Free Exaltation by Jamie Magee Page B

extinguish her soul she lashed out, and before he knew it there were flames. Benjamin made it out alive but Rydell took him out of the battle. He had him stowed away in another dimension; as far as Rydell knew he was still recovering from the damage the girl had inflicted on him.
    It was sad really. Rydell liked having him around. Dagen was one of the best mechanics when it came to cars, their fetish, but Benjamin was the only one who could hold up in a race against Rydell. Not that any of them had time for those games these days, but still, Rydell had to secure him away and that burned, gave him another reason to dislike Raven BellaRose.
    Rydell decided then to take care of the problem himself. No one agreed with him, especially Dagen. He thought Rydell should stay as far away from her as possible.
    Rydell knew if the prophecy was right Raven had to kill her marks in order. Rydell was second only to his God, which meant he would be her second to last kill. In other words, Dagen’s fears were pointless; Raven couldn’t hurt him yet, not till the others fell. This was his time to strike. His time to end it before she became a real threat.
    Rydell could not wait to lay eyes on her. In the past he had avoided doing such because he wasn’t sure how strong the connection between him and Revelin was, if Revelin would sense his First was in danger and defend him then take credit for saving the line.
    When Rydell was with Revelin last he was sure he had put enough distance between the pair of them. So much so that Revelin couldn’t see it all, not what Rydell blocked from him. Which backed up Rydell’s gut feeling that handling this on his is own was a gift given to him. A second chance to lead his people the right way.
    Rydell had imagined how Raven looked, though. He was sure she had a hint of red in her long, blonde hair. Was sure her eyes were gray with shards of blue that carried the promise of death. Tall, lean, and mean. Right then he couldn’t tell you why he thought she would look that way; he just knew a woman who looked like that surely could destroy a man such as him without much effort, or she would at least try to.
    He mentioned how he thought this girl looked to Dagen. After giving Rydell a long curious glance he shook his head and said, “King, you’re in for a rude awakening.” He lifted his chin. “Did a girl who looks like that burn you before?” Dagen knew Rydell had always hated his role in the line, but he never understood why. Every once in awhile Rydell would drop a comment and Dagen would push Rydell to tell him about his mortal past, in another realm of life.
    Rydell ignored Dagen’s question. He only vaguely remembered his mortal life before he was claimed as a First. Every once in a while he would dare to think about it, but then an ache would all but rip him open and he would do anything and everything he could to forget about it. Each time the pain stopped any real memories from surfacing.
    He didn’t have time to deal with pain right now, not when he was so close to ending Raven BellaRose .
    Being this close to Raven, in the same building, drove Rydell mad. He could feel the vibration of her vim—it was like a slow deep drum. A beat you marched to as you walked to the gallows.
    Rydell felt the vibration the strongest when he was under the school passing through from one side to the other.
    He had fun in that hallway. There was a hot little number who passed him every day. She only came up to his shoulder and could not be more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. It didn’t take him long to pick up on her innocence. The simplistic emotion that lurks just before an addiction kicks in, just before the lust for exaltation. He knew he could have a ball with her, but he was there for a reason, one he was tired of dealing with.
    The protection spells around Raven were always an issue when reaching her, but the fact that her family was widely respected in the area didn’t help either. It took