A/N
Thanks to Fr333bird for beta'ing and to Im_not_a_lizard (rhythm junkie) for pre-reading and encouragement.
Buraczana made this amazing banner for the story: bit(dot)ly/vk1ZfS
So – we've left the boys on this J's promise: "If you ever try to walk away from me, I'll find you. And then you will die. Just like you wish for."
3. The Hostage
The boy is frightened, Jasper can feel it clearly, but he's trying to turn it into a joke. He smirks and says, "Yeah, right," but it's whispered in a small voice.
Jasper releases the boy's arm and steps back.
"If I'm to stay here, can you at least tell me your name and turn the heating in this place on? Because it's freezing here." Jasper can see that the boy is in fact shivering.
"I am Jasper. And sorry, no. I have no heating here."
"Edward." The boy extends his hand to Jasper, but Jasper doesn't move to shake it so Edward lowers his arm after a while and says in much less sure voice, "Maybe you have a blanket or something like that? I'm so cold."
Jasper motions towards the bundle of clothes with his hand and Edward moves to search for some warmer layers of clothing.
"Do you need anything else?" Jasper asks, then wants to bite himself in the tongue for that question because he really doesn't give a shit what the boy – Edward – needs. And Jasper's got no idea what to do with him, which aggravates him no end.
"I…" Edward hesitates while putting a third sweater on himself, "I'm really hungry…"
Jasper closes his eyes and sighs. He really doesn't know why he's doing this.
"I'll get you something. Just… You just wait here."
Jasper goes down the stairs thinking how pissed off he is with Edward for making him go to buy food, and even more with himself for offering to do this in the first place. He feels like he's doing chores for Edward now, but he can't say anything because it was him who asked. However, he's irrationally angry and wants it to be done with as soon as possible. He realizes that he even doesn't really know where to go, but luckily, at the end of the street he spots a grocery store and enters.
Jasper stands by the shelf in the shop, frowning. He has no fucking idea what people eat. Everything looks so repulsive and it's all the same to him – all the labels are full of colors and descriptions that are incomprehensible. Jasper takes some packages off the shelf and turns them curiously in his hands, trying to work out what they are.
"May I help you, sir?" asks a young girl wearing a shop-uniform with a tag: "Sarah".
"Um," Jasper tries to think what to say. "My… girlfriend has gone out of town and I have no idea how to cook, but I need something for… lunch?" He finishes it like a question because he's not even sure what meal is eaten at what time of day. He smiles at the girl apologetically.
"Oh, okay, let me see." The girl takes whatever it was out of Jasper's hands and places it back on the shelf. "Follow me."
She leads Jasper to a counter with built-in freezer and takes out some vegetable stuff in plastic container and another one triangle-shaped container with a piece of bread inside.
"Does chicken salad and a ham sandwich sound okay?" she asks.
"Oh, yes, perfect," Jasper answers, not really knowing what she's talking about.
"Something else?" the girl asks. "Beer, potato chips?"
"Yes, beer would be good." At least when it comes to drinks Jasper knows all about it from the clubs. "And I'll grab a coke too." He looks around and smiles apologetically when he can't spot any cans.
"Wow, you know nothing about grocery shopping, do you?" The girl giggles.
"Not really," Jasper grins his perfect smile, enjoying the girl's attention. It would be so easy to lure her out of this shop or wait for her shift to end, and take her somewhere where he could undress her and make her squirm with desire before biting into her milky skin and drinking her up. Jasper licks his lips and tries to focus on the task.
"You were sayin'?" he asks the girl.
"Oh, you're funny." The girls chuckles again, placing playfully her hand on Jasper's arm. Jasper follows her gesture with his hungry gaze and suddenly the air around them shifts and Jasper can feel the girl's fear. She swallows hard and makes a quick escape behind the counter.
"That'll be sixteen forty-five," she says, not looking up at Jasper as he hands her the money.
"Thank you," Jasper responds gently and takes the bag with the food.
"***"
When he enters the room the boy is sitting by the wall again covered with a jacket he must have found in the pile of clothes. Jasper winces as he recalls the events leading to him coming into the possession of this particular jacket. He would really love to have the human ability to forget things. He places the paper bag containing the food next to Edward and goes back to the window.
"Thank you," Edward says and digs for the food.
Jasper watches him while he eats with growing disgust. He's repulsed by the smell of the thing Edward pushes into his mouth, the consistency of it, the slurping sounds that Edward makes while eating it, the swallows - all of it. Just when he's about to command Edward to hurry the fuck up with that meal and stop torturing him, Edward wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and asks with his mouth still full of food, "I'm sorry, did you want any?" He motions to Jasper waving the half of the sandwich.
"No," Jasper says with a scowl on his face. He catches the boy's surprise and quickly adds, "I'll… eat later… out."
Edward nods and goes back to the food really quickly, like he hasn't eaten for days. This time Jasper tries to look past his disgust for the feeding thing, and understand what it is about this boy that stops him from putting it all to an end.
He tries to distract himself with a conversation.
"So, what's your story?" he asks Edward.
"Huh?" the boy responds.
"I mean," Jasper elaborates, already wishing he hadn't started this. "Are you a college drop out or something?"
Edward chews for a moment and then nods reluctantly. "Yeah, you could say that."
Jasper feels like he's beating his head against a brick wall. "My, aren't we talkative…" He sighs.
"Yeah, sorry," Edward responds and then laughs unexpectedly.
This is fucking perfect, Jasper thinks. I've clearly brought a maniac into my house. Just what I fucking needed. But he composes himself quickly and risks one more question that's actually quite important to him. "Isn't anybody going to look for you?"
"No," Edward says it really quietly, but Jasper heard it. He could also detect the sadness behind it.
Then Edward asks – all wide eyed and wistful like some little animal from a cartoon. "So, can I really stay here for a while?" And Jasper almost jumps out of his skin - because – what?
"***"
Jasper isn't sure he hasn't lost it himself as he watches the boy sleeping curled up in a ball on Jasper's mattress under the pile of clothes. Jasper's made it clear that he's dangerous, that he has every intention to kill Edward and that he's – kind of – keeping Edward hostage. But then the boy pulled out the "can I stay here" question and made it all blurry and twisted and now it looks like Jasper's actually doing him a favor.
Think of it as a game, Jasper tries to convince himself, but it's fruitless.
The boy is distracting – he smells heavenly to Jasper and the blood in his veins pulses so loud and the scratches on his hands are practically calling out to Jasper "lick, taste, suck!" Edward stirs in his sleep, making his smell stronger and Jasper tries to think hard about the disgusting human stuff Edward does - like that time when he pissed in the toilet and came back to Jasper asking him if he knew his flush didn't work.
But mostly Edward just sleeps and sleeps and Jasper wonders if he's forgotten that maybe he slept like that too when he was human? Or is not normal to sleep all the time?
When Edward's not sleeping he's sitting by the wall – his legs bent and arms on his knees – sometimes smoking but mostly staring into the wall ahead. But even though he's pretty motionless most of the time he still annoys Jasper. All Edward's little movements, sounds, swallowing of saliva, coughing, biting his nails are infuriating! It takes all Jasper has in him to contain himself from launching himself across the room to smack Edward in the head, or at least telling him to "fucking keep quiet!" It's gotten to the point when Jasper feels trapped in his own place – like it's Edward who keeps him hostage with all of his 'humanness'.
Jasper diverts his eyes from the boy, focusing on counting in his head how many days he's gone without feeding. As usual he's not able to keep track. He's frustrated and a bit pissed with himself because - how can he remember each and every thing happening, each expression on the face of his victims, each smell of their dying bodies, each fucking sound of them pleading with him, but not be able to pay attention to something so ordinary and easy as the number of days passing by?
Finally Jasper resorts to checking his eyes in the mirror, sighing when he sees that they're almost totally black. So he must have counted wrong. He casts one more glance at the sleeping boy and goes out, closing the door quietly behind him.
"***"
Jasper doesn't want to leave Edward alone for too long so he just grabs the first human that comes in his hands. The girl is drugged and Jasper hates the taste of it in her blood - he can't even tell what kind of shit she's taken. She's also sick and if Jasper wasn't hungry and desperate he wouldn't touch her. He wishes he's had that grocery girl's sweet blood flowing under her milky flesh instead. But it's easier like this. No one will see the bite, no one will ask any questions, no one will weep for this girl. Jasper wipes his face and goes back, feeling nauseated and dizzy.
He knows right away that Edward isn't there, so he turns around towards the stairs to see the boy slowly climbing up.
"Why did you leave?" Jasper snarls at him, angry, wanting to punch him. He told him he would fucking kill him if Edward tried to escape.
"I was hungry." Edward says calmly, motioning toward the half eaten sandwich in his hand.
"But I brought you food," Jasper snaps.
Edward's eyes widen in surprise. "That was two days ago," he explains and Jasper feels stupid for forgetting how often humans need sustenance for their bodies. He waves for Edward to get inside and follows him. Edward sits in his previous spot unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite. Jasper just stands there watching him, trying to judge from Edward's emotions where all this is going. He feels some determination and knows the question that's coming before Edward even phrases it.
"So," Edward says, looking Jasper straight in the eyes, "What are you?"
"What am I?"
"Yes," Edward nods. "I mean – you're clearly not human. I've observed you. You don't sleep, you don't eat, you don't mind that it's freezing cold in here. You even don't use the toilet! And I bet those aren't contact lenses are they? What are you then? Are you a cyborg, or an alien or something? A vampire? An angel?"
"Yes," Jasper confirms.
"What? You're an alien?"
"No."
The boy looks at Jasper, licks his lips and repeats in a low voice, "A vampire…"
Jasper doesn't say a word after that.
"Will you kill me?" Edward finally asks calmly.
"Do you want me to?" Jasper tries to probe the feelings of the boy but they are very guarded right now. Again with the silence.
"I don't know," Edward finally admits.
"***"
After that little reveal they don't talk much more. Edward remains silent on his spot, getting up only to use the bathroom and mostly sleeping again while Jasper abandons all the false pretenses, allowing himself to stay still without all the unnecessary fidgeting. He watches Edward. All the time. He's curious about this boy, tries to decipher him and realizes that he's not been interested in anything for a very long time now.
During one of his "awake" periods Edward asks, "What did you do to me?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, outside that club? When I jizzed in my pants?"
"Ah, that…" Jasper considers whether he should tell the truth, but then he thinks it doesn't really matter so he continues, "I can feel your emotions. But more importantly I can make you feel anything I want you to feel."
Suddenly there is this meaningful silence between them. They stare at each other and Jasper feels like this is a challenge. The air around them is dense and thick and buzzing.
"Show me," Edward whispers and for a while nothing happens, whilst Jasper considers what he could do. And then Jasper slowly, very slowly pushes toward Edward the things that he usually feels when he's done with the hunt.
But apparently Jasper hasn't thought that through enough, forgetting that Edward isn't happy himself, because soon enough the feeling of despair and depression mixed with anger and suffocating pain is intensified by Edward's own emotions. The whole thing is spiraling and circling around them. And then Edward falls to his hands and knees, sobbing, tears streaming down his face and snot coming out of his nose. He's dry heaving until he collapses flat on the ground, unable to breathe, or move – just his fingers scratching slowly at the floor - and Jasper is brought to the ground as well.
"Are you doing this?" Edward manages to pant. "Because if you are, please, please, stop."
However Jasper finds himself unable to stop this. It has gotten out of hand. But he is trying hard, damn it! Slowly he finds some threads of sanity and pushes the waves of calm back towards Edward. When it settles just a bit Jasper crawls to Edward and reaches out with his fingertips, uncertain, wanting to touch Edward. Edward lies on the ground in a puddle of snot, tears and saliva, with his eyes closed and arms wrapped around himself. Jasper gently pushes the hair out of Edward's face.
"I'm sorry," he apologizes to almost unconscious boy. "I didn't know. I'd forgotten why you were here in the first place."
Jasper feels a bit stronger after a while and allows even more calmness and peace to flow toward Edward, until the boy's breath has evened and Edward falls asleep on the floor, shattered.
Jasper exhales and lies down on the floor next to Edward, staring at the broken ceiling above them. He tries to calm himself down as well to rethink what the fuck has just happened. Hours pass without much movement before Jasper feels Edward waking up and sits up to look at the boy.
"What was that?" Edward still sounds exhausted and is clearly unable to stand up.
"I'm sorry," Jasper says, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking up at Edward. "It seems like I've overdone it with you again."
"It felt like dying. Were you trying to kill me?"
"No." Jasper smiles. "That would feel very different. I'd put you in such a blissful state you wouldn't even know when death came."
Edward's eyes shot up with acknowledgment at Jasper.
"So, when you were with me outside that club…?"
"Yes." Jasper nods.
"Well, why didn't you then?"
Jasper shrugs. "I don't know." He shrugs again. "You reeked."
They look at each other for a moment and then Edward starts laughing. "Yes, I did."
Jasper finds himself laughing too and tries to remember when was the last time he laughed aloud. Oh, yes, on that movie about American rock'n'roll singer in Germany during the war…
And then Jasper thinks that maybe bringing Edward here wasn't such a bad idea after all.
A/N
If you liked it (or not), please leave me a review – I don't know unless you tell me.