Raven-Mocking (Book 3 in the Twilight Court Series)

by Amy Sumida

  “Remember this the next time you wonder who I want,” I rolled again so that he was above me. “You're the only man, I've ever given up control to.”

  And he took that control. Tiernan lifted us higher into the air, tangling our bodies in ways that would be impossible on solid ground, and our passion rose with us. We soared through ecstasy like acrobats and when I finally fell into screaming relief, he was there to catch me with hands and lips and magic. So much magic.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “If you cover that up, I'll spank you,” Tiernan came up behind me as I was looking over my reflection in the mirror. He'd left a love bite on my neck. Not a hickey but a definite mark. He leaned in and laid a kiss right over it.

  “You realize that this is childish behavior?” I turned in his arms to give him a saucy look.

  “I would hope that no child has ever done what we just did,” he teased.

  “I guess I deserve to endure a little male marking after the way I behaved,” I sighed. “But don't do it again.”

  “Don't pant after Raza again and I won't have to,” he grinned.

  “Fair enough,” I sighed and pulled away from him. “Come on, we better go check on the dragon. I think we've left him alone too long; he may have eaten half the Tulsa Council by now.”

  “He's probably running the Human Council by now,” Tiernan huffed as we left the room.

  “You gotta admit that was kind of funny,” I shook my head. “The way he sat in Teagan's chair and took over the meeting.”

  “I think your council friends would call it terrifying, not funny,” Tiernan grimaced.

  “He's not going to hurt anyone,” I scoffed as we headed downstairs and then out to the backyard.

  “No,” Tiernan agreed and then added, “not unless they try to hurt his son. Then there will be blood, lots of blood.”

  “And fire probably,” I nodded. “I guess we have another reason to prove Raye's innocence.”

  “I didn't need one, I already believed he was innocent,” Tiernan huffed as he opened the back door of the Council House for me.

  “I know,” I took his hand as we went down the hall. “I did too but witches... Tiernan, this is huge. What if there's another secret society-”

  “What the hell do you mean; there's another secret society living right beneath our noses?!” A voice screeched and we followed it into the library.

  “We are fairly certain there are humans who have developed magical abilities,” Teagan said calmly into a speaker set before him. He was seated at a central table in the massive library, with Councilman Murdock beside him.

  “Sir,” Murdock jumped in as Tiernan and I took seats at the table. “The evidence presently points to it but we cannot be one-hundred-percent certain as yet. We simply wanted to apprise you of the situation.”

  “If we are correct,” Teagan took over, “and there are indeed witches living among us, then it would make sense that they had a society of their own, hiding in plain view. The tattoo points in that direction but I assure you that we will investigate this until we discover the complete truth.”

  “I'm sending my own investigators to assist you,” the voice coming through the speaker box said. “You will allow them access to everything you discover.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Teagan said immediately but he rolled his eyes as he did so. “Just tell me when to expect them and I'll have a team meet them at the airport.”

  “My secretary will phone you with the details later,” the line went dead.

  “Well he sounded lovely,” I said brightly.

  “That was Reginald Murdock,” Teagan grimaced, “Head of the Human High Council.”

  “And my Uncle,” Councilman Murdock added with a grin that was part remorseful and part proud.

  “Oh damn,” I widened my eyes. “And he's sending his investigators? What does that mean exactly?”

  “He has a team of extinguishers whose talents are geared towards investigations,” Teagan explained. “Precognition, psychometry, telepathy, and advanced clairvoyance; that sort of thing. They're very good but very annoying.”

  “So they're literally a bunch of know-it-alls,” I rolled my eyes. “What could possibly be annoying about that?”

  “As long as they find out the truth, I don't care how annoying they are,” Tiernan said.

  “Count Tiernan,” Murdock grimaced, “you may end up eating those words.”

  “Councilman Murdock, I have a feeling very few people don't annoy you,” I teased him.

  “That may be true,” he gave me a little smile. “But I tend to get even more irritated when the annoying party can read my mind.”

  “Telepaths,” I sighed. “Right. They are annoying... and usually crazy. I didn't think we had any sane ones left.”

  “Only a few,” Teagan scowled. “And the ones on Murdock's team are barely holding onto their sanity.”

  “Great, crazy mind readers,” I huffed. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

  “Well hold onto your knickers, little girl,” Councilman Murdock chuckled. “Because we found that symbol.”

  “You found it?” I sat forward in my seat.

  “Ah-yup,” Murdock nodded but it was Teagan who explained.

  “We Googled it,” Teagan pushed a print out over to me. “Found it on a site devoted to magical symbols. Two feathers, back to back, one white and one black. It's the symbol for a group of witches known as Flight.”

  “Bird witches?” I asked dubiously.

  “The name implies some sort of flying ability,” Teagan nodded. “But we're not sure. We've had to wade through massive amounts of information.”

  “All the bullshit we once thought was... well... bullshit,” Murdock added.

  “Yes, thank you,” Teagan gave him a disgruntled look. “He's right, though,” Teagan looked to us. “All of this occult stuff was never interesting to us because we thought it was just a bunch of people running around naked in the dark, chasing shadows and calling on old gods. We never believed that they could hold some true power.”

  “And now?” I lifted a brow.

  “Now we're concerned,” Teagan sighed. “If there are real witches, we have no idea what they're capable of. All of the stories could be true. In which case, we'd be royally screwed.”

  “Alright, let's think about this rationally,” Tiernan offered. “Say they are super powerful. Say all of these spells and occult knowledge you uncovered is true. Power like that would be hard to hide, why haven't we seen any evidence of it?”

  “Maybe we have,” Teagan offered. “Maybe we've seen lots of evidence but simply covered it up because we thought it was fairy magic.”

  “Oh crap,” I whispered. “Just like this raven mockers thing. What if we've extinguished innocent fairies?”

  “Let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Teagan gave my hand a pat. “We make every effort to investigate crimes before we issue a warrant. I was thinking more of crimes that have gone unsolved.”

  “I see your point,” Tiernan frowned. “Still, they've made no move against the Human Council. Perhaps they simply want to be left alone?”

  “Left alone to kill people?” I lifted a brow at him.

  “There is that,” Tiernan grimaced.

  “We will handle this,” I said to the councilmen. “No matter what it is, we'll handle it. If we have to, we can call the Wild Hunt in to assist us.”

  “That's true,” Tiernan nodded. “If humans have inherited some kind of magical ability from the fey, that means the abilities would most likely be weaker than their source.”

  “What do you mean?” Murdock narrowed his eyes on Tiernan.

  “He means that no matter how powerful these witches are, the fey are more so,” Teagan smiled.

  “And you've dealt with the fey for a very long time,” I added.

  “So we can handle the witches,” Teagan nodded.

  “Unless you're wrong,” Raza said from the doorway and we all turned startled eyes his way.
/>
  He strode in and took a seat beside me, sending me a sly smile. His eyes coasted over Tiernan's bite and his smiled widened. He chuckled, glancing at Tiernan and shaking his head.

  “What do you mean?” I prompted.

  “Princess Seren of Twilight,” he drew my name out with a sexy purr. “Think of your people. What happened when seelie mixed with unseelie? Or better yet,” he leaned towards me. “What happened when twilight mixed with extinguisher? Was the result less or more powerful than the originals?”

  “Oh sweet firethorns,” I turned my magic's name into a curse.

  “Exactly,” Raza waved his hands out to the sides. “It could be precisely as you've surmised and the witches are poor shadows of the fey. Or they could have compounded the magic into something greater than it was, twisted it into something new. Like a new race,” he waved his hand back to the door, where Raye stood. “Or a new power,” he waved his hand towards me. “Magic is so unpredictable.”

  “Just like you,” I muttered under my breath. But Raza heard me and smiled.

  “Exactly, Twilight Princess,” he confirmed. “Just like me.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “So how do we find these witches?” Teagan asked.

  It was hours later and the rest of the Council, as well as a couple of high ranking extinguishers and my Guard, had joined us in the library. Food had been brought in and then leftovers taken away, arguments had ensued and been settled, plan after plan had been proposed and shot down. We had no idea what we were going to do.

  “The shaman,” I whispered.

  “What was that, Ambassador?” Sullivan focused on me.

  “The shaman,” I said louder. “Sweet Goddess, we're idiots. That man performed magic and we witnessed it. He's a witch. He may call himself a shaman, but it's just semantics; he's a magic user.”

  “She's right,” Teagan blinked. “I had just passed it off as psychic talent when I first saw the video but in light of this new information, I believe the man might actually possess some magic.”

  “Might?” I lifted my brows. “What we saw on the video wasn't telekinesis or clairvoyance; it was a spell. That human cast a spell and laid a trap for a raven mocker. Only, he didn't catch a raven mocker; he caught another witch.”

  “Witches fighting witches,” Tiernan mused. “So not only have we discovered a secret society but also a war among them.”

  “Sounds familiar,” Raza smirked.

  “Perhaps we should leave them to it,” Murdock shrugged. “Let them handle their own.”

  “While some of them kill humans?” Teagan gaped at the other councilman.

  “Our job is to monitor the fey,” Murdock said grimly. “Not other humans. People murder people everyday and we do nothing about that. This is not our fight.”

  “It involves magic,” I said before Councilman Teagan could reply. “There isn't another police force capable of handling magical criminals. We have a responsibility to the world.”

  “Why?” Murdock asked simply.

  “Because we have the knowledge,” Teagan took over for me. “Because; When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one.”

  “The true Edmund Burke quote,” one of the other councilmen nodded in appreciation.

  “Well, you have to admit that the variant of; All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, is pretty catchy,” Teagan grinned. “But it boils down to the same truth; we are good or at least, we try to be. But if we ignore this, I don't believe we'll be able to call ourselves the good guys anymore.”

  “This is a lot of debate over a simple question,” Raza said in a bored tone.

  “I don't believe this is simple at all, Lord Raza,” Teagan argued.

  “Head Councilman,” Raza sat forward, “war is always simple; you kill or be killed. But first, you must decide whose side you are on. Now, I ask you; on which side do you intend to fight? Are you for the witches or the humans?”

  “Simple?” I huffed as the humans in the room groaned. “You just made this so much more complicated.”

  “I fail to see how,” Raza sipped at the glass of red wine someone had brought him.

  “They are all human,” I explained. “And we cannot condemn all witches on the act of what might be a small fraction of their kind. So far, we have very little proof but what proof we do have points at only one person, and that person is dead.”

  “Then find the rest of these tattooed bird witches,” Raza put his glass down with a thump, sloshing the liquid inside. “Get your proof, clear my son's name, and kill the guilty!”

  The room went silent but something snapped in me and I got angry. I was a fairy now but I was still human too and I took exception to Raza intimidating my people.

  “Enough!” I sat forward and slammed my hand down on the table, startling everyone, including Cat, who had been asleep at my feet.

  “Pardon me?” Raza cocked his head at me.

  “Your presence is being tolerated due to the circumstances and your title, Lord Raza,” I growled. “But I've had enough of these barbaric displays intended to subdue us into compliance. You are not in charge of this investigation, you are a guest. We welcome your help and your insights but cut out the bad ass behavior or I'll send you packing. Understand?”

  Silence. Deep, horrified silence.

  “I have never,” Raza leaned forward and set his intense gaze on me, “been so attracted to another being in all of my existence.”

  Awkward, tense silence. Then coughing. Someone cleared their throat. Actually, I think that was me.

  “Yeah, that's not going to work for me either,” I finally said. “Stop with the sexy,” I waggled my fingers over his provocative expression, “sultry, sensuous, seduction routine you got going on. I'm with Tiernan and I'm a one-man kinda girl.”

  “Are you now?” Raza chuckled. “Sexy, sultry, sensuous,” he laughed harder. “That's a lot of S words, Princess Seren. I think you're enjoying my seduction routine and I think there will come a day when you change your mind about the one man restriction you've imposed upon yourself. But,” he held up his hand when I started to protest. “I can be patient and I'm a beast at heart, so I love a good chase. Go ahead and run, my sweet Seren. I'll catch you in the end.”

  “Holy shit that's hot,” a female extinguisher breathed a half second before Tiernan stood and drew his sword.

  I gaped at the shining, razor-sharp steel tip, just a half an inch from Raza's throat. Raza simply smiled and lifted a brow. His eyebrow caught the light and a single red hair was revealed among all the black. I was fascinated by it. A crazy kind of fascination, like I needed to focus on something inconsequential, anything other than the fact that my boyfriend was about to slay a dragon for me.

  “We are fey and we find multiple lovers, even multiple spouses, to be socially acceptable,” Tiernan said casually as his forearm flexed and the tip of his blade swung lower, to hover over Raza's heart. “So I will forgive your previous flirtations with my lover. But now she has made her intentions clear and revealed our monogamous commitment to each other. Yet you insist on pursuing her. You say you're a beast at heart. Well, persist in chasing Seren like prey and I will hunt you. We'll find out exactly what kind of heart you have.”

  “Twice in one day,” Raza laughed as he stood. “It's been centuries since someone has stood up to me and now I find it done twice in one day. Thank you for adding some entertainment to this taxing business.” He bowed to Tiernan. “My deepest apologies for any insult I may have offered you or the Princess. I fear I have been given my own way for far too long and have lost some manners in the process. I will try to be more courteous in the future.”

  I released the breath I'd been holding as Tiernan nodded stiffly and sheathed his blade. His hand slid over my shoulder comfortingly as he passed by me to take his seat. I just stared at Raza as he too sat down and gave me a wicked wink.

  “But do not mistake my civility for capitulation,”
Raza added with a smooth smile. “I still have every intention of wooing the fair maiden but I will do so within the bounds of polite society. If you truly are committed to each other, my advances should make no difference. In fact, you should welcome the test to your love.”

  “I'm going to welcome your face with my-” I started but was cut off.

  “I think we've come at a bad time, Brother,” a woman's voice came from the doorway.

  She was slim and dressed in typical extinguisher fashion; serviceable black top and pants. Her pale skin had a healthy pink glow to it and was covered in freckles, her sleek black hair was cut to just above her shoulders, and her intense dark eyes were staring right at me. The man holding her hand was nearly identical to her, just with slightly more masculine features and a thicker build. He was staring at me too.

  “I think we've come at the perfect time, Is,” he smiled and it sent a shiver down my spine.

  “You must be Extinguishers Alexis and Alex Kavanaugh,” Teagan recovered first and jumped up to greet the creepy twins.

  “And you are Head Councilman Theodore Teagan,” Alexis said confidently. “A pleasure to meet you, Councilman,” she looked down at his offered hand pointedly. “You'll forgive us if we don't shake your hand? It exacerbates our talent, you see. We lose control of what we're shown.”

  “Oh, yes, of course,” Teagan pulled his hand back as if he'd been burned. “I was beginning to get concerned. I sent someone to pick you up hours ago.”

  “Our flight was delayed,” Alex shrugged.

  “Oh, well, please come in,” Teagan gestured to the room. “We were just discussing our issue with the witches.”

  “Now that's not entirely true,” Alex smiled and looked Raza over. “We were just witnessing a lover's quarrel, I believe.” He took the seat on Raza's left and Raza cocked his head at the much smaller man. “Come sit here, Is. This one is fascinating.”

  “A dragon-djinn,” Alexis smiled. “I've never met a dragon before.” She sat beside her brother and stared intently across him at Raza. “Oh, so passionate. He's in...” she looked at her twin with a surprised smile.