Call of the Raven (28 page)

Stifling a gasp, she tensed up and felt
pain—sharp and real tighten across her stomach. A hand touched her
shoulder, found what it was looking for and pulled it up. The cloth
that touched her bare skin was hard and cold but comfortingly warm
all the same. Glancing downward, Elle saw that her body was lying
on a tile floor. She was covered in a long coat…a long black
leather coat.

She could also smell cologne, a musty manly
kind of scent, mixed with something else, something minty. And then
she noticed the hand beside her head resting on a black clad thigh,
and odd enough the hand was holding a tin of peppermints, which
accounted for the minty smell. The fingers held two rings, both
dark and large. On the wrist she could make out a blob of a tattoo.
The room was too dark to make out any details other than that.

“I know you’re awake.”

Tilting her head back she noticed him, the
form of a man silhouetted against the glow of the alley streetlamp.
He sat with his back to the wall with her head resting on his right
thigh. Her heart began to beat wildly as images began to flood her
mind…of attacking birds and shifting people and then she remembered
everything.

“I thought it was all a dream.”

“If it were so, I would have no purpose in
being here with you now,” he said.

Elle tried to move but the pain only
intensified. “Just
what is
your purpose here?” She groaned
and felt something clamp on her left shoulder keeping her in
place—keeping her from moving. She realized it was his other hand,
the one out of sight hidden under the layers of his coat and her
hair. She didn’t know whether to be afraid or thankful that he was
watching over her.

“My purpose here is to wait for my brother
and then see you to a doctor.” Leaving the mint tin balanced on his
thigh he reached up and rubbed a hand over his face. When a set of
glasses joined the tin on his thigh, she recalled the image of the
man—the man in the long dark coat wearing the glasses with the
mirrored surface—the man who shot out blue lightening from his
fingers, who had invoked strange stirrings unlike any she had ever
known. She knew she should be afraid or at least a little freaked
out, but she wasn’t.

“Your brother…you mean the dog-man?”

Softly he grunted, “Yes, often on many
levels.

Elle thought hard recalling the dog-man in
the green army coat. He had said his name was Ari Lake and he was
some sort of adopted brother to Grant Lake, Mea’s Grant. “You mean
brother like Ari said he was to Grant?”

“My relationship to Grant was in name only.
On the other hand Ari is my half-brother. We share the same mother.
I don’t expect you to understand the complexities of the Lake name,
or my equally complicated family, especially when there is no
longer a need, so please be still
and
silent.”

“I saw blue lightening come from your
fingers,” she told him.

“You saw
blue
lightening?”

“That’s what I just said. I saw blue
lightening.”

“Whatever color it may have been you saw
magic—magic
not
lightening. I am not a weatherman,” he
irritably said.

“But I did see it…everything…it was all
real?”

“Yes, and the fact you could see any of us
baffles me.”

“The firemen couldn’t.”

“Exactly.” The hand clinched tight on her
left shoulder once more. “Again, I must ask you to be still and
silent.” He exhaled a long minty breathe.

There was a definite tone—a matter in which
he delivered his words that merited caution but Elle couldn’t stop
the words from coming, she never could. “So…if you’re not a
weatherman what are you a mighty morphing Power Ranger?”

Once again his fingers held tight, this time
right in the center of Julio’s teeth marks. She grimaced and forced
herself up. The pain in her abdomen caused her to lean forward
dizzily. “I was just trying to ease the tension. I’m here in the
dark with a stranger I don’t know, in a cold abandoned building.
The least you could do is talk to me.”

“I fear you’re going to lose your child.”

Turning in his direction, she noticed him
where he sat calmly picking up mints, one by one with his
fingertips, from the floor and placing them back in the tin. She
must have dislodged them from their perch when she got up. He sat
with his head down in the radiance of the streetlamp with long dark
hair falling forward. From what she could tell there was no
expression on his face.

“W-what? How could you say such a mean
thing?”

“You wanted me to talk, so I did.” His answer
was curt, to the point.

“Not like that, not something so mean and
cold,” She hesitated, looking for the right words. “I wanted you to
explain what we’re doing here, why we’re waiting, why you can
change into animals like in the books I read to the kids at the
library. I wanted you to tell me that Mary’s safe, and that I’m not
crazy. Jeez, don’t you know how to talk to a woman?”

“I’ve had very little experience in that
regard and I really wish you would just shut up!”

The words were there but before Elle could
either open her mouth or exhale the deep breath of frustration that
now filled her lungs, he leaned suddenly forward and clamped his
hand over her mouth. She could see them now, the eyes he had
carefully hidden behind the mirrored glasses and his hair. Even in
the darkness of the room they reflected the smallest of light,
appearing the brightest of shimmering blues, and in their depths
she witnessed both power and sadness.

“What are you?” she whispered as he lifted up
his hand, testing her.

“Are you afraid of me?” he demanded and when
she didn’t answer, he repeated the words this time softer. “Are you
afraid
of me?” Without thinking, Elle shook her head. His
eyes narrowed in doubt, then skimmed over her face. In the end his
brow relaxed and even though she could tell that he was clearly
shocked, he accepted her answer. He pulled his hand away, but
stayed close enough that she could feel the heat emanating from his
body.

“Then you need to do as I say. I thought they
would just walk on by but they heard you talking. No matter what,
don’t move. Don’t make a sound. You’re an outsider so I’m not sure
this will work, but I’ll do my best.” His eyes slowly lifted to
hers and then darted quickly away. In that mannerism she thought he
looked like a shy nervous boy. “My name’s Asher and I do apologize
for what I’m about to do.”

Reaching forward, he gripped her arm and drew
her back, this time she found her head against his chest. She could
feel everything, his tight hard stomach, beating heart and strong
arms as they circled around her body. He pulled her up farther, so
that she was sitting on his lap, and with one hand, he flicked the
tin of mints and glasses away from them.

He dragged the coat over their bodies, took
gloves, fingerless gloves from a pocket, and quickly pulled them
on. She kept silent and ignored the pain as he moved and manipulate
her body as he needed to. Closing his hands together, he worked
them in a circular pattern until a blue orb appeared.

Elle didn’t question reality. After
everything that had happened she didn’t see the point. Moving his
hands apart the blue orb expanded to a transparent bubble that
engulfed their bodies. With the shield in place, breathlessly, he
rested his head back against the wall just as a crunching of feet
neared through a room in the back. Elle saw them. Two men came into
view, men not animals.

She couldn’t make out features just dark
clothes and bulky shapes. They were different somehow the way they
moved but she wasn’t sure why. She held her breath watching as they
walked right on by to the front of the restaurant where the tables
and chairs once existed—where families ate ice cream on hot summer
nights. The thought seemed so normal.

Every muscle in her body tensed and once
again Elle was reminded of his harsh words as pain tore through her
midsection. She stifled a moan and dug her fingers into his wrist.
Mouth close to her ear, he hushed her quiet. He stayed close and
she could hear and feel his hot breathes against her skin. An
involuntary shiver worked through her body and he exhale
noisily.

“Please,” he pleaded, “be quiet.” Elle closed
her eyes and willed herself to be calm. She could hear them coming
back.

“What’s this?”

The voice snapped her eyes open. A man stood
close just on the outside of the bubble, close enough that she
could see that he had glowing yellow eyes. Asher’s hand went over
her mouth, surprising her since she wasn’t even aware that she was
about to gasp. He on the other hand must have anticipated her
response. She watched the man pick up the glasses and the tin.

“Claude, come here. Look what I found.”

‘Shhh,” Asher whispered in her ear, as the
second shape, a burly chested man neared. He took the glasses from
the first man and examined them.

“These belong to Asher Lake,” he said. “He
never goes anywhere without them on the account of his freak eyes.
He was here.”

The man moved across the room and the taller,
thinner man followed. They looked up in the rafters and behind the
stove. They turned over a cabinet to inspect the wall, and then
crossed to the window to peer outside.

“He has to be close. Pagan said—”

Loud music erupted on the quiet night.
Asher’s hand swiftly moved from her mouth to the coat. The phone
was his. While he fumbled for the pocket, Elle’s eyes shifted to
the two men. They didn’t seem to hear the music. They didn’t seem
to be aware of his movements inside the blue bubble. They just
stood with their backs to them looking out the window until Elle
reached for the coat, and Asher’s hand slapped over hers. His head
shot up as the two men quickly spun around.

“Did you hear something?” the thinner man
asked. “Wait…”

Elle could feel a wave of nausea washing over
her. She slapped her free hand to her mouth. Softly cursing, Asher
turned his head toward her and evenly said. “Things…are about to
get interesting.”

Afraid to move, afraid to make the slightest
of sounds she just sat there, hand over mouth, trying not to throw
up, even when the rings on his fingers dug into her knuckles, even
when her gut felt as though it would explode. Everything was quiet,
until the phone rang, once more. Turning hastily around, the
thinner man’s yellow eyes focused on her

“Lookie, a pretty little girl.”

“Aww, and just when I thought you meant Asher
Lake.” The big one chuckled drawing a soft growl from Asher.

“Hey, Pagan said Asher was with a girl,” the
man said, “that girl with the blonde hair.”

At that point, Elle realized that they could
see her but not Asher even though he sat underneath her.

That quickly changed.

In a blur to fast to follow, Asher pushed her
off his body and leapt to his feet.

“Well Pagan was right!” he said.

Asher sent his palm into the thinner man’s
nose before he could fully register that he was there. Taking him
completely off guard the man sailed backward. Glass shattered and
the man went through the window and disappeared on the other side.
With a deafening roar the second man rushed forward. Ready, Asher
sent a crushing blow to his windpipe, then ducking under his
flailing arm he spun around and sent an elbow into his attackers
gut.

Staggering forward, the burly guy fell to the
ground with a thud, grunted and stayed that way. Everything had
happened so quickly, just within a matter of seconds that Elle
didn’t even realize she had yet to move, breathe or blink. How they
had managed to fight over and around her was a mystery.

Very abruptly Asher lowered down and gathered
up the coat, glasses and mint tin. He put the smaller items in a
pocket and then pulled the coat over his arms. He hesitated under
her stare and then decisively looked up. She took in the red glare
and another involuntary gasp escaped her lips. In all the action,
she thought she was merely seeing things. Several heartbeats passed
in tense silence before she responded.

“Wow, I guess those are the freak eyes the
big guy mentioned.”

Asher stood and looked down at her. When she
lifted her eyes slowly to his she saw that he appeared to be
honestly stunned, even more than before. “Are you afraid of
me…now?”

Yet again Elle shook her head. “Do you plan
on hurting me?”

His brow creased and the red glare faded.
“I’m no coward. I only hurt those who deserve to be punished. ”

Elle looked toward the window where the first
man had fallen, to the man collapsed on the ground, and then back
up to Asher. “I guess these two deserved it then.”

He planted his hands on his hips and spoke
brusquely. “Well, I don’t like being called pretty. You can stay
with them or take your chances with me. Either way, I need to
leave. More will come in their place,” he announced.

Elle nodded and pushed off the ground. The
pain was intense but she fought through it. Her only other choice
was to remain behind alone. Holding her stomach, she followed after
him. By the time she reached the back door he was standing outside
next to a trash dumpster talking on his phone. His words were just
as rushed to whoever he was speaking to as they had been with
her.

After years of abuse, Elle had developed a
high tolerance to pain but luckily for her, the more she moved and
tried not to think about it, the aching seemed to subside, along
with the nausea.

When Asher noticed her coming he snapped the
phone closed. “My driver is detained.” He gestured with his phone
down the alley. “Can you walk?”

When she gave him a nod, he slipped the phone
into the front pocket of his black jeans. When they passed by the
building Elle could see the other man lying in a crumpled heap just
below the broken window. At the sight of his hand twitching, she
walked on to catch up with Asher. He was tall; at least six-two and
he didn’t spare her shorter five-foot-six frame any
consideration.