Raven's Heart (Raven's Shadow Book 3) Read online

  RAVEN’S HEART

  © Copyright R. L. Weeks 2018

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Vamptasy Publishing

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events and organisations are purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, nor translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the publisher.

  Condition of sale

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover Design by Dark Wish Designs

  Praise for the Raven’s Shadows Series

  The Bestselling Series by R. L. Weeks

  This book is simply amazing! You will love Raven and be right there with her as she goes on her journey in this book. It plays out in your head like you are watching a movie. I was captivated from the beginning

  ~ Country Girl Reviews

  Raven's Sight is a great start to a YA series. With a mystery to solve, Raven uses her special abilities to learn the truth. With twists and turns along the way, I found myself loving this story

  ~ Rena Marin, Author of Halloween Nightmare

  Another wonderfully spun tale by Author R. L. Weeks! The book had just enough mystery and suspense to keep me wanting more, eagerly turning each page to find out what happens next. The ending was unpredictable and totally came as a surprise to me. Excellent start to a new series. I can’t wait for the next one!

  ~ Amy Cecil, Author of The Knights of Silence MC Series

  The characters are perfectly flawed. It was so refreshing to read a story and not fall madly in love with the “looks” of the two main male characters, Tom and Emmet. It’s their personalities and little quirks that draw you in and make you fall in love.

  ~ Magical Pages Book Blog.

  I love where this series is headed. It has become much more paranormal in the second book, which only helps make this story more interesting. I love the addition of some real-life history mixed in, it makes this so much more believable.

  ~ Amazon Reviewer

  My mind is blown. I loved book one, and this one took me so much further. This is definitely a must read for, and the great part about this story is I can enjoy it with my thirteen-year-old daughter.

  ~ Amazon Reviewer

  Also by R. L. Weeks

  Willow Woods Academy for Witches Book One

  Willow Woods Academy for Witches Book Two

  ~

  Night Stalker (Dead Loves Life Book One)

  ~

  Raven’s Sight (Raven’s Shadows Book Three)

  Raven’s Ghost (Raven’s Shadows Book Two)

  Raven’s Heart (Raven’s Heart Book Three)

  ~

  Stories After Twilight

  ~

  Night Night Sleep Tight (An Anthology)

  Vampires in Paris (An Anthology)

  Fractured Fairytales 1 (An Anthology)

  The Unforgiven (An Anthology)

  Mirror (An Anthology)

  Quote

  Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

  Kahlil Gibran

  Dedication

  For my dear friend, Amy Bernal. Thank you for all you do all you are.

  Poem

  The darkness consumes every ounce of my soul

  Vampires surround me I've nowhere to go

  I sharpen my stake, I'll stand up and fight

  They won't take the men in my life or me

  My heart may be torn

  But I'll put Amelia and the shadows where they belong

  As my power's surge and race through my veins

  I'll take out these bloodsuckers I won't die again

  By Donna Owens

  Raven

  I slip into the same recurring nightmare I have had since the night Elizabeth’s soul was obliterated out of existence by the demons that are always trying to claw their way into my consciousness.

  The ghost is more silent than the grave it arose from. It drags itself closer to me, blinking in and out of view the closer it gets. The bitter cold slithers its way down my spine as the ghost fades out, leaving a cemetery with stark shadows of the headstones on the browning grass.

  Elizabeth is there, as always, with her beautiful golden hair and bright eyes. She strides over to her headstone, her manner more carefree and lighter than before. She has always been a ray of sunshine to me in the afterlife, giving me hope when I couldn’t see past the darkness, and now it is my time to repay the favour by bringing her back to life just like Tom had done for me when I was a ghost.

  I start the ritual by lighting four black candles stationed along her tomb and run my finger down the leather cover of the grimoire. I flick through the pages slowly and stop somewhere past the middle of the book, flicking a few pages over until I find the one with the resurrection spell. I close my eyes after I mesmerize the words on the page and visualize Elizabeth’s headstone as a totem between the world of the living and the dead.

  I open my eyes and look into my best friend’s face. “Elizabeth are you ready.”

  The corners of her dusty pink lips curve upwards into a grin. “More than you know.”

  Blood oozes from the headstone, paling Elizabeth’s skin to a translucent white. Confusion sweeps her features as the blood spreads out onto the grass around us. That’s when I hear the deafening screech of the shadow men – demons from the other side. They creep around the headstones, their matte black gazes focused on us. “Missed us?” They hiss as I fall backwards, the grimoire flying out of my hands.

  I glance back at Tom who’s oblivious to the terror that’s happening and jump to my feet. The shadow men grab Elizabeth’s arms and legs, pulling her deeper into the world of the dead, tugging at her limbs, before shattering her soul out of existence.

  It happens so fast that I don’t get a chance to utter a word. Elizabeth’s expression before her soul was taken haunts me in those final moments – She thought it was a trick, my doing, I could see the look of betrayal in her gaze. The shadow men leave this world and the veil closes, leaving me alone in my silence. My heart pounds loud as I desperately grasp at the grimoire, going through it at lightning speed, trying to find a spell to reverse what the shadow men did.

  There is nothing I can find, and my intuition tells me that what they did to her cannot be reversed. I look up at the sky as the tears come thick and fast. I want to scream so loud that I shatter every glass in the world. “IT’S NOT FAIR,” I shout, feeling better for screaming my anger out into the quiet night.

  The cemetery darkens as I turn to look at the gate. It creaks loudly in the wind, adding to the eeriness of the place. That’s when I see them; Miss Kaye and Amelia, both standing in the entrance to the cemetery with smirks on their faces.

  My blood boils. “THIS,’ I scream, “Is all your fault! Everything you have done to me,” I run my hands through my hair and hold my head as my mind spins out of control, “and – what you did to Emmett, it has all led to this,” I shout breathlessly. “Everything that’s happened to me is all your fault.”

  I know deep inside that isn’t entirely accurate, but they had been the cause of a lot of our pain, and I need someone to direct my hate at, or I fear it will consume me. “I am goin
g to kill you and make you pay for everything you have done,” I promise. My voice sounds unfamiliar as I say it. Darkness clouds my vision and a bloodlust takes over, like the need for air, murder grasps me in its necessity.

  I jolt awake and I am covered in sweat. I try to remember the dream, but the more I try to recall the details, the quicker it slips away from me. I look around at the cold room, rub my eyes, and push my blonde stands out of my face. I fan my face and walk over to the window, it’s early, the sun has only just begun its rise.

  I quickly pull on a dress from the selection that Emmett had brought me and scrawl a note on some papers that I have sitting on the desk. Tom used to sit at that desk when he was a ghost, and the memory of that time when I felt like the world was on my shoulders feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then and had I known where I would end up, I would have enjoyed that time with Tom and Emmett so much more than I did. I was a child then who thought she knew what was best, but in fact, ended up ruining everything.

  I pack my suitcase with the little I have and tiptoe downstairs to where Tom’s sleeping on the armchair. Saying goodbye to him will be hard, but I cannot let myself feel for him like I did before. We spent so much time together and although he will always have space in my heart, he is not the reason it beats.

  I poke my head around the corner to check he’s still sleeping and hear his light snores. He hasn’t left the house since the night in the cemetery when Elizabeth was destroyed. He’s been under the impression that he can bring me back to the light and save me – he’s wrong. Tom’s blocked every move I have made so far to find Miss Kaye and Amelia, and while I have been patient with him because I know he is doing it from a place of love, I can’t allow him to block me further. I must find Miss Kaye and Amelia, along with finding a way to kill the shadow men.

  I prepare myself for the twisted goodbye I am going to leave him, but it is the only way to deter him from coming after me to Romania.

  I look Tom over once more before heading out of the room, leaving my warning with him. I glance at the dead rat, carefully placed on top of Tom’s lap – a knife through its body, a note hanging from a piece of string around its neck. I am not proud of who I have become, but why is it that the good ones never win – only the bad? Maybe I should just be bad… at least I might get what I want.

  I walk out of the front door and whisper my goodbye to London as I board the carriage that will take me to the border.

  ***

  Two weeks later

  Romania

  Crows flock at the ancient tree that stretches its branches over the still lake. The moonlight shimmers on the lakes black surface, and the shadow of the castle looms over it all. I look at the castle, forgotten behind overgrown vines, bushes and trees, and I take a deep breath. Behind me is a well-trodden path, showing me that the woods surrounding the castle is not as abandoned as they would like us to think. I tread ahead, carefully, over the uneven ground.

  I crane my neck to see past the canopy above my head. Birds circle above the leaves. Magic pulsates down the century-old tree trunks, through the tangled roots sprawling through the uneven ground, and into each leaf, rock, and plant in these vast woods. This was the place where the Romanian Gypsy’s came to practice their own beliefs, before the massacre that wiped out whole families. I feel their souls lingering between the branches, unable to leave after such violent deaths, and that is how I know that they are here, the ones responsible – the vampires – and this where I will find him.

  The sweet smell of decaying plants mingled with wet moss and rain permeates through the clearing. As I move into the darker part of the wood where the undead dwells, the trees become barer, stripped of their bark from forgotten storms and strangled by poison ivy.

  Thick vines conceal the entrance to the skull-littered cave. The leaves dance to the drumbeat coming from within.

  I shudder as I reach the invisible line drawn to separate them from us. One more step and I would be stripped of my magic, left to fend for myself against the unpredictable bloodsuckers with nothing more than words.

  A frosty chill hangs in the air as I cross the line. I feel almost naked without the magic I have come to need. The sky is a brilliant royal blue as the day turns to night.

  I reach the edge of the cave and move back toward the vines. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  Emmett’s voice stops me in my tracks. “Emmett?” I ask with uncertainty because although I would never forget that voice if you gave me an eternity after all this time searching, Emmett has become like a ghost to me — a whisper in the wind, smoke that I can’t catch.

  “Yes.” His voice is sharp and void of any emotion. “Why are you here?”

  With all this time I had to look for him, I have spent little time cultivating the words I will say. “I have been looking for you.”

  “I know.”

  I hold my breath as I turn to look at him. His paper-white face and crimson eyes knock the breath out of me. “What has happened to you?”

  He doesn’t say anything.

  “Where’s Miss Kaye?” I ask, reminding myself that I am not here to feel anything.

  He gives away nothing in his expression. “They’re not here.” He frowns. “Is that why you have been looking for me?”

  I stare at him coldly. “I can’t think or feel right now. I need to find them.” My gaze hardens. “Now.”

  He reaches out and touches my arm. “Raven?” He looks concerned. I guess I should feel happy that he still cares, but I can’t.

  “Please don’t.” I gulp. “Tell me where Miss Kaye and Amelia are, or, I will hurt you.”

  I don’t have any magic right now after passing the barrier to be able to do that, and he knows that, but an empty threat or not, I’m desperate.

  His eyes widen. “What’s happened to you?”

  “Where are they?”

  The concern etched on his face grows. “They are here. In Romania.”

  I clench my fists. “Why aren’t you with them?”

  “I have my own things to take care of.”

  I scoff and look around. “Here?” I shake my head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter, just tell me where in Romania they are. Are they close?”

  Emmett sighs. “Raven, they’re doing a ritual to bring back her family. They are looking for witches.”

  I almost smile. That’s good news. That means she can watch her family get obliterated out of existence just like I had to watch happen to Elizabeth.

  I tilt my head. “Where in Romania?”

  “Transylvania.”

  “Where in Transylvania.”

  “I don’t know,” he says too quickly.

  “I’ll find them,” I say and walk away. My thoughts circle around Transylvania – I need to go there anyway, there’s someone there that I need to find to make my revenge plan happen against the shadow men as well as the Kaye women. How best to fight demons with the worst one of them all.

  Emmett grabs my arm and pulls me back. “Wait.”

  I turn back to look at him. “What?”

  His gaze searches mine. “What happened to you, Raven? I was keeping my distance to keep you safe but…” He shakes his head. “You’ve changed.”

  I can’t allow myself to let him in. I have already lost too much. “It’s none of your business,” I say and walk away. I don’t look back. I mustn’t.

  Three months later

  Transylvania, Romania

  “Aducător de moarte.” A Romanian woman shouts at me as I flee the village of Tălmaciu.

  I catch my breath when I reach the outskirts of Tălmaciu. and look up at the bright, full moon. The stars twinkle against their black canvass, and for a second, it almost feels peaceful. Then I remember my task, my burden, my vengeance. I lift my skirt up above my ankles as I reach a muddy patch and head for the hills – the safest and most viable path for me to get to the oldest town in Transylvania, Rășinar.

  Rășinar has quite the diaboli
cal reputation, and that is precisely what I am looking for.

  Death is coming, and that woman that shouted at me wasn’t wrong - Aducător De Moarte – meaning I am the bringer of death.

  Wherever I have gone, I have been looking for Death. I have tried everything, including human sacrifice, to lure him to me, although I only picked rapists and murderers as my victims. However, Death never came to me. I am playing with fire, and I have almost been burned several times. It never takes long for me to be caught doing my rituals and sacrifices. The locals usually chase me from their villages with torches in their hands or sentence me to death, although I always manage to evade capture. Therefore, I must keep moving. I cannot stay in one place for longer than a month without avoiding detection. The world is not kind to witches.

  I have learned to speak some Romanian since arriving, but not enough to pass as a local. I have spun stories of my being a widow, losing my parents, anything I could make up so the locals would take pity on me and let me into their homes.

  The only good thing that has come out of all this is I have learned where to find him. The more time I spent with the locals, the more I learned of their stories and legends, and they all point to the small town of Rășinar.

  My mind drifts back to the night when I had learned of the essential story that leads me north, savouring each detail I was told. Vasile, a man whose family I had been staying with me, told me of the tale of Death’s chariot. He was one of the only Romanian’s I have met who spoke fluent English as he had spent time in London in his younger years.

  “I lived in Rășinar,” Vasile told me. He lowered his voice to a whisper and looked me dead in the eye. “The whispers of the tale of Death’s chariot hang like a noose around each of our necks.”