Call of the Raven (30 page)

“The irony of that is the book was about
ani-shifts—ani-shifts!” she exclaimed. Another light came on and
this time a door cracked open. “I should be questioning my sanity
about now but ever since I was a kid I was convinced that such a
world existed. What did that get me though but ridicule and
punishment until you two go-go-power-morphers show up to make my
life—”

The last of her words were cut short as both
Asher and Ari overpowered her on the stairs. Asher threw his arms
around her waist and held her in place against his body, and Ari
stood before her, covering her mouth with his hands, and clearly he
felt the need to use both of them.

“We exist and people are aware of that more
than they realize,” Ari spoke in a hushed voice. “The word
ani-shift spoken out loud by an outsider dissolves our magic
barriers, and then when it falls everyone can see us. And we only
want certain outsiders, such as you, to see us. Do you understand
that?”

Elle nodded her head and Ari removed his
hands. Asher on the hand didn’t seem as convinced. “But if I’m an
outsider then why can I see you?”

“I knew it, she has no silent button,” Asher
grunted. “And again I strongly advise you to
never
call me a
morpher again.”

Sending an elbow backward she made contact
with his chest and the hold was broken. She dropped to the stairs,
righted herself with the use of the handrail, and continued on up
the stairs to the roof.

“I have other words, chauvinist, xenophobe,
overoptimistic, bully!” She spat the last out vehemently as she
took each step. “I like to read. I know many that are more than
applicable!”

“I’m going to kill her,” Asher muttered. “I’m
truly going to kill her.”

“Get in line.” Elle directed over her
shoulder and pushed open the roof door.

Just like her apartment building the tenants
utilized every space of the roof. To the right was a cluster of
lawn furniture in an array of style and disorder. To her left were
four long clotheslines that sported sheets to underwear left to
dry. The people who lived here were poor just like her and lacked
the funds to buy washers and dryers to make their lives easier.

As the two men searched the roof, Elle moved
to the edge and looked off toward her apartment. She tried not to
eavesdrop but she could tell by Ari’s tone and his words that he
was surprised by Asher’s presence. She heard Asher complain about
them being gone for over a week and when he said he was starting to
worry about them, Ari appeared even more stunned.

“You were worried?” Ari said, turning over a
couch to look behind it. “Since when do you get worried…about
us?”

“Since maybe you were taken and strange
people started appearing to wreak havoc into our lives. Regardless
of what you think of me Arimus, you’re still my brother.”

“I’m not mad about you keeping Grant’s kid
from me anymore,” Ari said. “I let him down too. I’m just surprised
you left Lake Manor on your own.”

“Frankly, I am too but let’s talk about this
later.”

When Elle noticed Asher turn to look in her
direction, she moved even further away so that she could get a
better view of the apartment. Most of the windows on the second
floor were broken and a big section of the roof was gone. She found
her bedroom on the far right side of the building and regretfully
came to the conclusion that the firemen had prevented the flames
from reaching that far.

Lowering her eyes, she followed the
taillights of Julio’s car as he drove down their street. The
building was roped off and the doors boarded up to prevent anyone
from trying to gain access but Elle knew that would not stop
Julio.

Wind whipped about her face and hair. She
pulled up the collar on the jacket. The smell of Julio’s cologne
nauseated her. She just wanted to eat a hot dinner and climb into a
nice warm bed and sleep away her agony but she wasn’t sure where to
go to find that, and if Julio found her she knew she wouldn’t be
sleeping for hours.

At the sound of a moan, Elle jerked around,
afraid that Ari or worse Asher had caught her crying. The two men
however were on the opposite end looking behind a grouping of
couches. Again, she heard someone moaning and immediately she
sought out the source. She saw them then, legs through the metal
supports of the rooftop billboard sign that advertised the downtown
zoo, and on the front was a picture of a tiger.

Life was a satire she realized as she hurried
around the huge sign and found him. She could only assume the young
man was the falcon since in fact he was in his human form. He was
about her age and was just as handsome as the other two Lake’s. His
hair was a tousled blond-brown mess, tangled with blood.

“Over here!” she called out.

He put up a hand in a pleading gesture. “Not
so loud!” he inaudibly whispered.

Elle dropped down on her knees and without
thinking took hold of his head. She found the cause of the bleeding
easy enough, a deep gash three to four inches long on the crown of
his skull. Reaching in the pocket of the jean jacket she withdrew
Julio’s bandana—his doo-rag that she knew was there. In the
downtown gangs, it was a sign of color, a means of identification.
To her at the present its purpose was far more important. Folding
the red square in sections, she placed it over the bleeding
wound.

“Wow, that smells really really bad,” he
grimaced.

“I know but it’s all I have and you have a
really really bad cut.”

Asher and Ari hastily rounded the corner.
Even though both showed signs of relief, Asher stayed behind. Ari
on the other hand quickly came to where they were and squatted down
on the other side of the young man.

“I can’t believe it, my eyes didn’t deceive
me. Asher really is here,” he said.

“Guess he couldn’t live without us after
all.” Ari’s eyes lifted to Elle. “Elle this is Nixon.” Ari
carefully lifted up on her fingers to examine his wound, and his
brow furrowed. Nixon gave her a nod but when Asher snapped his
phone closed and cursed, both he and Ari gave their attention to
him.

“Bart still can’t get to us. I told him to
abandon the limo and call the service to send another car.” Asher
moved toward them. “Move Ari, I can heal him. Just keep the rag in
place so I won’t see.”

Ari’s head jerked up. “Healing drains you.
You don’t like to heal anyone but yourself.”

Apparently finding him too slow, Asher
roughly shoved his brother out of the way. Ari fell back onto his
bottom, cursed in response, quickly stood and took off. She watched
him go and then fixed her gaze on Asher. He had gotten down on his
knees in Ari’s place and was busy removing his gloves, but his eyes
stared directly across at her. She had been watching Ari, while he
had been watching her.

“That was uncool Asher,” Nixon said in a
hushed tone. Asher ignored him.

“What book was it?” Asher asked.

“Excuse me?” She adjusted the rag as Nixon
turned his head to the right to look at Asher.

“What book did you buy about ani-shifts that
warranted that?” He gestured to her shoulder. Elle knew what he
meant. Asher had been the one that inspected the bite marks prior
to her falling unconscious.

The floodlight that usually cast light up to
the billboard had been dislodged and shone instead along the roof
floor. Unlike in the dim street lamps below, Elle could clearly see
Asher. He was a beautiful man, not handsome which clearly made her
understand what the man in the building meant.

Asher
was
pretty.

His features were chiseled and flawless. But
it was his eyes that captivated her. Never before had she witnessed
such a remarkable color. Only when they widened urging her to
answer did she force her gaze downward for fear of making herself
look even more like a fool. Besides, as his head rotated under her
fingers, she knew Nixon was now observing her instead of Asher.

“Hatori Matasuto’s last book,” she said.

Nixon laughed and Asher’s hard glare fell on
him. “Unless you want to get stitched up instead in the nearest
emergency room I would remain silent,” he suggested.

“So then you can heal people too with your,”
Elle hesitated when Asher’s brow arched in warning, “magic?”

He gave her a nod and his lips curved upwards
into a pleased smile. “Thank you for not allowing your quick wit to
call me yet another clever name.”

“Well my minds a little clevered out I
guess.” Elle removed her hand as Asher’s moved in over the bandana.
She sat back on her legs and shrugged, since again he was observing
her as though he wanted her to continue on with her thought. “I
couldn’t come up with a retort even if I wanted to. Not after
getting a good look at your eyes. Now my thoughts are preoccupied
with that old Bonnie Tyler song.”

The narrow-eyed frown of confusion on Asher
face told Elle he didn’t seem to know what to make of her comment,
but Nixon covered his face with his hands and laughed. Even though
he attempted to muffle the fact he was, his voice still slipped
through his fingers.

Asher’s red glare returned and Nixon flinched
under his touch. “Easy Asher, I was just kidding, besides she said
it.”

“Yes, and at my expense.” His glare fell on
Elle and she suddenly felt scrutinized and judged.

“I’m sorry.” She lowered her gaze. “I don’t
always think before I talk. I guess that’s obvious.” She patted
Nixon on the arm. “Well, it was nice to meet you and thanks for
defending me and Mary against the Blackbirds. That was a very brave
thing to do and you’re a very pretty falcon.” She turned to Asher
then but didn’t look at him directly. “Thank you for watching over
me.” Getting up, Elle started walking away.

“I can give you a room at the Plaza and some
money to help you get back on your feet,” Asher called after
her.

Elle stopped, and turned around. “Do you mean
the Plaza hotel downtown?”

Asher nodded, hair falling forward as he
moved a hand over the top of Nixon’s head. Where his hand traveled
the blue light followed. “I own it,” he casually said.

Elle dropped her eyes, when he looked up. The
very second Asher said the words the vision of the huge Lake Inc.
skyscraper across the street from the Plaza hotel came to mind and
she knew. Everything made sense now. Asher Lake was above her type,
and everything within his demeanor from the instant they met
expressed that.

She recalled her words downstairs and her
desperation made her cringe all the more. She suddenly felt silly
for thinking either he or Ari had noticed her, when they were only
being kind. Now because she had gotten caught up in their mess
Asher felt responsible for her.

Never again though, did Elle wish to fall
captive to a man, not if she can help it.

“Thank you but I’ll be fine.” Without waiting
for a reaction or answer, Elle hurried on her way.

Chapter
Seventeen

Choices

Elle was halfway
down the stairs when
she suddenly noticed a man sitting on a step below. One of the
tenants had turned on their security light so she could clearly see
that it was Ari, but still her breath caught out of habit. Hearing
her, he turned around and fixed her with his gaze. She had one hand
on her heart and the other gripped the railing tight.

“Easy neighbor lady, there’s no reason to be
afraid of your loyal watchdog.” Ari patted the step. “Come sit with
me and keep me company.”

Elle took a deep breath and let it out slow.
“You startled me.”

Ari faced the front when she sat down on the
step next to him. “You thought it was him, didn’t you, the guy
responsible for those bruises?” he softly asked. Unlike his gruff
brother, Ari had a caring and sympathetic voice.

Elle didn’t answer. She didn’t want to cry.
“I already thanked the others Ari but I wanted to especially thank
you for preventing that bird guy from carrying me off.”

“I shouldn’t have let that happen. I wasn’t
planning on leaving you behind. I just wanted a chance to explain
Asher’s rules about outsiders. That’s always been something he’s
truly insistent upon, but that doesn’t seem to matter much tonight.
I think you should come with us, at least for the night.” Ari
smiled at her. “I think we’ve proven to be trustworthy.”

“Asher offered.” She noticed his eyes widened
at her words but before he had the chance to ask her to explain she
continued. “But I think I should go. You guys have been nice but
you don’t owe me anything.”

Ari’s stare had proven uncomfortable enough
in dim lighting, but now he could clearly see her. Her hair was a
mess. Her shirt was a plain white tee-shirt. Her jeans were worn
and the jacket belonged to Julio, a chain smoking gangster that
liked to write gang-signs up and down the arms. And lastly, how
could she forget the fact that Asher said she smelled.

All things considered the image she had of
herself didn’t exactly conjure up self-confidence. To make matters
worse, Ari turned his body so that he was facing her, and very
boldly began to study her face.

“Is Mary Okay?” she asked before he could say
the words perched on his partially opened mouth. “I mean I should
have asked already but things moved really fast when I was with,
him
upstairs.”

“
Him’s
my brother and Mary’s fine.
She’s giving Kennedy—tiger-girl some hassle, but Kennedy’s real
good with kid’s, so she’ll eventually be all right.” Ari continued
to visually analyze her, causing Elle to tighten the collar on the
jacket, and keep her eyes trained on the entrance door. “You’re so
young and pretty. There’s just so much you don’t understand, and
neither do I.” Reaching up he took hold of Elle’s chin and forced
her to look up, and she let him.

Elle wasn’t in the right mind to do
otherwise. The shock of hearing Mea say the words was one thing but
for a man—a man as handsome as Ari Lake to speak the words with
such force was startling. Julio had said he was the best she would
ever know, and yet this night she was in the presence of three
remarkable specimens of men, each with their own appeal, and one of
them had just called her
pretty
.