by Quil Carter
But tonight was not his night, he woke up to Jade staring blankly at him, giving his master the same forlorn and sad look.
It was foolish to think the odd-eyed man would come back here… but wouldn’t it have been just as foolish to believe he’d come in the first place?
Inside Elish burned with frustration. He was used to getting whatever he wanted with nothing but a cooled look. Now he felt stripped down to the bone with reality nothing but ice on raw skin. If there was one thing that he hated feeling it was helpless, especially when Jade was involved. It was enraging, and an emotion that Elish had not missed feeling.
“I need to find that man… but for all I know he’s fled to keep himself out of the clutches of Silas,” Elish mumbled to himself. He nodded to Luca as the sengil, dressed to the nines and smelling like flowers, went off to manipulate Drake; today he was using the tuxedo-fitted cat as bait (he was planning on giving Drake sewing lessons and needed a wingman).
Once the door was closed Elish knelt down in front of Jade.
“Even if you saw him, you can’t say a word,” Elish said in a low tone. He gently rested his hand on Jade’s prickly cheek and smiled thinly. “What I would do to have you call me an emotionless bastard, a psychopathic tyrant… what I would give for you to call me… Elish.” Elish sighed and continued to stroke his cicaro’s cheek. “Come on, maritus. Breakout of this, get up and yell at me, throw things at me, threaten to run back to the ravers.” He felt a tightness to his throat and, unable to suppress it any longer, a pull to his lips. “Maritus… I found you and I brought you home… only for you to run to the only place I cannot get you.”
Jade stared back at him; the grave sadness on his face never looking more prominent, and never more… did Jade look old. The boy who had once been a hard-nosed brat in Moros, seemed older than Elish as he looked at him. Jade looked tired, burnt out. He looked like he’d seen the lifespan of the human race a thousand times, and had swallowed its history of violence, of sadness, of loss.
Elish deflected his gaze. “I know you’re wondering why I am letting you suffer like this, when I could ask Silas to make you immortal. I wish I could tell you… but I once told another man why and he laughed in my face.” The corner of Elish’s mouth rose, though the smirk that suited his face so well was weighted with sadness. “You’re a young, impulsive idiot, maritus… and I know if you ever did the same…” Elish leaned in and kissed his forehead. “I would strangle you until the light left your eyes.”
Then Elish’s landline rang, the phone that they used to communicate with the sengils in the building and the other workers. He quickly walked over to it and picked it up.
“Yes?”
“Master Elish…” an unfamiliar male voice said on the other end. “I just saw the person you described; he’s hanging around the grounds and he’s looking sneaky. I thought you should know.”
Elish’s eyes widened. He looked over at Jade. “Go home for the day.” He hung up the phone and sprinted over to Jade. He unplugged him from his EEG and took the IV out of his arm, then picked up Jade and headed down to the lobby.
He got a strange look from his receptionist but she didn’t say a word. Elish walked down the hallway with Jade wearing only pajama pants and a t-shirt, and headed towards the door. He opened it with his foot and kept it open with his shoulder, and slipped out with Jade in his arms.
Elish walked down the steps with a determined look on his face, and started walking along the side of the skyscraper. There was a small parking lot that wrapped around the rest of the building, and further on, greenery and trees until the twelve foot wall that surrounded the back section of the building.
Elish looked around but spotted nothing but several butterflies, and a relaxed stray cat sleeping in the sun.
Should I start shouting for him? Elish thought to himself, but dismissed the idea. If Silas had been keeping this strange mysterious man in concrete no doubt he wouldn’t trust any direct contact. But what then?
Elish sighed and looked down at Jade, then an absurd idea popped into his head. He leaned Jade up against the side of Olympus’s brick wall, under a tree and in the shade, and walked away from him to the other side of the green space. When he got to the wooden fence, about thirty feet away from Jade, Elish sat down, out of sight, and waited.
Never more did he feel like an idiot – but the hope of this working far outweighed his own dignity and pride in that moment.
Time ticked on but Elish was patient. He sat beside the tree, making himself as invisible as possible, and kept his eyes on the near comatose boy. Jade wasn’t moving, just lying in a heap where Elish had left him; and even though he held no expression, Elish knew the boy was judging him.
I bet he thinks I’ve lost my mind. If he remembers this when he wakes I won’t be happy.
About a half an hour later, Elish saw someone walking towards them, though he was coming from the sidewalk to the left. Elish looked over and recognized him as Saul, Garrett’s bodyguard. His son was taking extra shifts in Olympus training guards, and he was no doubt visiting him.
Saul continued to walk as he ate a sandwich. Then his head turned to Jade and he paused for a moment as if trying to figure out this mystery. He then looked to his left and made eye contact with Elish.
Elish stared back. Saul took a bite of his sandwich, looked at Elish for several more seconds… and then kept on walking without second glance.
It was another hour when Elish spotted a second figure. He looked to his right, and his eyes focused on a partially-hidden person loitering around the corner of Olympus. Elish crept back slowly and watched the person intently.
But when Elish saw who it was, rage swept him. The person he was seeing sneak up to Jade triggered such a furor in Elish, he felt a thousand old emotions, ones he and Jade had both buried, rush to the surface.
And when that man kneeled down in front of Jade, Elish exploded.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Elish roared as he jumped to his feet.
Kerres convulsed from the surprise and his eyes shot to Elish. The man, himself looking older, wearier, retracted his hand from Jade’s neck.
But then his face twisted from shock to an accusatory look. “What did you do to him!” Kerres cried, tears springing to his eyes. “He looks fucking dead. What did you do to him, you fucking monster!”
“I’m trying to save him, you delusional lunatic!” Elish snarled back. “You have five seconds to remove yourself from my gaze, or else Jade will witness what I have been meaning to do for years.”
Kerres stepped away from him, but when he looked back at Jade his brown eyes filled with agony. “He’s not safe with you,” he screamed. “Why haven’t you made him immortal? If he’s so sick… why the fuck are you letting this happen to him!?”
Elish advanced on Kerres, his fist clenched and ready to deliver a fatal blow to the man’s skull, but Kerres, like the cockroach he was, skittered off and quickly disappeared through a hole in the fence.
Elish’s teeth ground together, and with acid in his heart, he picked up Jade and brought him back inside Olympus.
Once he was home he set Jade back down in the recliner and hooked him up to the machines. After that, Elish fixed himself a cup of tea and sat down on the couch. He sipped his tea in silence and gathered up the juggling balls that had scattered around him.
Kerres, now there was a flea that Elish had been wanting to squash. The only reason that boy was alive was because Silas knew how much it bothered him. Kerres was no insect with the skills to slip and skitter around unnoticed in between the chimeras’ feet, Silas had told the thiens to allow him to skulk around in Skyland. For all Elish knew, Silas had given him a residence. The Crimstones were always a welcome distraction in Silas’s eyes, and at one point, before it became personal, Elish agreed as well. The Crimstones could be used to sway popularity when opinions were down on the royal family. Or if there was some war in the greywastes or a famine going on, they could be use
d to fill in news coverage.
Manipulating the free media was easy, especially since it was free in name only. The Dekker’s controlled the media, both the SNN, the Skyfall News Network, and the UFM, the Underground Free Media. Hell, Silas had even sent out Sanguine to continue his murder spree when the Crimstones were dormant and not able to be used to draw away the glaring public eye.
Silas controlled everyone, even his enemies.
Everyone except me, and what scattered seeds I still have, Elish said to himself. So many have blown away, and so many have been set aflame.
But I will not let the spiders overrun my garden – there is only room for one.
The rest of the evening was spent doing work, and he did more work in that day than he had the previous two weeks. Funds were given out, budgets approved, and mayors of each district conference called and counselled. He even held several meetings inside of his home while Jade slept. Artemis and Apollo got their time and even Joaquin came over and proceeded to throw himself into an anxiety attack over the state of the family. Jem had to calm him, the boy was good at that and it was obvious that Jade had matched the two well.
When Jade was bathed and put into his pajamas, Elish hooked up all of his monitors and made him comfortable. Then he read to him, something that Elish had been doing often, and turned off the light after he’d fallen asleep.
Like the previous night, Elish made himself a bed on the couch and left the door unlocked. Then, with the help of an opiate cigarette, he lulled himself into a troubled sleep.
Chapter 15
Jack
“He needs to be stopped,” Jack said quietly. He looked down at his bloodwine, but when he saw a flicker of his own reflection he looked away, and instead continued to gaze at a framed painting hanging up above his fireplace. “As much as I know it hurts you to admit it… you know it’s true.”
Jack slowly turned around and his eyes found Garrett. The man was staring forward with a look of someone who was witnessing a horror movie play out in front of him; though the tremble in his hand clutching the wine glass suggested he was still watching it.
“He knows,” Reno rasped. He was a husk of the man he’d once been. He’d lost a great amount of weight and the silver that had been in his hair had been cut away in a fashion that suggested it was in a fit of rage. He was sitting on the couch, staring at Jack’s stone coffee table. Or perhaps he was looking at the black marble vase that held red flowers. Juni had picked them, red to match the red-eyed crow in the painting Jack had been staring at.
“Elish is g-going through a lot right n-now,” Garrett said, his voice skipping like he was a scratched CD. He set his glass of wine down and sat on Jack’s leather chair. “Jade… you know how he is when Jade’s in danger.”
“And if Silas gets sent away and it’s just Elish… we’re still going to be one Jade crisis away from another family meltdown,” Jack said coldly. He took a drink of his wine and turned back to the painting. He’d drawn it for Sanguine when they were still together, a crow perched on one of the radiation signs with its wings stretched out. “Elish isn’t our new leader. Perhaps he was before Jade, but the boy has weakened him.”
“Jade will be made immortal soon enough… Elish will come to his senses about Jade, I know it.”
Jack spun around and his black eyes narrowed dangerously. “Making that boy immortal will be the worst decision our family makes. I’ve seen Jade in action and Sanguine has too. The worst thing for the state of the world is to have an empath chimera be made immortal.”
“I remember that argument,” Garrett’s quiet voice said. “I remember you said the same thing to Silas when Sanguine begged him to make Valen immortal. The king agreed with you.”
“He won’t be agreeing with anyone now,” Jack said darkly. “Silas is in his own turmoil, and with Sky’s O.L.S destroyed he won’t be granting any new lover immortality.”
“Which is why I must stick with Elish,” Garrett said. Jack turned around to see Garrett reach out and rest a hand on Reno’s leg.
“If you make me immortal I will dissolve you in acid,” Reno said, and jerked his leg from Garrett’s touch. “And I told you if you stick with Elish I’m gone. It’s about fucking time you stand up for yourself and stop picking sides. Make your own fucking side, Garrett, because both Silas and Elish are wrecks right now.”
“Elish will be fine once Jade is made im-”
“Elish is responsible for killing Killian and trapping Reaver!” Reno suddenly cried. “For his dumb fucking plan! Silas is responsible for all of this shit to begin with. Why are you being so moronic and trading one tyrant for another? Fuck both of them and fuck both of you too.” Reno turned to Garrett, his face was twisted in agony. “You can’t keep letting this happen! Stop being so fucking weak. Stop being their bitch! You’re a chimera for fuck sakes.”
“I know very well who I am seeing in Elish, and I told Elish this. Once he’s scared enough for Jade he’ll make him immortal, and then Elish will be fine. We just need Jade well!” Garrett said with a bit more force behind his words. It was as if he’d scanned his brain and had accepted the least hostile thing to say back, with still being able to keep what shreds of pride his family had left him with.
“Or dead.”
Garrett and Reno both turned to Jack at the same time, and Jack did nothing but smile back at them.
“I’m not listening to this,” Garrett said as he rose to his feet. “I’m done with politics. I need to concentrate on my fiancé and running Skyfall. You’re insulting yourself if you’re convinced this malice towards Elish is from his lack of being able to function at a hundred percent, and not because of his help in getting Sanguine in trouble.”
“He pointed a gun at Reno with every intention of killing him,” Jack said, the ice still lingering in his words. “And you fled from Olympus with tears in your eyes, and confided in me that Elish is becoming a monster and that he’s refusing to make Jade immortal until he’s twenty. You’re the one that came to me, Garrett, and I’m telling you… it’s time we take down Elish. And we need to take him down while he’s at his weakest.”
“I won’t hurt Jade,” Garrett said faintly. “I love that boy. This isn’t his fault, and I’d never hurt Elish so.”
“Elish wouldn’t blink at killing Reno,” Jack said. “And Jade is a danger to everyone. An immortal empath can control all of our minds, and Jade’s shown he has that potential. He knocked Sanguine and me out when we threatened that red-haired boy after the Crimstones got him, and Sanguine slipped hints about him being able to do even more. Let’s cull our monsters while they’re weak, even if it means sacrificing a few innocents.”
“And then we can go get Sanguine, right?” Garrett mumbled. He started walking towards the door. “All of you think you’re doing what’s best for the family, and yet weaved in your hostile and self-assured words is the need to save your partners. You want Sang-”
“Sanguine is not my partner,” Jack said sharply. For a brief moment his visage changed, but he quickly deflected it with a smile. “All I want is for Elish and Silas to stop their madness.”
“You want them to pay with blood for the people they’ve hurt.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Reno spoke up, still looking at the coffee table blankly. “Elish and Silas… what’s their kill list at now? Leo and Greyson, Killian, countless cicaros and sengils, a bunch of chimeras in concrete. Reaver for the next twenty years. Jade crippled. Sanguine locked in the place where he was raped as a child. Why do we gotta be boy scouts and say… nah, we can’t pay them back in the same way they hurt us. This is the dead world, and I lived in the greywastes… we pay blood back with blood.”
Garrett seemed to choke on Reno’s words, but Reno only shook his head and rose too. He looked at Jack. “I want Elish to feel the agony I’ve been feeling for the past two months. I’m a greywaster, and I really don’t have any fucking morals.”
Then Garrett grabbed Reno’s arm. “Reaver was his friend
and Jade was both Killian and Reaver’s friend,” he snapped. He turned and started pulling Reno towards the door. Reno went with him, but with a look behind his shoulder they made eye contact.
“Get him back,” Reno said simply. And then the boy left.
After night had fallen Jack got into his favourite black sports car and drove over to Alegria. Juni was left at home but the painful tightening inside of Jack’s chest came with him; that familiar, irreverent burning that felt like someone was putting cigarettes out on your heart.
It may be dangerous… but Jack and Jack alone knew the repercussions of Sanguine being back at Jasper’s. Silas had had almost a week to calm down, maybe he could be swayed to let Jack go to the northern greywastes to retrieve him. Jack had to try, paying Elish back for the hurt he’d caused was one thing, but Elish’s agony wouldn’t get Sanguine back.
Sanguine had burned Jack many times, until a thick layer of skin had formed around Jack’s heart, and all his emotions. But deep down inside, past the scar tissue… his heart still pulled towards that red-eyed mad man.
Jack got out of his vehicle and handed the keys to Juano. The chauffeur gave him a giddy grin back, a grin of anticipation to park one of the last Lamborghinis still running. The Grim glided up the stairs, and as he made his way to the top floor of Alegria, he cauterized and welded off every frayed emotion that still lingered inside of his heart.
He would do what he was best at: compartmentalizing everything he was feeling and pushing it down and out of sight. He needed to be calm when addressing Silas, and if there was one thing that Jack was, it was calm in dire situations.
Though every family member had their kryptonite, and unfortunately Jack was coming to realize his was, and would most likely always be, Sanguine.
He had to get Sanguine back, and he had to stop Elish’s frighteningly steady climb to power.