Page 6

Chris hid behind the wood panelling, listening as Karl explained the situation. He could have been a bit nicer in his explanation and then Jack wouldn’t have sounded so disgusted. Although Karl did say he wasn’t malevolent, and that Ben vouched for him so maybe the demon wasn’t too bad. The elf, he noticed, hadn’t come to his defence.

His tracer had gone off, and he couldn’t resist popping in to see Jack and how he might pleasure himself. He’d meant to stay out of the way; to hide under the bed for the first time he observed him, but he was drawn to Jack. His magical energy tasted divine, and Chris couldn’t stop himself from getting closer and watching him. He needed to see him come, wanted to watch him fall apart, not just enjoy the after-show rewards.

Jack’s head tossed back, his hair askew, even thinking about him now made Chris salivate. It wasn’t hunger—he was still full from his dinner—so he couldn’t use that as an excuse, it must be that he was attracted to this scaley warlock. He should apologise, but he wouldn’t do so in front of old curly horns and pointy ears. Finally, Karl and Alex left, and Jack changed into his pyjamas.

Chris waited until Jack was clothed and back into bed, usually when he entered a room he was as quiet as possible, but he didn’t want Jack to freak out. He simulated a soft cough and Jack’s head whipped in his direction as Chris materialised.

“I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. While Jack’s magic wasn’t working properly, he didn’t want to risk being hit by a stray blast if Jack thought he needed to protect himself.

“You! What are you doing back in here? I’m not wanking, there’s nothing for you now.”

Maybe if he explained Jack would think kindlier of him. He’d only been given a brief overview, and he was sure he could explain things better. “Please, I got carried away. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Jack frowned. “What, you intended to hide under the bed and me not realise you were there at all?”

He nodded, maybe Jack did understand. “Yes, that’s what I normally do. I try not to be seen or disturb people.”

“You know there’s a thing called consent, right?”

Chris knew what he did to survive would be considered wrong on many levels, but he could be a lot worse and have sex with people, like incubi. He wasn’t sure it would be an option, but he didn’t like the idea of touching most people so hadn’t explored it, although Jack might be different. “I have to eat, most of the time I don’t even watch, just curl up under the bed.”

“You should ask permission.”

He shrank back. “Ben said it would be okay.”

Jack looked affronted. “He said you could come in here?”

“Oh, no, not you specifically, but the non-residents. You sort of caught me by surprise.”

“I caught you? Fucking hell, you’ve some nerve!”

Chris whimpered; he seemed to be making everything worse. “I’m sorry, I really am. I saw you, you were so lovely. I’d seen you in the bath and could feel you weren’t happy.”

“Hang on, you watched me in the bath as well?”

Jack was angry and Chris didn’t want him to be angry. “I felt your pain, I didn’t know how to help but I wanted to.”

“ Help me?” Jack said, sounding uncertain. “Why would you want to help me?”

Chris sensed Jack wasn’t used to having someone care about him. “I’ve been alone a long time, living in my jar, and I felt you were lonely. Needing to heal.”

Jack frowned, still angry but less intense. “I have questions.”

“I’ll answer anything I can… there’s quite a lot I don’t know, though.” He took the chance and floated closer, since waking he’d been more solid than last time, but he was still far from corporeal.

“What did you mean by living in a jar? Are you associated with a specific object?”

“I have a jar I sleep in, it’s on a shelf in the next room, I got moved there yesterday,”

“Into the room or the jar?” Jack asked, his tone direct.

“The room, I’ve been in my jar forever, hundreds of years… I’m not sure but possibly even before then.”

“Can I see it?”

Jack’s demeanour had changed, gone was the anger and instead he was curious. Chris had no problem with Jack visiting his jar, but he could sense Jack was beginning to tire. “I can’t bring it to you, but one of the staff could. Although the elf, Alex I think, stuck it in place.”

“Why would he do that?”

Chris shrugged; he’d been as confused as Jack. “I don’t know, he said it was to stop it falling over, but it’s always been stable. I guess he might be worried because no one knows what I am.”

“Aren’t you a sex spirit?”

Chris didn’t like to be tarred by the same brush as the average incubus, he felt he was very different from those creatures. “Not in a sordid way. Not for my own gratification.”

“You watched me masturbate and got off on it, how’s that not sordid?”

He had a point. “I don’t usually watch. As I said, I tend to hide under the bed and absorb the energy, but I liked what I saw in the bath and when I realised what you were up to, I couldn’t stop myself from watching—and joining in.”

Jack grimaced. “I’m not sure I want the answer to this, but how did you know what I was doing? And how do you join in if you’re not corporeal?”

Chris couldn’t meet Jack’s stare. The second question wouldn’t be the problem. “I can feel myself, just others can’t feel me.”

“Right. And the knowing I was wanking?”

“I put a tracking charm on your mattress to tell me. Not that you were pleasuring yourself specifically but if anything had changed.”

It was a little lie, he’d known exactly what Jack was doing.

“Deactivate it now.”

He sent out a little echo and felt the tracker disintegrate. “Done.”

“Right, now we can have a proper conversation. I’ve never heard of a creature living off sex energy in the way you’ve described. You’ve told me what you aren’t, but not what you are.”

Chris was confused, Jack didn’t seem to be running him off. Perhaps his natural curiosity wouldn’t let him. “I’m just Chris… I don’t remember anything before waking up in my jar. I was alone in a dark space, like a cave I think, until I was found.”

“How long were you in the dark space?”

“Not sure, I would sleep and then wake, see it was still dark and return to sleep. Then one time I was somewhere new.”

He remembered the light, candles and the smell of incense, the sensation of being able to experience something other than darkness so wonderful that even now he remembered that day vividly.

“Where were you?” Jack asked.

“A place called Edessa, the city was vibrant and under siege. I don’t exactly know what happened but a soldier, maybe a crusader, liked my jar and the next time I woke up I was in a fancy lady’s house in Jerusalem. She was a prostitute, and I realised through Lia’s activities I could drink the energy from her clients.”

“I bet that went down well.”

She’d never known he was there; he’d been careful not to reveal himself. “I never spoke to her, I was weak, a mere whisp but I began to get stronger once I was feeding properly.”

“You said you sleep, and by the sounds of it, it’s for a long time.”

“In the beginning, I had no idea how long I’d have been asleep, as the centuries progressed it was easier to chart.”

“And at what point did you become corporeal enough to be seen?” Jack was interested, and Chris liked being the subject of his attention even if it was because Jack didn’t like not knowing things.

“It wasn’t until a few cycles after Lia, my jar was now in a castle in England, damp, cold, and not as nice.” He grimaced at the memory. “Sebastian Hewel liked the red colour of the pottery and the gold lines and so he gave me, well, my jar, to Anthony to cheer him up as his side was losing the war he was fighting.”

“Sebastian gave you to his Eternal because the royalists were losing the English Civil War?” Jack asked, amused.

“Yes, and… er… I didn’t realise who he was, just that they tasted different.”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t want to know.”

“He was the first to realise the jar wasn’t a normal piece of pottery and he asked a warlock friend to have a look, he cast some spells, and I popped out.”

“A warlock? Do you remember the name?”

“Bika Fin.”

Jack laughed. “We’d always suspected that old shitbag was working for Hewel. Good to know we were right.”

“Did I say something wrong?” Chris hoped he hadn’t got someone into trouble. The warlock was dead now, but he’d always been nice to Chris and had helped to try to find out what he was.

“No, not at all. Although, technically, Fin should have reported discovering an unidentified species in a vampire’s possession to the WRC.”

“ WRC ?”

“Warlock Ruling Committee—our governing body.”

Chris shrugged. “I don’t know anything about that. He helped me a lot. I was sad when I woke up and he was dead.”

“Helped you how? Oh, God, you didn’t have a thing for him as well?”

“He was a friend,” Chris said, incensed. “I didn’t know what I was, or why I was in a jar, and he tried to help me. I’ll have you know I don’t normally like touching people, and I think I made a mistake about you.”

He sped off through the wall and into his jar. He’d thought Jack was a good guy. Thought someone who had such a special aura would be understanding, and nice. His jar had been his refuge for so long, he was safe here, and he would try to sleep or at least have a good sulk.