Page 1 of Veiled Yearning

1

What's Wrong with Intimidating?

GAVRIL

It wasn’t supposed to be this close of a battle.

There wasn’t supposed to be a chance of losing.

Frederick used his ability to carefully monitor the Custodians before we mounted our attack. Though he was watching from afar—as his skill as a Watcher allows him to do—he’s never made a mistake.

What Frederick sees is real.

Four of them to our seven. Four moderately powerful vampires, who should have been easily dispersed by a group like ours—not just vampires as well, but some of the most powerful Sentinels, with almost a millennium of experience between us. Yet, here we are, fighting so much harder than we expected.

We have three Custodians down so far, which should have signaled the end of the battle.

Except there weren’t four when we got inside. There were eight.

I’m fighting my second enemy now, my body moving instinctually, trained by centuries of practice.

This one can stun—each time he lands a punch, I’m knocked off balance, suffering a moment of vulnerability. But now that I know his trick, I can look for his little tells; the way his shoulders tense before he tries to hit me again, the way his eyes narrow in anticipation.

I use my much larger body and considerable strength to wear him down, raining punishing blows down on him.

My fist crashing into his jaw, snapping the bone.

A side kick that cracks several ribs.

If he wasn’t a vampire, he’d be on the floor already. But he manages to keep himself upright, sneaking in enough hits to keep our fight dragging on.

Alex is on the other side of the room, using his ability to force a man up to the ceiling, defying the constraints of gravity.

Sam has two more Custodians slowed; they’re still trying to run, but barely moving. Jules is throwing a flurry of blades at them—thanks to her telekinetic powers, she can send dozens of small knives across the room without even touching them.

David is in close combat, like me. His invisibility was helpful getting into the building, but now he’s using a wicked scythe to slash at the Custodian opposing him.

And over in the corner, Frederick and Cait are standing guard over Knight, our fellow Sentinel and the man we came here to rescue. Though they aren’t fighting, they’re just as valuable here; if they need, they can create a sort of bubble of invulnerability, shielding Knight if anyone tries to hurt him again.

We’re gradually gaining ground, as David finally fells his opponent and cuts off his head.

Then mine goes down, after I land a punch hard enough to shatter his sternum. Moments later, he’s been decapitated, too.

I jump in to help Sam, picking off the first of the two Custodians he’s slowing. David grabs the second, and Jules switches over to help Alex.

Five minutes later, the battle is over, and the seven of us are still standing. Triumphant, but humbled and bloodier than we anticipated.

Not seven. Eight. Knight is free now, released from his days-long captivity. And no matter how this mission progressed, the end result is what we wanted.

Knight. With the ability to speak telepathically, even from a distance, his ability is one that we need. And his power is one that the Custodians definitely want to use for their own benefit. Judging from the look of him—covered in dried blood and his clothes in tatters—his captors didn’t take kindly to Knight resisting them.

And of course he did. Knight might be one of the younger members of the Sentinels, but he’s completely dedicated. It’s another reason we rushed to this falling-down warehouse outside of Boston so that we could rescue our ally and friend.

But we thought it would be relatively easy, based on Frederick’s observations. If we had known there were four more Custodians here, hidden from us, we would have brought more reinforcements. Frederick would never have taken the risk of bringing his fiancée, Cait, here if he’d thought there was a chance of the battle going wrong.

There are obviously developments we need to discuss, but first, we gather by a pile of pallets near the entrance and wait for the dead Custodians’ bodies to disintegrate. After about ten minutes or so, their bodies will become no more than dust motes floating into the air, and there will be no sign that they were ever here.

“This could have been so much worse,” Frederick grits out. His arm is wrapped tightly around Cait, tucking her protectively into his side. “If there had been more hiding…” He trails off, his jaw twitching. “If I had known, I would never have brought Cait here.”

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