21. Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Hawk

" W hat the fuck happened?" I asked, my words angry and harsh.

Raevyn was pale and her eyes were wild, darting everywhere as if she were looking for something.

"Where is he?" she asked.

I gripped her shoulders, dragging her attention to me. "Who?"

"Deimos." Fear had blown her pupils wide and I knew why.

I thought he'd been lost. Vanished with some of the old Gods. How the fuck did he end up stuck inside Casimir?

"Fuck, no!" a woman yelled. "I'm not sticking around for that."

I turned round to find Rook and Nox scrambling to keep hold of the woman whose soul we were here to collect.

"The vial!" Nox shouted. I grabbed it from Raevyn's belt and shifted into my shadows to propel myself over Nox and Rook.

"No!" The witch screamed and magic flew from her fingers, a dark green collection of sparks that hit the Rook dead in the chest. He instantly dropped to the ground and started to spasm as if he were having a fit.

Raevyn screamed as Rook hit the floor, and she charged towards him. But I couldn't worry about them now. Not when we had a soul to capture.

Nox lost the fight to contain her, suffering a nasty slice across his face for his troubles. It would heal quickly but it certainly added a roguish charm to his features. Not that I'd tell him that. His ego was big enough already.

I took a step to chase after the witch when I felt a darkness press against back, instantly chilling my skin. I turned around and saw Raevyn standing and staring in the direction that the witch ran off in.

Her eyes were pitch black and there were dark purple veins shimmering under her skin, spreading from beneath her eyes and across her cheeks. Whatever this power was, it was ancient. I could feel it hum and vibrate against my skin.

I tried to move but everything felt sluggish, like time had slowed. It felt like I was trying to move through honey, like something thick and gloopy was holding me back.

Raevyn strolled past me, not seeming to be struggling like I was. Her lilac hair had fallen out of its braid and a wind whipped the tendrils around her face. She looked powerful, strong and my heart beat a little faster in my chest.

She was so beautiful. How could she not think she was worthy of such a power?

"Nissa Crowley," she hissed. She spoke slowly, enunciating every syllable with a venom I could almost taste.

Raevyn's hand shot out and I could feel her magic flowing from her. It was strange, like a part of me was connected to her and I could feel her magic. It swirled inside her like an angry twisted thing. This was definitely more than just necromancy.

Nissa stopped in her tracks, frozen by Raevyn. I was still trying to get closer but whatever Raevyn had conjured was still holding me back.

"I hereby reclaim this soul, as is my right invested in me by the King of the Underworld himself." Raevyn held her hand closest to me out and called the vial to her. It left my hand and sailed through the air before landing in her palm.

"But before I claim your soul," Raevyn said, her voice dropping to a malicious whisper. Gods, I wanted to hear her say dirty things to me in that voice. "I'm going to do a little damage."

Nissa let out a bloodcurdling scream as I watched Raevyn pull the woman's soul from her body, piece by piece. A soul should be claimed as a whole, not like this.

"Raevyn, don't," I called, but she either couldn't hear me or wouldn't.

The tiny pieces of Nissa's soul floated into the vial. When the last drop fell into the animarca, Raevyn sealed it and turned to face me. There was a twisted grin curling her mouth and I hated it. It looked so evil, so cruel, so out of place.

Nissa's body crumpled to the ground, dead, and her soul was safely tucked away and ready for transportation.

Raevyn turned her attention to Rook, who was still lying prostrate on the floor. She knelt by his side and placed her hand on his chest. Words flew from her lips. Ancient words of healing that I hadn't heard in centuries. How did she know them? How was she doing all this? I didn't understand it.

Rook took a deep breath and came back to the land of the living. Not that I thought he'd actually died, but she definitely brought him back from somewhere.

Then she snapped her fingers and I fell forwards, my body returning to normal. I sped over to her, just in time to watch her eyes roll back into her head before collapsing on top of Rook. The little glass vial rolled across the surface at the road and stopped at my feet, the little gold flecks dancing and shimmering like they hadn't just been ripped to shreds by some ancient power.

W e returned to the house, a sombreness lingering in the air between us all. I hadn't told the others what Raevyn had done. Rook had been unconscious and Nox and Korbin fighting off the vengeful witches. Casimir was nowhere to be seen, which was probably a good thing considering he'd been harbouring the God of Fear in his soul. I couldn't wait to hear that story. But I couldn't shake the uncertainty and worry churning in my gut when I looked at Raevyn.

She still hadn't woken so I'd placed her in her bed, and, as I stared down at her, I couldn't shake that image of her ripping that soul to shreds. She'd made it look easy, like dragging claws through tissue paper, and I knew it took a phenomenal amount of power to do what she did. But where was it coming from?

"How is she?" Korbin asked as he stepped into the room. The giant raven ruffled his feathers and settled on his perch by the bed, watching Raevyn as if he were guarding her. I didn't like that bird. It gave me the creeps. It was too big to be an ordinary raven, which meant it was something else. Something I didn't understand and that made me uncomfortable.

"Still sleeping," I replied.

"Good." Korbin pursed his lips and I could see the cogs turning behind those milky white eyes.

"What?" I asked in a clipped tone.

Korbin turned towards me, a dark eyebrow raised. "You know, you could be more polite."

"What for?"

"Manners cost nothing, Hawk. And they'll go a long way to smoothing your position in our home."

He was probably right but I'd never been very good at playing with others. Moroi were singular by nature, unless they found their mate. As a territorial breed we could often get quite nasty when we felt invaded. It was odd that I didn't feel the urge to murder the Revenants. Here we were, living in close proximity, and all their heads were still attached. Maybe it was something to do with Raevyn. Was her presence reining in that need? Who the fuck knew, but I'd take it for the small blessing it was.

I huffed a breath and folded my arms over my chest. "How did the soul handover go?"

Korbin smiled at me, as if he were pleased that I'd done as he'd asked. "It went fine, thank you. But we have more souls to collect." His brows descended and I knew what he was going to ask.

"I don't know what happened," I said, pre-empting his question. "After Rook went down, she changed. Time seemed to shift."

"Shift?"

I hummed. "Like everything slowed down. I was moving but it was… treptat ." I couldn't think of the right word in English. It was as if not everything I'd learnt had come back with me when I left the Depths. Hopefully it would come back eventually, but I'm sure I could always relearn the knowledge I'd lost.

"Sluggish?" Korbin supplied.

"Yes. This is the right word. It was like walking through honey."

"And you say this was Raevyn? Not the witch?"

I looked back at Raevyn, sleeping peacefully and I struggled to reconcile this version of her, with the powerful, vengeful goddess I'd seen earlier.

"It was definitely Raevyn." I described to Korbin what I'd seen and how she'd looked.

He stroked his lip as he mulled over his thoughts. "I'll be honest, I have no idea what this is. It's like there's something buried but the surface is cracking and whatever this is, it's starting to bleed through the cracks."

"Perhaps she's not a Raathmore at all."

"Perhaps indeed," Korbin mused. "I'd like to pay the mother a visit."

"You think she'll talk?"

Korbin cocked his head to the side, his lips pursed and an eyebrow raised. "We just won't give her a choice."

Naiba. Fuck. There was something quite unnerving about him being so… wicked. That there was so much violence sitting just below the surface of his skin.

It always was the quiet ones you had to watch.

"I'll ask Rook to lie with Raevyn to keep an eye on her while he regains his strength. While the rest of us go and pay a visit to Raevyn's mother."

Whatever that witch had chucked at Rook had completely depleted him of all his power and energy leaving him basically an empty husk. Korbin had managed to restore some of his energy, but I had a feeling he'd need an immense power boost if he wanted to regain his strength quickly.

Casimir had come back and disappeared into his apartment. He hadn't been seen since. I had a feeling that it was a mix of shame, anger and pain that was keeping him behind his walls. When Raevyn waked, I hoped she would be able to do something to help him. Fuck knows why, the guy was a nemernic .

Korbin nodded towards the door. "Come on, let's go get some answers."