Ravenous Virtue Release Week: Excerpt 2

“Raven!  Raven, answer me!”

She didn’t want to, not when going back meant returning to that awful heat and pain.  Yet the voice was like a fishhook snagging her and bringing her mercilessly back to the surface.

The pain did come back, crushing and agonizing.  Raven could barely breathe for the brutality of it.  Even worse was that man-shaped silhouette blocking out the sun once more.  He was still there, still ready to make her hurt more, blasting her into little bits until the gentle void returned.

“Raven.  Can you hear me?”

It wasn’t some homicidal drunk with a gun.  It was Douglas Bringer, he of the chameleon hair and golden eyes.

Raven could feel the coppery-tasting froth spilling from her mouth as she spoke.  “You’ll have to fill in my sheet for me.  From eleven-fifteen to the present, I was shooting and dying.”

Her voice was little more than a wheeze.  Douglas seemed to hear her anyway.  “Do you want to live?”

Raven wished she had the strength to punch him for asking such a stupid question, especially when there was obviously no hope.  What was he doing out here anyway?

Pissed off and unable to do anything about it – which pissed her off even more – Raven sighed, “Gonna make it worth my while?  Do I get a swimming pool and maid service?  You idiot, shut up and let me die in peace.”

“Listen to me, Raven.  Do you want to live?  It means being indentured to another man, a man who needs your protection.”  Douglas grimaced.  “Even when your contract is up, you’ll still belong to him.  There’s no getting around that, I’m afraid.”

Raven couldn’t make head or tails of what the man was blathering about.  Damn it, she just wanted to close her eyes.  Now that she’d had a glimpse of the void beyond and the delicious lack of pain that went with it, dying didn’t scare her at all.  

Tiredly, she mumbled, “Which of us is having an end of life hallucination?”

“You’re almost out of time.  Do you want to live?”

The bastard is insistent, I’ll give him that, Raven thought.  Then she felt warm drops falling on her face.  She blinked up at Douglas, noting how his expression screwed into such terrible tragedy.  Was he crying over her?

His tears helped Raven feel something besides the pain and anger that she’d gotten herself killed so stupidly.  Douglas was only trying to make her feel better as she checked out of this world, trying to ease her suffering by distracting her with nonsense.  

Give the guy a break.  I can play along so maybe he won’t remember how helpless he feels at this moment, the way I would feel if our roles were reversed.

 She dredged up a smile, doing her best to ignore how torturous every little breath and each hesitant heartbeat had become.  “Are we going to your space station?  Where real justice prevails?”

“That’s the place.  Just say the word, and we’ll go.”  He returned the smile, blinking out tears as he did so.

Things were turning gray, taking her back.  This time, Douglas wouldn’t be able to pull her out.   Raven sighed.  “Sure Scotty.  Beam me up and let’s kick the universe’s ass.”

“That will do.”  

Douglas gathered her in his arms.  As he stood and lifted her up, Raven had an instant when she saw his eyes change.  They went from gold to every hue of the rainbow, one color melting into the next, spreading to the whites of his eyes in moving swirls of color.  

Wow, dying is weird.  And pretty, she thought as the world around her turned silvery gray.  Then all went dark again, sending Raven back into the long, cold tunnel where nothing hurt.

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