The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (73 page)

Fuck, I’m sorry, Killi Cat.

I’m so sorry
.

When his arms went limp and dropped to his side I put my M16 beside him. I had just closed the door when the door to the hallway got kicked open.

The blood rushed through my ears as I saw Nero Dekker; he beheld me with a grin that told me he recognised me and knew exactly who I was. He held up his AK 47 and pointed it at me.

“Where did you get that remote phone, puppy? Steal it from Perish’s lab, did we? Now who were you trying to call? Don’t tell me you miss the king that much?”

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me... you have seriously got to be fucking kidding me...

Then it hit me.

The device that strengthened the signal when I had accidently knocked it off.

It was a tracking-blocker, you stupid fucking moron. You piece of shit, you just doomed yourself.

Nero grinned. Five legionary were behind him, every single one of them pointing guns at me and Chally.

Chally...
I glanced over at the kid, who was still holding the combat knife. I hoped beyond hope he wouldn’t throw it down and start pointing to the closet but I wouldn’t put it past him. Though maybe he knew he would be fucked either way. Maybe he wanted to save Killian; he had been the one to save him from Melchai.

But Chally was staying still... and for now, he would be my Killian.

“Let Killian go and I’ll go with you peacefully,” I said glancing towards Chally. I knew they wouldn’t, I wasn’t an idiot, but I had to make it look real. When Nero had seen Killian in Aras it had been dark and there had been activity all around us... he wouldn’t recognise him.

I hoped he wouldn’t recognise him.

Nero smirked and shook his head. He walked up to me in that cock-sure swagger his master had perfected. I could now see he had Silas’s lips.

Nero glared down and grinned before putting a hand on my shoulder and rubbed it. “How about I fuck your little ass in front of him instead?” He grabbed my crotch and the last of my restraint broke.

I grabbed my combat knife and took a swing, slashing Nero’s face with an agonizing yell of a cornered animal. I saw the fissure appear before Nero snarled and gave the orders.

I didn’t hear what the orders were but I felt them.

Popping. Chally letting out a single scream, and the feeling of my body snapping back like half a dozen people were punching me, one after another.

Then red... the red haze and the same feeling I had felt so long ago: a roaring inside of my ears, a hot heat that sent flames throughout my body, searing my blood vessels and shredding my internal organs with a white hot pain. I knew all of these feelings but it was different this time; I knew they weren’t rubber bullets.

I fell to my knees and keeled over, blood squirting from my body and painting the floors around me.

But I was okay... I would be okay.

Stay asleep, Killian.

Stay asleep.

I’ll find you.

I promise.

Chapter 26

Reaver

I stayed for many hours in my immortal limbo. A place that I first thought I’d only been once but had quickly realized this white fire of immortality had been flaring inside my soul since I was a child. Not just a night terror that brought you full-body paralysis, not just a bad dream to which you woke up gasping, I had been dead each and every incident, biding my time and my patience for the white flame to slowly rebuild my cold body.

I was starting to notice how my body changed after death shut down my internal organs and the outskirts of my brain. At first I would go cold. I could dance on the very fringes of oblivion before the flame would draw me back with hands of boiling ice. Then I would become heated, hot to the point where I wanted to scream and thrash my paralysed body. I felt like I was burning alive, every blood cell, every piece of hardened bone. Even my blood felt like it had been touched by the sun.

But, after several lifetimes in the pits of hell, my body would cool and the pain would dissipate. Like I had been planted in the arctic everything would become frozen. My entire body would become stiff and rigid like I had fallen into rigor-mortis. This state was the longest and it was there my thoughts and memories would slowly trickle back to me. Life would trickle back, my warm blood would trickle back. That is where the Reaper would meet me, and the outstretched hand that told me with a laugh that I would never meet him on that sun bleached porch.

Then light... candlelight. I found my mouth gasping open and with that I took my first conscious breath.

I opened my eyes to see where I was, only to realize my face was shrouded in some strange see-through fabric. I lifted my hand up and touched it, my mind still in a foggy haze.

Automatically I sat up and the soft fabric spilled off of my head onto my chest. I realized as I looked down I wasn’t in my greywaster clothing anymore; I was dressed in silk black pants and a dress shirt, like fancy pajamas.

But why? Where was I? How the fuck did I get here...?

I squinted my eyes and held my head, trying to massage some sense into my brain. I couldn’t grab a hold of what reality was in that moment. Everything was still strange and unexplained but for the most part my emotions were null. There was no mad awakening that filled me with anger; there was no thrashing or fighting, everything inside my brain was gone.

Perhaps this was the other end of the spectrum. When I had woken in Elish’s greyrifts apartment I was insane with rage, now it seems the opposite had happened.

“Good Morning, Reaver.”

My head jerked towards the voice, one I didn’t recognised.

My eyes fell on a man, standing beside a black dresser with several candles on top. He was tall man with brushed back black hair and vivid copper-coloured eyes. He was standing with a satisfied smirk and a lip ring in the corner of his mouth. Immediately I could see he had King Silas’s eyes and his face shape as well.

Another chimera, great.

The first pangs of anger started to burn my throat. I shot him a look and tried to rise to standing. “Where the fuck am I?”

A smile started to spread on his face and as the corners of his lips rose. Like Sanguine and Jack he had pointed teeth.

His name was Thelonius but they called him Theo.

Elish had said he was crazy. A military chimera who sometimes shadowed Jack.

“I have been waiting for you to wake up. I have had to take the place of our Grim. I will tell you, your description does not do you justice. You are a stunning specimen.”

“Where’s Killian?” I ripped the silks off of me and stalked up to him; more anger burned inside of me as I heard the sounds of chains rattling and finally my ankle snapping back. I was chained. Of course they would chain me... they weren’t stupid.

The man’s shiny copper eyes twinkled before becoming small slits as he smiled. He seemed like a slippery bitch this one, just like Elish had warned me when he had shown me Theo’s photo.

“He is somewhere... last I heard he was being kept in quarantine. Interesting little thing that one... he hasn’t found his voice, hm?”

Oh thank fucking god... they hadn’t found him, they hadn’t found my Killian.

And with that flood of relief I felt the first strands of myself start to shine through the anger and the confusion. I gave myself a pep talk in that moment and I decided I wouldn’t snap. I wouldn’t turn myself over to insane rage. I would play this as calm as I could.

No matter what, Reaver Merrik... they cannot kill you and since they didn’t find Killian you would be okay. Killian is probably already back with Perish and Jade, maybe Elish is even there.

As long as Killian was okay, I am okay. Like Greyson said: stick to the basic truths. That asshole might be the reason I am here, but he did have his moments of wisdom.

“He stopped talking after Leo and Greyson died and after your king raped him, fuck head,” I snapped at him, yanking on my ankle chain, trying to find any weakness in it. “He has nothing you fucking want. Let him go.”

The man chuckled; his bronze sparkling eyes reflecting the candles around us. I had no idea what type of room I was in, everything smelled off but the walls were concrete. It was a fort I think, I must be in a fort... even though this room, with its iron rung candle holders and weird drapes, looked like something more medieval.

“I will let King Silas decide that.”

The mere mention of his name brought acid to my throat. “Bring him in. I want to fucking see him.” I had a few things to say to that asshole. I would give anything to have a face-to-face with that blond-haired fucking coward. Bring it on... I owed him for killing Leo and Greyson and I owed him for raping Killian.

No... no...
the anger in my throat rose but I pushed it down to the void.
Remain calm... remain calm.

Do what you will to me; I am a fucking god now.

Both me and the chimera turned our heads towards the door as the knob rattled. A moment later there was a heavy banging.

Theo gave it an aloof but very unimpressed look and walked towards it, though when he unlatched the door he jumped back as it slammed open.

“Where is he, Theo?!”

Then more chaos.

This one I recognised right away and I knew from the look he gave me alone that he not only knew who I was, but that he knew what I had done.

Without mincing words Kessler stalked up to me, a burly man with a buzz cut and a pissed off face. I opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself when he laid a punch right on my chin.

It threw me off of my feet, fucker was strong and that punch was meant to shatter bone. I fell backwards onto the bed I had woken up on and smacked the back of my head against the concrete wall.

With a bellowing yell he grabbed my shirt and slammed the back of my head again into the concrete, screaming something I couldn’t understand over the blood roaring through my ears. I couldn’t even defend myself; my head had paralysed my arms and my legs. I could only close my eyes in the red daze his hits had rained down on me.

“Get off of me! HE KILLED MY SON!” Kessler screamed before with a sickening thunking noise he landed a blow on my jaw, I felt it snap inside of my head, a sickening crunching noise that I knew I would never forget.

“He strung him up... he... he took his fucking heart!” Kessler was choking through tears; this realization brought a small silver lining to the fact that he was beating me to death right now.

“Kess! Get off of him...” another male voice sounded then the blows stopped coming.

I spat blood and tried to pull myself up to the sitting position but my head felt like it was electrically charged. I managed to sit up though and raise my head.

Kessler’s face was dripping with agony; his grey eyes wide and his stance that of a man using every bit of his restraint.

My hand trailed down and I felt my jaw. It felt funny though and as I tried to shift it I felt a blinding pain shoot through me. It was broken, dislocated or something; either way, it was fucked.

“He tasted good,” I whispered, holding my face. I glanced up at Kessler as another man tried to coax him away from me.

Kessler’s face didn’t change. “What are you trying to say to me, you fucking greywaste piece of shit?”

“That’s the Raven to you. And I’m saying your little boy screamed like a girl when I split open his rib cage and ate his heart, and there was nothing better than watching you drag Calig-”

Kessler ripped himself from the man’s arms and with a raised fist but in a flash the man grabbed him, and to my surprise Theo did too. They pulled Kessler’s thrashing, shrieking body away from me.

“Get out of here, Theo. He’s alive so your work is done!” Kessler roared. He shoved him away and glared at me. “I want him strung up in my interrogation room. Now. NOW!”

As Kessler was dragged away from me, half a dozen legionary filed into the room. With my jaw screaming in pain and my head still feeling like an untuned radio, they handcuffed and shackled me.

I was taken out of Theo’s room and led down a hallway, blood drops falling from my face. I could taste it in my nose but I knew there were several other injuries on me that were currently leaking their despair onto the white tile floors.

Killian was okay though... Killian was okay.

My boots started to drag along the floors and I realized I was starting to loose consciousness. I tried to stay awake though, scanning the corridors I was being led down to see if I could spot an exit.

I was definitely in a base; I don’t think I was in Skyfall. From the descriptions I had gotten from Jade and Perish all the military bases were in the greywastes. In Skyfall there were just skyscrapers or regular buildings. I think I was still in the greywastes.

I looked to my left to see two metal doors with an exit sign hanging above them, no windows though... there seemed to be no windows in this tomb.

The only old military base I had seen was what was left of Greenbase, and it was the same makeup. No windows, only concrete and brick, and long winding hallways that you could easily get lost in.

It didn’t matter though, I just needed one exit... or one room that I could find guns in and I would be out of here. Even if I was deep in the greywastes I would find Killian. Nothing would keep me from my boyfriend – especially not a bunch of chimeras.

I looked down at my handcuffed hands and immediately they started getting drops of blood on them. Ahead of me was the man that had held back Kessler, I think that was his non-chimera husband Tiberius. If I could get this mortal alone I might be able to negotiate my own release. Surely Kessler wouldn’t risk him after I had already eaten his little son.

Or Caligula... I really didn’t care what shit I would get in with Elish if I killed ‘Clig’, if it meant my escape I would kill all of them, family or not.

I looked to both sides of me but all I saw were legionary carrying really big guns. I was chained from the wrists and the legs with my jaw either broken or cracked, and my left eye starting to get blurry. Should I snap and try a manic escape right now or bide my time?

The younger me would go manic and thrash until they killed me and though a large part of me wanted to, just to satiate my inner bloodlust, that would accomplish nothing. I wouldn’t be able to get to Tiberius and even if I did I wouldn’t be able to use him as my own little ransom, not before they showered me with bullets.

If I thought I was a mortal I might try anyways... just because I might believe they won’t shoot me because King Silas wanted me, but I am immortal... they’ll shoot me on the spot.

So I let them carry me down a flight of stairs though on the way down I did see a window in the staircase, it looked like we had been on a second floor and were now descending to the first. This was important, though I would jump from a window if needed be.

Then I was brought to a dark, uncomfortable room; only lit by a single recessed light in the push tile of the ceiling. Beside that light was a metal plate embedded in the ceiling, with a chain and hook hanging down.

The interrogation room.

Killian is safe, you’re immortal... you’ll be fine.

You’ve been through pain before... you’ve been in an explosion, you’ve been chewed on by ravers, you’ve been strangled to death.

You’ll be fine.

That hook hanging down looked rather grisly though, drawing a long and ominous shadow over the grey-speckled concrete. It reminded me of the best parts of a horror movie. It looked like I was going to be in my own horror movie soon.

I let them lift up my arms and a moment later I heard the metallic sound of the hook going through the metal rings; then the sound of steel scraping as they winched the chain and the hook until I was dangling off of the ground.

“Bring it on,” I said quietly, trying to make eye contact with Kessler but his husband kept turning his face from me. He was the weak one, the submissive one, trying to hold back his brute commander of a husband so he wouldn’t get set off again.