The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (32 page)

A sigh from my lips, I watched as Ares pulled out the guy’s heart and took a bite of it. He threw it off to the side towards the young chimeras, and I saw the two boys take it and take bites with their little metal teeth, cheering and hollering with glee as they smeared blood on their faces.

Yep, Reaver had done that too, right down to the blood.

My eyes fell to the closest thing to Reaver, King Silas. He was standing by the window, having a conversation with Artemis, holding an opium cigarette in his hands. Staring at the carnage below with his emerald eyes alight and focused. I saw him raise an eyebrow and say something out of the corner of his mouth before they both laughed.

Silas wasn’t even paying attention to me; I continued to ignore Garrett’s drunken advances as I watched him. Once again another side of King Silas. I had seen Asher, I had seen the Silas that took all the joy in the wasteland from torturing me and Garrett, and now I was seeing this relaxed king enjoying the company of his family with entertainment and food around us, complete with pets to satisfy our every whim.

“See?” Garrett purred with a kiss on my neck that made me shiver. I glanced to the corner of the room and saw Caligula nailing Drake to the grisly scene below us, Nico resting a hand on his shoulder, his eyes switching from the arena to their heaving bodies.

“This is my family, a personal summons like that from Silas is a rare thing for me, this... this is not. We’re not all bad, lutra. We’re not evil people like you greywasters paint us.”

Not if you’re a chimera and a part of the family...
I said in my head, and there could be nothing more true. I watched with a grim look as Siris and Ares both started trying to pull the arms from a convict. The crowd was going insane but I could hear the man’s desperate screams over the noise.

We’re not evil people.

Two months ago your master killed Leo and Greyson. My best friend’s fathers, my mayors... and your brother. How could you forgive that so easily? How can you say this family isn’t evil when they support and worship a man who raped and tormented a seventeen-year-old manic-depressive, a man who murdered his creation and his creation’s husband in cold blood?

I sighed and turned away shuddering when I saw the thin pink line around the man’s arms start to spill red, a moment later red lights shone on the arena and the crowd of Skyfallers went insane.

I didn’t want to look, I wasn’t like them. I couldn’t even watch when the convicts Reaver burned were still alive. I mean, jeez, what a way to go...

Reaver would love this, all of this... at least he would have if things hadn’t turned out as they did. I had to rely on the fact that Greyson and Leo had known what they were doing when they stole Reaver. My boy had been raised for a greater purpose; he would become more than all of this.

Anyways, Killian could never be here... this place would wilt him like a flower. He was too soft-hearted and kind to deal with so much blood and carnage, and the intimidations of the chimeras and Silas. Even if I thought Reaver would be happy here, Killian wouldn’t and we did what we had to do to keep Tinky happy, as well as Reaver.

There I made it palatable for myself.

I decided to keep distracting myself with the gladiator-like fighting below me. I pushed out the dark shadows in my mind and tried to give myself into the atmosphere buzzing around us. To my grim amusement and everyone else’s, the next convict to go down they tied off and gagged.

“Watch this, love. It’s hilarious!” Garrett exclaimed. He stood up right and leaned forward with me. I was still sitting on his lap.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the two little ones ran into the arena; to my absolute hilarity they were dressed in little matching blue capes. They both raised their hands in the air like the brutes had done, and called in all the attention to themselves, like little professional wrestlers.

The next part though was just creepy but also like nothing I hadn’t seen before.

Hunter, with an agility that I had seen in Reaver, jumped onto the convicts back and took two tuffs of his hair. With both his feet braced onto his back he pulled the guy’s head backwards exposing the soft of his neck.

Chaser, with an embellished twirl, took out the knife, before he balanced the tip onto his fingers and at the same time took a bow. He tossed the knife up into the air and caught it, before he paused and held his hand up to his ear and craned it towards the crowd.

“Bite bite bite!”
they called. Garrett was laughing behind me and clapping his hands. Every chimera was watching the show, and some of them started joining into the chant. Raising their glasses or their smokes with their cheering.

Chaser threw the knife away, and with a flex of his hands and a cat-like pounce, he sunk his metal teeth into the guy’s neck. I cringed and held my own throat as the blood squirted through his teeth. His head thrashed from one side to the other until the guys throat came out in a thick chunk of red flesh.

Well, that was enough for tonight. “I’m going to take a leak.” I shuddered and got up.

“Aww.” Garrett pulled on my arm, giving his cigar to Lance. “Come now, they were bred for it. They’re having a grand time.”

My skin was crawling; this was too much Reaver in one concentrated area. Reaver’s crazy side had to be taken in small doses. “The smoke is making me a bit nauseas. I’m going to take a piss and get a bit of air. I’ll be fine.”

My suave but rather tipsy chimera frowned at me, but a moment later he looked past me and waved someone over. I looked and saw it was Nico, who had at some time during the fighting detached his dick from Drake’s orifices. “Go with him.”

I sighed. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”

Garrett waved me off like he was having none of it. “What happened last time you went to the bathroom alone? Come back soon, they’ll be bringing out the last convict and Nero is always an entertainment.”

I leaned down and kissed his flushed face and gave it a playful pat. He was getting so wasted. I got up and followed Nico.

I glanced behind me once and saw I was being followed by two other ones I didn’t recognise. Chimeras or boyfriends that had trickled in during the fighting. We all walked silently down the tunnel and into the main part of the stadium. Everyone around us parting, and some even giving us bows and nods as we walked past. I would never get bored of that.

I went and took a piss; though when I emerged and was joined with everyone else we didn’t head back. I looked questionably at Nico as he led us towards the lobby of the stadium.

“You like drugs, Reno?” Nico said in a voice that was accented; though like all accents it was fake. They had died in the Fallocaust, though it didn’t stop some of the arians from adopting them from watching movies. I guess they thought it made them unique, I thought it made them sound like yahoos.

“Of course I do, I’m from the greywastes.” I chuckled looking over my shoulder. I paused for a second as Nico led us outdoors into the crisp night air. I shoved my hands into my pockets as the cold nipped them.

Nico looked from side to side and ducked us into an alleyway; he reached into his pocket and pulled out a baggy of powder.

“Master Nico, that’s cocaine!” one of them gasped like Nico had just pulled out a severed head.

Nico scoffed. “Don’t be such a wimp, Kay. It’s good shit, you have no idea how hard it is to get this stuff. Clig has a nose like a bloodhound.”

Aww, they’re such cute little amateurs. I let out a snort like laugh and they all looked at me.

“I have a thousand dollars worth of that shit at home, both my homes. You’re getting all antsy for a gram? Give it here.” I took the bag from Nico and dipped Garrett’s key card into it. I brought out some white powder onto the tip and snorted it. I shook my head and shuddered and handed it to one of the other ones. A kid with brown hair and big brown eyes, he had a silver studded collar around his neck.

He stared at me with wide eyes. Oh my god, it was like I was corrupting ten-year-olds. A moment later he took it and inhaled some. I could see his skin tense and his eyes start to water. I clapped him on the back, and he handed the bag to the one named Kay.

“What’s your name? I didn’t see you when I arrived,” I asked, flexing my fingers as the burning drip fell down my throat. I felt my heartbeat rise as the coke kissed my brain.

“My name is Trig, I am Ares’s pet. Nice to meet you, Master Reno.” Trig bowed. When he raised his head I saw the small shadow of a bruise on his cheek bone, covered with makeup and powder. He was Ares’s pet alright.

Nico rubbed his nose and jumped up and down on the spot, he shook his head and I could see the ripples of bliss go through his body. Finally the baggy got passed to Kay, and because peer pressure wins out he took some too. So cute, I could be elbow deep in cocaine with the snap of my finger.

I outranked them now... hah.

After tossing the bag around one more time, we emerged from the alleyway and started towards the large lobby doors that would lead us back to the stadium. I looked on amused at the drunken arians stumbling around, or sitting with bottles of Dek’ko booze in their hands. We were late in the evening now, and it was more common to see someone drunk or stoned than not. Everyone looked like they were having a good time; I could even see hookers of both types strutting their feathers in front of the entrance.

Suddenly a deafening boom rocked the building, shaking the ground under our feet.

Everyone froze in their place as the sudden noise ripped the night air around us. A moment later a second one and, to my horror, smoke started to pour out of the building.

Everything went insane in that moment, I felt Nico grab my arm and pull me away from the stadium, yelling something that I couldn’t hear over the sudden onslaught of screaming. I followed him, tripping and stumbling as my eyes kept going back to the open roof of the stadium. Thick black plumes rose and disappeared into the matching night sky.

“We need to go to the safe house.” Nico’s voice broke the panic and dread that had started eating my gut alive. My attention snapped to him and I nodded, not even realizing I was holding Kay’s hand too. All four of us were together. “Just run, that’s the only fucking way we can help them is to get out of the way. Run!”

“Was that a fucking bomb?” The words left my lips in a shrill timber, as the reality sucked itself back into me like a vacuum I realized what was going on around me.

Nico nodded, his head turning from one direction to another as he ran across the pavement with us. Cars stopped in the streets as the people from the stadium started to flee.

The noise was deafening. I could hear the snaps of beams inside of the building, and as something inside came crashing down, I heard panicked screaming.

When we got to the other side of the street Nico stopped; he reached into his pocket and pulled out his remote phone. I saw it was ringing, I hadn’t even heard it under the screaming and panic we had left behind. As he talked on it I looked behind me.

Everyone was spilling out of the building like ants out of a compromised nest. Darting off into different directions as the thiens tried desperately to control them. Smoke still rising to the sky but thankfully no other explosions had been heard.

Nico got off of his phone. “The bombs went off in the west skybox. Drake is injured and so are Artemis, Jiro, and Lance. We need to go now. The call got cut I think –”

“Is Garrett okay?” Fuck, I used to carry a gun with me at all times, an assault rifle usually. Why the fuck didn’t I have one now? I’d catch those assholes; I had been catching trouble makers with Reaver since I was a kid.

“I think so.” Nico was already several steps away from me. He wasn’t waiting for us. I took a step towards the three of them, but my heart pulled me towards the stadium. Even if he was immortal I couldn’t leave him.

No... you have to be safe; he would be pissed off if I went back into the building.
After a long sigh I turned away, though now Nico and the other three were out of sight. I started to jog in the direction they had gone, down a dark alleyway full of dumpsters and trash-strewn edges. My heart hammering in my chest and spilling its anxiety all over my body.

Did this happen often? I turned a corner and started jogging down a second alleyway; this one had several doors on the sides with dimly lit lights.

I was halfway down, when my own remote phone rang. I reached into my vest and pulled it out. The relief was palatable; it could only be one person.

“Are you okay?” We both said at the same time; I sighed from relief and I heard him too. I started to quicken my speed.

“You’re alright? Where are you?” Garrett’s voice said on the other side of the line. I could hear a loud commotion and further back people talking in hurried and angry voices.

I looked around, the other three were long gone, I started doubling back where I came. “The alley, across the street. We went out for some fresh air when it happened. Nico, Kay, and Trig are ahead of me somewhere, going towards a safe house. I think I lost them though.”

“One moment.”

There was some commotion on the line and I heard Garrett talking. I heard Kay’s name. I assumed he was telling whoever he was with that those three were out too.

I leaned against the cold brick, I heard a jingle and I realized it was my bracelets rattling together from my shaking hands. I tried to take some deep inhales to calm myself down. Garrett was safe, when it came down to it that’s all that mattered. I kept trying to tell myself...