Reaper: A raven paranormal romance (Crookshollow ravens Book 2) (9 page)

I was just taping up a box of kewpie dolls when Libby dropped a stack of books. “Of course!”

“What?”

“I know how I can help you. We can scry for your girlfriend. That’s one spell I know how to do.”

“She’s not my girlfriend … I don’t think.” I didn’t want to tell Libby we’d only known each other for a few days. ‘And what’s scrying?”

“It’s a seeing spell. I can look into a pool of water and see a vision of your floozy—”

“My what?”

She grinned wickedly. “You said I shouldn’t call her your girlfriend, so I opted for a replacement.”

“Just call her Belinda.”

“Very well. I could see a vision of
Belinda
at the exact moment we conduct the scry. We can find out if she is alive, if she’s hurt, and maybe whereabouts in Morchard’s castle she’s being kept.”

“Can you talk to her?”

Libby shook her head. “It’s just a vision, a flash of an image. But it can tell us a lot about her situation, it might even give a clue as to how to break her out.”

“But … why would you help me? Sir Thomas must have explained what having a Bran means. You own me, Libby. I am your slave. With that ring—” I pointed to the black band around her tiny finger, “—you can command me to do whatever you wish. If you want me to kill someone, I must obey. What I want is of no consequence. So why do you want to help me?”

Libby sighed. “Look, Cole, I’ll be honest with you here. I’ve spent my whole life living in this ridiculous room in this huge house filled with oppressive rules and bullshit social niceties. So I know a thing or two about having to do things you don’t want to do, OK? And I’m not going to do that to you. Now, I don’t care how Bran are treated historically, or what you’re used to with your other masters. You’re my Bran now, and that means things are going to be different.”

“Sir Thomas won’t like it.” I said. “He’s a traditionalist.”

“Thomas likes whatever I tell him he likes,” Libby grinned. “Don’t you worry about Thomas. So it’s settled, then. I shall scry for your woman. But not now, later tonight, when the moon is rising. Now, what do you say we go out to the garden? I want to see you fly.”

* * *

“
T
urn away
,” I growled at Libby. I was standing on the edge of a crumbling fountain in the Carlisles’ overgrown garden. The sloping grounds of the hall were in an even worse state than the front facade. Libby explained that after her father died, her stepmother had inherited the hall. Rose didn’t have a love for it the way Libby’s father had, and she’d let the whole thing rot away while she spent all Libby’s inheritance on tacky clothes and diamond collars for her pet Chihuahua, Rufus. We were sitting on the edge of the ornamental pond, staring over its green, slimy surface back towards the house. Around me, raised beds choked with tall weeds shielded us from the view of anyone coming along the path, which was probably just as well, as they’d need to keep their head down in order to navigate around the tiny dried dog faeces that littered the concrete.

“Why? You worried I’m gonna freak out? Because I
am
marrying a vampire. It’s pretty much impossible to scare me.”

“No, because when I shift, my clothes don’t shift with me. And if I take them off now, it saves them getting all rumpled or falling in a fountain.”

“Ah, and no one sees the goods but Belinda. I get it.” Libby turned away, covering her eyes with one hand and stifling her giggles with the other. “I’m ready. I promise I won’t peek.”

I didn’t trust her one bit not to peek, but I figured if Libby was going to be bound forever to Sir Thomas’s aging visage for the rest of eternity, then she could do with a few sightings of a real man’s body. I pulled off my boots and stuffed my socks inside, then removed my shirt, jeans, and briefs. I turned away from the house and took a short run towards the nearest birdbath, forcing the change as I did so.

I flew over to the furthest garden bed, where a single rosebush peeked out from the weeds, the first red flowers just beginning to open. I plucked one of the brightest blooms with my beak and rose again, sailing over the garden back to where Libby waited for me.

I glided down to where Libby was sitting on the edge of the pond, and dropped the flower in her lap. I folded my wings in around my body and settled beside her, giving her a sharp
croak
by way of conversation. She picked up the flower, turning it over in her hand, her mouth forming an
O
as she admired its beauty.

“You’re wonderful,” she said, reaching down to stroke my head.

No one, apart from Belinda and my mother, had ever touched me with any kind of affection in my raven form. I butted her hand with my head, and unfurled my wings to show her their full span. Libby’s face lit up in delight.

“What’s going on here?” An angry voice thundered. I snapped my head up. Sir Thomas strode across the lawn, his handsome face red with anger. Behind him flounced Libby’s stepmother, carrying a tiny dog that barked loudly and squabbled to get away.

My veins surged with angry fire as Sir Thomas’s power wrenched me away from Libby and flung me across the concrete. I managed to fold my wings out and catch my fall, swooping low over the flowerbed and coming back around. As I neared them, Sir Thomas threw me off balance again, and I skidded across the path, scraping my wounded leg.

Crooooooak!
I cried out, struggling to untangle my wings from under my body and get up again. Every movement caused a fresh wave of agony to course through me.

“Cole!” Libby bent down, reaching out towards me, her face creased with concern.

“Don’t you touch that filthy bird!” Libby’s stepmother raged, grabbing Libby’s wrist and yanking it back painfully. Libby whimpered. Rose raised her leg to kick me. I rolled over, managed to lift myself off the ground and lunged for her face, flapping my wings and yelling a stream of obscenities she couldn’t possibly understand. She screeched and dropped the yapping dog. It darted forward, its tiny teeth bared, and latched on to Sir Thomas’s leg.

Sir Thomas grabbed the dog by its scruff and yanked it from his leg, tearing a long strip of his trousers with it. He tossed the dog into the nearest flowerbed. It leapt down and scampered towards the house, yapping at the top of its obnoxious little lungs. Rose screeched as though Sir Thomas had physically hurt her, and ran away after it.

“Thomas, baby. I can explain.” Libby grabbed his arm and tried to stop him from swinging at me.

“Change back right now.” Sir Thomas ordered me.

“No, Thomas, don’t—” Libby begged.

The ring on my finger twinged, signalling me to obey Libby’s wishes and remain as a raven. But, strangely, I felt my body begin to return to its human form. I didn’t want to end up naked in front of Libby’s mother. That would make everything worse. I pushed back against the sensation, focusing on holding together my body, keeping my feathers on the outside of the skin.

The power surged, and I lost. A wave of nausea swept over me. I crouched down and covered my head with my wing. A few moments later I was still hunched there, my hands over my head and humiliation burning on my skin.

“Put some clothes on, you disgusting man.” Sir Thomas snapped, his voice trembling with rage. “How dare you do this in the presence of—”

“Listen to me!” Libby yelled. “Why are you behaving like this? He couldn’t help it. His clothes don’t change with him. I didn’t look at him, Thomas. I swear.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice sounded softer, defeated. “I saw you out here with him, and you were smiling, and I thought—”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I love only you. Besides, Cole has only eyes for his Belinda, don’t you, Cole?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak or I’d say something to Sir Thomas that would make the situation worse.

“Very well.” He nodded to Libby. “I shall leave you to your games. Come back to the house when you’re done. Rose has some wedding china samples for you to choose from, and she wants to know where you’d like to put the unicorn sculpture.”

“Up her arse.” Libby replied.

“An excellent choice.” Sir Thomas nodded again, and scurried back up the path.

“I’m so sorry,” Libby gushed, as she handed me my stack of clothing. “Thomas did not mean anything by it.”

“Uh huh,” I rubbed my arms. The hairs stood on end.

“He gets jealous sometimes. He worries I’ll leave him for someone younger. He was hoping I’d end up with a female Bran, but you were all that was on the market. I think he feels intimidated by you.”

“Sir Thomas Gillespie is intimidated by me?” The thought would have been amusing if he didn’t have so much power over me.

“Well, you are
quite
hot, in a biker bad-boy kind of way. And that is exactly the kind of guy I tend to fall for. But don’t let that go to your head. I’m taken.”

“So am I.”

“What happened back there?” Libby grabbed my arm and started walking me back towards the house. “Why did you change when he told you to? I thought you had to obey my orders.”

“I do,” I replied, holding up my finger to show her the red, glowing ring. “See? The ring is punishing me for disobeying you. But I couldn’t help it. It was as though some force overpowered your command.”

“What could it be?”

“I believe it was your fiancé.”

“Thomas forced you to disobey me?”

I nodded. “That’s only the tip of the iceberg of what he’s capable of. What do you understand about his power?”

“I read a lot about vampires,” Libby said. “I’ve always been fascinated by them. They exert kind of a magnetic charisma over people. You find yourself agreeing with them, even though your opinion differs. You follow them, even when your mind screams at you to stop. You will strike a deal with one, even though it might leave you penniless. Thomas said it’s not something he actively does, it’s just that his will seems to overpower every other mind in a room.”

“Is that really the man you want to be married to?” I shuddered at the idea of being wed to someone who could exert that level of power over me. It was bad enough being controlled by a master, let alone being married to one.

“I’ve power of my own,” Libby said. “I’m pretty strong willed, when I want to be. Thomas knows not to mess with me. I’ll be having words with him about overruling my commands to you, don’t you worry. He just let his anger get the best of him.”

“If he could easily overpower your will when all we were doing was visiting, what makes you think he’ll agree to help us rescue Belinda?”

“Oh, he’ll agree.” Libby said, her pretty face set into a determined frown. She glanced back towards the house. “But not right now. He’s in a foul mood. We’ll ask him again tomorrow.”

“But Belinda—”

She squeezed my hand. “I give you permission to go to Morchard Castle and look for her. Don’t get too close and don’t let anyone see you. Go as soon as you believe it’s safe to do so.”

I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Thank you, my mistress.”

T
he next day
, it rained heavily. The wind pushed the droplets at the window. My room was cold and gloomy. I was grateful to be able to spend the day in the warm kitchen with Tony.

“So how’re we getting out of here?” he whispered to me as he rolled out pastry for a pie. His half-drained bottle of red wine sat on the counter beside him.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” I said as I browned a batch of diced steak in the skillet. “And I think we need to find this antiviral Victor used on me. Victor is bound to have it in his lab somewhere. If we can get our hands on it, then it’s only a matter of clawing our way through the birds—”

“This isn’t exactly the movies,” Tony explained. “You don’t just inject antiviral and then are suddenly fine. There’s still a risk it won’t work. Or worse, you could have a bad reaction. The side effects could be just as lethal as the virus itself, especially since Victor’s antiviral is untested. I don’t like this plan.”

“Damn.” I stared past his shoulder, trying to think of some way around this fate. Out in the hallway, a lone suit of armour stood sentinel, guarding the staircase from approaching villains. It hadn’t been polished in some time, and dust and cobwebs hung from the pauldrons.

Staring at that suit, an idea formed in my mind.

“I’ve got it! We construct some kind of protective suit for ourselves,” I pointed to the suit of armour. “The man who wore that would never have anything to fear from a few bird scratches.”

Tony glanced over his shoulder at the suit of armour. When he turned back again, he didn’t look convinced. “But where are we going to find armour to fit us? That guy looks like he was about four foot high. It’s even too small for your body. And won’t Victor get suspicious if we start pulling apart his knight?”

I dug under the bench and tossed him a large metal mixing bowl. “There’s plenty of armour right here in the kitchen,” I said. “We can find other stuff around the house and hide it here, too. There are some thick mink coats in the wardrobe in my bedroom. If we wore those I bet that would help stop the raven’s talons entering our skin.”

Tony turned the mixing bowl over in his hands. “I don’t know … it could work …”

“It
will
work, but we need to get that antiviral first,” I said. “I’m not leaving this castle knowing how easily Victor could unleash that virus on the world.”

“But how are we going to get in there? Morchard locks that place up tight.”

“We’ll find a way.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Tony’s face looked pale. He tipped his head back and emptied his wine bottle.

* * *

T
he first chance to
look for the antiviral presented itself that afternoon. Victor summoned me into the laboratory to ask me how I was getting on with Tony.

“Fine,” I answered, wondering why he was smiling so oddly at me. Why did he even care how Tony and I got on? My stomach flipped nervously as I wondered if he’d somehow guessed at our escape plan.

“He’s a lovely young boy, a brilliant mind. He’s the most promising student I’d ever taught.”

“Oh yes.” I said sarcastically. “When I admire someone’s brilliant mind, I take them prisoner in my castle and force them to make food all day for my family.”

Victor’s lips turned up into a sneer. “My, you have got sassy. So different from the shy little wallflower who first laid eyes on my Bran.”

I bit my tongue, holding back the retort that came to mind. I needed his cooperation if I was to ever get my hands on that antidote. Instead, I bent down and gazed into the glass cages on the bench, holding the birds I’d seen him move there the other day. One of the doves lay on its back with its feet in the air, unmoving. The other two huddled in the edge of the cage, cooing sadly. The raven’s head drooped, but otherwise, he seemed unaffected.

“As you can see,” Victor explained. “This particular strain shows some promise. I’ve discovered something unusual about ravens that enable them to tolerate a higher exposure to the disease. If I can synthesize this enzyme, then I’m well on my way to creating a vaccine.”

A vaccine? That would be even more useful than an antiviral. “Can I help?”

“Sure.” He stepped aside to give me some space on the counter. There’s one thing I knew about men like Victor, he was so convinced of his own genius that he wouldn’t suspect I had any motive other than interest in his work for staying with him. “I’m just collecting tissue samples from these birds to analysis. I need several from each bird, and it’s quite a fiddly process. You can prepare and label the jars while I make the extractions.”

I choked down my disgust at having to watch him work on those poor birds. At least he gave them a sedative first. Victor showed me how to label the jars and stack them in order inside the sample trays. We worked for a couple of hours, me labelling jars and holding them while he extracted the tissue samples with a large, frightening-looking needle. Victor tried to ask me questions about my bakery and my life, but I cut him off abruptly with one word responses.

“I am heading to my office for a minute,” Victor announced. “I need to check on a couple of things. Do you need to take a bathroom break?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ll just stay here and make a start on this next set of jars.”
This is it. This is my chance.

Victor nodded to the tray beside me. “Very well. Please don’t touch anything else in here. A lot of the instruments have very delicate settings.”

“I’ll be careful.” Victor nodded again, ducked under the secret door, and disappeared from view.

I listened to his footsteps clatter on the marble floor of the ballroom. When I could no longer hear them, I leapt from my chair and darted across the room, scanning the shelves for some clue.

Where would he keep an antidote? I saw some storage boxes high on the top shelf. I shook my head.
No, he would need it close at hand, in case one of the infected birds happened to bite him—

The fridge.
Of course. In the corner of the room stood a tall industrial fridge, similar to the one I used to have in Bewitching Bites. If he was holding samples he’d need to store them at a certain temperature.

I tore open the door to the fridge, Sure enough, the shelves inside were lined with stacks of sample jars, vials, and test tubes resting in racks. Labels on each one in Victor’s neat handwriting denoted the contents, usually with the now familiar three-letter, six-number coding system I’d been using all morning.

I started from the bottom, scanning the labels for some clue as to what I was looking at.

Halfway up, I discovered the bird virus. A small amount of pink fluid sealed in a vail, with the code MOV – Morchard Virus. There were trays and trays of those little pink vials. Seeing them stacked up like that, knowing what they were capable of doing, made me feel ill.

I spied something in the lowest corner of the shelf. A single vial, right at the end, nearly invisible amongst that sea of pink. Two vials were filled with a clear liquid, and labelled with the Morchard Virus code. One also included the word “Antiviral”, and the other “Vaccine.”

Vaccine. Perfect. If I took that, Tony and I could vaccinate ourselves so the birds couldn’t hurt us. That was much less risky than treating ourselves with the antiviral after being infected. I’d take that too, of course, so that some clever doctors who weren’t megalomaniacs could produce more of it in case the Morchard Virus ever broke out.

I knelt down and held the tray steady while I tried to slide the vials out. Beads of ice around the rim held them in place. I wiggled the vial, trying to work it loose.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I leapt to my feet, yanking the vial out. It dropped to the floor and smashed into pieces. No! Fear gripped me. That was our chance, gone forever. I whirled around to face Victor. He stood in the doorway, his hands clenched at his sides and his face red with rage.

“I was just—”

He stalked towards me, his skin red with rage.

“Get out,” he growled, pointing to the door.

“I wasn’t doing anything, I swear—”

“I said, get out of here. Before I do something I regret.” He stepped towards me, his eyes flickering over my body. Bile rose in my throat as I imagined what that man might do to me. I ducked around him and fled the room, leaving behind our only chance to prevent this deadly viral outbreak in a puddle on the floor.