Page 14

Chapter 14

Caleb

C aleb had only vague memories of Jasper in the clearing.

Jasper with glowing eyes and the cutest little horns, looking like the god Pan himself, bloody and... either glorious or just gory, it was hard to say, since he was delirious from blood loss.

He wasn’t entirely sure it had happened, hadn’t been a dream, but dreams weren’t usually so painful.

The walk home was spotty, and he remembered falling against a few trees along the way, but somehow, he made it. They made it. Thank goodness the cabin door wasn’t locked; he didn’t think either of them could have managed a key in their state.

Jasper, despite being half dead, insisted that they clean up before curling up in bed together.

“To the bathroom,” he rasped when Caleb headed for the bed. “We’re both covered in blood. Don’t want to get our nest all disgusting and bloody.”

It was odd, a protest about blood coming from a man who had it smeared all over his face and body, but Caleb’s only response had been an epic pouting session.

“Don’t care,” he mumbled.

Jasper tugged ineffectually on his arm. “You’ll care when you wake up to your whole bed covered in blood and gore.”

As much as Caleb didn’t want to bother, that was true. Little flakes of dried blood would be impossible to get out of his huge blanket, and it didn’t fit in the washing machine very well. He gave a deep sigh and let Jasper tug him along.

When they got into the bathroom, he planted himself on the edge of the tub and watched as Jasper searched through the cabinets, pulling out a fresh rag, a box of gauze strips, and a long Ace bandage Caleb hadn’t even realized he had. Probably a holdover from the cabin’s previous owner, since Caleb wasn’t often in need of such things.

“Strip,” Jasper ordered, as he himself started stripping out of his bloody clothes.

Caleb tried to do the same to himself, as hard as it was. His bloodless limbs didn’t want to respond to simple commands, so it took him three tries to even lift his legs to slide the jeans over and off his feet.

Gently, so, so gently, Jasper wet the washrag and cleaned Caleb’s chest, avoiding the worst of the claw marks the monster had left. It was nice. He put some kind of ointment on the gauze and wrapped the bandage around it all, and it hurt, but already had that annoying itchy sensation that meant it was healing.

Poppy would have been able to heal him—hell, if he were more conscious, he could heal himself better—but she wouldn’t have been so sweet or caring about it. This was more painful, but it was nicer.

It was Jasper.

He had to wring out the rag half a dozen times as he worked, first on Caleb, then on himself. Caleb wondered how much of the blood was his and how much the monster’s.

Hard to complain though, since he was the one still alive. Maybe not standing, not yet, but he would get there.

He startled awake to Jasper touching his face. “We can go to bed now.”

“Could’ve gone to bed hours ago,” he mumbled petulantly.

Jasper reached down as though he would pull Caleb up, which would have been an impressive feat any day, and instead leaned forward, pressing his face into the crook of Caleb’s neck and staying there.

He was falling asleep, too, Caleb realized, and forced himself awake enough to stand and guide Jasper toward the bed.

He glanced at Jasper’s phone still sitting on the bedside table and a thought occurred to him. Poppy had been uselessly unavailable for days, but maybe—“We could call your siblings. Maybe they could help.”

Jasper picked up the phone with trepidation on his face, picked a number, and dialed it. From the way he waited, then hung up, apparently there had been no answer. He bit his lip, stared at the phone screen for a moment, then shook his head and turned it off. After he set it back on the nightstand, though, he didn’t move away, just kept looking at it.

“Didn’t want to try anyone else?” Caleb asked.

Jasper jumped a little at the sound of his voice, then shook his head so vehemently he almost tipped over. Caleb barely caught him, and even Jasper’s tiny weight made him tip as well. Fortunately, they were right next to the bed, so with a little effort, he made sure they landed there.

“You sure?” he asked, though the answer didn’t seem to matter nearly as much as spooning up against Jasper’s back, trying to warm his freezing extremities. The pressure against his aching chest wasn’t his favorite thing, but now that he was safe and the bleeding had stopped, his healing was accelerating. He just needed a very good night’s sleep, and half the food in his refrigerator, and he’d be okay.

Jasper snuggled his face into the pillow, and his back against Caleb. “Declan might have, but the rest... their kind of help isn’t... no. They wouldn’t help.”

Caleb thought maybe he heard a silent “you” attached to the end of that statement, but he understood. Sometimes even when it was well intentioned, family wasn’t that helpful. His and Poppy’s fae mother would kill Jasper to help Caleb and not feel the least bit bad about it. Fortunately for the two of them, their human father had taught them a little better.

Caleb didn’t know anything about Jasper’s family life. For all he knew, the reputation demons had was correct for everyone except Jasper. Maybe they would come and insist Jasper eat Caleb. That didn’t seem like an ideal end to what had already been a difficult day.

He didn’t try to press for answers. They should be fine. Caleb just needed time and food, and Jasper had gotten what he needed to heal, right?

He roused enough to look down at the younger man, already mostly asleep, blond lashes fanned across too-pale, hollow cheeks.

Jasper didn’t look a lot better. He had managed to get to Caleb, somehow, and to get back, but it wouldn’t have helped him, trekking through the forest practically carrying his giant useless ass.

Still, there was a little more color in his cheeks than there had been. And if he was an incubus, what he really needed was for Caleb to get better and give him a proper meal.

Caleb settled down and smiled into the back of Jasper’s neck. He couldn’t lie to himself, he was kind of looking forward to that. Jasper had been so sweet, so perfect the first time. It could only get better as he got healthier. Right?