Page 26 of Across Space and Time

“No,” Jack said with a heavy, forlorn sigh. “Nothing so nuanced as that, I’m afraid.”

“Just a gut feeling?” Hugh said.

Jack frowned a bit. “A what now?”

Hugh laughed, a bit surprised that Jack did not understand that phrase, considering some of the others he had come up with before. “Your body feels something, even if you don’t know exactly what it is or why.”

“Yes, just like that,” Jack said, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to the side of his neck. “I look at you, and I feel. I feel like the stars have aligned in the universe, like I am under a warm waterfall, like I am watching puppies play in a mud puddle.”

Hugh couldn’t stop a snort of laughter at that. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“Mm, I have wondered if I come on too strong for you,” Jack said, tracing his fingertips lightly over Hugh’s thigh, and Hugh was glad that the metal tips were no longer on them. “But I suppose the universe must know what it’s doing if I am your soulmate.”

Hugh raised a brow. “Are you saying I’m too serious?”

Jack chuckled and nipped lightly at Hugh’s neck again. “Perhaps.”

“I suppose I am,” Hugh said thoughtfully. “Always have been too much in my own head.”

“It’s easy to do,” Jack agreed.

“Does it bother you?” Hugh asked softly.

“Hmm? You being serious?” Hugh nodded. “No, it doesn’t bother me at all,” Jack replied, tracing his fingers over Hugh’s soft sides. “I think sometimes opposites are meant to be together. To support one another. To be the strength where the other might be lacking. It doesn’t always work, of course, but when it does, it creates a beautiful harmony.”

Hugh smiled and hugged Jack’s arm tightly. “I hope we can create that harmony together.”

“Having hope is always a good first step,” Jack replied. “A good second step is a willingness to let go of your soulmate’s arm so he can get you some tea.”

Hugh couldn’t stop a laugh. “Oh, very well,” he said with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “I need to get ready for work anyway.”

It was strange to have someone to say goodbye to before he left for work. But it was also nice, to know that someone was watching out for him. Hugh cleaned up and dressed in his uniform. He almost didn’t want to leave Jack, but he knew he had a job to do, and he would see him later that night, once Jack was able to move around without being spotted as easily. Hugh kissed him goodbye, something he wondered if he would be able to do every day going forward, before he headed out of his apartment and down to the busy London streets to Scotland Yard. Dr. Ledbetter had left him a note that the burned body had been identified and to come see him as soon as he arrived, so Hugh made his way out back to the backyard butchers and the morgue.

He stared down at the charred corpse on the table in front of him in confusion. He knew that the fire had probably burned the creature pretty severely, but what lay on the table now, still smelling of ash and burned meat, was not the monstrous fanged creature that had lunged at him. This was a man, his teeth of average length, his cloudy eyes looking as human as a corpse could. His hands were simply hands, though several of his fingers had been burned almost to the bone.

“Was this what he looked like when he was brought in?” Hugh asked.

Dr. Ledbetter stood next to him and frowned at the question. “I mean, the body has decomposed and collapsed a bit more in that time.”

“But his teeth looked like this? They weren’t bigger and sharper?”

Dr. Ledbetter raised a brow behind his spectacles. “No. That is not how teeth work.”

“I know that,” Hugh said with a slight glower at his friend. “But the thing that attacked me was larger and had clawed hands and pointed teeth.”

“Well, this is the body that came in from Prosperity Way.”

That was where he had encountered the creature and its unfortunate victim. Hugh sighed as he studied the body again. The clothing looked right; the battered top hat sitting off to the side appeared to be the one that had been perched on the creature’s head, and the cape, while a bloodied and burned mess, also looked familiar. Another aspect to this strange case that was only getting stranger by the moment. “Who was he?” Hugh asked with a slight frown.

“Viscount Emeril Jardin,” Dr. Ledbetter said. “His brother identified the body, and this,” he pointed to a silver pin on a side table next to the top hat that had survived the blaze, “is their family crest.”

“A viscount,” Hugh said with a frown. A viscount attacking a prostitute in the street would be unusual but certainly not unheard of. The rich often thought that the law did not apply to them, since they had any amount of money to buy their way out of trouble. That was often the way of the world, he knew, but that certainly did not make it right.

Dr. Ledbetter nodded. “I have already spoken with Sergeant Reardon. There will be an inquest as required, but the death will be attributed to an accident.”

“An accident?” Hugh said with a frown. “He butchered that poor young man.”

“From what I have been told, he stumbled upon the man who was already dead, and when he leaned down to see if he was still alive, his cloak was ignited by the lamp he had with him.”

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