"Hi Raven, lovely to meet you," Clair offered me her hand and I stared at it suspiciously for a long moment. Cyprus looked exasperated with my behavior, but I don't remember him getting kidnapped by a necromancer, so who is he to judge my fear?
I took her hand and shook it shortly before retreating behind Fin, looking at her sideways. "You don't use dark magic do you?" I felt more at ease however, seeing her light and gentle aura.
Clair smiled and shook her head. "No dark magic from me love, I'm just going to need to get some of my tools from my car, and then I can start."
I nodded and looked at Aaron, hoping for some praise, and I wasn't disappointed. "Good job, Koshka," I perked up and nodded.
"How much have you been using your magic?" Cyprus asked curiously, glancing at me.
I paused and inched back into the open, placing my arms behind my back. "Hmm, well, I used it quite a bit when I was captured by Leo. Good times," I said and nodded.
Cyprus raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Okay, well I'm going to go see it Clair needs anything, then I'm out of here, Shade wants to go shopping." Cyprus didn't look overly excited with the idea. "So I'll see you all later, hurt my little sister and die."
"Love you too," Cross drawled and looked away from my brother dismissively.
"Thank you, Cyprus," Aaron said and nodded at my brother, who looked thoughtful, glancing at me.
"He might be a keeper," Cyprus sighed and grabbed his phone, winking at me before going to the kitchen, the front door slamming shut behind him.
"Damn Cyprus and his favoritism," Lion muttered and leaned against the wall. Fallon touched my arm curiously.
"Raven, how does your magic work?" He asked and suddenly everyone looked at me, their curiosity peeked as well. Clair walked back in and paused, noticing that they were waiting on my reply.
"Oh," I blinked and shrugged. "It doesn't really 'work' I just do whatever you I want." I said flipently.
Clair looked greatly alarmed. "What? Can you demonstrate once?"
I nodded and paused. "Oh, hey, I bet I could have handled the ghost thing myself, silly me,"
Clair frowned. "What do you mean? Please tell me you aren't doing what I think you're doing,"
"What is she doing?" River asked warily.
"I'll show you, it's kind of simply really," I closed my eyes and then opened them again.
"What did you do?" Faith asked and looked around in confusion, having expected something louder. I shrugged.
"I just sorta wished the ghosts away, boom, done," I said and paused, seeing Clair pale. "What's wrong?"
Clair shook her head. "Raven, why did we have to get rid of the ghosts?"
I tilted my head to the side. "So I wouldn't die, and because they were breaking the rules of the world."
Clair nodded and pressed her hands together, looking around the room, growing paler. I paused, feeling a buzz in the air. "Raven, do you have any idea of why or how you could make them disappear?"
I blinked. "No, I just make it happen, what's wrong with that?"
Nicholas placed a hand over his eyes, realizing what Clair was trying to make me understand. "You're breaking the rules too,"
My lips parted. "Well I don't exactly know the rules, so how is that fair?"
Clair shook her head. "Your bending how the world works, to make your wish a reality, that shouldn't even be possible, and- oh fuck," Clair stopped and froze.
"What did Raven do?" Lion asked and glanced around the room, but Clair wasn't able to answer his question as a white flash flooded the room.
I covered my eyes and paused, peeking out as the light faded. "Oh, this is why," I looked around, it looked similar to our castle home, but I could definitely tell it was a different place.
It was the same room as the living room, but instead it was a lab of some sorts, test tubes and bright colored jars on display.
"And this is why you obey the laws of the universe you live in," Clair said in annoyance. "Now I'm going to miss my reservation, I hope you all know I'm getting paid by the hour."
"Save the sass, what just happened?" Dune asked and looked around in wonder.
Clair waved her arms around. "I think we're in an alternate universe,"
My jaw dropped while River pinched the top of his nose. "Of course, things were going too smoothly, something had to go wrong,"
Faith shrugged. "I really am missing dinner, hey, has this happened to you before Clair?"
She nodded and glanced at me, lips pressed together. "Yes, this is the second time, last time I was stuck in the place for a month."
I huffed. "Well how was I supposed to know? If I can do it, why should it be against the rules? That makes no sense!"
"Somehow it does," Nicholas ruffled my hair. "It'll be fine-"
A girly scream made us all look to the right, and I froze. It was the perfect picture of Malcolm, the evil necromancer, except this one looked much gayer. "Kayla! Code banana dick!" He yelled and stumbled to the side, looking truly terrified of us.
A girl who looked exactly like Kayla ran in and screamed next. "Must be the haircut," Cross mused and ruffled Fallon's hair.
Malcolm started sputtering, staring with his jaw dropped. Clair sighed and waved a hand up and down. "We come in peace, we're from an alternate universe,"
Kayla relaxed, but still gazed at River and Aaron with slightly fearful eyes. "That explains why we're not dead, welcome to a warzone," she said and wiped her forehead.
"What's an alternate universe?" Fallon blurted, looking around and seeming confused.
"It's a different time line of events, but still the same world as the one you're from. There's an exact copy to you walking around if you're alive, but they'll be different, like they could be human, instead of a vampire." Clair explained.
I looked at the Malcolm and Kayla. "Do you recognize me? Am I famous here?"
Kayla squinted at me while Dune sighed. "Of course that's what you want to know,"
I shot a look at Dune. "Of course, it's important!" I told him as Kayla shook her head.
"Sorry, I can't say I recognize you," she told me while Aaron let out a breath close to a sigh.
"What did you mean by not dead and warzone?" Aaron questioned, making Malcolm and Kayla grow grim.
"Well... to put it as gently as possible, this world is run by two dictators," Malcolm explained and pointed at River. "You're one of them, and you," he pointed at Aaron. "Are the second,"
"Of course they are," Cross muttered and rolled his eyes. "Clair, how do we get out of here?"
Clair shook her head. "I don't have. One. Fucking. Clue. At least, not at the moment, it always depends."
"Depends on what? I don't think this place is exactly safe," Fin pointed out.
Clair threw her hands up. "Thank your girlfriend!"
Aaron looked at me steadily. "Thank you, Raven, always appreciated,"
I tucked my hair behind my ear. "No, thank you, I can't wait for this fun adventure."
"Oh my god," Lion groaned and shook his head, looking surprisingly stressed. "What do you two do?" He pointed at Kayla and Malcolm.
"We work for the resistance," Kayla supplied.
Clair nodded and wiped a hand down her face. "Looks like this world is semi opposite to ours, the good are bad, and bad are good." Clair said and looked at Kayla. "Is there anyway to look a some computer to look everyone up?"
Kayla nodded and walked over to a lap top, gazing at me first. "Raven Light," I told her my name and she typed it in.
"Sorry, you were killed in the war, bomb in an apartment," Kayla said and winced.
"Oof," Faith winced.
Turns out most everyone was dead, or missing. With the exception of River and Aaron, who were tyrants, Fin, who was some mad scientist working for the bad guys, and Cross, who was a general of some sort.
Malcolm looked between us. "You are.... all her lovers?" He gestured as me and I nodded, feeling scared of his face, but not his calming silly aura, dancing around him, telling me he was completely different from the man from my world.
"Oh, you two are mates, right?" Kayla suddenly pointed between Aaron and I, making me nod. Clair touched her chin.
"Hmm, I wonder if mates are the same in this world, or not? Not that Raven should meet version Tyrant Aaron, but we should definitely make sure to have that not happen." Clair said and I nodded in agreement.
I didn't want to meet evil versions of the people I loved. Not at all. Nope.
"Well, they're all soulmates either way," Malcolm commented, looking at his watch.
"What?" Cross demanded and Malcolm blinked.
"Y'all didn't know? Well, not you," he pointed at Clair. "The rest of you yes, there are red strings connecting your hearts, the wolf's is just glowing and more pronounced."
I looked around and was struck by the relief on Cross's face, emotion flooding his features. "Even me?" Faith pointed at herself and Malcolm nodded.
"Yeah, what's the big deal? Y'all look like you've seen a ghost,"
"No... but you have no idea how relieved we are," River said and glanced at me, our eyes meeting.
"I would be yours either way," I said firmly and grabbed Fallon's hand. "Fated or not, I make my own rules,"
Clair snorted. "That's why we're in this mess love,"
I shrugged. "More entertaining that way,"