Page 47 of To Save a Vampire
“Go inside and do not come out. Do not let anyone come out, Fallon,” he says in a rush.
My mind agrees in an instant, but my limbs do not adhere. My spine straightens, my hands grip the handgun with confidence.
I can’t leave him with that thing.Again.
I left him once, and he was fine. But I shouldn’t have. He should have someone he trusts, even if they aren’t as tactical as he is.
He should have someone.
He has me.
“I’m not leaving you,” I say sternly.
“Fallon—“
Whatever Asher’s disapproving tone was about to say is cut off when the veil comes crashing to the ground at our feet, as graceful as if I had leapt from the building myself. It stands unsteadily, shrieking in our faces just a few feet away. My courage wavers in the presence of the monster.
Faintly, the sound of a dog barking echoes in the wind, muted by the shrill of the veil’s cries.
Asher aligns himself between the creature and myself, his blade held high. His posture is a figure of strength. His steps are assured but cautious.
He takes a step forward, closer to the beast. It doesn’t move from its spot, as if it’s a trained animal with its master.
Out of the darkness behind the veil, a thin figure similar in build to the creature before me approaches, walking with ease. The sight of it tenses Asher’s posture. His stance shifts back, away from the unknown threat. He lines his body up with mine until I can no longer see anything past Asher’s shoulders.
What could be more threatening than the veil?
I lean out of the safety of Asher’s shadow, so that my body is only partially concealed. Dr. Shaw steps beside the slender creature, his small body like a figurine next to the towering veil. He offers us a curt smile as his thin graying hair lifts in the breeze.
“Good evening, Fallon. I was hoping to see your mother again one last time, but I suppose you will have to do.” He nods a hello to Asher and me, but neither of us moves. His thin fingers unbutton his suit jacket before tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks. My mind is astounded at the way he moves around the creature, like a dog he’s loved and cared about for ages. “You have something that belongs to me, Fallon. I won’t use my animal if you promise not to use yours,” he says with a chuckle, nodding toward Asher.
My lips curl in disgust. There was a time I took this man’s intelligence to mean he was justified in demeaning those of a smaller race. But I’m not that girl anymore—the one who believes the stories of monsters and legends. The only monsters here are man. And Shaw’s not the deity he believes himself to be.
The veil shrieks, spewing green fluid at our feet, performing for its master. The veil might have been born from monsters, but they were raised by demons who call themselves doctors.
“They don’t belong to anyone,” I say, my voice commanding and filled with anger. My thoughts are filled with how many times I glared at Asher through the window of Compound 186 because of what I was told to believe about him and his kind. “His heart beats like yours and mine. He deserves a real life. He’s more human than you’ve ever been,” I say, taking a step closer to them. Asher follows my movement, not shielding me as he was before but not allowing me in front of him either.
Shaw steeples his fingers; his lips thin as he shakes his head at me. “That’s where you’re wrong. You can’t really believe one girl’s feelings will overthrow the laws of a nation, do you? That pike is my property. He is not a person or something to be pitied. He is an abomination that has screwed up for the final time!” He points at Asher. His voice has raised, and he’s no longer the poised doctor he pretends to be in public.
“You two have taken enough of my time and funding. Are you aware he killed one of my veil? Do you know how much those are worth to the compound, to our government?” The doctor’s words are spewed with anger, but then a twisting calm fills his face.
“This ends tonight,” Shaw says adamantly.
He lightly touches his hand to the veil’s boney arm. A gesture done as a motion. Two more veil walk from the shadows of the woods. A few armed men walk like toy soldiers between them. They wear all black and have guns raised in their hands. Between the men is a familiar face.
Gabriel stands with his head hung low, a bandage wrapped around his head, concealing his eyes. My heart pounds harder at the sight of him. It drills frantically all through my chest.
“I have one more minor thing I wanted to share with you.” Shaw waves his fingers toward Gabriel. “One of the other pikes said this one carried a human scent back from his search. It then occurred to me Forty-four might have an alliance within the compound that I was not aware of. I questioned this one, but my efforts were … inconclusive. I thought it would be best if other methods were used to reveal the information he was concealing.”
Asher takes a small step closer to his friend, but doesn’t dare cross the veil. My heart drops with every word this disgusting man speaks.
“We used him in our last testing. Our lab had hoped mixing the genetic DNA of the veil with a natural hybrid might yield superior results, but, sadly, just blindness occurred.” He shakes his head in disappointment.
Rage stings my chest as I watch Gabriel stand blindly before me. He’s an abused and pained shell of the hybrid I met weeks ago.
The veil next to Shaw twists its head back and forth between Asher and myself, a snarling sound brushing through its razor-like teeth. Its every move is a deadly threat. The high sound breaks through the night like a beacon indicating what’s to come.
It raises one clawed hand at us, its bone like fingers curled in anticipation of its attack. Asher pushes us back, step by step from the creature as it’s about to strike. The unnatural bend of the creature's legs bow under its body like it’s about to pounce.
