The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (6 page)

I fucking travelled with slavers because I was desperate to protect Killian from the Legion closing in on us.

I even left Jade with Perish and the slavers because I was more concerned with getting away from those bickering idiots. I could’ve and should’ve brought Jade with us to charge the Ieon and I knew it.

With a swallow I tried to push it down, though like I was swallowing a bone my own self-hatred stuck in my throat. Though there was nothing more I could do but mentally beat myself up, and I wasn’t that kind of guy. Loathing got you nowhere; it made you hate yourself and made others hate you. I had to stop being a fucking pussy about it and pull up my fucking bootstraps.

I was the Reaper. And though I will still make mistakes – I will fix them.

I-will-fix-them.

There was a crunching of snow, Nico came running up to us. “I got bad news...”

Both Elish and I turned around at the same time.

“What is it?” Elish said sharply, his eyes hard.

Caligula had been on the phone with Kessler for several minutes now. The call coming in while we were landing the Falconer, a few miles from where Killian, Chally, and I had branched off towards Mariano.

“Kess is assuming that Reaver is hiding in the Death Canyons near Cardinalhall. Which is good for us; it will take them weeks and weeks to comb it to the Legion’s satisfaction but...” Caligula’s mouth twitched to the side. “Uncle Elish... he’s ordered...
demanded
, we return with the plane. Now.”

“Fuck, seriously?” I snapped. I growled and kicked a nearby median feeling the dark rage I had been suppressing start to raise to the surface, but Elish was calm beside me.

“What explanation did you give him as to why you have the plane?” Elish asked.

“We just told him we were visiting Nico’s father. Kessler isn’t talking to Zhou right now after what happened with the ransom so it will fit.” Caligula looked behind him and shook his head. “What are your orders?”

Elish didn’t miss a beat. He walked past Caligula and towards the plane. “You and Nico will be returning to Cardinalhall... Reaver and I will continue on foot.”

“And Reno?”

“You will be taking him back to Aras.”

At the same time both my and Reno’s heads jerked towards Elish.

“What?” We both said at the same time.

Elish stepped onto the plane and started packing supplies. “Mr. Nevada is still nursing a bullet wound and internal bleeding. I can be cruel and draw attention to the fact that he will slow us down, or I can be kind and tell him he needs more time to rest before he permanently joins us. You may choose which one.”

Reno looked crushed, but I couldn’t come to his defence. My friend had showed me his war wounds on the way to the mountains and he was still in rough shape.

“The residents sold us out...” I said confused. “He isn’t safe there.”

Elish, who was still packing bags, reached into his pocket. There was a jingle as he threw a set of keys to Reno. “Take out the key with the blue cap. That is for the bunker and in that bunker is a quad you can use to stay in Tintown if needed be, money too. Nico will drop you off and you will not leave that bunker until I personally retrieve you. If you must stay in Tintown or want to make the journey to Anvil, write a note.”

“Why can’t you take him to Garrett?” I asked. Though oddly at the mention of his suppose ‘fiancé’ Reno’s bottom lip disappeared into his mouth. I knew then that there was a reason and probably a story too.

“Because right now, to Silas at least, Reno begging a ride back home to Aras from Caligula and Nico is extremely plausible. Unless Reno is preparing to stay in Skyfall forever, it is unsafe for him, and our end goal, to have him bounce back and forth.”

I blinked as Reno gave him a single crushing look before his face tightened. I put a hand on his shoulder and patted it. Elish though didn’t have time to comfort him.

“You three need to go, now. If Reaver and I start right now we can make twice the speed their caravan would be going... and if needed be, we have the advantage of silence and stealth the plane would not offer.” He put on a knapsack and I put on my own. “Let’s go.”

Arms were thrown around me; I almost lost my balance as Reno hugged me hard. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“Ah... you’d just slow us down; you always had clumsy, Bigfoot feet.” I tried to be supportive, Killian’s influence heavy on me. “I’ll come and get you soon, I promise.”

“You’ll come and get me?” Reno’s voice suddenly went all high and squeaky.

I smiled, even though he couldn’t see me. “Of course, we’ll always come for each other. You’re my bud. If you’re good I might bring you a slave boy too.”

Reno sniffed. “Just watch yourself...”

I stiffened. I didn’t like that he knew my thoughts so well; he knew the battle that had been going on inside of my head. On top of that he had seen the state I had found myself slipping into.

The one that required the injection into my neck.

“I will,” I whispered back. And with that the three of them went into the Falconer and were soon out of sight. At least I knew my best friend would be safe, even if he did venture into Aras he would be alright. He didn’t know I had killed Redmond and Hollis, and Carson had died during the attack. Nico would make sure his father, the legion general currently in charge of Aras, would treat Reno like royalty.

Elish and I started walking down the snow-covered highway, snow clinging to the spindly branches of the black trees. Elish had his blond hair hidden under a panama hat, and a grey duster over his Skyfall clothing. He was James right now, James the greywaster seeking out his travelling partner.

We walked in silence, our strides long but slow enough that we could sentry the area. We didn’t exchange any words, both of us listening and paying attention to the world around us. Elish keeping an eye on the belt of trees to our right and me on the white and grey rocks below us, where the road dropped off into the valley.

There were no signs though and I wished then that we had at least some caravan tracks to follow, but the snow had fallen long after the bosen had walked this highway. Elish and I had nothing to go on, just a long and lonely strip of road.

The silence between us was consensual and fitted the quiet personalities I knew we both had. Though with the silence went my imagination and there were several things that kept creeping into my mind that had to be banished back down to the void.

I entertained myself with how I was going to kill Hopper if he did hurt the boys in any way. Though without wanting it to... Hopper kept turning into Nero.

A dark feeling gathered in my gut, a cancer that seemed to be growing its own blood supply.

I reached into my cargo pants pocket for a reprieve. I took out my last baggy of powder and took a generous amount in each nostril. Killian had our heroin; I was looking forward to indulging on that when I found him.

I could feel Elish’s eyes on me as I sniffed the opiate powder up my nose. I tilted my head back to catch the drip and tried to hide the sigh on my lips.

“Do you want some?” I looked over at him.

Elish shook his head. “Your friend Reno offered me some as well. I suppose it is a communal thing amongst greywasters?”

I shrugged. “It keeps the edge off of... life. Keeps my mind from going to places I would rather it not go.”

Elish nodded but kept walking. I swallowed down the weight of my own thoughts but Nero was starting to become an ember in my brain. The more I was quiet the more his face came into my head. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I felt like I had to make my plans known.

“When we figure out how to kill Silas... I’m going to kill Nero.”

He didn’t even flinch. Not a single waver, not a twitch out of place. When we spoke about Jade I could see the small signs but not with anyone else did I see that frozen resolve thaw.

“You will not need too. King Silas will permanently condemn Nero for taking what was his to take.”

My...
I didn’t even want to use that stupid word. It made me cringe just thinking about it like that. I wiped the expression of disgust from my face but the barbs were already on my tongue. “Silas wouldn’t have taken it either.”

“Yes, he would have.” Elish’s face darkened. “Usually the day after his chimeras turn fifteen. You would be one of the rare ones to have to wait. I do not envy what consequences my brother will face for what he did to you. Rest assured he will be punished, severely.”

“I want to be the one to punish him, and kill him,” I said, the emotion draining from my voice. I could feel the dark cancer in my gut grow even larger. “I will rape him, torture him... I will keep him alive for years until I decide it is time for him to die.” My hands clenched into a fist and without warning my breath started to become short.

Nero... my hatred for him, I realized in that moment, was starting to become as strong as my hatred for Silas. What he had done to me... that festering pocket of rot in my brain. It put such a blind anger inside of me I didn’t think I could contain it in my head. How was I going to explain this to Killian? I couldn’t... ever tell him.

Elish’s cold voice cut the thoughts boiling inside of me. “You are an immortal and so is Nero. You will have your revenge on him. Let that cool down your mind. I need you present and listening, aware and in this reality. I caution –”

His voice faded until it was nothing but a low-toned hum in the back of my head, a world away from where my mind was going. In its place I felt a roaring start to rush through my brain, lighting my dark thoughts on fire like they had been coated in oil.

I felt Nero’s touch, I felt him licking my lips, biting and nipping my neck. Then his thick cock being mercilessly shoved inside of me as his cicaro watched. The pain, fuck, it was painful. The first time it broke inside of me, the burning pressure, the assault of pain as my tense body constricted around him. Back and forth. Back and forth.

One twist. Two twist.

A scream broke through my clenched teeth. I started to run not knowing where I was going, when I felt hands grab me. I tried to yank myself away but they held me firmly in their grasp.

I struggled to get away but he crushed me tight against his chest. I howled and screamed feeling like an animal caught in a trap.

“Scream louder,” Elish’s frozen voice pierced the destruction going on in my head.

I gritted my teeth and tried to twist my body away from him but he only said it again.

‘Scream louder.”

“No!” I snarled at him.

“Do it. Scream, bite, kill... do what you must, just do not internalize it,” Elish commanded me. “I have dealt with chimera youth. I have trained Jade and I have counselled many others. You need to drain the infection and to a chimera that is through blood, destruction, and revenge. I have no revenge for you, so scream.”

I pushed him away and this time he let me go. I pursed my lips trying to force down what I was about to say but, betraying my pride and dominance, I said it anyways. “I’m not weak, I’m not some... fucking wimp who gets torn up over... over some physical act!” I yelled. “I’m stronger than that. I’m... better than that!”

I put my hands on my head; I despised myself for my trembling hands. Why was I saying this to Elish? I was the toughest, I was the most emotionless.

I was...

I WAS THE REAPER!

“You have never had competition before,” Elish responded calmly.

I stopped, my hands dropping from my head. Elish sensed the temporary pause in my madness and continued.

“Yes, you are quite the emotionless sociopath... in Aras. In Aras you were king. A king next to a soft, innocent little blond boy and a happy-go-lucky greywaster with cripplingly low self-esteem. Bravo.” Elish rose and dusted the snow from his knees. “But you are no longer in Aras. In your new world... you have chimeras that have refined and perfected the art of cruelty. Ones who have been honing their craft for almost a century. Yes, Aras has certainly given you a big head; I saw that every time I visited. But unfortunately, Reaver... you’re playing with the grown ups now. Not half-starved arians.”

I stared at him, every word pinning me down.

“There is no way to steel yourself other than endurance and experience. Use what Nero did to you as strength, because, Reaver, it-will-happen-again. If not with Nero than with Silas, or many of my other brothers who see you as a prize to claim and dominate. You are amongst brothers who are smarter than you, stronger than you and –”

“I am King Silas’s clone. I’m better than all of them,” I snapped, before I started to stalk back down the road.

Elish’s cold laugh sounded behind me. “Yes, and Jade is a genetically engineered chimera with strands from our most successful, superior brothers. Caligula as well. All three chimeras in your generation have been selectively bred. You? You are the genetic copy of someone so full of madness he has driven his own hyper-intelligent mind into insanity. You may have chimera enhancements but you are not better than us... quite the contrary. You are prone to insanity, susceptible to addiction, obsessive-compulsion, violent outbursts, and self-hatred. Do not forget that.”

I was listening to every word he said, and I was remembering them but still my prideful mind could only spit back, “You’re the first born... you are pretty much a clone too aren’t you? All the first generation? You’re no better than me.”