Updated 07/September/2020

Updated 16/September/2022

Chapter 76

I HATE YOU!

Russel coughed and sputtered as Lisa threw more dirt into his face. Sarah held the camera phone steady but she looked uncomfortable with what was happening, but did nothing to stop it. That disturbed Raven, Sarah's willingness to stay silent and keep recording.

Antonia seemed to be getting desperate for a reaction. She tried pulling Russel's hair but the boy did nothing but bare his teeth in frustration and clench his fingers before going back to his lotus position.

Raven was reeling too much from the shock of the memory she'd just experienced to instantly act.

Russel was a useful bad guy to these girls. They wouldn't let him grow up or evolve. They had to keep him, or at least the perception of him, exactly the same. That obviously wasn't hard to do. He was practically a loner and he mostly kept to himself. People didn't want to interact with him because they thought they'd already had him figured out, so could never see his true character. There didn't always need to be a good reason for a group of people to mistreat one individual. That was the childish assumption Raven made. She looked at her pale hands. A childish, and hypocritical one.

Russel was clearly willing to put the past behind him and move on. Sure, he used to always escalate the situation. But Antonia kept poking, knowing what would happen. Knowing how he'd react. Knowing what it would mean. Knowing what she'd get out of it.

Raven placed a hand to her neck and remembered struggling to breathe.

This had to stop.

Raven wanted to charge her powers and just rip all the girls away from him and tell them to piss off, and that was what she was about to do, but Raven spotted Sarah recording all this, waiting for the moment Russel would snap and lash out. The demon girl decided that she had a better idea.

Raven very nearly through this new plan out the window though, when Antonia picked up a rock and raised it above her head. She seriously wasn't going to bash him with it?! But she stopped, looked at the rock, then at the scratches and marks on Russel's face, then she felt her own skin. There was no self-awareness however, no self-awakening. She just dropped the stone, probably thinking it better not to add too many scars to him when she had none.

"Isn't this enough?" Raven asked.

"Enough?" Antonia said, "It will never be enough to pay back what he is."

"What is he?"

"An insecure bully." Antonia said, "An evil, misogynistic boy who'll never change."

Raven's eyes narrowed until she was sure she could fire lasers through the back of Antonia's head. Then the eyes relaxed. Did Antonia even realise what she was doing? Did she have no self-awareness at all? Or was she just doing this because it's something she'd always done, so much so it was hardwired into her very being. To cause trouble and pretend to be hurt. Throw a rock and make sure people are only watching while she's running away. In the same way that caution, and suspicion of people was in Raven's nature. She swallowed and she realised something. Raven had only been less suspicious of the girls because they'd been nice to her, because of some arbitrary similarity.

"I know." Antonia said sadistically as she went into her bag and she extracted a small jar. "I have a little friend to show you." The jar contained a large, juicy, and very much alive house spider. The effect on Russel was noticeable. His eyes widened and his skin started to turn pale as Antonia brought it up to his face. He shut his eyes tight.

"Get that frickin' thing away from me!" The wrong thing to say. They'd found their way to a reaction as Antonia began to slowly unscrew the little jar and held it over Russel's head. Russel kicked out at Antonia's shins forcing her to retreat back with the spider still in it's jar. There was now a dirty scrape across her shin.

"You bastard!" Antonia hissed and sharply kicked Russel in his own shinbone.

"Sarah, stop recording and start a new one." Antonia instructed. That's when Raven struck. Before Sarah could stop recording the phone, suddenly shrouded in darkness, and was forcibly pulled from Sarah's hands. It sailed over into Raven's own waiting hand. A message on the screen read 'do you wish to save or discard this recording.' Raven hit save before slipping the phone into her pocket.

"Enough!" Raven announced. "This isn't justice, this is just petty revenge."

"Excuse me?" Antonia looked like she was about to scream. "This is not petty revenge. It's reparations."

"I don't care what you call it." Raven said back, "I call it petty. You just want a reaction. Grow up."

"How dare you!" Antonia spat. "After everything we've done for you. Invited you into our sisterhood, fed you, talked to you. Been your friends when you clearly needed them."

Raven's eyes narrowed, Antonia wasn't even trying anymore.

"We were never friends." Raven said, "You're making that clear right now."

"Damn right were not. We don't want to be friends with some two-faced bitch?" Lisa said.

"You love this bullying creep, don't you?" Sarah said.

Love is a bit of a strong word for it. Raven thought.

"I'm hardly surprised, you look like a creep." Sarah said, and so their true colours were revealed. Raven's weirdness was tolerated, only while she sided with them. Any spark of affection she had for the girls was now snuffed out.

Raven decided no amount of rational thought was going to persuade them to stop. What they were doing, it was too much in their nature. They thought it totally justified, always justified.

"I'm going to give you all a choice. Turn around, walk away. Move on. Never bother Russel again." The girls weren't moved, nor threatened. The demon girl then turned to the still nervous Sarah. "You're not comfortable with what's happening, aren't you. Go home."

But Sarah had regained some of her inner strength and stood with Antonia against Raven.

"Why?" Antonia asked, "Why side with this brute?"

"Because I don't think he is the problem, not anymore. You are." Antonia looked at Raven with intensity burning in her eyes.

"Are you suggesting I'm just 'playing the victim'?!" Antonia said, putting emphasis on the three words like they were obviously preposterous, or that there was something socially unacceptable in even suggesting it. Well, Raven did not have great social awareness anyway, so...

"Yes," Raven said firmly, without breaking eye contact, nor flinching.

Antonia approached the shorter, goth girl, like one stalking its prey. She looked smug, outraged, and dangerous. Raven knew what was actually coming, so she didn't flinch when Antonia smacked her sharply across the face, so much so her head turned a little to the right. The goth girl's head just froze for a second, then slowly swung back to face Antonia.

"Ow." Was all Raven uttered, barely moving her mouth.

"Leave her alone you bitch!" Russel shouted. Raven held up her hand to Russel. She had this.

"Last chance." Raven said with intensity. "Walk… away…" Antonia didn't move, she just got up in Raven's face again. The taller girl was surprised when she suddenly flew backwards, as if pulled by an invisible string, the balls of her feet scraping across the ground and she fell to the stone ground in a heap between the two other girls.

Sarah knelt to help Antonia while Lisa squared up to Raven. Beating her fist into her hand. Clearly she thought her muscly frame would destroy her skinny one. Obviously, she hadn't noticed that while Antonia flew back, Raven hadn't moved a muscle to make it happen. "Any last words before I pound you?"

"I'll give you three." Raven's eyes began to glow. Lisa froze, now she was getting it. "Azarath…" A ethereal wind was starting to blow, radiating out from Raven. "Metrion…" Raven's hood flew up shrouding her eyes in shadow. Raven raised her hands wide at her sides, small rocks and stones began to ascend into the air. "Zynthos." Her small body began to ascend into the air, her legs dangling beneath her.

Raven wasn't going to hurt the girls, hopefully her display of power will get them to back down. Otherwise, since they wanted a bully, Raven was happy to fill that role.

The three girls watched Raven ascend. Antonia and Sarah screamed, but Raven only found out after something larger and heavier struck her from behind that it wasn't her they were screaming at.

Raven coughed as the dirt cleared from her roll across the ground. Standing tall, was the creature, it had come back again. Weirdly it was indistinct. Not invisible, not this time, but like a concept or idea you couldn't quite put your finger on. It was clearly bipedal, muscly and clearly frustrated as it snarled from the fuzzy mouth it had. As Raven watched and focused it appeared to gain a more corporal existence as it raised its fists to bash her again. Wide eyed Raven did the first thing she thought to do. Project a shield. The two fists were halted by the shield, but they did cause the semi-sphere of darkness to vibrate like a bell. The pressure waves created just bounced around and made Raven lose concentration and drop her shield.

It raised its arm and prepared to bring it down.

"Hey, hey, hey! Over here!" Russel shouted at the creature. He'd slipped a shoe off and kicked it at the creature. Whether by luck or design it smacked into the side of the creatures head.

Enraged it turned its attention back to Russel, who now shifted uncomfortably with his hands still cuffed behind his back.

Raven focused on the handcuff chain and forced it to shatter. Russel, now realising he was free, got up and tried to run from the creature. But he wasn't quick enough to avoid the impact of its fist. Just a grazing blow which made him lose his footing.

Antonia, Lisa and Sarah were huddled in one corner and were making no attempt to help Russel.

Focusing again Raven could sense the stone foundations of this old structure and used it to her advantage. Darkness spread over the area beneath the fuzzy creatures feet and it was as if the foundation became like quicksand. The creature sank up to its hips in rock, which became solid when Raven released her powers, trapping it.

Sadly this didn't work, as the creature, though fazed at first, just easily stepped out of it. The creature really didn't seem to like Russel. Which was weird considering. But Raven didn't have time to process it, because she had to call Russel to her by reaching out, grabbing him in a shroud of darkness and pulling him towards her.

The creature just missed him by a hair and the ground shook under impact. Oddly, the creature was more indistinct now, but as Raven focused it started coming back. Weird.

It now saw the girls huddled in the corner, and it went for them. It went on all fours, head lowered as if to ram them like a bull.

Without thinking, because Raven would've considered doing nothing if she did think, the demon girl formed a dark globe around the girls, their forms visible as white shadows. The creature struck the shield, and the white shadows faded away. When the shield was gone so were the girls.

Raven would deal with them later.

"Russel, you need to calm down!" Raven said to him.

"I'm not scared." Russel said back.

"No, I mean you need to deal with your anger. It's the anger that's created the creature."

"I'm far more concerned with our safety to be angry!" Russel countered.

"It's subconscious." Raven concluded, "it's a shadow of your abilities. Your anger is seeping out through your unconscious mind."

The creature charged at them, but Raven instantly teleported both herself and Russel to just behind the creature. It took great mental effort, and was not something Raven would be able to keep up for an extended period.

"Come here." She said and she grabbed his head in her long fingers and intended to make his unconscious mind calm itself. Indeed, there it was, anger, hatred, unresolved. Gently Raven sent calming waves into Russel's head. It was kind of satisfying to feel it fade away, like released tension.

"Raven."

"Not now, I'm nearly finished."

"Raven. Mister Fuzzy is coming at us again!"

"What?" That didn't make sense. It should be fading.

Raven turned and was about to cast a shield. But the creature was too close, she'd never generate it in time.

Russel took Raven by the hand and pulled her towards the only shelter there was. A previous impact by the creature had caused a split in the rock to open up. A gouge just narrow enough for two people to slip into, and they'd just manged to as the creature head butted the split in the rock, causing it to open wider, but not wide enough that it could follow them.

It reached in, but the split was still too narrow for its big hands to reach through.

The two teens tried to go as deep into the split as they could to get away from the clawing hands of the monster. It was far too big to follow them, but its claws, if it had them, stuck in and tried to dig them back out again.

Raven and Russel retreated as far as they could into the narrowing gap until they were practically wedged in close together front to front.

"Doesn't it ever give up?" Russel asked as Raven stared at him.

"Did you feel nothing?"

"You mean what you just did? I feel less tense if that's what you mean." Russel said.

"That should've done something!" Raven said. She gritted her teeth, charged her powers and forced a blast of darkness at the creature, but this time something impossible happened. The power just rained around the creature and it took it all as if it was nothing more than a morning shower. Her powers couldn't affect it now? Raven charged her powers and fired again. But the situation must be sapping her power, because that blast wasn't even half as powerful as before.

Raven felt herself being pressed into Russel. This was not the time to have these thoughts! She tried too push herself away, but that only forced her to get more stuck on the rock behind her.

The creature started to form itself and become more solid. Then a long tentacle began to snake it's way into the crevice. It came up to Russel's face and he bit down on it. The tentacle reeled back out, and the angry creature bashed into the wall in a fit of rage.

As this went on Raven scanned Russel's mind for psychic powers. His unusual brain made it difficult, but she dug. Dug deeper than she usually would and… this couldn't be right. There was no sign of psychic potential at all. In fact it was less than a normal humans. But... but the psychic potential had to be there, it was the only explanation for the creature.

The creature reached in and had decided to go back to using it's claws to make the gap gradually bigger until it could get at them. The amount of damage it could do if it got to the village didn't even bare thinking about. The amount of lives that could be lost.

The monster wasn't going anywhere. But if something where to happen to Russel. If he were to… to … to die, then the monster would vanish. Before she realised what she was doing she had already placed a hand uncomfortably firm around Russel's neck.

She froze again, realising what she was about to do, long enough for Russel to turn to face her. He knew what Raven was going to do. She swallowed as she looked into his big brown eyes. She felt her frown fall deeper and she removed her hand from his neck.

"What the hell were you doing?" Russel demanded.

"Nothing. I… nothing."

"You said the creature was my fault? You were going to kill me!" Russel exclaimed.

"NO!" Raven said, but couldn't justify the action any further. "I just… I…"

"I don't believe you!" Russel said letting loose a heavy sigh, "I simply do not believe you. I thought you were cool!" Raven's stomach lurched. No one had ever described her as 'cool' before.

"I wasn't thinking." Raven said quietly.

"I... I just don't believe you!" Russel said again, as if unable to comprehend. "I can't believe I actually liked you."

Raven's head snapped to attention. He... he actually liked me?! No, Raven denied it.

"You didn't like me!" Raven accused, "No one ever likes me."

"I can bloody see why!" His words cut deep and shut her up.

"I... I thought you were the problem." Raven tried to defend herself.

"Yes, everyone tells me that." Russel snapped, "Everyone assumes 'I' am the problem, they never think that the trouble lies elsewhere. That it would stop if people just left me alone!" Not was Raven was talking about but still...

"I'm sorry, okay!" Raven blurted out, her breathing deepened. "Is that what you want to hear. I'm sorry!"

"Sorry is not going to get us out of this mess, is it?!" Russel fumed.

"No, but screaming at me won't help either." Raven tried to remain calm and centred. "All this emotion won't help us to..."

"Get away from me!" Russel shifted in the rock, but the only way was out into the grasp of the creature. They both tried to push each other a part and push themselves out, but they were wedged fast.

A swipe from the creature brought reality back into their minds and they squeezed further into the crack.

"Did you actually like me?" Russel asked, "or was that a ploy too?" Raven stared daggers at Russel.

"Of course I liked you!" Raven suddenly realised what she'd said, "I mean, I... I don't like you now! You're irritating, and you reek of pencils, and you're a short tempered, immature, moody teenager!"

"Yeah, well I liked you too when I thought you were an outcast like me!" Russel bit. "But now I see you're just like any other girl. You only want what is popular. You want to be with female friends, and you used me because you thought it'd get those female friends to like you!" He snorted. "You're pathetic. You're not used to being alone. To have the world around you be against you from day dot!"

"I do, more than you." Raven said. The creature reached in, but its claws were too short. Despite them being in mortal danger for some reason the two teens thought this bickering more worth their time. Raven wondered if it was because they were trapped, with no way out and there was nothing better to do than vent at each other. "And don't take me for a fool. You never liked me. No one 'likes' me. I am the demon daughter of a demon destroyer from a religion that fights monsters like me!"

"Yeah, and I'm an Atheist in a town that is still deeply Christian. You don't think I know what it's like?!"

"I was born with my affliction from... from day dot! Your religious position is one you can change!"

"Why should I change it? Why should I be forced to just to conform to and be liked by people?! I don't believe, why should I be judged as evil for that?!" Russel fumed back at her. "At least you are an evil demon!"

"What?" Raven snapped.

"You come into my life all mysterious and captivating, and you tried to fucking ruin my life!" Russel fumed.

"You insulant little mortal!" The beast reached in deep. Raven turned her head and let loose a great deal of power that was mounting with her frustration, or else she'd have blown Russels' head off. She could also feel a strange emotion. It was hate... yet it was not hate. A strange form of hate. Being wedged into Russel's body didn't help this new feeling. "I can't believe I actually liked you!" Raven said through bared, clenched teeth.

"Oh, spare me, you didn't like me!"

"Oh, shut up. You didn't really like me either. Boys only want girls for one thing!" Raven shouted.

"I saw more in you than just that!" Russel snapped, "You're a very attractive girl..." Raven felt herself star to go red at the flattering accusation. "but you had depth to you. I thought you were a soul that would understand mine!"

That strange anger was hitting boiling point. It was like something had hijacked Raven's mind, even she couldn't make sense of why she was saying what she was saying.

"If you like me, why don't you just show it?!" Raven said in a hiss.

"How?" Russel asked, "how was I supposed to get it through your stupid little head?"

Raven found herself pushing on the ground with her toes to get further up the split in the rock, she also stretched her neck out.

"I don't know. I don't know what's..." her head was so close that she could smell his breath. It was minty. She suddenly felt very self-conscious of her own breath.

"You mean nothing to me, you horrible girl!" Russel stood his ground too as Raven attempted to push back against him.

"I hate you!" She leered at him.

"Yeah, well I hate you more!" He said, pressing his forehead against hers, as if an attempt to dominate the interaction. Raven was not having that, she pushed back with her own forehead.

"Piss off!"

"Arsehole!"

"Bitch!"

"Bastard!"

"Witch!"

Raven felt her fingers and toes clench as this went on. She felt more of the anger that wasn't anger. She wanted to hurt him, to dig her nails into his stupid head and draw blood. It must be hate, but it wasn't hate in her mind. She wanted to… to...

"Freak!" She called him.

"Corpse!"

"Prick!" She could feel some strange mixture of emotions in Russel to. She felt like they were both circling around a black hole.

"Demon!" Raven clenched her fists, she was barely holding herself back.

"Screw you!" Russel said.

"Screw you!" Raven it.

"No, screw you!" Raven lashed out on instinct, digging her nails into the boys scalp to draw him forwards so she could press her lips against his.

Wait, what? No Stop! But it was too late. The pair were frozen, too stunned to speak.

Something happened to the beast. It fell backwards and had a sudden loss of power.

Their noses were still rubbing up against each other.

"Umm... sorry." Raven said with guilt. "I didn't mean... I mean... did I do wrong?"

Russel's eyes drifted above her head, then came back down to meet hers.

"I... I don't know." He admitted suddenly sounding very bashful.

"Can... can I do it again?" Raven asked. She'd liked it.

His nose slid across hers, but stopped halfway. She slid her nose a little further along his, inviting him. He took it. The two pressed themselves into each other and together they fell out of the crack in the wall, arms around each other.

The creature was gone.

Stones began to rise up around them, shrouded in darkness. They began to twist and reshape themselves as Raven focused the power on anything except for Russel. She was always scared of hurting anyone who got... too close.

"Listen..." why was he stopping?! "If at any point you get uncomfortable, just tell me and we'll stop." Raven looked at him like she'd told him breathing in and out was bad. She responded by dragging him back to her. "You know the monster is gone now, right." Russel said through her lips.

"Yeah." Raven answered disinterestedly. "So?"

"I thought you said you hated me?" Russel said, "I called you all those nasty things."

"I've been called worse, and I hate everyone. But out of everyone in the universe I think I just hate you the least. But you're still a freak!"

Russel laughed.

"I hate you the least, too. But you're still a demon."

"Yeah-whatever." She tried to bring him back to her.

"You know, this reminds me of a joke." Raven took his jaw and forced his mouth closed.

"Don't ruin it!"

"Fair enou…" Raven's lips stopped any further, pointless words.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Raven and Russel are just making out, so don't come after me with pitch forks. They are respectfully 16 and 17 so obviously teenagers will do teenage things.

Updated 16/September/2022: I've recently been in a relationship again, so I felt a lot more comfortable writing this part.

Updated 19/March/2023: I've been debating with myself over this, but I finally decided to settle for Raven initiating the kiss, rather than Russel. I was unsure as I felt Raven isn't the kissing type, but at the same time I felt the only way she'd get kissed is if someone initiates it for her. But I've decided that detracts from part of Raven's story arc, which is that being friends with people doesn't mean becoming subservient to them. Raven allowing Russel to kiss her because of inaction robs her of her final moment to of triumph to say 'fuck you' to both the girls and to her concerns for her image shackling her into inaction.

I'm settled on this change now, so I do not intend to change it again.