IMPORTANT
Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, my internets been down for a while, but now I'm back!! :D Happy times.
But the important part is that Raven's Mum (Olivia) is an empath. She can feel what others are feeling, but she can also channel emotions into others. So that's what's happening when the guy drops down in pain. But she can't channel emotions and feel them at the same time, which is why she doesn't feel imense pain as well. :D Just because I thought that it would get kind of confusing.
ANYWAYS, I'll just up so you can get to the good stuff.
OH, ONE MORE THING!!! Please can you check out my other book, Falling to the Dark Side? I really need feedback, since I'm not sure if I should contine or not. It's a vampire humour. THANKS GUYS!!
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Chapter 13
Raven's POV
"The demon that's after you was the same demon that killed your mother and sister," Cole finally muttered. I'd had my mug of hot chocolate raised to take another sip, but at his words, my whole body froze. My hands trembled uncontrollably, so much so that Cole came over and pried the mug from my hands. I couldn't have cared less. With his words, he had unintentionally triggered memories that I had kept hidden for so long. Now they all came flooding out, filling my mind with their gruesome, grief-filled horrors.
Flashback (Raven's 16th birthday)
"Mum, where are you taking us?" Grace whined from the back of the car. I sat beside her, equally curious and excited to find out our destination. Mum laughed.
"Well it wouldn't be a birthday surprise if I told you, now would it?" she replied. Her brown eyes sparkled in the mirrors of the car.
"Are we almost there?" I asked, grinning from ear to ear.
Mum chuckled. "Always so impatient," she tutted lovingly. "But yes, we are almost there."
I stared out the window as Grace continued to pester Mum, despite the fact that she was now 16. She was always the immature one of the two of us.
We were out in the countryside, although I had no idea where. Grassy hills stretched out for miles around, and the roads were pretty much empty, aside from the occasional speeding car. The beauty of the place intrigued me. Right now, I wanted to get out of the car and just wander aimlessly through the grassy meadows. The car was like a cage, trapping me when I wanted to be free. God, how long did Mum say it was till we were there?
It was near the end of our birthday now. We had already been out with all of our friends, but we had reserved the evening just for our mother. We would have done so even if she hadn't asked us to. Bowling with our friends was fun and everything, or should I say Grace's friends, but my mother was always more important.
I was more reserved that Grace was. She seemed to have limitless amounts of energy, and always seemed to know what to say. She was beautiful in a way I could never be, despite the fact that we were identical twins. People seemed to just gravitate to her the way bees did to honey. I was just along for the ride.
"God Grace, could you be any more of a pest?" I teased, poking her in the side of her stomach. Mum laughed, and Grace turned to look at me with exaggerated outrage.
"You did not just say that girlfriend," she said.
"Actually, I did just say that. What are you going to do about-"
I cut myself off with a cry of surprise as Grace suddenly attacked me, poking and tickling me mercilessly until we were both squealing with laughter. Mum's laughter mingled with ours.
"How old are you girls again?" she asked sarcastically. We both looked at each other and started giggling all over again.
And we were still laughing when Mum finally stopped the car.
"We're here!" she cried, opening the car door, letting in a gust of warm breeze.
"Where exactly is here?" Grace asked, looking around and slowly getting out of the car. I was much quicker, and had jumped out of the car as soon as it had stopped and I'd realised we were here.
"It's so beautiful," I murmured in awe, gazing around slowly, taking it all in.
"This was the place that your Dad took me on our first date," Mum said quietly, staring off into the distance. Grace and I were both silent. Mum never talked about Dad, and we had never had the guts to ask her about him. We didn't really remember him much; he'd left us all when Grace and I were only five.
Grace and I followed Mum up a short hill, which looked over a vast expanse of fields, some green, some yellow, some scattered with purple and red. The sun was setting, the sky a beautiful shade of pinky orange. Shadows were beginning to form, giving the place a mysterious air.
"Girls, I have something that I need to tell you," Mum said, looking at us with serious eyes.
"What is it Mum?" we asked in unison, both in quiet voices. She was silent for a moment, gazing off at the fields surrounding us. The car was parked on a little dirt road at the bottom of the hill, out of place in so much greenery. There wasn't another person in sight. Just the three of us, like it had always been. Us three girls against the world. I smiled faintly at my thoughts.
"You know how I always told you guys how special you are?" she began, eyes flashing nervously around. She seemed on edge. So did I, actually. I had this strange tingling sensation that I didn't understand. It was making it hard for me to think of anything else other than the tingles racking my body. I began shivering, even though it wasn't remotely cold out.
“Mum, what’s happening?” I whimpered, scared all of a sudden. Something was about to happen. Something big. Something bad.
“Grace, Raven, I want you to get in the car and drive away from here as fast as possible,” Mum said, her voice hard as her eyes scanned the surrounding landscape.
“Why, what’s going on?” Grace asked, her eyes wide with fear. This in turn made me fearful. Grace was never really afriad of anything.
“It doesn’t matter what’s going on,” Mum said, avoiding the question. “All that matters is that I love you both very much. Everything you need to know is in here.” She went into her handbag and handed us a little red notebook. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Mum, you’re scaring me,” I said, blinking back tears, but accepting the notebook she all but shoved at me. I slipped it under my jumper and held it there with shaking hands.
“I know baby,” she murmured, kissing us both on the forehead. “But it’ll be okay, don’t you worry. Even when the dark seems to overcome the light, there will always be a speck of light, of hope. Never forget that. Never forget which side you fight for, even if all seems lost.” She hugged us both fiercely. “Now go.”
A twig snapped behind us, and we all whirled around to face the sound.
“Hurry!” she yelled, her face becoming colder, meaner.
“Aww, wasn’t that just a heart-wrenching goodbye?” a male voice said. It sounded icy, hard. Mocking. Mum stiffened at the sound, and Grace and I both paused, never having taken a single step towards the car.
“You should know better than to antagonize a Hunter,” Mum said, her voice brave. The voice chuckled.
I glanced around nervously, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. But for the life of me, I couldn’t tell. All I saw was the surrounding trees and fields. Nothing seemed out of place, apart from the fact that the birds weren't singing any more. All was silent; it was deafening.
“But I do know better,” the voice replied. “I plan to do far more than just antagonize.” A flash of fear flitted across Mum’s face before it was quickly masked.
“And how do you plan to do that?” she asked, scoffing. “We’re stronger together. You don’t know the extent of what we could do.”
“Believe me, I know exactly what you’re capable of,” the man said, his voice suddenly bitter. Mum’s face softened for an instant before her features quickly hardened again. What did he mean by that? And why did I see a hint of regret on Mum’s face? Did she know this man?
“We will not go down without a fight. But if you hurt my daughters, I swear to God, I’ll-“
“You’ll what?” asked the voice tauntingly, appearing much closer, then moving further away again as his cold laugh sounded. “You cannot possible hurt me more than you already have. You have nothing left to threaten me with, my dearest Olivia. I can do what I like, and no matter what you like to think, you cannot stop me.”
So Mum and this man definitely knew each other then. I wondered about their history, wondered what Mum had done to hurt this man so badly. And I had no doubt that she had hurt him in some way, whether it was intentional or not. The hint of regret I had spied earlier was proof of that, not to mention the man's words.
“I will tear your organs from your body, and after I’ve fed you back your eyeballs, I’ll rip your heart out and roast it like a fucking marshmallow!” she spat, so much anger in her tone, that I actually flinched. Who was this cold creature, and where was my kind, loving mother?
“My dear Olivia, I do love your passionate fire,” the voice teased, seemingly unaffected by what Mum had just threatened. I gave a start at hearing my mother's first name, it not having fully registered the first time he'd used it. .
Mum shuddered, before pulling us close again and whispering in our ears.
“You both need to run. Right now. This person is very dangerous, and he will not hesitate to kill us. You have to run for your lives. Do you understand?” She looked at us with fearful eyes, and we both nodded slowly. There was no mistaking the seriousness of our mother’s tone.
“Finally uttering the family secrets?” the man asked, suddenly appearing before us. He looked strangely familiar, although I couldn’t pinpoint why. He was a very handsome man, with sharp features, and an almost ragged look. His hair was dark, shaggy and silky looking, with matching dark eyes. But his eyes… While they were beautiful and strangely captivating, they were also hard, cold, and inexplicably ancient, like they held the knowledge of thousands of years. It looked like he had experienced incredible tortures, the cold glint in his eyes telling you that he had not come out unscathed.
“You will never break us. No matter what you do, no matter who you hurt, we will always stay strong,” my mother said, ignoring his words, whatever they meant. My mind flitted back to that red notebook, which I clutched tightly in my hands, still hidden from view in my black jumper.
“You sound so sure about that, Olivia dearest. It’s almost as if you’re asking me to prove you wrong.”
His face twisted into a cruel smirk as he slowly started walking towards us.
“You don’t have to do this. Kill me, hurt me, fine, I don’t care. Just leave my girls out of this,” my mother pleaded, backing away with us, keeping her body in front of ours, protecting.
“Olivia,” the man cooed, stopping and smiling coldly at her. “All of this would have been avoided if you had just chosen me. Your choices, your decisions, not mine.”
There was a moment of silence as they stared each other down.
“I’m sorry,” Mum murmured sadly. I wondered what she meant for a moment, before the man suddenly dropped to the floor, his face contorting in agony. He screamed and screamed, clutching his head in his hands, as if that could make the torture stop. His eyes watered, and were filled with the pain of thousands.
“Go,” Mum whispered to us, not looking away from the man. Her expression seemed as tortured as the fallen man before us, like seeing him hurt caused her physical pain. I had the strange idea that she was doing that to him, but I didn’t know how. She couldn’t be…like Grace and I…could she? Could it be possible that it was from her that we acquired out talents in the first place? I shook away these confusing thoughts as Mum began to push us back towards the car.
“You must go now, and tell no one of the man you saw here today. If anything bad happens to me, just say that you don’t know what happened. You thought it would be funny to drive off and leave me here by myself. When you came back, you found me. Promise me you’ll stick to this.” Grace and I both looked at her. What was she expecting to happen? “Promise me!” she barked, a fine film of sweat beading on her forehead. I almost couldn’t hear her from the cries of pain the man was emitting.
"We promise,” we both muttered. She smiled in our direction, although her eyes remained glued to the man, whoever the hell he was.
“Now run, I can’t hold him much longer.”
With that, we both ran down the small hill to the car, barely managing to keep ourselves from stumbling. Mum had left the keys on the seat, probably because she didn't expect anyone to be around to steal the car. Grace and I slid in after several fumbling attanpts to open the car door with shaking hands. Our hands were shaking so badly, it was hard to do anything.
I slid into the driving side and Grace rode shot gun. We both looked at each other, wondering what the hell was going on.
"What the hell should we do?" I whimpered, my whole body shaking with shock. The words 'This cannot be happening' kept flashing through my mind over and over, but I forced back the panic. I needed to be calm.
"I don't fucking know!" Grace snapped. I noticed the fear in her eyes, so I didn't take her words personally. Sometimes, when her emotions were too much, she just struck out at whoever was nearest to her. At this moment, that was me, and I didn't mind being her verbal punching bag.
There was a long silence in the car, which was broken by my Mum's yelp of pain. We both looked up, but we could no longer see her or the man.
"Mum's in trouble! We can't just leave her, no matter what she says!" I said, the conflict clear in my voice.
"No shit Sherlock," Grace said sarcastically, before biting her lip. "But..."
"But what?" I asked distractedly, taking out the red notebook. I looked at it for a moment, before shoving it under the seat, hidden from view.
"She told us to go Rave. Maybe we need to let her deal with this dude by herself..." Grace replied, gazing out the car window and avoiding my eyes.
I stared at her for a moment.
"Are you fucking serious?" I finally burst out. "That's our mother out there, and you just want to abandon her to what is most likely some sort of nut-job serial killer?"
"It's not like I want to!" she retorted, grinding her jaw in frustration. "I'm just saying that she doesn't exactly want us here. And besides, did you see him drop to the ground in pain? She can totally handle him." She didn't sound all that confident.
"Did you not hear her cry of pain?" I yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Nothing's fucking wrong with me!" She paused, and a single tear fell down her cheek. "Is it so wrong for me to be scared shitless right now? Is it?"
I sighed, closing my eyes before looking at her again.
"Of course not Gracie," I said quietly. "But imagine if it were you out there. Would you want Mum and I to be there for you?"
We sat in silent for a moment as Grace considered my words.
"Why the fuck are we still in the car? We have some serious ass to kick!" Grace said, as if it were me wanting to stay in the car. We both got out and ran back up the hill, but they weren't there.
"Where are they?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Just then, the sounds of grunting came to our ears, then a masculine cry of pain. We followed the sounds down the other side of the hill, then poked our heads around a bush. There was a small clearing, and my mother and the man were both fighting. The man was on the ground holding his lower area and moaning softly, while Mum loomed above him.
Suddenly, in a quick, smooth motion, the man swept his feet into Mum's, knocking her down. Mum fell flat on her back with a cry of surprise, and the demon was quickly on top of her. They lay like that for a moment, both panting. If I didn't know better, I would have said that the position they were in was sexual. My mum's face was mostly hidden from view, btu I heard her small gasp of...pleasure...? But then she pushed him off of her, and quickly got up, breathing harder than she had been before. The demon smiled tauntingly at her.
"Feel that did you?" he asked, grinning. A blush tinged my mother's cheeks. What exactly was he talking about?
"Go to hell!" she spat as her breathing returned to its normal rate.
"Already been, love. It's overrated." My Mum literally growled in frustration.
But then her head whipped around in our direction and her gaze instantly found ours. The man's eyes followed hers and lit up in delight.
"Oh look!" he said, and clapped his hands together once in excitement. "The kids have decided to join the party!"
"What are you two doing here?" Mum ground out, her gaze flitting back to the man before her.
"We..we wanted...to help," I stuttered. God, how stupid did we sound now?
"If you want to help, then you can leave before-"
He struck out so fast, I don't think any of us saw it coming. It was a dirty thingy to do really, to strike her when she was distracted, but then, whoever said that fighting was fair? His hand struck her chest, directly over her heart. He closed his eyes, and a look of concentration passed over his features. Grace and I looked on in horror, to shocked to move, to act.
Mum began to make gurgling noises in the back of her throat, and she began clawing at the hand on her chest, but his hand held firm. She was turning an alarming shade of blue, and it looked like she couldn't breathe properly. What was he doing to her?
When the man released his hand, Mum fell limp to the floor, an empty, glassy look in her eyes. Grace and I stepped forwards in shock. Our mother was...dead? No, she couldn't be. She couldn't be!
The man's face drained of emotion as he stood there, staring at the lifeless body of my mother. She was staring upwards, a look of betrayal in her cold eyes. My mother was...dead.
Coming back to myself, I realised that Cole was now sitting next to me, and that he had my hands in his. I think he said something to me, but I hadn't been paying proper attention to him. I looked at him, and I could tell that my eyes were sad.
"No one is going to hurt you," Cole repeated. I looked into his eyes for a moment, wanting to lose myself in them. But whatever I did, I couldn't lose the pain, the grief, the loss, that had slowly began to build since that fateful day I'd lost my mother.
"It's a bit late for that Cole," I said quietly.
Before he could respond, I got up and left. I padded over to my room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Izzy was still sleeping soundly in my bed. She looked so innocent and adorable, I immediately started to feel better. I would be strong. If not for myself, then for Izzy. She deserves so much better.
I walked over and brushed a stray lock of her silky black hair aside. I sighed. Why was my life so complicated? What did I ever do to deserve this much pain and torment in my life?
My door made a creaking noise, and my head whipped towards the sound, my body tensing. It was as if someone had just pushed the door open. It hadn't been the wind, because there was no breeze in the house. We always kept the windows shut, just in case a demon tried to crawl in through one.
BANG! I jumped at the sound of a door slamming. I ran out into the small hallway, getting there at the same time Cole did. We both looked at each other, and then at the front door, which had evidently just slammed. What. The. Hell.
"What just happened?" I asked Cole, turning to stare at him. His hard gaze remained on the door for a few more seconds before he turned to face me, a grimace on his face.
"I think someone was just in here with us," he muttered.
"But that's impossible!" I retorted. " We would have seen them!" Cole shook his head at me.
"We wouldn't if they'd been invisible."
I paused for a moment. "Does invisibility even exist?"
Cole shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."
I sighed. My life was literally turning into a TV drama. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. Every bad thing seemed to happen to me. God, I really hate my life. If it weren't for Cole, and now Izzy, I would have gone as far as to say that I had nothing worth living for...
"I can't deal with this right now Cole," I said, massaging my temples. "We'll think about it in the morning. Right now, I really just need some sleep."
Cole's face softened slightly. "Okay Raven, but we can't avoid this forever. Who knows who that spy was? We don't know what they wanted, and we don't really know what they found out. So we need to be really careful from now on, okay? Sleep with one eye open and all that crap."
I mock saluted him. "Yes sir!" I said in an exaggerated enthusastic voice.
Cole grumbed a goodnight before turning and walking towards his bedroom. I walked back to mine, and made sure to shut the door behind me this time. I was pretty sure that the invisible spy had been in my room, and I didn't like that idea. This way, I would be alerted to their presence by the opening of the door.
Letting out a huge sigh, I climbed into bed, snuggling up next to Izzy. I wanted so badly to join her in sleep, but my mind would not let me rest.
It wasn't long before the memories that I kept hidden during the day came back to haunt me. Tears streamed down my face, and I tried to smother my sobs in the now damp pillow so as not to wake Izzy. But it seemed I woke her anyway, because her innocent voice asked, "Are you crying?" I nodded. I knew that if I spoke, all of the sobs I'd been holding back would spill over.
I hid my face in the pillow again, not wanting to upset Izzy. We were silent for a few moments.
"It's okay to be sad you know," Izzy said, causing me to look at her again in surprise. When her words registered, I gave her a wobbly smile.
"I know, honey." I tried my best to wipe away most of the tears, but more kept falling to replace them. All I saw was my mother, dead. My sister, dead. The images of the both swirled through my mind, tormenting me. The tears fell faster.
"Whenever I was sad and I was crying, my mummy used to tell me that tears don't show that you're weak. They show that you are strong enough to survive the bad." Izzy paused for a moment, oblivious to the fact that my heart was literally breaking in my chest, both for her and for me. "You are a strong person Miss Hunter. You're very nice and kind to me, even if I'm being silly or I'm not listening to you. My mummy says that good things happen to good people, and you are a good person. You're sad now, but soon, something good will happen to you, and it will make you happy again."
I didn't know what to say to that. So I just cuddled her closer and listened to the soft drum beat of her heart, eventually crying myself to sleep.
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Sorry about the errors guys, i was kinda rushing this just so I could post it since i haven't posted in a while, which is sad times. So, what do ya think? Don't you guys just LOVE Izzy? She's like, AWWW!!! So much wisdom for one so young. LOL! I think that was sad what happened with the mother and stuff.
But what do you guys think is going on between the mother and that demon?!!? I'm curious to hear your theories. Because there is most definitely something going on. I wanted ot know if I made it too obvious, or not obvious enough, or... Yeah. I wanted you guys to guess at what was happening between them, but to not actually know
OH! just in case it wasn't clear, when he was on top of her, and he said "feel that did you?", he meant that he felt pleasure, and then she felt it. Just to clear that up.
And OMG!!! this is my longest ever chapter!!! haha, 6 pages!!! wowser!
Coolz. As always, thanks for reading!!! VOTE, FAN, COMMENT, RECOMMEND, etc, etc. THANKYOUU!!!!! :D
Oh, that's a pic of the mother, Olivia hunter, on the side, if it comes up (at least, it should, it won't come up on my computer) :) ------>
I was thinking of making a side book entirely based on Raven's mother (Olivia), Raven's father (Daniel) and the demon who killed Olivia (I haven't come up with a name for him yet, and am open to suggestions). Would anyone read the side story book if I wrote it? I might write it when (if) I finish this book, because otherwise, it might spoil things for people. But yeah, it was just an idea that I had, and I wasn't sure whether I should act on it or not...