Chapter 18
Valac
Valac was uncertain about modern clothing.
He stripped out of his shendyt while Julian was in the shower and pulled on something called boxer briefs, followed by jeans and a V-neck shirt with short sleeves.
The clothing was far more restrictive than he was used to.
Where was the appeal? The shirt hugged his body, stretched taut around his shoulders and upper arms. The jeans prevented him from lunging very far and squatting as deeply as he could.
What sense did these clothes make during a battle?
Julian emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, rosy-cheeked and damp, his fresh scent heightened by the soaps and shampoos he’d used.
He froze just outside the doorway, eyes trailing down Valac’s body and back up.
There was heat in his gaze as he drank in the sight of Valac in these strange modern clothes, and Valac’s body responded to his attention, shoulders straightening and cock thickening behind his uncomfortable zipper.
Maybe these clothes weren’t so bad after all.
“What do you think?” he asked, spreading his arms for further perusal.
Julian gulped. “You, uh—wow. You can really fill out a T-shirt, y’know?”
Valac wanted to pick him up and press him against the wall. He refrained—barely. “Is that a good thing?” he teased.
Julian nodded fervently.
“I must admit,” he said, plucking at the bottom hem of the shirt, “it feels strange. Too tight.”
“It’s definitely tight,” Julian said, sounding strangled. “But in a good way. Wow. What size is that shirt?”
“I don’t know.” He picked up the pack it had come in and read the label. “Something called XXL.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Julian breathed.
“Is that bad?” It seemed like the opposite, given the way Julian was staring at him.
“No, no,” Julian said quickly. “It’s—three sizes bigger than what I wear, and I’m thinking they should maybe have gone up one more size. Maybe two. But it’s not a bad thing. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable. Do you?”
Valac shrugged. “I suppose. And you? Do your new things fit okay?”
Pink crept up Julian’s neck and face. “Yes, everything fits fine.”
Valac stepped closer, wondering what he said that made Julian blush like that, but before he made it more than a single step, Julian flitted away.
“I’m going to—start putting away all these new clothes. Lots to do.” Julian disappeared through the bedroom doorway, leaving Valac staring after him with uncertainty.
He spent the rest of the day in agony.
Being in Julian’s presence was almost perfect. He enjoyed the human’s company. His scent permeated the apartment, as sweet as any forbidden fruit. He could even smell Julian on his own clothing. He was certain they would share the bed tonight, as there was only one.
But ever since their kiss that morning, Julian would pull away if Valac got too close.
He watched Julian move around their apartment, always finding something to do to keep himself busy.
Never pausing to rest or let himself get near Valac, who watched him throughout the day with increasing despair.
His need for Julian only grew, the hunger like a knot in his gut.
He was desperate for him, but Julian held him at arm’s length. It was maddening.
When they joined the others that evening at the Rink, Julian threw himself into training right away, leaving Valac on the fringes.
Watching Julian workout with the other humans, his problem only worsened.
Julian gleamed with sweat under the colorful lights.
Valac might have felt dubiously about his own clothing, but he had to admit they held a certain appeal.
Julian’s clothes were tight in all the right places.
His thin shirt revealed the easy shift of muscle in his back.
His black pants hugged the curve of his buttocks and drew attention to his long legs.
Right now, he was on something called a bench press.
Isaac was standing over him, holding his hands under the bar but not touching it while Julian pushed the weight up and down.
His back arched with effort, and his legs were spread at a delicious degree.
Valac wanted to be underneath him, wanted to spread them further and sink up into his body.
“Relax before you break the wall,” a voice said, and Valac looked down at his white-knuckled grip on the half-wall that separated the room.
He glanced over at Shadrach and softened his grip. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Trouble in paradise?”
“I have never been to paradise.”
“That’s not what—never mind. I was asking why you look like you want to sink your teeth into your boy over there.”
Valac growled softly. Julian would never allow something like that.
“Is he holding back?” Shadrach guessed.
“I’ve barely touched him.” He’d never do anything Julian didn’t want, but not taking and claiming was torture.
Shadrach smiled. “Oh, it’s fan-fucking-tastic to be on the other side of it.”
“What?” Valac scowled at him.
Shadrach sniggered. “I’m saying I was like you once. I wanted a human who didn’t want me back. Seeing somebody else going through it and knowing how it ends is… pretty satisfying.”
Valac’s gaze returned to the humans. To Isaac this time, the redhead who was helping Julian add more plates to the bar. He was a quiet one, but he and Shadrach seemed incredibly close.
“But you’re with him now,” Valac said. “So he did want you back.”
“After a while, yeah. The humans have trouble wrapping their heads around it, but they feel just as drawn to us as we do to them. We just don’t fight it, because we’re used to giving in to our impulses.”
“You’re saying he does want me,” Valac said slowly, “he just doesn’t want to want me.” He didn’t see how that was much better.
Shadrach shrugged one shoulder. “Could be. I don’t know Julian.
Isaac needed some… convincing. The humans say they need time to process big changes in their lives.
Julian has been through several big changes all at once.
He probably just needs a little time. Luckily, time is a thing we can give them. ”
Valac’s brow furrowed. “With our blood. Yes, I’m aware. I’m not sure Julian would want that, either.”
Shadrach smiled lopsidedly. “Like I said, it takes time. Some of the others were reserved about it, too, but they all take our blood now. I have a feeling yours will, too.”
Something that felt dangerously like hope took root in Valac. He wanted to spend eternity with Julian.
One by one, the other humans arrived, stepping into the training area with Julian and Isaac, who moved on from lifting weights to sparring. The demons lingered at the half-wall, lined up and watching.
“Goddamn, I love watching them train,” Malachi said, his eyes tracking Luke with a hunger Valac understood.
“And then they get all sweaty,” Storm agreed. “And they wonder why we want to join them in the shower.”
Valac wanted to join Julian in the shower. If he looked good sweating, how good would he look naked, water trailing down his body, rubbing slick soap suds across his skin?
But Julian didn’t want that. Not yet, at least. Julian wanted normalcy. Maybe Valac could help him find that.
“Julian said this morning that he’d like a drink,” Valac said. “He said he used to spend time with his squad outside of their duties, and I think he would like something like that with the Sentinels.”
“Did he? A lot of the paladins don’t drink, so that’s a little surprising,” Talon said. “Alex only has a couple of liquors he’s willing to drink.”
“I’ve introduced Luke to a couple of good beers and whiskeys. He’s always careful about how much he drinks, though.” Malachi smiled fondly at the back of his human’s head.
“We can go to the club after this,” Talon suggested. “It’s closed tonight, right?” he asked, leaning over to look down the row of demons at Shadrach.
“Yep,” Shadrach said. “It would just be us. Fuck it, drinks on the house. And who knows? A night of debauchery might be exactly what Julian needs to loosen up.”
The bar was in the basement of their apartment building.
A narrow, concrete staircase on the back side of the building led to a thick metal door.
There were no street lights or signs to indicate what kind of place it was.
From the outside, no one would be able to tell that it was actually a decadent nightclub for demons.
Valac had never been inside such a nightclub.
Shadrach and Isaac had teleported to the club ahead of them to unlock the door and turn the lights on.
He was surprised by how big it was. There were two bars, one on either side of the sprawling room.
The ceilings were high. The walls were painted black, and the floor was also dark, polished to a shine.
Black tables and chairs and booths circled the room, and raised platforms also dotted the room.
Some had cages on top of them, some had silver poles, and some had ropes, chains, or satin fabric.
Valac tilted his head, studying one of the cages with curiosity as he followed Julian toward the bar.
“What are these platforms for?” he asked Shadrach, who was behind the bar with Wolf.
Beside him, Julian shot him a wide-eyed look and then buried his face in his hands.
Shadrach smirked. “You’ve never been to a strip club.”
“A what?”
“Don’t tease the man,” Wolf admonished as he passed behind Shadrach.
“They’re for people to dance on,” Shadrach said bluntly.
“They can dance in the cages or hold onto the pole. Same for the chains and ropes and silks. Sometimes we’ll hire professionals to come in, and sometimes it’ll be open for the customers to use however they want.
Some people do more than dance up there.
” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “We’ve got private rooms in the back for more, ah, intense things.
” He popped the lid off a brown bottle and slid it over to Julian. “What do you want to drink, big guy?”
Valac looked at the rows and rows of gleaming bottles. Alcohol had probably changed just as much as everything else in the world, and he didn’t know where to begin.
“You know what? I’ll start you off simple, and we can go from there,” Shadrach said, grabbing a bottle off the wall behind him and pouring it into a glass with two cubes of ice. “Whiskey on the rocks. Have you two set up that computer yet? I got that for you.”
“Me?” Valac asked.
“Yeah. Well, for both of you, but you’re the one who needs it more. Once you set that up, Jules here can show you how the internet works, and you can start learning about the world. It shouldn’t take you too long to pick up the basics. Humanity hasn’t really changed much, as a whole.”
Julian blinked at them. “That’s a great idea.”
Shadrach nodded sagely. “I’m known to have them occasionally.”
“I need to have words with you about, uh, some of the clothes you picked out for me,” Julian said, face flaming.
Shadrach shot him a smirk. “Have those words with Isaac, too. He’s the one who recommended some of it. We’ve been expanding his horizons since he escaped the guild.”
Isaac barreled into Shadrach’s side. “Hey, stop telling people what’s under the hood.”
Shadrach’s dark eyes sharpened with that same hunger Valac felt burning for Julian. “I can’t help it. I like to brag. You want to try and make me pay for it?”
“No. I want you to pour me a drink and then take a look under the hood for yourself later.” Isaac grinned.
While they continued to bicker—which Valac was pretty sure was a type of foreplay for them—he turned to regard Julian, who was spinning his beer bottle on the bar-top with fidgety fingers.
“Are you well?” Valac asked, smoothing a hand down Julian’s back. He would never get enough of touching him.
Julian straightened, offering him a weak smile and nod. “Yeah. I think my brain is still catching up with everything that’s happened in the last couple of days, that’s all.”
Valac leaned in. “Was there something wrong with the clothing they picked out for you?”
Julian’s face flushed again. “In theory, no. They just got me some stuff I’m not used to wearing.” He tugged at his earlobe. Was he self-conscious?
Valac looked him up and down. What was he wearing that was out of the ordinary? He looked just like the rest of them. “I think you look perfect.”
Julian softened. “That’s not—thanks, Valac.”
He was so desperate to taste that smile. Instead, he forced himself to turn away and focus on his drink. Julian wasn’t ready, and Valac would rather die than make him uncomfortable. He wanted Julian to want him. If that meant waiting, so be it.