Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (75 page)

Chimera?

Sanguine?

Jack stared at Silas, his hand slipping from his mouth and falling to his side with a slap. The sound of it made all four of them turn towards Jack, just as the silver-haired chimera fell to his knees. He put both of his hands over his mouth and looked up at the four in absolute shock.

“Shit… you didn’t tell me he was fucking here!” Ellis swore. She turned from the four of them, a chain of expletives falling from her mouth.

Jack tried to talk, he tried to say something but all that came out was string after string of nonsensical stammering. Even when Nero came over and pulled him to his feet, all he could do was stare at Silas. His mind jamming, the gears inside of his head seemingly rusted to the point where nothing was moving, nothing was processing. He was struck dumb and in that moment, unable to even stand.

“It’s… it’s okay, puppy,” Nero said, holding his entire weight. “Just breathe…”

“C-chimera?” Jack stammered, his voice now stuck at an octave so high he sounded like a meowing kitten. “C-chimera? Sami? Sami?”

Jack took in a deep breath before, unable to stop himself, he shrieked it. “SAMI IS A CHIMERA?”

“Pup… it’s okay,” Nero said soothingly, but the roaring behind Jack’s eyes paid no attention to Nero’s calm voice. In an instant the rusted gears of his mind started to rev, spinning faster and faster. Every bit of information started flooding to him to the point where he didn’t know if he was going to go crazy, pass out, or throw up on the floor.

Jack shook his head back and forth. He didn’t even realize he was hyperventilating until the stars starting to cluster to the corner of his vision. He shook his head rapidly at Nero, before his legs once again gave out from under him.

How the fuck… oh, no, no… fuck no. Are they serious? Is this reality?

Sami is a chimera? He was a chimera all along?

Oh fuck. It makes perfect sense.

The family’s involvement; Silas’s interest in him. Of course he wasn’t some greywaster Silas wanted to date, you fucking imbecile. He’s a chimera, your brother.

“Of course he is!” Jack screamed, more at himself than the others. Garrett was there now helping hold him up. “Of course he fucking is!”

Jack burst out laughing, his entire body shaking from sheer stress and anxiety, but not five seconds later he started to cough, and five seconds after that… he threw up on the floor.

“Why…” Jack hacked, a string of spit falling onto the floor. “Why the fuck was this kept from me!?” Every word Jack spoke only became louder and shriller. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this!?”

Jack swayed again, he started to feel faint.

“Hold him up…” Silas’s voice suddenly sounded.

“Silas, don’t be mean to him – he really loves the guy. Please, Kingy.”

“I have no intention, now hold him up.”

Jack looked up, vomit dripping down his mouth; his world swirling around in dizzy anxiety. His mind kept boiling in its confusion, every few seconds brushing on the terror this realization brought before spinning off in a different direction. He was so confused in that moment he still didn’t know what to do with himself. Everything seemed a thousand miles away, all but the bright beacon in his mind that kept screaming at him:
SAMI IS A CHIMERA!

Jack groaned, then felt a hand on his chin. It was lifted until he was face-to-face with King Silas.

“Everything will be fine, my lovely Grim,” Silas said soothingly. He smiled kindly and framed Jack’s face with his hands. “Relax… take in a deep breath. We have important matters to discuss, lovely Jack. And we don’t have time to deal with your shattering world. So hush for your master, and breathe in and out with me.”

Jack whimpered, but he felt better under the caring touch of his master. So he nodded and tried to take in a rattling breath.

As he did he felt a rush of calm wash over him, like he was taking a hit of the finest opiate powder. It was coming from Silas’s hands and, sure enough, as Jack looked into the king’s eyes he saw the brilliant green emeralds turn black for several seconds.

The calming touch of King Silas was an ability unique to him, though they had tried to inject these strange abilities into Valen without success. It was an ability that tweaked your very brain, soothing the open wounds of whatever was causing you inner chaos and healing them with his gentle white light. It was unbelievable the power the king had, and something Jack had only witnessed a handful of times.

King Silas had ended the world, and started the Fallocaust and it was during times like these that Jack understood why the world should fear him. He was the most powerful man in the world, with a touch that could tame even the wildest of beasts.

The calmness covered Jack like a thick canvas and embraced him in its warmth. He could feel the anxiety get siphoned out of him in a way that reminded Jack of an infected wound, hot and ready to burst, finally being lanced and drained.

“Now breathe out…” Silas whispered calmly, his hand still gently caressing Jack’s cheek. Jack nodded and obeyed, breathing out what felt like an intangible mountain of anxiety and terror.

“There we go, your heartbeat is slowing, your blood pressure is falling… does my love feel better?” Silas whispered.

Jack opened his eyes, though in reality his eyes had never been shut, only the awareness came back to him. He nodded to Silas, seeing his king standing in his glory behind him. Though a split second later a trickle of blood ran down his nose.

Though he still felt dizzy, Jack raised a hand and gently wiped away the blood.

“You’ll sit with us in the living room,” Silas said calmly. He looked behind him and nodded to Nero and Garrett. They both released their hold on Jack, slowly to make sure he could stand on his own. “Any questions you have may be asked, but planning is more important. Come now.”

Jack nodded dumbly, the questions still surging through his mind like a thousand people trying to rush through a single door, but the calming touch of Silas gave Jack the tools to be patient. He felt like Silas had wrapped him in a protective blanket. The anxiety was still there, and the shock of his realization, but it was far away from his mind, far enough for him to be able to function through the meeting.

Sami was a chimera… Sami was a chimera…

I will do as Silas asks and breakdown about this later – right now I need to bring… I need to bring…

I need to bring my boyfriend home.

Jack’s lips tightened and though shock and fear had reigned supreme over his emotions just moments ago, he was surprised and proud of himself to feel a new swell of bravery and determination go through him. He felt empowered to help his new brother. He felt responsible for him even more so now. A new attachment to this strange man had rapidly started to form inside of him, and a protectiveness that Jack knew would grow like a thousand scattered seeds.

Yes,
Jack nodded as he sat down on the living room couch.
I’m going to bring my boyfriend home.

You’re my boyfriend, and my brother. I now understand this attraction I’ve always felt towards you, and now – I won’t try and push it away.

I’ll find you, and I will love you through your madness. I promise you, Sami. I will love you as I know you had once loved me.

“We need to bring him home,” Jack said, gratefully taking the cup of tea from Kinny. He warmed his hands on it, his entire body was shaking from the sheer emotional impact of the news he had learned.

“You know we will,” Nero said. Jack felt a warm hand on his knee and a caring rub. Nero had always been the perfect older brother. Even though he was almost forty he still acted like a kid himself most of the time. “I met him when he was only seven, and it was me, Ceph, and Silas that took him out of that dude’s basement.”

Jack felt a pull on his lips. A sadness filled his heart as he remembered the tidbits of personal information that Sami had given him when they had their date. “He told me… he told me about that. How long was he held captive for?”

Nero and Ellis exchanged glances before, oddly, they looked at Silas nervously. They looked like they both wanted to speak but as the silence sunk into the room Jack realized they were both waiting for Silas to answer.

“Eleven years,” the king finally said after several moments had passed. “He was kidnapped by a meth addict who tortured him and abused him. He got him shortly after Nero and Ellis found him and let him stay in a small two-storey house we have in the greywastes. When I first met Sanguine he was terrified of everything and would hide under the bed most days. It took a lot of work to get him to even go outside… and the food hoarding.” Silas smiled at the memory. “He hoarded food like a little squirrel, but he was so… endearing and sweet. I enjoyed watching him discover the joys of life for the first time.”

“S-Sanguine?” Jack’s voice faltered under the realization. “His name isn’t really Sami?”

All four of them shook their heads. “Sami was the name his adoptive mother gave him; she died when he was one. He called himself Sanguine when we found him but Elish gave him the alias Sami Fallon when he sent him to college,” Silas explained. “He is my Sanguine Sasha Dekker. He shared a steel mother with you Jack.”

Silas leaned over and opened a drawer of his marble coffee table. Jack’s eyes widened when he saw a photograph on the top of the pile. He took it from Silas and started to feel his breathing get shallow when he saw who it was.

It was Sami, but his eyes were blood-red, and the large smile he had on his face showed off pointed shark-like teeth. The same type of teeth that Jack had.

He has teeth like mine? He’s – he’s so much like me.

He’s stunning.

“My
crucio
was so shy over his appearance, and Nero tells me he was happy to wear dental caps and coloured contacts. He was making grand strides before I was killed,” Silas explained. His voice was still full of pride, like he was showing off a kid who just got accepted into a premier college. “Was he excited to go to school, Nero? Did Elish and Mantis treat him well?”

The photo shook under Jack’s trembling hands. All of this was too much for him and he wanted nothing more than to run to his apartment and sit in complete sensor-depleting darkness for awhile. The pit of nausea seemed to feed on these new realizations. It absorbed and consumed the shock that each hammer blow made and used it to grow and expand.

Jack closed his eyes and took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. He opened them to the smiling photo of Sanguine, and felt his heart shudder as he gazed at his brother’s face.

No… my boyfriend… my boyfriend.

Jack put the photo down and his cup of tea as well. He then slowly wiped his hands down his face before resting his elbows on his knees and burying his face into his hands. He stayed there with his eyes closed, and tried to use the manufactured darkness to calm his mind down and center himself.

With his face covered by his hands he stayed completely still, and listened in on the conversation going on between Silas, and Jack’s other siblings.

“No, but we do need to make Oniks aware of what’s happening,” Jack heard Silas say. Jack had said nothing during this conversation; he was content retreating back into his head and hiding there until he was needed. He had so much on his mind at that moment he barely knew what to do with himself.

“We already have, and we’re injecting someone new in to try and weed out the turncoat,” Nero commented, his mouth full of some sort of snack that Kinny had brought. “We have all of that taken care of and the invasion is scheduled for five days from now. Just focus on Sangy, leave the rebels up to me, puka. Are you sure you don’t want some of our legion trackers? We have the clothing we found him in and that stuff is fucking rank with his smell.”

“Actually… I don’t think I want him to be found quite yet.”

Jack’s head shot up. He looked surprised at Silas and saw that he wasn’t alone. All three of Jack’s brothers and Ellis were giving Silas shocked and confused looks.

Silas, of course, didn’t care. The king, who was nibbling on the end of a chocolate wafer, with a blue-embered cigarette in his other hand, was staring at the photo of Sanguine that Jack had put down.

He put the cigarette into his mouth and moved the photo until it was facing him. He then took an inhale of the cigarette and gently blew it across the smiling face of Sanguine.

“I think Sanguine’s murders are the perfect distraction right now from our planned invasion,” Silas said, before nodding to himself like what ideas he had forming inside of his head were indeed the right ones. “We already have the media on this don’t we, Ellis?”

Ellis nodded. “That’s why we came as quickly as we could. The UFM is all over this saying it’s a chimera and Haden at the SNN says we’re going to have to either make a statement or let them run stories about it or the public is going to start to either try and get a hold of the UFM or think we’re hiding something.”

“We don’t give a fuck what the media –” Nero paused as Silas raised a hand.

“Like it or not the media needs something,” Silas said with a frown. “I don’t like it either but I refuse to muzzle the media in Skyfall. That’s what happened before the Fallocaust and the people revolted like you wouldn’t believe. We need them to believe they have free media and that means printing things that might not put us in the best light. If we let the occasional bit of bad publicity slip it means we’ll have liberty to stop the actual damaging stories.”