Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (90 page)

“I grew up,” Elish said. “You should do the same, especially since you’ll have a husband soon to watch out for. Funny, you were never this emotional as a child or a teenager. Love has really weakened you.”

“Love isn’t weakness,” Nero said, annunciating every syllable in hopes that they would stick into Elish’s brain. “And you know what? One day you’re going to fall in love, and I’m going to laugh my ass off as I see it happen. We all will. One day, Eli. You’re going to fall head over fucking heels and maybe then you’ll stop acting like such a fucking dick.”

“I don’t think so,” Elish said back, then he paused. And to his own surprise he felt the need to defend himself further. Though he would never admit that his brother’s scathing words had got to him. “I love King Silas, and it has not changed me.”

It seemed like Nero was ready for this response. “Do you really love him, Eli? Do you love him because he’s a king and your master, or do you love him for being Silas Dekker?”

Elish was silent.

“Because if you loved him as a partner should love a partner, you wouldn’t be secretly hoping that the man Silas is ravaged with guilt over failing, is dead. Knowing that it will fucking destroy Silas if Sanguine dies. Loving someone is wanting the best for them, even when it might not be what is best for you. Chew on that for awhile, bro.”

The elevator stopped, and Elish stepped out without further comment. Though he was privy to Ceph’s whispered words as Elish walked down the hallway.

“And they call you the dumb one.” And then the sound of a kissed cheek.

The smell of antiseptic and blood was heavy in the air when Elish walked into the surgery room. He looked around the open floor, full of stainless steel equipment, beeping machines, and covered hospital beds and spotted Perish sleeping on one of the beds.

As he approached the scientist he glanced at the three sheet-draped bodies and resisted the urge to start uncovering each one. He so dearly wanted to unwrap their bodies like Skyday presents, in hopes to receive the only thing he had on his list: the greying, decomposing body of Sanguine.

Because, though Nero’s words did echo through Elish, he couldn’t help what he felt, and what he wanted.

And what Elish wanted was Sanguine Dekker dead and out of his king’s heart permanently.

Elish was the oldest out of all of them physically, he was thirty-three and had been the last chimera to become immortal as far as the first generation went. And in being the oldest he felt a responsibility for his king’s wellbeing, and he was firm in his belief that he knew what was best for Silas more than the king himself did.

And the best thing for Silas was for Sanguine to be dead and gone. Yes, Silas would be sad, he would grieve, but eventually the failure of a chimera would be nothing but a memory. A wound to eventually scar and fade away.

I know what’s best for Silas, not Nero. Silas doesn’t need a partner in the ways that Nero is suggesting. He needs someone who knows what he’s doing, someone who won’t let emotions control logic and reasoning.

And I’m the only one in this damn family who has those skills.

“Elish…” Nero’s choked voice sounded behind Elish. “They’re covered… why are they covered?” Nero sounded so unlike himself. Elish’s brute brother, a man who usually was every inch an Imperial General, made Elish uneasy. Perhaps that was just another one of many reasons why Elish disliked Sanguine. He didn’t like how his brothers, his king, even his sister, all seemed enamoured with the boy. It was odd, they had never shown this much emotion or patience when it came to the other second generation. They had all been with Elish in his disappointment with how most of the second gen had turned out.

“Silas is covered too, it says nothing,” Elish replied flatly, but in truth he was also wondering just what it meant. And as he pondered this he also came to the realization that he himself had been delaying checking to see if Sanguine and Jack had survived the surgery.

Nero walked up to one of the covered sheets. He took in a deep breath, his face pained. And he slowly drew the sheet down. A mop of silver hair appeared, then the paled face of Jack Dekker.

Nero lay a hand on his forehead, and immediately his lips pursed. He looked at Ceph and smiled. “He’s warm.” Nero’s voice cracked; he let out a long sigh and patted Jack’s cheek. “Not just warm – he’s hot. Well, that’s our very first second generation immortal… let’s see if we have another one.”

Ceph grabbed onto Nero’s shoulder and squeezed it hard. All three of them walked over to the sheet-draped body that they knew was Sanguine just from the height of the body. Elish felt his chest tense and his hands clench at his sides, but he refused his face from making any expression but his usual stoic look.

Nero grabbed the sheet and gently pulled it back. Underneath the white cloth was the grey, gaunt face of Sanguine, his mouth partially open as were his eyes, his skull hastily stapled together.

Nero’s hands were trembling as he reached out and gently laid his hand on Sanguine’s cheek.

And he burst out laughing.

Elish narrowed his eyes, a twinge of pain rippled up his jaw as Nero let out a loud whoop and took Ceph into his burly arms. Behind him Perish jumped in his bed over the unexpected noise, his icy-blue eyes darting around wildly from shock.

“He’s alive, bitch!” Nero hollered. He lifted Ceph up off of the ground and even though the brute was almost two hundred and seventy-five pounds of muscles Nero twirled him around like he was twirling Drake.

“He’s hot as fuck! They’re alive!” Nero yelled through his laughter. “They’re alive, puppy! Holy fuck. Oh my god, Silas is going to piss himself!”

Nero stopped, the corners of his eyes glistening with tears. He looked over at Elish and grinned. “I don’t care that you’re pissed. I really don’t. I don’t give a shit because you know he fucking deserves happiness. You fucking know it.”

Elish shook his head slowly, feeling a coldness wash over him that coated him from his head to his feet. And in that moment he wanted to be anywhere else but in that room. “Silas will wake soon and you are more than capable of handling the invasion. I’ll be taking on Perish’s research in Kreig until I am summoned back. Loren will be accompanying me.”

Nero threw his hands up into the air and let them drop. “Come on, asshole. You can’t be that pissed that Sanguine is immortal. Stop being such a bitch.”

“I’m taking my leave,” Elish said crisply and started heading towards the door.

“You know, if you loved Silas like you say you do, you would want to be there when we tell him Sanguine survived. You’d want to see the happy look on his face,” Nero called back.

Elish said nothing back.

Nero watched him go with a soured and angry look, but a moment later he seemed to remember just what he had been celebrating. The grin returned and he took Ceph back into his arms with a joyful bellow.

He kissed Ceph’s cheek before turning to Perish. “It went well then? Everything went well?”

Perish nodded; he was smiling just as wide as Nero and Ceph, though his unfocused eyes were looking everywhere but into Nero’s. “Yes, yes, it went very well. Garrett left to go to sleep, he was exhausted. We stapled Sanguine’s head and…” Perish walked over and pulled the rest of the sheet off of Sanguine’s body.

To both Nero and Ceph’s surprise Sanguine’s skin was painfully raw and lobster red and in some places even blistering. His pubic hair had been scraped away as well, and to Nero’s horror, the skin on his penis and testicles peeled away to the meat.

“What the…” Nero’s temperature started to raise and Perish could tell. The scientist held out his hands as Nero gave him a dangerous look.

“It was Garrett’s idea. Since Sanguine’s body is so full of scars, we decided to coat his body in an acid-type solution and scrap the skin away and remove some skin altogether. Sanguine will take longer to wake up but when he does… his entire body will be healed and new.” Perish beamed and patted Sanguine’s head gently. “He’ll be a brand-new chimera, to start his new life.” Perish clasped his hands and started rubbing them together, one of his many nervous ticks. “I think Master will be pleased at this decision. Poor Sanguine had so much scar tissue inside of his rectum from being raped by that man. I’m glad Master never had sex with him; he would’ve been horrified once he was inside of him. Poor Sanguine had been savaged but it’s okay, we made him all better. This will make King Silas pleased with me. He was angry at me over disagreeing with him when Sanguine came back and said those things, but this will make him happy.”

The thought of Sanguine’s body finally being void of those scars brought the smile back to Nero’s face. He reached down and pinched Sanguine’s cheeks before giving them a pat. “You did good, Perish. The king won’t forget this. If Elish is going to go pout in Kreig I hope Silas lets you stay for awhile. You’re a lot easier to get along with than that icy bitch.”

Perish grinned and rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Thank you, Nero. I’m just happy to make Master happy and the family. I would love to stay.”

“Why don’t you go get some sleep.” Nero pulled back the last sheet and with Ceph’s help he picked King Silas up and slung the boiling hot king over his shoulder. “I’ll bring Kingy to my apartment since he’ll wake up first and he can decide where to put our shark-teeth twins. Take a couple days off, Per. Go fuck whoever you want. I want at least three sengils or cicaros in your bed every night polishing your cock until further notice.”

Perish looked at Nero and blinked; he looked absolutely perplexed yet mesmerized at the prospect. Nero had to laugh at this. He turned around and nodded for Ceph to follow him to the doors outside. “And I’m going to be fucking you once we get home. Everyone’s fucking tonight. Come on, Cephy. We got some celebratin’ to do.”

It was like I had been in a dream, a lucid dream but there were no images dancing around in my head like most dreams. Instead I only saw a white fire that seemed to be both hot and cold at the same time. It was a welcoming fire and it felt odd against my skin, like I was continuously being coated in a liquid ribbon of silk.

Every time I gained a shred of inner thought I found myself curious about what was happening to me. Sometimes I had concluded to myself that I was indeed dead and this was my oblivion, but other times I had convinced myself I was in some sort of coma and eventually I would wake up. Though most of the time I had no comprehensible thoughts, I just floated in these flames and waited for something to happen.

Then, when several life times had past, I started to hear different sensations. At first it was the sounds you could hear from sewer pipes, the sound of water rushing through something narrow. I didn’t know what that was until the drumming rhythm of my heartbeat started to sound, and it was then I realized I had been hearing the blood starting to rush through my veins again.

Finally the opal flames that had been a blanket around my body started to become red before they disappeared completely. Only the crimson remained and with that sensation the feeling of warmth against my face. I think it was the sunshine.

I opened my eyes but immediately closed them again as a sharp sting of pain ripped like I was being stabbed in the eyes. I wasn’t used to the sun it seemed, the light hurt.

I rolled over, away from where the light was coming from and grimaced. My limbs were stiff and frozen, every muscle ached like I hadn’t used them in months. It wasn’t even this bad when I was in the basement. I paced a lot while I was down there.

After a few minutes of trying to get my hazy mind back, I opened my eyes again. I squinted them and looked around the room and realized that I recognized where this location was. I was back inside of my bedroom in Alegria, inside of King Silas’s apartment.

Wait. I frowned. Why was I here? Where had I been before? The last thing I remember…

I tried to wrack my brains and come up with my last memory but everything was just a haze of black. I was in that abandoned building with Jack and then… nothing. Had Silas come for me? Had he put me in a coma?

I sat up but to my absolute perplexity I heard a tinkle of a bell. I looked down and realized a small red string had been tied around my wrist. I looked up to where the string went and found a little bell that was attached to the bed post. Almost like…

Almost like someone wanted to know when I woke up.

I rubbed my eyes, confused but feeling strangely good. I yawned and scratched my hair, hoping that I would be able to see Jack soon. I wanted to know what had happened and why I was here
“Lovely…”

I jumped and looked towards the door. Without even hearing him approach I saw King Silas standing in the doorway with a soft smile on his face. He looked well, and was dressed in a casual black button-down and new blue jeans, and he seemed happy to see me.

“Hi…” I mumbled. I started flexing my hands to try and get the muscles to stop aching. I didn’t understand why everything was so stiff and sore. “So you caught me, eh?”

Surprisingly Silas laughed softly. He glided into the room and sat down on the bed beside me. He reached a hand over and gently stroked my cheek with a caring, gentle touch.

“Caught you? No, my crucio, but I understand your confusion. You don’t remember anything do you?” Silas asked softly. His hand traced down my cheek, then he rubbed my neck, before murmuring. “Beautiful.”

I let him touch me for a moment, but then I remembered what had happened the last time I had seen him. At the memory of his scathing words to me I jerked away and felt myself tense.

“You seem rather affectionate,” I said in a bitter voice; I looked directly into his eyes. “Am I not just a lying whore to you, King Silas?”

Silas retracted his hand and winced as if my words held an actual stinger to them. He put his hand down and we fell into a collective silence.

“Sanguine,” Silas said slowly. “I am not a man to apologize often, nor am I a man who takes joy in admitting when he has handled something badly.” He returned my confused look with a faint smile. “But I handled what happened to you badly because of my own guilt and denial, and being your king things should’ve been done differently. I’m sorry, lovely, for my words, and most of all: I’m sorry for the previous twenty years. I failed you as your king. I should’ve been protecting you and I didn’t.”

He seemed genuine. I had seen many different faces of this man, but something told me that he was being truthful to me. It wasn’t much, his words still festered in me like an untreated wound and it would take awhile for it to become clean, but it was a start.

“Thank you,” I said watching as his hand reached down and gently took my own. Silas’s hands had always been so soft and slender, yet they were hands that had done such horrible things.

“You have had a hard life and unfortunately I failed in making your time here as carefree and enjoyable as I wanted,” Silas continued. “But I would like that to change. I’m going to make up for everything you experienced, and I want to start today.”

“What starts today?” I said slowly.

“Freedom,
crucio
,” Silas said patting my hand. “You’re going to get some privileges that my second generation do not have. I’m doing this because… I want to put what would make you happy above what would make me happy.”

His smile faded, but the stroking of my hand did not. “You love Jack, don’t you?”

I stared at him before I nodded. I wanted to ask him where Jack was, but I decided to wait.

Silas nodded too, though this seemed to sadden him in a way. “I’m going to give you permission to be partners with whomever you want, which is a grand privilege in this family. Not only that, love, I’m going to allow you two to get your own apartment. If you wish to continue with college you may, or you two can start your assigned jobs. If you do not wish to date Jack, you may have any of my creations or an arian of your choosing. You don’t have to make the decision now, and you can change your partner at any time. This will be your privilege.”

I was taken aback by his words; I knew what I was being given was a great gift. And though I was confused as to where I was, where Jack was, or what had happened for me to get here, I was still excited at what he was saying to me.

“Thank you,” I said and as I smiled he smiled wider. “I do want to be with Jack. I want to be a part of this family…”

“And you will be. We will have a coming out party for you, love. To introduce you to the family, introduce you to Skyfall, and have it well-known your status.” Silas smiled wryly. “Do you know why you woke up in your old bedroom, love? Do you have any memories over what happened to you?”

I shook my head. “Not the slightest clue.”

The expression on the king’s face told me he was happy with this. He got up and tugged on my hand, encouraging me to follow him.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to but I knew I would have to get out of bed eventually. So with his help I put both feet on the ground and tried to stand erect.

My face tensed in pain and it took every ounce of energy and balance not to fall. I grunted and started trying to stretch my legs.

“Jack and Kinny have been taking turns exercising your legs,” Silas explained, noticing I was struggling. “Or else you would be a lot worse. You have been asleep for almost two months, sweet boy.”

Two months? The realization almost made me fall back onto the bed. “How so?” I said alarmed. I looked behind me at my messed up bed and saw that there was no IV, no nothing to keep me alive. “How is that even possible?”

Silas smirked and gently led me towards a full length mirror that stood near my dresser. When I entered my own vision I saw I was dressed in nothing but black boxer briefs. I was almost entirely naked, my hair was longer too but my face had some colour to it. Though I –
I froze. I ignored Silas’s laugh at my stunned expression and took a step closer to the mirror.

My scars… my… my body…

I held out my arms and looked at them, stunned. They were brand-new, the skin soft and flawless. I used to have scar tissue that caked my arms like pink plaster, rough, ugly marks that raised up like mountains in some places from being cut again and again.

Then I looked down at my stomach, it was clean of any scars, of any of my own masochistic abuse, and below it my pubic hair was clean and freshly trimmed. No huge chunks of scar tissue peeking through the black strands from me cutting my own genitals from pure inner hatred. Everything was new…

Silas reached a hand out and gently drew down my boxers, my flaccid penis poked out and he held it in his hands. “New as well, love. New skin, the same with your bottom, inside and out. It’s all new, Sanguine. Any physical reminders of your past are gone, you’re a brand-new person.”

Silas tucked my penis back into my boxer briefs and slowly ran his hand up the curve of my side. I couldn’t stop staring at myself, at my new body.

Then my eyes started to burn. I held a hand up to my face to shield Silas from my emotions and turned from the mirror.

Never in my life had I been new, never had I felt anything more than an ugly, scar-riddled, monster. The only time I had been close to feeling like a normal arian was when I had put on the brown colour contacts and the teeth caps.

But now? As the tears slipped down my cheek and onto my soft hand I had to pull my hand back and examine this new body once again. I realized as I breathed in and out that physically I felt better too. My lungs seemed clearer, and though my muscles screamed from not being used, I still felt stronger.

I felt like a whole new person… even…

Even the voices weren’t screaming at me.

When I felt Silas’s hand on my shoulder, I turned around and threw my arms around him. Unable to hold it back I felt several hot tears slip from my eyes and onto his shoulder. I sniffed them back and squeezed him tight.

My king… the king I had thought I had lost, but it looks like he had just been hiding. In that moment I loved King Silas so much my heart overflowed with appreciation for him. I made a promise then I would follow this man for the rest of my life, through the good and the bad.

“How did you do this?” I choked as he squeezed me back. “Was t-this Skytech medicine?”

Silas pulled away from me, but his hands were resting on my shoulders. He shook his head before saying two words I knew I would never forget.

“You’re immortal.”

My mind jammed, the gears stopped turning and I seemed to fall into my own stunned stasis. I stared at Silas with an astounded look as I tried to gather my mind which had seemed to have scattered all over the place.

“Immortal?” I stammered. I started to feel dizzy, a heat that had first started pooling inside of my head seemed to overflow and start trickling down my body. I found myself stumbling back and with the same lighthearted laugh Silas led me to the bed to sit down.

“You made me immortal?” I rasped.

Silas sat down beside me; I felt his lips press against my cheek. “The rebels bombed Cypress, love. Cypress has been evacuated and stands abandoned, its residents are now in Moros. You were caught in the flames, you and Jack. The two of you were so near death… you especially. Your skull had been split in half.”

I looked at him alarmed but he held out a hand as if to physically stop the emotion that was about to burst from my lips.

“Jack is just fine. I made him immortal too. I made him immortal for solely you,” Silas explained kindly. “We don’t know what happened leading to the events, but you must’ve found Jack dead and in your own misery you jumped off of the building. Nero, myself, and Elish were there and we carried you two back to Perish. I was dispatched so they could use my own brain matter and they made my two stealth beauties immortal. The very first second generation to receive this gift. Another thing we shall be celebrating at your party.”

This was all too much for me. I shook my head in awe before slowly wiping my hands down my face. Silas seemed to see I was feeling overwhelmed. He got up and I heard him call to Kinny to get me something to drink.

“This is really a lot to take in,” I said when Silas came back holding some berry juice. I took a long drink of it but made a face from it being so sour, or perhaps my taste buds were oversensitive. “I don’t know if I should be happy or horrified I’ll never die…” I looked down at the glass. “I have a lot of issues. You know that.”

“It’s nothing we can’t fix,” Silas said. I could smell something mint and I realized he had a cup of tea in his hands. “I think now that your body is healed, and you have a boyfriend for companionship – we will be seeing improvements from you.” Then he paused for a moment. “And that… you know now some of the quirks our lovely family has.”

A lump formed in my throat at this. I had been out of it for so long that certain memories seemed distant and hazy, but I remembered enough the reason why I initially ran away in the first place.

“You know, love,” Silas began. “I knew when you first came into our family, terrified, unstable, a veritable madman… that you would not be able to handle how our family functioned. You must understand that, yes?”