Ravens (10 page)

“We don’t like your kind,” another
muttered, scarcely getting the words past his lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about,” she growled and walked away.

She felt like punching their lights out.
They were drunk, grown men!

She knew she shouldn’t cause a scene by
feeding her anger. Deep within her, she felt the entity rumble, triggered by
her adrenaline. Her veins quivered with suppressed rage. The power still felt
creepy, though she found herself wanting to unleash it.

The men’s whispers and mutters faded
behind her as she left them huddled in the illumination of the streetlight.
They stared after her while she slipped away to the dimmer areas where the
light bulbs had burnt out.

Kendra studied her new surroundings. The
wide and tall buildings held storefronts on the bottom level and apartments
above. The streets were old and cobbled, aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but
horrid to walk on. The sidewalks, on the other hand, were newly renovated,
evident by the smoother cement surface void of cracks and stained coloring.

Kendra glanced up at the robust moon,
partially hidden by slowly passing clouds. The view was surreal, like a
painting. It was so large, and low, as if she could reach up and touch it.

She slowed her pace as the clouds moved
and covered the giant moon, but revealed two others. She remembered seeing
three moons in her brief flash of this world before the portal took her. Kendra
shook her head.
Weird,
she thought.

A couple strolled by in the opposite
direction on the other side of the street. Their fading voices and laughter
drew Kendra back to reality. She lowered her head and moved faster. She felt
safe for a few fleeting moments until her advanced hearing picked up footsteps.
The moonlight pried through the thick clouds as they passed, preventing total
darkness.

She tucked in her chin and glanced back.
The small band of men from the bar followed.

Ahead, the darkness became stronger. She
quickened her pace and ducked into an alley. She scrambled in the low light and
passed two worn-out garbage bins before halting. She swallowed when she faced a
dead end. C
rap!

 Gathering up courage, knowing these
guys were inebriated and full of hate, she spun to face her pursuers.

“Well now,” a masculine voice sneered.

The three men formed a V. The two at the
rear were average height, and a little pudgy, their guts swollen with bar food
and liquor. The guy who’d grabbed her earlier led the small band. He was about
six feet tall and thinner than his friends. He walked with a drunken, unsteady
gait.

She hoped one punch would knock them
down, and they stayed down.

He took a step forward. The moonlight
fell on him through the breaks in the clouds. Lust was evident in his brown
eyes, fused with an unsettling ire. By the way he licked and then bit his lower
lip, she knew he had more on his mind than just beating her.

Kendra took a defense stance with her
feet firm on the ground and shoulder length apart, optimal for balance. She
brought her fists up, steadied herself, and warned, “I wouldn’t try anything if
I were you.”

“Is that so?” He stumbled toward her
with outstretched arms.

He tried to grab her, but she dodged his
attacks one after another. He skidded to his knees, and she rammed her bony
elbow into the back of his neck. The cracking of his cervical vertebrae echoed
in the alley, and the sudden empowerment of Raven strength startled and
frightened her. She didn’t mean to break anything, just hurt him bad enough
that he’d leave her alone.

The other two guys shuddered.

Kendra didn’t have time to think, to try
extra hard to defend without damaging. Before the assailant hit the ground, the
other two men fought her, surrounded her, and trapped her between them and the
wall. Apparently, it didn’t matter if she were a girl because they hit hard.

Kendra grunted on impact. They knocked
the breath out of her and left her gasping. Fear diminished, replaced by anger
and a thick blanket of energy.

As she pushed against them, she curled
in on herself in the small space between her and the men. She brought her knees
to her chest and pushed. The men stumbled back, taken off guard by her inhuman
strength. Kendra swung around with a roundhouse kick, breaking one assailant’s
jaw. He shouldn’t have punched her in the face.

Bringing her fist back, Kendra punched
him in the throat. Bet he didn’t like the tables being turned.

Again, she acted before thinking.
Breaking his jaw kept him on the ground, but the energy inside of her took
over. She couldn’t control it, couldn’t tell it to calm down.

The man collapsed and writhed in pain.
He wrapped his hands around his throat. He tried to breathe, wheezed for air.
Broken trachea? He might die.

Kendra cringed at the sight of what
she’d just done. They left her little choice except to fight back, though she
couldn’t believe she could kill so easily.

The third attacker stood on wobbly
knees. He was either too drunk or stupid to look around him and run. Kendra
hoped he would run, hoped he wouldn’t force her to fight.

He attacked, and Kendra didn’t back into
the wall again.

****

Liam sniffed the night air, following
the scent through the main street and along the dimmer areas. Her metallic
scent was fresh, almost with a hint of sweetness. He could smell a Raven
nearby, and he knew the scents of everyone in his group, but Kendra’s was
special because he had a ten-year link to her.

“Figures,” he mumbled to himself, “for
her to be in the dangerous part of the city.”

Only when her scent intensified did he
come to an abrupt stop in front of an alley with a flickering light. He
detected a concentration of adrenaline, which made her scent even stronger.

A girl grunted, Kendra maybe? A heavy
thud followed.

Liam parked his black motorcycle near
the curb. He couldn’t see much into the lightless alley. He narrowed his brows
and squinted, adjusting his sight until his heightened vision clarified the
still figures in the shadows.

Liam jumped off the bike, pushed down
the kickstand, took the keys, and jogged into the alley. By the smell of it, he
knew these guys couldn’t be hunters or criminal Ravens, so he took the upper
hand. When he heard Kendra’s grunts, he quickened his step and ran.

The heated energy from his eyes sparked,
lightning moved through his body and gathered at his hands like white balls of static
fire. It illuminated the alley enough to reveal the man who trapped Kendra near
the back wall.

He clenched his jaw and tapped the
stranger on the shoulder. The man yelped with surprise, and faced Liam. He
paled when he confronted a male Raven.

Liam shook his head in distaste, and
grabbed the man by his collar. The gathered fabric singed in his palms when his
energy pulsated through him like poison. He lifted him above the soiled ground
and hurled him against the wall over Kendra’s head like a rag doll. He hit the
concrete and sagged into the garbage bin below, smelling of burnt clothes and
flesh.

Kendra turned toward the attacker’s
body. He lay nearly dead on a bed of rotting and putrid trash, and alley
debris. Liam was used to mangled bodies, but what did Kendra do to the other
two guys? Well, not his concern. They shouldn’t have messed with her. They
didn’t get up to fight, and he needed to get Kendra out of here and back on
track to find Julie.

Kendra shook like a person coming down
from a drug high. She had a look of mortification and horror on her face, which
changed to anger when she faced him. The air smelled of cinder and lingering
electric particles.

The visible energy faded from Liam’s
features as quickly as it emerged.

“What’re you thinking running out into
this world on your own?” he snapped.

Her eyes sparked. “Shut up.”

“Darling, you seem to have a gift for
trouble.” He offered his hand.

Kendra slapped it away. “I’m not going
back with you.”

He shrugged. “Far be it for me to save
your life twice now and offer some sort of help.”

“Saved me? I wouldn’t need saving if you
hadn’t brought me into this world in the first place. I’m capable of taking
care of myself. I don’t want you or your help, and you don’t know what I need.”

She pushed past him, walked toward the
street at the end of the alley.

Liam followed hot on her heels. He
spoke, sultry and sly, “I know exactly what you need.”

He didn’t affect her the way he
expected, a bit disappointing. She growled through tight lips. Kendra spun around,
grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him toward her so he lost balance, and shoved
him against the wall.

Her newfound, and immense, strength took
him by surprise. Liam raised his hands to show he meant no harm. He immediately
backed off. A pissed Raven girl was not someone to poke at.

“I meant your Raven powers.”

“Listen, Julie is my sister. Of course
I’ll help you find her, but after that, you had better leave me alone. You
will
help me get back home, and if Julie lets me, I’m taking her with me. We don’t
belong here, and you had better stay out of my way. Take it or leave it.”

Liam grabbed her by the waist and pulled
her into him. He rumbled in her ear, “You don’t have to threaten me to get what
you want.”

He grinned. Liam knew she wanted to hate
him, but had a strong feeling she actually liked him. Why wouldn’t she?

Kendra hissed. “Lis—”

She gasped, and stared at the s
ss
pace beyond
Liam’s shoulder. She pushed away and dropped to her knees, cradled her head,
and clenched her teeth.

Liam dropped to his haunches at her
side. He placed his hands above hers, sending a wave of warm energy to ease the
pain. He hated to see her hurt, but he was thrilled the risk he took to lure
her into this world just might pay off. She forged a connection with her
sister. Kendra’s predicament was his gambit to save Julie, and it seemed their
sisterly bond was about to unfold.

Chapter Ten

Fragmented memories, which weren’t hers,
bombarded Kendra in relentless streams. The sudden images flashed across her
thoughts, then faded like a whisper. The visions left her fatigued,
disoriented, and withdrawn from her surroundings. Where was she, again?

She sat on the edge of darkness with the
low light of the street merely inches away. Kendra groaned, “I know where she’s
at. I know where Julie’s at.”

“Where?”

“A private island on the lake, past the
woods just outside the city. They took her to the docks by the train station
and crossed the water,” she responded in a rush. “There are hunters off the
island, and several on.”

Liam removed his cell phone from his
pocket and snapped it open, but Kendra placed her hand on the phone. “There’s
no time to wait for them. They’ll have to meet us there.”

“Right,” he muttered and dialed Nathan.
Liam left a message. “Found Kendra. Julie’s on Governor Island. Take the train.
Meet you there.” He stuffed the phone into his pocket.

“The governor?”

“Just a name.” He jumped to his feet,
grabbing Kendra by the hand, and ran to his motorcycle. Kendra stumbled behind
him, still lightheaded from the ambush of Julie’s memories. He straddled the
bike, and she followed suit.

“Hold on,” he called back to her. He
revved up the engine, and she gripped the fabric of his shirt near his hips.

“Unless you want to fall off, you’ll
have to hold on tighter than that, darling,” he called back to her.

Liam jerked up the bike stand. The pull
of the motorcycle pushed Kendra back. With a gasp, she clutched Liam, and
pulled herself against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried
her head in his back.

She inhaled him. He smelled different.
His scent was intricately devilish and very strong. The more she smelled, the
more she desired the electro-magnetic pulse. At this point, she couldn’t
decipher what the desire was: lust or just a strong need to know his metallic,
singed scent better.

Liam zoomed through the sleepy city,
passing the entrance to the park near the woods, and toward the lake twenty
miles east. Kendra leaned and moved with Liam’s body as he took sharp turns and
curves. Her heart pumped with adrenaline and a pulse pounded in the veins
behind her ears. Riding on a motorcycle was exhilarating, and her fright melted
into excitement. She wanted more.

Liam came to a skidding stop at the
train station. Instead of driving all the way out, he decided to take the train
on the short journey on isolated land.

“Hunters patrol the road,” he explained.
“They wouldn’t look twice if they heard the train, but they would react if they
heard an unauthorized vehicle approaching. We’re sitting ducks on a bike.”

Liam parked near the trees, pushed the
bike into the shrubs for concealment. He headed toward the empty train station.
“Follow my lead.”