Ravens (31 page)

Kendra followed like a rabid animal,
snarling and practically drooling in anticipation. She now understood the rush.
This was enthralling and invigorating, addictive. Something about the sprint of
energy doused in danger, stalking the night, saving lives and taking them. How
could she ever go back to the mundane life of the other world? Kendra was born
to be a Raven.

As she ran, the energy grew within her
and she allowed it take control. The energy vied for the very core of her
fibrous being, from the molecular level to the whole. 

The girls followed the men into the
building, each taking out a human or two. In the near silence, they based their
attacks on stealth and surprise, but once Kendra entered, their plans went
downhill fast.

Energy and anger gorged on her body. She
wanted nothing more than to take out the hunters. They were all the same, from
the ones who preyed on Ravens on a nightly basis like animals, to the ones in
the other world who pretended to want to help so-called traumatized children
and turned families against their own flesh and blood. Not all humans were bad,
and not all Ravens were innocent, but the hunters made their choice. It was
war.

Kendra blasted out, her energy ill
controlled. She wanted Liam back badly, and she forfeited any jurisdiction over
her body to the Ravenous energy throbbing through her veins. She momentarily
stood like a pillar of brilliant white light, engaging the complete and
undivided attention from the hunters.

The ground shook beneath her, causing
the furniture, even the entire house, to tremble in her wake. The walls
cracked, reaching the ceiling as particles and chunks of plaster gave way. At
first, the crew of Ravens froze in awe.

“She’s pissed,” Lou grunted.

The crew attempted to calm Kendra, but
she drew the attention of even more hunters. The Ravens tried to avoid gunfire
but Kendra seemed to attract it. She was fast enough to dodge the bullets.

She grabbed a decorated medieval sword from
the wall, laced her energy around it, and used it to divert the trail of a few
bullets so that they ricocheted and veered off to another hunter. Kendra only
badly stunned hunters today. She did not succeed in, nor did she try, to kill.
The others, especially Lou, had different plans and gladly finished the job for
her. As Liam once said, the hunters who survived today would only come back
another day with a vengeance. He lived as proof of that.

****

Nathan waved off Kendra’s newbie
aggression as a lack of self-control over her powers. He grabbed Mark by the
shirt collar, and the two ran around the corner to the steps leading down to
the basement. There weren’t any humans left to guard Liam. 

The humans imprisoned Ravens in the
three cells in the lower level. They had electric barriers, which deactivated
their natural energies. Only one cell held a Raven.

The men secured the room. They raced to
Liam’s cell, skidding to a stop in front of him. They straightened out to an
upright stand and curiously eyed the young man.

Liam sat on the wooden bench with knees
apart and his massive arms crossed over his torn shirt. His head tilted back,
resting against the concrete wall, with chin up. He held a playful, inquisitive
expression on his face. He smirked but didn’t move.

“Well? No excitement, no surprise to
meet us here?” Mark asked.

“Surprised to find you? Are you kidding
me? I heard you guys rush the place half an hour ago. I should be wondering
what on earth took you so long.” He grinned.

Nathan turned to the controls to disable
the cell. As usual, he lacked the time to deactivate properly, not that he
wanted to leave the equipment intact for further use or that it would even
survive the imminent and total destruction of the building, including
everything and everyone within. He used his energy to weave through the
machines that yielded to him without any resistance.

“Never heard that kind of ruckus during
a raid or bailout in my life,” Liam went on.

“Not us, man, but your girlfriend,” Mark
replied.

“What?” Liam jumped to his feet.
“Kendra’s here?”

“Yeah, and she went all crazy and
stormed the place. Seriously, she is pissed. Don’t ever make her mad.”

Liam couldn’t help but grin. He recalled
her stomping out of his apartment when she flared up like a sun. He knew she
would become a beautiful and supernatural power.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The walls of the cell sparked and
flickered until the voltage died down to nothing, making it safe for Liam to
move out. They heard a thud.

“You feeling all right, then?” Nathan
asked.

“You know it.” Liam flashed a reassuring
glance.

Liam no longer appeared beat. When he
left Kendra’s illusions the night before, the hunters took him by surprise.
Occupied with securing her safety and drained from the effects of his
interference, he became disoriented. When he refocused on his own reality, the
hunters attacked him like a pack of rapacious dogs. They gave him quite the
beating. Since Liam couldn’t fight back as well, the hunters took him down.

Liam took out a hunter or two, but only
severely wounded them. The rest of the humans did quite a number on Liam. They
beat him pretty badly, covered him in wounds, bruises, even a few sprains and a
broken rib. Thanks to his hyper-regenerative properties, he healed quickly.

The hunters threw him into a cell until
they figured out what to do with him. They wanted to kill him, but catching a
Raven was difficult and rare, so they opted to save him for experiments.

Hunters liked to think they tested
Ravens for the benefit of mankind. Some of the hunters worked for the world
government. Of course, the hunters would never admit to this because the public
would go into an upheaval if they knew the government tortured creatures. This
particular male Raven took out several hunters two months ago and his head
stood in high demand. The hunters hadn’t decided his fate. Unfortunately, for
them, Liam belonged to a family that was just as adamant and calloused about
retrieving him.

“Let’s get outta here before
reinforcements or the police show up.” Nathan smacked Liam’s chest with the
back of his hand.

Civilized Ravens didn’t want to drag the
police into their affairs. They didn’t want to forcibly injure innocent humans.

The men emerged from the hallway and
found Lou and Julie huddled around a fallen body. Liam made his way through,
panicked with the thought of Kendra hurt. He peered down at the unconscious
Kendra. She always found trouble.

He grinned. The beauty lay nearly
unconscious with her hand near her head and her body decently covered. Ah,
Kendra and her skirts. He had to love it.

“I thought that I told you those aren’t
practical,” he murmured to no one in particular.

“Let’s get out of here.” Lou headed for
the exit to verify a clear getaway.

Liam bent his knees and took Kendra’s
body.  

“Sorry, darling,” he muttered, and
tossed Kendra over his left shoulder like a Neanderthal clubbing the hottest
skirt in the forest.

Liam emerged last from the building
while the crew spread out between the front area and across the field to the
edge of the premises. Nathan and Lou shook their heads.

Liam stood like a boulder, with ripped
clothing. Kendra hung over his left shoulder. He held onto her with his left
arm secure around her thighs, just above the back of her knees. Her arms and
head swung over his back, but she was barely aware of any of it.

Liam shrugged. “Found something I
liked.”

The men gave him a playful grimace and
then took off with Liam close behind. Kendra slowed him down as much as a bag
of rice would.

He followed his comrades ahead of him in
perfect precision. They made it to their vehicles a mile away in a short amount
of time. Mark and Julie took the motorcycle home. Liam placed Kendra in the
backseat of Nathan’s car and then crawled in next to her.

Once home, Liam placed Kendra in his
bed, removing her shoes and pulling the covers to her chest. He kissed her lips
and then stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. He missed her dearly and
could hardly believe that she was finally home and finally his. Now if only the
hunters would leave him alone, this world could be a perfect place.

He didn’t want to leave, but Liam was a
grimy mess after his time in captivity and after several fights without so much
as a washcloth. He showered when both girls safely slept in their beds and the
guys rested back in their own apartment. He slipped into bed with Kendra after
a fresh change of clothes, not that it would matter, since Kendra slept in her
dirty clothes.

Liam lay on his right side, his left arm
lazily resting across Kendra’s stomach as he watched her. Her chest moved
rhythmically. She was a dirty mess but his beautiful, dirty mess. He often
watched her in his illusions as she slept in her barn loft bed, but it didn’t
do the experience justice. If this was life, he couldn’t ask for more.

He could imagine watching Kendra sleep
every night for the rest of his life. It made his heart flutter. His love for
her surpassed physical needs, it was emotional, dare he think it, even
spiritual. She drove him crazy, and he didn’t want it any other way.

He yawned and closed his heavy lids. How
he missed the comfort of a soft, clean bed. He had spent his time sleeping
upright on the bench in the cell. This was better by far.

****

Kendra barely recalled Liam carrying her
in his arms up the flight of stairs and placing her in his bed, let alone
watching her sleep.

She awoke alone in the dimly lit room,
to her body’s internal clock. Noises or nightmares did not disturb her. She
awoke fully rested and ascended into reality through her own accord. What a
change.

The black curtain hung over the blinds
but didn’t keep the entire brilliance of the autumn sun out. One day, she would
venture out during daylight. She would gasp at the full crimson solar flares of
a colossal mass of heat. Maybe one day, scientists could explain the portals
and Raven powers along with the separate, but somehow intertwined, dimensions
and their various differences. Maybe the celestial bodies had something to do
with it, or maybe they were innocent accessories to the universe’s ultimate
plan. Who knew for sure?

Kendra groaned, disappointed to find
Liam absent. She crawled out of bed and smiled to herself, thinking of how Liam
must have slid her shoes off after getting her in bed. She wondered if he
allowed his fingers to glide up her legs like last time or if he kissed her.
She touched her fingers to her lips. Indeed, he had kissed her goodnight.

She opened the door and, surprisingly,
found Liam cooking. He had taken another shower, scrubbing aggressively to get
the past few days off him. Once again, he was fresh and wore a different pair
of clothes than what he went to bed in. As he suspected, he only got dirty
being in bed with Kendra. His smooth skin smelled of a mixture of soap and
earthly scents with a metallic vibe. His wet hair occasionally dripped water
onto his white shirt.

“Thanks for watching that for me.” Julie
ran back into the kitchen. She grabbed the spatula from Liam and paused when
she saw Kendra. “Kendra! You’re awake.”

Liam noticed the young woman, his
sleeping beauty now awake. Kendra’s tangled hair was a mess. She was lovely,
safe, and finally with him again. He couldn’t ask for anything more. He rushed
toward her, having waited hours for her to awaken.

Kendra acknowledged Julie, but couldn’t
keep her eyes off of the young man who moved through the kitchen and around the
pillar, dashing toward her.

Liam leaned over, threw his arms around
her petite waist, and swept her off her feet and against his body. Kendra
wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against his, welcoming the
stubble on his cheeks and neck. He planted her on the back of the couch.

Liam kissed her passionately, drawing
out gasps and creating knots in her stomach. Every kiss and touch felt like
sensory overload with the energy that yearned for her and pushed its way into
her flesh. She couldn’t breathe and if it weren’t for Julie, she might have
suffocated in sweet, fervent kisses.

Julie cleared her throat, tending to her
cooking and keeping her focus low unless she wanted to be traumatized by an
older sibling’s passionate displays. “Keep it PG over there, guys.”

Liam pulled his lips away, allowing
Kendra to gasp for air. With another quick movement, Liam lifted his hands and
clasped her face with urgency. He looked into her eyes. Kendra held his wrists.

“I’m so glad that you’re safe.” She kept
tears from forming.

“You are just too cute,” he growled.

“Cute?”

“Storming in there to save me and then
passing out from the energy frenzy. I had to toss you over my shoulder and save
you
! Not that I’m complaining.”

“Don’t ever get captured again.”