by Quil Carter
For a split second, Sasha dug in his feet, but as quickly as his defiance came, it was gone. He lowered his head and walked with Kheva to the store, Kel now several steps ahead of them, practically skipping.
“Hold up your head,” Kheva commanded. “You have nothing to be timid about. You’re better than every single one of them.”
Sasha’s ears burned when a middle-aged man stared at them as he was entering the building. He wouldn’t dare tell Kheva, but the fact that he was holding his hand… the people were going to be given even more of a reason to look at them. Gay guys just… didn’t do that in public.
Right?
Sasha actually wasn’t sure. He’d never paid attention to anyone else when he was in the store, he just wanted to get out of there.
Kheva was unfazed. The Master marched into the store, and nodded at Kel who got them a shopping cart.
There were… people in all directions. They were over at the produce section, the bakery section beside it, near where they kept the big boxes of case lot or sale items… and the tellers.
Sasha’s pulse began to race and the cold sweat came back. Then he looked over his shoulder, and saw three more people behind them, all of them staring right at them, then their hands, then them.
Then their hands…
… then them.
“K-Kheva…” Sasha said nervously. He tried to fan out his fingers to give Kheva the hint but Kheva only tightened his grip. They walked into the bakery where Kel was dancing around the cakes.
Sasha’s head turned from one direction to the next; he could feel the sweat on his brow. He licked his lips and tried to swallow down the bulges of anxiety that kept lodging themselves in his throat. This was nothing but intolerable and Sasha felt like finding a place for him to go and die.
Kheva loaded ten loaves of bread into the cart, before motioning to the cart when Kel presented him with a strawberry cheesecake––All of this done with his hand still grasping Sasha’s.
Sasha kept looking around nervously as they carried on to a separate section of the store. It appeared that Kheva was doing everything in his power to pretend to not notice Sasha’s squirming.
Until finally he couldn’t take it. “Stop it,” Kheva snapped. Sasha recoiled before looking around to see if anyone had noticed. They were in the meat section now and there were people everywhere, some shooting them glances, others pretending they couldn’t hear.
But they were listening and Sasha knew it.
“At least let go of my hand!” Sasha pleaded, keeping his voice as quiet as possible. “They’re staring at us. They’re going to know…” Sasha’s voice trailed when he saw Kheva’s face drop.
“Going to know…? What?” Kheva said, his tone submerging to such a low level Kel stopped in his tracks, a box of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets being held in both hands, and promptly turned around to put the box back. “Going to know what about us, Sasha?”
Sasha, squirming in cold liquid, swallowed and took a step backwards. It looked like he’d hit a nerve that he didn’t even know Kheva had. But in all respects, it was obvious the Master wouldn’t take too kindly to what Sasha was feeling self-conscious about.
Kheva matched each of Sasha’s backwards steps with ones of his own, until Sasha’s back hit one of the coolers. Kheva closed the last several paces of distance and looked down at him.
“You think what we are… is something to hide? That I should feel badly for who I am? That you have the right to try and imply that we are something to be ashamed of?” Kheva’s eyes seared, and as Sasha began to tremble, he was sure the golden part was starting to glow.
“N-no…” Sasha stammered. “I… no…”
Kheva grabbed onto Sasha’s hand and yanked him forward, then as Sasha took a stumbling step towards Kheva, the Master grabbed him… and kissed him.
Sasha didn’t dare pull away. He stayed still as Kheva’s mouth entrapped his own, the only movement coming from him the steady trembling of his lips.
Kheva slowly pulled away, his face still a mask of anger. Sasha stared back, before his eyes looked past Kheva to the four faces of random shoppers giving them bewildered looks.
But when they saw Sasha looking at them… every single one of them turned and walked away.
“One day, you’ll be able to bend any living thing to your will,” Kheva said. “But until then, command the presence that this gift you’ve been given deserves.” Sasha’s eyes widened as he saw that no one was watching them anymore, even Kel was gone. “If you ever show submission to the public again, Sasha, I will teach you the meaning of fear.” Then he turned away, and started heading towards one of the aisles.
Sasha stood there for a moment, watching Kheva walk. He’d never realized just how different Kheva carried himself. He never lowered his eyes, his shoulders were square; his chin was raised his walk confident…
He was…
…he was really something.
“Come, nightcrawler,” Kheva commanded. He snapped his fingers and motioned to his side… and Sasha obeyed.
They found Kel holding five bags of chips, from Cheetos to Doritos, with a hopeful look on his face. Kheva allowed him two and they continued shopping. Sasha kept having to extinguish springs of anxiety that were popping up all throughout his body, but he kept himself focused reciting everything that Kheva had told him. And not only that, he tried to remember the strength, the power behind Kheva’s words.
It would… at least it would come in handy when he left.
Self-hatred went through him. He hated the doubts swimming around his head now. Why the hell should he doubt running away? They’d fucking raped him!
Sasha’s teeth ground in vexation. He shook his head, thankfully a step behind Kheva, and chewed on the corner of his cheek. It didn’t matter if Kheva was helping him… none of it mattered. He’d gotten the shit beat out of him, he’d gotten full-on raped. Nothing else mattered but that fact, so he had to get the hell away from there and quickly.
Sasha nodded at himself, and followed Kel and Kheva to the next aisle. The shopping cart was bulging with food now, about twenty percent of it Kel’s excited impulse buys. Kheva was an asshole but… it was obvious he loved that guy.
No, no, shut up, Sasha!
Pushing it to the back of his mind, Sasha stuffed his hands into his pocket and carried on. But when Kheva shot him a look, Sasha removed his hands and stared forward. Kheva nodded his approval over this and no more glares were shot in Sasha’s direction.
“Cereal aisle, cereal aisle! What’s the best aisle? Oh, it’s the cereal aisle!” Kel sang and he began to bounce up and down. Sasha actually chuckled when Kheva leaned his forehead against his arms, which were folded over the handlebar of the shopping cart, and groaned.
“I can see why you leave him at home,” Sasha said with a smirk.
“You’ll be having to deal with him in the movie theater,” Kheva said with a sideways look. “Better get used to people staring at you, nightcrawler.”
Sasha stared at Kheva, then ran his hands down his face with a low moan. That… was going to be interesting.
“Rob?”
Kheva’s head shot up, then he turned towards the voice. Sasha looked down the aisle as well and saw a young man with a brown-haired pixie cut standing several feet from a stunned Kel.
“Rob?” The man put his hands over his mouth before running up to Kel. Sasha heard Kheva swear under his breath, then he started to quickly stalk towards the two.
The man threw his arms around a recoiling Kel, and let out a sob. “I never gave up,” the man cried. “Robby, you have to come–”
Kel pushed the man away from him with a confused noise, just as Kheva slid in between them.
“Kheva? Kheva?” Kel cried. He started taking steps backwards, his eyes bulging and enlarged with terror. “Master, who is he?”
“Robby, he’s not your damn…” The man jerked his shoulder away from Kheva as he pushed him backwards. “Get the fuck away from him, Khe
va!”
“Take Kel back to the car,” Kheva barked. He shoved the man again before looking behind his shoulder. “NOW!”
Sasha’s brain snapped to attention. He looked to his side and saw Kel in deep distress; the nightcrawler had his hands on his scalp and was clawing at it desperately.
Sasha swore. He was cutting into his own fucking scalp; his fingertips were smudged with blood.
“Kel, it’s okay,” Sasha said hastily. He grabbed onto Kel’s hand and started pulling him towards the end of the aisle. No one else was in that aisle at least, but they would be coming soon just from the commotion.
“Rob!” the man cried. “Your name is Rob and you have to come home!” He tried to push Kheva away, but to Sasha’s shock, Kheva grabbed the man and threw him to the ground.
Sasha turned and pulled Kel towards the door. Shit was getting out of hand and quickly, they had to get the fuck out of there and now. “Who is he?” Kel cried, his voice panicked. “Who’s Rob?”
“I don’t know…” Sasha looked behind his shoulder. Everyone was now staring at them, probably thinking they were stealing something. Or had they heard the screaming? Sasha and Kel made a beeline towards the exit, and finally they were outside. They crossed the parking lot and spotted the black truck in the distance.
“Sashy, who is he!?” Kel shouted. Sasha flinched when he felt an electric snap, almost like a static shock, course through his head as Kel’s frantic words left his lips. He ignored it and pressed on.
“It’s okay. Kheva will take care of it,” Sasha stammered. “Let’s just–”
“Faster!” Kheva’s voice suddenly snapped. Sasha and Kel both turned around and saw Kheva stalking towards them. They began to run, and all piled into the truck. Kheva wasted no time and started up the engine, then gunned it out of the parking lot and turned onto the road.
“What’s going on?” Kel cried. He was still in a panic and there was blood running down his temples. Sasha had never seen him in such an uncontrolled state. His eyes were like a wild animal’s, and he kept looking behind him as if expecting the mysterious guy to follow them. Would he? “Master? Who’s he?”
Kheva glanced in the rear-view mirror before his attention turned to Sasha. “Calm him,” Kheva said, his voice firm and commanding. “He’s open and radiating energy. Find the disruption and calm him down.”
“W-what?” Sasha stammered. “How?” He took Kel’s hand and put his other one on the frantic man’s shoulder.
“You know how!” Kheva snapped. “You can feel him, as can I.”
Kel gave another scream, and the discomfort Sasha felt previously, that electric snap, gave another jolt. He put his hand to his head and his eyes widened.
“That…?”
Kheva didn’t need to answer back, the expression on Sasha’s face said it all. He concentrated on that uncomfortable static, and almost like it was a string, it led Sasha to something that… somehow… felt like Kel. An intangible sensation like you could feel their presence, almost as if a new sense was forming.
“Put him to sleep,” Kheva instructed. He jerked the steering wheel as he turned off the highway, the force of it slamming Sasha’s face against the passenger window. Kel slumped over onto Sasha, his eyes distant and glassy. He’d stopped screaming too. “Put a veil over him and don’t let his head fall forward when he drops.”
Sasha tried to hold Kel steady, and while he tried to keep him from slumping over again, Sasha grabbed onto that mental presence he’d been feeling and grasped it firmly. It was like he was grabbing a live wire, and the harder he held onto it, the more it snapped and buzzed, creating a vibrating inside of his own head that made it difficult to cloak.
But as this strange sensation coated his mind, he felt as if he was learning it. Not only learning how to calm it down, but how to make it angrier, or how to make it scared. It was an instrument he could naturally play, but not until he experienced it for himself.
Sasha closed his eyes and held on tightly to this energy, then, with his face pained in concentration, he smothered it, cloaked it and stifled it, until the desperate static was gone.
Kel’s face suddenly relaxed and he started to fall forward. Sasha grabbed him and pulled him back and let him lean his head on the back of the seat. He stared at Kel, his eyes wide and bewildered, then he looked over at Kheva. “I… fucking did that?” Chills swept his body.
“You did,” Kheva said. Sasha looked out the windshield and saw that they were now leaving the city. It looked like today’s town trip was cancelled. “Kel was exhibiting perfect behavior for a beginner to experiment on. You won’t be able to do it that easily; he was radiating his energy.”
“Can I learn how to do it on other people?” Sasha asked. The excitement was obvious on his face, this was the first time he’d ever been able to control it. And it wasn’t something unwanted like the flashbacks he’d been getting of Kheva.
“It’ll take a long time, but eventually yes,” Kheva said.
“Can you do it?”
“Do you see police cars following us, nightcrawler?”
Sasha looked in the rear-view mirror and shook his head in awe. The things that Kheva could do… he was incredible.
And one day… it’ll be me.
“It’ll be years of training to even learn to control a nightcrawler’s mind, let alone a human wired completely different. I wouldn’t get that glassy-eyed stare quite yet,” Kheva said.
“Are there more nightcrawlers, or is there only the second gen? Who trained you?” Sasha asked. His mind warned him to tread carefully, and with the twitch in Kheva’s eyebrow, he suspected that warning might’ve come from the Master himself.
“There are more of us, but they take years to find,” Kheva replied. He began kneading the steering wheel with his hands. “And I trained myself.”
“Trained yourself? How could–”
“That’s enough questions,” Kheva cut him off. He gave Sasha a dangerous look, his knuckles white from clenching the wheel. “I’m already angry about having to cancel my business to bring this idiot home to safety. The last thing I wish to do is chat up your moronic inquiries.”
Sasha sighed and leaned back on the passenger seat. He gazed out the window, his view once again a dirt road with the thick forest on each side. Instead of bothering Kheva, he looked for the landmarks he’d previously tried to pick out, hiding his thoughts and desires from Kheva like a child hiding a stolen cookie.
If Kheva taught himself… I can teach myself.
Soon… I’ll be escaping.
And…
I think I might be ready to face the world.
The rest of the trip back to Ciel Lake was spent in silence. Sasha didn’t dare speak to Kheva, and the more time that went on, the more it was obvious that it was a good idea. Kheva’s hands were still clenching the steering wheel in either anger or stress, and Kel was completely out of it.
Kheva pulled into the clearing and parked the truck into the mud pit driveway. He got out, and walked to the passenger side just as Sasha was stepping onto the soft muck. Sasha jumped back and let Kheva pick up Kel, his strength quite impressive, then the Master carried him towards the two-storey house.
Sasha watched him go, then turned back to close the truck.
The keys were still in it…
Then Sasha’s eyes fell on Kheva’s wallet. It was resting in one of the cup holders, a snakeskin wallet, well-worn and with the tip of a brown bill poking out. A brown hundred-dollar bill.
Without thinking, Sasha leaned into the truck and reached for the wallet. His pulse shot to the roof as he grasped the soft serpent skin with his trembling hands.
He looked towards the house and saw Kheva still walking, unaware or uncaring that Sasha wasn’t following him.
It might be suicide, for all Sasha knew Kheva could pluck this memory from his mind like a cherry, but he needed money for his plan––badly did he need money.
And when he cracked open the wallet and saw it pac
ked with hundred dollar bills, he knew he’d hit the jackpot.
Sasha took out three of the bills and stuffed it into his pants pocket. He whirled around again, eyeing Kheva, then put the wallet back and gently closed the truck door.
And he ran to catch up with the Master.
Oh god. There’s no going back now.
I’m doing this. I’m seriously fucking doing this?
Sasha walked into the house to Kheva laying Kel down on the couch. Jye was beside him, and as soon as Kel was resting on top of the brown microfiber, he sniffed his second master and licked his nose.
“Keep an eye on him,” Kheva said. He turned from Kel and began walking to his office. “I have to go cancel my entire day.”
Sasha watched him go, and the questions that he’d been pushing down since that mysterious man shouted what apparently had been Kel’s name, flooded into his brain, taking up all available space. It was like his brain had been in autopilot, but the moment he was home… every single strange thing demanded from him an explanation.
“What happened?” Sasha blurted, even though with these questions came the screaming caution to not ask them. “Who was he… M-master?”
Kheva turned around, and the lethal expression on his face told Sasha he’d just fucked up.
“No, I’m… I’m…” Sasha stepped backwards as Kheva stalked up to him, and when Kheva raised a hand, he cowered down and closed his eyes.
The blow made Sasha stumble, but he didn’t fall. His hand cupped his burning, stinging cheek and an old injury inside of his mouth had his tongue tasting copper.
“The next question out of you will have you searching for a missing tooth,” Kheva snapped. He turned around and walked towards his office, leaving Sasha with a swelling cheek and a renewed urge to get the hell out of this place.
And with the money Sasha could feel in his right pocket, coupled with the keys already in the truck’s ignition, was making that a new reality.
CHAPTER 15
Sasha woke up that night to his heart pounding. He opened his eyes and saw the dark ceiling above him, and as his ears adjusted to the sounds of night, he heard the soft breathing of both Kel and Kheva. They were sleeping to his right, first Kel, and then Kheva who always slept on the right side of the bed.
