The Valkyrie Returns and Slays (Raven)

Chapter 3

In a flash, a teenage girl, eighteen or so, stormed into view, decked out in sleek

black

gear.

The second the doctors laid eyes on her, their hearts skipped a beat.

She looked sharp, even lethal-way scarier than Dane Grayson ever dreamed of being.

Those icy eyes of hers pinned them in place, like their blood might freeze solid just from her stare.

The head doctor snapped out of it first, his face darkening.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he roared. "Get out of-"

"Crack!" He didn't finish.

A scream tore out of him as he went flying, slammed into the wall by a brutal kick.

The nurse drawing Zach's blood gaped, wide-eyed.

One second the girl was at the door; now she was right there, looming over her.

the nearly full syringe,

a small, steely hand clamped her wrist and twisted-gentle, but

pain shooting up her

the

didn't even blink. She yanked the needle free from Zach's arm

care.

to the blood-processing machine nearby, sliding the bag

transfusion line ready, slipping the needle back into Zach's vein with a surgeon's

flowed back into him, and the

the fog in Zach's vision started

his soft voice even weaker now, sweet as melted

This girl didn't look exactly like it-older, harder-but something in his gut said it was her. The sister Grandma swore

syringe,

face-usually a frozen tundra-cracked open,

murmured, voice soft.

brushing his

the door, three of Raven's longtime crew stood frozen, exchanging

on the regular, sure-but they knew it was a mask, a

they gawked, a pack of burly bodyguards in black

Dane Grayson stepped through, with this don't-mess-with-me look all over

clocked Zach's blood flowing back into him and sneered, "Well, isn't this cute. His voice

quiet, he figured. People had forgotten what happened when you

head toward his