Chapter Text
Guy is sick of this shit. It hasn’t even been two weeks, and he’s already sick of it.
The secrets. The lies. Feeling like he has no idea what he’s doing. Always being the last one to know anything. The Talamasca using him for whatever fucking reason by dangling his actually-alive-but-missing mother in front of his eyes.
Guy didn’t lie to Jasper. He doesn’t like the Talamasca, and damn if he would love to get them off his fucking ass. After all, their existence is apparently the reason his mother went into hiding.
It’s just like Helen said — the best covers are the ones that are mostly true anyway.
In this moment, laying in the massive bed of a dangerous vampire and staring at the ceiling, Guy is so sick and tired. He took a chance by strolling right up to Jasper and laying all his cards on the table, and how he’s basically being held hostage by him.
Guy replays it in his mind. Jasper staring at him, lips curled in amusement. His blue eyes bright and piercing. Encouraging Guy to stay, trying to be casual about it. Then being more demanding, stepping closer to Guy and blocking the exit. Guy’s heart races remembering it, just like it did in the moment. He remembers his throat going dry, and adrenaline spreading through his body.
Guy dislikes the Talamasca, but he’s not really afraid of them (which might be stupid on his part, but he’s too angry to be afraid). On the other hand, he’s certainly afraid of Jasper… but he finds that he likes the vampire.
He rolls over to his stomach and groans into a pillow. There must be some wires crossed in Guy’s brain, but it’s not his fault that the vampire is so charismatic. He still feels on edge from being so close to Jasper, the fear mixed in with something close to attraction.
Guy’s met a vampire before, which was also frightening because of how powerful they are. Burton was ethereal and uncanny, but Jasper is different.
Jasper is alluring. He’s objectively stunning, the vampirism enhancing his looks, but there’s another quality about him that Guy can’t quite put his finger on. He’s magnetic.
So even though Guy is purely winging it at this point and terrified of getting sucked dry before he’s able to find his mom, he’s also, selfishly, looking forward to spending more time with Jasper.
Jasper lounges on the couch, mindlessly twisting the rings on his fingers.
This Guy is intriguing.
Jasper likes how brazen he is, walking into the motherhouse and demanding to see him. His anger at the Talamasca for using him. His big eyes when Jasper coaxed him into staying.
Jasper likes him.
It’s been a while since someone’s been blunt with him like Guy was. Most people are boring to Jasper, either too terrified of him or too slippery if they’re Talamasca. Guy is both Talamasca and afraid of him, but he’s not like the rest and this intrigues Jasper.
Guy is actually interesting.
This whole thing could be a setup, Jasper is aware of that possibility. He’s been playing this game for decades, he knows the song and dance of manipulating people and keeping them at arm’s length. It’s why he never chose a companion.
It’s perplexing, but Jasper finds himself hoping that Guy is different. He hopes that Guy actually wants to join him in taking down the Talamasca.
It’s why Jasper was so insistent in having Guy stay here. He wants to keep an eye on him. He wants to keep Guy for himself.
Jasper runs a hand through his silver hair and leans back into the couch, letting himself imagine it.
You and I could have some fun together.
The next day just amplifies Guy’s mixed feelings of fear and enticement.
Jasper treats him well. He gives Guy clothes, nice and expensive clothes. He feeds Guy breakfast, promising that it’s not poisoned. And Guy believes him.
Most of all, it’s the way Jasper talks to him.
He doesn’t treat Guy like an insignificant human. He doesn’t scoff at him, belittle him, or scowl. Jasper smiles at him, teases him, and speaks like he’s younger than the 65-years he looks like but is certainly older than.
Guy is actively trying not to fall for it, but he still can’t help but like Jasper because of all this. Out of everyone, he’s the one who’s treated Guy with the most respect. God, what has his life come to for that to be true?
Still, Guy doesn’t trust him. He knows how stupid that would be.
He’s right to be tense. Jasper shows him, not his kill room, but his dank basement where he keeps his army of revenant vampires. He shows him this, while telling him a story where the Talamasca are the villains. A fucked-up show and tell.
It’s a thinly veiled threat, meant to instill more fear in Guy about what Jasper’s capable of. As if he needed any help with that.
What confuses him, what elevates his mixed feelings, is when Jasper helps him clean up.
Guy is content with using some tissues to stop the bleeding, but Jasper won’t have it. He leads Guy into the fanciest bathroom he’s ever seen, and tells him to sit on the edge of the tub. It’s not a request.
Even if it was, Guy isn’t sure he’d decline.
He feels that magnetic pull, the desire to be in Jasper’s presence even though it’s objectively dangerous. His leg bounces, on edge again but for a different reason than when in the basement.
Jasper gives him a piece of gauze and Guy takes it, holding it to his forehead. Jasper tells him about the hotel run by vampires, shows him pictures on his ipad.
“Easy to go looking for fresh blood when it’s sleeping under your roof,” Guy remarks.
Jasper chuckles. “Let me see.”
He reaches a hand out. Guy’s arm drops to his side automatically as Jasper holds the side of Guy’s head and dabs at his wound, soaking up the blood. He’s talking about the hotel coven, but Guy can’t process what he’s saying.
He’s breathless at Jasper’s hand in his hair, turning his head this way and that to clean his wound. Jasper pulls away to reach for something else, and Guy immediately shifts his gaze away.
He only has a few seconds to process what Jasper’s saying before the vampire takes hold of him and starts dabbing at his wound once more.
“Wait, so you’re going in there to get the book?” Guy asks, before wincing in pain at whatever Jasper’s doing to him.
“No, Guy,” Jasper says. “You.”
Guy blinks.
“I can’t go in there, they know who I am. I wouldn’t get past the lobby,” Jasper explains. “But you, you’re just a civilian.”
He runs a hand through Guy’s hair before leaning back. “...Who can read vampire minds without them knowing.”
Guy’s eyes snap up to meet Jasper’s, surprised.
“How’d you know?”
“I know a lot of things,” Jasper smiles. “Call it a perk of the office.”
Honestly, it makes sense. Guy remembers the first time he saw Jasper, outside the restaurant. Jasper nearly ran into him and scared Guy shitless, but without thinking he tried to follow Jasper inside. Even then, at the start, he was magnetic.
Then later, once the meeting was over, Guy remembers Jasper noticing him.
What do we have here?
He should’ve known that Jasper could tell he was listening in.
Jasper rummages for something else, and Guy returns to the present.
He doesn’t want to go to the hotel, he has no idea what he’s doing. The vampires will find him out immediately and rip his face off, and Guy tells Jasper as much.
Jasper assures him that he’ll have backup, but Guy isn’t reassured. The Talamasca never gave him backup, why would this vampire?
Guy scowls to himself, very much not looking forward to once again putting himself out there to certainly fail. Jasper turns back to him, holding a bandaid, but he hesitates.
Guy frowns, looking between Jasper and the bandaid before Jasper seems to make up his mind.
“Shouldn’t do this,” he murmurs. “It’s kinda against the code, or whatever… but I like you.”
Guy looks up at him, heart pounding as he watches Jasper prick his finger open with his sharp teeth. He reaches out to hold Guy’s head again, and Guy jerks back on reflex.
Jasper raises his eyebrows. “You want a scar?” He beckons with his hand. “Come here.”
Guy swallows, staring into Jasper’s bright blue eyes and slowly leaning forward again, not pushing him away this time. Jasper’s hand trails down his head to cradle his jaw, and Guy is suddenly breathless.
“Doesn’t hurt,” Jasper murmurs. “Just trust me.”
Dangerous.
A familiar feeling overtakes Guy then, a heavy warmth like syrup spreading throughout his body and slowing everything down. Guy hopelessly and obediently looks up at Jasper, meeting his gaze as Jasper tenderly holds Guy’s face in place as he rubs a bloody finger across the gash in Guy’s forehead.
Guy can’t take it anymore and abruptly spins around, taking a few shaky steps to grasp the sink with both hands. He stands there, breathing heavily with wide eyes, trying to feel normal again.
Fuck. He felt like this with Keves at the club, but he never expected for it to happen with Jasper.
He glances at the mirror, pushing his hair up to glimpse his bare forehead before hanging his head in defeat. He’s still trying to get a hold of himself when Jasper walks up behind him, coaxing him with his colorful language to go into the hotel.
All Guy can think about is how close Jasper is to him, too close.
He manages to pull himself together enough to learn that Jasper’s goal is to take down the Talamasca, which sounds great to him.
“How?”
“That book contains the whereabouts of every vampire alive today,” Jasper says, taking a step towards him. “And do you know how many vampires there are, right now in the world?”
“No,” Guy breathes.
“Not enough.”
Guy leaves the bathroom in a daze.
I know what you’re going through. And that’s why I won’t let you down.
He doesn’t know what to think anymore. Why the hell is Jasper talking to him like that? Like a friend, like a lover?
Guy‘s in way over his head. Things aren’t clear and simple anymore. Rationally he knows he shouldn’t trust Jasper, but his intuition is telling him that Jasper’s being genuine with him. He’s being vulnerable.
It could be part of Jasper’s own attempt to manipulate Guy. He could not care about Guy at all, and be playing him while laughing to himself about how stupid Guy is.
But goddamnit, Guy wants to trust him.
He wants this thing between them to be real. The vulnerability, the honesty. Jasper breaking the rules to heal him. Jasper’s hands tenderly holding his face, petting his hair. Jasper’s raspy yet pleasant voice as he shared about his history, his pain, and his goal of taking down the Talamasca.
Their goal, as far as Jasper knows.
Guy’s in trouble, because if he’s honest with himself he wants to fully join forces with Jasper, to flip on the Talamasca, to get the 752 and find his mother with Jasper by his side.
He knows it's insane and stupid, but he still wants it.
He wants Jasper.
Throughout the shitshow that happens at the hotel, he still wants Jasper. He defends the vampire to Doris, and he doesn’t give up when Raglan James threatens him. Guy almost gets killed when Raglan blows his cover, but then Jasper’s terrifying revenant vampire pet tears the other three vampires to pieces.
Guy’s still terrified of that thing, but damn was he relieved to see him come through the window. Jasper kept his promise; he had backup. Something the Talamasca never bothered to give him.
And when Jasper himself showed up, Guy irrationally felt better. Like with Jasper there, nothing at all would happen to him. Like Jasper would take care of him.
It’s a way of thinking that Guy previously only allowed himself to indulge in for one-night stands. He would be an absolute idiot to let himself indulge in it with a vampire who could kill him without breaking a sweat, but the longer Guy is around Jasper the more his resolve weakens.
He gets distracted by the sight of Jasper ripping off the ancient vampire’s head, slapping his hand over his mouth in shocked disgust.
In the car, Guy feels nauseous.
“Lucky we got there before things really went south,” Jasper says.
“You can just let me out anywhere.” He needs some fresh air.
Jasper ignores him. “Someone cares about you, you know.”
He frowns. “Wait, who?”
“You tell me,” Jasper says mildly. “What did the bellboy say?”
“Girl, sir. Very pretty.”
“Ahhh, pretty pretty girl,” Jasper teases. “You’re really making the rounds, aren’t you?”
Guy’s hands are clammy. He tries to clear his mind so Jasper doesn’t know what all’s swirling around his head, but he’s not sure if he succeeds.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do not worry, my dude,” Jasper assures. “Between the two of us? I’m sure we can figure it out.”
Guy hears Jasper’s laugh in his mind. What else could he find inside Jasper’s head, if he was to look?
Guy wants to know. He wants to know everything about Jasper. Dangerous.
If he’s not allowed to leave the car, Guy might as well focus on something else to distract himself from his own mind.
Guy chews his lip, shifts in his seat, and closes his eyes.