Before I can correct him, Rourke speaks, “Bonded, boss, the word is bonded not betrothed and it doesn’t mean the same thing. Bondings can occur when a hybrid vampire feeds off another species.” To me Rourke adds, “Boss has been living with my family in Malta for the last few years, we don’t speak English all that often so some things still require translation.”
“Oh, ok.” I mutter at the same time Ossias questions, “Really? I assumed it was a chosen thing tobondwith someone. Does that mean the bond isn’t a romantic thing as I believed?” cocking his head to the side. His dark hair falls over his shoulder and I once again get the strange sense that I know him from somewhere.
“Not romantic no, some bonds do present with sexual urges though.” Rourke deadpans.
“No.” Ossias covers his ears with his hands and begins to sing, loudly and off key. I get a strange sense of déjà vu, the tune is familiar, but I can’t recall the words.
Rourke laughs and motions for me to enter the house, with his hand pressed to my spine, he whispers, “Boss doesn’t like it when we talk about sex. I think it offends his delicate sense of morals, so try not to take offence.”
“I won’t take offence but I’m not sure my ear drums can take much more of listening to the cat being strangled.” I laugh as I look around the room we’ve entered. It’s huge, like one of those hotel entry ways that are big enough to cater an entire wedding.
Ossias’ face goes bright red as he splutters, “Oi, I’ll have you know ladies line up around the block to hear my beautiful vocals.”
“Sure they do.” I snark.
“Urgh, you can be such a brat sometimes.” Ossias says, crossing his arms. “Some things never change.”
I have to do a double take; I swear I’ve heard him say that before. “What?” I splutter out.
“Is that not the saying?” Once more he looks to Rourke for an answer.
“It is the saying, but I fear you may be pushing your luck with that one. She’s not stupid boss, she knows something is up.” Although Rourke’s words are whispered, I hear them as clear as day.
“She knows now cause you just let it slip.” Ossias berates, nodding in my direction.
“Would you just tell me what is going on, all this cloak and dagger stuff is starting to piss me off.” I hiss through gritted teeth.
“Fine, I’ll explain everything.” He disappears into the doorway of the first room to the right of the entryway, forcing me to follow him to find out what is going on.
The ballroom type room he leads me into is set up like a restaurant with a single table. To my left is a buffet table, to the right is a drinks table and a lone waiter wearing a penguin suit. He’s older than I’d have expected, somewhere in his late seventies or early eighties if his looks are anything to go by, but the way he moves with the grace of a swan leads me to believe he isn’t what he seems.
Rourke pulls the chair closest to us out and tells me to sit. As I sit, I glance around, taking note of the fact the table has no flowers or decoration beyond the plain white table cloth. The floors are stained hardwood and the walls are completely bare. There are however lighter patches on the walls where pictures once hung.
In the back of my mind, I feel a tinge of recognition, but it sifts through my fingers like water. There but ungraspable.
Ossias takes the seat across from me and sits stiffly in his chair. I shift my weight, feeling awkward as he places his clasped hands upon the pristine cloth. “Your powers, once fully unlocked, will provide us with the answers to how we can save the supernatural race.”
I open my mouth to question him, but he waves me to silence. “The seers weren’t specific, their exact wording was,The made hybrid will hold the power to unite the breeds and once unlocked her powers will save the supernatural race.As far as we can tell, you are the made hybrid, this is why we need your help.”
“Even if I am amadehybrid, how am I supposed to help?” I ask, trying to keep the frown off my face.
“The first thing we’ll need to do is unlock your powers. The problem is that we have no idea how to do that.” Rourke says as he places a third chair beside the table. “As far as we can tell, most vampires come into their powers naturally when they first feed. Dragons however come into their full powers once they find their mates.”
“Dragons?” I shake my head as I struggle to keep the shock from my face, “There are dragons?”
“You, Ir-Regina tieghi, are a dragon-vampire hybrid. Born a dragon and turned before your first shift. From the research we’ve done, dragons are essentially human until they shift for the first time, which usually happens when their body reaches maturity. This is where it becomes speculation to be honest, but the research does allude to the fact that a dragon can be infected by the other breeds prior to shifting. We’ve found in the histories, several accounts of dragons being turned by shifters, demons, and even one account of a vampire hybrid. Although as with most hybrids, they rarely reach maturity so we can’t be certain of those facts.”
“So basically, you’re guessing that’s what I am and that I’m this saviour the seers mentioned simply because I’m female and don’t know what my other half is.” I summarise feeling annoyed.
“No, of that we are certain. You are the Dragon-Vampire hybrid. You are the one we’ve been searching for. I have no doubts about that.” Ossias says vehemently.
I push my chair out and get to my feet, “I need the bathroom.” I blurt. I don’t, I just need a few minutes to think all of this over, but that’s a good enough excuse to leave this weird conversation.
“It’s just down the hall and to the left. There’s a plaque on the door, you can’t miss it.” Rourke tells me. I wander off into the hallway in search of the bathroom. The hallway looks fairly normal, but the door that’s cracked open makes me curious what could be hiding in the room opposite the bathroom.
Inside the room, I find myself staring at over a hundred photographs, all pinned to boards around the room.
All of them are of me, taken from a distance over the last three or four years.