Humanity 02 - Raven Flames (4 page)

The house started to shake around them
as shapes rose from Mirage’s body in a flurry of blood red and
black. They had wings, tattered and slick, that with each massive
flap took the fire away in a swirling mass. One soared over Michael
and he ducked, covering his head. He could barely keep his footing
on the quaking ground as hell erupted around him. Behind him there
were pained screams. A groan above him and he barely had time to
register the fact that the creatures had landed on the sides of the
home and dug their claws into the charred wood.

Michael rolled forward and he felt the
rush of air as the house fell inward. The screams of terror and
pain were cut short. Michael stood and stumbled as the creatures
rose from the ashen debris and advanced in a swirling flap of
wings, enclosing him in a torrential circle of their raven flamed
bodies. They were incorporeal, completely transparent, but they
reflected back his terrified face at the same time. They were
slightly birdlike with cruel beaks, but where their eyes should be,
there was nothing but a black, bottomless hole that regarded him
with fathomless cunning. Michael backed away, his gun dropped and
forgotten.

“
Mirage.” He almost hated
the high-pitch his voice had taken on. “Call them off. I’ll leave.
I’ll turn myself in…I’ll…” He reached out and gripped her arm
tightly, shaking her.

Mirage’s eyes snapped open and turned
to him. “You will pay for his sins, human,” she growled. “I will
not allow her to be betrayed as well.”

Michael swallowed and tried to let her
go, but his hand seemed to be fused with her skin. The Shades,
cackling in reverberating voices, swirled around them.

“
Mirage, let me go,” he
commanded. His voice firmed, holding the edged threat that he was
so good at.

“
Listen to him
sing,”
the Shades whispered in unison.
They had no mouth to speak with, the words rising and falling with
each flap of their wings.
“Listen to him
lie. Bound to his prey shall he be, bound within cords, bound
within the history’s echoes. Listen to his blood sing.”

Mirage smiled at him, exposing sharp
teeth. The expression she wore wasn’t anything that Michael could
imagine on the Paramortal’s face. It was as if someone else stared
at him through her eyes.

“
I hear him sing,” she
whispered. She spoke in that same guttural, beautiful language, but
somehow Michael understood every word. “I hear him lie, and I bind
him to his prey, within her cords he will be contained in the
past’s resonance. I hear his blood’s melody.”

The rune beneath his hand glowed past
his skin and Mirage’s skin was hot, despite the fact the fire had
disappeared. “Mirage…”

“
I’ve spoken, Shades.” Her
voice was left no doubt that she was in charge and it echoed, quiet
yet loud. “Do my bidding.”

Michael couldn’t say anything as
something forced his head back and his mouth open. The Shades
circled him once before rising into the air and diving forward. The
first entered his mouth and his body shuddered. He could feel it
inside him, ripping through him with its ragged wings before it
shoved its way out of his body and back into Mirage. The others
followed it and then, all was quiet. He let go of Mirage and fell
backward.

Blackness began to eat at the edge of
eyesight, flickering across his vision like raven flames. “Bring
peace, Parlinn, and learn from the past’s echo the truth of your
sins.” The soft voice, which had only the slightest resemblance of
Mirage’s voice sounded in his mind. Then, there was
nothing.

About The Author

Corrine Shroud lives in the Appalachian
rural reaches of Kentucky with her family, her dog Scooper and her
cat Jaded. She’s a Robinson Scholar and is currently attending the
University of Kentucky, majoring in pre-Med Biology and Minoring in
Mythology and Folklore. Her family is large and loving and she has
three younger brothers. She lives in a beautiful culture-rich area
that has inspired her and that she’s proud of. She’s an avid reader
and writer and is obsessed with anything of the obscure.