The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (30 page)

I walked over to one of my favourite benches and sat down, immediately I lit a cigarette and inhaled. The blue ember brightened like an electric blueberry and filled my lungs with the smooth biting taste of good quality tobacco.

Silas lit one too and sat down beside me, still not saying anything.

We smoked together but with each inhale of the smoke my apprehension grew. When I had killed the cigarette I flicked it into one of the ashtray sculptures Garrett had up here and immediately went to light another one.

“I miss him, Reno.”

I stopped, the Zippo lighter burning the end of my smoke. I pulled the lighter away and took out the cigarette. “Reaver?”

Silas was staring forward, at the blue-tinged sky in front of us, the sun high in the sky bathing him in its faint warm light. Today was a beautiful day, and the golden-haired king seemed made for it.

He nodded slowly; his eyes looked troubled. “I enjoyed having him as my friend. Do you think that’s strange?”

I shrugged and replied back honestly, “You know you could have continued to be his friend if you didn’t… try and rape him, then molested and tortured Killian, and then stalked him and killed Reaver’s parents. Just sayin’.”

Silas snorted and looked over at me. “I admire your honesty. My subjects would rather die than speak to me in that way.”

“I’m not a subject, just a dirty-blooded greywaster,” I said back to him. “You could’ve been his best bud for a long time. You know, he loves Killian to pieces and he would never leave him for you… but you would’ve had a lot more success trying to just be yourself. Once you went crazy, you kinda lost it.”

I looked to my side and he looked back. His eyes struck me, I never realized how vividly green they were.

I decided to press him. “Once you strip away all that… crazy shit about you, you’re a cool dude. Why did you have to fuck everything up? You realize he’ll hate you literally for all eternity now, right?”

“You know he belongs to me, right? And that I can treat him, and you, how I want, right?” Silas said coolly back. His body stiffened and I knew my honesty was starting to lose its charm. “Just like I saved your ancestors from the radiation.”

That you fucking caused.

“Reaver doesn’t belong to anyone,” I said to him. “And you didn’t create him. Leo did and he’s dead now, thanks to you.”

And that was it for our cordial conversation. “If you’re going to be marrying my second born chimera, I suggest you start learning your place, Reno Dekker.”

Reno Dekker. Jeez, he really knew where to prod me. I relented with a sigh and put my hands in the air. Garrett told me I was safe here but I don’t think he was taking into account that I was an idiot.

“Alright, sorry. You can’t blame me; you ruined my fucking life in the greywastes. I haven’t seen or heard from Reaver in months, or Killian. I’m worried sick about them.” I shook my head. “I miss him too, man. Fuck, I am so worried about him.”

“It’s not like he can die.”

“Tinkerbell can.”

“Tinkerbell
will
.”

I dashed my cigarette ash onto the turf, and watched a crow land on the railing surrounding Garrett’s roof. It cawed at the both of us.

“Do you know why I want him so badly, Reno?”

Yes, I do. Garrett had told me and Elish had told me. “Reaver was cloned from you, which is why he’s all psychopathic and murdery I guess.” I shrugged. “You made him for the sole reason…”

“– for the sole reason to replace Sky,” Silas finished even though I wasn’t going to finish with that. I had heard of Sky but I just knew he was Silas’s boyfriend way back in the day. He was long dead, killed himself to get away from Silas, rumor has it.

“He reminds me so much of him sometimes.” Silas glanced behind him when we heard a noise. I did too and saw Sanguine had joined us, but he was keeping in the shadows feeding birdseed to the crows. For all I know the sengil had been there since we had arrived. That chimera was sneaky and quick.

Silas watched the crow start to peck at the seed, it had red eyes which was creepy yet suiting. “The first time I saw Reaver, it was just like looking at my beautiful Sky. Same darkness, same air about him that seeps confidence and control. My Sky was a tyrant, an abusive, terror of a person. But when I had him alone we melted into each other’s arms. I understood him, no one understood him like I did.”

I cringed as Silas put a hand on mine. “Reno, I know very well where your loyalties lie and I have been kind enough to look past them because Garrett loves you. But I want you to consider something. Reaver was engineered from my own DNA, and I know myself more than I know anyone. Reaver needs me to help him learn to control his urges. He’ll destroy Killian; he’ll eventually kill Killian. Killian is weak, a wraith of a creature who Reaver will probably drive to insanity. As much as Reaver loves him, a born immortal cannot be with a greywaster. Reaver will eventually kill him or get him killed. If you want what is best for Reaver let me train him and teach him how to control his impulses before it’s too late. Let me make sure –” Oddly, the king paused, and to my shock, I thought I saw true raw emotion pass through his features.

“– let me make sure he doesn’t end up like me.”

I stared at him, feeling dumbfounded. Was he trying to get information out of me? I wasn’t sure but I felt awkward and uncomfortable with what he was saying.

No, it didn’t matter though, either way, no matter what he was doing, I knew he was wrong. Reaver was Killian’s protector, not someone he ever had to be afraid of. He loved Killian more than anyone in the world loved anyone.

“And I loved Sky,” Silas chuckled dryly. Once again I was thrown off balance; it was like he had read my mind. “Look what happened to my Sky, Reno. Look what I did to him. He was my… my everything and I miss him everyday. He wasn’t weak like Killian, Sky was strong. A beast, a monster… he beat on me, tormented me, and reminded me whenever we fought that it was my fault for ending the world. That I had caused it. I had thought –” Silas stopped himself, which I felt odd. The slippery king always had a way of crafting his words like he was shaping ivory stone, but he seemed to be giving me more information than he meant to.

“If he was so bad… I don’t understand why you miss him so much,” I said back. For some reason I felt the urge to spare him the backtracking after he had caught himself giving too much personal information.

“No…” Silas whispered. “You wouldn’t understand. You wouldn’t understand just how much I loved him.”

“So you want to bring Reaver here so he can smack you around? Call you names and treat you like shit. Why?”

“I would do it right this time,” Silas replied, lighting another cigarette. “That’s what he is to me, my second chance. I can get my born immortal and Reaver can get the man who he is destined to be with. We can rule Skyfall and the greywastes together… like it was always meant to be.”

Sounds like you’re a bit fucked in the head, buddy.

“Sounds like you have it all planned out.” That though was what I said out loud; I wasn’t that stupid.

“You’ll see, Reno. I’m the only one who can control Reaver, who can tame him and help him. He will destroy Killian. A greywaster cannot be with a born immortal, they’re too weak and that boy is even weaker.”

I nodded and inhaled some smoke. I blew it out slowly. “Why are you telling me this?”

Silas was quiet for a moment. Then his dark green eyes, the colours of the sprouting plants around us, brightened. He smiled almost sadly at me. “Because I am patient and I know you must have an idea as to where he is hiding.” My heart froze and at this he laughed. I swore inside of my head and wondered if I just confirmed something to him with my heartbeat or if I could cop it up to just being directly called out on where he might be. “Just watch him, Reno. Watch and see for yourself. He’s darkness encompassed, and this ghost belongs in darkness.”

Silas rose.

“You say he’s all bad because he was engineered this way. Well, if he’s from your own DNA, he can’t be that bad,” I said with a shrug. “Because I knew you in the greywastes and before you took it too far… you were an okay guy.”

The king froze and turned around. I was surprised to see I had touched a nerve, though it confused me as to what one.

“I am not okay, Reno,” Silas whispered, slowly shaking his head back and forth. “And perhaps what this boils down to… is that I need Reaver to make me okay, just as much as I want to make him okay.”

His words rattled me like he had just spoken an earthquake. Out of all the things he said to me that, I think, had the biggest impact. It wasn’t a subtle manipulation or a way to try and get me to sell out Reaver. I had this sinking feeling inside of me that, if anything, what he had just said was the truth.

Silas was the Mad King. We all knew this. We had all
seen
this. Would… would Reaver really calm him down? Perhaps…

I let out my last breath of smoke and flicked the cigarette off the top of the skyscraper. I… had never thought of it like that. What if that was the truth? What if Silas was actually speaking to me from his heart? If he knew I might know where Reaver was he could have tortured the information out of me, or tried at least.

I was confused; I felt butterflies start to tear each other apart inside of my gut. I didn’t like this small portion of my brain and heart edging towards sympathizing with Silas, or at the very least, understanding it from his point of view. He was wrong and he was going about this wrong but… deep down inside I understood his logic and his reasoning.

Garrett had said Elish was promising the chimeras their own partners, even immortal partners once he came into power. Because King Silas became jealous when his creations had men to call their own, lovers that they might love more than Silas.

But if Silas had his lover…

FUCK, RENO! I clenched my teeth and forced it out of me, feeling a boiling anger and shame rush through my body. I started calling myself every derogatory name in the book. I felt so ashamed of myself I felt like punching myself in the face.

How could I even… poor Tinky. Fuck, sorry, Tinkerbell, I didn’t mean to think those thoughts. Please forgive me.

“I set your wedding date,” Silas said as we rode down to Garrett’s apartment floor. Sanguine beside us with his hands behind his back. “July, in the summer time. Elish’s wedding was rather rushed, so I would like to hold a nice one for you two. I do love Garrett with all my heart.”

The elevator dinged and when it opened Sanguine stood back and let us walk out first.

“In that time and after… think about my words. I’ll be in and out of Skyfall seeking Reaver, but that is not new.” Silas waited outside of the door as Sanguine slipped in. I could hear him talking to Drake. “Thankfully my chimeras are more than happy to pick up their brothers’ duties. Which is good considering Jade is still injured. He certainly is a pathetic excuse for a chimera, but he is my creation and I love him.” Silas’s face brightened when he saw Drake. “There’s my boy, did you have fun?”

Drake grinned and rolled back and forth on the heels of his tight leather boots. “Yeah, I watched King of the Hill. Can we watch it when we get home?”

“Of course.” Silas brushed Drake’s hair back caringly, before turning to me. “We will take our leave. Do remember my words, and if there is anything you wish to ask me… I will be there.”

I nodded, still feeling the butterflies eat each other inside of my stomach. “Okay.”

Silas put a hand on my cheek and smiled, before leaning in and gently kissing me on the lips. “You two will have to have me over one night; I do miss your body on top of mine.”

I stared at him in shock and Silas laughed. I think that reaction was what he wanted because he kissed me one last time and left.

I felt physically exhausted after King Silas and the other two left. Silas and Sanguine both had a presence to them that just mentally drained you. Now that they were gone I downed myself a shot of rum and laid down for a nap. Chimeras were missing out with their unusual lack of napping. I wouldn’t be able to survive being awake twenty hours a day. There just wasn’t that much to do in a day in the greywastes, especially when I was stuck in the cabin. You can only jerk off so many times before things start to chafe.

My mind needed a bit of time to sort itself too. I was confused and rattled with what Asher-Silas had told me. I think the part that confused me the most was that I understood where he was coming from.

There was nothing I could do about it though. No way in whatever hells there were would I ever sell out Reaver and Killian. Even if Reaver had been going off the handle after what Nero had done to him, on top of the stress of everything else, who could really blame him for acting a bit loco. He had been through a lot over the past several months. Leo and Greyson raised Reaver and he had to watch them get shot right in front of him.

A thousand and one racing thoughts went through my mind as I lay in me and Garrett’s bed. I didn’t even realize I had drifted off to sleep but the next thing I knew I could hear the sound of the television coming from the living room, telling me that Garrett was home.

I got up with a yawn and walked out into the living room to greet my partner.

But as soon as my eyes fell on my fiancé, sitting over the laptop… I froze in place.