Page 1 of The Devils of Raven's Gate

Maureen

Sometimes there’s not enough light to chase away the darkness. Not enough holy water to cleanse your sins.

I scrubbed the blood off my hands, but its metallic stench still lingers on my skin. That night still haunts me. Like a nightmare that begins as a pretty dream.

I still think about him. The masked man with the piercing blue eyes. He remains lost, nameless. But the memory of his fingers on my back, zipping up my corset in the bathroom at Wickford Mansion after those assholes defiled me, is fresh in my mind. I wanted to stay with him. But I had to go upstairs and murder a man.

I did the right thing…

Fuck.

Did I do the right thing?

Fuck it.

I’d do it again.

Maureen

Tenebrose Academy is a beautiful monstrosity. It sprawls across the grounds, taking up most of the city of Raven’s Gate. A mass of cold stone and pointed arches. It’s ominous and sharp and stunning, warning you away. Drawing you in. It gives me breath and yet takes it away. A dark and stormy chaos seems to chant softly from behind its stained-glass windows. Whispers that flutter across my flesh, wrapping around my neck like delicate bony fingers, like twisted vines on iron spires.

“Are you going to stand there all day, or can I get inside before my balls freeze off?” a sharp gravelly voice barks at me from behind.

Breaking out of my trance, I spin around. Oh, fuck. My belly flutters as I meet his icy glare. With black hair and dark brown eyes I can get lost in, the most beautiful yet intimidating man towers over me.

I stumble back. “Sorry. Just taking it all in.”

He steps into me, sending chills across my back. “I don’t care if you like taking it in the ass, do it somewhere else, freshman.”

My mouth drops open. I haven’t even been on campus a full hour, and already some asshole, albeit a gorgeous asshole, is barking at me. The old me would have snapped back, but I am trying, for fuck’s sake, to start over.

I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I step aside. “Gotcha. Won’t happen again.”

The beautiful asshole clenches his jaw and continues to stare down his nose at me. “Better not.”

When he finally brushes past me, I blow out a deep breath. And I can’t help but notice a few students snickering in my direction. Fuck. I’m off to a great fucking start.

“I’d stay out of his way, if I were you,” a pretty blonde girl whispers next to me. I hadn’t even noticed her standing there. She chews on her lower lip as I size her up.

“Oh? And why is that? Who was that?” I’d promised myself I would keep my head down here, but now I’m intrigued.

The girl wraps her arms around herself as if she wants to shrink into her own body. “Valentin Erebus. He’s dangerous. They all are.”

I look back toward the double doors he disappeared behind and my skin prickles. “They? What’s so dangerous about—” As I turn back, my breath hitches. The girl is gone. What the actual fuck? I scan the front lawn but can’t find any sign of her. And now I just look like a lunatic talking to myself.

I start for the doors when a loud squawk makes me jump and almost knock over my luggage. “Fucking hell.” I look up to see a raven perched above the archway. Its glare seems to mimic Valentin’s. “Well, screw you, too!” I hiss. A few more students whisper and laugh at me as they pass.

An uneasiness washes over me. As excited as I was to come here, something is off. I can’t put my finger on it, but a creepy feeling began seeping into my bones the second I drove through those front gates.

I push on the double doors, and my jaw drops open when I enter the lobby. With dark wood-paneled walls, marble floors, and massive stone statues, Tenebrose looks like a museum. There’s an iron staircases lined with ornate wall sconces that have actual burning candles in them. I look up to see the ceiling’s painted as elaborately as the Sistine Chapel in a mural of runes, botanical elements, and alchemical symbols. I inhale a deep breath. Even the air smells and tastes different here.

The other students bustle around me seemingly unaffected by the visual onslaught of Victorian Gothic ambience. They don’t even look up or around as they chatter with each other about their class schedules and their dorm room assignments. Am I the only one here who is blown away by all of this? It feels like at any second Edgar Allan Poe himself could come around the corner.

And then it dawns on me. These students are used to this. I’m a long way from Wickford Hollow—my sleepy small town where our idea of fun is breaking into abandoned houses, eating sweet potato fries at Ruby’s Diner, and getting so drunk you forget your own name. Oh, and it’s full of dead people walking around as if they are still alive. I understand creepy and weird, but this place is on a different level of macabre. How am I supposed to fit in here?

Hi, my name’s Maureen. My mother hates me for being born, my father is the town Sheriff and also the town drunk. I’ve fucked half the football team, mostly while I was unconscious. Oh, and I did I mention my best friend is a ghost?

Fuck. I’ve only been gone for a day, and I already miss Bailey. She’s my ride-or-die. Literally. Yeah, I’m sure people will be lining up to hang out with me. Ugh.

---