Chaos Lives in Everything - 19. Chapter 19

"I could get used to this view," Dom said. He turned away from the view of the city and looked at Skold. "You couldn't have picked a more perfect spot."

"It is beautiful," Skold agreed. He was sitting on the sofa. Both of the elves were completely naked. "I love to stand before it and watch the city below. Everything, the cars, the people, everything looks so small. Like tiny little insects. And you can see them moving like ants."

"You are different," said Dom, cocking his head to the side.

"I am," Skold mused, looking troubled. "I don't understand. I'm supposed to be dead inside."

"How did you become a eunuch?"

"I think you already know."

Dom nodded. He joined Skold on the couch, also naked. Their clothes lay in a pile on the floor. "Aye, I've heard stories. But I have heard other people tell it. Stories have a way of becoming twisted, untrue."

"How do you know that my version isn't any different? How would you know that I'm not lying?"

"You don't seem like the lying type."

Skold cleared his throat. "My father had me castrated. He made the order. I was young, not yet of age."

"I have heard the stories of Kane," said Dom, his voice sharp with disgust.

"I am much wors

e than he is."

"No you are not."

For a moment Skold looked at Dom, his brow furrowed. He said nothing remaining very still.

"What are you thinking?" Dom asked.

Skold crawled over to where Dom was sitting and stretched out on the sofa. He laid his head in his lap relishing the warmth of Dom's skin. He held his hand before his face clenching and unclenching it as if he were seeing just for the first time. His own body felt unfamiliar to him, alien. Unnatural. But it was his body as it had always been. It did what he commanded it to, it killed whatever he wanted to kill. Gone was the numbness, the ice wall that had blocked out any pain that he might of felt. So much of him was gone, things that could never be forgotten. His father had taken his manhood and King Yaldon had taken his memory.

"Vervolechent," Skold whispered. "Do you think it's possible that we...?"

"Were brought together by Cerbyendeuyng?" Dom finished for him. "Yes. And the other night at the cabin when we...when we werer together...Vervolechent. Maybe that's why I feel so different."

Dom started to spin strands of Skold's silver-white hair around his finger. Skold closed his eyes and enjoyed the comfort of Dom's company and the pleasure of his touch.

Candestine sat on the floor in the dark of her new apartment. There was no other sound except for the maddening rattle of her own thoughts. Her apartment was unfurnished-there was nothing to sit on or lay on. There was no food in the fridge, not that she was feeling hungry. It had been two days since she'd eaten and the thought of eating turned her stomach. Her surroundings were unfamiliar to her, alien. A few days ago she'd had a place in the world and within the blink of an eye she'd been knocked out of the world Now she didn't belong...anywhere.

Now I am nothing just like Skold, she thought. Did he feel as hopeless as I do now? Was he scared when he realized that his most precious memories were erased? Or was he just as indifferent as he's always been? It doesn't matter. I am now a criminal for betraying my king. We are the same.

So why was she sitting here in the dark feeling sorry for herself? She should be trying to make amends with Skold-if it was possible to make amends with him-and help him find the culprit that was trying to start a war. Hate was such a hard thing to let go. Skold and the seer had been right to tell her that. Candestine's heart was poisoned with hate.

"Go to him," she whispered to herself. "Make your ammends. He is your brother after all. You have the same mother, the same father. He spared your life when he could have killed you. Does that not count for something?"

At two thousand feet with a built in jaquzzi it was more space than Candestine had ever lived in while in Paris. In Paris she had lived in a studio apartment with blank walls. It served it's purpose. It gave her a place to lay her head when she was home and a place to store her things. The only thing that she had loved about the apartment was the view of the Effiel Tower (of course it was nothing like the view that she'd seen in Skold's apartment).

This was the apartment was the first thing that she'd seen on the market. She'd sat in the little coffee shop Donovan's (she did not know that was where Rebecca Hall frequented) and looked for the ads. The apartment was on sale and she'd had the funds saved up. She refused to live on the streets with the human filth that scampered through the alleys like rats. To Candestine's dismay the apartment had belonged to a young married couple. A young human married couple. The doctor was a well accomplished surgeon that worked at the Roc City Hospital. She paid for the place with cash and in return he gave her the keys to the place and wished her a farewell. It was a chore to keep herself from thinking about all of the things they might have touched with their filthy ratty human hands, the heels of their bare feet brushing against the shiny tile flooring.

Candestine left her apartment without bothering to lock the door. What was the point when there was nothing to steal?

She walked through the streets of Roc City doing her best not to avoid contact with the humans at all cost. The sounds of this strange and unfamiliar city deafened her: the angry honks of traffic, the squeal of tires on asphalt, and the blast of rap music from a stereo. But she kept her head low and trekked on.

She didn't stop until she saw something in the corner of her eye that caught her attention: a girl with pig tails. Candestine did not notice that she was looking through the window of Donovan's, the coffee shop that she had visited yesterday. She only noticed the girl with the blonde pigtails.

The human girl.

The very girl that had helped Skold escape.

What was her name? Rebecca. Yes, Rebecca, that was her name.

She was sitting in a booth with another human girl, a girl with short dark hair, Asian features and tattoos. Candestine watched the smile and laugh and drink coffee. They were sharing a pastry, a cheese danish to be exact.

Candestine watched them. Her interest was mostly in Rebecca. The last time Candestine had encountered the human had been at the asylum. No other human had tried to stand up to her the way that Rebecca had. She was brave for someone so young...and if Candestine was being honest with herself was quite beautiful. For a human anyway. Candestine held a certain amount of admiration (and hostility) towards Rebecca. It was clear that Rebecca and the girl liked each other...were even attracted to each other.

Candestine hung back and decided to watch.

"You eat it."

"No, you eat it."

"No way, you."

Rebecca and Melanie played food hockey with the forks, scooting the last bite of the cheese danish between each other as if it was a puck; neither one of them were aware that Candestine stood outside of the window, watching this display of affection with a mixture of scorn and fascination.

"Fine," Rebecca said, arms crossed. "I'll eat it." She put her fork down, grabbed the last bite of the fluffy cheese danish in between her thumb and index finger and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it deliberately, slowly. "That was delicious."

"You're delicious." Melanie leaned across the table and kissed Rebecca on the lips which made Rebecca giggle and blush. "Let's get out of here. I want to go to your place tonight."

Rebecca pursed her lips and blushed an even brighter shade of red. "No you don't."

"C'mon, it can't be that bad."

"Alright, let me explain first. All I have is a mattress...no real furniture or decorations, so it's kind of gloomy. I'm not home that often because I stay so busy."

Melanie shrugged carelessly. "So? I dig gloomy shit, gloomy places. I think sexy is great. Where would Harley Quinn be without a little bit of gloom? Let's get out of here."

They walked hand and hand and Candestine followed, moving with the grace and stealth of the most agile cat. They turned down a small alley, their laughter and chatter echoing through the night.

Rebecca and Melanie were halfway down the street when Rebecca noticed the man stumbling drunkenly towards them. He was swathed in shadows so it was impossible to make out his face. He stopped suddenly, his head cocked to the side. And then he came into view.

Melanie gasped, her fingers digging into Rebecca’s knuckes. Rebecca was too startled to notice the pain that went through her hand. Half the man’s face was missing. What remained was nothing more than tattered flesh. Rebecca stared at the intricate networking of bones, muscle and nerve.Melanie and she was getting a first look at human anatomy. What remained of the man’s flesh was a yellow-grey color. It was clear that he was dead.

But he’s not dead, Rebecca thought. He’s standing there before us and he’s looking at us like we’re dinner.

The man growled again baring his rotten teeth at them. A black tar-like fluid fell from his mouth and splattered the ground beneath his feet. The mouth opened again just as they were starting to back and another stream of the black vile flew at them. There was not enough time to get out of the way. The bile was flying directly towards their face. But before it hit Rebecca and Melanie hands shoved them roughly out of the way and a voice hissed, “Get out of the way you stupid girls!”

The vomit missed them narrowly. Rebecca could not see who it was who had spoken...who had saved them. All she saw was a blur of a shape moving towards them, the flash of a blade, and the man’s head roll onto the floor. The black fluid jutted from the cleanly made stump. The man’s body fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Rebecca and Melanie’s rescuer turned around.

Rebecca’s eyes widened and her blood turned into ice all over again.

“What the fuck?” she said.

Candestine grinned at her. “Indeed.”