by Quil Carter
“Where is Greyson and Leo?” I didn’t hide the dismissive tone in my voice. I tightened my grip on Perish, who was now making choking noises at the sight of his family. I thought his jittering had been excitement but judging by the clammy feeling I was getting under my grip and his racing pulse… I think he was scared of them.
The man I had known for months as Asher continued to hold his smile, unconcerned by the sharpened tones of my voice. For a moment I felt angry, realizing that this man knew me on a level no one else but my circle did. The man who was holding the men I considered my fathers. He had my balls in a vice, whereas I only had a disposable fuck toy in mine.
I’d had the same problem last night, even the fuck toy part was the same. I’d been strangling the pet and Silas just laughed at me. The covetous look in his eyes told me he wanted to see me kill Jade.
I shot a sideways glance at the pet. His neck was bandaged, as was his arm but he was still standing, leashed by his master. I wondered if he was a prisoner as well, a disposable animal waiting for his master to tire of him.
Unfortunately, I had my hands full. The cat-eyed whore was on his own.
“Do you not wish to talk? It’s been awhile since we got the chance.” Silas’s voice was as sweet as antifreeze and just as deadly. I swallowed my biting retort and squared my shoulders instead.
“If you want to drop by and catch up you’re more than welcome, after we’ve done our trade,” I said in a level tone.
“Where is Killian?” Silas looked past me, before he paused and clucked his tongue. “I didn’t drive him mad from my little game, did I? He sure does sing a beautiful swansong.”
Inside I seethed, but on the outside I only smirked and took an inhale of my cigarette. I glanced at it as I blew the smoke out of my mouth and looked at him. “Killian is far away from here.”
He clicked his tongue again. “It’s too bad he smashed my recorder. I was having a brilliant time fucking to his moans. He moans like a virgin, and makes the cutest face as he cums.”
You will not provoke me… even as I said this my grip on Perish’s shoulder clenched. My breath was short inside my throat though I managed to control my exhales.
“I would like to see Leo and Greyson.” My mouth formed the words, though my brain had already lunged at him. By the time I mouthed Greyson the inner video in my mind was pulling out his entrails.
I hissed my inner victory as I saw, for the briefest moment, his emotions betray him with the narrowing of his eyes. He was obviously surprised by my restraint. He raised a hand and gave a ‘bring them’ wave. The twins obediently turned around and headed for the plane outside the gate.
My stomach churned when I saw them.
My fathers were beaten bloody, Leo looking the worst. He had to be dragged towards us, though he managed to raise his head to see where he was going. Just one hazel eye scanned the area, the other was bloody and broken in its socket. I clenched my teeth when I realized it was missing.
Greyson could walk but he was covered in purple bruises and gashes. He had a hand clasping Leo’s, though as one of the twins threw him forward their grip broke.
Greyson fell to the ground hard, but as soon as he could he moved towards Leo.
My mind and my resolve lost its fight with my heart as I saw Greyson put his arms around Leo, trying with all his weakened strength to draw him close. Leo managed a small smile through broken and missing teeth.
“What the fuck did you do to them?” The dam burst in my mind. The emotions I had done such a good job of hiding rushed through my body with the ferocity of a tsunami. My hands clenched and my shoulders shook.
My body was braced like a cat ready to pounce when I felt Perish’s hand on my back. “It’s almost over,” his voice whispered. Somehow I managed to hear him through the explosions of anger wreaking havoc on my mind.
It would be soon… I took Perish’s shoulder and pushed him towards Silas. Without another word I walked over and leaned down in front of Leo.
“Hey, Dad,” I whispered. “Can you walk? Or do I have to carry your pathetic ass out of here?”
Leo’s split lips thinned as he gave me a small smile. “They broke your ol’ man’s legs. I’ll need some help.”
I gave him a playful pat on the cheek and looked at Greyson. “You owe me a beer after this.”
Greyson’s eyes were still hard; he hadn’t been beaten comatose like Leo had. The steely gaze wasn’t for me though. He was looking at Silas.
I turned around and saw Silas looking at us, a crooked grin creasing the side of his face. His arms were crossed over his new clothing.
“So you choose Leo then?”
I stood up, and flicked the ash from my cigarette, though the hair on my neck was rising. His tone told me he was about to pull out his ace.
I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Silas looked beside him. Perish was standing with him, his hands rubbing together and wringing one another. His head was bowed but his eyes were still flickering around; he seemed perpetually in a state of submission and fear, A dog beaten so many times it had forgotten what it was like to not be scared.
“Do you really think the life of this retard was worth your fathers? You say you never make the same mistake twice.” He let out a chuckle that turned every hope for a bloodless escape to cinders. “Oh, bona mea… we are just starting.”
Perish’s face fell, his lower lip tightened and he stepped back hanging his head. “I’m not retarded, Killian says I’m smart.”
After seventy-one years he still hadn’t learned what I had learned knowing Silas for two months. Sure enough, Silas’s eyes flashed with annoyance. He glanced at one of the twins and nodded at him.
The twin walked up to Perish. As he did the scientist cowered down and shielded his face with his hands. The north gate filled with his screams as the twin dealt him several kicks to the chest and stomach. When he was done, Perish was a quivering heap on the ground.
The whole scene made me sick. I might have been a borderline sociopath, but I didn’t torment and bully innocent, unarmed people. Not without good reason anyway.
“Get out of here, you have him.” I flicked my cigarette away, but I stepped away from Leo and Greyson. If I started shooting I had to have them out of the way. I hoped Greyson had enough strength to drag his husband to safety.
Silas, of course, did not leave. The king walked up to me. He took a tin out of his pants pocket and flicked it open. I could smell his familiar scent as he got closer. The once pleasant smell was now imbedded in my senses. I immediately felt its familiarity momentarily weaken my senses, but I steeled myself.
This was not the man I’d had drinks with. This was the king of the greywastes, a cruel, heartless abomination. Do not let down you guard.
He offered me a tailor made, and I took it. He offered me a light and I took that as well.
“Who else do you want,” I said through a puff of smoke, though I knew the answer. My pulse raced as I realized that I had been preparing for my own departure.
“I want you.”
I gave him a small nod. I had expected that and he knew it. I sucked in the tobacco smoke and deliberately held it in.
“I’ll give you a night with me,” I said to him, my stomach twisted and filled with sickness at the thought “Whatever you want, as long as I can have my own guard outside the door.”
“Indeed, you offer me your body for your father?” Silas’s crooked smile widened, a few teeth broke through. “You still like me, Reaver. Has your brilliant little mind realized that yet?”
This surprised me. I blew out the smoke from the corner of my mouth but didn’t answer.
“Even now, your heart relaxes at the sight of me, the scent of me… I wonder if it would quiver under my touch.”
I recoiled as Silas reached out to touch my face. He retracted his hand, his eyes narrowing. A moment later, his confidence returned and he put his hand on my arm. I tensed like a coiled spring. “Tell me,
Reaver. Have you dreamed of me yet?”
“No.” He was starting to catch me off-guard. I didn’t like this. I cringed as he ran a silken finger up my arm. I braced my body as he slipped his hand behind my back and pulled me towards him.
My teeth clenched as he pressed his lips against mine. I moved my mouth to the side, leaving his lips to brush lightly against my cheeks. “Do we have a deal then?” My words were dripping acid.
I fixed my eyes on Leo and Greyson as his hot breath blew against the side of my neck. I was doing this for them. They might have lied to me my whole life, but they had saved me as well.
Greyson was clenching his teeth, his grey eyes burrowing hatred into Silas’s back. When he saw me looking at him he looked back and shook his head just enough for me to see.
“Mmm… Reaver…” Silas kissed my neck. I turned from Greyson’s steel gaze and clenched my own teeth in restraint.
“Did they ever tell you… what I created you for?” His voice was a rasping purr. “How important you were? You are not like your brothers… you are effigia, my perfection. My sculpted beauty.” I felt my breath lock in my throat as my body could no longer accept his touch, or his breath on my neck. I backed away, my right hand twitching for me to grab my M16.
Silas’s heart was a thrumming beat, in a backdrop of racing engines. The crooked smile on his face now revealed itself as more of a mocking sneer.
“I created you physically as my perfect man, my Adonis. I worked with Lycos for years perfecting your every detail.” Silas’s hands flexed. I couldn’t help but think he was grabbing me in his head. “But your mind, your emotions… every bit of meat and bone down to your blood cells I created in the image of the perfect man.”
“I created you with only one purpose, to be my partner, Reaver. I engineered you to find me quite the irresistible guy.” The man I formerly knew as Asher flicked a wayward strand of hair from his face with a turn of his head. “Your only purpose in life, down to your DNA, is to love me.”
His words stuck to me like tar, no… not tar, like shit, something vile and disgusting that I knew I would never wash off. My brain seemed to collapse in on itself as the sentries in my mind failed to dispel the onslaught of emotions.
But what were those emotions? I couldn’t sort through them any more than I could sort water with my hands. Sickness was all that I felt, and a burning ember in my gut that told me that even if he left right now, it wouldn’t be over.
“Do we have a deal or not?” The words flowed through my lips and even I was surprised at the hollowness in them. I felt a sting on my fingers and I realized the cigarette had burned through, the base scorching my fingers. I didn’t drop it. The pain focused my thoughts.
“It will be in my house, outside the blacksands,” Silas said.
“Deal.” I nodded.
“No! Reaver!” Greyson suddenly found his voice. I looked over and saw his eyes were wild. “Don’t go with him. He won’t bring you back, for fuck sakes. Reaver, you’re not like the others. You were cloned from Silas. You are Silas! Every part–”
“Silence him!” Silas snapped to Nero.
I only saw a flash of silver from Nero’s belt, then heard the high-pitched whine of a silenced gun. My mouth opened in a scream as I saw Leo’s head jolt before it slumped to one side, a black hole apparent in the side of his head.
I am a machine. I am a machine.
The cry on Greyson’s lips was nothing compared to the look of pure anguish I saw on his face. He threw himself over his husband to protect him as Leo’s gasped his last breaths.
I drew my M16, but my legs took me towards my dad. I fell to my knees in front of him and took my first strangled sob, ignoring the yelling and gunfire that had erupted from the single gunshot. I tuned it out and held my hand up to Leo’s cheek.
“Leo? Baby?” Greyson’s voice broke. I saw his rough hand brush back Leo’s short blond hair.
I watched Leo take his last breath, I watched his hazel eye dim, his last image that of his husband of twenty years.
Greyson whispered something under his breath, then with his teeth clenched in despair he let out a cry so gut-wrenching I knew it would haunt me forever.
Then a bullet landed beside me. I turned around and saw Hollis and Redmond with the enforcers and my sentries on the wall exchanging gunfire with the chimeras. It was a flurry of activity I had completely blocked out.
I saw one of the enforcers fall. Behind him Perish had retreated to the wall with the pet. The twins and Nero were laughing, with their assault rifles sparking and smoking as they rained the enforcers with bullets.
Then I heard Silas’s voice, but his words were lost in the booming, sky-cracking gunfire.
I felt Greyson grab my hand, still holding my M16. I didn’t realize I was half-raised, ready to join in.
“Reaver,” Greyson choked, his hand clenching mine in its shaking grasp. “You are King Silas, you are his clone. Reaver… only born immortals can kill one another. Once we realized only you could kill him, we stole you. Not to be a mayor, but to one day put an end to his madness. Only you can kill Silas. You are the only perso-”
The bullet exited out of his temple, missing my face by inches. For a moment, his eyes locked with mine, before they, like Leo’s, faded. I caught him as he slumped over, and as he fell on top of Leo, his heart gave a congested lurch, before falling silent.
I watched in shock as the blood poured from the crater in his skull like a tipped jug of water, flowing down his husband’s neck, and onto the greywaste ground.
More grey and red.
The next thing I knew I was biting through flesh.
Warm, ambrosial blood rushed into my mouth. I resisted the urge to drink it as my teeth kept biting deeper and deeper. I felt his throat vibrate as he screamed, then hands pulling me off. I took a bite of flesh with me when they finally pried me off Silas.
“You’re quick!” Silas snarled. He was holding his neck, the blood flowing through his fingers like red streamers. He took a stumble forward but fell to his knees. I thrashed my arms and snarled like a feral animal, kicking and lunging with all my effort. When I realized one of them had my shoulders I twisted my head back and started to bite him. In response I felt him hold my entire head in his hands.
Elish was beside Silas; he had his arm bent and braced to help the king walk. The blond chimera’s face was a cold marble slate; not a single emotion could be seen.
King Silas stumbled towards me and I saw for the first time Redmond and Hollis beside him.
“Fucking shoot them! Shoot all of them!” I yelled, my voice hoarse and ragged.
I realized that their guns were lowered, then with a shudder I saw that they were not making eye contact with me.
Just like that… you bow to him? I let out a scream of rage and found myself baring my teeth at the cowards before me.
I heard Silas laugh, then the words I had feared.
“Find Killian.”
Before he could even get the last syllable of my boyfriend’s name out of his mouth I was screaming at Silas, Using every insult and swear word I could think of. My curses continued as I saw Redmond and Hollis walk towards the north road, their heads lowered and their backs slumped.
I looked up and saw legion officers with my sentries, a few feet away from each one, holding assault rifles in their hands. My men were unarmed now, forced to watch the display below them. Sadii was slumped over the wall, but she was still alive. Matt’s eyes were wide with horror.
A cold calmness came over me, and with that the noises faded into my brain. I no longer thrashed, bit, or snarled like a feral beast. I went limp.
To my left, my eyes fell on my dead fathers, never far from each other, even in death. I wondered in my brief embrace of tranquility if I would hold Killian the same way.
Then I smiled. Because not even fate would bless me with such an acceptable death. Because I was King Silas. I was immortal.
I laughed. I felt the hands loosen from my b
ody. Whether I laughed to deal with my overwhelming emotions, or whether I actually found it funny remained unknown.
I got up, not even grasping the surprise that they had even let me rise, and turned around.
Past the airplane a crowd of Aras residents were watching the display on the north gate, probably attracted by the gunfire. There were about twenty or so, watching with huge eyes the slaughter of their leaders at the hands of their king.
A crowed clustered together like sheep, behind a traffic cone barrier one of the enforcers must have rigged up. They stayed behind it obediently, waiting for their next leader to tell them what to do.
There were no gunshots piercing the air, defiantly defending their leaders and their town from what we all had known was the enemy. There were no cries of despair or vows of revenge. The sheep watched the wolves, waiting for one of them to put on a shepherd’s clothing. Their eyes were wide and frightened, like the eyes of any prey.
I heard deacdogs in the distance. My eyes focused as I saw Deek in front of the traffic cone. Watching me with a raised head, he was growling at the chimeras but had remained obedient to where I had asked him to stay. I was happy for his unwavering obedience to my word. They would have killed him if he had rushed in.
Then off in the distance I heard an explosion of assault rifle fire, and the barking of Murry’s deacdogs. The hands tightened around me as I started yelling. I was telling Killian and Reno to run. Run and drive far from here. Never look back.
I saw them in the greywastes together. I saw Reno making a tear-stained Killian laugh for the first time; I saw Killian cutting Reno drugs and brushing his hair back like he had mine. The thoughts didn’t disturb me, they made my heart ache that I might be lucky enough to have that be a reality once Silas took me. My fate was no longer important to me. I just had to protect Killian. I had to make sure he was taken care of and safe.
I heard Killian scream. He was close. They had got him. My eyes fell to a group of residents who had emerged from the north road. They were walking together, towards the square. I could see almost twenty of them, residents I knew. I saw Miller and his father, Hollis and Redmond. I even saw Reno’s own uncle Carson.
