Into the Ashes [The Arcadians 2] (2 page)

at a very young age. For the first

twelve years of her life she had been

a normal little girl, the only child of

two loving parents. Overnight she’d

changed to a beautiful young woman,

bringing unwelcome changes from the

people around her. Always a slightly

vain individual, her mother had

started to resent Raven’s beauty,

seeing her as a rival instead of the

daughter she loved. Her parents

began fighting more and more until

one night her father had stormed out,

never to return. He had been killed

while driving home from a bar that

night and her mother blamed Raven

for his death.

When money got tight and they

could no longer afford the rent, her

mother had moved them in with her

brother who owned his own house in

a suburb right outside of the city.

Raven was heartbroken when she had

moved away from her friends and

switched schools. Confused and

feeling alone, it had only gotten

worse when her mother started

working the night shift at the hospital

where she was a nurse.

That was when her uncle began

sneaking into her room at night.

Terrified at what was happening,

Raven had tried to tell her mother

what was going on but she hadn’t

believed her. Not knowing what to

do, Raven had suffered in silence for

several months until she couldn’t take

it anymore. One night she had tried to

fight him off, causing him to fly into a

rage. Luckily a neighbor had heard

Raven’s screams and called the

police. When they had busted in and

found him on top of her they

immediately arrested him. The police

had saved her and it was then she

decided to become one of them so

she could help others one day.

Her mother had been horrified at

what had happened, but the damage

was already done. Finally forced to

believe Raven, her mother had

apologized, but things between them

had never been the same. Raven kept

in touch with the cops that had saved

her that night. Officer Diana Dwyer

and Officer Reggie Sheraton had

become the role models she needed,

pushing her to do well in school and

helping her fulfill her dream of

becoming a police officer.

After almost eight years on the job,

people still didn’t believe she was a

cop, but she was. And a damn good

one at that. She had worked hard,

closed cases, and built a steady

reputation. She had been so proud the

day she’d earned her detective’s

shield and it was days like this that

she sure as shit didn’t miss working

the streets.

A uniformed officer rushed up to

where she was holding the teen, his

partner close on his heels. Water

droplets fell from the tip of the visor

on their hats as they frowned at them,

until she turned around and faced

them. Both of the men’s faces

changed to looks of appreciation

then.

“Excuse me, miss! Was this kid

bothering—” He cut off and snapped

to attention as Raven badged him.

“Ma’am.”

“Officer, take this idiot into

custody. And give this purse back to

that woman over there.” She jerked

her head toward the woman huddled

heroically under a tiny umbrella with

her husband and their two children.

The matching sweatshirts the family

had on made her want to sigh. She

guessed they were from somewhere

far different from the urban sprawl of

Chicago, like Iowa…or maybe Mars.

Tourists.

If the two officers could have

saluted her, they would have, but she

simply shoved the teen at them

instead. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Your collar. I don’t want to deal

with the paperwork. Tag me if you

have any problems.” She offered one

of her cards to the officer and he

cupped it in his hand, shielding it

from the rain as if it were precious.

“Thank you, Detective!”

The officer slapped his cuffs on the

teenager as his partner took the purse

back to the grateful family. The rain

had several tendrils of her hair

breaking free from their bonds to curl

around Raven’s face and she pushed

back at them impatiently, wishing she

had opted for a hat that day. The sky

seemed to darken as she made her

way back toward the deli, noting

absently that her umbrella was long

gone, along with her abandoned

sandwich.

Bastards.

Resigning herself to another night

of frozen dinners or leftover Chinese

food, she walked the few blocks

home. The irritation must have been

pumping off of her in waves, causing

the other pedestrians to give her a

wide berth even though several men

did a double take as she passed them.

Raven’s footsteps slowed as she

passed a particular building until she

came to a stop. She stood on the

sidewalk, looking up at the building

as the rain continued to fall on her

face like tears from heaven. She was

used to stopping there. Every day for

two months she had stopped in front

of her friend Allie’s building on her

walk home. Not that she was there.

Her best friend Allison Summers had

been missing for two months now,

and every day Raven missed her

more.

Most women shied away from

being friends with a woman who

looked like Raven, but when she’d

met Allie in college they had

instantly clicked. Both coming from

difficult pasts, they had understood

one another. They had both been

focused on their goals, Allie being a

doctor and Raven being a cop. As

their friendship grew, they finally had

someone to be there, through the good

and the bad. It was something neither

of them was used to, but it was nice

to have someone she could finally

depend on.

They had other friends, but no one

understood her like Allie had. Their

friends all thought Raven was a

serial monogamist who enjoyed a

variety of men, but the reality was

that she had a hard time trusting men

at all and Allie had understood that

and never judged her. After a couple

of dates, Raven would usually freeze

up then end the relationship before

anyone could get close to her. Sex

was easy enough, as long as she

could escape after it was finished.

The truth was, Allie was the only

person Raven really trusted.

And now she was gone.

Two months ago Raven had taken

off early from work to celebrate

Allie’s birthday with her. She had

called her friend several times and at

first had thought Allie had gotten

caught up in surgery. After a few

hours Raven had called the hospital,

only to be told that Allie had left

hours ago. Concerned, Raven had

gone over to Allie’s place, using her

key to get in so she could check to

make sure her friend was okay.

But she wasn’t.

Allie had simply disappeared.

Raven’s colleagues thought she

was

obsessed

with

Allie’s

disappearance and maybe they were

right. She just couldn’t let it go. Allie

was her best friend and Raven would

do anything to get her back…or find

her body. It was always harder not

knowing. She’d never get any closure

if she didn’t figure out what had

happened to her friend.

A rumble of thunder and a flash of

lightning had Raven jolting out of her

miserable thoughts. During the short

time she’d been thinking about her

missing friend, day had faded to night

and the steady rain had kicked up to a

torrential downpour.

“Shit…”

Huffing out a breath, Raven turned

and joined the other poor souls on the

street in a dash to make it to safety as

the storm raged around them. Her

plan to make it home before the

spring storm hit was shot to hell.

Thunder boomed overhead and

lightning cast eerie streaks of fire in

the night sky, way too close for her

comfort. Her heart gave a jolt as

another bout of thunder seemed to

boom directly overhead. Breaking

into a run, she rushed down the

suddenly empty street toward her

condo building, the rain making it

almost impossible to see.

Until the light came…

Raven’s entire body jerked as the

lightning struck, engulfing her in

white flames so bright it seemed to

burn her alive. She heard the

crackling of pure energy surround her

as she flew backward, slamming to

the ground with tremendous force.

For one insane moment she wanted

to laugh at the pain of the blow.

Seriously? She’d always assumed

she’d bite it with a bullet or some

other injury on the job…not by

getting struck by lightning in a damn

storm.

This

was

a

pretty

fucking

embarrassing way to die.

She squeezed her eyes shut in

defense against the bright glow

surrounding her and waited for the

pain to pass.

As the light faded, she was

surprised she was still alive.

Surely the pain would have faded if

she’d died, right?

Raven lay sprawled on the ground,

unmoving until she realized that the

rain no longer fell on her as it had

only moments ago. Without opening

her eyes she took stock of several

things at once. Warmth surrounded

her and the tantalizing scent of food

teased her senses, reminding her of

how damn hungry she was. She heard

the subtle shift of movement close by

and forced herself not to stiffen in

alarm.

She knew instantly, wherever she

was, she wasn’t alone.

Gathering her courage, she braced

herself and slowly opened her eyes

then immediately squeezed them back

shut.

Impossible.

She must have suffered some sort

of head trauma in the fall because

there was no way she could have just

seen what she thought she did. She

opened her eyes back up and silently

cursed.

Son of a bitch…

She was either dead or crazy, and

neither option appealed to her.

What a great fucking way to end her

day…

“Son of a bitch,” Raven said again,

this time out loud, not believing what

she was seeing as she slowly sat up

and took a good look around.

Clearly the lightning must have

killed her because she sure as shit

didn’t have the imagination to come

up with the craziness she was seeing.

Raven had always thought that she

had lived her life with purpose, had

done good work throughout her time

on the force, but none of that seemed

to matter.

No. She had been judged…and it

had landed her in hell.

Taking in her surroundings at a

glance, she saw she was in a large

stone room, only the stone was a

weird, shimmering bronze color.

Drapes of silver gossamer fabric

hung from the ceiling that reminded

her of a medieval hall she’d once

seen in a movie. Bright blue fire

blazed out of large silver cauldrons

set up strategically around the room.

The air felt thicker here as if her

lungs had to work harder to breath.

Her body moved, but it was as if it

were in slow motion, like she could

bend the very air to her will.

Everything she saw was brighter,

more vivid, and sharper as if her

eyes were being introduced to a new

spectrum of colors.

Dozens of tables were set up

around the large room. She had

obviously landed smack-dab in the

heart of some sort of celebration and

the room was filled with…

Holy shit!

She was so seriously screwed…

Fear was a living, breathing entity