The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (58 page)

His face paled, he almost couldn’t believe what he was looking at. “My god, Sanguine... it... it was Timothy.... Timothy’s dead.”

Sanguine’s brow knitted together, but that was all for the emotions on his face. Casually he took another drink before twitching his mouth off to the side. Then the demon-chimera’s eyes flickered towards the king, though whatever thoughts Sanguine had inside of that head, he kept to himself.

“Should we wake him?” Jack asked leaving the sheets behind as he rose and stretched; his naked and firm body showing rosy patches and small welts from his tryst with the king.

Sanguine shook his head, not hiding his hungry glances at his brother’s body. “No, he has enough on his mind right now; I’ll break the news to him. I believe Elish has the only Falconer in the city right now. All the other ones are searching for our dark sibling.”

Jack turned to address his brother when with a light push Sanguine tipped him back over onto the king size bed. He glanced up with a raised eyebrow but before he could answer Sanguine pressed his lips against Jack’s.

The Grim kissed him back before trying to rise but the sengil pushed him back down. He blinked but was silent as the red-eyed chimera grabbed his legs and pushed them forward so Jack was half lying down, then he pressed his knees back.

“What in hells are –” A pleasurable rush flowed through him as he felt Sanguine’s talented tongue start to tease his opening. “I need to go, you idiot, put that tongue back where it belongs.”

But the sengil didn’t move from his position; his hands gripped Jack’s knees as his tongue licked and flicked the tight area.

Jack heard a suppressed chuckle before Sanguine gave it a long drawn-out lick. “Mm, I taste our master on you, was he the one to do the fucking tonight?” The Grim shuddered as his chimera brother reintroduced his tongue, then without fully realizing he was doing it, he started to pull his own legs back.

“You’ll wake up our king, get off of me now.” Jack shifted his body back up but once again Sanguine pushed him down. This time though the sengil removed his tongue and crawled on top of him.

“Mmm, no, I don’t think so.”

Jack smirked; he grabbed Sanguine’s bowtie and pulled him down into a kiss. “If you’re wanting a tryst, you can have me once I return or call Drake. I need to get going to Elish’s to get that plane.”

“Our brother isn’t getting any deader.” Sanguine winked, letting his tongue travel up Jack’s neck. “Now... you can either follow me into my bedroom, where –” Jack gasped as Sanguine positioned his ass over Jack’s hard cock now grasped in his hand. Sanguine pressed down but not enough to break the tight seal. “I can ride you properly... or I can do it right here and wake up our dear king.”

Why now, you stupid sengil...
Jack shook his head but kissed him again, his member growing and twitching under the sengil’s grasp. There was no denying these advances weren’t completely unwanted, but really – now? When he had to leave?

But Sanguine was correct, Tim was not getting any deader and would a little longer be that bad? He could make up the excuse that he was still satisfying his king, that job took precedence over all anyways.

So with a long drawn-out sigh Jack rose himself to the smirking-glee of Sanguine. The next thing Jack knew he was being pushed onto the bed with the blood-eyed chimera crawling over top of him with a devilish smile that only their own genetics could truly wield.

Jack grabbed onto Sanguine’s hips as he lowered himself onto him, clenching his serrated teeth and grunting as the Grim’s dick broke through.

“This is all on you if I get into trouble with –” Jack’s teeth clenched as Sanguine lifted his hips before roughly pushing down, Jack’s entire length sinking into him.

And that was the last words Jack spoke, Sanguine leaned down and claimed his lips once again, rhythmically pushing himself up and down on his chimera brother.

Sanguine smirked to himself in his head, wondering how pleased Elish would be at this so carefully calculated distraction. His blond brother needed all the time he could get to hide Jade and the others and what was a better distraction than sex?

The black-haired chimera nipped on Jack’s neck, and in response his brother grabbed his backside to push him in deeper. Jack was into it, and if Sanguine wanted he could have him for hours.

And perhaps that is just what Sanguine would do.

The Grim found his clothes and started putting them on with an internal chastise of himself. “Once again you will get me into trouble, do you think I should wake the king?” It had been two hours since Sanguine had dragged him to the bedroom, and he was starting to feel the first pang of guilt over indulging himself rather than doing his duty.

“Unless we know for sure we will not bother him.” Sanguine’s voice sounded relaxed. He was splayed out naked on his black and red comforter, his hands folded behind his head. He seemed to blend in perfectly with the comforter and his own black tree bed frame. Black and red were a part of that sengil’s being, from his appearance all the way to his clothing and decoration choice.

Jack stopped, the sleeve of his tailed Victorian coat half on his body. He eyed his brother with his shining black eyes, before narrowing them slightly. “Are you sure? But if it is Reaver... Kessler and the other two were going to Kreig to check out a sudden electricity power up, were they not?”

“For all we know Tim fell through some rotten floorboards, either way, I am to assume they have his body back in Cardinalhall.” Sanguine absentmindedly ran his hands down his pale but well-toned body, tracing his abs with a smirk. Though at the display Jack glared at him, as if daring Sanguine to try and initiate another session.

“And anyways, if we mention even that prospect... losing Reaver in Aras has enraged him enough; I don’t want to plant a false hope in his head.” Sanguine rose and wrapped himself in a black silk robe. He followed Jack outside the bedroom door and into a long hallway, the dark living room off in the distance. “He is testy enough right now as it is and I am the one that bears the brunt of his cruelty.”

The last button got done up on Jack’s coat, and after fully dressing himself he took a glance in the mirror.

Behind him Sanguine had his arms crossed, his red eyes suddenly troubled and his mouth a thin line. The sengil to the king did not have an easy life, but this was his life and Jack had his own duties and responsibilities.

His responsibilities were to collect the dead and the immortal dead, sew any wounds that might interfere with their recovery process, bathe and dress them and wrap them in silk. He had his library where they would recover and once they awoke Jack’s job was complete. This was the reason why he was created; he was the collector of the dead, the Charon in the River of Styx. A job he prided himself on doing well.

And in all respects his job was not to argue with Sanguine or argue with what was said to Silas or when. So with that Jack left Sanguine to his duties and casually made his way to Olympus, Elish’s Skyscraper. If there was one thing he and his brothers had learned during their immortal existence it was to never over-step your own duties. If there was fallout from this, it would be on Sanguine’s head not his.

With his sengil Juni beside him he walked out of the elevator and into the hallway of Elish’s apartment. The mood was always different in this skyscraper when Jade was gone, the empath chimera always brought a bit of sparkle to the atmosphere of his cold brother Elish; it was odd to have the boy absent for so long. The tension could be cut with a knife, especially since Elish refused to bed anyone but his little husband now. It was once a common joke that perhaps Elish wouldn’t be so uptight if he got a blowjob every now and then.

It wasn’t only Jade’s absence that had soured Olympus, there was of course the ransom of that greywaster boy. Garrett had been moping around in Elish’s apartment for months now. It was a gloomy time for their family, but as long as they weren’t dying regularly it was a quiet time for the Grim. It had been enjoyable, he had lots of free time to paint, work on his books, and read. And really, that was all Jack needed out of life.

Luca answered the door with a surprised look. He bowed and turned around. “Master, it’s Master Jack and Juni.”

“I know,” a cold voice sounded. Jack strolled in and saw Elish beside the large picture windows of his skyscraper, a mug of tea in hand and his remote phone in the other. “Tiberius called me; he’s in the medical wing of Cardinalhall. Kessler and Caligula are seriously injured and Timothy is dead and still in Kreig.”

Still in Kreig? So they left his body there?
Jack’s eyes widened. He walked over to where Elish was, hearing Luca in the background fixing him his own mug of tea. “And? Was it Reaver?”

Elish took a sip of tea. “No, Caligula suspects a legion soldier that Tim bait-trapped didn’t take too kindly to the act and escaped. You may not find much of Tim’s remains but of course they would like some of him recovered. It seems an underground spring plus the radiation pulse after the fire had an adverse reaction to some of Perish’s creatures. A species of lizards crossed with humans, they ambushed them.” He took another drink. “I will accompany you to collect his remains.”

“The company would be nice; Kreig is a good three hours away is it not?” Jack took his tea from Luca and with a bow the sengil headed off to make small conversation with Juni. The two were good friends.

“That is right.” Elish still hadn’t taken his eyes off of the horizon though it was darkness in front of them, the sun would not rise for quite a while. “The Falconer is ready to go; we will be stopping off at Cardinalhall first. Timothy’s chewed on corpse will not be going anywhere and the irradiated lizards are nocturnal. We will head there when the sun has risen. Luca, Juni, stay behind. Do as you will but I want no trace of it when I return, am I understood?”

Oh of course, when sengil boys were left alone with a clean house and nothing to do they would indeed get into mischief. Sure enough, both Luca and Juni flushed before mumbling agreeance to the cold staring eyes of Elish. Ones that knew exactly how the mice were going to play once the cats went away.

“Jack, have you spoken to Silas lately?” Elish asked him when they were high above the greywastes, the flickering lights of Cardinalhall in front of them and Skyfall hours behind. It had been a peaceful and quiet trip. Elish had always been the silent type and since he had the biggest hand in Jack’s upbringing Jack had taken on more than a few of Elish’s characteristics. They were both tranquil, quiet people; they talked inside their own heads not so much out loud.

Jack, who had been trying to catch a few moments sleep, opened one eye to him. “I was in his company when I got the alert on my watch. Dozing though, I had just fulfilled a personal summons.”

“Did he hear your notification?”

Jack opened both eyes, aware of the tones on Elish’s lips. The cold chimera had something else on his mind and Jack knew it.

“No...” Jack said slowly. “Sanguine did though, but I left the king sleeping where he lay. Why, Elish?”

“I would rather he not know of this until we know what happened. For him to go off into the greywastes right now would be taxing on him. His mental state has already been compromised over the re-emergence of Chimera X.”

A heavy silence fell over the cockpit as the lights of the legion military base blanketed the inside of the plane. Jack could see his brother’s deep purple eyes reflect the artificial lights in front of them.

“You think he will take his anger out on your little husband again? Do not take me for a fool to have me believe you worry about his health. Come now, brother.” Jack’s full lips split into a smirk, before he felt the jolt of the plane as it started to descend.

Elish didn’t answer, which was typical for his oldest brother. He was silent when the plane landed, and silent still when Tiberius Dekker, Kessler’s non-chimera husband, came sprinting up to them.

“Get back in... we... we need to get him out of that fucking city.” Tiberius’s voice was a strangled choke and though no tears could be seen on the stoic man’s face, his eyes were full and rimmed with red.

Elish held up a hand. “I must speak with Kessler before we depart, Tiberius. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for your son now. I would like to hear their stories so the family can act accordingly.”

Tiberius, a man with short brown hair and a thin beard, shook his head, his lips pursing. “Kess is conscious. He refuses to be dispatched to heal until he knows Tim’s remains have been returned, Clig isn’t... he... fuck, Elish, we don’t think it was Willis. Kessler thinks it was that fucking clone. They’re saying he snipered their knees and shoulders. He... he was deliberately making it so Kess couldn’t carry out both of them. I am sure of it. I want Silas on the phone... he has to know this.”

Elish shook his head. “Let me talk to Kessler first and we can take it from there. Jack, go to Kessler, I need to make a phone call.”

Tiberius didn’t seem happy with this but he obeyed. Leaving Elish behind in the hanger the two of them went into the base.

The base was a converted industrial factory, set in the middle of a flat plain surrounded by sharp grey mountains. It was the main base for the Legion and had been in use since Jack was a child. He had been here many times, and many times more to collect bodies. It didn’t happen often but every once in a while Kessler or one of the other immortals accidently got blown up or shot in some sort of vital organ.