The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (55 page)

Jade

“Jade?” Killian looked up from the textbook he was reading but I grabbed the laptop and walked past him. If Reaver wasn’t right behind me Killian would’ve followed me, would’ve asked what was wrong and why my mouth was lined with blood, but his boyfriend was there and he could tell him.

I had to talk to Elish; I had to warn him about what Reaver just did.

“Reaver? Are you okay?”

Depends on what okay means to you, kiddo.

I turned on the remote phone; my throat heavy with the taste of blood, no matter how many times I swallowed it was like I was swallowing liquid metal. I had missed that taste, though I knew I shouldn’t have tasted it tonight.

Is Elish going to kill me for not stopping him?

Don’t be an idiot, Jade, you couldn’t have stopped him if you wanted.

That aura… fuck, Reaver’s aura got fucked up when he wasn’t around Killian.

It shifted like a specter in the darkness depending on how he felt. No one’s aura, none of the people I had ever read had ever had an aura that would change right in front of my very eyes. Sure peoples could change, mine had many times, but it was a process that took months…

Reaver’s… seconds. I could see his self-control kick in; I could see him fighting with his cardinal desires. A fight he had always been destined to lose.

My eyes closed for a brief moment and I took a deep breath.

I should’ve known better, if chimeras started acting frenzied around blood and death of course Reaver would do the same… only amplified. I had never seen it before in him though, I hadn’t expected him to take it this far. Not just killing Tim but the morbid, creatively horrible way he did it.

I shuddered and started clicking around on the laptop, hoping beyond hope that I could connect with Elish’s remote phone and be able to talk to him.

So I could get an earful because I was sure he would blame me for this. The Legion would be coming undoubtedly, and soon.

Do we leave? Elish, do we have to leave Kreig now?

My heart dropped when I saw the
no service
signal on the cell phone, deep down I knew it would be hard to get a signal in this stupid place but I was still holding out hope. Maybe if I went outside? No, not with the kreigers outside, they didn’t have Timmy’s remains to feast on; they would be pissed off at being bilked out of a meal.

I rose and started walking around the library, trying to be as quiet as I could so Reaver and the others wouldn’t hear me. They would be too interested in hearing Reaver’s story about murdering Tim; they wouldn’t be looking for me.

I wiped my bloodied mouth with my jacket and held the cell phone up into the air. When that was pointless I took the laptop and started walking around the abandoned library to see if I could get a signal.

The halls were dark and even in my stealth I was still crunching against loose gyprock and the remains of the ceiling above me. What was once tucked tight into the rafters of the roof were now their own little alarm systems beneath my feet. Everything made noise, though with luck the only person they were alerting would be me.

I couldn’t go any higher, all that was above me was wire, insulation, and probably lots of radrat shit too.

But I had to call Elish… I just needed to talk to him, hear his voice, even if I knew the entire conversation would be him verbally destroying me.

I closed my eyes and let out a long breath.

I heard something crunching down the hallway but I kept my eyes closed anyways. I could tell by their footsteps who was coming, Killian had small light movements, Perish was a normal saunter, and Reaver was… like me, silent as a ghost.

“Jade?”

I opened one eye and saw Perish leaning against a cracked wooden beam. He had a blue bag over his shoulder and was looking behind me at a bookshelf I had parked myself in front of.

Perish looked around the room. His eyes never seemed to be able to find mine; they were always wandering around like they wanted to take everything in.

“Yeah, what’s up?” I said.

Perish clenched his hands and rubbed them together; I saw he had a blanket slung over his back. “Reaver and Killian went off to…” His brow furrowed, obviously Killian was off getting pounded. “The dog is out hunting and I was just exploring, seeing if maybe I can find some science things.” Perish glanced down and opened the cover of a book before he let it fall in a puff of dust. “Are you staying here for the night? In this room?”

I shrugged, I wouldn’t be opposed to sleeping in the little hovel Killian and I had made. Reaver would be sexed out and probably asleep, but I didn’t want them to hear my conversation with Elish; actually I didn’t even want them to know I was trying to call him. Reaver had his sonic hearing, better than mine was and anywhere I ducked into… if he wanted to listen in he could.

Perish must’ve read my mind. He took the blanket that was thrown over his shoulder and gave it to me. “There you go; I’ll be keeping watch all night and probably after Reaver will. If you hear anything come get me, okay? I’ll tell them you’re here but don’t worry, Tim was an asshole, right? I hated him… he’s better off gone. Okay, have a good sleep.”

I guess he wasn’t one to outstay his welcome, with those parting words the scientist turned around and left the small room I had found myself in.

I bundled myself into the fleecy blanket and lay with the laptop open in front of me. To pass the time I played solitaire, a game my master loved to play, and then mahjong, another one of our favourite games.

It was so quiet here though and unlike Elish’s skyscraper it wasn’t a comfortable silence. My ears were focused and strained trying to listen for any sign that those lizard things were going to break in and eat us.

Well, if they did break in they’d eat Reaver and Killian first; I was probably okay.

So I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. I didn’t know what our plans were for tomorrow, if we were going to risk it and go back to the lab. I was hoping Elish could tell us what we were supposed to do; he always knew.

My dreaming was interrupted sometime in the middle of the night by a strange sound I didn’t recognise at first but it was shrill and loud. In response my eyes snapped open, and as I looked at the illuminated remote phone screen, my heart jumped inside of my throat.

A desperate cry broke my lips and I picked it up, with hands trembling so badly I almost dropped it, I accepted the call and brought the phone to my ear.

“E-Elish?” I croaked, without wanting to I burst into tears. I felt a well of shame inside of me. I didn’t realize how much I wanted to be with him until I knew he was on the other end of that phone.

“Where are you?” Elish’s voice wasn’t welcoming or kind; it was sharp and straight to the point.

I sniffed. “I’m… I’m at the library in Kreig with the others… when are you coming to get me?”

Even though he couldn’t see me, I cowered when I heard him let out an angry noise. “Why the hell are you still in Kreig? Did one of you fools not kill Kessler’s son? Are you that moronic you do not remember that Jack collects the remains of our brothers? He is on his way there you insufferable imbecile! It is your job to relay your knowledge of the chimeras to the greywasters! Get the group out of there; I have already delayed him as much as I possible can. NOW, Jade!”

“But… Master…” I stammered a cold rush of anxiety ran through my veins.

“No, Jade. Get out of Kreig. I’ll find you with your track-”

Then a long drawn-out tone – the call had dropped.

I sniffed back the tears and slammed the remote phone down onto the blanket, then in my anger I shut the laptop off and packed it up.

But there wasn’t any time to cry, though hearing his voice had made me miss him even more, I had to wake the others up and get us out of Kreig.

Jack was coming… the chimera we called the Grim. I knew Jack well, he was like Sanguine in that he had pointed teeth like him and an eerie disposition. He also had a device that told him whenever a chimera had died. So if the dead chimera was immortal Jack could collect their bodies and make sure they didn’t remain in the custody of those who killed them.

This wasn’t the first time I had to run from Jack and probably not the last. Now though so much more was at stake. Jack would, of course, recognise me and he would recognise Perish. We had to go and get as far away from Kreig as we possibly could.

The prospect filled me with dread and more anxiety but I had to push it into the back of my mind. I had another job to do, and my master was relying on me.

Once the laptop was packed up with the blanket I made my way down the cold and dark hallway, not even bothering to mask my footsteps. I followed the crumbling walls and half-askew doors and found our small makeshift camp.

As soon as I stepped into the room I saw Reaver sitting beside the flap of metal, as usual an ember glowed near his mouth.

“Reaver? We have to leave.” I quietly walked past the dozing Killian, Perish off in a corner near the deacdog sleeping too. Inside my guts were stirring, I wanted to yell it and wake everyone else up and get them moving but I’d rather tell Reaver first.

The ember moved from his mouth, I saw his shining black eyes narrowed. “You’ve been crying and you look half-asleep. Go back to sleep, crazy.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not that. I was able to get a short call in to Elish. We have chimeras, Jack at least, coming.”

I saw him raise an eyebrow at me. I don’t think he believed that my phone call hadn’t been a dream. “Jack? Silver hair, black eyes… pointy teeth like Sanguine, right? I can take him, go back to bed.”

He’s humoring me… he’s not taking me seriously. I shook my head and tried to form my words slowly. “Reaver, I’m awake. Jack collects the dead, the chimeras, besides me, Elish, and I assume Lycos took out Perish’s death-trigger… the rest have signals that go off when they die. Tim died. Reaver, we have to get the fuck out of here right now. Silas could be with him, fuck, Sanguine could… they have noses like bloodhounds. They’ll smell me. They’ll find the lab…”

I saw his expression change from bemused to serious, then as the words sunk in I saw the hardness return to his face. He stepped away from me and called out. “Perish?”

A moment later a tired voice sounded from beside an upturned table. “Yeah?”

“Is Jack coming for Tim?”

Like a rocket going off Perish threw his blanket off and jumped to his feet. “We gotta go, we gotta go.”

The anxious energy that suddenly filled the room made it impossible for me to tell Reaver ‘I told you so’, in a matter of minutes we were all quickly repacking our stuff. All with bed head but in our usual clothes, unless you were safely inside of a block, nightclothes were a thing of the past.

“Who’s Jack?” Killian asked me, wide awake now but with his blond hair sticking up in all directions. He was helping me fold up the few blankets we had.

“He comes for dead chimeras and we have a dead chimera…” I said grimly, zipping up the duffle bag and throwing it over my shoulder. Reaver was already outside and the first hints of sunlight were peeking through the metal-covered windows.

I followed Reaver but stopped when he did. I watched him take a long drag of his cigarette.

“Well, I will have a surprise for him when he comes...” Reaver said quietly, then glanced behind him. My chest shook slightly when I saw the thin smile on his face.

“You... you went out after?” I dropped my voice. Wondering what he had done to Tim’s body.

Reaver smirked and shrugged, before looking behind me to where Killian and Perish were emerging. “Nothing much, just a hello.” He nodded towards them. “Let’s go.”

I swallowed hard, holding a scathing remark on my lips. If he would let Tim’s body get eaten by kreigers we could still pass this off as it being Willis who did it... but now...

“Let’s go.” Reaver said sharply to me as if reading my thoughts. “That’s an order.”

I sighed... and did what I was ordered.

Soon enough we were out in the crisp winter air, a few more months and it would be spring but right now we were in January and it was freezing fucking cold.

I tucked my fingers into my jacket and walked behind Killian, with Perish leading us out of the city and Reaver doing a quick scout to make sure we were still alone. The kreigers had all gone back into their nests by now and the city had fallen into its eerie calm. One that seemed so false I could almost taste it on the air.

I would not miss this city, but in a way it felt like I was leaving yet another part of Skyfall behind, a part of Elish.

When Reaver gave us the all clear we started to sprint. Weaving around congested roads and downed power lines, following the scientist at a steady pace as we made our way to the outskirts of the city.

We followed Perish but Reaver kept branching off. He came back twenty minutes later and discreetly handed me a bloody plastic bag.

I stared at him.

“That’s...”

“Just his liver, iron is good for you, Cicaro.” Reaver gave me a smirk. “Ever taste chimera before, Jade?”