The Mirror

Chapter 4: A Not-So-New Face

The bar was more crowded than Raven expected it to be.

"I've got the first round!" Mila shouted before promptly ordering a round of tequila. Everyone groaned at her choice. "Tequila, Mila? Really?"

"What? Just accept it. It rhymes!" Mila laughed at them.

The shots were placed in front of them and promptly tossed back. This time, Thomas, Mila's boyfriend, stepped in and ordered a round of amaretto liqueur.

Before they took their shots, Mila raised her small glass. "To Raven and Elijah! My girl finally got herself a man!" Mila laughed hysterically as they toasted before taking the shots. Already, Raven could see her friend growing buzzed.

"Okay, enough shots for me. That stuff is nasty." Raven spoke up, taking a sip of water. She hated alcohol, only agreeing to satisfy Mila and her need to toast "the proper way".

"You've only had two!" Mila shouted. Her attention was quickly diverted when Thomas leaned down to whisper something in her ear. "Off to dance!" She wiggled her fingers at them as Thomas pulled her onto the floor.

Raven sighed, rubbing her temples. "I love the girl to death but I swear she's gonna kill me one day." She huffed.

"She's not so bad." Elijah commented, scanning the bar.

"Oh? You haven't had to live with her." Raven shot back.

"You haven't had to live with my brother." He retorted, grinning at her.

"You have a brother?" She was surprised. He'd spoken of his wife but never of his biological family. She assumed they had passed or that he didn't have one.

"I do. His name is Trent. If you think Mila's a party animal, Trent could make her look like an introvert." He chuckled, his eyes lighting up with memories.

"Sounds terrifying," she laughed, watching the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

"Oh, it was. When we were in Italy," he began, recounting a tale of his brother's crazy adventures. They sat for a while at the bar, sipping on cold sodas and telling stories from their teenage years.

Elijah had convinced Raven to try a drink of his favorite mixed drink when a commotion interrupted them. Raven turned to see a drunken man, tall, dark, and terrifying, shoving his way through the crowd. The look on his face froze her in her seat. The man looked absolutely murderous.

He stormed up to Elijah and just as she was about to react, he spun Elijah around in his seat and lifted him by his neck. He was screamed something in Italian but even the language was slurred beyond recognition. Clearly the man had had way too much to drink.

"Elijah!" Raven yelled, rising from her stool. Emotions flew across Elijah's face, from anger to fear to submission.

Raven stared at the man, trying to see why he was so angry. The crowd around her was screaming in shock and terror but somehow she managed to block it out. The man was completely unfamiliar to her but the moment Elijah saw him, recognition flashed in his eyes. The man was angry, no, furious. That much was more than obvious. Beneath the ferocity though, she could see hurt. A broken, screaming cry for help that tore her heart out of her chest. He was in more pain than she could even begin to imagine.

She reached out with her hand and her spirit, unsure of what she was going to do, when he turned to her. "Genevieve," he murmured, softening slightly. He looked so incredibly vulnerable that for a moment, Raven wished she could lie to him and pretend she was Genevieve. Encouraging a delusion was not something she could do, though.