by M. K. Gibson
Gh’aliss grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand to under her chin as she tilted her head back. There were three massive scars.
Three times she’d been hung on that hook.
There was a connection with her again in that moment. My fingertips ran along her scars, each one a memory of pain and suffering.
“Three times?” I asked.
“Yes. Khlabra was born here. In this room. Each time upon my release, I found a new way back.”
“Do you want to know where I was born?” Yeela asked, wrenching my head suddenly, my hand dropping from Gh’aliss. “In a lab when Gh’aliss had to subject herself to tests to make money.”
“We owe our entire life to you,” Khlabra said.
“My offspring can be dramatic. But they are correct. After my incarceration, the only way I could make money was to work as a prostitute. Thanks to my appearance, Wrath demons became my major clientele. A Hell-sponsored lab of humans were running tests on demonic physiology to advance medicine. It was fortuitous, as I learned new skills besides the ones in the bedroom. Running drugs and pharmaceutics can be quite lucrative. And many drugs are quite deadly. You humans were very inventive, discovering newer and deadlier ways of killing.”
“Let me guess. That’s what landed you a trip to this place?”
“Exactly. Khlabra’s and my second. But poor Yeela was kept in the lab, she was but a child. She was tortured in her own way. Experimented on. Yet she is of my blood. She endured. As I endured this place. Each time I was here, I survived and made my way back into the world. Amazing what a human’s cast-off fuck toy with knowledge of herbs and chemicals can accomplish in a prison full of horny inmates. When I was freed, I took my offspring back. We established a nice little business of contraband and unlicensed drug pushing.”
“Until you got caught?” I asked.
Gh’aliss ignored the question. She looked at her daughters with pride before turning back to me. “I do not know how long our stay will be this time. I no longer wish to just survive. I want more.”
“Meaning?”
“I am currently poised to take over the Brute Clan. When I do, I will have a much larger sway with the rest of the prison. But if I had Reynolds with me once more—well, I know I could run this place. We could run this place.”
“You don’t need me,” I said. “If you can run the Brutes, then you can use the muscle to do as you wish.”
“Don’t play coy, Reynolds. Word is out on you. Even as a Nomad, you and your giant friend have been quite useful. I hear you have a stash of goods and tech somewhere.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I smiled.
When I used to be Reynolds, I was unstoppable. And in truth, after a month here, I did what came naturally and I was successful. And with Chael getting my back, yeah, I was fairly badass.
I took a moment to imagine having the cutthroat nature of Gh’aliss by my side once again. Coupled with my skills and Chael, there was nothing—
Oh.
“Oh, fuck me, Gh’aliss. You almost had me. You’re scared of Chael, aren’t you? He’s who you want. Otherwise you, or someone else, would have raided my stash,” I said. “Hell, the reason you all came to collect me so fast was because he wasn’t with me, wasn’t it? Win me over and you get the engine of destruction as a bonus.”
Gh’aliss shrugged. “He is formidable. There is something about him, something off.”
“Besides being ten feet tall and a complete wackadoodle?”
“Don’t be coy,” Gh’aliss chided. “There is a presence to him. Power. Perhaps one of the nephilim. A scion of Goliath, perhaps.”
“Or he just ate his Wheaties.” I half shrugged.
“I do not recall you being this . . . glib when we were together. I do not care for it. Yes, I want the giant. He is the only ones the Brutes are truly scared of. If he was under my—our—control, they would not dare rise up against us.”
Gh’aliss paused and considered her words. “Flattery aside, you are a dangerous man. Or you were. Where is the man who spit in the eye of his betters? Where is the man who defied humans and Hell itself to make his own path?”
“I told you, Reynolds is gone. If you want to partner up, you have to do it with Salem.”
“I look forward to . . . doing it with Salem.”
Well, that was forward. But, hell, I wasn’t exactly swimming in dates before prison. Since coming here, the closest thing I’ve had to sexual gratification came from a forward advance by that reporter and when I was nearly violated by Toothless’s buddy.
“Salem put on a very good show in the fighting pits after our indoctrination. People remember him. Maybe he is who I truly want,” Gh’aliss said with a purr. “So, do we have an agreement?”
I thought about it. I really thought about it. My meeting with Gerhardt revealed my sentencing timetable. The consequences were clear: If the ruling went south, then I was going to be here for— well, forever. And the way he spoke, it sounded like it was a done deal. If that was the case, then I’d rather live in power than fear.
Until I escaped.
A plan came to my mind. A really, really stupid plan. Thus I knew it was a Salem original.
“What can you get your hands on?” I asked.
“Why, Mr. Salem, are we negotiating?”
“Possibly. If I help you, then there are some things I am going to need. If I do this, then there is nothing and no one on this island who could stand up to us short of Gregg or Mastema himself?”
“Gregg?” Gh’aliss asked.
“Gerhardt,” I said, noting that she didn’t know that. “But it doesn’t matter. I think I have an idea.”
“Oh, do tell, Rey—Salem.”
“In due time. There’s something I need to do first.”
Smiling, I concentrated on the spots where Yeela’s talons were, along my throat and stomach. Instantly, the Collective threw up a small force field as I quickly grabbed both her wrists. The demon tried the old cut-and-gut, but found herself up against the marvel of modern technology, by way of Nikola Goddamn Tesla.
With surprise on my side, and a death lock on her wrists, I spun in an intricate circle like a swing dance revivalist until I was face to face with her.
“Hiya,” I said as I gave her a quick kiss on her lips, head butted her nose, then heaved her hard, launching her feral ass against the wall.
The moment Khlabra came up out of her chair, I planted a boot between her big boobs, setting her ass in the chair.
“Stay down!” I yelled in my best commanding voice. “I think it’s been too long since we fought in the arena. Otherwise, you assholes might remember that even on the worst day of my life, I can kick your collective asses.”
I quickly glanced over my shoulder and I saw Gh’aliss leaning against the wall, watching me with a look of admiration mixed with a hint of desire. She allowed her lavender hair to fall in front of her face, covering the burns. Once again, I felt like a man in power and with her as my loyal concubine.
Just how she wanted me to feel.
Damn it. She was good.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll show myself out. You’ll hear from me within a day with my answer.”
“I look forward to it, darling,” Gh’aliss said as she cast stern glares at her daughters. Focusing back on me, she tilted her head to one side. “Out of curiosity, what was it you wanted me to attempt to procure for you?”
I shrugged and told her.
Gh’aliss just looked back at me as if I asked her to pull an Excalibur-wielding monkey from her vagina.
“You can’t be serious.”
“It’s what I need. You help me get that, and we’re in business.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Then I look forward to seeing you again,” I said as I left the room and made my way out of the Fixers’ compound and back to Chael’s domain.
************************
“So, that’s my plan,” I said to Chael as I smoke
d another cigarette.
I really wanted one of the ones I stole from Gerhardt. But I needed to go easy on those. Lord knows when I would be able to swipe another batch. If ever. Plus, for what I had in mind, I was going to need them.
“Chael, are you listening? I just laid it all out to you. Everything. Including my awesome escape plan, which you are rather an intrical part of. So, thoughts?”
“Intrical isn’t a word. You mean integral.”
Huh . . . I’ve been saying it wrong for over two hundred years? Well, I’m glad Urban Dictionary doesn’t exist anymore.
“So that’s your offering to this conversation? Grammar lessons?”
“No.”
“OK, good.”
“Vocabulary lessons. Grammar would be correcting your sentence structure,” Chael rumbled as he sat down on his bed of kelp and seaweed.
“Oh fucking hell, can you get us off this island the same way you got on or not?”
“Yes. If I choose to.”
“Well, then, will you?”
“If I have reason. Go away now. I wish no longer to suffer the sound of your soul. Instead the harmony of darkness calls. Yes . . . in darkness is where courage goes. Goes there, and dies,” Chael said, rolling over, ignoring me and sanity once more.
I watched the water for a while, letting my thoughts become lost in the lapping of the waves and smell of the sea. It was hypnotic, in a way. I never was a water person. The people that just had to go to the beach or go fishing.
I mean, who likes the beach? Aside from nearly nude people, back in the day it was hot and miserable. It smelled of a fish’s asshole, sweat, and lotion. And that was before you got sand in places so deep, I’m surprised I never made a pearl in my butt cheeks. And now? Hell, beaches were places you went to die. Deep Ones, and their Lesser Deep, loved a free meal.
But in that moment, as my idiotic plan coalesced in my mind, I didn’t mind being there. It was calming. Soothing.
“Why are you still here?” I heard Chael ask with his back to me. Apparently I was interrupting his beauty sleep by existing too close to him.
“Good night, big guy. Some changes are coming. Hopefully my plan isn’t too stupid.”
“You are the product of sperm and egg, temperature, timing, and ovulation. Everything you do is stupid. Go.”
On that lovely note, I made my way back to my room in the lookout tower. As I laid my head down on my moldy pillow, I let myself dare to hope and dream again. If Gh’aliss and her Brutes could get me what I needed, then I would have a new network of eyes and ears on this island. And possibly, a way to escape.
“Get out of my bed,” a voice in the room said.
I sat up, switching my eyes to night vision. I spotted the source of the voice.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked, shocked to see her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Size Ratios of Inter-Species Intercourse
Two weeks later…
“Tell me again why we are doing this?” Khlabra asked me for the third time.
“Because the ones outside of Chael’s lair are too rotten to be of use.”
“And they are delicious,” Chael interjected.
“See? You can’t deprive a growing giant of his nutrition,” I said as I carefully peered over the small hill. From my position on my stomach I counted two of them.
Perfect.
“OK, does everyone know the plan?” I asked the ten Brutes, Khlabra, Yeela, and Chael, all of whom were laying as flat and as still as possible.
“I don’t understand why Gh’aliss listens to a pathetic human like you,” one of the hellion Brutes said.
“Because she’s fucking him,” another said.
I sighed. “Yeela, Chael?”
Chael lashed out with a massive foot, connecting with the first hellion’s jaw, ripping it away. Chael’s next foot came down on the back of the hellion’s neck, snapping it and killing him instantly. Yeela stealthily leaped onto the second hellion and slashed her clawed thumb across his throat so deeply, it severed not only his arteries but also his windpipe.
“We’re down two people now because they were stupid. Anyone else have a fucking comment?” I asked. When none of the hellions spoke, I looked back at our prey.
“We are only doing this because you’re fucking her,” Khlabra whispered.
“Well no shit,” I whispered back. “Who the hell would attack one of the golems if they weren’t ordered to?”
In the last two weeks, Gh’aliss and I had slipped back into our old ways. Killing Bhalin cemented her power and her established dominance over the Brutes. Afterward, we’d set up an alliance with The Fixers, mending bridges ever since Twitch went missing.
All of which was step one of my plan: secure an allegiance with those who held the tech. The next step was getting my hands on a couple of golems. But the trick was, it had to look like a failure. Hence my ten—well, now eight—disposable goons. For this to work, anyone investigating the area would have to see a pile of bodies.
The hellions didn’t know they were going to die. They assumed a couple may go down, but they had no idea that for my plan to work, all of them had to be slaughtered. It took some convincing, and a lot of hours in private “negotiations” with Gh’aliss, but she picked ten Brutes deemed disposable.
“OK, let’s do this. First wave, you’re up,” I said and two of the hellions got up and made their way around the hill, appearing to be just two Brutes looking for some trouble to get into.
The Brutes walked towards the golems and froze when they saw them. The golems began walking toward the Brutes, who then took off running towards the alleyway of Fixer territory and along the great wall. The golems followed with a face-paced lumber.
Good. “Next wave, go,” I ordered. The six remaining Brutes advanced from the hill, appearing to be another patrol looking for their “idiot friends” who were then cornered by two golems. Once I heard the sounds of screams of pain and combat, I looked at Khlabra, Yeela, and Chael.
“OK, we’re up. Chael, you know what to do?”
“Hmm?”
“Focus, Lenny, focus. You’re attracted by the noise and death. Go get the golems. But don’t kill them both. I need one alive.”
“I want a bunny.”
“Fine . . . I’ll find you a bunny.”
“OK.” Chael said as he rose to his massive height and began making his way to the sound of the dying.
“You two ready?”
“I still do not understand why we are doing this,” Khlabra said, crossing her four arms.
“You’re going to have to trust me like you mother does.”
“Hopefully not like her. You humans are . . . inadequate for my needs,” Khlabra said while Yeela giggled.
“Oh shut up,” I said, ignoring the mechanics of relative size ratios of inter-species intercourse.
I moved from the hiding spot and made my way into position while Yeela and Khlabra entered the fray, helping their Brutes. From my vantage point, the plan was working.
The Brutes lured the golems into the alley and began a battle. Chael, being drawn to the sounds of pain and suffering, wandered in. When the first golem advanced on Chael, he reacted as he always did, punching it so hard the patchwork man’s head exploded. Everything was perfect.
Until the remaining golem got a lucky punch, striking Chael.
“Oh shit. Shit shit shit! Chael, no!” I yelled, sprinting. “Khlabra, Yeela, stop him!”
Chael looked at the golem and flashed his teeth as he pulled back his huge fist, ready to destroy it. Khlabra barreled into Chael down low while Yeela went high. The four-armed demon barely came to his chest. As strong as she was, she was an annoyance to Chael. He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and tossed her aside as Yeela leaped in, clawing and slashing at Chael’s face.
“Ahh!” Yeela screamed as her claw broke on Chael’s stone-like skin. The distraction was enough for me to fish out the device I had the Fixers make for m
e and a black sackcloth. I Jumped onto the golem’s back, jamming the device, an auto-injection needle, into its neck, hoping there was enough living physiology in it that Gh’aalis’s homemade sedative would knock it out.
“Oh, yes,” Chael said as he saw me jump onto the golem.
Chael reached back his fist and swung for the golem as I threw the sackcloth over the monster’s head. Chael’s blow knocked the creature down on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. The body went limp, but with my hands around its neck, I felt a pulse. It was still “alive” but out cold.
Perfect.
I looked at Chael. “What the fuck were you thinking? I told you one!” I yelled. “Not two!”
The remaining Brutes, Yeela, and Khlabra looked on in shock as I verbally admonished the giant as if he were a child.
“It struck me. I found displeasure in that.”
“Oh no, something dared hit you. That’s it, no bunny for you!”
“But—”
“No! Bad giant!” I yelled. “Get your ass home. Now!”
Chael glared at me, then hung his head and walked off, back towards our home. He looked back at me once. “You promised.”
“And you said you understood the plan,” I countered while I pointed. “Move it mister! Ah ah ah, you forgetting something?”
Chael came back and hoisted up the dead and unconscious golems and began the trudge back to our base.
When Chael was gone I turned back to the Brutes. “Kids, huh? You try and raise them right.”
“You’re insane,” Khlabra said.
“Yeah, maybe. You OK, Yeela?”
“What’s he made of?” Yeela asked as she licked her broken talon.
“Apparently adamantium. Or maybe that bio-organic metal Colossus turns into.”
“What are you talking about?”