A black shape swooped down out of the moonlit sky, flying along at rooftop level above the bustling street below. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen the Raven flare out its wings and come to a stop in mid-air before perching on a street light.

The streets glistened in the light given off by the street lights and the lights of businesses and passing cars. The rain had slowed, but it had not stopped.

With almost supernatural intensity, the Raven studied the people walking along the sidewalks below it. The birds’ feathers weren’t ruffled by the occasional wind gust. Nor did it seem to care about the rain. From time to time it tilted its head from side to side, watching, waiting. Twice, its eyes glowed crimson, as if lit from within by fire. Each time the glow faded, it went back to watching the people below.

Suddenly, the Raven hopped up from its perch, spread its wings, and took off in flight, its eyes glowing even brighter than before. It dived to gain speed and in a quarter of a block, it was flying down the middle of the street just feet above the tops of the cars speeding along below it. It banked, raising one wing and lowering the other, and turned right into a dark alley that it had seen a girl go into moments before.

There, about halfway down the alley was the girl the Raven had seen, surrounded by four men. The girl had pressed her back up to the alley wall so they couldn’t circle behind her, but all four were closing in on her.

The Raven’s unearthly caw caused the ground to shake as it dived down in front of the girl. In an explosion of feathers, the Raven shifted. In its place stood a lithe woman, muscular, but not overly so. She was a head taller than any of the men. Her hair was jet black and hung down to her waist in multiple braids. Her pale skin was unmarred and shone in the light of the full moon.

The men stood around her, their mouths hanging open as they stared at her. One of them licked their lips as they took in her naked body. The woman was completely naked, save for a sword strapped to her back, which she had not touched.

“If you want to live, I suggest you run.” The woman said, her voice little more than a hiss, but it possessed the energy of a thunderstorm.

The air around her seemed to crackle with power, like standing under those large power lines, but with a certain lethality that electricity did not usually possess.

One of the guys laughed at that and moved towards her. He reached out and grabbed her breast, squeezing it.

“Twice as much fun tonight boys.” He said to his friends.

The raven-haired woman placed her index finger against the hollow of his throat. Her nail was pitch black and came to a sharp point.

“I warned you.” She hissed as she pressed her finger into his throat.

The nail cut through his neck like a scalpel. Before he had a chance to do more than gasp, she shoved her finger deeper into his throat, the nail slicing through his throat and into his spinal cord. He dropped like a puppet that had its strings cut.

The woman raised her blood-soaked finger to her lips and licked the blood off her fingernail. The other three men were too shocked to move for a minute.

“Pathetic.” The woman growled. “At least put up a fight before you die, mortals.”

One man shouted and rushed towards her, trying to tackle her. She sidestepped, grabbed him by his hair with one hand and his belt with the other, and swung him around, throwing him at the man that had taken off down the alley. He soared through the air and collided with the running man, knocking him down.

The third man had yet to move. The woman turned towards him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air and pinning him to the wall.

“You were thinking about raping this young woman weren’t you?” She growled.

He tried to say something, but couldn’t get a word out as she was squeezing his throat.

“We have a way of dealing with rapists where I come from.” She said as she yanked his pants down.

She cupped his balls in her hand and began to squeeze them. His eyes started to bulge from the pain as he thrashed around. With a quick sharp yank, she ripped his balls off and let the man fall to the ground. She leaned over him and pried his mouth open wide enough to shove his balls into it.

Partway down the alley, the remaining two men were trying to untangle themselves so they could flee.

She drew her sword from its scabbard as she walked down the alley. Few in this time had heard its like. Instead of steel sliding along steel or leather, it gave a crystalline ring as it was drawn. The alley seemed to darken around it. She kicked one of them in the ribs, sending him flying. The other one was still on the ground, face up. With a quick swing of the sword, she sliced through his gut, parting the skin and muscle like a razer through paper.

She leaned down and stuck her hand inside him, pulling out his guts and wrapping them around his neck.

The last man was on his knees by now, holding his ribs as he tried to stand. She closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, her sword was raised high into the sky. With a cry that caused the lights at both ends of the alley to explode, she brought the sword down, cleaving the man in half.

Sound rushed back in as the woman wiped off her sword and slid it back into its sheath. The sounds of traffic and car alarms, of thunder and people shouting.

Somehow, without bothering with the intervening distance, the Raven woman was standing over the terrified girl. She knelt and placed a clean hand under her chin, lifting her face.

“You are safe now child.” She said, her voice sounding like a rasp on wood.

“Wh-who are you?” The girl asked, choking back a sob.

“Someone that has saved you. Now stand up and let us be away from here before those pesky city guards come.” She said taking the girl by the hand.

“Guard? You mean the police?” The girl asked as she let the woman pull her to her feet.

“Is that what they are called now? It matters not.” She said as she set off down the alley, pulling the girl along by her hand.

“Why are you naked?” The girl asked at last. Her voice still trembling.

“Your kind has lost the knowledge of shape-shifting hasn’t it?” The woman asked. “Never mind, I would know if you hadn’t. When you shape-shift, most things can not shift with you. Only specially enchanted items like this sword for example can.”

“Shapeshift? That’s not real is it?” She asked.

“Of course it is. Has your kind really forgotten everything?” The woman asked incredulously. “What is your name child?”

“Tegan.” The girl said after a moment. “And I’m old enough to drink.”

The woman stopped at the edge of the alley and held her right hand out, palm facing forward, hovering right over the edge of the sidewalk. She said something in a language Tegan couldn’t understand, and the air began to shimmer and ripple outward from her palm. The lights up and down the street all exploded plunging the street into darkness, leaving only the full moon to give any light.

The rippling stopped, and suddenly there seemed to be an arch of woven vines in front of them, through which a dimly lit room could be seen.

“Step through Tegan. It is safe.” The woman said as she lead the way through the arch.

A shout from the other end of the alley drew both their gazes. Standing over one of the dead men were two cops, their flashlights pointed at the man who was cut in two.

“Now mortal. Or they will take you!” The woman hissed, pulling on her hand to pull her through the archway.

“You there, hands in the air!” One of the cops shouted as he drew his gun and fired at them.

The woman yanked Tegan through and held up her hand hissing another word in the strange language. A shimmering barrier formed in front of them moments before the bullet slammed into it making it ring like the purest crystal.

The woman spoke another word and the archway began to unweave itself and in just seconds faded out of existence.

“Are you some kind of witch?” Tegan asked after a couple of moments of silence.

“Your kind has called me that many times, but no child. I am not a witch. I am the Morrigan.” She said, her voice ending with a hiss.