The Veil: Corruption (HASEA CHRONICLES BOOK 2)

by Stuart Meczes

  She smoothed a hand down the front of my chest and then walked out of the room without turning around. Outside, Sage Faru tried to comfort her, but she shrugged him off. Withdrawing her Blood Brothers from her belt, she took a deep breath and transformed into a soldier, marching back into the base with grim determination on her face.

  Sage Faru entered the room and stood in front of the row of Guardians at the far end of the holding cell. They looked guilty as sin, holding automatic weapons loaded with all manner of deadly rounds. One of them stepped forward and reconnected the shackles so that my hands and feet were bound, but I was no longer tied to the bolt in the floor. He retreated and Sage Faru took his place, staring at me with his incandescent eyes.

  “The Guardians know what to do. They will defend the base with the every ounce of strength they have. But if it’s time to move, they will get us to where we need to go.” His eyes seemed to stare right into my mind. “And you know what you have to do.”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  He clicked his fingers and breathed in deeply, as if taking in a hidden scent. Within a few seconds his frail appearance changed, and he grew visibly younger. The deep wrinkles on his face disappeared and the whiteness of his eyes grew until they shone as bright as the cell tiles. I knew without seeing that he had deactivated every Golem around the base and that all of his lifeforce had returned to him. He lifted his hands and placed them either side of my head, fingers pressed against my temples.

  “Remember, Alexander. This is your mind, and you still have some control over it. Whatever this evil tries to do to you, know that you can tip the scales back into your favour. You can manipulate things just as it can.”

  My heart crashed against my chest like a battering ram. I could feel the fear rising in my chest. All I could think about were all the people I would lose if this went wrong. All the people I would never have a chance to say goodbye to. The notion filled me with anguish so deep I had to stifle a sob to stop it escaping my throat.

  “You are a brave and courageous man, Alexander. I have every faith you will succeed.”

  I hope so.

  He gave a wan smile and then his face grew controlled. Prepared.

  “Are you ready, Alexander?”

  I took in a deep breath and steadied myself. Gabriella, I love you.

  “I’m ready.”

  31

  Gabriella

  As I left Alex’s cell, I switched from being upset to determined. These new SOS, wherever they had come from, wanted to take my soulmate from me. I was going to make damn sure that never happened.

  The Warren was prepared. Newly-installed gun turrets were manned, every conceivable entrance was covered, and we were all linked into coms through Crow’s Nest, so we knew where to be and when to be there. Everyone was doing their part. We had an escape route planned to take us to Black Dawn and Outpost Atlantis if worse came to worst. I prayed things wouldn’t come to that.

  The Nexus doors slid open, and I came face to face with Sophia. She was standing in the crowded entrance hall dressed in a HASEA uniform. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail like mine, and she was kitted out for war. She had ripped her old uniform down and wore the part with the emblem like a sash across her chest. Midnight peeped out of a pouch on her belt in the form of a shrew.

  “Sophia, what are you doing?” I said.

  “I’m here to do my part, just like everyone else.”

  I tried to control my frustration. “Sophia, I don’t have time for this. The SOS are coming!”

  “I know that! That’s why I am here to help.”

  “No way, it’s dangerous. We don’t know how it could affect you.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Well, I do! We made a promise to Midnight to keep you safe.”

  Her blue and green eyes stared into mine as she squared herself. “Gabriella, regardless of what you promised on that day, I’m a Guardian before a Witch. I don’t belong in the Coven. I belong out here, with all of you. And you know it.”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You owe me. This is your fault.”

  I wanted to tell her that my interference hadn’t made things go wrong. But I wouldn’t betray Tommy.

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Fair or not, if you don’t let me take part, I’ll just join the battle anyway. Would you rather I was on my own or with you, fighting as part of your team where you can keep an eye on me?”

  “Why are you putting me in this position?”

  “Because you are the lead Huntmaster in this battle. You have the authority to allow me to take part officially.”

  I grit my teeth. “Mio Dio, we don’t even know if Sage Faru is going to let you stay in the Alliance.”

  “Exactly, he hasn’t decided yet. That’s a discussion for then, this is happening right now.” She pointed at one of the speakers, which had changed from a wail to a rhythmic click. “Like you said, they are coming. Now. What’s it going to be, Gabriella?”

  I gave a defeated sigh. “Fine.”

  Sophia’s face broke into a smile that momentarily disarmed me. It was the face of the sweet girl I remembered before everything had gone so, so wrong. That girl was still in there somewhere, underneath that older, bitter exterior. I just hoped one day she’d come back out.

  I pulled out a spare communication bracelet from the pouch on my belt. “Put this on and link in.”

  She clicked it around her wrist and pressed down on the button. “Crow’s Nest, this is Sophia Winter linking in. Fighting with Hunter squad Orion.” There was a crackle of static and then a confused voice said, “Sophia?” Other Guardians, who hadn’t yet noticed her, looked up in confusion.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m going to need confirmation from Huntmaster De Luca.”

  I raised the bracelet to my lips. “Confirmation given.”

  “Uh, right, okay Miss Winter, you’re linked in. Good luck.”

  We walked to where the rest of Orion stood, between Trojan and Artemis, checking their weapons. Delagio, Scarlett, Grey, Danny, Aran, and Hollie all looked up as we joined them.

  “You’ve all heard about Sophia by now. She’s joining our team. I don’t want to hear anything about it.”

  Grey shrugged. Delagio gave her arm a squeeze. “Good to have you back on the team, half pint.”

  Sophia gave a grin. “More like full pint these days.”

  I glanced at the Biomote, and a sliver of ice entered my heart. “They are less than a mile away!” I shouted. “Everyone, battle positions!”

  *

  The SOS hit with the force of a tidal wave.

  It started with a tense voice over coms. “This is turret one. I have a visual on the SOS. Oh Jesus!”

  “A-are you seeing this?” shouted another turret.

  I didn’t know what they meant. Why the turret gunners were so utterly panicked. Then they appeared on the horizon and I understood. There was no marching horde of red-cloaked soldiers. This time they rode inside armoured vehicles, all manned with their own deadly guns. A sea of them, cased in reinforced metal painted with red streaks, coming at us like a tornado.

  I heard the unmistakable sound of helicopter blades and saw a mass of black appear in the redness of the setting sun. My breath caught in my chest. These weren’t normal SOS, desperately trying to achieve their goal.

  This was an army.

  One of the helicopters broke ahead of the group and started to fire up its guns. There was a loud whirring sound as they spun around, faster and faster.

  “Everybody get behind cover!” I shouted into the bracelet.

  We all dove behind barriers as a hail of bullets screamed from the helicopter. They thudded overhead, and the casings pinged down onto the gravel outside. They were the size of marker pens, and purple poison oozed out from within.

  “Turret one and two are down!” came a tense voice. “I repeat, turret one and two are down!”

  The helicop
ter banked to the side and started to come in for another attack.

  “All remaining turrets fire!” I shouted into the bracelet.

  The base shuddered with the deafening booms of ten heavy-duty guns firing at the helicopter. More bullet casings rained down from the roof above, joining the high-calibre Banshee rounds. Blasts of white-hot ion lasers blazed into the distance. One of the cannons clipped the tail of the helicopter, and it spun around wildly, screaming into the ground and exploding in a ball of searing fire. A small group of SOS evacuated before it fell. They hit the ground hard. Some didn’t get up again. Those who did were dressed in red uniforms like ours, topped with flowing capes and faces hidden behind black metal masks. These weren’t normal SOS; these were some kind of new ones. Elite.

  The turrets finished off the evacuated elite as they sprinted towards us, armed to the teeth. One of them managed to get off a pop shot and I saw a Luminar from Artemis’s exposed head snap backwards.

  “Shirene!” shouted Larik, pulling her behind the barricades. But I knew it was too late; she was gone.

  The turrets continued to fire as the swarm of armoured vehicles closed in, driving around the flaming ruins of the helicopter. Some overturned as they exploded, but more kept coming – a constant wave of them. The choppers were doing the worst damage, weaving in and out and blazing off rounds that were causing mass damage to the base. A trail of bullet holes raced up a narrow space between Danny and Hollie’s barricade, smashing tiles and taking half of the banister out.

  “All those who can fly, we need you to take out the pilots!” I yelled into the coms. “Turrets hold your fire!”

  On cue, a cluster of Succubi and Pixies hiding in the tall trees shot out, clamping onto the helicopters like magnets. They scrambled about, punching and shooting their way into the cockpits. A series of red figures spilled out of the cockpit doors and thudded to the ground with loud cracks.

  “Take them out!” shouted Larik, and I nodded to my team. Leaning over the barriers, we ended those who were still moving by the time they stood up.

  The front row of helicopters banked wildly, devoid of their pilots, and the Guardians broke away. The whining machines crashed into the ground with shuddering booms that sent fire spewing into the air. Some of the Guardians had made it back to the trees, but others had been shot out of the air by those in the spinning helicopters – one final act of revenge before death. They lay on the ground, breathing hard as their broken wings jerked around behind them.

  “Front teams, save those you can!” I shouted into the bracelet, and Guardians hidden in the shrubs sprinted out into the fray, dodging bullets from the advancing vehicles and grabbing their comrades. As soon as they reached them, I realised I’d made a terrible mistake. A Chinook helicopter broke through the ranks and aimed a cluster of guns down at them. They were sitting ducks.

  Beside me, Sophia stood up.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.

  “Saving their lives,” she replied. Closing her eyes, she spoke some kind of incantation and then held out her hands. Two searing balls of fire exploded from her palms, sending her flying into the barricade behind from the recoil. I scrambled to retrieve the dazed girl and then turned to see what she’d done. The fireballs grew in size until they were as big as exercise balls. Far bigger than anything a regular Pyromancer could produce.

  One missed, but the other ploughed into the helicopters’ front blades. They blew off and fanned down to the ground, buckling and scraping up a shower of gravel before coming to a rest near the front doors. The Chinook tilted forward and fell towards the ground in a diagonal.

  Towards us.

  “Everyone get back!” I commanded, dragging Sophia with me. We all retreated up the stairs as the helicopter crashed through the front wall in a storm of stone and metal, taking out the barricades and half the stairs with it. Among the twisted, flaming shell of the helicopter, a side door slipped open and a drove of elite jumped out.

  “Turrets keep firing, take out as many as you can.” I turned to the Guardians. “You know what to do.”

  All three Huntmaster squads sprang into action. Del flung out a series of marbles towards one of the elite. It reacted in an instant, rolling out of the way and flinging a knife at him. He jerked his head to the side, and the blade stuck into the wall.

  “Oh hell no,” he growled and jumped down onto the wreckage, striding towards the enemy.

  I turned to look at Sophia, and my stomach clenched. Something had changed in her face. It was slight, but she had definitely aged. I motioned for her arm, but she moved away from my reach. “I’m okay,” she assured me, and then walked along the balcony, firing shots at the emerging elite.

  Hollie loaded up an arrow and then faltered. “Huntmaster, I can’t tell what species they are!”

  She was right. The shapes of their bodies gave away their genders, but it was impossible to identify their species. That was obviously their plan.

  I fired a gun and then pushed Danny out of the way as a bullet thundered towards him. Below, Artemis and Trojan were locked in battle with the elite, and the clash of swords and burst of gunfire filled the destroyed entrance hall.

  “I don’t know either!” I shouted.

  “To hell with it.” She loaded up three different arrows and fired them together. They stuck into an elite climbing towards us, and it flew backwards, ricocheting of the side of the helicopter and onto the tiles below. “That’ll work.” She used the next shot to knock the mask off another. Identifying it as a Bloodseeker, she fired a wooden arrow into its forehead.

  Good idea.

  “Remove their masks if you can!” I commanded into the bracelet as I sprang away from a spinning axe aimed at my head. “Use it to identify them.” The elite came at me, and I dodged the blows before sticking a Blood Brother through the eyehole in the black mask. As it went down, the elite stuck a knife into my side. I gasped in surprised pain. The wound wasn’t deadly, but it told me something crucial. These guys don’t go down without a fight.

  Nearby on the balcony, Danny was back to back with Grey, defending themselves against a trio of elite. One of them swung for him with a blade and caught his arm. He screamed before using Penance to knock its mask off. “Imp!” he shouted and the pair spun around, Grey loading an iron round in a split second and firing it into the Imp’s chest. Danny released all Penance’s blades and stuck one end into the second elite’s throat, then spun around and did the same with the other side. One of them did the trick. The Rogue gurgled and spilled to the carpet.

  The third knocked Penance from Danny’s hand before he could react.

  “Shit!”

  Grey was busy fighting off another elite. I ran to help, but got my leg pulled from under me by the Rogue I thought I had killed. It crawled towards me, blood oozing from its eye. I stabbed with absolute fury until my attacker fell still. From my position on the floor, I looked up helplessly at Danny. Before the elite could do anything, an invisible force grabbed its hands and forced its own poison-coated blade into its throat. They gurgled as purple spittle flew from their lips and they folded to the floor. The air shimmered and then slipped away.

  Thank god for Aran.

  An elite pounced on me, knocking my blades from my hands. I smashed a fist sideways, knocking the mask from its head. Staring back at me was a Bloodling, his pale face covered in tribal tattoos that resembled Alex’s. He gripped me by the throat and rammed his forehead into my face. I heard a crack and felt warm blood rushing down my throat.

  “The Dark Vessels’ soulmate. This will earn me some brownie points,” he laughed, crushing his hand against my windpipe. He climbed on top of me, using his weight to hold me down. I struggled against him, but he was stronger than any SOS I’d fought before.

  A gun appeared at the side of his head, and he flew sideways as a wooden round burst into his temple. His head smashed into the wall, smearing it with blood as he slid down, decaying into ash by the time he hit the floor. I stared up at
Sophia. She offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet. I spat out a mouthful of blood.

  “Thank you,” I breathed.

  “It’s my job,” she said and then went off to carry on fighting.

  I injected a booster into my wrist and held onto the archway until I felt well enough to continue. Scooping up the Blood Brothers, I stared around. The elite were almost all dead, but they had taken several Guardians with them. Among the red figures lay enough black uniforms that I had to steel myself against rising panic.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

  Outside, the turrets continued to thunder, but I could hear the shouts of the elite as they climbed out of their vehicles. Pressing the coms button, I ordered into it: “Crow’s Nest, send backup to the Entrance Hall immediately.”

  There was a bloated pause. “We can’t, Miss De Luca. All other squads are engaged in battle. The Warren is completely overrun. Yeth’s Army are everywhere!”

  “Yeth’s Army?”

  “That’s what they are calling themselves.”

  I swallowed, and then shouted to those who could hear. “We need to retreat. We can’t hold them. Everybody to me!”

  A bruised and battered Larik nodded up to me. He waved his arm and his Guardians climbed up onto the helicopter, followed by Trojan. The elite from the Chinook had all fallen, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest broke through and reached us. Only twenty-five of the forty Guardians were still alive to join me on the balcony.

  Powerful weapons started to burst through the walls, thumping into the Chinook. The elite were carving a path through by any means.

  “Follow me!”

  I turned and ran down the nearest corridor. Those who were left sprinted after me. I heard a deafening boom behind us as the Chinook exploded. The hallway shook, and I turned to see a wall of fire sweeping towards us. “Get into a room!” I screamed, kicking open a door and spilling into an apartment. Hollie, Danny, and Sophia flew into the room and landed on me. On the opposite side, I saw Grey, Delagio, and Aran being forced into an apartment by the blast. A tormented scream came from the hallway and dread filled me up.