Protectors of the Veil

by Dawn Matthews

  “‘GET IN THE TRUCK!’ I yelled to my men. Some made it in, but most were already gone. I started shooting. I shot them in the head and they just healed right back up. I turned, grabbed the door, and felt the most searing pain you can imagine. It was on me. I shot it in the head, while it stumbled back. I jumped in the truck and we took off as fast as we could. My arm was on fire. It had torn off a good chunk of muscle. Even as we drove, they were chasing us and actually keeping up with the car. As we neared another town, they fell back and stopped chasing.

  “For the rest of my men that survived, their fight was over. My fight was just beginning. Luckily for us, our guide was among the survivors. He was going to drive me to a hospital, but I convinced him not to, well my .45 convinced him not to go to a hospital.

  “Why didn’t you want to go to a hospital?” Schroder asked.

  “It was clear by this point that I was bitten by a werewolf,” Sam replied, “and I wasn’t sure if my blood was tainted or even if they could help me at all. There were too many variables, something that could be said for the entire mission. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

  “We went straight to the airport and took the first plane home. I did my best to appear normal and healthy. A t one point on the plane, I went to the bathroom to change the dressing on my hand. It was completely healed, except for some skin discoloration. At this point, I was beginning to lose my shit. I’m a werewolf; the realization was like being hit in the chest by a boulder.”

  “How did the IVAs find you?” Schroder asked.

  “Chill the fuck out, I’m getting to that,” Sam replied. “There was more going on. I was so restless, I could barely contain myself. The walls were closing in on me. I felt caged and I needed to break free. Then the pain started. I was in the middle of the aisle and bent over screaming. My men came over, but suddenly I was no longer in the plane. I was blinded by pain, so I couldn’t tell where I was. That is all I remember from that night.

  “When I woke up the next day, I was in somewhat of a cell. It wasn’t as dirty and dark as you would expect, quite the contrary. It was very clean, though it was clear some major shit had gone down. There were scratches and blood everywhere.

  “Then I heard a voice say, ‘Good morning, Ms. Strongbow. I’m glad to see you survived the night. One’s first transition can be quite dangerous.’ That was Lev. He then offered me a job and with the job would come any help I needed in my new form. They said that humans really shouldn’t be transformed, that was something the other side came up with. They said there are werewolves and shapeshifters, but those things had never been human. That’s the end of my story,’ Sam concluded.

  “Damn!” Aiden exclaimed. “That’s an amazing story. They saved you from killing every person on that plane, including yourself, because it would have crashed with no crew.”

  “Seeing them in a different light?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah,” Aiden said, “kind of. I never thought about them saving anything but the veil. I didn’t think humans meant much to them.”

  “They have a great respect and love of all life, but they also have perspective,” Sam said. “Kiev just got a kitten.”

  Aiden chuckled, “I have a hard time imagining him with anything that cuddly.”

  “That’s because you only see one aspect of him. I’ve had to hang out with the lot of them. They’ve been teaching me how to survive and how to minimize the number of people I hurt. Most importantly, they’ve taught me how to keep it a secret,” Sam replied.

  “Well they did a good job of that last,” Aiden said, “I had no idea.”

  “ISH! How the hell are you, my good son?” Sam said at the man that just walked in.

  “Sam, Aiden,” Chris Isherwood nodded to both. “Not too bad, how are you lot?”

  “I think we’ve all been better or we wouldn’t be meeting up here,” Aiden said.

  “Truth,” Sam said.

  “Hey, Chris, what’s your story about how you got involved with the IVA?”

  Chris was with the UK branch, but they all worked together, basically. “Oh, that’s quite a tale.”

  “THE ORC KING”

  I was in my backyard and I heard some rustling about. I thought it was just a regular animal, but I felt the need to check it out anyway. As I got close, I saw a pair of glowing red eyes about three feet off the ground staring at me from a bush. I wasn’t sure what it was.

  After having a look for a good minute, it started running out of the bushes away from me. I must have been off my trolley for a short time, because I can’t even explain why I chased after it. I came to a clearing in the woods behind my house, and there was this circle made of stones with an arch entrance. The creature went in it and disappeared. I was gobsmacked. I stood outside the entrance. It felt weird. It was like the air was thicker there. I got spooked and ran back home.

  Later on that night, I met my best mate at the pub. I told him what happened and he said, “You’re taking the piss!”

  “I swear it,” I said, “there was a circle of stones and some kind of goblin or orc or something.” I didn’t get a very good look at it because it was in the bushes first, then I just saw its backside. It was also pretty dark back in those woods.

  He wanted to see it. We discussed what we would do when we got back to my house, and we drank. By the time, we got back to my house, we were legless and knackered. He was insistent that we had to go now, before we sobered up. He said he’d never be dumb enough to believe me when he was sober. We went off to find something we could use as weapons.

  I found a cricket bat and he found a rubber chicken. He held it up and we both had a good laugh. There wasn’t much in the house that could be used as a weapon against a creature, especially by two drunks. We went anyway.

  There was a bit more of a hill leading to those rocks than I realized. I reached the archway before my mate although since he had the bloody bat, he should have gone first. As it was, he was behind me. Bloody wazzock tripped and rolled arse over tit down the hill. I went over to check on him, he was fine, just bloody drunk. He mumbled something and passed out.

  That’s when I saw the red eyes again. “It’s for your eyes, not his,” he said. Then he took off toward the arch and disappeared again. This time I followed him.

  Once I walked through the arch, the trees disappeared. The rock circle was the same, but that’s all. Everything else was like another planet, or as I learned later, another dimension. There was a fire in the center. I was surrounded by orcs of all sizes. Some were seated in stone chairs in a circle. On the opposite side of the arch was the largest stone chair, more like a throne. There sat the scariest creature I had ever seen at that point. His teeth were very sharp. His hair was long and black. His eyes were not glowing red. He was like a very tall body builder, though I’m certain he didn’t get that way lifting weights. He motioned with a big clawed hand for me to come forward and stand before him. I wasn’t sure if this was king of the orcs, or demon, or maybe both. I obviously had the collywobbles at this point.

  “Mr. Isherwood,” he said in the deepest voice I have ever heard, “we have chased a group of pixies to your property. We seek your permission to come onto your property and exterminate them.”

  “You can exterminate whatever you want on my property, as long as you leave my dog alone, and don’t hurt me either.” Like I was going to tell him no.

  “We appreciate your consent,” the King bowed his head slightly. “I assure you it is also in your best interest to let us rid you of these pesky little pixies. They will destroy things, steal from you, they could kill your dog, or even you.”

  “Pixies can do all that?” I asked. It sounded like a right load of bollocks, but what did I know about pixies.

  “They can indeed,” the King said. “They can be very bothersome.”

  “Then I’ll be in your debt, help yourself to any pixies on my land,” I said.

  “We have been at war with the pixies and others on the side of Or
der for a long time. You will hear a great deal of noise, but anything that gets destroyed unintentionally will be replaced.” The King stood, and looked out to the crowd that I hadn’t noticed were there. They were outside the circle. I didn’t notice them before because their eyes weren’t glowing. As the King spoke, the eyes of all the Orcs, including the King, began to glow red. “THE LAST OF THE PIXIES ARE OURS FOR THE TAKING! GEAR UP! AS SOON AS MR. ISHERWOOD IS SAFE INSIDE HIS HOME, WE ATTACK!”

  The crowd went bonkers! All kinds of growling and snarling, I was bricking it!

  The King turned to the one I followed into the circle. “Take him back and make sure he makes it safely inside.”

  This time I got a good look at the little fellow. He had a pointy nose and was a bit hunched over. Seemed like an okay bloke, though. He took me right to my door and didn’t leave until I locked the door.

  That night the sounds of screams and noises of battle were insane. I was so knackered that I fell asleep anyway. The next day, I got a visit from the IVA recruiting office. That’s the end of my story.

  “Wow,” Aiden said, “a pixie/orc war. That’s unbelievable!”

  “Well, it’s not just pixies and orcs, mate. You know that. The orcs are a part of Chaos and the pixies are a part of Order. It’s the same war,” Chris said.

  “That’s a good point,” Aiden said.

  “Okay, my turn,” said a man at the other end of the bar. He had an Indian accent.

  “Shivendra,” Aiden said, “I didn’t even see you there.”

  “Hello, Aiden Banner,” Shivendra replied, “I did not want to interrupt Sam’s captivating story. For those of you that don’t know me, I am Shivendra Kapoor. I work for a secret agency in my government as an astrologer. Aiden and I have crossed paths before. My story is a personal one and had nothing to do with getting me a job.”

  “Alright, let’s hear it,” Sam said.

  “I call it…:”

  “SCOPE FOR HORROR”

  It is difficult for anyone in any quarter of this earth to believe that I was born wrapped in a thin transparent plastic sheet. I never knew this strange truth until my mother, Sheila, told me everything about my birth.

  On 1st August 2005, while my mother’s last rites were being performed, I remember Rinky (my astrologer aunt) creepily saying, “In this short transit of planets, the south node of moon has already made its impact; now, the north node will surely jostle for attention and make its presence felt.”

  She immediately crossed her index fingers, then pressed her right thumb against the left and said in an unsettled tone, “Please find your place in the kingdom of God; you are now free from the garment of materialism.”

  Aunty then grabbed two small silver coins from her purse, instantly charged them with some “planetary mantras” and then gently slipped the coins inside my mother’s mouth. I could see her lips reflecting some forced smile―at least my mother smiled.

  Even today, it’s hard to shake off these painful memories from my life. I become restless whenever these flashbacks rewind in my head. Since my mother’s demise, I am living a mysterious life all alone, reeling under scarcity of love but I will never deter from myself-the commitment that I recite everyday as a prayer, “I will never marry in this lifetime, no matter what happens.”

  Over these years, I have mastered the technique to inhibit those desires that can trigger the urge in me to get married. At many instances, I press my wheezing heart to stop sending signals loaded with matrimonial desires to my brain. When nothing works, I start hitting my chest against the walls in my bedroom and then I bang my head against my mother’s picture. Staying firm on this self-commitment is a must for me in this life, so as to stay light-years away from Chiku and his wife.

  If I recollect the period before the sequence of unfortunate events started in my family, I remember my mother frequently saying, “Your grandfather, Shashi, was highly respected in our native place Ajmer*, so much so that before visiting temples in our locality, people used to take his blessings. The main door of our house was always open for people and anybody could walk in. During those days, we were the most influential and respected family in Ajmer.”

  I knew from my mother’s talks that astrology was in our blood. However, after my grandfather’s death, astrology suddenly vanished from my family and we were tagged the “bad people” in Ajmer.

  After the death of my grandfather in the year 1995, our family had lost all reputation. There was a sudden reversal in fortunes. My mother’s life was not easy and slowly she started resembling a stone. Looking after our family, especially my ailing father, was a big task, but she never complained. Despite her own health problems, she lived life by making others happy. After my grandfather’s demise, my father, Harish, started a small business dealing in tea and coffee. I desire to tell a lot about him, but I am tight-lipped as I had promised my mother that I will never speak volumes about his kindness. After his untimely death in the year 2000, my mother had reached a kind of frenzy. She had frequent attacks of epilepsy and had become a victim of depression. It was difficult to convince her to live. I used to get nervous and emotionally drained on seeing her crying in solitude for hours. Her loneliness was exponentially eating her day-by-day. After almost a year of cajoling from family and friends, she finally agreed to move out of Ajmer. We decided to relocate to Mumbai.

  The kindness and generosity of my grandfather helped us find a place to stay in Powai, Mumbai (India). It was like God had finally raised the hand of friendship with us as we managed to get a two-room furnished flat with reasonable rent. Powai was a very good residential place with multiple shops, a temple, hospitals, and a beautiful lake nearby. The positive aura of this place made my mother feel relaxed and I could gauge this by the reduced level of sadness on her face. The immediate vicinity near our society always had a typical honey-sweet smell. In just two days, my mother appeared happy and she expressed the desire to visit the nearby temple every morning. The flat owner was my grandfather’s client and he didn’t bother us with deposits, legal formalities and other issues usually encountered while occupying a flat on rent.

  But, somewhere deep within, I couldn’t believe life being so beneficent, considering the terrible hardships through which we had just passed through.

  Not even a week had passed after staying in flat number seven in Pyramid society, located just opposite Kitty’s café shop when I started feeling as if someone was always behind me. Every day, I must have had opened and closed all the doors at least a dozen times just to ensure there was no one other than me and my mother in the flat. This society had a pleasing ambient atmosphere, something that we needed badly. I was quite disturbed at times but never bothered my mother as she was enjoying the delicate aroma of the renewed freshness in her life.

  I still remember, once while strolling around the lake, she said, “This flat was actually recommended by your grandfather to Mr. Sharma (the flat owner). See the turn of life; it is evident that this was done for our benefit.”

  As days passed, I tried to ignore anything that attempted to create suspicion in my head. Positive affirmations taught by my father worked wonders, but somehow it was becoming increasingly difficult to sleep alone in my bedroom. Almost always, I used to look underneath the bed, on my left, on my right and behind the bed to see if there was someone secretly staying along with me. But there was no one else and I kept convincing myself that everything is going fine. Irregular sleep patterns, fear and too much emotional disturbance had caused dark circles beneath my groggy eyes. At this juncture, I missed my father a lot. I wanted him to be with me and coddle me. His absence had created a big void in my life. There was too much pain within me and I wanted someone to hear me out.

  Finally, the same year on 16th December, my birthday, early in the morning, I stumbled upon something spongy on the floor in my bedroom. Hurriedly, I reached for the electric switch but felt another hand was already there. Suddenly, the bathroom light turned on and I saw someone peeping from i
nside. I kicked the bathroom door to see a short-heighted man opening his slavering mouth. He was right in front of me. There was a scary stillness on his face and his eyes appeared haunted. I struggled to step behind and then closed my eyes. The next moment, I heard a heavy hammering on the window. I jerked awake and opened my eyes but he was not around. The atmosphere inside the bedroom became unsettling. It was an unimaginable incident and nothing of this sort was ever experienced by me before. I had encountered horror and was now sure that there was something wrong and unusual happening around me and my suspicion that there was a stranger in the house was correct.

  There was too much fear inside me and I wanted my mother’s help, but then I attempted hard to control myself and forget everything that had occurred as I couldn’t afford to bother her. She was my only support in life. I managed to keep quiet and absorb everything within. There was no other incident after this and everything went back to normal. The stranger didn’t appear again, but throughout the day I was in deep shock and at times was not sure if it was just a bad morning dream or something really strange had happened on my birthday. Later that evening, my mother was sick but she accompanied me to the temple and blessed me with all the positivity that she could. Her blessings are still fresh in my heart as if it was just yesterday.

  Even today, I can feel the warmth of her palms and the strength of her words, “God bless you and be with you; never cross the path of righteousness. Be thankful and forgiving.” My mother had a strong belief in spirituality. She used to visit astrologers quite often after my grandfather’s death. I can recollect instances where many astrologers had warned her to protect me as my horoscope was spiritually very weak and I was prone to getting caught by spirits as the future transit of planets was not positive. Astrology worked for me and it was for this reason that my mother did every remedial solution to ensure my safety. However, at times, I was not sure if I should commit suicide or continue a life full of sufferings? This emotional dodge was very strong within me and I asked the same question to my mother umpteen times, but she always managed to fill me with optimism.