Chapter 3: A Waking Nightmare

Raven felt too weak and tired to resist as Shade bound her hands and gagged her mouth, pushing her through to what resembled a conference table, six chairs were drawn out for them. A tan girl of about the same age as Shade, with icy-blue eyes and long silvery hair, already occupied one, her hands tucked neatly across her lap, hidden under the long sleeves of her white dress. "Shade," she acknowledged formally as she dipped her head to him, her eyes catching the gleam of blood across his claw, "you've been fighting again."

"Only to get this li'l treasure," he answered sarcastically, indicating Raven as he shoved her into a chair, binding her tightly and removing her gag, opposite the largest one, adorned with tongues of gold that flowed across its surface like serpents. He then placed himself next to this girl, to the right of the large chair, "because of her, Voodoo ran off, I'll have to find her later".

"It wasn't my fault! You're the foul bastard abusing her!" Raven yelled back at Shade, attempting to stand but only managing to pull feebly at the tight knots.

Shade seemed speechless at this remark; hurt seemed to play in his eyes but that soon disappeared as it was replaced by his cold, blank expression. The girl stared calmly at Raven, her eyes suddenly shining unnaturally, her hair flowing in a non-existent breeze, Raven suddenly felt her anger ebb away, to be replaced by sadness, sadness for the young girl.

Her thoughts were soon wiped clean away as two figures stepped through an entrance opposite, one was a darkly tanned boy of about fifteen, with short, bleached blond hair and stormy grey eyes, though his hands were pale and dead looking, as if skin had just been stretched across bone. The other seemed much more threatening, a dark figure, taller than Shade, his head of long, crimson quills contrasted sharply with his dark skin, as did his bloodshot eyes. His body rippled with taut muscle underneath black and crimson armour as he sat in the huge chair, staring back at Raven, the other sat beside her, stretching himself out before placing his feet on the table as he leaned back.

"What? No Voodoo today, pity, I wanted to have a little peek at her handiwork," came the bestial growl of the largest figure as he indicated the empty chair before kicking it out from underneath. The girl froze rigidly; Shade lounged about lazily, drawing swirling patterns across the table with his finger, "Empath! How do the preparations go".

The girl, obviously Empath, turned to the monstrous figure, nodded her head before speaking again, "all goes well master Nightmare, though I may need a few weeks to finish".

"You have one week Empath, as for you Shade, I can see your mission was successful, congratulations," Nightmare grinned darkly as he faced Raven, his eyes staring into hers. Suddenly, she saw the four eyes of her father flash before her, she began to breathe heavily as she held one hand to her chest, and "she is still susceptible to fear, that's good. Inferno, escort our, uh…guest, to her room".

The last figure stood and walked over to Raven, untying her before lifting her and pushing her along, "get your lazy arse moving! And don't try that psychic stuff on me 'cause it'll just leave you in a world of hurt," for the first time since she got here, Raven agreed.