by Lola StVil
Sometimes I wish I never loved him…
“I didn’t mean to blindside you in the alley just now.”
“It’s fine,” I reply simply.
“I know my timing is crap, but I’m going to say this now because things are going to get infinitely more complicated from this point on. And if I don’t say what I need to say now…I may never get the chance.”
“We don’t have to do this. We don’t need to have this conversation. Angels break up every day. We really don’t need to be standing here right now.”
“Pry, I need to say this to you. You don’t have to say anything back, but I need you to know a few things.”
“Fine.”
“I thought being in the Center was the worst thing that could happen to me. I was wrong. There are levels of agony Omnis himself would fail to imagine. When my daughter died, I died. It was a death that kept repeating on a loop. I would wake up and die. I was walking, flying, talking, but…I was dead.
“The only thing that kept me from trying to take my own life was you. Every time things would become impossible to endure, I would close my eyes and see you. Your face saved me—every time. I vowed that when I saw you again in real life, no matter what the hell was going on, I would say what I’m about to say to you.”
“You don’t have to—” I plead.
“Please, Pry. Let me finish.”
“Okay,” I whisper as a pool of lead forms in the middle of my stomach.
“At the time, I really thought I ended things because of Sparks, but over the past few months I realized I was using my baby girl as an excuse. Yes, some part of me thought being with her mom would give her a better foundation, but that’s not the main reason I cut things off with you.
“I did what I did because I was too scared to love you with the same fearlessness that you loved me. I was a broken, damaged demon living on rage and regret. I didn’t know how to love you the way you loved me. And I was certain with my luck you would one day see just how screwed up I was. I ran out of heaven rather than get cast out. It was a chicken-shit move and I’m sorry. If you tell me there’s a part of you, however small, that dares to love me again, I will spend forever trying to reach that place…”
“Are you done?” I ask calmly.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know if there is somewhere inside me that’s open to taking you back. But if there is, if that place exists, I would love to find it—so I can burn it to the ground.”
When we get back to the table, Diana asks us if everything is okay. I assure her that we are fine. Aaden looks over at me, and for a moment it looks like he’s about to say something. His gaze is intense and seems to look right through me. I can’t read the expression on his face. I can say, however, that I have never seen him this pensive. When Diana asks yet again if everything is okay, Aaden nods slightly in agreement. Diana isn’t really sold, but she is wise enough to move on.
“Okay, so how did you know where to find us?” Diana asks.
“Randy told me where you guys were out getting things for the BBQ. I got there just as the shield was going up around the market,” he says.
“What do you know about the Raven?” I ask.
“I wish to Omnis I didn’t know shit,” he assures us.
“Yes, but you do, so out with it,” Diana pushes.
“Malakaro came to me in Rio and informed me that the Raven is getting stronger and that she will soon be unstoppable,” he begins.
“Why would you trust anything that sicko had to say?” I ask.
“I didn’t. I went out on my own to investigate. I wanted to make sure that Raven was who he said she was.”
“And?” Diana and I both reply.
“And we have a serious problem,” he replies.
“Who is the Raven?” I ask.
When he replies, Diana and I look back at him as if he’s lost his mind.
“Bullshit!” I reply.
“Trust me, I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t sure,” he responds.
“You’re wrong. I don’t see how it could be her. That makes no sense,” Diana says.
“I know it doesn’t—at first. But then the more you think about it, the more you dig, the more you see that it has to be her. It’s always been her.”
“No! I refuse to accept that. There has to be something else going on,” I vow.
“This wasn’t easy for me to take in either. I spent weeks trying to find some other explanation, but the fact is there isn’t one,” Aaden insists.
“I’m going over to talk to her and she’ll sort everything out,” I reply as I begin to stand up.
“You can’t do that. If she knows that we’re onto her, there’s no telling what lengths she’ll go to in order to stop us. It’s very likely she sent the demons to invade the humans in the market today.”
“What? She would never do that. You’re making it sound like she’s an enemy. She’s a member of this team. She’s part of my family,” I remind him.
“I know what I’m saying. And to be clear, the Raven is not an enemy; right now she’s the only enemy,” he adds.
“I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I know it can be explained,” I argue.
“You don’t want it to be true, and I get that, but we can’t live in denial.”
“Is there a way this could be some kind of mistake? I’ve never gotten an evil vibe off of her,” Diana says.
“I didn’t want to believe it either, but some of the things I found out about her…” His voice trails off.
“Well, I don’t care what you found out. I’m sure there has been some awful mistake. There’s no way a member of my team could be evil and we didn’t know,” I reply.
“She’s not just evil, Pry. She has no association with goodness, compassion, or empathy. She emits a thick black smoke that penetrates flesh and rips the soul from its victims. She then descends upon them and feasts on their souls like a vampire on blood, and that’s just one of a number of powers. That’s why Malakaro is so fearful. She’s not just his rival, she’s his equal.”
“Then why are we only hearing about this now?” I demand.
“She leaves no witnesses—angel, demon, or human. The only way I have been able to get at the truth is to speak to the few who have had contact with her in the beginning, before she started to amass all this power,” he says.
“I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. This whole thing is insane. I’m not turning on a member of my team based on events I have not seen myself. Everyone is saying the Raven is awful, yet I haven’t seen her do anything wrong. For all we know, this is just Malakaro trying to turn us against each other. This is just the kind of thing his sick ass would come up with,” I shout.
“Do you know what a Force Replay is?” Aaden asks.
“Yeah, it’s a globe that reenacts a moment based on the view of surrounding animals at the time. It’s hard as hell to create because it takes forever to find the animals who were there,” I reply.
“It takes about six months,” Aaden says.
“Are you saying you have a Force Replay of the Raven?” Diana asks.
“I do. It took months for the Replay tech to find the animals that were there that night: A pit bull and two bluebirds. He used an advanced mixture I had never heard of and he extracted the memory from them. He then made the Replay. And after I saw it, I knew for sure Malakaro was right.”
“Okay, where’s the Replay? I need to see it,” I tell him.
“Actually, no, you don’t. Trust me, you don’t ever need to see it,” he says.
“Why not?”
“Pry, take my word for it, it’s best for you not to see it.”
“Silver, you have no idea what is and isn’t best for me,” I remark.
“Look, I’m just trying to—what did you call me?” he demands.
“Silver. That’s your name, right?” I ask.
“You have never called me—everyone else has called me Silver, but not you. Never you.”
“Well, I’m calling you that now, like everyone else.”
“Okay, fine, whatever. You still should not watch the Replay. I can tell you what’s on it, but you shouldn’t see it play out. Trust me.”
“BUT I DON’T! I DON’T TRUST YOU AT ALL!” I rage.
Everyone in the café turns to look at us. Diana lowers her head and Aaden shakes his head in dismay and signals for us to follow him into the alley. Once there, he takes out a small globe the size of an apple and we watch as the crystal screen shows a familiar quiet New York City neighborhood.
“That’s my house,” I call out as the scene plays on.
The screen is in black and white, and it’s a little wavy at some points, as the dog’s owner must have been pulling on his collar. However, the image leaves no room for doubt. We are looking at my house.
A shadowy figure walks up to the front door and rings the bell. The figure slowly comes into view. It’s her, the girl Aaden swears is the Raven. The same girl I have grown up with all my life. Uncle Tony opens up and lets her in with a smile. A little boy calls out from the top of the steps—Sam. My Sam. He yells her name, excited to see her.
She waves, then makes her way towards him. Tony asks a question. She doesn’t reply. She just waves her hand and sends him flying into the wall, his body in pieces. Horrified, Sam runs into his room. The view changes; we are now in Sam’s room. I watch dumbfounded as my friend kills my brother in cold blood. She inhales all of his soul as he lies dying. She then checks her makeup and flies out the window.
I take to the sky feverishly. The others are quick to follow. They call out to me and warn me to slow down. I can’t.
“Pryor, you’re going too fast. You’ll hit something,” Diana warns.
“I have to get home,” I shout as I barely dodge a skyscraper.
“We need to figure this out. You can’t just go charging at her,” Aaden shouts.
“She killed Sam. She killed Sam,” I reply.
“Pryor, damn it, slow down!” Aaden orders.
“No! I have to find Key; she needs to know why I’m going to kill her sister.”
Chapter Eleven:
What Drives You
As I fly towards my house, the anger inside me grows. It starts as a small spark in my stomach and soon becomes a frenzied, raging inferno. The fury that has taken over me has me practically vibrating. I really did want to explain things to Key, but I don’t have time for talking. In fact, I don’t have time to land; I crash through the closest window and send glass raining down all over the house. Everyone on the team is here, and before anyone can process what’s happening, I grab Raven by her hair and throw her down the stairs.
The commotion in the house is instant. Key keeps calling out and asking what the hell is going on. Aaden and Diana try to explain to the team who the Raven is, but they refuse to believe it. Easton and Randy are beside themselves trying to get Raven to clear up this “mistake,” and Aaden pleads with me to stop and think before I continue, but nothing he says matters. Nothing anyone says matters. I have only one objective: Kill.
I march down the steps and head straight for her. Raven keeps calling out that she did nothing wrong and that it’s all a misunderstanding. I don’t buy her bullshit, not anymore.
I yank her by her ankle and drag her through the living room, facedown. She struggles to break free, and when finally she does, she holds out her arm and looks at me pleadingly.
“Pry, what is going on? Please talk to me.”
“Did my brother beg like you’re begging now? Did he have tears in his eyes as he watched you take his life?” I scream.
“Wait, Pry! I didn’t—”
Before she can finish telling another lie, I spin around and kick her in the face. She starts to fall backwards, but she recovers quickly and tries to take off again.
“GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!” I swear as I latch on to the tip of her wing and yank her out of the sky and back down to the floor.
She leaps to her feet with the speed of her father and attacks me from behind. She yanks my head back as if trying to snap it clean off. All the while she is telling me she has no idea why I’m fighting her.
I reach out and yank the leg off one of the nearby chairs. I sink the jagged wooden weapon in between her rib cage. I feel it make contact with a rib. I push it deeper inside her and angle it so that it will cause the most pain. I hear her rib snap just as the weapon pierces right through her.
She howls in pain as she doubles over. She calls out for Key and the others, but I order them to stay back. Key raises her hand to attack me, but Aaden gently but firmly pins her against him. He warns her that Raven is dangerous.
“She’s not the Raven. She’s my sister. She’s my baby sister! Let her go or I swear I’ll kill you!” Key vows.
I climb on top of Raven and bash her face with the force of a Para army. Every blow enrages me more and makes me want to strike her harder. I don’t want to use my powers. I want to beat her to death with my hands.
“WHY DID YOU KILL HIM? HE LOVED YOU. WHY? WHY? WHY DID YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME?” I yell.
“Pry, please, stop! Please!” Key sobs on the floor.
I beat down on Swoop until I can no longer make out a face. What used to be her nose and eyes are now a grotesque bumpy pool of blood. I keep asking her why as I slam my fist down on her. She doesn’t reply. She doesn’t fight me. She doesn’t move. She is perfectly still. The blood escapes her body and spreads gracefully onto the hardwood floors. Swoop is dead; Raven is dead.
And me, I’m good with that.
Randy is in the corner of the room, trying to calm Key down. It’s not working; she’s beyond consoling. Aaden goes to take the body away and Key shouts at him.
“DON’T TOUCH HER!”
“Okay, okay, Silver won’t touch her, but you have to calm down,” Randy says.
“I know this is hard to take, Key, I get it,” Aaden replies.
“FUCK YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. YOU CAME HERE SPREADING LIES ABOUT MY SISTER!” Key says as she breaks from Randy’s hold and charges towards Aaden.
She opens her hand and there is no avoiding the blast emanating from her. It hits Aaden and the skin on his neck starts to peel off. She readies for yet another attack, but Aaden gets out of the way just in time. Key lets out a wounded cry and starts to blast us from every direction.
“RANDY, GET DOWN!” I shout as I tackle him to the ground.
Key’s attack barely misses her boyfriend. She doesn’t stop or even slow down. She turns her powers to the one closest to her—Diana.
Aaden pulls Diana out of the way and demands that Key control her powers. Key doesn’t give a damn about Aaden’s warnings. She comes after me with everything in her power. Easton blocks me, but he ends up taking the brunt of the attack. We watch in horror as the skin on Easton’s face starts to scatter into the air. He yells out in agony.
“Key, no!” Diana shouts.
Aaden whips out a Holder, but she manages to escape the bubble-like prison before it can fully form around her. Aaden sends out a small warning burst of fire. It does nothing to slow Key down. She’s now in full pissed mode and she is willing to kill anything in her path.
I signal to Diana and she goes after her. Key is too concerned with killing her to notice me behind her. By the time she realizes how close I am to her, it’s too late. I open my palms and send out a dark burst of energy; it wraps around her throat and starts sucking the life out of her. She drops her hand, her body goes stiff, and her eyes widen in terror. My power brings her to her knees. I look down at her and speak with calm certainty.
“You will control your emotions, and you will do it now,” I order.
She doesn’t speak, she can’t. My powers make it impossible for her to move her lips. I glare at her and repeat myself.
“Do you hear me, Keyohmi?” I demand.
She nods slightly as tears begin to form in her eyes.
“You lose your shit and attack another member of
this team and I will end your life on the same day I ended your sister’s. Is that clear?”
She chokes out a yes. I drop my hand and she crumbles to the ground and sobs uncontrollably. Randy rushes to her side. Diana tends to Easton’s and Aaden’s wounds.
“Key, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be just fine,” Randy lies.
“She’s gone. She’s gone.” Key’s heart-wrenching cries echo in my head.
Randy signals for us to look over our shoulders. We follow his gaze and watch as the silver-colored blood draining from Swoop’s body turns black. It then changes into tiny droplets, whirls in the air, and forms a small, tight circle. The circle starts to expand and morphs into a swarm of ravens. They have deep crimson eyes, massive dark wings, and emit an ear-shattering sound as they fly feverishly overhead. The flock of vicious birds gathers and takes the form of a woman—one we’ve never seen before.
Her alluring hourglass figure is hidden under a long black gown that drapes down to the floor. The dark eye shadow and matching lipstick add to her mystical beauty. Her skin is the color of winter and her nails drip with what little droplets of blood remain. Her sprawling wings are jet black and have vermillion-colored streaks throughout. Her coal-colored hair flies wildly behind her. One look into her stark red, crazy eyes tells you it would be foolish to engage her.
“Do you have any idea how long I have wanted to kill that bitch, Swoop! You get close and you stop just short of killing her! That is so rude!” Raven yells.
“You’re Swoop’s alter ego,” Randy says in amazement.
“Where is she? What did you do to my sister?” Key demands.
“Okay, but don’t get mad. She’s in here,” Raven says.
“You made her kill Sam. You turned her into a murderer,” I shout as I charge towards her.
With a simple wave of her hand, she builds a force field. As soon as I make contact with it, it sends a bolt of lightning down my body and catapults me across the room. The team goes to check on me, but I signal that I’m okay.
