at a very young age. For the first
twelve years of her life she had been
a normal little girl, the only child of
two loving parents. Overnight she’d
changed to a beautiful young woman,
bringing unwelcome changes from the
people around her. Always a slightly
vain individual, her mother had
started to resent Raven’s beauty,
seeing her as a rival instead of the
daughter she loved. Her parents
began fighting more and more until
one night her father had stormed out,
never to return. He had been killed
while driving home from a bar that
night and her mother blamed Raven
for his death.
When money got tight and they
could no longer afford the rent, her
mother had moved them in with her
brother who owned his own house in
a suburb right outside of the city.
Raven was heartbroken when she had
moved away from her friends and
switched schools. Confused and
feeling alone, it had only gotten
worse when her mother started
working the night shift at the hospital
where she was a nurse.
That was when her uncle began
sneaking into her room at night.
Terrified at what was happening,
Raven had tried to tell her mother
what was going on but she hadn’t
believed her. Not knowing what to
do, Raven had suffered in silence for
several months until she couldn’t take
it anymore. One night she had tried to
fight him off, causing him to fly into a
rage. Luckily a neighbor had heard
Raven’s screams and called the
police. When they had busted in and
found him on top of her they
immediately arrested him. The police
had saved her and it was then she
decided to become one of them so
she could help others one day.
Her mother had been horrified at
what had happened, but the damage
was already done. Finally forced to
believe Raven, her mother had
apologized, but things between them
had never been the same. Raven kept
in touch with the cops that had saved
her that night. Officer Diana Dwyer
and Officer Reggie Sheraton had
become the role models she needed,
pushing her to do well in school and
helping her fulfill her dream of
becoming a police officer.
After almost eight years on the job,
people still didn’t believe she was a
cop, but she was. And a damn good
one at that. She had worked hard,
closed cases, and built a steady
reputation. She had been so proud the
day she’d earned her detective’s
shield and it was days like this that
she sure as shit didn’t miss working
the streets.
A uniformed officer rushed up to
where she was holding the teen, his
partner close on his heels. Water
droplets fell from the tip of the visor
on their hats as they frowned at them,
until she turned around and faced
them. Both of the men’s faces
changed to looks of appreciation
then.
“Excuse me, miss! Was this kid
bothering—” He cut off and snapped
to attention as Raven badged him.
“Ma’am.”
“Officer, take this idiot into
custody. And give this purse back to
that woman over there.” She jerked
her head toward the woman huddled
heroically under a tiny umbrella with
her husband and their two children.
The matching sweatshirts the family
had on made her want to sigh. She
guessed they were from somewhere
far different from the urban sprawl of
Chicago, like Iowa…or maybe Mars.
Tourists.
If the two officers could have
saluted her, they would have, but she
simply shoved the teen at them
instead. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Your collar. I don’t want to deal
with the paperwork. Tag me if you
have any problems.” She offered one
of her cards to the officer and he
cupped it in his hand, shielding it
from the rain as if it were precious.
“Thank you, Detective!”
The officer slapped his cuffs on the
teenager as his partner took the purse
back to the grateful family. The rain
had several tendrils of her hair
breaking free from their bonds to curl
around Raven’s face and she pushed
back at them impatiently, wishing she
had opted for a hat that day. The sky
seemed to darken as she made her
way back toward the deli, noting
absently that her umbrella was long
gone, along with her abandoned
sandwich.
Bastards.
Resigning herself to another night
of frozen dinners or leftover Chinese
food, she walked the few blocks
home. The irritation must have been
pumping off of her in waves, causing
the other pedestrians to give her a
wide berth even though several men
did a double take as she passed them.
Raven’s footsteps slowed as she
passed a particular building until she
came to a stop. She stood on the
sidewalk, looking up at the building
as the rain continued to fall on her
face like tears from heaven. She was
used to stopping there. Every day for
two months she had stopped in front
of her friend Allie’s building on her
walk home. Not that she was there.
Her best friend Allison Summers had
been missing for two months now,
and every day Raven missed her
more.
Most women shied away from
being friends with a woman who
looked like Raven, but when she’d
met Allie in college they had
instantly clicked. Both coming from
difficult pasts, they had understood
one another. They had both been
focused on their goals, Allie being a
doctor and Raven being a cop. As
their friendship grew, they finally had
someone to be there, through the good
and the bad. It was something neither
of them was used to, but it was nice
to have someone she could finally
depend on.
They had other friends, but no one
understood her like Allie had. Their
friends all thought Raven was a
serial monogamist who enjoyed a
variety of men, but the reality was
that she had a hard time trusting men
at all and Allie had understood that
and never judged her. After a couple
of dates, Raven would usually freeze
up then end the relationship before
anyone could get close to her. Sex
was easy enough, as long as she
could escape after it was finished.
The truth was, Allie was the only
person Raven really trusted.
And now she was gone.
Two months ago Raven had taken
off early from work to celebrate
Allie’s birthday with her. She had
called her friend several times and at
first had thought Allie had gotten
caught up in surgery. After a few
hours Raven had called the hospital,
only to be told that Allie had left
hours ago. Concerned, Raven had
gone over to Allie’s place, using her
key to get in so she could check to
make sure her friend was okay.
But she wasn’t.
Allie had simply disappeared.
Raven’s colleagues thought she
was
obsessed
with
Allie’s
disappearance and maybe they were
right. She just couldn’t let it go. Allie
was her best friend and Raven would
do anything to get her back…or find
her body. It was always harder not
knowing. She’d never get any closure
if she didn’t figure out what had
happened to her friend.
A rumble of thunder and a flash of
lightning had Raven jolting out of her
miserable thoughts. During the short
time she’d been thinking about her
missing friend, day had faded to night
and the steady rain had kicked up to a
torrential downpour.
“Shit…”
Huffing out a breath, Raven turned
and joined the other poor souls on the
street in a dash to make it to safety as
the storm raged around them. Her
plan to make it home before the
spring storm hit was shot to hell.
Thunder boomed overhead and
lightning cast eerie streaks of fire in
the night sky, way too close for her
comfort. Her heart gave a jolt as
another bout of thunder seemed to
boom directly overhead. Breaking
into a run, she rushed down the
suddenly empty street toward her
condo building, the rain making it
almost impossible to see.
Until the light came…
Raven’s entire body jerked as the
lightning struck, engulfing her in
white flames so bright it seemed to
burn her alive. She heard the
crackling of pure energy surround her
as she flew backward, slamming to
the ground with tremendous force.
For one insane moment she wanted
to laugh at the pain of the blow.
Seriously? She’d always assumed
she’d bite it with a bullet or some
other injury on the job…not by
getting struck by lightning in a damn
storm.
This
was
a
pretty
fucking
embarrassing way to die.
She squeezed her eyes shut in
defense against the bright glow
surrounding her and waited for the
pain to pass.
As the light faded, she was
surprised she was still alive.
Surely the pain would have faded if
she’d died, right?
Raven lay sprawled on the ground,
unmoving until she realized that the
rain no longer fell on her as it had
only moments ago. Without opening
her eyes she took stock of several
things at once. Warmth surrounded
her and the tantalizing scent of food
teased her senses, reminding her of
how damn hungry she was. She heard
the subtle shift of movement close by
and forced herself not to stiffen in
alarm.
She knew instantly, wherever she
was, she wasn’t alone.
Gathering her courage, she braced
herself and slowly opened her eyes
then immediately squeezed them back
shut.
Impossible.
She must have suffered some sort
of head trauma in the fall because
there was no way she could have just
seen what she thought she did. She
opened her eyes back up and silently
cursed.
Son of a bitch…
She was either dead or crazy, and
neither option appealed to her.
What a great fucking way to end her
day…
“Son of a bitch,” Raven said again,
this time out loud, not believing what
she was seeing as she slowly sat up
and took a good look around.
Clearly the lightning must have
killed her because she sure as shit
didn’t have the imagination to come
up with the craziness she was seeing.
Raven had always thought that she
had lived her life with purpose, had
done good work throughout her time
on the force, but none of that seemed
to matter.
No. She had been judged…and it
had landed her in hell.
Taking in her surroundings at a
glance, she saw she was in a large
stone room, only the stone was a
weird, shimmering bronze color.
Drapes of silver gossamer fabric
hung from the ceiling that reminded
her of a medieval hall she’d once
seen in a movie. Bright blue fire
blazed out of large silver cauldrons
set up strategically around the room.
The air felt thicker here as if her
lungs had to work harder to breath.
Her body moved, but it was as if it
were in slow motion, like she could
bend the very air to her will.
Everything she saw was brighter,
more vivid, and sharper as if her
eyes were being introduced to a new
spectrum of colors.
Dozens of tables were set up
around the large room. She had
obviously landed smack-dab in the
heart of some sort of celebration and
the room was filled with…
Holy shit!
She was so seriously screwed…
Fear was a living, breathing entity