Between Love And Hate

Chapter Thirty-five

It had been fifteen long minutes since Raven left Janelle upstairs in her room. She must have finished getting ready. But something felt awfully wrong and Raven couldn't put a finger on what it was. She could only feel it.

Leaving the dinning table, Raven ran up the stairs, calling Janelle's name out, loud and clear. After her fifth call, and she'd gotten no reply, she rushed to her door.

Janelle's old clothes lay in a corner, her phone wasn't there, the bathroom door was open, and her shoes weren't sitting close to the bed, like they had been earlier on.

Raven scanned her closet in haste and found her favorite hoodie and pair of shorts missing. Confused and filled to the brim with fear, she picked up her phone and dialed Janelle's line as she jogged out of her room and down the stairs.

"Something's wrong, Dad. I can't find Janelle. I left her in my room while I came downstairs... I'm not sure where she's gone off to." Raven called as she dashed into the dinning room.

"What the...! Are you sure she's not in the house somewhere?" Her father asked, face squeezed and hands tightly gripping his fork and spoon. "I'm certain dad. I called phone her seven times already. It ain't going through." Raven answered.

Barnes and Jones exchanged knowing looks. "Jace couldn't have come in your property, it's heavily guarded and there's a lot of security cameras. So, the only logical reason I can put forth is that Janelle has left here of her own free will." Barnes said.

"How could she? Dang it! She must have heard us talking about it and opted to run away from her problems instead." Raven cussed, breathing heavily.

"If I'm correct," Jones started "Jace must have found her already and is looking for a way to contact you."

Raven's face fell immediately. She'd never been more afraid of losing someone like she was now. Pulling her hand through her hair, she felt something wet slide down her face. A tear.
Something so rare.

She wiped it before anyone would notice. She jumped in a fright when she felt her pocket vibrate. Pulling her phone out, she found a video. At first, she was scared to press the play button. But she had to.

The video showed Janelle, tied up and lying on a bed, before someone poked their face up the camera,

"I'm definitely sure you know who I am. And oh, I know you definitely are a crackling fire right now. Dear dear, don't get mad. I found her wandering off on her own and I decided to change my plans."

Jace's voice only fueled her anger more, and Raven almost broke the phone as she had a tight grip on it. But Jones took it from her before she could completely break it. Jace's voice continued nonetheless.

"you have just half an hour to get here. Don't involve the police, or our little baby doll here pays for it. Don't try anything stupid too. We have a lot of unfinished business, Raven Grey. The address of the place will be sent to you shortly. Don't bother replying. Ta-ta."

The phone went dead and blinked only once when a new message came in. Barnes gave Raven a pair of earrings, one had a camera and the other had a tracker and then a wireless speaker so he could contact her.

"You just go there and try to keep him talking. We'll come around with back up. Okay?" Jones said, arms folded. Raven nodded.

Raven only had the chance of picking her pen knife, boxing rings she hardly ever used, leather gloves and leather jacket before leaving the house with her father's 2011 Ducati bike.

The hideout Jace had chosen was as usual, stupid. It was an old warehouse at the far end of town, completely neglected and it was obvious, even though the place was surrounded with people, the warehouse would completely be ignored since it had been out of use too long and people hardly went there.

Raven had a second thought, Jace's brains had been useful lately, he was no longer as daft as she'd thought he was.

Getting off the Ducati, Raven marched to the door. She pushed it forcefully until the old rusty locks gave way and she walked in. At the far end was Janelle, tied up and on the other end was Jace, his face more ugly than Raven could remember.

"You've come! Welcome! Take a sit." Jace said, pointing at a rusty looking chair for Raven to sit down. She did nonetheless. She just had to, Jace had the upper hand. He had a fully loaded gun sitting in front of him and if she tried anything stupid, Janelle was to pay for it.

Jace got up excitedly, clapping his hands together, a crooked smile on his face. "I thought you'd not come. But here you are. Never mind that, she told me anyways, that you'd come for her." He said as he walked towards her, gun in his right hand and a rope on the other.

Raven said nothing, even though every now and then her eyes would glance at Janelle and then go back to Jace, she still said nothing. She'd mentally formulated a plan.

The wireless speaker Jones had given her vibrated in her ear, she hated the tiny thing already, it was scratchy and made her uncomfortable.

"Keep him busy, Raven. Keep talking to him. Do anything, anything at all. Just keep him busy."  Jones' voice came from the scratchy speaker.

"What exactly do you want, Mr Hemingway?" She asked quietly.

"You!" He answered, "I want you out of our lives!"

Raven chuckled, amused by his answer. "It's ironic. That's exactly what we want. We want you out of our lives. You just won't go, you've become a leech, a bloodsucking parasite." she spat.

She'd expected the slap. She didn't protest when he started to tie her up, she could easily break the chair. And even after everything, she still had a cocky smile on her face.

"You don't have to do this. Your stupidity surprises me everytime. But anywho, I came here to get my girlfriend. Why don't you just hand her over so we can leave without any problems at all." Raven said again.

Jace hit her face again. But Raven still wasn't pissed in the exact way he wanted her to be. "You're not leaving here with her. You're not leaving here alive either." He said.

"Really now? Are you the one writing people's destiny now?" Raven asked, still amused.

"Yes. Yes, I'm the one writing your destiny now." Jace answered, pointing the gun at Raven's head.

"Raven, if you can hear me, try to distract him. We'll be there in a few minutes. He's definitely had something cooked up. Spoil his plans."  Jones' scratchy voice came from the other side again.

Raven turned in her seat, raising her head up, she smiled at Jace. "Do you know why I love the rainbow?" She asked him.

Jace stared weirdly at her, "it's the only reason why I love rain fall. Because, after every heavy rain fall, there's a rainbow. Mum used to say it's a sign of God's promise, ya'know? To never drown the earth again. Unfortunately I'm not God and I don't keep promises." She paused, her facial expression turning serious and cynical.

"That has no relevance to what we're doing here though. But, Jace, you're holding me, a seventeen year old highschool kid at gunpoint, while I'm tied to a rusty old chair that I can easily break. We could make this easier. We could do this a different way. I'm giving you an easy option, drop your gun and we can use our fists. Except you're a wuss."

Jace squeezed his fist in anger and pulled the trigger. But his bullet missed since Raven kicked his hand just as he fired the gun, slightly changing the direction of the bullet to the old ceiling. The ear splitting sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.

With just enough force, Raven pushed herself up and then back down, breaking the rusty chair. Jumping back up, she smirked at a surprised Jace as the ropes supposedly holding her to the chair fell off.

"Now, Jace. Let's get this party started..." Raven said as she got into a fighting stance.