Raven Maid: Out of the Darkness

by Erik Schubach

  She hissed at me, “Hide!” as she ran along the sidewalk while all three men opened fire. A detached, analytical portion of my brain noted that the man with the blade through his throat wasn't bleeding or even slowing, his airway should have been compromised and his carotid artery would have been severed.

  That and that all three men were concentrating their fire on Rin as she used her momentum to actually run horizontally along the side of a concrete retaining wall edging a house on the hill, her pseudo wings spread. Sparks flew as the shots missed.

  I realized that this was a hit on Rin! It had to be Abigail Truit's men.

  I pushed down my panic. They were going to kill her. I looked at the men as I scrambled behind a car, the two white men up front in their reverse triangle seemed to have blank looks on their faces. The injured man looked to be in a bit of pain, but he was ignoring it. The man at the rear was scanning the entire area and seemed much more alert than the others. Though imposing, the black man with a well-trimmed goatee wasn't quite as large as the men in front of him.

  All of them were built like tanks and had obvious military backgrounds what with the way they moved and held their pistols. All of the guns had silencers on the end of their barrels. The part of me that still didn't have a firm grasp on reality was asking, “Isn't that illegal?” I almost burst out laughing maniacally at myself. Maybe I had finally lost it like I had been afraid of the last few months.

  My eyes kept being drawn to the man who shouldn't have still been on his feet. The world started to brighten and clarify around me, and the colors got richer. The Raven in me was screaming at me that he wasn't right, he was some sort of abomination, and I had a driving need to make it right. It was almost as overwhelming as my need to help the girl I was seeing as a good friend, no matter how cantankerous she could be.

  More than that... I was seeing her as family. And nobody hurt my family when I could do something about it. I prepared myself to move, and I heard a scratching on the sidewalk beneath my feet. I blinked dumbly at the talons I had there instead of my shoes.

  Something about this unnatural man had called my Raven out farther than it had ever been. I prepared to go to Rin's aid, not knowing exactly what to do. I felt a growl deep down in my throat that passed my lips as I looked at the other front man. Two abominations... the third man didn't set off my instincts like the first two.

  All of their attention was on the girl who's hair and feathers were flowing behind her as she moved impossibly fast, just a dark blur in my vision, her golden eyes a streak in the night as they caught the light of the streetlamps.

  I realized she was drawing their fire away from the houses, using the retaining walls on one side of the street. I was impressed, even now, the young girl showed her ability to think under pressure and worry about others more than herself.

  A car came over the hill and screeched to a halt at the backs of the men. The well groomed black man simply turned back and leveled his gun at the car. The woman inside panicked, her eyes wide as she slammed her car into reverse and backed away at unsafe speeds. The man swung the barrel of his weapon back to track Rin.

  She had circled into the street now and was running a zigzag course toward the men. Goatee touched his ear as he fired with his other hand, and said, “We have contact. Our spotters were right, it's Bastien. Secure the boss, we'll put this bitch down once and for all.”

  My hearing, like all my other senses, were, magnified in this form, and I could make out the response, “Remember, she want's the body, don't damage it too much. She has something special planned for the little pain in the ass, like the last one.”

  The man looked aggravated, it appeared that if he had his way they'd shred Rin's body and scatter the remains to the four corners of the city. I swallowed. This 'she' had to be Abigail Truit. She was in the city? They must have thought that Rin had tracked her here.

  I shook my head. All of this seemed far too coincidental. Rin had no clue Abigail was in Seattle, to the best of my knowledge. She wouldn't be able to keep anything from us, as she wore her emotions on her sleeve.

  I looked down at my hands, my talons looked longer if that were even possible, and my arms were fully covered in feathers now. That's when I noticed something in my vision, and I reached up and my claws clacked on something hard protruding from my face. I had... I had a hooked beak! Well, the start of one at least, not as pronounced as Rin's.

  My raven definitely wanted out, to do something to help our fellow Raven Maid. This was the farthest I had ever manifested. And I felt the need to do... something. This was stupid, I was a healer, not a fighter.

  All of their attention was on Rin as she closed the gap between them, her shoulder went wide in a spray of red as one of them hit her. She didn't slow, though I saw the pain on her face. The girl was fearless, and I was simply cowering there.

  I dove over the car I was behind and instinctively spread my arms, and I actually glided almost silently down the hill toward the men. My descent matched the slope of the hill, and it would have been exhilarating if I wasn't charging to my probable death. I absently wondered how far we could glide under the right conditions.

  Just as I reached the men, I realized I had absolutely no plan. I had speed and strength, but these men looked far stronger than most, so I wouldn't have much of an advantage. Maybe I could disarm them? I didn't have any weapons, but I remembered a comment from Junior Miss Ninja. If we willed it, our talons could do more than metaphysical damage.

  I almost snorted at myself thinking in terms like 'metaphysical' like it was normal now. I never put much stock into all of this mumbo jumbo before. I was so blind just weeks ago. I tried to figure out how not to bowl into the men when I tried to get out of my glide to slash at them with my talons when I realized with a smirk, that I had more talons to work with now.

  I raised my feet at the last instant and pushed a thought into my Raven with as much will as I could muster in my half panic. Please, let my talons do damage. She must have listened to me because as I reached them, I saw Rin grinning smugly past them to me as I slammed one taloned foot into Goatee's back, and the other I closed around his gun arm as the impact had me twisting off of and past him as I held on for dear life.

  The weapon went off as we tumbled along the ground past his buddies. My talons ripping and tearing at his flesh. His gun skidded out of his grasp as he rolled up on a knee, a long serrated knife in his left hand as his right arm hung limply at his side.

  I was mentally exhausted, making my talons do physical damage took a lot out of me. But now I was facing a trained killer who was wielding a knife. I muttered to myself, “Brilliant plan Addy.”

  His attention flicked between me and the other two goons who felt so wrong to me as Rin slammed into them like a teenaged bird shaped projectile. She knocked one back toward us a couple steps and flipped over him, but the man mountain didn't fall.

  She landed beside me as the two emotionless men turned, swinging their weapons toward us. That's when I caught her grinning at me with an odd excitement in her eyes, and I realized she had her knife in her talons now.

  I glanced to man mountain one and saw his neck was torn and ragged, but still not bloody. Her attack had simply been to get her weapon back. I blinked at her as she said in that same exhilarated excitement I saw in her eyes. “I have the zombies, you deal with their handler.”

  Zombies?

  That's why they felt like abominations to me? I had felt this before, but not to this extent because I didn't know what I was feeling at the time. My blood ran cold as I started piecing everything together.

  I didn't have time for that now, I just nodded and started circling around Goatee as Rin charged the two abominations. A familiar scent of decay hit my nose as the zombies clashed with her.

  The man raised his hand with the blade to his ear and said, “There are two Ravens. I repeat, two. Oliver is confirmed!”

  I was what? He knew who I was, everything was becoming clearer, and my rage
started building as I heard sirens off in the distance heading our way.

  Then he was lunging at me, and I dove away, if it hadn't been for my inhuman reflexes, I'd have been a bird-kabob just then. I kicked up with a taloned foot on instinct, Rin's lessons kicking in and I screamed in pain as the blade buried deep into the sole of my foot I clenched the talons as I concentrated on them, pushing the pain aside.

  Four inch long claws tore into Goatee's wrist, and he let go of the knife, hissing in pain as he yanked his arm way and spun backward, landing a kick in my sternum. It was like being hit by a truck, even in my hybrid form, and I tumbled across the ground.

  I came to a stop, and I blinked at what was sitting in front of me as my cheek pressed to the ground. I pushed my raven back down inside me, the effort making me see spots in front of my eyes as I grabbed the gun he had dropped earlier with my now human hands.

  I spun around to the man, and he froze, another blade was in his left hand, blood was flowing from his wrist. He growled out above the sound of the other two fighting Rin, “You don't even know how to use that, honey. The safety is...”

  I shot him in the shoulder and in the leg. I had aimed for non-lethal spots, hoping not to hit an artery. I didn’t want to have Goatee's death on my conscience. The man crumpled to the ground, his face twisted in a mask of pain and surprise. I stood up over him, keeping the weapon trained on him as the sirens got even closer.

  I growled out, “You're talkin' to a girl from the bayou... 'honey.' We all know how to use guns, and at point blank, it's hard to miss.” Then I added just to rub it in. “And why the hell would the safety have been on when you had just been firing at my friend? I'm not stupid.”

  He grimaced then started chuckling and wincing at the pain the motion was causing him. Well, at least he had a sense of humor about getting his ass handed to him by a girl. I turned to the fight, keeping an eye cautiously on him, but he posed no threat to anyone anymore.

  Rin had disarmed the other two, one of them literally. His arm was laying on the ground, the hand still pulling the trigger of the empty gun over and over.

  Rin was bleeding from her shoulder, and now her gut, and she was slowing down. I fired on man mountain two, three times, until the weapon was empty, and though he looked pained by the three shots to his legs, he just kept fighting Rin and ignoring me. I saw the gris-gris hanging from pouches at their necks.

  And in a moment of insight, I slashed a hand out turning into talons, and they sliced cleanly through the leather strap on the gris-gris, and it was flung away from the man. A moment later he just crumpled to the ground his doppelganger standing above him, staring down at his own hands in shock. His corpse looked rotted and decayed like he had been dead for quite some time, even though he had looked normal just moment before.

  Rin muttered, her voice bright with exhaustion and pain, “Fuckin' cooool.”

  Then she slammed her talons into ol' one arm's chest, yanking. I could see her physically pulling the spirit from the man as it tried desperately to cling to his physical form, clawing at it with his fingers.

  Then with a cruel sneer, she latched her other talons onto the second spirit's back and yanked them both toward her. Then they were gone as the second rotting corpse fell at my feet. Rin had them both and was now escorting them to their own personal hells.

  Then I cocked my head in thought. They were zombies, their spirits bound in a vessel somewhere and controlled by someone, most likely through that gris-gris they wore. They were enslaved by the unnatural magic. Was it against their will? If so, could they possibly not be going to hell, but actually being freed from the darkness to go to heaven?

  It was a question I had for her later. For now, she had to hurry, the sirens were only a couple blocks away now. I felt something brush my ankle and looked down, Goatee had dragged himself over to me and was trying to grab me. I slammed the butt of the gun down at the base of his skull, and he slumped bonelessly into unconsciousness.

  I listened to the sirens, the urge to flee was great. I looked at the gun in my hand and resisted the urge to fling it away. It had my prints all over it. I stuck it in my waistband and started tapping my foot impatiently as I muttered, “Come on Rin, anytime would be good.”

  Then she stumbled back into the world in front of me. Staggering on her feet. Her leathers were coated in her blood from the gunshot wounds. I grabbed her and put an arm under her good shoulder, and then turned and ran with her from the approaching police.

  I got us between some houses and moving up an alley back toward Shannon as fast as we could go as three police cruisers came roaring into the neighborhood.

  Rin slumped into unconsciousness, and I pulled her up into my arms. She seemed awfully light until I realized my arms were covered in feathers. I silently thanked my Raven, even though she was me, and started running as fast as my enhanced speed could carry us.

  Chapter 9 – Revelations

  When I reached the Miata, I called out to the slumbering Shannon, who was sleeping with her head against the window. She sat bolt upright and looked over at me charging across the street with Rin in my arms, covered in blood.

  Her eyes went wide as saucers, and she was diving out of the car to meet us, blurting, “Oh my god! She's hurt. What happened? I'll call 911.” She had her cell out and started to dial.

  I shook my head and stopped her, “Don't. She was shot... there are... bodies. The police are everywhere.” I looked down at the girl in my arms and said, “The bleeding has already slowed, her healing is doing its thing.”

  I nudged my chin toward her her car, and she ran over and opened the passenger door. Then she stood behind me as I fastened Rin into the seat. Shan had her hands on my shoulders the whole time, rubbing the feathers that seemed to be draping down my neck and blending into the leather of the jacket, lending me her silent support.

  Again, that oddly detached part of my brain was sort of proud of her for not freaking out about her leather seats like she did when I accidentally got some taco grease on one. It was going to take a hell of a lot more to get the blood stains out of it than that.

  We piled in, and she tore out, heading back toward my place like a bat out of hell. I muttered, “ Soc Au' Lait, Shanny, slow down, we're not trying to get the attention of the police here.”

  She looked past me to Rin, and I saw the genuine concern on her face as she nodded and slowed. She had become attached to the foul-mouthed raven assassin too. Rin moaned, and I just stared up at the ceiling and tried to breathe normally.

  I will not panic, I will not panic.

  I looked over and pulled her jacket partially off so I could get a look at the shoulder wound. It was barely oozing blood now and looked like ragged hamburger on both the entry and exit wounds, but it should have been almost gushing. I silently thanked whoever was listening for the accelerated healing our Raven abilities afforded us.

  I checked her abdomen, realizing my hands were now human. When had that happened? And there was some oozing and heavy bruising, but I didn't feel the telltale rigidness of internal bleeding. Just as I thought that, something seemed to start poking out of the oozing wound, then a bullet fell into her lap. Her body had rejected the foreign metal.

  If only everyone could heal like this. Our Ravens were beyond amazing to me at times.

  I looked over at Shannon as I covered Rin's belly wound with my hand and applied some pressure. “The bleeding is virtually stopped, the bullet is out. I think she's going to be fine. MawMaw will know what to do.”

  She nodded, genuine relief spreading on her face. Then after a few seconds of shared silence, she smiled a little and asked, “Shanny?”

  I muttered, “Shut up,” trying not to grin in such a tense situation.

  Then a weak raspy voice uttered, “Would you two shut the fuck up and flirt on your own time? I'm busy bleeding over here.”

  I gave an almost hysterical giggle of relief as I pulled the little badass into a tight hug as I blurted, “Rin!”

>   I let go of her quickly when she started hissing, “Ow, ow, ow.”

  Then I moved back, and she looked at me sheepishly. “I can't believe they hit me... twice.” Then she asked, “Why did you leave the other guy alive?”

  I exhaled and chastised her, “Because, that's the point, he was alive the other two weren't. I'm not in the habit of killing another person.”

  She shook her head and pointed out, “He would have killed you without a second thought.”

  I shrugged, I wasn't a killer.

  Then she smiled, wincing in pain and said with confidence, “Still, it was pretty badass when you kneecapped him.”

  I couldn't stop my returning smile.

  Then Shan cleared her throat. “Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt your male bonding and testosterone high fives, but would anyone care to tell me just what the hell happened out there? Why do you look like you went through a war? I thought spirits couldn't hurt you.”

  Rin said through pain gritted teeth, “They can't... sort of. I mean they can put up a fight, that's why we train. But they can only hurt our spirit, which heals almost immediately since it is bound to our living form.”

  I explained, “It was a hit squad trying to take out Rin. Three men with guns. Two were... well two were... they were corpses.”

  The injured girl said the word I couldn't bring myself to, “Zombies.”

  Then she said, “That means Abigail can't be too far behind. She must have found out I was in Seattle somehow and followed me.”

  Then her eyes widened, and she said, “One of them saw you entering a building. I think they are following you. I can't make much sense of his memories after he... after Abigail killed him and then shackled his soul. They came in flashes. I think it is because she isn't giving them any free will.”