The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (61 page)

You fucking... beautiful, brilliant man.

In my own shock I found myself smiling, and as I lay my hand on the back of Killian’s head and felt the searing heat start to radiate off of him... I started to laugh. I started to laugh hard.

And time started to flow forward once again.

Immediately I jumped up and ran to the quad. I turned it on and quickly opened the metal doors leading to the outside.

A blast of heat hit my face like I had just opened the gates of hell, but there was no fire licking and tasting the thick metal doors. Though as I glanced to my right I saw the heat waves radiate off of the cistern bricks and I knew then I had to hurry.

Still laughing. Oh my god, I was still laughing.

I was laughing like my mind had finally shattered as I lifted this immortal boy onto the quad and held him to me with one arm. I don’t know what I was feeling in that moment and I think that was why the laughter rolled from my lips. Because like they had always said: laughing Reaver is a Reaver whose mind has just broke.

I don’t fucking care! I have him. I have him.

I’ll have him forever.

I clutched the boy to me and pressed on the throttle. The quad moved with ease and without wasting any time, I turned it to the left and started riding as far away from the flames as I could. Killian was a ball of fire underneath my skin but the pain was the most beautiful pain I had ever felt. It was the pain of his body resurrecting, to make him brand new and better than he had ever been as a mortal.

I would be there when his heart started beating. I would watch as the white flames inside of every immortal, knitted his body back together.

I would be there when he woke, and I would be the one to tell him – we never had to worry about being away from each other again.

We may have spent a lot of time apart but now... but now...

He was mine for all eternity.

And with that thought, and a smile on my lips, Killian and I rode deeper into the plaguelands, leaving the greywastes far behind us.

I didn’t look back.

But I did say goodbye.

Chapter 62

Jack

Elish was sitting beside the cicaro’s hospital bed, never leaving the sickly boy’s side even though Lyle had already told him he was stable. Apparently though the boy’s brain was in ruins and his recovery would be quite long.

This is just needless suffering,
Jack thought to himself, his eyes absentmindedly flickering to the shadows of the room where Sanguine was standing in silence.
There is nothing wrong with being made an immortal at a younger age. I made Juni immortal as a teenager and he is no worse for wear.

At the mention of his sengil, Jack looked to his side where Juni was standing. The boy was fifty-nine though his age had framed him as an eighteen-year-old. He had been one of the first non-chimeras to be given the gift of immortality.

Silas had made my loyal Juni immortal... and here is Sanguine trying to make me turn a cloak towards our king?
The thought made the Grim’s mouth down turn. He decided to turn his attention back to Elish. If only to appreciate the fact that he was not him, and he never had to fear for his cicaro-sengil’s health again.

Jack’s cold brother’s eyes were hard; his lips showing a tinge of white from them being pursed. He had said little the entire time Jack had been here but Jack had expected nothing else. He was here to offer his silent support. Quiet company was the best company.

What a love-sick fool this one is. It’s a pity he’s fallen for such a fragile chimera.

“Do you remember when you were made immortal?” Jack said to Juni. The sengil was standing beside the sitting Jack, holding in his hand Jack’s cape. A solemn expression on his face though that was his natural expression; he had always been a more gothic-looking sengil. The short black hair, tall stature, and square face never helped. The other sengils used to tease him and call him Little Frankenstein.

They were all dead now.

Juni gave a slight nod. “Yes, I would never forget, Master.”

“And you do not mind being eighteen forever?”

“No.” He was quiet for a moment. “I do not think I suffer mentally by not having my brain fully developed. And if there were any side effects I am sure one day the technology will be there that I can be aged. Either way, I am quite content, Master Jack.”

Jack smiled at him, though he saw a flicker of blond out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and, sure enough, Elish was giving him a searing look.

The elegant chimera, with his hair now cut short and his clothing more casual than he usually wore outside his apartment, continued to glare at him. “Do not have veiled conversations in front of me, Jack. If you have something to say, say it.”

“You love him and yet you risk him dying because you want him to be a full adult,” Jack said airily. “I just don’t understand; if you love him so why would you risk it? I almost lost my Juni and...”

“Juni is just a sengil.”

“And Jade is
just
a cicaro, as you have said on many occasions. Or did that change in the greywastes? Are you calling him husband now?”

“Jade is many things,” Elish replied and was quiet after.

Jack narrowed his eyes at this; he had expected more of a tongue lashing but, then again, it was Elish’s little maritus in danger.

Parvulus Maritus, little husband, and that yellow-eyed cicaro probably didn’t even know what Elish’s nickname for him actually meant; though that was usually the entire point.

There was a knock on the door. Everyone looked to the other side of the room and saw Garrett poke his head in. His eyes swept the room and fell on Jade and Elish.

“Can we come in? How is he?” Garrett stepped inside at Elish’s nod. The greywaster boy, with his hair half silver and half black, stepping in behind him.

“Lyle says he will live,” Elish replied. “But he’ll need intense therapy. We won’t know until he wakes up just what he can do, whether he will still be able to walk, or talk... but he breathes and…”

Garrett finished Elish’s sentence with a heavy smile. “And all we need is for them to breathe. He will mend himself during his first resurrection.”

Elish nodded and turned back to his cicaro. The boy was covered in wires and surrounded by whirring machines; each one doing its job to sustain the cicaro’s life.

“I need Silas back in Skyfall as soon as possible...” Elish’s chest rose as he stifled a sigh. “With Reaver and Perish in the greywastes, he’s the only one who can make Jade immortal if something happens to him. Sanguine… you don’t know where he is?”

Jack was intrigued to see a look pass between Garrett and Reno, a fleeting exchange of glances but one that did not go unnoticed by the Grim.

Sanguine’s face though, held no emotion.

“No, not yet, brother.”

Elish nodded but said nothing else.

Suddenly Garrett’s remote phone rang. Everyone’s eyes shot to him as he dug it out of his pocket, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

He brought it to his ear.

“Hello?” Garrett gave everyone who was looking at him a smile but it quickly faded.

Jack frowned at this; Elish’s jaw tightened. Reno was looking at his fiancé, confused.

Then Garrett’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. He put a hand over his mouth. “Yes, we will... be right there. We... we’ll be on the roof of Olympus.”

Elish stood and so did Jack. The tranquility of the room gone as Garrett handed the phone to Reno.

“There... there was a very... very big sestic radiation pulse in the plaguelands, Elish.” Garrett’s knees buckled; Reno held him up though his face was the picture of terror. “Silas, Elish... Silas... it was Silas. The legion chimeras are heading there now. We must hurry. Sanguine, does Silas have his Falconer? Caligula and Nico are on their way here right now.”

Sanguine shook his head. “I have his Falconer. If Caligula and Nico are heading our way they are flying a Fisherking most likely. We’ll switch planes and get on the Falconer, it is faster.”

“Prepare the plane then, Sanguine. Hurry.” Garrett nodded, his face desperate.

Without another word Sanguine disappeared out the door.

Jack grabbed his cloak from Juni, giving Elish a wide berth as the chimera swept past all of them, Garrett and Reno following behind. Before he left Jack turned to Juni and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Stay here with Jade and send for the half-raver to guard him.”

Juni nodded. “I will not move until you return. Please, be safe.”

Jack gave him a pat on the hand before he turned and ran to catch up with the others.

The mood was so thick that Jack could feel it weigh on his shoulders. Though thankfully as soon as they reached the roof the Fisherking plane was landing with the Falconer. The Falconer ready for take off.

Caligula greeted them with his boyfriend Nico, both of them stern in face and solid in stance.

Elish nodded at them before taking a step, but no sooner than his boot touched the metal did Sanguine say behind him, “Elish, I’d like to stay behind and be with Jade.”

Elish paused and turned around. He nodded at Sanguine. “That would be appreciated. It will be your job to hold down Skyfall until our return, though we will not be long.”

Sanguine bowed and walked back to the stairs.

Everyone boarded the Falconer with Nico taking the controls and soon, with barely a word spoken, they were flying towards the plaguelands.

I’m going back to the north eastern greywastes? I just left. I hadn’t even had time to sketch out all my painting ideas. Well, I suppose it’s always a treat to be outside of Skyfall, even if this trip is looking to be far from pleasant.

The Grim glanced around the plane, everyone looking angry and stressed out. Jack felt like striking up a conversation but his brothers and the mortals seemed to be in too foul of a mood to talk to him. It was their faults anyways; chimeras and their games.

And they seem to be keen on trying to suck me in.

Or Sanguine at least.
At this thought Jack’s heart gave a flutter.
Did he really want to re-kindle what he had destroyed so long ago?

At the thought Jack felt nauseas; he hadn’t decided how he felt about it. At one point in his life he was madly in love with his demon brother, but over the years he had taken every one of his feelings and had shot them execution style.

That chimera masochism – as predictable as our sexual orientation.

Jack looked towards the sudden sound of a muffled sob. It was Garrett; his hand was over his mouth and he was staring at the window of the plane. His eyes wide and his face twisted in pain. Reno was beside him, a statue of support though his pulse was a mess.

They know it has something to do with Reaver, but do I care? I don’t know; I don’t want to go against my king. Silas never showed hostility over me and Sanguine’s paring. What do I possibly have to gain by siding with Elish? Juni is already an immortal, what is he going to do? Make my cat immortal? Sure he is a decent creature but after a year of sulking I get over my cat’s deaths.

Jack watched Garrett and Reno embrace; Elish standing on the other side of the plane, his face carved granite. Everyone was a mess, everyone was worried... though not about the king.

When they were approaching the plaguelands Jack watched Garrett get out a blue bag from underneath a bench that doubled for storage. Jack watched, confused as to what Garrett was doing, until Garrett started handing Reno pills and throwing more to Caligula in the cockpit.

When it finally dawned on him, he chuckled in spite of the heavy mood.

Everyone glared at him.

Jack raised a dismissive hand. “I would have completely forgotten he isn’t immune to the radiation, I suppose that is why my sengil is immortal. He would be covered in rashes and bleeding from the eyes before I even remembered to load him up with Iodine pills and radiation juice.”

No one answered him and Jack was just fine with that.

Then they reached their destination, and even Jack’s own face fell.

The charcoal grey smoke, the trademark wispy billows of sestic-ash, that blocked out the very sun. In several days it would start to snow that ash onto the plaguelands and the outskirts of the greywastes. Beautiful to behold... but lethal to the touch. Even if the unfortunate soul had a Geigerchip. Though with where they were it shouldn’t hit any towns. Only radanimals and any rogue greywaster who strayed too close to the boarder would die from this.

Nico flew the plane low but eventually after much arguing with Caligula they decided to touch down a half mile away from where the spike had occurred. Not only was it too dangerous to go any closer because of the visibility issue; it was now equally dangerous because of the heat.

“We won’t be able to go far...” Caligula said. “Uncle Elish... what if Silas is trapped in there?”