by Quil Carter
No, maybe there was happiness in that, but it was a sadistic happiness that could only be drawn up and nurtured by me. One that would have made any normal person cringe and turn away like they were gazing upon an abomination of the world, because no one in their right mind would be happy about the sick things I had planned for Nero, and his husband.
And this time – Killian would be right beside me, right beside me and hopefully adding onto the sick, disgusting ideas that I would come up with during my time with Nero. My mind was a creative playground that only I was allowed to play in, sometimes Reno, but this time I was going to bring this formerly submissive and polite little blond kid to my dark side.
That would be his only taste of sadism, because after that I would be removing that implant and bringing him back to the Killian I had fallen in love with. He’d get one opportunity to show me just how sick he could be, but just one.
This thought did make me smile. I had never felt happier. I felt so happy I knew if I let go of the handles of the quad I would float away. I don’t think I had ever felt this much euphoria, or maybe it was just my own bloodlust taking on a different form.
Oh, I was going to fuck Nero until his intestines came out of his ass, and then maybe I would make Ceph suck out the rest of them.
Yes. That would be fun to see.
Everything was indeed coming up Reaver.
I nudged Killian and he shifted to the left so I could check over my shoulder. Being pulled in an old metal trailer behind the quad, was Kiki. He was leaning against the painted black frame looking into the northern greywastes to make sure we were alone. None of us were expecting to see anyone but I felt better having another pair of eyes on the lookout. Kiki had Killian’s Killi whistle around his neck in case he saw something; he wouldn’t have to blow it hard to alert me.
Kiki had a brave expression on his face. I had to give that kid credit, he was a twink and a bit of a ditz, but there was no mistaking he was a chimera. It was kind of the same transformation I had seen in Jade. They acted one way when they were safely with their masters, being pampered and fucked into a coma every night, but when they were thrown out into the greywastes and forced to act like adults, they did step up to the plate. Kiki was a brave kid; hell, he was mortal but he still threw those grenades into the middle of the festival and saved Killian and I from being burned alive. Plus Mantis would’ve most likely found out we were immortals before we woke up, and we’d have one of those worms inside of us.
In truth, I really held little animosity towards Kiki. Everything the kid had done was under Nero’s orders, and as much as it filled my mouth with brine to admit, that Kiki didn’t know me from any other asshole greywaster. Like Kiki had said, it hadn’t been personal. I would let Killian fuck him, and if Killian would let me, I’d have a go at him, just to hear him squeal, but after I’d let him be.
He would never go back to Skyfall though. I wouldn’t risk him alerting the others. Killian will fucking murder me, but Kiki was mine now; and once I found one in Melchai, I’d be putting a collar around his neck.
I was getting ahead of myself though. We weren’t going into this with a real solid plan, but everything was so up in the air I didn’t know how much of this I honestly could plan. The mansion, from the drawing that Kiki had made, was huge and with two floors, an attic and a basement which Kiki was positive was an underground laboratory. Behind the mansion was a trail that led through the mountain, not unlike the trails we took to Reno’s house, or the ones in the red canyons north of Aras, but this led to an enclosed valley. One that apparently was full of abominations, trees, greenery and… at least one more chimera, which I assumed was the born immortal.
Our plan was to follow the path Kiki had taken to escape from the mansion. It would take us up the steep rise and then we’d supposedly see the house below. We were going to make some noise and lure one of them out. If it was Nero or Ceph, we’d jump them, if it was someone else… we’d take him and hold him as ransom to get Nero and Ceph. All this time we were going to be wearing face masks which Killian had made in a haste. They were basically a pair of socks cut and stitched big enough to be put over our heads, with eye holes and ear holes.
So we looked like hobo bank robbers but it was what it was.
Killian’s grip around my waist tightened when Melchai came into view. I turned off of the road right before we hit a stretch of bumper to bumper vehicles forever stuck in traffic, and started towards the modest rocky hill that, according to Kiki and from where the cloaked chimeras had descended for the festival, held the mansion somewhere inside.
This feeling inside of me was acting like a potent drug. Not only was I riding on the adrenaline of knowing that all of my problems were soon going to be resolved, it was also a nice feeling not to have to worry about getting Killian killed. There were a lot of bad things that could happen during this screwed up rescue mission, but Killian dying wasn’t one of them. I wouldn’t say that this was a little less planned because of that fact, but when your worst case scenario is no longer losing the boy you love… you tend to jump into things a little easier than you would before.
And Killian had been demanding for the last few months for me to treat him like an adult and not a damsel, and he had been taking charge when he had to, so… maybe I was starting to realize I could rely on him for certain things.
When I parked the quad underneath a deposit of grey rocks, all clustered together like giant dinosaur eggs, I shared this with him.
In return I got a beaming smile which quickly turned shy. “You don’t know how much it means to me for you to say that,” he said. And because Kiki was there I didn’t get a kiss for it, only a squeezed hand and a bright look.
“But if I’m giving you orders and you disobey me…” I said in a warning tone. I didn’t want him to get cocky. He was even more pre-disposed to that since his campaign of being a haughty little back talking shit. “I will stop looking at you as someone I can depend on if things get heated. You have to fucking listen to me, okay?”
Killian nodded all too seriously. “You can trust me. You know you can.”
I hoped I could.
We all loaded ourselves up with weapons. I had my M16 on my back, a pistol and my combat knife on my hip, and explosives in my pocket. I also had a knife belted to my leg as well and had strapped one to Killian’s leg too. It was Nero’s according to Kiki, but it was Killian’s now.
The cicaro kid was also armed to the teeth, and he had a bullet proof vest on him, done up tight. He was wearing it underneath a black button-down, and over top of that was a black leather jacket with chains hanging down off of the pockets. His pants were tight against his body too. Kid had nice legs.
I turned around from devouring the kid with my gaze, to see Killian giving me a look that would’ve burned a weaker man to cinders.
“Like you wouldn’t look twice at that,” I said as I motioned behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Kiki glance up from buttoning up his cuffs. He saw the two of us and flushed. Killian was still murdering me with his eyes so I thought I’d play nice. When Kiki’s back was turned I slapped Killian’s backside and pinched it. I got a giggle for that and a swat.
“You seem pretty relaxed for what we’re doing,” Killian said as he tested out the beginning of the rocky hill in front of us with his boot. It wasn’t as rocky close up as it seemed to be from the road we’d been driving on. For the most part, it was made up of compacted dirt and brittle brush and grass, with grey-brown rocks erupting from random places like the hill had papilloma. It wasn’t the best for being discreet, I could see the discolouration in the dirt from Kiki’s descent, but it was better than going in head-on.
I looked at the sky darkening all around us. “We need to get to the top before dark, or blindy here is going to fall,” I said to Kiki with a hand on Killian’s shoulder. “It’s too bad we couldn’t make nice with Mantis. He might be able to give you night vision.” I secured the leather strap holding my M16 and motio
ned for the boys to follow me. “Hey, Kicky. Silas can do that right? Give you guys the enhancements after the fact?”
“So he has his own nickname now too?” I heard a crisp voice snip beside me. I didn’t turn around and watched as Kiki nodded, now zipping up his leather jacket and starting on the hill.
“Yeah. It isn’t rare for one of our enhancements not to develop during our time in our steel mothers,” Kiki said as we all started to climb. The moon was behind us, just starting to make itself visible over a string of mountains off to the east. I could see trees on the hills in front of it, jagged black rises full of prickles, like a giant arching cat. “A chimera who’s our doctor and really intelligent, Sidonius, or Sid, can perform them. He’s Nero’s friend. I know Nero will be sore–”
“You know what? Why don’t I give you a nickname?” Killian suddenly said in a pissed voice.
“–sore towards you after what you probably have planned. But Nero forgives easily–”
“I think I’m just going to call you fucking douche–” In a flash, I put Killian in a headlock and stuffed my black sock-mask inside his mouth. He started struggling and trying to wiggle away but I pushed my fingers into his mouth and, as such, the mask as well. I grinned at Kiki and the kid blushed and bit on his lower lip to hide a smile.
“Go on,” I said.
Kiki muffled a giggle as Killian started biting my hand through the mask, digging in his feet and flailing his arms to try and get any piece of my flesh he could. “–he forgives easily and I think he would give Killian all the enhancements just as a thanks for saving him and Ceph and not hurting me. Sid doesn’t know Killian. So he could just do it as a secret favour for Nero, and Silas wouldn’t even have to know.”
I let go of Killian, who gasped and started grabbing his throat once he was free. He looked up at me with a hand still on his neck and I saw Satan himself in those blazing blue eyes. Eyes that were about ready to grab the assault rifle on his back and riddle me with holes.
I grinned back and stuck out my tongue; I blew a raspberry at him.
Killian’s lips pursed to hide his own smile, then he gave me a hard push. “I’m going to pay you back for that, douche bag. But I’m going to be the mature one and just be happy that you’re in a good mood.”
And just to show how good I was feeling, and to give him the reassurance I knew he needed, I roughly slapped my hands onto both sides of his face and gave him a long drawn-out kiss. Not just a PG one either. I opened up his lips, locked them with mine, and found his tongue. I ran my tongue over it and his greeted me back, a small and subdued moan tickling his throat which was followed by a sharp increase in his breathing.
When our lips broke, Killian’s cheeks were red and warm, and his pulse quickening. I glanced at Kiki, who was biting his lip again, before I put my arms around Killian and whispered in his ear. “After this is done, and they’re all tied up… before we have our fun, I’m going to make the sweetest love to you. Just some personal stuff that we’ve been missing… before I make you into a man on that little twink’s body.”
Killian shuddered and swallowed through what I was sure was a dried throat. “You…think you can?”
“When I have that piece of shit firmly under my boot… I’ll be able to do a lot more than that, Killi Cat.” I kissed his neck and motioned to Kiki. “Okay, no more talking, no more fucking around. We’re going into stealth mode.”
The boys nodded, Killian now looking just a bit more flustered, and they followed me while we climbed up the steep rise. This rise was one of many around this barren land, but none of them made mountains like the Coquihalla Highway. Everything was folded, with only slight lumps and bumps in the terrain before falling flat again. The mountains were just faint grey shrouds in the distance, surrounding us like we were inside of a giant bowl centered in the middle of it.
It made for better travel at least. Around Aras, north was the canyons and east was rough and rocky terrain that stretched from the canyons to the towns that eventually led us to Donnely. This place might border the plaguelands, and be so out of touch with what little society we had that they believed a chimera was a god, but at least you could get around quicker than where my old home was.
I caught Killian as his boot skidded on a dry stone, and braced my arm while he steadied himself. The higher up we got, the more rocks were jutting out of the ground, until soon we were climbing over them and weaving around the bigger ones. It was good cover, but Killian and Kiki were both making more noise than I was comfortable with. At least in the silence I could confirm that there were no cameras watching us. It seemed the rocky hills were a satisfactory enough cover for Mantis and Angel Adi.
And whoever else he had in there.
“Kicky,” I hissed. He was a blue shadow, his orange eyes balls of silver light now that the steely darkness was covering everything around us. “Was it just Mantis and the other one in there?”
Kiki nodded and spoke quietly. “But Nero commented that there was at least one other man living in the valley. He didn’t get a good look at him at all though.”
But not living in the mansion? Good.
I jumped up onto a sleek rock and helped Killian up. Kiki, however, needed no help. Showing the stealth that I’d seen in Jade, he grabbed onto a ridge and climbed up it like he was half cat. Kiki stood on the rise but immediately he shrunk down. I took his lead and didn’t stand upright when I’d finished helping Killian up. I stayed crouched and quietly turned around.
Below us I saw the mansion, well, more like a large house, not at all like the mansions I’d seen on television. It was an impressive size though, and tucked into a quarry much like Reno’s house was.
It looked deceptively welcoming. There were LED lights in two of the many windows and one on the balcony. The lights on the balcony were illuminating closed blue curtains and the other two were downstairs: one in a picture window and the other in a kitchen. I could see inside of both. The two lit up windows had planters in front with flowers and greenery, and below, where the light hit, I could see a sea of green. It took me a moment to realize that it was grass, they actually had a lawn here.
There were trees as well, and hanging between two of them was a hammock. This place was like a suburban home in a Martha Steward magazine.
Yep, it definitely was… as my eyes carefully scanned the outline of the house I saw a concrete patio-area with outside furniture and even a fucking BBQ pit made out of polished stone.
Funny enough, I found myself feeling jealous at this setup. Here me and Killian were living in squalor without even a safe home to call our own since the plagueland worms came; and now, right in front of us, is this asshole living in radiation-free luxury. He was hidden from Silas and had a pretty sweet deal with the Blood Crow idiots giving them pretty slaves in exchange for seeds if they were good. Why the fuck couldn’t me and Killian have something like that?
I paused, and my eyes narrowed.
Why the fuck couldn’t we have something like that? What the hell was stopping me? This was the greywastes and I now had Killian and my new cicaro to watch out for.
What had been a passing jealousy only seconds ago, was rapidly turning into an honest question. These idiots had electricity, a beautiful home protected from the family, with no one knowing where they were, and a valley of animals and fruit trees just down the road. We could wear the masks and keep fooling the Blood Crows into thinking we were the prophet and Angel Adi or, fuck it, put on a show and convince them we were the new prophets.
Or just fucking kill them.
The idea burned in my head, and the more I gazed down at the mansion, and the warm and welcoming lights that shone around it, the more I realized I wanted to live there.
I was a fucking born immortal chimera. I was Reaver Merrik, son of Greyson and Leo Merrik. I took what I wanted and did what I fucking wanted too.
A rather evil smile came to my lips. I looked at Killian. “Do you want it?” I said as I motioned to the mansion.
>
Killian looked at me and I saw confusion. “What do you mean?” His eyes narrowed and I knew he didn’t trust the smile on my face.
“I mean this is a paradise that Silas doesn’t know about. Why take Nero and Ceph out and to our plaguelands home and risk getting taken over by those worms… when we can stay right here. Mantis is one man and I can take Adi… do you want this place? I’ll give it to you and it can be ours.”
Kiki swore, he was kneeling to my left. I looked over at him. “You’ll be staying with us. I don’t trust you to go back to Skyfall.”
“… what about Nero and Ceph after you – you get your revenge?” his small voice squeaked.
He thinks I’ll let them go, but I won’t. If I have to put a slave collar instead of a leather one on Kiki to keep him from escaping I would, but right now I needed him to think eventually I’ll let Nero go. “After I’ve tortured him for a month, you three assholes can stay in one of the houses in my new valley,” I said, which was a complete lie. “You three aren’t going back to Skyfall from the sounds of it anyway. You help us take it over… you stay safe.”
“We stay and…” Kiki’s voice trailed before his smile came to greet my own.
“We become gods,” I said and I turned to Killian. “What do you say, Killi? You want to become a god with me?”
Killian broke our eye contact and looked down at the mansion below us. There were a lot of unknowns down there, and we could very well be walking into something bigger than we might be able to handle.
But I didn’t fucking care. I wanted this and I was sick and fucking tired of not getting what I wanted.
“Let’s do it,” Killian said, and I saw his face darken. Instead of getting pissed at his menacing look, I found myself turned on. This side of him could be sexy when this roughness wasn’t directed at me. “We were almost burned at the stake because of that asshole, and I was almost tossed to his little born immortal pet for him to lose his virginity on. Let’s show them just what we can do, and show them you don’t fuck with chimeras.”