Chapter 31

Leo let the raven snuggle against him when he eventually fell asleep but I wasn’t asleep. I was arguing with the raven and struggling for control again. I still wasn’t strong enough and the hysterics of my struggle were only wasting my energy.

Then there was a faint voice that didn’t belong to either of us in the mental space.

I froze and the raven flew into the darkness to investigate.

“Raven?” the voice called again.

“Alizya?” I wondered aloud.

“Yes, sweetheart. Where are you? I can barely feel you here.”

“I’m here!” I called more forcefully so that the blackness around her projected form dissipated for a moment. I tried to hold on to it but I couldn’t so she took over.

“I should have thought of this sooner,” she spoke coming to me as I fell. “When we touch the connection will be completed and I will be able to stay longer but we are very far apart.”

I reached up my hand to her without hesitating and watched her take it but I couldn’t feel her touch. I wondered what I had done wrong for a moment but her projected form smiled and stroked my cheek before I could ask.

“You’re too weak, sweetheart. I had no idea how weak you were. How are you still alive?”

I looked around her to the raven who was flying back toward us. “The raven has control. I’m not strong enough to take over.”

The raven bow its head at Alizya who looked confused.

“You are correct, in your thought,” it told her only to confuse me further.

What was going on?

“I will need to research, but I may be able to help.”

“We will protect her until she is strong enough.”

Alizya nodded. “I will call Leo to have him come to the house with you. I can link your minds so at least you will be able to communicate with him.”

The raven nodded and Alizya touched my cheek again.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. Trust us to keep you safe.”

“I don’t have a choice,” I sighed as I watched her fade and disappear.

I watched Leo through the raven’s eyes as he slept then woke to the sound of his cell phone a few moments later.

“We’re safe, Alizya. What’s wrong?” he answered with a yawn.

I couldn’t hear her on the other line so I watched him carefully.

“Are you sure? She looks fine to me,” he asked as he looked over his shoulder at the raven who had us perched on a lamp on the nightstand across the bed from him.

“What do I need to do?”

Alizya answered him and he held out a hand to the raven. It flapped its wings and hopped into his hand without hesitating.

“I’ve got her,” he spoke as he pulled his hand toward his body, dropped his phone and cradled the raven against his chest. I looked up into his eyes and felt the squeeze of Alizya moving us to the safe house but neither of us moved after.

“She’s in there, I promise. It’s just not what I thought and we need to act fast,” Alizya spoke to break up our staring contest. “Hold her still. I’m going to give her as much strength as I can without upsetting the balance. The raven may fight us.”

I felt Leo swallow nervously but obey with a hand on the raven’s chest.

Alizya put two fingers on its head and it suddenly felt as though we were being shocked by lightning through the head. I screamed and the raven screamed aloud to mirror me. The pain was intense and after a few moments I blacked out.

~~~

“Raven, sweetheart, I need you to wake up,” called Alizya’s voice in my head.

She was so quiet and gentle that I had forgotten what happened and expected to be in a bed, being woke up because I missed my alarm. I stretched and found my whole body tingling with what felt like static electricity only to open my eyes and mind myself looking at a fuzzy version of Alizya and a huge version of the raven who still had control of my body.

“What happened?!” I demanded as I looked over the raven.

“I tried to give you strength but it didn’t work the way I thought it would. Your raven has been informing me on how it needs to be done so we are here to do that now. You’ve been gone for 3 days.” she explained.

“What do you mean gone? Where did I go?”

“You became too weak so you were shielded,” the raven spoke. “We needed time to nurse you back to health.”

“You’re going to be okay. I have a lead on how to get you to transform again as well but we need to balance the energy between you and your raven first. Can you trust me to do that?”

I looked at Alizya for a moment trying to understand what was going on. She stood there patiently waiting for me so I sat up, took a deep breath and let her in mentally as I exhaled. Her form became sharper and more real until I felt weighed down by her presence in my mental space.

She spread out her arms like she was demonstrating how a letter T should look and green light surrounded both me and the raven who had stepped closer to me. I felt the electricity again and the breath caught in my throat. The tingle grew in intensity slowly until it was burning me while the raven shrank next to me. Once it was a more normal size again a force slammed into me, knocking me back so that I was lying on the ground again trying to catch my breath.

“Are you okay Raven, sweetheart?” Alizya begged.

“I think so,” I breathed, feeling my body outside of my mental space again for the first time in a long time. It was being cradled by someone.

“He is a good protector,” the raven spoke in response to my curiosity.

“Leo has come to check on you every day,” Alizya confirmed. “He wants to help however he can.”

Alizya left my mental space while I was looking up at Leo.

"She loves you, you know," Alizya commented.

"I was going to propose to her on the night that she lost her memory and disappeared. If Orin hadn't shown up and ruined everything, none of this would have happened."

"How is Orin involved in this?" Alizya hissed. Her tone had changed so dramatically dark that both the raven and Leo looked at her and watched her sit in a chair opposite them before Leo answered.

"I'm not completely sure yet but I think that he can control other vampires and I think he may have something to do with her memory loss. I just don't have any proof or any way to fix it."

“We’ve been fighting that son of a bitch for years and sneaking witches out of Russia for as long as he’s been in power.”

“What would he want with Raven, though?”

“She was a viscous vampire if what I’m told is correct. Her destructive tendencies would have been appealing to him and still probably are.”

“That makes two people after her then. Kris’s brother has been asking around for her so she’s probably more safe as an actual raven than she was before, to be honest, but I was ready to have her back at my side when I came to find you.”

Alizya gave him a pained smile.

“What happened? I know that face. What aren’t you telling me?”

She sighed and the raven rolled out of his arms to land on the floor gracefully, wings spread wide. It looked at Alizya and croaked then pecked at her shoes until she stood again.

“I will, I will. Don’t get all worked up,” she grumbled as she stood.

“Raven, relax. She’s helping you,” Leo tried as he gathered the raven up in his arms again.

“She’s not in control. She can see and hear you but she’s stuck while she’s so weak. The raven wants me to connect you mentally so that you can properly communicate with her.”

He looked at the raven in his arms with a sad expression. “How much longer before we can get her back?”

“Soon, the longer the raven has control, the harder it will be to get her back,” she answered as she touched Leo’s head with one hand and the raven’s with the other. After a moment, she was standing in my mental space with Leo next to her.

I ran at him as soon as I saw him and threw my arms around him only to be met with blinding light and a mild heat between us.

“There’s my girl,” he whispered holding my close with one arm and pushing hair from my face with the other hand.

“You two have a stong bond,” Alizya spoke. “You should be able to speak to each other mentally as long as you are close to each other physically. Take a moment and enjoy this because Leo will have to go back to his body.”

I pressed myself into him, burying my face against his chest. I didn’t want to look up at him and let him see the tears that were already forming in my eyes.

“It won’t be for forever, my Raven,” he said gently. “Just until you get your body back and I’ll be close while Alizya works on it.”

“I don’t want to let you go,” I complained into his chest.

He laughed a little. “I know. I don’t want to let go of you either but we have to so kiss me before I disappear.”

I let him go to push tears from my eyes but they kept coming. He smiled at me anyway and took my face in his hands to kiss me on the lips for a long moment. I relaxed into it and kissed him back, my eyes falling closed as I savored him. Little by little I tasted and felt less of him until I was left standing alone in my mental space once more.