by Amy Sumida
“Not really,” I grimaced. “Raza is a father and parents like to be told when their child is in trouble. It's common courtesy.”
“It's Lord Raza,” Uisdean corrected with a twitching jaw. “And this is not about common courtesy, this is about pacifying a dragon-djinn. Your instincts are smarter than your brain. Think, you idiot extinguisher. Politics between warring courts are tricky but those concerning dragons get downright dangerous.”
“Yeah, okay, I get it,” I snarled as Dylan chuckled low.
“Who is that?” Uisdean tried to peer around me.
“That's Cat,” I waved Uncle Dylan away. “Never mind her. Will you tell Lord Raza about Rayetayah for me?”
“Of course I will,” Uisdean huffed. “I'm not the stupid one. Perhaps I should have called you Simple Seren.”
The crystal misted over before I could say another word and my Uncle Dylan burst out into laughter.
“Really?” I looked at him in disgust. “This is what finally gets you to laugh?”
Chapter Fourteen
“I ordered Chinese food for the trip back,” Tiernan said as I stepped out of Dylan's secret hallway. “They'll deliver it to the receptionist in the lobby.”
“Good idea, I'm starving,” I groaned.
“Bon voyage,” Dylan waved us off.
“Goodbye, Uncle Dylan,” I said sweetly.
“Yes, goodbye,” he sat down at his desk and didn't bother to look up as we left.
“Goodbye, Your Highness,” the secretary said as we went past her.
“Goodbye,” I smiled as we headed for the elevator.
By the time we'd stopped on the second floor and collected Raye and my Guard, then went down to the first floor, the Chinese food had arrived. The receptionist had paid for it with petty cash and assured us that it wasn't a problem, the company would cover it. Well, it was technically my father's money, so I didn't feel bad.
A limo drove us to the airport and within half an hour, we were back up in the air, dining on black bean shrimp and roast duck. We had plenty of room now that most of the passengers were gone and we all stretched out across the seats to get some shut-eye on the way back to Tulsa.
“You will find help where you least expect it,” Raye's voice drifted over to me from a few rows down.
“What's that?” I sat up and looked across the rows of seats.
He sat up too and waved a little slip of paper at me. “It's my fortune from within the cookie,” he smiled.
“Oh,” I laughed. “Where you least expect it, eh?”
“The fortune is a little late,” he shrugged. “It's already happened,” and he laid back down.
I smiled at that and went back to lying on the firm airplane seats, fluffing the horrible pillows Flight staff had given me. Cat was already asleep on the floor beside me and Tiernan was stretched out along my same row, his head laid next to mine. He looked up at all my aggressive fluffing.
“Have you gone soft now that you're a princess?” He teased. “What happened to the hard core extinguisher I first met in Hawaii?”
“Even an extinguisher likes a good pillow,” I huffed and flopped down on the little rectangles of flattened batting.
“Just close your eyes, Seren,” Tiernan laughed. “I have a feeling that we're all going to need our sleep.”
“At least Cat can sleep anywhere,” I sighed.
“Close your eyes,” Tiernan said again as he angled up to look at me.
I did as he asked and felt his fingertips brushing against my forehead, smoothing out my frown. I sighed as he gently massaged my temples and then stroked my hair until I fell asleep. I didn't wake up until we were coming to a jarring stop on the Tulsa runway.
I yawned as I braced myself and then sat up to see that everyone else was already awake and belted into their seats for the landing. Tiernan was seated beside me, smiling at me like he was entirely responsible for the length of my nap. That sneaky fairy must have worked a sleep spell on me.
“I thought I was the only one with sleep magic,” I grumbled.
“I didn't place any magic on you,” he laughed.
“You didn't?” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Nope, I just used my physical talents,” he smirked.
“You should have at least woke me up before we started to land. I could have fallen on Cat,” I grimaced and Cat added her accusing glare to mine.
“You're reaction time is way too fast for that,” Tiernan scoffed.
“Our ride is here already, Ambassador,” Extinguisher Kate came up to us to say.
“Great, the sooner we can get back, the better,” I stood and stretched.
“I agree,” she hurried off.
We followed her off the plane and into one of three waiting SUVs. I sighed as we settled into the back and Cat gave a little whine as she spread across the floor. I knew how she felt; like the journey was endless. We had gone from car to plane to car to car to plane and now to car again.
“We'll be there soon,” I promised her.
And we were. It didn't take long to get us back to the Council House. Which was a good thing because they were in a bit of a tizzy. This was a little surprising since it was now 3 AM in Tulsa; time for sleeping not tizzies. We'd been traveling for more than thirteen hours and I was grateful for that long nap on the plane because without it, I would have been beat. I was still tired from all the travel but at least I was wide awake and ready to face whatever had happened while we were away.
An extinguisher met us at the door and escorted Tiernan, Raye, Cat, and I up to the council chambers. I could hear them as we approached the door; the council members were arguing. We walked in and everyone who was not yelling into a cellphone, stopped shouting to stare at us. Those on phones toned down their voices and the room quieted significantly.
“Ambassador Seren,” Councilman Teagan got up to greet us, relief evident in his voice. “Count Tiernan, please come have a seat. And... Rayetayah, is it?”
“Yes,” Raye nodded. “What's happened?”
“Please join us and we'll show you,” Teagan gestured to the table as he took his seat. He passed some photos to me and I looked them over as he spoke. “The shaman's spell worked and someone in their community died on the seventh day. He was found in his bed with a nasty chest wound.”
The photograph showed a young Native American man, sprawled across his bed with his hand clasped to his chest and his face frozen in a grimace of pain. There was a stick lying on the floor beside the bed; a stick which looked very similar to the ones the shaman had used in his defense spell. I passed the pictures to Raye.
“Do you recognize him?” I asked Raye.
“That's Jay Hocktochee,” Raye frowned. “He's human, completely human.”
“Human?” I lifted a brow and looked to Teagan.
“We haven't been able to get in to view the body yet,” Teagan shrugged. “So I can't confirm that. We were hoping that you would go in and take a look. We don't seem to be able to agree on any other course of action and we haven't been able to get any of our contacts to come through for us.”
“It's 3 AM,” I blinked in surprise.
“The best time to sneak into a morgue,” Councilman Sullivan grinned.
“I just told you, this man is human,” Raye growled.
“No one is doubting you,” I held up my hand. “We need to look at the body to see if it has any clues for us, not just to verify that it's human.”
“Then I'll go with you,” Raye said.
“I don't think that's a good idea,” Teagan shook his head. “It could cast a poor light on any evidence collected.”
“What does that mean?” Raye narrowed his eyes on Teagan.
“It means that someone could suggest that you tampered with the evidence,” Tiernan snapped. “You'll stay here, where you'll be held above reproach, and you'll be happy about it.”
“What about you, you're a twilight fairy,” Raye grumbled. “Won't they accuse you of tampering?”
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“I'm also a Lord of the Wild Hunt,” Tiernan stared Raye down. “As such, I'm entitled to be there.”
“And we'll be sending more extinguishers with you to ensure that everything is properly collected,” Teagan offered.
“We'll take two,” I said decisively. “With Tiernan and me, that makes four. Which is more than enough people to be breaking into a morgue.”
“I thought perhaps you could simply walk right in,” Teagan lifted his brows.
“How's that?” I asked.
“You know, with that whole jedi mind trick you fairies do,” Teagan smiled.
“If there's a morgue attendant, then yeah,” I agreed, “we can render him fairy-struck. But if it's closed for the night, then we're out of luck.”
“A morgue is like Denny's,” Sullivan smirked, “it's open twenty-four hours.”
Chapter Fifteen
“A morgue is like Denny's, eh?” I grumbled as we walked up to the obviously closed Tulsa Medical Examiner's Office. According to the sign on the door, the place had closed at five. Not anywhere near to being open twenty-four-seven. “What do we do now?”
“We need to look at that body,” Extinguisher Kate, one of the two extinguishers sent with us, said. “The ME's office is overwhelmed and underfunded here. Autopsies can take longer than five months to get done. We can't wait that long.”
“Great,” I looked over the nondescript khaki cement building. It looked like a bunch of boxes laid against each other in a weird way, no doubt someone's idea of creativity. I spotted an open window near the top of one sheer wall. “How about there?”
“I can get us in there but what about them?” Tiernan nodded to the extinguishers.
“You'll have to make multiple trips, honey,” I said sympathetically.
“So be it,” he sighed. “Who's first?”
“I'll go,” Extinguisher John Sloane said. He was our other escort. “That way I can get in there and take a look around before the Ambassador goes in.”
“I like that idea,” Tiernan nodded and offered his back to the extinguisher.
Extinguisher John slung his arms over Tiernan's shoulder and Tiernan used his air magic to carry them up to the open window. John climbed in and Tiernan floated back down. We waited a few minutes for the extinguisher to check everything out until he finally popped his head out of the window and waved us up.
Kate went next and then I finally got to go in, followed by Tiernan. Someone turned on an overhead light and I blinked in the sudden glare. We were in a sad, gray room with cracked and yellowed linoleum tiles on the floor and sagging ceiling tiles held in place by numerous bolts, which looked like they'd been recent additions. Mold was seeping through the tired tiles in places and the smell of it competed with the scent of chemicals.
“Is it wise to have a light on?” Tiernan asked.
“We're high enough up that no one will notice,” John shrugged. “And really, who's going to investigate a light in the morgue in the middle of the night?”
“Good point,” I grimaced. “Where are the bodies?” I stared at the cluttered desk and droopy chair which took up most of the small room.
“Across the hall,” John led us out of the depressing room and into an even more dismal coroner's office.
“Does that crock pot have a human bone in it?” I asked in horror.
“I told you they're underfunded,” Kate sighed. “They've been trying to get the state to grant them more money for years.”
“This is awful,” I walked through the room, taking in the tiny broom closet which had a table covered in bones inside it. Behind the table were stacked cardboard boxes with case numbers written on them in black sharpie.
“Here we go, Ambassador,” John pulled out a shelf from the mortuary cold chamber installed in one wall.
On it was a sheet-draped body. Feet stuck out of the sheet, one with a tag tied on to its big toe. I walked over as John pulled the sheet back. Beneath it was the man from the photograph; Mr. Hocktochee. His face was no longer grimacing but that wound was the same, just a little cleaner. There were no others signs of trauma to his face or body but there was an odd tattoo on his chest, right beside the wound. It was a circle with two feathers inside it.
“Two feathers within a circle,” Tiernan narrowed his eyes. “Placed like mirrored opposites, one black and one white.”
“It's probably some kind of Native American thing,” Sloane shrugged.
“The circle is an important symbol for a lot of cultures, often a magical one,” Kate offered.
“You know, psychic gifts were once believed to be magic,” Tiernan added.
“But they're not magic,” I protested. “Humans don't have magic.”
“Not that we know of,” Tiernan raised his gaze to mine.
“Are you implying that there could be actual witches out there that none of us, not the Extinguishers, the Councils, or the Wild Hunt has ever come across?” Extinguisher John asked.
“It's called evolution,” Tiernan shrugged. “Perhaps all the stories of witches, like those of fairies, are actually based on truth.”
“And what; these people just hid for centuries?” John scoffed. “That's a bit of a leap from a feather tattoo.”
“They could be a group of psychics who have been honing their skills for centuries, just as the extinguishers have done. Except their skills altered into magic,” Tiernan said calmly. “Anything is possible. Plus, there's this,” he pointed towards the man's chest.
“What?” John asked as Kate inhaled sharply.
I peered at the body and focused my senses. Dead bodies don't have auras. They're dead so there's no energy there to interact with the environment. Which is why I hadn't thought to look for one. But there was an aura on this body. It was fading, clinging to the chest like it was searching for a heartbeat, but it was there. A deep murky green mist. It flared under my scrutiny and I gave a gasp too, backing away a little.
“What is that?” Extinguisher John stared at the body in morbid fascination.
“It's the remnants of powerful magic,” Tiernan said. “Healing magic but with a darkness within it. I think this is the power that takes life energy from one being and transfers it to another.”
“Why is it still here?” I watched the aura move sluggishly over the body. “Shouldn't it have left when its host died?”
“Some magic lingers,” Tiernan was watching it too. “Especially healing or death magic. Healing magic wants to heal and death magic is attracted by death.”
“And you think this is both?” I asked.
“I don't know what it is exactly,” Tiernan's jaw clenched. “All I can tell from the color and its behavior is that it has healing aspects to it but has been influenced by something darker.”
“Is it dangerous?” Kate asked as she eased forward.
“Honestly, I don't know,” Tiernan frowned down at the body as Kate backed away again. “But it's doubtful. I imagine there would have been some sort of reaction already if it was. And it seems to be fading.”
“Hold on, hold on,” I held up my hands. “So what you're saying is; the Cherokee shaman was right? All those myths are true; there really are witches who can steal life from people?”
“It appears to be a distinct possibility,” Tiernan looked back to the corpse grimly.
Chapter Fifteen
“This is just fantastic,” I huffed. “I've gone from chasing my own fey to chasing witches. Witches! I feel like I'm in the wrong fairy tale.”
“But isn't it better to chase witches than twilight fey?” Tiernan asked.
We were sitting in the back seat of the SUV as Extinguisher John drove us all back to the Tulsa Council House. My stomach was in knots, my hand clenched on the paper evidence bag that we'd stolen out of the morgue's highly secure evidence room (a small closet so stuffed full of evidence that we found the bag tossed on the floor). Inside the bag was the sharpened stick that had been used to kill the possible witch, Mr. Hocktochee.
&nb
sp; “It's better, yes,” I finally said to Tiernan. “But now I have to try and tell the Human Council that not only are humans behind this but they're probably witches.”
“We'll back you, Ambassador,” Kate said immediately. “We both saw that aura.”
“I saw the aura alright,” John agreed. “But honestly, I don't know what it means.”
“But you can at least testify to what you saw,” Kate smacked his arm.
“Of course,” he huffed. “Why would I lie about it? I want to catch the criminals as much as anyone and I don't care if they're human or fairy; they just need to be stopped.”
“I appreciate your attitude,” Tiernan said. “And I don't expect you to support our theories, just stand up and tell them what you saw. We'll take it from there.”
“No problem,” John shrugged and then frowned, leaning forward as we drove down the driveway to the Council House. “What's all this now?”
We all stared out of the windshield at a limousine parked in front of the house. All of the lights were still on inside the Council House, even though it was so late now, it was more accurate to say it was early. Dawn would be lighting the sky soon. The in-between time that belonged to us twilight fey. We drove down the lane along the side of the house, just as the limo pulled away.
Voices filtered out to us through the open back door; anxious voices. I didn't like their tone and I jumped out of the SUV as soon as we stopped. I hurried up to the house, went in through the back door, and followed the strident voices to the foyer. I found myself standing before a crowd of extinguishers. Councilman Teagan was hovering around the edges of the group, calling for calm.
“What the hell is going on here?!” I shouted and everyone went quiet.
“I seem to have caused a bit of a stir,” a sensual voice slid over me, making my throat go dry and other places go... well, the opposite.
Oh, sweet Danu, I didn't expect to see him again so soon and I certainly hadn't expected to have such a visceral reaction to the mere sound of his voice. Tiernan tensed beside me and I instantly felt guilty for my response. I'd been laughing off Tiernan's jealousy over men that I wasn't really attracted to but here was one whom I was... seriously and disturbingly attracted to. Attracted to in that dangerous way; when you know a man would be so very bad for you and yet you still can't help wanting him. That was how I felt about Raza.