The Doyennes' Worldly Convergence

Chapter 18 - Back When

Rieka

When everything stopped spinning, Darcy and I were back in the living room, still in the same positions we were in before I decided that I needed to see what exactly had happened that morning.

Sylvia continued to comfort Darcy as I quickly stood up and spun around to confront Luke, "Do tell me, what's so urgent that you had to interrupt?! I wasn't finished finding out ...."

Luke crossed his arms over his chest and raised a challenging, yet cocky, eyebrow, "Yeah, you were. And judging by the looks that your friends are giving you right now, it's a good thing I intervened. You know, you really should be more appreciative ....."

"Get to the point, Luke!" I impatiently demanded, with more irritation in my tone than I had intended.

Luke smiled briefly, knowing that he had struck a nerve, but the smile didn't last long at all. "The Earth is slowly overheating ....."

My eyes widened as everyone in the room sent accusing glancing in my direction, "Oh, no! It isn't me! Not this time!"

Luke scoffed, "In all honesty, I would rather it was you. It'd be an easier fix. As you obviously know, there's been a spike in deaths, and we're having a hard time trying to keep up with all the evil souls being ...."

"Who is that?" Cordelia's soft voice whispered from the doorway, interrupting Luke. I'm sure she was merely asking herself, but we all heard her thanks to our hearing.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. With everything going on, I can't believe that I had forgotten she and Lorne were here. And I still needed to let Jackie know about Nate and Doug ....

Luke went up to the human couple and stretched out his hand, "I'm Luke. You might know me better as Hades, Pluto, Dis ...."

Cordelia shook Luke's hand, "The devil. I thought you'd be ...."

"Red?" Luke asked with a coy grin.

Cordelia smirked as she shrugged her shoulders, "I was going to go with uglier and taller, but red works. I'm Cordelia ...."

"I know who you are, Miss Craig. And Officer Micah MacIntyre, I like your work," Luke smiled as he reached his hand out towards Lorne.

"Where's Rory and Falco?" Freya asked as she sat cuddled between Kaden and Zane.

"They're, uh, upstairs ....." Cordelia oddly stumbled on her words as she spoke.

"Of all the times to fornicate, those two decide to do it when the world is ending?! I need to touch base with Tyler and the others. Link me when Sam and Seth come downstairs. We need to clean up the kitchen and get something to eat at some point today," Jo leaned over the back of the couch and left a quick kiss on Sylvia's cheek before she went to find the others and fill them in on everything.

"They're not fornicating, Rhi ..." Lupa started talking, but in all honesty, there was too much going on right now and I rudely pushed her to the back of my mind. I'm sure I'll get a mindful for that move later on.

"Can someone please tell us about the world ending?" Lorne asked as he wrapped an arm around Cordelia to lightly rub her upper arm.

Luke started to explain what was going on, "It's not ending, not yet anyway. But if we don't do something to slow down all of these deaths ....."

"It's my fault, I killed them, I killed them all ...." Darcy quietly repeated as she rocked forward and backward. Maybe Sylvia was right, maybe I shouldn't have gone back with Darcy to see what happened. Maybe I asked for too much, too soon ....

Luke gave Darcy a confused look and shook his head, "You? No. Well, yeah, you killed all of those hunters, but you didn't kill everyone that was there. The Beta's kid managed to get a bunch a safe enough distance away before you went all Scarlett Witch on the place."

Cara's eyes lit up for the first time since she and Darcy arrived with Robert, "Brett?! He's still alive?!? As well as some of our pack members?!?"

Luke nodded, "Yeah, he is. Listen, guys ...."

Maeve suddenly appeared in front of Luke, interrupting whatever it was he planned on saying, "Izzy and Mia had to evacuate the coven. Layla said that they are going to stay with her and Cyrus. I'm going with them ...."

Luke grabbed Maeve by her shoulders and stared down into her light silver-blue eyes, "The f***k you are! Not right now. You know I have to stay here to help Makaria, Zagreus, and Melinoë with the sh.it show that's going on down below. I won't be able to go with you ..... "

Maeve smiled and placed a quick kiss on Luke's lips, "I'm not asking for permission, babe. I'm telling you what's going to happen. Keahi and I have discussed this. She and I are both going to Layla's to help out. But don't worry, Stefan will protect ...."

"Who the f***k do you think you're kidding? I know you don't need to be protected, but they all had better make sure you don't flip out and make my job even more difficult than what it already is," Luke wrapped Maeve up in his arms and pulled her into his chest, holding onto her tightly.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to take a moment to think of what my next move should be.

"Rhi?! Rieka! Where are you?!? When were you going to tell me what happened?!? Sebastian had to be the one to tell me!" Jackie's booming voice echoed throughout the house, followed by the slamming of the front door.

"I guess you know what's next," Lupa quietly said, her voice laced with sadness over the loss of our dear friends.

I opened my eyes and looked towards the doorway of the living room as I heard Jackie's heavy footsteps approaching. When she came into view it was obvious that she had been crying. Her frosty hazel eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were bright red and tear-stained.

We quietly stood staring at each other, the heartache between us too strong for words. When the first tear left my eye, we quickly moved towards one another and embraced in a tight hug as we allowed ourselves to break down.

I honestly don't know how long Jackie and I were sobbing when Seth got our attention by clearing his throat, "I hate to interrupt the two of you right now, but I just got off the phone with Levi. They have their own issues going on up there. Plus .... they found a small group of wolves ...."

Jackie and I struggled to collect our emotions the best that we could as we turned to see Seth and Sam standing in the doorway.

"What do you mean wolves? As in werewolves?" Jackie asked between deep breaths.

"It sounds like there were survivors from New Dawn and Winter Bliss that wandered onto Fiona's property ...." Seth started to explain, not knowing that we all already knew there were survivors, but we didn't know where they were.

Jackie turned to look at me with wide eyes "Rhi ....."

I pulled Jackie into a tight hug, "Bring them home, Jackie."

"Jackie .... take Cara, please?" Darcy asked, causing all of us to look in her direction.

Cara had a shocked expression on her face as she looked at Darcy, "Mom, are you sure?"

Darcy smiled softly as she nodded her head, "They will need to know what's going on. It'll be best if they hear it from one of us, but I need to stay here for when your father wakes up."

Cara ran over to Darcy and hugged her tightly.

"Come on, Cara, let's go pack a bag. I have some clothes that I think you can fit into," Rory said as she stood up and started leaving the living room, quickly followed by Cara.

"Hey, uh, guys? I don't know about any of you, but I'm fu.cking starving. Do you think we could get something to eat? Please?" Sam asked hesitantly.

As much as I love my life and those who are in it, a part of me misses the calm, quiet, and simpler days .....