Raven's Rise

As soon as Matt Walker stepped inside his quiet little church in the center of Phnom Penh, wrongness prickled at the edges of his awareness. The lights remained off, just as he expected, but the presence of someone else pressed against his senses—someone hiding in the room.

The mere fact that they hid from him turned his stomach. He couldn't see anyone, but he knew they were there.

"Hello?" he called out in Khmer. "Who's there?"

No response. He tried English as well, but still, no answer came. Probably kids hiding away from their mothers. He'd experienced situations like this many times in the past, finding children avoiding their schoolwork or chores, though not usually this late in the day.

No doubt, they hid from him as well, hoping he wouldn't return them to their angry parents.

However, unease coiled in his gut, and even though wayward children seemed the likeliest scenario, instinct screamed that this case differed.

Matt walked across the hardwood floor toward the front of the church and to the light switch. His fingers curled at his sides. He didn't know what he'd stumbled into—only that he had a dinner appointment he now expected to miss.

He used the light spilling in through the open doorway to navigate between the wooden pews toward the front, keeping his eyes open for any trespassers.

He made it to the far side of the room and groped along the wall for the switch. It took a few seconds for his fingers to find it in the darkness, and then he flicked it on.

Nothing happened. The room remained dark.

The door behind him swung closed with a crash, casting him into complete darkness.

A shiver danced across his spine, and he backed up against the wall, willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Someone stood inside the room with him, and his pulse spiked.

"Who's there?" he asked in Khmer. "Come out where I can see you."

"Why would I do that?" a woman asked in English from across the room. She sounded young, with a sultry voice.

"Who are you? Why are you in my church?"

"Maybe I came here looking for God."

She sounded closer this time as if she'd moved across the room toward him. He listened but couldn't hear any footsteps tapping across the wooden floor.

"He does hide in the most unexpected places," the woman said.

"What do you want?"

"I want you, Matthew. You have no idea how much you mean to me."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You make the last piece of my puzzle. The light at the end of my tunnel. Matthew. I like your name. So Biblical."

He eased backward along the wall, one hand trailing the surface. He aimed to move away from the approaching voice and head for a door at the back of the cathedral. One he kept locked, and that exited into a back alleyway.

His eyes still hadn't adjusted to the darkness, and he bumped into a pew while he scrambled through the church, knocking it sideways to scrape across the floor.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, a few steps to his left. "Our fun has only just begun."

"Stay away from me."

"I couldn't stay apart from you any more than a moth can from a flame."

The door to the church blasted open, pouring bright sunlight in once more. A wretched-looking woman stood in front of him, maybe two meters away. She appeared of Indian descent, though pale. Pockmarks and rashes covering her skin and face gave her a sickly appearance.

The woman turned toward the door and let out a laugh when the light came in.

"I wondered when you would show up."

Matt glanced over. Another person stood the doorway. This one silhouetted by the sunlight, which made it impossible to make out the features or see the face.

"Matt, run!" the person in the doorway—a woman—yelled.

The newcomer's arm flew up, and a thunderous roar of gunshots filled his tiny church. On reflex, he covered his ears and stumbled backward, trying to get away from the sound.