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

Greyson nodded. “We’re ready. Chance will have a good home until I can... convince my father to let Lycos in.”

“You’ll have two years, whatever it takes either convince him or dispose of him.” Elish’s icy voice always gave Greyson the shivers. Every word from his mouth flowed like it had come from a cold lake. “And Chance is it? You do know the child will call himself by his given name once he starts to speak?”

Greyson nodded, secretly he hoped if they called him Chance enough it might stick. “You never know.”

“And regarding the other matter... have you asked him yet?” Elish raised a blond eyebrow; his eyes focused on Greyson’s pocket.

The greywaster flushed, feeling the small prickles of embarrassment rise to his face. He spared a glance to a confused Lycos and back to Elish.

He coughed in his hand. “No, not yet.”

“I suggest you get it done before we leave for the bunker. There is paperwork I would rather have on hand, and I have someone in mind who can make it binding.”

“Who?”

“Myself.”

“What?” Lycos asked. He had the baby’s hand around his own finger now; his hazel eyes travelling from Elish back to Greyson in confusion.

Greyson flushed even harder. He had wanted to do this in private but maybe with Elish here to witness it, it might not be a bad idea.

With a hand that trembled for different reasons now, Greyson reached into his pocket and withdrew a ring.

“Since we have our son...” As soon as Lycos saw the ring his eyes started to well, with a mouth half-open from shock he stared at the small silver band with twin gemstones. “I was wondering... if you wanted to make this a family... and marry me?”

Greyson watched Lycos’s face turn three shades paler, he looked like he was frozen in a state of shock. The greywaster took this moment to gently pick up his partner’s hand and slip the ring over his finger, one of the few that weren’t bandaged.

“Marry you?” Lycos whispered. He held up his hand and gazed at the wedding ring with such an unbelieving expression on his face it looked like he was in a dream. “Elish? I’m allowed?”

Elish smirked. “You’re dead according to our family, Lycos. You can marry who you wish.”

Tears welled Lycos’s eyes. He nodded and opened his free arm to Greyson. They embraced, Greyson trying as hard as he could to be gentle with his touch.

“I’ll marry you, of course I will,” Lycos’s voice broke and as they pulled away his eyes fell on the blond chimera looking on. “Thank you.”

Elish gave him a small nod. “This is the first step in a very long journey. What fruits will rise from the ashes remain to be seen. In the meantime, just stay hidden and do what needs to be done to raise him.”

Without another word Elish turned to leave.

“Elish?” Lycos called after him, the bundle wrapped in a blue blanket still on his lap, cooing and grasping anything that came into reach. “What’s his name? The name Silas gave him?”

Elish paused at the doorway, in that moment looking like a god in front of the pearly gates. The chimera’s short hair had done nothing to stop the awe inducing demeanor that always seemed to follow him from room to room.

“Reaver... his name is Reaver.”

“Reaver...” Lycos whispered. He brushed his fingers along the baby’s short black hair, soft silken wisps that only infants had. Even years later when the boy was old enough to push him away, Lycos, now Leo, would sneak into his room at night just to brush them away from his sleeping face. Sometimes playing his luck and holding Reaver in his arms. Rocking him back and forth, giving the boy the human touch he so hated when he was awake.

But at two they became concerned, at four they were calling Elish begging for help for their child more feral than human. Reaver’s engineering was taking over; he was becoming a monster.

How could he overthrow Silas when he was more animal than man?

But still Leo would hold him. Still he comforted him, even when the boy resisted any forms of affection. Reaver was his son, his boy. No matter what Greyson wanted for him, no matter what Elish’s plans were.

Whatever you become, Chance, please – just be a good person.

But your dad will love you, regardless.

Chapter 1

Killian

It was numb inside of me. The emotions I had once so strongly felt had been chewed to ribbons by the events of the last hour. All I could feel now was my chest gently vibrating under the muffled roar of the plane engines; and the sinking feeling that the steel, sliding doors closing on us had been the lid on my coffin.

The sound had been deafening. I had never been this close to an airplane, let alone inside of one. I had found myself temporarily stunned when Elish had thrown me into the cargo hold. My brain shutting itself down from any more stimulation in a desperate act of self-preservation. It hadn’t lasted of course. Only the warm hand in mine was stopping me from losing what remained of my sanity.

Now we were in the air. It was quiet, all but the talking. They weren’t even whispering, I just couldn’t process what they were saying now. My mind was at max-capacity and all my emotions had been left in a bloodied heap back at the north gate.

I felt something squeeze my hand; I squeezed it back more out of automation than comfort. I couldn’t spare a glance to remember whose hand I was holding. My eyes refused to leave Reaver’s body.

My boyfriend’s throat was nothing more than a gaping hole, one that exposed tendon, spine, and pink flesh, shredded from the deacon’s jaws. His low lip was missing too. I could see his white teeth, perfect as if he was still alive. Though his gums were colourless; his blood had been completely drained by the lacerations to his neck.

At least Perish had turned Reaver’s face away from me. I don’t know what I would do if I saw Reaver’s black, lifeless eyes.

I wondered if I would be watching when the spark came back into them.

How could it be though? It was one thing to have Asher reappear but for it to happen to Reaver as well? The notion seemed outlandish and insane when applied to someone I knew, someone I loved – someone who I could see dead and cold only several feet in front of me.

How could it be possible that he would come back to me?

I clutched the hand I was holding tighter. Could I be the first person he saw?

“He is not dead. Like Silas he will mend and he will rise. If you are to cry, cry for the life you once knew. Do not cry for someone who can no longer die.”

Elish turned and spoke those words as he brought me to the awaiting plane. Not for sympathy or pity, but because he had grown tired of my hysteria. Though the words held weight his cold impassive gaze did not falter or show any emotion. He had said it to me like he was chastising a child. Before turning from the grisly scene around me, and taking control of the jet from his black-haired cicaro.

The same one I had seen years ago in Tamerlan and the same one I had shot in the arm the night previous.

Though I had been aiming for the ground.

So do I wait now? I wanted to touch him, but I couldn’t leave Reno alone. Or was it my own fear of touching his cold, grey skin that made me shy away from it? The fear that if I could confirm to myself that he was really dead, he wouldn’t come back.

No, he had to have died before.

I felt my lungs tighten, making the breath in my throat retract. I remembered back to what seemed like years ago when Greyson had choked him. I remember seeing the blood in his ears, and his glassy, dead eyes staring lifeless into the darkness.

Greyson
had
killed him.

My eyes widened. I gripped the hand even harder as the realization swept me with cruel indifference to my already shocked and damaged state. I wonder how many times they had killed him. I wondered who else knew. Doc must have known, that I could confirm. He had been Reaver’s personal doctor for years.

“Hey... hey, Iron Man, loosen up your grip a bit.” For some reason even though I realized he had been trying to talk to me before, this snapped me back.

“Sorry...” I loosened up my hand and looked down at my ash-covered friend. Reno gave me a weak smile. He had his bullet proof vest off of him now, two of the bullets still imbedded in the links underneath. The one that hit his gut though was still lodged deep inside.

I made sure I wasn’t putting too much pressure against the wound. I lifted it up and sucked in a breath, I felt tears spring to my eyes.

“You... you’re horrible!” Reno whispered, trying to sound shocked. “You’re supposed to tell me I’m going to be okay, like in the movies, not take one look at it and cry!”

I choked and laughed; I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “You’ll be fine. Everyone I know is an immortal, so by default you must be too.”

“He isn’t,” Perish piped up.

I turned around and gave him a withering glare. The scientist immediately looked down and the floor and sulked over to Reaver. I saw he was holding a blue blanket in his hand, Deek was walking with him, his tail low. He didn’t like the plane at all.

“Wherever we land, we’ll get you medical help.” I brushed back Reno’s damp bangs, his forehead was warm and clammy. “Skyfall has great doctors.”

Perish tucked the blanket into Reaver’s sides before he started dragging him towards the back of the plane. The sound of his blood-slicked body being slid over the metal made me feel nauseas. He left behind a brimming puddle of crimson red that continued to follow him as Perish dragged his corpse across the floor.

“We’re not going to Skyfall,” a voice said beside me.

Every head turned towards the front of the plane. The pet named Jade was leaning up against the doors to the cockpit, a small nylon case in his hand and a smirk on his face. The pet’s eyes fell to Reno, then to mine. Without another word he started unzipping the case.

“Mikey?” I looked down and saw Reno giving the pet a confused look. “You’re Mikey… how can you be Mikey?”

I smoothed back Reno’s bangs, my mouth pursing to the side. Poor Reno was getting delirious. “That’s not Mikey, that’s Jade. He’s Elish’s pet.”

I heard Jade give out a low laugh and the sound of boots tapping against the metal floor. “Reno knows me. Elish and I came to Aras twice in the last three years. We had to go under assumed names. Reaver knows me well… he and Reno dangled me over the deacons’ pens when I was sixteen.”

My eyes widened. I looked at Reno who now had a smile on his face. “Those were some good times, I had no idea who you two were, Reaver neither. No wonder Greyson and Leo flipped shit on Reaver. We were fucking with chimeras.” Reno gave a slight chuckle but grimaced under the pain.

“None of this fucking makes sense,” I mumbled, not knowing if this revelation made me feel more secure or just nauseas. Like Elish and Jade meeting with my parents years ago, it seemed like these two had been planning all of this for a long time.

Planning on being the ones to deliver Reaver to King Silas. I wonder what kind of accolades and honors they would get for being the ones to turn us over.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“It will, Mr. Massey.” Jade smiled. I shuddered as I was reminded of his eerie pointed canines. He had metal implants in over half of his teeth.

I watched Jade hold up a pair of tweezers, before he gave me a wink. “Now brace yourself, you need to dig out your Geigerchip and snip off the ends, same with you Perish.”

“Why?” I felt my gaze fix on those strange eyes, ones I knew I would never forget when we had previously met. Elish’s personal pet, with brilliant eyes like a foxes, another genetic mutation at the hands of Skytech.

Jade as a whole was lanky with long arms and legs. His eyes were framed by shiny black bangs, which fell to the tips of his narrow cheek bone. His ears were small and almost pointed with tips that stuck out over his hair, I saw several earrings all of them flashing with gemstones.

I immediately didn’t care for him. He dressed in skimpy, tight leather clothes and a studded leather collar and cuffs, a lot like Asher’s style choice which I didn’t appreciate.

Though I think it was just his air that I disliked. His easy attitude contrasted my heavy emotions making me feel frustrated, and his impassiveness filled me with anger. If he was indeed a cicaro pet he certainly didn’t have the air of submission, on the contrary.

Then Jade handed me a scalpel. A weapon. I stared down at it confused, my eyes widening as my mind raced with ways I could defend the three of us. But no, he was smarter than that and so was Elish. So what was going on?

“Because they have tracking devices in them. The Skyland models, including the one that Perish gave you.”

Tracking devices? It was Perish’s turn to get glared at. The scientist immediately looked away and started busying himself feeding Deek pieces of what looked like dried meat. I bet that was the sole reason he had stitched that device into me. He wanted to track my every move and make sure if I did escape he could find me.