Chapter 33

Leo drove us to the parking lot at the marketplace where we had gotten me a new phone. That whole night felt like another lifetime ago already but I was confused by the idea that someone would host a vampire fight at this busy market. It looked so different in the daylight. More rundown or even abandoned. It reminded me of a scene from an apocalypse movie with dirty cloth poking out of broken windows and holes in the roof of the warehouse space from where the roof had come down some time ago. I wondered how old the building was and how long it had functioned as a hidden market on the edge of London.

“This is probably as close as I can get you without raising suspicion of what I’m doing there,” Leo spoke breaking me from my thoughts.

A twinge of pain ran through me as I realized that he hadn’t brought me along to be close to me but actually for the usefulness of the bird. I felt rejected in a way but tried hard not to let him know that I was upset.

Leo unfolded a map of the area to give us an idea of where we were. “The flyer listed an address two blocks over. It should be about there,” he said pointing at the map. “All I want you to do is fly over and tell me what you see. Don’t get too close and don’t get yourself caught.”

The raven nodded as Leo rolled down the window.

“I’ll wait here for you.”

The raven hopped up to the window’s ledge, looking back at him one more time before taking to the sky.

Flying this time was a sensation through my body. I think that the raven was trying to give me some control to show me how it was cooperating and not simply holding a hostile takeover of my body. I could feel everything and it wasn’t as terrifying as I had thought that it might be. It was a rush of dipping and rising in the wind currents. It was the feel of the air cradling me as it moved around the raven body and tickled the feathers. It was also the feeling of absolute freedom from the rest of the world. I could float above it all and no one could tell me what to do. No one could ruin the feeling for me.

The raven circled high above where Leo had indicated the fight would be held. Slowly, it circled downward peering into a gaping hole in the rooftop of a building. Other ravens were perched on the ledges calling to the raven and then giving it a wide berth as it landed. Even I could feel the mistrust they held for the raven. It was new to their group and they were suspicious of it but they let it be while we peered into the darkness on the inside of the building.

“Use your vision to look deeper into the building. I don’t control that part of you so you will have to do it.”

I wondered about that for a moment before complying. This raven was part of me but why couldn’t it control other parts of me? Was the vampire vision a part of me that didn’t belong? Or was it the raven or my witchcraft that didn’t belong?

The raven shoved me into control when I didn’t comply fast enough but it shoved me hard enough that it caused the body to lurch forward and begin a freefall into the heart of the building.

I tried to throw out the wings but they didn’t catch the air the way they had when the raven was in control. Other ravens screeched as they flew around me, some even going so far as to swoop in and bite at me as I fell. I screamed for the raven to help but it wasn’t there in my mental space. It had completely disappeared, leaving me to move the wings helplessly as I spiraled down to what I assumed would be a very painful end.

Then suddenly my back hit fabric.

Everything went dark around me as the fabric wrapped around me, stopping me from thrashing around. I could still hear the other ravens calling out but I wasn’t falling anymore.

“What was that?” someone male spoke from a distance away from me.

I tried to push myself to get out but I was in an awkward position and I couldn’t get any space to open up around me. I felt like I had been swallowed.

“It’s just a dumb bird,” another voice answered.

“I’ll get it out of the canopy,” another still sighed.

That last voice made me pause in my attempts at escape. I felt like I had heard that voice before but I couldn’t remember where or when. Was this a person who I trusted before?

A large set of hands came around me from the other side of the fabric and I thrashed in terror, screaming once more for the raven to come to take control again. We needed to get away. We needed to fly but I couldn’t make the wings work.

“I’m trying to help you, stupid. If you would just stop thrashing for a moment you would see that,” the voice spoke above me just before I could see his face.
Immediately, I froze.

I could feel my raven coming back and taking control again as I retreated into the mental space. His hand was around my neck, cradling my back against his forearm through the fabric while the other hand reached towards my legs.

“I’m sorry, little one. I should not have pushed you so hard,” the raven spoke in my head. It wasn’t aware of who was looking at us. It didn’t realize that the person had paused their reach toward us while it was gaining control of the body once more.

“Oh, I remember those eyes,” he whispered as he took hold of us around the middle and lifted us from the fabric. “What are you doing in this form again?”