Veiled Threat (18 page)

Problem number one. “Did Thomas make it out?” I Tracked him and felt a thread taking me around the side of the giant. I followed it, and everyone else followed me. Megan clung to my hand and I let her. There was not any immediate fighting I could foresee and we didn’t need her doing anything else without explicit instructions.

Thomas stood to one side of the giant, his hands in his hair, his mouth moving as he talked to himself. I interrupted him. “Thomas. Are you going to send me and Alex through the veil now?”

His head snapped up as the giant’s body bucked. Ah shit, not again. I backed away, letting go of Megan. “Get ready to run, people.”

The giant bucked twice, and then began to sink, dissolving into the ground. The earth seemed to reach up and drag the giant down, swells of dirt and grass tugging at the body until it melted back to where it had come from. The house that was under it was gone too now. So except for a few shards of wood and glass, there was nothing left of what had just happened.

“That wasn’t one of us. What is that?” Megan whispered. The ground gave one last heave, a bubble of air that sounded distinctly like laughter curled up out of the earth and around us, the air crackled and danced.

Thomas backed away and said only one word.

“Elementals.”

Chapter 18

M
egan piped up
before I could. “Elementals? What are those? Like wind and fire and stuff?”

“I will not speak of the elementals our world holds. That is not the way we do things. Do not ask me again. None of you.” He took a deep breath and again shook his head. “Rylee, I will send you and your Alex into the deep veil. You have three hours. No more, no less.”

Shit, I wanted to know about the elementals too. Something about what he said stirred a memory for me. A salvage I’d gone on years ago. I shook it off. Another time I’d ask Thomas.

Even though I was probably poking a bear, I couldn’t help it; I had to know. “Why did you change your mind? Why are you helping me now?”

His eyes flicked to Liam and then he said very softly, “Perhaps even an old man wants to believe the darkness can be beaten back. Even if just for a moment.”

Wow. That was not what I expected. Thomas barked out a laugh. “Then again, I also believe I would like you out of my life as soon as possible and this will be the only way. Chaos and danger, you Trackers are always the same. I’d forgotten that.” He flicked his hand, tossing the bracelet to Alex, as if his earlier words were nothing.

Alex grabbed it mid air and the bracelet locked around his right front ankle. He gave it a shake, the gold catching the light. “Pretty.”

“Three hours. That should be plenty.” I stepped beside Alex and didn’t look at anyone else. This was not goodbye, I would see them soon enough.

Frank and Megan wished me luck. I nodded at them, but said nothing. Liam didn’t say anything either. This was just another moment in our lives together, yet always pulled apart.

“Megan and Frank, come here to my side. This is your first lesson.” The two young necromancers went to him and he put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I will draw strength from you, and you will help me open the veil. It is the only way. It will also show you how to open the veil, both to the deep level and to any other place you should need to travel.”

They let out dual gasps as his fingers tightened on their shoulders.

In front of me, the veil opened, slowly, like it was being pushed through thick, black mud.

Yet it wasn’t blackness that awaited on the other side, but a strange flickering twilight that gave me an instant headache.

“Bad light,” Alex grumbled, blinking, his eyes watering. Mine were doing the same.

“Three hours, then be back at this point,” Thomas said.

There was nothing for it but to go and go fast. I stepped through, Alex at my side.

The deep level of the veil was odd. Really odd. Like everything had been drawn by a sketch artist, yet never fully finished. Gray and black, shades of white and off white. No color I could see. Hell, in a way, Alex and I fit in not too badly, if it hadn’t been for my auburn hair and his golden eyes.

I took in where we were. An archway made of what looked like black steel, woven with bones, brittle and nearly grey with age. Each bone had symbols etched into them, so that not a piece went without a marking. Although I didn’t recognize all the symbols, a few looked similar to those on the doorway in the castle. Which meant this doorway would either keep the demons out, or keep them in.

None of that mattered at the moment; we had to get Pamela and Milly.

I Tracked them and almost gasped. While I clearly felt them and knew what direction they were in, they were not close. Easily a thousand miles away. Easy.

Shit, shit, shit. Even if we had a car, there was no way we could do this in three hours! Panic nearly set in but I bit it back. We would find a way. We had to.

“Come on, Alex, we have to go.” I started to run, as fast as I could, my heart pounding with fear for my friends. What I hadn’t expected was the way the landscape shifted and turned under my feet. The ground blurred and I stumbled to a stop, Alex ramming into me and taking us both to the ground.

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t see you, ground is funny.” He rolled up to his feet and brushed himself off. I looked around, behind us in particular. I couldn’t see the archway. How was that possible?

“The deep levels of the veil can do strange things, Rylee. You can travel hundreds of miles within minutes, if you so choose.”

I spun, my jaw dropping. Giselle stood in front of me, a sword in one hand, and a thick, short spear in the other. She was younger than I’d ever seen her, her hair without a single grey in it, her face without a single line.

“Giselle, how the hell are you here?”

“When the worthy die, they are sent to guard the rest of the levels of the veil from those cast into the deep level.” A grin slipped up over her lips. “It is rather fun at times.” Her smiled faltered. “But why are you here?”

“Orion took Milly and Pamela. And he plans to take Milly’s child and possess it.”

Giselle paled and lowered her weapons. “Mother of the gods.”

“Come on, you can help us.”

She shook her head. “No, these are the borderlands between the sixth and seventh veil. I stand here, but cannot go deep into the seventh veil.”

Too good to be true, I should have known. “Then watch for us, because I’d bet my ass we’re going to be running flat out in order to make it back here in time.”

“I always watch for you, Rylee. Now go. Save them both as I know you will.” She smiled and then lifted her spear in a salute. I turned away, my heart lighter for her belief in me. Time to run. Hundreds of miles, well shit, maybe we weren’t so screwed.

Alex and I ran full out, the landscape blurry and strange around us, the smell of old basements closed for years then suddenly opened, the musty scent of eras gone by and perhaps of bad things in the past surrounded us. Not the worst smell I ever breathed, just off putting. Here and there we glimpsed figures in the distance, no doubt they were demons but we didn’t stop. And again I was glad Alex was covered in black fur and I had my black coat and dark jeans.

For now we were unnoticed, and though I didn’t think it would last, I would take it while I could.

I clung to Pamela’s threads, using her for the most part to guide me. She was scared, but calm and a shining piece of hope sung through her. She had faith it would turn out okay. Damn, I loved that kid. With each step we drew closer and closer, the feel of her in my head hopscotching rather than smoothly moving in my direction. Didn’t matter, the end result was the same, even though it felt weird.

I reached out and put a hand on Alex, slowing us both. “We’re close. How does the bracelet feel, is it warm at all?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Nice and coolio.”

“You feel it warm up at all, you tell me, okay?”

With his eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them he nodded. “Gotcha.”

I looked up and took a step back. A freaking high rise building shot out of the ground, the dirt around the base looking like it had been planted and then grown as opposed to having been built.

At least a football length wide and several football lengths high, I’d never seen any building so fucking big in my life.

“Holy shit,” Alex whispered. “Pamie and Milly in there?”

“Yeah, they’re in there.”

He let out a soft groan. “That’s not goody good.”

Above us the building seemed to answer him, groaning, the girders and whatever grinding against one another. I reached to my back and pulled my swords free. Just in case. I snorted softly. Who the hell was I kidding? I was going to need my blades, it was only a matter of time.

Approaching the building, I looked for an entrance. No doors, but lots of windows on the lower levels. Once we drew up against the behemoth I almost wished we hadn’t.

It was a building, yes, but it was
alive.
The wall was skin, thick, dark, and pebbled, and whatever the building was made out of had been carved and hacked to resemble a building on our side of the veil. I put a hand out, touched the wall.

Warm and slightly prickly under my hand, the skin had tiny little hairs all over it. Alex swallowed loud enough that I could hear him. “Can you smell what this is?”

“No, no, no. Alex no knows.”

Shit, if he was reverting back to third person … I turned to see him peeing where he stood. Terrified.

I crouched beside him. “Alex, listen to me. I know you’re scared; I am too. But Pamela and Milly need us, so we have to go in there. We have to get them out and take them home. You understand? We both need to be brave.”

Whimpering, he nodded. “Pamie shouldn’t stay inside the monster.”

Monster, yeah, that was enough for me. I didn’t really need to know what the demons had carved up in order to make their building. In fact, I didn’t really want to know at all.

The first window I came to I peered in. Inside seemed again to be a mockery of an office building with a desk and chairs, a filing cabinet. Very strange. Some of it seemed to be carved directly out of the building, out of the creature. But there were spots where new material had been brought in, nailed and screwed into place. Where I saw the stains of old blood from those anchor points trickling down the walls. How long had this monster been kept like this? I shook my head. What a miserable fucking existence.

I lifted my hand to the window and, before I touched it, it slid open. A welcome to our home sign wouldn’t have freaked me out as much. No matter. We needed in and we were going in.

Alex gave me a boost and then scrambled up the side. The building didn’t shudder, but I almost felt its pain. I peered out to see Alex’s claws dug in to make it up over the ledge. A strange sensation flooded over me and I let it take me and said the words rattling in my brain.

“Sorry. We just need to get our friends out. We mean you no harm.”

The building/monster gave a slight shudder and went quiet and for a split second I almost thought I heard a whisper of words. So low I could easily convince myself I was hearing things. Except for the way Alex’s ears perked up and he tipped his head.

I will help
.

But that would be ridiculous. A demon wouldn’t help me, a demon slayer. I pushed the words away and crept across the room to put a hand on the door. From what I could tell, we had to find a way downstairs. Milly and Pamela were way below us.

I did my best not to think about it. But before I opened the door, I waved my blade in the pattern Erik taught me and had Alex do the same with his claws. We were in full on demon territory. Seemed dumb assed stupid not to be as prepared as we could. But again there was no burning light, nothing to indicate the runes worked. Which gave me the willies.

Turning the doorknob slowly, it twisted with a soft creak that made me cringe even though it was pretty quiet. I opened the door enough to peer down the hallway, then put my head out further to peer down the other end. Nothing. Empty.

Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better.

You wanted to feel good about being in a place where Orion existed in the flesh? Where demons lived and breathed and bred?

My body froze as the thought hit me. Motherfucking pus buckets. Sweat broke out along my brow and I had to force myself to move. I focused on the details around us and finding a way downstairs. The walls were almost iridescent silver, reflecting small bits of light, making it bright enough to see without any torches or electricity.

My breathing hitched and I fought to keep moving. The strangeness of our surroundings didn’t help keep my mind from producing some seriously bad scenarios. Like walking around a corner and bumping into Orion.

Did I want to kill Orion? Hell yeah, in every possible way. I wanted to string him up and beat him to death with each of his own limbs as I hacked them off.

But I wasn’t stupid. He was here, in the flesh, and I wasn’t ready to fight him. No fucking way.

“Alex. You smell Pam or Milly?”

I looked back and he shook his head, his eyes all but shaking back and forth. His eyes were wild with terror, and it froze him to the spot. I needed him with me if we were going to get through this intact. “Come on, we’ll find them. Then we’ll get ice cream.”

His ears perked up and he sidled up to my leg. “Tiger striped ice cream?”

“Sure. And pizza.”

His tongue flicked out as he licked his muzzle. “Hungry.”

“Sooner we find Pam and Milly, sooner we can get out of here.” The idea of feeding his belly was stronger than his fear. At least for that moment. He put his nose to the ground, breathing deep. I kept my eyes open for any sign of a demon. In some ways, I was more freaked out about their absence than by the fact we could get swarmed by them at any point. In my mind the devil you see is a hell of a lot better than the one you couldn’t see, hiding in wait to ambush you. While I didn’t want to fight any demons if we could avoid it, I hated that we hadn’t run into a single one. That was too fucking weird.

We traversed the first floor, peering into rooms, checking for any way into the lower levels. Nothing.

“Warm,” Alex breathed, then pointed to the bracelet. Fuck a duck. I stared at my feet, an idea forming. Cutting down through the floor would cause the monster building pain, but it might be the only way—

A high-pitched chittering snapped my head up and I stared back the way we’d come. Around the corner stepped a demon. No, not one demon—hundreds of them. They were small bugs, like a large roach, and they clung together to make the semblance of a man walking down the hallway. How did I know this?