Ravenous Virtue Release Week - Excerpt 3

She was alive.

“Holy shit, I’m still here.”  Her voice came out in a hissing croak.  Raven recalled screaming so loud and hard that her voice had nearly given out.  But surely that had been some horrific nightmare?  No one could have survived the shots she remembered taking.

Douglas smiled.  “You mean, among the living?  Yes, you are, though I almost didn’t get you here in time.”  

Raven’s mind worked slowly, as if it was made of moving parts that had been gummed up with sludge.  She was alive, but she shouldn’t be.  Douglas was here, but he didn’t look quite right.  What the fuck was he wearing?  His usual suit and tie were absent, replaced by some bizarre outfit.  It had long sleeves.  More fabric hung from his wrists, and it took Raven a moment to figure out gloves were attached to the end of the sleeves, though Douglas didn’t have them over his hands.  The material looked black as oil, but there were flashes of iridescence too.  The thing was form-fitting, showing off what she could see of Douglas’ deliciously muscled body to advantage.  It was the most bizarre thing she’d ever seen a grown man wear.

Another thing bothered her.  Where were Todd and Kimi?  Raven had no doubt the injuries she’d suffered had to have been horrific.  Surely her boyfriend and bestie should be here too, right?

Slow, measured steps drawing close alerted Raven that someone else was in the room, interrupting her perusal of Douglas Bringer of the General Accounting Office.  So maybe her friends were there after all.  She tried to raise her head to greet whoever had waited at her bedside but couldn’t.  Raven had to content herself with rolling her eyes about.  A glance around herself revealed she lay in a bed in a very white, antiseptic room.  Before she could note anything else about her surroundings, a man stepped into view.  It was most definitely not Todd.

This stranger’s almost metallic-bronze face looked Asian with dark, upturned eyes and high cheekbones.  His lips were incredibly sensual, and Raven had a momentary fantasy of sucking on the lower one.  In contrast to his Oriental bone structure, he had long, sleek, golden blond hair that lay over his shoulders.  His body was massive, well over six feet tall.  The flowing red robe he wore belted at the waist, while full-sleeved, did nothing to disguise the fact that he was well-muscled.  What Raven and Kimi would call an ‘uber-man’.  Yet he moved as fluidly graceful as a man possessing a much leaner physique would.

He wasn’t anyone Raven had expected.  He sure as hell didn’t look like any doctor she had ever seen.  What doctor wore robes?  What was the deal with his metal-sheened skin?

As she gaped, the man moved to the side opposite Douglas and stared down at her.  Raven suddenly noticed that he seemed to have no irises, or that they were as black as his pupils.  Was that even possible?

The man said nothing, just looked at her.  Something in his demeanor made Raven feel small and helpless.  She’d thought of Douglas as having an aura of danger, and he was not alone.  This stranger was like a tiger lying in the grass, not hungry enough yet to take its prey down but marking it for future reference just the same.

He scared the shit out of Raven.

To hide the sudden surge of panic, she snapped at him, “Who are you?”

One thin eyebrow lifted at her question.  Otherwise his expression didn’t change, but Raven sensed amusement coming from him.

Douglas answered for him.  “Raven, this is Supreme Judge Vendeen.  He’s in charge here.”

Vendeen nodded once at her.  “Hello, Raven.  I am glad to have you on board.”

“On board?”  Even as the question left her lips, it occurred to her the title Douglas had given the other man.  Supreme Judge?  Not Supreme Court Judge, or more accurately, Justice.  Besides, the Supreme Court didn’t presently have any sitting blond justices on it anyway.  Certainly not Asian ones with metallic skin.  And Douglas hadn’t called him a superior court judge, which would make some sense.

This man’s voice was the one she’d thought sounded familiar, the one she’d heard when she first woke.  But she knew she’d never seen this Vendeen before.  He wasn’t exactly a man one would forget.

The judge folded his arms over his chest and leveled his inscrutable stare at Douglas.  “Show her.”

Douglas bit his lip.  Had Raven ever seen him look so uncertain?  “She’s only just awakened.  I’m not sure—”  

Vendeen interrupted, his powerful voice clearly saying there was to be no discussion.  “It’s the quickest way to explain.”

Douglas grimaced and then jerked a nod.  He gave Raven a tight smile.  “Don’t be scared, okay?  This is going to be weird.”

She looked at him.  As if things weren’t weird already?  Where was Superintendent Jackson?  Where were Kimi and Todd?  Surely someone who knew and cared about her should be here with her, not the auditor from General Accounting or this bizarre ‘judge’.

Douglas took a deep breath.  The air shimmered around him, like desert heat off blacktop.  Then he changed right before her eyes.

His chameleon hair turned as blond as Vendeen’s.  His golden eyes shaded to brown.  His features sharpened, taking him from the chiseled perfection of Douglas Bringer to that of a thinner, finer-featured man.

Raven couldn’t even summon a gasp.  She stared, trying to decipher what her eyesight was telling her.

Before she could gather her senses to react, Douglas changed again.  His features became rounder and even more delicate.  His eyes turned blue, and his hair lengthened to past his shoulders.  His body curved out until Raven was looking at a woman.  A woman that had been Douglas Bringer.

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