Rachel had met a man a year ago and had fallen deeply in love. She really didn't know what she was getting into on becoming his girl. He was part of a gang that pushed drugs and anything else they could get their hands on. BUt that she could get past...usually. She wasn't much of a drug user and didn't appreciate it being pushed on her oranyone she knew, especially, her little brother.
Rachel was about 26, pale complected, raven black hair, kind of goth, kind of grunge. Her brother, Jeff, was 20, fair complextion, blonde hair...loves to do his own thing...especially with his 'style'.

Fast forward a few months:
Jeff sits in Rachel's apartment, flipping through the channels. Waiting for her to get home from work, for their weekly get together. They had grown to love them, it was usually the only time they had a real chance to talk. They'd have dinner, rent some movies, pop some popcorn and just bullshit about things that happened the last week...

A half an hour later Rachel shows up.
"Jeff! I'm home." She walks into the living room but no one is there. "Jeff?" She looks around questionably. "That's odd." She turns around.
"Boo!"
Rachel jumps. Jeff stands in front of her holding a mark over his face.
"Damn it Jeff," Rachel yells somewhat serious.
Jeff starts laughing.
So does Rachel. "I swear Jeff, one of these days...I'll get you back." The phone rings. Rachel gets it, "Hello...Hey John," her bf is on the other end. "No..." she pauses. "You know I can't do anything tonight." Rachel looks at Jeff. "Yeah, okay, love you too...bye." She hangs up the phone. "So...what movies did you get for tonight Jeff?"
He walks over to the TV stand. "Lets see...'The Lost Boys', 'The Craft', 'The Crow'."
"The Crow, huh...now how many times have we seen this?" she laughs.
Jeff smiles and shrugs, "Can't get enough of it. But wouldn't it be cool if you could actually come back and put right whatever went wrong?"
"Yeah....but I think you can..."

Later that night:
Jeff and Rachel have settled down to watch the movies.
Shortly after Rachel gets up to get the popcorn.
"Here you go," she says as she sits back down. Jeff belches.
Rachel looks at him. "Oh yeah." She grabs her pop and chugs it. A few short minutes later Rachel lets out a loud belch.
Jeff cringes. "Gees, sis..." he laughs. "I think I'm deaf." He rubs his ears.
The sound of someone clapping fills the room. They look at each other, then turn to where the clapping is coming from.
"Bravo," says a man. Rachel and Jeff recognize him.
"Tom? What are you doing here?" asks Rachels as she stands up.
He just looks at her then Jeff. "Well it seems, you, Rachel, have come across some information that we just can't allow."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh I think you know."
She hears some more noise and looks behind her to see a couple more men. Jeff is now standing close to her.
Tom pulls out a gun.
Rachel grabs Jeff and shoves him behind her, being an over protective sister. "Don't," she says. "What is John gonna say?"
"I don't think he'll say much," answers Tom.
Rachel looks at him confused. One of the other men, known as Peter, grabs her arm and pulls her away from Jeff.
Jeff relatliates. "Leave my sister alone!" he shouts as he tries to get Peter only to be grabbed by another man, Scott, who pulls his gun and holds it to Jeff's
side.
"Listen, you have who you want, let my brother go," pleads Rachel.
"Hmm, let me think," says Tom sarcastically.
"No....hey maybe you told him something." He says as a reason to keep Jeff. Tom takes out the silencer for his gun. Rachel mule kicks Peter who lets her go. She runs towards Jeff, who does the same to Scott. She grabs his arm and runs for the door. Tom aims the gun and fires. The bullet nails the wall beside the door.
Rachel doesn't stop, she opens the door and pushes Jeff through.
"Go, go, go!" she yells. They are stopped in their tracks. Standing before them is a female, one of Tom's people. Jeff and Rachels quickly reverse and run the other way. A shot rings out. Jeff falls to the ground.
Rachel stops and kneels down next to him.
"Jeff," she says somewhat shaking him.
He looks at her with a somewhat blank look. "Go," he says.
Her eyes are starting to fill with tears. Blood is coming from Jeff's mouth.
"Go!," he repeats as best he can. Another shot rings out. Rachel gives Jeff one last look as she takes off.
Only place to go is up to the roof.
"Great," she says to herself. "Just what you're not suppose to do." She runs up the stairs and out onto the roof.. She ducks behind a skylight. Tom and his crew rush out the door. He motions for Scott and Peter to go one way, then him and the girl, Christine, head another way. The door has stuck open.
Rachel waits till they are almost to the other end of the roof. She runs for the door. Tom sees her and shoots. The bullet nails her in the shoulder. The momentum sends her slamming into the railing. She stops to regain her bearings then runs down the
stairs. She stops when she sees Jeff and walks over to him....to find he's not breathing anymore.
"No," she says crying. Kneeling before him, "It's not suppose to end this way."
She hears someone coming up the stairs, turning her head she sees John. She slowly stands, facing him. He looks at her then Jeff.
"What happened?" he asks with concern.
All she can do is cry as he walks towards her. She buries her face in his chest.
Tom and his men appear in the hallway. Before John and Rachel can react they are shoved back into her apartment.
Rachel stands in her apartment surrounded by these people. All the sudden she runs for her room.
"Rachel!" yells John. "No!"
She feels under her mattres for her gun. Scott appears in the doorway, Rachel takes aim and fires. The bullet nails Scott in the arm.
"Shit!" he yells as he backs out of the room.
Rachel stands in the doorway facing everyone. She aims the gun at Christinte, "This is for Jeff." She fires the gun. Christine falls to the floor. Tom and Peter start firing their guns at her. Rachel falls to ther knees, she looks at John.
"You...will be seeing....me...again," she says as she looks at Tom, then falls forward onto her stomach.
Last thing she sees is the crow taking flight on the TV, then blackness.

chapter 2

One Year Later
A crow flies into a graveyard, lands in a tree where it can see the whole graveyard. The ground below starts to move. A hand reaches out of the ground.
Rachel claws her way out of the grave. She lays beside it in pain, in the fetil position. The crow lands on the ground beside her. It pokes her hand with its beak. She looks at it questionably. This urge to follow it comes over her. She tries to stand and stumbles into Jeff's headstone. She stares at it in a daize, not realizing what it is. The crow leads her to
her old apartment building. She slowly stumbles up the stairs. It seems pretty quiet in this place as if its abandoned. The crow lands in front of the door...slowly she pushes it open, a flashback hits her like a jolt of electricity.

Flashback--Jeff and Rachel chasing each other around with squirt guns.

She stumbles into the room in agony.

Flashback--Rachel with John for the first time

She finally falls to her knees crying. "Stop!" She falls back into the couch.

 Flashback--Rachel and Jeff watching movies, specifiacally 'The Crow'.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could actually come back and put right whatever went wrong?"
"Yeah...but I think you can..."
Tom, Peter, Scott and Christine in her apartment, the chase, Jeff's lifeless body, John...not doing anything. Back in the apartment, grabbing her gun and
shooting Scott.

She stands in her bedroom doorway.

 Flashback--Aiming the gun at Christine. "This is for Jeff." Firing the gun, Christine falling to the floor.
Then the bullets entering her, falling to the floor, the crow.

She falls to her knees then touches her head to the floor. She lays like that for a few minutes before standing back up. She walks back into her room, the crow flies by her landing on the open closet door. She looks at it, questionably and walks into the closet.
She pulls out a longsleeved black shirt and a pair of leather pants. She walks back to the bed and lays the shirt and pants down. As she pulls the shirt off, dirt falls to the floor, then she pulls off her old pants.
Standing there the memory of Jeff's death hits her, tears roll down her cheeks once again.
"Jeff," she whispers.
Slowly she pulls on her leather pants and black shirt.
She walks into the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. Her black hair in tangles and filled with clumps of dirt. The crow lands on the back of the toilet next to the makeup basket. Tilting her head she looks into the crows eyes, then starts digging through the basket. She pulls out some white facepaint and black lipstick.
Feverishly she rubs the white face paint on then the lipstick. ONce done she looks at herself in the mirror and smiles sinisterly. The crow flies back into the bedroom and lands on the floor near the bed and looks under it. Rachel kneels down and looks under to see a pair of combat boots.
She sits at the foot of the bed staring into the darkness. Then lays back and closes her eyes.

***
"I do not know why I go on. I do not search for truth. I do not believe in it. I hope for no ancient secrets from you, whatever they may be. But I beleive in something. Maybe simply in the beauty of the world through which I wander or in the will to live itself...."
~Lestat 'The vampire Lestat'

Her eyes flutter open, curiously she looks around, where did that come from?
Immediatly she stands, putting on her trenchcoat and heads to the balcony. Leaning on the railing she looks down at the street to see Peter. She glares and without thinking she jumps over the balcony railing to the ground below, falling 4 stories. She lands
silently, astonished nothing is broken.
Peter looks over his shoulder, by now Rachel is slowly walking behind him. The crow flies over head. Peter steps into an alley as Rachel nears the alley he grabs her, trying to rob her. He holds a knife to her neck.
"You won't find anything," she says unemotionally.
He turns her around to face him.
"What the?"
She blinks then kicks him in the crotch, doubling him over. Then she nails him in the back with her fist. Once he gathers himself she allows him to stand. He stares at her then lunges at her with his knife. She swiftly moves out of the way causing him to fall into
the building wall. He turns around, leaning against the wall. Rachel grabs him by the neck, staring into his eyes.
"Who the hell are you?!" he practically yells.
"You mean you don't remember me?" She stares into his eyes more intensly.

 Flashback--Peter firing the gun

"Wait...I know you..." he gasps.
She smiles sarcasticlly. "Really? And who am I?"
"Th...th...the girl John was dating."
She laughs lightly. He cheap shots her and punches her in the gut. She releases her hold on him and doubles over. She starts laughing hysterically as she stands
up. She turns to face him.
"Nice hat..." she says as she takes it from him and puts it on her own head. "What do you think? Is it me?" She pulls the brim down to slightly cover her eyes. She grins and drop kicks him.
He lays on the ground, severaly beaten, Rachel stands over him. "Now...You must die!"
"No..." he gasps.
"Oh yes..."


chapter 3

Rachel stands over the lifeless body of Peter. All the sudden she feels someone staring at her. She slowly turns to see a shadowy figure, then it's gone.
"What the hell?" she shakes her head. She climbs up the fire escape to the roof. As she stands there she feels it again. At the other end of the roof there is a figure. She stares back, motionless. The crow caws and lands on her shoulder. She can see the figure is a
man now that her eyes have adjusted.
"Who are you?" she yells.
The man smirks, the crow caws again as if warning her. Rachel turns her attention to it and when she looks back the man is gone.

The crow flies over the rooftop.
The familiar sound of Peter Steele's deep voice fills Rachel's ears as she nears Scott's apartment. From the fire escape she waits for Scott to finish up with his 'girl' and sends her on  her way.
Rachel enters through the window. "She's got a date at midnight with Nosferatu..." she sings along with the song "Black No. 1".
Scott whirls around, his mouth open, scared. She smiles as she approaches him still singing.
"Oh lily Munster ain't got nothing on you!" she points at Scott.
He fumbles for his gun in his waist band, then aims it at her. She spreads her arms out.
"Shoot then...Scott."
"How....how do you know my name?"
"All the dead know your name."
Scared, he shoots. The bullet rips thorugh Rachel. As it heals she starts laughing sinersterly.
"You can't kill what is already dead."
Scott fires the rest of the bullets into Rachel.
"Will you never learn," she says as she advances on him.
He starts throwing punches in a futile attempt to stop her. She grabs him and throws him into the wall.
"Listen," she says through gritted teeth. "I won't kill you...at least not yet...I want you to go tell Tom and the rest that they will all have the same fate as Peter."
"Peter? What's happened to Peter?"
She shoves him back against the wall. "Just tell them!"
"Okay...okay."
She releases her hold on him. He stands motionless.
"Now!!"
He jumps and rushes out of the apartment.

The strange man watches the event unfold from the fire escape. Rachel turns to see him. This time she runs to the window wanting to know who this man is. He tries to run but she is just as fast as he is. Just as she thinks she is going to catch him they come to the end of rooftops, the next one being too far away. The man turns towards her.
"Who are you?" she demands again.
"I am a friend." but his lips don't move.
She shakes her head at first not believing what she just saw/heard. Before she can say anything the man is gone.
"Damn it!" she yells.
Shortly there after she heads back to her home.
***

Chapter 4
"It's an awful truth that suffereing can deepen us, give a greater luster to our colors, a richer resonance to out words, that is, if it doesn't destroy us, if it doesn't burn away to optimism and the spirit the capacity for visions, and the respect for simple yet indespensable things..."
~Lestat 'Queen Of the Damned'

The next night
Rachel opens her to once again see the man. She quickly stands. "What the hell do you want?"
He simply smiles and slowly walks towards her. "You're not scared of me are you?"
"Why should I be?"
"Because of what I am."
She looks at him questionably.
"And until last night...I thought you were."
He gave a half smile revealing a fang. Rachel breathed in suddenly, surprised. Which makes him smile more as he stood right in front of her. He put his hand on her
cheek.
"No...I realized what you were...What I always thought was a myth."
She laughed. "I sort of thought that about vampires."
"I know..."
The crow flies through the window, lands on the bed and caws. Rachel quickly looks at it.
"Excuse me," she says as she runs to the window. "I understand...."


Tom's Place
"What is wrong with you?!" Tom demanded of Scott who was pacing frantically.
"Last night..." he started. "...Last night, somebody, painted up with a white face, threated all of us."
"What do you mean?"
"She had a message...she said that we'd all end up like Peter."
"Peter? So...this person did that to him?" he wonders in astonishment.


Rachel runs across the rooftops once again.
Christine exits a store with a pack of cigarettes in her hand. She lights up then gets in her car.
Rachel jumps/floats down to land on the roof of the car with a loud thud.
Christine quickly stops the car and gets out, but nothing is there. She shrugs, and gets back in.
"Excuse me," Rachel says now sitting in the passenger seat.
Christine screams, she didn't notice anyone else was in the car. "What the hell are you doing in my car?"
Rachel looks at Christine who looks at her. Christine screams again.
"Yo...you...you're that girl that Scott saw."
Rachel smiles.
"What do you want with me?"
Rachels smile fades as hate fills her eyes. "Revenge!"
"I haven't done anything to you!"
"Oh...I beg to differ!!"
Christine rushes out of the car.
Rachel stares at her then at the crow that has landed on the car hood. "Why do they always run? They're just postponing the inevitable." She gets out of the car
and runs after Christine.
Christine rounds a corner of the alley only to stop dead in her tracks. Rachel stands before her. She screams again. Rachel shakes her head in response.
"Why are you doing this to me?!?" Christine pleads.
"Why?" Rachel lunges at her pinning her against a dumpster. "You murdered my brother!"
"I...I didn't do such a thing."
Rachel punches her in the face. "Think again."

 Flashback--Jeff running down the hill, Christine taking aim...Jeff falling to the floor.

Rachel threw Christine through the air, she against a far alley wall. Christine clenchs her eyes shut in pain.
"Oh...did that hurt?" ~seething with sarcasm~
Christine looks up at Rachel as she heads towards her. Recognition covers her face. "No, no..." She claws at the wall trying to get away.
"Oh, what's wrong now? Afraid of death!"
Christine pushes herself against the wall, trying to become invisible. Rachel laughs at her attempt.
"Too late, my dear...You sealed you fate a year ago."
"No...I'm sorry...I didn't..."
"Didn't what? Mean to shoot him!" At that Rachel starts pummeling Christine.


All the sudden Rachel is grabbed and lifted off the ground. Slowly they lower onto a rooftop. She is turned around to face the vampire. He smiles.
"What was that all about?"
He points down to where Christine lies. A policeman on foot has found her. Rachel turns back towards him.
"I could have gotten away."
He shakes his head still smiling.
Rachel can't believe it, she may be dead but she is starting to have these feelings for this...vampire.
"Rachel...hello..." he waves his hand in front of her face.
She looks up at him. "Speaking of that...I don't even know your name."
He smiles. "Ambrose."
All the sudden a vision from the crow - - John walking down the street. A car pulls up beside him and Tom gets out.
She breathes in sharply.
She sees they have a friendly conversation and John gets in the car with Tom. She slightly loses her balance and Ambrose catches her. Tears stream down her cheeks.
"No!"
Ambrose sits down holding onto Rachel, rocking back and forth. "Shhh..."
"I can't believe it...he's with Tom...th...that means only one thing..." she trails off.
Ambrose picks her up and takes her back to the apartment.
***

chapter 5

Rachel opens her eyes. The sun is coming up and Ambrose is nowhere to be found. The scene of Tom and John replays in her mind. She can't rest, she must find John.
She heads to his old residence. Peering in the window, there is John fast asleep. She growls in the back of her throat.
She perches on the edge of the mattress, wating for John to wake.
He rolls over, opens his eyes, spots the figure at the end of his bed and sits straight up in bed.
"Why?" she growls through gritted teeth.
"Why?...Who are you?"
"What? This corpse does not have a familiar face?" She stands. "You let them do it!"
John gets out of the bed, studying her. "Rachel?" he questions.
"Ding, ding, ding and you win the million dollar question..." she smiles sinisterly.
"But you're dead."
The smile fades. "No thanks to you!"
"I had nothing to do..."
"Please...one; Tom is your boss....two; you didn't even try to stop him and three; you'd be dead as well."
There is a long silence.
"Wait...you're the one that killed Peter and Christine and scared the shit out of Scott."
She stares at him. "And guess what...You're next!" She lunges at him.
He pulls out a gun and shoots her as she jumps, it doesn't even stop her. They tumble to the floor. The gun flies out of his hand. The crow lands on the bed, watching. John jumps up and backs up to the bed, looking at Rachel horrified.
"It wasn't suppose to go down like that," he says.
"You're damn right!" she yelled as she stood.
"You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?!"
John has no answer.
"That's what I thought."
The crow pecks at John's hand. "What the?" He backhands it, sending it flying.
"Woah," Rachel goes flying backwards. Rachel stands up shaking her head. She dusts herself off and looks at the crow. "Would you get out of here." The crow caws and flies out of the room. John looks at her in disbelief.
"What? You forget about the Crow movies Jeff and I loved."
She attacks him again. He manages to find the gun and aimss it at her.
She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Haven't you already learned that won't work!"
He doesn't care, he's too scared. He empties the gun in her. She starts laughing and lungest at him again.
He screams.
"Bye, bye....my love."

She lays John's lifeless body on the bed, gives him a final kiss and heads back home to sleep.


That night when she wakes up she feels someone pressed against her with their arm wrapped around her.
"Finally," she hears as she rolls over.
She smiles slightly. Finally she asks, "What are you always following me around?"
He looks away. "To tell you the truth...It started before they killed you."
She furrows her brow questionably.
"You called me to you....There was just something there, that I liked."
She sits up with her back to him, legs dangling over the edge of the bed.
"It was the fact that you believed in us the way you do." He moved across the bed to her.
"You wanted to turn me into one?"
He sighs. "Not exactly."
"What?"
"I was looking for a friend and if you wanted to become one..." he trails off.
She stands as a vision from the crow hits her. Without a word she leaves.


Tom is on the roof garden of his place, enjoying the view when Scott shows up.
"She got John."
Tom turns and looks at him.
"I found him laying on his bed, with this blood shape of a crow..."
"A blood shape?"
Scott nods. Yes.
"A crow?"
Again he nods. About that time the crow flies by Tom and lands nearby. Scott rushes over to Tom.
"Hello Scott," Rachel says as she stands behind him.
He quickly turns around, before he can do anything she grabs him and tosses him off the roof. Then faces Tom, who is still standing in the same spot.
"Well...if it isn't our Avenging Angel."
She stares at him.
"So...how's Jeff."
Rachel takes a couple steps towards him. He pulls out a gun, quickly he turns towards the crow and shoots at it, nailing it.
Rachel feels a burning sensation as the crow flails around. He turns back, grinning. Before he can shoot
Rachel kicks the gun out of his hand. She lunges at him but he moves, she runs into a bench. She looks at the crow, it's laying motionless.
"Well isn't this great," she says to herself.
She gets beat up pretty good, the next thing she knows Tom pushed her and she heads over the edge of the roof. She quickly scrambles to catch herself.
Suddenly she feels hands around her waist and starts to float back up to the roof.
Ambrose slowly puts her down on the roof, out of the view of Tom.
She turns and faces him. "Following me again, huh?"
"Listen I'm sorry about earlier..."
She puts her finger over his lips, "Shhh."
Before he can react she turns back to Tom.
"Are you sure you can make it?"
She clenches her eyes shut in pain...her whole body is hurting. "I must."
He watches helplessly as Rachel walks out of the hiding spot and approaches Tom.
"I'm not done yet."
Tom whirls around and looks at her in disbelief. She puts her hands together to form a bird.
Tom looks confused.
Rachel lungets at him again. Even with this burst of energy, without her powers from the crow she is no match for him. He tosses her off him.
Rachel lands on her stomach near Tom's gun. She reaches for it as Tom walks towards her. Quickly she rolls onto her back aiming the gun at him.
She grins evily. "I may not have my power..." she cocks the gun. "...and I may be dieing..." she starts shooting 'till the gun is empty and Tom lays dead on the roof.
She slowly lowers the gun as she lays down. She turns her head as she coughs, letting the blood fall from her mouth.
Ambrose runs over to her.
Rachel lays there staring into the night sky, feeling her life slowly slipping away. Ambrose leans over her, all he can smell is her blood. He clenches his eyes
shut, then looks down at Rachel.
She stares up at him and as if she knows what's on his mind she gasps, "Do it."
Ambrose looks at her questionably.
"Do...it..."
He kneels down and pulls her into his arms. He pierces her neck. Rachel wraps her arms around him tightly. Ambrose finally pulls away, then bites into his wrist
to open the vein for Rachel. She grabs hold of his wrist as the blood fills her mouth.
She stares into the sky with her vampire eyes. Seeing things more clearly now. She slowly stands and stares at Ambrose. She smiles a fanges smile before they head
out into the night....