Trembling in the hot steam, he turned the water off and dried himself.He looked at his clothes where they lay on the floor.The fabric smelled ofthem.There were only a few holes in them, but he hated them.There was a small trash can in one corner, and Will pulled the bag out of it to shove the clothes inside it.He couldn’t stand the smell, couldn’t stand seeing that tangible reminder, but they were the only things he had, so he just left them in the trash bag on the floor until he’d had a chance to go through the drawers and wardrobe in the other room.
Before Will went into the bedroom, he listened at the door.The house was just as quiet as it had been, and when he unlocked the bathroom door, no one was waiting for him.Will made sure to lock the bedroom door before he finally collapsed on the bed.
He was exhausted, and sleep took him, but all through the night, he kept jerking awake and listening for noises, for fists banging on the door, for shouts.All he ever heard was the quiet, upper-class neighborhood coming awake, cars starting, bikes going by, but that did little to put Will’s brain at ease, and he slept like he had for most of the past four years—barely, and afraid of what he would wake to.
Paradoxically, after a while the background noises of the city waking lulled Will into a somewhat deeper slumber, and when he woke again, he could tell from the light that it was late in the afternoon.
There was disorientation and a bright spark of panic when he came to, but then he remembered.He was out.He was in the vampire’s house.
He’d fallen into bed with just a towel around his middle.A quick perusal of the clothes in the chest of drawers produced an old pair of jeans that might have been Peter’s, although Will couldn’t imagine the lawyering vampire wearing anything but tailored pants.
Wherever they had come from, they fit Will okay.There was also a sweatshirt that was plain and dark and comfy, and it smelled strongly of lavender.Will found a small satchel with lavender inside tucked in among the clothes.He’d always liked lavender.He’d never imagined that a vampire might too.
Dressed, and after brushing his teeth and washing his face, Will felt a little more like a person—more like one than he had at any point over the last four years, anyway.He thought he was ready to have another conversation with Peter.Last night, Will hadn’t asked a single question.What the vampire would want him to do in return, for example.How he would even deal with Ed and his pack.
Will opened the door to go and look for Peter—and found a note on the floor just outside the door instead.
William,it read.I am at work, and you have the house to yourself.Order food, watch television, or read a book.You’ll find the landline in the office on the ground floor.
The note was paperclipped to several delivery menus, Peter’s card with his cell number written on it in a neat string of numbers, and a fifty.Will gaped.That was a lot of money.When he had been allowed to go out to buy things, one of the pack had always gone with him, and they’d never given him money.Will read the note several times so he could be sure he understood it correctly.Then he sank to the floor and cried.
2
Sage
Recliningonhisfutonup in the attic, Sage felt accomplished.He’d had the idea a few days ago, had tinkered with the magic, and now, finally, he had a prototype all magicked up and working.The prototype, strictly speaking, was only a rubber glove, warm water, and his finest magic, but Sage had put all his effort into the spell.
For research purposes, Sage’s board shorts were around his ankles, the rubber glove between his legs, wiggling around the…test area with slightly lubed strokes.
“Oh fuck that’s good.”He let his head fall back against the throw pillows that covered one half of his futon.“Yeah, keep that up.Fuck.Good glove.”
The Magic Glove—TM!—was dexterous and just the right kind of firm where it needed to be.
“Focus more on the tip.Yeah, that’s it.Oh my fucking gods.How did I live without this?”
The glove went to Sage’s balls of its own accord, and Sage moaned, grabbing one of the approximately two dozen pillows surrounding him and shoving it over his head to muffle his scream; not that anyone was there to hear him.
The glove was as eager as a water-filled glove juiced up with magic could be, and one lubed-up finger even went farther south, which resulted in the glove just dropping to the mattress and away from the hard task at hand—pun fully intended.
Sage groaned in frustration and snatched the glove back up to put it in place around the test area.“Now, stay there.Stay focused.This is for…science.”
The glove obeyed, firmly taking hold of Sage and focusing all its watery enthusiasm on the flushed tip.
“Yes.Fuck, yes,” Sage said.
With another glove stroke, the rubber broke.
As R&D went, this was very…anticlimactic.
Sage groaned.“So close.So fucking close.”He looked at the wet spot between his legs.“Why’d you have to go and do that to me, Glovy?”
He picked up the remainder of the glove.There was still some magic in it, and the rubber tried coiling tenderly around Sage’s fingers.
“Still worth it.I’ll reinforce the rubber next time.”Sage tossed the tattered glove to the floor and fell back against his pillows to take care of the test area.
Just as he was about to grab the lotion from the floor next to the bed, his damn phone rang.
“Fuck.”
