Beyond the Veil Read Free Page A

workshop is gone. Don ’ t let him take your life as well. ”
    Mention of my brother wasn ’ t going to scare me into staying, although it probably should have. Akil was right, but he was also plucking at my weaknesses, reminding me why I needed him. Not so long ago, I ’ d have let Akil lure me back in. It seemed like an easy decision to make. He ’ d protect me, give me everything he thought I needed, but it wasn ’ t as simple as that. For much of my life, I ’ d been someone ’ s property, pushed from pillar to post, toyed with and exploited. Akil could disguise it behind an offer of kindness, but he was no different.
    I turned my head away. “ No. I ’ m sorry. ” I wasn ’ t. “ I ’ m going home, Akil. Don ’ t try to stop me. ”

Chapter Three
    I twisted the key in the lock and shoved the door open, sweeping back the mound of mail that had gathered on the floor behind it. Depositing my keys and mail on the kitchen countertop, I swept a hand back through my hair, holding it there as I scanned my tiny apartment. Everything looked as it should: a few faux suede cushions strategically scattered on the couch, a collection of generic canvas prints on the wall, but it felt different. Or perhaps it was me. I felt different.
    I flicked on the LCD TV, letting the comforting murmur of background voices fill my apartment, and largely ignored its chattering until a news reporter caught my eye as she challenged a stiffly poised official, “… how do you explain these freakish events, such as the flooding near Beacon Hill in July? We ’ re hearing reports of demons; is this true? Are there demons in Boston? ” I reached for the remote and turned off the TV. I ’ d had about all I could stomach of demons for one day.
    It was only in the last few years that the word ‘ demon ’ had become headline news. No longer content to hide in the shadows, they hid in plain sight, walking among us. I ’ m proof of that. The public were largely misinformed, perhaps deliberately so. For most, demons were a curiosity. A mild annoyance. Unless cornered, they looked human, and talk of their ‘ powers ’ had been toned down, made to look like bizarre coincidences or blamed on climate change. Snow in summer is a dead give-away. While their numbers were scarce, the government had a hope of controlling the rumors, but they had no idea that, for every demon caught, another ten had successfully infiltrated daily life.
    Demons were just the beginning. Existence of the veil — the invisible barrier between our world and the demon realm — was not public knowledge. The government was keeping a lid on that particular bag of snakes. Demons are one thing; another world neighboring ours? A netherworld, where the sky broils, and the air flows with the elements of chaos? People weren ’ t ready for that.
    I shrugged off a creeping weariness, rolling my shoulders and dragging my hand down my neck, trying to ease the stiffness in my muscles. I ached in places I didn ’ t know could ache. Shock and physical damage had taken their toll, as had the meeting with Akil. At least he ’ d let me leave and had even offered to throw some feelers out to see if my assassin could be identified. Going to Akil had been a risk. I ’ d turned my back on him, and wasn ’ t someone who took that sort of denial lightly. I ’ d pay in some way for asking for his help. He ’ d make sure of that.
    I flicked my gaze to the bunch of flowers in the lounge window. The heads drooped. A few brittle leaves rested on the sill beside the vase, a sure sign I ’ d spent too much time at the workshop lately. I retrieved the flowers and dumped them in the trash, rinsing out the vase and upending it on the drainer.
    I leaned back against the sink. Everything was so quiet. The double-glazed windows stifled the constant drone of the city, but today I almost felt as though I needed the noise. The city lived. It breathed: the blaring car horns, the rapid shrill of the