Through The Veil (23 page)

“Stay here and keep the bed warm,” he instructed. “It’s
probably nothing.”

She just shook her head at him, got dressed quickly, and
followed him with her own sword drawn. If something waited out there, she
didn’t plan to let him face it alone.

He frowned, but finally gave a nod of acquiescence. As she
drew alongside him at the door, he pulled her flush up against him and nibbled
along her jaw to her earlobe. He whispered, “I’m letting you come with me
because I know you’re too damn stubborn to stay here, but stay behind me, okay?
That way I can focus on what’s out there.”

A panicked whinny from one of the horses sounded out over
the empty hotel lobby, silencing Lori’s protest. Something was definitely out
there. Lori’s nerves sizzled with anticipation, adrenaline, and a healthy dose
of fear. If they ran into Predators, there’s no way the two of them could fight
off a whole horde.

Marcus tucked Lori behind him and crept out of the room. The
fire put off a low glow in the lobby. The horses pranced nervously, the whites
of their eyes showing. Something had them terrified. A quick glance around the
room showed everything as they’d left it when they went to bed just a couple of
hours prior.

They continued to make their way around the perimeter of the
room when an eerie scratching sounded at the door. Under her hand, all the
muscles of Marcus’s back tensed at the sound and he raised his sword higher.

As they approached, the scratching continued. The knob
rattled, but they had locked the door behind them. Lori peered at the windows.
Miraculously, all the panes were still intact, but if the creature really
wanted in, it could simply break the glass.

Marcus stopped by the door, examining the hinges, making
sure it would hold up. From what Lori could see, it seemed very strong, but
that didn’t stop the frisson of dread that pooled in her stomach with the
continued scraping sounds.

He glanced around the lobby before drawing her over to stand
behind the reception desk by the horses and whispered, “Stay here while I check
the windows. Maybe I’ll be able to see something. I think if it were a person,
they would knock. It’s either a Predator or an animal. Either way, I think
we’re fairly secure in here, but I need to check if I can see anything to be
sure.”

She gave a sharp nod, but her nerves jangled. She grabbed
his arm. “Be careful,” she whispered urgently, and pulled him down for a quick
kiss.

As he checked from window to window, Lori couldn’t help but
admire Marcus’s natural athletic grace. The man moved sinuously like a cat. But
the grimace on his face didn’t bode well as he came back to her.

He drew her back to the far side of the room. “There’s a
Predator on the porch. It can probably smell the fire and is curious, hungry,
or cold. Probably all three.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

Marcus shook his head. “Nothing and hope it’s gone by
morning. I don’t think it can get in unless it comes through a window and we’ll
hear that. I need to go check that the back door is completely secure. Stay
here and make sure the horses stay safe while I do that.”

“Okay.” The three horses seemed to have calmed a bit,
although Jasper’s ears continued to twitch in agitation. She peered through the
gloom to the windows, really wanting to peek out. Edging closer to the window,
she couldn’t see anything. The panes were covered in grime.

“What are you doing?”

“
Ack
!” She jumped and swiveled
around to meet Marcus’s mischief-filled gaze. “Crap, you scared me.”

Amusement flickered in his eyes and he lifted an eyebrow.
“What exactly are you doing?”

She shrugged, feeling foolish. “I just wanted to look. I
haven’t gotten to really see one up close, yet.”

“You mean a Predator?” His jaw tightened.

She nodded.

He drew in a deep breath. “The windows are too grimy, so you
can’t actually see much, just its back and fur. They’re dangerous creatures,
Lori. You need to stay away from them.” Something more flickered in his eyes,
some unspoken grief, something he didn’t want to tell her. She tilted her head
in question.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

His expression clouded for a moment before he shuttered it
completely and turned his back on her. “Nothing that matters anymore.” Pain
laced his voice even as he tried to control it.

“Come on.” He turned toward her and extended a hand to her.
“The back door is secure. I don’t think it will be able to get in. Let’s get
some more sleep while we can. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

There were moments when she felt so connected to this man,
but then times like this when she realized she really didn’t know anything
about him. He obviously didn’t trust her enough to share the details with her.
That hurt and made her question herself. Why did she trust him with her and her
friends’ lives? She learned long ago that the only person she could count on
was herself.

She followed him to the bedroom where they both got into
bed, but stayed on their own sides, although Lori didn’t think either one of
them got much more sleep.

They didn’t hear anything more from the Predator the rest of
the night.

* * *

The next morning, they were up just as the sky began to
lighten. It still snowed outside, but the flakes had tapered off. A foot of
snow covered the ground and the Predator still slept on the doorstep.

Marcus and Lori hadn’t said much this morning and she
watched him as he peered out the windows with pursed lips. Finally, he made a
decision and turned to her.

“I’m going to go out the back door and fly above to see
what’s going on with it. It’s not moving this morning, but I can’t tell
anything through the windows. If it’s just asleep, I don’t want to wake it up
by opening the door and send it into an attack.”

“Can you fly in the snow?”

“Yes, this isn’t the big wet flakes like we had last night.
This should be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll stay far away from its claws.”

Apprehension knotted her stomach. “Okay. I’ll watch through
the windows so I can help in case something goes wrong.”

He gave a sharp nod and then a quick kiss. “I’ll be right
back.”

Lori peered worriedly through the windows, frustrated at the
dirt on them which made it difficult to see. Marcus landed, his eyes wide as he
approached the Predator. What if that thing attacked him? Lori gripped her
sword tighter, ready to dive out the door and help him. She could see the tops
of Marcus’s wings as he crouched down in front of the Predator. Something must
be wrong with it or he would never get that close.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a couple
of minutes, Marcus knocked on the door. Lori jumped at the sound and then
quickly unlocked and opened it for him. His face appeared grim.

“It’s dead. I think it froze to death in the night,” he
said.

“Oh no, really?” Lori’s heart sank with guilt. They should
have let it in. It was a living creature, at least it had been. They were cozy
and warm while it suffered and died outside in the cold. That wasn’t right.

Marcus gave a somber nod. “They aren’t used to these
temperatures either, no matter that they have fur coats. The bigger mystery,
though, is why is it still here? Since the Veil fell, all the dead…human and
Predator…have disappeared within minutes, or at the most, an hour or so within
dying. I think it’s been dead longer than that.”

“Can I look at it?”

He nodded and she stepped around him so that she could see
the huge creature. His eyes were still open, frozen in death, and had turned a
milky white color. He had dark brown, shaggy fur covering most of his body,
matted with snow and ice. It sat, leaning up against the front of the hotel,
the palms of one of its hands resting in his lap. While extremely dirty, the
palms looked human, free of the shaggy fur that covered the back of its hands.
Were these creatures once human? Another species of human maybe?

She considered its fur-covered groin. It looked like maybe
it had a penis, but it was hard to tell for sure with the way it sat on the
porch. “Is it a male?”

“Yes, it looks like it. We’re going to take it back to
Malcolm and he can tell us for sure.”

“Wait. Are you saying that not only did that thing die
because of us, but now you want to take it back so Malcolm can experiment on
it?” Bile surged in the back of Lori’s throat. That couldn’t be what he
proposed here, right? Marcus wasn’t that kind of guy. He wasn’t just like the
men that had experimented on her because she seemed different. He couldn’t be.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. We have no idea what
these things are, how they survive. We have so many questions about them.
Malcolm may be able to figure out some things, mainly how to defeat them.
Because let me assure you, if they make it a habit of coming out during the day
from here on out, they will wipe us out. We can’t compete with their size and
they are just what we call them…Predators, and all that entails. They need to
be eliminated.” His face had hardened. She couldn’t see anything of the
compassionate, caring man she thought she knew.

She looked at him in horror. Experimentation on the poor
dead creature was just one small step from caging and testing the live ones.

“What if he was alive? Would you still capture and
experiment on him then?”

“Absolutely,” he said as he began to wrap the creature into
a blanket to transport it. “If I could capture a live one—that would put us one
step closer to figuring out how to eliminate them.”

How could she have been so wrong? Her stomach churned along
with the disbelief in her mind. She dove for the side of the hotel, retching
into the bushes there.

As she continued to heave, he reached for her and ran a hand
up her spine which she tried to bat away, but his touch just brought on another
bout of nausea.

She had sex with this man, invited him into her body. Oh
God, she was absolutely the worst judge of character. Another wave of nausea
hit her. When she could finally catch her breath, she hissed at him, “Don’t
touch me.” She wrapped her arms protectively around her waist, tears filling
her eyes. “Never, ever touch me again, you bastard.”

Rebellion

It took the rest of the day and very slow, hard traveling
through the deep snow, but finally Lori could see
Springlake
.
She slumped in the saddle when she finally spotted those twinkling lights from
the tree houses. It hadn’t snowed as much here, but a light dusting of white
covering everything. It would have felt magical if Lori didn’t feel quite so
dead inside.

How could she be so incredibly bad at judging men? His
bringing the Predator home to study felt like a betrayal of the worst kind.
Things had been strained all day between her and Marcus as they traveled. He’d
tried to engage her, but she just couldn’t. Every time she looked at the bulge
of the covered Predator in the wagon, bile surged, but she refused to get sick.
Not again. She wasn’t weak.