“Fuck you, fairy,” he spat at me and I set the vines on fire.
His screams were horrible and I should have just let him burn after the atrocity I'd just witnessed. He deserved it but I couldn't bear it. I strode forward and pulled my iron shortsword from its sheath. With an upward thrust, I pierced his heart and ended his misery. The vines vanished but the burning body remained, still holding half a heart. The smell of cooked meat wafted up to me and I turned away in disgust. Too much more of this and I'd become a vegetarian.
“Looks like we'll need to find another prisoner,” Tiernan said as he threw another corpse onto the bonfire I'd made of the boy. “They must have something worth hiding if they'd rather kill one of their own than let him be taken.”
“Tell the others,” I nodded to him. “As soon as anyone can secure a live prisoner, they need to take them back to the Council House.”
“Right,” Tiernan ran into the middle of the fray.
“You need a prisoner?” Raye landed beside me, holding a bloody man against his chest.
The man was cut in numerous places and his head hung limply with eyes closed. Raye dropped him to the ground before me and the man just slumped into a heap. I lifted a brow at Raye and he gave me a cocky shrug. His pitch-black wings stretched behind him, feathers ruffling lazily, like a man stretches his shoulders after a fight.
“Perfect,” I nudged the witch with my boot, turning him onto his back. “Perhaps Teagan could take him back to the Council House.”
“Teagan is in the center of a circle of extinguishers,” Raye scoffed. “And I would offer to fly him back to Tulsa but I don't know what kind of welcome I'd get, showing up with a wounded human and no councilman to back me.”
“Right,” I chewed my lip and looked him over. “Let's get him to a SUV. I'll drive him back myself.”
“They're going to panic if you disappear from the battle,” Raye jerked a thumb back to indicate the others but then a witch dived out of the sky, straight for him.
The casual thumb-jerk turned smoothly into a punch which went straight into the witch's face. The shadowy shape went tumbling backwards and Raye followed after it with a screeching predatory sound. He fell on his attacker, holding him down with his knees on the man's chest, and then laid a palm over the witch's heart.
I gaped as the true raven mocker ability was revealed to me. Raye didn't need a knife to cut out the witch's heart and consume his remaining years; the heart came to him. It seeped up through the witch's skin and came to rest against Raye's hand. Raye leaned his head back and lifted the beating heart above his mouth to squeeze the blood from it. When it was nothing but pulverized flesh, Rayetayah lowered his chin and tossed the leftovers into his mouth. He savored it like a man consuming an expensive steak.
Then he got up and licked off his fingers before returning to me. I stared from him to the man on the ground, who was withering into old age. With one last sensual lick of his fingertip, Raye gave me a wink and then hefted our prisoner over his shoulder.
“So, do you wanna tell someone you're leaving?” He asked me.
“You're leaving?” Torquil, my blue-haired knight, was suddenly beside me.
“We have to get at least one prisoner back to the Council House,” I said to Torquil. “Can you make sure to let the others know I've left the battle?”
“I think some of your guard should accompany you,” Torquil frowned at Raye.
“Hey,” Raye held out a hand. “Whatever you want to do, I'm just trying to help.”
“Could you tell Tiernan where I've gone?” I asked Raye.
“No problem,” he tossed the witch to Torquil, who just barely caught him in time. “Consider it done,” and Raye leaped back up into the sky.
“Your Highness?” Torquil lifted a brow.
“Let's go,” I nodded off toward the front of the house, where we'd parked all the vehicles.
“Traitor!” A collection of shadows landed before me but soon dissipated to reveal a Native American woman. She was very curvy, with long black hair and eyes to match. “You're a witch. A bloodless but still, you should be on our side.”
“I'm not a witch and I don't back murderers,” I snapped as I pulled my sword.
“We are as Nature has made us,” she narrowed her eyes on me. “You should understand that. We cannot deny the gift we've been given.”
“What I understand is that your people have been preying off the weak and sick for a very long time,” I took a menacing step forward. “And all along, the raven mockers have shouldered the blame.”
“Theyareto blame,” she hissed. “They were the ones who gave us this power. Humans bred with them and made us.”
“That's a load of crap,” I snapped as I waved off Torquil, who was beginning to lower the prisoner to the ground so he could help me. “I got this, Torque. Stand down.”
“How can you call me a liar when you stand here before me; physical proof,” she scoffed.
