Garden of Spiders Volume 1: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 3

by Quil Carter

  “I wonder if I hate you as much as Sky hated you?” I snarled at him. His eyes became wide. “Or how much that clone will hate you too? You loveless piece of shit.”

  “Elish!” Nero yelled, but Silas raised a hand.

  “I was thinking of making this wait…” Silas said calmly. Inside I was shocked at his lack of emotion, my words hadn’t affected him at all. “But I suppose this would be an excellent opportunity to have my special time with my lovely golden boy.” I stared, shock written all over my face, as Silas nodded to Nero. “I’ll bring Garrett and the two of you shall dress him in his best clothing. After that, you’ll take him down to the seventh floor.”

  What?

  What was he talking about?

  “Silas… why?” Nero asked quietly. When he leaned down to pick me up I saw confusion on his face.

  “He’s hungry, love. And when your child is hungry… you feed him.” And Silas left the room.

  Nero looked down at me. He looked scared.

  But he had his orders. Garrett, who came soon after, had his orders too. With a canopy of anxiousness hanging over the three of us, my two brothers helped me change into a black suit with a red tie, and to make it easier on my battered body, they carried me out of the apartment and we rode the elevator to the seventh floor – a floor that I had never been to.

  I’d said little the entire time, my fleeting adrenaline was long gone and my body had already succumbed to fatigue. There was nothing in me at that moment and nothing that I wanted to say, however I kept catching nervous glances being exchanged between Nero and Garrett.

  They were worried about me, and when it came to the three of us standing in the dark hallway, the double doors leading to the apartment of the seventh floor in front of us, it looked like they didn’t want to leave me here.

  My brothers were scared about what he was going to do to me. Was I? I wasn’t sure, I didn’t feel scared, I just felt… tired of everything, tired of him. He’d been treating me like less than shit since he’d caught me with Ryan – Maybe he was planning on killing me too?

  “He won’t,” I heard Garrett whisper. Nero must’ve given him a scared look. “He loves him.”

  Love? King Silas doesn’t know love. We weren’t born for him to love, we were born empty vessels, destined to be outlets for the Mad King’s plethora of emotional problems and countless baggage. That was our purpose, and the heir, the military genius, and the scientist businessman were merely labels given to convince the masses that we were supposed to help run the world.

  Whoever believed that to be our sole purpose was a living, breathing fool of the strongest calibre. My brothers and I were just toys, and when we reached fifteen… we would have sex added to the beginning of that title.

  I only wished, as I looked down this hallway, my valley of the shadow of death, that I’d let Ryan fuck me. Because at least then I could take something from Silas, something that wasn’t his to take.

  “You should get back home before he sees you two,” I said quietly to them. “Standing here… is only delaying the inevitable.”

  From the look on Nero’s face it was clear that he wanted to stay with me, but in the end he shook his head and wiped a hand down his face. “I guess that’s all we can do,” he said, his voice high and strained. He put a hand on Garrett’s shoulder and patted it, my younger brother looked grey.

  But like Nero had said: What else could they do? We were all dangling puppets on strings to Silas, and the older I got, the more I realized just who this puppet master really was. And what he really thought about his creations.

  Nero and Garrett both left, leaving in their wake an atmosphere pregnant with trepidation. But it wasn’t until I started walking to those double doors that I myself experienced the first wave of fear. It came unexpected and it hit me hard enough to make that bulge in my throat balloon to the point where my breath was lost.

  I put a hand onto the cold door handle and inhaled a breath that sounded like a dying motor, then I turned the handle and let the door open in front of me.

  Standing in the middle of the room was the king in all of his glory, seemingly glowing brightly in a room that had been made dark by a black curtain that encased the area. I couldn’t see past those curtains, only saw that they extended to the top of the ceiling. There could be rows of people on bleachers behind those curtains and I wouldn’t know, and that fact made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle and creep.

  Then Silas stepped to the side and behind him I noticed something strange. There was a round dining table behind him and two chairs, the setup resting on top of a circle of a red carpet, the only other thing giving off colour besides the glowing king.

  A chill ran through me, one that made my body jolt as if a lightning bolt had chosen me as its path out of this room. There was something else going on here, something that had every chimera sense in me screaming to turn and run. This was some sort of trick, a trap laid out by this puppet master, but here I was on strings, with no other choice but to let him tilt my controls back and forth.

  What use are instincts when you’re bound and broken?

  My attention turned back to Silas when he raised his hand. I watched him bring his fingers to what I realized was a candlestick resting upon the dining table. He pinched the wick and a flame burst from his touch lighting the candle, then he moved onto a second candle that was several inches from the first.

  I approached and saw on the table two plates with silverware on their required sides, two wine glasses, and in the middle of the lit candles, a vase with long-stemmed roses, two purple and one red.

  This was… dinner. Not unlike that I had done to Ryan several weeks ago. I’d gone to great lengths to teach Professor Britain quite the lesson, and now, the same thing was going to happen to me.

  Was Silas going to make me eat Ryan?

  My gut tightened, like my bones were trying to crush my internal organs. But as if to show glimpses into my own nefarious nature, I felt inner relief. I’d accepted that Ryan was dead. I’d believed he’d been killed by Silas during his assault of me. If Silas was going to force me to eat Ryan… I would be disgusted, but… it was something I could get through.

  There were many things I feared would happen on the seventh floor, and the one thing that I suspected would be my punishment was that Silas was going to force himself onto me. I was scared that he would fuck me. My brothers had said that Silas was crazy about our virginity remaining intact, but I’d always thought it was because of the laws of Skyfall, the Rule of Fifteen.

  Only recently had I deduced that Silas wanted us to remain virgins… because he wanted to be the one to have sex with us first.

  The thought… sickened me.

  But it looked like that would not be the case, or at least I suspected it wasn’t. His punishment for me was going to be what I had done to Ryan, and knowing that… and no longer having that fear of the unknown – it wasn’t much, but it was something.

  But I wouldn’t show this relief on my face. No. I knew what Silas wanted from me because it was the same thing I’d wanted from Ryan: the reaction. I’d wanted to make him suffer because of how much he’d hurt me. It had been feed for me, and I ate of it with delight. If Silas was going to turn the tables and force me to eat Ryan… I’d give him the performance he needed to appease that inner demon that swam underneath all of our surfaces.

  I could act. So bring it on, king. Only a few more years until I’m bigger than you… but when I get a hold of you finally, there will be no acting, you will fucking scream underneath my feet.

  I will rape you. I will dominate you and tear you open with the same piece of flesh that you took so much joy in damaging.

  “What is this?” I said to Silas in a dead tone. The king waved me towards the empty seat, the candlelight dancing around the porcelain and sparking on the two wine glasses he’d set out for us.

  “Dinner, lovely,” Silas said with a sweet smile. “We haven’t had dinner together in such a long t
ime.” There was a clinking of dishes behind the curtain, and Silas’s eyes squinted at me when his smile broadened. “However you seem to be having formal dinners with others. Forgetting about your king like a bad boy.”

  My remaining teeth slid across each other. “You’ve been gone for a month,” I said to him lowly. I picked up the empty wine glass and looked inside before setting it down. “If you’d been here I would’ve had dinner with you as many times as you wanted.”

  The smile on Silas’s face didn’t falter. He only gazed at me for several moments with a look of love in his eyes. But I knew that look of love was as fake as the king himself. I don’t believe that bastard had ever loved any of us. We were his slaves, his trophies of engineering.

  “Yes, I have been busy,” Silas said with a sigh of regret. He picked up his fork, and oddly, dinged it against his wine glass. “You weren’t the only disobedient family member in my presence. I had things I had to take care of… problems I had to fix.”

  Disobedient family member? Did he mean…

  The curtains behind Silas moved, then out slipped none other than Perish.

  He was holding a clear bottle of red wine and was staring at the floor. His eyes were oddly… staring, almost unfocused.

  “Give some to me and my prince, Perish,” Silas said, his voice lowering. “Don’t spill anything now.”

  I watched Perish as he walked to us, his movements and motor skills normal, but… his eyes, his face… there was something… strange about this man.

  What had Silas done to him?

  “I won’t, Master Silas.”

  My eyes widened. That wasn’t Perish’s voice. That wasn’t Perish’s voice at all. The Perish I knew had a raspy, broken voice that always sounded deep and gravelly. This man’s voice was a higher octave, and his words were spoken quickly, hurried even.

  Silas was staring right at me but I could only watch Perish. The man moved my wine glass to the front of the table and slowly poured the red wine into it. While he was doing this, his eyes shifted from one side of the room to the other, looking around nervously as if expecting something to come and beat the living shit out of him.

  “What have you done to him?” I whispered. I held out a hand when Perish was finished pouring and grabbed his arm. “Perish?” I said to him. “What did he do to you?”

  Perish shrunk down as if I’d physically struck him. He stared at his shoes, his icy blue eyes wide and fearful. “Master?” he whined nervously.

  “Shh, shh,” Silas said with a cluck of his tongue. He placed his hand on Perish’s and rubbed it soothingly. “You’re not in trouble.” Silas’s arm slid up Perish’s arm and he rubbed it caringly. “We’ll be ready for our meal soon, little love.”

  Perish’s face became bright and he smiled. “Yes, yes, I remember. I remember,” he said in the same quickened tones. He poured Silas’s wine and clutched the bottle to his chest. “I remember. I remember.” He turned and walked back through the curtains, muttering those same two words as he did.

  I stared at the last place I’d seen him, my mouth now dry.

  Perish…

  Silas had made him into an idiot. He’d done something to his brain. Perish was a born immortal like King Silas, he’d helped Silas repair Skyfall, establish the only living city in the dead world. He’d been all around that very dead world; he’d told us all stories of his adventures. Yes, Perish acted like he disliked me and my siblings, but I knew from the occasional small act, like bringing me that Rembrandt, letting Garrett and me shadow for him, that he didn’t mind us. Perish might not have been perfect… but he was a member of our family. He was like an uncle to me.

  “What did you do to him?” I whispered to Silas. My gaze broke from the black curtain I’d seen him disappear into, and it focused on the king. “What did you do to Perish?”

  Silas picked up his glass of red wine. “I made him better, Elish,” he said to me. And for reasons unknown, perhaps I wasn’t used to it anymore, him calling me by my name drew up anxieties like he’d kicked a beehive inside of me. He called me lovely boy, little love, when he was angry he called me Elias… Silas calling me Elish right now, I didn’t like it.

  “I made him… obedient.” He seemed to growl that last word.

  And it was then I realized the message he was trying to send me.

  That he would do the same thing to me.

  Or perhaps he was already planning on it?

  “There are still some kinks to work out, of course,” Silas continued as he sipped his wine. “I unfortunately erased parts of his memory I didn’t want to. Science things mostly, but Zamir has told me they’ll be able to get it back in time.” Silas lowered the glass and tented his hands. “They left me with an unstable monster… and now I repaired him.”

  “W-what?” I whispered. But Silas raised a dismissive hand.

  “Oh, old problems, golden boy,” he said with a light laugh. I was alarmed to feel nothing fake in that laugh, it was genuine, and that was terrifying. “Perish and Sky had a grand plan to remove portions of their brain. But unfortunately… for me… it also made my little Perry into an absolute asshole. I was patient for the time being, but you know what?” Silas put down the glass, and his face split into a grin. This man was mad, absolutely insane. “I finally grew tired of having men treat me like shit. I finally decided I had enough of Perish’s tormenting. And you know what else I’ve had enough of, Elish?”

  The knots inside of my stomach grew. “What?” I whispered.

  “Not spending time with my golden boy!” Silas exclaimed happily. He reached over and grasped my hand. “My beautiful little prince… I haven’t seen you in a month! I missed you. Did you not miss me?”

  I wanted to reply to him, but I could only stare at him in fear, not knowing if I would be leaving this room alive.

  “Y-yes,” I finally managed to stutter. “I did miss you.”

  Silas waved another hand. “Oh, you didn’t. You had a grand time without your master. You made a friend, yes? Sacario?”

  I froze at his mention. I’d asked my siblings and they’d said he was okay. They’d gotten an apartment for him in one of the Skyland condos. He was okay. He was okay.

  “Yes,” I said, my breath catching and clinging to my throat like it was adhesive. “We… all like him. He’s really funny.”

  Silas nodded. “Oh, I agree. I found him absolutely hilarious. He wasn’t laughing when I left though. He was rather quiet.”

  No… no…

  Not Sacario.

  My heart was on the floor, I just stared at my empty plate, wondering if that was what he was going to feed me.

  “And Todd and Mario… now, correct me if I’m wrong but did you not saw his head off on school grounds after he stabbed that Morosian fugitive?” Silas asked lightly, his voice still playful, like a cat chasing around a ball of yarn.

  I nodded.

  “And Todd? Talbot says you strangled him but it also appears he was electrocuted?” Silas asked. “Is my little love tapping further into his altered touch?”

  I nodded again.

  “Splendid! It’s nice to know we got the formulas right… for the next chimeras at least. I have the twins all planned out and the brute chimera. The twins will be intelligence… just like you.”

  My replacements?

  “Pick out a name before it’s too late. I’m going to let you name one of them. I’m going to be giving the names to Perish for him to implant.”

  Another nod. I just wanted this to be over with… I felt ill, dizzy… a staticky coldness was sweeping my body. I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or pass out from the stress this was putting on me.

  “I was thinking of doing Greek gods perhaps. They’ll have silver hair and your purple eyes. I do love your eyes, Elias.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  Silas laughed. “You look so dejected, sweet one,” he said playfully. “We’re catching up! Try and smile for your master.”

  Unable to do anythi
ng else, I looked up at him and we made eye contact. I forced a smile to my face, it felt like my lips weighed a thousand pounds each.

  The king returned my smile, the contents of the wine glass being swirled around as he moved his hand in small circles. “There’s a boy,” he said pleased. “Now, you must tell me about the most exciting news, Elish. Tell me about this boyfriend of yours!”

  “He’s… not my boyfriend,” I said quietly. My eyes began to sting, and when I wiped my face I realized I’d begun to sweat.

  “That’s not what he said,” Silas laughed. “He says you were calling him your boyfriend. You even taught him some elvish.” Then the false mask of happiness slipped from his face, revealing the demonic monster snarling beneath its cover. There was no self-control inside of him to hide the anger over what he said next: “He even told me all about your first fucking kiss.”

  My breathing started to shorten

  “And he had his tongue on your hard cock too? My little love is grown enough to have a man’s dick now? I did see pubic hair on you, dark blond strands just like your master. See, I don’t know these things, Elish, considering I’m not a pedophile. I have no sexual attraction to children, unlike Professor Ryan Britain.”

  “I’m thirteen…” I whispered, my voice a plea.

  “Yes, and at this age your hormones are going crazy, aren’t they?” Silas murmured. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his cigarette tin. “I’ve had to beat Nero off of my own cock and threaten him with castration. He’s probably jerked himself off in every room of this house. I’ve given him reading material and some DVDs to help him take care of himself so he’ll leave me alone.”

  I didn’t know how much more of this I could take… I was going to die just from the emotional turmoil this was causing me.

  “It must’ve been so exciting for you to experience all of these things,” Silas continued. He lit the cigarette with his fingers, and stared at the red ember as he blew the smoke out of his mouth. “I remember my first kiss. But what I remember the most is the first time a man fucked me.” I looked up at him and saw there was no smile on his face, no more playful tones.