“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.
“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.
I saw Raye first, he angled his way through the crowd of extinguishers and fairies, clearing a path for his father which led straight to me. Then Raza stood in front of me; dressed in a human-made suit. It was dove gray with a sage shirt beneath, open at the collar. The color of the shirt brought out the angled swatches of crimson in his sable shoulder-length hair; one stripe at his right temple and one just below his right ear. He was a big man, bigger even than Conri (whom I've always thought of as linebacker large), and he was markedly muscled, straining at his suit in places. The suit itself enhanced the blue tones in his midnight skin. Midnight as in pure black, as black as his hair, as black as his heart if the rumors were true. His eyes gleamed gold; pirate dubloons set above dramatically ridged cheekbones.
His whole face was dramatic, more predator than human or even sidhe. Once you knew that Lord Raza was part dragon-djinn, it all became clear because that was what his face resembled; a dragon. His brow bone was slightly ridged and angled up into his hair while angling down in the center towards his long nose. It made his eyes appear deep set and intense, always on the hunt. His mouth was wide and hungry, adding to his predator presence, and his elegant hands were tipped in dangerous looking tar-colored talons.
But the most sinister aspect of his appearance was the pair of leathery wings lifting from his thick shoulders and rising above him in a display of male dominance that brooked no defiance. Those wings clearly said ;Try it and I'll kill you slowly then eat you for dinner. In case you didn't get the message on first glance of those wings, all you had to do was look closer at the claw tipped joints to understand that you were a step below this guy on the food chain.
“Lord Raza,” I had to clear my throat before I could go on. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to support my son,” his voice vibrated into my chest and I shivered a little.
Cat whined and backed away. Generally speaking, when a puka was afraid enough to whine, you should probably run.
“Now, little one, you know I won't hurt you,” Raza peered down at Cat and held his hand out to her.
She went forward carefully and he placed his hand gently on her head, using his talons to give her a good scratch. She sighed and relaxed.
“Great, he's conquered Cat now too,” Tiernan huffed.
