The Veil (46 page)

“Get my O.R.U!” Lightwarden Elissa commanded to her comrade. Lightwarden Udan rushed through the carriage to the next one, where presumably all of the supplies had been taken, along with the Unicorns and horses. He came back a moment later holding an electronic unit, which he tossed to his fellow warden. Elissa caught it one handed and started frantically searching through it.

The frenzied Bloodseekers continued to press against the shuttle, the cacophony of their snarls and hisses deafening to my sensitive hearing.

“I anticipate that the doors will be opened shortly,” said Aran in her flat tone.

“Translation…we’re screwed unless we do something!” yelled Iralia.

“Get down!” said Sophia. The Guardians and Vengeful crouched down, sweat pouring from their brows as they struggled against the unceasing Bloodseekers. The Witch rushed over to the doors and held out her hands, unleashing a stream of Pyromancy fire around the frame. The metal started to bubble as it melted, spreading over the cracks and soldering itself shut. “That should buy us a bit more time, but we need to go, now!”

“Got it!” shouted Lightwarden Elissa. She leaned over the monitor and tapped her finger on the display.

Ch-h-hecking code………Thank you, the code has be-e-en accepted. Engines will now be act-t-tivated for departure.

A second later the shuttle shuddered and rattled as the old engines activated, and the Alstar breathed itself back to life. Outside the windscreen, I saw neon yellow lights bloom into action, somehow able to reveal the long Lightshuttle track vanishing into the Darkland’s horizon. Their glow was so powerful in the absolute blackness, that there was no doubt in my mind that they were imbued with Luminar magic.

The pounding on the doors became completely maniacal, as the Bloodseekers realised they were close to losing their prey. Large dents appeared in the metal, and dark blood streaked across the glass as the desperate Bloodseekers smashed their foreheads against the windows. There was a loud smash and a shower of glass flew inside the carriage as one of the windows finally gave way. The Bloodseekers bit at each other as they each struggled to climb through the small gap of the broken window, jagged slivers of glass scraping against their faces and arms as they pushed their limbs through the opening.

The Vengeful acted on automatic pilot, moving to the broken window and creating a protective barrier. Those at the sides pushed them back with the ends of their cane guns whilst the others aimed theirs, and unleashed a flurry of searing rounds into the Bloodseekers at point blank range. The Vampires who didn’t die were hammered away from the opening, squealing with pain.

Which Railport desti-i-ination do you req-quire?

“Where shall I put?” she asked, staring down at me.

“I don’t know…the rightmost route I think!” I shouted back at her. “Just get us out of here!”

Lightwarden Elissa stabbed a finger down on the monitor screen and a loud blaring siren rang out across the shuttle, making me flinch.

Warning! Sensory report suggests potential track damage or a track obstr-u-uction towards the latter part of the selected destination. This r-route might not be safe to travel. Do you still wish to proceed?”

Lightwarden Elissa punched the monitor.

Confirmed. Please have a pleasant journey.

The Alstar gave a series of shudders and groans as it pulled away from the dilapidated station. It accelerated quickly and I could hear the scraping nails and shrieks as the Bloodseekers were thrown from its roof. Only when the shuttle had reached full speed – tearing along the rail – did I see the full extent of Mikey’s wounds and my insides reeled. His blackened right hand was burned almost down to the bone where the flames had licked his skin.

“Oh Christ, Mikey!” I breathed.

“Don’t worry. Nothing a bit of blood won’t fix,” he said with weak smile. He was right, but it didn’t make me feel any less guilty about his injuries.
I panicked and this was the cost.

I placed my hand to the side of his face. “You saved me. Thank you.”

“No problems. Sticking up for your girl is page one in the boyfriend manual,” he said and then winced in pain.

“Don’t move. I’ll get you some blood,” I said, standing up.

THUD!

Lightwarden Elissa gasped in shock. I jerked my head around and saw that three Bloodseekers had slid down onto the angled windscreen. They snarled as they wound back their fists and punched the glass with a ferocity that only the blood starved could comprehend. I stood up and walked close to the window, staring as they beat their hands raw, trying their hardest to break the reinforced glass. Apart from a few tiny chips, all they achieved was to destroy their hands beyond recovery. As I stood close, I stared into their eyes, past the anger and fury and saw familiarity. I understood the desperation, the overwhelming need to survive, just as every creature had the right to – and I felt a small pang of guilt for what I knew I needed to do next.

“Put them to rest!” I called out to the Protectors, which I knew were flying above the speeding shuttle. The carriage shuddered from the force of my Gargoyle landing above the windshield. The Bloodseekers looked up and hissed. The flames came soon afterwards, bathing them in a sea of blistering fire. Two of them squealed and batted against their bodies, lurching back from the windscreen and tumbling from the shuttle. The third remained, his face somehow calm and silent, his expression almost one of relief. His eyes locked with mine as the fire ravaged his flesh, peeling it away into flakes of ash that floated into the black sky. He closed his eyes and held out his arms to the side, leaning backwards and allowing himself to fall. His body turned to ash, and I watched his remains blow over the windscreen before they were carried away by the wind.

It’s over.

Kneeling down, I eased Mikey to his feet, supporting his burned arm as we walked. I guided him from the control compartment and into the cargo carriages, which held several unnerved Unicorn and horses. I found Picera among the troop and pulled out a canister of blood and bandages from my supplies fixed to her side.

“Come on, let’s find you somewhere to sit,” I said.

We kept walking through a large number of carriages. The first three were empty apart from wall fixings designed to hold cargo containers in place. But the next few compartments were a supply goldmine. Some held munitions – much of it rusting and unusable, but others which looked like they might work given the right care and attention. Others held canned food – dusty and covered in rust, but still sealed and divided into species relevance, including powdered blood for Vampires. The next two compartments were large washrooms – accessed via a narrow corridor between them – complete with shower cubicles. We passed through sleeping quarters with filthy but useable bunks, and finally reached a dining carriage at the end, which had enough tables and chairs for everyone.

“Sit sweetheart,” I said to Mikey, setting him down at one of the tables. An old cloth covered the surface with rusted cutlery still set out for a meal. In the centre sat an ornate fruit bowl, the contents so old they had become a powder.

I wrapped the bandages around Mikey’s hand as carefully as I could, feeling awful for every single pained expression he made.
I promised Alex I would keep him safe; I need to be more careful.
As I was working on fixing the bandage to his hand, Aran, Sophia and Iralia came into the room, followed by Lightwarden Udan.

“Could have been worse I suppose,” sniffed the Lightwarden, staring around at the decaying carriage, and then settling himself down onto one of the chairs. “It will do for now.”

“Are you okay Mikey?” asked Sophia, glancing down at his bandaged hand.

“I’ll be alright. Thanks.”

She nodded and went to join the others who had settled around a table. They were all silent as they stared into space, clearly trying to calm down after the adrenaline of the battle.

I opened the blood canister and raised the rim to his lips, gently pouring it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and made a contented sound as he drank. I gave him the amount I knew he needed to heal over the next few hours and then set the container back down on the table. I placed my hands on the side of his face and gave him a kiss on the lips, before getting up.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to deal with something.”

All eyes were on me as I walked over to Lightwarden Udan, who was staring out of one of the windows, his goggles flashing in the overhead lights as he watched the gloom slide by.

“Lightwarden?” I said.

“Yes?” he said in an irritated tone, turning towards me. I pulled both Pinknives from my belt and drove them down into his kneecaps with such force that they broke though his armour and pinned him to the seat. His eyes opened wide a split second before his mouth did. Then a sound of absolute agony tore from his lungs. 

I grabbed his throat and pressed my forehead close to his, my fangs slipping down and dripping venom onto his heaving chest. “If you ever sacrifice members of this team again, I will kill you myself.”

I wrenched both blades out of his knees and walked away.

29

Alex

I understand.

The powerful words reverberated through me as I jerked awake among a pile of smoking ruins. Crumbled bricks and mortar, leaking pipes and jutting metal surrounded me in a halo of destruction, as if I was lying in the epicentre of a devastating bomb. Rain poured down onto my face, pattering against my lips and soaking my hair. When I looked up I saw that the sky was stormy, and lightning cascaded down to the earth as if Zeus himself was tearing the world apart. Gargantuan shadows cast by unknowable creatures slid over the tops of the clouds and released deep grumbles that made the fractured landscape shudder.

I reached out and used a piece of rebar sticking from the ground to pull myself to my feet. As I looked around, I could see that the destruction carried on as far as the eye could see in all directions – buildings had crumbled into themselves and against each other, cars and buses had crashed or overturned, their chassis rusted to an almost unrecognisable level. Trees had been stripped bare and there was no other nature to be seen – no bushes, no grass…nothing. It was all gone. As were the people.

This is Chapter Hill.

It was almost the same as it had appeared in the nightmares I’d experienced when I was being possessed by the mark of the Sorrow. The main difference was how it felt. It was somehow more real; like when I’d been locked inside my own mind, fighting against the Darkness.
Has it come back? No…no it can’t be the Darkness, I’m still in control. Then what is going on? Is this…is this something that I saw beyond the Blood Veil?

I looked down at my own body and saw that my torn uniform was drenched in blood, as though I’d taken a bath in it. The thick claret poured from every part of me – my arms, my hair, my chin, and even my sword, which I held in one bloodied hand. More of the rain pattered onto my lips. I pressed a finger to them and they came away covered in more of the wet crimson.

The sky is raining blood.

I fought against panic.
These are just visions, Alex. Nothing here is real…. I think.

A haunting, eerie melody had picked up on the wind – a slow, rhythmic mix of chimes and otherworldly sounds that were almost celestial. It was the sort of noise that I imagined the universe itself would produce if it could sing. I glanced around, trying to locate the source of the unsettling sound, but all I could see was the carnage of Chapter Hill.

I understand.

The words tore through my mind like a blade. I doubled over, pressing my hands to my temples as I tried to blot out the pain. After a while the agonising sensation passed. I lifted my head again and saw a female figure standing on a nearby mountain of rubble, her raven hair slicked to the sides of her face as the bloody rain beat down against her.

“Gabriella!”
I shouted, my voice echoing through the broken city.

The figure turned and stepped forward, dropping silently away from the mound of rocks and disappearing from view.

I rushed forward, scrambling over the rubble – my hands and feet slipping as they slid against the slick blood that coated everything. I kept climbing until I had reached the top of the hill and then bridged a hand over my eyes, squinting to scan the landscape. The infinite destruction filled my vision in every direction. The borough of London that I had grown to love was now all but unrecognisable, just another mark of civilization long since decimated by some kind of unspeakable cataclysm.

Just like the one the Darkness told me I would create.

I noticed Gabriella in the distance, walking like a spectre over the remains of the town. I cupped my hands over my mouth and screamed her name. She stopped for a moment and glanced over her shoulder at me, before continuing to walk away.

Why won’t she stop? What is she doing?

I half-slid down the slick mountain of bricks, glass, wood and stone, trying my hardest to catch up with her. As I moved, the eerie melody grew louder, as if she were leading me closer to the source. I followed Gabriella through narrow paths that ran between demolished buildings. I chased her through the sagging maws of hollowed out houses and along the banks of the Monnow River, which now acted as a basin to collect the sinister rain. But no matter how fast I moved, and what route I took, Gabriella always seemed to get blocked from view for a moment and vanish, only to reappear further away. 

The celestial music continued to escalate as I chased after Gabriella until I could feel it reverberating through my skull, tickling my brain and making my eyes water. Eventually I followed my soulmate to a ravine hollowed out in the ruins. A long bridge that definitely hadn’t been in the real Chapter Hill stretched across the deep expanse towards a house that was well out of place for three reasons.

First, it was the only building still perfectly in tact.

Second, it was situated right at the far end of the bridge, leaving no space either side to get around.

Third, it was my house.

I watched as Gabriella moved towards it, silent among the blood that drummed down onto the cracked cement of the old bridge, and the eerie melody that seemed now to be emanating from within my house. The sound was becoming so intense; it felt almost like a force field, pushing me away. Gabriella moved towards the front door and reached out with her hand, pausing for a moment. At the same time, lightning smashed down either side of the bridge, blinding me as it carried the words that ripped at my brain.

I understand.

“Agggh!”

I hunched over myself, clawing at my temples as the awful sensation buzzed though my head. When it finally subsided and I could lift my head, I saw that Gabriella had disappeared through the now open door. Pouring out from inside was a red light so powerful it bathed nearly all of the surrounding area with its glow. I could feel something authoritative from within beckoning me, drawing me towards the opening, whilst at the same time a contrasting force tried to push me away.

I stepped out onto the bridge and started to walk, my hand coiled around Crimson and ready to strike. As I reached halfway there was a deep tearing sound behind me, followed by a series of rumbles. I whirled around to a sight that made my jaw drop.

The entire town was rising upwards. Tower blocks, houses, trees, cars, vans, rusting park benches and swings, and even the ground itself was ripped up, forming a cluster of swirling tornados that snaked up towards the dark clouds. As soon as they hit the skyline, they disappeared into some kind of hidden vortex beyond, leaving nothing behind, except darkness…an absence of matter.

The bridge started to tremble and the section behind me broke apart and rose up into the air. I sprinted as fast as I could away from the disintegrating town, trying to ignore the intense tickling in my brain from the melody, still fighting against the force that didn’t want me to go towards the house. I reached the door and burst through, shielding my eyes against the brilliant glow.

When I lowered my arm away from my face, I was stunned into complete silence.

Instead of my house, I was standing at the top of a mountain of rubble. More mountains formed a perfect circle around me, and surrounding everything was a shimmering ring of Veil that rose right up into the heavens. Except unlike the regular Veil, this veil was the colour of fresh blood.

This is the Veil I went through in the Reaper Archives.

At the base of the rubble mountains was a vast basin, itself forming a flawless circle. A weird, twisted shape that resembled a cross between a tree and an open shell stood in the centre, and surrounding it – armed with Crimson and the Blood Brothers – were thousands of doppelgängers of Gabriella and me. They stood silent and still, like sentinels waiting for the signal to attack.

This is something to do with what I saw when I went to the Reaper Archives, I know it. But what does it mean?

I saw movement from within the ringed army of effigies, and watched as the Gabriella I had been following emerged and walked towards the base of the chaotic mountain I stood on. She smiled and stretched out a hand to me.

The pull of her was so strong – the connection our twin souls shared too powerful to ignore, so there was no option but to climb down the mountain and go to her. The closer I got, the louder and more intrusive the melody became, until it felt like it was being injected right into my brain. I winced, squinting my eyes as I jumped, slid and stumbled my way down the last of the immense mountain towards Gabriella.

When I reached the base, I extended my own hand and our fingers connected. An almost instant sense of combined power rushed through me – the strength of our two souls made double.

Gabriella was the force that was drawing me to this place.

Holding my hand, she guided me through the ranks of us, and they seemed to part without actually moving, as if space itself bent to allow us passage. We drew closer to the huge object in the centre, the thing that all of the versions of us had come to protect…or attack… I didn’t know which. We slipped through what felt like an endless wave of ourselves until finally we broke through to the front.

Lying on the floor in front of the tall, pulsing object was a heap of black robes and a mask. Gabriella pointed down to the mask. I bent down and retrieved it, feeling its weight in my hand and seeing the ornate engravings that were etched into the metal. It was the same mask as the ones I had seen on the dead bodies in the archives.

It belonged to a Reaper.

For a split second as I stared at the mask, it changed form, becoming as dark as iron, and as hot as hell. I cried out and dropped it onto the ground, where it dissolved into nothing.

A silent force urged me to move forward towards the weird structure, which was somehow both dead and alive at the same time, its shell hard and old, but its fleshy innards pulsing and beating. The melody became so loud it seemed to pierce the sky itself – although now, with Gabriella at my side, I felt somehow immune to it. I understood that it was the strange thing in front of me that was creating the powerful music. I had no idea what it was, but I knew it held unimaginable power.

Gabriella raised our connected hands, hers now clasped around the back of mine. She nudged mine forward, until my palm was hovering inches from the surface of the otherworldly structure. Her lips parted into an encouraging smile and she gave a gentle nod.

Together we placed our hands against it.

A torrent of images screamed through my brain. A flurry of gigantic wings surrounded by a storm of ice and fire, water and disease, which spewed forth from the maws of darkness. The face of a Reaper flickering and being replaced with the face of something far more sinister. The screams of death and the innocent cries of rebirth, blending with the rumbling roars of something ancient and omnipotent. And at the centre of it all, Gabriella and I. The words came from everywhere and nowhere all at once, hitting me with the strength of a bomb.

The cycle repeats.

*

“I understand!” I gasped as I shot upright.

I leaned forward, my breath escaping my lungs in ragged bursts. Sweat clung to my skin, the bed sheets bunched up in my clenched fists, and tangled around my legs like rope.
Don’t forget, don’t forget,
I repeated over and over in my mind, and for once I didn’t. I remembered the fallout of Chapter Hill at some distant point in the future, existing on a barren version of Earth, which was so poisoned by the disease of war that not even nature had been able to reclaim the world for itself. I remembered the strange object that had appeared to be some type of nest…or egg. Somehow alive but dead at the same time, releasing its eerie melody and bizarre sensory images, and surrounded by an identical army that wore our faces. The problem was that even though I kept hearing the words ‘I understand,’ I honestly didn’t know what any of it meant. What I did know when I pictured my soulmate’s face, turning towards me and holding out her hand for me to take, was how it
felt.

Like the end.

I let my thoughts drift back to the present and it took me a while to work out where I was.
I’m in my bunk on I’orin. I was resting after the Hydra battle…I must have fallen asleep.
Then I felt the sadness when I remembered
why
I was on I’orin – that it was no longer just my father who had been stolen from my life, but now my soulmate and two of my friends. I let the bed sheets drop from my cramped hands and picked up my Biomote from the side table. I scrolled through the options until I reached the vocal-link screen and pressed on Gabriella’s Biomote. The two devices connected, but all I heard was the lonely sound of static feedback.

I stared at the screen for a moment more, blinking back tears. Then I let the hand holding the Biomote fall into my lap. Rubbing both eyes with the back of my hand, I took a deep breath and then lifted the unit back up. I scrolled through the other links until I found Scarlett’s device and connected. A similar sound of static rolled out through the speaker and my stomach knotted in fear. Then I heard Scarlett’s husky Irish voice replace the buzzing.

“I’m here Alex, go ahead.”

I gave a relieved sigh. “Hi, Scarlett, good to hear your voice. I just wanted to know how you’re getting on your end.”

There was a pause. “Not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy. We ran into a lot of trouble in the Darklands, but we managed to make it onto Death’s Backbone in the end. We lost four on the way though.”