Through The Veil (4 page)

“While
I appreciate your opinion that we should be a more economic-centric
civilization…I disagree, especially with your proposed methods. All our studies
on the gorge show that deep-earth drilling caused that fracture in our world,
resulting in the appearance of the gorge, and later, the Veil. I won’t do
anything like the mass mining you’re suggesting. It would hurt Mother Earth
even more. She won’t stand for it and neither will I, so think long and hard
about what happened twelve years ago before you continue to pursue this.”

As
a Wiccan, Bethany believed Mother Earth reclaimed her soil after humans
destroyed it. Marcus wasn’t religious, but he figured that explanation worked
as well as anything. Fifty-two years ago, a gorge had suddenly appeared,
splitting the country in half. A mile deep and a quarter mile wide, the gorge
spanned from Mobile, Alabama up to Quebec City, Canada, literally splitting the
country.

Then
twelve years ago, exactly forty years after the gorge first appeared, the Veil
of mist fell during the summer solstice, only going halfway across the width of
the gorge and blanketing the WS. They’d had half a day after the fog first
rolled in before they lost complete contact with the Eastern States. The
newswire had already taken to calling the thick fog “the Veil” because it
looked like a wedding veil draped over the Western States between the gorge and
the Mississippi River. The fog became an impenetrable wall between the two
sides. A wall no one was able to cross ever again. As if that wasn’t
devastating enough, within two days every single person over the age of
eighteen was dead and their bodies completely gone. Disappeared.

For
a moment, the smarmy man looked like he planned to continue on this thread, but
with a glance around at the Warriors—especially the glowering Aaron—he sat back
down in his chair. “Beg pardon, Bethany. I meant no harm or disrespect.”

Bethany
gave him a sharp nod. “Thank you, Nick. I appreciate that not everyone sees
things the way that I do, but no one can debate that the Earth has taken care
of us since the Veil fell.”

Within
a year of the Veil falling, they’d all been gifted with their telepathy, wings,
fast healing abilities, and various other supernatural gifts. Bethany felt that
was the Earth’s way of making up for their incredible loss of all the adults in
their world.

“Otherwise
we would not have survived,” Bethany continued. “We need to remember that and
take care of Her in turn.” She gave a sharp nod that said the matter was
settled. “It’s been a long meeting. Let’s break for thirty minutes to
revitalize and stretch. There are snacks outside the door if anyone is hungry.
Then we can push through and finish with the last details on the agenda.”

While
the members from the districts filed out of the room, Marcus, Aaron, and
Brooklyn stepped forward to protect Bethany as she strode to her private
office. The other four went out to monitor the district delegates.

As
Marcus closed the heavy, solid wood door behind them, Bethany whirled on Aaron.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“My
job,” he bit out. Aaron’s nostrils flared as his hands balled into fists.
“Protecting you is my number one priority.”

“The
last time I checked, disagreeing with me will not actually hurt me. In fact,
it’s good for the WS. I will not have you intimidating any of those people out
there unless they actually pose a true threat of physical harm. We’re not
running a dictatorship here.”

“Be
that as it may…”

Aaron’s
voice trailed off into the background as Marcus sensed sudden terror from
Audra.

“Audra!”
He tried to connect along their mental pathways, but all he
could get from her was pure panic and fear. The blood iced in his veins. He
tried to connect to Shane, but they were too far away and he didn’t share as
strong a telepathic bond with the boy as he did with Audra.

“Marcus,
what’s wrong?” Brooklyn noticed his sudden stillness and glanced around the
room in concern, looking for the threat.

“Something’s
happened. Shane and Audra went out into the forest this afternoon. I have to
go.” He looked to Aaron for permission.
Please, don’t fight me on
this.

“Is
it a Predator?” Aaron asked.

“I
don’t know. I can’t tell. I can just feel her panic. Something’s very wrong.”
He had to go to her. Now.

“Go!”
Aaron urged. “Take Brooklyn with you for backup or medical help, although I
hope you need neither.”

Brooklyn
had skills in healing, though his brother, Malcolm, was their doctor and more
skilled. But with the delegations here, they couldn’t have their doctor leaving
the village.

Another
mental scream of anguish came from Audra. “Come on.” Every warning bell inside
Marcus told him they had to go, now, or it would be too late. They took off at
a run through the building, busting through the mingling groups standing
outside in the hall. Several disgruntled exclamations followed in their wake,
but the two of them ignored them. Marcus couldn’t even waste the time to answer
his brother, Malcolm’s, questioning voice in his head.

During
the meeting, dark had fallen. Marcus found Shane and Audra by following their
mental trail above the forest, pushing his wings as fast as they could go. Why
were Shane and Audra still outdoors? They knew the danger became much, much
higher after dark.

Sudden
pain came across their telepathic pathways from both of them, but they were
both too wounded to handle a full telepathic connection with him. He had no
idea what kind of situation Brooklyn and he were going into as they swooped
down over the tops of the trees, searching the forest floor. Luckily, one of
the gifts that had developed for them in this new world was their night vision.
It was dark outside, but he could still see as if in the twilight of dusk.

His
first glance of Audra stole his breath. She was hunched over at her waist
holding a gaping wound in her stomach with one arm and shielding Shane behind
her with the other. So much blood.

And
a Predator stood before her, his arm drawn back to deliver a death blow. Audra
never flinched. She had nowhere to go, backed up to huge boulders, but she
wasn’t going to let this creature get to Shane.

Marcus
drew his sword out of the scabbard between his wings. The two people he loved
most in this world were pinned against that rock. Audra clutched at her
abdomen, as if to hold her organs in. Something she wasn’t succeeding at. How
the hell was she even upright with that injury? Behind her stood Shane—pale,
terrified and losing blood, too. His wing looked broken.

Terror
for his family laced with adrenaline and the need to punish and protect. How
dare this thing hurt them? They were his life. His heart. The two people he
cared about most in this world.

Swinging
his sword with all his might, Marcus’s blow sent the Predator’s arm flying off
its body in a macabre spray of blood. The seven and a half foot creature swung
around with a maddened scream of pain. Marcus landed with a thud on the ground,
needing the creature completely focused on him, not his family. The Predator
aimed the claws of his one good arm at Marcus, poising his talons like long,
razor-sharp knives and dove toward him. Marcus leapt using his wings to
narrowly avoid the blow. That was fine as long as they were no longer aimed at
his family. He had to protect them.

“Get them away from here, Brooklyn,”
he instructed as he slowly
stepped back to draw the Predator away from Audra and Shane.

“Come
and get me, you bastard,” he taunted. “Let’s see how you do with someone a
little closer to your own size.”

The
creature bellowed. Completely covered with tangled, dark grey fur, matted with
twigs and Goddess knew what else mixed into it, the monster reeked. His eyes
glimmered with madness and pain as he charged at Marcus, his single arm
swinging.

Marcus
fought it off with his sword and a shorter knife he’d drawn off his waist,
swinging both in conjunction to do as much damage as possible to the creature.
Already out of breath from his mad flight here, his breath sawed in and out as
he pummeled at the creature. The quiet of the night was only interrupted by the
creature’s deep growls and bellows as it came at Marcus again and again. The
creature swung slower now, tired and weakening from his loss of blood, but
Marcus’s energy flagged, too. He needed to end this.

Predators
were so large and weren’t easy to take down. Because the creatures were so
tall, a death blow was difficult to render that far above Marcus’s head when he
was so tired. He couldn’t put his weight behind the swing from the ground. He
looked around frantically trying to find an advantage so they could end this
fight.

There.
A boulder.

He
ran to it, launched himself off the side of it, and flapped his wings once to
propel himself forward quickly before the creature had time to react. He swung
his sword in his right hand toward the neck and slid the knife in his left hand
into the creature’s chest.

Those
blue, crazed eyes momentarily widened in shock before they went sightless in
death as the head fell away from the spine. The creature dropped to the ground
and Marcus crumpled with it, bleeding profusely from several places. He heaved
and struggled to stand, needing to get to Audra.

Now
with the adrenaline from the fight waning, he could feel her wavering
life-force through their mental connection.

Oh Goddess, no.
She couldn’t be dying.

His
wings burned from exertion, but he flapped them to propel him back where he’d
left Audra, Shane, and Brooklyn. All three were on the ground, and Brooklyn
worked on Shane.

Marcus
crumpled to Audra’s side. The ground below her had turned to a puddle of mud
and blood. Fuck, fuck, fuck. So much blood. Her entire abdomen had been split
open. He looked frantically at Brooklyn for help but she just helplessly shook
her head with tears in her eyes.

No!

“Audra.
Oh, Goddess,” his voice choked and wavered. “Please, please don’t…don’t leave
me. I need you.” He cradled her head.

Her
eyes fluttered open and a trembling hand reached toward him. “Marc, it’s okay.
Shh
.” She coughed, a shuddering, rattling sound, and blood
dribbled out of her mouth.

“No,”
he soothed, smoothing the hair off her forehead, the exact same color as her
blood on his hands. As her life force flowed out around them, he could only sit
there useless. Why hadn’t he been here with them today?

“You’re
going to be okay,” he told her. “Just hold still. Let the Earth heal you. She
won’t take you from me. She knows I need you.” He sobbed, trying to believe
that she could recover from this.

She
lightly touched his cheek. “You…you made me happy.” She gasped. “Take care of
Shane. I’m sorry.” Her eyes closed and her chest rattled a final time.

“No,
no, no.” He gathered her up in his arms and rocked her. She couldn’t be dead.
No!
How could he have failed
her so completely? He was a Warrior. It was his job to protect, but he hadn’t
even been able to do that.

He
had no idea how long he sat there holding her, but like all that died within
the WS now, within minutes her body completely disappeared. Like she never even
existed. Only the blood staining his hands and the ground proved that this
hadn’t just been a horrible, devastating nightmare.

A
whimper of pain echoed over the glade.

Shane.
He’d forgotten.

Turning
to where Brooklyn worked on him, he rubbed the tears from his face and asked in
a low voice, “Is he going to be okay?”

She
nodded. “I think so, but we have to get him back quickly so Malcolm can set his
wing before it begins to heal incorrectly. He just passed out, so hopefully he
will stay that way until we get back to the village.” Her eyes were filled with
compassion and tears as she gazed at him. “I’m so sorry, Marcus.”

“The
only person who should say that is me. This is my fault. I should have been
here with them. I should have been here to protect them, but I wasn’t and now I
have to live with that.” His soul was shattering piece by piece inside his
chest, but he had to get Shane back to the village. It was too late for Audra,
but he wouldn’t allow anything else to happen to this boy he loved as if he
were his own child.

He
lifted him up, ignoring the agony—both mental and physical—and pushed toward
the village.

*
* *

A
week later, Marcus sat on the floor of the darkened corner of Shane’s bedroom.

Empty.

This
room.

His
house.

His
heart.

He’d
screwed up and lost them both. Shane had fully recovered, but he blamed Marcus
for not being there to save Audra. Rightly so. And because he couldn’t stand to
be in the same room with Marcus anymore, Shane had moved in with his brother,
Drake.

The
agony pulsed within him, a living entity eating at his soul.

Now
Marcus was all alone. A week ago he had a family—a mate and someone he
considered his son.