Dark Angel (Sequel to White Raven)

Chapter One: A Safe Job

Dedicated to Mags_73 for the awesome cover! Go stalk her profile and check out her stories!

Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!

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Chapter One: A Safe Job

Ary ran down the alleyway at a dead sprint. She could hear the footsteps of the two men chasing after her. She hadn't expected anyone to be home, and clearly the two other intruders hadn't expected anyone else to be there either. She was lucky that the two imbeciles were about as quiet as elderly women at a salon. She'd heard them coming even before they stepped inside the house.

It was supposed to be a simple job. Just a little breaking and entering into an empty house to recover some family heirlooms that a pissed off ex-wife was holding hostage. She didn't know why the other men had been there. They could have just been looking to score some loot. It was a relatively big house in an upper-middle class neighborhood.

After almost ten minutes of running in and out of alleyways, Ary was sure that she had lost the two men, but just to be sure she slowed down her pace and turned her head to see if anyone was behind her.

She couldn't have been looking away for more than a few seconds when her klutzy nature took over and she collided with a couple of trashcans, successfully flipping over them, and falling backwards against a large, green dumpster that was sitting nearby.

For a moment everything went black and then slowly colors started to swirl in front of her eyes as she fought to remain conscious. She focused her gaze on the overturned trashcans, glaring at them, and blaming them for everything that went wrong in her life.  

The last two months hadn't exactly been the easiest for her. Despite the fact that Luke had admitted to being involved with the Bloodbaths and the incident that led to his and Ary's kidnapping, her family blamed her for everything that happened. Her aunt wouldn't even look at her anymore.

If stopping a psychopathic murderer and putting a vicious gang leader behind bars for life wasn't worth redemption in her family's eyes, then she was at a total loss. It was becoming clear to Ary that, even if she brought peace to the entire world and ended hunger across the globe, her family would still think that she was a messed up kid that wasn't going anywhere in life.

Ary drove back to Rave's place, trying to ignore the dull throbbing at the base of her skull. Who needed to worry about strange men with guns when a dumpster could knock a person out with one hit? She was starting to agree with Rave when he said that it was a miracle that she was still alive.

It was embarrassing to have tripped over a pile of garbage and then dive head first into the side of a dumpster. She'd have to tell people that she hit her head during a barroom brawl, just to save face.

The grand opening for Rave's club was tonight and the normally abandoned streets around the warehouse were packed with cars. She could already hear the sound of a booming bass and she was still five blocks away. The hobos that lived two warehouses over were not going to like this.

She parked the Jeep at the back of the warehouse, which was now used as employee parking. She was trying not to draw any attention to herself. If someone saw her sneaking upstairs to the loft, covered in dirt and grime, they'd surely report it to Rave and then she'd be in a whole mess of trouble. That's what happened when over half of the employees were former gangbangers that still feared the White Raven.

She made it safely to the loft, stripping her dirty clothes off and tossing them into the washer as soon as she stepped inside. Then she quickly ran upstairs and jumped into the shower to wash away any evidence that she had been doing anything other than sitting in the Jeep and taking pictures of a cheating spouse.