Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (33 page)

I hissed at him and continued to growl, suddenly I didn’t like that I was being cornered. Though from the looks of him I would win any fight he wanted to start… though he didn’t seem like the type.

“Garrett, will you get away from him?” Silas said in a voice dripping annoyance. “You’re going to make him worse. I just fucking got him out from under the damn bed!”

“Oh, just wait, you big grump.”

Then the oddest thing in the world happened, something that I didn’t expect or even think was possible. Garrett reached up to grab something… and proceeded to put a black kitten down in front of him.

“There you go, growly. I got you this as a present. Well, Silas and I did. Don’t tell me you hate kittens I won’t believe you.” Garrett pushed the tiny little kitten towards me and chuckled. “He growls and hisses too – well, not yet, but some of them do. Do you like him, Sanguine?”

The small kitten looked at me and I looked back at the kitten. The cats at Sunshine House had all been fixed older cats that Nan got money from the Legion to look after; I had never seen such a small one before.

Immediately the growl left my throat and, intrigued, I reached over and took the kitten and brought him up to my face. No sooner had I done that the kitten started to purr and arch its back to rub against my face.

“He’s purring! Look at that, love at first sight. No matter how bloodthirsty and tyrannical, you give a chimera a kitten and he’s a happy clam forever. See, Si, I know what I’m doing,” Garrett said smugly. “Your chimeras love kittens.”

“At least you didn’t bring one of those wild ones Ceph is raising,” Silas said with a chuckle. “I can hear him purring from here.”

I drummed my fingers against the floor, making the kitten bat them with an enthusiastic paw. I almost smiled as he pounced and bounced over the excitement of drumming fingers. I liked him already.

I glanced past the kitten at the shiny shoes and tried to gauge how I felt about this man.

Garrett didn’t seem threatening, though he was loud but I had to get used to loud. So I shifted myself out from under the bed, the kitten held in my right arm. It was hard to do, my body seemed to pull me towards the dark corners of the room where I knew I was safe, but I overruled my own emotions.

“Oh, hello!” Garrett’s voice was singing when they saw me emerge. I stood up and backed up all the way to the wall and held the kitten to my chest as he purred.

“Hello,” I said, quietly looking at the floor. “Thank you for… kitten.”

“Think of a nice name for him,” Garrett said cheerfully. “I am Garrett, second born of the first generation, and the man who helped create you!”

He created me? I looked at him suspiciously and noticed Garrett was staring at me intently, looking over every detail of my face and mostly… my mouth. It was obvious he wanted to take a better look at me but I could only be pushed so far… I didn’t want him near me.

“Alright, you had a good look. Come back into the living room, Sanguine. I have another surprise for you. He will be here soon, is that right Garrett?” Silas said and started pulling on Garrett’s blazer collar. Garrett gave an embellished sigh and turned around to walk out of the bedroom.

“That’s right. He’s just finishing his appointment with Kirrel. Poor kid isn’t in the greatest of health just like our Sanguine,” Garrett explained.

I followed the two of them out into the living room and saw another man I had never seen before opening up a sack of sand.

The young man with blond hair cut short looked up at me and smiled.

“Hello, I’m Tom, Garrett’s sengil. I’ll be out of here in a second just setting up the litter box so Shorty there doesn’t crap in the apartment. Are you liking it here?” Tom walked towards me with his hand out. I took a cautious step back and stared at him.

Tom stood there with his hand extended, until Garrett found him and gently directed him away from me.

Having one person in the house was tolerable but having three was making my insides squirm, so I found a chair in the corner of the new apartment and sat down with the new kitten.

“Sanguine, are you okay?” Silas said as he snapped his fingers and pointed to the door outside. Obediently Tom set the litter tray down and left the apartment without another word.

I looked at Silas before shaking my head no.

“Would you like some Xanax to keep you calm? You seemed to like it at the hospital,” Silas said before reaching into his pocket.

I held out my hand. I had enjoyed being on Xanax. It made the motor that was constantly revving inside of my chest slow down.

I swallowed it and Silas smiled before turning back around as Garrett spoke.

“So are you still loading him up on Xanax, love?” I heard him ask from the kitchen. I heard a bag getting moved around but obviously the sound meant more to the kitten. My new friend started trying to scramble off of my lap, but a moment later Garrett came over to me and handed me a plastic container.

“It has been vital for him,” Silas said. “I haven’t seen a panic attack yet but at this point I would be more than happy if that was all we have to deal with.” Silas sighed. I didn’t think I liked them talking about me like I wasn’t there.

“Well, we have tons at least. He’s skinny. Fuck, is he ever skinny.”

I opened up the container and saw little brown squares that smelled interesting. I popped one into my mouth and it didn’t taste bad. I ate a few more as the kitten started to sniff and rub up against the rim of the plastic.

“No, no, those are cat treats, dear. Not for chimeras,” Garrett said gently. He took the container away from me and shook a few into his palm. The kitten started eating then hungrily. I took one before the kitten could eat it and ate it myself. They tasted pretty good, I didn’t see why the kitten couldn’t share.

“Sanguine, come sit on the couch.” Silas walked over to me with another kind smile. “We have a visitor coming in a moment but you know this one so don’t be apprehensive.”

“I know this one?” I said quietly. I tried to think of who it could be as I sat down. I wanted to ask if it was Nan but I didn’t. For all I knew Nan was dead.

I sat down and wrapped the red blanket around myself. I nestled into it and moved to the far corner of the couch and tried to make myself comfortable.

The two sat down. Silas with that same odd, kind smile and Garrett… he wasn’t hiding his fascination with me.

I let Garrett pick me apart with his eyes and burrowed myself into the blankets. Garrett and Silas chatted freely about me though it wasn’t anything offensive. They spoke of my medical issues which I knew I had and also with the diet they had been feeding me.

When the next knock came on the door I froze but remained sitting in my blankets. Garrett rose to his feet and walked towards the door, his earrings sparkling in the faint light coming from the fireplace.

It was warm and cozy tonight. I don’t think I would ever take being comfortable and warm for granted. Most of the time in Jasper’s basement I was either freezing cold or almost dying from heat stroke because of the lack of proper ventilation in that basement.

The memories still stained my skin and made me clasp my arms with my clenched fingers. I locked my jaw and stared at the red of the blanket, wishing the Xanax would kick in so I didn’t have to suffer through the memories my masochistic mind was more than willing to torment me with.

Though curiosity was a demon on my shoulders, so I watched intently as the door opened, wondering just who this person I supposedly knew was.

A small boy stepped through with a shy smile on his face. A little boy with newly cut and brushed black hair, wearing a grey batman t-shirt and green pants.

“Juni?” I said, feeling my mouth go dry. Immediately Juni looked towards the living room and his face brightened.

“Hi, Sanguine!” Juni said happily. He put his hands behind his back and walked towards me, but he hesitated and stopped halfway there. “Are you okay?”

He was cautious, and he had a reason to be cautious. Juni had seen me as the maniac tied to the dirty mattress. The boy didn’t know who I was.

Not like I even knew who I was…

“Yeah,” I said sitting up so I wasn’t slouching as much in the couch. “I’m feeling a bit more in this world. Are they treating you well?”

Juni smiled and nodded vigorously. He walked the rest of the way, with a bravery inside of him that reminded me of me.

As I said that thought though, I realized that, as a child, most bravery was stupidity. In all respects he shouldn’t trust me, or anyone, but perhaps I was drawing from my own experiences.

“Garrett… can I tell him?” Juni said eagerly, rubbing his hands together and almost bouncing down on the spot.

“Of course!” Garrett said with a laugh. He put a hand on Juni’s back and directed him into the front of the couch where the coffee table was.

“I’m going to be adopted!” Juni said excitedly. “King Silas says I can stay here. He says because I was so brave to find Nero and Ceph… I can be a Dekker. I’m Juni Dekker now. Can I get red eyes too? Can I get sharp teeth too?”

My eyes widened. I looked over at Silas who was looking proud of himself. When we made eye contact he nodded and took another drink of his tea. “Juni found Nero and Ceph in Melchai, Sanguine. Juni told them about
him
and told Nero a red-eyed man was locked in the basement. Of course Nero knew immediately who you were. Sanguine, did Nero ever tell you what he did every year?”

Beside me I saw Juni take a seat on the wingchair, leaning back with his little feet off of the ground. Both stick thin legs happily wiggling up and down to show his contentment. That little boy seemed happy as can be. He seemed to be taking these changes a lot better than me.

I shook my head and dug my fingers into my skin. “I… I haven’t spoken to Nero. I wasn’t really myself when I saw him in the kitchen.” My throat tightened as I tried to swallow down the apprehension. I couldn’t pinpoint why but I was getting nervous, perhaps I needed another Xanax. I don’t think I liked them speaking about the basement.

Juni… Juni knew what was happening because he had had it done to him. From what I remember in that monotonous hell Levi and Lyle had come, followed by Juni. I think Juni had only been there for six months, possibly ten. I don’t remember; I could only tell there was someone different by their screams when Jasper was on them.

I looked at Juni as Silas said something back to me, but I my ears were elsewhere. I didn’t pick up a single thing Silas was saying. My eyes were fixed on that small boy, that small, happy little child, who had seemed to have bounced back already.

What if he told… what if he told…

“Sanguine?”

I jumped as I felt Silas’s hand on my knee. I looked over at him and blinked, realizing with embarrassment they had been trying to get my attention for awhile.

“Are you okay?” Silas said lightly. “Is this too much for you?”

Is it?

I shook my head. I was face-to-face with a boy who had been through the same abuse I had. I didn’t want to appear weak in front of Juni. I just… didn’t.

“I’m fine,” I said slowly and looked back down at the blankets. I took in a deep breath and started to count them as the three chatted happily.

“I remembered that there was a gas station,” Juni said. I could tell he was chewing on something. I glanced over and saw he was eating from a different box of cookies. “I told Mr. Nero that and I got to fly in that big plane. The bartender guy almost told me to piss off too, but they let me speak to them. I liked those two, one gave me Dunkaroos but he called them something different.”

Then Juni paused. “I’m happy Levi is being adopted too. He’s so sad about Lyle…”

“Lyle?” I heard Garrett ask.

I sunk further into the blankets and started counting the small threads I could see. My ears started to burn.

“He’s going to tell them,” Crow suddenly said behind me. “He’s young. He doesn’t realize how dangerous it is to admit what happened to him. You should tell him to keep his mouth shut.”

“I’m not going to do that,” I said darkly to Crow. “I won’t scare him.”

“Lyle was Levi’s little brother. We played cars a lot. Jasper beat him to death because we gave Sanguine things we weren’t supposed to.”

“What things? Did Jasper keep you down there too?”

Stop saying his name.

“He’s going to tell them.” Crow’s voice suddenly dropped down to the depths of darkness. I saw lines appear in his face as he scowled but in a flash the scowl turned into a snarl and I saw him gripping the couch.

I gripped my arm hard.

“Sanguine, he’s going to fucking tell him!” Crow’s voice rose, then instead of sounding behind me his voice went back inside of my head. The same piercing, loud voice that hurt the inside of my head.

‘Sanguine! He’s going to tell them Jasper was fucking all of you!’

‘Sanguine! SANGUINE!’

‘STOP HIM!’
Crow’s essence pressed on me, stifled and smothered me with a determination that told me he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I did it.
‘STOP HIM, YOU FUCKING WEAK BITCH’