Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Electric Night
Raven Investigations Novel Book 5
Stacey Brutger
AN INSIDIOUS EVIL ENDANGERS THE FRAGILE PEACE BETWEEN THE HUMANS AND PARANORMALS. IF WAR ERUPTS, NEITHER SIDE WILL EMERGE UNSCATHED.
Raven will go to any extreme to locate the missing member of her pack, even confront her murky past that still has the power to haunt her. A wild hunt leads her to an isolated mountaintop, where she and her pack are taken captive, and she learns that her nightmares are all-to real and more dangerous than ever. Every minute is a struggle to stay alive against the humans who would use her kind as nothing more than test subjects in their fanatical search to create the ultimate weapon against paranormals.
EVERY MINUTE IS A STRUGGLE TO STAY ALIVE…
Determined no one else should suffer the tortures she endured as a child, Raven risks everything to destroy the labs, even bringing her pack to the brink of annihilation. If she can’t make peace with her past, she will not only lose her pack, but incite an all-out war between humans and paranormals.
This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.
Copyright © 2017 Stacey Brutger
Cover artist: Amanda Kelsey of Razzle Dazzle Design (www.razzdazzdesign.com)
Editor: Faith Freewoman (www.demonfordetails.com)
All rights reserved.
Chapter One
DAY ONE: THREE WEEKS AFTER RYLAN DISAPPEARED
Static nipped painfully along her skin while Raven stared broodingly at the city glowing in the distance. Clouds brewed overhead, moisture heavy in the air as she gathered up all the delicious power and focused on the horizon.
Her black hair swirled in an invisible wind, the silver streaks shimmering in the darkness. She concentrated on the energy coiling around her, drawing the current inward, and the strands of her hair gradually settled around her shoulders as she absorbed every ounce of energy.
Closing her eyes, she unleashed everything she’d gathered in a brutal wave of pure electricity.
The volatile charge rumbled through the clouds, growing, spreading, until lightning forked through the air.
She followed the zap of energy when it hit the ground, followed while the earth soaked up the power, then studied everything she spotted in that one millisecond.
Humans.
Animals.
A few shifters.
A gaggle of witches.
But no vampires.
No sign of Rylan at all.
Swallowing a frustrated growl, Raven opened her eyes, determined to start over again if that was what it took to find him. She gathered the seething current around her, ignoring the spikes of pain that slammed into her skull while she struggled to hold onto the burning strands in her grasp.
The power was willing to obey, but she was just too weak from the continual abuse. She’d been at it for five hours, and the city was at the edge of her limits. She had spent every night for the past three weeks on the rooftop of her house, searching for Rylan.
Despite allowing the dragon to rise beneath her skin to boost her abilities, she’d found exactly nothing.
As electricity whirled around her, she pulled it into her body again, refusing to give up, the voltage making her brain feel like it was being boiled in acid. Energy could go anywhere and everywhere, allowing her to slip into houses, subway stations, and even jump into airplanes flying overhead.
But no matter where she searched, she found no signs of Rylan.
He couldn’t have simply vanished.
Frustration bubbled over, and the current she struggled to contain fizzled to nothing, leaving her battered body slightly singed. Panting to catch her breath, she thought about the first time she met Rylan, and the beginning of their unlikely friendship.
Though she was only a teenager when they met, she’d spent her whole life as a prisoner. When her parents discovered she was more than human, they sold her to a medical laboratory without a qualm, not caring that she was only three years old at the time.
She’d been going through a rebellious stage when Rylan entered the scene, and the doctors were getting frustrated at her defiance. They locked him in a room with her, granting him permission to feed.
Becoming a chew toy was to be her punishment.
Rylan refused.
After a week of slow starvation, they’d became friends. Unable to bear seeing him suffer, she freely offered him her blood, not knowing the consequences would haunt them both for the rest of their lives. Some element in her blood bound them together, but worse, it gave Rylan, and any other vampire who tasted her blood, the illusion of life.
Rylan quickly became addicted, which strained their friendship. If the doctors discovered the truth, they would torture her relentlessly in an effort to duplicate the effect. He vowed to never lay a hand on her again, and swore to protect her from that day forward.
Even years later, he came whenever she asked for help. This time, instead of being able to enjoy an easy week doing nothing more strenuous than watching over her house, someone invaded her territory, injured one of her people, and took Rylan captive for his trouble.
Every piece of evidence led back to the labs. She and Rylan barely escaped with their lives the first time. She wasn’t sure if she could find a way to get him out again.
Though she could tell he was still alive, she had no clue where to find him.
She’d searched everywhere, questioned everyone, but Rylan’s whereabouts remained elusive.
At night, when her hope of finding him weakened, she’d swear she could hear his voice calling her for help. She would jerk awake in a heavy sweat, her breathing erratic, unable to distinguish whether his plea was reality or a nightmare.
All she knew was that if she didn’t find him soon, Rylan would eventually succumb to the insanity of bloodlust, turning him into the very monster he feared most. She also knew he would hold out as long as possible, trusting that she would never give up searching for him.
Crouched on the edge of the rooftop, she gripped the cold stone of the waist-high wall beneath her feet, and began the process all over again. Pure energy began to pool inside her, the power searing along her veins, her body too tired to control the burn anymore.
Her dragon stretched under her skin, claws piercing the aching muscles along her spine, wanting to be free to hunt.
Rylan was theirs.
Only a few more grids remained to be search, but Raven was afraid she already knew the answer.
Rylan was beyond her reach.
If she wanted to find him, she would have to venture out beyond the safe life she’d built for herself. Her stomach churned at the thought of dangling herself out as bait. The brick beneath her hands crumbled under her brutal grip, and the need for vengeance swelled through her.
“Raven.”
She whirled, ready to leap at the intruder. It took her brain precious seconds to recognize her visitor, and she blinked in confusion. “Griffin?”
Raven fought the dragon’s instinctive urge to attack. When she took a deep breath to calm her raging emotions, the smell of fresh-cut cedar she associated with him seeped into her, easing the compulsion to kill.
The man hadn’t changed since the first time she saw him, when he was locked inside a cage by a serial killer they’d both been tracking. Working together to escape had forged a reluctant bond between them.
He was lean, his dark hair a mess, his eyes splintered a vivid green that pierced her anger. Everything about him screamed rogue, intense and fierce and ready for action, but he kept the wild energy tightly leashed. Though he’d gained weight, he retained his scruffy appearance—of an outlaw, which was funny, considering he worked with the police as a consultant.
“What are you doing here?” Raven dropped from her perch, watching him closely. She was disturbed that she’d been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t even noticed when he arrived.
“I was told I could find you up here.” He didn’t say anything more, continuing to study her, as if deciding on how to approach her.
Or maybe he stared because she looked so horrible, since she’d only been able to sleep in fits and starts for the past few weeks.
She’d been on the rooftop for hours, her clothes were damp from the mist saturating the air, or maybe she looked different because he hadn’t seen her since her dragon awakened.
Other shifters watched her with fear or awe.
Both reactions left her decidedly uncomfortable.
All she ever wanted was to remain invisible, but since she was one of the few female alphas in the paranormal world, it was no longer an option.
Raven released the energy whirling around them, gritting her teeth at the shock of pain. The dragon dragged its claws along the insides of her ribs, not wanting to be tucked away.
When she had herself under control, she narrowed her eyes. “Tell me.”
He smirked, his body relaxing, as if he’d come to a decision. “The council sent me.”
She stalked forward, barely resisting the urge to growl. “You came here to spy for your father.”
Instead of anger, Griffin grinned. “No, and it’s driving the old man crazy that he no longer has the power to control me. One of the few perks of being a rogue.” His amusement dropped away. “The council is uneasy about the weather; the pack and clans are getting nervous at the show of power.”
Raven snorted. “They sent you because of a tiny storm?”
Griffin moved for the first time since he stepped onto the roof, slowly leaning against the waist-high wall, his dual-tone eyes a bit unnerving while they studied her. “A massive storm that hasn’t let up for three weeks. A storm that reeks of power.”
Raven squirmed a little at the accusation, then went on the defensive. “I’m not challenging them. I’m just trying to find one of my own.”
Griffin shook his head. “That’s not good enough. Lots of people have gone missing over the years. It’s never a good thing when the paranormals are on edge. It leads to fights, and eventually war.”
Unable to stand still, Raven began to pace, her movements short and abrupt as she strode back and forth. “You can’t ask me to just forget about Rylan. I won’t stop searching for him.”
Griffin shoved away from the wall, stepping right into her path. “You’re not the only one with people missing. Grow up. You’re an alpha now. You’re not allowed to do whatever you want without consequences. Being a Region, working with the police to solve paranormal cases, protected you from the repercussions of your rash actions, but you’re retired.”
The words were like a slap in the face. “Then what do you suggest I do? I won’t leave Rylan to rot.”
Tension eased from Griffin when she didn’t go for his throat. “Treat it like a case. People will respect your need to fight for your pack, but not at the cost of upsetting the delicate balance among the paranormals in the process.”
Raven stilled at his words, sensing a hidden undercurrent. “What do you know?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, lines of strain bracketing his mouth. “There are a lot more missing paranormals than what’s warranted. We always expect a few people to disappear or die, but some of the missing shifters are pack members.”
Shifters never left their pack without notifying their alpha where they were going. Position in the pack was too hard-won and prestigious to simply walk away from, especially since it would condemn them to become a rogue or worse, they would revert back to slave status.
Dark suspicions began to brew at the back of her mind. “Only shifters?”
Griffin shook his head. “Every paranormal sect has lost people. They’ve just vanished.”
The situation sounded all too familiar…the labs. Humans had grown fearful when the paranormals emerged from the shadows. War erupted, and too many people died on both sides in a senseless war. An unsteady truce between the races had been forged, held together by nothing stronger than a gossamer web.
Humans wanted to possess their own monsters, and secretly began to create an army of specially bred paranormals. She’d seen the results of their experiments, the hybrids they created, abominations who lived for the kill. She had destroyed the lab that held her prisoner for most of her life, but not without cost. Many people died, their deaths staining her soul so black no one would consider her innocent.
Unfortunately, there were more labs out there.
There were always more.
Her rebellion only forced them to become more secretive.
But one thing hadn’t changed—they had continued to take the unwanted, those who wouldn’t be missed.
Until now.
They were becoming bolder.
Their torturous experiments demanded stronger paranormals to create bigger and badder killers.
She feared that Rylan was now languishing in one of those hellish prisons.
Griffin stared at her expectantly, and she shied away from his too-intense gaze. He wanted something from her, but asking would put him in her debt. “What do you want?”
He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding, her question giving him permission to speak. “Go to the council with me and demand that they allow us to investigate. I need help on this case. It’s too big for the humans—too big for me to investigate on my own. Even retired, you’re the best. If we want to find these people alive, you need to stop wallowing in self-pity, step up and do something.”
Anger shimmered around her at his challenge, static rose between them, and she twisted the blue strands of current between her fingers. Energy snapped around her hands, and she allowed the spark to grow into a sphere, lightning flashing almost continuously in the small globe. It took an enormous amount of effort to keep her power in check, but the practice helped keep her mind human, preventing her from devolving into an animal with only the instinct to hunt.
“Why has no one else done anything?” Raven demanded.
Griffin snorted, but didn’t look away from the crackling sphere in her palm. “And admit a weakness? That they couldn’t protect their own people? They’re too proud.”
She rolled her eyes. “So you come to me instead.”
He lifted his head, his green eyes glowing, his wolf staring boldly back at her
. “You care more about saving people than your pride. And people respected you even before you became an alpha.”
Raven closed her fingers over the sphere. Pain stung her hand like a swarm of wasp until the globe finally cracked like glass, and she allowed the energy to soak back into her skin. “You’re trying to lure me out by dangling a case in front of me.”
He only shrugged.
Raven felt herself unbending. All her instincts told her Rylan was no longer in the city. If she wanted to investigate, she needed permission to search outside her territory. The easiest way would be to gain council approval. “Who would be the lead?”
Griffin grinned, knowing he’d won. “I doubt the council will agree to allow me to investigate unless someone with more power than I hold makes the…request.”
She grimaced. He meant demand. “And without it, the police won’t allow me access to any files, not in an official capacity.”
He nodded grimly, then held out his hand. “Partners?”
Raven hesitated, knowing her touch could be deadly. Shifters could handle a lot of abuse, but she didn’t enjoy inflicting pain. Nor did she relish the idea of touching him, since she could accidently pull his wolf to the surface.
Lack of physical contact led to a lonely life, but her pack was determined to pull her back into the land of the living, even if they had to do it with her kicking and screaming the whole way. Taking a deep breath, she held out her hand. “Agreed.”
Before they could touch, a deep growl rippled through the air.
Raven whirled, instantly spotting the large, blurred shape hurtling toward them. Without thinking, she stepped in front of Griffin and called up a sphere of energy. It was sloppy, the snap of current biting along her flesh. The globe was barely formed when she lobbed it at the dark shape.
A bright flash of light flared in the darkness when her grenade hit its target, illuminating Taggert in his werewolf form. He was over seven feet of pure muscle and determination. A roar of pain was ripped from his throat, the sound reverberating in her chest, then he somehow managed to pull that power into himself, quickly absorbing it. Instead of slowing him down, he used the energy to make himself even stronger and faster.
Electric Night (A Raven Investigations Novel Book 5) Page 1
