Raven Saga 01 - Raven

and that his second daughter was about to come into the world. All she cared about was having him for herself.
    “It was when your father acted like we were strangers, and then Vivian threatening us – and you – that we started to suspect that there was something darker going on, so we started to try to find out more about her. It took us a long time but we managed to find out that she wasn't just a normal woman,” said Wyatt.
    The real 'being' behind the 'perfect' Vivian was a far cry from the beautifully manicured and perfectly made up woman I had thought I knew. An evil monster was a better way to describe her. Although her look said she was an attractive mother in her 30s, the truth was frightening.
    Gabriel had tracked down a coven of white witches in north-western Canada who knew exactly who she was.
    Vivian was just one of many aliases she had used over time. And she had existed in this world for many hundreds of years. In order for her to continue to be young and beautiful, she needed a man. But not just any man.
    She needed a man who possessed unusual powers like werewolves, werecats, ravens, halflings, changelings and so on. Which is why it was strange that she latched onto my father, apparently, because he had never shown to possess any such powers. He had never been able to change into a raven, so why choose him? It was a question neither Gabriel nor the witches could answer.
    Could she have mistaken him for someone else? Could she have wrongly thought he had the powers? Could he really have had the powers but not told anyone? Not even his closest family members? Although unlikely, it was a possibility.
    I tried to stifle a long yawn but Meredith noticed and said, “It's getting very late. We should all get some sleep, especially you Lilly. We know this has been very hard for you to take in – especially all in one evening. Why don't you go to bed now and we'll continue our talk in the morning?”
    The thought of my comfortable warm bed was appealing, even though I had a feeling that my sleep would be particularly fitful that night. Now that I knew the truth about myself and my family, my subconscious would undoubtedly go into overdrive.
    “Don't worry, Lilly, we'll be here for you all night. We'll know if the dreams start. Try and get some rest,” she added, as if she had read my mind again.
    All four of my family members gave me long hard hugs before I headed to my room. I knew they would continue talking well into the night.
    As I tried to sleep, things started dawning on me about Vivian. Now that I knew she was truly evil, so much more started making sense.
    I remembered the many times that she had prevented me from being alone with my father. Come to think of it, as long as I could remember, I had never had any time with him at all. Vivian had always ensured that she was there... always. It had never occurred to me to be a problem because I honestly thought she was my mother.
    For a long time I'd thought all mothers treated their children the way she had treated me. Up until I had met December, I had nothing to compare it with. Of course now, when I see the way Meredith is with Cormac and the way Sonya is with Jo, I knew that she was about as far away from a real mother than anyone could possibly be.
    She had not once praised me for doing anything right. She had scolded me for the slightest thing and she would lock me away in that tiny little room called my bedroom for hours and hours on end. The real reason I had spent so many years with no friends, the real reason I never watched any television, the real reason for my lonely existence was entirely the fault of Vivian. How could I have not seen it before? I could have rebelled. Why didn't I rebel? I honestly didn't know. Maybe deep down I knew there was something evil about her. Perhaps deep down I knew that either me, or my father, would end up getting hurt or worse.
    There was something niggling me as I forced my eyes closed and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was something about my father. I knew there was something hidden in my subconscious that might help me understand but it just wouldn't come to the surface of my mind. As I eventually slept, my dreams were more like repressed childhood memories than real dreams but they were obviously things that I needed to remember to help me move forward.
    I was a little girl, perhaps six or seven, locked in my bedroom. I heard gentle footsteps outside the door... someone was tiptoeing.