Surrender, Book 3 The Elfin Series (16 page)

“Be very still,” Cush whispered.

A murder of crows exploded from a tree behind them, cawing and flapping, swooping down at the pair.

“Stay down,” yelled Cush. He threw his body over Oakley. “They can’t hurt us,” the elf ground out at he put his hands over his head hopefully protecting the tender parts from the beaks and claws. A second later the crows didn’t so much as fly off, they just vanished.

“An illusion,” the elf said calmly as he stood up, his eyes searching their surroundings. For what, Oakley did not know. “Just like the noose. You mustn’t let her fool your mind.”

“Easy for you to say,” Oakley responded, rising to his feet. “What about this?” He pointed to the top of his ear, which was now dripping blood onto his shoulder. Apparently one of the bird’s beaks had found a target.

“Voodoo magic,” Cush said as if this explained everything.

“What’s that supposed to mean? And what did you mean by
her?”

“The crows were an illusion, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still cause damage. Just like the person who feels the “real” stab when the doll gets pricked, so can the Voodoo priestess cause damage from afar. She’s toying with us.”

“Toying with me is more like it,” responded the young man. “Okay, I’m convinced. We should have waited for the others. How are we going to get outta here?”

“I only wish I knew,” said Cush.

L
isa took a step forward, attempting to maneuver around Syndra. The light elf queen held out an arm, preventing her human friend from getting any closer to the dark elf, and Tamsin stepped around his Chosen to protect both females. Rezer had tossed out the information to see if the half elf meant anything to them. Tamsin knew that he was attempting to see if he had any leverage over them with the knowledge he possessed, and Lisa had handed him his answer on a silver platter.

“Did she tell you her name?” Lisa asked as she struggled against Syndra’s arm.

Tamsin turned and placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder and whispered under his breath. Later, once things had calmed down, Tamsin knew that he would pay for his actions but it was for her own good. Lisa stilled, unable to take another step forward, as though her feet had been encased in concrete. She could still move her arms and speak, but Tamsin’s magic held her legs in place.

Lisa shot him a glare that would have had lesser men backing up. But Tamsin was not a man and, other than feeling bad because the human was his Chosen’s favorite friend, he was not bothered by her ire.

Tamsin looked back at the dark elf and did not like the interest with which Rezer watched Lisa. He could practically see the ideas forming in his mind, and the light elf king had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the conclusion Rezer came to.

“Something about you seems very familiar,” the dark elf murmured. He tilted his head slowly, examining Lisa as though she was a new toy that he was all too eager to play with. “Have I met you before?”

“She’s not from this city. There’s no way you could have ever met her.” Syndra scoffed. “Not to mention, she’s human.”

“Not entirely.” His eyes zeroed in on Lisa like a hawk sighting its prey. Rezer clucked his tongue and moved his finger back and forth like a pendulum at the light elf queen. “You’ve been a naughty girl, dearest queen. What spell is it you have cast on this one to prolong her life so?”

Tamsin felt Syndra tense next to him and when he looked back at her, he saw that Lisa’s eyes had become large round saucers, and if her mouth opened any wider, her jaw would be resting on the club floor. He reached over and took his Chosen’s hand and reached for her mind.

“I was not aware that Rezer was that powerful.”
Tamsin didn’t have to point out to his Chosen just how odd it was to find a dark elf hiding away in the human realm with enough power to sense hidden spells. Then again, Rezer’s power might be why he was hiding away in the first place. Lorsan did not take kindly to other dark elves having enough magic to challenge him. It would not have been surprising, had Rezer stayed in the dark elf realm, to find that the elf had mysteriously come up missing.

Tamsin’s voice in Syndra’s mind seemed to shake her from her shock. She relaxed her shoulders and raised her chin just a notch. Though her attention was on the dark elf, her words were for Tamsin.

“Had I known, I would have asked you to figure out a different way to find an elder.”

Rezer returned their stare unerringly, obviously waiting for some sort of explanation. He would just have to deal with the disappointment because there was no way any of them were going to admit to the accusation.

“I suppose it is rude of me to ask,” Rezer said as his gaze perused the club. “But you must understand my curiosity. A female half dark elf visits my club, which in and of itself is rare, and then within the same twenty-four hours, a human who has been bespelled by royalty and looks so very much like aforementioned female visits me as well. Come now, tell me you wouldn’t be the least bit curious?”

Syndra folded her arms across her chest. Tamsin knew that look well and he nearly grinned at her. His Chosen was fierce and the Forest Lords help any who would stand against her.

“I can understand your curiosity,” she began. “But since I do not care about quenching your need for answers, you can take your curiosity and choke on it.” She took a step forward and once again her power began to grow. “You will lead us to Vyshaan and you will not ask any more questions. You may be powerful, Rezer, but you still are no match for us.”

Rezer raised his hands in surrender and bowed his head. “Forgive me, my lady. I meant no disrespect. I simply couldn’t help but ask. It has been so very long since anything interesting has happened. As you both,” ―he paused and glanced at Lisa― “excuse me, as you all three know, a long life is a blessing and a curse. Boredom can cause eternity to seem like a form of purgatory.”

“Could we please get back to the part where you met a female half dark elf?” Lisa asked, her jaw clenching and unclenching as her patience began to wear thin. “Did she give you her name?”

“She called herself Raven,” ―Rezer waved a hand dismissively― “though I know that was not her real name. She obviously had knowledge of our kind if she knew not to speak her given name.”

Tamsin glanced at Lisa and Syndra as they all drew the same conclusion. Cush called Elora Little Raven as a pet name. It couldn’t be a coincidence that a female half dark elf, who they knew had been missing, called herself Raven and it not be Elora.

“Now before you do any more threatening of bodily harm, allow me to assure you that I do not know where she disappeared to once she left my club.”

“How long was she here?” Tamsin asked.

Rezer glanced at the ceiling as though he needed to think about his answer. “No longer than an hour. She sat and watched the show and then left.”

“You tried to cast a glamour over her?” Syndra snarled. “What exactly was your plan if it worked? Did you think to play with her because she was a shiny new toy?”

“Come now, you can’t possibly think me so low as to do such a thing. She was beautiful to be sure, and I will admit that she caught my attention because her dark side is untouched. She is so innocent that she hasn’t given in to any of her, what we would call, natural instincts.”

“Yes,” Lisa answered before Syndra could. “Yes, I definitely think you could be so low. Your kind only thinks of yourself first. There are very few dark elves that choose to deny their natural instincts.” She spit out the words as though they tasted bad in her mouth.

A snakelike smile appeared on Rezer’s face as his silver eyes swirled with awareness. “For a human, you are well informed about our kind. Am I to deduce that since this Raven beauty looks so much like you, that you are the female’s mother? And if that is the case, you must have been the consort of one such as myself in order to produce such an offspring. You lot are a wicked group indeed.”

Tamsin was sure that at any moment the dark elf was going to start rubbing his hands together and licking his lips over the juicy information he was gaining, without them even saying a word. It was time to end the encounter before Rezer got any ideas about using such information against them.

“As fun as this has been,” the light elf king said dryly, “we have more important things to do than assuage your boredom.” He pointed to the back part of the club where Rezer had claimed the elder to be. “Vyshaan, now.”

“Fine,” Rezer relented. “But please do not be strangers.” He glanced at Lisa. “And by all means, you are more than welcome anytime.”

Lisa looked as if she was going to be sick.

Rezer turned and began walking through the throngs of people before Tamsin could chastise the dark elf for his flirting. He turned to Lisa and touched her arm lightly releasing her of the spell that had held her in place.

Her head snapped around to look at him and daggers piercing him could not have been any sharper. “Don’t think I will easily forget that.”

He bowed his head and laid a hand across his heart. “Forgive me, Lisa, I meant no insolence. I simply wanted to protect you.”

“Well next time figure out a different way like maybe saying, ‘Hey Lisa, don’t move any closer to the dangerous dark elf.’ I’m not an idiot, I would have listened.”

“No you wouldn’t have,” Syndra argued. “He had information about your missing daughter. You weren’t thinking about the fact that you are a mere human. Maybe a human with long life, but still only a human. All you could see was him standing between you and the possible knowledge of where your daughter was.”

Lisa turned her head slowly to look at her longtime friend. “Gee, Syndra, tell me how you really feel.”

“I just did.”

Tamsin glanced in the direction Rezer had gone and saw that the dark elf was waiting on them about thirty feet away. “You two can bicker later. We have an elder that we need to beat information out of.” He started after Rezer.

“He’s joking right?” Lisa asked as she and Syndra followed.

“Who knows,” Syndra quipped. “Being around Trik has sort of brought out the beast in my male. It’s quite yummy.”

“Stop,” Lisa said shaking her head. “I heard enough of your desires for your male when he was rescuing us. My ears are scarred for life and my brain needs to be run through a car wash to remove all the mental images you two gave me.”

“You could have stopped at,
I’ve heard enough
.”

S
yndra reached her mate with Lisa in tow and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Rezer was standing in front of an unmarked door. There were no windows into the room and, based on the keypad above the doorknob, it was not a room just anyone could enter.

“If the elder asks how you found him, my name is not to be mentioned,” Rezer warned, as though he could do anything if they did disclose the knowledge to Vyshaan.

“Fine,” Tamsin agreed.

They waited while Rezer stared at them, seeming to attempt to decipher whether or not Tamsin spoke truth. He could stare for eternity, thought Syndra, but he would never be able to read her mate’s intentions.

After several minutes Rezer seemed to agree with Syndra’s unspoken thought and held his hand in front of the keypad. The lock clicked open without him ever touching the numbers on the pad. What was the point of the special locking mechanism if they didn’t even have to use it? On the tail end of that thought, Syndra realized that the keypad was simply a distraction. An intruder would assume that to enter the room they had to know the code; when in reality they needed to know the magic and be able to wield it. Clever, she chuckled to herself.

Before the door could open all of the way, Rezer disappeared at a speed the human eye would not have been able to track. Syndra glanced at Tamsin who was looking in the direction to where the dark elf had vanished. When their eyes met she knew they were thinking the same thing, Rezer was lucky to have stayed off of Lorsan’s radar all those centuries. He was powerful indeed and she couldn’t help thinking that he might be a very good ally to have on their side when it was all said and done.

Tamsin led them into the room beyond the door. Lisa was in between them because Syndra hadn’t missed all the subtle glances Rezer had been shooting at the human female. He was definitely interested in her friend, and until Syndra knew exactly what that interest entailed, he wasn’t letting him near Lisa.