It's in Your Face But You Can't Grab It

Raven's P.O.V.
I watched Zacky take our son up the stairs to Rachel. Damion's face was frightened. I wish he didn't have to go through all this.

Lance started to struggle against his restraints so I tightened my grip. He gasped for air and started clawing at my arms.

"What do you want me to do?" Brian asked me.

"Call the cops I guess," I replied. Lance jerked again at my words causing me to smirk. "Don't like that idea do you? Well, you should have thought about that before trying to kill me and then attempting to kidnap my son!"

I squeezed again and held it for thirty seconds before letting up. There was no way I was going to let this asshole off easily.

Brian returned moments later. "The phone lines are dead."

I growled. This was just great. "Go find a cell phone then." He nodded and headed up the stairs.

"I bet you're enjoying this aren't you bitch?" Lance gasped angrily.

"To be honest, yeah I'm enjoying this quite a bit actually."

I saw him smile. "Well, I hope you've gotten your fill because this is where it ends."

"Huh?" But before I could question him further, Lance drove his back into me and shoved me into the wall. Sharp pains shot through my shouders and the back of my head. The shock caused me to release him from my death grip. I gasped in pain and closed my eyes. I heard Lance cackle as he ascended the stairs.

I placed my hand on the back of my head and felt it was wet. I brought it back in front of me and saw there was blood on my fingertips. I groaned. The second time he's made me shed blood.

I got up slowly and started up the stairs after him. I heard screams from up there and I dased up the remaining stairs two at a time. I bolted down the hallway and stopped at Rachel's doorway.

In the room, Rachel was holding the kids and they backed as far back on the bed as they possibly could be. Zacky and Brian were ready to fight an advancing Lance. When I looked closer, I noticed Lance had that knife again. The blade still had my dried blood on it.

"Stop!" I screeched.

Lance turned his head and smiled wickedly. "I'm glad you're here Raven. Now you can watch me kill your friends."

My stomach churned with the sick feeling of de ja vu. I did my best to ignore it and said, "You're not killing anyone Lance."

He laughed manically. The worst part of it was it was the exact same laugh from the nightmare. I gulped and started toward him.

This is the smartest thing I've ever done; going right toward a guy that wants to slaughter me unarmed.

He turned completely away from Brian and Zacky and headed toward me. I needed to get that knife away from him if I wanted to end this. But how?

Apparently, I got too caught up in my own thoughts and was too slow to react to Lance lunging at me and pinning me to the wall. Zacky and Brian started to come toward us. "If you come over here, he'll kill you!" I warned them.

"Then what do you want us to do?" Zacky asked me. I could hear the exasperation in his voice.

I tried to struggle against Lance, but everytime I moved my shoulders screamed at me in pain. Finally, I gave up. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes for the millionth time in one night. Looks like this could finally be it for me. I guess I've gotten lucky too many times.

"Nothing," I replied shakily. "There's nothing we can do. Just take the kids and get out of here."

I heard almost everyone in the room protest, but Damion and Vivca's came through clearest. They both screamed "Mommy!" at the top of their little lungs.

Lance's face broke out in a triumphant grin. "I'm glad you've seen the light Raven. Now killing you will be a breeze."

"Fuck you Lance," I growled. He scowled and raised the knife. My eyes widened I screamed. He began to bring it down but something stopped him. I wrenched my eyes open to see him looking toward the doorway. Loud barking and the sound on claws hitting wood floor got louder as they came closer. Without warning, Cerberus came flying into the room and tackled Lance to the ground.

"Cerberus!" I shouted happily. I had never seen him like this before; he was pinning Lance to the ground and his mouth was on his throat, ready to clamp shut, ending his life. Lance's knife had flown out of his hand and landed on the floor a few feet away.

I walked over to Lance and looked down at him. His eyes were the size of softballs and he was breathing heavily. "Call the mutt off!" he shouted with fear laced in his voice.

"Now why would I do that? I'm sure if I were in this posistion, you'd show no mercy."

"Please, Raven. I beg you. If you do I'll leave you alone forever. Please, please don't let this dog kill me."

I glared down at him. I was about to refuse his offer, but then stopped myself. Did I really want to sink to his level?

"Cerberus, down boy. Come here." Cerberus removed his large jaws from Lance's neck and walked over to me. I can't believe I just did that.

Lance sat up and stared at me, mouth agape. His shock was immediately replaced by that hideous grin. "You really are stupid Raven."

A quick as lightning, Lance grabbed his knife and had tackled me to the ground. "You fucking bastard! I show you mercy and this is how you repay me?!? I can't fucking believe you! You disgust me!"

"Say goodnight forever." I scowled at him, then smiled. "What are you so happy about?"

"I think you're the one that should be saying goodnight." He gave me a questioning look and at that moment, Zacky swung the lamp he had gotten at his head, knocking him unconscious. Lance's body went limp and he fell on top of me. I growled and pushed him off.

Zacky helped me up and I flung my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up. When he let me go, I walked over to Rachel and picked up Damion and Vivica. They snuggled into me and I hugged them both tightly. I was so glad nothing had happened to either of them.