Silent Ground: Part 1

by Quil Carter

Sasha nodded, the blood now creating a bulging strip of red along Kel’s wound, like a dam about to overflow. He watched the moment that the tension became too much, and a bead of red ran down Kel’s white arm, before dripping onto Sasha’s pant leg.

  “I…” Sasha felt his face become flushed, but like the odd sense of belonging he got with these two, he also felt like he could speak freely without becoming embarrassed.

  So, unlike with Lex and Jobe…

  “I started getting the headaches two years ago,” Sasha said. “By accident I figured out that my own blood and…” He swallowed the discomfort at saying it and pressed on. “… and later on, my… stuff… helped get rid of them.”

  Kel urged Sasha to take his bleeding arm, in a way that suggested he was offering him a cookie. “Once your mind advances, your own fluid is no longer strong enough to quell the migraines,” Kheva said behind the smiling Kel. “You need us now. And as such, nightcrawler, you will get used to taking what you need from the source. Take Kel’s arm, he’s offering it to you nicely.”

  The way Kheva said that last part… there was definitely a stern tone to it, a dominant tone. It was different than the previous ways he had been speaking, but the pain from this ongoing migraine was banishing all other thoughts in Sasha’s mind. It had only gotten worse since entering this truck and Sasha found himself having difficulty focusing.

  Sasha let out a long breath. There were so many things wrong with… what they wanted him to do. But he’d already drank from that vial, so if he was going to be revolted about something, it might as well be due to that.

  In for a penny, in for a pound.

  Kel’s innocent smile got bright when Sasha reached a hand up and took the arm. He held the bleeding wound up to his mouth and put his lips around it.

  Yeah, that was… blood alright. Sasha closed his eyes, feeling exposed with the two sets of eyes he knew were watching him, and began to flex his mouth to ingest the blood.

  When he felt a hand on his head, Sasha flinched away and his eyes flew open, but before he could comment, a sharp voice broke the quiet air.

  “Keluva!” Kheva snapped. Kel’s hand retracted like an electric current had zapped it, and stammered an apology.

  Once again this made Sasha pause, and in that pause the insanity of what he was doing, and where he was, began to separate itself from the jumbled thoughts that were currently twisting and contorting inside of his troubled head. But it was fleeting, and the migraine too intense to ignore, so soon Sasha’s lips were back around the wound.

  At first it was just a glowing warmth that started to grow inside of his chest, then it began to spread all throughout his body. It centered in his head, and like a bucket of cold water on a small fire, it doused the continuous painful throbbing.

  It was… incredible. It was an addict in the throes of the worst detox getting the drug his body craved. There was no pain left inside of his head, and not only that, Sasha felt himself fill with strength, with lightness, like he could take on the entire world and conquer all his problems.

  Sasha drew in a breath through his nose and continued to take in the blood, his eyes still closed and his body now relaxed. Without realizing it, he found himself in a trance, his mind fully taking advantage of the first mental break it had gotten in years.

  When the arm was finally removed from Sasha’s mouth, Sasha opened his eyes. He wanted more of it, it was like liquid bliss, energy in its purest form, it was like… the best fucking drug he’d ever had.

  “Coming back to us?” Kheva asked, his voice sounding amused.

  Sasha looked around the truck cab. Kel was wrapping his arm in white gauze, and Kheva was still driving the truck, the world beyond the headlights completely dark. How long had he been out for? Sasha glanced outside and realized they were driving on a single lane dirt road now, thick forest framing both sides of it.

  “What happened? How long has it been?” Sasha stammered. There were no more streetlights, no other vehicles, the road looked old and they were driving over potholes that made the truck rock back and forth.

  “Two hours,” Kel chuckled. He smiled again at Sasha, that guy seemed to love to smile, and there was something about him that made Sasha suspect that he might have some slight mental issues. “Your poor brain, it was starving.”

  “Why does that work? What am I?” Sasha asked. “How did you find me? How did you know I was one of you? What am I?”

  “Not now, nightcrawler,” Kheva said. “Like Kel said, your body was starved and it has been a long day. We will be home soon.”

  Sasha wiped his mouth, but unable to stop himself, he licked the blood that had smudged his lips. “Where’s your home?” he asked.

  “It’s your home now too,” Kel said happily. He glanced at Kheva who gave him a nod. “We live in a place called Ciel Lake. My master bought it years before I came and together we’ve made it beautiful. You can help make it better.”

  “Bought it?” Sasha said. This was West Coast Canada, everything was extremely expensive, especially if it was by a lake. Kheva didn’t look any older than twenty-six. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-five,” Kheva responded. “Kel is twenty-four. He’s been with me for four years now. He was the same age as you when he came to me.”

  Four years? I wonder where he’s originally from? Sasha thought to himself. He seems nice, but there’s that strange manner he seems to have. Maybe his family ended up betraying him too.

  Perhaps that was all of their stories. Somehow, they ended up convincing their families that they were completely insane, and got kicked out or ran away. Now… now all they have is each other.

  But I can’t stay forever. I can’t just leave Jobe and my uncle.

  I can introduce them to Kel and Kheva when I go back––then they’ll know I wasn’t crazy.

  The derisive voice returned with a dark chuckled. “You really think you’re ever going back?”

  Sasha frowned at this, but dismissed the voice almost immediately. The blood that Sasha could still taste in his mouth had him feeling energetic and optimistic, no dickhole voice was going to bring down his mood. It had been… too long since he’d felt anything but depressed, low, and desperate for understanding.

  “You have your own property here? That’s impressive. Where do you work?” Sasha asked.

  Kheva smirked at this, finding something amusing in Sasha’s question. “I work on my property,” he said simply. “We’re not really compatible with society. You have probably noticed that yourself.”

  “You guys aren’t either?” Sasha said. This made him feel better about the two. “We seem to be alike in a lot of ways.” His heart skipped when he saw a light start to peak through the thick trees up ahead. Sasha focused on it, and saw that it was a porch light, one that had a shrouded two-storey house behind it. He could barely make it out, but it looked like it was made to resembled a log cabin, but bigger, of course.

  Then the truck drove into a clearing, a clearing of land that had several structures on it besides the large house. Sasha looked to the side and saw a fenced garden by the treeline that encircled this cleared-off area, and in the distance, behind the house, the moonlight was shining on a lake, the reflection making it seem like it was made of crystal.

  “Wow…” Sasha whispered. His face was glued to the window, even in the darkness this place looked impressive. “This place is like a paradise.”

  Kheva turned the truck into an area with many tire tracks imprinted in dried mud and turned off the engine. Silence filled the truck cab and Sasha looked to his right to see Kheva smiling thinly.

  Then the man looked to Sasha, and his green-gold eyes bore into him like diamond-tipped drills. “Yes, nightcrawler. This is quite the paradise,” he said. “Welcome to your new home.”

  Nightcrawler, he keeps calling me that…

  Kel put a hand on Sasha’s shoulder, then strangely Sasha felt him kiss the back of his head. “Welcome home, Sashy,” he said in the odd, almost spastic t
one the strange man seemed to have. “I’ll start the generator, Master.” He opened the small passenger door and slipped out into the darkness.

  Sasha stayed where he was until Kheva made the first move, then he slowly got out of the truck and felt the cold night air on his body. The cabin of the truck was so warm, he’d almost forgotten he had nothing on but his cloth boxer pants and old t-shirt. He was freezing, especially his feet.

  Sasha decided to walk towards the grass, where his feet would hopefully not be as cold. He noticed something while he walked, even though it was an obvious thing to notice.

  It was… so quiet out here. Not the deceptive quiet that a small city brought, where you could still hear cars in the distance, dogs barking, the hum of televisions from night owls. It was… deafeningly quiet, only the sounds of crickets could be heard.

  Sasha looked around as he stood on the grass. The two-storey house looked amazing, even though it was still shrouded in darkness. From what he could see, the house and the grounds that surrounded it, all looked well-kept and taken care of. Well, he’d never been an outside type of guy, but he’d pull his weight here. Hell, now that he had a way of managing the headaches, Sasha had a feeling he was about to rediscover himself.

  Behind him, Sasha heard the truck door slam shut. “We can give you a proper tour in the morning,” Kheva said as he walked to where Sasha was standing. “This is overwhelming for you, it is best you get inside and Keluva can make you something warm.” Then he smirked. “Don’t mind the jungle cat.”

  Jungle cat? Sasha blinked and they both began walking towards the house. Kheva found this confusion amusing, and to increase that confusion, Kheva tilted his head up and whistled.

  There was a slam, like a door being shoved open, and a golden blur burst out of the wrap-around porch. The animal, an extremely fast one at that, leapt down the stairs and sped towards Kheva.

  Kheva held out his arms, and to Sasha’s amazement, the animal crouched down, and on limbs that seemed to be too big for its body, the cat jumped, and landed in the awaiting arms.

  Sasha recognized the type of cat. “That’s a serval!” he exclaimed. “I’ve seen them on National Geographic!” He extended his hand before pausing. “Can I pet him?”

  The golden, black-spotted cat looked over at him, a relaxed but inquisitive expression on his face; his nose was flexing as he smelled Sasha. “You have my permission,” Kheva said. Sasha didn’t miss a beat, he gently ran his fingers in between the cat’s large ears, and withheld a squeal of glee. “Jye is a lot like a regular cat, but he’s only tame, not domesticated. Since spring is here and Kel will be tending the gardens, you will be taking on a portion of his care.” Kheva put the cat down and began walking towards the shadowed house. “We will go over that tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” Sasha said. He couldn’t get over the fact that they had a fucking African cat here. The animal seemed healthy and happy, and if there was any place for a tame jungle cat to want to hang out, it would be in this paradise. “I’ll earn my keep here until I return home.”

  Sasha’s head shot to Kheva when he let out a low laugh. It was… an eerie laugh to say the least, kind of unsettling.

  But before Sasha could translate his unease into words, there was a low rumble in the distance that was quickly stifled by a distant door shutting, then a moment later a light in the house turned on. It sounded like the generator was in something soundproof, Sasha could barely hear it once he’d heard that door close.

  He followed Kheva onto the back deck, the man seeming to ignore a red door that looked to be the entrance to the house. “We use the sliding glass door mostly,” Kheva explained. “It leads right to the kitchen, so it’s easier to clean your feet. We keep our house clean and tidy. You’ll be helping with that as well.”

  “Yeah, anything,” Sasha said. He watched Jye slip through a dog flap that was installed by the sliding glass door, and then heard Kheva slide the door open and walk in.

  The place was… fucking exquisite. The walls were paneling stained a brownish-red, and there were animal pelts on the walls and even a grizzly bear rug in the living room which was surrounded by microfiber furniture, all either chocolate brown or black. The kitchen was large with a granite counter top island in the center and grey stone tile which felt cold underneath Sasha’s socked feet. All the doors were wood, the curtains dark red, and there was a set of stairs by a fireplace that led to an entirely new storey.

  Everything was polished and new, even the stuff that wasn’t new looked new. It was just… impressive, and it must’ve cost a lot of money to get it up to these standards.

  Sasha tried to wipe his socked feet on the mat in front of the glass door. Kheva, it seemed, noticed his lack of shoes.

  “You’re our size. Kel has shoes you can use for now,” Kheva said. “Once you earn it, I’ll take you into town and buy you clothing.”

  Sasha flushed. He reached down and took off his muddy socks. What he would’ve done to have had some notice that Lex and Tom were springing the police and the crazy house on him, so at least he could pack. Back home, he had an apartment full of stuff, but now he was wearing everything he owned.

  It was those three fucks fault. Lex, Jobe, and Tom pushed him to fucking do this.

  Sasha felt some satisfaction knowing that they were probably worried sick about him. Scouring the roads of their small town searching, but they wouldn’t find him.

  And it was their fucking fault.

  There was no guilt inside of Sasha, not even a shred. They brought it on themselves; if they would’ve believed him, just listened to him without thinking he was fucking crazy…

  “I wouldn’t think about it.”

  Sasha looked up from his pale wrinkly feet and saw Kheva putting a metal kettle onto what looked like a gas stove. “Think of what?” he asked slowly.

  But before he could answer, Kel opened up the sliding door and walked in. He gave Sasha a big grin and began taking off his running shoes. “There are no electrical–”

  “I was speaking to him, Keluva,” Kheva said sharply.

  The smile disappeared from Kel’s face and he deflected eye contact. “Sorry, Master,” he said. He turned and closed the door, and quietly continued to remove his shoes.

  The smallest prickle of unease began to make itself known inside of Sasha. The migraine, and just the chaos of everything had pushed it to the back of his mind but… Kel calling Kheva Master, and the way that Kheva spoke to him… it was kind of weird. Sasha hadn’t given much thought to what their relationship was, he was much too shy to outright ask if they were dating, or even gay, but there was definitely something weird going on. Or at least unconventional.

  How would one even ask something like that? Sasha looked around the house for any photos of the two of them together, but there were no photos on the walls, or on the bookshelves, just paintings, the animal skins, and fancy books that looked well above Sasha’s skill level.

  Who were these people?

  Maybe I should’ve asked that before I got into their truck and let them drive me to fuck knows where.

  Then Sasha’s brow knitted, and he was reminded that he didn’t even know where this place was. He’d fallen into that lucid state when he was…

  Wow, it sounds fucked up even saying ‘Drinking Kel’s blood’ in my head. Sasha sighed and walked into the living room. He stuffed his hands into his boxer pants and looked around, not really wanting to sit anywhere since he was filthy and damp.

  “I’ll get you some clothes,” Kel said. He turned around and there was a series of thunks as he ran up the stairs, followed by the clicking of a door opening.

  “So… um…” Sasha itched the back of his neck. “Where are we near?” He had been out for two hours they said, plus the half an hour of driving beforehand… that most likely placed him between Courtenay, which was the next town over, and Nanaimo, an actual real city. There was a lot of undeveloped forest on Vancouver Island, most of it actually, and if this place was off the
grid, he could be like ten or twenty miles away from the highway, and fifty away from the next town… maybe more.

  It would be a long walk if these people turned out to be twisted psychopaths.

  “Nothing,” Kheva replied. He was pouring boiling water into three mugs, silver chains coming out of all of them. When Kheva handed Sasha the tea, he saw that there was a metal mesh ball inside to contain the loose leaves. “We’re a long way away from society. Just how I like it.”

  “I hope you guys aren’t murderers then,” Sasha said with a laugh. He tried to sound lighthearted but the unease was growing.

  “Murderers?” Kheva chuckled. His eyes shone as they stared intensely at Sasha. “Who would we murder? You’re a rarity, nightcrawler. It took me a long time to find you.”

  There was that name again. Sasha had been trying to ignore it, but the guy just kept on using it. Did he have a nickname before they even got to know him? At least it sounded cool, not like bug or boogie which was a favourite of Jobe and Lex.

  “I… don’t understand that,” Sasha said slowly. He glanced up when he heard Kel run down the stairs, and flinched when Kel tripped on the last one, only keeping himself up by grabbing the railing. “How did you find me? How did you know, and… why do you call me nightcrawler?”

  Kel handed him a pair of black jeans with a blue button-down, and there was also clean underwear and slippers too. It was… kind of weird to be receiving underwear from a strange guy, but well… in for a penny, in for a pound.

  “Get changed first,” Kheva said. He handed Kel his tea and motioned with his head to the hallway beside the stairs. “Bathroom is the first door, the one ajar. You’re not permitted in the closed door.”

  Not permitted? I guess that was where they hid the bodies. Sasha smirked at his own joke and thanked Kheva, then quickly got changed in the bathroom. A nice bathroom with the same grey granite countertops, a metal oval-shaped mirror, black hand towels, and a sparkling clean toilet and shower.

  Sasha got changed, and was happy to find that the clothes fit perfectly. The underwear at least looked really new, and everything smelled like cinnamon and coffee, exactly what Kheva smelled like.