Page 56 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

I watched everything as if I were outside my own body. My limbs moved, but it wasn’t me controlling them. It was him, whoever he was. He was doing this. He flung Rook to the other side of the room, and I felt my skin rip as Rook lost his grip on my neck. The sweet man looked feral as he stared at me, his green hair wild, eyes black as pitch, mouth covered in blood.

My blood.

My mind faded into the background as tiredness started to seep in. The damage done by Rook finally starting to sink into reality. And whatever was happening now, with this stranger, was zapping me of everything I had left. It was strange, feeling like I was falling asleep whilst my body was still moving, but that was the best way I could describe it.

My body launched over to Rook and the last thing I saw before finally succumbing to the call of unconsciousness, was my hand wrapped around Rook’s throat and his face twisted in a snarl.

“No, please,” I begged but I wasn’t sure I even managed to say the words out loud. I just hoped the presence currently running around in my body, could hear my plea.

As you wish, my love.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Nox

When we got back after talking to Raevyn’s mother, I was not expecting to walk into the scene that we did. I was still trying to make sense of it, despite the shouts of the other guys. I just couldn’t understand it. Raevyn had Rook pinned to the floor by his throat, her wings spread wide behind her, and Rook was snarling and snapping his teeth at her. Both of them were stark naked and don’t even get me started on the shadows that were bleeding out of her like a cloak. Or the fact that the giant raven of hers was stood on her shoulder, squawking like a maniac.

“The fuck?”

“I agree with the sentiment, Nox, but don’t you think you should help?” Casimir asked as he tried to get Raevyn’s attention. Not that it was doing any use. She was hyper focused on Rook, her face inches from his as he clawed at her hands trying to break free. It was like she was toying with the guy. Rook was powerful and strong, but she was holding him to the ground like he was nothing more than a little bug. If I were being honest, it was a little unsettling. I was used to being one of the most powerful beings when I walked into any room, but this… she didn’t even look like she was exerting any kind of strength. At all.

Which begged the question, how powerful was she and what was she?

“Nox!” Casimir yelled. “Do something!”

Right. I approached the violent pair slowly, trying not to make matters worse. I wasn’t usually one to take precautions, preferring to go in, kill and maim first and then ask questions, but something held me back. I didn’t want to hurt Raevyn, or Rook.

Korbin and Hawk had managed to get around the other side of Raevyn and I was surprised Korbin was still keeping it together considering Raevyn seemed to be seconds from turning Rook into a snack for her Familiar.

The giant bird let out a shrill cry as I got closer, and Raevyn snapped her head towards me.

“Stay back,” she hissed, but her voice was deeper. What the hell was happening here?

I held my hands up placatingly. “Okay, I’m just trying to help.”

“I don’t need help.” Her eyes, which swirled like embers in oil, narrowed. “Leave.”

Something was very wrong here. This wasn’t Raevyn. Someone else was here and I could shake the feeling that they felt very familiar.

“Who are you?” Korbin asked, clearly sensing the same thing as me.

Raevyn smiled, but it was a twisted curl that I didn’t like seeing on her beautiful face. “Someone long since lost.”

“You need to let Rook go,” I said.

Her eyes met mine again. “He was going feral. If it weren’t for me, he’d have destroyed her.”

“She can’t be destroyed,” I said. She was bound to us and therefore not able to be destroyed, wasn’t she?

Raevyn barked a laugh. “She is not like you. Not bound by the same limits.”

“What do you mean?” Hawk asked.

“Us Revenants can only be unmade by Hades,” Casimir explained. “We can be damaged, but never destroyed.”

“But she died. She was sacrificed,” I said.

She curled her lip, a smugness marring her features. “Or did she merely return to where she was always meant to be?”

---