The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (24 page)

The next morning, with a boulder inside my stomach I handed off the card to Luca. My petpet remained steadfast and neutral but I saw the frown in his eyes and I knew he was worried. Luca knew what was going on, thankfully though no one gave serventmaids a second glance. I knew he would get the information and the key card back to Elish.

I was supposed to be gone by now...
I swallowed, trying to dash the boulder inside me but it felt like I was dragging a dead weight.

Eerie enough, during the night Garrett had transformed himself. When he woke up the next morning he was very serious and almost cold towards Saul and Luca. I stayed well away from him and kept my joking down to a minimum. By afternoon I didn’t think I had said more than several words to him. Every time I looked to see what he was doing he was rigid and seemed covered in prickles. I couldn’t wait for this to be all over, just to see him relaxed again.

I decided to suck up and I practised on the piano as he clicked away on his laptop and chain-smoked like a chimney. The entire time I watched a single stray black hair slowly free itself from its gel prison to eventually grace the middle of his forehead.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, but in another way it came too quickly. Before I knew it I was in the car, my knee going up and down in a nervous twitch and my hands tensing around each other.

“Alegria,” Garrett said in a cold voice. He stared ahead, I watched as his adam’s apple went up and down as he swallowed.

My heart pulled me towards him; I put a hand around his waist and drew him close to me before leaning my head on his shoulder.

“Reno...” His voice was so low it had a graveliness to it I hadn’t heard before. “Listen to me, every word.” He took a deep breath and started talking to me quietly, his own hand now on my knee clenching it. “I might have to say things I don’t mean, and act in ways I won’t want to. Remember Silas is my master, like I am your master. I have to submit to him, obey him, and love him.” He took in a heavy breath through his nose. I got the impression he was trying to give a two hour speech with a five minute time limit.

“But what is more important is how you have to act. You are a pet now, you are submissive to me and to him, do not break your role. Do not give him a single hint that you’re not submissive to him or he will
break
you until he feels you are.” The way he said break made me shudder, it had a solidity to it that made me almost feel it. “Even if you forget everything else I’ve said remember that. If he doesn’t feel you’re obedient to him, he will break you down and, Otter, I will not be able to interfere or else he will only hurt you further. I am his creation, he is my master, and he treats me better than some of the others because I always remember that.”

What have you gotten me into, Elish...?

The rhythmic motion of the car did nothing to lull my racing mind. Inside my bones rattled, like an earthquake that started in my head had spread to every cell in my body. I was tensed, nervous... nah, I was terrified.

The streets of Skyland seemed to separate for our vehicle, the commoners knew who we were. Master and pet, Garrett and Otter. They stopped and stared before carrying on their day-to-day lives. Full of shopping, full time jobs and the artistic culture that Silas had seemed to want to bring to Skyfall. Such a contrast from the greywastes, it still gave me pause more often than not. My life had changed so much... had Reaver and Killian’s? Where were they now? Safe I hope and staying safe.

At least they had each other.

I got out and immediately my head rose to take in the towering skyscraper before me.

It was the most fixed up one out of all of them, every single window was still intact and most of them I could see filled with a warm light. The building itself was grey with black window frames at least twice as tall as Garrett’s.

I tightened my jacket as I felt a shiver go through me, though it wasn’t from the chilly winter air. I looked to see Garrett beside me but he made no move to warm or comfort me. He was in chimera mode, I could see it in his eyes.

I felt like a sacrifice being taken to the alter by an unwilling owner. It wasn’t until my chain tightened that I realized he was leading me inside.

The entire entrance was glass, as I passed through the doors (opened by cute servants in tight little winter outfits) I noticed the glass was very thick, bullet proof I was assuming.

With my legs becoming more and more like dead weights I walked into the entrance area.

How it could be possible to make an entrance entry more fancy than Garrett’s I didn’t know. The walls were adorned with new blue pattern wallpaper split halfway down with black wood paneling. The floors were grey marble with black swirls which touched the corners of every room, there was even a god damn fountain in the center.

I recognised the creature in the middle, a scorpion, cougar hybrid. The same creature that Garrett had on a necklace made out of gold that always hung around his neck. They also called the symbol a chimera. I guess it was their mascot or something, I really hoped it didn’t exist. A giant cougar with six legs and a stinging tail was nothing I felt like fucking with in the greywastes.

The lighting was dim, oddly warm, and welcoming. I felt an immediate sense of deception from just that. This was not welcoming, it was a lions’ den. I don’t know why but just the sheer contrast of what the welcoming area wanted to say and what it actually was shredded my nerves.

Killian... god dammit, he would be able to give me some pointers on dealing with the real Asher. Not the knucklehead I fucked senseless in my cabin, the real King Silas who tortured and raped him. I wish I had five minutes with him, I bet he knew what insects crawled under the king’s skin...

A beep from an elevator and the smell of peppermint and anxiety. I automatically walked inside and, without a spoken word, we started to go up in the elevator. To the thirty-fifth floor, the top.

My heart... I knew Garrett could hear it, I was sure Silas would be able to too. This notion made me steel my insides. Even if it was a band aid over an asthma attack at least it would serve as a reminder that I had to match my body language to my words.

Don’t even bother playing it cool, he’ll know.

Just pretend you’re dealing with evil Reaver... no... just pretend you’re dealing with Reaver after Killian dumped his ass and all he’s done since then is grow more and more manically insane, and then add all the power in the world and like twenty super servants that fulfilled his every whim.

No wonder this guy was fucking nuts, Reaver would’ve started another Fallocaust by now.

I swallowed the razor blades seemingly lodged in my throat, and with that thought seeping its anxiety into my brain, I watched Garrett walk through the elevator doors.

I followed but as soon as the doors closed behind me I couldn’t move; my feet became welded to the spot as my legs began to tremble.

The apartment held in it a dark ambiance, rich brown painted walls with deep red carpet, a real gas fireplace in the center of the living room, framed by wall-to-wall windows of Skyland before us. Smelling of cinnamon and spices I couldn’t identify, with ceiling lights on silver rails, halogen and warm, aided with black shaded table lamps that all matched.

The place was beautiful, but... but I still couldn’t move.

I felt my leash tighten, though like a stubborn dog I didn’t budge. Garrett turned around but I couldn’t meet his gaze. My eyes were looking in all directions for
him
.

The apartment’s darkness held shadows and in this moment the thought of Silas hiding in a corner to charge at me terrified me like nothing else. He was a phantom in my brain, King Silas was a ghost from a land far away; Asher was a radicater who I hadn’t minded.

The two were not the same people.

“Reno... such a strange sight to see you... in my home.”

I closed my eyes, hearing my breath come out of my nose in anxious huffs, bordering on hyperventilating. It was his voice but colder, like icicles would drip from their words if they were given the chance. I had heard that tone when he told me I had no choice but to be fucked by him.

My mind turned to mush but in the relentless shifting of grey matter the resolution that kept replaying over and over was that I couldn’t
not
act submissive, even if I didn’t want to.

“Hey... Silas is it?” My mouth twitched a few times before I managed a smile. I looked down at my boots, still glued to their place. The leash now slacked. “Good to see you.”

“See me?” Silas whispered. I felt a dark presence press against me; I knew he was coming closer. “You have been avoiding looking at me... scared are we?”

My face recoiled as I felt a frozen hand brush against my chin; I didn’t even realize he was so close to me until I felt that touch. Then I remembered Asher in Aras, he was stealthy, a ghost in the darkness sneaking from one place to another. The guy was a fucking wraith... and cold like one.

With a small upturn of his finger, my chin followed until I was eye to eye with him.

With golden blond hair framing his dark green eyes, Asher Fallon smiled at me, a sardonic, sinister smile that told me in volumes that this would not be an easy encounter.

“I... I like your hair...” I stammered.

I saw the silhouette of Garrett behind him but I wouldn’t break my gaze and look at him. I kept them fixed on his eyes, deep green suns that burned my own in their sockets. I knew if I looked to Garrett for help he would feed on that immediately.

Asher strangely shushed me. He traced a finger down to my neck before it creeped back up. I shuddered as I felt his ice cold talons wrap my neck into his grip. He gave it a slight squeeze and shook it.

“Where’s he, Reno? My
bona mea
? He’s escaped.” I felt his breath center on my ear as he hissed the last words. His head cocked to the side, and his emerald icebergs tried to find my gaze. It took me a moment to work my brain into looking at him again.

“Once the mob took us I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, before I knew it I passed out. Elish brought me here. I... after a week or so I was sold to Garrett.” My voice shook as his fingers tightened around my neck. My legs decided to work for a moment but they only made me step backwards until my back was up against the wall.

Silas loosened his grip until his hand was once again flat; in the same instant his touch suddenly became warm, almost hot. I furrowed my brow and craned my neck away from him.

How the hell was he doing that?

“Where would he be hiding?” Silas’s voice suddenly became like honey; his warm touch soothed the frozen skin. Though it did nothing to stop the hammer in my chest and my brain shooting warning flares throughout my body. My god this is the exact way Reaver intimidated people. My worst nightmare was becoming his enemy.

“I... I don’t know. For all I know he’s hiding in the bunker. I didn’t even get a chance to –”

“Garrett... undress him.”

My body stiffened and tensed as he withdrew his touch; he stepped back as Garrett walked towards me. His face was stone, expressionless and almost sterile. Like a robot he unbuttoned my top, then my pants. For not even a fraction of a second did he make eye contact with me.

I felt my neck go hot as he stripped down even my underwear. I pressed my bare back against the wall and hung my head, feeling too raw in front of them to make eye contact.

“Trimmed as well? Have you sampled his nectar already?”

“No, I have been wanting to wait.” Garrett was trying to keep his voice steady but the stammer gave him away. A gazelle that just took a step and revealed a limp. My chimera was scared which made me even more fearful.

I felt my head start to burn but I steeled my face and glared at the floor, determined to at least keep some of my greywaster pride.

“He is such a virile thing in bed, you will enjoy him,” Silas whispered. I felt a warm finger trace my short pubes then brush up against my very flaccid dick. “Love starved, that much was for sure. Did you notice that as well? He thirsts for attention; it was like he had a fever in his loins when he fucked me... though... we were both moaning for the same man.”

Same man...
he meant Reaver.

“Reno... did you think of Reaver when I fucked you?” Silas whispered, his finger tracing the slit. They were still warm, almost uncomfortably warm. The tender flesh on the head of my penis was sensitive to everything; unlike these chimeras I wasn’t cut.

I felt the first twinge of hardness in my dick as he rubbed it. I tried to funnel all my energy into remaining soft but I felt my legs arch and stiffen.

“No,” I said through clenched teeth. I closed my eyes and felt him cup the head before he tugged on it.

“Oh, he’s telling the truth...” Silas whispered, warmth tingled on my neck, and I could feel his breath tickle the soft hairs behind my ears. A moment later I felt his mouth lick my nipple.

“Lucky you, Garrett. He does like you.”

“Now... let’s try another question...” Silas’s tone dropped. “Reno, do you know where Reaver might have gone?”

I gasped as he nipped on the sensitive flesh, sending a wave of unwanted pleasure through my body. “No, I don’t.”