Raven Moore's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Raven Moore wanted a life bigger than survival. Unfortunately, Ashvale seemed determined to make survival a full-time occupation. She leaned over the map spread across Seraphine’s dining table, one hand planted beside the faded outline of the old eastern subway line. Most maps made before the Shift were nearly useless now. Streets ended where buildings had collapsed, tunnels had been swallowed by magic, and entire neighborhoods belonged to things that did not care what humans had once named them. Still, some roads remained. And somewhere beneath one of them, a woman had disappeared three nights ago. Raven traced the tunnel with her fingertip. “She was last seen here?” Seraphine stood across from her, perfectly still. Her cousin had always possessed the irritating ability to make silence feel like judgment. “Yes.” “That sounded ominous.” “It was meant to.” Eli lounged against the doorway with his arms folded, his long dark coat hanging perfectly from his shoulders despite the fact that they were discussing a possible rescue mission into demon territory. He looked between them. “I would just like it formally recorded that I hate this plan.” “You hate every plan that involves dirt,” Raven said. “I hate unnecessary dirt.” Eli straightened one cuff. “There is a difference. If I die in some disgusting underground tunnel, I expect both of you to tell everyone I looked incredible.” Seraphine glanced at him. “If you die, I’ll raise you long enough to complain about your outfit myself.” Eli considered that. “See? This is why you’re my favorite witch.” “I am the only witch you know well enough to insult.” “And yet the title remains yours.” Raven smiled despite herself. Seraphine did not. Her ringed fingers pressed against the map, and the candles around the room flickered simultaneously. Raven’s smile disappeared. That was usually a sign her cousin had reached the end of her patience. “Listen to me.” Seraphine’s violet eyes settled on Raven. “This entrance feeds directly into the lower tunnels. Those tunnels belong to demons.” “I know.” “No. You know the words. I need you to understand them.” A faint silver glow slipped beneath Seraphine’s skin. The warding marks running along her fingers awakened one by one, dark ink turning violet as magic traveled over her hands and curled around her wrists. The room seemed to tighten around her. Even Eli stopped joking. Seraphine placed two fingers against the map. A glowing line appeared beneath them. It traveled across the paper, following the tunnel Raven had been tracing before branching into several smaller pathways. Raven watched closely. “The blue route is warded,” Seraphine said. “My magic will recognize you while you’re inside it. Stay on that path, and I can at least feel whether you’re alive.” “Comforting.” “I am not trying to comfort you.” “Obviously.” Seraphine’s gaze sharpened. The windows rattled. Raven immediately lifted both hands. “Okay. Very powerful witch. Very serious warning. Understood.” Eli leaned toward Raven and whispered, “You know, one day she’s actually going to turn you into something.” “Something attractive, hopefully.” “Please. I’ll supervise.” Seraphine closed her eyes. “I hate both of you.” “No, you don’t,” Raven and Eli said together. That finally earned the smallest twitch from the corner of Seraphine’s mouth. Then she pointed farther down the map. “This is where the protection ends.” The glowing line stopped at an intersection marked by three faded service tunnels. Beyond it, Seraphine had drawn a dark red boundary. Raven studied it. “Demon territory.” “Yes.” Eli pushed away from the doorway. “And that is where Raven turns around, comes home, and allows someone with magic, claws, immortality, or at minimum poor decision-making skills besides her own to handle it.” Raven looked at him. “You volunteered five minutes ago.” “Yes, because apparently I’m the only person here interested in keeping my best friend alive.” “You’re human too.” “An exceptionally pretty human.” Raven snorted. Eli gestured toward himself. “Do you know how difficult it is to find men worth dating in the apocalypse? Half the attractive ones are dead, the other half are demons, and judging from everything Seraphine has told me, demon men come with catastrophic emotional baggage.” Seraphine calmly rolled up another map. “That is surprisingly accurate.” “Thank you.” Raven shook her head. “You’re not coming.” Eli’s expression changed immediately. The humor remained, but something protective settled beneath it. “Raven.” “If both of us disappear, nobody knows where we went.” “I know.” “If something happens, you stay here. You tell Seraphine exactly where I was supposed to be.” “I know.” “And—” “I said I know.” That stopped her. Eli stepped closer and adjusted the collar of Raven’s jacket, an old habit that usually meant he was worried and refusing to admit it. “Just come back,” he said quietly. Raven softened. “I will.” “You better. I am not attending your funeral surrounded by heterosexual men saying things like ‘she was a fighter.’” Raven laughed. “There he is.” Seraphine reached across the table. “Give me your hand.” Raven obeyed. Her cousin turned Raven’s palm upward and pressed two fingers against the inside of her wrist. Magic burned cold against her skin. Raven hissed. A tiny violet symbol appeared beneath her pulse. “What is that?” “A ward.” “I thought your magic stopped at the boundary.” “It does.” Seraphine released her. “That does not.” Raven raised an eyebrow. Seraphine’s expression remained perfectly calm. “If something tries to possess you, it will regret it.” Eli stared at the mark. “I need one.” “You do not.” “What if something possesses me?” Seraphine looked him over. “It would leave voluntarily.” Raven laughed so hard she nearly knocked the map from the table. An hour later, neither of them was laughing. The tunnels beneath Ashvale smelled like wet stone, rust, and something old enough that Raven preferred not to identify it. Her flashlight swept across abandoned rail tracks and broken concrete. Water dripped steadily somewhere ahead. Every sound seemed louder underground. Her boots. Her breathing. The occasional distant groan of metal shifting beneath the ruined city. Raven checked the map again. The little violet mark on her wrist remained warm. Good. Still within Seraphine’s protection. She continued. The missing woman had been a courier who occasionally carried medicine between the human and witch districts. Reliable. Careful. Not the sort of person who simply wandered into demon territory. Which meant either someone had taken her, or something had chased her. “Raven.” She stopped. Her flashlight froze against the wall. A woman’s voice had drifted through the tunnel ahead. Soft. Weak. “Raven…” Her pulse quickened. “Hello?” Nothing. Raven stepped forward. “Can you hear me?” A faint sob echoed from somewhere around the bend. Then— “Please.” Raven moved faster. She rounded the corner. “I’m coming. Just stay—” Her words died. Something crouched beneath a broken light fixture. At first, her brain desperately tried to make it human. Then it lifted its head. Gray skin stretched tightly over an unnaturally narrow skull. Its arms were far too long, fingertips resting against the floor. Black eyes reflected the beam of her flashlight. Its mouth opened. “Raven.” The woman’s voice came from inside it. Raven’s stomach dropped. The Hollowborn smiled. “Oh, hell no.” She ran. Behind her came the violent scrape of claws against stone. Raven sprinted through the tunnel, boots hammering against concrete. The creature followed. Fast. Far too fast. She risked one glance behind her and immediately regretted it. The Hollowborn had dropped onto all fours. Its limbs bent at angles they absolutely should not have. “Raven!” The stolen voice had changed. Now it sounded like Eli. Raven’s blood went cold. “Raven, wait!” “Not funny!” She turned sharply through another passage. The violet mark on her wrist flashed. Then vanished. Raven stopped breathing. The boundary. She had crossed it. Red symbols covered the walls around her. Demon markings. Behind her, the Hollowborn shrieked. Raven kept running. The scraping claws suddenly stopped. She noticed half a second too late. Because she ran directly into something solid. Hands caught her by the arms before she could fall. Raven sucked in a breath and looked up. And up. The man holding her was tall enough to make the narrow tunnel feel smaller. Dark hair fell carelessly across his forehead, interrupted by two black horns curving back from his temples. A long black coat framed broad shoulders and a lean, powerful build. Rings gleamed over his gloved fingers where they remained wrapped around her arms. But it was his eyes that held her. Crimson. Not glowing. Not monstrous. Just deeply, unnervingly red. And currently looking down at Raven with absolute disbelief. For one strange second, neither of them moved. His gaze dropped briefly over her face, lingering just enough for Raven to notice. She became suddenly aware of how close they were. His hands were still around her arms. Her chest nearly touched his. And he was annoyingly attractive for someone with literal horns. Wonderful. His attention returned to her eyes. “A human.” His voice was low and smooth. Raven found hers. “Apparently.” One dark eyebrow lifted. Behind him stood several other demons, all watching the exchange with varying degrees of amusement. The man looked past Raven toward the tunnel. The Hollowborn remained just beyond the boundary. It paced in the darkness. Watching. His gaze returned to her. “A human,” he repeated, “running from a Hollowborn.” “I gathered that was what it was.” “And you crossed into my territory.” “Wasn’t exactly sightseeing.” His mouth twitched. Barely. But Raven caught it. Then she realized he was still holding her. “Let go.” His eyes narrowed slightly. Most people probably did not speak to him that way. Good. Raven had never been especially talented at self-preservation. He released her slowly. His gloved fingers slid from her arms, lingering just long enough that she wondered if it had been intentional. Raven stepped backward. His gaze followed her. Interesting. Not friendly. But interested. “Do you have any idea where you are?” he asked. “Underground.” One of the demons behind him coughed suspiciously like he was hiding a laugh. The man’s stare sharpened. Raven folded her arms. “I know this is demon territory.” “And yet you entered.” “I was being chased.” “You crossed the boundary before it reached you.” Raven hesitated. Damn. He had noticed that. “I’m looking for someone.” “I did not ask.” “You seem conversational.” That twitch appeared again. Definitely almost a smile. Which irritated her considerably more than open hostility would have. He stepped closer. Raven refused to move. He stopped within inches of her. Close enough that she could see the faint scar cutting through one eyebrow. Close enough that she could feel the warmth coming from him despite the cold tunnel. “Humans usually have enough sense to fear what lives beneath Ashvale.” Raven tilted her chin. “Maybe you haven’t met the right humans.” His eyes moved over her face slowly. Something shifted in his expression. Interest again. Sharper this time. “No,” he murmured. “Perhaps I haven’t.” Raven’s pulse betrayed her with one hard beat. She ignored it. “What’s your name?” The demon studied her for another moment. “Lucian Vale.” The name meant something. She had heard Seraphine mention it before. Never fondly. Of course. Raven exhaled through her nose. “Fantastic.” Lucian’s brow lifted. “You know me?” “I know enough.” “And yet you’re still standing this close.” Raven glanced down at the narrow space between them. Then deliberately looked back into his eyes. “You’re the one who walked closer.” For the first time, Lucian smiled. It was small. Slow. And considerably more dangerous than she would have preferred. Behind Raven, the Hollowborn shrieked her name again. Lucian did not even look at it. His attention remained entirely on her. “You crossed my boundary, Raven Moore.” Her stomach tightened. She had not given him her name. Lucian watched the realization cross her face. His smile deepened. “And humans do not enter my territory without paying a price.” Raven forced herself not to react. “Is threatening women how you introduce yourself?” “Only the interesting ones.” Heat crawled irritatingly up the back of her neck. Raven smiled without warmth. “Then you’re going to be disappointed.” Lucian leaned slightly closer. “I doubt that.” Behind them, the Hollowborn wailed again. Neither looked away. Raven had entered the underground looking for a missing woman. Instead, she had found a monster wearing someone else’s voice, crossed into forbidden territory, and somehow managed to attract the attention of the demon who controlled it. And judging by the way Lucian Vale was looking at her, escaping Ashvale’s underground might not be the most dangerous part anymore.