The Veiled Monarch

by Shae Bryant

  "What...! What are we doing?" I howled, "This could be...the stupidest thing..."

  "I have ever thought of doing!" Vince cackled.

  My stomach hurt and tears were streaming down my cheeks from laughing so hard, "But we're not going to call it off, are we?"

  "I hope not."

  His rather serious statement made me stop and straighten my posture. I wiped away the tears of laughter, clearing my throat. "One day at a time, OK? No promises. No strings. Just each day as it comes."

  "I think that's fair." He nodded, "Do you have plans tonight?"

  "No."

  He took hold of my hand, "In that case, let's sit here and talk for a while."

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Vengeance Is Mine

  A few days later, Vince and I were walking downstairs to the kitchen. He led Leo to believe that I had left for my house, so both of us were trying to be quiet. Except for the fact that Vince was bumping into everything around us.

  "Shh!" I poked him, "For a Vampire, you're loud."

  "No one is going to hear me in my own home." Vince scoffed, "Leo won't wake up."

  A light switch flipped on in the kitchen and Leo stood there with a bowl of cereal in his hand, "He'll hear you if he's already awake."

  I stopped in my tracks, smiling like a kid who had gotten caught doing something wrong. "Hi... Leo."

  Vince stumbled over his words, "Leonardo! What...? Why are you here!?"

  "I live here." He rolled his eyes, "Why is Raina here?"

  "She's ahh...visiting." Vince coughed.

  Leo waved his hands towards Vince and I both, "Oh God. Are you sleeping with my Dad!?"

  "Are you sleeping with Chloe?" I shot back.

  "That's personal!"

  "Maybe you shouldn't ask people the same question, Leo!"

  Leo put his bowl on the counter, "Raina, do you know how weird this is? He's like four hundred years older than you."

  "Technically, he's three years younger than me." I looked around, "... And he has been. For four hundred years. OK yeah. This just got weird."

  Vince gestured wildly, "Raina and I are... I don't know what to call it. I've tried courting, but she'll not have it."

  "Courting?" Leo shook his head at his Dad.

  "Please don't ask." I buried my face in my hands. This was embarrassing.

  "I should call on her at home and ask for her Father's permission." Vince insisted.

  "Vince, I have no idea where my Father is!"

  "It's still the right thing to do."

  "OK..." Leo picked up his bowl, "I'm going to take my cereal. Go upstairs and pretend none of this ever happened."

  Both Vince and I watched Leo disappear into his room. Then, I leaned on the counter and smiled, "So. That went...well?"

  "I think so." Vince opened the fridge with a satisfied smile.

  "How are you this out of touch?"

  "I have no idea what you mean."

  Vince and I weren't aware that Leo had been awake for days. He hadn't slept well since he had come back from being kidnapped. The whirlwind of activity surrounding everything caused all of us to miss two very important people — Leo and Chloe both. None of us kept a close enough eye on them. They were both on their own.

  After Vince and I went back to his room, Leo took his car keys and headed to Hialeah. Chloe told him her parents hadn't come home from the bike night yet. She opted not to go. Maybe he would come up and see her? To most parents, hearing a teenager do this meant only one thing. But for Leo, it was a chance to talk to Chloe alone in hopes she'd understand him.

  Chloe opened the door for Leo with a smile, "Hi. Are you doing OK?"

  "Yeah." He yawned, "I'm pretty good."

  Chloe nodded, "Me too. Do you want to sit down?"

  "Uhh yeah. In a minute." Leo flexed his fingers, trying to keep himself awake.

  "Leo? Are you OK?"

  It took Leo a minute to respond to Chloe. He could not find the words to describe his feelings. Finally, he blurted it out.

  "No! I'm not OK, Chloe! I can't sleep. I haven't slept since it happened. Even in a house as secure as mine. Every time I fall asleep I just..."

  "Wake up." Chloe interrupted him, "Afraid someone's going to grab you again. Afraid if you sleep, you might wake up there again?"

  He sighed in relief. Chloe did understand, "Yes. Exactly! Then all this shit with Isaac and Kevin! How do you do it?"

  "Do what?"

  "Deal with all this Non Human stuff?"

  Chloe put her hands out, "Whoa. Whoa. This is not Non Human stuff. I've never seen anything like this happen. I've had a pretty normal life until now. So I don't know how to deal with it, because I never have dealt with it!"

  Leo rubbed his face, "I'm just so tired. All I want to do is sleep."

  "Me too." She sighed, "Mom had to start taking sleeping pills. Maybe we should too."

  "I don't want your Mom's pills."

  "No Leo! I mean maybe we should go to a Doctor or something."

  "It's fine. I just..." Leo let out a frustrated cry, "I'm so exhausted! I don't know what the hell I'm doing! How did I even drive here?"

  Chloe grabbed Leo's arm, leading him to the couch, "Well start by sitting down!"

  He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "There. I'm sitting."

  "Maybe we can take a nap?" She offered, "It might help?"

  "Maybe..."

  Two hours later, Erin and Brian pulled up on their bikes. They saw an odd car in the driveway and both of them rushed inside of the house. Erin put her hand out to Brian, cautioning him to walk slowly. Chloe and Leo were laying down on the couch together, finally able to get some sleep.

  "It's Leo." Erin smiled, "And they're sleeping."

  "Let's leave them alone. She's barely slept. I'll bet he hasn't either." Brian whispered.

  Erin shook her head, "They never should have had to deal with any of this. I feel so terrible."

  "It's not our fault, babe." Brian tugged on Erin's hand, "Come on. Let's let them rest."

  That morning, I walked into the department with a resignation letter in my hand. Darius knew it was coming. He accepted it with regrets that I would no longer be working there. Despite our differences, Darius was a good man. He cared a lot about the people around him. I was sad to leave.

  Catherine needed to know that I accepted the job at The Veiled Monarch. A small rift grew between us that needed to be mended. I think that Catherine felt a little guilty for leaving the department. She resigned right after Isaac's funeral and I hadn't seen her since.

  I knocked on her apartment door, and waited for her to answer.

  "Come on in." Catherine opened the door, ushering me inside.

  I smiled at her, "How are you?"

  "I've been better."

  "Can I do anything to help?"

  She shook her head, "No. I'm glad you're here."

  Catherine's apartment was small. At one time, the place had been a huge house that was likely built in the 1940s. Now, it had been converted into six apartments meant for a single occupant. Her kitchen and living area was one large room that led to a balcony overlooking a backyard. The bedroom was part of the larger room unless a sliding screen was closed for privacy.

  Despite the size, Catherine had managed to make the apartment a cozy place. She had placed some large plants on the floor and had a small art piece on the coffee table. The kitchen and living room was separated by a curtain of warm yellow lights that one can push aside when company came over.

  Catherine closed the screen to cover up her unmade bed, "What's up?"

  "I wanted to talk to you. That's why I came over."

  "OK?"

  I plopped down on the couch next to her, "There's been a change in leadership in South Florida. Brian and Erin took over for Isaac and I guess I took over for Ronan and Kevin. Vince is kind of the de facto leader on his side of things while Anika is in Europe."

  "I knew all of this." Catherine raised her eyebrows, "We're part o
f the same groups now, remember?"

  I was beating around the bush, and needed to stop. I took a deep breath, "Look, I can't be a Cop and do this."

  "There's no way to do it unless you go dirty." Catherine snorted, "You did that. And I'm still not happy about it!"

  I sighed, "Right. I get it. You've said that. Listen, Vince talked to me about The Veiled Monarch. I took the job. Darius got my resignation this morning."

  Catherine's face brightened, "You're going to work with me again? Really? Raina, after all the stuff that's happened, I'm so happy to get some good news!"

  "I'm pretty happy with the decision too." I laughed.

  "When are you starting?"

  "Vince will let me know." I stood up, pointing to the bathroom, "Hey, can I use your bathroom?"

  "Sure." She waved her hand towards the door.

  When I shut the door, Catherine was talking to someone. I called from inside the bathroom, "What? I didn't say anything!"

  I called out to her, but she wasn't answering me. I turned the doorknob only to be blocked by a chair. Someone had barricaded me in the bathroom! The other voice was very familiar; a deep voice with a condescending tone.

  "Catherine!" I pushed on the door again, trying to move the chair away.

  "It's fine!" She called back, "He was just leaving. With me!"

  "You?" Jacob laughed, "What are you talking about?"

  "Because I'm taking you to the person who deserves to kill you." Catherine was getting aggravated with Jacob.

  I was looking for anything to get out of that bathroom. I could use my gun, but shooting the doorknob would do me no good. The door opened, but the door was not the problem. The chair was. I continued to push on the door, slowly inching the chair across the floor.

  "Miss Kleyman, please!" Jacob insisted, "Hear me out!"

  "You have five seconds!"

  "Let me help you. Let us help you! It's all I'm asking. If you only knew what the Iron Oath could do. We need your help." Jacob was pleading with her to listen to him.

  Catherine paused, listening to me bump against her door over and over again, "Your five seconds are up, Jacob."

  "No! Don't! Please! Listen to me!" Jacob sounded scared.

  Catherine's footsteps moved closer to Jacob. The noise outside the bathroom door sounded like the two were in some sort of scuffle. I stood back against the toilet, aiming my shoulder for the door. As I rushed forward, a silencer shot off. Catherine grunted in pain, and someone had fallen to the floor.

  My gun was in my hand when the door finally burst open. I aimed it right at Jacob Stuart. "Drop it!"

  "It isn't lethal!" He kept the gun trained on Catherine who was laying against the couch, fighting to stay conscious.

  "I said put it down!" I demanded.

  Jacob stared at me with the same smug smile that made me hate him the first time I met him. "No."

  "Fine." I returned his smirk, brushing my fingers on the houseplant that stood right next to me.

  The stem of the plant started to thicken and grow into a small trunk. Each of the leaves stretched out into branches that curled onto Catherine's living room floor. They started to slither towards Jacob, wrapping their trunks around his ankles and legs.

  "What? No!" He shouted, wrestling himself away from the jungle that sprang up in Catherine's living room.

  Jacob cursed at the both of us, jerking his legs away from the vines. He stumbled towards the balcony, throwing the sliding door open and jumped from the second story. The vines reached towards the balcony, still trying to find their target. I took my hand off of the plant and the growth stopped immediately.

  Catherine's tired eyes peered at me through the leaves,"Raina...give me my phone."

  I reached through the mass of vines, getting her phone off of the counter, "Are you OK, Catherine?"

  "Just weak. He hit me with...a tranquilizer." She shut her eyes for a moment, collecting her thoughts, and trying to will the drugs out of her system, "My living room is...a giant houseplant. Can you fix that?"

  "Yeah." I chuckled, wrapping my hand around the trunk so that the houseplant will go back to its normal form.

  "I've never seen you do that before. It was pretty impressive."

  "Huh. I guess you haven't. That's Druids for you." I sat down next to her, "I need to call Vince then Brian and Erin. They need to know about this."

  "I know." She nodded, "My donor is coming soon. Can you stay until then?"

  "Sure."

  Almost an hour later, Catherine's donor came over to help her perk up a little. By that time, I had already spoken to Vince, Erin and Brian. Jacob's appearance in South Florida was no surprise to any of us. As Vince had said, the Iron Oath would not simply go away because of the scandals, indictments and office closures.

  The bigger concern was Faulkner. If Jacob could find us that easy, who was to say he couldn't find Faulkner at my house? I decided to go home and make sure he was still there in one piece.

  My house was quiet. The only noise was from the TV that had been left on some stupid reality show. My curtains blew softly in the breeze from the open windows and my coffee maker had been left on. Faulkner was nowhere to be found.

  When I went to turn off the coffee maker, I found a large envelope addressed to Vincenzo Moretti. It was sealed with an Iron Oath label. Faulkner could have done this, but Stuart could have as well. As tempting as it was to open it, Vince needed to see this first.

  He had insisted on coming over to check on me at Catherine's, but I refused to allow it. I sent him a text, "Letter for you here at my house. I won't open it."

  I received no reply from him. Likely because he was busy speeding down the highway in that ridiculous Oldsmobile Rocket. Sure enough, the old engine roared into my driveway and I heard the door slam. He didn't even knock. He just barged in my house.

  "Are you alright!?"

  I held the envelope out to him, "I'm fine. Here."

  "Where's Faulkner?" Vince took the envelope from me.

  "I don't know. He's not here."

  "You are certain you are fine?" He pulled me close, looking at me with a frown.

  "Vince! I'm fine. Who is that from?" I smacked the envelope in his hand.

  He tore the envelope open, producing a handwritten letter that lay on top of a number of papers and documents. This was not from Jacob Stuart. It was from Faulkner. He bid Vince goodbye for now, explaining that he would return when he was ready. Inside were a number of documents, addresses, names and phone numbers that should be released to Non Human groups across the world.

  The documents included a huge list of Iron Oath offices, businesses, cover companies, officer names and member names. It wasn't a complete list, but it was a good start. Faulkner had this planned from the beginning. It was an intricate game he played with Jacob Stuart since the day he arrived in South Florida.

  Our trip to Georgia and finding Erin was the first step to exposing them. When they were backed up against a wall, they got desperate and fell into old habits. Kidnapping community leaders and getting rid of them was easier to do in the past. With today's technology, it's much more difficult. They were sloppy and they were scared. It's what caused them to be exposed in the first place.

  While many Non Humans across the world will applaud Vince Moretti for starting the domino effect, I think we all knew it was Faulkner who had done it. Vince did too. That was obvious from the frown on his face and the way he wadded up Faulkner's letter, throwing it on my floor.

  "Oh. Very nice. Thanks for using the trash can." I walked to the paper and picked it up. "We can look for him if you want?"

  "No." He answered, "We have a score to settle, and he knows it. He'll come back."

  "What do we do until then?"

  "We live." He grabbed my hand, "Are you staying here tonight?"

  I grinned at him, "I can't. Brutus is still at your house."

  "You know that you start work tomorrow, don't you?"

  "I do now."

  With
the Iron Oath crumbling down, private security companies were more in demand than ever. We were the true Non Human law enforcement. Every one of us have been part of the Police or the Military in the past. We knew how that side of things worked. We also knew how our communities functioned.

  Much of what we did was under the radar. Cold cases with possible Non Human suspects were quietly handed to us by various law enforcement offices. Sometimes, the suspect was turned in to the Police. Other times, we took care of it ourselves.

  The ability to be a part of a private security firm was an exciting prospect for me. No more regulations on what I could and could not do on the job. No more hiding my affinity from others. Best of all, no more shouting matches with Darius. Actually, I was going to really miss our arguments. It kept the blood flowing.

  Walking into The Veiled Monarch was a completely different experience than walking into an old Police department. No one was in a uniform. Instead, we all wore whatever we wanted to wear. Some employees chose business casual, where others wore shorts and a tee shirt. I was a little overdressed wearing the slacks and blouse I would have worn to the department.

  We did not have holsters with three different guns. Most of the employees had a concealed carry permit, and they had no weapons showing at all. Others wore shoulder holsters that proudly displayed normal guns, stakes and guns with silver bullets.

  Fresh coffee was brewing in a properly stocked break area that had a small rack set out specifically for Druid employees. I waved to a couple of people from my community that I recognized. I had no idea how many Non Humans worked here!

  Catherine walked up to me with a smile on her face and a badge in her hand. "Hey! Are you ready for the first night?"

  I took the badge with a grin, "I guess I am."

  "Come on." She beckoned for me to follow her, "Louis is waiting for us."

  I followed her past the empty desk where Sophie once sat. Another woman sat there now, looking up and smiling as we both passed. Sophie never liked me much, but I certainly missed seeing her face. Louis' office was next to Vince's. It wasn't near as elaborate, but anyone would be jealous of it.

  He sat behind a large mahogany desk, reclining in a plush leather chair. When we walked in, Louis stood up and smiled wide, "Raina! Welcome to The Veiled Monarch. Officially. I see Catherine gave you the badge. Good. Good."