Nightfall Curse

chapter 12

“Felix, hey, you’re up!” Minho sat up straighter in his chair, pushing away yet another book. He glanced at his watch. Nearly two in the morning. “Hyunjin said you were having trouble transporting each other. You okay?”

“No,” Felix said pointedly. He sat at the head of the table heavily. “I was mistaken about the safety of being Hyunjin’s offering.”

Jisung choked on his coffee and Minho’s mouth fell open. Since Jisung was the first to recover, he coughed to clear his lungs and said, “I was right about you two? Boy sex, gross! But good on ya! But gross.”

“I’m sorry, I think I might be having a stroke,” Minho said incredulously. “I thought I just heard you say that you and Hyunjin have been... no. Nope. Can’t even finish the sentence.” He scrubbed his face vigorously and into his shaggy hair, as if trying to rub the mental image out. “I have so many questions that I desperately don’t want to ask.”

Jisung raised his hand. “I’ll ask ‘em? It’s all good.”

Minho leaned back into his chair so hard that it tipped onto its two back legs before crashing down again. “What the hell’s going on, Felix? And please leave out any details about you and Hyunjin... doing things that poison brothers to think about.”

“Very well,” Felix answered seriously, folding his hands on the top of the table, leaning forward.

Jisung mirrored his movement, enthralled, and Minho sat back as far as he could, crossing his arms over his chest as if trying to get as far away as he could from the conversation. “Ignore Minho, and tell us what’s going on, Felix,” Jisung said helpfully. “The more you know, right?”

Felix nodded, staring down at his hands. If he didn’t know any better, Jisung would have thought that the angel was embarrassed. “It began the night you arrived, Jisung,” he said softly. “We spoke about how to best help Hyunjin and how his condition had been deteriorating rapidly. I was understandably concerned. Therefore, I approached him and said that I would become his offering. Just enough to keep his withdrawal symptoms at bay. Until we could find a real solution to his problem. He accepted.”

Minho’s hand shot out in a stopping motion. “Spare us the details, please.”

Felix tilted his head slightly. “Of course. I realize that humans view sexual activity as a private affair in most cases.”

“Thank you,” Minho said with a grimace.

Jisung pursed his lips. “Okay, so, how many times have you guys... you know?”

“Once a day since then.”

“And is it working? I mean, Hyunjin seems to be a lot better right now.”

“He is, but I’m afraid he’s also losing himself.”

That caused Minho to bend forward and rest his forearms on the table like the other two. “What do you mean by that?”

Felix spread his hands out on the table in a helpless gesture. “I am afraid that he is starting to enjoy being an incubus. Or, at least starting to lose his humanity to it. I’ve been watching him. Each time that he accepts my offering, it appears to numb his human feelings and emotions. Some of that is to be expected, naturally, but he’s also been attempting to take more and more of my grace when he feeds.”

Both Jisung and Minho leveled the angel with mirroring expressions of alarm. Jisung was the first to recover enough to speak. “So, I mean... um... does that like... uh... can you stop him from doing that? Taking too much?”

Felix huffed through his nose, gaze dropping to the table. “In theory, yes. Anyone can stop an incubus or a succubus from taking too much of their essence if they are able to fight hard enough.” He shifted in his seat. He wasn’t proud of his weakness. He should be able to stop Hyunjin. He should be able to resist when necessary. If it was anyone else, he might have. “I am unable to withstand the draw,” he admitted in a soft voice. “I thought that I could, but every time, I... I let him, regardless of the consequences to him or me.”