by Quil Carter
“Reaver…”
My eyes opened, and I saw that Perish was staring directly at me. “He’s still Killian…”
No, he isn’t.
“… but I’ve studied psychology for over two hundred years and I’ve seen firsthand how immortality changes people. I fear with everything that Killian’s been through… he might have trouble at first finding his stride. You need to help him. No one is born evil, and Killian is a testament to that. Please, love him. Because I…” I saw Perish’s light blue eyes start to well. “… because I love him, and now I understand why. He’s who Silas could’ve been, if Silas had just been given the chance.” Perish wiped his eyes and took in a deep breath. “Be good to him, and let him be good to you. And if he’s ever unsure, let him know… I was ready to go and wherever I am… I am finally at peace. Goodbye, Reaver. I’m sorry we never got a chance to properly meet.”
The video ended.
For a long time I just sat staring at the computer monitor. I didn’t want to move, or speak, or even breathe. I was afraid if I made any sort of movement it would disrupt this fragile state of null that Perish’s words had put me into. Like I was walking along the razor’s edge but had frozen in the middle of my shaky stride.
I wish I could say deep down I knew… from Elish’s hints, from Killian’s actions, even Killian declaring himself a chimera magnet earlier this year. I wish I could have that small chunk of life preserver to grab onto, that told me maybe I was prepared for this information.
But I wasn’t.
This… I didn’t expect.
I turned on Team Viewer but all I saw was dark. I picked up what I thought was a computer microphone and spoke into it. “Adler,” I called.
There was a snap from the speakers and static, then I could hear muffled noise. I turned up the volume and saw something get taken off of the cam.
Adler glared at me through the webcam, behind him I saw Ceph and Kiki, still bound and looking greasy and dirty, but alive. “Ready to meet my demands?”
“You never told me your fucking demands, you stupid piece of shit,” I said to him. “Where’s Killian?”
Kiki’s face fell and Ceph looked away from the cam. That told me a lot. And when Adler’s hostile expression held no out of place emotion, that told me even more. They’d probably butchered him already.
I remained calm but closed my eyes for a moment. I took in a deep breath, my eyes shut so tight I could see lights gathering on the corners.
“In the freezer where he belongs,” Adler said.
“Did you butcher him?”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”
He didn’t then. I let out the breath and opened my eyes, the pricks of light fading into the glaring LED’s that illuminated this room. So Killian was still intact, and if he was in a freezer he might even be alive already.
“I want his body. It’s my block’s custom to eat their loved ones,” I said to Adler. “Tell me what it is this is all about… and give me Killian’s body, and Kiki and Ceph. This is the only chance you will get to resolve this without bloodshed. You will not receive another one, and I caution you on throwing my civil attitude back into my face.”
Adler leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I want Perish’s files,” Adler said.
He rubbed his nose after saying this.
So he was nervous and uncomfortable. His resolve was wearing down. I knew he was a weak shadow compared to me and Silas, and this was the proof. Adler wasn’t as strong as us, which made me excited. I would have a lot of fun destroying him.
“Why?” I asked. I looked to the corner of the computer screen and saw Mantis’s email still up and running. “Mantis got a copy of almost everything.”
Surprisingly, he spoke. “Because I need to find someone that Mantis is determined to hide from me. A brother I met long ago. He didn’t know I was immortal and he thinks I’m dead. Perish has one of the only admin laptops that can access everything, including chimera records. I want him found.”
Interesting. I analysed this brother of mine’s face and saw all of the signs of discord. They were like the swords of Damocles dangling over him, swinging back and forth on rusted wires just waiting for the slight breeze that would have them breaking free to stab the man below. The look filled my mouth with saliva and I found it easing a smile to my face.
“So this is all about love, is it?” I said in an amused tone. Adler’s nose twitched at this and he rubbed it again. I found it funny that he wasn’t more cautious of me. In all respects, he did kill my boyfriend, but perhaps his chimera engineering had stunted his abilities to have empathy, much like it did mine.
“It’s about finding someone who was my… best friend and… someone I care deeply for,” Adler said. “He didn’t know that I was a born immortal and when I died he buried me and I never saw him again. He doesn’t even know my real name. He… Mantis told me he most likely thinks I was Spike, since Spike got fostered near where I met him. This guy knew I was a chimera and… he helped me. He did a lot for me.” Adler’s lips tightened and I saw a flash of anger illuminate his grey eyes like a lightning strike during a storm. “Mantis has no right to keep me from him. So go get me that laptop, get me Perish’s shit so I can find out where he is and I can tell him I’m okay. I don’t want to fucking go to Skyfall. I don’t want anything to do with you, or that insane piece of shit Silas. I’m not like you.”
I laughed lowly. “You are like us, whether you want to admit it or not. It’s your genetics and you can’t escape it. No matter how much Mantis tried to make you into a pussy.”
“I’m not fucking like you,” Adler spat. He shook his head, visibly upset. “Just get me the admin laptop so I can get the hell out of here and find him. I’m fucking tired of living in this shithole. I’m thirty, it’s time I leave the fucking nest. I spent ten years out in the greywastes and three years when I took off the first time. You want this place? Take it, but I want to know where Asher is first.”
Wait.
Back the fuck up.
“Asher?” I exclaimed, and I started coughing when the spit got stuck in my throat. I slammed my hand against my chest but found the next outburst I had was a barking laugh. I looked at the screen and saw Adler glaring at me, but he looked shocked and all the more uncomfortable. “Asher? Fucking Asher. Are you serious? You’re fucking serious?”
Adler’s face drained of all colour. His eyes were saucers, and so wide I could see the blue ring that framed the grey irises. His shocked features seemed out of place for the rugged, gilded steel look he’d had the previous time we’d met.
My laugh was reduced to a smile, a smile that further killed the born immortal looking back at me, because he knew… yeah, he knew.
I fucking had him.
“You don’t know who he is,” Adler said, his words coming too quickly for them to hold any truth. “You’re a fucking liar, like all chimeras.”
“Two inches shorter than you, large eyes so green they seemed to have stolen it from the living earth,” I said. My head tilted to the side, and my ruthless smile gave way to a full grin when I saw Adler’s eyes jump back and forth. He was watching me and looking for lies, but I was going to serve him nothing but cold, hard honesty.
Reaver-style.
“Triangle-shaped face, small nose and ears. Three earrings in each earlobe. Did he dye his hair auburn? Or was he his natural wavy blond?” I asked nonchalantly. “I’m not sure about that, but what I do know, is that he walks with such stealth and grace, it’s like he’s gliding. When he talks, you drop everything and hang on his every word. Everything he says feels like it’s important, and you have this quiver inside of your gut that tells you to listen to him. That you can learn the world while walking in his shadow.”
My words were pulled directly from the mouth of Jade talking about Elish to me. The lovesick devotion I saw on the pet echoed what I knew was inside of the clone of Sky. I’d never felt that way for anyone, including Killian.
My boyfriend I loved for entirely different reasons, but I wasn’t stupid… I knew chimera love.
And the terror on Adler’s face, so perfectly mixed in with the longing, told me I couldn’t have been more right.
“Where is he?” Adler stammered. When he saw my smile get all the more sardonic, he jumped to his feet and slammed his hand down on the table. “Tell me!”
I smirked and slowly shook my head. “Shouldn’t have killed my boyfriend. Well, eye for an eye. Later, Adi.” I shut off the desktop with our parting words a scream on his end, and a laugh on mine.
I got up and ran to the metal door and switched off Nero’s detonator. Then, as I heard boots slamming on the steps, I grabbed the machete resting on the table and eyed Nero who was eating a sandwich.
“I’m going to go play for a few hours,” I said to him as I swung the machete around. “After I think we’ll be able to get the boys.”
Nero looked up from his eating. “Cool,” he said with his cheeks full of food. He looked like a squirrel. “Good news, then?”
“No, a lot of shit news actually,” I said to him casually. We both turned towards the lab door when we heard it slam against the wall, this was quickly followed by Adler screaming my name. “But there was a silver lining. Switch the detonator back on and join me outside if you want. Maybe if I’m lucky we can kill Spike.”
Suddenly Adler burst out of the hallway. He was holding a handgun which was pointed at me and wearing the most wildest of expressions on his face. The little bitch looked absolutely insane right now. He kind of reminded me of me, except not nearly as crafty and conniving.
“Where is he?” Adler screamed. The gun was shaking in his hand. “I told you, I’m leaving once I know. You can have Turris, I don’t fucking care. Where is he? Where did you see him?”
His eyes deflected from mine, and I heard Nero rise to his feet.
“You killed my boyfriend. I’m not telling you shit,” I said. I sauntered up to him and he raised the gun as if thinking that would stop me.
I mock advanced on him, and when he flinched, I took that opportunity and lunged for the gun.
He held on tight and tried to wrench it back. We struggled, but I had been wrestling guns from my fathers since I was five. I pushed the gun down and twisted it to the right, using Adler’s own grip against him. It worked and Adler’s hold weakened. I snatched the gun away, but to make sure he wasn’t going to try anything wise, the moment I had the gun in my possession I punched him in the side of the head.
Adler stumbled from the blow but he recovered quickly. With fast movements, faster than I thought he was capable of, he grabbed my shirt. Then, with a frenzied scream, he made the motion to punch me.
Thinking he was aiming for my face, I ducked, but I was wrong, not only was he not aiming for my face… he hadn’t been about to punch me either.
It was a mistake, and one that would cost me. I felt an impact on my shoulder and a cold, dull pain. I looked down and saw a knife firmly in his hand, then watched him retract the blade and raise it in the air to stab me again.
Then I saw a flash of black and Adler suddenly disappeared. I watched with satisfaction as Nero lifted him up into the air, then threw him down onto the ground like he was a wrestler performing his special move.
And with a scream, Adler hit the floor hard, the force of the slam making the artifacts on the shelves rattle. The idiot lay there, stunned and injured, then he curled himself up like a squashed bug.
Nero came over to me but I was fine, I think. “Turn on the detonator,” I said to him lowly. Nero nodded and disappeared into the hallway. Temporarily leaving Adler where he was I walked into the main bathroom and grabbed a First-Aid kit. I walked back to the main living area and started roughly, and probably rather badly, stitching the wound. It didn’t take much, five stitches, but I was doing it as the blood continuously poured out of the wound.
When I was finished I turned around to see Nero standing with Adler below him. He had Adler by his curly dark brown hair, with his face wrenched up so he was forced to look at me.
When we made eye contact, Adler’s expression became all the more desperate. “Where is he?” he gasped, blood now freely flowing from his nose. He spat and sputtered, and it started dripping down his chin.
“We have a garage don’t we?” I asked Nero.
“With a back room too.” Nero nodded.
“Excellent. Help me bring our brother there, Goose.”
Nero’s expression turned gleeful. “I love you, Ducky.”
I grabbed a machete leaning up against the couch and slid it between my belt and pants, then we both grabbed Adler and started dragging him outside. Adler, of course, didn’t like this, but surprisingly his only way of showing his objection was to whimper. I think the blow to the head had been a money shot, it might’ve knocked a few senses out of him.
I wrenched Adler to his feet but his legs gave out like they’d become pipe cleaners. From how his mouth was moving, I think he was trying to speak, but it became apparent that he was struggling to get breath and talk at the same time.
“We’re going to have so much fun with you, kitten,” Nero said in a tone dripping honey. He jerked Adler up when his feet started to drag but that just made him struggle. I tightened my grip on his jacket to keep him steady, and held him as Nero opened up the garage door. My shoulder was wet, and with every movement I felt a dull gnawing pain, but however bad the stitched stab wound was, I wouldn’t be stopping what I knew was going to be some good ol’ fashion redemption – with just a nice dusting of revenge for flavour.
When I saw the garage in front of me, I laughed. “Oh, this is fucking perfect!” I said as I held Adler’s hands behind his back. He fell to his knees and I let him. I couldn’t believe what a nice little set up this was.
There was a Land Rover-type truck to the left, and quads, dirt bikes, trikes, and just normal bicycles everywhere else. Every one of them appeared to be in good shape, and I couldn’t look in any direction without seeing metal tables and power tools.
But that wasn’t what caught my interest. At the far end of the garage was the back room Nero had mentioned, and not only was it a room… but it had a bare mattress on the ground and shackles and chains that appeared to be mounted on the walls. There was also a door in the same room but it looked like it hadn’t been opened in a while, it might’ve even been barred.
Well, wasn’t that just perfect.
“This is where Mantis held you, isn’t it?” I asked Nero as we dragged Adler across the garage. He was resisting and pivoting his feet, but they easily gave out from under him.
“That’s right,” Nero said cheerfully. He yanked Adler’s hair, making the kid groan from pain. “Fucking held me there when I was out investigating. He beat the shit out of me and tased me when I was tied, and then implanted me with a fucking proxy. One of the ones he could fucking control.” And with that reminder fuelling his thirst for vengeance, he yanked a fistful of Adler’s curls and made him look at him.
“Isn’t revenge awesome, puppy?” Nero growled. I know he was talking to me but his indigo eyes were glaring down the brother in front of us.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to pay back some owed debts,” I said. I closed the garage door and walked behind Nero as he dragged Adler to the garage’s back room. I took out the machete I’d slipped between my belt and cargo pants and trailed behind. “Shackle him.”
Nero roughly shoved Adler onto the mattress, and pressed his boot against the small of Adler’s back.
“I’m immortal, do whatever you want,” Adler coughed. “I’m not afraid of you assholes.” Then he looked directly at me, and his face twisted like a snarling dog. “I’ll eventually find him. You? I took your fucking toy away forever. So do whatever you want. I took something you can never get back.”
I exchanged amused smiles with Nero, the sounds of chains now gracing my ears. “And where is my boyfriend?” I asked him. I held out the machete and pressed
it against his chin. “Did you eat him?”
“I put the little bastard in the freezer,” Adler sneered. “Mantis is probably eating him as we speak.”
Nero and I laughed. Adler’s eyes flickering back and forth. He was confused, but too angry to show it on his face.
“You locked Mantis in the freezer room, didn’t you?” Nero asked. He grabbed Adler’s head and pushed him towards the outstretched blade. I saw a drop of blood appear and trail down to join the additional injuries we’d inflicted on him. “So you put Killian’s body in the freezer… with Mantis locked in too? Interesting. I bet Mantis is pissed at you too, eh?”
“Fuck him and fuck you two,” Adler’s tone tuned bitter. “I’m immortal. Do whatever the fuck you want. I’ve been tortured before. I really don’t give a shit.”
Nero’s eyes shone and so did mine. “Reav… he sounds like someone familiar… doesn’t he?” Nero took Adler’s t-shirt into his hand and brought out something black from his pocket, there was a shink and a knife appeared. Nice-looking switch blade.
“He does,” I said lowly. I got down on my knees, Adler glaring up at me through his brow, with curls of dark brown framing his blue-grey eyes. They were such an interesting colour, the grey seemed so steeled, but then wrapped around the monotone like a blanket was this beautiful sky blue.
I quickly snatched Adler’s chin and raised it. I smiled at him and heard cloth rip as Nero cut his shirt off of him.
Then, to my own surprise and joy, Adler’s gaze broke from mine, and when he saw that Nero had cut his shirt off… his eyes widened and his face dropped. I followed his gaze and realized what had induced this expression… Nero was hard.
Adler started backing away from Nero. I tuned my hearing and was further pleased to hear his heartbeat spiking. It was now an intense and steady thumping, one that made my own heart give a flutter of excitement.