Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2017 12:52:43 -0500 From: Girl Lover Subject: Ultimate Surrender Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The three hour drive to Weatherford was a tortuous silence to both Raven and Kala. Kala couldn't bring herself to even look at Jennie. For the first time in her life, instead of feeling the pride of the Burning Angels, she felt ashamed. She didn't need to see Jennie's face, she felt it. The fear in her eyes seared in her mind, forever condemning her. Raven's face was emotionless as she glanced in her side mirror for any signs of the police. Like Kala, she felt the condemnation of having been exposed to Bonnie for what she really was. She didn't know what she could say. How would Bonnie see her now? Shortly before noon, they pulled into another seemingly empty motel outside of Weatherford and everyone dismounted. "That was reeeal smooth!," Jadis said sarcastically as she walked up to Raven and Kala. Glaring at Bonnie and Jennie, still sitting on the bikes, she exclaimed, "I knew we shouldn't have brought those fuckers! I knew they were going to fuck things up!" With the other women glaring at the girls menacingly, Diamond growled, "We should get rid of them!" Alarmed, Kala and Raven gripped their guns, strapped on their legs, as their eyes narrowed at the threat. The roar of other bikes broke the standoff as the other groups pulled in. Jadis walked over to Bonnie, grasping her chin, "Nooo...Maybe they can be of some use to us after all." Raven snatched her hand away, growling, "She's mine!" "We share everything...remember?" With the other women, staring at her and nodding in agreement, Raven had to back down. "Diamond, Lucia...," Jadis called, "Collect the money and bring it inside." Diamond and Lucia went around to each group, collecting the backpacks of each group's haul from the banks that they had robbed. Jadis took Raven's and Kala's backpacks and headed into one of the motel rooms along with Diamond and Lucia as the other women dispersed. Some headed into the motel rooms, others remained behind in the parking lot in clusters off in the distance, occasionally leering at Bonnie and Jennie, who had gotten off the bikes and were standing close together. Raven and Kala turned to look at the girls as they stood wide-eyed and quiet. Both of their faces were fearful and Jennie's eyes were weepy. Raven and Kala looked at each other, their faces silently asking how could they fix this. "Bonnie...," Raven began, then stopped, not knowing how to proceed. Raven called quietly, "Bonnie, c'mere." Bonnie didn't move. Sighing, Raven walked toward Bonnie, who retreated a few steps. Raven stopped and crouched down, speaking quietly, "I...." Bonnie's voice was quiet and fearful, "Why did that woman shoot that man?" Raven looked up at Kala, at a loss for words, then turned back to Bonnie, still speaking quietly, "I didn't want you to know about this. This is who we are...and this is what we do." "You shoot people and take their money?" Jennie whispered to Kala, "I thought you were nice." Raven blinked a few times in condemnation and stood up. Kala whispered to Raven, "I can't do this. Jennie is everything to me. And now...she's afraid of me." Raven didn't say anything. "I can't live this way." Raven looked at Kala, "What're you saying? That you want to leave?" "If it's a choice between Jennie or this life, it's her." "The Burning Angels are our family." "She's my family now!" "You know the code." Kala stared sternly at Raven, whispering "Fuck the code! I don't want it! This life is not for Jennie...and it's not for me!" Then Kala asked, "Who's more important to you, Bonnie or them?" Kala walked over to Jennie and crouched down before her, "Jennie...I'm not like those other women. I am nice," she held out her arm, "Please...." Jennie slowly walked over to her and Kala hugged her, holding her close. "I wanna go home," Jennie, on the verge of crying, said quietly in her tearful voice. "We will," Kala promised her. Standing up with Jennie in her arms, she told Raven, "Tonight, me and Jennie are going back to Austin." Kala turned around, walking towards the lobby to get a room. Completely frustrated, Raven sat down on the asphalt, one knee pulled up as she laid her forehead upon it, closing her eyes and wondered how love could fuck up her life so much. Several seconds later, she felt something touch her arm. Looking up, she saw Bonnie beside her. Before Bonnie could say anything, Raven spoke, "Bonnie, this is not who I am. I'm sorry I got you mixed up in this. It's just that...I've been with the Burning Angels almost half my life. They're the only real family that I've known; the only people I've ever been close to...until I met you." Raven took Bonnie's hand, "Tonight...,I'll take you back home, either my house or yours." "Why can't we leave now?," Bonnie asked. "Because I don't want the others to know we're leaving. Once it gets dark, that'll give us about a ten hour head start." Raven took a deep breath, then said, "I'm sorry, Bonnie. I never wanted you to be afraid of me or think that I'm...a bad person." Bonnie knelt down on her knees and hugged Raven. As Raven wrapped her arms around her, she knew where her loyalty lay. She took Bonnie's hand and headed for the lobby where Kala was. Walking in, Kala told her, "Room 106." They quickly found it and went inside. "What's the plan?," Kala asked. "Once it gets dark, we'll leave. Jadis will be pissed, but won't bother looking for us. She'll be too busy in Fort Worth and Dallas." ***** A few hours later, the girls were bored and seeing a park with a playground across the parking lot, asked if they could go play on the playground. Seeing as how the girls were already found out and how they couldn't keep them inside all day, Raven and Kala took them to the playground. As Raven and Kala sat on a bench, watching them play, Lucia walked up to them, telling Raven, "Jadis wants you and Maya to scope out the routes for the next job in Fort Worth." "Why? Diamond already checked it out." "Jadis wants to make sure nothing goes wrong tomorrow." Raven looked over at Maya straddling her bike and turned back to Kala, "Guess I'll be back in a couple of hours." She walked over to Maya asking, "Why does Jadis want the routes checked out again?" "I don't know," Maya answered curtly, "Let's go." Raven got on her bike and they took off. Lucia then held up a paper map and told Kala, "We need to plan out the schedule for next week, what banks to hit and in what order." She walked over to a nearby picnic table and unfolded the map. Kala knew it was a mute point to plan out any future holdups since they were leaving, but had to keep up appearances to avoid suspicion. Kala glanced at the girls swinging on the swings and stood up, walking over to the table as Lucia unfolded the map. Taking out a red marker, she began circling spots on the map while consulting the list of banks that she had written down while Kala began measuring the routes. Several minutes later, Bonnie jumped off the swing, "I'm going to the bathroom!," as she ran back towards the room. When she reached the door, she took out the key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Leaving the key in the knob, she ran into the bathroom, pulled down her pants and panties, and quickly sat down. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief as the pressure on her bladder was instantly relieved. Wiping herself, she flushed, stepped out of the bathroom and instantly froze as she saw the hard eyes of Jadis looking at her. Jadis closed and locked the door, and began slowly walking towards her. "You caused a lot of trouble today...," her raspy voice giving Bonnie chills, "...and what good are you? What can you offer?" Bonnie stepped back, bumping into the sink counter behind her. Bonnie turned toward the bathroom, but Jadis' arm shot out, blocking the doorway. Her hard eyes held Bonnie like a snake holds a frightened mouse in its gaze. She grabbed a handful of Bonnie's hair, causing her to gasp, "You think you can just interfere with our business and not give anything in return?" Dragging Bonnie over, Jadis threw her on the bed. Bonnie tried to scream for help, but was quickly stunned with a quick punch to her face. As she layed limply, Jadis looked down on her hungrily with a glint in her eye. ***** Outside on the far side of the parking lot, Kala looked up from the map on the table to check on the girls. Seeing only Jennie on the swings, Kala shouted, "Where's Bonnie?" "She went to the bathroom," Jennie shouted back. Kala glanced across the parking lot at the closed door of their room, then turned back to the map to continue going over the routes with Lucia. ***** Raven's bike raced down I-20 alongside Maya. Something was troubling her about having to visually check the routes. It didn't make sense. They've never done it before, why now? As the minutes went by, the uneasy feeling grew stronger. A feeling of impending danger to the girls. Finally, Raven couldn't ignore it anymore. Waving her arm at Maya to get her attention, she pointed to the approaching exit off the highway and then pointed to herself and then behind her; telling Maya that she was going back. To Raven's amazement, Maya shook her head and pointed straight ahead down the highway; telling her to continue on instead of turning around. Raven waved bye and took the exit. In her mirror, she saw Maya following her. After making the U-turn under the highway bridge, Raven sped up, getting back on the highway, heading west, back towards Weatherford. Maya caught up to her, pointing back towards Fort Worth. Raven shook her head. Then Maya reached down and pulled out her Glock, leveling it at Raven. For several seconds, Raven just stared at Maya in shock. The Burning Angels had had disagreements before, but they were a family. It was against the code to threaten another Angel. `What the hell is she doing?!', Raven asked herself, `Threatening to shoot me for refusing Jadis' order?!' As Raven looked into Maya's eyes, she did not see the camaraderie that should have been there. Suddenly Jadis' voice came to her, `Maybe they can be of some use to us after all. We share everything... remember?' Raven's eyes widened in terror as it dawned on her what was happening, then they narrowed at Maya in fury. As she saw the determination in Maya's eyes, in one motion, she let go of the throttle with her right hand, causing the bike to slow down enough so that she was behind Maya, and drew her gun. Maya fired, but missed as Raven's bike went behind her. Raven fired and did not miss. Maya slumped over as her bike first began to wobble and then went down, sliding along the road at eighty miles per hour. Raven sped by it, watching Maya's body sliding on the road in her mirror as she raced toward Weatherford. Raven's grief over the sudden loss of her friend was quickly pushed aside by the anger of Maya's betrayal to her. Raven knew that Jadis was vicious, but never thought Maya would do anything like this. If Maya was trying to get her out of the way, that meant that Lucia was in on it too and who knows how many others. The girls were in danger; maybe Kala too. They couldn't wait till tonight. They had to leave now. Pushing her bike up to over 120 mph, the five minutes that she had to ride seemed an eternity. She prayed that Kala and the girls were alright. As she approached the motel, not wanting to be seen, she shut off the engine and opened the clutch, coasting silently down the road and into the motel parking lot on the other side from where the rest of the gang were parked. Turning her bike around so that she was facing the road, she quickly jumped off and ran to the corner of the motel, peeking around the corner to scan the area. Seeing no one on the end of the rectangular motel building, she crept to the far corner and peeked around. About fifty feet away from the end of the building was a pavilion with a table that Lucia, her back to Raven was huddled over. On the other side of them, about fifty feet further, Jennie was on the playscape, alone. Where was Bonnie?! Narrowing her eyes at Lucia, Raven ran towards their room, hoping to God that Bonnie was there and alright. Upon reaching their room, Raven flung opened the door and her stomach dropped. On the bed, Bonnie was laying face down, sobbing, with her pants and panties pulled down around her ankles. A bloody stain discoloring the bedsheet between her legs. "No!...No!...No!...," Raven cried as she ran to the bed, gently rolling Bonnie over. Her nose and lip were bloody and when Bonnie opened her eyes and saw Raven, she threw her arms around her tightly, burying her face in her neck, sobbing, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...." Her eyes clenched tightly shut as her own tears coursed down her cheeks, Raven held her, whispering, "Oh God! I'm here, Bonnie, I'm here. Why did I bring you?!" As Raven held Bonnie, her hands clenched tightly together in anger over what her family did. Her rage taking over, she pulled herself away as Bonnie tried to hold on, but Raven pulled her off and stood up, muttering under her breath, "I need to go do something." Bonnie looked up at her through her tear-streaked eyes and tried to get off the bed to follow her. "Stay here!," Raven told her gruffly. "Where are you going?," Bonnie asked apprehensively. "Stay here!," she repeated, walking out and closing the door behind her before Bonnie could say anything else. Raven walked straight toward Lucia, whose back was to her, as she and Kala concentrated on the map spread out before them on the table. Her eyes narrowing in rage as she walked quickly but silently towards her. Her fists clenching and unclenching, her breathing quickened as her fury built up. Kala, on the other side of Lucia, glanced up and saw Raven creeping up on Lucia. Kala's eyebrows raised questioningly at Raven's behavior, then her eyes widened as Raven put her finger to her lips. As Kala continued to watch, Raven's hand went behind her back, drawing out her boot knife from her waistband, then quickly pulled back Lucia's head, slit her throat and slammed her on top of the table. As Lucia bounced off and rolled off onto the ground, Kala, her face a mixture of confusion and shock, cried out, "WHAT THE FUCK?!" "It was a setup! We're leaving now!" Looking over at Jennie, she called out, "JENNIE!," and waved her over. "What do you mean?!" "Jadis sent me off with Maya while Lucia distracted you so the girls would be alone." Jennie ran over, gasping at the sight of Lucia lying on the ground, a large puddle of blood pooling beneath her. "Let's go!," Raven told them. They ran back to their room. As Jennie walked in and saw Bonnie's bruised and bloody face, she gasped. "Oh shit!," Kala whispered under her breath, "What happened?!" "Jadis!," Raven answered flatly. "I thought she just came in here to use the bathroom...I didn't know...," Kala said. "That's what Lucia was wanting you to think," Raven replied. She went over to Bonnie, telling her, "We're leaving now. Can you walk?" "I-I think so." Raven helped pull up her panties and pants as she tried to explain, "I w-was going to the bathroom and when I came out, that woman with the grey stripe of hair on her head was here...and...and...she grabbed me...and..." Interrupting her, Raven blurted out, "We need to leave now." Taking her hand, she went to the door, her Glock in hand and peered out. Looking at Kala, she asked, "You got our bags?" Kala nodded. "Jennie!," she exclaimed quietly. Jennie, who had been frozen in shock at seeing Bonnie, jumped. "Come on!" Raven stepped out, followed by the others. "Take your bike and the girls to the other side of the motel." "Where are you going?!" "To kill Jadis!" Kala's eyes widened, "Are you crazy?!" "Look what she did to Bonnie!," Raven exclaimed fiercely, "You think I'm going to let her get away with that?!" "You can't fight Jadis without fighting all of them!" Raven replied, "If that's what it takes!," then she turned and started walking away. Kala grabbed her arm, in a last effort to stop her, "She'll kill you!" "She already has!" Raven shook off her arm, telling her, "GO!," then she walked briskly towards the stairway. Kala went back to the girls. "Where's Raven going?!," Bonnie asked frantically. "To take care of something," Kala replied, "Come on." Taking the handlebars of her bike, she wheeled it to the other side of the motel with the girls walking beside her. Then she set Bonnie on Raven's bike and Jennie on her bike and stood by uneasily. ***** Raven quickly ran up the outside stairwell to the second floor, then with her gun ready, she walked stealthily along the empty walkway towards Jadis' room. Kicking open the door, she immediately fired two shots at the figure standing by the bed, dropping her instantly. As Raven walked over and looked at the body on the ground, she saw that it wasn't Jadis after all, but Zia instead. Knowing the shots would have alerted everyone, she quickly grabbed the two large duffle bags that were laying on the floor by a pile of empty backpacks. Sliding her arms into the shoulder straps of one of them, she pulled it on like a backpack and grabbed the other one. Running out the door, she threw the duffle bag in her hand onto the roof, then climbed up on the railing, and pulled herself up onto the roof. Snatching up the bag, she ran to the other side of the motel and dropped it onto the ground below, then lowered herself down onto the second floor walkway, then climbing over the railing, she dropped down to the ground below. Running over to her bike, she quickly strapped the duffle bag onto her bike. "Did you do it?!," Kala asked. Raven didn't answer. Seeing Raven wearing one duffle bag and strapping another one on her bike, she asked, "What's that?" Raven didn't answer that either. After the bag was tied down, she climbed on, and with Kala, they raced out of the parking lot onto I-20 East. As they rode, Raven thought furiously as to where they were going. Signaling Kala, they got off the highway and turned north onto South Main Street. The slower speed limit in town infuriated Raven, but she didn't dare attract any extra attention from cops looking to bust speeders in their quiet town. A few minutes later, she turned left onto Palo Pinto Street, heading back west. Kala didn't know where Raven was heading, only following her blindly. About ten miles later, Raven saw what she was looking for: a small dirt road leading off the highway, off into the countryside. Signaling Kala to slow down, she slowed down and turned onto it, being careful not to slip on the loose dirt. A mile down the road, there was an abandoned, ramshackle barn set about fifty feet from the dirt road. Raven steered her bike toward it, driving inside and parking. After Kala followed, Raven got off and pulled the door mostly closed, leaving it cracked to let in light. Carefully lifting Bonnie down, she poured some water from her canteen onto a rag, then carefully wiped Bonnie's face. When she finished, she grimaced at what layed next. Sitting down, Raven said, "Bonnie...I need to look at your vagina." Bonnie nodded her head and Raven unbuttoned her pants and slid them down, along with her panties. Raven wiped away the dried blood from between her thighs and tried to be careful, wiping along her vulva, but Bonnie still gasped in pain. "I know it hurts," Raven said quietly as she cleaned off the blood and inspected it for any signs of tearing. As Raven finished, she had to wipe the tears from her eyes before she could pull up Bonnie's clothes again. Raising up on her knees, Raven pulled Bonnie to her, hugging her tightly as her tears flowed again. "I'm so sorry, Bonnie...I didn't think..." Raven was unable to continue. The guilt was too much. It wasn't just Jadis that hurt Bonnie. She was just as responsible. Several feet away, as Kala and Jennie were watching them, Jennie asked Kala quietly, "What happened to Bonnie?" "One of those mean women hurt her. Don't ask her what happened. If she wants to tell you, she will, but I don't want you asking about it, okay?" Jennie nodded. A few minutes later, Raven pulled away, asking, "D'ya feel alright?" "My missy hurts," Bonnie said quietly. "I know," Raven grimaced at the reminder, "Bonnie...I'll never be able to apologize enough for what happened to you. It's my fault and I'll do everything I can to try and make it better." "But it wasn't you," Bonnie told her, "It was that woman..." "It's still my fault. Go play with Jennie. Me and Kala need to talk awhile." Bonnie walked over to Jennie while Raven stood up, watching her silently. "What the hell are we doing here?!," Kala's stern voice asked quietly from behind. "Hiding," Raven replied, still watching Bonnie. "Why? I heard the shots. Jadis is dead. The Burning Angels are nothing without her." "Jadis isn't dead." Raven turned around, "I killed Zia...and Lucia...and Maya." With Kala's mouth slowly dropping in shock, Raven added, "Also, we need to hide cuz of this..." She walked over to the duffle bag strapped to her bike, pulled off the other duffle bag from her back and unzipped both of them. Kala's eyes loomed in her head as she stared at dozens of bundles of cash in both bags. When she was finally able to find her voice, she mumbled quietly, "The loot. You took it." Raven nodded. "YOU BITCH!," Kala screamed at her, startling the girls, "SHE'S NEVER GONNA STOP HUNTING US! We're dead! We're fucking dead." "Jadis will hunt us regardless! I killed three Burning Angels! We're traitors! Besides, we need the money for food, gas and hotels." Grasping her head in anxiety, Kala moaned, "Shit, this is so fucked up. What're we gonna do?" "Run. That's all we can do." As Kala went over to the door to keep watch for any Burning Angels that might be coming, Raven walked over to the girls, "Girls..." Bonnie and Jennie looked up at Raven. "We're going to spend the night here." "Here?!," Bonnie asked incredulously, looking around at the dirt and straw floor. "Yes, here. We're camping out." "But where are we going to sleep?," Jennie asked. "On the ground." Bonnie and Jennie looked panic-stricken. Bonnie protested, "But...there's bugs." "And snakes," Jennie quickly added. "It'll be alright," Raven assured them. "Where do we go to the bathroom?," Bonnie asked. "Over there," Raven pointed to a stall at the far end of the barn. The girls looked at the stall, then back at Raven in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding," Bonnie stated, "Why can't we stay at a hotel or go back home?" "Look, I know it sucks, but tomorrow we'll get a hotel, okay? Now,...go...go play." "Where?!" "I don't know. Try to find something to do." Raven walked back over to Kala at the door. Kala glanced over as Raven approached, "How'd they take it?" "Weren't very enthusiastic. Hear anything?" "Nah. Not a sound. Good thing about this barn is that it's so far from the highway, you can hear anyone approaching." "Yea. We'll do three hour watches tonight. You wanna go first?" "Sure." Turning to look at the girls, she saw them inside one of the stalls and called out, "Girls, stay out of the stalls. There might be snakes." Jennie immediately ran out, frightened, while Bonnie stayed, exclaiming, "Cool! I wanna see a snake!" Raven smiled at her fearless reaction before telling her, "Bonnie, get outta there!" Turning to Kala, "Jennie's so different from you." "Yea," Kala watched Jennie as she watched Bonnie wide-eyed, as she looked for snakes, "She's the opposite of everything I am. But, that's what I like about her." ***** A few hours later, the light began fading with the coming night. Raven and Kala took turns at the doors, constantly listening for approaching bikes as they watched the girls. Boredom had set in long ago for all of them and so Bonnie was reading her book to Jennie, who was becoming ever more anxious with the growing darkness as she listened to the ghost story. After a while, Jennie came up to Kala, "I'm hungry." "I know," Kala replied sadly. There wasn't any food on their bikes. She and Raven could do without food for the night, but it was harder for a nine year-old to. Going over to Raven, who was staring out the door, she asked, "What are we going to do about dinner?" "Nothing," Raven replied flatly, not even glancing at her. "The girls need to eat." Raven whipped her head around, snapping at her angrily, "Don't you think I know that?! You think I want to sleep in this fucking barn?!" The girls looked up at Raven, clearly worried. "Hey," Kala said quietly in an effort to calm her down, "It doesn't help things to scare the girls. It's just that...we need to take care of them." "That's what I'm doing. I'm keeping us alive," Raven muttered, "Jadis will be combing this whole area looking for us. If any of us leave, we'll be spotted. Tomorrow morning, she'll have moved on and then we can get something." Kala nodded and walked back to the girls. Both looked concerned over Raven's outburst and Bonnie asked, "Why's she mad?" "She's just worried." "When are we going to eat?," Jennie asked in her small voice. "In the morning, we'll get some breakfast." Their disappointed faces broke Kala's heart. Pulling Jennie to her, she hugged her, whispering, "I'm sorry." She hated having to tell them that they couldn't have anything to eat, but what else could she say? They continued to occupy themselves as Kala and Raven took turns standing watch. Inevitably, the girls felt the need to pee. Being how the barn was darker with the approaching night, Jennie looked fearfully at the darken stall that had been designated the bathroom and held her pee for as long as she could, but nature won out and she found she couldn't hold it anymore. Holding her crotch desperately and squeezing her legs together, her antics soon attracted Kala's attention. Seeing the look of trepidation on Jennie's face as she stared at the dark stall, Kala went over and took Jennie's hand and walking her over, using her phone's flashlight to light it up so Jennie could see that there wasn't anything there. Unable to hold it anymore, Jennie took a few steps, yanked down her pants and panties, and just as she squatted down, a torrent of pee gushed from her, creating a puddle which quickly soaked into the ground. Normally, Jennie would have been mortified about peeing in front of someone, but since Kala had seen her naked so many times and because she was so desperate to pee, she didn't care. Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked for something to wipe herself with, but couldn't find anything. "There's no toilet paper," Kala explained, "We'll take care of it later." Jennie stood up, pulled her panties and pants back up and quickly ran out of the stall. ***** Raven stared out the crack of the door as she listened to the steady drone of the cicadas. It was a clear night and she was able to see the three stars that made up Orion's belt in the sky. The girls had fallen asleep hours ago, wearing her's and Kala's jackets as makeshift blankets and the folded jeans from their packed clothes as pillows. Kala had her arm around Jennie as they both slept. As Raven looked out into the darkness, she suddenly tensed up and drew her gun as the far off whine of a motorcycle reached her ears. As it faded away, she slowly relaxed, but kept the gun in her hand. She turned around, facing Kala and the girls and slid down along the wall so she was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall with her knees drawn up, staring at Bonnie as she slept on the dirt floor of a decrepit barn in the middle of the countryside. Her subconscious guilt and grief, that she had buried, came out. First as a few tears, then as crying. She tried to stop, then unable to hold it in, just let it pour out of her. It was her fault. All of it. She brought Bonnie to the Burning Angels. It was because of her that Bonnie had been raped. It was because of her that Bonnie was sleeping on the dirt in a barn. She used to have a nice bed, a beautiful house, a full belly and her innocence. Now, all of that was gone. And there was the matter of a ruthless gang trying to kill them. Bonnie had trusted her and she had betrayed that trust. After several minutes, her eyes were dry and she just sat there, staring at Bonnie. Sometime later, Kala woke up and after carefully getting up so she wouldn't wake the girls, she came over and sat down beside Raven. For a while, neither of them spoke. "So much has changed. I never thought anything like this could ever happen," Raven said quietly, "The Burning Angels have been my family since I was 15. We were a sisterhood. Maya was one of my best friends. I've known her for almost 10 years...and she was willing to kill me. Now she's gone. Lucia, Zia...they're gone too. Everything's gone. And look at us...where we're at...," Raven nodded her head toward the sleeping girls, "...because of them." "You don't regret them, do you?," Kala asked. "No, of course not. They didn't do anything. It's just that...I don't know...I sorta wished I hadn't brought her." "It wasn't them or you. It was Jadis...and the other Burning Angels. If Jadis hadn't done anything, Diamond sure would've. The Burning Angels were your family. Now, you have a new family."