Silent Ground Part 2

by Quil Carter

  Even though he didn’t want to say it, Sasha did, if only because he wanted to prove he had nothing to be ashamed of. He was a nightcrawler, a fucking superhuman, telepathic mind-fucking marvel of genetics. There was nothing to be embarrassed about.

  “I was drinking some stranger’s cum?” Sasha said, and his eyes rose and fixed on Lex.

  Lex stared back, like a deer in headlights. “Y-yeah.”

  “I have to drink their blood too,” Sasha said. “And they have to mine. It’s the only way to get rid of those debilitating migraines.”

  Behind him, Sasha heard the door open. That would be Jobe and the little weasel Nate.

  “I… learned that, yes,” Lex said, and his eyes flicked past Sasha to where Jobe and Nate were. “Um, Nate… will it be okay if we have some time alone with Sasha?”

  “I just… I just have some questions for Sasha…” Sasha’s patience was tweaked again. He did not like that kid, not in the least.

  “I’m not going anywhere until Kel is healthy,” Sasha said coolly. He didn’t turn around, only stared forward. “You have a lot of time to ask questions, right now I need to speak to my uncle and my friend, alone.”

  “O-okay,” Nate stammered. “I’ll watch some television upstairs.”

  Upstairs… he was living here now, was he? Sasha didn’t really know the full extent why, but that fact infuriated him. It wasn’t only because he’d been harassing Kel and confusing him, there was something else that Sasha didn’t like.

  Sasha heard Nate leave the living room, then saw out of the corner of his eye the kid climb the stairs. He didn’t glare at him like he wanted, but inside Sasha did draw up his dim, blackened beacon and tempt himself with seeing what he could do with it. Maybe this would be a good way to experiment with mentally controlling non-nightcrawlers.

  “Sasha, baby.” Sasha looked up and saw Jobe’s smiling face, glistening tears highlighting the corners of his eyes. Just like that, Sasha’s tense heart softened and grew. There was so much he missed about Jobe, and one of those things was the warmth and comfort, something Kheva and Kel couldn’t bring him. Even being held in Kheva’s arms, it was something else, an entirely new experience, but it wasn’t the same cozy love as being near Jobe.

  Sasha smiled back and shifted on the couch to give Jobe room to sit down. “You look like you’re about to cry,” Sasha said. He leaned into Jobe when Jobe put his arm around Sasha’s back, and his body unwound further when Jobe pulled him close.

  There was a sniff. “About to?” Jobe said with a dry laugh. He sniffed again and rubbed Sasha’s side. “Baby, I’m so happy you’re back. You have no idea the hell we’ve been going through. We didn’t think we’d get you home once we… once we…”

  “What do you know?” Sasha asked. He felt Jobe lean his head against Sasha’s shoulder. “You know I’m a nightcrawler, but how did you meet Nate? What did he tell you?”

  “We were contacted by a private investigator,” Lex explained, exchanging glances with Jobe. “The man Ian Lariat, started the business after his brother’s boyfriend disappeared. The brother was Nate and the boyfriend was Rob. We met Nate, and the both of them told us just who Kheva really was, and who you were. It was…” Lex gave a pathetic chuckle and shook his head. “It was hard to believe, and it wasn’t until Nate started telling us things that Rob did, dead-ringers for what you were going through, that we actually believed them.”

  Jobe squeezed Sasha to him. “My magical boy,” he said in a cute voice that made Sasha smile. “You can control minds and read thoughts? Can you tell just how much I missed you?”

  Sasha smiled, the long dormant receptors to Jobe’s special way of showing affection lighting up again. It wasn’t the same as it was before, Sasha was still anxious, still trying to process being back with them, but being beside Jobe was certainly helping. “I don’t know how to read normal people yet,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to explain, but I can only do it to other nightcrawlers. I’ve been getting pretty good though. I can do some pretty fucked up things.” Then he looked over at Lex. “Was that it? The private investigator told you who I was with? Why’s he here then?” When Sasha said he, he glanced darkly at the second floor.

  There was silence, and even though Sasha couldn’t yet read human minds, it was obvious that this was a loaded question.

  And that fact filled Sasha with anxiety. What did they know?

  “Lex…?” Jobe said quietly. “I’d like to wait… Sasha looks exhausted.”

  “What?” Sasha said, the anxiety exploding and multiplying like it was made of yeast and sugar water. “What are you two talking about?”

  Lex took a slow drink of his tea. “It’ll drive him crazy if we don’t tell him, Jobe. He’s not stupid. He knows Kheva’s a monster.” Lex’s eyes rose, and Sasha saw pain in them. “We both… met Kheva.”

  Oh… that.

  Sasha swallowed a dry throat. “I knew that,” he said, his skin crawling upon brushing that terrible memory. Kheva had made, fuck, he’d made Lex see Sasha get raped.

  Oh fuck, Lex saw…

  “You saw everything?” Sasha said faintly.

  Just the reality of it had Sasha understanding why victims of such things kept quiet. It wasn’t like they were okay with the acts of depraved abuse, it was just mortifying having those you love know. You didn’t want them to look at you in such a way, you didn’t want them to be sad, and you didn’t want them to see you as a victim.

  But was that really it? Sasha couldn’t sort his feelings properly, all he knew was that it was horrifying knowing that Lex knew.

  Wait did… did Jobe know?

  Fuck, please, at least tell me Jobe doesn’t know.

  And with that thought, Sasha decided to never speak the reality of what had happened to him out loud. Jobe wouldn’t know what he meant, asking Lex if he’d seen everything, and maybe… and maybe Lex’s mind had been erased?

  What a foolish thought, but if Lex wasn’t going to bring such horrible transgressions to the surface––Sasha wouldn’t either.

  Lex rested his head down on both of his hands. “I saw a lot,” he said, his words muffled. “He showed me a lot.” An awkward silence came after that, Sasha could only stare in horror at his tea, all words escaping him.

  Maybe his mind had been erased.

  His mind had been altered. Yeah, that was it. Lex doesn’t know, and Jobe definitely doesn’t know.

  “Kheva threatened a lot as well,” Jobe said in a low voice. “He told us we weren’t good for you after how we fucked up, and told us that you belonged to him now. Kheva said to stop looking for you, and when I – I punched him after what he was saying…” Jobe’s head lowered and his eyes shut tight. “He killed Ian Lariat. Kheva made him walk into traffic, he died on impact.”

  Sasha’s mind swam, and the flush of dizziness had him leaning back against the couch. He didn’t know Lariat, at all, but he did know the consequences of pissing off Kheva.

  So, he had been threatening Jobe and Lex, but Jobe had hit him.

  Yes, right, Kheva’s lip, it had been cut. That had been Jobe.

  Jobe sniffed, and when he opened his eyes they were red. Sasha put a hand on his back for comfort, but his mind was elsewhere.

  What do I do?

  Kheva threatened my first family, but… Jobe had hit him. They had been seeking me out. What was one to expect from Kheva Swift? It… it was justified.

  I am Kheva’s, he knows that; he can see that inside of my head. And if he knows that, Kheva will have no reason to hurt them.

  “Don’t worry about Kheva,” Sasha said. He knew he had to chose his words carefully. They were both scared of Kheva, all intelligent people were, and they wouldn’t react well to Sasha hinting about his loyalty towards the Master Nightcrawler. That’s something that would have to be done carefully, and today wasn’t the day. Sasha was tired, his joints aching and his body slowly submitting to the overwhelming fatigue of the day’s events. “Don’t worry about Kheva, just… to
day, let’s just be happy I’m home. I’m home and I got Kel to the hospital in time.”

  Jobe nodded, and Lex did too, even though both of them were looking green. There was no doubt that each man was holding back tongues wanting to say more, to defy the warnings in their minds and spill their hearts, whatever those hearts may contain.

  But not one of them relented. There was silence, a silence so thick you could hang a coat on it, and for several minutes, ones that seemed to triple in length, no one spoke.

  “Sash…” Jobe’s voice was small. “Are you okay?” Sasha felt Jobe gently touch his arm. He looked down and saw that the wound he’d made to supply Kel had bled through his shirt. “We heard some… things from Nate.”

  Sasha swore internally, and a new expanse of fears took him. No, Jobe doesn’t know. Jobe doesn’t fucking know. Lex doesn’t know either.

  Rob had been lying.

  YES! Oh fuck, that was it. That was it! Rob had been lying the entire time. Trying to get Sasha on his side. The entire memory of Kheva showing Lex those images––Fabricated.

  Fucking fabricated!

  It had to have been…

  Oh god, please.

  “I got beaten on a lot,” Sasha said quietly, praying that Lex wouldn’t give any indication that he knew it had been much worse than that. “I was forced to sleep outside for a bit, but it was warm out. And sometimes I was withheld food, but…”

  But? But what?

  “But I’m fine.”

  “Baby… are you sure?” Jobe pressed. Sasha’s mind went wild, analyzing Jobe’s tone, his body language, everything. Looking for signs that would tell him that he knew Sasha had been brutally tortured and raped.

  Sasha nodded stiffly. “I sorted through it myself. I don’t really want to rehash it. Please just… don’t pry. I’m fine, I’m here, just be happy about that.” Sasha busied himself drinking his tea, trying hard to ignore the grim look on Lex’s face.

  But the expression on Lex’s face left little to the imagination.

  They knew––they both knew.

  “Hey, baby, why don’t you take a shower since you’re all damp and covered in mud and woodchips,” Jobe said with a warm smile. He side-hugged Sasha to him again, Jobe’s body warm and welcoming. Fuck, did he miss that comfort. “I can make you some breakfast and you can just relax until they call you about Rob.”

  Kel.

  “I know you must miss your apartment. My Sashy Man rarely left his little cave.”

  Oh, Jobe. I love you… but you have no idea how much I’ve changed.

  I feel… I feel like an entirely different person. One you’re going to have to get to know all over again.

  Sasha nodded, and rose after putting down his tea. “That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “It might help stave off the cold I feel like I may be getting from this adventure.” Then he tried to smile. Something inside of him wanted to show Jobe and Lex just what he was capable of. He was no longer the little loser in his bedroom, never going out and barely existing. “There was a fallen tree across the old road leading to the lake house… I used a chainsaw in this hurricane and cut off the limbs then bucked it up. You would’ve been impressed.”

  Two sets of eyebrows raised. “Really?” Jobe said surprised. “Actually, I’m not surprised. Look, Lex.” Jobe reached over and squeezed Sasha’s bicep. “He’s fucking getting built. You’re not going to be our scrawny man anymore, you’re getting muscles!”

  Sasha laughed, his cheeks going red. “Maybe,” he said shyly, then he glanced towards the dark hallway that would lead to his apartment. “I’ll be right back then. Breakfast would be great. I didn’t get to eat much of the McDonalds I got Kel.” And with a last smile, Sasha turned and walked towards his apartment.

  He expected some sort of reaction once he was inside of his old home. A swell of emotion, of longing and comfort being inside a place that had been his own cut of paradise. In the beginning, when he was newly at Ciel Lake, he would fall asleep imagining that he was in his home, sleeping in his comfortable bed or lounging on the couch with his head on Jobe’s lap. This place had been his entire world.

  But there was… nothing. A brief flash of recollection that fizzled and died like a dud firework, the expected explosion nothing but a belch of smoke.

  The realization was enough to make Sasha stop and look around his apartment, as if expecting something to be drastically out of place. But no, barely anything had changed here, everything was the same and how it should be.

  It was Sasha who had changed.

  And it wasn’t until he was standing in his living room, a look of shock on his face, that he began to realize just how much.

  Jobe stared at the darkened hallway, even after the door to Sasha’s apartment was closed. He was at a loss for words, and it looked like he wasn’t alone.

  Lex approached and stood behind him. “That wasn’t what I expected…” he said slowly. “I’m not sure what I was expecting but that wasn’t it. I mean… he was so calm, Jobe. I wasn’t expecting him to be so calm.”

  Jobe’s eyes remained on the hallway, painted beige with a laminate floor. The white door was closed, but light was once again shining from the hallway light in the apartment. Sasha was home, finally, Sasha was home.

  “Once he knew Kel was safe anyway,” Jobe said quietly. He turned from the hallway and walked back to the couch to sit down. “I don’t understand. If he’d been…” Jobe dropped his voice. “If he’d been raped and tortured, I thought he’d be a lot more fucked up. Like a thousand times worse and he’s not.”

  “It’s good though…”

  “Well, of course it is,” Jobe said quickly. He reached a hand out for Sasha’s remaining tea but changed his mind and stood up. The reason was clear when Jobe grabbed a stray bottle of whisky and unscrewed the cap. “I just don’t really understand what the fuck is going on. The only time he sounded scared was when he was trying to figure out what we knew about him…”

  “I can understand him not wanting us to know,” Lex said. He sat down too and grabbed the whisky bottle once Jobe was finished taking a shot. It was morning, but they didn’t care. “It is weird, and Sasha is shy and self-conscious. Anyway, he just came home, let’s not psycho-analyze him too much. He’s home and he’s safe. And more importantly… Kheva isn’t here.”

  “Did he say where Kheva is?”

  Jobe and Lex’s eyes rose to see Nate standing behind the railing that stretched across part of the second floor. He was looking down at them with a look of anxiousness on his face.

  “No,” Jobe said and he waved a hand to Nate, signalling him to come downstairs. “We told him what happened with Lariat and that Kheva threatened us, he was pretty freaked out about that. But nothing, except that he’s not here.”

  Nate wasn’t breathing any sighs of relief though, not like Jobe and Lex were. “When he comes back for Sasha and Rob… we need to call Caelum,” he said. “We can’t fight him on our own, we’d be his puppets.”

  His puppets…

  Jobe’s relief at Sasha coming home showed its first shaded patch. Kheva, yeah, Kheva was going to come for what was his, and they would need to find a way to keep Sasha and Rob from them.

  Even if it meant making a deal with the devil.

  “We know,” Lex said. He put the cap back on the bottle, the smell of whisky now on his breath, and put it down with a faint clink. “That asshole won’t get Sasha back, and he won’t get Kel back either.”

  “Rob,” Nate said forcefully, and the nervous aura around him gave a surge. “I need Robby back, not Kel. I have to… I have to get Sasha to change him back or something. That idiot isn’t my fucking boyfriend!”

  “Shh,” Jobe hissed, Nate’s voice climbing with every anxious word. “One step at a time. We have them both here, and Kel’s too injured for anything. Once Sasha’s settled and safe, and Kel’s out of the hospital… we can ask Sasha how it’s done.”

  Nate’s hands scraped against the sides of his jeans. �
��I… I need to call Caelum,” he stammered. “Kheva could be coming here at any fucking moment…”

  “No!” Lex said sharply, the edge of it enough to make Jobe and Nate both jump. “Not until we have more information. Kheva isn’t here and I don’t want that other nightcrawler asshole in my home around my nephew. I don’t trust that fuck and you’re rushing into things. We need more information.”

  Nate withered under Lex’s words. His eyes dropped, and his head hung low enough that he had to push his glasses back to his nose. “You don’t understand… Kheva… he’s… you don’t know what he’s been doing to Rob, to Sasha.” Nate looked up at them. “Kheva’s powerful, he’s –– he’s a fucking monster.”

  “Nothing a gun can’t solve,” Lex said bitterly.

  “Until he makes you put it to your own fucking head!” Nate cried. His face twisted in frustration, like he was screaming Fire! in a movie theater but everyone was still remaining sitting. “You saw him Lex. You know what he’s capable of!”

  “And I can’t fucking be scared of him anymore, Nate,” Lex snapped. “If I act like a fucking scared dog with piss coming down my leg, Kheva wins; Kheva gets Sasha and I won’t let that happen. I don’t give a shit what he can do, I can’t be afraid of him. Sasha’s my son, he’s my fucking son and I will protect him like a father does.” Lex stalked past Nate then and began to walk up the stairs. “Jobe!” he called, then Lex disappeared to the top floor, leaving Jobe and Nate staring at the stairwell bewildered.

  Jobe followed Lex, but with every stair he climbed, the realization as to why Lex was telling him to follow… became more and more clearer.

  It was probably about what had happened last night.

  They hadn’t even had time to talk about it. They hadn’t had any time to do anything but fucking freak out about it.

  Jobe had… he’d slept with Lex.

  Holy fucking shit, how the fuck did that happen?

  Jobe walked through Lex’s bedroom door and closed it. He turned to the man himself and saw Lex sitting on his bed with his face buried in his hands.

  “We can’t tell him, Jobe,” Lex said, his voice muffled. “You have to fucking promise me you won’t tell him.”