House of Ravens (17 page)

But then these moments creep up, and remind
me that I was human once, after all, and still am.

WHISPERS PULL ME FROM
SLEEP.
They’re quiet, low. And I’m
instantly relieved when Elle’s is among them.

But there’s another sound that instantly
sends adrenaline burning through my veins.

A scream. From somewhere on the property.
North east of the House.

I bolt to my feet, momentarily confused at
my location. Someone hauled a settee into the ballroom, which I lie
on. The scream sounds once more.

“
Did you hear that?” I yell
out generally as I yank the doors open, ignoring the dim light that
is beginning to rise on the horizon. My feet dart over the patio,
around the empty pool, and across the grass. A moment later, I hear
three other sets of feet racing after me.

The scream came from the direction of the
workers’ house. My enhanced eyes attempt to block out the light and
focus on the house that comes into view.

Two bodies. One drops to the ground,
absolutely still. The other takes off across the property.

“
Beth!” I scream,
recognizing one of the housekeepers now that I am closer. I pick up
my speed, dropping to her side. “Don’t let him get away!” I scream
as Ian and Nial race after the figure that took off.

“
No, Beth,” I breathe,
shaking her as she lies in my arms. Her pale face stares up at the
sky, a small line of blood leaking from her neck, dripping into the
grass below us. Rath stops at my side, taking half of her weight,
pressing his fingers into the side of her neck.

“
She’s gone,” I say before
Rath declares it. Her empty eyes stare at nothing, the breath not
rising and falling in her chest. “She…she’s gone.”

Rath looks at me, letting a slow breath out
through his nose. He only nods in agreement.

“
Why…” I shake my head,
fighting down the debilitating feelings from rising up inside of me
once more. “Why would they attack the staff? They’re human. They
pose no threat to the Bitten!”

“
They’re still attempting
to tear you down,” Rath says as he brushes the hair back from
Beth’s face. “They’re trying to hurt you.”

A scream of frustration rises from my chest
as I slam my fists into the grass around me, only to bury them five
inches down into the dirt. “This war needs to hurry up and get over
with. It’s time for blood.”

This is personal.

Birthrights should not always just run
through blood.

It’s the one and only clue
that I have as to
why
this war is going on. Muttered in the trailer house by the
first cell we found.

Voices from the House trickle to my ears,
just as three figures emerge from down the property, one of them
being dragged.

The Bitten man hangs with his head bobbing,
looking barely coherent. As Ian and Nial drop him beside me, I see
why. The bones of his chest are caved in, crushed, as if a powerful
fist punched him there.

Were he human, he’d be dead.

“
You,” I growl, fisting his
shirt and standing over the top of him. “Tell me how to find the
rest of your people. It’s time to end this.”

He looks up at me, smiling through bloody
and broken teeth. “You think you can win this. But a few ants on
the beach cannot defeat the rising tide.”

“
Taking out two of your
cells is a good way to start, though.”

I look up to see Anna walking across the
lawn. She’s covered in spatters of blood, her lip split, a gash
still bleeding above her eye. But most of it doesn’t look to be her
own.

“
You found them?” I ask,
pressing a knee across my prisoner’s throat.

“
Two cells,” she repeats.
“One on the edge of town, out in the sticks. Another down the river
about three miles, middle of a swamp. We took out eighteen
Bitten.”

“
Eighteen?” I breathe, in
utter shock. Ian swears profusely under his breath.

The man beneath me laughs, a low, quiet
thing, flashing his bloody teeth again. “The rising tide.”

I rip the stake from Ian’s grasp and bury it
into the man’s chest, blood splattering all over my face.

“
Eighteen,” I say again as
I climb off of him, running my bloody hands through my hair
absentmindedly in frustration. “Has anyone heard from Markov
yet?”

“
What was he doing?” Anna
asks, her brows furrowing.

I quickly relay the events of yesterday
evening, though leaving out the part about my anxiety attack.

The sound of footsteps on gravel echo across
the property as the sun rises higher in the horizon. “Let’s get
inside,” I say. “Rath…”

I don’t even have to finish asking the
question. “I will take care of her,” he says of Beth.

My heart aches. Another innocent life lost
in this crazy war. I don’t even know where he is taking her when he
stands and starts walking back in the direction of the workers’
house. But I can’t stay and find out because the sun is rising in
the sky, and we only have minutes before the light becomes
unbearable.

“
Come on, Liv,” Ian says.
His voice is tender, caring. He places a hand at the small of my
back and guides me in the direction of the house, where I can hear
three others walking.

Many bodies are filling the ballroom by the
time we get inside and close the doors, blocking out all of the
light. It seems news of these attacks has spread to the Institute
because every one of them has arrived at the House, as well.

“
Did you find anyone?” I
demand of Markov as they walk into the room. My eyes go to Cameron,
whose hands are coated in blood, and Lexington, who has a spray of
it across his chest.

Markov, however, is perfectly clean. Even
though I know he’s the most deadly of the three.

“
There were three others
not far from the Ward property,” Markov says. I realize he holds a
handkerchief in his hand, and he’s cleaning them. It’s covered in
blood. “When they did not offer any useful information, we took
care of them.”

My eyes flick to Lexington
and Cameron, who look at Markov with fear in their eyes.
He’s crazy
, Lexington
mouths. Cameron makes a motion, like ripping limbs and heads from
bodies were involved.

I try not to shiver.

“
Only three?” I
ask.

“
Don’t forget, with the two
you killed, that’s five Bitten they sent after my sister,” Ian
growls. I look to my side when I hear a movement and see Elle
walking out, looking just as stoic and empty as ever.

“
That’s eighteen that my
team killed, and five others,” Anna says. “That’s twenty-three
taken out. I don’t like the sound of these numbers.”

“
The rising tide,” I say
quietly, recalling the words of the man I killed.

“
How many of them could
there be?” Lexington says. “I mean, with this many people going
missing, there should be a multi-state panic going on. ‘Cause
unless we’ve somehow miraculously taken out most of their army,
which, look at the facts of what Charles Allaway said, twenty-three
people is a lot.”

I nod. It’s insane this isn’t more widely
known, all these people going missing. “Lillian, have you heard
anything? On the news? Talk around town? Has anyone gotten
suspicious?”

She shakes her head. “Not that I’ve heard of
yet. No one else from around town has been attacked since that poor
boy. I’ve not heard of anything on the news.”

“
Then they’re being careful
who they’re going after,” Ian says, folding his arms over his
chest.

“
They could be going after
loners,” Danny offers. He, too, is coated in blood and other gore.
“People that no one will notice going missing.”

I nod. It makes sense.

“
I’m this close to making
you all hunker down in this House and not letting anyone leave,
ever again,” I say, shaking my head and holding my thumb and index
finger within an inch of each other. “But I don’t think that’s
smart. We’re safer spread out like this, I think. We’ll keep a
better eye on things this way.”

Anna nods. “Samuel, Christian, Leigh, I want
you watching the House. We need time to regroup. To plan. But for
right now, I need a damn shower.”

She stalks off, and she doesn’t even
hesitate in heading straight into Christian’s room to use his.

There’s some kind of mixed up history
between her and both Kask brothers, but I’m sure not going to get
mixed up in their drama. Not to mention whatever is going on
between her and the Sheriff.

All the other bloody players seem to agree.
Each of them peels off, heading to get cleaned up.

Meanwhile, I sense the sun break over the
horizon. The side door to the kitchen opens, and Katina sets to
making dinner for everyone. Like the death of her coworker never
happened.

“
Come on,” Ian says, taking
my hand in his. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

For a moment, I don’t allow him to drag me
off. Too high of a high to suddenly just break off and do something
so normal, like take a shower. The adrenaline hasn’t burned out of
my blood yet.

“
It’s day now,” Ian says,
standing in front of me. He places his hands on either side of my
face and forces me to look him in the eye. “It’s a brilliantly
sunny day outside. There’s no way the Bitten can do anything more
right now. Take a breather, Liv. Take a shower. Eat. Regroup. We’ll
fight more tonight, I’m sure.”

I nod, blinking five times fast. “Okay.” He
leads me toward the stairs and indicates for Elle to follow us.

“
Are you okay?” I ask her.
I’m searching for signs that she’s turned, but don’t see
any.

She nods. “Still human for another day,” she
breathes. “I’m mostly just tired now.”

I put an arm around her shoulder and hug her
into my side. “I’m so sorry about that earlier. I should have acted
faster. With everything going on, I should have known they would be
watching and try to ambush us.”

“
You can’t plan for every
tiny move, Liv,” she says, offering me a hard won little smile.
“I’m okay. Ian always knows how to fix things.”

I look at him and smile. I teased him about
it once, being the protective big brother. But I love that about
him. He’ll do anything to protect her. And he did what he’s so good
at: being a paramedic and saving lives.

“
We’ve got an extra room,”
I say as Ian and I walk her to the end of the hall, to the last
bedroom on the left. “It’s all yours. I promise, no one will hurt
you here.”

“
Thanks, Liv,” she says
with a little smile. She walks in and waves goodbye before closing
the door to shower.

Something gives in me, and I relax into
Ian’s side as we walk together down the hall to our bedroom. He
wraps his arms supportively around me, pressing his lips into the
top of my bloodstained hair.

“
You did good today,” he
says quietly as we cross the threshold and close the door behind
us. “Your quick thinking saved Elle. You took out some of the
enemy. You lead like you do best.”

I shrug, only thinking of my failures. Of
Elle’s attack. Of Beth’s death. My panic attack. “I tried.”

“
You succeeded,” he says as
he brings me to stand in front of him, just outside of the
bathroom.

I nod, but only because I’m too exhausted to
argue. Offering him a tiny smile, I turn for the bathroom, pulling
Ian behind me. I start the water in the shower, turning it on extra
hot. I strip down to just my bra and underwear and look over my
shoulder at Ian. “Stay with me?”

He doesn’t hesitate. He takes his shirt and
jeans off, climbing into the hot water with me, wearing only his
boxer briefs.

I should be more here in this moment.
Appreciating the water as it runs over Ian’s mostly-naked form.
More self-conscious of the way the water soaks through my thin,
white underthings.

But I’m depleted. I rest my forehead against
the tile wall, letting Ian run a bar of lavender-scented soap over
my body, scrubbing the blood and dirt from my skin. Letting him
move me like a rag doll, letting him take care of me.

The look on his face isn’t lustful. It’s
firm. Determined. He knows what I need in this moment, and he is up
to the task.

I’ve taken care of myself for so long, every
day since I moved out. Every day since I lost my mother. Since I
had to give birth to a baby girl and give her away to a family who
could take care of her.

I did what I had to do to take care of
myself.

But right now, I give that weight to
Ian.

I wouldn’t trust anyone else with this.

He cleans me up and quickly washes himself
off, blood swirling down the chrome drain. And then, he wraps me in
a towel and sits me down on a stool while he drags a brush through
my hair.

I watch him in the mirror while he does it.
Telling myself not to feel too much. To simply exist in this simple
moment.

I have to drama detox.

Ian disappears into my closet and comes back
with dry underthings and a simple cotton sleeping set of a tank top
and shorts. He himself goes into the bedroom to dress, leaving me
to it in the bathroom.

When I walk out, he’s standing, looking
somewhat nervous and unsure in the bedroom. He wears a white
t-shirt and gray, cotton shorts. But when he sees me, he
smiles.

And so do I.

“
I can’t wait to marry you,
Ian,” I say quietly. We both stand there for several long moments,
not moving, just simply observing one another.