Someone’s hand held mine as I blinked my eyes open. Blinding light shot between my lashes and I flinched away.
“She’s awake,” someone declared, the person holding my hand squeezing it softly.
“Raven, baby, I’m here. Are you alright?” spoke Arrakis’s voice from beside me. I groaned in response, trying to focus my eyes, but all I could see was white.
“Arrakis, give me a second with Raven. I have something in particular I need to speak with her about, but I believe that I need her to consent for you to hear what is to be said. For now, please leave us be.” I felt Arrakis squeeze my hand then slowly back away, the door closing quietly.
“Raven,” he began, “you were having a vision in your sleep, weren’t you?” I nodded softly, turning toward his voice.
“How did you know?” I asked, still blind.
He chuckled. “When I pulled your eyelids up, your eyes were all white, not black like they are now.”
Colors blurred into my vision and Drake came into focus, along with my black bedroom. “What did you see?” he asked me.
I looked him square in the eyes. “I spoke with Kain Sera himself, at least his spirit anyhow. He told me what Pancar is after as well as why he wants to destroy the vampires.”
“Yes, Arrakis told me of your family and Pancar. I’m so sorry that he got your mother. It must have been tragic for you. Arrakis couldn’t give me much details of what had transpired when he got there. You used blood magic, didn’t you?” I nodded. “Thought so. You’re cover in blood from head to toe.”
“I am?” I sat up and looked down. My robes looked artistically spattered with red, but my hands and arms looked literally rusted over. “Oh,” I expressed.
“What relic does Pancar want anyway? Do you know where it is?”
I bobbed my head to his first question, but shook my head to the second. “It’s the sword that Kain killed himself with in order to become immortal. It’s the only thing that can end the curse forever – by killing Kain’s soul, and thus killing every vampire.”
“The Sera Sword. I’d heard legends about it as a boy. I’ll get Arrakis.” Drake walked over to the door and let Arrakis back in as I stood up and stretched.
“Arrakis, the artifact that Pancar wants is the Sera Sword, the blade that Kain created the vampires with by driving it through his own heart.” Drake explained.
Arrakis looked a little stunned. “I found out that there’s a tomb beneath the courtyard that’s apparently locked by an indent that looks like your pendant. Some say it’s Kain’s tomb, but there’s another imprint identical to it in the Third Realm – in Washington.”
“Wait, then which one is it? The one here or in the Third Realm?” Drake inquired.
“I’m not sure,” he told me. “But I don’t think there’s any harm in checking the one here.”
I nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right. We should check tomorrow. I’m too exhausted to do anything more today.”
Arrakis looked at me solemnly. “Are you going to be okay? You seem distraught.”
“Arrakis, my mother was just murdered right after I found out who she was. I’m grieving,” I looked down, my eyes tearing up a little bit.
“I’m sorry, I should have thought about what I was going to say before I mentioned it. You want me to stick around for a while?”
I forced a half-hearted smile. “Yeah,” I looked to Drake. “You mind leaving us for a while? I just need time to relax.” Drake nodded and walked out.
“Raven, if it’s not too much to ask, would you mind if I slept here with you tonight? It’s just that I’m worried about you. I know what you start thinking of when things like this happen. I don’t want to lose you,” I nodded and walked over to my drawers, pulling out sweats and a black sports bra.
“I’m going to go take a shower and clean all this off. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” I walked into the bathroom and turned on the fan and light, closing the door behind me. Reaching into the tub, I rotated the knob and the water started flowing. Shortly after, I pulled the pin and let the steaming water gush from the shower head.
I unbuckled the corset and unzipped my robe, letting them fall to the obsidian-tiled floor. I undid my boots and tossed them aside, then pulled off my bra and panties and threw them aside, too.
Stepping into the hot shower was like a wakeup call. The blood on my arms and face flowed off and disappeared down the drain. Suddenly, without the blood, I felt like a part of me hand washed away, too. That blood had been the last thing that was left of my mother.
When the shampoo rinsed out of my hair, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I cried. I felt like my tears would never end. My family, my real family, was gone forever. I’d only just found them too.
Like a wave, it suddenly dawned on me. I flipped off the water and quickly dried myself off, tossing on my clothes just before I burst out the bathroom door.
“We go now,” I commanded. “Pancar won’t be expecting me to be after the sword so quickly. We need to go there now, before he realizes that I’m not gonna let him get away with all of this so soon.”
Arrakis nearly leapt off the bed as I asserted my will upon him. I ran to the closet, grabbed my leather jacket, ripped two slits in the back, then opened the door.
“Let’s go.”
