Is There a Matchmaker in the House?

“Sister, he’s a man,” Fiona announced, as if that made betrayal a foregone conclusion. And it was. At least for her.

“I know why you don’t trust the male of the species, Fee.” Morganna sat down next to Fiona and looked at her younger sister with regret. “But, I wish I could change your mind somehow. They can’t all be bad.”

“You shouldna feel nae guilt,” Fiona said sharply. “‘Twas none of it your fault.”

Anna heard the hint of Ireland in Fiona’s voice and knew her anger was close to showing itself once more. “I don’t Fee. But, regret I feel in spades, and not just for you, but for what I’ve lost as well.”

The two sisters had been sitting on a book turned on its side on the shelf. Fiona stood now and strode across the shelf to the very edge to once again peer down at her charges. Morganna soon joined her and noticed how her sister’s gaze seemed to rest on Jon longer than on Richie, how her eyes continually seemed to follow his every move. A secret little smile lifted the corner of her full lips. Perhaps, what it would take to change her younger sister’s mind about the male of the species wasn’t more words from her, but actions from one of those males. Maybe, just maybe, she could give them a little push. She’d be willing to be nice to the arrogant ass, if it meant her sister could learn to trust a man.

When Fiona’s eyes moved back to her sister, she noticed that little smile. “What are you planning, Sister?”

“Nothing of any import,” she answered with the little grin still firmly in place. “Are we ready to tell them more, or do we erase their memories of this day?”

“Neither.” Fiona shook her head. “They still need time to digest what we’ve already told them. Richie seems to be okay with it, but Jon doesn’t. Jon has always been a show not tell kind of person. He won’t believe any of this until he can see it for himself. He won’t accept anything until he’s armed with knowledge he can find on his own. Jon is a firm believer in ‘forewarned is forearmed’. Richie has always followed Jon’s lead, in matters such as these.”

Morganna noticed the look of pride on Fiona’s face as she said those words, but she chose not to point that out to her sister. “I think you know too much about these men,” she said instead.

“And yet I don’t know enough.” Fiona turned to walk back to the book. She took a seat up on the cover, pulling her legs up and crossing them ‘Indian style’.

“How do you mean?” Morganna turned away from the men, but not before giving Richie’s tall form one last admiring look.

“Come on, Anna. Ask the question you want answered.”

“Oh. You mean, how will they handle this?”

“Yes. And I don’t know.” With her elbow on her knee she dropped her chin into her hand in disgust. “I should be able to predict how they’ll handle this, but I canna and it isna sitting well with me.”

“Free will sucks.” Morganna plopped down on the book next to Fiona.

“Yeah. It certainly does.”

In the room below them, the two friends sat on opposite sides of the desk. Jon continually going from website to website looking for anything he could find that concerned the Apocalypse or Lucifer. Richie had sat watching him for long moments when this exercise first started.

The guitarist had sat there for long moments with a smirk on his face. Jon had reverted to form, wanting to have some kind of tangible proof that didn’t come from the fair...uh, Fey. Finally, it occurred to him that what they needed was probably right there in the house. After all, even if Jon wasn’t a very righteous person, he was Catholic albeit of the non-practicing variety, which meant it would be there...somewhere.

He had let his gaze wander the room, sure that what he was looking for would be there on one of the book shelves that lined two walls of Jon’s office. Sure enough, the black leather bound book eventually caught his eye. It was at the end of a middle shelf in the corner of the room. Casually, he got up and walked over and picked the book up off the shelf and, once back in his seat, began to leaf through the pages searching for anything to jump out at him, too bad this book didn’t have a “google search” feature.

It seemed like an eternity had passed, when Jon finally called out, “Look at this, Rich,” and spun his monitor around for Richie to be able to see what he’d found. It was a site that talked about the book of Revelations and the “End of Days”, but this site had went a little farther, explaining that the signs could be interpreted in many ways and that there were some signs that had been found in ancient documents that weren’t in the Bible and therefore discounted by most theological references.

“What am I looking for, Kidd?” Richie asked, still holding the book in his big hands.

“This here,” Jon answered pointing.

Richie quickly scanned the section the singer pointed to. It referred to an obscure ‘prophecy’. Richie read it aloud. “But, here we are referring to the specific line of the Prophecy that states...’And a brotherhood forged in fire, fueled by love and betrayal, two brothers by choice of blood on blood, will save us all. Only they can stand shoulder to shoulder against The Betrayer and prevent the End of Days and stop the signs once they have begun’.” There was a look of total astonishment on Richie’s face as he whispered in awe, “Holy fuck.”

Chocolate brown met crystal blue and the two men yelled in unison the names of the women that were upper most in their minds.

“Fiona!”

“Anna!”

Sitting high up on the top shelf, both women looked at each other and shrugged before popping into the room below, once again restored to their normal size. The first words out of Fiona’s mouth were designed to anger Jon.

“You bellowed?” she asked with a knowing little grin.

That grin annoyed him beyond measure. He didn’t like being the only one in a room that didn’t know something. “I want an explanation to this,” he demanded, then read the line from the computer screen to her and Anna.

“Does it not explain itself?” she asked, truly not understanding what he wanted explained to him.

Morganna added, "They left out the most important part. The 'brothers' are described as 'different as night and day, yet still the same. Light and dark'."

Jon was getting more angry; he didn't hear any answers, only more questions. "You call that a fucking explanation?"

Her gaze resting on the book in Richie's hands, Fiona demanded, "How can you not understand? You were given an instruction manual, a handbook if you will."

It was only then that Jon noticed the book in Richie's hands. His mouth fell open, and his gaze returned to Fiona. "Are you fucking kidding me? That's more confusing that you are."

"Well, it was written by men," Morganna interjected dryly.

Fiona looked at Anna, her eyes pleading with her sister for help. How did you explain something that you’d always known about, something that just was? It would be like explaining to someone how to breathe. You don’t. They just do it. Anna shrugged and shook her head, also at a total loss as to how to explain what the two men wanted so desperately to understand.

“It just is,” Fiona finally said. “I don’t know how to even begin to explain.”

Richie came to her rescue. “How about starting with these so called ‘powers’ that you claim Jon and I have.”

Jon nodded in agreement. “Excellent idea! What was that about us being Sirens? Everything I’ve found says that Sirens were female.”

Relieved that they were asking for an explanation to the thing easiest to explain, Fiona smiled. “That is quite simple. An ancient ancestor, several generations back, withstood the temptation of a siren’s call. He was a captain of a ship that had his crew tie him to the mast so that he could not act on the desire created by the call, and he’d ordered his crew to stuff cotton in their ears so that they would be unable to hear the siren. In being able to defeat the siren, he was able to steal her powers. That’s how it was handed down to the males in his family tree.”

Anna had been wandering around the room in what appeared to be an effort to simply check out her surroundings, but in fact she was surreptitiously observing Richie and his reaction to this news. She smiled now, as he asked softly, “So, Jon and I are related?”

It was Anna that chose to answer that one. “So far back in your family lineage that you are in fact not related at all.”

Jon nodded in understanding. “As in the sense that we are all ‘related’ to Adam and Eve?”

“Exactly,” Fiona exclaimed, happy that they were finally understanding what was being said to them.

"And the others that you protected?" It was Jon asking, even though he wasn't sure why.

"Descendants of the same ship's captain."

"But my father never had any musical ability," Richie pointed out.

"Neither did mine," Jon replied.

"Not every male in the line would have been born with the gift. I was to await the births of the chosen ones in the five different lines. Although, your powers have no effect on me, I knew the moment I heard your borning cries that you were the ones. Music is not the only component of your powers, but it's an important one. It is not only your singing voices that can mesmerize, but your spoken one as well." Fiona was surprised that both men had stayed silent long enough for her to get all of that out, but obviously they wanted an explanation that bad.

Jon scoffed at that. "You're saying that by just speaking to a woman I could drive her crazy with lust and desire?"

Richie laughed. "Yeah, bro, and make 'em throw their panties on the stage."

Fiona smiled sweetly at Jon. "And make them cry from not being able to have you."

Richie was trying very hard to keep his laughter in check. Over the years, he and the guys had teased Jon unmercifully about his hold over women, and now someone was standing here confirming that the power was real.

"And not only women will be affected," Morganna joined the conversation then. "Men might not be overcome with lust and desire, but they would be compelled to listen to you, to do your bidding. You would be a leader among them. Your voice would lead them down any path."

Again, Richie's laughter erupted. "Fuck," he managed to get out on a laugh, "that sounds so gay."

Jon leveled his gaze on Richie, a smirk lifting one corner of his full lips. "And all of this applies to you as well," he reminded the guitarist.

Richie sobered instantly. "Uh, yeah. Shit."

Fiona motioned toward the window and the darkness outside. "It has been a long and eventful day for both of you. I'm sure that you both need to rest now."

All of a sudden, Jon felt tired. He recognized the signs from the night before; she was trying to control him again. "Cut that shit out!" he ordered.

Richie yawned and looked at Jon. "What shit?"

"She's doing it again," Jon said waving his hand at Fiona. "She's making us sleepy."

Richie glanced at his watch. "Bro, it's after midnight. I'm sure she's not the only thing making us sleepy."

Jon's eyes narrowed on Fiona. "Stop it."

Fiona shrugged. "As you wish. But, you do need to get some rest. My sister and I will watch over you."

"Don't you need to sleep, too?" Richie's chivalrous side began to show itself again.

"Not like you," Morganna chose to explain. "We can go to Tír na nÓg, time passes slower there. A few moments of sleep is the same as hours here. And we can take turns."

Jon's curiosity was peaked. "And how will you get there?"

"The ring in your yard," Fiona answered. She looked at her sister. "Would you like to take first watch so that you can sleep last?"

"How is it said now? I'm cool with that?"

Grinning, Fiona nodded. "Yeah. Shall we go then?"

The men watched in silent amazement as the women calmly walked out of the room and left the house as if the world wasn't tilting sharply to the left.

Once at the circle, Fiona turned to face Morganna. "Come to the Garden and get me if you need me. Do not hesitate to wake me."

"I won't." Looking at something over Fiona's shoulder, Morganna gasped.

"What is it?"

"We have company."

Fiona spun to look behind her. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. "What are you doing here?" she asked softly.

"Is that any way to welcome a dear friend and member of the Council of Elders?" The older man asked, grinning at both women.

"She's sorry, sir," Morganna told him, tipping her head slightly in respect. "Welcome. To what do we owe this honor?"

"Yeah, Merlin, what brings your ass here?" Fiona asked.