by Quil Carter
Kel glowered at him, his nostrils flaring with annoyance. “So funny. So very funny!” he snapped. “I’m going to grab a femur bone and beat you with it next time you do that.”
Sasha, still chuckling, wiped a tear from his eye. “Sorry, Keli, it was just too easy.” He smiled and looked towards the kitchen. Then, even though his feelings towards Kheva were soured, he decided to do what needed to be done to remain in the Master’s good books. “Want to make a special dinner for Kheva? Maybe make some dessert too? We have our chores done.”
“Can we make butter tarts again!” Kel asked excitedly. They had been Kel’s addiction since buying a package at the store. Sasha had suggested that they wouldn’t be that hard to make, and sure enough, the recipe book had a recipe that looked quite simple.
“Sure,” Sasha said. He walked into the kitchen and found their aprons. “That’ll kill time until Kheva gets back.” His eyes scanned the living room and dining room. “The house is clean, the chores are done, and those bones are burning on their own… there’s nothing more we can really do except bug each other.”
“Or have sex!” Kel said with a grin. Sasha shuddered and ignored him, and handed Kel his favourite blue apron.
Kel was a wonderful cook, Sasha had already figured that out just from him making all of their meals, but it was also clear that Kel was a great baker as well. Sasha was sure that if it wasn’t for all the hard labour they did every day, they’d all be three hundred pounds.
Kel took care of the butter tart crust and Sasha tackled the filling, all while Kel watched the clock, anticipating Kheva returning. They assembled the ingredients, then poured the filling into the pie crust shells and put them into the oven.
After that, it was time to prepare dinner. Kel insisted on making three cheese manicotti which was one of Kheva’s favourites, and after sweating over the stove for the next hour, also taking out the butter tarts and putting them out to cool, the manicotti was in the oven too.
Sasha and Kel both collapsed on the two patio loungers outside. It was still bright out considering it was spring, but the sun had set and soon their little slice of paradise deep in the woods would be shrouded in night.
I’m going to have to sleep with Kheva, Sasha whispered inside of his own head. I’m going to have to sleep with the man who could very well murder my uncle and best friend.
Jesus, I’m still looking forward to him coming home though. What the fuck is wrong with my head?
I’m just so fucking confused. I feel like I’m being yanked in two different directions.
Sasha closed his eyes and let the cool air wash over him, but with a deep inhale, he was reminded again of the heavy oily scent of burning bones and his nose wrinkled.
“It’ll be all over soon,” Kel said beside him. His mouth was full as he scarfed down one of the first butter tarts. “It doesn’t take long for the bones to burn away. Then I’ll gather the big ones that didn’t burn, and I smash them with a mallet or the flat side of an axe and put them back and burn them. There’s nothing left, except for Jye’s food.”
Right… the cannibal cat. If it was even called cannibalism since he wasn’t eating his own kind. Even thinking about having to hide Jye’s food around the field and surrounding woods made his stomach wring out acid. “The food I’d been hiding before…?”
“Yeah. That was a bad man… a really really bad man,” Kel said quietly. “Jye’s been eating bad people since I came here. He was only a year and a half old when I came, and he was eating… he was eating a man who…” Kel lowered his voice, his shoulders hunched and his eyes flickering to the entrance to the property as if expecting something bad to emerge from the spot. “A man who really hurt Master Kheva.”
Sasha was silent as these words sunk in, ones that left the atmosphere around them as thick as the aroma of the oily burnt bones. There was a part of Sasha that wanted to ask Kel who this man was, but his intelligence grabbed hold and he remembered that Kel’s mind was an open book to be read by everyone when Kheva wasn’t around to protect him. Kel didn’t have a Dead Zone in his head. Kheva could very well find out that Kel had spoken of something most likely forbidden and Sasha didn’t want to put himself in front of that firing squad.
“I’m glad at least Kheva got revenge on him then…” Sasha said, then decided to inject some good behaviour into Kel’s memories. What had happened to Gavin was as fresh in his mind as the butter tarts they’d made, and it was fucking him up even more now that the shock had worn off. But he knew Kheva, and he knew the Master would want to see some understanding on Sasha’s part, even if he was still horrified at what had gone on.
“Me too,” Kel agreed with a nod of his head. He reached over and grabbed another butter tart from the plate they’d placed them on to cool, and offered it to Sasha. “Anyone who hurts my master or who hurts my Sashy gets killed.”
“Aw,” Sasha said with a smile. He took the butter tart feeling quite complimented by Kel’s admission. “Thanks, Kel, I’ll do everything I can to protect you too.”
Those words meant more than Kel even knew. Except it wasn’t Kel that he was really protecting, it was Rob.
And also, Jobe and Lex.
Worry drenched his body like a wet blanket had been thrown on top of him. Rob had said that it wasn’t something that would happen right away, but eventually Kheva would go after Jobe and Lex, eventually the Master would cut all of the strings that attached Sasha to his old life. He’d done exactly that to Kel––and it was only a matter of time before he made Sasha completely his too.
Just like the abuser in an abusive relationship, they isolate them and cut them off from their families so they can make their victim completely dependant on them. That was exactly what Kheva had done.
Sasha felt ashamed of how much he’d been enjoying his time with Kheva recently, not just shame, but also like a sell-out, or some sort of whore. After everything Kheva had done to him, or had ordered Kel to do to him… he’s easily sold-out to the Master when he’d began to show him fleeting bits of affection and kindness.
I didn’t have much of a price… Sasha thought bitterly, but at least Rob had been there to knock some sense into him. Now he wouldn’t forget.
The image of Jobe hanging in the shed, would guarantee he’d never forget.
I can’t let Kheva hurt them… I must do it. I have to… Fuck, I have to have sex with Kheva.
I have to get those horrible memories for Rob. Oh, fucking christ… I can’t believe this is going to be my real first time. Real sex.
Kel knew Kheva was coming before Sasha even saw headlights. Kel had been outside on the patio with a distant look, one that Sasha recognized as him using his abilities, and suddenly his eyes focused and he jumped to his feet. The snap reaction was enough to send Jye, who’d been lounging on the patio with his stomach to the sky, scrambling to his feet and diving under the patio table, and Sasha jumping a mile then clutching his chest.
“Kheva’s coming!” Kel announced with a jester’s smile. He sped down the stairs as fast as his socked feet could carry him, before pausing, then doubling back as if he’d hit an invisible forcefield. “I forgot he makes me wait on the porch because once he almost accidentally ran me over because I couldn’t wait.”
Sasha snorted. “Sure, accidentally.”
Kel gave him a look for that.
Less than a minute later, a beam of light brought temporary daylight to the trees and greenery it fell on, before the entire entrance was lit up by twin headlights. The pickup truck entered Ciel Lake, the motor a low rumble, and Kheva pulled in to the mud pit parking lot and killed the engine.
“Go get ‘em!” Kel said happily, and without wasting a second, Jye bounded down the patio steps and Kel ran past him. “Come on, Sasha!”
Sasha followed Kel and tried to stem the nervousness that was rampant through him. He took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders and tried to push the emotion out of the forefronts of his mind.
“Hi, Master. I mis
sed you,” Kel said, and when he eyed up the take-out food he squealed. “FOOD!”
Oh, right. Sasha swore at himself, he’d completely forgotten that Kheva had promised Kel take-out.
Kheva’s eyes drew themselves to Sasha, as always, the yellow parts seemed to glow under the interior lights which shone through the window. “That can be served for dinner tomorrow,” he said. “Manicotti heats up just fine in oven. It only means Kel won’t have to cook.”
Sasha nodded, but he was looking at something else. Kheva had a cut lip, and what he thought might be a bruise on his cheek.
Kheva… he’d been hurt.
Someone had the fucking balls… the audacity… to hurt Kheva? That person was either extremely powerful, or extremely stupid.
The strikes of anger were immediate, but even though Sasha tried to push it down, Kheva was intuned and read the thought easily.
“Think nothing of it,” Kheva said placidly. “Keluva, take the food and heat it up in the microwave. I need a few minutes to decompress and change into more comfortable clothes.”
Kel took the bags with a second excited squeal, and he ran ahead, clearing both of the wooden patio steps and leaping though the sliding glass door.
Sasha chuckled. “Do you see how much he missed you? He’s been jumping up and down with excitement since ten minutes after you left.”
Kheva looked ahead, his eyes focused, almost… hard. “I see that,” he said. “I see you were also looking forward to my return. Did Keluva behave himself?”
Sasha nodded and stepped back as Kheva walked up the stairs to the patio. “He didn’t try anything, but unfortunately he pretty much cleared out the crap food cupboard. And when he ran out of that, he just baked––We made butter tarts for you though. He only ate three of those.”
“Indeed,” Kheva said, his voice low enough to pick up even more gravel. “Why do you look forward to me returning?”
Kheva stopped to gauge the reaction on Sasha’s face. “W-why?” Sasha stammered, taken aback by this direct, and rather unexpected, question.
Most likely this was Kheva’s goal however. “Yes, why?”
Sasha wanted to look anywhere else but Kheva’s face, but he knew better. “We’ve been… getting along fine,” Sasha said. Then he realized this would be a perfect opportunity to let Kheva know he’d taken another step.
So, it would be more realistic when he started initiating… that.
“I’ve kind of been enjoying you –– you being my master, and me being here,” Sasha finished.
Kheva, on the outside, looked to be searching Sasha’s face, but in reality, he was inside of his mind. Determined to see if he was telling the truth, the Master’s presence went high and low to observe this odd declaration for himself.
And all Sasha could do was trust in that Dead Zone. Because if Kheva ever found it, he’d be beyond dead––Way beyond dead.
“Interesting…” Kheva said slowly, and fascinatingly, the hardness in his eyes seemed to melt. Not into softness, that just wasn’t Kheva’s personality, but to a more relaxed-alert state. Sasha had to feel proud of that, and perhaps a little bit honoured that he could draw out that reaction in him. No matter what kind of person Kheva was, it would make anyone proud to change that dark visage.
They walked inside of the house and Kheva went up stairs to change and settle in. Kel hopped around like an excited kangaroo over Kheva bringing back Chinese food. He’d already made up the two plates, all with a little bit of everything, and was currently microwaving each dish and setting up the table while they heated up.
“Did you see Kheva’s face?” Sasha said quietly, even though he could hear the shower upstairs.
Kel glanced at the roof, a nervous look on him. “Don’t ask though,” he whispered, and the tone suggested he was also whispering this to himself. “He’ll get mad if we ask.”
Sasha nodded as he reached over to grab a sweet and sour pork chunk. “I figured as much, doesn’t make me any less curious though.” Then he popped it into his mouth and began to help Kel set everything up.
“Sasha can feed himself from now on.”
Sasha looked up from setting the table, excitement beat in his chest. “Really?” he said with a smile. He didn’t know how to contain his happiness over this; Sasha wanted to run into Kheva’s arms and hug him. “Thank you, Master.” Finally, he could feed himself like a normal human adult. Not the strange dehumanizing control method that Kheva had been forcing him to obey. That meant… Kheva was finally starting to see him as a nightcrawler, not just his slave and tool of abuse.
“If you backslide, you’ll lose the privilege,” Kheva said placidly and nodded towards Kel as he began putting together another plate for Sasha. “But for now, you’ve earned some privileges with me.”
A simple thing that every person in the world took for granted, but yet now that he had the ability to feed himself again, he wanted to cry from graciousness. “Thank you,” Sasha said again and waited with fresh anticipation for his Chinese food to be ready.
Kel and Kheva sat down with their food and began to eat, Kel telling Kheva in between mouthfuls of food (he knew better than to speak with his mouth full, that was an automatic smack) about everything that he and Sasha had done.
The microwave dinged and Sasha got his food. He ate it with excitement and appreciation and listened to Kel go on and on, until the food seemed to steal away any more of his thoughts. Once Kel quieted down, the conversation was reduced to pecks here or there and the crunching of egg rolls, the scraping of forks against dishes, and finally, Kel’s chair sliding as he rose to collect their finished dishes.
Kel suggested tea and Kheva agreed. Sasha was too stuffed to move, he leaned back on his chair with a groan, and mentally chastised himself for eating too much. But even though he felt as if his stomach is going to explode, within the hour he’s staring longingly at the fridge where the leftovers resided.
Now Sasha was on the couch watching television with a half-asleep Kel, and Kheva was writing in that book. Sasha often wondered what Kheva was writing, and sometimes he even thought about how creepy it would be if one day he read it and all it said was: All work and no play makes Kheva a dull boy, over and over again. Or something equally as fucked up.
Sasha looked over at Kheva when he heard a muffled curse word. Kheva was in the process of getting up, a hand cupping his mouth.
“Are––” Sasha’s throat clenched his words when Kheva raised a hand, the universal gesture for ‘Shut the hell up.’ He watched Kheva in silence walk towards his office, and then the door close with a silent click.
Sasha looked towards Kel to exchange perhaps a confused shrug or two, only to see Kel passed out on the couch. It was just Sasha in this living room now, the unwatched television droning on and the fireplace cold since it was now too warm at night to use it.
‘Come into my office,’ Kheva’s voice said in his mind.
Curious and perhaps a little bit nervous about the summons, Sasha rose and silently walked past Kel. He paused in front of the door, then slowly pushed it open.
Kheva was sitting in his leather computer chair with an old laptop in front of him and the satellite phone beside. He motioned for Sasha to sit, then said quietly. “Pull up the wooden chair by the window.”
Sasha obeyed and retrieved the chair. He sat in it and awkwardly folded his hands over his lap.
Kheva then turned the swivel leather chair around so both chairs were facing each other. His green and gold eyes fixed on Sasha’s own, and as if they were portals to the never-ending dark of the universe, Sasha began to shiver.
“Scared?” Kheva murmured, his head tilting lightly to the left.
Sasha swallowed and a chuckle as dry as the Mojave burst from his lips. “Of course, I am,” he said quietly. “You know I’m terrified of you.”
Kheva’s gaze stared right through Sasha, and Sasha realized that Kheva was inside of his head. But what was he looking for?
Sasha wondered th
is, but refused to bring up all of the things he didn’t want Kheva to find. He’d been practicing that art as well. The Dead Zone was saving him, but he’d wanted to train his own mind anyway in case there was ever a day it disappeared.
“Has Kel ever told you anything about my personal life?”
Sasha’s heart fell like a lead weight, and to his absolute horror, Kheva’s eyes flared as if Sasha’s reaction had been gasoline.
He was fucked.
How – how the fuck did he know?
Sasha’s mind raced, and began to tear itself apart as he searched for an explanation to tell Kheva, one that wouldn’t spell immediate punishment––Or worse.
And to his surprise, he found it.
Was that what Kheva had seen?
Sasha swallowed down his heart and gathered up his balls. I would make sense if this slip of Kel’s tongue had been left out of the Dead Zone. It was Kel’s fault, not Rob’s, and certainly not Sasha’s.
“Yes, Master,” Sasha said. “Kel made an off-hand comment that I was… uncomfortable with hearing. He said… when he’d arrived at Ciel Lake, Jye was eating the meat of a man who’d hurt you. I… gave him a short answer; I didn’t enquire further.”
Kheva’s jaw set, and when he rose, the fast movement made Sasha flinch, expecting to receive a blow that would knock him senseless.
But it wasn’t Sasha who was the target. Sasha rose and lingered in the office’s entrance, and watched Kheva stiffly walk towards the sleeping Kel.
A pool of liquid fear began to fester in the pit of his stomach, and the food that still remained inside of his stomach churned.
“Wake up.”
Sasha flinched a second time at Kheva’s tone. There wasn’t a paper-width shred of emotion in it. It was cold––and it was terrifying.
And Kel knew this too. The moment his eyes opened, they became fearful––And the moment they became fearful, Kheva raised his hand and smacked Kel across the face.
Sasha gasped and clung to the doorway. Kel screamed, his hands rising up to shield himself from Kheva’s attack, but nothing would stop the Master, and several more times he struck him.
