Chapter 2- Rose Hollows

AUGUST 5th, 2063.

8:43 PM.

(RAVEN'S POV)

I stare blankly at her, eyes filled with boredom.

"And your point is?"

"My point is, Raven, you can set someone on fire. You can kill people with those powers of yours. And you know where you'll go and what'll happen if you kill someone. They don't like the supernaturals."

"Casey, darling, I don't think you realize I have no care for people, if they get on my nerves I'll turn them into my own little french fries."

She looks at me wide eyed, and my expression drops.

"You aren't scared of me, are you, Casey?"

Casey shakes her head quickly.

"You wouldn't hurt me. I have no reason to be scared of you, Rav."

I give her a smile, thoughts running through my head.

Is it bad that I would hurt her?

If we met on different circumstances of course...

She smiles.

"Come on. Let's go out tonight."

"But—"

"You haven't left this apartment in ages, come hang out with me!"

I roll my eyes.

"Fine."

I pull my shirt over my head, throwing it to the side.

"Do you have a shirt I can borrow? All of my good ones are dirty."

Her cheeks flush pink.

"Yeah of course."

"Thank you."

I grin at her before disappearing into thin air, appearing again with a new top.

"How's this one?"

"You look great, Rav. Let me go change real quick."

I nod and she leaves, shutting the door to her bedroom behind her.

I wonder how it feels to not have to worry about exposing yourself to everyone by accidentally using your powers.

I take off my black gloves for a moment, seeing the scars and horrendous looking burns on my hands.

How can I have fire powers and still get burnt?! That literally makes no sense.

I run my index finger across one of the scars, jumping slightly when I see that it completely disappears.

What the...

I hold my hand over the other, feeling a spark.

I look down again, seeing that all the scars and burns disappeared.

Healing.

"I'm ready!"

I turn around and Casey stands in the doorway, grinning.

"Come now my hot best friend, as we have things to do."

I let her drag me out of the apartment, sighing.

This is going to be a long night.

*******

9:27 PM.

Casey pulls into the parking lot of a strip club, and I stare at her blankly.

"A strip club?"

"A strip club!"

I grimace.

"Out of everywhere we could've gone...you chose to drag my ass to a strip club. Dirty Dogs. What the fuck is that, Casey?!"

"It's a male club don't fret! We will just see shirtless guys in teeny bottoms!"

I slap my forehead and she drags me further towards the club, humming the whole way there.

What a nightmare.

******

I'm forced to awkwardly sit next to Casey as she gets herself a whole ass lap dance from a random dude.

This is uncomfortable...

"Casey, I'm going outside!"

Her brown eyes move to mine and she smiles.

"Have fun!"

"I will!"

I turn around, quickly leaving.

Maybe it could've been hot if they weren't wearing those...costumes...

I shiver at the thought, suddenly get a pain in my stomach.

I lurch forward a little, coughing.

Black liquid falls out of my mouth, and I gasp.

What the fuck?!

I wipe my mouth and stand up straighter, realizing there's a little corner store a block away.

I can go there and get some medicine.

Water even,

Casey will be fine.

And it won't take that long...by the time I'm back she'll probably still be doing her lap dance.

Gross.

I step over the small puddle of black, slowly making my way across the sidewalk.

I continue walking, pausing when I hear a scream.

"Help! Please help me!"

I run over to the voice, seeing a teenage girl with a gaping hole in her stomach.

It's black. It looks like a black pit.

This isn't from any ordinary weapon...

I drop down to her, removing my black gloves once again.

"What happened?! Are you okay?!"

Her blue eyes snap on mine and tears stream down her cheeks.

"He—he told me that—he was gonna kill me...there was this glowing black stuff coming from his hands..."

"He?! What is this person's name?! What's your name?!"

"Arlette...I don't know what his name was...but he—he took me from my mom at the park."

She coughs, black gunk flying from her mouth.

The same liquid begins to leak from her eyelids and I grab her cheek, shaking it.

"Arlette! Arlette, listen to me I'm gonna help you! What did he look like?"

She coughs again, looking at me with wide eyes.

"He—he had this bright blonde hair and dark eyes."

I nod, holding my hands over her stomach.

You can do it.

I see bright red radiating from my palms, heart thumping in my chest when I jump, Arlette letting out a scream.

I turn my head around, holding up my hand which now has fire coming out of it.

"Who are you?!"

A man steps out of the shadows and into the dim light of the street lamp, and my face blanches.

Bright blonde hair. Dark eyes.

Is this—

"I see you've found Ari."

"Come any closer to me or this little girl and I'll burn your skin off."

He smirks at me.

"I wouldn't mind, sweetheart. But I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Give her to me."

"No."

His smile drops.

"I don't want to hurt you. You can walk away now while the police aren't here and save yourself. You don't want me to kill Casey, do you, Raven?"

How does he—

"Who are you?!"

"Pained you don't recognize my handsome face. Slade. But seriously. If you don't hand over Arlette I'm going to kill you, Ravey."

His hands glow black as do his eyes, and I feel Arlette's foot kick me as she lets out a scream of pain, beginning to sob again.

I turn my head around briefly and my eyes almost bulge out of my head when the gaping hole in her stomach is now almost gonna swallow her upper half.

"Hey stop it!"

I stand up, letting out a groan when I stand on my leg.

Why does it feel so—

I look down, seeing black ribbons going up my leg.

It's searing into my skin.

What is going on?!

I begin to get dizzy, and I throw a large ball of fire in his direction, only to realize he's no longer there.

"But I just saw him..."

I mutter quietly, noticing how Arlette has gone completely silent.

I drop down onto my knees, realizing she's unresponsive.

"Arlette?! Arlette can you hear me?!"

I hear sirens, and my face blanches.

Oh no.

Police.

"Hands in the air! Put your hands in the air!"

"Oh my god...she's one of them! Shoot her!"

I hear a shot, feeling a sharp stab of pain in my back.

I fall forward, my limbs beginning to feel heavy as I try to get up.

The fire in my hands start flickering before dying out, and I collapse on the ground without another word.

I feel hands on me, getting picked up and dragged backwards away towards one of the police cars.

It must have been Slade.

He must've called the cops.

He must've killed Arlette and made it look like I did it.

Where did he go?

******

JANUARY 19th, 2067.

3:53 PM.

Her worried brown eyes bore into mine, and I stare right back at her.

"There's so many people after you Raven...what happened?! Why are you in prison?! Why did you never call me?! For four years?!"

I continue to stare at her blankly.

"I 'killed' a 16 year old girl. I've been in prison the past four years."

"What?! Raven—"

A grin creeps onto my face as I watch her.

"Why? Were you worried about me, darling?"

Casey pushes her hair out of her face with a frown.

"Of course I was worried, stupid. But why did you kill someone!?"

"I've done it before. But I didn't actually kill that girl Casey. I was framed for it."

She looks at me for a moment longer, observing the obvious changes in my appearance as well as my behavior.

"Raven are you okay?! How have you been doing in here?"

"As good as it can be in a supernatural prison. Got my mugshot done again yesterday. Stabbed me twice. I couldn't be bothered...I barely feel pain anymore. Thankfully they gave me my powers back but I'm not really allowed to use them."

I lean forward slightly so I'm right up to the glass, staring into her eyes as I hold the phone to my lips.

"You shouldn't have came."

I then drop the phone back onto the hook, standing up and cocking my head at the guard.

"I'm ready."

He looks at me funny.

"But you have—"

"Twenty minutes left."

I smile.

"I know. But I don't want to talk to her."

"Raven?! Raven where're  you doing?! I just want to talk to you—"

The door slams shut after me, and I get shoved right back to my cell.

As soon as the guard leaves I begin crying, tears falling down my cheeks.

I didn't want to be mean to her...I really didn't.

But you do things to protect the people you love, right?

********

6:26 AM.

(CARSON'S POV)

I descend the stairs into the basement, the darkness consuming everything.

I flick the light switch before sitting at a desk.

Where are they?!

I fumble around, before grabbing a piece of paper.

A photo of the FBI headquarters stares right back at me, and I frown.

I need to go there.

I need to find information on the hybrids.

They must realize I'm no longer dead.

*********

NINE HOURS EARLIER...

(RAVEN'S POV)

I lay down on the terribly uncomfortable bed, letting my eyes drift shut as I dream of what life would be like if I wasn't cursed with these horrendous powers.

As soon as I'm basically asleep I get woken up by someone yelling.

"Wake up! Its time for dinner!"

"I don't want to eat. Go away, Landon."

"Raven...don't be a pain in the ass today."

I grin at him.

"Make me get up, big guy."

He gives me a look.

"Do you want me to tase you?!"

"Yes, actually."

Landon rolls his eyes.

"I will get the other guards who won't hesitate with you. I can't keep being this nice to you. I don't even know why I am. You fucking suck."

"It's because you love me."

I stand up, placing my elbows on the bars and staring into his eyes.

"You can't tell me you don't. What's not to love?"

He scoffs.

"A lot. You burned me at least five times. Now shut up!"

He opens the door, taking my arm and dragging me towards the cafeteria.

"Excuse me!? What is this assault! I can walk myself to the cafeteria you dimwit!"

"I doubt it!"

He then opens the cafeteria door, practically shoving me inside with a fake smile before shutting it.

I turn around, seeing the other inmates staring at me.

"What're you looking at?"

They roll their eyes and I roll mine, grabbing a tray of the prison slob before sitting next to Jazz.

"Raven."

"Jazz..."

"Who was the visitor!?"

I look at her from the corner of my eye.

"Take a guess."

"Uhm...a friend? Jewels? I remember you—"

"Jewels and I were friends in 5th grade, J."

She smiles.

"Oops! It can't be who I think it is...don't tell me it was—"

"It was Casey."

She slaps her hand over her mouth, before looking at me in shock.

"But—four years! She came back after four years?! How did she find you?!"

"No clue. But I was hoping she didn't...you know...find me in a high security prison."

Jazz turns fully in her seat to look at me, taking my shoulders in her hands.

"Did it go well at least?! Please tell me it went well."

"I was kind of mean to her...I just wanted to protect her."

"From what?!"

My expression drops.

"Me? I'm not the right person..."

"But she like—loves you!? Raven you have to call her or something..."

I sigh.

"I know, I know. Just...not now. I need to figure things out first. And you know I don't like her like that, Jazz."

She gives me an odd look.

"Right. Anyways—"

I let out a yelp when I feel something wet hit the back of my head, reaching my hand up and pulling out a wad of that smushy gushy bean-thing from my hair.

I turn around, seeing a group of people laughing.

Dumb fucks.

I stand up, and Jazz grabs my arm.

"What are you doing?!"

"Something."

I walk towards them, cocking my head to the side.

"Which one of you piles of shit threw that at my head? Just a question."

Their eyes widen slightly, probably at the unnaturally large grin on my face.

They all point to one puny guy, who seems terrified for his life.

As he should be.

I lean over the table, smiling at him.

"While I appreciate you having your fun, child, I don't think that was a good idea now, was it?"

He swallows.

"What're you gonna do about it?!"

I try to hold back my laughter, turning my head away slightly to laugh before turning back.

I swiftly grab him by the shirt, dragging him closer to my face.

"Listen here, buddy, throw food at my head one more time and I'm going to cook you like a rotisserie chicken. Better yet, I'll fry your ass and keep your body as a trophy. I'm not one to threaten people, because I find it quite lame..."

I bite my lip, fangs puncturing the bottom.

I lick the blood off before bringing his head closer to my mouth, whispering into his ear.

"...but you seem like the perfect person to kill...right here, right now."

His eyes go wide and I abruptly grab him by the neck, hands blistering his skin.

He lets out a yell of pain and I giggle in response, feeling the skin melt around my fingertips.

More people start screaming and I simply let my hands burn through his neck, blood spilling across the table and all over me.

I drop his body, looking down to see it crippled, burnt, and bloody underneath me.

I cock my head to the side with a small smile as I feel cuffs tighten around my wrists, getting dragged backwards.

"Oops."

*******

FOUR HOURS AGO...

I wake up, my head pounding.

Maybe it's the overwhelming amount of my powers I just used, or the rock hard pillow my poor head is resting against.

I let out a groan, opening my eyes.

I look down to see a huge ass bowling ball weight attached to my ankle, keeping me in place.

I can barely move.

The walls are white and padded, and it looks like I'm in solitary.

Wait a minute...am I in solitary?!

I look around.

Bed.

Desk.

Bucket.

Bed.

Desk.

Bucket.

What?!

Gross...

Maybe it's because I killed someone?

No...that's ridiculous!

Ugh.

I stand up, wobbling before steadying myself.

I look down at my hands, covered in thick black gloves that I'm sure are to prevent me from burning things.

My mind snaps back to then, how easily my hands burned through his neck.

Eek...

I bend down, lifting up the metal ball and heaving it to the door so I can look out.

I drop it, recoiling at the extremely loud thunk.

I look through the small window, seeing a few guards walking back and forth.

They look like robots.

I drag myself a step back when I see someone come over, cocking my head to the side.

"You're Raven Asher?"

I look at the man in the suit, making an odd face.

"That's me."

"You need to come with me. Let me get these off."

I make a face as he bends down, somehow unlocking the giant weight and then taking off the gloves, exiting the solitary room.

"Just don't burn anything, okay?"

"Okay...who even are you?"

He holds a badge out to me, which I quickly scan.

Colton Adler with the FBI.

Why is the FBI here for me?!

That's weird...

We approach the room that leads to the exit of the prison and my eyes widen slightly when he opens the door for me, revealing the Warden and a petite blue-haired woman.

Her eyes move to mine and she smiles, coming over to me.

"You must be Raven. I'm Rose Hollows with the FBI. Certified detective and studier of the supernaturals. I've come here to tell you that you're being released from prison early to come work with us."