Page 16 of Jack of All Trades

As much as he’d liked to deny that, he couldn’t. “I guess I do come off that way. Besides that, I’m…I mean, would you…?”

“Yeah, okay. You’re hot when you’re not talking.” Jack laughed and shook his head a little. “Can we leave now?”

“Yes. I suppose we should go.”

He pushed the remote on the big door in front of the warehouse, and up it went, squealing and creaking until it was open. Maltin started forward, hitting the remote again once they were through.

Jack mentioned, “I can work on that too if you’d like.”

“Let’s see if we’re mated first. I’d hate to…I mean, you know.”

“You aren’t going to pay me to fuck, if that’s what you’re concerned about if we’re mated. If not, and you want to fuck, then pay me.”

Maltin cringed at that. “I don’t pay for sex, Jack.”

They mainly drove in silence, but Jack did ask if he could play the radio. Maltin wasn’t sure what kind of music he’d want to play, so he turned it on himself and found a nice classical station.

“Really? You can drive to this music?”

“Of course! Let the music flow through you. This music is classical for a reason, Jack. It’s big and thrums through a body, making every cell and breath alive.”

“Cheesy.”

Maltin’s temper was in check, but barely. “Your family, they’re upper crust. Are you telling me you weren’t raised with culture?”

“I was raised in a room whenever people would come over,” he said in tones that told of his anger and resentment.

“Why, Jack? What was it that made you so resentful of your family?”

Jack stared at the floor of the car, unmoving for a long time. Maltin wanted to press him but refrained.

Finally, Jack huffed and asked, “I guess, you being my mate, you will find out eventually, right?”

“Find out what, Jack?”

“I have no powers. None. I am basically human, or I was before…I found out all this.”

Maltin understood then why Jack hadn’t tried to save himself. Knowing that eased him that he’d saved Jack from that desperate fall. “I see.”

“I knew it. You hate me now!”

Maltin only laughed. “Why? Do you think you’re the first offspring of magical people who were born without powers? Not at all. And I don’t hate you. I’m somewhat of a pariah in my family, too. Their powers are infinite. They can use them all day, every day, without consequence. Me? If I use them too much, I will perish.”

“Perish? Are you serious?”

“Very. My magic keeps me alive. My family has very long lives. Even the fully magical members die eventually, but they have spells to prolong them further. It’s rumored we come from a demigod, but that is only a rumor. The only reason I’ve lived so long is not using my powers.”

Jack looked confused, and Maltin couldn’t blame him. “You can’t use your powers, so you don’t die, and your family uses theirs to live longer. How does that make sense?”

“Does all magic make sense to you? Does it make sense your family are witches, and you’re a shifter?”

Jack slumped farther in the seat. “No,” he said as he pouted.

“Magic doesn’t always make sense, and magical families make less sense. That’s why it’s called the supernatural.”

“Still, it’s weird. And how do you know? Are there many people in your family that aren’t full witches? Maybe they’re lying.”

“They’re not. I aged overnight once when I used my powers, Jack. I went from a sweet mid-puberty twelve-year-old to a raging twenty-year-old. At least I looked it. I still felt twelve, of course. I stopped going to the same school that year. It was tough on me.”

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