The Doyennes' Worldly Convergence

Chapter 12 - Dragons and Flames

Rieka

Seth and I put on comfortable evening clothes, which were simply pajama bottoms and tshirts. If the humans had a problem with it, they shouldn't have come by unexpectedly.

We asked Manny to take them to the larger office and stay there with them until we could get downstairs. By now, everyone else was taking care of their own nightly to-dos and spending quality time with their family. You know, like what Seth and I attempted to do ....

As we entered the room, Manny left and the human couple stood up to greet us. The man was at least six feet tall, but not as tall as Seth, had a dark complexion and brown eyes, and was quite handsome. The woman was a little shorter than me, had beige skin, blue eyes, and curly red hair that had blue, green, and purple peekaboo streaks. There was also something familiar about her that I couldn't quite figure out ....

"Do you smell that, Rhi?" Lupa asked as Seth and I made our way over to them.

"Something earthy, right? Like a freshly cut tree in the middle of the woods or something. Maybe it's her perfume?"

"Yeah, right ..... her perfume ...." Lupa's reply was laced with doubt.

The young woman reached her hand out to shake mine, but the name that left her mouth wasn't what I was expecting. "Rhiannon Brink?"

Lupa sucked in a sharp breath of air as my face fell, "Excuse me?"

"It is you, isn't it? You've aged so well, or maybe you've had work done?" she started asking questions as she continued holding my hand, leaving me completely speechless.

"Do you know her, Rhi?" Seth quickly asked over link.

"Not in the slightest ...."

Seth looped his arm in with my own to pull my hand out of the never ending handshake without making it look too obvious that he was saving me from the awkward moment, "Hello, Mrs ...."

"What? Oh! No! This isn't my husband. I'm Cordelia Craig ....." Cordelia immediately corrected Seth.

"I'm Officer Micah MacIntyre," the man said as he reached his hand out towards Seth.

"I'm Seth Salvatore, and this is my wife ...."

"My name is Rieka Androgeus Salvatore. I'm not sure where you got that other name from. If that's who you're looking for, you won't find her here. You've got the wrong place," I knew it was too late. I was a horrible actress even when I tried, and Cordelia put me on the spot .....

Cordelia sighed and went back to her seat at the long office table, "Long story short, I have a friend that's missing. There was a fire where she worked, and witnesses say that they saw a man leave with her. The only consistent information they gave me had to do with zombies and the undead being alive ....."

"That doesn't explain why you're here, Miss Craig," Seth interrupted her, encouraging her to quickly get to her point as we sat down across from her. Only then did Micah return to sit next to Cordelia.

"This is the only lead that I have. I've done hours upon hours of research," Cordelia looked me in the eyes, "you're the only lead that I have ....."

"Seth, with everything going on, she's not going to be the only one to do her homework," I said to my mate over link.

"Should we just come clean?"

Seth had a valid question that I didn't know the correct answer to, "If we open this door ...."

As if he knew that Seth and I were having our own private conversation, Micah tried to make up our minds for us, "Mr and Mrs Salvatore, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I know that vampires and werewolves exist. I'm assuming you're both vampires due to the fact that Cordelia said you guys should be at around 40, yet you look about our age ......"

I slowly shook my head, my voice came out barely above a whisper, "I'm .... I'm not Rhiann ...."

The door to the office suddenly flung open, interrupting me, and Rory barged in with Falco trying to pull her back out.

"Cordelia?!? Is it really you?!?" Rory blurted out as she quickly went over to Cordelia. Falco gave Seth and I an embarrassed apologetic look as he shut and locked the door, something that we should have done ourselves.

"Rory?!?" Cordelia stood up, and the two young women hugged each other tightly.

"I thought the scent was familiar, but I wasn't sure ....."

Cordelia backed away from Rory just enough to look her in the eyes with a confused expression on her face, "Scent? What are you talking about?"

Rory smiled up at her taller friend, "That's a long story. I've seen you on TV. You look better in person. I love what you've done with your hair."

"I was fired. And you look better than the last time I saw you! You've grown up ...."

"Excuse me, but how do the two of you know each other?" I asked, interrupting their little reunion.

Rory sat down on the other side of Cordelia, "We met when I was first put into the foster system. I was beyond traumatized and Cordelia was one of the few who was nice to me. She was nice to all of us younger kids, she took care of us and watched over us .... then she had to go and get herself adopted."

Cordelia smiled, tears threatening to leave her eyes, "I was needed somewhere else, that's all. I always wondered what happened to you .... you've become such a beautiful young woman, and you look so happy."

Rory glanced over at Falco, who was still standing by the door, "I am, finally ..... but why are you here?"

"Well, my friend Harlynn ..... Harlee Danovich is missing. When I was interviewing people, they said that the place where she worked had something to do with zombies, or the undead that were possessed ..."

Rory nodded her head, "I saw a part of the interview you did."

"People and their fu.cking cell phones. Anyway, what they said made me think of the interviews, and the only thing that they all have in common is Rhiannon ..." Cordelia looked back over at me.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, "I told you that's not me, I'm not her ...."

"I know that you are. I just want to find my friend, that's all. Are you involved in some type of drug cult or something? Is that why you look like you haven't aged? Or have you had plastic surgery?"

"Excuse me?" I didn't know if I should be irritated or offended by Cordelia as Lupa giggled in the back of my mind.

"Don't kill the human, Hun," Seth linked as I started tapping my fingers on the large wooden office table.

"It's the vampire venom and ...." Rory blurted out as she took control of the situation.

"Rory!" Falco chastised his mate simply by saying her name, as Seth and I quietly stared at her in disbelief, not really knowing what to say as she easily made the decision for us.

"What?! Why lie?! It's not like she's a stranger," Rory said with an eye roll.

"Please don't tell me you believe in that bullshit ...." we all quickly turned our eyes onto Cordelia, cutting whatever she was going to say short.

Rory reached over and took Cordelia's hand in her own, as if she were preparing her for what she was about to say, "Cordelia, it's not bullshit. You remember when I finally started talking and went on and on about wolves?"

Cordelia softly nodded her head, "Yeah, but you were just a kid, Rory. You didn't know what you saw ...."

Seth's hand made its way over to my leg, giving it a squeeze as we both remembered the first time we met .... back when I was completely clueless myself.

"But I did know. And I've learned so much more about them and everything else. I spent years hunting down and slaying bad ones, and I now live among good ones. Cordelia, they all exist. Everything exists. Werewolves, vampires, fairies ....."

Cordelia scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, dragons too, right?"

Seth cleared his throat, "Actually, yeah. They do ...."

Cordelia smirked at Seth as if she knew she was being played, "Oh, really? Dragons?"

I sighed as I folded my arms on top of the table, leaning in and holding Cordelia's blue eyes with my own, "The South East hemisphere is ruled by air, that's where the air dragons reside. There's Quetzalcoatl, Feilong, Absinthe, Lodsmok, just to name a few. The North East is earth. Tiamat, Belinda, Kushim, Grootslong, Python. South West, Fire. Fafnir, Amaruca .... I'd say Adrian and Glaurung, but they're both dead now. Joseline was Fafnir's chosen mate, but she now lives in our hemisphere near the lakes with her actual mate, who happens to be a water fairy. And, speaking of our hemisphere .... the North West is ruled by water. Jörmungandr, Leviathan, Hydra, Landon, Sol, Celeste, Samara ....."

I could tell by the confused expression on Cordelia's face that she was trying to take everything in, but Seth didn't hesitate to keep right on going, "Don't forget that when a fairy mates with a dragon, their combined magic changes that fairy's counterpart. So Scarlett and Fiona are basically dragons now. And Beckett, well, he's just a massive squid that flies and shoots out fire ....."

Micah crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face, "I often wondered about things other than vampires and werewolves ...."

"You're all serious, aren't you?" Cordelia asked as she looked around at all of us. The skepticism in her was strong.

"Cordelia, we're serious because it's true. I'm not a human anymore, either," Rory informed her friend.

Cordelia quickly stood up, a shocked expression on her face. "What are you talking about, not a human anymore?!? This IS a drug cult! Are you high right now?!"

"Cordelia, please just stop and listen. Falco, my mate, here's a hybrid. Wolf and vampire with a smidge of fairy ... he ... well .... I asked his vampire side to mark me. But then I decided to be turned so that I could be with him forever."

Cordelia crossed an arm over her chest and placed her other hand on her forehead, "Coming here was obviously a mistake ....."

"Shut up," I coldly told her.

Cordelia's eyes widened at my words, "Excuse me?!"

"I said shut up!" I yelled as I stood up, shifting into my third form before I slammed my clawed hands on the table.

Fear and shock were written all over Cordelia's paling face. An obvious skeptic to the core, she was now staring at a creature that wasn't a human nor a wolf, but a perfect blend of the two. I could hear Cordelia's heart race as her breathing became short, fast breaths ....

"Sh.it ...." Lupa whispered in my mind, both of us knowing what was going to happen.

"Catch her," I said in a voice that was a mixture of Lupa's as well as my own.

"What?" Micah asked as he slowly stood up, keeping his wide eyes on me the entire time. He might know about werewolves and vampires, but he is clearly clueless about True Borns and third forms.

"Catch ...." before I had a chance to finish repeating myself, Cordelia's body started to sway as she tried to fight the inevitable.

Seeing what was happening, Micah moved over to Cordelia just in time to catch her before her limp body collapsed to the floor.

"How did you know?" Rory asked me as she went to her friend's side to help Micah last her down.

"I used to have panic attacks when I was younger. I'm all too familiar with the signs," I answered as I shifted back into my human form.

"Was shifting into your third form really necessary?" Seth asked with a slightly amused tone.

"Don't you judge me! She obviously wasn't listening to Rory. I had to do something!"

"I'll go get one of our spare rooms set up. We can ......" Falco stopped mid-sentence, dropping to the floor on his hands and knees, moaning as he closed his eyes tightly.

Seth and I immediately rushed to either side of him, not knowing what was going on, let alone how to help.

"Falco?!" Rory left the side of her passed out friend to check on her mate ...

"We need .... get many rooms ready ....." Falco managed to get out between his dry heaves and groans.

"What, did you see?" I asked, although I didn't know if I wanted to hear the answer.

"Fire ..... the whole world ....."