Elison watched from the side as the fae used his magic to put the young man to sleep, having kept out of the conversation as much as possible to obverse them. Calder's words about John having plans for Jaspar ringing loudly in his ears. John was certainly acting like Jaspar was one of his pretty boys and not one of the Calder's pups. Protective and possessive but in a different way to Elison. Elison would need to warn Calder of that.
The young seer fought briefly before slipping under at the promise of a dreamless sleep. Elison wondered darkly how much sleep Jaspar had actually gotten the night before. It sounded like the shock had wrecked his system. Jaspar had clearly been struggling that morning if John's words were any indication. Swearing was a big no-no with the fae, with most of the old races even. Races who were from a time where words had far more power than they did now. Even the old superstitious about giving someone your birth name were beginning to lose power.
John allowed swearing from the customers for the most part but not from the people who he viewed as under his control or just plain his. Elison had been reprimanded before for cursing, and he knew Calder had too. Recently at that, not from when Calder was still serving in John's makeshift court as an advisor. John took no liberties when it came to people who used crude language and Jaspar was lucky John had let it slide this time.
Jaspar was fragile that morning. Fragile and Elison hadn't been there to support him because he had been enjoying his only lie in of the week. Elison felt slightly guilty at that but his demon half was quick to snort and yank the feeling away. Being fragile when your emotions were still bouncing all over the place wasn't always a bad thing.
"Your pup is getting more rebellious," John mused, still sitting on the bed, his eyes on Jaspar's sleeping face. "I hope you are ready to deal with this stage."
"My apologies. He's still a touch shaken from last night," Elison said softly, pulling on a t-shirt before John thought he was being rude by remaining undressed. "He's going through angry again."
John snorted. "Bit of an understatement Elison. Jaspar is going to be pushing boundaries and testing limits for a while yet. They all do and Jaspar is still adjusting to his condition as well," John glanced over at Elison with a knowing smile. "No reason to let him get away with that sort of behaviour but more reason to pull tight at the first signs of it. Try not to give him enough rope to hang himself by," John advised.
"I'll watch out for when's he's starting to struggle," Elison nodded slowly, understanding vaguely what John meant. He had never done this part of assimilation into the underbelly before or even been around for it. John, on the other hand, was well used to putting rebellious young adults in their new places. Without completely breaking them or ruining them, which was an art in itself.
"Speaking of which," John turned to Elison with a decidedly miffed off look on his face. "Jaspar questioned me on when he became one of my boys. Just what have you been telling him?"
Elison swallowed. Maybe things were worse than he thought if John was genuinely thinking as Jaspar as one of his boys. "He knows he's not one of your pretty boys," Elison said emphasising the pretty. "He also knows there is a power balance between yourself and Lord Calder. I thought he knew not to question you, however."
John let out an almost feral growl before looking visibly embarrassed that he had let the sound out. The fae was normally in considerably more control than that over his reactions. "There is no power balance issues. The brats have as much power as I allow them and Alistair Calder is only a few years away from retirement. You will tell him in your report to him that whatever he is planning is to stop now. Jaspar is part of something which will succeed his tenure as city lord," John said darkly but refined, a hand running over the blankets on Jaspar.
"Does Lord Calder know his tenure is almost up?" Elison asked, feeling like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over his head and not sure he had wanted to know that information. John was as close to a friend as someone with his power could get but Calder was his boss and the one who had pulled strings for him in the past. Strings for things that only humans understood were important. He was loyal to his boss and the idea that John had his date set was not a comforting one. Retirement in this city almost always meant death.
"Lord Calder is aware of the duration as city lord, yes," John nodded, his expression clearly just realising what he had revealed to Elison. "I trust you not to spread it around, however. It was agreed when he took up the post and made it clear that he wanted his children to have nothing to do with my court," John sniffed unhappily at this,
Calder's children were dear to him and it made sense to Elison that the man would have put something in place to stop them becoming the new city lord. "You have to admit John, Natasha and Elliott aren't bloodthirsty like their father is," Elison pointed out softly.
"They would learn," John said firmly. "Alistair did. Still, they are useful in their own ways," he mused, clearly wishing he could change the situation but a deal was a deal. Even for the fae who had more leeway than most supernatural races for bending rules and loopholes.
Both children had a darker skin tone than their father, more like their mother but they had their father's black eyes. Only while Calder's were like molten darkness, theirs often twinkled with light. Both were happy, friendly people with good souls despite the work that their father did.
Natasha was the older of the two at 27 and was the woman who taught Jaspar piano now he was blind. She was a talented musician who volunteered to teach handicapped people as a form of theory. Not that John considered that to be useful but being a talented musician, that was different. No fae would ever look down on a musician if they were talented.
As for Elliot, the man who Justice had lost his leg too, he was 25 and a paralegal studying to be a lawyer. He worked at the same firm as Akihito Saito but in different offices. A useful profession to have someone as, when you ran not so legal businesses.
"They are very talented people," Elison agreed, not knowing either that well personally but much like Calder, people liked to talk about them.
"I know you are loyal to Lord Calder, Elison," John said calmly. "It is an excellent trait of yours, but please remember who will be deciding your future soon enough. You are an immortal and Calder is only human."
Elison found himself lowering himself to one knee. "I would never place him before you, Baron, however as long as I am in service to him there are some things I must do which may seem so," he spoke honestly, thinking about Lord Calder's secret relationship with Akihito. Where was the line, he wondered, between a secret and things that the man who would control his life for longer than Calder would be alive, needed to know?
"I accept that but watch your footing. Calder is playing a game and while I admire the sport, it is far too late in our game to try to change hands," John said seriously before standing. "I will leave you to watch over Jaspar. I have matters to attend too," John moved over and pressed a kiss on Elison's forehead before disappearing from the room.
Leaving Elison slightly breathless and more than a little worried. No power balance indeed. It might be late in the game but Elison could help but feel Calder was going to play his hand and try regardless.
Jaspar woke up hours later feeling considerably better and well rested. He wasn't sure if it was John's influence or a weird kind of an acceptance but he didn't feel as bad about Nathan's situation anymore. He still felt horrified by the idea it could happen but he felt safe and confident that it would not.
He also quickly realised that he was feeling something that he hadn't felt in a while. Or at least, not since he had been blinded.
"You're hard," Elison said, his voice full of lust and restraint, revealing himself to be in the room much to Jaspar's non-embarrassment. For some reason, he didn't care anymore. He had suffered from Elison waking up with hard-ons for a week and a bit now, it was time he had his own fun.
"Well done captain obvious," Jaspar all but hissed, shifting on the bed to pull his trousers off. "Now either get out or watch but I'm sorting this out!" He groaned, not really sure why he was giving Elison the option to watch in on him but not really caring at that moment in time.
"You know my demon will get funny..." Elison said but Jaspar quickly cut him off.
"I don't give a damn about your demon, Elison. I know you won't touch me without permission," Jaspar paused as an almost evil thought crossed his mind. Justice had suggested teasing the demon after all and getting the most out of the experience. "I know you can't touch me without permission," he purred, pulling his boxers off, groaning with relief as his hard cock left his boxers. His legs spreading and his hips shifting slightly. "So you can either leave or sit down and watch. You can even hump your own hand if that's what you want to do," Jaspar hummed, not quite touching himself yet, instead rubbing his thighs with his hands. If he was going to do this, he was going to go all out and give the demon a show he wouldn't forget too easily.