White Raven

Chapter One: Deal With the Devil

Dedicated to _cookiejar for being one of my first friends/supporters. I owe her a lot!

Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!

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Ary parked in front of the old warehouse. It was on the outskirts of the industrial part of Chicago. Most of the area was abandoned since over half of the factories had gone bankrupt, and the few others that were still open were nearly there. The area was mostly used as a spot for teenagers to let off a little steam, and there was the occasional drug deal that went down, but during the day the area was mostly quiet.

She knew her sparkly little lime green VW Bug was out of place in the junky area and she left it unlocked in the hopes that it would be stolen. It was her sister's old car and Ary had been forced to drive it since her truck was currently out of commission, as in residing at the bottom of the Colorado River. The loss of that truck was the hardest thing Ary ever had to deal with in her short twenty years of life. It was even harder to deal with than almost dying and having to move back home with her parents.

The ground level of the warehouse was dirty and contained nothing except for a few old pallets of timber. She didn't really care to have a look around as she made a beeline for the industrial elevator. As she rode the clunky machine, she vaguely wondered if she should have brought a gun. She didn't need it for her own self-protection, but it would help to add emphasis to the seriousness of the matter.

When she got to the loft, she wasn't surprised to find that its current resident was still in bed. It was only 6:30am and any self-respecting former gangbanger badass would have just gotten himself to sleep a couple hours ago. Of course, he would be sprawled out on his cushy King sized bed, with his silk sheets covering his middle. He was butt naked underneath it all if the boxer shorts lying next to the bed were any indication. She frowned. Normally, the nakedness of her victim could be used to her advantage, but her intended victim was pretty okay with himself, and he knew how to make her nervous.

Shaking her head, she ignored the fact that he was naked and went about her own business. She crept over to the bedside table and opened the first drawer. As quietly as humanly possible, which for her was about as quiet as a person could be, she pulled out the handgun and then stepped away. When she felt that she was a safe enough distance away she made her move.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" she hollered loudly.

The man barely even jumped before his hand slid over to the bedside table, searching for his gun. She vaguely wondered what it would be like to always be on her guard and to constantly worry about someone attacking her. She was paranoid, but not that paranoid. This man truly did have a lot of enemies he needed to protect himself from.

"Looking for this?" Ary taunted, his gun dangling from her fingertip.

Obviously having finally recognized her voice, the man slowly turned over. The silk sheet slid down, revealing all of his chiseled chest and abdomen, but still thankfully covering his lap area. Her eyes darted over the scars that covered his upper body, before raising them to meet the cold, steel blue eyes that were giving her an annoyed look.

"How the hell did you find me?" the man demanded, running a hand through his buzzed jet black hair. She frowned. The last time she saw him, about three months ago, his hair had been long and bleach white. She guessed the deadly White Raven really was no more.

"I like the new place," Ary commented, ignoring his question. She glanced around the mostly barren room. "I'm also digging the new look. I like the dark hair. It fits your moody personality much more than the greasy dreadlocks you had going on." She grinned over at him.