Scott climbed into the passenger seat of Logans jeep and buckled himself in just in time as the vehicle screamed out of the carport and down the schools long drive, spraying gravel in its wake.
"So…" he began hesitantly after a few minutes of furious driving on Logans part. "…where are we going?" Logan frowned at the road, he hadn't thought that far ahead.
"There's a club." He decided. "In the city, name of 'The Black Lily'. She used to go there sometimes when she snuck off. A bunch of her friends hang out there. Someone has to know where she is." This final statement was intended more to reassure himself than Scott, so the second man concentrated on the first part.
Once into the city, Logan was forced to slow down, he sat swearing under his breath at the busy evening traffic and drumming his hands on the steering wheel. Scott glanced sideways at him.
"You say she's gone after the man who killed her parents?" he asked. Logan nodded distractedly.
"Yeah."
"Do you think she really knows where he is?" He scowled deeply and growled to himself.
"She seemed pretty sure. Joss isn't often wrong, she has people who know things, can get stuff, information."
"Is that who we're going to see?" What sort of people, Scott wondered, the typical shady types straight out of a television set?
"I only met them once, briefly." Logan answered. "Might not even remember me, they were all pretty stoned at the time. Joss was fast asleep, I had to carry her out to the car." His expression softened for a second before the worry set in and it darkened again. Scott didn't say anything.
Ferdinand finished his pint and addressed Joss, she had been drifting away all through their conversation, letting him do most of the talking, not normally a problem, but it was pretty clear that she was preoccupied by something.
"So, you said that you wanted something made." He tried. She snapped back to attention and nodded.
"Yeah, well two things actually, a pair." She smiled at him. "Of course, I'd never ask anyone else." Pulling a sheet of paper and a pen towards her she drew a rough sketch and pushed it towards him., Ferdinand picked it up and examined it carefully. The picture was of a curiously shaped knife, the handle melted into the long blade which protruded from the handle roughly and inch before curving back round and running parallel to the handle and about three inches past the end. A serrated pattern decorated around the outside of the curve.
"Looks nasty." He commented after a cursory exam. "And vaguely familiar." She grinned.
"They're based very closely on the knives used by Vin Diesel in that film 'The Chronicles of Riddick', in fact I'd go further than that and say they're exactly the same." He held up a finger in recognition.
"Ah yes, and what did you want this beautiful pair to be made of?"
"I was thinking steel. I'll pay for it obviously, I want pure stuff, none of that alloy crap."
He left his stool and led the way into a large room at the back of the bar. Every wall was lined with shelves, there were desks and benches in the centre of the room and every available empty space was filled with what looked liked meaningless junk. What escaped the attention of a casual visitor was that, somewhere amongst the piles of wood, glass and scrap metal, was at least one piece of almost every single different resistant material known to man.
For the right price, Ferdinand could draw the elements he wanted from any available object and manipulate them to take any shape he wanted. His talent was widely sought after as anything made by his hands, or rather, mind, was always of the purest and faultless quality. The two knives he was about to make for Joss would be of the perfect weight and, neigh on, unbreakable.
Standing in the shadow of a deeply set doorway, Logan pounded heavily on the door. Scott stood a pace behind him, unsure who he expected to answer the door. He had, in his mind, a picture of a scrawny middle-aged man wearing an unwashed Hawaiian shirt and smoking a cigarette. When the door was opened he found that he couldn't have been more wrong.
Facing them, a slightly wary expression on her face was a young woman, despite the urgency of their mission, neither of the two men could help but stare for a moment before recovering his thoughts. The woman looked to be about twenty-five, she was alabaster white, with long black hair and green eyes the colour of emeralds, dressed all in black, topped off with a long leather coat.
"Yes?" she prompted, her eyes were on Logan as though he looked familiar. He cleared his throat.
"Is she here?" he demanded. The woman smiled faintly.
"I assume you mean The Lynx?" he nodded. "You're Logan are you not? Her guardian?" Logan pulled himself together, it wasn't like him to be unnerved by a woman but there was something about this one, something unearthly.
"Yeah," he replied gruffly, kicking Scott who was still staring. "is she here?" The woman shook her head.
"No." he gave her a disbelieving look.
"Really?" She smiled more broadly, revealing a pair of elongated canines, flanking a set of pearly white teeth.
"Why don't you and your silent friend come in? We were about to have a drink." She smiled at Scott, there was something about this woman's appearance, coupled with her silent, cat-like grace that made that particular word 'drink', cause him to shiver.
Scott admonished himself inwardly and took a step forward to shake the her proffered hand.
"Scott Summers." He introduced himself.
"Raven." The name suited her, reminiscent of black ruffling feathers and dark piercing eyes.
Logan exchanged a look with Scott as they followed her through the door and into 'The Black Lily'.
The room they entered was large and open with a stage against one wall, a bar along the other and a set of stairs, suspended by thick cables, leading up from the dance floor to an enclosed room that looked out over the whole of the club through red tinted glass. At various intervals around the edge of the room, were large comfortable looking sofas.
On these sofas sat a collection of colourful looking characters. A young man with a shock of blue hair, two young children with shimmering red skin playing snap with a wolf. A wolf? The two men did a double take, no. No wolf, but a woman smiling mischievously in their direction. A shape-shifter, they assumed, that or a werewolf. A werewolf in the company of a vampire.
There were perhaps five others, but their attention was diverted by Raven offering a selection of beers.
"So, you've lost our Lynx?" she asked a hint of seriousness in her voice.
"We'd actually hoped she was here." Scott admitted rather sheepishly. "Do you have any way of contacting her?"
"Have you tried her cell?"
Joss switched her phone off and replaced it in her pocket, returning her attention to Ferdinand. His hands were held out, palms upwards, lost in a shimmer of silver and light. Within this cloud, Joss could just make out the forms of two shining blades beginning to take shape. His eyes were open, glazed over in deep thought as he concentrated on finishing them off with the sharpest possible point. Finally, after half and hours hard work, the cloud dissipated and he brandished the finished product. Two brilliantly crafted knives, decorated with an intricate pattern of teeth and tails, perfectly balanced and shaped to slice through the air with minimal resistance, deadly beautiful.
Joss stepped forward and took one in each hand, the blades curved round her grip and glinted in the reflection of the strip light hanging from the ceiling. She executed a few deft slices and straightened up, a grimly satisfied smile on her face.
"Thank you, Ferdy." She nodded. "These should do fine."
Hello all, thanks for reading! Just wanted to say that Raven is not my creation but that of my Besy Friend Nats. To read Ravens story (which rocks by the way) go here http/s3. and, as usual reviews, comments, advice and criticism is very much welcome!