The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (44 page)

Elish rested the glass on the coffee table and gave his brother a small shake of his head as he turned towards the hallway. “I know your feelings for him, it was my cicaro that matched you two, but if you feel the need to prove your love, so be it. Sleep now, we have a meeting with Ellis in the morning.”

Garrett stared at Ellis’s desk as his only sister and his oldest brother discussed the ransom demands for Reno, Nico, and the pets. He didn’t raise his head even when they addressed him; all he could manage to do was stare forlorn at the piles of manila folders.

“They must have some sort of disrupters, the same technology they used to hide themselves when they kidnapped Jade,” Ellis said. She was holding a red pen in her hands and was going over a map of Skyfall and the outlands, including Irontowers and Suicide Bay, all areas that they had once picked apart trying to locate Jade.

“There are so many abandoned buildings, hundreds possibly thousands for us to check, and as we learned before... they only need the basement of one building to hide their activities.” Ellis shook her head and chewed on the end of the pen cap. “We learned a lot from Jade’s kidnapping though. I would guess Milos’s little brother Meirko will act the same as he did.”

Elish looked down at the map, analysing it with his deep purple eyes. His thoughts most likely were centered on when it had been him worrying about the fate of his pet.

“I have grown tired of Silas’s leniency with the Crimstones. He lets them do as they will for his entertainment whether he admits it or not. While he is occupied with Reaver I want them eradicated once and for all,” Elish said coldly. “They are slippery snakes who think they’re more powerful than they are.”

Like Silas?
Garrett continued to stare at the edge of the desk. He wanted to say it, his lips almost moved to say it, but he remained quiet. Elish would wring his neck if he said something like that in front of their very Silas-loyal sister.

“I agree... and what we are going to do right now is cut off any and all media; all of the wanted ads we are running, all of the rewards. What information we could get from Moros we have already received. I want radio silence and once it’s quiet we are going to put our best chimeras on the search. I want every building combed; it will be slow but...”

“They... they’ll kill him.” Garrett managed to raise his head to give them both agonizing looks. “They want the media attention; they want Skyfall to know they have something on us. If we all of a sudden make them feel like they don’t have that power... they’ll kill him.”

Ellis gave him a glance before she slowly and subtly shook her head. “If the pets and the partners have to become fodder so we can stop this once and for all...”

“Fuck that!” There was a scraping as Garrett jumped up from his chair; he slammed his hand down on the table. “Reno will not become fodder! He is my fiancé!”

Ellis didn’t even flinch; she put down the red marker and rolled it towards Elish. “And you will find another one. You acted this way after the last one died and the one before that and so on. So will Caligula; he’s still young. They don’t have chimeras so this is the perfect opportunity to call their bluff, shut everything down and... Elish, he’s about to cry, can you deal with him? My patience is about spent over emotions getting involved in this.”

Elish looked over at Garrett whose face had crumpled into a look of unimaginable pain, his lower lip quivering in a way that reminded Elish of when they were younger. It was funny in a way how when the three of them got together the same story always played out. Ellis or Nero would upset Garrett and in turn Garrett would run to Elish so the older brother could deliver them a verbal tongue-lashing.

“I recall you being rather upset last year when the Crimstones bombed the buildings behind the precinct.” Elish crossed his arms; beside him Garrett slunk back down in his chair and stared at the folders, his light green eyes glistening.

“That’s different; Garren and Eve are half chimera.”

Elish waved a dismissive hand. “Sterilized half-chimeras with no abilities, no immortality, riding coattails or acting like imbeciles. I would think they are less important than the future husband of the second born chimera and president of Skytech.” Everyone had their weak spot and Ellis’s had always been her children.

Sure enough, there was the slightest pull on her lip. “I will not get into this with you, Elish. What it comes down to is Silas will not give you up and all we can do now is try and smoke them out or wait for their next move.”

Garrett sniffed beside Elish. “Stop treating Reno like he’s just another notch on my bedpost, Ellis. I love him... he’s the one for me.”

“We went through this with Calvin just ten years ago and you said the same thing.”

Elish decided to try and stem the tears that were quickly welling in his brother’s eyes; he started packing the folders into his suitcase. “Well, this is the first time Jade has matched Garrett’s partner and he has had great success so far. Garrett hasn’t even bedded this one yet, he’s waiting for marriage. Surely that means something?”

The female chimera glanced up, and Elish could tell, even if she wouldn’t admit it, that that did mean something. Garrett had always had low self-esteem, and growing up in the shadows of Elish, Ellis, and Nero had only accentuated it. Though Garrett was a grand chimera in his own right, he always felt overshadowed. His three siblings had an imposing threatening presence to them... something Garrett Dekker had always lacked. He seemed to fade into the darkness when he was around his fellow first generation.

Though put him one on one with something and his sensitive little brother lit up like the brightest star. Which is why he seemed to not only to attract men, but he seemed to end up getting burned by them as well.

Or by King Silas when he found out about them.

“Well, I won’t lie, that does score him some points.” Ellis was silent for a moment before she spoke, “But the plan doesn’t change, Garrett. Even if Meirko and Kerres had kidnapped Drake or Timothy I would suggest the same course of action. If we keep giving them their audience they will put on a show. We don’t want another incident over what happened with Jade’s ransom video.”

Garrett nodded and took Elish’s handkerchief as he handed it to him. “But the family will keep looking?”

“Yes Gare, they will...” Ellis sighed. “Stop... my god, stop staring at me like that. We will do our best to bring him home.”

Garrett gave her a sad smile. “Thanks, sissy.”

After they had left Ellis’s office Garrett wiped his face with Elish’s kerchief and sniffed. “Do you really think her plan is wise? To cut off our television promos and the media?”

Elish was silent for a moment, leafing through Jade’s old notebook which he often did.

“Yes, I do. Because of you the Crimstones are getting even more attention than they did with Jade. You have a brand new channel dedicated to finding Reno; they’re loving the attention I would gather.”

“But if it helps –”

“It is not helping, Garrett. We need to stop going at this as businessmen and councilmen and go about this as chimeras, as the genetically engineered men we are. I agree with her.”

“I know.” Garrett glanced out the window, watching the buildings go by as the driver took them back to Olympus. Garrett hadn’t been back to his old skyscraper since Reno had been taken. It had been too painful to be there alone; he was no longer used to it.

“Will you be returning to Kreig soon?” Garrett asked.

Elish shook his head, still looking at the notebook. “I will remain here while this is all going on. They’ll be safe in Kreig and the more time that goes by that they’re not found, the less enthusiastic the Legion will be to find them, and the longer Jade will have to crack Perish’s head. I will not be returning until this is resolved. I promised that to Reaver and at this point gaining his trust is invaluable.”

Elish ignored the smile that started to appear on Garrett’s face and ignored him as he leaned his head on Elish’s shoulder. “You’re staying because you know I need you. Thank you, Eli.”

The blond-haired chimera let out a breath. “No, I am sure I am only staying to mediate our brothers and make sure things go smoothly. You have little to do with it.”

But Garrett knew better and he appreciated his brother staying on his accord. Garrett knew Elish missed his pet, but Jade was growing up quickly and he had his own task to complete. The only empath chimera in existence was a valuable asset to Elish and the family as a whole.

Even if what he was doing could potentially kill him.

Garrett looked down at the notebook and smiled, though as soon as Elish noticed Garrett was looking he closed it and stuffed it back into his pocket.

“You’re looking at his Pokémon drawings?” Garrett’s smile widened. “You miss him a lot, don’t you?”

“We’re here...” Elish opened the car door, even though the car was still at a rolling stop.

Garrett laughed and stuffed the kerchief in his pocket, following behind his brother.

Chapter 16

Jade

Whenever he wasn’t around I had nightmares, nightmares of haunting auras and shadows that had never seen the light of day. Of blackness that was drained of colour and a threat that scared me so much I refused to acknowledge it in safety of daylight.

My blond chimera had been my protector during these nightmares, whenever I was in his arms surrounded by those opal and silver hues the creeping sepulchres of madness never came to me. He was my lamplight, my guardian... my everything. In our three years together he had really become my partner.

But without him not only was the bed half-empty but my heart was as well. We were two pieces of the same soul, intertwined and tightly knitted together to the point where sometimes I didn’t know where my thoughts ended and his began. I knew him so well, as he knew me.

“Hot and cold, light and dark, black and white… we are opposites Jade, no one can deny that, but together we form a rather unstoppable force.”

I hope doing this is making you proud of me, Master. We waited a long time, and you by yourself have been waiting even longer.

I can’t believe these plans are finally coming into fruition, that we actually have Reaver in our grasp now. No Lycos, no Greyson… Reaver is all ours, and to both of our reliefs… he is malleable still, ready to receive your cold touch and become who he was born to be: your weapon.

But will you succeed? Or will everything you worked so hard to achieve turn to ashes in your hand. I refuse to believe for even a second that you haven’t already pre-planned and analyzed every single situation that could arise. You are in control, you always have been.

But so has King Silas.

“Jade?”

I opened my eyes and saw the blur of Perish looking down at me, looking bedraggled and tired.

Stifling a yawn I looked up at him. “You’re alive early, what’s up?”

The scientist wrung out his hands and looked around the room. “I don’t know where to sleep. Is everyone survived?”

I shifted over and threw him a pillow. “Yeah, Killian and Reaver are fine. Reaver’s dead in the other room after those creatures ripped his scalp in two. Just lie down beside me but keep to your side of the bed.” The last thing I wanted was for Perish to sleep beside me but I also had a job to do with him. I had to put my personal feelings aside right now, if he tried what he had tried with Killian he would be needing to grow back his entire face.

Perish laid down beside me, I saw him stare up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. “This is kind of like my lab, but not. It smells old; my lab smelled clean and lived in.”

I rolled onto my side and just watched him for a few moments, going over every detail of his thin but handsome face. “What time were you the happiest in your life?” I said my words carefully, trying to adopt the gentle probing tone that Elish had when he was trying to get information from someone timid.

I saw his lips turn to a smile, before an almost wistful look came over his face. “When Killian was with me, before he killed me. I was so happy then, it was wonderful to have someone so kind to me.”

Not quite what I was hoping for, so I pressed further. “You’re over seventy, there has to be more than just that?”

“Seeing Elish forced to marry you was kind of funny.”

I scowled at him, but when I saw the smile on his lips I reached out my hand and shocked him. Not enough to make him scream like Elish’s thermal touch could do but enough to make him jump.

This made the crazy scientist laugh though, with a grinning smile he said, “You know how funny it is when you see another brother get into trouble, right? Surely you know the feeling?”

I did, there was a deep down smugness inside of me whenever Elish would verbally tear apart one of his brothers, and even Luca; he was kind of like a brother to me. “I guess, yeah.”

“Another happy memory is this one, it’s not top ten but since you’re here, I’ll share it. I was happy when you survived the surgery, and when I saw you with your new teeth put in.”