The Veil: Corruption (HASEA CHRONICLES BOOK 2)

by Stuart Meczes

  It was stone cold.

  “Mikey, no,” I sobbed. I pressed my head against his chest, which wasn’t moving. I can’t hear his heartbeat. “Gabriella take my hand. We have to save him!”

  “Alex, you know it won’t work,” she said in a pitying tone. “We’ve tried on others. It never works.”

  “We have to do something!” I screamed.

  “There’s nothing you can do. It’s too late. Death or Bloodling now.” Scarlett’s voice was hollow, like all emotion had been sucked out.

  I felt a burst of absolute rage. How dare she act like she doesn’t care about him?!

  Fury replaced the horror. The whispers rose, pushing their way beyond the hold of the elixir, somehow strengthened by my anguish. The darkness filled me up like bubbling acid, pouring into every inch of me. I felt the tattoo move. It slid around the side of my body, slipping its inky tendrils down the centre of my back. I felt my spine crack and screamed out in agony.

  Gabriella moved towards me. I glared up at her, and she recoiled backwards, seeing something that caused her face to flare with shock and fear. My spine made a series of searing cracks, and I could feel my legs starting to work again, strengthened by whatever the hell was inside me. I unfurled like a creature breathed into existence. I could barely see beyond the rage and tears that clouded my vision.

  Then I lost control.

  I grabbed at the wheelchair, smashing it repeatedly against the wall until it broke into scrap metal, leaving a crater in the plaster. I tore at the sink, wrenching it off in one go, exposing a spewing faucet. I threw it at the door, and it crumbled into shards. I went on a rampage, smashing and breaking anything that wasn’t attached to my dying brother, screaming and crying.

  The darkness laughed, revelling in my blind fury. At one point I noticed Gabriella and Scarlett standing to one side watching me. They both looked utterly distraught.

  I pointed a finger towards them.

  “Whose fault is this?” I demanded. “Who failed my brother?” My voice sounded strange. Like there were a hundred of me speaking in unison. The words sounded deep and alien.

  Scarlett and Gabriella looked at each other. “Mine,” they said at the same time.

  I marched forward and swung a fist towards Scarlett. She ducked out of the way and my fist sank into the wall.

  No, don’t! I screeched, trying to control my body, but it wouldn’t take commands from me. The creatures inside had control now.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Scarlett shouted.

  “It’s not him!” Gabriella answered as she dodged my uppercut.

  I was forced into the position of spectator, watching myself attack both my soulmate and close friend. I lunged at them whilst the tattoo slipped around my body like a snake, sending waves of agony through me. I tried as hard as I could to battle against the rage, and the conflict made my movements clumsy and awkward – the best I could do.

  “Don’t let him touch you with his hands!” she warned as she shoved me away. I spiralled into the wall and sank to the floor.

  “What do we do?” gasped Scarlett.

  “He has some kind of suppressant on him, we have to get it!”

  At that moment, the darkness changed tack. I stopped attacking and plunged my hand into my trousers, grabbing at the ampule.

  It’s going to crush it!

  But before I could do anything, Scarlett slapped at my hand, knocking the elixir from my grasp. With lightning reactions, she snatched it out of the air. At the same time, Gabriella jumped onto my back. I charged backwards against the cardiogram, and it burst in a shower of sparks from the impact and let out a flat line hum. Gabriella clung on tightly. “Hold on, Alex!” she shouted into my ear as she bought me to my knees.

  A shuddering roar escaped my throat. I jumped so high that Gabriella’s back was crushed into the ceiling, unleashing a shower of plaster. She fell down hard, landing on her shoulder with a gasp of pain, and just managed to move out of the way of my vicious kick. I spun around and fired a fist into Scarlett, who was trying to sneak up behind me. My knuckles connected with breastbone, and she rocketed across the room like a crash test dummy.

  “He’s too strong!” she wheezed as she used a cluster of broken machines to help her stand up. I marched towards her, hand outstretched. I could already feel the tattoo moving towards her, gathering, ready for attack.

  “What the hell?” shouted voices from the doorway. I whipped my head around and saw Delagio, Danny, Grey, and a blue woman standing in the entrance.

  “Alexander Eden appears to be attacking Gabriella De Luca and Scarlett Reid,” observed the one I didn’t know.

  “No shit!” shouted Scarlett. “Help us hold him down!”

  A few seconds later, a dozen hands were pinning me against the cold floor. I bit and screamed, thrashing my arms and legs against them. But there were too many. Fingers prised my jaws apart, and no matter how hard the darkness tried to force me to bite off their fingers, it was held open. I tried to twist my head away from the ampule that Gabriella held poised above my mouth, but Delagio put me into a tight headlock and held me still.

  Gabriella was openly crying as she shook the entirety of the elixir into the back of my mouth. I felt the bitter substance slip down the base of my tongue and coat my throat. Then it was inside, battling against the darkness. I felt the creatures howl as they were smashed into submission. They scraped their claws against every inch of me as they struggled to cling on.

  Everything became jagged images that didn’t fit together. I could feel feathering tickles all over my brain, like it was short-circuiting. My body seized up and a roll of shocks ran through me as I began convulsing. All the time I was painfully aware of what was happening to me.

  Grey pulled a dagger from his Kapre belt and pushed the handle into the gap between my teeth. The metal warped under the pressure of my bite.

  I could taste something foul pouring over my lips. I spat out the knife and heard it clatter next to my head. The grip of the fit released me, and I managed to turn onto my front before I began to vomit something black and tarlike onto the recovery room floor.

  Then I passed out.

  13

  Gabriella

  Only Scarlett and I were in the room when Mikey died.

  For over fifty hours, we’d stood vigil at Mikey’s side, only leaving to use the bathroom.

  Sage Faru had come to the recovery room in time to see the fallout of Alex’s outburst. He had ordered Alex to be taken to his apartment and kept under supervision. Soon afterwards, the rest of Orion had dispersed. Grey went to catch up on sleep, Delagio had resumed training Danny, and Aran went to practice her own combat skills.

  The countdown had hit zero two hours beforehand, and with eerie precision, Mikey’s struggling heart had finally given out. The single tone of the replacement cardiogram had made my stomach turn. He was officially dead. Scarlett had stood up slowly – as if she had aged a thousand years – and disconnected the cables. The machine fell silent.

  The waiting game had begun.

  Minutes seemed to last hours. The hours stretched into years. With each revolution of the minute hand on the wall clock, the weight on my shoulders had grown heavier. I tried not to think about anything, but four words kept repeating regardless.

  He won’t make it.

  It started with a twitch of his hand. Scarlett noticed a split second before I did, jerking upright in her seat.

  “Did you see that?” she demanded.

  I nodded.

  His hand twitched again, followed by the other. Then his eyelids started to twitch as if he were having the worst REM dream imaginable. In a flash, Scarlett was at his side. She pressed a button for a doctor. Then she pointed to a panel in the far wall.

  “Open that.” Her voice was trembling.

  I did as I was told. My heart was beating through my chest. I had never seen a rebirth before, and I was as petrified as I was relieved that Mikey was still with us. Sliding the panel o
pen, I was faced with a shallow fridge lined with rows of blood bags on hooks. They were labelled into relevant groups. I started to reach for O negative, but Scarlett corrected me.

  “AB negative. He’ll need the best to help him recover faster.”

  I grabbed the pack and came to Mikey’s other side. Scarlett took the bag from me and set it down on the bed.

  “Where the hell is the bloody doctor?” she hissed. “Oh screw it.” She moved over to a unit with several draws and pulled out a square packet and some sterile tubing. She ripped the packet open and took out a cannula. Unscrewing the cap, she fitted it to one end of the tube and ran the other end to a valve on the blood bag. Hooking the whole thing over a metal stand, she poised the needle over Mikey’s hand, like she was contemplating sewing it.

  “When he wakes, hold him as tightly as you can,” she commanded.

  “Wait, you’re going to give him that blood intravenously?”

  “It’s the quickest way into his system,” she replied flatly.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for the doctor?” I replied.

  Scarlett’s lips drew into a line. “The three day change is the most traumatic event that can happen to a Bloodling. If we don’t make every single stage as smooth as possible, it could have permanent repercussions on his personality…I should know.”

  Her words made sense, but it was her expression that told me everything I needed to know. It was how I’d look if someone tried to stop me helping Alex when he needed me. Help or get the hell out of my way.

  I nodded. “Got it.”

  Mikey’s face had become a grimace of pure pain. All of his extremities were twitching as if his body were being fed with a low current. It was disturbing. The intensity increased as I watched, and his moves became more exaggerated.

  “Get ready,” ordered Scarlett.

  I braced myself.

  Mikey’s eyes shot open. He sat up screaming as if his soul were on fire. I grabbed him into my arms and held on. His skin was cold, and there was a layer of odd-smelling sweat on his skin – like damp wood. Just holding his body, I could feel the new power contained inside. It was like a wild animal caged in flesh.

  “It’s okay, Mikey, we’ve got you.” I tried to soothe him as he struggled.

  Before he knew what was happening, Scarlett had jabbed the cannula with expert precision into the vein on the back of his hand. She twisted the valve on the bag, and I watched as the blood began to seep through the tube into his body. He went limp in my arms, and I gently laid him back on the bed. His eyelids fluttered as if he were a junkie taking a hit of heroin.

  Scarlett stroked his face with her fingertips. Then she leaned down and kissed him so tenderly on the lips it made my heart ache. “I’ll look after you now, sweetheart. You just rest. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

  As I watched Scarlett tend to Mikey, I couldn’t help but doubt her words.

  No matter how hard you try to keep them, some promises are destined to be broken.

  *

  With the aid of the doctor, Mikey’s unconscious body was transferred to a trolley bed and taken through the Nexus to a place I had never visited: The Rebirth Clinic.

  The clinic had sent the doctor overseeing Mikey’s case to escort us to the centre. Like all of those employed there, Doctor Hudson was a Bloodling. He had a prominent jaw and brown hair that receded around his temples. I put him in his late forties when he was changed, although he would likely be at least five times that age by now. He explained the situation as he helped us wheel the trolley into the Nexus elevator, and we took the solemn journey to our destination. I already knew most of what he told us, but never had it meant so much to me before. I listened intently to the doctor as he spoke in a soft Germanic accent.

  “Mikey will be very dangerous for the first day or so,” he explained. “He will have little to no understanding of who he is or his surroundings. He will also have an almost insatiable thirst that will have to be kept under constant monitoring. Otherwise, he could attempt to drink his own blood, which would result in rapid decomposition.”

  The elevator cranked to a stop, and the doors opened into an austere reception hall. A receptionist sat behind a marble desk, her plastic fingernails tapping rapidly at a keyboard. She glanced up as we entered, silver eyes reflecting the glare of the computer screen. On the white wall behind her was the symbol of the Rebirth Clinic. It was stylised after the Caduceus, but instead of a rod, the twin snakes coiled around a cross. A set of sharp fangs hung from either arm, replacing the wings. Ringed around the emblem in gold were the words VITA POST MORTEM.

  Life after death. Cute.

  Doctor Hudson headed over to the desk and spoke to the receptionist. She nodded at his words, and her tight blonde ponytail bobbed up and down. Then with robotic efficiency she checked Mikey onto the system, printed off and handed out two visitor’s passes, and slapped a hand on a button at the end of the desk. A moment later, two well-built Bloodling porters in white uniforms appeared and took control of the trolley, guiding it towards a set of double doors at the end of the reception. Scarlett walked alongside, still holding Mikey’s hand. The doctor and I followed and he carried on explaining the situation to me.

  “As you probably know, Rebirth Clinics are like the Guild of the Arcane’s Covens in that they are affiliated with rather than directly part of the Alliance. This is actually the first of the now thirty-six international clinics, set up in the Victorian era by Henry Marlowe – wealthy businessman turned Bloodling benefactor. I am proud to say I was one of his first recruits,” he added with a smile. “Our sole purpose here is to give support to the new arrivals of our species.”

  The trolley bumped open a set of double doors that led into a black marble walkway. The purple glow of blacklight spilled out across the floors and walls. It made Scarlett’s and the doctor’s silver irises glow like cat’s eyes.

  “Muti-purpose,” explained Doctor Hudson with a wave of the hand. “The rooms connected to this area serve as temporary holding rooms for any volatile Bloodlings. The Alliance also use them as overspill prison cells from time to time. The UV from the black light prevents Bloodseekers from escaping. Of course it does no such thing for Bloodlings, but it does stop them from being able to find veins on potential human victims who may come to visit – such as family members. If venom does not directly enter the bloodstream via a vein or artery, then prevention of disease outbreak is sometimes possible.” He noticed me glance at Mikey and gave an awkward cough. “Not in this case, I’m afraid.”

  Scarlett barely seemed to notice what was going on around her. All of her attention was on Mikey, her pale hand clutching his. The two Bloodling porters didn’t bother trying to engage her in conversation as they pushed the trolley, which rolled down the corridor, wheels clicking each time they met a seam in the tiles.

  “Michael will be very…unpredictable on the third day after rebirth,” continued the doctor. “The slightest aggravation could cause him to descend into what we Vampires call the ‘fury’ – an uncontrollable hysteria which can result in serious injury, including to Michael himself.”

  We passed through the black-lit area and stepped into a large, square room. Two other Rebirthed Bloodlings were inside, dressed in pale blue overalls and overseen by nurses in white uniforms. One was sitting on a chair, quietly reading a book, the other was solving a complicated-looking logic puzzle on the table. They stopped what they were doing and looked up as we entered. Both watched us in respectful silence as we passed through.

  “These are Bloodlings who are rehabilitated enough to be allowed into social settings. Another few days and these two will be free to join the Alliance or create their own path in their second life.”

  There were three doors splitting off from the common room, all with metal signs fixed to the adjacent walls. The one to our left read Department of Urge Control & Emotional Acceptance. Directly opposite that was Combat Training & Strength Awareness Unit. The door that we headed towards was
marked with the words Recovery Ward.

  “How long will it take before he’s…normal again?” I asked.

  “With our care, Michael should be compos mentis after three days. Complete rehabilitation and full mastery of abilities at a Rebirth Clinic takes on average six to eight days, depending on the individual. Bloodling Vampires are very quick learners, and once the improved brain is stimulated, it does not take long for memories and regular emotions to return. Of course, natural recovery occurs also, but that can take anywhere from two weeks to several months in rare cases. We also find that those Bloodlings often have marked issues with their personalities. As do those who were bitten by Bloodseekers.” He pulled a face. “Trying to remove the unnatural bond to their maker is one of our biggest challenges.” He nodded down at Mikey. “It was very lucky he was bitten by a Bloodling.”

  I gave the doctor a sideways glance. He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Of course getting bitten at all is not lucky.”

  Doctor Hudson had confirmed what I already knew. Rebirth is like childhood. Mikey is going to have to learn how to live in the world all over again. I let out a rush of breath.

  The ward we walked into was almost as large as the temple beneath the Warren. It was softly lit from long purple lighting strips embedded high up in the black walls. On either side of the room the walls were lined with cubes made from reinforced glass – each one about the size of a garden shed. There were five on each side, all lined up next to one another in tight rows. Inside each was a bed, a toilet, and a plastic stool. There was also an array of buttons fitted on panels above the bed. We didn’t stop for long enough, and I couldn’t read the words written underneath each one. The whole room was filled with classical music playing at a very faint level. I recognised it as ‘Le Onde’ by Enaudi.