AN: I'm sorry if the ending is kind of sub-par, I'm sooooooo tired x) haha tests are not fun! Don't let your teachers fool you into thinking school is cool because it most definitely isn't! Unfortunately, by state law it is mandatory -_- Ugh, 6:30 here I come *zonks out on the couch snoring*
Chapter Two
Rhea knew the mistake she made the second her feet hit the ground in front of the giant mansion. She was instantly surrounded by vampires, witches, and a few of her own shapeshifters. Judging this as the time to stand down, she quickly shielded her mind and tried as hard as she could to pull back a large portion of the aura of sheer supremacy that surrounded her. Even with her attempts at frailty, a few of the guards shrunk away slightly with looks of surprise and maybe a little fear. With agonizing slowness compared to the normal swiftness of her movements, the ancient queen lifted her hands in a submissive gesture, not wanting to feel the wrath of the various weapons these Night People wielded. She opened her mouth to tell them her peaceful intentions, but amazingly, a blond headed vampire came running out of the mansion, a knife in his hand. Rhea gave a small whimpering noise as she let him tackle her to the ground and place the cold edge of the blade on her neck, one knee painfully pressing against her rips while one of his hands tangled in her hair and yanked hard to expose more of her throat. Suddenly, his mouth was at her ear, lips brushing against the edge of her cheek bone as he whispered venomously. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut through your neck right now." He snarled, careful to make sure none of his men could hear.
In an attempt to show her passiveness, Rhea also kept her voice low enough for only the vampire on top of her to hear clearly. "Because I am not here for blood." She replied, keeping her voice calm and detached; at this point she couldn't afford to come off as a threat.
"And how do I know you won't just kill us all the second I let you up?" The vampire growled suspiciously, obviously struggling to keep his voice low in his raging emotions.
"You do not. However, allow me to mention that if I had wanted you or your people dead, then you would have been oblivious to my existence until you were choking on your own blood." Then to emphasize her point, Rhea continued, letting tiny tendrils of her strength wrap around his mind and caress it as if it were little more than a toy. Which in comparison it truly was. "And by now, I am certain that you are aware of exactly what I am. So, will you let me help you? Or will you kill me on prejudice alone?" Try as she might, the dragoness couldn't help but feel a small tremor of fear in her heart as the vampire hesitated to answer.
Finally, he rose and yanked her to her feet after him, towing her along and into the mansion. He led her into a small living room on the side of the entrance hall and plunked her brusquely in a plush, red velvet chair before jerking a cell phone from his pocket and dialing a number rapidly. Rhea hear it ring a few times after he had brought it to his ear, watching with interest as he spoke a few quiet words and then clapped it shut and replaced it in his pocket. With a dangerous look in his eye, the vampire turned to Rhea and peered at her distrustfully. "Who are you?" He finally demanded with a slight glare still in his eye.
"Rhea." The dragoness replied simply, watching the vampire in case he decided he preferred her dead.
The vampire paced the floor for a moment, looking like a caged lion with pictures of African plains dangling before its eyes. "Why are you here, and how did you wake up?" He inquired.
"Which question would you like answered first?" The queen asked, unused to being spoken to in such a disrespectful manner. When the vampire simply glared at her in irritation, Rhea remembered that she was trying to seem complacent and quickly checked herself. "Right, um, in order then. I am here to help you, I realized I have made," she paused, searching for the right word, "mistakes…that I feel compelled to remedy. As for how I was awoken, let me just say that there are some very sloppy spell casters out there…"
The vampire gave a half snort half laugh, seeming almost to roll his dark eyes as he ran a hand through his pale hair. "I'm guessing that means you were awakened with the first dragon then?" He asked a bit skeptically.
Rhea winced, she couldn't help it. That blasted fledgling had apparently done some damage to these new age Night Worlders, and now she was being prosecuted for it. "I suppose you mean that wretched Azhdeha?" She growled; anger showing clearly as she spat the dragon's name.
There was a commotion at the door as the vampire nodded his head slightly, opening his mouth as if to speak before the door burst open to reveal about seven more of the vampire's henchmen. "Ah, I'm glad you're here, if you could just watch her for a moment I need to go check some of the safe houses and make sure there haven't been any recent incidents…" And with that, the vampire was gone, leaving me with seven confused and slightly worried strangers.
In the hour that he was gone, I took the opportunity to find out more about my babysitters. One was a human, but she was strong; more than capable at defending herself I could tell simply by looking at her. Beside her was a vampire, made telling from his aura and there was a connection between them that the dragoness could feel so strongly it was almost visible. Then beside them stood a tall blond headed young vampire whose eyes changed almost as often as her own. He was lamia however, and though he also had the same almost visible bond, its end point was far away. There was another couple sitting behind her, they were both shapeshifters she sensed, but unfortunately couldn't see what they looked like. Even so, she didn't need her eyes to know the bond was also there between them. On her right, was yet another couple of vampires. One was made and the other lamia, between them was the bond as well. For a brief moment, Rhea felt a slight twinge in her heart that she couldn't share in the connection these people had. But, just as quickly as the notion had come, the dragoness pushed it from her mind.
The rest of the hour was spent in silence, every once in a while one of the Night Worlders speaking up in an attempt at conversation, but every time the room faded back into quiet stillness. At long last, Rhea heard the front door of the mansion open and shut along with the clicking of boot soles on the marble floor outside. Seconds later, in walked the vampire with a female werewolf and a male shapeshifter in tow. At first, the ancient queen paid little attention to either of the new comers when the young man managed to catch her eye. He was stunning. His black hair was tousled in a way that made it clear it almost never did as the man wanted, and the silver orbs that watched everything while still managing to focus on one thing in the room: her. She had his attention just as completely as he held hers. Rhea took in everything about him, the rolling twists of his muscles that lay beneath the shirt he wore, the grace and strength that he exhibited with every step of his long legs; the broadness of his shoulders and his wide hands. Her heart actually fluttered in her chest. Feelings rose in her heart that she hadn't felt since…well, since she had been entombed so many centuries ago.
She felt her lips fall open slightly in her awe as her breathing got shallower and shallower. He seriously took her breath away. Without meaning to, a single thought floated through her mind: soulmates. No! Get a hold of yourself girl! He's like them, he hates you. She told herself, trying to force away these thoughts before her mind ran away with them. But even when she ignored the way her heart throbbed as she continued to gaze into those eyes of quick silver, she felt the string that connected her heart to his. The ancient queen didn't know if he felt the same pull between them, but she didn't care. As long as she could love someone so entirely then that was good enough for her.
And then he spoke. "Oh Goddess, that's a dragon."
Rhea winced visibly at the shock and hints of disgust in his voice. So you do hate me… She thought brokenly, a tearing sensation stretching across her heart. She turned her head away; no longer able to look him in the eye as guilt over came her. It is well that you should… However,she didn't have time to think about his hatred of her and her kin because the first vampire was giving orders. "Alright, Garth, you take her up to an empty room and I want her under 24/7 watch for the next two days." He barked decisively then turned to the dragoness sulking in the plush velvet chair. "And you, if you're really as peaceful as you say you are, then you won't have a problem with that."
He didn't give her any room to argue so Rhea simply nodded her head and stood to follow Garth out, her mind consumed by thoughts of his name. Protector, it meant, resolute protector. Well little changeling, in the end it might very well be I who protects you… But let us hope it does not come to such measures in your life time. She prayed silently with whatever god happened to be listening.
The pair walked up three flights of stairs before Garth chose a secluded room. It was at the back of a hallway, and had only one window beneath which stood three guards. They really weren't taking any chances this was a trick. Oh well, she would show them what guilt truly was in the next few days.
"There are some clothes in here if you want to change out of those." Garth called from a large walk-in closet directly to the right of the door. Rhea looked down at herself and smirked, she looked more than a little travel worn in her current outfit. So, she tailed him into the closet and looked at the new style of clothes.
"It's a lot different from a plain old animal skin…" She mused, examining a pair of designer jeans with the price tag still on. Her eyes widened. "And expensive!" She looked up with a smile that quickly faded from her face when she saw the way the shapeshifter was looking at her. The dragoness glanced from left to right and then stared worriedly at her current babysitter. "What?"
The young man shook his head and shut his mouth as if just realizing he had been spacing out. "It's just," he began, sounding very confused, "how do you know so much about this era if you only just woke up?" He studied her skeptically while waiting for an answer.
Rhea shrugged and turned her head down uncomfortably. "Well… I did not just wake up…" She confessed, glancing up at Garth to see if he was angry yet. "When I felt Azhdeha awaken I stirred then and my mind spread out over the world in search for him. Dragons learn quickly, it is how we survive. You learn or you die. So, when there were so many things that had changed since my time, I took about a week to figure everything out…" He still wasn't angry yet, simply…amazed?
"Wow, heh, I couldn't learn that fast even if my life depended on it." He grinned, kindly making Rhea's heart ache with longing. "But I guess my question about how you know English is kind of a mute point now too." He laughed softly and then took the jeans from her hands. Hanging them up and pulling down another pair instead, seconds later following with a plain black tank top. "Here, why don't you try these." He offered the clothes to the foreigner and then moved to walk past her.
Everything would have been fine if only the closet had been made for two people to fit easily inside. As it was, he slightly brushed up against Rhea as he edged for the exit. Tingles of electricity flowed from the point of contact and he froze, their eyes suddenly glued together. She had never noticed how silver they were, it was almost pure. Almost. Except for the traces of light blue that knifed in from the edges of his irises, yet still in that imperfection they were a work of art. "Oh.." Rhea breathed, not daring to speak too loud lest it break the spell.
More tingles came as Garth slowly raised a hand and brushed it against her cheek to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The movement brought him suddenly closer and the bundle of clothes dropped from the ancient queen's hands as she lifted them to place on his chest. Her first impulse had been to push him away, but as her palms laid across his upper torso, something abut the way his muscles were chiseled into the skin beneath his shirt made them clutch fistfuls of the cloth and gently pull him closer. He obligingly took a step forward and lifted his arms to brace himself on the wall behind her, one well toned limb on either side of her head. He lowered his lips down to hers, barely a hair's width away, and she closed the gap with eagerness racing through her heart. His lips were like fire, they warmed her mouth and sent a tingly bubblyness throughout Rhea's body. She sighed and he slid and arm around her back, the other moving so his hand could tangle itself in her hair at the back of her head. Garth clutched the slender dragoness to him as if she was his last life line, and she clung to him just as desperately.
The kiss ended when they were both gasping for air and staring longingly into the other's eyes. "Soulmate…." Garth whispered, awe struck certainty in his voice even though he meant it as a question.
"How?" Rhea asked quietly, her voice barely audible with her excitement and nervousness. She wanted him so badly she didn't dare do anything that might break this spell he had suddenly fallen prey to.
Garth simply smiled at her question and pressed his lips against hers after whispering two final words. Two words that echoed through the dragoness's head as if he had shouted them: "Who cares?"
And in that moment, Rhea wondered absently who did care. She had finally found the one person she could connect with and who would love her unconditionally, and who cared except for those two? The woman was happy, jubilant even, all traces of guilt and nervousness had disappeared as she entangled herself in the arms of this man. She was faintly aware they were on the ground now with him hovering over her and showering her lips and neck with feathery kisses, but all she cared about was him. Their minds brushed across each other and he welcomed the merging of their consciousnesses. However she was a little more hesitant, she held a dark past. So much anger and hate and blood… How could she ever let him see that?
'It's alright, that was then and this is now.'
Rhea hadn't even known she had allowed enough of a connection to build for telepathy, but the feeling of his voice inside her head was oddly comforting. She let down her mental barriers, the walls coming down one by one until finally she was exposed down to the core.
'Oh goddess…' Came Garth's voice, bouncing around in her head as he explored the ancient queen's thoughts.
Instantly, Rhea began to pull her mind back, thinking he had seen too much than he had wanted. She was surprised when he stopped her, wrapping his own thoughts around her in a sort of telepathic embrace and holding her captive in those tendrils of consciousness. 'No, don't go.' He pleaded, beseechingly.
'But… My past…' The woman argued half-heartedly. 'My past is—'
'Your past.' Garth interrupted with his alternate ending. 'Stay with me now… In the present… You don't ever have to go to your past again, just…stay with me.'
Rhea nodded her head and wrapped her arms around this man, her soulmate. Love blossomed in her heart as they held on so anxiously to the other. Love caused her heart to throb and the tears to grow in the corners of her eyes as she sent up a prayer to the gods, knowing Garth echoed her words in his own thoughts.
Thank you… Thank you…