Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So, do I have your attention?”

The words echoed in the vast silence, dropping like lead into water, leaving only ripples behind.

The boy who had uttered them was young. Almost insultingly young. A little lamb, let to slaughter by a manipulative outside force.

Jasper let his eyes scan up and down the long, lanky body of the boy before him, taking in his form as well as his offer as the boy sat in the office Jasper had claimed for himself, shifting nervously at the silence.

Of course, he knew about the boy. The vampire had been observing Guy for a while, ever since he had felt the untrained and sloppy mind brush against his own, the almost insulting attempt to spy on him.

Helen, the American faction's leader, must be panicking, if she was sending in such a baby to replace her well trained disciple.

And yet, she clearly didn’t know what she had stumbled across. Or maybe, she did.

Guy Anatole.

Jasper had done his homework. He wasn’t so stupid as to insert himself into the Talamasca without doing so. Owen may be a useless lump, a dependent and desperate lacky, but he had his uses. Helen had tried to keep her little operation so secret, that she had failed to mention to the other Motherhouses, her belief London had been compromised. And that made it so easy for Jasper to gain whatever information he wanted from their network as he hunted for the 752.

The file on the boy was extensive but locked down so tightly and carefully hidden that it was only a tenacious mind like Jasper’s that could locate it. His mothers history as an agent, his hazardous childhood. His intelligence. His lack of control and attempt to dull his gift with a cocktail of drugs. His desperate desire to be normal and boring.

Guy had been marked, almost from the womb, by the Talamasca as a possible asset. And not just that. The boy displayed a level of mental control and telepathy almost unheard of in a mortal, the level almost meeting Jasper’s own, as a Master of the Mind Gift.

No, Helen must have known. There was no other reason to get rid of the boy’s mother if she didn’t. No other reason to pay off his foster parents and isolate him. No other reason not to train him.

After all, orphans make the best recruits.

Easy to manipulate, their desire to be wanted making them blind to the more unsavoury practices and loyal to a fault. But when they were as mentally powerful as this boy, well….

An untrained, panicky young man was a lot easier to dispose of than a seasoned agent.

And powerful he was. Jasper had been watching the Talamasca for decades before he had made his move. He had carefully followed the careers of promising young agents, some of whom flourished, rising through the ranks while others disappeared into unmarked graves or body bags, labelled as John or Jane Doe’s and pointedly forgotten.

Helen had been one he had watched, when she had first been brought into the organisation for testing as a little slip of a girl.

Jasper could see, in Guy’s mind, unguarded as it was, their confrontation in that place when the boy had surprised her. How Helen had carefully lied to his face. She did know what the Talamasca had been looking for. She hadn’t failed the tests.

Guy may not have picked up the truth but he was smart enough to see that she was a liar.

The Talamasca converted the rare. And the mind gift in mortals was rare.

Helen had been considered the most powerful mortal the Talamasca had ever found. Trained to be the very best. Of course, that was no longer true. And the Talamasca was not known for keeping only the second best. But how easy to get rid of her possible replacement, while he was still young, untrained and had no idea of how powerful he really was.

Either Guy, as unlikely as it was, succeeded and got Helen control of London like she so clearly wanted, or he failed and her potential rival for top dog was wiped from the board. Either way, sending the boy to Jasper was a win for her.

Except she had failed to count on one thing.

These mortals tended to attract the interest of vampires. And most vampires were a lot older and smarter than mortals.

Jasper had seen several centuries already. He was not a foolish fledgling. And he could see the advantage in this mortal who was so casually offering himself up to the vampire, like a delectable meal.

Of course, Guy had his own plan here. He was not exactly planning to betray Helen, despite his pitch to Jasper. But he was at least aware of her continued deceit. Aware that she was not his friend or the motherly figure she tried to portray herself as. Aware that his own mother may still be alive, hidden from him by the very organisation that was prepared to offer his life up as sacrifice.

Which made Guy an uncontrolled element.

And that was exciting.

Helen had burnt her control when the boy realised she was lying to him. Which made him ripe for the taking for Jasper.

Jasper hadn’t interacted much with mortals before he had taken the London Motherhouse, unless he had to. Even now, interacting with his food was more of a chore than a pleasure.

Mortals were so boring and predictable. Always thinking they were in charge and the moment Jasper showed them their place on the pecking order, they turned into snivelling messes, all begging and pleading for their miserable, worthless lives.

But this one was actually interesting. And not just for his power. He had walked brazenly into the lion's den. Made a dangerous offer and yet, Jasper could tell that Guy was very aware of the game he was playing. Aware that Jasper could offer him the one thing he craved. More than answers about his mother or his past. More than riches or power. Guy wanted control. Control over his gift.

And Jasper could work with that.

It didn’t hurt that the boy was charming. A tiny mouse with the potential to roar.

Jasper hadn’t planned to take on a human student. The thought of training a fledgling in the Mind Gift was exhausting enough, let alone training a human, who was so much more breakable.

But this boy, he could tell, would be worth it. Even if he tried to stab Jasper in the back in the end, to know that he had been the one who had given Guy the knowledge he needed, would be like sweet poison. A strike against the Talamasca.

Even if the other Houses saw through Helen’s game, it would take Guy out of their hands. And if it worked, it would give Jasper a powerful ally.

And maybe more.

After all, the boy was adorable as he was charming. In that strange, awkward way that made the elders around him want to protect and coddle him.

Jasper didn’t tend to pick humans as his companions but he had occasionally enjoyed the company of his own kind and he very much enjoyed the companionship of a pretty face, especially if it was covering a clever mind.

Guy was a sweet little treat and the vampire could bet, his blood would be just as delectable as his body would be under Jasper’s. Every inch of the boy under his control. His body to play with, his mind to explore and his blood to feast on.

Of course, the vampire could tell, even without looking into the boy’s unguarded mind, the mortal was clinging to the notion of his ‘heterosexuality’.

A foolish ideal.

Being a vampire for so long, Jasper had learnt that having a companion, regardless of their gender, was a boon. Sex was as much a meeting of minds as it was of bodies. The boy would soon learn the same, if Jasper had anything to say about it. It would be a sweet surrender, a corruption the Talamasca would be unable to overlook, even if they did decide to ignore the influence Jasper would inevitably wield once he helped the mortal control his gift.

Guy would be his. His little mouse. His toy, his pet. His protege. Maybe Guy would betray him, maybe he wouldn’t.

There were few things Jasper looked forward to, his long life making it hard not to see the patterns and guess the outcomes. Spoil the surprises. But Guy was enough of a wild card that Jasper couldn’t guess what would come next. And he was excited to see how the dice would land in this new game.

But maybe Guy would stay the course Jasper was now planning for him. Maybe the human notion of loyalty would prove strong.

And one day, if all went to plan, Helen and the rest of her damn agents in the Talamasca would be left shaking in fear at the Mouse that Roared.