Sammy was about to transform into his dragon self, but then Preyuna approached them.
Raven bowed to her. “Thank you for letting us see the monitors. It more or less set my mind at ease.”
“More or less?” Preyuna stopped in front of Raven. “Why less?”
Raven frowned thoughtfully. “I am uncertain. Yet, Robin is clearly not there. So, I will have to let it be.”
“Hmm. While I have you here, may I ask a favor of you? All three of you.”
Deliosa edged closer to Sammy and squeezed his hand.
“Certainly.” Raven said.
“Good. I could embroider a whole introductory passage, but who has the time for that? I will get right to the point: I would greatly appreciate it if you could kill Mark Caten for me.”
Sammy felt a strong inclination to say, “Sure! Why not? Let’s do this!”, but he kept his mouth shut and his voice still. He watched Raven.
Raven’s expression hardened. “How did you have in mind?”
A delighted expression flashed on her face before she quelled it down. “I want him to be brutalized.” She shrugged. “To put it very simply. I want him to suffer as he has never suffered before. I want him to bleed. I want him to break. I want him to see that he is NOT the almighty god he foolishly believes himself to be.”
“You wish for me to torture him, then.”
“Yes. I want him to be tortured to the shattering point. I want him to acknowledge that he is nothing but a man. I want him to acknowledge the ways he has wronged me. I want him to sob for my queenly clemency.”
“Will you grant it to him?”
“When my desire for vengeance has been satisfied, when my hatred is replaced with happiness, when he will finally say the words that will unbind me to him, yes. I will grant him the Queen of the Fey’s clemency. I will have you tear him completely apart and he will die in agony, because that is the only clemency he will ever receive from me.” She smiled pleasantly at Raven. “Will you do it for me?”
Sammy watched and waited for Raven’s response. He kept his own thoughts and feelings on the matter well-bottled up. He really didn’t want to make the cliff collapse…not while they were still standing on it.
Raven’s expression did not change. “I will say that it is quite tempting. Yet, I would like to think it over first, if I may.”
Her smile remained the same. “Of course.”
He bowed to her again. “Perhaps I shall see you again.”
“Perhaps. It was a true pleasure to meet you, Raven.”
“Likewise.”
She waved at Sammy and Deliosa and entered the mansion.
Raven took a deep breath and exhaled. “Yes. I believe it is time for us to leave.”
Sammy looked at him with a deliberately bland calm. “I have questions, but I’d rather ask them when we’re on level ground.”
“Of course, sir.” He laid his hands along his sides and visibly tensed up. “I am ready to go home when you are, sir.”
Sammy nodded. He transformed into his dragon self. In one fast movement, he swooped his head down, closed his mouth around Raven, and pushed Raven back against his teeth. He pressed his tongue against Raven to keep the comparatively small vampire at the front of his mouth.
Deliosa transformed as well. Are you ready, Samer?
He purred in the back of his throat. I’m ready.
They both leapt upwards and became skye.
ambroseandelsie 