The Veiled Series Collection

by Stacey Rourke

  A lesser man may have buckled under the weight of the heavy scrutiny forced upon him. Not Markus. A master of political manipulation, he didn’t risk so much as a hesitation before launching into an oil-slick smooth spin. Tucking his gun into the back of his belt, he raised his hands palms out. Feigning sincerity with the expertise of a trained performer, he beseeched Carter along with any viewers watching. “You have done a service to your country by recording the truth. Rau Mihnea, public face of the Nosferatu Presumption of Innocence Bill, killed a woman. We have no doubt, had we not sedated him, he would have turned on the rest of us. As horrific as this tragedy is, we can take comfort knowing that the sheet has been torn and the truth revealed. Today’s votes shouldn’t matter. Not when the facts on this issue have been so carefully hidden. The executive branch needs to intervene, emergency action must be taken to veto this bill. The safety of the good citizens of the United States is at stake.”

  Heel bumping my leg, Carter took a protective stance in front of my huddled form. “You injected Rau with something that made him lose control. We all saw it. How do you plan to weave that into this story you’re scripting?”

  Jerking as if slapped, Markus blinked Carter’s way in disbelief. “You watched that poor girl die in a rough and brutal manner no human deserves. How can you possibly rationalize that as anything other than the deplorable actions of a vicious animal?”

  “What about the other body on the ground? I’m fairly certain any vampire worth their salt would find this level of waste Plasma Abuse. Plus, they have no need for guns, and District Attorney Berry is sporting a fatal bullet wound. Care to discuss that, Councilman?” Carter swiveled his phone to capture a shot of Berry slumped on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

  “You’re stunned by what’s transpired.” Markus clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his practiced expression a picture of compassion. “Anyone would be. Hand me the phone, son. We’ll call the authorities, and get you and your friend the medical attention you deserve.” Reaching for the phone, his stare flashed with murderous intent.

  “If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll hold on to it,” Carter countered. Shifting the device into his left hand, he extended the other to me. When I continued to sit slack and motionless, he nudged me with his foot. “Vinx, can you stand?”

  Hatred flared Rutherford’s nostrils. “This is bullshit. We did you a favor tonight, you ungrateful twat!”

  Ever the pillar of serenity, Markus raised one finger to steady him. “Easy, my friend. After what these young people witnessed, it only makes sense for them to be confused and uneasy. Given time to reflect, they will have no choice but to accept the reality of this situation.”

  “That sounded an awful lot like a threat.” Bending sideways, Carter’s hand encircled my wrist. He ducked his head and draped my arm around his shoulders. “Vincenza, I need you to come with me. Markus and his guard dog won’t do anything to stop us from walking right out of here. Will you, boys? Not so long as this camera is rolling.”

  Battling to keep his rage at an impassive neutral, the tendons of Markus’ neck bulged. “I doubt that the police will look favorably on you fleeing the scene of a crime. Why don’t you stay here, and we’ll all alert the authorities together?”

  “You’ve got the County Coroner on a leash. I’m not deluded enough to believe that’s where you’re influence ends.” Breath warming my cheek, Carter murmured against my hair, “Lean on me as much as you need, but I need you to get up.”

  Forcing one foot under me, I eased a small portion of my weight onto it. The traitorous limb collapsed, driving my knee into the floor with a sharp bark of pain. Call it guilt, or affection, but as I fought for the strength to try again, something dragged my blurring stare back to Rau. Once a regal prince of the media. Now, prostrated and covered in gore.

  “I can’t leave him,” I croaked. “He needs me.”

  As Carter struggled to hold the phone steady, he hoisted me up on wobbling legs. “There’s nothing we can do for him now. The camera is our key out of here. He would want you to take it.”

  “Rau is a proven killer.” Clapping his hands as if in prayer, Markus’ predatory glare searched for a weak point to strike. “Thanks to you, the world has seen that. If you even tried to leave with him, you would be thrust into a nationwide man-hunt. Still,” his shoulders rose and fell in a casual shrug that sharply contradicted the waves of malicious desire wafting off of him, “if you’d like to hand over the phone, you could drag him out of here. I find him far too dangerous to throw myself in front of if he was attempting to leave. After all, I am a family man.”

  Ignoring Markus’ posturing and posing, Carter risked a glance my way. His stare pleaded with me for an ounce cooperation. “We have to go. There’s no time for choice or debate. I promise you we will find a way to come back for him, but right now we need to go.”

  As if to further prove his point, the screen of his phone flashed its warning that the battery life was at twenty percent. The lights of the device dimmed enough to be notiecable.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I chanted to Rau and Amber, while Carter yanked me from the ground and tucked me tight against his side.

  “Everything okay?” Markus folded his hands with staged concern, eyes narrowing with a vulturine gleam. “Don’t feel you have to rush off. If the girl needs medical care, we would happily see to her.”

  Carter stabbed the phone out in front of him with the lethal intent of brandishing a machete. “You’re not getting anywhere near her.” While he edged us toward the door, his gaze remained on a swivel for possible threats. Adjusting his grip to gather me more firmly in the fold of his arm, he muttered against my hair, “We will see Rau again. For now, I need you to stay with me.”

  “And what, pray tell, is your plan when that door bangs shut behind you?” Markus queried, looping his thumbs into the pockets of his suit coat.

  Battery at ten percent. Any second now, the lights would shut off and it would be open season for our hides.

  “I’m going to keep the camera rolling as long as possible, you son of a bitch,” Carter bluffed. Kicking open the door with the heel of his foot, he scooted us through it. His voice dropped to an urgent whisper as he muttered into my hair, “Can you run?”

  “I-I don’t think so,” I stammered, tipping my face up to his. Up that close, I could see a small mole next to the bridge of his nose, directly under the corner of his eye—a slight imperfection that added an element of approachability to an otherwise flawless face. It seemed extreme blood loss had me waxing poetic. “But I’m willing to die trying.”

  “No one else is dying. Not today.” His phone picked that moment to make the effective counter point of shutting off. Spinning on the ball of his foot, Carter launched forward, catching my wrist to drag my stumbling mass behind him.

  Rutherford charged our way, only to be halted by Markus’ hand slamming into his chest. “No, you can’t be seen. Call the boys. Make sure they don’t make it off this airfield alive.”

  Door banging shut behind us, we were thrust into the blanket of night. Steering us in the direction of the row hangars to the east of us, Carter screamed to be heard over the deafening boom of jet engines roaring overhead. “Go! Run!”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Disproven Theory – To prove to be false or wrong by finding a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory.

  Clamping my arm over the hemorrhaging hole in my gut, I stumbled to keep my feet under me. Each forced stride sent a fresh wave of the pain searing through my core and bile scorching up the back of my throat. I was physically broken and emotionally shattered. For so long, I ached to return to what I once was: another hapless mortal blind to elements of the world I didn’t understand. Now, seeing firsthand the atrocities humans were capable of, I found myself relieved to be rid of that narrow-minded affliction.
If I died this night, in the final sense of the word, I would do so not as a monster, but as an evolved being capable of understanding, compassion, and mercy.

  The limo that dropped us off reappeared around the side of the hangar we hobbled to escape, screeching to a halt in a spray of loose gravel. Two heaving gorillas in suits stormed from the car, slamming the doors behind them. “Do a sweep! Find them!”

  Carter’s head whipped around, searching for a safe haven. “They haven’t spotted us yet. We’re too exposed here. Between the hangars, move!” Dragging me onward, he pulled us both around the side of the closest hangar.

  I collapsed against the metal sheeting of the structure, bequeathing it the majority of my weight in effort to keep myself upright. Glancing to Carter, I watched his chest rise and fall, and envied him for the relief he could derive from a calming breath.

  Engines of luxurious private jets rumbled from the hangars housing them. Noses of posh liner’s poked out, taunting us with the promise of escape. Silently, I said a prayer of thanks for their thunderous symphony. At least I didn’t have to hear the footfalls of our approaching doom. My heavy lids were falling shut in resignation of the inevitable, when wind rushed past my cheek. The hair was blown from my face by the wings of a low-swooping crow.

  No. Not a crow.

  The crow.

  The same avian creature of darkness that had inadvertently become my totem since my transition. Times of crisis or unease, it always seemed to lurk nearby. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Streaking into the open hangar opposite us, it seemed to be guiding me onward like a beacon in the night.

  “The crow, follow it.” As I pushed off the hangar, a dagger of white hot pain twisted my gut, folding me in half. My stumble forward morphed into a stumble onward. “I can’t … just go,” I croaked. Sinking to the ground, one fist collided with the earth as spots swam before my eyes.

  “Like hell I will.” Carter scooped me into his arms, hooking one hand under my knees and the other around my back. Breaking into a sprint, he didn’t let a little thing like my head bouncing against his shoulder slow his stride to the welcoming maw of the beckoning hangar.

  Skirting around the nose of a Hawker 400, my slipping consciousness allowed me pivotal glimpses of the otherwise mundane. Carter wove behind a row of pallets stacked with shipping crates and silently melted to the floor with his back against the wall.

  “Normally,” chest rising and falling in frantic pants, he fought to catch his breath as pearls of sweat dotted his forehead, “I would launch into the whole stay awake, stay with me routine. But now, more than ever, being still as the dead would really work in our favor.”

  If they found us, our only option would be to bend to their will and pray for mercy. Fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, I peered up at Carter’s face to await our fatal end.

  “I’m sorry,” I rasped. The pain was less now. Somehow, that seemed like a bad omen. “For everything I said. I wish—”

  “Don’t.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “We get out of here alive, and we’ll take turns confessing for all of our asshole tendencies. My list will be a lengthy one. Right now, let’s focus on a quiet survival.”

  Lips parting with a sticky pop, I tried to coerce sentimental words of forgiveness and loyalty from a swollen, lethargic tongue.

  “Shhh,” Carter soothed, holding me to him with one gentle hand supporting the back of my head.

  Outside the fleeting safety of our thinly veiled cocoon, heavy footfalls thundered into the hangar.

  “Around the sides of the jet! Find them!” a deep baritone, with a hint of a twang, boomed.

  Blame it on the blood loss, but I swear I heard the ruffle of feathers.

  “Can I help you, gentlemen?” a calm, familiar voice asked, growing nearer by the second.

  Carter’s head swiveled away from mine, leaving behind a lonely chill. “Thomas. It’s Thomas,” he breathed.

  “Two people may be hiding in your hangar. We fear at least one of them is armed and dangerous. If we could search the area, we will make sure the space is clear of threats for you.” One of the henchman lurked close enough to make the hair on my arms rise. Still, I couldn’t pry open my weighted lids. His words seemed to echo down a stretched tunnel, pinging off the fog encapsulating my slipping mind.

  “Didn’t see anyone come in here.” The smile in Thomas’s tone was audible. Fabric rustled in three steady swipes.

  “No?” the guard with the gravel voice pressed. “One was bleeding and there’s a spot of blood right here on your floor.”

  “Lost my arm in a hunting accident recent enough for it to still ache on the regular. I popped one of my stitches trying to work on the engine like I used to.” I could see Thomas behind my eyes, edging closer to position himself between us and danger. Ever the regal sentry, prepared to sacrifice himself for the cause he deemed worthy.

  “Sorry to hear that, friend.” At the long pause that followed, I envisioned the guard craning his neck to sweep his gaze over as much of the cavernous hangar as he could. “In your injured state, wouldn’t you feel better letting us have a quick look around? Just to be safe?”

  As if arguing otherwise, the jet’s engines purred to life.

  “It would seem the pilot is ready to take off.” Thomas hollered to be heard over the deafening roar. “Which means I need to lock the hangar down and board. I’m afraid I can’t jeopardize my employment by delaying departure to allow strange men with guns to scope the place out.”

  Tires rumbled across the ground, the iron eagle gliding from its nest.

  “It’ll only take a moment,” one of the guards injected into the hush that followed. “I’m sure your boss would understand.”

  “You think so?” Thomas sounded close enough to touch, his presence pushing against the intruders to herd them back out the wide flung doors. “He’s a Fortune 500 businessman, with a private hangar for his opulent jet. Does that sound like the type of man with an abundance of patience?”

  “I’m sure if you explained the situation …”

  “That was a rhetorical question.” Thomas’s tone hardened, his earlier playful lilt replaced with a swiping blade of annoyance. “The answer was no, he does not. If this plane isn’t waiting for him when he’s ready to leave, the entire flight crew is out of a job. That means we all have to move in with you gentlemen. Are you prepared to extend your families to include a few grown ass adults over this matter? I should warn you, I’ve been known to sleepwalk naked.”

  “I really must insist we take one minute.” Even as the guard attempted the demand, his voice grew more and more distant.

  Huddled in Carter’s arms, my teeth chattered as a vicious rash of shivers ravaged me to the bone.

  “A minute is exactly what I don’t have.” Tone sharp and cutting, Thomas slid one half of the hangar door shut in a screech of metal. “I promise you, boys, I’ve been staring at these four walls all day, and no one that didn’t belong wandered in—except for you. I would have reveled in a little company or excitement, even if it was some gun wielding maniac.”

  “We’re actually talking about an injured vampire,” one of Markus’ boys tried to implant in an ominous threat. “One that would make a gun-crazed maniac look like a fuzzy bunny.”

  “Bunnies must be terrifying in your world.” Catching the other side of the door, Thomas yanked it across its track, preparing to close it in their faces. “Now, I would suggest you boys scurry off and find that blood sucker of yours. Every minute you’ve spent with me, they’re getting farther away.”

  “If you do see anything—”

  “I’ll scream like a tiny little girl so you two can burst in, guns ablazin’, and be heroes. Until then, off you go.” Metal rumbled over metal and the outside world was shut out in a reverberating clang.

  Exhaling a trapped breat
h, Carter peeled me from his chest. “Vincenza, can you hear me? Vinx?”

  I wanted to answer, to wrestle my eyes open and peer into the languid pools of his cerulean stare, but that was not to be. My body locked me in an icy prison within, where the chill of death sucked the morrow from my bones.

  Carter readjusted his hold on me, freeing one arm. Sucking air through his teeth, he muttered a colorful stream of expletives. The coppery scent of blood wafted to my nostrils, awakening a scorching burn in my veins. “Vincenza, you need to feed.” Sticky warmth dripped on to my lips, streaking salvation down my chin. “It’s right there, baby, just open your mouth.”

  It was a beautiful, self-sacrificing moment, ruined by the hourglass of my borrowed time running out.

  A long shadow fell over us, Thomas’ frame blocking out the glare from the industrial lighting. “Noble as that act is, son, all it accomplished was getting you a step closer to needing a Tetanus shot. That’s not going to help our girl. If she were a traditional vamp, a little bite-n-bleed would do the trick. But Vinx here is the new and improved Ferrari model of Nosferatu. You feed her premium, not regular, if you want her to run right.”

  Still, Carter kept his wrist hovering over my mouth, in hopes of a blood sucking miracle. “I’m not going to let her die. I’ll slice open every artery if I have to.”

  “I appreciate a gory martyrdom as much as the next vamp.” Crouching down, Thomas forced open one of my plastered lids. The dam of darkness broke, flooding light in with a blinding flash. “I would advise, though, that your efforts may be better served getting her aboard the jet. We need to evaluate her injuries. Even for a hybrid, she should be healing far quicker than she is.”

  “Y-you know the t-truth … about h-her?” Carter stammered. Gathering me in his arms, he stumbled to his feet.

  “Brother, I have insight that would blow your brain out the back of your head.” Slapping a hand to Carter’s back, Thomas strode back to the doors, opening one far enough to poke his head out. “Looks like the Dynamic Duo took the hint. We’re safe to hustle your sweetie aboard.”