by Quil Carter
Ivan flicked his cigarette away. “I’ve been trying to tell you, Elish – we are done here. We’ve won, we got our land back and the Bratvas are dead and near dead. You have this under control, and my family wants to go back to the greywastes.”
Anger pricked me like his words had sharpened ends. I had to take in a deep breath to keep myself calm. “You’re done when I say you’re done, Ivan,” I said, ice coating each syllable that left my lips. “You will do this job, and tell me what you need from me to have it happen.”
I couldn’t see his eyes through the sunglasses, but I knew the man was glaring me down with a lethal fire behind his eyes. I cared not however; Silas was so in my pocket all I’d have to do is snap my fingers and point and he’d send half the thien force to their doorstep. Ivan knew this, which was why Ivan was going to behave himself.
I didn’t break my gaze; I stared at Ivan as the man glared back, and it was almost a minute and a half before he finally looked away. “I’ll help myself to the armoury,” he said stiffly. “This better pay well.”
“I’ll give you enough for you to have a proper send off,” I responded.
Ivan looked back to me. “You’ll let us go after this?”
I nodded. I didn’t want to, but with the super hero shit being effective… it might work. Ivan had no reason to betray me once he returned home, and it would leave the door open for future dealings. “For now. I may call you for a comeback once the city gets used to peace, but for now, yes.”
“It’s been a pleasure working with you, Elish,” Ivan said. He held out his hand and we shook, both of our grips only getting more steeled throughout the years. “I think we were both waiting for that backstab during the first year. I learned that chimeras can be trustworthy, just as you learned that greywasters can be too.”
“Indeed they can,” I said with a nod. I reached into my overcoat and pulled out a rolled-up wad of Skyfall currency. “See if you can get a hold of some interesting weapons with this. The newspaper will be all over a new rocket launcher or a flamethrower.” As I said this, a glint appeared in Ivan’s hazel eyes. He took the bills and placed them into his own pocket.
“You’re the boss, Elish,” he said. “I will certainly miss these little perks.”
Ivan and I had several more exchanges but they were nothing of importance. Soon I was walking back along that dark alleyway towards the walls of Moros where my car would be waiting. It would’ve been something to look at to see a black car even near the walls of Moros so I’d borrowed Julian’s old Taurus. It was a nuisance of a vehicle and it looked like garbage, but a car like that was typical in Nyx and no one would look twice at it.
The drive home had my mind full of dark ideas. I was excited to have such a golden opportunity present itself to me on a silver platter.
Ivan didn’t understand, just like Julian didn’t understand…
There was a reason why I was so adamant about giving Silas another breakdown.
I asked him for one fucking thing… one god damn request…
I parked the car in Julian’s parking spot in Alegria and grabbed my bag. I glanced down at another newspaper article I’d clipped and decided to scan through it as I walked back to my apartment.
They certainly did love super heroes. No matter what era it was, people will always eat up anything that reminds them of treasured movies.
I opened the door to my apartment and was immediately greeted by Finn’s smiling face.
But, being me, I only gave him a confused look and then glanced past him. “Why are you still here, old man? I thought I kicked you out months ago. Where’s my young, viral new sengil?”
I got a glaring look for my comment. “I’ll just be happy you seem to be in a good mood and ignore that quip,” he said. He quickly kissed me and helped me remove my jacket. “Your lips are icicles, Master Elish. Did everything go well?” His corkscrew curls were several inches past his ears now, with tips that curled up into cowlicks he was forever trying to get rid of. Finn was all the more handsome at thirty-two, the boyish look now gone with the passage of time. He was five-foot-nine with a triangle-shaped face that was clean shaven, dark eyebrows that lowered and rose with his overly expressive features, and lips I had trouble staying away from when the rest of my family was around. Julian and I had even bullied him into piercing his ears, one in each lobe. I myself had three, and Julian, I believe, was up to ten now.
But even though I enjoyed admiring Finn’s beauty, there was other things on my mind. “Not well,” I said bitterly. I removed my shoes and walked to the living room. There was a mug of tea waiting for me, and thankfully two closed bedroom doors. Jack, along with Apollo and Artemis, were living with me for the month. “Ivan has one more show to put on with me, then he says he’s going back to the greywastes.”
Finn breathed a sigh of relief behind me. I gave him a glare for that as I sat down.
“Don’t look at me like that, this insanity with him has gone on for six years too long,” Finn hissed. He sat down as well with his own mug of tea and pushed a plate of donuts towards me. “I don’t know why you trust that asshole. One word, one damn word to the wrong person and you’re–” He glanced towards the hallway which would lead to the bedrooms, then lowered his voice. There was no need for him to do that however, all of our bedrooms were soundproof since Silas was adamant the young chimeras hear nothing of what goes on in older chimeras’ bedrooms. But Finn was paranoid. “–and you’re caught.”
“I’m aware of that, you’re right,” I said, bringing the chai tea up to my lips. This, of course, made Finn stare at me like I’d just put a curse on him. It wasn’t often I agreed with what he was saying and didn’t immediately shoot him down. “I’m not happy at all with having him leave Skyfall. Because of me, he’s one of the most powerful greywasters in the western greywastes. He has money, power, and a large family.”
“Not to mention you’re letting him keep slaves,” Finn said, his tone unimpressed and just a bit too condescending for my taste. But I’d stopped verbally snapping him in half years ago. He was one of the few remaining people who didn’t mind talking back to me. “Have you created a monster, Master Elish?”
“Perhaps,” I muttered. I reached to the counter and picked a cigarette from the tin. I observed that four were missing from when I’d taken my last one, this morning. I would be speaking to Apollo and Artemis tomorrow about that.
“Did he appear… hostile? More than usual?”
I shook my head. “If he did I would’ve put a bullet in his head then and there,” I said. Finn looked horrified at the thought, but I continued. “The man has chosen a bad time to go back to his wasteland. I need that final nail in Silas’s coffin. I don’t like how authoritative he’s been getting with me.”
“You mean like… what happened at Ceph’s party?”
My teeth clenched at the thought. I didn’t want to think about it. I busied myself lighting the cigarette but my mind had already started reliving the memory.
One fucking request…
I will not go into detail, but several years ago I’d requested something from Silas. A request that I’d hoped his renewed love and pride for me would grant. I’d asked Silas not to make me the receiving partner when I slept with him. My brothers didn’t have the authority to make me do it, but Silas did. I’d asked him and he’d agreed that if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have to go through it.
Needless to say, for reasons I didn’t know, or perhaps no reason at all, Silas decided to take back his promise during Apollo and Artemis’s birthday. He decided to take back his promise in full view of my brothers, including both boys, and Ceph.
It was humiliating. Down right fucking–
“Elish!” Finn’s voice came right as the tea cup I’d been holding shattered in my grip. I looked down at it, surprised at how far my thoughts had taken me, and felt the boiling hot liquid sear my hand as it coated my skin and dripped down onto the floor.
Finn shot up and ran to the
bathroom. I continued to stare down at my hand, blood now joining the tea as it leaked from two lacerations on my palm.
Finn sped back and wrapped my hand in a towel. “Jesus, you’re going to have another damn heart attack,” he whispered hastily. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine,” I said. I rose and walked to the bathroom so I could put my hand under the tap.
On the way to the bathroom, the door to Apollo and Artemis’s bedroom opened. Apollo poked his head out, his silver hair messed up but his purple eyes wide awake enough to suggest I hadn’t woken him.
“Everything okay?” he asked. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and when Artemis appeared behind him, he wasn’t wearing one either. There was no surprise what those two were doing. I was done finding such things weird. Our family was weird, we’d all accepted that long ago.
“Everything is fine, go back to your room,” I said to the both of them. I walked past them, and when I saw Jack’s door begin to open, I reached over and pulled it back shut. He got the hint after that, and didn’t try reopening the door. It was a pain having so many young and juvenile chimeras around, but at least we didn’t have baby Drake tonight.
I put my hand underneath the tap, and ground my teeth when I overheard Apollo and Artemis chittering to Finn about getting the sutures from the medical kit. I ignored them and washed the blood off of my stinging and burning hand. Thankfully, the two cuts wouldn’t need stitches, just a band aid would be fine.
I was content at least to see only Finn in the living room when I emerged, and Apollo and Artemis’s door closed. I allowed Finn to bandage my hand and lit myself another cigarette.
“You’re going to watch yourself with Ivan, right?” Finn asked calmly. “You’re making emotional deci-”
“Don’t lecture me, I know,” I snapped, cutting him off. I hated how he’d directly call me out like that. I didn’t give a single fuck that this newest malice towards Silas stemmed from that incident at the party, all I cared about was destroying that stupid bastard for humiliating me. “I have enough on my mind, I don’t need you nattering at me.”
“Nattering?” Finn said incredulously. He let out a breath through his nose and finished bandaging my wounds. Surprisingly, when he spoke again his tone had returned to neutral. He knew by now that picking fights would only have him sleeping on the floor. “What are you going to do about Ivan? Were you just going to let him leave?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “I need time to think about it.”
“And what about the Sky clone Silas was speaking about? Are you planning on–”
Finn stopped when he saw the expression on my face. “I don’t want to speak of this right now,” I said.
It was time for me to get some sleep anyway, so with Finn following behind, I went to my bedroom. I knew my sleep would be disrupted, but that being said, some of my best plans had come during my sleepless nights.
When we were both in bed, I felt Finn shift towards me, then an apprehensive hand creeped up over my chest. When I didn’t verbally rip him to shreds, he snuggled up next to me and let out a content breath.
I sighed in defeat and let him rest his head in the crook of my arm. “Hurry up and go to sleep, I have a lot of thinking to do.”
He laughed lightly and whispered, “You know you can think when I’m awake, right?”
“You’re noisy when you’re awake.”
“I am not!”
I bent the arm that his head was resting on so that it was squeezing his neck in a vice-grip. Finn squealed and laughed, then dug his elbow into my side. That was one of the only sensitive spots I had, so I released him with a smile.
“I love you, just so you know,” he said after we’d both settled down. “I hope you come up with another maniacal Elish plan. One that will have them all eating from the palm of your hand.” He yawned during the last several words, then shifted himself closer to me.
I did love him. They keep telling me I was in love with him, but every time I was cornered… I denied it.
In the world of mental wars, I was a god, but in the clutches of love… I was a coward in paper armour.
I wish I was braver.
“I will,” I said. I rested my chin against his head and closed my eyes, feeling a perfect calmness that I only got to experience at times like these. “Good night, Finn.”
“Lovely boy!” Silas crowed when he saw me. He laughed when Kessler shouted my name and allowed my younger brother to run up and hug my leg. That boy did love me, and even though I was always underneath his feet on the second floor, he’d act like I hadn’t seen him in ages.
I reached into my pocket and gave Kessler a box of chocolates that had been given to me by some elite wanting to curry favours. “Share them with your brothers,” I said. Spoiling this boy’s appetite was never a concern; he was half brute chimera and ate just as ravenously as Nero and Ceph, and most likely Ares and Siris in Moros.
Kessler whooped, then the brown-haired boy turned around and ran to Valen and Jack’s shared bedroom. I could hear video games and bickering boys in that room, it still was never quiet here.
“Esh!”
Baby Drake toddled out of the boys’ bedroom with an eye-squishing smile on his face. Our youngest chimera was quite the Gerber baby. He had an afro of curly blond hair and eyes that looked like two tangerines. The boy was well-behaved as well and rarely got into trouble. Silas was concerned for the first several months of his life that he had hearing loss considering he never cried.
And to that boy… I was Esh. At least until he got a better hold of talking at least.
“Hello, Drake,” I said to him. I’d already given away the chocolate, so I dug into my pockets and presented the boy with a set of keys on a keychain. Drake’s eyes lit up and he grabbed them with an awed look.
Silas chuckled, then he walked over to me and gave me a hug. I was angry enough with him to be tempted to push him away, but those impulses were well-controlled. I never acted on them anymore.
“How was your medical checkup, golden boy?” Silas asked. He pulled away and put his hand on my heart, a glimpse of worry on his face.
Silas made all first gen chimeras receive extensive medical checks every three months now. My heart attack had put not only my family, but the scientists on edge. They were worried that because we were clones, our lifespans would be shortened.
It had been a bad several months when the scientists approached Silas about this fear. He’d been clingy towards us ever since, but being the Mad King he was, this also alternated to him being furious at me and the others for not figuring out the immortal code.
“It went well,” I said. I put my hand on top of Silas’s hand, still resting on my chest. “My heart is as healthy as it’s ever been.”
I wish that was the truth.
“And… any progress?” Silas asked, his tone fading to the point of transparency.
“We do have a new theory we’re trying out,” I said, making my tone encouraged. Silas brightened at this. “Perish and I have been spending a lot of time together, and he’s been suggesting that we may be overcomplicating things.” I leaned down and picked up Drake who was tugging on my pant leg and walked to the couch. “He’s been trying to put himself in Sky’s shoes and think like him.”
This had been no side project. I’d been putting everything I could into this research. We were thirty-two now, and even though I was still angry at Silas for what he did to me, I loved my brothers and my sister. I was going to crack this immortal code for them, because I didn’t want to see my siblings grow old and die.
And we had been making progress. We’d discovered so much about Silas and Perish’s brain. I knew the answer was right in front of me.
Silas nodded, but then the fear on his face returned. “If we’d just had the Sky clone…” he said quietly. “We could’ve just implanted the clone and asked him. He’d have all of Sky’s memories.” Silas let out a breath and shook his head. “I’m
glad at least… I’ve decided to try again.”
“Sis!” Drake said gleefully. He crawled off of my lap and onto Silas’s, my keys still in hand. Like Elish, Drake was also unable to say Silas. We’d all found it quite amusing that he called Silas Sis. That boy could bring a smile to anyone’s face.
“I think you’re more emotionally able to handle it. I’m proud of you for waiting,” I said. “Ares and Siris have shown no adverse reaction at all to their new and improved hearts. And at least we will be putting those hearts into all the new chimeras, so you won’t have to worry about them having heart attacks when they’re older. Not like this old man did at least.”
Silas gave me a crumpled look. He put Drake onto the floor then moved over so his body was squished up to mine.
“Stop getting older,” Silas said, a whine breaking his words. “Why did you have to make me love you so dearly over the last seven years?” He crawled into my lap, and with a small sigh, I held him to me. I knew what would make Silas happy, being held and loved made him happy. “My golden boy is a grown man now… I always thought…” He wiped his eye. “I always pictured you and the others being the same physical age as me. Now when I look at photos of when you were twenty-four… you look like such a little baby. Do I look that young?”
“Yes.”
Silas gave me a flat look.
I smiled back and squeezed him to me. “Just imagine how hard it is to have such a tiny little king yelling and giving us shit. I just want to squish him with my thumb.”
Silas smiled back and rested his head on my shoulder. “You’re close, right?”
“We are. We’re so close I can taste it. I told you about our discovery with the low pulses of radiation, right?”
Silas nodded. “Stimulating the brain matter removed from my brain with radiation, made it stop the mortification process. You were able to preserve the small bit of brain matter, and for several minutes, there was still brain activity.” Even speaking of this made his face come back to life. But then he sighed. “But when you tried it on bigger portions… you only ended up replicating what has been happening to the ravers.”