[The Veil 01.0] Beyond the Veil

by Pippa Dacosta

  The veil began to shatter. The wound broke and disintegrated, its edges flaying, peeling away. I sensed the change. I wanted more. All of it. I wanted to taste the chaos, to swallow it whole and let it consume me.

  The gap in the veil failed, collapsing in on itself. Immediately, my source of power vanished. I felt the break like a sword through the chest. Bathed in flame, I raged at the world and flung the heat away from me. Fire rushed outward in a tumbling blast, flattening everything in its path. A whoosh in the negative space behind the tidal wave of flame dropped me to my knees.

  It took a few breathless moments for me to ground myself back in reality. Perspiration hissed against my demon skin. Steam rose from my flesh. Wood smoke twisted in the air around me. The ground beneath my feet was scorched to cinders. Hunched over, my wing hanging limp against my back, both my demon and I were spent. I barely had enough energy to lift my head and see Stefan crouched in front of me, drenched from head to toe. His hair clung to his face. His multifaceted ice-wings streamed with rivulets of water. He mustered a smile, but it barely reached the corners of his lips. As he reached out, ice sparkled on his fingers. He shook his head and swept a hand back through his wet hair, fracturing the accumulated ice.

  I took his hand firmly in mine and gasped. Power lanced up my arm, a fizzling, darting, pins-and-needles kind of power. Instinct told me to pull away, but he leaned in close, capturing my surprised stare with his iridescent eyes. As I clutched hold of his hand, the curious touch of ice laced its way up my arm, threading through and around the wavering ripples of heat. It should have hurt—in a way it did—but such was the mischievous intensity in Stefan’s expression that I wanted the brittle ice against my sweltering flesh. I wanted to know how it would feel to have those quenching chills writhe over me. It was wrong. Our opposing elements clashed, but it felt so right.

  He stood and tugged me to my feet. I stumbled against him, sucking in a gasp as his chill wrapped around me. Shivers sped down my body. I lifted my gaze to his as my demon slipped away, satisfied and exhausted on so many levels. Stefan fought back a smile. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and looked away. Following his gaze, I saw the destruction I’d wrought upon the forest. The pine trees stood naked, their bark black against the gray sky, needles scorched from the branches.

  Stefan extricated himself from my grip, taking with him the cool wrappings of power. He rolled his shoulders, and the glorious sculpted wings dissipated into flakes of snow before fizzling against the hot earth. He glanced back at me. “You are capable of great things,” he said with conviction.

  If by great things, he meant complete destruction, then yes, it would seem so.

  I couldn’t sleep. Not surprising considering how I’d torn a hole in the veil and sucked heat out the very fabric of the netherworld. The remnants of adrenaline chased through my veins. My mind buzzed from the overdose of power. Sleep was the last thing on my mind as I lay in the dark, watching the moonlight cast swaying shadows across the walls. My demon sat smug and satisfied inside of me. I felt her languishing in the afterglow of the power she’d tasted.

  I tossed aside the sheets and tugged on Stefan’s shirt. The clothes I’d worn in the forest were in the wash. They’d survived, in the same way that my human flesh survived the blistering heat whenever my demon manifested. I can only put it down to the fact that, when my demon steps into my skin, she protects my fragile human flesh, protecting herself in the process. That doesn’t stop her from tearing into me mentally when she doesn’t get her way.

  I padded barefoot downstairs, startled to find Stefan seated on the couch in near darkness. He saw me and leaned forward to place the picture frame he’d been holding on the coffee table. When he looked up, the smile didn’t lessen the distant look in his eyes. I lingered on the bottom step of the stairs, hand resting on the banister.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” I explained awkwardly, getting the distinct impression I’d intruded on a personal moment.

  Elbows on his knees, shirt sleeves rolled up, he bowed his head, rubbing his hands together as if he sought to regain some composure. When he looked up, a few locks of hair had fallen over his face, forcing him to sweep them back. “It’s okay.”

  I contemplated returning to the guest bedroom. Half dressed and intruding on his personal time, I felt a little awkward and out of place. “Erm… are you okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Clearly, he wasn’t. I’d been expecting some sort of witty comeback making light of our situation. A “sure” wouldn’t cut it. Now I was concerned. It wasn’t like I knew him well, but up until then, he’d pretty much made it all look like a breeze, as though this sort of crap was his day job. His unrelenting confidence had shored up my complete lack of it. I sat on the edge of the couch across the coffee table from him, tugging the edge of the shirt over my thighs.

  “I was wondering something…” I hesitated as his gaze followed my efforts to cover my legs. He quickly flicked his attention back to my face, then elsewhere, anywhere but my eyes. “You’re the same as me, right? I mean. We’re different elements, but you’re powerful too?”

  He nodded and settled back in the couch, draping an arm across the back.

  “So why do you need me? You started this to get to Akil… set it all up to get close to him before you even knew who I was. You must have had a plan. An end game?”

  “The end game was to catch Akil out. We know he’s overstepping the boundaries here, breaking the laws. We just need to catch him in the act. Hiring me, among other things, was part of that. But you’re right… We didn’t know about you—although I’d heard of a half-blood that Akil ‘kept.’”

  I winced a little at the word “kept” and saw Stefan flinch in return. “It became clear, early on, that I’d need your help.”

  “Why? What can I do to him that you can’t?”

  “You’re his weakness.”

  I didn’t understand. Akil was a Prince of Hell. They didn’t have weaknesses, at least none that I was aware of. “What does that even mean?”

  “He’s obsessed with you, Muse. I don’t know why—no offense, you’re easy on the eye, but he’s a pure-blood demon, a Prince, and you’re what they class as… filth.”

  I frowned at the last word. It was true, and yet knowing it, hearing it, always summoned horrid memories.

  His smile chanced a return, but it didn’t linger. “Anything to do with you, and he’s distracted. Even hiring an assassin, he’s sloppy. He can’t see straight when it comes to you. Maybe it’s because he’s full-demon. He can’t fathom why he’s drawn to you. Either way, you’re the key to stopping him.”

  I sighed and let my stare wander about the room. “I think it’s a power thing. After what you helped me do today, I’m pretty sure it’s not me he wants—or wanted. It’s my demon. Now… now I just think he wants me gone. I walked away from him, and nobody does that, especially not a half-blood. My brush-off would have slighted his honor.”

  Stefan smiled softly. “No doubt. His ego too.”

  “What about you?” I leaned forward to turn the picture frame toward me. The photo was the same one I’d seen earlier: the handsome fifty-something man with the catch of the day at his feet. “What’s your story?”

  Stefan averted his gaze once more, dipping his chin before blinking slowly.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. The quiet became a little too awkward. “It’s none of my business.” If it was anything like my past, then I could understand why he didn’t want to tell me. “We survived though, right?” Barely, in my case, but barely was enough.

  “Against the odds.”

  Something in those three words, perhaps the weary tone or their implied meaning, whatever it was, it made me feel such a depth of compassion for him that a stubborn lump formed in my throat. On impulse, I shifted off the couch and moved to the cushion beside him. Perched awkwardly on the edge, I clasped my hands in my lap with a nervous smile ticking across my lips. “I had no idea there w
ere people like you out there. I just thought it was demon or be damned. Then, Akil taught me how to summon my demon with intent, not just by accident. He woke her in me, and together we killed my owner. It was the best day of my life. My owner, Damien…he was a sick son of a bitch. Vile in many ways. Akil taught me…that it didn’t have to be like that.”

  “You were lucky,” Stefan said softly. I caught an undertone of sadness and knew he understood.

  I was lucky. If Damien hadn’t paraded me in front of Akil, I might not have survived much longer. Had Akil not taken it upon himself to free me… Had Akil been worse than Damien… Had I not been strong enough to maintain my sanity through all of the pain and degradation…

  “My point is.” I cleared my throat. “We’re the products of our past. Without those experiences, as horrid as they were, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

  Stefan moved so quickly I barely saw him move at all. He was suddenly very close. His hand hovered beside my cheek as though he’d lost his nerve at the last second. I froze. For a few moments, I didn’t breathe, didn’t move. Then he eased a little nearer, his lips so close all it would take was a little give on my part, and we’d kiss. As his hand lightly touched my cheek, a sliver of power snapped between us. Its dart-like flicker forced a hiss through my teeth. He laid his hand against my cheek, and the chill of his element slid over me, a shivery tremor following in its wake as a traitorous, muffled groan slipped from my lips. I could have kissed him, should have… He was there, so close, but I knew if I did, it wouldn’t stop there. My heart fluttered nervously. The urge to close that tiny distance between us was so intense that I had to grip the couch to stop myself. He took a breath just as his lips brushed mine, so lightly, like the gentle flutter of snowflakes.

  I sprang back, hand clasped over my mouth, the other pulling the shirt down to cover my thighs. “I er…” I waved a hand in the air, gesturing wildly. “I should um…you know, get back—get some sleep. Not that I… Erm… Yeah.” Stop waffling before you say something you’ll regret, I thought. The tease of desire had ignited inside of me at his touch. My element bloomed quickly, spilling heat though me. My heat and his cold, fire and ice, it was wrong on so many levels. And I wanted it.

  He grinned wickedly, his demeanor as cool as ice. Damn him.

  I clamped my mouth closed, afraid I might tell him what I really wanted, although he probably read it all on my face. His eyes in the dark held all manner of tempting promises. The gape of his collar betrayed a hint of his sculpted body. I could so easily have sat back down and undone those shirt buttons, one little button at a time. Hot lips on his cool mouth, tasting, exploring. I’d lay him back, slip my hands beneath his shirt, and let my heated touch ease across the rippled plane of his sculpted chest, across the scorpion tattoo, lower… Hot, flustered, and within a few heartbeats of giving in to temptation, I turned quickly and headed for the stairs.

  A howl fractured the serenity of the night. The hollow sound of the beast sliced through the heat of desire and dashed my wanton thoughts. Stefan was on his feet. He plucked the katana from the bag of weapons and tugged off the scabbard. He flicked the light off in the kitchen and then returned, snatching a gun from the bag before joining me at the foot of the stairs. “It can’t know we’re here. Not yet,” he whispered. “But this isn’t the city, and we’re the only things out here.”

  In other words, we were screwed.

  Another howl echoed outside, closer this time. The chill of fear swept over me. I tried to summon my element, but the preventative marks on the walls snuffed it out before it could breach my flesh. Stefan shook his head, sensing the stirring of my power, then handed me the gun. I noticed it was the gun I thought he’d lost when I felt its familiar weight in my hand.

  “You have seven rounds in the magazine,” he said. “Use them.”

  “What if we go outside? Use our elements.”

  “Only if it finds us.” He planted a hand on my shoulder and forced me to sit, my back against the wall. “There’s a chance it may not… Call enough of your power to see it.”

  I flexed my elemental muscles, calling just enough to spill a veil of power in front of my eyes. The last time we’d dealt with the hounds, we’d only escaped by hiding. This time, hiding was all we had. I cupped the gun in my left hand, right hand around the grip, finger off the trigger but ready against the trigger guard.

  Stefan did a double take, then grinned. “Flick the safety off.”

  “You enjoy this crap way too much,” I grumbled, doing as he’d advised.

  “Slide the chamber back.”

  I skewed a scowl in his direction, catching that glint of humor in his eyes. “I have fired this gun before—” The kitchen windows exploded inward.

  Glass blasted through the kitchen doorway, showering the spot on the couch where we’d been seated moments before.

  “Go!” Stefan shoved me up the stairs as the thunderous crash of splintered glass and wood filled the air. I stumbled on the steps, clambering up on all fours as the heaving bulk of hairless hound slammed its way through the kitchen doorway, taking out half the wall with it. I got a glimpse of its blood-red eyes as it swung its head around before I finally found my feet and dashed up the remaining steps and down the hallway.

  Stefan flung open a bedroom door. “The window. Go. Get outside.”

  I was inside the room before I realized he wasn’t following. “What are you doing?”

  “Go. I’ll keep it here. Run. Don’t stop. Just run.” He was gone.

  I headed for the window and yanked open the lower section enough so I could duck outside. The wind blasted into the room, whipping around my bare legs as I stood frozen. I couldn’t leave him. Gun in hand, I turned and darted back out into the hall. The massive hound had clawed its way up the staircase, knocking the banister out in its furious attempt to get to Stefan. I saw the beast snap its jaws together, lunging at Stefan as he swung the sword across its snout. Its whimpers sliced through my skull. Teeth gritted, I raised the gun, steadied it in my left hand, and aimed down the barrel. As the hound lunged at Stefan again, I fired. The gun jumped in my hand. The casing ejected. The hound jerked and swung its crimson glare on me. I fired again. The bullet sliced down the right side of its hideous face. Again, and this time, the bullet hit the Hellhound right between the eyes, blasting through its skull. The beast jerked back and collapsed, slipping from the landing to land with a dull thud on the living room floor.

  Stefan lunged at me, grabbed my left hand, and tugged me forward, back down what remained of the stairs. The hound’s breathing snuffled from its wet jaws. It wasn’t dead. They don’t die.

  “Quickly.” Stefan pulled me toward the door. He yanked it open. And froze.

  I plowed into the back of him, about to ask why he’d stopped, when I saw the mountainous bulk of Hellhound blocking his path. The beast hunched forward, fat paws splayed on the path. Pools of glistening drool gathered below its rippling lips. I reeled back. The hound behind us snarled and shook its head, snapping its jaws together as it regained its senses. Instinct tugged on my demon, but she couldn’t break through whatever magic those marks on the walls performed. Backing into Stefan, I slipped my left hand into his. The Hellhound beneath the stairs stamped its feet, steadying itself. It ducked down, legs ready to spring.

  I lifted the gun, not entirely sure how many bullets I had left. My arm trembled, aim all over the place. Then I heard an all too familiar voice.

  “Invite me in, and I’ll call them off.”

  Flinging my stare over my shoulder, I watched in horror as Akil walked around the hound outside, running a hand down its quivering, hairless flank. The beast jerked its snout, sniffing the air and chomping its jaws. There could be no doubt who controlled them. Stefan stepped back into me, then glanced behind him at the hound beneath the stairs. His eyes found mine, a brutal honesty raw on his face. We were in trouble. I tightened my hand in his, saw the fleeting smile on his lips, and then he let go to face Akil.
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br />   “Come in. Make yourself at home.” Stefan stepped aside, sweeping a gesture into the house. “Sorry about the mess. Unexpected guests.”

  Akil stepped across the threshold. He slid his gaze over the chaos in the room before straightening his shirt cuffs. His stoic expression gave nothing away. Dressed immaculately in a dinner jacket and black trousers, right down to his polished Oxford shoes, he looked every inch the city tycoon. Silver cufflinks caught the moonlight seeping in through the back windows. The same light danced in his dark eyes when they settled on me. Instinct told me to shirk back. I might have, had I not learned what he’d done. The suave son of a bitch had murdered Sam—my friend—in cold blood. I was under no illusions about Akil.

  I stood there in my underwear, wearing Stefan’s shirt, and glared back at Akil, my chin up, shoulders straight. I was not backing down.

  He humphed a laugh and said, “Amitto,” with a flurry of his hand. The Hellhounds slumped in unison. Their leathery hides began to dissolve. Fizzling embers devoured them, spiraling dust into the air until nothing remained.

  With the hounds gone, I became aware of the wind flowing through the open door and through the house, into the kitchen where the panoramic windows had been smashed. I heard the trees outside creaking against the weight of the wind, branches snapping. The forest groaned as though it recognized the ageless forces of chaos inside the house. I lifted the gun, my aim surprisingly steady.

  Akil glared back at me and smiled. “Shoot me.”

  Finger on the trigger, I wanted to. It would take just a twitch, the smallest of movements to blow him away. “You killed Sam.”

  Akil looked away, blinking slowly. His smile widened. “Is that what Stefan told you?”

  “No.” My hand began to tremble. “I saw it in the sword.”