Beyond the Veil

I grabbed Kaden and Sebastian’s arms and pulled them down below the stage.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sebastian.

“Peter is here!” I whispered.

“What?” said Kaden. He pushed himself up so he was eye level with the stage and looked at the door, his eyes growing wide when he spotted Peter.

“How did they follow us here?” Sebastian asked, pulling Kaden down by the front of his shirt.

“I don’t know,” Kaden admitted, then he glanced at me.

“Maybe the curse he put on Damien didn’t actually wear off,” said Sebastian.

“Come on,” said Treya, kicking at us, “follow me.”

She speed walked toward the back, us hot on her heels. I glanced over my shoulder as we walked through the door and saw Peter staring right at me, Natasha and Natalie behind him.

“They saw us,” I said. “Run!”

We booked it, following Treya through the back of the club and out a back entrance to an alleyway.

“We need to head for Samuel’s place,” said Sebastian.

“You really trust a siren over a fairy?” asked Kaden.

“Yeah, I’ve known them for over a decade. How long have you known her?” Sebastian asked, pointing at Treya.

“I’ve had dealings with the Fairy Alliance before. They’re the ones who protected me when I first had to run from the collective,” Kaden replied.

I knew they were both in good shape, certainly better than me, but neither of them sounded short on breath, unlike me when I replied, “Let’s just get away from Peter…and then we can talk about it…”

“Agreed,” said Sebastian.

“Kaden!” we heard a shout from behind us.

I felt the heat of the fireball a moment before Sebastian pushed me aside. The fireball seared across his arm, forcing a scream from him and his skin sizzled.

“Sebastian!” I yelled, but we couldn’t slow down because at that moment, a tendril of shadow snaked up under us and swiped up furiously, as though it were trying to split one of us in half. Luckily, the tendril missed as we dove right into another alleyway.

“Split up!” Peter called to Natasha and Natalia.

“Us too!” said Sebastian. “We’ll meet up with you at Samuel’s house, 1609 West Hammock Avenue.” Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Kaden.

“Sebastian, wait!” Kaden yelled, but Sebastian led me down another alleyway that ended at a half wall. With an arm around my waist, he jumped, sending us up and over the wall.

We landed hard and I glanced over my shoulder to see Natalia, who was carrying herself with a tendril of shadow, drop to the ground.

She put her fingers together, summoning a sharp shadow spike and launched it at us.

“Sebastian, look—” I said, but Sebastian had already seen it. He grabbed my shoulders and spun, putting his back to Natalia. The shadow spike ripped through his body, stopping before it could reach me. The shadow spike dissipated, leaving a massive hole in the right side of his chest.

“Run!” he shouted through teeth gritted against the pain.

I didn’t need telling twice. We ran, knowing full well Natalia was hot on our heels. I had to trust Sebastian knew where he was going as he led us through the maze of alleyways before us.

Right, left, left, right, over a wall, through a small backyard and out on to a street, then down two houses, through another alleyway, and onto a boulevard split by a park with one way lanes on both sides.

We were forced to slow down against foot traffic here and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw Natalia. She was no longer running after us, but she kept pace, her eyes never leaving me.

People on the sidewalks gave Sebastian wary looks, blood running down his body from the hole in his chest. We ignored the questions of, “Are you okay?” and pushed past everyone. Already, the skin on his arm was healing, the scalded flesh repairing itself.

Once we made it to the other side of the boulevard, we began running again. I noticed that the faster Sebastian ran, the slower his arm healed. I wondered how bad the damage to his chest really was, if it was bad enough to kill him. But I barely had breath to run, let alone speak.

Even more so, I wondered about Kaden. How he was faring against Peter and maybe Natasha, as I assumed they’d both be after him.

I suddenly realized I was wrong when Natasha walked cooly around a corner, stopping us dead in our tracks. Remembering she could control people’s actions, I steeled myself, though I wasn’t sure how I could defend myself.

Sebastian ran right at her, his shoulder down. She started to yell an incantation, but she was too late. He slammed his shoulder into her, sending her flat on her back, then fell on top of her and punched her, knocking her out cold.

I spun around to face Natalia and barely moved out of the way as a tendril of shadow shot straight at me. I whipped my head back to see Sebastian roll away from the shadow. It jabbed into thin air, missing its mark.

Natalia glanced between us as if trying to decide whether to attack me, as the weaker target, or Sebastian, as the bigger threat. She chose Sebastian.

With a twirl of her hand, the shadow beneath her stretched toward Sebastian quickly, thinning as it expanded. When it lifted from the ground, Sebastian moved quickly, almost a blur. He grabbed the tendril in his hand, wrapping it around his arm, and jerked. Presumably because the tendril came from her own shadow, she was jerked forward as well. Sebastian lifted his other fist to hit her, but she was too quick for him.

“Ehvom!” she yelled, thrusting her hand out. The shadow tendril broke and Sebastian was thrown backwards.

“Damien, go!” he yelled.

I didn’t want to leave him to deal with Natalia by himself, but what else could I do?

I turned and ran, then glanced up to the ceiling. I didn’t know how to whistle, but maybe I didn’t need to.

“Hey!” I shouted as loud as I could, “I need a ride!”

But the lights near the ceiling didn’t respond.

I kept running, once again ignoring people who tried to ask me if I needed help. I didn’t want to drag more people into this mess.

Then, someone stepped around a corner and I ran right into Peter’s arms. He pulled me to him as if embracing me and pulled my face into his shoulder.

“Scream, try to pull away and run, do anything at all, and I’ll set you on fire right here and now.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“What do you think? I want to use you as bait. I want Kaden and that little vampire of yours. All three of you need to die if our plan is going to succeed.”

“Sebastian and I aren’t a threat to you. There’s no reason to kill us.” I didn’t want Kaden to die either, but all I could think was to keep Peter talking.

“You know too much. We’re going to kill you, but first, you’re going to help us kill Kaden.”

“What’s going on here?” I heard a voice. Peter let me pull away, but his hand slid along my arm and he entwined his fingers with mine. It was an MP. I felt my heart flutter with hope until I remembered I can’t say anything to the police.

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to smile brightly. “I just haven’t seen my boyfriend in a while.”

I placed my hand on Peter’s chest and smiled in his face. There was a twinkle in his eye. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. I felt a burning sensation on my lips and in my stomach.

I wanted to punch him, to run away. But I knew that wasn’t an option.

“Alright, then,” said the officer and turned away.

Peter’s grip on my hand tightened and we walked down the sidewalk hand-in-hand.

“When we get to the spot, you’re going to call Kaden and tell him where we are. We’ll kill you first and make sure Kaden can see it. Then, we’ll take care of him and the vampire.”

I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I try to run from Peter? Should I ask for help from one of the passersby? The only thing I could think to do was talk to Peter. Maybe if I could get him to tell me some things, I could get him to lower his guard and make a break for it.

“How do you keep finding us, anyway?” I asked.

“Magic,” he said by way of an explanation, which wasn’t really an explanation to me at all.

“But how exact—ugh!” Peter squeezed my hand, hard, as if he were trying to break my fingers. I stifled my cry of pain as much as I could and held my lips closed. I guess he wasn’t going to tell me anything.

I took a deep breath as we moved farther away from the people-crowded streets, looking around for an escape route. Sure, Peter is dangerous, but he can’t be so dangerous when he’s alone. He can’t just start throwing fireballs at me without someone getting in his way. And while I’m sure Peter would have no reservations about killing innocent bystanders, I know he doesn’t want to reveal his psychotic nature that quickly.

I was just about to rip my hand from his, to turn and run toward a nearby group of people, when Natasha stepped out from an alleyway and Peter pulled me into it. With Natasha behind me and Peter holding my hand, I knew I’d run out of time. I was truly trapped now.

Peter led me down the alleyway which was shaped oddly, with the ground beneath our feet sloping downward. When we reached a large storm drain tunnel, I realized we must be nearing part of the city’s actual sewage system. I didn’t have time to object before Peter pulled me into the tunnel after him.

Immediately the smell of stagnant water filled my nostrils as Peter navigated the tunnels with ease. I don’t know if he’d ever been here before or if he was just really confident, but my fear began to mount.

We came out into a large, underground room with several drainage pipes leading off it. Peter walked me right up to the ledge of a large, cylindrical pit and I peered down. I couldn’t see the bottom of it, but the walls of the pit had several drainage pipes, one of them with a steady stream of water pouring from it.

“Call Kaden,” Peter ordered, “now.”

“You really think I’ll get reception down here?” I asked.

“Fucking mortals,” Natasha said, rolling her eyes. “Our phones work by magic. You’ll be able to reach him.”

I swallowed, pulled out my phone, and dialed Kaden’s number.

“Damien! Where are you?”

“Peter got me. He led me down into the sewage system.”

“Don’t worry, I’m tracking your phone. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“You don’t really have much choice in that matter,” said Peter, who was close enough to my head to hear Kaden’s words. “Better hurry.”

Peter took my phone and, holding the microphone up to my mouth, set fire to my hand. I screamed as I felt the flesh searing and Peter hung up on Kaden as he screamed my name. Laughing, Peter roughly pushed me to the ground.

About twenty minutes later, Natalia came running into the room.

“They’re behind me!” she said as she rejoined Peter and Natasha. I could hear their footsteps as they ran through the drainage system.

“Hey, Damien,” said Natasha, crouching down in front of me, “take this.”

She slid a sharp dagger toward me. I snatched it up and looked at her, intending to rush toward her. When our eyes met, I felt my muscles freeze. Though I strained against it, my body automatically moved so I was in a crouching position, just like her. She stood and so did I. She was in full control of me.

Natasha stepped backwards and so did I, until the heels of my feet were just hanging over the cliff leading to the chasm below. In the faint light of the tunnel, I could see Kaden and Sebastian running, but I knew they were too far to help me.

“Sebastian!” Kaden said, dread dripping from the tones of his voice. “Run!”

“I can’t! I’m too…weak…” said Sebastian, sounding out of breath. Gaping wounds and bruises covered his body and I knew he was too weak from his fight with Natalia to use his powers.

Suddenly, Peter started laughing.

“You brought your astral projection for this?” he asked Kaden, sounding delighted.

Oh no. If Kaden has astral projected for some reason, that means he doesn’t have any powers. He can’t save me.

Nobody can save me.

Natasha lifted her hand up near her neck, forcing me to bring the knife up.

“No, no, no!! Leave him alone!” Kaden shouted, but it was too late.

Natasha jabbed an invisible knife into her throat, forcing me to push the blade of the real one into my flesh. The searing pain was unbearable, but I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t move.

“Damien!” Sebastian yelled.

Natasha took a step backwards, her foot stepping easily onto the ground, as I took a step backward into open air. I fell from the edge of the chasm, still holding the knife in my neck. As I fell below the edge, Natasha’s control on me vanished, but I didn’t pull the knife out, even as I gasped around the blood flooding my throat.

It took me an eternity to fall. I’ve always heard of people saying their lives flashed before their eyes and that’s what I experienced. Childhood memories, friends, family, and now this, my new life. Kaden and Sebastian.

I slammed into the ground at the bottom of the chasm, but somehow survived. I felt my spine shatter and tried to scream as the blinding pain caused my vision to go white. I couldn’t move anything but my eyes and I knew I would be paralyzed for the rest of my life.

Then, something very strange happened. I had landed so my neck was bent forward, so I could see my body. The skin of my exposed arms and legs began to turn grey. Very slowly, my pale skin darkened and I somehow knew the same thing was happening everywhere on my body.

Now unable to move anything at all, including my eyes, I watched, transfixed, as my body started to disintegrate. My fingers, then my arms, then my legs, were falling apart, turning to ash. Is this what death is, or is this something else? Maybe Natasha cursed the blade so it would leave no evidence of my murder behind.

Finally, my vision blurred as my eyes disintegrated and fell apart.

I had a sense of what was coming next. A sense of death looming over me. I waited for my consciousness to fade, for me to leave this world and everyone in it behind.

But it didn’t happen. I couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel. But somehow, I wasn’t dead.

All of a sudden, I felt a warmth surround my head and my vision returned, blurry, but there. All I could see was red, yellow, and orange. The heat intensified and I could hear a roaring sound. Fire. I was on fire. Had Peter thrown a fireball into the chasm, trying to ensure my death?

No, I didn’t think so. This fire was somehow coming from me. Somehow, I was reforming. I looked down and realized I had a body, or a partial one. The ash that I had disintegrated into was swirling in the flames, great strands that were pulled into me as my body reformed.

My vision cleared and I looked up, through the swirling cyclone of fire. It wasn’t much taller than I was, but it was bright and hot. Once my entire body was reformed, the cyclone didn’t vanish. I reached my hand out to it and though I don’t know why, I touched it.

The fire reacted, burning brighter as it wrapped around my body, curling up over my back, and exploding outward. I glanced over my shoulder.

I had wings of fire!

I bent my legs and jumped. My wings stretched outward as I flew up through the chasm and burst over the edge. Sebastian was laying off to the side, obviously very hurt, as Kaden tried to fight off the collective using hand-to-hand combat.

Everyone stopped and looked up at me, their jaws open. I knew this wouldn’t hurt Kaden, but he wasn’t my target anyway.

I launched myself at the ground, pulled my arms back, and brought them together. My wings of fire wrapped around me and furled into a tornado of fire before me. Peter screamed something, but not as loud as Natasha. I could somehow see through my flames and Natasha was not a pretty sight. Her clothes, hair, and skin burst into flames as she writhed in agony at the onslaught of my attack. Her life was over in less than twenty seconds.

Now exhausted, I fell to my knees as the fire around me vanished and looked to see if Peter and Natalia had endured the same fate, but was disappointed to see them standing in the same spot, completely unharmed.

As a pyrokinetic, Peter had been able to deflect my fire away from himself and Natalia, who was standing close to him.

“Tasha!” Natalia screamed, throwing herself down near the blackened body of her sister.

“You motherfucker!” Peter yelled. He formed a fireball in his hand and threw it at me. Though it struck my naked body, it didn’t hurt. Instead, my body absorbed his fire, giving me some energy, but not enough to do anything. I was so weak and lightheaded, I was sure I was going to pass out soon.

Natalia stood and threw out both arms. Long tendrils of shadow rushed from the corners of the dim room, heading straight for me.

“Ehvom!”

Peter and Natalia were both lifted off their feet and thrown into a nearby wall. I looked past them to see Kaden, the real Kaden, stepping out of a portal.

Peter and Natalia looked at each other in alarm. Then, holding tightly onto Natalia’s hand, Peter ran toward the edge of the chasm and jumped off as I fell sideways, slumping onto my side.

Kaden ran toward me and dropped to his knees, then pulled me onto him, cradling my head in his lap.

“What the fuck was that?” asked Sebastian as he laboriously crawled toward us.

“I don’t know,” I said, fighting to keep my consciousness. I looked up at Kaden, who smiled brightly. I closed my eyes, unable to keep them open any longer.

“Damien,” Kaden said, “you’re a phoenix.”