Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set

by Multiple Authors

  Tom pulls out a small, red notepad and I stare as he writes something down. "I put everything in my book, so we don't lose anything if we get hacked."

  "What if you lose your book?" I ask.

  "Exactly what I say," says Grace. "That's why I'm part of the twenty-first century." She flips open the lid on her laptop.

  Grace clicks a few keys as Tom leafs through his book. "Dante. Chief demon, a king perhaps."

  "I doubt they have a democracy," snorts Tom.

  "King? So he's a leader?" I ask.

  "Yeah, he's mentioned in a lot of old texts as a mythical leader. He’s a martyr to the cause of the Dark and a symbol of the power they could regain. The ‘good old Dante days’. "

  This is worse than I thought. "Which I presume weren't good?"

  "Awesome, if you've a Dark soul. Not so great for the rest of us."

  I bristle but bite my tongue against explaining I'm not Dark because I'm Between. "Where is he?"

  "Hell, of course. Or whatever your kind call it."

  What the fuck? They want to send me to Hell? "I’m not their kind," I growl.

  "What's wrong?" asks Tom sharply. "You've gone pale."

  " I think we might be revisiting ‘the good old Dante days’. The guy at the hospital, the doctor, he’s preparing for him to come back."

  "I knew it!" says Tom triumphantly. "Didn't I say?" He looks at Grace who stares back at him as if he's a lunatic.

  "Yeah, but you say it like it's a good thing," she says.

  Tom clears his throat. "That's not what I meant."

  "What's he planning to do when he gets back?" Grace asks me.

  "I thought you might be able to tell me?"

  Tom swears under his breath. "No, what you should be asking Alek is how is he getting back?"

  That is something they don’t need to know, not until I’ve decided what I’m going to do.

  "Thanks for telling me about Dante." I peel myself from the kitchen bench and head to the door.

  "You can't ask us and then just leave us with half a story!" protests Tom.

  "I don't know the whole story," I say and lean toward him. "I’m going now before I hurt someone." Tom takes a step back, and I push my way out of the kitchen. I wouldn't hurt the guy, but it’s best if his wariness of me borders on fear.

  "Will you be able to help Rose?" asks Tom from the kitchen. I pause, hand on the front door handle. "Can you bring her back from wherever they took her?"

  "I hope so," I say quietly, wishing I could say ‘yes’.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  ALEK

  The next morning, I hang around the house after a night running my choices over and over in my head. Dante’s from Hell and Finn's an angel, right? I was never religious, but the ideas came from somewhere. Good conquers evil? This means Finn can help? Finn knows what's happening, he has to.

  Rose's handbag rests on the table by the front door where I placed it after the party. I pull out her phone and search for Finn's name. Tempted to read through their messages, I stop myself. Rose was scared of him; why would there be anything between them?

  The phone rings once before Finn answers. "Rose?"

  "Alek."

  Silence.

  "I said I couldn't help," he says, voice flat.

  "Heard of Dante?" I put in before he has a chance to end the call.

  "Of course."

  "You don't sound so worried."

  "If I do what I need, he won't come back."

  "What's that?"

  "Leave me alone." He hangs up.

  I stare at the phone in disgust. He caused some of this; he doesn't get to wash his hands of us. I call him back. No answer. On the tenth call, he answers.

  "For fuck’s sake, Alek, I don't want to see or talk to you."

  "Help me to help Rose."

  "No."

  "What? You care about her."

  "Not anymore, she's lost now."

  "She isn't! Finn, I'm going to get her."

  "No! If you go to her, you both need to stay there."

  "Why?"

  "Because when you get back, I’ll kill you both."

  His words stun. I’ve spent the last few weeks convincing Rose that Finn intends to kill her. Rose’s protest that he’s a good guy almost had me convinced. Was I right all along?

  "You wouldn't kill Rose."

  "I know they've asked you to bring Dante over and I can't let that happen. Do you understand what chaos he's bringing with him? If you both come back I won't know who’s carrying him. He won't hang around your bodies long, so I'll have to kill you both before he gets a chance to leave."

  He knows. How does he know?

  "You wouldn't kill Rose," I repeat icily.

  "Wouldn't I? This is over, Alek. Go to her or stay here, but there's nothing anyone can do."

  "I was right all along about you," I spit. "You always meant to kill her!"

  "Goodbye, Alek. Again. Stop calling me." He ends the call again.

  I retreat to the kitchen, sit at the melamine table with a beer, and remain there longer than it takes to drink. I don’t have a choice; I never had a choice, not since the day I agreed to exchange my soul for my sister to live in peace after her death. My phone rests on the table next to the beer. Six times I pick it up to call Raven, and six times I put it back down.

  What’s the point in delaying this? I call her. "How do I do it?" I ask Raven.

  The sound of voices in the background fades as Raven moves somewhere quieter.

  "Let a Shade take all your energy," she replies.

  I glance at the stairs, where the room the Shades pass into sits at the top. "That's all?"

  "You need to get into the Void."

  I shudder at the memory. "But I'll instinctively fight the Shade; I won't be able to help myself."

  Raven giggles. "Just lie back and think of Rose."

  "This is all a joke to you?" I snarl.

  "No, Alek. This is very serious."

  "And how do I get back?"

  "Again, the same way as last time."

  Shit. "That was difficult. What if I can't manage this time?"

  "Dante will take care of that, don't worry. You'll be a lot stronger with him as your passenger."

  Rose's jacket hangs over the chair opposite and I pick it up, as if connecting to her. "And I can go anytime?"

  "Whenever you're ready. Dante's not going anywhere. But don't take too long, you don't want Rose disappearing."

  Scrunching Rose's jacket in my arms, I take a deep breath, catching the scent of her. "I'm going tonight.”

  ***

  The room darkens as the afternoon ends. I sit with my beer, staring at the row of empties in front of me and remembering Rose's admonishment about drinking. I reconnect with the feeling of helplessness I had in the early days and understand why Rose has been so scared. Even if I refused to do what Julian asks and instead stay where I am, I wouldn't escape what they want from me. I made the bargain, so I’d only delay the inevitable. I have no doubt I'll end up in Hell eventually, once I'm no longer any use. But Rose never made the choice; she doesn't deserve this.

  I walk slowly upstairs toward the door Lizzie once let the Shades through. I never touched the door, unless Lizzie was with me to control them, because I was unsure how strong the Shade who came through would be. I used to marvel at how she could control them with her barrier spell and weaken the strong ones. I suppose I should've considered then how strange this was for a human witch.

  The room is bare, just a bedroom with a bed and mattress, a lamp table, and curtains, which don't meet in the middle. The scratched wooden floor and flaking blue paint on the walls show years of use, but not recently - by humans, anyway.

  The cold hits as soon as I walk in but nothing is here. Do I wait? The door clicks closed behind and I rest against the hard wood. Within seconds, the room temperature plummets further and my gaze darts from place to place. Where will it come from? Raven used to just bring them through the door
.

  A figure materialises from the wall, beginning as a shadow, which at first looks like it comes from the setting sun but gradually darkens. Does this Shade know I'm here, or is it going to get a huge shock? Because the energy he or she is about to get from me will see it stuck here for some time.

  The Shade solidifies gradually, morphing in and out of view. I focus on who or what, already disappointed at the small size of the Shade. A girl, around my human age, petite with short black hair comes into focus. Once she reaches a solid state, she stumbles backwards and places her hand behind her onto the wall. Her alarmed look turns to one of suspicion as she narrows her eyes at me.

  "What the fuck?" she growls.

  Not the reaction I expected. Her delicate features are pierced, a metal hoop in her bottom red-painted lip and stud in her nose. She blinks at me through heavy black eye make-up.

  "Where the hell am I?"

  "You're back in the world," I say.

  "What world?"

  "The world of the living?" I suggest sarcastically.

  The girl glances around the room, and then back to me, lips pursed. "Are you high?"

  "Not currently, no."

  "Why am I in this room with you? Is this some kind of weird dream?" She touches her face. "Am I high?"

  Great, why did the Shade have to be one of the clueless ones? "You do know you're dead, right?"

  "Whoa, dude. Okay, let’s talk about this. You don't need to kill me..." She holds up her hands, palms out. "Just let me leave, okay. You don't need to keep me here."

  I huff and step away from the door, indicating to the girl she can try. "Sure, go ahead."

  She edges past me and opens the door, and I close my eyes against her inevitable reaction. The girl rushes at the doorway and is slammed backwards onto the floor.

  "Why the hell can't I get out?" She pulls herself up, a rising tone of panic in her voice.

  "You're not strong enough," I say.

  Backing toward the window so she can keep an eye on me, she bumps the wall. The curtains are open and the girl peers out, down to the street.

  "You won't be able to get out that way either," I tell her.

  The girl slides to the floor and wraps her arms around her knees, eyes on me the whole time. "Did you bring me here? What do you want?"

  She doesn't know. Fuck, why is this so hard? "What's your name?" I ask.

  "Kat."

  "Kat? Okay. What's the last thing you remember?"

  "I don't know, my mind is blank. Shit, tell me this is a dream." She stares at her hands, and then turns her wrists over. "Did you do this?" She holds up her arms and deep bruises circle her wrists.

  "No. The first time I saw you was when you came into the room."

  Kat shakes her head as if trying to dislodge a thought. "Party." She snaps her head up. "I was at a party. Did you spike my drink? Have you..?"

  When she pales and checks her clothes, my stomach turns over. "I haven't touched you!"

  "Then what the fuck is going on?" she shouts.

  I don't have time for this shit. "Kat. You're dead. A Shade - ghost. You've passed through from where you were stuck and back to the world because there's something you have to do before your soul can be at peace."

  The huge-eyed response from Kat is accompanied by her laughing. When I don't laugh, she stops abruptly. "Right, sure..."

  "You have no memory of the Void?"

  "The what?"

  Obviously not.

  "Do you want to get out of this room?" I ask

  She tips her head. "Is that the stupid fucking question of the century?"

  "Where did you live?"

  "Where do I live? Manchester."

  "At least we're in the right city then," I say. "When you remember what happened to you, then you'll know why you're stuck, I imagine."

  "So, can I get out of this place?"

  Beneath the tough-girl make-up and piercings, she's lost. She needs someone to help her understand what's happening; however, I need to get to Rose. When I come back, she'll be trapped in the house. I'll talk to her then.

  "Listen, Kat. This is going to sound really weird, but you can get energy from me to leave this room."

  "Oh, no. No. Don't touch me..." She pulls herself up and backs into a corner.

  "Shit!" I drag my hands into my hair. "Wait there."

  I slip out of the room before she gets a chance to see what I'm doing. I need a mirror. I don't have one, and the one in the bathroom is bolted to the wall. I jump two steps at a time to Rose’s room. Ignoring the pang of fear and loneliness I get from searching her things, I find a mirror propped on top of the drawers with her hairbrush beside it. Grabbing the mirror, I head back to Kat.

  I step inside and she stumbles back, rubbing her knuckles. "Nobody can hear you," I tell her, and immediately wish I hadn't because every word I say makes me sound more and more like a creepy guy who abducts women. "Look"

  When I thrust the mirror at her, she looks at me as if I'm insane. The small mirror wouldn't make an effective weapon, and I can tell this is what she's weighing up.

  "Look in the mirror."

  Kat's eyes widen as she gazes at the mirror, and then she turns it over before looking back to me. "What the fuck is going on here?"

  "You're fucking dead!" I yell. The visit to Rose's room has upped my fear over what's going to happen to her, and this stupid girl, who doesn't know she's dead, is pissing me off.

  "I'm not!" she yells back "You're a psycho!"

  "I need to find someone, to get over to where you came from." I inhale, aware of how the next words are going to sound. "Kat, when you look at me, do you feel anything?"

  "Like punching you?"

  "That would be a start. Maybe if you touched me." She inhales loudly. "Not like that! Shit! I have the energy inside me to make you able to stay here and do whatever you need to be at peace. Take it from me."

  All this time, I've kept my distance when I could've just attacked her in the hope she retaliates. But she's a small, frightened girl, for fuck’s sake. Like Rose.

  Rose.

  Fuck it. I grab Kat’s hand. She screams at me and drags herself backwards, pulling her arm taught. I grip on and she digs her long nails into my hands. I wince but can't let go.

  "This won't hurt you, it'll hurt me." Again with the creepy dude words. I slam her palm onto my chest and ready myself. "Don't stop until I disappear," I say through gritted teeth.

  Holding onto her hand is hard when the pain grips my chest. The tearing feeling of the life ripped from within engulfs me, and I lose sight of where I am. I’m shocked by he suddenness of the room morphing to black and white, and by the strength of the Shade. The anguish of losing Rose, the fear of what's to come are wiped away by the overwhelming sadness and defeat as my body loses the energy I need to stay alive. The Shade's desire to become whole overrides Kat’s fear and confusion because as the black and white world greets me, and my grip on her hand loosens, she doesn't let me go.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  ROSE

  If I knew which door led to the Void, I'd open it and leave. There's nothing here for me; the longer I stay with the white walls closing in and the fluorescent light hurting my eyes, the more terror sets in from not knowing what this alternative I’m trapped in is. The Void contains other people... things. They can't all be bad, right? But here… I've counted twenty identical doors, twenty identical rooms and there's more. They stretch on for eternity - my eternity? I've listened. I've walked. I've touched.

  But I've refused to cry.

  There's nothing else for me to do but hope the nurse-like guy comes back for me. I open a door and step inside the small room, sit on the black seat and cross my arms and legs defensively. Someone will come.

  I'm not sure how long I sit in silence with my eyes closed, again willing myself to wake up from the coma I’m sure is responsible for the nightmare. I trace over my life, from childhood to the day of the accident, and push away thoughts of Alek, Fi
nn, and strange houses. They don't exist. I'm dreaming. I repeat the mantra over and over.

  Metal against metal sounds as the door handle is pushed down. A mix of relief and trepidation over who will walk in accompanies my gaze to the opening door.

  Alek hesitates outside.

  I jump to my feet, and rush to the door, terrified it might close again and he'll disappear. His dark-circled eyes are dull and skin pallid and he straightens his slumped stance when he sees me, mouth parting in surprise. Is he another figment of my nightmare or a horrible indication I’m not dreaming at all?

  "Alek?"

  He doesn't speak, just shakes his head numbly, and wrap my arms around his waist. He's real. The arms encircling me and crushing me to his chest are real. The heart beating beneath my cheek is the person who came here for me, who told me he loved me in his strange way. Only this time, I'm not overwhelmed with the energy which usually flows between us. I'm aware of the softness of his lips on my forehead and the comfort of his embrace.

  "I thought I'd lost you," he says hoarsely into my hair.

  I withdraw from his grip and trace my fingers across his face. "It's you? I don't... feel you."

  Alek strokes my cheek with the back of his warm hand. "We haven't got any energy, we're... I don't know, something else."

  "Shades?"

  "No. I’m not sure but I don’t know where this place is. I thought I was going to the Void but I found myself here."

  “How did you get here?”

  Alek takes my face, and rubs his thumbs along my cheeks as he holds me gently, eyes searching mine. "You're right, about the energy, though. I'm not overwhelmingly drawn to pinning you against the wall and..."

  I tug my brows together. "Not appropriate in our current situation, Alek. And I’m not stupid, I know you’re changing the subject.

  "It's a good thing," he whispers. “It proves you’re more than the physical addiction.”

  “I think you coming here to find me proves that,” I say.

  Something else surges inside, not relief but genuine affection for Alek. Whatever it took for him to come here, he did because of me. Not affection. More. I wind my hands around his neck, stroking the nape with my fingertips, and place my mouth gently on his. The situation around us is crazy and unreal, but we're here together, and this kiss is different. There's no searing lights, burst of energy, or desperate need to consume, just a gentle connection as if we're kissing for the first time. The awareness of how soft his fingertips are on my skin and the surge of butterflies as his mouth moves against mine is the opposite to the hungry desire we normally share. This kiss is with a man whose life I want to be part of, who’s prepared to give himself part of me he never wanted to.