by Quil Carter
“Boy? Isn’t he like three months younger than you?” Julian said with a handful of fries now wedged into his mouth.
I glared at him, or the hamster that had become him from the food stuffed into his cheeks. “I’m his master and he’s my sengil. I don’t care if he’s ten years older than me, him and every sengil after him will always be referred to as… Stop that!” Julian had began mocking me with his lips, and he had adopted an expression on his face that made me think he was trying to imitate me.
Julian swallowed his food and smiled sweetly, but I wasn’t in the mood. “We have a lot to discuss anyway. As you can see from yesterday evening… we have a problem.”
This caught his attention at least. Julian’s eyebrows rose and a long breath was inhaled and exhaled. “Yeah, actually… we do have to talk about that.” He scanned my apartment. “Everyone is gone?”
“No one is here except for the two of us,” I said. I sat down on the dining room table and let Julian keep picking at my lunch. “Did you know there were greywasters in the sewers?”
Julian shook his head. “No. I knew there were greywasters in Irontowers, but that city was built to hold a hundred thousand. It seems that our lie has worked to our advantage, eh?” He smirked, chewing on the end of a fry like it was a pencil.
“Yes,” I said. I was surprised, even though I believe I shouldn’t be, that he was looking at this the same angle that I was. “A distraction for Skyfall, and a stresser for Silas, is something that could be useful to us. But that being said…these terrorist attacks are putting my family at risk. I want to direct Silas closer to me, not possibly have my family or our servants bombed.”
“I agree,” Julian said. “Which is why I’m going to be sniffing around Skyfall. I’ve been lingering in Irontowers for months, and before that, I was living around the borderland settlements. Chances are, my friends living in the borderlands are going to know who those greywasters are. I want to know, and once I do, I’ll tell you… and you can be a bigger hero to Silas than we’ve already planned for you to be.”
I liked that idea. I wanted to know everything I could about these terrorists. Nero and Ellis would be monitoring the investigation, the Legion and the thiens working hand-in-hand, but their information would pale in comparison to what Julian could dig up. “Just tell me what you need and I’ll provide it for you,” I said.
“I need weapons,” Julian said. That was expected.
“What about man power?”
He shook his head. “No, legionary act like legionary and I’ll be found out in a second, same with thiens. Your sengils are easy to spot as well. I wouldn’t mind some help weaseling out these people, but my old friends are ones I haven’t seen in eleven years and I’m not sure where they are.”
“Friends?” I didn’t like that idea. “I’m not bringing someone I don’t trust into this, and I trust no one.”
But Julian only raised a dismissive hand and waved it. “I wouldn’t put you at risk, my lion,” he assured. My jaw tightened at being called that ridiculous nickname. “Any friends I have will be my little shadows skittering off to gather me information. They won’t even know the reasons for it.”
I was still unsure, but I understood the need for extra eyes and ears. Julian would have to associate with the lower scum of Skyland if he wanted to dig out the people responsible for those bombs.
In the end, it could all work out perfectly for me. While I draw Silas closer to me, become his rock and the man he depended on, with my free hand I could be taking down the terrorists. It could be perfect for me, not only would Finn and I be safe, but it would raise my status in the family astronomically.
And it would also be beneficial to how my family viewed me. Perhaps the funny looks and the accusations of still having something wrong with my head, could be put to rest. My family would see that I was the Elish I should’ve always been and that the weak dog-slave was dead. Permanently dead.
“Look at that smile.”
I glanced up and saw that Julian was looking at me with a proud, yet somewhat loving look on his face. I rolled my eyes and distracted myself with my tea. “There is no smile,” I said flatly.
“No, there is.” He tried to reach over to touch me but I jerked my head away from him and batted the hand away. “You’re just… bright right now. You’re alive, you’re living… doesn’t that feel amazing after so long being a slave?”
My first instinct was to tell him to piss off, but I found myself nodding instead. “It does,” I admitted with weights on my tongue. “It’s like waking up from a deep sleep, yet I was conscious the whole time.” I absentmindedly rubbed my head. “It’s bizarre and unnerving just how much an implant can alter your entire personality… your very self.”
“Yeah… it was… terrifying when I was brought to you,” Julian said, his voice low and the polished shine it was showing off now tarnished. “No matter what was happening in my life in the greywastes. No matter how comfortable I got with a boyfriend, or how much I wished to start a new life with him… the image of you lying on that operating table, your head shaved to the scalp, your face bruised… and your violet eyes staring off into nothing with this… this vacant look.”
He’d… he’d seen me? Silas had brought him in to see me before they left?
Julian shook his head as he tried to shake away the image. “I couldn’t leave you like that. And I knew I was the only man who could save you.”
I didn’t know why… but his words resonated with me. They managed to find the cracks on the stone wall I’d erected around my mind, and perhaps my heart, and seeped through.
And I ended up saying something I never thought I would say.
“Thank you.”
Even though the sides of me that hated him, screamed into my brain that I had nothing to thank him for, that he was the reason this happened, I still felt those words come to my lips… and I still meant them.
He could’ve started a new life in the greywastes, with other boyfriends from what he’d said. But he remained loyal to his cause… and walked a thousand miles to save me.
Julian himself seemed shocked at my thanks. The man looked at me, his rugged face frozen with the surprise my words had brought to him, and for a moment, he only stared.
But then the shock dripped away, the flat line that was his mouth curled lopsided to form a half-smile. “You’re welcome, my lion,” he said quietly. Then he reached a rough hand out and touched mine. “But I am not done yet.”
I looked down at our hands. My hands were pale and delicate, long fingers with perfectly groomed fingernails that seemed to have come from an angel rather than the mutant that was me. Julian’s were scarred, tanned from a decade toiling in the greywastes, rough to the touch with fingernails that were thick and rimmed with dirt that even the several showers he’d had couldn’t wash out.
Eleven years ago, that hand was just as soft as mine, just as pale and clean, and now they’d experienced things that I couldn’t imagine. They’d experienced things that Silas would never let me go near until I learned the secrets of immortality.
Julian slid his hand into mine and grasped it, then, as if this had opened up a floodgate, Julian rose from his seat, walked to me, then leaned down to where I was sitting… and kissed me.
It only lasted a moment. I pulled away, but the damage had been done to my insides. They stirred, and a rush I so dearly tried to stop, went through me.
I swallowed, and turned my attention back to the table. “If you ever try that again… I’ll break your jaw,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to keep my tone level. It was strained, flustered, and I didn’t like it.
God damn, he was quick. I needed to keep an eye on him…
Julian chuckled, which brought a heat to my neck. “Don’t tell me you love him too?”
Love him too? “What the hell are you talking about?” This wasn’t what I was here for and that stupid smirk on his face was slicing my every last nerve.
“Finn,” Julian said
, as if this was obvious. “He’s madly in love with you. Probably has been for a long time, but I’m sure since your mind has been reinstated that love has multiplied.” I stared at him like the idiot retard he was, but this only made him laugh. “You love him too?”
“He’s my sengil!” I exploded on Julian. What a stupid thing to think. “The relationship between a sengil and his master is a close one. Don’t confuse that closeness for love, or embarrass yourself by thinking you know something that I don’t.”
Julian’s eyes found the roof and his head tilted to the side. “I don’t think so,” he said in a singing voice.
I rose. “Get out of my apartment. If we’re not going to discuss the terrorists than I have no reason to have you here. Get up and leave.”
“Oh, stop it. Come on, you–” Julian choked when I grabbed the collar of the button-down he was wearing and yanked him off of his chair. “Elish!” he laughed after he fell onto the floor. “You don’t see it?” He let himself be dragged across the carpet by his shirt collar, but before I’d even made it five feet we both heard a rip.
I dropped him, fuming and pissed off. “You kiss me, then insult me by implying I have feelings for my sengil, it’s time you get out.”
“Elish!” Julian jumped to his feet and raised his hands. “It was an innocent welcome back kiss… and the other thing, well, I’m just being the quiet observer… that’s all. I’m just reporting what I see, which is why you have me around.” He walked back to the dining room table and sat back down. I was still standing in the middle of the living room, rage coating my body like a bad sunburn.
The kiss was easy to discard; my mind was begging for me to ignore it. But I didn’t even want to give thought to what he’d said. The prospect that Finn could love me, something beyond that of a sengil to his master was absurd. Sengils and their masters were close, and Finn and I were close, but there were no barriers being crossed.
“I won’t mention it again,” Julian said and he began to graze on my fries again. “You obviously are not in love with him, which is just fine with me.” He put his hand down onto the dining room table, then began to walk his fingers over to mine.
When he began running his fingers over mine, I promptly moved my hand away. Julian sighed. “So, any more luck with Silas?” he asked, smartly deciding to change the topic. “From what I’ve seen… you two have been getting along swimmingly.”
“Better than we ever had,” I responded. “He’s responding well to the new me, and I’ve been biting my tongue and being there for him during his troubles as well.”
“I’m rather impressed,” Julian said smiling. “You’re handling him exactly how you should. You’re not being a mindless Yes Man either, which I was worried about. You’re joking with him and not letting him kick you around. You’re being sharp and quick-witted, because you know if you were just a plastic robot… he’d suspect you were either altered or faking it.”
I opened my mouth to respond but promptly closed it. I thought of what Julian said for a moment and realized that he was right, that was what I’d been doing. That wasn’t really on purpose to be honest. I’d just decided to act normal around him. Well, at least normal was what I was supposed to be doing anyway. I just hadn’t necessarily done it on purpose.
“He seems to like the new me,” I said. And that was the truth, it had only been a few days but so far Silas seemed to resonate with this person I was pretending to be. “This might be easier than I thought it would be.”
But Julian shook his head. “Don’t relax yet. You being alive is still a novelty. The real test is going to be when the mental roll-a-dice gives you snake eyes.”
“I’m aware of that,” I said. “My goal right now is to control his moods as much as I can so he doesn’t shift into his insane mode. I’ll allow him his highs and lows, and when I feel he needs to let some of that crazy out… I’ll allow him to do it directed at somebody who deserves it.”
Whoever I think deserves it.
The look on Julian’s face was pure pride. “That’s my lion,” he said. He leaned back in his chair, my half-finished sandwich now in his hand. “While I’m out gathering intel, I think it would be a good idea for you to figure out just where he is when it comes to a new Sky clone. You’d be pretty much finding out when the next time bomb is going to run to zero, right?”
I nodded, liking that idea. “Yes. I’m not involved on Sky’s cloning projects, Silas has me completely on making us immortal and I don’t think he’s going to release me from it until I’ve either succeeded, or I’m dead.”
“If you can’t access it without making it obvious, seek out someone who can and see where they’re at,” Julian suggested. “You’re going to need to start making those connections, Elish. Have friends in all areas of Skytech, Dek’ko, and, of course, your family. You need information coming at you at all times if you want to run Skyfall.”
“Run Skyfall?” I scoffed. “I’m working on controlling Silas. What’s this about running Skyfall?”
“You want power, don’t you? The whole world at your fingertips?” Julian said. He held out his hands like he was delivering the world to me. “Don’t you want the world to bow to you like it should? Skyfall is yours for the taking, my lion, once you have Silas under your control… Skyfall will come with it. You never thought of that?”
Julian let the chair fall back on four legs, then leaned over to me, a shine in his eye that burned with love. A fierce love that was the catalyst to a chemical reaction inside of me.
He still loved me. Deeply.
“Skyfall is yours for the taking, Elish,” Julian said, both eyes fixed on mine. I stared back at him, that chemicals inside of me burning and bubbling. “You control the king; you control the world.” His hand slid over, and again it grasped mine. “And I know, you would make one hell of a fucking king.”
My gaze downturned and I looked at our joined hands.
Yes, he most certainly still loved me…
The nerve of that fucking…
But then I paused – my thinking paused.
Until there was an internal click, and inside of myself, where only I could see… I smiled.
And why did I smile?
Because Julian still loved me. Obsessively, this man loved me.
This was perfect.
I had myself another little project, another river that I could travel down and learn… another raised bed that I could plant inside of it… many, many seeds.
While I learn Silas… I’ll learn Julian.
And both of the most powerful men in Skyfall. One because he was an immortal king, and another because he had a knack of charisma, manipulation, and intelligence he could bring down the world… both of these men would be firmly under my thumb.
Firmly under my control.
There is no taste as sweet, then the taste of power.
So I grasped Julian’s hand, gently but firmly, in my own…
… and I smiled back at him, with a forced flicker of affection in my eyes.
“Long live the king, then,” I said slowly back.
For the rest of the evening, I was floating on a cloud. My mind was continually racing, but in a good way, I was thinking of the next seeds I would plant, the next person I would manipulate, and future plans that seemed so feasible, it was hard to not physically smile. The world was my puppet in that moment, and I was the god with a thousand strings, just waiting to attach them to the next person I needed something from.
And with that vigour coursing through my veins, the moment the door of my bedroom closed and I saw Finn sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed, I wanted him, and badly.
I threw off my blue button-down and slid off my pants. I crawled onto the bed, and just as the sleepy sengil opened his eyes, I locked our lips and urged his mouth open.
Finn was shocked by this, not surprisingly since this might’ve just been the most uncharacteristic thing I’ve done yet. I heard and felt him gasp as my lips claimed him, but then
they loosened and his hand grasped my side.
I stripped him naked, our lips continuously locked, only briefly parting when I pulled his undershirt off of him. When we were both wearing nothing, I threw the blankets off of his body, and within minutes I had him on his knees with his hands grasping the curved wood of the sleigh bed.
I always enjoyed the noises he made when I entered him, the sharp intake of breath, the tightening of his body and the shudders that went through him. I loved how he clenched the headboard and dug his fingernails into it, and how his knees separated and his ass rose when I started thrusting into him.
It was another taste of power, a different kind of taste but one that was just as addictive. He was obedient, submissive, but still as I drove myself in and out of him I felt like I was king. It made me want to do him harder, faster, until he pleaded for me to stop.
And it flooded me with a desire to fuck those who I wanted to control.
My lips peeled back against my teeth, my own grunts and growls falling from my lips as I pounded into him. Yes, imagine what it would feel like if this was Silas or Julian. To be the king on top of them… I would fuck them into oblivion and they would beg me for more.
Relentlessly, I fucked Finn, each drive of my cock smacking my hips against his ass, and each thrust drawing out a sharp cry from the boy now covered in sweat. The pleasure was insurmountable, the tenseness around my groin now burning with pleasure and building with every jolt of my hips. I didn’t want to stop; I wanted to continue feeling him squeeze me from the inside out. I wanted to continue making those knees shake, those hands grasp and claw the head of my bed.
But the peak came, an explosion of pleasure that had my own legs trembling. I had my hand over Finn’s now, both pressed against the wall, but Finn’s free hand was below him, and when I glanced down mid-orgasm, I saw it grasping his own cock, seed spilling freely from it and coating his hand and dripping onto the bed.
