Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set

by Multiple Authors

  "How did you die?"

  "I’m not going there, Rose. So don’t even ask." He stands and rummages around in a drawer for a T-shirt.

  "Twenty years? That explains your crap music taste then," I say, hoping to lighten the darkening mood.

  He snorts softly as he pulls a black T-shirt out.

  Alek crosses back to me, placing his lips on my forehead. "I can leave temporarily, for a few hours if my energy levels are okay. That's how I manage to work; and why I work in a bar."

  "How can you work among people if you say you drain energy?"

  "The bar is the best kind of place to work; the number of people and the amount of energy they bring with them fills the place. You must’ve been clubbing. The energy in those places is huge and people who are at the bar don’t notice losing any to me. So, if there’s been no Shades through in the house, I can absorb some at work and I don’t need to go looking elsewhere."

  I nod and slurp my coffee, wishing this were a normal relationship with a normal guy, not someone who cavalierly talks about sucking the life out of people.

  "Will I get urges to feed that I can’t control, like real vampires and blood?"

  "Only if you’re really low on energy and probably not for a few years yet." He strokes my hair. "Don’t stress; the world is safe from you."

  I push his shoulder. "This isn’t funny!"

  Alek doesn’t apologise. Time for a subject change. "I know this guy who says there are people at the hospital who are killing patients," I say.

  "What guy? What did he tell you?"

  "Not much. He’s a paranormal investigator and…"

  "A what?" asks Alek with a laugh.

  "He investigates ghosts and other supernatural occurrences."

  "A ghostbuster? There’s loads of those freaks around. The Shades have great fun winding them up." He shakes his head. "What exactly does he know?"

  "Not much; he works in the morgue and…"

  This time Alek’s amusement heads toward hilarity at my comment. "Of course he does! Does he take his equipment with him? Zaps a few of the unwelcome residents?"

  I’m offended on Tom’s behalf. "He’s a nice guy!"

  "That doesn’t mean he genuinely knows anything. Humans can delude themselves into seeing things they want to and ignoring things they don’t."

  "If there really is something going on at the hospital that’s a threat, it might affect us. Tom should be able to help."

  "Rose. Firstly, I couldn’t care less how many people are dying; secondly, the answer to who’s responsible is Finn. You know that."

  "No. He denied it and I believe him. Tom says it’s something darker…So did Finn."

  Alek stands and turns to me. "Did you listen to the crucial fact he was sent to kill you, Rose? And you’re still talking to this guy!"

  "I told you I spoke to him!"

  "I’m trying to keep you safe; you could at least help yourself!" he snaps.

  I cross my arms and frown at him. "And I said I didn’t want keeping safe!"

  "You need to stop thinking you have control over your life, Rose. That went the day Finn sent you back here! What are you going to do? Live a long and happy life as Miss Independence? Get married and have kids? Not going to happen."

  His words are a slap; a future I’d not considered is as lost to me as everything else. But I won’t let Alek see he's upset me. "I can still be me."

  I’m unsure if Alek means to look down at me with pity, but he does. "And what’s that, Rose? What are you? Because you’re not Rose Walker, not anymore."

  "I am! I have a job, records, a birth certificate, and no death certificate!"

  Alek pushes a hand through his hair. "Yeah, for now. What about in twenty years’ time, and you look the same?" He catches my bad attempt to show I’m not bothered. "Look, if you don’t want to deal with this right now, I don’t blame you. Okay, so I annoy you sometimes, but I’m better for you than some weird dude who works in a morgue and a Reaper sent kill you!"

  He’s right. I don’t want to face this. I’ve never wanted to admit anything has changed since the night I almost died. I wouldn’t listen when family and doctors told me I needed more time to recover. I couldn’t accept my life had been interrupted, and so I left the childhood home I’d been forced to return to, got this job, and proved a point to them all. Everyone was surprised by how well I coped and so quickly after such a major accident. If only they knew the truth about my new life, the truth I can’t accept myself.

  "I’m getting ready for work." I move toward the bedroom door and Alek extends a hand to stop me. I shrug him off.

  Conversation and ceasefire over.

  ***

  Dressed and ready to leave for the day, I duck into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Alek is in the lounge watching TV, long legs stretched on the table in front of him.

  "Are you going to work?" he asks, not looking at me.

  "I told you I had a shift."

  "You’re not going."

  "I’m sorry? Since when did you run my life?"

  Alek shifts around in the sofa, leaning his arm across the back of the sofa. "Did you miss the part about Shades trying to kill you? Or Finn? Or fuck knows what else is out there?"

  "They’re not going to do it in front of anyone, are they? I’ll come straight home."

  He narrows his eyes at me. "Maybe I should come with you."

  "Oh, no. No way. No one tells me what to do."

  Shaking his head, Alek turns back to the TV. "Fair enough. Just don’t come running to me when you’re dead."

  I open my mouth to retort I can’t go running to him when I’m dead, but I don’t know anymore.

  “So, are you going to trap me in the house again, like the other day?” I ask him.

  He frowns. “That wasn’t me; I don’t know what that was.”

  That leaves one other person responsible. I don’t voice that I think it was Lizzie; I don’t think I need to.

  "I’m going to talk to Tom," I say. "I called him and I’m meeting him before work."

  "Why?"

  "Because he might help me make sense of all this."

  "Seriously, Rose?"

  “Seriously, Alek.”

  Alek sits forward and grabs his jacket from the sofa. "Fine. I want to meet this freak."

  "Alek…"

  "I’ll be nice, I promise." He stands, shrugging on his jacket.

  I very much doubt he will be.

  ***

  We wait for Tom on the same bench I met Finn, outside the hospital, around the time my world started to shift into ten shades of crazy. Alek leans against a nearby tree, legs stretched out and hands buried in his jacket pocket. He’s returned to his normal Alek persona, which upsets me after what we did last night. In my past life, I only had sex in a mutual, loving relationship; definitely not with someone I barely knew and doubted if I liked much. Although sex with Alek is unlike anything I’ve experienced before, our relationship is a million miles away from my past ones. His behaviour now hurts.

  When Tom arrives, he’s not eating which surprises me. He has his coat wrapped around him, and his face falls when he sees Alek.

  "Who’s this?" asks Tom.

  "Alek."

  Tom’s mouth drops open and Alek laughs, pointing at Tom. "This guy is the one you think can help us?"

  "He’s told me a few things I think we need to consider."

  "Oh, really?" asks Alek "Like what?"

  Tom sits next to me on the bench, not meeting Alek’s eyes. "The people killing at the hospital. Things. I think they're suspicious of me, too; I'm scared. I thought they were resurrecting ghosts, but it’s more than that. And they know I’m aware." He lowers his voice conspiratorially. "These guys are evil!"

  I blink at him. "Killing people how?"

  "They go into the wards where people are dying and they take them. I’ve been speaking to my friends around the country. They’re getting everywhere, as if they’re grouping and planning something."r />
  "Do you know anything about the Reapers? They could be doing that," asks Alek.

  "Reapers, Rose mentioned them; we've been looking into them to see what information is out there. We haven’t discovered much about them so far and can't figure out the link to psy-vamps." He whips his phone from his pocket and types madly onto the screen.

  "The whats?"

  "Psy-vamps...energy vampires. That’s what you are."

  Whoa. Okay. I have a species.

  "Reapers kill people, and there’s at least one Reaper in the hospital," Alek says. I knew as soon as they spoke, Alek would open up.

  Tom’s eyes widen. "Who?"

  I shade my eyes with my hand and look at Tom. "The Reaper is here to kill me."

  "Why you?"

  "Because I shouldn’t be here, but that’s a different issue. I’m still not entirely clear what you say is going on?"

  Tom pulls out his notepad again, and I groan. "I think they might be paving the way for something big, whoever is doing this," he whispers. "Demon big. It’s not only demons and psy-vamps out in the world; the supernatural are everywhere. All it takes is someone to come in with enough power to unite them and then…Who knows? They might enslave humans and take over the world!"

  I almost laugh at his dramatics. "Someone’s watched too many movies," I mutter and look to Alek. "We should speak to Finn," I say.

  "No!" says Alek.

  "Finn? Is he the Reaper? Can he help us?"

  "I said no!" Alek's raised voice catches the eye of a passer-by and he shifts his gaze to his shoes. "I'm not having anything to do with him, didn’t you listen? He’s here to kill Rose."

  "He said he wasn't," I protest.

  "And you believe him?"

  Tom flicks his gaze between the two of us with open-mouthed fascination. "Wow..."

  "What?" asks Alek sharply.

  "It's, like, all real!"

  I blink at him. "I thought you dedicated your life to paranormal investigations? You mean you didn't think any of it was real?"

  "Yeah, I did... just, seeing you guys. Huh."

  Alek's face darkens and he stiffens. "Rose. This is a waste of time; he can't help us."

  "What should we do?" asks Tom eagerly.

  "We? You don’t do anything; you can't be involved. Come on, Rose." Alek reaches out and takes my hand, an odd gesture which would be friendly hand-holding to normal couples. To us, he's trying to take over. I snatch my hand away.

  "Tom has contacts all over the country, Alek. He could help us!"

  "All over the world," puts in Tom, proudly. "I could help look into this. We’re already investigating and this is helpful.”

  Alek sighs at me as if I'm a petulant child. "Nobody else can get involved."

  "Why?"

  "Because the more people involved, the less hidden we are. Come on!" He attempts to take one of my hands again, and I fold them under my arms. "Fuck, Rose..." He stomps off.

  I hesitate and Tom inclines his head after Alek. "Friendly guy. You going after him?"

  "No, I’ve had enough of him for one day."

  Tom nods slowly then checks his watch. Who wears watches anymore? "I need to get back to work. Come down and see me when you get a chance; there’s other things I want to talk to you about."

  He wanders off in the same direction as Alek. I remain on the bench, watching people walking in and out of the hospital, kids kicking through autumn leaves, and close my eyes. I focus my senses on the sounds and smell of autumn in an English city. What curveball will they throw at me next?

  Chapter Seventeen

  A few hours later, I stare at the notices in the hospital, not paying attention to what I'm reading. There doesn't seem much point studying the gym membership offers, discount restaurants, and how to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack posters when they have no relevance to my screwed-up version of life.

  As I follow my list of rostered duties, my mind churns. I've accepted a hell of a lot of what Alek has told me, and with good reason, because I've witnessed and experienced the things he spoke about. But I've also heard a lot I have no comprehension of. I can’t Google my new "condition" and discover how to manage it. Although I bet, if I type in 'energy vampires' in a search box, some bizarre Tom-type theories would come up.

  Vampires.

  I'm not a vampire.

  Am I?

  No texts arrive from Alek, following his decision to walk away from our conversation with Tom. I’m disgruntled partly because of the attitude and partly because a deluded part of me thought taking our relationship to a physical level would change things.

  The elevator door clunks open, opposite the flaking paint wall in the coolest part of the hospital. I head over to the desk Tom sits behind and halt. A man leans across the desk in hospital blues, talking to him. From behind and in the shapeless hospital blues, it's difficult to see much of him apart from his neatly trimmed brown hair and imposing height.

  I deliberate whether to turn back to the lift but before I do, the man appears to sense me and turns. There's nothing remarkable about him; he reminds me of so many doctors I've met and then forgotten. He’s attractive but not in a way that would stick in your mind; the kind of attractive that comes from a friendly smile and confidence. The man flicks a gaze over me, registering who I am before pulling his features into those of someone who's pretending they don't know. I examine my trolley full of manila files as he passes then head toward Tom.

  Tom's usual jovial greeting is absent, his whiter face either the result of fright or lack of chocolate.

  "You okay?" I ask him.

  He chews a nail. "Are you?"

  "Why wouldn't I be?"

  "I'm worried about you 'cause you're... new to this."

  "What? Being half-dead?"

  Tom leans forward and looks down the hallway, but there's nobody else around. "Being caught in this weird shit. Come and stay with me," he blurts. "I have a share house. Get away from them."

  "I don't think that's the answer, Tom. Won't I accidentally hurt you with the energy draining?" God, that sounds weird coming from my own mouth.

  "Yeah, I didn't think. You just seem so normal. I'm scared for you living with this Alek guy."

  "You talk as if I'm human!" I hiss and tears prick at my eyes as I comprehend I'm not.

  Tom shifts in his seat and looks at his desk. "You are to me... I mean, not in a weird way, but because you still are in how you behave."

  "I need Alek because I need him to show me how to cope with what I am," I say softly. "I have to stay around him."

  Tom inhales and shakes his head slightly. "Listen, come over to mine tonight." I give him a dubious look. "There'll be a couple of other friends of mine there. I can show you what information we've gathered on Reapers so far."

  "I don't know..."

  Tom straightens as a blonde-haired nurse approaches and greets him. I step away, locating the files I have for him in my trolley and slap them on his desk.

  "You have my number?" he asks.

  The nurse giggles softly as I step away.

  ***

  The last place I need to visit before my shift finishes is the last place I want to go. ICU. My desire to avoid the place has doubled since I discovered my new friend, Finn, could be my assassin. Even thought he also admitted this, I'm torn between wanting to see Finn and hoping he'll stay away.

  To my relief, Chloe is on the ward front desk and I glance around looking for Finn as I chat.

  "Are you okay?" she asks.

  "Yes." Footsteps squeak on the tiled floor behind, and I turn sharply. A stocky man carrying a bunch of white flowers passes by; I relax.

  Chloe watches. "Is this about Finn? Are you avoiding him? I thought he'd been grumpier than usual."

  "Is he working today?" I ask, on alert for his arrival.

  "He's around somewhere; checking on patients, I think. Did you want to speak to him?"

  "No," I say, too hastily, and Chloe gives me a look of surprise. "I mea
n, yeah, things are awkward between us."

  "Oh, I see..." She fights a small smile. Oh, great, now she thinks I had sex with him. "Shame you guys didn't work out, you seem suited."

  "There's someone else, that's all." I attempt a nonchalant tone.

  Chloe leans across the desk. "Really? The hot housemate you mentioned? Tell all!"

  I pass her the boxes of medical supplies I've brought up and hold out the clipboard for her to sign. "Maybe some time later, I'm busy now."

  She nods, but neither of us offers to arrange a catch-up. Our connection is through her caring for me when I was dying, so I guess we're not best-friends material.

  I head down the magnolia-painted corridor toward the double doors at the end and catch sight of Finn in one of the rooms with a patient. He sits in a chair by the bed, completely still. I hesitate, curiosity getting the better of me. I can't see anything of the patient, but the plethora of machines around keeps track of their vitals. Unease trips along my spine as the word Reaper comes into my mind.

  "Excuse me."

  The tall man I saw with Tom earlier waits for me to move from the doorway. He's changed into dark trousers and a pale blue shirt and tie. He has a lanyard but no name badge, which means he must be one of the specialist doctors. His green eyes meet mine, and his proximity sends a cold energy into the space between us. He scrutinises my face for a moment then nods dismissively. The memory of Tom's words about something killing people in the hospital skitters across my mind, and I mutely step out of his way. Is this guy Between? His aura is different to Alek's or Finn's; yet, I don't think he's entirely human.

  When he enters the room, Finn stands. The two men are the same height and build, standing just inside each other’s personal space. Words are exchanged in low voices, Finn's expression neutral. Before Finn has a chance to notice me, I sidestep and head for the double doors, desperate to get out of the atmosphere starting to dizzy me.

  Do they know each other? I didn't want to think Finn was involved with the deaths; but the more I see, the less sure I am. Is this his accomplice?