Krähe by Charles Bedlam (bts book recommendations txt) 📕

been taken. A pair arms embraced him from behind.
“Isn't the water so beautiful?” Red asked him.
He didn't answer her.
“You'll get to see it close up soon enough, dear Crow.”
It was quiet. Somehow they had lost Nocturne Police. Either that or Krähe wasn't worth enough o help. He knew he was on his own.
Krähe tried to turn around to attack Red, but before he could get a fix on her, Loupo had knocked him backward. Krähe threw his leg up for a kick, but Red avoided it, the chain on his leg sailing past her. Loupo picked Krähe up and tossed him into the inky black water.
Without realizing it, Red had allowed Krähe to loop the chain around her leg before he was thrown in. As he descended to the depths, she was dragged in with him.
Once under, Krähe got his hands in front of him and grabbed Red. He choked her into unconsciousness. The water was freezing. It felt like each and every one of the cells in his body was turning to ice. It would be okay if he died, as long as he took Red with him. He heard something plunge into the the river. Loupo was coming to rescue his mistress. Krähe knew that he would be coming for his life, so in a natural act of defense, he raised his arms above his head. Luck was on his side, for Loupo bit right through the chains, setting his hands free. He freed his feet and same to the surface while the wolf man went after Red.
Krähe quickly reclaimed his scythe, which was stuck in the sand on the shore and waited for Loupo to surface with Red. The moment he did, Krähe knocked him out. He tied the both of them together and made sure they could not get out, then waited for the police. They would take the two to the Water Prison, a place where even the most hardened of criminals would fail to keep their sanity, floating miles from civilization. Once the police arrived, Krähe left for his home.
The moment he walked in the door, he headed for his bathroom and took a hot shower. He leaned against the wall, thinking about his night and wondering when they'd break out, how many people they'd kill, and what she would try to do to him next. One thing was for sure, he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. He put the thought in the back of his mind and tried to relax while he had the precious time to do so. He stepped out of the shower and looked at his chest wound in the mirror. Aleena appeared behind him.
“Was it Loupo?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, staring at his eyes in the mirror.
Aleena floated over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She pulled him around so that he was staring her in her eyes. Stone faced, she pressed her hands to his chest. They were cold and clammy. Derek's wounds pulsed and the little blood that was still flowing through them was absorbed into Aleena's fingertips. His blood ran through her hand and bloody veins became visible through her transparent skin. Then, as they disappeared, Derek's wounds healed.
“I don't think I can ever get used to that,” Derek said.
“Well if I absorb human DNA, I can replenish my powers. With those powers, I can heal your minor injuries. Not only that, but if I absorb enough blood, I can eventually become human again. And as long as I do it slowly over time, you will not have to perish for it. It has to be blood though. Your blood.”
“Why me?”
“Because your blood is the first that I've absorbed. What will be my body will one day flow with the same blood that is in your veins.”
With those final words, Aleena disappeared through the mist in the bathroom. Derek got dressed and went straight to his couch to watch his television. It wasn't even five minutes before he feel into a deep sleep, his scythe clutched tightly in his hand.
High upon the clock tower, Aleena floated, looking out over the city. The wind blew her hair and her dress. She closed her eyes.
“Raven,” she said, “I'm here.”
A black spirit materialized before her. It had no specific shape. It was a nasty, amorphous cluster of shadows. It had deep, gray sockets where eyes would be, and another opening for its mouth. When it spoke, it was as if multiple people were speaking all at once.
“Tell me, Aleena,” it said in a haunting voice. “What is the scythe doing to him?”
“It's worsening his depression,” she replied. “He doesn't even seem to have the will to fight it anymore. If he's not fighting, he just goes to sleep.”
“Good.”
There was a moment of silence between the two of them. After thinking about it for a minute, Aleena asked, “Will the scythe kill him?”
“What does it matter so long as you get your powers back? You'll need a life sacrificed to become human again anyway. You know, if he died now, we could bleed him out and you'd be a human tonight.”
Aleena didn't say anything. She looked away from Raven and out over the city once more. She turned her back to it and disappeared. She materialized in Derek's living room. She hovered over his coffee table and watched him sleep, pondering the scythe clenched in his hand.
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Publication Date: 12-18-2011

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