The Huntik story continues

Audreana

Audreana

x

When she noticed him, she turned around slowly, and Raven watched her. She exchanged some muttered words with the titan which he couldn't hear loud enough to decipher, before she turned to him. Even though he somehow had expected it a little, he still didn't like it when she just shook her head and chuckled. She didn't say anything though, not until he had told her why he was here. "I don't care what you're task is, Sir," she said.
"But I am not in the mood to listen to another person that's gotten it in his thick head to tell me what to do. Besides, my family thinks I'm dead. You know, faking my own death and all. At least is seemed to work for three years," She said, and Raven played to be offended. "Thick?" He said, touching his own head. "And there was me thinking I looked rather well," he said, quasi sad. He pulled back his hand as Shiloh rose to her four feet again, and put it in the pocket of his jeans instead. "Yeah, about that whole faking your death thing, by the way," he started. "Don't you think that was a little hard on your family?" He shook his head slowly. "Such a reckless girl, you are," he muttered. "Well, I am sorry to say that I don't have any time for this madness," the girl suddenly said, and Raven could feel something in his chest shift as he realised what she was about to do. He muttered a low "well, fuck", just as the magic shot from her hands like fire. If it wasn't for Shiloh jumping against his legs, he wouldn't've gotten out of the way soon enough. He landed on the ground, quite painfully actually, and cursed again. 
"I told you she wouldn't just follow," Shiloh pointed out as the girl turned around and fled deeper inside the cave. Raven grunted some rude words before getting up. "Yeah, well, thanks, I've got that now," he told Shiloh, sounding more annoyed than anything else really. He sighed and cracked the bones in his back. "I guess we're supposed to follow her now," he muttered, before starting to run after her. Shiloh followed next to him. 
"Wolf Knight! Defend your lady!" he could hear her yell, and he cursed again. Damn it, why weren't any of these missions easy? Cursing the fact that he hadn't listened to Shiloh more, he searched for his amulet - he wasn't the most organised type. "Lindorm!" he yelled, not bothering more words to call on the titan. As the dragonlike creature appeard in front of him, blocking the Wolf Knight's way to Raven, he didn't need to say anything else before his titan attacked, all sharp spines and focused anger. It had taken Raven a while to really control the titan, but fortunately for him he had enough reasons to be angry to practice often. 

Audreana

x

Raven clenched his teeth the whole time as Lindform attacked the titan from Audre, making sure to keep his anger focused on one thing. It wasn't very easy, because all the while Shiloh just sat next to him, licking her fur coat. Useless titan, he thought annoyed, and he could see how Lindorm almost turned around for a moment. His attention snapped back to the fight and he turned a little to the side, so Shiloh was out of his eye sight. It took one more furious attack from Lindorm before the titan crumpled and disappeared back to his amulet. Raven allowed himself one moment of feeling victorious before he made sure Lindorm returned to his own amulet and he continued the chase.
He ran to where he had thought he'd heard her last, but when he arrived there, all he saw was a hard rock wall. "Damn it," he cursed. He should've known she wouldn't just agree with following him back to her home. If it would've been that easy, she wouldn't've done so much effort to leave her family in the first place.
Besides, he was known for doing the dirty work no one else bothered to do, so none of his missions were that easy. "So, what now?" Shiloh asked, and Raven threw her a warning look. "I don't know, Shiloh, thanks for reminding me." Hurt like only cats could be, she turned her head the other way and decided to ignore him. Great. He shut his eyes for a moment and forced himself to concentrate on breathing. He needed to calm down, think, and then he would figure this out soon enough.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt calmer, and he looked at the wall with different eyes. If the girl had run further, he would've still heard her footsteps echoing, so she had to have gotten past this wall in some way or another. 
After a few minutes, he saw the same hole Audre had noticed, and he smiled. He placed his hand against the hole, whispering "breakspell", after which he watched as the wall opened. He slipped through the gap, Shiloh following close behind. As soon as they got past the wall, it closed again, and Raven needed a moment to adjust his eyes to the sudden darkness. He felt a pang of fear in his chest, but did his best to ignore it. As long as he stayed calm, it wouldn't take him long before he got out of here, he told himself. "You would be wise not to use any light, so you'll notice sunlight from the outside sooner," Shiloh pointed out, and Raven let out a sharp breath. "I know," he muttered, sounding a little agitated. Damn his fear of the dark. It was stupid. "Just- help me look," he added, and Shiloh did without saying another word. He was grateful for the fact she didn't mention his fear. 
It took longer than he liked before Shiloh noticed something. "Raven," she said in an urging voice, gesturing with her head towards a small hole. Sunlight. Raven immediately felt his chest relax and he breathed out. Thank god. Raven made an attempt at walking towards the hole, but Shiloh stopped him. "I think we're supposed to stand there," she said, now gesturing to the place where the light hit the ground. "Oh," Raven said. "Right."
As soon as he stepped onto the sunlit spot, he could hear something starting to move, and suddenly the ground beneath their feet disappeared. 
Damn his stupid missions.

They fell down in cold water that made Raven gasp - and immediately gulp in the water. He came above the surface coughing, wiping the water out of his eyes. "I hate this already," he said as soon as he got back his breath, but as he saw Shiloh, dripping wet and looking more than a little annoyed, he couldn't help but laugh. She hissed at him as they swam towards the shore. "This isn't funny, Raven," she said, shaking the water from her coat as she reached the shore. Raven, still laughing, crawled up on the earth and shook his head, letting the drops of water fly from his hair. 
When he looked up, he saw Audre and her weird little titan standing no less but a few metres away from them. "Oh," he said. "Shiloh, maybe we should've kept silent," he pointed out, though it was too late now. "Hello again," he said with a crooked grin. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

Audreana

x

Okay, so maybe Raven needed to be a little less passive aggressive. Audre didn't look very pleased to see him. "What does a girl have to do to just dump you in the middle of nowhere?" She asked, and he watched her put the map away. That had been the moment where he should've done something, but no, of course he was stupid enough to wait. "A lot, as you might've noticed," he answered dryly. Shiloh was still busy licking her coat, obviously not too happy they had landed in the middle of a lake. Raven saw how the girl opened her mouth, and at that moment he finally realised she wouldn't just gladly follow him back to her home, but of course it was too late then. "Darkfog!" she called, and suddenly he was surrounded by a thick fog, blocking all the light. He could feel the familiar tightening in his chest, but chose to ignore it. Control your fears, and you control your enemies. Raven had hated the man that had told him the words, but they were true nonentheless. "Copykind," he whispered, fighting the urge to caugh as the fog slipped into his lungs. It was still completely dark, but now he had used the spell that would lend him Shiloh's powers, everything suddenly became a lot clearer as he could smell the traces the girl had left behind. He searched with his hand in the dark until he could feel Shiloh next to him before they stumbled through the dark, finding their way out of the thick mist. When they finally reached the border, Raven allowed himself a few moments to take in deep breaths of fresh air, blinking as the light reached his eyes again. He broke the spell that let him borrow Shiloh's abilities, not wanting to spend all his energy, and gestured her to lead the way. He didn't see Audre and her titan anywhere, but hoped that Shiloh could still find them by smell. This time they made sure not to make any sound, and they only spoke through thoughts.

They walked a long time before Raven stopped walking. "We lost them," he said, sounding more frustrated than he wanted to admit. He was hungry, still wet form the lake, and the temperature in the mountains was slowly going down. Shiloh didn't seem all too happy either. "The town," she suddenly said, just as Raven sat down on the ground. "What abou- oh," he said, suddenly remembering that the girl had come here by car. No one would leave such an expensive vehicle behind. "Shiloh," he said, already getting up again. "You are one wonderful titan. Okay, great. How are we going to get there first?" he asked her. They were silent for a few seconds, before Raven grunted. "Running, wonderful. Nothing I love as much as running," he muttered. Shiloh seemed to look forward more to the long run. At least one of them was happy, he thought grumpily. He gave himself one short moment to stretch, before he turned to Shiloh. "We need to take another route, they can't sense us before we get to the car," he told her. "You can do that?" Shiloh raised her head a little higher, looking offended by Raven's low expextations of her. "Of course I can. You just make sure you keep up," she told him, before suddenly leaping off. Raven cursed, tried not to laugh about Shiloh's immense ego, and followed her using the Nimblefire spell.

Audreana

x

Raven could already feel what would happen as soon as he saw Audre standing next to the car. Damn her and her stupid titan. His legs were burning and his lungs were screaming and now it would all be for nothing. He didn't even have enough breath to scream as he watched her jump into the vehicle, letting the motor roar as she stepped on the gas pedal. It took him a few seconds to realise the car was heading for him. Even though she dodged him herself, he jumped backwards, cursing her and her stupid car. "You should probably not drive such a thing until you've learned how!" He yelled at her, leaning his hands on his knees. "Damn it," he breathed as he watched the car move out of his sight. Shiloh didn't seem too happy herself either, as she let her tail sway from left to right. "She's probably thinking about leaving the country," she pointed out, and Raven looked at her. "Shiloh, you're brilliant," he said, not for the first time. He walked to the side of the road and sat down on the pavement. "I'll call the Boss as soon as I got my breath back," he said, still sounding exhausted. "I'm never running again," he added. Shiloh gave him a look he didn't very much like. "I'm afraid you'll have to run again soon, given the fact that girl seems very- lively," she said, and Raven rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, next time I see her I'll just tackle her to the ground. I'm done with being nice," he complained. He got his phone out of his pocket and rang the only number that was in there. As always, the phone only went over once before someone answered on the other side of the telephone.
"Raven," a cold voice said. "Do you got the girl?" Raven pursed his lips and looked at the small piece of asphalt between his two feet. "No," he muttered. "No, she got away. " The silence on the other side felt deadly, so he quickly added a few more words. "But I'm sure I'll catch her next time. I just need- a little help." Saying the words took more effort than he liked to admit. "Shiloh thinks she's leaving the country, so I need her stopped at the airport."  He listend to the slow breathing of the Boss. "Alright, you deserve a small favour after last time," he said. "But the next time you call, I want it to be because you got her, understood?" Raven swallowed and looked away as Shiloh gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, yeah, of course," he promised. Another second later he could hear him hanging up. He breathed out as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Such a lovely man he is," he muttered, and Shiloh snickered. "He is," she agreed. "Now let's go to the airport and see where she is."

She had went to bloody Caïro. He had gotten the message a few minutes after his call, and after that he had to pay for a bloody ticket and they had to get on the bloody train. It took some bribing to keep them from putting Shiloh with the goats. As the plane landed, Raven breathed out and forced his muscles to relax. He hated planes.
He and Shiloh hurried out of the plane, while he put his phone back on. "She's with the security," he said, reading the message. "They're letting her go if we don't show up in a few minutes," he added, cursing. Everything had to be such a bloody hurry. He already disliked the girl. 
As they finally found the place she was kept, two men in uniform were just about to guide her out of the small room. Raven searched for his ID, then held it up to them. "I'll take her, thank you very much," he said, throwing the girl one of his sweetest smiles. "Hello Audre," he said. "And I'll take these too, thank you," he said, pulling a pair of hand cuffs out of the hands of one of the guards. He put them on Audre's wrists, then started dragging her along as quickly as he could, so the two men wouldn't think about getting their cuffs back. "That was quite the trip you took," he said to Audre, starting small conversation as if they were old friends.

Audreana

She didn't look very happy when she saw him coming, and, well, he couldn't exactly blame her. Despite that, she kept most of her frustration to herself. Somewhere deep inside, Raven felt a little bad about using the hand cuffs, but really, how else could he get her to come with him? 
"I had my reasons," she said as he said something about her trip. She sighed, and Raven threw her one of his most innocent smiles. "Why all this?" She suddenly asked him, and for a moment he was taken by surprise. He had thought she'd know herself. "I just get instructions, Audre," he said. "I have no idea why after so much years you're suddenly so important. Actually, I had hoped you'd tell me," he told her. 
"Besides, it's unfair that you know my name but I don't know yours," she pointed out, and he smiled again. "Well, maybe, but you haven't been exactly fair with me either, don't you think?" He said. "It's Raven," he added nevertheless, trying to get her to move again. He wanted this to be over with. Just as he thought he'd finally get her to obediently follow him to wherever he had to take her, he stopped. 
Not voluntarily. His feet were stuck to the floor. Before he knew it, Audre had pulled herself free and was running. Raven opened his mouth to shout at Shiloh she needed to follow him, but before he could, she disappeared. 
Raven stood in the middle of the airport, silent, as he felt his heart sink to his feet. How was he supposed to explain she had gotten away again?
Someone gave him a weird look, and he threw back one that could shoot fire. The person quickly started walking again, not looking a second time. Raven ran a hand through his red hair, feeling suddenly exhausted, and waited impatiently until the glue under his feet had disappeared. He walked out of the airport without saying a word, and didn't talk until he had reached a place where people weren't crowding around him anymore. He sat down on a forgotten bench, and Shiloh sat down on the ground in front of his feet. Are you going to call him? She asked silently, and Raven rested his head in the palms of his hand. "I don't know," he muttered out loud. "No one ever told me this girl was so much trouble," he hissed, letting a few ugly words follow up the sentence. He stayed silent after that, trying to get himself together again, and Shiloh patiently waited.
After a few minutes Raven straightened his back, and he brushed some invisible dust from his jacket. "Everyone on the airports and borders is still looking out for her, and she probably knows, so I don't think she left yet," he said. "I can say the plane I was in had a few hours delay while I search for her, that way I don't have to call," he added. Shiloh didn't say anything. They both knew he would know the plane wasn't delayed. They could still hope, however.
So, how is your Egyptian? Shiloh asked lightly. They had both agreed long ago it was saver not to talk out loud when they were in cities. Raven grunted. "Rubbish," he said. "But I'll come by with gestures," he added, sounding more certain than he felt. 

Audreana

x

Audreana

x

He couldn't help but show a small grin when he watched the girl throw a boltflare to one of the Blood Spiral servants. As Lindorm appeared in front of him, Audre hid behind his back. He didn't have time to throw a look over his shoulder, but judging on the sound of her breath, she was quite exhausted. "That was about time," she said to him. "You find me when I don't want you to find me, and you're like a snail when I need you." Raven took a step backwards, bumping into Audre - not really by accident. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a smile. "I could always leave if you'd prefer that," he offered kindly, watching as Lindorm dodged the attack of one of the titans and went straight for its owner. "Thunderbolt," he hissed under his breath, before letting his fist make contact with the jaw of one of their attackers. He showed a content grin as the man fell to the ground, screaming.
"Let's try to get out of here, shall we? Give me some space," she said. Since Raven didn't have that much energy left himself, and he doubted if Lindorm could take on all of the titans, he did a small step forwards. "Ghostvail!" Audre said behind him, and he turned, wanting to ask her if it was wise to use a spell like that with so little energy left, but it was too late for warnings anyway. 
They landed into sand, and Raven coughed as some of it got in his mouth. He rolled on his back, blinking the dust out of his eyes, and noticed the giant pyramid next to them. "Wow," he breathed. "You've been here before?" he turned to ask her, suddenly curious. When he sat up straight, however, he saw her lying less than a metre away, unconscious. Oh. 
He rose to his feet with a grunt and walked to her. "Audre?" He asked. "Well, I guess I should've seen this coming," he added when she didn't answer. He rubbed his forehead, cursing the way too bright sun, as he tried to think of what to do now. "We could take her to some shadow, and then call the Boss," Shiloh offered, and Raven looked up. "Yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, let's do that." He lifted her up in his arms and turned around. "I guess the other side of the pyramid isn't such a bad idea," he said, mostly to himself, before starting to walk. He wasn't sure where the girl's titan was, but he had a feeling it would turn up soon.

When he and Shiloh had found a little cooler spot, he got his phone out of his pocket and called. 
"Raven," a familiar voice answered. "I assume you haven't forgotten what I told you last time?" Raven turned his back to the girl, watching their surroundings. "No, I've got her now," he said. "There were- for some reason the Blood Spiral found her," he added. It was silent for a few seconds before he answered. "I know." "How-" "I sent them."
Raven stared at his feet, incredulous. "I don't understand." Shiloh gave him a questioning look, but he turned away from her. "I may have lied a bit about your assignment, Raven. I told you to get the girl, and you did, but the Casterwill family still believes she's dead." Raven stretched and relaxed the muscles in his hand, suddenly feeling a little dizzy. "It's the Blood Spiral that asked for her."
"You want me to turn her into the Blood Spiral?"
"Yes."
He didn't know much about the Blood Spiral, to be honest, but he knew enough to be sure he didn't want anything to do with them. The only thing he could imagine they'd want with the girl was kill her.
Now, killing wasn't something completely unfamiliar to Raven, but he certainly hadn't voluntarily brought someone to their death. He only killed when fighting, when he had to in order to save his own live. 
The Boss had always impressed him, had always made him feel small and insignificant, had caused shivers to run down his spine. So he didn't really believe himself when the next thing he did was hang up without saying another word.

Audreana

x

Raven had been pacing back and forth, kicking the sand with his shoes and constantly running his fingers through his hair. He was wondering how, how could he have been so blind? How could The Boss betray him like this? How the hell was he going to fix this?
Audre's words felt like an arrow in his back and he turned around on his heels, his eyes locking on her face. "I am sorry. I am so sorry." He frowned, opened his mouth, but then realised she wasn't talking to him - or anyone for that matter. He forced himself to relax a little and sat down in the sand. Just as he did, Audre woke up. When she noticed him sitting next to her, her eyes narrowed. Raven felt too tired to respond. "I thought you'd have taken me back to the family," she said, trying to stand up. Gitana, the titan, immediately intervened, and Raven was glad for it. He turned his eyes away from Audreana and squinted his eyes a little to see in the distance. "Yeah, I thought so too," he muttered. "Guess we were both wrong." He was aware of the fact the words wouldn't make any sense to her - not even to Shiloh, since he hadn't told her yet what had happened on the phone, but he didn't feel like elaborating. He didn't feel like anything.
God, what was he going to do?
"Any sign of Sekhmet?" Audre asked her titan, and it took Raven some time to let the words sink in. "Sekhmet?" He repeated after a few seconds of silence. "Who is- oh," he said, as he remembered the name of the titan. Gitana replied to Audre's question, saying something about pyramids and traps, and Raven threw Audre an incredulous look. "You want to look for a titan?" He asked her. "Now?" He rubbed his forehead and than let himself fall backwards, until his back hit the sand. He closed his eyes and was silent for a short while. He could sense Shiloh walking up to him and lying down next to his head. 
When he had managed to make up his mind a little, he opened his eyes again and let his head fall to the side so he could look at Audre. "Okay," he said slowly. "I'll help you. Traps are great for distraction," he said. "Just- give me a few minutes," he added, closing his eyes again.

"The mission is off, by the way. Turns out I didn't have to take you to your family."

Audreana

x

"Yes, yes I suppose so," she replied to his earlier question, nodding. "I've been after her for some time now and she would be a titan that could protect me again in days to come." She turned to her titan again, and Raven stared at the sky for a moment. Her answer didn't exactly sound illogical, but it was still- weird.
She seemed to think the same of what he said next. Well, he couldn't really blame her. "What did you say?" she asked him, turning around. He didn't answer her question, because he knew she had heard him. She just didn't believe it. 
"I thought you were assigned to take me back? Now you want to help me find Sekhmet and then wat? Take me back all the same?" She asked. Raven did an attempt to shrug, but it turned out that was quite difficult lying down. "I was, yeah, but me and my boss had a- disagreement," he said, not wanting to elaborate any further. Telling her he had almost turned her into the Blood Spiral felt like admitting a huge mistake. Raven wasn't the one for admitting his mistakes, not to people he barely knew.
She squinted her eyes at him, but he had already closed his again. 
"You've got to be joking, I know you are. You are one of those undercover seeming huntik agents?" She asked him and turnd away. Raven flinched, and opened his eyes again. "Please," he said slowly, though he didn't sound very pleading. "Don't act like you understand anything about me." He sat up straight again and brushed the sand from his jacket.
"Thanks for everything and all but no thanks. You can get your arse back to wherever you came from and tell your boss that I am not going back to my family... ever," she said. Raven threw Shiloh a quick look, before answering. "I don't have a boss to go to," he said, and he could see Shiloh tense in the corner of his eye. "Not anymore. Like I said, we disagreed on something. There's no assignment or mission I need to complete, and I'm stuck in Egypt without any money and a lot of worries and I could really use some distraction," he told her in one breath. "So please," he added, and this time he did sound pleading, "- let me help you."

Audreana

x

At first, Audre had done nothing but yell at him for at least a full five minutes. It wasn't something Raven wasn't used to, so he had let her, holding in his own replies. After that she had agreed that he could help her, which had surprised Raven a little. Even though he had asked her, he never had expected her to really say yes.
Now, however, she made it seem as if he had forced her to take him on. The only time she had said something to him was when he made to much noise, or not enough, or when he breathed. 
They walked through a small hallway, and Raven was very glad he didn't have claustrophobia. It wouldn't've been a nice scenario then. Shiloh hadn't said anything to him after he had said out loud he had broken up with his boss, but he could see her waft her tail in surpressed anger. 
"This is all your fault," Audre suddenly said, and Raven rose an eyebrow. "We wouldn't be in this mess if you wouldn't have had the need to look for me in the first place!" He surpressed the need to sigh and instead ran his hand along the walls of the hallway. "Why don't people get the whole 'pretend-to-be-dead' thing!" 
Her outburst probably didn't really have the effect she had hoped for, since all it did was make Raven smile. "Hm," he said. "Well, if I hadn't been sent after you, someone else would've been," he pointed out. "So you can hardly blame me for all of this. In fact, if I remember it correctly, it was I who safed you from those Blood Spiral nutters," he said in his most innocent voice. "But please, do go ahead and blame me for everything if it makes you feel better," he added dryly. Shiloh let out a low growl, probably warning him for his own big mouth. Raven didn't feel like admitting he might have stepped out there, however. Maybe the small space did get to him after all.

After a while, Audre stopped and he could see a door in front of her. "You wait here," she said, and he already opened his mouth to protest, but she continued to talk, not giving him any space to interrupt. "I don't want you even near Sekhmet." Raven closed his mouth and crossed his arms. He watched her place her hands against the door, muttering something about being a stubborn prat. 
"You watch them, maybe you can lead them to the other room? Bet he'll be able to bond with the other titan," she said to her titan. The bird agreed with her before turning towards Raven and Shiloh. "Come on, we're not getting younger here," she said, and he could feel her wing slapping against his shoulder. Raven put his hands in the pockets of his jeans and started to follow the bird, when Audre added another few quick words. "Be careful. We need each other," she said, and he scoffed. "Say that again when you've not just decided to split up," he said, although a slight smile showed in the corner of his mouth.
The girl had quite a talent for being annoying, but he found he liked her nonetheless. 

Audreana

x

Raven wasn't exactly sure what Audre expected him to do. She and Gitana had mentioned some other titans, but Raven wasn't that focused on finding any more titans. So he ended up just roaming the halls, feeling a bit like a child in a too big mansion as he found even another passage. He was just starting to enjoy just roaming through the inside of the pyramid when he heard a noise.
Raven froze on the spot and quickly changed glances with Shiloh. That couldn't be Audre: she was locked up in one of the rooms. Besides, he didn't think her the type to come back without saying a warning first. 
It took him another few seconds until he realised what the sound meant. When he finally turned around, he could see one of the men already rounding the corner. 
"How did they get here?!" Shiloh growled, before following Ryaven back the way they had come. Meanwhile Raven thought that maybe it would have been handy to look for that other titan. Surely Lindorm couldn't be of many use in these small hallways. It seemed to take less longer until they came back where they had started, and Audre threw them a confused look before following. "How the hell did they find us?!" She yelled, mirroring Shiloh's earlier question. Raven didn't answer, but instead felt a strange swirling in his stomach. They couldn't've- 
No, of course they could. He had forgotten who he was dealing with for a moment. Of course the Boss wouldn't just sit by silently if Raven denied him. Stupid. 
As he ran to who-knew-where, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. They must've tracked his sim card. How else could they have known they would be here? He allowed himself one quick moment of loss before he threw the phone away, smashing it against the wall as he kept running.