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“I’m still so hungry. Please, can I give him a taste? I promise I’ll be good. I won’t drain him. Please, I’m so famished.”
Guy felt an ice cold sliver run down his spine at the way the vampire stared at him. Like he could see through his skin straight to the blood pumping in his veins.
“Well, seeing as how we can’t afford to have him slipping away on us, I don’t see why not. But, only enough to keep him docile, yeah? He ain’t any use to us dead. If you drain him, I swear Gabriel there will be hell to pay.”
“Of course babe. Just a taste.”
Guy tried to jerk away, but Harris held his wrists tight. Then the other was there, grabbing him by the hair, a rough and cruel mockery of the way Jasper had just hours earlier, wrenching his neck to the side before burying his fangs in his neck.
It hurt, God it was agony. There was no wash of pleasure or euphoria like how it was described in Malloy’s book, just sharp throbbing that seemed to ebb and flow with each pull of blood the man took. His body growing steadily weaker with every passing minute, his vision getting spotty. When Gabriel pulled himself away, his tongue giving a last rough lick over the puncture wounds before releasing his hold on his hair, Guy let out a weak whimper.
With the grip on his hair gone, Guy collapsed back onto the chair like a puppet with its strings cut. He didn’t know when the other vampire had stopped restraining his hands, but it hardly mattered anymore. The room was spinning off its axis and the idea of even trying to stand made him want to black out.
“He sure is pretty when he cries.” Harris commented, tone somehow a mix of mockery and lecherous.
It was then he realized he could feel the wetness of tears on his cheeks. He hadn’t even noticed he had been crying. He tried to raise a hand to his face but it was trembling so badly from the effort it didn’t make it halfway before falling useless against the chair once more. A weak “go to hell” was all he could manage.
“We’re gonna have a fun time with you, kid.” Harris stated, letting out an amused chuckle while hovering above Guy as the room spun around him.
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When he gained consciousness again, he found himself laying on a bed in a dark room. Trying to get up from the bed, ended in almost blacking out, turning his head was all he could manage and even that felt like some herculean effort. Looking to his right he saw an IV hooked to a metal pole, a rubber tube running from it to a needle injected and taped down to the top of his hand.
Gotta keep him alive and replenishing his blood supply, Guy realized. As long as they did it carefully, they could drain him over and over again, and his body would just keep making more. Slowly turning his head away and to the left to distract himself from the path his mind was taking, his eyes landed on a body. A rotting and decrepit body, just inches from his. A surprised yelp tore its way out of his throat, his whole body jerking in a desperate attempt to get away. When the head turned and blood shot eyes met his, Guy screamed until he blacked out.
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A feeling, something like a knock on a door but his mind, brings him back to consciousness. He is still staring at the derelict man next to him, but has no more fear left in him. He feels that knock in his mind again, and tentatively reaches out. Expecting resistance, expecting pain. Instead he gets a warm, deep voice, speaking gently to him. The vampire called Brandr had originally hailed from Iceland. He has walked this earth for almost 700 years, seen the rise and fall of dynasties, of kings, of counties. He had loved many beautiful men and women, and he had suffered losses he didn’t think his heart capable of surviving. He has spent the last 5 years of his life being precariously balanced on a knife edge of life and death, unable to move; his skin rotting, his hair falling out, his bones jutting out from his skin, all for his blood. And he was tired, oh so tired.
Guy told Brandr of his own life, about his mother, the Talamasca, and Jasper. Brandr had not met or heard of Jasper in his years wandering the globe. But he knew of the Talamasca, how they were always watching. How they watched as horrors unfolded before their eyes and did nothing to prevent them.
Guy showed him some of the happier memories he could think of; of working at the University Law library, of the moment he received his acceptance letter to Law School, dancing with Keves at the club in Soho. Admittedly they were all very recent memories, but his childhood wasn’t something he looked at fondly. His adoptive parents just raised him in exchange for a paycheck. His memories of his mother were more just the sound of her voice than anything concrete he could picture.
Brandr showed him the lava flows that ran through his country like veins of fire. The first woman he ever loved, her long blonde hair made richer when the sun reflected off of it just right. Of the view of the full moon on a calm ocean at night.
Brandr’s memories became an escape for Guy, and in the same way, Guy’s were an escape for Brandr. Neither could do anything about their situation, but at least there wasn’t just loneliness and pain.
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Guy’s sense of time was fragmented and sporadic. Sometimes, if it had been a few days since he was last drained, he’s able to stay conscious for longer periods. During those stints he knows someone comes in twice to check his IV drip and to drag him to the restroom to relieve himself before dumping him back onto the bed once more. Otherwise, the only time he leaves is when they drag him out of the room to use his ability to read the minds of whatever vampire was in the room.
The first time he was taken back out into the main room and told to try and read Von’s mind, he told them to fuck off. That he wouldn’t be used for their own ends. It went about as well as he expected it would. They didn’t like being told no. Still in his mind, he had thought or maybe hoped he would have been able to endure the pain his resistance caused him for longer. In the end the first time he refused was the last. After that, he gave it his best attempt every time he was asked. Since his captors didn’t care even a little bit about the medication he was on before his capture, his mind wasn’t being clouded to every thought in the room. It definitely made it easier to pick up on things, but in the same vein he was still hearing everything. Between trying to filter out all the noise and honing in to listen to the thoughts of whatever vampire was in the room, it left him feeling like a spike was shooting through his brain.
He wasn’t always successful in his attempts either. For as often as people were telling him he could read vampire thoughts without being detected, he sure didn’t seem to be able too. The fall out from getting caught, leading to bloody and violent fights depending on if the vampire in the room was aware they were being unknowingly interrogated. Harris and his coven certainly weren’t inclined to believe he was just learning how to master his skill and his own ineptitude to make a connection. He would be beaten and agonizingly drained, then dumped back into that bland dark room. When he was successful he wasn’t beaten, but still found himself being passed amongst the coven, like some kind of human juice box.
He couldn’t remember the last time his brain wasn’t trying to burst its way out of his skull. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like he wasn’t freezing cold. Had it been weeks or months since he’d been sent in by Jasper? No sign of Highsmith or Checkers. Then again it wasn’t like anyone from the Talamasca had come to his aid either. He was just a means to an end, a stepping stone to be used to reach their prize. Helen didn’t give a damn about him, had never meant to help him control his abilities, to give him a place to belong. And neither had Jasper. God, he had been so stupid.
Guy was drifting through another one of Brandr’s memories, he and his son bundled up and sitting in the middle of a snowy field. The aurora borealis dancing bright across the night sky. His son’s delighted laughter as he gestures wildly to all the colors. Guy could feel Brandr’s absolute love watching his son’s joy in this moment. It was one of the happiest memories he still held. Guy felt like he too could spend forever, looking up at the sky, here in this place where nothing hurt.
Then Brandr was pushing him out of the memory. Something was going on in the waking world. He could hear a commotion in the room. Some sort of fight was happening. Guy needed to be awake. Needed to be ready, to find an opportunity to get away if he could.
Guy’s eyes open just as the bedroom’s door is harshly forced open. Guy didn’t have the energy to jump, Gabriel had decided he needed an evening snack before he retired. If whoever it was meant to harm him or Brandr, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do anything about it, unconsciousness already threatening to pull him back under.
That threat vanishes when Jasper strolls into the room, casual as you please. He looks supremely unbothered, given the snarling and screaming coming from the living area beyond, so Checkers must be taking care of any immediate threats. His eyes take in Guy for a moment before his attention falls on Brandr. His eyes fill with sorrow as he takes in the condition of the older vampire. Guy remembers what he had told him about how few vampires existed in the world. To see one being kept in such deplorable conditions must be horrifying. Still, Jasper was here now, he could get Brandr the blood he would need, could get him better. Then Brandr rasped out his wish to be killed and Guy felt his lungs stop. He frantically tried to reach out to Brandr’s mind only to find it blocked off. The thought please allow me to rest, I am so tired, the only thing he is able to pick up.
Guy looks back at Jasper, Don’t do it, please don’t do it. You can still save him. He thinks at him, praying the man would pick it up. Then Jasper walks to stand over Brandr, the two staring intently at each other, before quick as a snake, Jasper thrusts his clawed hands through Brandt’s throat, ripping his head from his body.
Guy has been in connection with Brandr’s mind so often, he could sense him even when the vampire blocked him out. The sudden snapping of the connection felt like losing a limb, like a piece of him had been ripped away. He felt the man’s blood pooling onto his shoulder, and Guy couldn’t control the wave of nausea that hit him. Intense dry heaves escaping him as he gasped for air. Then Jasper was standing over him, turning him onto his side and pulling the IV out of his hand.
“You’re gonna kill me too, right, like you killed him?” Guy gasped out once his stomach stopped trying to turn inside out. “I failed in getting your book. Another disappointing pawn. That’s what I am right, a means to an end? Just like I am for the Talamasca? Doesn’t matter if I live or die, so long as you get what you want. Go ahead, Kill me! Kill me!” Guy screamed, a hysterical mix of rage and loss and hurt boiling over in him.
Then Jasper was turning him back onto his back. His hands were on his face, one cupping his cheek, the other sliding up into his greasy hair, brushing it back. Guy squeezed his eyes shut, close to hyperventilating as he waited for pain, waited for those hands to rip his head from his body. Maybe, Guy thought hysterically, he’d leave it on the Talamasca’s doorstep like he did with Soledad’s eye. He’s not sure the message would be received any better, considering they seemed to care about him even less if it were possible. Hell, It was one of their own agents that had put him here. Well one of their agents and his own hubris. Maybe he should have taken Doris’ advice and left the hotel with her when he had the chance. He really was a shit spy. But for some stupid reason, he just couldn’t do that to Jasper. Not after the man confided in him, had told him his story.
“You never disputed me when I said the Talamasca had given you training.” Jasper spoke, his voice low and soft, a source of calm that Guy clung to like a lifeline. “I knew it must have been little given how horribly you were at shielding your thoughts, how easy your face was to read, but imagine my surprise when I learned it was only one week.”
“You didn’t seem all that concerned when you brought it up, more like a statement of fact. I didn’t want to disappoint you while I was still being accused of being a good little spy for the Talamasca.” Guy replied.
“But you were, weren’t you? Even when you told me the truth about the Talamasca, everything involving your mother, you were still hoping that somehow I would let some important information slip and you could go running back to them.” Guy flinched at the harsh truth of the words. That he was caught from the very start. Jasper shook his head, “Like I said, you have a very readable face. I didn’t even need to read your thoughts to know what your plan was.”
“I had been, at first. Especially after you threatened me with Checkers. But afterwards, when you told me about what happened to your family. I couldn’t just...” Guy let out a frustrated sigh, finding the words to explain what he felt not coming easily. “I could tell you weren’t lying to me, and that honesty was everything. All the Talamasca had been doing, all Helen has been doing, has been lying to me from the very beginning.
Guy made sure to lock eyes with Jasper, “You made sure I had a room, you gave me more food every single meal than I can ever remember having access to, gave me clean clothes, helped fix my cut, and you were able to help make my mind go quiet from outside noise for the first time I can remember since I was a kid. For a whole week we shared a space and honest conversation. And I…I just wanted to prove that I could be worth keeping around. Worth not getting tossed away.” Guy let out a dry chuckle.
“And now that I’m saying it all out loud, I realize how stupid I sound because you forced me to stay with you; That the whole reason I needed a wound treated was because you indirectly caused it in the first place!” Guy could feel something in his chest, or maybe it was something in his brain, break. The realization that he was so desperate to not be so alone and so angry at what was taken from him, that he jumped at the chance to help Jasper without realizing the man had fed him the same exact lie.
“Just kill me,” Guy said again, voice cracking in quiet, tired defeat. Closing his eyes once more. God he was so tired. “I am clearly of no use to you. And I’m too far into this shit now to even think I’d be able to go back to picking up my life in New York. Knowing the Talamasca, it probably doesn’t exist for me anyway.”
The words hung heavy in the air, and a long silence followed. Guy’s brain was too burned out from the forced strain of using his mind gift over and over to try and pick up on what Jasper was thinking, and the bashed and battered rest of him just couldn’t work up the energy to care.
“I honestly hadn’t planned for things to end up this way.” Jasper’s steady voice once again breaks the silence. His hand resuming its gentle carding through Guy’s hair, sharp nails softly scratching his scalp. “I really had just wanted you to listen to the thoughts of the occupants of the hotel and get a lead on the 752 and come back to me.”
“When you first came to me that night, I already knew who you were and what gift you possessed. The minute I clocked you listening into my conversation at the restaurant, I had you investigated. With the resources at my disposal it wasn’t hard. I thought of so many different ways that I could use you to meet my goals, and if you didn’t make it back from any of them, it wasn’t any skin off my nose. After all, you were using me too.” Jasper chuckled, “But then you had the balls to demand a vampire’s attention, my attention. To not only demand it, but then somehow manage to keep it. I have been around for some time now kid, and it’s been an age since I can say anyone has done that.”
“When you didn’t come out of that hotel as planned, when I got that note from your pretty witch friend that you were in trouble, I realized I had become more fond of you than I had intended. That I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else having their hands on you. How it would have been such a waste if you no longer existed in this world.”
Guy felt his head being carefully turned to the side, and he couldn’t stop the sharp inhale that escaped him as the bites on his neck were exposed. The slight stretching of skin causing the barely healed bites to sting as they reopen, and he feels fresh blood trickling down his neck. Then after a pause those hands trail down to his arms, gently, oh so gently, grabbing them and turning them over to reveal the multitude of bite marks and ugly bruising marring his skin there as well.
“They had their fun with you, didn’t they, my guy.” Jasper spoke absently. Guy opens his eyes at the comment, and watches the older man turn to face the open door. The room beyond having gone quiet.
“Highsmith, Did Checkers leave any of them alive?” Jasper’s voice was hard, something in the tone making the hairs on his neck stand up.
“The bald one is down an arm and half a leg, but he’s still kicking. The other two are currently spread all over the living room upholstery.” Highsmith spoke from the other room.
“Take him to the basement and keep alive until I can get there.” Jasper replied in that same hair raising tone. As he turns to look back down at Guy, Guy catches the lingering burning rage in his eyes before it disappears beneath the man’s usual casual demeanor.
“Let’s say we blow this popsicle stand?” Jasper quipped, leaning over to pick Guy up like his 180 pounds of dead weight was nothing. Guy found his head tucked into the cruck of Jasper’s neck, the smell of sandalwood and smoke filling his nose, along with an intense feeling of safety.
“I got you kid, rest now. No one else is going to be getting their hands on you.” Jasper said, his lips brushing his hairline. That was all it took for Guy’s mind to completely give out. His eyes suddenly too heavy to possibly open again, his thoughts losing focus, his awareness fading.
He still felt when Jasper paused as they got to the doorway, his body turning back to look at the bed where Brandr’s body still lay.
“Rest well, friend. May you find the peace you were seeking. I’ll make sure to watch over this one for you.”