Fan Fiction ❯ Raven ❯ Power Struggles ( Chapter 12 )

 

Two guards walked alongside me, returning me from the initial interrogation. A detective had asked me my story of what had happened. I said a guy had pulled a gun and started firing across the crowd. I wrestled the gun away from him and accidentally shot him in the process. I didn't mention the other kid. Eventually they let me out; this was only the initial interrogation.

As we entered the cellblock I felt something wrong. The block looked pretty normal except,---KABOOM!!!

The wall literally exploded four cells from where we stood. Three, no four people leapt through. The kids from the library. Card-girl struck first, throwing out an arm. At first I thought that she had got me, I hadn't been quick enough to dodge, but it wasn't me she was aiming for. My guards dropped, a playing card embedded in each of their heads.

Throwing up a hand filled with power, I erected a shield in time to deflect half a dozen more cards. They ricocheted and stayed partially embedded in the stone. I began to focus my mind for a counterattack when I began to feel odd, dizzy almost. My shield dropped. One of the girls took a handful of fire out of the air and hurled it at me. I threw myself to the side, barely missing being charred.

Who was blocking my powers? The people had relaxed. They knew an easy kill when they saw one. But wait, one of them, the only boy, stood behind the others, sweat streaming down his forehead. He was the one. I couldn't use my powers, but for him to affect me he had to have something of himself in me. I searched and found it, someone else's power lodged at the smallest point between me and my power. I couldn't get past it, but maybe I didn't need to. I raced along its length and found the guy at the other end. I wasn't sure how I did it, but as I reached him I gripped and pulled, dragging his mind to the one place where he wouldn't be able to stop my power. I dragged him to Shadowworld.

This was not a specific element of my power and wasn't blocked; the ability to travel to Shadowworld was something fundamentally built into every fiber of my being.

We fell down into the darkness. His mind created a body for him there, but I knew he wouldn't be able to do more.

“What'd you do to me?” he screamed. I let myself fade into the darkness and he stood alone. As I watched him tremble with fear and hatred I realized the similarities between our first visits to Shadowworld. The difference was that I belonged here. He didn't.

He glanced back and forth and began backing away as the shadows slowly formed themselves into shapes and almost-humans and slowly advanced on him. They lacked any real color. Vampires. The boy turned and ran but was almost instantly swarmed by the vampires. A spray of blood flew into the air before the boy was lost from sight. The screams echoed and seemed natural in this place.

“A good offering,” Ilyssa appeared next to me.

“Unintentional,” I responded, watching as the vamps gorged themselves.

“Still, this is the first meat they've had in years. These ones, at least, would be happy to follow you on the chance they might get more.”

“I have to go.” I still stood staring, although the feeding frenzy had ended and vampires faded away with the remains of the boy.

“Do not be afraid of returning. If naught else, this place holds rest for the body and training for the mind.”

I nodded, then let myself drop back to Earth. No time had passed. The boy who had been blocking me crumpled and I knew his mind was gone as his body slowly faded.

I formed a shield from my hand and three more cards were deflected. The other girl grabbed a handful of fire and tossed it at me. I laughed as my shield absorbed the fire's energy. I could do fire. Dropping the shield I sprayed and ignited energy. They never even saw it coming. The fire sheeted out and three burnt corpses fell to the floor.

So now I stood alone, death all around me. And from the broken wall stepped Alex. His black leather jacket hung down his back, and his face was tight with control. He held a long rounded bundle in one hand.

“Just leave Alex. I don't wanna hurt you,” I told him. He just shook his head and knelt to undo the ties on the bundle. Finally he stood and the cloth fell away, revealing a sword, Japanese style, katana I think it's called.

“Prepare yourself,” he whispered as the dropped the sheathe to the floor. Instants later he was racing at me. I brought up my hand and a shield to block his strike. I watched in slow motion as he lowered himself mid-run and cut across, continuing running. By the time I turned he stood a dozen feet beyond me. I tasted blood in my mouth and looking down recognized the blood on my shirt for the cut in my stomach. Somehow I felt detached from the pain and healed myself just enough so I wouldn't bleed to death in the middle of the fight.

He charged again. God he was fast. I threw up another shield. His sword slammed into it. Rather than simply absorbing the impact, I pushed back and smiled in satisfaction as his sword rebounded out of his hands to land at the other side of the room. He leaped back as a formed my energy into a blade and slashed at him.

“Surrender, you can't win,” I told him, keeping my blade of energy ready.

“Sorry, but I don't go down that easy,” and his voice still held too much confidence. I caught the flick of one of his wrists and changed my sword into a shield. A knife almost instantly rebounded. Well, kinda a knife. A long chain was attached to the end of the handle. As it rebounded, Alex yanked on the chain and the knife raced back to him to whirl in gentle circles at his side.

Wait for it, wait for it, there! I threw up a shield and deflected his knife. But wait, another knife flew. His other sleeve had held another knife chain? I still held the shield, but the knife wasn't coming directly at me. He yanked sharply and turned. The chain was stopped by the edge of my shield, but the knife continued in an arc around the edge of my shield, slicing across my cheek.

Ok, time to take a different tactic. He now whirled the two knife chains, one on each side of his body, and I knew that defending against one would leave me open to the other. This would take some coordination. I watched the whirling blades for a moment then threw out both hands, letting energy slice outward. Both knives flew off their now broken chains and embedded themselves somewhere in the walls. He now held the chains, two headless vipers. One of the chains dropped to the ground and he charged, the other chain hanging across both of his hands.

He intended to strangle me with the chain. As his charge brought him to me and the chain across my throat, rather than use my power I reached out and grabbed his jacket, turning and letting his momentum pull him past me as I turned his body. For the first time I saw surprise on his face as I pushed, letting myself fall with him. As he began to impact the floor, I pushed harder and tapped into myself, taking both of us to Shadowworld. He fazed through the floor and I went with him