, I don’t see Adira, then waves of ice-cold slam into me as I realize I can’t see her because the hulking figure is holding her, and his back is to me. I immediately realize it’s the incubus, Wade, who was trying to seduce Adira at the bar.
I have no idea why he’s here or how he even found us, although the easiest answer is he just followed, and I was unaware. It never occurred to me to watch once we made it safely to my car, but it could even be that he has magical powers to transport himself. I just don’t know enough.
None of that matters in the urgency of the moment, though. I scream, “Get the fuck away from her!”
Wade’s entire body turns halfway. He has Adira bent backward, giving her a deep kiss. It’s something a lover might do after having been gone for a long time and is just returning to his woman, bending her back because he can’t get enough of her mouth.
But Adira seems limp with both arms dangling down while the incubus continues to kiss her.
“Get the fuck away from her,” I scream again, giving a glance around for some type of weapon, but there’s nothing of use.
Wade starts to pull back from Adira. I’m horrified to see that, as he does so, a dark grayish-looking smoke seems to stay between their mouths until Wade takes in a deep, sucking breath, and the smoke leaves Adira and disappears into his mouth.
His head twists as he leers at me, still holding Adira in an intimate embrace. I don’t see his handsome face, just the gray, sore-pocked skin and rotting teeth as he carelessly releases my friend, letting her thud to the floor. I don’t know if she’s dead or deeply unconscious, but I pray for the latter.
Wade wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, straightening to his full height. He seems larger and stronger than when I’d seen him in the bar. He looks me up and down, growling. “Still hungry.”