Out of the Darkness

I couldn’t wait for the day to be over, it has been so tedious and a complete waste of my time. That is, until she turned up.

We had been interviewing people to join our team of agents all day and we have found no one suitable. I’m serious, they are all either arrogant, stupid, can’t fight or all of the above. We need someone who is smart, honest, experienced and someone who wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing themselves to save others.

I almost spat out a mouthful of blood when she walked in. The response she caused seemed to amuse her. Alexander, James and I all stood up surprised. She nodded to us, placed her application on the table and then took the seat opposite us.

We stared at her, still in shock but after a moment took our seats again. She was a lot shorter than I expected, only reaching about 5ft 3inchs, her sleek black hair flowed just past her shoulders, she wore black skinny jeans with black leather boots to match (which I’m sure hid quite a few weapons), her blood red top showed off her figure, and to top it off she wore a black leather jacket. Her deep brown eyes seemed to twinkle when the light hit them, and in them I saw mischief. I don’t think she came here to cause trouble, although undoubtedly she knew her presence would cause somewhat of an uproar.

“Raven” I greeted her.

“Adam” she replied. Her voice was smooth and somewhat music like. I don’t know what I expected her voice to sound like, the only times I had ever seen her was when she was fighting, I know some of our agents expected her voice to be rough, hoarse and cruel.

Alexander and James still hadn’t quite gotten over the shock of her being here so it was up to me to take the lead. I took her application and began to read. I must admit that it was quite impressive, but then again I didn’t expect anything less. I read through it and handed it to James.

“Are you serious?” he asked me.

“Of course.” I replied.

“But......well......don’t you know who she is?” he said in a hushed voice. It didn’t exactly work out as planned; I don’t doubt that she could here every word no matter how quietly we spoke. She looked amused; James obviously didn’t register the fact that I had greeted her by name so of course I knew who she was.

“Yes James, I do. And your point is?”

“Uh, um well........” I did feel a little pity for him. He is, after all the youngest out of the three of us, he has yet to learn how to hold his tongue when necessary. Alexander had recovered from his initial shock by this point, but added nothing to the conversation. He just stared at Raven, assessing her every move. And she stared right back, unflinching and not bothered by his stare or our conversation.

“James, we have to look at and interview every applicant that comes in here, despite what our opinions are. And besides, today has been boring and uneventful; I do not see the harm in talking to Raven.” I smiled at her and she returned it politely. “I do apologise.” I said to her.

“Not to worry.” By this time both James and Alexander had read her file and I am sure they found it as impressive as I did.

“You have certainly had a wide variety of jobs, these go from photographer, writer, to: driver, hired gun and bodyguard. You’ve also got qualifications in all three sciences, English, maths, electrical engineering, several different languages, Law, business, music technology, computer science, a black belt in Karate, and that isn’t even a dent in all of the subjects that you have listed here, it appears like you have qualifications in almost every subject that exists. I mean some of these can be fitted in to categories but to be honest with you I’m struggling to find a link between them all.” Alexander began the interview.

“There isn’t really a link at all.” was her reply, when we said nothing for a moment she continued, “I try a lot of different things, you would be surprised when a time comes where you need a qualification in something that would usually appear completely random and unnecessary. I’ve learnt that it’s best to get a complete selection of qualifications, it then saves time later on.”

“It also helps to remain hidden, which I’m sure is another of your reasons.” I interjected. She did not reply, only smiled at me to indicate that I was correct with my assumption.

“But to get all of these qualifications you would have had to complete college and university several times. How have you had the time to do all that?” Oh James, so naive. She smiles at him and I think I saw in her eyes a slight spark of amusement, but it was gone again just as quickly.

My guess is that she caught on to the fact that, even though he was a vampire and could have been changed centuries ago, he was indeed the youngest and least experienced. She didn’t answer him and he looked at her with what I could only explain as awe. Wait awe? Ok I think James has a bit of a thing for dark and dangerous here. He seemed captivated by her deep brown eyes, although he couldn’t maintain eye contact for long, it was obvious he liked what he saw. Well who could blame him? She is a very beautiful. As neither of them said anything for a while, I decided I should step in, but before I could, Alexander beat me to it.

“So why is it that you decided to come here today? Did you run out of people to kill?” I looked at him sharply, that was uncalled for. I thought for sure that comment would offend her, but if it did she didn’t show it. She just smiled and said.

“Honestly? Everyone appears to be in hiding.” I knew she was joking around with him, even though I had no doubt that everyone was indeed hiding from her. Alexander was not amused. Just as he was about to say something, Jonathan entered.

“My apologies for interrupting Adam but-” he stopped when he noticed Raven. He stared at her for a heartbeat before coming to the table where we sat, picked up and then read over her file. He placed it back on the table, crossed his arms over his chest and smiled at her. She smiled back, still remaining polite, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one wondering if that was just a facade or if we profiled her completely wrong.

“You are on a trial basis; there are some terms that you will need to agree to as well as some tests, which will include a blood test and testing of your powers. I do not know your reasons for coming here today but I can only hope that it is not to cause trouble.” he sounded so final, leaving no room for argument, only a fool would question him.

“You’re not even going to get her to do the other tests?” go figure. That was James. The tests he mentioned were to physically and mentally prepare a new recruit before they officially joined our team of agents. Jonathan remained calm when he replied.

“I do not see the point as we know she will pass all of them and with flying colours no doubt, as much as we may hate to admit, she is the best candidate we’ve had all day.” Raven said nothing; she just watched the exchange calmly. Each of us seemed to have a different opinion on what Jonathan had said.

Alexander wasn’t pleased but wasn’t stupid enough to argue, he didn’t like the idea of Raven being one of our agents. James still couldn’t believe that Raven was here, I could tell from his nervous demeanour that he didn’t understand why she hadn’t tried to attack us yet. I was taking in everything she said and every movement she made, just as she was doing with us.

Jonathan’s decision concluded the interview and as Raven was our last candidate I accompanied her to the lab, where we would take a test of her blood which we would then use to analyse her powers. When we walked in Jimmy was analysing a sample and didn’t look up as we entered. Raven visibly slowed her pace as we went through the lab; she was looking around at all of the machines and testing equipment we had. We spared no expense when it came to helping super naturals. She appeared to be tense and had a faraway expression on her face. Whilst I didn’t know what she was thinking, I felt the need to reassure her.

“You should know Raven, we mean you no harm.” This seemed to knock her out of her thoughts. She was still looking at the equipment when she replied.

“That wasn’t what I was thinking but thank you that is reassuring to know. I do not mean any harm to you or your people either.” On the last part of her reply she met my eyes and I knew that she was telling the truth.

“Raven, why did you decide to come here?” She hesitated; for a moment I thought she was actually going to tell me the truth.

“Is it not obvious? What do people usually go to interviews for?” well I at least think she wanted to tell me the truth.

“You know what I meant.”

“You already know more than anyone else knows.” was her only response.

“Even your family?” I knew there probably wasn’t much hope for an answer, but I had to ask. Again she hesitated before replying.

“I have no family.” She said quietly.

I didn’t know how to reply. There was an undercurrent to her words that I just couldn’t figure out. Did she mean that they were dead? I had a feeling that she meant more than that. She had a faraway look in her eyes again. I was struggling for something to say when Tom walked in. Raven had her back to the door so he wouldn’t have been able to see who she was.

“Ah, Adam. Alexander said you would be in here. Is this our new agent?” he gestured to Raven.

“Yes, she is.” Raven turned around just as I said, “Tom I would like you to meet Raven, Raven this is Tom. He will be training you and finding out what fighting level you are at.” What surprised me was that Tom didn’t look shocked or scared at the sight of Raven; my guess would have to be that Alexander had already told him.

“Well it is nice to meet you Raven.” Tom said sincerely as he put his hand out for her to shake. She hesitated at first and seemed to assess his actions for a moment but then returned the gesture and shook his hand.

“Ok Adam, what do you need?” that was Jimmy; he was totally oblivious to our conversation. He saw Raven and walked towards her with a smile on his face. He approached her and shook her hand firmly. “Well at last I get to meet you; your work amazes and confuses me at the same time. I must get a chance to talk to you about it.” She just looked confused.

“My work?” she questioned. Jimmy looked to me for permission and I nodded, he would only keep pestering myself and Raven if I didn’t let him speak to her about it now. He went over to his files and pulled a bulging folder out. He laid it on the desk in front of him, pulled a few sheets out and brought them back to where Raven, Tom and I were standing. He handed Raven the file and she began instantly examining it, taking everything in. The last thing she looked at was the picture of the victim. She did a double take and then leaned in to get a better look.

“What the hell? That’s impossible.” she muttered under her breath. “Would you allow me to look at the eyes of this victim?” she asked, her curiosity peaked.

“Why? Do you want to admire your handiwork?” Jimmy asked still with a smile on his face.

“No, I didn’t do this; I wish to see the eyes so I can work out whoever did and how on Earth they achieved the impossible.”

“I know how it was done but, are you sure you didn’t do it? I mean it’s in the shape of a raven- ” He began but she cut him off.

“Yes I realise that.” she snapped. “And I am absolutely sure I didn’t kill this person, I would remember.”

“You remember every person you have killed?” Jimmy asked, disbelief colouring his tone.

“Of course.” She said and Jimmy frowned.

“How?” He questioned.

“How can I not? I remember every detail about the lives I took. Every face, every name, the time, place and date of their death and details of every family member and friend they had.”

“That is one hell of a lot to remember.” Jimmy replied astonished.

“Not really. So can I look at the eyes or not?” Her patience was wearing thin. Jimmy shrugged.

“Sure.” He said as he led her over to one of the tables, pulled a jar down from a shelf, took the eyes out and laid them on the table in front of her. She accepted the rubber gloves he offered her and began examining the eyeball. Although not many would, I actually believed her when she said she hadn’t done it.

“It’s a spell.” Raven stated.

“I assumed, I just know of no spell that is capable of changing the shape of a pupil.” Jimmy commented.

“That’s not what I meant, all the spell did was make it appear to be changed.” Raven explained.

“We scanned it for any known spells-“ Jimmy began but was soon distracted by Raven circling her hand around the eyeball, after a few seconds, the eye once again looked normal.

“Perhaps you need a new way of detecting spells.”

“So it really wasn’t you trying to make it look like you changed the shape of someone’s pupils?” Jimmy asked again just to be sure.

“No, I’m kind of insulted that you would think I’d do something so tacky though.”

“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked her as he put the eyes back in the jar.

“I hate false appearances, if I wanted people to think that I had changed the shape of someone’s pupils, then as impossible as it is, I would attempt to actually change the shape. Not just make it appear so. Also, I see no point in starting to mark the people I kill now, after all these years.” She said to him.

Silence fell; no one really knew what to say to that.

“Come on then, we have much to do. Raven it is time to do your tests now.” she grimaced but did not complain. Both Jimmy and Raven stripped their gloves and disposed of them. Jimmy gestured for Raven to sit on the medical table whilst he got the needle ready.

“Just relax your arm” he instructed. She did as he said but as soon as the needle came in contact with her arm, the needle snapped. And I meant literally it snapped! We all looked to her for some kind of explanation.

“My apologies, I forgot about that.” Forgot?

“That’s ok, don’t worry about it.” Jimmy said, whilst he turned around to prepare another needle Raven took a large, thick knife out of her boot which confirmed my earlier suspicions. I wonder what else she has stashed in her boots.

Jimmy was certainly surprised and froze instantly when he turned back around and saw the knife in her hand, but she did not attack.

“Ready?” she asked Jimmy. He looked confused and she gestured to her arm. Lowering the knife to her arm Raven broke her skin with the point; she did not wince at the pain although any normal person would. After getting over his initial shock, Jimmy lowered the needle to the hole in her skin that the knife was still keeping open and filled the syringe with her blood. As soon as he removed the needle Raven followed suit and removed the knife, as soon as she did this, her arm healed. And after wiping away the blood that trickled down her arm, there was no trace of what just happened.

However, with us all being super naturals, this is nowhere near the weirdest thing we’ve seen.

“Good luck trying to make anything of it.” Raven said, gesturing to her blood.

“What do you mean?” Both Jimmy and I asked as one.

“Many have tried to make sense of it, but a load of idiotic scientists messed with it and since then I haven’t come across a single soul that can make heads or tails of it.” She explained.

“Scientists messed with your DNA? How long ago did this happen?” I asked, I wasn’t trying to be nosy I just wanted to know who could be so stupid, not to mention that messing with someone’s DNA is against the law, even in the super natural community. She paused as she thought for a moment.

“I’m not entirely sure how long ago it was. Maybe five or six years?”

“Five or six years? Well who are they? And do you have any idea where they are? If so, then we can find out what they did and who else they did this to. They need to be stopped.” I said to her, shocked by the idea that they could still be experimenting on people’s DNA.

“Well I think finding them will be quite difficult and a waste of time.” She stated.

“How so?” I asked.

“Well their main goal was to create weapons out of people. I was the only successful subject at the time. However, they really should’ve thought ahead.” I didn’t completely understand and looking at Jimmy’s and Tom’s faces, it appeared that I wasn’t the only one.

She rolled her eyes at our cluelessness but continued anyway.

“They were creating weapons out of us, weapons of destruction. They just didn’t for see my......opinion of what they were trying to turn me in to. When I realised what was going on I lost control and went in to a blinding rage. I killed them all and destroyed all of their equipment, their laboratory was in the middle of the ocean so they could stay undetected and they kept all their notes on paper. So when I got angry I ended up sinking the lab and all of their notes were destroyed.”

She paused and looked down at her hands. It was obvious that she regretted her actions that day, although I am unsure whether she regrets killing them or not. “The rest of the subjects were humans, they didn’t survive the altercations to their DNA.” She added.

Wow. Raven has only been here for a couple of hours and already I have learnt so much about her. I have no doubts that she will still remain a mystery to us for some time though.

We didn’t talk any more about the scientists or the laboratory; although I’m sure we were all curious, but she had opened up to us and we didn’t want to push it. Jimmy finished the tests and I began to fill Raven in on some things she would need to know about working here.