The Call of Corvids

by J. C. McKenzie

  That burning anger rose inside him again. If he got free, he’d make sure Lloth paid for every ounce of pain she inflicted on Chloe. He didn’t believe in harming women, but he’d make an exception for this crazy bitch.

  When had he grown so protective of Chloe? Right from the start? When he learned someone stuffed her into a magical box? He shuffled a half step closer to Chloe, so his arm pressed into hers. He might not be able to hold her, but he could let her know he was still here.

  Chloe leaned into his arm, sending warmth through his body. Somehow, their situation didn’t feel as dire as before.

  “I’m so glad you understand the importance of twins,” Lloth continued. “Imagine my delight when I arrived to retrieve Chloe and found a gem all of his own.”

  Wait. That was him.

  “So ignorant to his own power, he hasn’t learned how to wield it,” Lloth said. “I could sense his twin nature immediately and Cole’s reasons for hiding you became crystal clear. Your power is so unique I changed my plans.”

  Bear froze, now understanding why he’d been spared in the apartment and why they’d healed his stab wounds only to beat him again and draw runes all over his body. They didn’t want him. They wanted to control Raven.

  “You plan to threaten my brother to control me, too?” Raven’s voice cracked.

  Bear stiffened. He wanted to wrench himself from the bindings, tear off the hood and get her out of here. Why was she here? How had she become involved? Had she tried to find him? He pushed forward and struggled against his bonds, but the guard behind him held him in place.

  “Silly child.” Lloth giggled. “I plan to destroy you and control him with your power.”

  No! The power within Bear surged, calling the corvids to him. He didn’t sing or serenade them out loud this time. The call came from within. He swayed under the force of power flowing through him.

  The guard tugged on his bound arms and he staggered away from Chloe. His arm grew cold from where he’d pressed against her. Bear ground his teeth, ignored the guard and pulled on his power more. The birds would do his bidding He’d force them to comply. It went against his nature to demand instead of ask, but he couldn’t let Lloth harm Raven. He couldn’t stand by while the Corvid Queen took out his twin.

  So focused on drawing his power for Raven, he missed some of the conversation again. Lloth being crazy, no doubt.

  “I will rip the corvid energy from her inferior body and leave your latest infatuation a dry husk.” Lloth must be talking to someone else in the room. “You will serve me again. You will bow to my commands.”

  Bear growled. One of the guards punched him in the back. Bear lurched, but the guard’s grip on his shackles prevented him from falling over. The guard ripped off his hood. Sudden light momentarily blinded him, and he blinked until his eyes adjusted. They stood in a grand hall, the walls opened up to the night sky instead of a ceiling. Pillars, walls and floor tiles made from some sort of black shiny stone shone under the red moonlight. Hundreds of birds perched on the ramparts and watched with their beady black eyes. Lloth stood at the head of the room, wielding the scary looking scythe and wearing another dress made of feathers. If pressed, Bear couldn’t say exactly what made this outfit different from the last. It just was.

  Fae lined the runway that led down to where his sister stood. If they didn’t whisper in each other’s ears or move their heads back and forth to study the queen and his sister, he would’ve mistaken them for statues. Fancy dressed statues.

  At the other end of a long black runner, Raven defiantly faced Lloth. With messy black hair, some god-awful unflattering shorts and a shirt soaked with what appeared to be dried sweat and blood, Raven didn’t look her best. Yet, she stood straight with her shoulders back, chin up and determination flashing in her gaze. Grandma Lu would’ve been proud to see her granddaughter offer defiance in the face of danger. If anyone could get them out of this, his twin could. She was the resourceful one of the bunch.

  After scanning his face and body and evidently noting the injuries, Raven looked as though she wanted to murder someone. Her hands clenched into fists and her lips flattened. The power inside her built like a stoking fire. He pulled more of his own magic and fed her. He had no idea if it would work, but after Chloe talking about soulmates and Lloth being psychotic and planning to use him as a personal battery pack, he had to try something.

  “Cole.” Chloe’s delicate voice drew Bear’s attention away from his sister. He followed Chloe’s gaze and choked. Shadow Man. The scary fae from the vault stood near his sister. Light where Chloe was dark, and dark where she was light, Shadow Man, or Cole, appeared the polar opposite of the woman standing beside him. Only his dark Other gaze resembled Chloe’s—deep and powerful. Who was he to Chloe? Her captor? Her...lover?

  While he had no answers to those questions, he knew who Cole was to Lloth—the one who broke her heart. He was the reason they were all in this mess. Bear’s sister was in danger because of Cole, and so was Chloe.

  Bear cringed.

  No. That didn’t sound quite right. Raven was here because of him. His twin got caught up in this clusterfuck because of his involvement.

  “If only you stayed with me,” Lloth said to Cole. Her lean figure swayed on the dais at the top of the stairs, as if she fed off the conflicting emotions in the room and found them overwhelming.

  “Now you shall be mine for good.” She flicked her finger at Chloe, and the runes flickered again. Chloe cried out.

  Bear lunged to reach her, but the guards held him in place. He had little knowledge of runes, but Lloth’s actions needed no explanation. She’d threatened Chloe’s life. Shadow Man couldn’t interfere with whatever she had planned.

  Lloth held her hand out toward Bear. The runes on his skin glowed. Lloth’s power twisted inside him, grasped his power and pushed.

  Bear grunted.

  Lloth swayed. The more Bear’s runes glowed, the more he burned and the more she rocked. She pushed magic from his body, forcing him to use it, to silently call the corvids. The scythe in Lloth’s hand shone. The energy inside him pulsed, calling more and more birds and corvid energy.

  Ravens croaked as more corvids swooped into the room from the dark summer night above. More and more, they came in waves. Lloth pushed him harder, his hands shook, his body vibrated, but he kept calling the birds. Too transfixed with her spells and manipulation, she hadn’t caught on to his intent, yet.

  Connected to Lloth with these scribblings on his body, he sensed what she wanted. She planned to draw upon the power of the corvids he called, magically feeding off them. But she couldn’t force the direction of his magic. Instead of commanding the corvids to serve her, he continued to subvert her, letting the birds choose who to fuel instead. Some chose poorly, but what Lloth didn’t seem to notice was most were drawn to the other woman capable of drawing on corvid magic.

  Lloth screeched something, but he couldn’t make it out. Too consumed with drawing power and redirecting the magic to his sister, he lost himself to the overwhelming sensation of the power coursing through his body. Sweat poured down his face. Hordes of corvids flooded into the grand hall. The Otherworld energy within him twisted and spiraled, aching to emerge, to be set free.

  Raven’s magic wound around the corvid energy in the room, including his own. It built and built until it became a tsunami of feral magic waiting to crash down and destroy everything in the room.

  Raven screamed. Her body contorted. Bones snapped. Flesh compressed and expanded. Her stained shirt and shorts tore as her body ripped through them like paper. Feathers and scales sprouted. In an instant, her raven essence wiped away what remained of her human form, leaving a large bird in its place.

  She towered over the men and women in the room.

  “Holy fuck,” he whispered.

  Men and women screamed and ran from the courtyard. Some of the guards escaped with them, their heavy boots slapping the hard tile. Lloth’s caomhnóir drew his sword and stepped f
orward.

  Raven launched into the air and pumped her wings to move toward the Corvid Queen. Large gusts of Underworld air blasted past him.

  “No,” Lloth sneered. She turned toward his sister and raised her scythe, an evil smile spread across her face. She opened her mouth and mumbled a dark spell. The metal of her weapon glowed and pulsed with the swirling magic.

  Raven pulled her wings in and dove.

  Lloth threw her arms wide, shrieking ancient words.

  Her personal guardian stepped up the dais.

  No. Not today.

  Bear called to the birds. He sent them his memories of Tasha and his love for the wily raven. The birds turned to the warrior as one. Hundreds of beady eyes focused on the man. Together, they launched from their perches and dove onto Lloth’s caomhnóir, a deadly swarm of sharp beaks and talons. He screamed and thrashed at the birds, but it was futile. They stabbed him while Bear sang the dark and eerie call of corvids.

  For Tasha.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

  ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

  While Bear sang and lamented the loss of his shadow and the birds exacted revenge on his behalf, a loud commotion broke out on the dais where Lloth still chanted dark fae gibberish at his twin sister. The queen continued to pull on the corvid energy that surged in the room like a rising spring tide.

  Lloth suddenly turned away from Raven, distracted by what was happening on the stage. The shadows thinned. Cole appeared beside Lloth and the hilt of a dagger protruded from her chest.

  “Traitor!” Lloth shrieked.

  Before she could retaliate, Raven swooped down. Lloth flung her hands up and screamed, but nothing stopped Raven’s momentum. She opened her enormous beak and clamped onto Lloth’s head. The queen’s skull jammed in her bill like a fragile sunflower seed.

  Lloth thrashed and pummeled her fists against Raven’s feathers.

  His twin snapped her beak shut and chaos descended on the grand hall.

  Metal rang as warriors and guards unsheathed their swords. Courtiers screeched like banshees and fled in fear, their footsteps thundered against the cold stonework. And Bear sat on his butt, still shackled and useless.

  Raven shifted back to human form and fainted. He lurched forward, ready to stand, but a wave of nausea sat him back on his butt. He’d pulled too much power and now he couldn’t even bum-scooch to where his sister lay to comfort her.

  Luckily, it didn’t appear as if he was needed. The two dark fae lords he feared would kill him last week cut down all the guards and soldiers brave enough to stay in the room. Seeing their ruthless efficiency did nothing to alleviate or remove his apprehension for them. Instead, he swayed where he sat while his mind bombarded him with questions. When would the fae notice him? When would they turn to cut him down, too?

  And when had the second fae lord arrived?

  Bear hadn’t noticed anyone entering the courtyard before Raven shifted into a giant fucking bird other than the ache of magic as it pulsed through him.

  At least he’d managed to help Raven by supplying her with magic. Bear took a deep breath and the waves of nausea subsided. At least he’d avenged Tasha.

  Sort of.

  Lloth’s caomhnóir lay motionless on the ground in a pool of blood. A few ravens remained, hate-pecking at his body. As satisfying as the sight was in a sick twisted way, the man shouldn’t have died so quickly from the bird attack. Something else must’ve killed him.

  Bear looked over at Lloth’s remains. His stomach turned again.

  Get a hold of yourself, Crawford.

  The sacred bond. Lloth had mentioned the guard was tied to her in a sacred bond of some sort. Her death must’ve caused his. Good riddance.

  “Here.” Chloe crouched beside him and unlocked the shackles. She cupped his face and peered into his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “I have no idea what just happened.”

  “I think your sister just kicked some ass.”

  He looked around the bloody room filled with dead bodies. “I’ve never been so proud.”

  Chloe laughed, and stood, pulling him with her. “Come, we need to get you out of here before Cole or Bane remember they want to kill you, too.”

  Bane. That must be the name of the dark fae client he’d defied. The name sounded familiar. Bane. Dark fae lord. Bear’s stomach sunk. Only one deadly fae lord that Bear knew of had that name. He knew the fae had been powerful when they met to discuss the job, but he hadn’t realized how much. But surely this couldn’t be a coincidence. “Bane...”

  She nodded, probably seeing the exact moment he placed the name. “The Lord of War.”

  Bear Crawford was a dead man walking. “Why are you helping me?”

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “For a smart guy, you certainly say some stupid shit sometimes.” She tugged on his arm. “Let’s go.”

  He shook his head. He was done with hiding, and he had nowhere to run. His disappearance had brought Raven into this mess and he couldn’t afford the dark fae going after his family again because Bear was too scared to face the consequences. He didn’t stand for much, but he would stand for his family. Any day. Any time. “I need to see this out.”

  She sighed and stared at the night sky above. “Fine. Let’s go make sure your sister is okay.”

  They turned to find the Lord of fucking War squatting beside his sister. His deep voice echoed through the room. “Little Raven.”

  His sister had propped herself up to look around. Naked from shifting back to human form, blood covered her face and splattered her body. She was so pale and looked so lost, and a dark fae lord hovered beside her, imposing, armed and dragging a finger through a pool of blood like the sick fuck he was.

  Bear lurched forward, but Chloe’s hand on his arm tightened. She shook her head.

  “What have you done?” Bane mused. His tone implied he didn’t want or need an answer, which was for the best since his sister looked ready to pass out again.

  Bear shrugged off Chloe’s hand and stalked toward his sister.

  The other dark fae lord, the Shadow Man named Cole finished wiping off his weapon and removed his cloak. He spread it over Raven to cover her shivering body, and the look the fae gave his sister...

  Bear pulled up short and stared.

  The big bad fae who’d stepped out of shadows in the vault, the man who’d kept Chloe locked in a box, the fae who’d cut down Lloth’s guards as if he brushed aside annoying weeds on an overgrown forest path, the dark fae lord who embodied the word lethal and scared the crap out of Bear, looked at Raven with...tenderness?

  Chloe walked up beside him, reached over and shut his mouth.

  “Do we have a problem here?” Cole asked Bane.

  “A problem? No. You’ve just handed me the solution.” Bane chuckled and turned to leave. Though Bane hadn’t glanced Bear’s way once, Bear knew the fae lord hadn’t forgotten him. An invisible weight pressed down on his shoulders. He’d have to answer for his betrayal.

  “Wait!” Raven called out. “My brother? Spare him.”

  What the fuck, Rayray? Don’t ask anything of a dark fae lord. Mom spent their entire childhoods outlining exactly why that wasn’t a good idea. Why would she ask Bane to spare him, anyway? Him? The wayward brother who ghosted on his own family? Whose removal from her life caused her own power to weaken? He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve her.

  “You will owe me a favour,” Bane said.

  Bear couldn’t let her do this. Just as she needed to clean up her own messes, he needed to answer for his. He shook his head. “I’m not worth it, Rayray.”

  “Done,” Raven said without hesitation.

  Bear groaned in unison with Cole. He looked over at the other man and met a gaze full of malice. Bear had stolen from him, but that look wasn’t about the Claíomh Solais. This was all about Raven.

  “Consider him safe from retribution,” Bane said.

&nb
sp; A deep sigh escaped Raven’s lips and his love for his sister grew. She shouldn’t have done it, but she’d bought him a second chance. She’d saved his life and he needed to make sure he didn’t waste it.

  “My mercy is payment for a favour owed.” Bane chucked a lodestone at the floor and stepped into the portal that formed, quickly disappearing from their lives. At least for now.

  “That was a mistake,” Cole grumbled.

  “Could you have kept Bear safe indefinitely from the Lord of War if he wanted him dead?” Raven said.

  Cole’s scowl was answer enough. “Come. I need to get you and Chloe to safety.”

  Oh, fuck that. Something inside him snapped. Drained from captivity and torture, exhausted from Lloth’s magical manipulations, something hot and potent roared to life and took over his body. Nobody was taking Chloe away from him again. Without thinking about the consequences, without stopping to have a proper discussion, Bear launched himself at the Shadow Man with all his anger, frustration and confusion. “You can’t have her!”

  They hit the ground and rolled. Bear struck out and viciously jabbed the man’s sides. Cole didn’t hesitate to respond. They exchanged punches and jabs.

  “She’s my sister, you idiot.” Cole punched Bear’s stomach. “I was protecting her, not caging her.”

  “Oomph.” The air from his lungs rushed out. Bear curled up and groaned. This guy was better than he was. And her brother? Fuck. That made sense. Bear had messed up again.

  Cole continued to pound his fists into Bear’s body. Why were they still fighting? Bear had stopped. He now covered up, moving back and forth to deflect as many of the blows as possible, looking for an opening to escape the rain of fists. They kept coming.

  “Cole!” Raven and Chloe shrieked at the same time.

  Cole stopped, his fist hovering in the air a few inches from Bear’s face. He crouched over Bear and in unison, they both turned to find Chloe standing with her arms crossed, glaring at them. “That’s enough.”

  In one swift movement, Cole stood and loomed over him. The moonlight from above played with the shadows of the man’s face. His expression promised pain and suffering.