Raven Saga 01 - Raven

she tried again, “I want to help fight evil, basically. But there have been times when it might have looked like I was evil, when I was just trying to go 'undercover' if you know what I mean. But it never worked and the Elders ended up having to rescue me.”
    When I understood, I felt like I had met a kindred spirit in Tabitha.
    Later that night as I lay down in a warm and comfortable bed, with Jo gently breathing as she slept peacefully in the bed next to mine, I came to the conclusion that Tabitha was truly a good person, she just needed some guidance. I fell asleep with the most minimal of fuss after such a hard and gruelling few days. Content that we had finally caught the woman responsible for so much pain, but sad that my father was still lost.
    Jo woke me up the following morning. She was still in bed but she was desperate to talk to me.
    “Lilly are you awake? Lilly? Lilly?”
    “No I'm still asleep,” I grumbled and turned away from her.
    “Lilly. Wake up.”
    I was awake and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again and so I turned to face her. Her face was bright, as if she'd been awake for hours and she looked excited. I knew why, of course.
    I shook my head and chuckled to myself.
    “What? What's so funny?” she said, frowning.
    “Jo... you're glowing.”
    “I am?”
    “One word, Jo”
    “What's that?”
    “Carmelo.” The second I said it, she glowed even more and her eyes lit up. “I can't believe you're falling for a man who is hundreds of years older than you,” I said as I lifted myself up in bed.
    “He's 25... he just happens to have been 25 for a very long time. And... I'm not falling for him. Don't be ridiculous,” she said, trying not to giggle.
    “It's written all over your face, Jo. I could tell the second it happened last night at the dinner table.”
    “It is? And you could? Oh, Lilly... I've never had this feeling about anyone before.”
    “How long did you stay up with him last night?”
    “For hours and hours. We talked for ages and then he walked me here. He was such a gentleman, Lilly. I can't stop thinking about him,” she said almost to herself as she peered up at the cave's ceiling.
    The dreamy look on her face reminded me of how I had felt when I was with Oliver. I missed him and I still had that horrible feeling of emptiness in the pit of my stomach whenever I thought of him. I wished things had happened differently and that he had accepted who I was. Perhaps we would still be together if he had. But I couldn't think about him. He hadn't accepted me and I wouldn't dwell on it. I had moved on. At least I'd thought I'd moved on.
    “But doesn't it bother you that he's a vampire, Jo? He survives by drinking people's blood,” I asked.
    “Technically, he survives by drinking the blood of animals. He hasn't drunk human blood for a long, long time,” she answered and I knew that she had already made up her mind about him. Deep down, I doubt that it would have bothered her even if he drank human blood. She was in love and when love hit you like that, nothing else seemed to matter.
    Later that day, when Gabriel was feeling a little stronger, I took Tabitha to see him. For a split second, he'd looked at her as if he knew her. When I asked him about it, he just said that she looked familiar, that's all.
    And then we told him about her dreams and her concerns. He was quiet for some time and Tabitha and I exchanged glances.
    “Tabitha, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your family, where you have come from, how you ended up here.” And so we made ourselves more comfortable and she began to tell him all about her upbringing, everything that she had told me the day before.
    After about an hour, Gabriel turned to me and asked if I would mind making some tea for us all, “I'm quite thirsty and you must be too, Tabitha, after all that talking,” he laughed. I did as I was asked and went in search of some tea.
    On my way, I noticed Carmelo and Jo laughing and talking together as they walked through the maze of the caves. They were holding hands like lovestruck teenagers and I could easily see that he had fallen for her in just the same way she had fallen for him. She glimpsed at me and winked when he wasn't looking. I laughed and carried on looking for the cave's main kitchen.
    I followed the sounds of voices and the clanking of pans and sure enough, found a large room containing everything necessary for the preparation of food and drink.
    Two elderly women