Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (50 page)

“Stay here, Sami,” Ellis suddenly said.

I froze, like her words were an ice ray, I froze. The first person besides Jasper who had called me Sami in… in years. I had been a Sami for so long but in my head and to my family I was only Sanguine.

I slowly turned around and faced my only sister, and King Silas’s daughter.

Ellis was taller and older now. She was beautiful as ladies go, with black hair cut to ears length like Elish’s and blue-purple eyes like her twin brother. Though the expression on her face wasn’t that beautiful – she looked pissed off.

“What did I do?” I stammered, backing away from them until my back hit the grand piano Silas had in the far right-hand side of the apartment. I grabbed onto the smooth wood and gave them all cautious, nervous looks.

“Nothing,” Garrett said in a calmed voice. “It’s nothing you did… nothing at all.” Garrett let out a long breath, but he was the only one who looked like he was trying to remain calm. Elish, Ellis, and Nero looked angry. I could see their jaws were locked and their stances rigid.

“Silas’s plane got shot down,” Nero said darkly. “He’s toasted, literally charred. They were flying over Irontowers, he and several legionary, and they fucking had a rocket launcher and lucky aim.”

“He – he’s dead?” My head felt light, my hand went to my mouth and I had to steady myself against the piano. Though as I felt the world around me start to smother me alive, I was reminded that King Silas was an immortal. This wouldn’t be permanent… but still. “How long will he be… be dead for?”

“It’s what we call a level five,” Nero explained. He crossed his arms over his combat armour. I could smell the charred meat on him; he must’ve handled Silas’s body. “Meaning his body is almost a complete loss. Sorry, chickadee, Silas is going to be gone for at least four to five months.”

Four to five… months? The lightheadedness came back to me and I sat down on the wooden piano bench. I stared at the ground; my emotions solid on the outside but inside I felt a coldness in my blood.

I was too stunned to speak. I only stared at my black loafers wondering just what was going to happen. I really liked Silas.

You know… I was starting to really really like him.

“We are keeping it quiet that Silas was on the plane, until we have to tell the public,” Nero said as I looked blankly at my shoes, lost and unable to make my tongue move.

Nero continued, “So we’re going ahead with the plan you suggested. Until Silas wakes up Elish will be king and–”

Elish will be king.

Elish will be king.

I shot up from the piano bench, tempted to throw the piece of furniture to the other side of the room. “You did this!” I suddenly yelled. I stalked up to Elish but immediately Nero stepped in front of him and held out his hands to calm me down.

“He fucking shot the plane down!” I snarled. Another wave of dizziness came over me, but this one brought on its heels a red haze of anger. I could almost feel Crow feeding on it. “Elish did this! He killed King Silas on purpose!”

When I tried to push Nero aside, my friend and brother grabbed my arm and held me back. Elish only glared at me, his purple eyes hard and intimidating, but showing no window into any underhanded thoughts.

Of course they didn’t, Elish wouldn’t let it show not even on his face.

“Puppy, that’s ridiculous…” Nero said, a moment later Garrett was grabbing my other shoulder. I didn’t realize it until they both had put some force behind their movements that I was trying to push them away.

I shoved my shoulders but the two were like spiders clinging to my arms and back. “No, it’s not. He’s jealous because King Silas likes me. He found Silas and me asleep in my bedroom and he was pissed off. And now King Silas is suddenly fucking dead? That’s bullshit! Elish did this!”

Elish shook his head slowly and waved a dismissive hand, before turning around. “I’m not even going to waste my breath defending myself against such stupid allegations. Keep your mind on your madness and don’t embarrass yourself further.”

I growled when I felt Nero patting my shoulders, before rubbing them in a soothing manner. “Sweety-pie, there is no way in a billion hells that Elish would do that to King Silas, or even possible. We only have a few plants in Irontowers and they answer to either Kingy or me at the Legion. I know you’re upset but King Silas will be back in a few months and he’ll be happy as a clam to see your improvements.”

I kept growling at Elish’s turned his back; he was sifting through a briefcase though I didn’t know why.

“He’s right, Sanguine,” Ellis said calmly. “Eventually you’ll learn just how misguided that accusation is. We’re all not looking forward to picking up King Silas’s slack, least of all Elish. He has a college to run, and being king is going to give us all a lot of late nights.”

I felt like I was in a room with blind people. How could they not see that Elish had done this? This was all his stupid plan to get me away from King Silas and vice versa.

“Isn’t it true?” I suddenly snapped to Crow. “It’s true isn’t it?”

Crow was beside Garrett, running a finger up and down the small creases in Garrett’s black suit. He nodded and said casually, “Without a doubt. He knows Silas loves you. You should defend Silas against him. Perhaps Silas needs your–”

“Don’t listen to him, Sami,” Nero suddenly barked.

Nero suddenly clasped his hands over my head, the sound of his gloves filling my ears and blocking out Crow’s response. I thrashed but Nero only pressed harder and I realized he was deliberately trying to make it so I couldn’t hear Crow.

The black shroud of anger coated my body and sunk in through the layer of skin. I snarled from frustration and rage and tried to break free from their binds but they had me held tight. I tried my best to keep myself together under their imprisoning grip but soon panic started flaring up inside of my mind like activated landmines.

The next several minutes were lost on me. I only knew that some time in the moments after the panic started my mind had had enough with being restrained, and my emotions had had enough of… everything. With the pain from losing King Silas reigning inside of me and the anger at Elish boiling over, I launched into a blind madness. And after that, there was nothing but fog, boiling anger, and finally… darkness.

When I became conscious again I was lying on the couch, the summer sun shining red through my closed eyelids. I slowly opened them and a blurry shadow started to form out of the corner of my eye.

I blinked away the sleep, and held my hand to my head as a headache made itself known. I grimaced under the throbbing pressure and squinted to make out the figure.

To my distaste and anger it was Elish, and beside him was Nero.

“Why is he here?” I said lowly. Elish was typing something on his laptop and Nero was going through folders, both of them sitting on the couch surrounded by documents and loose papers.

As soon as he saw I was awake Elish got up. “I’ll be back,” Elish said and left the apartment.

Once Elish was gone, Nero looked up at me and smiled. “How are you feeling, baby boy? A little more with it?”

I glared at him but his smile only widened, and with that he got to his feet and plopped down on the couch beside me. I grumbled my annoyance when Nero put his arm around me and pulled me close to him.

“I remember when you were just a little squidgen,” Nero said playfully. I growled louder as he positioned me on his lap and wrapped both arms around me. He squeezed me to him and kissed my cheek. “You bit me and I plugged your nose. My cute little Sami-Wammy. Who's my cute, binky-winky?”

I glared at him and he kissed me again.

“Who’s my cute, binky-winky?”

“I’m nineteen, Nero,” I snapped. “Stop treating me like a child.”

Nero smirked and squeezed me to him. “I know you’re not, but I love you bunches and I hate seeing you flip out like that. I wish I could just love you and hold you forever.”

I grunted but when he blew a raspberry on my cheek I grinned and soon let out a laugh.

“Made you laugh, now you can’t be mad. Hah!” Nero sang his victory and gave me another hug. “Really though, puppy. Everything is okay. What happened with Silas sucks but he’s been dead before, all us immortals have. Elish is a good king, and really, he would never hurt Kingy. He’s fucking in love with Silas.”

Which is why he killed Silas,
I said in my head, but I didn’t voice it. I appreciated Nero being so friendly towards me and making the effort to make me laugh. Never in my life did I think I would have brothers, and now not only did I have dozens of them – I had Nero who really did act like a goofy older brother.

So I decided not to push him, because like everyone I knew if I continued to be a grumbling ass he would lose patience with me. I missed Silas already though. I missed his presence and his protection and it was going to be hard to live the next four to five months without him.

I sighed and stared at my socked feet. “What am I going to do now? Silas was… he was always here. I really liked Silas… we were, you know, getting close.”

“I know, hun. We all love Silas and I’m happy you’re starting to open that little heart of yours, but this will be a good opportunity to take a step outside of Alegria and start experiencing new things.” Nero cleared his throat at this and was silent for a moment.

When he talked I saw a smirk on his face. “Look, brosy. I don’t know how you’ll take the news… but Elish has been talking with us first generation and we have a plan for you. It will be scary for you at first but we all think it would be the best step for you. Since we’re worried you’re going to regress back to being a monster-under-the-bed if it’s just you and Kinny alone in the apartment.”

Immediately I tensed up, but the attention turned to the white figure coming back into the apartment. I looked over at Elish as he came in holding his briefcase in his hand.

I slid off of Nero’s lap, just because I felt stupid sitting there with someone like Elish watching, and cautiously watched the blond-haired chimera sit on the chair beside the couch.

“Have you talked to him about our plan?” Elish asked in an even tone. There was a series of clicks as Elish opened up his briefcase on the coffee table.

“I was just about to,” Nero said, and though I had slid off of him I felt his hand on my back.

“Go ahead then. I gather he will take the news easier if it is you telling him,” Elish said.

Another snap of unease shot through my body.

“We want you to go to college,” Nero said patting my back. “You’re smart, and we think you’re ready to be out in public. We want you to start attending the College of Skytech. A couple classes at first and then we can bump you up to some selective classes, whatever your passion is.”

I looked at him in alarm and my throat became parched and dry. “C-college?” I stammered. “You want me to go to college?”

Nero nodded with a supportive smile and grabbed my hand. He squeezed it and I saw pride and confidence in his eyes. The look weighed heavily on my shoulders and I felt them slump. Nero wanted too much from me, and though I hated disappointing him – I didn’t know if this was something I could do.

I sighed. “I don’t know if I can… I can do that…” Then my already dry throat tightened and the reality of what that would entitle fell on me. “I can’t go out looking like this… I’ll scare people. They’ll hate me. I’m a fucking monster to everyone who isn’t a chimera. I can’t handle that.”

And then another thought. “And Silas wanted me hidden from everyone but the first generation, Ceph, and Drake, right?”

It was like Elish was waiting for this very realization. He pulled out a plastic box with hinges and handed it to me.

I opened it up and raised an eyebrow. Inside were colour contacts, brown ones to be exact.

“Brown is the only colour that will not change your eye colour to an odd tone. You will be going to the college under the pseudonym Samuel Landon Fallon, or Sami if you prefer. A factory boy, or perhaps a greywaster, who got a scholarship. You won’t know me or Garrett and we will not know you,” Elish explained, then he handed me another box and with that my next question was answered.

Inside that box were fake teeth, ones that looked like they could slip right under my pointed teeth. The realization I had something to hide my teeth and eyes filled me with a rush of excitement, one that almost trumped the terror of having to go to college.

“You’re also going to be staying in the apartment you previously tried to purchase,” Elish went on. “Kass the housekeeper and Jan the manager have already been warned that you will be going disguised and if they value their lives and the lives of their families they are going to be silent about it. The apartment is only a block away from campus. Are you understanding everything I am saying to you, Sanguine?”

I nodded slowly and started slipping the blunt, flat-edged teeth over my pointed ones. I adjusted my jaw and clipped my teeth together as I tried to push them in. “I understand…” I said slowly. “Are you sure Silas would want this?”

Elish nodded and I wondered if he would outwardly warn me again that Silas was going to soon get bored of me and my actions. But Nero was there and, sure enough, Elish steered clear of anything that might tip Nero off that he hated me.