The Last Raven: An Urban Fantasy Noir (Riftborn Book 1), page 32
“I was never selling that serum to anyone but Mason,” Callie said with a laugh. “I could only have perfected it by making an inferior product first. Mason was just stupid enough to buy it. You won’t stand in my way, Lucas. No one will. I will have all I need. I imagine this isn’t the last time we’ll speak, Mr Rurik.”
“I’m going to find you, Callie,” I said.
“Dr Mitchell,” she snapped.
“No,” I said. “You’re Callie. You don’t get to act like a monster and be called doctor. Doctors are meant to help. I’m going to find you, Callie, and I’m going to kill you and destroy everything you ever worked on. I’m going to reduce your influence to zero.”
Callie laughed. “You really have no idea what’s going on. But by the time you do, it’ll be too late.”
“We’ll see,” I said.
“You were their Talon, yes?” Callie asked, her tone becoming hard. “Their protector. You failed them. You’ll fail your friends, the innocents who will die, and everyone else who stands in my way. I will get what belongs to me, Lucas. You can’t stop that.”
“And what is it you want?” I asked to a dial tone. “Goddamn it.”
I picked up the phone, resisting the urge to smash it on the floor. I placed the phone and binder, along with everything else, back in the briefcase. Maybe Hannah could figure out what was on the phone before anyone else had to die. As I walked across the room, I wondered exactly who Callie Mitchell was. I wondered who she was so angry at that she would cause the deaths of countless people. Even people of her own kind. Riftborn weren’t numerous, so it was odd that in all of my years on Earth, I’d never met her until that day at her asylum. I wondered how she’d managed to stay hidden while clearly working on her anger and rage issues by murdering and experimenting on people. It needed looking into.
I had reached the ruined doorway to the function room when I heard a gasp. I dropped the bag, turned, and drew my two daggers in one fluid movement. Emily was on her knees, staring straight at me. Her ruined clothes showed that the hole where the spine had struck her was healed.
“What the fuck is going on?” she asked me, her words tumbling out without pause, her eyes wide and full of fear.
I walked over to her and knelt beside her, taking her hands in mine. She was weak and cold, a normal quality for those freshly returned as revenants. The whites of her eyes flickered aquamarine.
“Welcome to the world of the rift-fused,” I said.
EPILOGUE
Isaac died four days after I killed Mason in the hotel.
I’d gone to the safe house they were staying in, I’d taken him into my embers, and I’d walked him through to the rift. It had been hard to see him go, and I’d had to spend two days in the rift, healing the effects of the poison, but it was worth it.
Two days after his death, we all got together for his funeral. Ruby had asked Gabriel to give the eulogy, so we all stood in the graveyard on a drizzly winter’s day, listening to Gabriel make a heartfelt tribute about our friend. I drifted off, thinking about all the time I’d spent away from everyone, how pleased I was that Isaac had asked for my help. I’m glad I’d come back, even if it meant losing a friend. At least I got to see him again, to say goodbye.
I looked around at everyone gathered. Emily wasn’t there; she was still back at the church, trying to come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t human anymore. Her powers hadn’t quite manifested yet, so no one was entirely sure exactly what kind of revenant she was. Not chained, that much was certain, but for some people it’s a slow process, and for others their powers manifest immediately. Another mystery in a host of them when it comes to revenants.
As the funeral finished, I walked over to Ruby, who was with her parents and children.
“Thank you for what you did for us,” Ruby said after hugging me.
“I’m glad you had some time together,” I said. “I’m glad he got to see you all.”
“When you see him in the rift, tell him we love him,” Ruby said.
I nodded and smiled. “I will.”
Ruby put her arm through mine and led me away from the rest of the mourners. “Are we safe?” she whispered when we were far enough away.
I stopped walking and looked up at the dark clouds above. “I hope so,” I said. “Emily said that the FBI are rooting out their problems; she’s taken some time off to deal with what she’s become, but she seems to be optimistic.”
“Are you safe?” Ruby asked.
“Probably not,” I said. “But I’m used to it. I doubt Mason’s family are going to be thrilled, and it depends how much they’re involved with Callie Mitchell. She certainly wants me elsewhere, preferably after being allowed to dissect me for her own amusement.”
“Please take care of yourself, Lucas,” Ruby said. “You’re always welcome at our home. I want you to know that.”
“Thank you,” I told her. “I’m sorry I never got to know you and Isaac as a couple.”
I left the graveyard and made my way back to the ruined church, finding an alcove that kept the increasingly heavy rain off me while letting me stay outside. After a while, and with my thick coat wrapped around me, I drifted off, the sounds of Hamble traffic not enough to keep me awake.
“You know there’s a warm place beneath us,” Gabriel said. “It has beds and everything.”
I opened my eyes to find Gabriel, Nadia, and Ji-hyun stood before me.
“I like the fresh air,” I said as Ji-hyun sat beside me, giving my hand a slight squeeze of camaraderie for a fallen ally.
“I will miss Isaac,” Nadia said, her chains wrapped around her like a security blanket.
“Me too,” I said.
“What are your plans?” Gabriel asked me.
“I plan on finding the vials that Callie sent out,” I said. “I plan on making sure that things like Mason don’t happen again. If something like him happens in a crowded place, in a mall, or a football stadium . . .”
“It doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?” Gabriel said.
I shook my head. “Revenants and riftborn are already viewed with suspicion. You throw one capable of mass murder into the mix, and the news is going to have a field day. The Guilds have done everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Callie is actively making our lives harder, Mason not so much anymore, but I’m hoping Callie is soon behind him.”
“We don’t know where she is,” Ji-hyun said.
“I plan on finding the people she sent the vials to and asking them . . . nicely,” I said.
“Very nicely?” Nadia asked.
I nodded. “If that’s what it takes, yes.”
“Maybe with cake?” Nadia asked.
Everyone turned to look at Nadia.
“I think maybe we’re mixing up our metaphors here,” I said.
“I like cake,” Nadia said wistfully.
“Hannah still hasn’t broken Mason’s phone security,” Gabriel said. “She’s not sure she can break it, or that it’ll reveal anything useful. Callie did everything with the goal to betray Mason in the end. His money was his downfall. We need to find every vial of that serum he had made and destroy it, though.”
“Hannah will figure out a way,” I said. “Or we’ll move on without the information inside.”
Emily arrived, looking around at the four of us from underneath her umbrella. “You all out here for a reason?” she asked.
“Lucas wanted fresh air,” Nadia said. “I want cake.”
“Do you have cake?” Emily asked.
Nadia looked over at Emily. “I’m going to find some cake,” she said, putting her arm around her. They both walked away to the shelter entrance, despite the fact that Emily had only just left that way.
“She’ll be okay,” Ji-hyun said.
“I hope so,” I told her.
“I’m going to go help Nadia find cake,” Gabriel said. “Also whisky.”
“I second the latter of those two,” Ji-hyun said, getting to her feet. “We will find those people Callie sent the vials to.”
“I know,” I said. “Or they’ll find us.”
“And then we’ll kill them all,” Ji-hyun said, and I got the feeling she a hundred percent believed that one of those two things were the only logical outcome.
“That we will,” I agreed.
I reached my hand out into the rain, turning it to smoke, feeling the tingle as the water drops fell through it before re-forming my hand and bringing it out of the rain. The church needed fixing. It was an important part of helping those newly turned into revenants and riftborn. There needed to be sanctuary for them.
I looked over at the entrance to the shelter and sighed. “I guess we’d better get to work, then,” I said, getting to my feet. There were bad guys to find, people to save, and wrongs to right. I chuckled to myself. “And then they lived happily ever after.”
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Being an author is a fairly weird job. You are, after all, pretty much on your own for the majority of the time. It’s your ideas, and your words that bring them to life, but it’s not as solitary a job as you might believe, and there are a lot of people to thank who got me to this point, with this book now in the hands of anyone who finished it and decided to continue reading the acknowledgements.
As always, my wife and children are the most important people in my life. They are a big part of the reason why I decided to start writing in the first place, why I decided to take it seriously. Without their support and love, I never would have gotten my first book published ten years ago. Thank you for everything.
A big thank-you to my parents, who have supported me in my writing since day one and have a wall full of covers of my books. Sorry, Mum and Dad, but after fifteen-odd books, you’re gonna need a bigger wall.
My family and friends, all of whom know who they are and why they’re important to me. I could list them all individually, but these are acknowledgments and they’re not meant to be dozens of pages long.
I will single out Sarah, who read an early version of this book and loved it. Her opinion on my writing is one I greatly value.
A huge thank-you to my agent, Paul Lucas, who is awesome and has always had my back. One of the coolest people I know, and someone I consider a friend as well as my agent.
To everyone at Podium, you have been so welcoming and great to work with. To Victoria, Leah, and Nicole, it’s been a genuine pleasure, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with you.
My editor, Julie Crisp, who is one of the best editors I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. She makes my writing better every single time she’s ever edited me, and I hope to work with her again in the future.
And last, but by no means least, to every one of you who read the book. To those of you who have followed my work over the years and continue to support me and the craziness my brain comes up with, you’re all awesome. And to those newcomers who have never read my work, I hope you enjoyed your time and will stay for the ride that awaits.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve McHugh is the bestselling author of the Hellequin Chronicles. His novel Scorched Shadows was nominated for a David Gemmell Award for Fantasy in 2018. Born in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, McHugh currently lives with his wife and three daughters in Southampton. Visit his website at http://stevejmchugh.wordpress.com.
Steve McHugh, The Last Raven: An Urban Fantasy Noir (Riftborn Book 1)
