Beyond the Veil (10 page)

There was nothing I could do about the
long-term issues Baalth was talking about. If God wanted to remortgage the
universe, it was shit outta luck, but He was forcing my hand when it came to
getting Karra back. I needed to do it now.

“Where can I find the Eidolon?”

“You’ll only set a bandage across the
evisceration wound even
if
you save
her. You know this, right?”

“I don’t care.” Up out of my chair, I
stormed over to stand before Baalth. “I won’t let Gorath take her from me. If
God wants to reboot the system, so be it, but I’m not going out without Karra
at my side.”

Baalth smiled as he looked up at me. “Perhaps
you have finally found the impetus for growth, Frank. Good for you.” He
motioned behind me. “Then let me introduce you to Cyrill, an acquaintance of
mine.”

I turned to see one of the aliens standing
behind me: a woman. She nodded but her eyes never left mine. Like the rest of
her people, she was average in height and weight, but she had won the genetic
lottery of her race, unlike Rala. Her boobs stood out large against the plain
shirt she wore, the rest of her body more closely resembling what I was used to
with earthly women, nice shapes defining all the fun bits. The striping on her
face was darker than Rala’s, but the orange looked about the same shade as all
the other Felurians I’d seen. If I hadn’t been on the planet to rescue my
girlfriend from an evil alien being, I might have hit on Cyrill.

Ah, who am I kidding? I definitely would
have. I had to admit, I was very curious to know if the carpet matched the
face. Come on, how often do you get to sleep with a zebra and not be charged
with racism or bestiality?

She came over and stood beside me, forcing
me to shift my gaze back to where I could see Baalth. That took the wind out of
my sails.

“Cyrill will lead you to a cell of Eidolon
that has been going about their destructive business directly under the nose of
God’s watchdog, Jesus.”

“What does Christ have to do with all
this?”

“He was tasked to clean up the mess left
behind by the war, but the Eidolon have been making it difficult with their
play at rebellion.” He gestured to Cyrill for her to continue.

“Many of my people have been recruited to
take the fight to God and his army; to keep them busy with raids and insurgent
strikes.”

That was what Longinus and I had popped
into the middle of when we arrived, what God wanted us to stop. “If Jesus is on
the defensive, the Eidolon can do whatever they want on planet.”

Cyrill nodded at my verbal musing. “The
Felurians know they will never be the winner no matter the outcome of the
battle for Feluris. They are easily swayed to the cause for they fear the end
has already been determined for them.”

“So they’ve nothing to lose?”

She responded with a slight smile. “And
such cooperation has led us,” she motioned to Baalth with her eyes, “to
information regarding the possible whereabouts of the leaders of the Eidolon.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” I started
for the door, reloading my pistols as I went. Cyrill followed a moment later,
having snatched up a small pack.

“Be warned, Frank,” Baalth told me. “I can
do little to help should things become difficult.” He smiled and bowed his
head. “It is good to see you, once more.”

And surprisingly enough, it was good to see
him, too. As difficult as he could be, Baalth had always been there for me, in
his own way. His being on Feluris was like having a tiny slice of Earth with
me. It gave me hope I might recover more than just that sliver.

I didn’t respond to his comment, only
turning and walking out the door after Cyrill triggered the magical locks. As
good as it was to have someone in the know on my side, old habits die hard.

You never show a demon your hand.

Thirteen

The trip from Baalth’s hidey hole was more
casual than I’d expected. Cyrill pulled out what passed for a hoodie in her
world and gave it to me to wear. It was yet another stinky whiff of how
different and yet how much the same things were no matter what part of the
universe you came from. It hung down to my knees and I nearly swam in the
thing, but at least it made walking across town a little easier. My face hidden
under the deep hood, hands buried in the pockets, and an alien at my side, kept
all the curious stares away.

We’d circled off toward what I imagined was
the outskirts of town when I noticed there was no one around. All the locals
had vanished. There was no telling if we were just in a rougher part of town or
if it had been vacated for better accommodations.
 
Regardless, the lack of ears made me think I
could open my mouth and ask a couple of questions. “How’d you come to know
Baalth?”

She glanced over at me. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, really.” Actually, I was kind
of curious to know if he was hitting it, but no point in being blunt. “I’m just
inquisitive. It’s in my nature.” I gave a toothy smile I hoped conveyed
friendliness and not my usual lecherous charm. Beyond the obvious, I was also
wondering how Baalth had managed to snag a minion after being on the planet for
only about a week while being completely powerless. It definitely spoke to his
ability to coerce folks. There was a tongue joke there, but I let it slide.

Cyrill grinned. “If you must know, he
promised me power, a place at his side, far from here, once he has regained his
prominence.”

I pitched the same grin right back at her. I
don’t know what bullshit, Arizona beachfront property Baalth offered her, but
she was neck deep in the stink and thinking it was roses. Had to hand it to the
old boy, he was working it like a boss. Trapped on Feluris with God in
possession of his magic, looking like a second-rate
Skelator
years off the ‘
roids
, Baalth wasn’t going anywhere
anytime soon, if ever, but he was still a stud.

“What do you do for him?”

Cyrill’s gaze snapped toward me, flickers
of heat in it as her smile faded. “You ask a lot of questions, demon.”

It’s not curiosity that kills the cat but
the quest for vicarious thrills. I raised my hands in surrender, having pushed
my luck too far. “No need to get hostile.” Baalth was hitting it
good
.

She huffed and walked on, speeding her pace
a little. I let her lead the way. While she wasn’t Karra, Cyrill had a nice
enough ass to
wile
away the rest of the trip on. I
needed something to keep my mind off what was really going on; largely because
I had no fucking clue and it was bugging the hell out of me.

All this Eidolon crap being connected to
her disappearance was just a presumption on my part, however good of one. I
needed something solid especially since Longinus hadn’t tried to contact me.
There was no telling if that was good news or bad, but I didn’t think he’d
rescue Karra and not say
anything
to
her about me. At least, I hoped not.

And with that, the joy of Cyrill’s ass turned
a horrible kind of bitter. Fortunately, her hips stopped sashaying as she came
to the corner of an intersecting street, and I there was no struggle to quit
watching. She jumped back and hissed.

“Damn it.” Cyrill grabbed my hand and
yanked me back the way we’d come. She dashed across the street and dove into a
narrow alley just fifty feet from where she’d had her fit. “Eidolon,” she
whispered, pulling me down to my knees beside her in the wreckage of the alley.

I restrained a smile. I’m not sure what she
thought I was going to do when I found the Eidolon, but I was pretty certain it
would involve gunfire and explosions and screams and lots and lots of noise.
Hiding was kind of the opposite of all that.

And then I saw
why
she was hiding.

Over where we’d just been, a huge truck, the
kind that carries soldiers, poked its nose around the corner and crept onto the
street. It was weird seeing it because there hadn’t been a single vehicle
anywhere in town, but the roads had to be there for a reason. I wondered for a moment
if they’d all been destroyed in the battle, but it seemed more likely Jesus and
his folks had absconded with them all to help limit the movement of enemy
troops. It looked as if they missed a couple.

The front cab of the truck was squeezed
tight with striped passengers, four of them squished together like sardines, but
the green canvas covering the back made it impossible to know if there were
more inside the bed. It came to a shuddering halt and parked in front of the
building that had blocked us from their sight just a few seconds before.
Another truck rolled up a moment later, its engine rumbling, followed by what
had to have been fifty aliens on foot.

The soldiers stomped up to the building
across the way, and one of them threw open the doors, the aliens filing inside
a couple at a time. All but the drivers of the trucks, who stayed in their
seats, hopped out and followed after. As the Felurians went inside, there was a
sudden wash of magical energy that seemed to seep out of the building. It was like
the doors had been holding it back, some kind of ward, maybe. The power didn’t
pound against my senses as though it were being wielded, but was more like
lapping waves. There was an awful lot of it, but it felt inert. I couldn’t pick
out the normal sense of life that comes with magic when it’s connected to a
living being. This came across as more ambient energy than the serpentine
flutters of physically bound magic.

The metallic
clunk
of a round being chambered ended my philosophical debate on
the differences between inert and active magic.

I turned to see the barrel of a massive gun
pointed our direction, a tiny little girl on the opposite end of it: Rala.

“Step away from the stranger,” she ordered,
motioning with the gun to mean Cyrill.

I exhaled, glad to not be on the receiving
end of a threat, for once. Even so, I knew I wasn’t getting off that easy. The
last thing I needed was for Miss Mousey to shoot Baalth’s new pet. There would
be no way to weasel my way out of the blame for that. Even without his powers,
I had no doubt Baalth could find a way to hurt me. It’s what he does.

“What are you doing, girl?” I crept
forward, hoping to get between the two women. A lifetime of common sense and
practical experience railed inside and called me a dumbass for even thinking
about it, but there I was, once again, sliding right into the middle of a
threesome I had no business—or interest, for once—being involved in.

“She’s one of the Eidolon, Frank.” Rala
didn’t even look at me. She simply shifted to keep Cyrill in her sights.

Cyrill snorted and shook her head. “I’m no
Eidolon, child. Now put the gun away.”

Rala stepped closer, the gun steady in her
small hands. “Lift up your shirt.”

While I was all for
that
, I didn’t think we needed the woman at gunpoint to get a quick
look-see. I raised my hands and drifted toward Rala, real slow. She’d spent too
much time with the old coot; some of his crazy had clearly rubbed off on her. I
readied my magic, just in case, but I didn’t really want to use it. With the
Eidolon just across the street, there was no way they wouldn’t notice a spell
being triggered. Besides, I don’t know how to do quiet.

“I said to lift your shirt.” The girl
sidestepped me again and marched forward again, the barrel of the gun just a
few feet from Cyrill’s face. There was no way I was gonna insert myself without
getting shot so I eased off.

Cyrill growled. “You’re making a mistake.”

“Just do it,” Rala answered.

The muscles in Cyrill’s jaw clenched and
unclenched several times before she relented. “Fine, but this isn’t what it
looks like.” She yanked her shirt up, revealing the whole of her torso and lean
side.

“See? What did I tell you?”

Honestly, I had no idea what the girl was
rambling on about. Cyrill’s bare boobs hung out in the open, and I swear they were
corneal magnets. My eyes were drawn to her chest. If Rala was trying to prove Cyrill
was a woman, or even a tranny with a nice rack, she’d succeeded admirably.

“The tattoo, damn it.”

At the tone of her voice—you know, the one
that signifies when a woman just remembered she was taking to a man—I noticed a
dark blotch on Cyrill’s side, way up near her armpit. Sadly, at seeing it, my
field of vision widened and the magical spell of free
boobage
was broken. I sighed as the shape of the phoenix came into focus.

Shit. No wonder she knew where to find the
Eidolon, she was one. “Seriously?”

“I said it’s not what it looks like,” she
answered.

“Pull your shirt down and tell me a story.”
Never in my life did I think I’d say those words in that order. This wasn’t one
of those Penthouse Letters moments, I assure you.

She covered herself and I could have sworn
I heard my penis whine.

Cyrill cast a quick glance toward the
street before saying anything. “My job was to infiltrate the Eidolon, earn
their trust and inform on them.”

“Which is why you’re lurking about in an
alley?” Rala asked.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to insert
myself…” I had something she could insert. “…and they would realize something
was wrong if appeared out of nowhere, leading an alien along.”

Hey now.

A solid
thump
sounded across the street, drawing my attention as the Eidolon folks cursed and
carried on about being careful. The aliens were lugging a number of long
cylinders that looked similar to oxygen tanks. I could feel the slight waft of
energy coming off them, the same energy I’d sensed when the doors opened. One
of the aliens had dropped his. Apparently Rala looked to see what happened,
too.

The next thing I knew, there was a gun
going off, loud in my ear that had only just started to get rid of the damn hum
from earlier. I spun and saw Cyrill wrestling with Rala, the pistol pointed
toward the sky. The report still echoed in the alley, and I knew by the frantic
sounds in the street that it’d been heard by the Eidolon.

Cyrill knocked the gun loose and flung Rala
onto her back. The little alien hit with a grunt, her lips peeled back in a
fierce snarl.

“We need to go before we’re spotted,”
Cyrill barked, her voice suddenly drowned in an immense roar. Both of us
snapped our heads around to look at Rala who was suddenly, and very decidedly,
no longer Rala.

Where the mousey alien had just been, was
now a shifting mass of growing flesh and strange, muscled appendages tearing
her clothing into shreds. Rala’s face, already a bit long to begin with, had stretched
even more, her jaw and neck elongating almost comically. Jagged teeth erupted
from her mouth, which split her cheeks wider and wider. Her tongue lengthened
and sharpened into a point, a frothy, reddened tendril that flicked in our
direction.

Cyrill staggered back at seeing her, her
hands digging for something at her waistband that I couldn’t see. I just stood
there like an idiot. Why change what works?

Rala’s arms twisted and grew longer, the
elbows snapping backwards as leathern wings exploded away from them like a
parachute being deployed. Her eyes were alight with energy, reddened fire
crackling in their depths. She’d grown upward, gaining height and mass as the
little girl alien disappeared completely to be replaced by what could only be
called a dragon.

A sharp, serrated tail whipped overhead and
slammed into wall just beside Cyrill. The woman ducked and rolled as the wall
toppled down behind her in pieces, filling the alley with roiling dust and
booming thunder.

I fell back on standard operating procedure
number one: Cover your ass. All hell breaking loose, I moved out of the line of
fire. The Eidolon guys were shouting behind us and drawing closer while
dragon-girl trashed the alley in an attempt to swat Baalth’s pet. Cyrill took
full advantage of the size differential—the one that kept Rala from moving much
without bringing the buildings down on top of herself—and slipped past her. I
was torn, Rala’s accusation hanging in the air.

Each of the women had directed me toward
the Eidolon, meaning they both knew something, but I couldn’t trust either.
Baalth might well have his pet piece of ass enthralled, but the opposite might
well be true. He wasn’t exactly operating on a complete charge, and there was
no telling what was going on there. Then again, there was nothing to confirm
Rala was being honest with me, either, beyond Cyrill’s tattoo, which could be
exactly what the woman said it was.

I sighed as gunfire stole away the luxury
of ordered thought. Something smacked into the wall above, shards of shattered brick
raining down around me. The Eidolon had gathered their people and were making
their way across the street, laying down cover fire with their weird ass
weapons. I looked away from the massing aliens and realized Cyrill was gone.
Rala hunched her massive shoulders and roared at the far end of the alley where
I presumed the other woman had gone.