The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (47 page)

“Yeah, I know you’re not him, but it doesn’t matter… just drop it alright?” Reaver was in Lycos’s office. I could hear the echo.

But the kid was still not going to let it go. I nonchalantly followed him as he stalked out of the living room and down the hallway.

“I’m coming, we’re partners, we’re a team. I’m a greywaster, Reaver.”

There was silence; I could only see Reaver’s arm as he turned on the computer tower in Lycos’s office, before a flicker of blue light illuminated his face. He didn’t answer back he only waited for the computer to boot up.

I could understand Killian, and I knew where he was coming from. Elish was hard on me, but he was also extremely protective, whereas once he used to let me go out and visit with Sanguine, or go for walks with Luca, after I was kidnapped and even more so after Lycos was taken he literally kept me on a short leash. It had driven me crazy at times. I felt claustrophobic and worst of all… I felt like he didn’t trust me to take care of myself.

In the darkness, with the smell of dust and old books around him, the dark chimera’s black eyes reflected nothing but the welcome screen of the computer. A few feet away Killian was holding onto the door frame looking at him, expecting an answer we both knew would never come.

“Babe… I know what you’re feeling…”

Like Killian had just spat fire onto him, Reaver’s black eyes quickly shot up from the screen and onto the boy’s, making him cower in his spot.

“No, Killian, you don’t fucking know what I’m feeling,” he said coldly. “You really don’t know anything. Why don’t you leave the thinking to the person who does, and go make some tea.”

Out of the mouths of socially inept chimeras.

Of course Killian flipped out.

“Are you fucking serious!” Killian shrieked. I took a step back, hiding my slender self into what I hoped was a blind spot.

“Make some fucking tea? I am a greywaster, Reaver. Without my help Silas would’ve had you in Donnely and in Aras. Without me you would’ve gotten killed by that scorprion!”

“And I would’ve come back!” Reaver shouted. He stood up and slammed his fist against the desk so hard I heard a snap from the wood underneath. “I would’ve come back! And you won’t! I’m immortal, Killian, you’re not. I already lost my dads and now you’re throwing a hissy fit because I refuse to put you in needless danger? For what? To prove your worth? It’s not worth it… just… get the hell out of the office. I don’t want to be around you.”

“We live in a dangerous world, you can’t prevent me from living life,” Killian shot back. “Anyways you’re not my keeper. I can go if I want and if you want to come with me – you may.”

And with that he closed the door and walked past me, I saw his eyes brimming with unshed tears. He looked so sad and pathetic when Reaver hurt him, like seeing a puppy cower after you delivered him a kick in the ribs. It pulled on the remaining sympathies I had.

So I grabbed onto his arm and walked with him back to the living area. “You can’t negotiate with immortals, Killian; they have different views on the world than us normal folk. In the scheme of things, does it really matter if you go or not? It’s more important we find maps, you can prove yourself some other time.”

The boy sighed. I was surprised at how quickly he gave up the argument, though whether that was a virtue or a curse I didn’t know. Killian seemed to have a good head on his shoulders but he wanted to prove himself, which was a dangerous combination especially at times like this.

I felt badly for him though, I understood… and what made it worse was that Killian had almost been killed many times; Reaver had every right to be paranoid over him. Like it or not… one day Reaver was going to see him die, whether it be soon… or when he was an old man.

Now that was a heartbreaking thought. I would see him die too, and Reno, and all the other non-immortals, chimera or not. I was on the list to become immortal; Elish had made that decision for me over a year ago. Justifying it that it was time consuming keeping me alive, both for my knack of getting into trouble (or Silas’s knack of trying to kill me), and my frail body that often succumb to sickness.

In truth I knew it was because he loved me – he would never admit that though.

Killian and I let the chimeras do their own thing that night. I sat with the kid and put on some television and offered him drugs. Reaver in Lycos’s office, and Perish in my bedroom. The kid was good company and it wasn’t hard to cheer him up, but the dark cloud seemed constantly over his head. That and of course the toxic thick cloud that constantly surrounded him.

His life had done a number on him but he was resilient, I had to give him that. Perhaps all that sludge that had poisoned his aura protected him from everything that had happened with him and his boyfriend.

Either way, there was no saving him now, he was fully in the jaws of the beast, we all were. All that mattered now was just how quickly they would close on us.

I could already feel them digging into my body.

Chapter 17

Reaver

“My name is Dr. Lycos Dekker, ChiID 90034, year 209 A.F, 09-23, the first video entry regarding Project Chimera X. All other entries beforehand are documented in Word and have been archived. As it stands now, we have received the fertilized eggs from Dr. Perish Dekker and Dr. Elish Dekker. These eggs are the exact genetic copies of our king Silas Dekker, with slight alterations to their outward appearance, and of course the usual rounds of chimera enhancements.”

He was so young; he looked more like a chimera in this video. Slender body, cute face that made him look like the twink he never was in the greywastes. There was no question why he caught Greyson’s eye. Someone like that wandering into Aras could have a few things to look forward to: they’ll immediately be claimed by someone, or they’ll be passed around like a joint. Though since my blond father was a chimera, if someone did try to pass him around they would’ve ended up with half their skull missing.

Lycos the chimera... it was...harder than I thought it would be to see him as a chimera... he had always just been Leo. If there was any chimera in existence who bypassed my stereotypical view of a chimera it would be my dear old dad. He probably had a majority of Garrett’s DNA, since apparently he was Mr. Nice Guy.

My attention turned back to the screen as the camera started to turn.

“Shit... get away from the camera! Ah, whatever... this is Elish’s documentations anyways. Alright, greywaster, say hello.”

The camera panned over to my father, the very youthful Greyson Merrik, with a trimmed beard and a happy-go-lucky glint in his steely grey eyes. He laughed and gave the camera the middle finger. He was dressed in a weathered and stained brown jacket, with multiple layers of cloth underneath.

He looked... he looked like my dad.

“Hello! I fucking hate every single one of –”

“Greyson! Shut up! Oh my god... you’re going to get me killed!”

So long ago, when there was still light behind their eyes... before their relationship became almost too difficult to handle under the addition of me.

They seemed happy... and perhaps I should have smiled. I should have felt a flicker of warmth in my heart to see them.

So why was my mood plummeting? Why were my emotions leaving me? I felt nothing.

Why did I feel nothing?

At that moment I decided to become a bigger masochist than I already knew I was; I clicked the file labelled
Baby X
.

“Say hi, Chimera X,”
young Leo’s voice whispered. His voice was a higher octave and full of love.
“Say hi to the world.”

A small little baby inside of a watery tube came into focus. I was tucked up as small as I could be, my black eyes shining as I blinked sleepily at the camera. Man, was I ever small, just a little thing with a thin face and long stick-like little legs. I even had hair, just small tuffs swaying back and forth in the water I was encased in.

I wonder if they wished they had just given me to another family, or to Elish.

Leo’s hand came into view, he gently tapped the glass, making me jump and look around. My eyes looked like little insect eyes; I could only see the whites when they jutted back and forth.

“Oh, I’m sorry, little man.”
I frowned as Leo’s high pitch voice sounded behind the camera.
“I see your hearing is good though.”

So happy right now, so content; they were bringing a baby into the world for their own selfish reasons. That poor little fucker in the tube had no idea what a shit show awaited him.

“He’s… I can’t believe it, but he’s… he’s alive. He’s viable. The baby is seven months along now, so alert. I sleep beside him now, just to make sure he’s okay. He barely ever sleeps. I can’t believe it, just watches me come and go; his eyesight is impeccable. He’s our little weapon; he’ll really be able to do it. Can you believe it? You did it, Elish!”

Elish? Sure enough, a voice, like a cold river flowing through the darkest of nights, sounded out of view of the camera.

“Indeed… he is quite impressive, with his engineering he can survive at any time now, but I’d prefer you keep him inside the chamber until his due date. Mr. Merrik, have you started preparing your father for these new residents?”

“Ummm…”
Greyson’s young but still deep voice sounded. I saw just the corner of his arm as he crossed them.
“Stoen is still being difficult, but don’t worry… we’ll have two years to sort through that. I’ll figure something out. I have too… this little weapon is too valuable to let my shit-faced father interfere.”

Little weapon? They kept calling me that. I suppose when it boiled down to it, that’s exactly what it was. I was just a weapon to them, a tool to fight a battle I had never started. Maybe Leo had eventually formed some sort of attachment to me… but everyone else they only dealt with me because of what I could do.

The darkness inside of me was growing… and with every moment of that video, I felt it consume the sadness I had had over the death of my dads. Where there had once been despair, longing, and guilt, there was only anger.

I was no one’s slave; I was no one’s weapon. The revenge I wanted was for Silas hurting Killian, betraying me, and killing my dads only because they were my dads and my family.

I was no savior of the world.

I am the Reaper. I am not good.

Fuck both of them… they brought this on themselves, they started this. They brought Perish into Aras and they fucking brought Asher too. All I was doing was leading my fucking life but no, I had never been born free to them, I had been born with a thousand pound weight on my shoulders.

“Baby?”

I looked up from the computer monitor and saw my boyfriend peeking through the door… in my deep smoldering I hadn’t even heard the latch click open.

I quickly turned the video off and clicked on a minimized aquarium game. I knew my boyfriend enough to know he would eventually come and get me.

“Can I watch too?”

My brow knitted together. I should’ve known my boyfriend enough to know he’d see right through that.

“No, I’m done.”

Killian stopped at my tone. I was wondering if he was expecting me to start crying like some little bitch or something. “Let’s go to bed.”

The boy stayed in the doorway. “Do you… want to talk about why you’re mad?”

I felt my hackles get raised. I turned off the computer and rose. “I’m not mad; don’t do your psychology bullshit on me. Let’s just go to bed.”

He stayed in the doorway and didn’t move when I made it clear I wanted to leave. “You were looking at their old videos… I-I miss them too… I just – can I see one?”

When he saw the look I gave him he slunk back but still didn’t move; he just stared at me with those huge starved kitten eyes. “I don’t fucking miss them, and no… no you can’t. Now get out of my way.”

The room went silent.

“How can you not miss them?”

I took this opportunity to grab Killian’s shoulders and push him backwards; he stumbled back before I stepped around him and made my way to the bedroom we had been sharing.

How could I not miss them? I did miss them but it didn’t matter, that feeling was a small cup of water compared to an entire ocean. I felt so much for them besides just simply missing them. I hated them for the mistakes they made. I hated them for dragging an innocent baby into their plots. I hated them for bringing the chimeras here and putting my boyfriend in danger.

“Leave it alone, Killian,” I said with a dangerous tone to my voice.

But the boy could never leave it alone, he had to talk about it, share his fucking feelings; try and eek out some more humanity out of me.

“But Reaver…”

“NO BUTS!” I whirled around. The kid took a step back but stayed inside the bedroom. “They’re the reason why we’re here. They’re the reason why we had to run, why they’re dead. Why would I miss them? I wasn’t a son to them I was a weapon, their
little weapon,
and once I couldn’t do what Greyson wanted he wanted to kick me out of town. I hated them. Fuck them, fuck Aras, fuck all of them, and you can shut the fuck up about it, Massey. Got it?”