36. Raven

THIRTY-SIX

RAVEN

Calculating eyes and measured steps approach me as the rest of the world seems to drift away. The disbelief is evident. I shouldn’t be alive. He didn’t want me here, which is likely because I’m of no use to him now. I can’t bring people back from the dead, but screw him for underestimating me once again. Or, more specifically, underestimating the love people have for me, which is matched only by my love for them.

When people like you and care for you, they actually want to be around you, a concept I’m quite sure he’s unfamiliar with. My mind immediately goes to my men, who I know are around me somewhere, I just don’t know where, exactly.

Burton, however, feeds on fear and power. A constant, eternal need for power. Even when he was just Burton and not the mirage of Erikel, he was always using power and talking down to everyone with a special level of finesse that only he could achieve.

I know there are people moving around us, but I can’t take my eyes off him. As he continues to inch closer, I reach for my sword, tingling with the preemptive expectation of slicing this fucker open.

The vision becomes more vivid as he nears, and the taste of it on my tongue becomes more desirable until he’s barreling toward the floor, tumbling to my right, and the sound of a riot bursts around me.

I don’t see who does it because I’m too swept up in the battle cries that reverberate around us. A glint of gold shimmers as it flies toward my head, and I kick into action just before it can connect with its intended target: my throat.

The clang of metal on metal vibrates through me as I look up at a woman I don’t know. That doesn’t stop her from glaring at me, evil intent in her eyes as she tries to push her weight down on me.

I falter an inch, the blades coming closer to my face, and her sneer spreads into a triumphant grin. It lasts all of two seconds before I grunt, thrusting up and knocking her away. She stumbles over her own feet, clattering to the ground with a shriek.

Her eyes turn to pits of death as she looks back at me, and fire appears in the palm of her hand. I know exactly where she’s going with that heat, and I don’t fucking want it. Before she can singe a single hair on my head, I wield my sword and slam it in her direction.

Blood pools at my feet, seeping around her as her eyelids pause at half-mast and her body goes limp. My pulse thunders in my ears, confirming exactly what I just did, but I brush it off and take a deep breath.

Right now, it’s either kill or be killed, and I’m not down for the latter. I can figure out how to compartmentalize all of that until there’s a moment to consider it, and even then, I may lock the door shut and keep it that way forever.

“Raven, you good?” I whirl around at the sound of Eldon’s voice and smile when my eyes lock with his.

“Yeah,” I breathe, earning a nod from him before he charges off to the left, battling with a student from Shadowgrim.

Fuck. I better do the same.

There’s going to be a lot of blood on my hands by the time we’re done here, and there isn’t a spare moment for me to relax between engagements.

Inhaling, I search around me, watching as magic is thrown around and weapons launch through the air. I get the briefest fangirl moment, watching as Sammi slices someone’s head off with ease, but a flicker of movement behind her has me pausing.

Wild blond hair drifts around in the air as a girl storms with purpose across the field. I try to look ahead to see where she’s fixated, and it’s not a surprise to see the same motherfucker I want dead caught in her line of sight.

Shoving through the crowd, my sword dragging through the dirt as I go, I startle when she raises her hands above her head. A scream pierces the air as she thrusts them down, and ice darts toward her target.

“Leila!” I holler, just as a sword is swung through the air, and I duck down, rolling through the dirt to avoid the blade before continuing toward her. “Leila,” I repeat, not wanting to distract her, but the look on her target’s face tells me he’s completely unfazed by her attempt to hurt him.

Grave.

His lip is curled with a smirk as he watches her, effortlessly brushing off the ice that managed to touch him, but the second he sees me over her shoulder, the look drops from his face.

That’s right, motherfucker, you didn’t kill me like you thought.

I hope I’m a living nightmare as I make my way toward him with blood splattered up my dark clothes and across my face. I hope I’m what haunts him in Hell, where he’ll never rest.

Leila follows his line of sight, catching a glimpse of me, and it gives him the split second he needs to get the upper hand. His arms go around her neck as he hauls her back against him. She kicks and swings her arms around, but he doesn’t falter.

I approach him, sauntering through the crowd with my predatory stare locked on my prey.

“Come any closer, and I’ll kill her,” he warns, making me scoff.

“Please, you’re going to kill her whether I approach or not.” His eyes darken, hating that I know his plays, but unfortunately for him, I don’t have time to waste spreading out the torture for his long-overdue death. “Now, you’re going to let her go because you’ve done enough damage to her, and you and I are going to fight this out. You owe me.”

His jaw tics, irritation creeping up his cheeks, but his hold on Leila only tightens.

Fine, I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way.

“Leila,” I call out calmly, and her gaze fixes on me as she goes still in his hold. “Aim low,” I state, not wasting a moment before I eliminate the remaining space between us with my sword aimed high as she forces all of her weight to the ground.

Grave is too busy trying to keep his hold on Leila to brace for my attack, so it’s completely satisfying and devastatingly swift when my blade spears into the flesh at his throat, digging deep as blood squirts everywhere. The nick of an important artery will do that to you.

His grip on Leila quickly relaxes and she stumbles from his grasp a moment later, catching herself at my side as she turns to watch the life drain from this asshole’s face. I tug my sword from his throat for good measure as he drops to his knees, eyes rolling to the back of his head before he collapses in a heap.

Holy fuck.

I was hoping for something way more satisfying when it came to him, but I guess it will have to do. Instead, I grab the hilt of my sword with both hands and sweep the blade down on his lifeless body a few more times for good measure. As someone who didn’t quite die at the hands of one of these swords, I want to be sure he definitely gets the pleasure.

“Are you okay?” I ask, peering at Leila, who nods distractedly for a moment before she shakes it off and turns to face me.

“Thank you.”

“Where’s your sword?” I ask, not acknowledging her appreciation when I definitely did it more for myself than anyone else.

“My father took it.”

“Took it? Where is he?” My gaze is already sweeping around the crowd, but there’s too much happening around us to see him.

“I don’t fucking know,” she grumbles, sweeping a bloody hand down her face.

“Why can’t you just summon it back? Fuck him,” I grunt, and she sighs.

“Because he snapped it in half, rendering it useless.”

Professor Fitch will forever be an enigma to me. He’s a self-centered, single-minded fool. I’d gladly see him dead too.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to offer her mine before I remember that the swords choose us, so sharing isn’t caring in this instance.

“Fuck, Raven,” she murmurs, the tone heightening my adrenaline and drawing my focus back to our immediate surroundings, where I find Ruben approaching us with two of his henchman flanking his sides.

Perfect.

The three of them circle around us like we’re the dainty little hunted, but I’m not afraid of them. Ruben makes a little show of twirling his sword around in the air and I yawn, absolutely fucking bored.

“Are you done? We actually have shit to do,” I stare at my nails, picking at the blood that’s already starting to dry, and Ruben laughs like I’m telling the world’s best joke.

“Baby Girl, I’m just sad I won’t get to pry those legs open before I kill you. Maybe I can keep your body out of sight so I can come back for you later,” he says with a wink, making bile burn the back of my throat as Leila openly wretches.

“You’re disgusting,” she snaps.

“And you’re dead,” he retorts, slowing a few yards away from us, and I have to school my features for a whole five seconds before I get to throw his own words back at him.

“No… you are.” I smile wide as three out of my four men come to a stop behind them, swords poised between their shoulder blades before they stab them with force, their blades erupting through the fronts of their chests. Wide eyes meet mine and I can’t help but inch closer to Ruben as he falls forward, capturing his chin in between my finger and thumb.

“Don’t worry, Baby Boy, I have no intentions of fucking your corpse, but I’m going to leave you in the perfect spot for the Drakes to feast on you.” I look over his head, meeting Brax’s stare, and nod. One motion from me, and he twists the sword inside him before snapping it back. He falls at my feet beside his comrades, death claiming each of them in turn.

“Blood should not look this good on you,” Creed states with an assessing eye, and I gape at him for a moment, expecting that kind of comment to come from Zane, not him. Eldon pats his friend on the shoulder and Brax shakes his head gruffly while I try to figure out where the insane one is.

“Where’s Zane?” I ask, glancing around to come up empty-handed.

“With Sammi,” Eldon explains, pointing off to the left, and I see the siblings fighting side by side. This shit is intense, and I’m just standing here when there’s more to be done.

Nodding, I turn to my right, where more danger lurks from the enemy, Burton at the back, manically laughing with blood splattered across his face. But right now, he seems intent on watching the battle unfold instead of partaking like everyone else.

“What have I missed?” A light voice startles me, and the sight of Professor Figgins at my side catches me even more off-guard. I haven’t seen her since the day we broke down the compound wards together.

“Where have you been?” I ask, an accusatory glare on my face that I can’t seem to conceal.

Her cheeks turn pink as she looks down at the ground for a moment before she clears her throat and meets my stare. “Honestly, I felt the magic shift in the air and ran.”

“Doesn’t seem like you got all that far,” I state, quirking a brow as I acknowledge the fact that she’s still somehow standing before me.

Scratching at her neck, I notice that she’s in similar attire as us instead of the usual cloak and professor-esque clothes she would normally wear.

“When I got to where I was going, I decided I was in search of my number one ally before I swiftly turned around and found you all here.”

“Ally?” I ask, aware the chaos around us is getting closer. With a smirk, she points in the distance, confirming exactly why that is.

A huge monster prowls toward us with four legs, fur, and a snarly set of teeth. It’s like a cat, only one hundred times bigger.

Holy. Fuck.

“Your familiar?”

“Uh-huh. Although, I must say, I was expecting to see yours,” she pushes back, and I grin.

“He’s been waiting for my call, and I agree, maybe now is the time,” I murmur, taking a step back as I lift my hands up in the air, summoning him and the shadows, along with the Drakes, once again.

I feel the energy shift in the air as they draw near, and I barge my way through the crowd so I can have the perfect view of Burton when he sees them approach. His lip lifts in a sneer when he sees Ari leading the griffins, all together, before he fully bares his teeth at the sight of the Drakes.

That’s right, motherfucker, they’re still pledging themselves to me because I’m not dead.

But it’s when the sky darkens, all of existence solemn as shadows consume every inch of the land that surrounds us, that Burton’s stare finds mine. His hands clench at his sides as he struggles to contain the rage burning through his veins.

Come and get me, old man.

Slipping back into the throng of fighting soldiers, I block one attack from someone’s short daggers and step into a blast of flames before sinking my sword to the hilt in some random soldier intent on bringing me down.

My limbs ache, my head is foggy, and my eyes are tired, but there’s no time to rest. Not until everything is dealt with.

“Hey, Raven.” I tilt my face to the left to see Sammi jogging toward me. Her face is practically covered in blood, her clothes drenched in it too, but she pays it no mind as she nods toward where Burton stands. “I think we’re wasting time and energy taking down these men and women. They’re nothing in the grand scheme of things, innocent lives, if anything. What we really need to be doing is taking down the man controlling them.” Her stare locks on Burton, who is now flanked by Grave’s grandfather and Professor Fitch.

Fuckers.

She’s right. She’s more than right. That’s exactly where we need to be focusing all of our energy.

A hand lands on my shoulder and I glance back to see Zane staring down at me. More bodies inch closer, and I know it’s not with dangerous intent, it’s with love. I make eye contact with all of them.

Zane.

Eldon.

Creed.

Brax.

“Together?” Eldon calls before pressing a kiss to my crown, and I smile, content despite the circumstances.

“Together,” I repeat, the word soothing me and encouraging me in one breath.

We move as one, Sammi, Leila, and Professor Figgins right there with us as the monsters on our side wreak havoc on the fodder of people that stand in our way. Fitch is the first to notice our approach, distaste filling his eyes as he sets his sight on his daughter. He shakes his head, but it doesn’t falter her steps at all.

“Figgins, take Fitch with Sammi. Leila, stay by Raven, who is going straight for Burton. Zane will be right there with you while Creed, Eldon, and I charge Monarch Richardson. Use your familiar if necessary, Figgins. We end this all now,” Brax commands, sending another thrill of adrenaline through my body.

I press my palm against my chest, feeling the necklace around my neck. They may know I can mirror magic, but they don’t know I have it accessible like this.

Burton is more than aware that he’s now our target and sends soldiers toward us in a bid to stop our ascent, but our path remains clear with the aid of the Drakes as they continue to interfere, slaughtering anyone who gets in our way. He stumbles back a step when we’re within a few yards, but I don’t quicken my pace to get to him. I want to see this play out in his eyes for as long as possible.

Second by second, minute by minute, I want this to be what he remembers when he realizes his efforts were no match for us, were no match for me.

“You think you can defeat me? You’re nothing, no one. Your greatest attribute was used up before I could even make full use of you. I have no magic worth mirroring, unless you want to skin-walk as me for a moment, feel what greatness truly is before you meet your demise,” he bites, his words thrumming from him as I simply smile.

Get close enough to hurt a man like this and he’ll quickly shift the narrative to bring you down, twisting words to hurt you instead of letting you get close enough to see how truly weak and undesirable he is.

I won’t be fooled by it, by him. I know my worth and my value, and it doesn’t come from what magic I can or cannot do. It comes from within, from who I am and what I believe is right. None of which aligns with this man.

He’s strung us along on a ride that has made no sense to anyone but him, caused distress and heartache to everyone simply to further his agenda, and I’m done.

“I know I can’t defeat you, Burton. Not alone. I’ve known it since the moment I got here, believing I was a Void. But you’re fragile, exposed, wounded, and completely powerless. Whatever drives you doesn’t seek purpose in me; that’s never going to change. You should have killed me when you had the chance instead of playing me in a game I had no need to be in.” My grip on my sword tightens as my left hand clasps tight, too.

“No? You don’t think you would go to extreme lengths to protect those you love? Let’s put that to the test, shall we?” He whistles before I have a chance to answer and a shrill cry echoes around me. Turning toward the sound, I find my mother lifted off the ground and my heart lurches, but I focus on keeping my features neutral. “What would you do if I killed her right now?”

I shrug. “You’ve already caused the death of my father today, what’s one more?” I poke, hating the taste of the words on my tongue. Instead of faltering under the pressure of my family’s lives in his hands, I move closer, much to his annoyance.

“Let’s see, shall we?”

I rush toward him, only a few feet between us, hoping to catch him before he can make another move, but as I swing my blade at him, the shrill cry gets louder, raking my bones. I can’t look. Instead, I swing again and again, hating that he dodges both moves.

His face isn’t one of boasting, though; if anything, he looks angrier. Risking a glance behind me, I see why a moment later. The blood of my family is being spilled all over the grass in a horrific display, but not my mother’s…

Sebastian.

I don’t know what happened or how, but the way Mama cries and the placement of his body, I know in my heart he was defending her.

Fuck.

“That part of your bloodline won’t cause you any pain,” he grunts, and the words cascade over me in the strangest way, because there is definite pain twisting in my gut.

I’ve said it before, but now there is nothing between us. I am done with this man and his bullshit. It ends today, now, in this moment, written in the history books as nothing more than a battle at Silvercrest Academy.

I launch my sword at him but he manages to sidestep the onslaught just in time and it slams into the ground beside him. My blade is useless when it comes to this man. It’s going to take everything to bring him down, and I’m going to make it happen.

Glancing to my left, Zane nods at me, silently confirming he’s here for whatever I need, and a brief flick of my eyes to my right confirms Leila is on the same page.

“Throw everything at him. Everything,” I breathe, not even truly sure if they can hear me or not, but in the next moment, I aim down my sights, clench my left hand as tightly as possible around the locket I snapped from my neck on my march over here, and throw Hell at him.

My emotions cling to the magic, erratically burning through my limbs as I scream, thrusting my hands in his direction.

Fire travels over my arms as they turn to stone. At the same time, Leila blasts him with ice and Zane uses his magic to launch a tree at him. My vision blurs, power rippling through my body as I continue to step closer, closing the gap to my final goal.

The moment I’m within arm’s reach, I rear my arm back before slamming my gargoyle fist into his face, repeating the motion for a second time for good measure before I slam both hands against either side of his face. I expect to set him alight and watch him burn at my touch, but it’s Creed’s magic that flickers forward, and my mind is consumed with his memories and thoughts.

Darkness sweeps over me, pinning me in place as the image of a couple walking hand in hand swims to the forefront of my mind. A toddler waddles a step in front of them as they laugh. I can feel the warmth, the love, the family aura that surrounds them, and it’s so sickly sweet it almost hurts. Then it does. Hurt.

The scene shifts before me. Only the woman is present now. The open area seems familiar and it takes a second for me to recognize we’re at The Monarchy’s big HQ in Haven Court, where I first met Rhys.

She scurries through the halls, panic clinging to her as she rushes into a small room and slams the door shut behind her.

My brain swirls with the fact that he has this memory even though he isn’t present, and it makes my head pulse with a vigorous headache.

“Do you have the answer?”

The question startles her and she presses her hand to her chest as she tries to catch her breath. Slowly, she shakes her head. “M-My husband doesn’t know what you speak of,” she insists, the tremor running through her making me shiver too.

I can’t see who she is speaking to; they’re perfectly seated in the dark corner of the room, out of view. All I know is the voice belongs to a man.

“Does your husband understand the consequences of his lies?” She scrunches her face, shaking her head again, and the snarl from the corner takes my breath as it roars around the room. “Make sure he’s aware that your death will forever stain his hands.”

“Raven! Raven!”

The present slams back into view, but my breath is still lodged in my throat back in that memory.

“Raven. He’s gone. He’s gone.” I blink at Zane, his voice registering in my head, but the words don’t make sense.

Slowly, my senses come back, one at a time, and an awful burning tingles at my fingers. I look down at my hands and gasp. Tendrils of flames dance at my fingertips as large embers burn beneath them.

What was there?

What was decimated at my touch?

I frown, glancing up at Zane once again as he speaks. “Raven. He’s gone. Burton is gone, you can let go now.”

Wrenching my hands back, I take in the burning remnants as understanding washes over me.

He’s gone. He’s fucking gone.

I drop to my knees, my body aching from the magic still storming through my body. Maybe using multiple tendrils of magic all at once isn’t the best idea, even if it wasn’t intentional.

“Raven?” Zane repeats, but his voice is softer, distant, as I fall to my back, blinking up at the sky with deep exhaustion consuming every inch of me.

I need to sleep for a minute, an hour, a day, a week; I don’t know, but I don’t have a choice, I just know I have to. My eyelids grow heavy, weighing me down, but I don’t miss the first peek of the sun bursting through the clouded sky that has been cast over us for what feels like forever.

I smile.

A sense of relief washes over me as I willingly allow the darkness to take me while two mantras, filled with words that were once haunting, play in my mind before everything goes quiet.

Follow your heart, find solace in the shadows, and take down the dawn.

Follow the sun, destroy the shadows, and survive another dawn.