Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (66 page)

Julia’s expression hardened. “It doesn’t matter, Frank. He might be nice but Elish isn’t and neither is Silas once he gets back. We have a chimera and no matter how nice he is – he isn’t going to be the one sending us to Stadium.”

“We need the money… we could afford heat this year instead of spending all day at the shelters,” Mouse said slowly. “We could have heat and food… we could afford a shuttle to Eros and we can try and get jobs. Fuck, Julia… this is our chance. I might not have a good end game… but right now we have free money and all we have to do is keep him safely hidden and high out of his mind. We’re not doing anything wrong; we’re just doing exactly what a chimera is asking us to do. Isn’t that the law?”

“You’re grabbing at straws…”

“Isn’t that the law? Do what a chimera says?”

Julia went silent, her eyes never leaving the red-eyed man. He was still staring into space, closing one eye but he was now closing the wrong eye. A single crimson ocular was staring at the turned off television, glassy and unfocused but still showing off his chimera status.

“He would be in more danger at Giuseppe’s –” Julia said slowly, more to herself than her brother. “– wouldn’t he?”

Mouse nodded. “And if he was high and in Cypress or Moros… he would’ve been robbed and raped, probably murdered. We’re doing good here… it benefits him and it benefits us.”

Julia still didn’t look sure, but even though her eyes were full of fear and her stance rigid, she nodded her head. “Okay… as long as no one knows we have him… and we can keep him either drugged or sleeping. But what happens when the money runs out? We can’t afford to keep him after.”

“We’ll sober him up and ask him,” Mouse said with a half shoulder shrug. “We’ve been living day-to-day since we left Edgeview. Why are you stressing out about something months in the future? In three months it will be spring and we’ll be better off anyways.”

“This could get us killed…”

“Artemis was on the news saying we’re heading towards a cold snap. We could get killed outside in the cold or raped in the shelters trying to keep warm. You know this is worth the risk.”

Finally Julia nodded. Mouse smiled back and clapped her shoulder. “This is a good thing. We’re doing a good thing for him too.” Mouse then picked up a worn patchwork blanket lying on the back of a chair in the kitchen and walked towards the half-awake chimera.

Jack glanced up at the closed door of his bedroom. He knew it was locked but every once in awhile he just had to make sure no one could disturb him. It seemed his entire life he had been being disturbed, the first memory he had was trying to pin a black curtain over his crib because Apollo and Artemis were always watching him and giggling amongst themselves. The twins had each other but Jack always preferred his own quiet company, though since Artemis and Apollo were identical in almost every way, maybe it could be said they also preferred their own company.

Jack let out a small sigh, before smiling as Jett tried to bat the paintbrush out of his hand. The cat was already sporting a small dab of red paint above his eye, and Jack just knew by the end of the evening he would be a canvas himself.

He smiled and went back to his painting, ignoring the laughing and carrying on of his brothers in the living room.

At one point in time in this new world, green and blue paint was probably the most important of paints. People must have bought it in bucket loads to paint their pretty trees, blue oceans, and sapphire skies… but now it was grey paint that Jack was constantly running out of. It was only when he was doing portraits did he end up using those more vibrant colours.

Just then a high pitch laugh, belonging to Valen, sounded from the living room. Jack sighed again, feeling his lips press together. He wanted to put on his earphones and listen to his Mp3 player instead of their loud conversations, but he needed warning if one of them decided to bother Jack in his room. He would fry their faces if needed be, he wasn’t in the mood tonight to deal with half-drunk chimeras even if it was only Valen and Rio coming to visit Artemis and Apollo.

Jack hated having roommates; they were the bane of his existence. Though until Jack proved himself to King Silas he was stuck having to live with at least two of his brothers. At least Silas had been nice enough to let him room with Apollo and Artemis who were usually fairly quiet. They kept to themselves as they had real jobs and were no longer attending school, but that being said they were social and enjoyed visiting with the family. Jack would rather be left alone; a cat or a dog for conversation was good enough.

“Aren’t you?” Jack smiled waving the paintbrush for Jett to bat at. Their old family basset hound Bingo had passed away last year and it had left a hole in Jack’s heart. He had loved that droopy dog with all of his heart. Jett was a bit frisky for Jack’s taste but he would grow out of it like most cats did.

“And now… we try and add the red…” Jack murmured to himself. He gently covered his paint brush with the red paint he had painstakingly been mixing and started to colour in the red tricycle he had added to the painting.

It was of the greywastes, a crater that had at one point been a large lake. He had come across it exploring the Dead Islands with Felix and Rio and had been struck with how vast and deep it was. There had been so many treasures at the bottom of it; he had even found a small rusted anchor and a statue that was in fairly good condition.

The tricycle wasn’t there though; Jack had added that from his own imagination. The greywastes were so grey and monotone; there was rarely any colour unless you came across a fresh carcass. Jack had contemplated adding the remains of a rat or perhaps a biigo, but had decided the contrast of adding a red tricycle would be the most beautiful. Adding something as innocent as a child’s first bike made the dreary, cut-throat greywastes seem more humanized.

He had gotten the idea when he had been with Sami Fallon…

Jack sighed again, gently stroking the paintbrush over the outline he had already made.

Sami had been raised in the greywastes, though somehow he had gotten King Silas’s attention enough for the king to want to bring him here. He was still every bit a greywaster though, Jack had been realizing this more and more each day.

And each incident…

Jack had been out all day looking for Sami, but it was difficult to get the bartenders and restaurant owners to talk to him. The word of what happened at Popkin’s had spread as fast as the fire on Valen’s friend’s faces.

Another laugh outside of Jack’s door.

No one had told Valen yet that his friends were dead. It was Elish’s job and Elish would do it when he felt like it. Valen was rather uninformed about what was going on, all he cared about was finding Sami and a part of Jack wished that he would find him first just so he could get his face lacerated.

Everyone in Skyland was on alert now for Sami, and though several people had made offhanded comments about ‘setting the little fucker straight’ Jack and Ceph had both been extremely
persuasive
in letting it be known that Sami wouldn’t be hurt. He was important to the king (though Jack still didn’t know why) and he had to be held unharmed, perhaps just restrained a little.

Those had been Jack’s exact words when he had been talking to Jenardo at the Jamaica Bake’Ah downtown, a popular place for the family. Ceph had had a grand laugh at the thought of someone being able to restraint a man who lit three people on fire but… Jack knew Sami’s heart and he knew he was just upset. Sami didn’t want to hurt people; he just… really didn’t like Valen.

“I guess me trying to save him from the family’s wrath kinda backfired, huh?” Jack said out loud, petting in between Jett’s ears. “At least he saved you though. Elish says that’s a good sign that Sami is just having a breakdown and hasn’t completely lost his mind. I should still be out there looking for him but… no one will let me go out at night.”

And at this thought Jack frowned. “Even though I know he wouldn’t hurt me.”

Jett looked at him before squinting his eyes, almost the same way Sami used to when he was smiling. That man had this way of smiling without showing his teeth that looked so adorable. It had made Jack’s heart skip when he smiled like that in his apartment.

“Bah!” Jack hissed at himself before giving his head a shake. He tried to push the warmth away from his heart but whenever he thought of Sami it just filled right back up again. It was dangerous to let himself feel that way towards someone like Sami. Silas might like him but if Sami did something to Valen, like him or not, he would be put into Stadium or just executed outright.

No, I can’t let my feelings for him grow… I have to protect him. He’s such a fucking nice, innocent person. I can’t let my family taint that.
As if to show himself what he meant he dipped the tip of the red paintbrush into a glass of clean water and watched the red swirls start to disappear into the clear liquid. Soon it became a clouded pink, and after he washed his other brushes, the pink would turn a dreary brown.

Like everything else in my life right now…

Jack finished washing his brushes and put his painting away. His stomach was pleading with him for food but not enough to show his face to his brothers outside. They should all be leaving soon at least, unless Valen got drunk and decided it was the right time for an orgy.

So instead he shut the lights off and put on a movie to distract himself before bed, making mental plans on where he was going to search tomorrow, and as the night went on fantasizing about what he would say to Sami when he saw him. Though in his fantasies he was as smooth talking as Rio and as suave as Garrett, not the socially awkward, shy idiot he knew he was in real life.

Sometime during the night there was a small knock on his door. Jack’s teeth clenched in vexation.

“What?” Jack said in the most unimpressed, annoyed voice he could muster.

“I tired out the twins, let me in, I need a few more rounds,” Valen’s drunk voice sounded from the other side of the door. The doorknob then rattled as he tried to get in.

“No, piss off,” Jack said angrily. “I’m not touching you anymore, I fucking said that.”

“Come on, shithead!” Valen said angrily, the doorknob rattled some more before he pounded a fist on the door. “Come on, let me in! I’ll be quick, just give me that ass for a few minutes.”

“Fuck off!” Jack snapped, throwing off the covers. He jumped out of bed and when he got to the door he slammed on it himself. “Piss off, I’m not touching you. You’re a piece of shit, I fucking hate you. Fuck off. Do you understand me, Valentine?”

“Hey!” Valen snarled, now desperately trying to pull the locked door open. “You want me to tie you up again, freak? I know where the master key is and Silas isn’t home, you little bitch.” Then with another bang on the door, this one sounding like it was him kicking it, there was silence.

Then the distinct sound of the door leading to the hallway slam, and at this Jack’s heart dropped.

He was going to get the master key, and since Valen was stronger than him he knew he was going to get fucked tonight.

A ball formed inside Jack’s throat; he tried to swallow it down but it stayed there and grew, restricting his air and making his head swim. The last thing he needed was Valen fucking him again; he just wanted to be left alone. Why was that so much to ask?

And why am I such a coward about it?
Jack thought to himself as he sat on the bed. He stared down at his hands and hated himself for seeing them both visibly shake.

Sami was right, the entire family was right… I’m just a coward.

Even when he was younger he was a coward, letting Ceph tease him and Apollo and Artemis outsmart him at every turn. Valen had been his friend when he was little but when Silas rejected him at fifteen he had changed into the prick he was now. Now Valen joined the entire family in their collective disappointment with him.

Not wanting to remain in the room to await Valen coming back with the master key, Jack got up and grabbed a set of clothes for the morning, then snuck out of the apartment and into the stairwell. It was a coward’s move, but he expected little more from himself. So with the disappointment in himself growing he climbed the stairs and headed towards Elish’s apartment.

He opened the door and slunk inside of the dark apartment. He stopped to listen, just to make sure Elish wasn’t with one of his brothers, but when the apartment offered nothing but the low ear-itching buzzing of electronics he closed the door behind him and tiptoed over to Elish’s room.

Jack loved and respected Elish, the entire family adored and feared him, and Jack knew he wouldn’t mind the company. What he might mind though was being woken up in the middle of the night when he had to continue being king in the morning. So Jack quietly opened the door and looked inside.

Jack’s heart jumped with relief when he saw Elish sleeping alone. Loren’s bedroom door down the hallway was closed too which meant he hadn’t woken up the sengil either.

“Jack?” Elish mumbled. Jack jumped under the sudden voice; he could feel the room get cold as he felt Elish’s piercing gaze on him.

“What is it?” Elish said, his eyes black slits under the blue-hued darkness.

“I just wanted to get away from Valen,” Jack said meekly. “I don’t feel like fighting tonight and I want to be up early to keep looking for Sami. May I please sleep with you? Or at least the couch?”

Elish looked at him in a way that told Jack he was strongly debating throwing him out of the apartment, but he ended up relenting with a nod. “You may sleep in here.”

Jack smiled faintly, feeling relieved. “Thank you, I know I’m supposed–”

Suddenly the door to the apartment opened. Jack whirled around and felt his heart drop as Valen scanned the room before his eyes focused on Jack.

“What are you doing here!? Come to get Kinny to guard you?” Valen laughed, his rosy eyes were glassy and his face flushed. Jack was confused for a moment before he realized Valen’s tipsy mind must’ve sent him to Elish’s apartment since he was technically king now, not Silas’s.

Valen sauntered in with a grin on his face, before raising a hand and beckoning Jack with his finger. “Come to daddy, you’re only making me want you more, Jacky.”

“Valen?” Elish rose to his feet; he looked annoyed and angry. Jack backed away from the doorframe and let Elish walk past. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in my apartment?”

Valen paused, looking surprised and confused at Elish being there, but a moment later his eyes hardened and a sneer appeared on his face.

“Silas says to stay out of the second generation's hierarchy,” Valen snapped. The attitude made Jack’s mouth drop open. No one spoke to Elish in this way but King Silas. What was wrong with him?

“I care little what–”

“Yeah, well he’s still king and he says I can do whatever I want with these fucks,” Valen snarled. “So butt out of my business.”

Jack felt faint. He quickly got into the shadows, and far out of Elish’s line of sight. He didn’t know if it was the alcohol or what but he knew the remaining minutes on Valen’s life could be counted on his fingers.

Sure enough, Elish flicked the lights on; Jack could see a flicker of hesitation in Valen’s eyes.

“You dare speak to me like that?” Elish said in a cold, frozen tone. “You dare have the audacity to come into my apartment and insult me as such? Are you drunk or has your shit engineering crippled your brain to the point of retardation?”

As Jack’s heart took off like a rocket, Valen’s face fell. It was Valen’s only weakness, an open wound that was forever being ripped back open and poisoned by the family. Valen’s engineering and the failure of almost all of his enhancements. Elish, of course, knew this weakness and Jack’s most respected brother was never one to hold back his verbal lacerations.