After the news of her other abilities was brought forth, Raven felt happy. They walked through the woods; Raven followed blindly behind him as she stared down at the book in her hands. "There are not many spells inside," she expressed, flicking through the book. Most of the pages were blank.
"It is because spells aren't used until your family started them; they wouldn't like the use of spells, but these are other witches who would die for them," he told her as he looked at her over his shoulder, meeting her blue eyes. Her eyes fell back to the pages filled with drawings of plants and instructions written. Raven paid no mind to whatever was in front of her; she continued trailing.
"A spell for power"
"You will need the flower that represents the coven."
There was writing added; the ink smudged on the page as if someone were in a hurry to warn about the consequences.
"If it is given, something gets taken," she read out softly.
"You were there at the time of my," she began, looking up only to be met with trees. Turning around only to see Dorian nowhere.
"Dorian?" she questioned, confused.
'Where did he go?'
***
The soft beat of Raven's heart filled his ears as they neared the house. A breeze tore through the woods as it quieted down, and a chilling silence followed. Something was there with them.
Looking behind him only to see that Raven was no longer there.
"Raven," he sighed. She must have trailed off, not realizing that he was no longer there. But the quietness of the woods indicated something was here; something was fast approaching.
'Vampires,' he said aloud.
***
Unaware of what lurked there, Raven tried to find her way back to where she had last seen Dorian, but only seemed to walk in circles.
"Damn it, Raven," she cursed, trying to spot something familiar among the trees."
CROAK
Her head snapped to the raven sitting high in the tree.
"It's you again," she said with a sigh. Chilling shivers spread across her body as she took a step backward; something grabbed at her other foot.
And a scream tore through her lips.
***
CLINK
Dorian's head snapped in the direction of the trap.
"AAAHHHH" her screams filled the air.
Pain spread through her leg; the claws of the metal bear trap dug into her skin, and blood poured from her wound.
"Well, look who it is," the man appeared out of nowhere, taking a deep breath, his red eyes solely focused on her, more directly on her bleeding foot.
"You should get as far away from here as possible before he shows up," she warned him.
"I am sure we can handle whoever it is."
"He made a promise to me."
"Oh, and what did your little friend promise?" he leaned down, questioning her and brushing his fingers across her cheek.
"He would not kill." The vampire's body was lifted off her. Dorian's fangs dug into the man; his body fell to the ground, unmoving.
"Unless it is necessary," she finished weakly.
Dorian's eyes landed on her bleeding foot, the claws digging into her skin by the second.
"Take your friend and leave, or would you rather have the same fate as your friend?" he told them, never taking his eyes off Raven as he walked towards her. The scent of her blood filled his nose, making it difficult to focus. "We will leave," one vampire spoke up, reaching for the dead body on the ground. Raven stared at Dorian as he knelt in front of her. The other two left, carrying away their dead friend. Dorian hunched down, gripping the metal claws.
"I thought I had gotten rid of all the traps." He muttered under his breath, trying not to focus on the blood coating his hand. He was the one who had gotten rid of the traps. She recalled the rangers saying that someone had removed them. "Why am I not healing?" she questioned, breathing through the pain, her cheeks stained with tears.
"Healers cannot heal themselves," he told her softly. "Well, that is just awesome," she said sarcastically. "I should have passed out, right? Why have I not passed out yet?" she blurted out, not looking at her leg. "I have to remove it; otherwise, it will remove your foot, okay," he told her, meeting her gaze. "Okay, we can do this, we can do this," she rambled on, trying to brace herself for the immense pain she was about to feel. "Okay, on the count of three, okay," she told him shakily. His silver-burgundy eyes locked on hers.
"One," she began counting.
"Two,"
"Wait, is it going to be on three or after three?" she cut in.
"On three, okay," he told her.
"One,"
"Two,"
"And thâ€"" she began, but her body suddenly grew heavy, and her eyes closed.
"Three," Dorian finished as he pulled hard; the metal jaw trap broke. Dorian leaned down, picking up the injured girl, the book tightly tucked between them, as he quickly took her back before she bled out.
***
Her blue eyes snapped open as she felt herself being put down, with pain in her leg. Lifting her head to stare at her foot, she was pressed down by her shoulder.
"It would be better if you did not look; I will use our link to try and see if you can draw from me," Dorian told her, but all she could focus on was his eyes, the sweet scent of her blood filling his nose. "I am sorry," she began apologizing as his eyes grew darker, the silver spilling from his pupil disappearing, leaving only the burgundy."
"Your eyes are not red," she breathed out, trying not to focus on her leg. "Your eyes are burgundy."
Dorian focused his energy on her.
"You are not going to die," he told her softly, staring down at her leg."
"I can read your mind."
"I have known you for nearly a month, and I only found out now about that, so you could have read my mind the whole time," she told him, her body shivering from the loss of blood.
"I can, but it only happens occasionally; other times, you put up a guard, making it difficult for me to see anything through the link."
"If it's the link that means that I can read your mind also," she told him, Raven's eyes scrunched as she focused on him.
"Am I doing it?" she questioned him as her eyes squeezed shut.
"That's more of a question for you," he told her, letting out a laugh. "I think I'm the only one who can read minds between us," he told her.
Raven sighed, "Why did you not let the vampire go earlier?"
His burgundy eyes snapped toward her.
"Did you want me to let him go? You saw his behavior."
"You don't believe in redemption."
"Sometimes bad people are bad. Some can find redemption, and others cannot."
***
Raven sat on the couch, her foot wrapped; it had been healing quite a bit, but the pain was still there, though not as badly.
The room illuminated as warmth suddenly surrounded her. Her eyes snapped up from the book in her hands to Dorian. "Where is Demetri and the rest of them?" she questioned him; she had not seen any of the immortals around the large glass house. "I thought it was best if they were not around you; we would not want you to become their dinner," he told her. Her mouth fell slightly open. "Really," she questioned. "No, I had asked them for help with something. " He told her, the corners of his lips perking up. Shaking her head as she smiled, "I take it dark humor is your thing," she said, staring back at the book in her lap. She sat hunched in front of the fireplace as she looked for the spell she needed. Scanning the page, her eyes landed on the lower part of the page. A piece of it was torn out.
"A piece was torn out," she said, looking up.
Dorian walked deeper into the room, coming to a stop next to her as he spotted the torn page. "Is the spell there?"
"Yes, most of it."
"I believe we do not have to worry about it," he told her.
Her gaze swept over the spell again; it looked like something was writing, but it was part of the torn-out section. Deciding to trust Dorian and believe it was nothing, yet something felt off.
***
Stepping into the diner, Raven slightly dragged her foot; it still hurt, but not as badly. Her aunt's attention and Bobby's instantly went to her foot.
Raven smiled sheepishly at her aunt, who had fallen at her feet. "What happened?"
"I have stepped into a trap in the woods, but don't worry; it was not that deep. I am okay." Raven tried to ease her aunt's worry, but based on the look on her aunt's face, she knew she was indeed failing.
"Hospital"
"Yeah," she nodded at her aunt, not even trying to play it off.
***
"The wounds are not too deep, luckily," she said, smiling at Dr. Christian.
"Thank you."
"It's not serious; you do not have to worry too much," his eyes focused on Aunt Mel. Raven sat and watched her aunt and the doctor interact.
They liked each other.