To Love an Incubus

Chapter 13; Loud Glances

"Aurie? Is that you? Someone is here looking for you!" My brother called through the door as I stuck my key in the door nob. His words made my heart drop. Had helping Jay put Corrin in danger? I thought about the guys in matching leather jackets and rushed through the door.

"Corrin! What did I say about letting people inside when you're alone?" I exclaim, thinking about grabbing a kitchen knife.

When I have time to process the scene in front of me, my heart rate drops, but only slightly.

"Dorrian! What are you doing in my house? And why did Corrin let you in?" There are so many questions running through my mind that I don't know which ones to ask first.

"Uhm, he just knocked on the door and said he was looking for you and he seemed nice at Denny's so I let him in," Corrin states it simply as if it wasn't a big deal. I run a hand through my hair and tug at it a little.

"Corrin, you know you're not suppose to do that," I stress. "He could have easily been a gang member or something," I tell him, once again thinking about the men from earlier.

"Have you been hanging around a lot of gang members lately?" Corrin shoots back. I sigh.

"Listen, just don't do it again," I huff and flop down on the couch in between the spaces where the two of them had been occupying.

"So why are you here?" I ask, turning towards Dorrian.

"You just went from a hundred to zero real quick," Dorrian points out, chuckling. I frown.

"It's been a weird day, now will you answer me?" I ask in clear annoyance.

Dorrian puts his hands up in surrender, "I just came by to talk, see how Corrin was doing. I heard something from my aunt that you might want to hear. She's been staying at our house freakin' everyone out and getting into some weird voodoo shit. Thought you might be interested."

"Why would Auric be interested in your crazy aunts voodoo?" Corrin asks, clearly confused. I glare at Dorrian and he send me a 'oops my bad' look.

"Why don't we go outside. Corrin, stay."

Corrin glares at me and opens his mouth to complain or yell at me, but I cut him off by shoving Dorrian off the couch and out the door, pointing at Corrin to stay on the couch. He doesn't move.

"Sorry, I really did think you told him," Dorrian says, shrugging.

"We have different dads, I try to keep him out of mines shit," I tell him. "So, what did Victoria say?"

"Pretty much that 'Melik is going to kill me' and 'that boy is breaking free' or something like that. She's always been kinda weird, but never like this. I think that she thinks you're evil," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets and moving slightly closer.

A thought arises in my mind to tell him that she's probably not wrong. I shove it away by imagining a smaller version of myself chasing the rattling thoughts around in my brain and forcefully shoving them out of my head through my ear. I compose myself carefully, not giving away my internal dissonance.

"Do you think Victoria has contact with my dad? I mean no one knows where the bastard is, he just up and left one day. Everyone kind of thought he was dead," I pull my pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, my lighter sitting in the empty space where I was missing a few sticks. I stick one in my mouth and light it, cupping my hand around the flame out of habit.

There was so wind tonight. It was almost perfect. The sky was turning a dark blue and the mosquitos seem to be still hibernating. The summer air kept me comfortably warm, but Dorrian heat still seemed to radiate towards me with our closer proximity-almost shoulder to shoulder.

"I don't know, you could come over and try and ask her," Dorrian suggests, bumping his shoulder against mine. I take a long drag and think it over. Leaving Corrin for a while to maybe get some answers, but having to deal with Dorrian's family.

"Tonight?" I ask.

"Why not? I'm already here and I don't know how much longer she's going to be staying. Now might be the best time," Dorrian says. I take another drag from the nicotine stick and flick ash off of the end and onto the ground.

"Alright," I tell him, opening the door to the apartment and peaking my head through.

"Hey, I'm going to Dorrian's place to sort some things out. Stay home, keep the door locked, and leave your phone on," Corrin scowls at me.

"When you get back I want you to tell me what's going on. I'm not a little kid, Auric. And put that cigarette out and close the door! You're letting smoke in," he grumbles.

"Fine, we will talk when I get back," with that I close the door and follow Dorrian to his car.

"You can't bring that with you, you have to put it out," Dorrian gestures to my cigarette and I curse, taking another drag before throwing it down and stepping on it to defuse the cherry.

After a few seconds of sitting in the car an odd lump in my throat forms, making it slightly hard to breathe. I try to discreetly clear my throat a few times before realizing I'm making it worse. I cough into my elbow and then again, harshly. The lump feels hot in my throat and makes me want to gag.

"You okay?" I feel the car slow down a little. I nod but when breathing gets even harder I shake my head.

"Pull over," my voice was scratchy and rough. Within seconds I am jumping out of the car and coughing a mucous like substance into the ground. Dorrian is by my side within seconds.

"Auric this doesn't look good, I told you those stupid cigarettes are bad for you!" I wave him off, clearing my throat of the weird substance but a coppery taste soon fills my mouth. I spit and trail of blood flys out of my mouth onto the ground.

"Shit!" Dorrian grabs my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. He searches my face for something. "We're going to a hospital."

"No! Listen I was just there. They said that I was fine. It's just a one time thing. I feel fine," which wasn't a complete lie. I could finally breathe, but my throat felt sore and raw.

"Well you don't look fine!" Dorrian's eyes were wide and his eyes kept searching me. I though about how that was probably scary for him-driving and then his passenger almost hacking up a lung and then spitting up blood to top it off. Truthfully, I didn't know what I thought about it. I mean in the moment it was scary, not being able to breathe, not knowing what was happening, but now all I could think of was getting to Dorrian's and getting answers.

"Hey, look, I'm fine," I do a little spin as if to emphasize my point, "I'm walking and talking and I feel good."

"Auric, that was terrifying, you need to stop smoking. Everyone knows it, me, Corrin, and I'm sure deep down you do too," he says, grabbing onto my shoulder and giving it a slight shake as if to say "wake up!"

"I'll think it over, kay?" Dorrian nods, knowing that's as far as I'll budge right now, standing on the side of the road in the grass. He grabs my shoulder and pulls me roughly into him so I stumble into his embrace. He hugs me tightly and I wonder if he will strangle me himself. I allow my arms to wrap around Dorrian and hug him back. There's a slight change in the atmosphere, everything warm and electrified. I shift uncomfortably and pull back, throwing myself back into the car.

The rest of the ride was quiet, but Dorrian's worried glances seemed particularly loud.