by Quil Carter
Jesus fuck. Killian and I were lucky to get the hell out of the plaguelands when we did. Though being in the same house as Dr. Mind Control wasn’t that much of a step up.
Then my eyes closed as the cold yet comforting rush of dopamine swept my body. I heard Nero chuckle before I think it hit him, because I heard a light moan. I remained still for a moment, knowing he’d know why I wasn’t answering him back, and let myself enjoy it. There were many perks to being immortal and one of those perks was having my tolerance brought down to nothing whenever I resurrected.
Then suddenly I felt Nero’s hands on me. My eyes snapped open, only to see the coffee table rush towards me before I was yanked back. Immediately anxiety burst inside of me like a popped blister, but I realized I had been about to fall forward, face first into the coffee table.
“Lay backwards, Ducky,” Nero said in a calm, oddly doting voice. I was too high to feel anger at the tone he was speaking to me in. He got up and reached behind me and put the pillow against the arm of the couch and, too high to care, I obeyed him and leaned against it. I tucked my legs up and watched as Nero laid on the other side of the couch, his eyes also glassy.
“There. Your heartbeat is slowing down. You’ve been having mini-heart attacks the entire time. This is why I usually kill them after,” Nero said, and his eyes slowly closed. “Did Kiki tell you why I’m out here?”
“Yeah,” I said. The pleasure flowing through me was like someone had blended up an electric blanket, added the afterglow of an orgasm, and then, to top it off, sprinkled that comfortable relief you got after laying down to sleep after working the graveyard shift. That was drugs, and I hadn’t had them hit me this good since Killian shot me with my first dose of black tar heroin back in my basement. “Sanguine broke you out, right?”
“He did. I fucking love that guy. The history we have is one for the books. I saved him. Hey…” I opened my eyes slowly and saw he was staring at me. “How the fuck did you two end up here? And how can the chicklet survive the radiation?”
“I’m not telling you shit,” I said to him. “You’re Silas’s fucking slave. And–”
“I left the family.” I was surprised at the sharpened tone Nero had. I looked at him and saw he was staring right back at me, a flicker of regret in his eyes but also solidarity. It looked like he might actually be serious. “If I go back, Silas will kill Kiki and encase Ceph at the very least, and probably me too. Ceph was in that concrete tomb for thirty years over bullshit, and I’m not letting Silas have him again. Until Silas promises me Ceph’s safety and Kiki’s immortality… I’m not returning to Skyfall.” He picked up his tin and pulled out a cigarette. “So we’re two of the same now, like it or not. We’re both fugitives and we both don’t want anyone to know where we are.” Then Nero was quiet for a moment. “You can fuck me over just as much as I can fuck you over. You might want to consider just getting over what happened. We’d be better allies than enemies, Duckling. The two of us would be powerful side by side.”
“Fuck off,” I mumbled and busied myself with the bottle of beer. I noticed Nero wincing when I picked it up though, probably waiting for me to wing it at his head. “When I get Killian back, Mantis and his slaves, and you and your slaves, can get the fuck off of my property. I’m taking this place over.”
Nero snorted at this, the flint of his lighter rolled and I smelled the sharp tang of his cigarette being lit. “That won’t happen. You and I can run this place together though, peaches. I love you enough to do it with you. Fuck, you have no idea how wild you drove me. You – you I respect, brosy.”
Then he handed me the cigarette.
My body started to tremble like I’d been picked up and placed into the arctic. I looked at the cigarette and saw him handing it to me after he’d fucked me. Telling me… he wanted to have real sex with me one day, that I probably fucked hard. I put it between my lips and when I didn’t answer he backhanded me, the cigarette getting knocked out of my mouth and replaced with blood.
I got up, the drugs not able to kill the infestation of memories that were travelling all throughout my body like hatched spiders. I started walked away from him, the cigarette shaking in my hand and my breathing suddenly starting to catch and stall in my throat.
“Reav?” Nero called after me. I heard the couch shift as he got up. I walked through a hallway, not knowing where it would take me, and started opening doors. I found the bathroom, then the laundry room – then, finally, I found a bedroom with a large master bed, the sheets messed up and the grey carpet covered with the dirty clothes of a man. This must be Adler’s room. I turned off the lights and shut the door, sharp wheezes coming from my throat now, and leaned against it.
I clamped my hands over my mouth and stared at my boots as my night vision adjusted and turned them into a glowing blue. I squeezed my hand over my mouth so hard my teeth dug into my palm. I couldn’t let Nero hear this. Oh, fuck me, what the hell had happened to me? What had happened to me? Who the fuck was I?
I wasn’t Reaver. THIS DIDN’T HAPPEN TO REAVER! How did this happen? Perish raped Jade, and Killian. Silas sodomized and tortured Killian, and still he recovered. Why couldn’t I? WHY COULDN’T I?
I shot to my feet and a bellowed cry rushed from my mouth before I could stop it. I grabbed the first thing I could see, which was a flimsy table with a lamp on it. I picked up the lamp and threw it against the wall, another scream breaking my throat, and watched with satisfaction as it shattered. The reward of seeing it break made me pick up the side table and smash it over a wooden desk, the feet flying off of it and splinters bursting into the air before falling down like rain.
My body was heaving, anger coating me and lubricating my limbs, making every movement I made seem like it took no effort at all. But the penalty of it was that I was barely in control of myself. All I wanted was to hurt things, smash things, I was tired of rotting in my madness I had to fix this! I can’t stand this. I can’t stand this for one more day. I just…
I just…
Light flooded the room.
My body froze, and I was no longer able to move or speak. I realized I was standing like a deer in the headlights, keeled over, and with my breathing a heave like I was taking in my last breaths. There was something liquid dripping down my face, but I didn’t know what.
A dark silhouette stood in the doorway. There was a blue-embered cigarette in his hand, the other on the door frame.
“Holy… shit,” I heard him say. He pinched the cigarette’s ember with his fingers and threw it away, then approached me. But when my eyes shot up to his, he paused and kept his distance. “I really fucked you up, didn’t I? You did kind of make me lose control. You were such a badass, and it got me off having someone with so much fight. You gave me a run for my money, and it was the best couple weeks I’d had in years. You were a fucking devil.”
I realized I was still staring at him, but my vision had receded in the back of my head. My eyes had been turned inside out, and now all I was seeing was Nero on top of me. And all I was feeling was his body pressed against mine. He was breathing into my ear, raising my ass up off of the ground so I was forced to see his cock thrusting into me, pulling out blood. So much of it was collecting underneath the rim of his head, and as he thrusted and thrusted it would congeal and stick to it.
I was a fucking devil? I had so much fight apparently.
“Reaver…? Shit. You’re kind of reminding me of how Sanguine got. Now I really feel bad. Look, you were the family’s enemy at the time. You killed Timmy, and we needed to know where Perry was. And like I said, I was pissed at you for being Sky’s clone. He practically took my husband away from me, and having him in my possession, and Kess giving me the all-clear to torture info out of you… it wasn’t anything personal, you know? You understand that, I know you’ve raped guys before. I kill ‘em, or I get off seeing them all emotionally crippled after ‘cause it’s satisfying. But those guys are just random men, I wouldn’t do it to a brother of mine. And… I
don’t know. I kind of feel attached to you now after all of that. All protective and shit.”
It was replaying right in front of me. In front of my eyes, and I couldn’t escape it. It would haunt me, terrorize me, stalk my footsteps and snap at my heels. Every moment I was in Nero’s possession. Every sick thing he did to me and made me do to him, to Kiki. Having Nero and Kiki blow me, forcing me to cum, forcing me to betray Killian and fuck Kiki from the power of the ressin, or just when I’d attempted to kill him. All the times Nero raped me, made me sleep beside him with his cum dripping out of my ass. I remember his loud snoring, Kiki’s head resting on his chest and rising up and down with Nero’s breathing.
So clear it was. So clear I was sure that this… this was the false reality.
“Ducklin’? I’m sorry. I kind of really want us to be friends and bros. How about when we get Adler and Spike, we’ll rape them together. Just you and me, and we can cripple them and laugh at their issues afterwards.”
Then I saw Killian. I saw Killian glaring at me, challenging me with his blue eyes. Taking control and aiding me when I’d slip into the very psychosis that was ravaging me right now. I didn’t know what was worse, having this experience constantly plaguing me or knowing I was losing my boyfriend.
“Reaver? Shit… bro, you’re staring off like your mind broke, at least say something, or… you know, blink.”
I was losing me. I needed help, but I didn’t know who could help me. Elish was gone. There was no one in front of me but the very person who had snatched me out of the air to break me down for his entertainment.
And he was right in front of me.
Apologizing?
My vision focused. I looked at Nero. The brute chimera looked back, and through all the unwanted emotions ravaging me, I felt surprise to see genuine guilt on his face.
I knew it was real, because unlike Elish, Nero couldn’t hide his emotions.
He actually… felt bad.
So he wouldn’t hide his emotions when I kill Kiki in front of his eyes? When I pour the concrete over Ceph’s body as I whistled happily to myself?
Good.
“I hate feeling guilty… you’re an asshole,” I heard Nero mumble. “I only feel guilty when it comes to my brothers. So I really do see you as one.”
I will take away everything that he loves.
Just be patient.
Okay.
Suddenly there was a crackle of static all around us. It was enough to break me out of my state. Nero and I both looked above us to try and locate the speakers we were both hearing.
“Reaver?” My body locked in place as Killian’s raspy voice, sounding weak and small, sounded over a loudspeaker we couldn’t see.
“Killian? Did you kill them already?” I said, trying to sound positive. “Where are you?”
“In the hallway where the metal door is. On the right-hand side. Go into that room and turn on the flat screen computer monitor. The computer is already on. It’s a feed to the laboratory. Adler wants to talk to you.” Killian said weakly.
I exchanged glances with Nero and we both nodded to each other. “Are you okay?” I asked him. “How’s Kiki?” The static continued as we walked into the living room. I couldn’t locate the speakers but once the feed was over I was planning on combing through the entire mansion to find every embedded electronic. I should’ve done it sooner, another thing this manic state was taking from me.
“I’m okay, but don’t get upset when you see us. We fought.”
My throat tightened as those words sunk in, and I prepared myself for seeing Killian injured. They couldn’t kill him at least, and I bet they didn’t even know he was immortal. I could use this to my benefit. Give them more cards than they thought they had. If they thought they had a better hand, they’d be more likely to take risks with us.
Nero slowed down, and with a glance up he grabbed my shoulder and hissed in my ear. “I can see a little black coil in the recessed lighting. It’s the same audio wires I’ve seen Silas use,” he said in the chimera whisper I knew all too well. “There are no cameras. Once we talk to the dude, we’ll go around the mansion and disable them so they can’t hear our conversations anymore.”
“Roger,” I said to him. We walked through the kitchen and found the room Killian had directed us to.
It was an office, that much was obvious. The flat panel monitor was on top of an oak desk with stacks of notebooks, manila folders, hard drives, and other science stuff. There were also filing cabinets, three of them, a leather couch on the left-hand side, a standing lamp, and two credenza-type cabinets, one of them with the door ajar, suggesting it was also chock-full of science shit.
I leaned my hands down on the monitor and flicked it on, bracing myself for the worst.
But nothing could prepare me for what I saw, and even though Killian was immortal, I still felt nausea grasp me, and on its heels was anger.
The left side of Killian’s face was swollen and black, with an angry red hue surrounding it and travelling down his neck like a rash. His left eye was completely shut with dried blood crusted into his eyebrows, and his earlobe had been severed and was hanging off like… it had been bitten.
Kiki was a bit better. The boy was behind Killian on a rolling chair which he was tied to. His head was hung low and there was flaking red blood and other fluids dripping from his nose and mouth. His face wasn’t as swollen as Killian’s but there were lots of bruises and several nasty cuts.
“YOU FUCK!” Nero roared beside me. He banged his fist against the oak computer table and I heard a loud snap. “Show me Adler! Where are you, you fucking cunt-sucking bitch? Fucking show yourself!” My ears ached from the booming bellow that filled the room.
Killian wasn’t looking at me, but I realized he actually was. I glanced up and saw a webcam above me, Killian must be looking at the screen.
Ignoring Nero, I gave Killian a smile. “You did fight, Killer Bee. Did you get a few of them at least?”
Killian tried to smile back, but then his single blue eye shifted to the left and I saw him wince before nodding. He looked back to me. “Do what he says, Reaver,” he said to me simply. Then he looked at Nero. I saw his lip, one of them split and blackened with caked blood, stiffen at the sight of him beside me. “You too.” His tone completely changed at that.
“You look after Kiki. Understand me?” Nero said harshly. And when Killian only glared at him, he let out a hiss between his teeth. “Hey. Look at me. You fucking look out for him. This shit isn’t his fault.”
Killian only had one working eye but it flashed with hostility. The Killer Bee I despised was finally directing his dominance at the right guy. “Since when do you give a fuck about what is someone’s fault?” Killian said, glaring right into the cam. “I’d stay up there where you’re safe, chimera. Because once I fucking get a hold of you, I’m going to skin you alive and make you fucking eat–”
Suddenly two hands appeared in the screen and they both roughly shoved Killian off of the chair. Killian flew out of sight, but I heard a crash and several bottles breaking.
“Hey!” I snarled, now it was my turn to lose my temper. I slammed my hand down on the table, wanting to jump through the screen to strangle whoever touched him. “Untie him and fucking try that with him then, you cowardly piece of shit. Come up here and face us!”
I saw a brown leather jacket, well-worn, and with a navy blue t-shirt underneath. I saw brown hair, curled into little spirals that fell slightly past his ears, but it was covering his face as the man leaned down and pick up the chair Killian had been pushed off of. He righted it, brushed the curls from a face and he sat down.
Wow. I was…
… staring at myself.
Adler had my face shape, my small nose and ears, and my lips as well. But his eyes… his eyes were Perish’s through-and-through.
Or… Sky’s rather.
Adler glared at the screen, he had blue eyes, almost grey and with a ring of dark blue circling the outer edges. Th
ere was no doubt in my mind this man was a clone of Sky, and the way he was glaring at me and Nero, told me he had more than a handful of chimera traits.
“There is a saying we have around here,” Adler said coolly. He had a deep voice, coarse and almost raspy. I was half-expecting smooth tones like Silas but his voice was his own. “If you see a rat in your house during the day, rest assured you will see dozens once night falls.” He looked at Nero and then back at me. “It looks like my home has become infested with rats. I warned Mantis about taking you in, Nero, but he did out of the goodness of his heart because apparently you two were friends in Skyfall. He was a fool, and when he wakes up he’ll see I was right.”
I heard a strange noise. I looked towards it and saw that Nero was grinding his teeth. “You need to come up sometime, Adler. It’s best you start negotiations now.”
“Negotiations?” Adler said in the same rough voice. “You come into my home, by invitation, and stay as our guest, then proceed to double-cross the man who has been protecting me since I was ten years old from the very king you yourself were running from. And then your slave boy alerts your family to try and take over my home? There are no negotiations, Nero. You may have not known me for long, but I assure you, I’m not a man to fuck with.”