Riding the Veil

by Claudy Conn

  “No, you were on the inside, so you were able to mind-link. From here, there isn’t a chance unless her ward is undone.”

  “Right, I don’t care. You have to go home. Jacinta, look, your scent is, besides being delicious, very unique…a touch of vanilla and pine. Wind and earth. After a while, even a human will pick up on the fact that it is not perfume but natural.”

  “No, they won’t. Humans will always attribute something like a pretty scent to human engineering.” She eyed him. “Wind, earth, water, and fire…your elements—I wonder…?”

  “About what?” he asked.

  “Celine…our coven, we are a part of earth, wind, fire, and water. If she wanted to ward supernaturals out…she would use those elements.” Jacie clapped her hands. “At least I have a starting point.”

  Suddenly, she noticed that he looked as though he was about to collapse. She wanted to smack herself. She stepped up and took hold of his arm to lead him to the sofa. “Sit.”

  She was surprised when he did just that, almost falling into the sofa cushions as he put his head back and closed his eyes.

  He was hurting. He came forward and put his elbows on his knees and hung his head in his hands. She hurried off to the kitchen and reheated the bowl of food she had prepared for herself and brought it to him. “Here…eat.”

  “I am not a dog, sit, eat…and then what, roll over,” he said lightly.

  “Did I even hint about rolling over? I might, but not today. Now eat, you need to build up your powers again,” she said.

  He started on the food and between mouthfuls said, “This is good. Where is yours?”

  She grinned. “In your belly.”

  His face fell. Though there was only a spoonful left in the bowl, he shoved it towards her. “Here.”

  She laughed. “No, there is more in the fridge. I was only teasing. I’ll heat up another portion for you and join you this time.” She took his dish, filled it again, and filled a bowl for herself.

  A few moments later, as they sat quietly on the sofa and downed their food, she couldn’t help but remember how he would steal her from her trainer on Devos and lead her to her favorite spot on the cliffs, where he would produce a picnic of her favorite foods.

  She frowned. Not a memory she needed right now.

  That was then and it, along with all the other memories and fantasies she had allowed herself regarding him, had to be over. She had to live in the present.

  He started to get up and reached for her plate, but she jumped to her feet and took his instead. “No, no, you have been beaten, caged, and starved. You just sit and rest and figure out your next move.”

  She hurriedly shoved everything into the dishwasher, poured two glasses of Pinot Grigio and handed him one as she took a seat at the opposite end of the couch.

  He took it and sipped. “Not as good as Father’s wines, but good.”

  She laughed. “Nothing is ever as good as whatever Apollo produces. I learned that a long time ago.” She looked away and collected her thoughts. She had so many and all of them were bumping into each other.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he had downed his glass and put his head back against the sofa rim, stretching his long muscular legs out in front of him.

  She sipped her wine, cleared her throat and asked him if he wanted another glass of wine, and found him fast asleep.

  She couldn’t help watching him—listening to him breathing as he slept. His breathing was deeply peaceful, probably the first decent sleep he had had for the last couple of months. He seemed thoroughly at ease, which again reminded her of so many wonderful times she had spent in his company.

  However, one thing came loud and clear. She would not allow herself to fall into the trap of living, breathing, thinking that he was all the world to her. As soon as he was strong enough, he had to go. She needed him to go to wherever he would be safe from recapture. She just couldn’t have him in her apartment, tearing apart her peace of mind.

  Also, the fact was, not only would he be in danger in her apartment—so would she, so would the mission. He couldn’t be seen anywhere near her.

  Someone from ACE might stop by with mission instructions and discover him. No, he had to go for his sake as well as hers.

  And then it hit her—the thought of him leaving, and something inside of her ached for him to stay. NO, no, and no again. She could not fall into that way of feeling.

  Yet…there she was, a sixteen year old, madly in love, whispering in her head, perhaps he was safer in her apartment? Stop, she told herself. You will get all caught up in all that he is and that will lead you into the trap of your stupid unrequited love for him. You are older now, better informed…no need to put yourself in a position to get royally hurt.

  Even so, she had questions she needed to put to him. She wanted answers, no, needed answers.

  As though on cue, he opened his eyes and lifted his head. He sat forward, gave her an open smile, and patted a place closer to himself. “Jacie, come on over and talk to me like you used to.”

  She remained in her corner of the sofa, but damn if that old feeling she had never been able to erase didn’t just come slamming into her, bringing with it needs and anger she had thought long banished.

  “Talk, you say?” she answered, trying to control the spark of fury welling up in her heart. “I would rather you talked and tell me how they managed to capture you?”

  “I allowed it,” he answered.

  “You what?”

  “I allowed it,” he repeated, this time with a grimace. “You see, I was determined to free the supernaturals from the Lower Planet. I tried over and over again to either shift inside the prison or create a portal inside, with no luck. I was getting nowhere—so I came up with the notion of allowing them to capture me. I thought it would be simple enough. They throw me into a cell and I break out the others and we portal out. The humans can’t see or detect our portals. So with my team…we formed a plan, but I couldn’t take the chance that any of them…well, I decided since I was the most skilled with a variety of portals, I would allow myself to be captured while on my own.” He took a long pause, during which time Jacie simply waited.

  “Jacie, we knew…heard about the conditions, but we had no idea that the humans had devised such a simple method of controlling us. All they had to do was deprive us of oxygen.” He shook his head. “Had I known, I would have prepared for it. At any rate, I had tried everything I knew, in the earlier weeks, within my father’s guidelines to gain access to the Dank, but had been unsuccessful. The only way I was going to get in, free most of the supernaturals, if not all, without maiming and killing humans would take a specific plan. Plans are a bitch, Jacie, you always need an alternate plan. I didn’t realize mine wouldn’t work, so I didn’t have one. That was my first mistake.” He paused and Jacie saw it all in his eyes—the struggle he had suffered, not only because of the torture he had endured but because he had not freed the other prisoners.

  “So exactly what…how did they capture you?”

  “Easy, I allowed them to think they had found and trapped me. I had no choice, Jacie. I hit a wall with only two answers. One, I blast my way with my team into the Lower Planet and then into the Dank. That would have broken my father’s rules, as that would have ended with human casualties. Violence begets violence, and I do agree with my father that if we can, we must first try all other alternatives. Thus, I had no choice. I parted from my team, one or two of whom would have tried to, if not stop me, accompany me. I couldn’t allow that. End of story…I allowed myself to be captured so I could enter the world of the Lower Planet alone, and find a way to break everyone out and escape through my portal to Devos.”

  “Their method of oxygen deprivation is effective,” Jacie said quietly.

  “I knew my father would have to send someone he could trust to spare the humans and find a way to break us all out. I did not realize immortal witches were working with Crawly. I didn’t know my father knew this. I d
id not expect him to send you. I am shocked actually that he would put you in such danger.”

  “Your father apparently trusts my abilities…unlike you,” Jacie snapped.

  He said nothing to this for a moment and then, “Well, as always, he was quite correct in his decision. What I needed was a pretty little witch to save the day. You came…” He leaned into her and took her shoulders and pulled her forward. “Just in time, Jacie. Now you will be able to disintegrate Celine’s spell and we can portal all of them out of there.”

  His hands on her shoulders created havoc with her blood. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She felt a turmoil of flutters in her belly. She wanted to slap his face! Not only because of all the hurt inflicted on her heart with his neglect the last few years, but because of how he made her feel. She could not allow him to make her feel this way!

  Damn, but how easily he just assumed all was well with them—that he could just proceed as though no time had passed, as though he had never promised…

  His face was close, so close, as he leaned in. Against her will, her breathing stopped and her lips parted, then he leaned away as he dropped his hands and gave her an order he had no right to put into words.

  “Now, it is time for you to go home. You leave in the morning,” he said firmly. “You can work on breaking the spell from the safety of Devos.”

  What? What did he just say? She got to her feet. “I don’t take orders from you. I take them from Apollo. I was to infiltrate ACE with Dog, and together we were to find a way to free you and the others. Go home? Hell no. I am not leaving until I am told to do so by Apollo himself.” She had her fists on her hips. “Besides, I have to find the other members of my coven, who Crawly has stashed away, and free them. As of now, we don’t know where they are, but we will. I can track my own.”

  “I am free now, and when I connect with my team, we can do that. You needn’t put yourself in danger…” he started.

  “Danger, smanger. My people, my decision,” she interrupted with a grimace. “My parents wouldn’t have rested until they freed our coven, and I won’t either.”

  He looked puzzled and frowned as he got to his feet. “Jacie, don’t you see. The Lower Planet isn’t the only place otherworldlys are being held captive.”

  “I know, I haven’t been in ACE long, but long enough to know we aren’t the only miserable hunting unit. I know about the other two units, one in London and one in Paris.” She shook her head. “Yet my instinct tells me my coven is not far. It wouldn’t have been easy for him to transport them, you see. Whatever he has done to keep them imprisoned, it is nearby, maybe even in the Lower Planet?”

  “Okay, and how would he keep them imprisoned?”

  “Ret, the other members don’t have the powers of the three. They are lesser witches, immortal, yes, but their powers are only great as a coven, not individually. Not like Celine, who also draws on her secondary magic. I am and will always be a part of the coven because of my bloodline. Your father taught me, and gave me additional powers as well. Being outside the coven, as I am, allows me to see things quite capably. It is my thought that when Crawly captured one of our lesser witches, he used her to capture and hold the others, threatening to kill Celine, who is imprisoned, if they didn’t cooperate. There are herbs that can render them helpless to do anything but obey. I am not saying he knows about those herbs or has used them, but it does make sense. Our lesser witches would do anything to keep Celine safe. They are devoted to her and the coven.”

  “I agree, but there is nothing in your argument that prevents you from working on finding a solution on Devos.”

  “Is it that you don’t see? Or won’t see? I have to be here to track. I have to get a feel for the atmosphere, the scents, and once again, only Apollo can order me home.”

  “You despise humans. How can you bear to be near them?” Retaal asked on a frown.

  “Yes, I believe that at some point the humans have to pay the consequences of their crimes. If they die trying to stop us from freeing our own, well, they die. It is on them. We aren’t the ones capturing them and treating them inhumanly, are we? They are hateful, Retaal…hateful beings who sneak, cheat, lie, and torture those they can.” Jacie felt tears well up. She thought of her parents, how the humans had not shown mercy…not to them, not to countless others.

  “Don’t let hate intrude on your goals,” Retaal said, and tried touching her cheek.

  She slapped his hand away. “Why not? They hate us. Ret…you left Devos and in all the years you spent with them, you haven’t been able to change how humans think about us. You and Apollo’s soldiers haven’t accomplished anything going easy on them. Imagine what we could do if we take control? We could put an end to their wars…we could…”

  “Stop it, Jacie!” he shouted. “That can’t be who we are. We aren’t Gods. It isn’t our job to rule the human world. Humans are afraid of us, but very few are like the ACE units sent to hunt us. In fact, most humans don’t know that ACE exists. I am fairly certain their leaders don’t know what is going on right under their noses. ACE is totally managed by Crawly’s top aides. We are slowly changing public opinion. That is something I am sure of. We have been a good influence, and we have been without causing humans harm.”

  “Well, my short time here in New York has convinced me that nothing short of a war with humans will work, and this time, we shouldn’t hold back. They didn’t hold back, they learned what kills us and they used it…I saw them!” Jacie cried.

  He was on her, enclosing her in his arms before she knew what he was doing. His arms around her felt so good, but she pushed off.

  “No, I don’t want your sympathy. I want to win. You suffered at their hands. There are, right now, supernaturals in the Lower Planet, immortal witches in the Dank…still suffering…”

  “We’ll get them out. Now I know the way the Dank operates. It won’t be easy, but I will get my team together and we will get them out.”

  “Did your cellmate think like you?” Jacie asked, trying to get back on track, trying to forget about what the humans had done to her parents. “Does he believe in a laid back approach that makes fools of all of us?”

  “My cellmate is an Anunn. While he also believes we aren’t Gods or demigods, he does not hold with my father’s approach to peace. He, like you, has a deep-seated hatred of the humans. It is why I didn’t ask him to join my team, but sent him to Apollo. He, like you, saw his family…mutilated. But like Apollo, I believe that hate will never serve any of us, Jacie.”

  “What then? Should we try and change them with hugs? Not. Going. To. Happen.”

  “No, not with hugs. But we can’t continue the circle of violence, Jacie. Many of our supernaturals that were kept in the Dank…have been there for over a year. I will free them and send them home to Apollo.” He reached for her hand.

  Jacie stepped back and away.

  He wouldn’t give up and reached for her hand again. She jumped away and said, “No. You don’t get to comfort me. You don’t get to…”

  “Jacie, what is it? Why all this anger towards me?” He looked confused.

  “You left…you said you would visit, but you never did. You just left!” she screamed.

  She stood, her fists clenched, tears filling her eyes as she watched his reaction, watched his dark lashes brush his gorgeous cheeks, and then in one sweeping movement, before she realized what he was doing, he had her engulfed in his arms.

  He held her in spite of her struggle against him, in spite of her repeating, “No…no…”

  All at once, she collapsed against him, smacking his bare chest and then resting her cheek there.

  “Jacie, I am sorry. I know what you must have thought and I am sorry. I couldn’t return…it would have stalled our mission.”

  “I know you were in touch with Apollo…I know it, yet you never once sent me a message…never a ‘hi Jacie’, never a ‘miss you, Jacie…never…”A sob escaped her throat. “You missed all my birthdays without a word.”<
br />
  He hugged her tighter and stroked her head with one hand. “Ah, Jacie…”

  “You just forgot all about me.”

  “You had become too…er…close to me, and compared to all the centuries I have lived, you were—are just a babe, an infant. Father said it was wrong of me to spend so much time with you, but…I so enjoyed the hours in your company. Father thought a clean break would be better for you, allow you to turn your wonderful energies on those your own age…allow you to have healthy relationships with your schoolmates.”

  “That wasn’t yours or his decision to make!” she snapped.

  “Father was the one who first suggested I leave you to your friends long before I left on my mission. When I first asked him to give you a message…to tell you I missed you, he suggested it would be better if I did not. He was concerned about your…let us call it teenage infatuation you seemed to experience in my regard. It was only natural, but he thought you should be allowed to achieve your majority without such an inclination.”

  Jacie took a moment to remind herself to breathe.

  Of all the gall.

  How dare they make that kind of decision for her? “Both of you were wrong—so wrong. Yes, I thought the sun rose and the moon set with you. Yes, I hung on every word you ever uttered, but I would have grown out of such nonsense naturally had I been allowed to do so. By the time I was eighteen, I had no such infatuation, but I did have a great deal of disappointment. You just left me without a glance back, without ever a concern for anything I might be thinking or feeling. A friend doesn’t do that. A friend should send a word of congratulations when you complete your training…a word on your birthday, even if a friend can’t be there in person. A friend…” She pushed out of his hold and turned her back on him.

  “Jacie…we were, I was wrong. I should have followed my gut,” he said on a hushed note.

  She looked at him over her shoulder, her back still to him. “You used to say to me that you were like a big brother to me. You said you would always be there for me…just like an older brother. Well, you weren’t even that. You vanished from my life and I knew, absolutely knew you contacted Apollo all the time. You made me feel inconsequential.”