Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (58 page)

Felix laughed, and I realized he had several scars on his face, suggesting he was a brute who had been in many fights. He shook his head like I had just told him the most amusing joke in the world, before retracting his fist and aimed to punch me in the face.

I ducked it as it swung, the motion of the swing throwing the brute off-balance. With Ludo, Valen, and Rio barking and laughing I swung my own fist and punched Felix in the windpipe.

The brute chimera, already off-balance fell forward, crashing into the table and breaking its legs. There was a loud snap of wood and he fell to the ground, their drinks spilling over his thick, muscular body.

“SAMI!” Jack shrieked. To my shock, he yanked me back right as Valen and Ludo went to grab me. I shoved Jack away a second time and punched Valen right in the face.

Valen was knocked off of his feet, but the moment his peppermint ass hit the ground Ludo and Rio had me. I snarled and tried to shove them away but there were too many hands over my body, hitting and tearing at my clothing, spitting curses and oaths as I tried to fight back and get any bit of flesh I could.

“Nero… Nero… the others are here they’re fighting with Sami!” I heard Jack shriek. I was confused for a second before I realized he was on his remote phone. “Quick!”

Ludo punched me in the jaw, blindly I swung and hit something warm, then, like a leech to flesh, I grabbed it and yanked it towards me and bit it. Warm wetness was my reward, and even though I was on one knee getting blow after blow rained down on me, the smell of chimera blood was enough to flood me with adrenaline.

I pressed and heard a holler. It was Valen. I opened my eyes and saw I had the fleshy but muscular upper arm in my mouth. All of the other chimeras hitting me in the head trying to pry my mouth away from the bleeding, delicious piece of meat.

“Sami!” Jack screamed again. I saw his hand; he put it over my nose and pulled back. “Fucking stop it! You’re going to make it worse! Just stop it and leave! Get the fuck out of here before Nero comes. Just go!”

Then a towering shadow behind Valen, Felix had gotten up. I looked up and immediately a growl reverberated in my throat as I saw his burning green eyes glaring down at me.

The last lucid thought was a fist connecting with my head, then everything became a blur.

I glared into the mirror and saw my crimson-red eyes staring back at me just as angry. My eyes matched the blood that had leaked through the bandage on my forehead.

With a growl I turned away from the bathroom mirror and stalked into the living room of my apartment and slipped on my leather winter boots. I had college and I decided I was well enough to go after missing several days. Though the wound on my forehead was forever bleeding through the bandage I was ready to face Jack and see what he had to say about what had happened a couple days ago.

Jan didn’t say anything to me when I crossed the lobby, backpack on my back and an already lit cigarette between my lips. If the pissed off expression on my face wasn’t proof enough I wasn’t in the mood to be talked to, the bloody bandage on my forehead was.

I hid it with a panama hat and slipped into the brisk morning, seeing many Skyfallers around me making their way to their jobs or school classes. Everyone was bundled in clean jackets or expensive furs. I was surrounded by elites, people who would take one look at the old me and immediately recoil like they were smelling something awful. But little did they know – I was a chimera.

I was a fucking chimera, I was Sanguine Sasha Dekker.

And I was now sick and fucking tired of Valen not knowing who I was. And I was sick of Jack not knowing either.

I was going to tell him. I was going to tell Jack who I was today. He could keep a secret, and I couldn’t keep this from him anymore.

I coughed, not realizing I had taken in a long inhale of my cigarette, enough to sear my lungs with the burning smoke. I blew it out quickly and picked up my pace, glancing at every black car I saw in hopes that it was Jack making his way to class. I knew he would stop to pick me up.

Unless he was pissed at me over what happened.

If so, he would understand when I told him who I was. No one would expect a chimera to take that sort of shit from his brothers. I had every right to defend myself.

My jaw locked, my taste buds filling with tangy nicotine as I broke the filter inside of my mouth. I bit the end off of it and spat it onto the road, and enjoyed the filter-less smoke burn my lungs and chest.

I fucking hated Valen, and the other three shits. The howling hyenas in their fucking pack. Even if I was a better fighter than them I couldn’t go up against four, especially with that thick-necked brute.

What a shit night… though it wasn’t like it had been going well before Valen’s interruption. I hated myself.

With a stormy cloud over my head I stalked into CoS. I didn’t have my first class, Fallocaust Survival Studies, with Jack but my next class, 4-point Science, was with him.

FSS passed by quickly even though I couldn’t concentrate at all. The next thing I knew I was sitting down at my desk in my Science class. I knew I looked just as pissed off as I felt.

I was the only one in class at first but eventually the other students trickled in. Like was typical of me my heart jumped and fluttered every time someone came into the class with hair similar to Jack’s but as the time ticked on… Jack didn’t come.

Well, Perish was going to be mad at him for being late. Jack had told me that the red slips he had to get the teachers to sign were actually from Silas himself to make sure he was attending classes. He was a chronic absentee.

Then I heard the bell. I opened up my textbook to the page that was written on the white board and kept an eye on the door as Perish started his lecture.

But still no Jack…

The class continued. Perish talked to us about protein strands and genetic compounds – still no Jack.

I frowned and felt myself start to become nervous. What if he had been absent the entire week? With this in mind I decided to speak to Perish after class. He was a chimera and he would know. On top of that since he wasn’t a dick like Elish he might actually tell me.

After class I packed my things, looking longingly at the empty seat beside me. I put on my backpack and walked up to the teacher’s desk Perish was sitting in front of.

Perish looked up from his laptop and gave me a big smile. “I heard you got into a fight. How are you doing Sang… Sami.”

I stared at him, a bit taken aback. “You… know who I am?”

Perish laughed and nodded before closing the lid on his laptop. He spun around on his chair until he was facing me and crossed his arms. “Yes, don’t ask me how though. Family secrets. But of course I recognize you. Are you feeling okay? Any problems with that head? Our intelligent and science chimeras have an extremely fragile skull but the stealths’ heads are as hard as rock.”

“Ah…” I ran my fingernails over my covered arms. The scar tissue made it hard to feel any pain so I really had to dig in. “Where’s Jack? I’ve been out for a few days and I expected him in class… I really need to talk to him.”

The room seemed to grow colder when I saw Perish’s face darken. He sighed and started drumming his fingers together.

“Poor Jack…” he said slowly. “Got into a fight with Valen the day after the restaurant incident. Valen has been such a difficult chimera. So many failed enhancements, including an important one. He’s not treated well. Jack’s in the infirmary in Alegria with a broken arm and a punctured lung. I think he will be back next week. Yes, next week, I think.”

“What!” I exclaimed. Perish hissed and held his arms out to try and shush me, but the anger was starting to crawl up my body like cockroaches. And though Crow might be gone that didn’t stop the black haze from infiltrating my head. “Valen beat up Jack?”

Perish’s face went pale. His lower lip became a victim of his tooth as he started to look nervous. “Yes…” he said slowly, his eyes going in all directions but my face. “But Silas has told us we cannot get involved in other chimeras power struggles. The second generation has to sort it out themselves and form their own hierarchy.

Our own hierarchy? What sort of bullshit was that? That didn’t sound like Silas at all. Silas would never make us fight like that. Silas loved all of us and wanted to keep us safe.

But Silas wasn’t here right now and he wouldn’t be here for over three months.

“I’m going to go see Jack,” I said darkly. At this admission Perish started to look faint. He put his head into his hands and groaned.

“I don’t care what the family thinks,” I spat. “I’m tired of that pink little shit picking on Jack and acting like a bully. Someone has to knock that fuck down a few pegs.”

“Sang… Sami…” Perish said, lifting his head up from his hands.

“No,” I said lowly, the adrenaline starting to push more anger up to the surface. “I’m done with this. I’m done with Valen. Jack could be my boyfriend soon and I’m not going to let that asshole hurt him.”

Perish paused, and I saw his brow furrow, then after a few moments he nodded. “Okay…” He nodded more vigorously. “You’re right. Just be careful, okay?”

I scoffed and re-adjusted my backpack. “I’m not the one who is going to have to be careful.”

And with that I left the classroom.

I got two puzzled looks from the thiens guarding the entrance to Alegria. Though I didn’t have the time or the patience to explain to them my altered appearance. They didn’t stop me from entering the lobby and that was good enough for me.

Kirrel though wasn’t as hospitable.

“No,” he said firmly. I had come face-to-face with him in the hallway leading to the infirmary. The doctor, a former sengil as I had learned from King Silas, was holding a clipboard and giving me a warning look. He was dressed in his usual lab coat, with a stethoscope slung around his neck.

“I want to see Jack,” I said firmly. “I know the drill, I know who I have to be, just let me see him.”

Kirrel gave me a narrowed look. “Why?”

I gritted my teeth, and looked behind Kirrel’s shoulder. “Because I want to? I…” I dropped my voice. “I live here. I can walk around Alegria as I see fit, I don’t need to tell you why.”

Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say but I had been pushing down a lot of anger since learning that Valen had beaten up Jack. The fact that the doctor was preventing me from seeing Jack wasn’t doing my emotions any favours.

Just as I suspected Kirrel’s narrow look quickly turned rather flat. Nonchalantly he stepped aside and crossed his arms. “I never thought I would say this, but I liked the snarling monster under the bed, at least he wasn’t snippy.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry… okay? I’m just… my head is too full of other things. No doubt you heard what went on at the restaurant. May I please go and see Jack?”

Kirrel blinked, his cross expression turning rather surprised. “Alright, go ahead. You’ll have to answer to Elish not me.”

That was fine. I wasn’t afraid of that asshole either. I walked past Kirrel and peeked my head into the infirmary. The same one I had woken up in when I had been taken from Jasper’s basement.

“Hey!” I said pretending to be happy. Jack was bruised and bandaged, laying in the exact same hospital bed I had been laying in. He was reading a book and looked deep in concentration.

And to show that indeed he had been concentrating Jack jumped at the sound of my voice.

I had expected him to smile back and greet me but instead his face paled and his black eyes widened in shock. He put the book down quickly and pulled himself up into the sitting position.

“Sami? W-what are you doing here? You – you’re not allowed to be in here!” Jack stammered. He looked behind him as if expecting a dozen thien guards to come charging in to pull me away from him. “How did you even get in?”

I stared at him for a second, feeling my mouth twist into knots. “I… ah…” I stuttered before another white lie slipped into my head. “Elish let me.”

Jack gave me a look of disbelief before he nodded slowly. “Okay…” Then he smiled and seemed to shake the suspicion from his head. “Sorry, it’s just… you’re the last person I expected to see here. I’m – I’ll be okay to come to class soon, just getting a lung inflated.” Jack patted his chest which was covered in a thin grey hospital blanket. I saw his arm was also in a small cast. “How are you? You should ask Kirrel to re-bandage your head. Are you feeling okay? I was worried about you.”

My face darkened as did my mood. I pulled up a chair and sat down in it. “It’s not me you have to worry about. Perish said Valen attacked you the day after our date. Is this true?”

And as quickly as it came the smile faded, it was instead replaced with pursed lips and a nervous sound that I could hear reverberating inside of his throat. It was like his body was physically trying to stop him from answering my question.

“It’s just chimera politics…” Jack’s voice was full of nervousness and caution. I saw his adam’s apple go up and down as he swallowed. “Really… it’s our family, things like this happen. He was just angry about what happened at the restaurant. I got my licks and it’s over now.”

And I’m a part of this family…

“How often does he do this?” I asked Jack.

Another swallow, and a nervous laugh. “Sami… you’re new to Skyfall. You need to understand this is something strictly between our family. You… I appreciate the concern, I really do, but you can’t get involved in chimera politics.”

“How often does he do this?” I asked again, my voice starting to turn cold. “Answer me.”

Jack took in my words like I had physically threatened him. His gaze brought with it a smog of heaviness to the room, but I welcomed the descending mood with open arms. Because I knew he was feeling the same apprehension and I didn’t want him comfortable enough to tell me to shut up.

With a twist of the blankets in his hands he said in a subdued voice, “All – all the time.”

Jack stared at his hands. “It never ends, Sami. He’s angry about Silas and the family rejecting him and I’m his target. I’m his punching bag, his and the other three. That’s… that’s life.”

“Not anymore,” I growled.

“Sami… please…” Jack’s voice went up a higher octave. “You’ll get hurt… baby…”

I paused for a brief moment at him calling me baby, but if he thought that would stop me he was wrong. Instead it lit the fire inside of me that refused to let Valen hurt Jack anymore. Because that silver-haired man laying in the hospital bed was going to be my boyfriend, and I was going to kill anyone who dare hurt him.

I turned from Jack – and walked towards the door.

“Sami?” Jack screamed after me. I entered the hallway and eyed Kirrel in an opposite room that looked like a supply room. He was marking things off on his clipboard, his back to me.

I grabbed his jacket and wrenched him backwards, then spun him until he was facing me.

“What floor is Valen’s?” I growled.

I was fully expecting resistance. I was expecting Kirrel to see how angry I was and tell me to piss off.

But instead the doctor’s eyes widened, and I was witness to seeing every speck of colour drain from his face.

“Eighth,” the former sengil whispered, before saying loudly. “I’m not telling you; get the hell out of here. I was nice enough to let you visit in the first place.”

I smirked and patted his cheek, before dropping him and turning around. As Jack called after me, unable to move from the machines he was hooked up to, I went to the elevator still waiting for me, and pressed floor eight.