Raven Saga 01 - Raven

but they told me she was still 'innocent' as they put it. However she was fully aware that it could and she has had some dreams to indicate that she may well have the raven 'gene'. And Cormac? At fourteen, he too was still too young, apparently.
    “But we're practically the same age,” I stuttered.
    “With you, dear, it just seems to be happening sooner rather than later,” said Rose.
    “After all, you have already demonstrated an intelligence beyond your years, according to the high school that is,” smiled Gabriel.
    “Does the rest of the family know about all of this?” I asked. The answer was yes, it was our family secret that had to remain a secret in order to protect us all.
    “To protect us from what... or who?”
    It was then that I found out about the predators and other creatures.
    “In the past, the werecats and the ravens were enemies, but over the years they have formed a strong bond – mainly due to the friendship between Rose and me. However, elsewhere in the world they continued to hold a strong dislike for one another.” said Gabriel.
    This sounded quite natural to me.
    “So what does this make me,” I thought aloud, “if I have the genes of both within me?” I asked as I struggled to understand what this could mean.
    “Honestly, we don't know. You appear to be the first of your kind Lilly. Well... the second after Neleh but we don't believe she ever changed,” said Gabriel.
    Sitting down, I took a deep breath before my imagination began to run riot.
    “So what other predators do we have?”
    It turned out that werewolves were not particularly fond of ravens or cats. Generally speaking though, we didn't have a problem with the vampires as they tended to lust after pure human blood. There have been times far in the past when we were the victims of the blood suckers, as Wyatt described them, but they were not too fond of the way we tasted, apparently. Well, that was a positive, I supposed.
    I laughed aloud as it sounded so ludicrous. The others laughed with me momentarily, but it didn't last long. Again there was silence as I tried to take in all these bizarre stories.
    I took a moment again to think of my father and Vivian and, as if reading my mind, Meredith crouched down to the tin of photos and rummaged through them, clearly looking for something in particular. She found what she was looking for. It was a picture of Serena and me at the hospital and to one side, was Vivian.
    “This is the only photograph we have of Vivian, and the only photo we have of you,” she said as she passed it to me.
    Vivian looked much the same as the last time I'd seen her. The only real difference was that she had a long deep gash on her cheek. It looked fresh. I'd never noticed a scar, though.
    Up until a few months ago, the last day I'd seen her, she had kept her hair the same way – a blunt bob in a deep red colour with never a single hair out of place. Her piercing blue eyes stood out menacingly, belying the innocent sweet smile that curled from her lips. It was the only time I'd ever seen her smile.
    It was the first time that I could see her for what she really was. Pure evil. If only I'd known before. Perhaps I could have done something. Perhaps I could have stopped the spell she maintained over my father.
    As if reading my mind, Meredith spoke up, “There's no point in thinking about what could have been, Lilly.”
    “How do you always seem to know what I'm thinking,” I asked, surprised.
    “Just one of my special talents,” she said with a wink, before changing the subject to Vivian again.
    “When Vivian first met your mother, she was the sweetest person. Obviously we found out later that it had all been an act. She was after your father the whole time. She was weaving her way in. And when Serena died, it was her perfect opportunity to pounce and that's exactly what she did. She needed to get to know your father before she could cast her spell. Sadly we weren't quick enough to prevent it from happening because we had no idea what she really was.”
    “She was obviously a very good actress,” added Rose.
    “But how did you know that she wasn't who she said she was?”
    Vivian had managed to get a job as a nurse at the hospital, whether she was qualified or not wasn't clear. Not that it mattered... she was a witch, after all. My family believed that was where she first saw my father and there that she decided she must have him. She didn't care that he was madly in love with Serena