by R. L. Weeks
Alice appears and has the same conversation I had with her. That me is clueless that I just blacked out and spoke to the shadow men.
The memory fades, and I wake up.
Twenty-Seven
My eyes fling open. “Emmett,” I say and sit up. “Emmett. You need to get out of here!” I scream. I said he’d die today. I look around and see Tom. “Tom, I need to tell you some—” I stop upon seeing the horror in his expression. “What did I do?”
He looks behind me. I turn and gasp. “Emmett.” The name rolls off my tongue.
He’s dead.
I scream.
I kneel at his side and hold his hand. His cold hand. “NO!” The tears sting my sore cheeks. I killed him. I was too late. He’s dead. Everyone’s dead. Tom, Grandmother, Emmett…all because of me.
I get up and run out the door without looking at Tom. I run down the streets and over to Benjamin Shaw’s flat. I’m not sure why, but I feel as if that is where all this started. It’s where it should end.
I reach the corner of the street and catch my breath.
“Raven!” a man says from behind me. He followed me. I know that voice. I turn and see Uncle. His gaze is cold, colder than the other Raven’s gaze was.
“You threw me under the cart,” he says as he approaches me. “You promised you would never let me get caught.”
He points a finger at me. “They blamed me for your murders. I have lost everything.” He looks close to tears. “I thought you loved me.”
I part my lips. What can I even say? “It’s me, not the other version.” My expression darkens. “She, nor I, ever loved you, you vile, disgusting vermin. She set you up. I watched everything.”
He grinds his teeth and looks around at the almost empty street. “You’re lying.”
I shake my head. “You were just a means to an end. This is your fault, for helping her. I’m going to make things right.”
He grabs my arm as I go to turn and lowers his voice to a whisper. “I will kill you for this when we are alone.” I look into his eyes. They are the eyes of a desperate, heartbroken man. “I will get my vengeance. You women are all the same.”
I scoff. “You won’t need to.”
I say nothing else and turn away from him. He lets me go. Too many prying eyes.
I hurry down the street a bit more and glance backwards. He’s gone. I shudder. How long has he been following me?
I arrive at the flats and gaze at the butcher’s shop. I feel dead inside. I kick the glass. It shatters and cuts into my leg. I push the rest of the glass in with my elbow and unlock the door from the inside.
I grab a piece of glass from the floor and walk into to the back room where they used to hang the pigs. The hooks are still there, hanging from the ceiling. The room is filled with a putrid stench.
I look around at the white walls, which are smeared with old blood. “Well, here we are!” I shout, hoping the shadow men are close by. “I know everything, so you may as well show yourselves!”
I hold my breath, hoping they can hear me. If not, then I am just a crazy woman shouting alone in a butcher’s shop.
I hear a hiss from behind me and jump. I turn and see one crawl out from the shadows. Its bony fingers grip the concrete. It looks up at me with its hollow eyes. “Ravennnn.” It hisses.
Another one crawls out, followed by four more.
I swallow hard. “I’m ending this, I say, sounding braver than I feel. A tear escapes. “For good.”
“Nothing can destroy us,” they say in unison.
“If I’m dead, then you can’t use me anymore,” I say, but I almost pose it as a question.
They hiss and move forward. “You cannot.”
The desperation on their faces tells me all I need to know. They need me.
I look down at the shard of glass in my hand. I close my eyes and push into my wrist. I hear them hiss and move forward. I feel blood leave my body. “I won’t come back this time,” I say and force my Sight to let me leave this body before I bleed out.
I don’t want to feel it.
A shift in the energy causes a wave in front of me.
This gift of Sight and Shaw’s darkness has turned me into the perfect host for their insidious plans. Once I am on the other side, I use my Sight to push the shadow men away from me. I call out for Tom and Emmett. “Tom!” It sounds like I am talking underwater. “Emmett!”
I feel them before I see them. I could see them following me as I left the house, but I didn’t let them know I knew they were there.
“You did the right thing,” Tom says, although he looks sad.
I press my lips together and turn to Emmett. “Emmett, I am so sorry.” My chest heaves. “But I know how to make it up to you both.”
Emmett takes my hand. “It’s not your fault.” He rubs my palm and looks deep into my eyes. My heart hurts as I look at both of them in turn.
“Maybe in another life,” I say.
A tear creeps down my cheek. I look into the distance and see Alice waiting for me. For the first time, I feel peace. She looks at me with an understanding. She knows what I am going to do.
Every time I left my body for long enough, it gave someone else a chance to come back to life. That’s why Tom looked more human at times when I was most detached from myself. Now I feel my Sight more than I ever did. I guess being moments from death will do that. I harness my energy and close my eyes.
I push the energy from my death to open a rift for them.
I feel Emmett’s hand grow colder. “Sorry,” I say.
His hand leaves mine.
I hear them call out for me, but I do not answer.
Twenty-Eight
I watch them like an invisible stalker from the other side. Emmett and Tom made it through. I saved them, even if I couldn’t save the others. It gave my death meaning. The shadow men, for all I can see, have gone.
No one knows that I died except for Emmett and Tom. They saw to that. They didn’t want my name smeared.
My uncle Jack is still being hunted down for my crimes—and a few of his own. He doesn’t know of my demise and has apparently been searching the streets, looking for me. His hatred and heartbreak, along with his contempt of his own mother as a child, has turned into a hate for all women. I just hope they can catch him before he hurts someone. He is a madman. More unstable than me. I guess love and murder will do that to you.
I look around. Everything looks like it is separated from me by a clear film. Each day I feel more and more distant from the world. I realise this is how Tom must have felt. But he had me. I have no one.
Tom stands up from the armchair.
“I’m going,” he says, giving Emmett one last chance.
Emmett shakes his head.
Tom sighs and heads for the door.
He’s leaving for the cemetery to say goodbye to me. Emmett can’t stomach it. I understand why. Strangely, being dead really gives you a new perspective on things.
I go with Tom. He may not know it, but I am always with him, never leaving his side, even if he can’t see or hear me.
We reach the cemetery. It’s a small one, hidden behind some trees in London. Moonlight spills over the newly dug graves. I stare at the newly mounded grave in front of me and the name marked on it: The Girl. Of course, they can’t use my name. My death must remain a mystery. “I am so sorry this happened to you.” He closes his eyes. “I miss you, Raven.”
My hand grasps for his but goes through his as he speaks the words. “I need you,” I admit. “If you could only hear me, Tom.”
Tom sniffs and wipes his nose with his sleeve. “If you were here, you’d tell me to stop being so emotional,” he says and laughs, but his eyes remain sad. “I wish things were different.” He looks at the grave. “I love you, Raven Pride. I love you with all my heart.”
I let the words consume me. “I love you too,” I whisper. I hope that somehow, he knows I feel the same.
He leans down and places my raven ring in f
ront of the headstone. He gives it one last look before turning away.
I go with him but feel myself fade a little more. I know I can’t stay forever, but I will try. Like Alice, my soul will shatter and figments of it will just exist here and there. Sometimes she gets enough energy to talk to me. She has stayed around to help me.
She had hoped to help me get rid of the shadow men and regain control of my subconscious. She had wanted me to find out on my own and master my gift of Sight.
That’s why she wanted me to use my Sight more. I realise now I was never in any real danger. Nothing could have used me to come back unless I let them. I just needed to learn to control it.
Unfortunately for Alice, she overestimated my strength. I sacrificed any chance of learning how to master my gift when I killed myself at the shop. But I had to. Tom and Emmett deserve to live more than I do.
Alice told me the story of how she met my Father shortly after I died.
He was plagued with the same demons as me and killed hundreds of people. One of his victims came across Alice. Alice tried helping the woman, which led her right to Benjamin Shaw.
Alice helped take some of the darkness from him after taking pity on him. She eventually fell in love with him and became pregnant with me.
When Benjamin died, he thought the shadow men would disappear, but they didn’t. The darkness she had taken from him went into her unborn baby—me.
Grandmother figured out what had happened to me. That was when I killed her. I have tried to find her, but she has moved on like the other Raven said she did. I would too if I was ready to leave this world.
I’m not yet.
RAVEN’S GHOST
Raven’s Shadow’s Book Two
Out May 25th, 2018
Another serial killer is raising hell on the streets of London and Raven believes it's all her fault. All the victims have blonde hair and blue eyes like her, and the killer is none other than her uncle.
His mind had been warped and twisted by heartbreak and betrayal and his hatred for women is driving him to kill more and more each week.
Raven wants to stop him at all costs. However, there is one big problem standing in her way. No one can see, hear, or feel her.
With the help of her new friend, Elizabeth, and Emmett who is desperately trying to contact Raven's Ghost, can Raven find her way back from the other side to save the world from the notorious serial killer?
Or will other dark creatures drawn by the darkness fade her away before she gets the chance?
TURN OVER TO READ AN EXCERPT OF RAVEN’S GHOST
ONE
“There’s unrest in the city. Civilians are lining the streets. They’re angry,” Emmett says to Jameson, the man who helps manage his vast businesses. “I have had death threats, Jameson!”
Jameson runs his hand through his untamed, golden hair. His speckled green-blue eyes focus on the papers between them. “Perhaps if you were here managing your affairs instead off being off god knows where.”
Emmett slams his fist down on the desk, making Jameson and I jump.
“I have been attending to important matters.”
Jameson clasps his hands together. “I just mean that they want to see you.”
“Our investors you mean.” Emmett’s lips form a hard line. He looks at Jameson coldly. “You are my top man because I trust you and your particular skills to be able to manage my affairs without me.” He lets out a long breath. “I have heard that you have been charging our customers triple the interest on loans and the other small businesses.”
“Times are hard,” Jameson says, jumping quickly to the investor's defense. “We made a loss last quarter. We need to make it up.”
Emmett clenches his fist. “Not like this. We will have an uprising if we keep bleeding them out of every shilling. Not to mention the inflation in forgery of notes just so the shops can keep their heads above water.”
Jameson shakes his head. “A forged note, if accepted at the bank, is still payment.”
I see Emmett’s frustration growing. I want to reach out to him, to comfort him, but alas, I cannot.
His grip tightens on the handle of his cane until his knuckles turn white. “Bring the interest down by half, we will raise it by three percent.”
“But-”
“No.” Emmett interrupts. “You will not forsake my decisions. This is my business and you have clearly forgotten who is in charge here.” He slows his breathing and picks up the papers. “As it happens, I looked over our numbers this morning. We can withstand a loss for the next five years if needed. We have more than enough money stacked up and assets we can seize. Pushing the interest up by only three percent is enough to make sure we make a profit, but you already knew that.” He leans forward. “Do not cause an unrest just because you want to line your pockets with more coin. Have you not been given enough, or does your whore of a wife require more money for her trips?”
Jameson’s face flushes red. “I-”
“Don’t forget what I know about you. I can,” his gaze hardens, “and will destroy you if you continue to cross me and embezzle money.”
Jameson falls to his knees. “I would never steal from you. Please,” he reaches out, gripping Emmett’s leg. “Please don’t.”
Emmett backs away, shrugging Jameson’s hand off him. “Your appetite for power will be the death of you Jameson.” Emmett looks around. “Clean up your office and put out a notice for the interest to be lowered. I want full reports on everything that happens. Every transaction, every meeting, everything.”
Jameson stands up. His hands are still shaking. “Of course. I will have them delivered to you daily.”
Emmett walks to the door and turns back before opening it. “If I see one discrepancy-”
The look is enough for both Jameson and me to know that it would be mean the end of Jameson’s career.
Jameson nods and Emmett leaves. I walk out after him.
The sky is darkened from the smoke by nearby factories. Emmett covers his nose and mouth with a handkerchief.
The lamps hanging from the railings of the houses us dance as we walk under them. I look up at one house. All the shutters are closed, and the front is covered with leaves and untouched newspapers. I see the ghost of a little boy peering at me through the window. I half-smiled before turning away.
I follow Emmett down the gas-lit road. His life is truly exhausting. He is on the go all day and now all night, because of me.
It’s just a little after midnight when he rounds the corner to the shop where Miss Kaye, the woman he enlisted help from, works. She steps outside. The bell above the door tinkles as she closes it.
Her eyes take shape as she looks up at the moon. Her skin is porcelain in appearance under the white light. Her red hair contrasts it. She’s strikingly beautiful. She jerks her head to the left to look at Emmett as he makes a disgruntled sigh. The white slits of Miss Kaye’s eyes shine against the matte violet of her irises. I have never seen eyes like hers before. She licks her lips as her gaze locks with his.
“Did you take care of him?”
He looks behind him as if he is followed by ghosts no-one else can see.
“I did what I had to do.” His voice is void of emotion. He looks back at her with a cold stone-grey gaze. They match his aura, which surrounds him like storm clouds. He adjusts his black, button-up jacket which has curved up at the bottom. It’s supposed to hang down to his knees, but his tall height means it ends at his thighs.
“Now can you give me what I came for?” He asks, desperately.
The corners of her dusty rose lips curve upwards. Her gaze traces over him with a mild curiosity. I can feel it in her aura.
“The girl you are looking for has been with you all along.”
The words almost knock me backwards. She can see me?
Emmett looks around the empty space around us. “She’s here now?” He has a hard time keeping the glee from his expression.
The woman looks directly at me.
“I doubt she ever left.” She looks back at Emmett and tilts her head to the side. “Why would she? Eh, Handsome.”
Her flattery is lost on him. His expression is colder than before. “I need to bring her back.”
Miss Kaye turns to me. “Why do you want her back?”
I close my eyes. Her gaze is penetrating and almost intruding. I take a moment to gather my thoughts before re-opening my eyes.
“Can you hear me too?” I ask and hear how girly my voice sounds.
The woman smiles broadly now, but with a sinister edge. “She talks too.” She looks me up and down. “You didn’t have me as the type who would be chasing teenagers.”
I frown. “I am twenty,” I add.
She rolls her expressive eyes. “Again, young.”
I purse my lips together and look back at Emmett. The truth is, I am not twenty. Being dead means you stop ageing. I guess I am forever eighteen.
Emmett clears his throat. “I need her back. I need to talk to her.”
Miss Kaye smiles sadistically which vanishes as quick as it had surfaced. “I will need another one.”
He shudders. “I have killed enough for you.”
“I need souls.” She says in a deadpan tone. “The ones I send you to kill are bad people. Murderers. Rapists. No-one will miss them. Besides, you didn’t have to kill the last one. Only get him to lower the interest on all my businesses.”
Emmett’s black hair moves as a gust of wind sweeps over them. “I threatened one of my oldest friends. I used his wife’s disgrace against him.”
“Excellent.”
The drizzle falls heavier now. Drops glisten on their skin. I look on them enviously. I miss the wind, the sun, and even the rain.
The woman turns her back to Emmett. “If you want to know what your girl has to say,” she calls out, “you must bring me another.”
“No!” I scream after her. She pretends not to hear me. “I don’t want him killing anyone. I don’t care if they’re bad. We can’t play God.”
She smirks but says nothing in return, instead, she gives Emmett one last look. “It’s what the girl would want,” the woman says, which twists my feelings into a knot. “Bring me one more and I will talk to her for you.”
