The Broken Raven - A Paradox Of Two Worlds Series Book 1

Chapter 77 - Raven

I take my phone out as I park on the side of the road and call Gretchen to see if she and the other vampires can come to meet me. I want this to be over tonight. She accepts, informs the others of the necessary action, and meets me at the Lycan manor.

I approach the manor, knowing that Clay will kill me if he learns that I left, but I try to ignore that thought. I'm coming to put an end to this for good. I didn't want them to come; tonight is a full moon. Even though the Lycans will be at their strongest, I am up for the challenge. I stop the car, inhale deeply, and park it. I step outside. I can sense the flow of electricity through my body. On a full moon, Lycans might have an advantage, but so do I. I make my way to the manor. I object to going inside. They are welcome to come out here, where everything is fair game. I turn around after hearing the commotion, and I see Ezra and all the vampires hiding in the shadows.

"We are here whenever you need us," he reassures me.

I step out into the moonlight. "Hello? The delinquent who defies orders is standing out here," I shout, arms out, waiting for a fight.

"Raven," I hear my name. I turn to see one of the elder Lycans standing behind me. "I see you brought some of your friends." "Where's Jamie?" Another asks. I've seen him around campus; I don't know his name, though. "Dead," I say casually. "What?" He lunges towards me.

"Ventus."

"Not today, pretty boy." I hold up my hand, and a gust of wind knocks him back.

"Beckett, Stop!" The elder shouts. "Sorry, dad." The kid gets up from the ground, shaking himself off. I laugh. He looks like a puppy shaking himself off from the mud. Two other adults joined us, as did six more children, all my age or older.

This is going to be great!

"I'm just here to talk," I tell them. "I promise, no violence, this time." I smile as the voice in my head begins to laugh.

"So talk," one of the elders spews. I take a deep breath and begin to share my thoughts. "Well..." I start by walking back and forth in front of them. "You decided to shut my humanity off, and I'm guessing you don't entirely know what that means. Well, I'll explain. What that means is that I have no care if I kill you and fill your land with your blood. If you were smart, you would have known that I would protect myself at all costs. Obviously, you Lycans weren't smart enough to do the same." I threaten. "The fact that you are still standing here means that I have not yet decided to kill you. But make no mistake, if you try anything, I won't hesitate to end you. So, unless you want to test my patience, I suggest you leave now and never cross my path again." From the corner of my eye, I see one of them grab their phone.

"Ventus,"

I whisper, whipping the phone out of his hand. "You won't need that since, as you can see, your little vampire allies are now on my side, and Vlad is also dead, so you won't need to worry about that." I look at all of them and say, "I will tell you the same thing I told them, you are the reason for your destruction, nothing would have happened if you didn't meddle with my life, but no, you all had to go and scare the vamps threatening their families with Vlad. But what you really wanted was me, so that you could officially wipe out the existence of all vampires." I pause, looking at them, and say, "Let me know if I'm close." I continue, "So I have concluded that you will not be determining my destiny, that's for me to choose."

I can feel the wind pick up and whip around us all. They step back as a line of fire lights up in front of them. "Raven, we can talk about this." One of them says with a shaky voice.

"No, I'm not having my life pushed aside and turned into your own. You don't seem to listen," I pause, then look at the elder who was speaking, "I think I figured it out. After centuries of supernaturals and humans coexisting peacefully with each other, I couldn't understand why all of a sudden vampires would start following Abel's word. It's because you put it in their heads, you knew who I was once my parents had me, and you refused to allow the vamps to have anything to do with me. You sent Sloane after me and the others, didn't you?" I ask him. The flames getting higher around the rest except for him.

"Yes," he says with his head down. "Why?" I continue to press him, my heart pounding in my chest. "Why did you send Sloane after me? What were you hiding?" His silence is deafening, and I wonder if I'll ever truly know the answer.

"I thought... We thought that if you could see how terrible the vampires are, you would join us. Your mother grew up with us. She was to marry me, not your father," he says with distaste in his mouth as he moves quickly and grabs Ezra from behind. I won't let them hurt anyone else.

"Contristo,"

I whisper. He lets go of Ezra and drops to his knees. As he bleeds, I look down at the poor werewolf, so disgruntled. "Don't ever talk about my father."

"Ventus!"

He goes flying, crashing into the nearby tree. The sound of the tree cracking satisfies me, knowing I inflicted enough pain on him to grab his attention.

"Listen!" I shout, "I don't want to fight. As I explained to the vampire clan, all I want is a truce. We can all live in peace. No blood needs to be spilled. The humans don't even know you exist, so let's keep it that way."

The eldest Lycan steps towards me. "We want power!" He shouts, "We are tired of hiding."

My eyes flicker as the wind picks up. Lightning strikes the ground behind me. "You don't understand, do you?" I step closer to him and say, "You won't ever have power as long as I'm alive. One of two options is to back off, and the other is to leave this world. It's up to you to make that choice."

"Raven!" My heart flutters, and I turn to see Clay running toward me. He cups my face and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I smile, "I think we have agreed on a truce between vampires and Lycans. Isn't that right, Mister?" I look at the wolf.

"Mr. Lovell, Lincoln Lovell. And yes, a truce has been settled." He puts his hand out to shake mine. "Great!" I say.

"Yes, have a good night, Miss Beauregard." He states. His eyes show something evil.

Clay wraps his arm around me as we walk towards his car. He motions for Logan to follow him. I hand him the keys and step inside. Staring out the window as Clay reverses out, I can't help but get a feeling this isn't the end.

Clay starts the car, and the engine roars to life, breaking the silence. As we drive through the dark streets, my mind races with thoughts of what this all means. I can't shake the feeling that we'll be back here again soon.