The Doyennes' Worldly Convergence

Chapter 5 - Running Through The Shadows

Cordelia

Officer MacIntyre offered to drive Harlee and I the short distance to our house, which I tried to refuse so that her and I could talk, but Harlee insisted on accepting. Not only that, but she asked him inside for coffee! I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with that woman, but I'm more surprised over the fact that he actually agreed.

Now the three of us were sitting at the small kitchen table, Harlee was to my right and Officer MacIntyre was sitting across from me. I tried not to stare at him during the awkward silence between us, the only sound being the coffee pot brewing.

Harlee started tapping her fingers on the table, clearly fed up that no one was discussing the pink elephant in the room. "So, are you going to tell us what you meant? Or are we just going to continue to sit here like this doesn't need to be discussed?"

The officer sighed as he leaned back in his chair, took off his hat, lightly tossed it on the table, and briskly rubbed his head with his hands. "How about maybe we start with names? I'm Micah MacIntyre. My friends call me by my middle name, which is Lorne. And you are ....."

Harlee rolled her eyes." Fine! I'm Harlynn Danovich, but I prefer to be called Harlee, and this is ...."

My eyes were fixated on Micah's hat when Harlee cleared her throat. I looked up at them both with somewhat wide eyes, slightly embarrassed at the fact that I was making myself look like an airhead.

"Oh! Sorry. I'm ...."

"You're Cordelia Craig. We all watch the news at the barracks," Micah said as a handsome smile formed on his face. He had kind brown eyes, and I couldn't help but be drawn into them.

"So, tell me about this wrong weapon bullshit. I'm pretty sure I know what you mean, but I want to hear you actually say it. And don't fu.cking lie to me," Harlee said as she stood up and walked over to the cupboard to get cups out.

I quickly joined her, grabbing the pot of coffee and setting it down on the warming plate on the kitchen table. I was impressed while also surprised at her boldness towards Micah, not to mention confused as to what the hell she was talking about.

"Well, I mean exactly what I said. Anything that you would assume to work, won't. Pepper spray, stun gun, even a real gun wouldn't have done anything to him unless you used the proper bullets," Micah explained as he poured himself a cup of black coffee, a man after my own heart .... but swooning after a man, not knowing if he was single or not, was not what he was here for.

"What are you saying, that he was on some type of drugs or something?" I asked, completely missing what he was insinuating.

Harlee let out an amused snort from her seat to my right. "Dee, hun, he means that the fuckable guy wasn't human, am I right? I am, aren't I? I'm guessing he was a vampire? Right?"

I started laughing as soon as the words left Harlee's mouth. "That's absurd, Harlee! I'm beginning to think you're the one on drugs!"

Micah's lips formed a tight, thin line across his face as he sat across from me and stared into his black coffee before finally looking me in the eyes. "It really isn't all that absurd. Maybe the him being fuckable part, but Harlee is spot on with the rest ...."

"This is a joke, isn't it? You're both screwing with me after the interview I did early this morning! This isn't funny, Harlee! And you! I don't know how much she's paying you to ...."

Micah's facial expression turned stiff, and I could tell that I had regretfully offended him. "Miss Craig, no one is paying me anything ...."

"Dee, just shut up for a minute and listen. You don't have to believe us, that's perfectly fine. But there's a whole other world that we don't know anything about, and I'll be damned if I continue to live with my guard down. Not right now. You see what's going on out there, and it's only going to get worse. Go ahead, Micah .... " Harlee nodded for Micah to continue on.

My mouth fell open as I stared at Harlee in disbelief. Not because she told me to shut up, she's done that countless times before. No, I was shocked that she actually believed in these made-up stories about supernatural beings. I knew she had an open mind, we both did, but this is completely different. This is being so open-minded that your brain falls out.

"The cross itself is simply made out of silver, but it's what's on the inside that's important. It's a liquid combination of aconite and concentrated UV. If needed, I literally pull the plug, and it'll make a very bad day for any werewolf or vampire that comes in contact with it."

"You ... you two can't be serious right now ...." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Especially from a police officer.

"So, the wooden stake thing? Is there truth behind it?" Harlee asked with serious interest.

Micah shook his head. "That only works if it's made out of juniper because vampires are allergic to it. So your favorite TV shows where they break a pool stick and stake a vampire or push them into a jagged tree branch is completely false. That won't work in real life."

"Interesting," was all that Harlee said as she drank her chocolate-milk-colored coffee.

My eyes darted between the two of them, not seeing the slightest hint that they were pulling my leg. "If you two aren't fu.cking with me, if you're serious, then why didn't you kill it?"

Micah smiled. "Because it is a him."

"And a fine looking him at that," Harlee added with a smirk. I couldn't argue with her on that one.

"But you said it yourself, he's a vampire, and vampires are bad ...."

Micah quickly shook his head. "No, your assumptions are wrong. Just because he's a vampire doesn't mean he's the bad guy. Werewolves, dragons, fairies, trolls, witches ..... they all exist. They are the mysteries among us that stay hidden to protect themselves, and like humans, there are good and bad in their species. Just because they're different and not understood, it doesn't mean that they deserve to be treated poorly. Being fearful of the unknown isn't permission to be a bigot."

"But look at what he did to Allen!" I blurted out, not even thinking about my words ....

Harlee squinted her face and looked at me in disgusted irritation. "Dee, are you seriously going to sit there and pretend that Allen isn't the biggest douche bag that you've ever met? Give me a fu.cking break, he deserved worse."

Micah let out a sigh and slowly reached across the table, gently placing his large hand on top of my smaller one. "I know this is a lot to take in, and it's obvious you're a hardcore skeptic. If the vampire wanted to cause serious harm, he would have. He could have easily killed your ex-boss, and then both of you if he wanted to. He took quite a beating from Harlee and didn't do anything about it. I saw almost the entire thing and got to you guys as quickly as I could. Whatever Allen did to him, he was just warning him, he's not one of the bad ones."

"How do you know so much? Is it just because you're a police officer?" I asked Micah as I held eye contact with him, hoping that I wasn't showing how much I enjoyed his touch, despite how minor it was.

"Yes and no. My mom's a retired ER nurse, my dad's a retired state trooper. Together, they've seen a lot. They never believed in sheltering me, and they raised me to have an open mind along with teaching me everything I needed to know regarding how to kill the supernatural if needed, and to also know when to let them walk."

"How ..... if they're not all bad, how do you know the ones that are?"

"You don't ever want to meet those. They're the ones that feed off of humans without consent. The murderers, rapists, abusers, and thieves. The rogues of their kind and the monsters of ours. They're the creatures that run in the shadows of the night, the ones that haunt your nightmares. Most of what you are seeing on TV are the good guys. They're the ones we want on our side when ....."

"Officer 19, you're needed for a 10-52D. It's another werewolf accusation ....." a woman's voice suddenly came from Micah's radio, making me jump in my chair.

"10-4 ...." Micah replied as he stood up, grabbed his cap, and quickly moved towards the door. Before he opened it, he turned to look at Harlee and I. "Be careful out there you two, Harlee is right. These videos are creating quite a stir, and things are just going to get worse. Fear is taking over and people are going after each other. It's not really safe for anyone."

Harlee and I nodded our heads, though I wasn't really sure what to be careful of. The supernatural that supposedly exist, or humans?