Their End

Chapter 15 | Who is Vivi?

FINDRA

Oh no. No no no no no!

The little copies fall off me, but I can’t focus on them. If they are hurt, Remi will be so mad at me. She’s very protective of her copies even though she made another.

It doesn’t matter though. My brother is coming.

This was supposed to be my mission. Not his. I wasn’t out of time. At least, I didn’t think I was out of time yet.

Vilairus is going to come hurt my wolfies and witch. I can’t let him near the copies. He doesn’t care that they are small and breakable. It will make Remi so so so mad and sad if he hurts them, and then her big copies will get angry and try to fight Vilairus. That won’t end well, even with the armors Sammy made them.

“He’s coming? Does he like to play too?” Cerys asked.

“No, he doesn’t,” I told her. I looked over at Remi. She looked scared, and she should be.

“I think that’s, um, enough flying for today,” Remi tells all my little copies. “Why don’t we go get a snack from the kitchen?”

“But-”

“No buts,” she cut them off. Remi sometimes had a face like my father’s that the little copies knew not to argue with. She gave them that look extra hard. “Snacktime.”

My little copies all ran back to the big house, leaving me with Remi. “Fifi, I need you to explain,” she said calmly.

I held up the stone in my hand that bore my brother’s mark. Remi looked at it, then back at me. “I’m going to need more. Where did that come from, and what does it mean?” she asked.

“This is a warning from my brother. He’s coming here to finish my hunt. Or to collect me,” I explained.

“Hunt? Do you mean when you came here to stop Sam’s magic?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “This is my first hunt. My brother has been on many hunts.”

“But you ate the flames? If this is your hunt, why is your brother coming?”

“Well,” I stalled. Remi gave me the same look as the little copies. “I was supposed to, um, hunt Sammy. And I haven’t finished my hunt. I must be out of time.”

“So, your brother is coming now? To hunt Sam?” I nodded to answer her question. “Fifi, that sounds really bad.”

“Vilairus isn’t like me. He’s very serious. He takes his hunts very, very serious,” I sighed.

“Fifi, I need you to be honest with me. Are we in danger? Is your brother going to come here to hurt us? To hurt Sam or anyone else?” Remi sounded so worried, and I felt bad.

I didn’t want my brother to come and ruin my time. I was having fun with my wolfies and witch. I really didn’t want him to hurt them. The wolfies were so much fun, and I was learning so many things. The little copies always wanted to play, which was so much better than home, where no one ever wanted to play.

“If Vilairus is angry or my father sent him, we all might be in danger,” I admitted.

REMI

I was too stunned to completely process what Fifi was telling me. Despite the warm sun bearing down on us, I felt cold as fear settled in my gut.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Calder linked me.

“We have a huge problem,” I managed.

“Where are you? Are you okay? Are the pups okay?” Calder’s rushed questioning didn’t help my rising concern.

“We’re coming to you,” I told him. “Have Gentry get Sam now.”

“Nothing happened?” he pressed.

“Not in the way you think.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Panicking wouldn’t get us anywhere. “Fifi,” I said as I exhaled. “We need to tell everyone else what’s going on, and then you need to help us make a plan.”

“A plan?” she said, perking up a little.

“No one comes to our pack intending to hurt anyone,” I told her. I meant it. No matter what Fifi was supposed to do on her hunt, anyone intending to hurt my family or the members of our pack had to deal with the Alphas.

Fifi followed me all the way up to Cullen’s office. Cullen and Calder stood outside the door, waiting for us. They seemed a little on edge as their eyes took me in head to toe. They relaxed fractionally when they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me.

“Where are the pups?” Calder asked, gently taking Caysen from me.

“I sent them to the kitchen for a snack,” I said. We all stepped inside the office, Fifi bringing up the rear with her head down. Sam and Gentry were waiting inside, arguing in hushed voices.

“We have a big problem,” I interrupted them.

“We’re all ears,” Cullen said.

I waited for Calder to settle Caysen into the baby swing before I got into it. “There is another dragonborn heading our way.”

“What?” Sam sputtered. “Another dragonborn?”

Everyone turned on Fifi. “Tell them,” I encouraged her.

She hesitated at first, then the floodgates opened. She spoke so fast I could see confusion on everyone’s face. She kept telling us how she didn’t mean to put anyone in danger, and she would protect her little copies. Her explanations went round and round until she eventually ran out of steam.

“So, let me simplify this,” Gentry said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You came to our realm to kill my mate. You didn’t do that, and now your brother is coming here to finish your ‘hunt’ and bring you back home?”

“No… I finished my hunt. I stopped the magical imbalance. Sammy isn’t a bad witchy,” she defended.

“Yet, your kin is still coming with ill intent,” Cullen growled.

“I didn’t call for his help!” Fifi was getting flustered now.

“The why doesn’t matter,” I stepped in. “What matters most is when he is coming and what we are going to do about it?”