Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy (24 page)

L
A life hummed all around
while I sat on a bench looking out over Santa Monica’s bluffs, cradling a plastic cup of lemon water, admiring how the sun sparkled off the gray Pacific. The pier loomed to my right. I ignored it like the people striding by ignored my brother and me with no clue they passed within inches of LA’s most dangerous demons.

My thoughts were fuzzy, and despite the heat, gooseflesh prickled my skin. I hadn’t eaten and had no idea what day it was. The events of the last few days or hours had blurred into one long lucid dream.

“Are we okay?” I watched distant ships interrupt the horizon. Whatever Del said next, I already knew the answer.

He leaned forward and tipped his head, making sure I couldn’t ignore him. His bangs fell over his dark eye, curtaining it. Maybe it was deliberate. Maybe it was habit. He looked at me, mouth tight and his normal blue eye sincere. “We’re always okay.”

A ghost of a smile skimmed my lips. I wanted to believe him.

We’d searched Allard’s rooms for cash and fled Fairhaven before the demons realized Allard wasn’t coming back. I’d left Van in the basement, her gaze lost in the spot where Allard had ceased to be. Maybe Allard’s death affected her more than I’d thought, or her shock could just as easily have come from the sudden gap in power. Allard had been right. As soon as Del had scattered the demon dealer’s existence, the thread of power we’d felt since the ascension had snapped and fallen away. I fit inside my own skin again, just like before—only it wasn’t at all like before.

“I’ll grab us the bus tickets.” Del stood.

“Sure.” I smiled, but by the time it reached my lips, it had turned icy.

He crossed the street and swung a glance over his shoulder, tossing me a grin before tucking his hands into his pockets and heading for the ticket booth. A bus pulled up between us with a squeal of brakes, and I faced ahead again, wondering why I felt so cold.

I’d crossed the line. We both had. The difference was, I’d had a choice. He’d pleaded. He’d wanted me to stop him the way I always had before.

Killing Allard had felt good, better than good. I was spawned in a lab, placed into a box, and told to survive the onslaught of terror. I survived. I became that terror. We had both survived, and we’d always been there for each other. But I’d
used
my brother, and that…that felt good too.

Guilt filled my insides with lead. I could have blamed it all on my demon. Del might even have bought it. That would have been the easy thing to do. It would also have been a lie.

It hadn’t been my demon. It was my choice. All of it.

I was supposed to be the one in control. I’d failed. And my brother was walking a tightrope between human and…something worse than demon, something bad enough to give the monsters nightmares.

I was one of those monsters. I always had been, but I’d hidden behind PC34A. What was it Torrent had said? Keeping my demon on a short leash would backfire? I should have listened. Maybe he could have helped me, helped us. Now I was leaving Torrent behind with no explanation and no goodbye. I was running away from it all with a brother who clearly didn’t trust me.

We weren’t okay.
Chaos destroys.

I shifted on the bench and swirled my drink, watching the miniature whirlpool. I wasn’t sure if I trusted Del. Or myself. Even now,
demon
leeched into my veins, squirmed beneath my skin, and knotted around my consciousness. It poked at my humanity like a cat teasing a mouse. I’d always controlled her. At least, I’d thought I had. But PC34A had controlled her. And without PC34A, there was no reprieve in sight. Even worse, I
wanted
her close. Having her inside hardened me, built me into so much more. Made me…complete. It was a slippery slope, one Del would be feeling too.

Dangerous is not understanding our demons.

Sighing, I lifted my head. The Pacific was choppy today, its currents dangerous. There was a storm somewhere out at sea, far enough away not to hurt us, but I felt it all the same.

We had to leave LA. Go anywhere. Get away from Fairhaven. Go south, where there were fewer people until we could learn
control
without PC34A.

Torrent had been right about that. Relying on the Institute’s drug wasn’t an option. Torrent… He seemed to know a thing or two for someone who had no memory of who he was before six months ago. Without his memories, he had a chance to break free, start again, make a new life. He could walk away and not be tempted to look back.

I plucked the print free of my back pocket and ran my gaze over the now-tattered image of Torrent crouched over his kill. He was right not to want his memories back. He’d seemed like a good guy under all the half blood neurosis. If he was lucky, he’d never learn the truth of what he was. Not knowing had to be better than realizing he’d once been a monster. I stroked some of the creases out of the print with my thumb, wishing I could forget the killer in me.

A shadow darkened the picture. I folded the print in half and squinted into the sun’s glare. “Oh, hey.”
Speak of the devil.
My heart raced.

Torrent half-smiled down at me, backlit by the sun. I couldn’t read his eyes. I tucked the print back into my pocket. He hadn’t seen it, and with a glance at the nearest trashcan. I figured I’d ditch it right before Del and I left. No use in keeping the evidence.

“No goodbye?” He tucked a thumb into his jeans pocket. He had his patched-up old coat back, I noticed, and the crossbow tucked discreetly inside.

I couldn’t tell from his voice whether he was teasing or genuine. Either way, the words added another weight to my guilty burden. “It’s been kinda crazy.”

He nodded tightly. “Vanessa told me everything.” I caught how his smile ticked into his cheek, a disguised wince. He was back with Van. I felt bad—I did—but what could I do? Van was his fight, not mine. I had my own problems.

“So I guess the court was a bust.” I leaned back and sipped some lemon water, still shielding my eyes from the glare. It hadn’t escaped my notice how he stood demon still, his leaning posture deceptively relaxed.

The last time I’d seen him, he’d been playing with the
sasori
in the pit. He’d teased that lesser and put on a deliberate show for the crowd and Allard. He’d been bloodied but alive. So
very
alive. The memory summoned a purr to the back of my throat. I cleared it with a small cough.

He pinched his lower lip between his teeth and cast his gaze over my head. “Allard’s gone,” he said, our thoughts clearly coming from the same source. “But he started a rising.”

A sudden breeze swirled around us, whipping up dust and carrying Torrent’s words away.

Did Torrent
care
that I’d killed Allard? Allard had an affection for Torrent. Not
feelings
, demons don’t do those, but there had been something between them. I dismissed the thought. Allard had torn into Torrent. You don’t feel anything but hate for someone who does that.

“I’m done with it. Demons. Fairhaven.” I said, careful to keep my voice level. “Me and Del, we can’t be here.”

Torrent continued to look across the street behind me, his focus soft as his thoughts wandered. “Funny how we try to escape our mistakes, but they always catch up with us. Eventually.”

I squinted into the sun, trying to get a read on his expression. He seemed to be smiling, but a chill in his words shivered across my skin like a whispered threat. I noticed the sunlight glint off something in his hand. An injector?

“Why do you have that?”

He lifted the injector and turned it over, catching the light. “I’m sorry.” He sighed, long and slow. “At least I think I am… Sometimes I’m not sure.” His ocean eyes flicked to me. “I don’t have a choice. That’s the truth.”

Sorry
? I set my drink carefully down beside me and pushed to my feet. Torrent eyed me out of the corner of his eye, his hands loose at his sides and his stance ready for an attack, as it had been since he’d arrived.

“What have you done?” I turned my back on him to search for my brother across the street. He’d only been gone a few minutes.

The crowd meandered, ticket lines shuffling forward, but Del wasn’t among them. He wasn’t along the street either.

“He wants more, Gem.”

Oh, no…

“He left willingly,” Torrent said. “He was worried though, about you… Vanessa told me to lie to appease him. I’m supposed to tell you she’s taken him by force, using the injector, but he wanted—”

“Liar!”
No, no. Del would never choose to abandon me. Never. They took him.
I whirled on Torrent, swinging my right fist low and fast, but he blocked the strike and skipped out of the reach. “The last demon that took my brother is a pile of ashes!” Ice burned through my veins, eager to be free.

Torrent lifted both his hands, but a cutting smile cheapened the surrender. “So you’d believe a lie, but not the truth? You don’t see the truth, do you? You can’t see who he is, who I am. You don’t really know who you are either, do you?”

They took him. They took my brother.
“Where is he?” I pushed forward, backing Torrent up.

“Safe.” A muscle in his cheek twitched. With his hands still raised, his shirt cuffs had slipped, revealing bands of broken, raw skin at both his wrists. He’d been restrained.

“Safe with Van?” I snarled. How could he stand there and lie to my face after everything we’d been through? “Is she the one who gave you the scars?” He flinched as my words found an open wound. “How safe can he possibly be? You have no idea what you’re dealing with—”

“You’re wrong.” He was losing his smile now, and the gray of the restless Pacific gathered in his eyes. “You don’t know your brother as well as you think you do. You can’t.”

“What do you know of brothers, of
family
? You’re alone.” I stalked forward, driving Torrent backward toward the edge of the cliff and the two-hundred-foot drop to the freeway below. My words cut deeper still, and maybe I’d have felt something if he hadn’t taken Del from me. “Take me to him now, and I’ll let you live.”

Torrent’s lips twitched. His teeth sank into his bottom lip, biting back a demon smile. “Let me live? Are you going to fight me, Gem?” His boots scuffed backward through grit. “I’d like that, I think. I’ve got nothing left to lose.” A few more steps backward, his hands still raised, and he tossed the injector at my feet. “A man with nothing left is a man with no weakness.”

I’d fight him. I’d find his weakness. And I’d kill him too, if it came to that. “Nobody gets between me and my brother,” I snarled, my element rising. “Not even friends.”

His demon smile twisted, peeling back to reveal sharp teeth. “Friends? We’re demons, Gem.”

Where was the Torrent I’d sat with while he’d huddled in a corner making it rain indoors, the Torrent who’d teased me about his tail? I’d seen him laugh, had his arms around me as he’d tried to stop me from losing my mind. He was more than this demon. And then I remembered the print burning a hole in my back pocket—the demon crouched over his kill—and Officer Ramírez’s words. So many people dead. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You wanted help? We can help each other. Don’t be your demon, Torrent. You’re more than that.”

“I know what I am. Do you?” And he was gone—vanished over the edge.

I lunged, shock driving my heart into my throat. What the—

The leathery flap of wings beat the air. Shards of light danced off his shimmering scales as he soared over the barren freeway toward the pier.

I couldn’t go after him. Even if I could summon enough ice to form wings, mine weren’t designed for flight. I watched him glide until he disappeared behind the Ferris wheel, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

He was wrong about everything. I knew my brother better than anyone, the things we’d endured, the memories we’d shared. Together, we’d survived. But there, behind my defiance, a tiny fracture of doubt broke through. I saw the memory of my brother during the ascension with no restraints. I saw him striding toward the
vitiosus
with no fear. I heard Allard tell me that Delta was right where he wanted to be, with him.

We’re always okay.

I wouldn’t—couldn’t—believe it. Del wouldn’t leave me, not by choice. No, demons weren’t capable of understanding it. Their lies wouldn’t undermine my trust in my brother.

Scrambling back to my feet, I kicked the empty injector over the edge of the cliff and screamed a curse after Torrent until the human sound broke, and a ragged demon cry clawed its way up my throat.

Demons lied. That was the only truth that mattered.

Court or no court, I would hunt Van and Torrent. If they wanted me to rise, so be it. I’d rise, and I’d do exactly what I was made to do: kill them both.

Survival of the fittest.

I always win.

T
he line
outside Hollywood’s
Decadent-i Taverna
stretched half way to the Hard Rock Café down the Walk of Fame. One look at my faded combat pants, tired boots, and filthy top and it was obvious to me, the doorman with the severe buzz cut, and the well-dressed patrons, that short of a miracle, I wasn’t getting in. Good thing then, I had a ticket.

Buzz cut pushed his hand out—falling short of touching me for fear of a lawsuit—I plucked the black feather from its personal space inside my top and held it out. “Give your boss this.”

He eyed the feather like it was rigged to explode. As far as any human knew, it was just a black feather. Sure, it was larger than any feather he’d probably seen. The silver gossamer fringes made it pretty, but it was still only a feather. I could see buzz cut’s thoughts churning behind his eyes. Hollywood was full of crazy people, but my feather was just the right side of dramatic to actually mean something. He took one long look at my puppy-dog eyes and barked an order into his earpiece. One of his lackeys appeared and took the feather away. Buzz cut grunted something that sounded like
wait
, so I waited, chewing my nails, leaning against the side wall, well away from the line of fancily dressed people, feeling curiously naked without the feather tucked into my bra.

It had been a week since Van and Torrent had taken Del. I should have known running away was too easy. The demons would never let us go. If it wasn’t demons hunting us, it was the Institute. There was no escape, none but the choice to face it all head on. So that’s what I was going to do. But with no home and no cash, my options were limited. I couldn’t walk into Fairhaven, where I assumed they were, and attack. Van alone would roast my half blood skin off my bones. I needed help.

“You’re in,” Buzz cut drawled, clearly not happy about letting a street urchin through the velvet rope.

I tossed him a wide smile, took my feather back, and headed inside, feeling a hundred scowls crawl up my back. Three private security goons escorted me through the main restaurant area, toward the polished black granite bar that ran along the length of the main floor. While diners chatted, clinked glasses, and scraped cutlery, the bar area was more subdued and draped in soft lighting. That’s where I found the Prince of Pride, leaning back against the bar with two women plastered to his sides. Whatever they were saying, he seemed to be enjoying it, if the broad grin was any indication.

I could do this. I knew exactly what he was. Demon. Through and through. He’d lie. He’d manipulate. He’d try to spin me around and tie me up in knots. But I knew his kind, and when it all shook out, demons were demons. They’re all the same. I sucked in a deep breath and pushed on.

Pride lifted his deceptively lazy eyes to me and lingered his gaze on the feather in my hand. I had hoped he’d send his arm ornaments away, but they looked at me, their smooth faces artificially flat. Frowning creates wrinkles, don’t you know?

“Little half blood,” Pride said, the resonance of his voice much like a big cat’s purr, the man-eating kind of cat. “You’ve still got my gift.”

So he was going with the American accent, putting on appearances to complete the act. He wore the same magenta shirt and black pants he’d materialized out of nowhere in the apartment, making the flamboyant pink look exquisite against his midnight skin. I tried not to recall how I’d seen all of him, very naked, burned wings and all, and of course failed the moment the image flashed through my mind. Heat touched my cheeks, and I prayed the dim restaurant lighting hid the color.

“I need your help,” I blurted. The quicker I could get this over with, the quicker I could get back out there looking for Del.

Pride’s smile grew slowly, hungrily, lighting up his human-looking eyes with a very inhuman glimmer. He shooed the women away with a sweep of his hand. They harrumphed, jilted, and slunk off into the crowd, leaving Pride to turn all of his formidable attention on me. Leaning one arm on the bar, he beamed what would have been an award-winning smile and eyed me like he’d prefer roasted half blood served to him on a platter.

My human heart fluttered against my ribs. Was it possible to shrink under his gaze? But my demon stirred, shifted, and pooled strength into my purpose.

I was ready for this.

“A half blood walks into a bar...” He waved the bartender over and waited as the bartender wordlessly planted two glasses on the bar and sloshed a dark liquid into each. “And asks the devil for a drink.”

“I didn’t—Wait. What?”
The devil?

Pride lifted his drink to his smiling lips. “I like where this is going.”

All around us seemed to quiet, everything but my heart, which pounded harder with every passing second.

Delight swirled in his stormy eyes. He watched me take up the seat beside him and, with a rakish smile, said, “Tell me
exactly
what you need.”

* * *

T
he series continues
in
Chaos Unleashed, #2 Chaos Rises
series. Don’t miss the release by signing up to my mailing list here:
Pippa DaCosta’s website.

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Read on for an excerpt of Beyond The Veil, the first book in the original and acclaimed Veil Series.