Adeline chewed her lip for a moment, then said, "And the woman? What was she actually doing?"
I described what I'd seen, then added, "The woman claimed they were having sex, but that sure as hell wasn't what it looked like." I paused. "Is it even possible to have sex on the astral plane?"
"It's possible, but you have to be very careful about who and what you form such a connection with. Once you open that door, it may never close."
I shivered. "Could this guy be some form of incubi?"
"Again, it's possible, but both incubi and succubi tend to take physical advantage of us on this plane. It is rare for them to act on the astral plane."
"Rare means it's still possible."
"Yes, but from what you described, he was not sexually interacting with the woman, despite what the woman believed."
"Is there any way to stop him?"
"On the astral plane? Not that I'm aware of. I would think you'd have to find him in the real world."
And that wasn't going to be easy. Nor was it my job. Leave it to Rhoan, I reminded myself, and set the cup back down. "Thanks again for your help, Adeline."
"No problem." She escorted me to the door, then added, "I'm here if you need anything else."
I gave her a smile and headed down the street to my SUV. The Toyota wasn't my preferred mode of transport—that honor went to the silver Ducati I'd bought when RYT's, the café I co-owned and ran with Ilianna and Tao, had made its first profit. Unfortunately, the Ducati and I had a serious parting of ways thanks to a pack of demons, and she was still in the shop getting repaired. She was an old bike, and her parts were hard to get, so I was going to be without her for a while. Which was why I was seriously considering buying another one. I preferred the feel and freedom of a bike as opposed to the sedate safety of a vehicle like the SUV. Even Tao's Ferrari couldn't give the high of the bike—not on Melbourne streets, anyway.
A breeze stirred the air, cooling the early-morning heat but doing little to ease the furnace-like intensity of the man who walked close behind me. Part of me wished I could ignore him, that we could just go back to the time when the attraction was muted and he was more antagonistic. More distant. But there was no way on earth to put that particular genie back in the bottle.
After a moment, I asked, "What did you mean before, when you said I had no idea of the risk we were running?"
"Just that. This attraction breaks all the rules—"