Chapter 40“Raphael… Raphael!” I was suddenly awoken by my brother Raziel’s urgent voice. The sun was already up, it had to be at least 930am by now. “What?” I said as I sat up and glanced at my bed for any sign of Roxy. She was not in bed and Raziel must have seen the panicked look on my face. “She is downstairs making breakfast.” My brother said. I relaxed at his words. “What are you doing here this early?” I asked him, raising one eyebrow. Not that I didn’t trust my brother, but I turned on my Vampire hearing to check on Roxy. I could hear her cooking, clanging pots and pans in the kitchen. I put my attention back to my brother who was looking somewhat panicked. “So, last night Ramses dreamwalked into a dream of mine. A dream that he wasn’t supposed to see. I don’t think he did it on purpose, but I tried to get a hold of him this morning so we could discuss what he saw, allowing me to explain… I haven't been able to mind link him.” Raziel explained. I raised one eyebrow. “Well, t
Chapter 41Ramses lived in New Orleans on a large property just outside the city. He was always drawn to this place due to the copious amounts of magic and magical beings that resided here. The Witches to be exact. Everyone knows there are Witches in New Orleans. As we pushed through Ramses’ Bronze front gate to his home, I took into account the similarities. His front gate was adorned with a large intricate sun. Very similar to each of ours adorning our mark. As we wandered inside following the main path to his front door, I could see many other paths going around to the backyard and off to the sides. It was very similar to my home and my brother's homes as well. It seems when Haven had us picking out our home layouts, we all agreed on a lot of things. I tried mind linking Ramses again as we approached his front door, but it was no use, I couldn’t reach him. Ramses' front door was a large solid bronze door with black accents. We knocked first and then with no answer we pushed the d
Chapter 42“Raphael, Raphael?” Ramses said, but I could barely make out my name being called as I started to come to. I had a blazing headache which was the first thing I noticed. I went to rub my eyes, but my hands were chained to the wall above my head… This being the second thing I noticed. I looked straight across from me, and I could see Ramses in the adjacent cell. “Dude, you look like you got hit by a bus.” Ramses cackled. “Fuck you, dude… But I do feel like I got hit by one.” I replied, using all the strength I could muster. I tried to mind link Raziel and Rowen with no luck. It seems as if I was in the same situation as Ramses now. “Raziel and Rowen are here somewhere.” I told him. My voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper. “How did you get here?” I asked. “Brother… Look, a man can’t deny what he wants or who he wants. And Haven just…” He started to say, but he stopped when I narrowed my eyes at him. “Ok, ok, I came to check on her. We literally just left her sweet ass
Chapter 43“How was your day?” She asked me, sitting down on the couch in the foyer. I walked over and sat down by her. “Would you really like to know?” I asked her, knowing that my day was… Eventful, if you could call it that. I wasn’t sure just how much she would be ok knowing. I mean, being held captive in an old Necromancer castle by Cryomancers that ended up being old friends, which could have ended so much worse, was hardly a normal day for a Human. “Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?” She asked. Well, I guess it was time to gauge how much she could handle. “Well, the day started out with Raziel informing me that Ramses was missing. No one could mind link him, that is a form of communication we share from our Wolf sides. When he can't be mind linked that means something was suppressing his magic. So, naturally, we thought he was in danger.” I said, while watching her expression and making sure she was handling it ok. She seemed to be, so I continued. “We searched his home and cam
Chapter 44My coven meeting went well. I updated everyone on the possible alliance with the Cryomancers and let them know I would have more details later. Once the meeting was over, I spoke with Atreyu. “The Necromancers think we killed their leader. I'm sure they want revenge. They are toying with me. Keep an eye on things around the covens until we can be sure the threat is neutralized.” I warned him. I would do the same. Before I headed home, I made a stop to Jerome’s coven. His was the closest to my home, and I stopped by there often. I wanted to make sure he knew of the possible impending threat of the Necromancers. With his coven being so close to my home he was right in the line of fire.I stepped through the front gates of his coven, causing all of the coven members to stop and stand at attention as I walked by. I never stopped them when they did this. It was ritual to them, and how they were taught. Who was I to change that? I made my way through the town and to Jerome’s he
Chapter 45The second Raphael locked his beautiful silver orbs onto mine I could tell he knew what happened. I could see the hurt flood through his eyes, followed by anger. And not just any anger… This was complete and utter fury. His facial expression never changed, but his eyes gave him away. “How was your coven business?” I asked him, even though that’s not what I wanted to say at all. I had no choice but to act like nothing had even happened. I knew he could tell I wasn’t able to say anything else. He didn't say anything, he just grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. The lightning and fire surged through me, calming me. I wanted to burst out in tears, but my body wouldn't let me. I just hugged him, and I couldn’t even hug him tightly because I couldn’t act like anything was different.He was running his fingers through my crazy curls, an intimate action that was calming me down. Even though I seemed fine on the outside I was screaming inside. “I am going to fucking kill every l
Chapter 46“The west? What the hell is over there?” I questioned, while raising one eyebrow at River. “Absolutely nothing, and maybe that’s the point?” He said back. “So, they haven’t been lurking here? Sending the Risen? Nothing strange like that?” I asked. “Nope, and we have had patrols guarding the grounds as well, just in case they tried to come back. But so far, nothing.” River explained. “Thank you, old friend.” I said to River with a deep bow, then I grabbed Roxy’s hand and we headed out.The west was a better lead than anything else I had before. I mind linked Atreyu. “Send troops to the west and the surrounding areas. If they see a Necromancer, I want it alive and delivered to me personally. Once that is done, kill the rest. No exceptions.” I snarled. “Yes sir.” Atreyu retorted, and I closed the mind link. I wouldn’t stop until every last filthy one of them was fucking dead. After we left River’s castle, and I was confident my men were searching the west for the Necromancers
Chapter 47Atreyu materialized in front of me in my kitchen where I was watching Roxy finish dishing up our lunch. “Are you hungry, Atreyu?” Roxy asked. “Oh no, thank you though I am just fine.” He said back to her. She set a plate in front of me, but I didn’t touch it right away. “I need to interrogate the Necromancer. I plan to spend quite a bit of time down there figuring out everything I possibly can. I will need you to stay with Roxy while I'm away. I don’t care what she wants to do or where she wants to go, I need you with her. Understood?” I snapped at Atreyu. “Yes sir.” He replied. “Once I finish my lunch, I will call for you. I plan to start the interrogation immediately.” I said. He nodded and then vanished. Roxy and I ate in silence. I was too busy brooding on what I was about to go do and I'm sure she was just as stressed. “You’re not going to hurt her, are you?” Roxy’s soft voice infiltrated my ears, snapping me from my thoughts of torture and violence. “Well, it depend
Here's a sneak peak of the next book in the series, The Reaver Chronicels: Ramses. This book takes place directly after the events of Raphael, and in the same time frame. Enjoy!Chapter 1 I woke up with my head in a daze. “I had the weirdest fuckin dream…” I said to Titan as I rolled over to face a woman in my bed that I don’t remember bringing home. “What the fuck…” I said out loud and then I gripped my temples as pain shot through them momentarily. Suddenly memories of the night before came rushing into my mind. This woman was Haven, my girlfriend. “Jesus, don’t tell her I forgot who she was, she will rip my balls off.” I said to Titan with a silent laugh. I didn’t want to wake her. It must have been one hell of a night if I forgot my own girlfriend, sheesh… I snuck out of bed and headed to the shower. After the night we had, I definitely needed a damn shower. I’ll tell you what, she is fucking good in bed. Thoughts of our encounter last night made my dick hard, so I turned on t
Chapter 57We didn’t pull away until we were both breathless. I took a moment to just admire my prize. How did I get so lucky? I was swimming with emotion and decided this was the best time to bring up my second question. “Ok, one last question.” I said to her, but she cut me off. “I actually have a question for you.” She said. “Oh?” I replied curiously. “When are you going to mark me?” She asked. I was completely blown away, that was the next question I was going to ask her. I knew she knew about the mark. She had done a lot of research for her compilation. She had picked my brain a few times as well and we had spoken about it. To me, the mark was nothing. I played around with it, threw it around carelessly… Marked whatever plaything I wanted, never making it permanent just for fun. But this was different… She was different.“Well, I did want to talk to you about the mark, darling. Humans get married when they choose a mate, or whatever you would call it. Reavers do not. Instead, we
Chapter 56I saw Haven’s face harden as I mentioned Roxy, but I didn’t think anything of it. “Bye Haven.” I said, and I waved then materialized back to Roxy who was with Jerome. Funny, I don’t remember bringing her here, I thought. Maybe I was doing it just in case? But why would I worry about visiting my brother with her there? I shook my confusion away when I saw Roxy standing there like she was ready to go.“Thank you.” I said to the warriors. “I take it the threat has been neutralized?” Jerome said. “What threat?” I asked him. The confusion littered his face causing me to raise one eyebrow. He looked from me to Roxy and then nodded and sat back down. “That was strange.” I said to Axel. “Yea I wonder what his deal is?” Axel said back. I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed Roxy. “Let’s go home, darling.” I said to her, and we materialized back at home. After we ate, showered and got ready for bed I was content in life. I had Roxy in my arms, reveling in the joy just holding her gave
Chapter 55Within seconds The Shadows surrounded her, and I watched in horror as they sent slice after slice over her entire body, sucking her dry of every ounce of blood she had… I felt an extreme pang of guilt as her screams filled the cell. I had never seen The Shadows take a life and this was not what I was expecting at all… This was brutal and horrific… I knew she wanted this, and this was her way of thanking me… But I didn’t feel like I had done anything to deserve thanking. She said she owed me, but how? For the kindness I showed her? Fornot torturing and killing her? Giving her very life was hardly repayment for something so miniscule… I would forever feel guilt over her sacrifice. Once The Shadows had finished with her, they laid her lifeless body on the ground in front of me and proceeded to surround Roxy. They covered her entire body, writhing and seething. She suddenly was lifted into the air and engulfed in a bright white light. It was so bright I couldn’t look directly
Chapter 54I wasn’t sure what had her all worked up, but I had a feeling I was about to find out. “Why, Raphael? Why her?” Haven spat while pointing at Roxy. “Oh my god… Haven, we are not doing this again.” I spat back. This entire mess literally stemmed from her jealousy?? Come on! Get the fuck over it. My annoyed thoughts rang through my mind. “You just don’t understand apparently. And maybe you never will…” Haven trailed off while looking like she was lost in thought.I rolled my eyes, this is so fucking stupid. “Haven’t you ever felt that pull to someone? The pull that is so strong that no matter how much you fight it, you just can’t resist it? That pull that makes you weak in the knees when you see that person or hear their name? The pull that keeps you up at night dreaming of that person, and has you wishing more than anything in this world that you could just be with them? Have you ever truly felt that way, Raphael?” Haven asked.My mind went straight to Roxy. From that first n
Chapter 53Roxy would be safe here. I could trust Jerome. I locked eyes with her, and it was like she knew I was thinking of leaving her here and she didn’t want to stay. She kept quiet and I couldn’t tell if that was due to the magic or her own thought process. I took her beautiful face in my hand. “If I take you with me, you are going to see things that I'm sure you do not want to see. I’m sorry but I can’t leave them alive. Not even one of them. You understand this right?” I said to her softly. I could see the internal battle raging through her brown eyes. It was like she knew I was right, but her instincts said I was wrong. She was in the middle of a battle that she wasn’t going to win. Human life and rules were so much different than the life and rules of the underworld. I wish I had more time to explain this to her, I just hoped she would understand. “Ok, I understand.” She said, and she gripped my hand harder. Good girl. I thought. We then materialized to Atreyu who was with
Chapter 52I sat there wallowing in my own misery for what seemed like hours before I noticed that the cut on her arm had healed up and was no longer there. I turned on my Vampire hearing but couldn’t detect a heartbeat. She was healing though, so that was a good sign. I felt relief wash over me when I realized she would in fact revive. It took so much longer than I had previously seen though, and it made me wonder if the further away from the Land of The Dead the longer the revival took? I probably should have taken her home first, but I didn’t want to startle her. I wanted her to wake up in the same place she died in. I had questions, and I needed answers. An hour later, which seemed like eternity, I heard a faint heartbeat, and I was able to breathe again. She was coming back. Slowly… But she was. “That’s it Roxy, come back to me, darling.” I said to her, knowing she couldn’t hear me anyways. It took about another hour before she regained the color in her face and her eyes flutte
Chapter 51The look of shock on her face amused me. Then I materialized outside of her cell. “I will be back… As you know, I still need you. And… Let's just say, you better hope your intel pans out, little Necromancer.” I purred. Then I materialized to Jerome’s office. I instantly mind linked my men to let them know of my findings and to assemble troops to head that way. We definitely had ways to disrupt magic, and we were going to try them all. I then told Jerome and his men what I learned, and he mind linked his men as well. We were getting an army together to storm the west. “I want every last one of those filthy Necromancers dead. No questions asked.” I snarled. “Yes sir, and what of the prisoner?” Jerome asked. “Leave her, I still need her.” I replied. Then I turned and headed out the door. I decided not to go straight home, it was only midafternoon, and I needed to check on the security around my covens. Something told me that I wasn’t the only one the Necromancers were fuck
Chapter 50(Raphael)Roxy seemed strange this morning, different than usual and a lot quieter. I chalked it off to our encounter last night. That was the first time we had done anything sexual really, and I wondered if maybe it had been a little too much for her... I mean, she definitely didn’t complain. But why would she? She said it was incredible. I did bite her though, without warning… Yea, that might have been a little much for a Human to comprehend. But I couldn’t help it… It just kind of happened. I wanted to ask her about it but decided against it. I knew she wasn’t able to talk freely from being Risen, and that could have been bothering her too. I was frustrated because I hadn’t gotten anywhere with the fucking Necromancer during our last interaction and I really had hoped that she would have given me something, anything. I needed to find the remaining Necromancers so I could find a way to cure Roxy. They had to know a way to reverse this shit. Turn Roxy back to Human. Wit