The Veritas

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘I know.’

  ‘I don’t get why they would take him,’ she pulled back, ‘and I sure as hell don’t know how they managed to cross the wards. Until I figure it out, we’re not safe here.’

  ‘Roni and I have talked about this,’ Jake glanced over at his new wife, who nodded in agreement. ‘We’re going to stay here with you and the children, and Scarlett.’

  ‘I can’t ask you to do that,’ Olivia shook her head, ‘your wedding’s already been ruined. You’re supposed to be leaving for your honeymoon in two days.’

  ‘Do you really think we’d leave now?’ he replied, ‘with everything that’s going on? Hawaii can wait. We have to bury Mac and we’re not leaving you alone until we have Theo back and we make those sons of bitches pay for what they’ve done.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Olivia whispered, wiping the corner of her eye and swallowing hard.

  Scarlett watched with interest. She felt bad for them; she didn’t really know Mac, so she was able to take a step back and watch the situation from a distance. It also gave her the opportunity to study Olivia. She’d been in awe of the woman since she’d landed up in her house and, if she were completely honest with herself, a little intimidated. This woman, this witch, had come out of nowhere to take possession of one of the most powerful books in existence and almost no one knew anything about her.

  Watching her now, grieving for her friend and worrying for her husband, surrounded and supported by people who clearly loved, not feared her, she became less this towering powerful figure and more… human she supposed.

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door, heavy and authoritative. Olivia looked up, pulling a tissue from her pocket and wiping her nose.

  ‘I’ll get it,’ Roni told Olivia gently. ‘It’s probably just more cops asking questions.’

  She headed out into the hallway, leaving Olivia to compose herself and walked to the door, glancing through the spy hole and frowning.

  She opened the door slowly and warily, to find a tall handsome man, impeccably dressed in a dark suit. His hair was a deep dark brown, almost black and pushed back from his face, falling in wings almost to his shoulders. His eyes were dark too, a rich warm dark brown, like bittersweet chocolate and they were watching her with a certain amount of amusement at her thorough and obvious perusal of him.

  ‘Mrs Veronica Gilbert I presume?’ his voice was a deep husky baritone.

  Roni blinked and drew in a sharp little breath.

  ‘I’m guessing that’s the first time someone has addressed you by your married name?’ his mouth twitched slightly. ‘Congratulations on your marriage and also my deepest condolences, under the circumstances.’

  ‘Who are you?’ Roni asked suspiciously.

  ‘My name is Elias Black,’ he bowed his head, in a curiously dated way of greeting. ‘I believe you have been looking for me.’

  ‘You’re Elias Black?’ she whispered in surprise. She’d spent months trying to track him down only to be blocked at every turn. She’d never in a million years expected him to fall in her lap the day after her wedding had gone so horribly wrong.

  ‘I’m sure you have many questions,’ he interrupted her thoughts, ‘but it really is imperative I speak with Olivia as soon as possible.’

  Roni’s eyes narrowed. The way he said Olivia, and didn’t use her last name almost sounded familiar, like he knew her already.

  ‘I understand your hesitance, especially in light of recent events, but rest assured I could not have passed the wards, the Gata and a Chimera if I intended her any harm. That’s quite a formidable arsenal she has there.’

  ‘Well it didn’t do us much good last night,’ Roni replied bitterly.

  ‘On the contrary,’ he disagreed, ‘without them, last night could have been much worse.’

  ‘RONI!’ Olivia’s voice called out from the other room. ‘WHO IS IT?’

  ‘May I?’ he raised his hand, asking to be invited in.

  Roni stepped back, allowing him to cross the threshold.

  ‘Just so you know,’ she stopped him, ‘my husband has a gun and he will not hesitate to shoot you. Of course, that’s nothing compared to what Olivia will do to you if you don’t have honest intentions.’

  ‘Understood,’ his mouth curved into an amused smile, as he once again lifted his hand, ‘after you Mrs Gilbert.’

  Shutting the door, she led him toward the library.

  ‘Olivia,’ she called to her softly as she entered the room, ‘Elias Black is here to see you.’

  ‘Elias Black?’ she replied in confusion, ‘but wh…’

  As Roni stepped out of the way and her guest was revealed, Olivia’s eyes widened in shock and her mouth fell open.

  ‘That’s not possible,’ she muttered as their eyes locked, ‘I watched you die.’

  Everyone in the room fell silent, watching the exchange with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

  ‘Hello Olivia,’ Elias smiled, ‘it’s been a very long time.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Roni asked. ‘How do you know each other?’

  For a moment neither one of them answered they simply stood staring at each other.

  ‘Olivia?’ Roni called her name louder.

  ‘His name isn’t Elias Black,’ she whispered, ‘it’s Beckett… Logan Beckett.’

  Elias closed his eyes momentarily and a small breath escaped.

  ‘I haven’t heard that name spoken aloud in a very long time,’ he replied.

  ‘Logan Beckett?’ Roni repeated in confusion.

  ‘He’s Theo’s older brother,’ Olivia answered, ‘and I watched him die, over three hundred years ago.’

  ‘What?’ Roni frowned, ‘he’s Theo’s brother?’

  ‘So he’s okay then?’ Jake asked in confusion, unsure as to whether he was facing a friend or foe.

  ‘That depends,’ Olivia’s face hardened, her eyes flicking to her sleeping son as she stepped protectively in front of her daughter.

  ‘On what?’ Jake asked.

  ‘On which Logan he is,’ Olivia replied coolly.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jake asked watching the other man warily.

  ‘The Logan from the original timeline, the one Theo was pulled from, was a killer, an angry deranged witchfinder who sentenced dozens of women to death and left his brother to die in a burning barn.’

  ‘Is that what I did?’ Logan raised one high winged brow.

  ‘After Theo and I jumped from 1685 to 1695 something changed. Whatever it was we inadvertently did, it changed history. The Logan from the new timeline…’ her eyes darkened dangerously, ‘was the founder of the Veritas.’

  Jake reached for the gun tucked into the back of his jeans. Within the blink of an eye he flicked off the safety and had it aimed it at Logan.

  ‘That’s true,’ he sighed, ‘I suppose I am both of those Logans and yet neither of them. Perhaps you would allow me to explain?’

  ‘I think you’d better,’ Olivia replied, ‘in fact I think I insist on it.’

  ‘I remember dying on the ground outside that burning barn,’ he murmured, his eyes distant. ‘I remember Stephen’s knife as it slid through my back; I remember looking up and seeing my brother’s face as I took my last breath.’

  He broke off and shook his head.

  ‘Don’t ask me what happened after that because I can’t tell you, I simply don’t know. All I do know is that I woke up a month later, clawing my way out of the loosely packed earth of my grave.’

  ‘You’re a zombie?’ Jake’s eyes narrowed as his grip on his gun tightened.

  ‘Far from it my friend,’ Logan smiled in amusement, ‘I am a living breathing man. If you cut me, I’ll bleed.’

  ‘And if I shoot you dead?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Logan smiled wickedly, ‘it didn’t stick the first time.’

  ‘We’re getting off track here,’ Olivia frowned, ‘what happened after you woke up?’

  ‘Sam found me,’ Logan moved his gaze from Jake to Olivia.


  ‘Sam?’

  ‘That’s right,’ he nodded, ‘he’d returned to check the timeline. What happened at that barn was a fixed point in time, and it had sustained heavy damage. He needed to make sure it was sealed. He jumped to a month after the event. That’s when he found me. He was as much at a loss to explain how or why I’d returned as I was.’

  Olivia stared at her brother in law, she could feel the waves of power rippling from him. His whole presence set the air crackling with static electricity.

  ‘You didn’t come back the same, did you?’ her gaze narrowed in thought. ‘You’re a witch, a powerful one. The Logan I knew didn’t have any magic.’

  ‘He did, but it was dormant,’ he replied. ‘I suppose dying and coming back, somehow changed me, woke up my latent abilities. While it’s true I did not share the same father as Theo and Temperance, I did share the same mother and not only was she incredibly powerful, but she was descended from one of the old-world bloodlines.’

  ‘What did you do after Sam found you?’ she asked. ‘Did you return to the Veritas?’

  ‘No,’ Logan shook his head, ‘my part in the Veritas ended with my death. Everyone knew I was dead and buried, there was no way for me to return to my old life. I couldn’t risk the work they were doing. Back then, they were still good. James and Justin were in charge and it was not long after the trials had ended, they were still protecting the magical community which was in hiding.’

  ‘So, what did you do?’

  ‘I left the colonies, set sail for the old world. I spent the next several decades traveling, Romania, Prague, Paris, London. I spent years researching everything I could with regards to resurrection, every whisper, rumor, every myth. I was obsessed with finding out how and why I was brought back.’

  ‘Did you find the answer?’

  ‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘To this day I still don’t know how or why, but it was in London when I first began to suspect I wasn’t ageing. I moved around a lot after that. I returned to London several times, but I was always careful that enough time had lapsed that no one would remember me. I took the identity Elias Black and that has been my name ever since. I’m not Logan Beckett, he died in Salem in 1695 and I was born.’

  ‘When did you find out you were a witch?’

  ‘About the same time that I discovered I wasn’t ageing. When I hit a dead end trying to find out how I’d been brought back I switched my focus and began to study everything I could about magic and honed my skills.’

  ‘Why are you here?’ Olivia asked. ‘You’ve been alive all this time, you funded Tammy’s mayoral campaign, or rather your company did, and you funded Theo’s new life in Mercy.’

  ‘He also paid for my great aunt Della’s care home and medical expenses,’ Roni interrupted.

  ‘That’s a story for another time,’ he told Roni before turning back to Olivia.

  ‘My point is,’ she continued, ‘you’ve never once tried to contact your brother and sister, why now? You say you have nothing more to do with the Veritas, yet here you are the day after they attacked us and took Theo, so I’ll ask again, why now?’

  ‘Because I know where they’ve taken Theo and more importantly why they want him.’

  Olivia reached up and gently touched Jake’s arm, lowering his gun. He re-engaged the safety, but he kept the gun in his hand none the less.

  ‘You know why the Veritas took Theo?’ she asked carefully.

  ‘I also know how they were able to cross your wards.’

  ‘How?’ her eyes narrowed.

  ‘I assume you’re familiar with the ethos of the present incarnation of the Veritas?’ he asked.

  ‘You mean am I aware they’re psychotic killers who like to kidnap people and steal magical objects?’ she replied dryly. ‘Yeah I am.’

  ‘Deep in their vaults and archives they have amassed, over the centuries, a vast catalogue of magical and historical artefacts.’

  ‘You think they used one of these artefacts to cross the wards?’

  ‘I know they did,’ he nodded. ‘I’ve felt your wards, they’re impressive.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she replied flatly.

  ‘There’s only one artefact that I know of that could have had the power to punch a temporary hole through your wards.’

  ‘And that is?’

  ‘The Staff of Set.’

  ‘Set?’ Olivia repeated, ‘you don’t mean…’

  ‘The God Set,’ he nodded, ‘yes I do. Just because I’m no longer part of the Veritas, doesn’t mean I haven’t kept an extremely close eye on them. From what I understand, the Staff of Set is able to create a passageway, like a wormhole across distance. It can’t cross dimensions or time, but it can open a path from one fixed point to another. It is the staff of a God, created by Set himself. It was stolen by Horus and hidden in a secret tomb. The staff was recovered back in the early part of the 20th century, when it was all the rage to pillage ancient artefacts from Egypt, but it was damaged. It had a huge crack running through it. Because of the damage it’s extremely unstable, I’m surprised they risked it.’

  ‘So now they have a way of getting past my wards any time they want,’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘Not exactly,’ he smiled as he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

  Jake snapped his gun back into place, aiming once more at Logan.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he held up his hands, then once again he slowly reached into his pocket and withdrew a flat rectangular object wrapped in velvet, ‘see?’ He held it up to show them and Jake lowered his gun.

  ‘What is it?’ Olivia asked curiously.

  ‘See for yourself, ‘he carefully unwrapped it until a shiny metallic object lay on the velvet in his open palm.

  Roni let out a squeak and Olivia’s eyes widened.

  ‘That’s not the real thing is it?’ she asked slowly, looking up into his eyes. ‘It’s a replica, right?’

  ‘A replica wouldn’t do much good now would it?’ the corner of his mouth curved.

  ‘But the real one’s on display in the Cairo Museum of Antiquities,’ Olivia whispered.

  ‘I borrowed it,’ he shrugged. ‘It was actually moved into storage temporarily while they updated some of the exhibits. I’m sure they won’t notice it’s missing for a couple of months.’

  Roni let out another squeak.

  ‘You’d better put that away,’ Olivia told him, ‘you’re upsetting Roni.’

  ‘What is it?’ Jake asked.

  ‘It’s the Eye of Horus, long story short. Set was an Egyptian God, he killed his brother Osiris and chopped up his body. Osiris’s wife Isis, collected up all the pieces of her husband, reassembled him and then, conceived their son posthumously.’

  ‘Eeew,’ Jake grimaced.

  ‘Anyway, their son Horus was born. What ensued was a long and bloody feud between Horus and Set, during which apparently Set gouged out Horus’s left eye. The Eye of Horus is often used for protection.’

  ‘Very good,’ Logan nodded, ‘if we bury…’

  Roni whimpered slightly.

  ‘Bury the Eye,’ Logan continued, ‘at the very center of your wards, it should counteract Set’s magic. Which means they won’t be able to use the staff again to cross your boundary line.’

  ‘Okay,’ Olivia nodded, ‘now tell me what the Veritas want with my husband.’

  Logan blew out a deep breath.

  ‘It’s a bit of a long story,’ he began, ‘it goes back to Salem again, to 1695 and when I died. As you know Justin and I founded the Veritas after the trials. We called ourselves The Men of Truth. Our eyes had been opened, we knew about the demon Nathaniel, we knew about the Hell Book. In order to protect the innocents and those of magical descent we had already begun to collect magical texts and one of them I added myself. It was a prophecy.’

  ‘A prophecy?’ Olivia breathed heavily in realization.

  ‘Yes,’ he replied his eyes locked on hers. ‘There was only one in existence and I had the only copy. Af
ter I died, that copy was left in the possession of the Veritas. It wasn’t until some years later Sam and I realized the importance of the prophecy. We knew we had to get it back and protect it at all costs, because within it, is hidden the key to finding one of the lost books of power.’

  ‘The Book of the Heavens,’ Scarlett spoke up quietly and Logan’s gaze flashed to her, softening as he watched her.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘The prophecy,’ Scarlett spoke uncertainly, ‘it was hidden in that room at the casino in Vegas… your casino, The Black Orchid.’

  ‘I was there that night,’ Logan told her quietly, his eyes filled with something she couldn’t quite pinpoint. ‘I saw what Ash did to you.’

  ‘Don’t,’ she warned quietly.

  ‘I’m glad you’re okay Scarlett,’ he replied, ‘I was really worried about you after that night.’

  ‘You know who I am?’ it was more of a realization that a question. ‘Sam told you about me?’

  ‘Yes,’ Logan smiled, ‘you didn’t think Julien was the only one watching over you, did you? Of course, I’ve spent more time over the past few centuries trying to keep Sam out of trouble.’

  Scarlett closed her eyes briefly, she still wasn’t ready to talk about Sam.

  ‘Ash took the prophecy.’

  ‘Yes, he did,’ Logan confirmed. ‘I tried to stop him but failed, but he doesn’t realize that it won’t do him any good.’

  ‘What does all this have to do with Theo?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘I’m just getting to that,’ Logan turned his attention back to Olivia. ‘I knew I needed to get the original prophecy back from the Veritas. I travelled back to Salem and I went to see Justin,’ Logan’s gaze flicked to Jake, ‘you look a lot like him you know.’

  ‘Who?’ Jake frowned.

  ‘Justin Gilbert,’ Olivia answered for Logan, ‘you’re directly descended from him. I know because I looked it up after Theo and I came back from Salem. Justin co-founded the Veritas with Logan.’

  ‘I’m descended from the man who started this whole mess?’ Jake replied with a scowl.

  ‘Co-started this whole mess,’ Logan added helpfully, ‘I do have to take the brunt of the blame here.’

  ‘Man, this sucks,’ Jake replied unhappily.