Chapter Thirty-One
Bert
Bert blew his nose in disgust. The forest smelt contaminated, as if someone had poured bleach, making it shrivel in its wake. He gripped the knife, his wheezing echoing in his ears. His eyes flickered to the ravens huddled on the bare branches. Their heads hung low as he glared at them for the late warning. All apart from the one with the missing tail feather and bloodied beak. Bert tried to count the years since he had seen his feathered companion. There was no mistaking the same glossy blue and purple coated bird. His guardian. Against all odds it had come back to see him finish the job. Bert lifted his arm high as he held his breath and beckoned the bird towards him.
The raven ruffled its feathers before spreading his wings wide and propelling himself from the branch to the ragged man below. With regal magnificence, it swooped through the thickening air.
Bert’s heart pounded as the bird got closer, giving no signs of stopping. Its wingspan was wide and strong, and it was the largest raven Bert had ever seen. He held his stance to welcome his old friend. The bird’s claws opened, grasping Bert’s skinny bicep, making it shudder under his weight.
‘Augh, Augh!’ the raven screamed, his cries slicing through Bert like a blunt razor. Bert hunched his shoulders, conscious of the strength in his domed beak. As the bird settled on his arm, Bert gave a humble sideways glance at the raven he had known since childhood. How was this possible? It was breaking all the boundaries. Bert’s eyes found the blood flecks on the bird’s beak. It was her blood. The raven had started what he had yet to end. Bowing his head, he scraped his beak on Bert’s sleeve before launching high into the sky. Just like all those years ago, he had laid down the gauntlet. And Bert would not let him down.
Bert had many voices in his head, but there was only one worth listening to. The one which gave him instruction to kill, and provided him with the tools to do so. It was the raven. Each predicted death brought a rich reward, but none would be so rich as ending the detective who tried to halt his mission. There was strength to be gained from killing those on his list, but the detective … she possessed enough psychic energy not just to replenish his body, but also to extend his life for years. The fact she was tormented by the recent deaths brought pleasure to his day. Bert said goodbye to the forest, a giggle rising in his throat. He had a prediction to make, and he couldn’t wait to see Jennifer’s reaction when she found out who it was.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jennifer apologised to the nurse as she fought to stem the blood dripping from her shaking hand. The sterile wipe had blossomed a bright red as the blood seeped through, dripping onto the counter and earning her a disapproving look. She took the wad of paper towels offered to her and sat in the hard plastic chair as she waited to be seen. Jennifer tried to think rationally. It was the shock that made her want to cry, nothing else. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was attacked by a territorial flock of birds. She could hear Will’s words now. That’s what happens when you go into something with blinkered vision, embellished with an overactive imagination. She gulped back the lump in her throat as she avoided the stares of the other patients, their sideways glances confirming that she looked a state. She thought about what she would say if someone like her turned up at the police station, shredded clothes, bloodied skin, and a wild look in her eyes. She’d be thinking mental health issues before they even got the chance to speak.
She stared forlornly at the floor and a pair of blue Crocs came into her vision. The skinny young man smiled apologetically at the other people in the queue and signalled her into a cubicle ahead of them.
Jennifer sucked in a breath as he peeled off the layers of blood-soaked tissues from her right hand. She was grateful for his kindly face. His dark eyes were tinged with shadows, and he looked as overworked as the rest of the staff she had seen that night. She knew the feeling. Thoughts of work made her heart flicker as she remembered the real reason behind her woodland excursion. The man responsible for the murders was still out there, and she had to get back to the investigation. The doctor’s voice broke into her thoughts as he looked up from under his thick wavy fringe.
‘This looks nasty, what happened?’
‘I was attacked,’ Jennifer blurted out the words. Her voice sounded strangled, and she took a deep breath to steady herself.
‘Attacked? Have you reported this to the police?’
‘No. It was a flock of birds. I was in the woods, I must have stumbled upon a nest or something.’
The young man frowned as he tenderly examined both her hands. ‘It’s unusual to see birds cause so much damage.’
Jennifer sighed. The last thing she needed was the well-meaning doctor reporting her injuries to the police.
‘Well, I’m a police officer, you see, I was investigating a case in the area. I was lost and slid down a ravine in the woods. I guess some of the injuries were caused when I fell over.’
‘Ah, I thought I’d seen you around. Well, this is going to need a couple of stitches, it’s quite deep I’m afraid. You’re lucky you don’t have tendon damage.’
Jennifer sat back as the doctor examined then dressed her wounds. Her right hand was gouged, and her legs and arms were scratched from the brambles. A nurse poked her fingers through the hole in the hood of her coat in amazement. Jennifer shuddered as the ravens crept into her memory.
‘Is there anyone you can call to pick you up?’ The doctor said. ‘You need to rest this hand.’
Jennifer nodded. She would have to call Will. She thanked the doctor and went to the bathroom to clean up, gasping at her reflection. No wonder those people had stared. If this is what she looked like after treatment, what had she seemed like before it?
Will got a taxi to the hospital. It made sense to drive her car back rather than leave it in the car park. He paled as he approached her, his face set in a worried scowl. She had to dilute the truth to save them both grief.
‘I’m OK,’ she smiled. ‘I went to the woods to see if I could find the van and fell down a ravine. I must have disturbed a nest of birds because they started attacking me. It looks a lot worse than it is.’
‘You’re not to go off like that on your own again. Honestly Jennifer, it’s like you have a death wish. There’s a serial killer on the loose and you’re just putting yourself in the line of fire.’ Will winced as he turned over her bandaged hand. ‘And what’s happened to your hand?’
Jennifer hunched over, wishing she had just called a cab and gone home alone. But she was still feeling woozy and upset. She needed a warm set of arms, even if it did come with frantic nagging.
‘They’re just scratches. The doctor gave me couple of steri strips where I gouged my hand on a dead tree branch when I slipped over on the leaves.’
‘Leaves? You must be a bit concussed, there’s no leaves on the ground yet.’
‘Mud, I meant mud. Can we just go home? I’m really tired and I need coffee.’
They went back to her place at her insistence. Her rising anxiety levels meant the clutter she overlooked in Will’s flat would now grate on her nerves. Will left her soaking in a hot bath as he went out to buy food, promising he would leave her kitchen as clean as he found it.
She closed her eyes as she tried to decipher her visit, picking through her experience in an effort to take something positive from her ordeal. This figure, the Raven, he was like her, of flesh and bone, but heavily influenced by something in the forest. She had felt his presence near, so he couldn’t have lived very far away. But with the ravens on his side, he was a lot stronger than she gave him credit for. She had sensed dark sacrifices from long ago, and the land was soaked with blood. Thick with dark energy, it could easily envelop the young or the vulnerable. Help me, Someone, help me, the words that drew her into the forest rebounded in her head. The same words she screamed when the ravens were attacking her. Had the forest echoed her words long before she uttered them? How was that possible?