Rotten Honey

Blood In The Air

He smelled him before he could see or hear him.
The rotten sweetness of death mixed with a hint of the scent of rainy forests. How peculiar, that an odor could stay exactly the same with so much time and space in between. Sometimes, he thought back to it when the dark of night refused to let him sleep. In moments like that, it was comforting. But now, it was different. It was as if Jack had seen a ghost. His Jack’s scent existing in the human world felt like an inherent contradiction.
It must have been a freak coincidence. Or maybe a trap made just for him. Or maybe, just maybe, somehow, it was the real deal. With all his raw power, cunning and chaos.
But no matter what it was, it felt like danger.
Which was not innately an issue. Jack enjoyed the feel of danger sometimes. He was smart enough to survive almost anything that got in his way. No, the real problem was that Jack was not alone.
Next to him, quietly carving some wood, sat Toby.

They had just been sitting in front of the tiny, abandoned, wooden cabin they used as their home since a few weeks. It was a good spot for settling down and taking a break from travelling for a few months. The summers in this area were beautiful and warm, there was a small stream closeby, providing them with water. The flowers on the clearing in front of the cabin were in full bloom. On the most beautiful days, they simply sat down between them, enjoying nature and letting their tired bones rest.
Of course, a clearing had one strategic problem. You were sitting in the open and all around you, something could be hiding.

“Toby,” his voice was barely a whisper but it got the other’s attention. Toby kept carving, keeping his eyes down, only answering with a hum. “I think you should get inside.” Toby had noticed how tense Jack was right away. They have spend so much time saving each other’s asses, they were completely in tune with the others body language. “Hm, you sure?” Toby muttered, giving him a quick look. “Yes,” Jack starred right forward into the forest. “Don’t come out, no matter what happens here.” Toby slowly got up, stretched and turned to Jack again. “Is it really that serious?” he asked. Jack wasn’t sure how to answer. “Well, maybe. Let’s just be careful.” Toby just nodded and walked away. Nothing about his demeanor would unveil that he was feeling in danger. Toby trusted Jack and he was aware of the types of danger someone like him, someone human, would not be able to detect.

There were a lot of strange, undetectable things following them. Sometimes because of Jack, sometimes because of Toby. But they knew how to handle them. And most times, the safest option for Toby was to simply hide. He was human after all.

Once Toby was inside, Jack let out a sigh and got up. Time to build more distance to the cabin - he wanted to meet the smell halfway. It should buy Toby some time in case this got ugly. He was still hoping that this would go over smoothly. Best case, he would meet some weird new person who just smelled like his Jack without even noticing. Then he could say hello, introduce himself and fuck off back into his cabin to hold his boyfriend in his arms and thank the gods that they could stay here and didn’t have to run away again.

In the past, Jack wouldn’t have run away from anything. But those times were over. Leaving behind his true form also stripped him of some of his power.
There were some other beings that reached the human world from Zalgo’s domaine. There were the ones who got banned from their home and were now stuck here, bitter and filled with rage, making everyone else's lives worse. There were the ones using human possession to reach this plane of existence, like Jack himself. The best way to reach the human world was, of course, asking Lord Zalgo himself. Only the ones that were in his good garces were able to do so. Jack had never gotten along well with the old man.

And now he was stuck here, accessing just ¾ of his power, possibly running into a trap. Jack was now far away enough for the house to be hidden by the trees. The smell was very potent but somehow, he still couldn’t see anyone. Maybe it wasn’t a person but some weird plant?