On a little side street, near the developing part of San Antonio, is a ramshackle little cafe that appears run-down and has few customers. Rarely does a human set foot in this cafe, as it is very obviously not safe for public use. However, as a further excuse to avoid the place, unsavory characters- ugly, gruff looking men, bikers, grouchy old people, fish-market employees, and their ilk- are commonly the only people that visit this place. The place is called Sanguinem Fengári cafe; another deterrent as no-one knows what the heck Sanguinem Fengári means. Unbeknownst to most humans, however, this cafe is far more than it seems. This cafe has a secret, one that no person on earth can be allowed to know. It's chocolate is only 93% cocoa bean, not the 100% advertised. If that ever got out, people would be outraged. The only consolation would be that the other 7% is ground up fairy hair and the gaseous releases of a unicorn.

This cafe happens to be one of only a few cafes designed specifically for those of the draconian community, and so is far different on the inside than how it appears on the outside. In order to enter, a draconian citizen must be hidden- either by glamour or disguise- in order to keep up the illusion the front presents. Inside is a space larger than the store should reasonably be, with walls depicting forests, oceans, a city street, and one, plain white wall behind the counter. Merfolk commonly sit in the booths next to the ocean, as they can quickly and easily hop through the picture and back into the sea if they want too, and the other folk that enter sit anywhere else they want. Some come for the chocolate, some for the smells; some even come for the food and drinks. But most simply come to be around strangers of their own kind- draconian society- without the need to hide what they are or the fear that the person next to them might be a human. The amount of relief and relaxation is amazing.

Now who should care for this wondrous little cafe, but a witch whom never shows her face. She wears a cloak that casts a magical shadow over all of her face that exists above her mouth. She rarely speaks, and when she does, it's usually distorted, as though hearing an echo from a ways away. The voice is strange itself, as though it's higher, yet at the same time, lower, than it should be. No one could understand whether she was born cursed like that, or if it was intentional, but no one really cared. She ran one of the most wonderful places on planet earth, so they accepted her eccentricities. Don't question, don't lose; right? Well that was the thought process of most draconian folk who came into the cafe until the day another, somewhat familiar witch came in. This witch was unlike the others that came in; she had red, amber colored hair.

Red hair was a trait from the dragons, and it implied extremely strong magic. Strong enough to, say, accidentally kickstart a latent were-gene and suppress a half-active witch-gene. For example only, of course. I'm not implying she has, or is going to do it, that would be crazy. Her name was Amber. She glanced the cafe, sighing and sitting in a corner booth alone as she pulled out a book to read. It was enormous, likely heavier than ten pounds, and had obviously been written by a normal human. The cover was one of a woman standing on glowing, invisible steps as nightmarish monsters attempted to break through a wall. It was called The Words of Radiance. Most of the other people reading books in the cafe ignored her, one glancing up and staring with hungry eyes at the book before reluctantly going back to her own. It was a gigantic book.

On this day, there were more people than usual in the cafe, having come for the cafes famous chocolate day. All chocolate based foods were feee today, if one could find a person of another race they'd never spoken too before. The only reason the new witch wasn't swarmed was because she couldn't be. The positioning of the booth along with a certain spell she'd used prevented almost everyone from speaking with or even approaching her. It was a small but impressive piece of magic. Amber certainly enjoyed its effects. That was, until the cafe owner showed up. "I'm afraid it's getting a little crowded. Would you like to order anything? If not, I would suggest either leaving or letting other people sit with you. I haven't finished the book lovers room yet, but it'll be done next week. You could come back then and enjoy silence more easily and conveniently?" She sounded like she was asking a question, a purposeful tactic. It made people more likely to accept suggestions. Especially when chocolate was involved, but that wasn't relevant.

Amber glanced at the witch, repressed excitement in her eyes along with annoyance. "I reserved this seat a year ago so I could sit here in silence and read this book on the anniversary of the day it came out. Please don't interrupt me." She returned to reading her book, ignoring the other witch for a moment before she found her book closed a foot away from her. She glared at the other witch who stood there smirking, her arms crossed and her upper face overshadowed by a magical darkness. "Miss, you need to leave. It's not very sociable to be rude to your hostess." Amber considered her, eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't think we've gotten the chance to talk properly. I'm Amber, and you are?" She held out a hand, a spell on the edge of completion woven around her fingers. The other witch grasped her hand. "Call me Tess."

The hood slipped off of her head, the spell having been given a target and a name to fuel it. There stood Raena, her face suddenly going pale, her body stiff as a board.

Everyone stared at her, the two vampires in the place actually dropping out of their seats to their knees in respectful awe. Almost everyone knew who Raena was, if only from legend. She was the creator of the Vampires, the one whom had single-handedly ended the entire race of grey-folk in the most non-lethal way possible. She was a witch admired and spoken of in hushed whispers by young witches, many of whom aspired to attain her same level of prestige. And she was considered a legend and a myth by most. They knew that the Vampires claimed to keep her sleeping body safe in their hidden homeland, a place not that different from the realms of the faery and elvish people's. Most had assumed they were lying.

Suddenly, Raena was behind the counter, all but throwing herself into the kitchen through a set of double doors, the scent of panic and fear heavy in the noses of the Vampires and were. The Vampires knelt, unmoving. They didn't understand why she hadn't embraced them as they had each wished to be embraced; by the truest mother any of their kind could ever have. The were shuffled, uncomfortable. And the witches were too stunned to do more than stare at the doors; except for Amber. She was fascinated, having believed the witch to be a myth herself, and wanted to know more about the legendary mother of the vampiric race. So she walked calmly to and behind the counter, her eyes alight with curiosity and wonder as she pushed the kitchen doors open.

Inside was a magical menagerie of spells, artifacts, and human cooking appliances. Ovens on the ceiling making upside-down pineapple cakes, blenders making cocktails by shaking to a salsa instead of blending them up into a stirred mess, brownies that were being browned in a fireplace that existed inside a painting; even an ice cream machine. Amber walked through this bizarre, twisted world of culinary mastery, until she found a trapdoor labeled "panic room. Enter only in emergency. Beware of demonic possession and ghostly interference. Bleh, bleh, bleh." Ignoring this odd warning, and unique phrasing of 'Bulgarian meat pie' in ancient phantasmic, Amber opened the trapdoor and started down the ladder. She eventually realized her mistake and simply dropped to the ground, finally getting off of the endless ladder.

The panic room was beyond another doorway, one labeled "panic room. Bleh, bleh, bleh." Ignoring the repetition of Bulgarian meat pies, she began walking towards the door, walking backwards after she realized it wasn't getting any closer. It shot towards her and she calmly took hold of the handle and turned the knob in the second before it hit her. Inside the room, it was brightly lit with hundreds of fairies and glow-worms. The floor was covered with a blueish-green grass and piles of stuffed animals. On the walls were mosses, all of them various shades of blue, purple, pink, and orange. It reminded her of a sunset. And, hiding under an enormous pile of teddy bears and stuffed koalas, was Raena. Amber only noticed her because the pile was shivering.

"Are you really the Raena? The one from the stories?" The pile was instantly still. Amber took the chance to look around, tilting her head in confusion at the piles of stuffed animals. Cat's and dog's in one pile, elephants and monkeys in another, lions and tigers and bears, etc... "Oh my, you really are skittish, aren't you?" The pile bobbed, still silent ad the grave. Amber tilted her head, walking over to her. "Hey, I'm the only person here. You can come out, you know; it's not like I'm going to bite you." She smiled, trying to talk to her. A face appeared among the the plush bears, eyes a shocking shade of green as they watched her. Raena pointed upward with a hand- as shockingly pale as her face- that slowly lifted out of the animals before all of her sank back in. Amber glanced at the fairies above their heads, calmly floating around the ceiling and playing among the flowers she hadn't seen before. A literal ceiling garden. Fancy that.

She scoffed, looking back at the pile. "They're just fairies, and young ones at that. They can't understand a word we say." The fairies, if they took any notice, didn't deign to correct her, their auric glows steady shades of blues, greens, oranges, pinks, purples, and almost every other color imaginable. They really were a beautifully diverse race. The pile shivered, the only sign of a response it gave. Amber sighed, kneeling down and crawling into the pile of animals. What she had expected was for Raena to collapse the pile by running out of the pile. Instead, she found herself inside the carpeted room of a young child, with pictures of smiling bears and butterflies decorating the ceiling. The walls were made out of bears just like the ones she'd crawled through. Amber stopped, her breath temporarily leaving her at the incredible display of witchcraft. A stable spell of internal spacial expansion without the use of a stable set of walls. Either raw genius, or the result of countless centuries of practice and experimentation.

In one corner lay a curled up Raena, her hair a strangely pale yellow color, almost silvery in appearance. She glanced at Amber with malice, obviously upset. "What?" Amber could understand being shy, but all of this was a little extreme for a simple case of social anxiety. Raena continues to glare. "I'm shy, and I have stage fright. I'm extremely socially anxious and I absolutely hate of being the center of attention. Go boil a newt!" She hid her head in her arms again, face against her knees. Amber was stunned. No one had used that kind of insult in... millennia. It was so outdatedly old fashioned that it actually was insulting. And that was an extra shock to her. That and the idea that a witch whom had faced fifty immortal beings of power unimaginable and turned them into Vampires was ridiculous.

"What about the grey-folk? The legend says you faced fifty at once and made them the progenitors of the modern vampires!" She was thoroughly confused. Raena didn't even lift her head. "They talked with me one on one and they only sent ten of the fifty. Besides, even then I panicked and screwed up the spell. I meant to give them genders so they could have children and I wound up making them leech-like, heliophobic, undead monsters that had an allergy to silver. It was so bad of a mistake I passed out, and they thought I was dead. They cast a spell to preserve my body. When I wake up, I'm surrounded by fifty modern Vampires, the clan lords themselves, who are saying some kind of prayer around my unconscious body in ancient phantasmic. And it's been a few dozen millennia. That. Is. Terrifying!" She shivered, and Amber suddenly began to wonder what waking up surrounded by forty handsome, soulless, bloodthirsty men and ten women of the same description, all of whom seemed to worship her, would be like. The thought made her shiver in discomfort.

"Well, it can't be that bad. I mean, at least thirteen of the original grey-folk are still alive, kept that way by the modern Vampire Lords. As far as I know, none of the modern vampires are particularly unhappy about the gifts you gave them, even if the costs that come with them are pretty steep. I mean, endless stamina, strength to rival a dragon, and speed that would make a shooting star weep with jealousy are pretty cool gifts. Not to mention the inhuman beauty you gain as almost all your fat is burned away and your muscles continue to develop for a few months after your reborn." She tilted her head, eyebrows raised at Raena. Did the mother of the night, nicknamed Liliana by her children, really regret what she'd done? The entire vampire race would be collectively heartbroken.

Raena was silent for a moment before she released a quiet, "I guess... did they really turn out so well?" Amber snorted, shifting her weight to a single foot as she folded her arms. "If by "Well", you mean beautiful, arrogant, kind, altogether pleasant, and annoyingly thoughtful; then yes. They are the most annoyingly perfect group of people I've ever met. As a race. The individuals are way better than the collective families." She smiled at Raena, who was silent for a moment. Then she sat up, slowly, and rubbed her eyes. They looked watery, like she'd been about to cry. "But... don't they hate me? I made them monsters..." she trailed off, looking at the walls in sorrow. Amber actually laughed at that. She laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. "Oh, Drakes no! Raena, they practically worship you! They think of you as their mother, or the closest thing they can have. Every vampire knows your face as the one they go to when they need comfort or help making a choice. Every vampire-ess strives to mimic your beauty. Every witch in the world wants to be as strong as you were- are. You are the envy of most of the draconian world, I can't think of a single person that hates you."

Raena looked stunned, and Amber smiled warmly as she walked over. "Look, if you don't want people to recognize you, wear a mask. Change your appearance. That should help you avoid anxiety too, because they won't be focused on you, they'll be focused on your mask. You'll never be the center of attention again, alright? Just change your hair color and maybe darken your skin. Glamours like that are easy to make, alright?" Raena nodded, giving Amber a doubtful, but grateful, look. Amber smiled, then stood. "Oh, I have a question I've always wanted to ask you." Raena nodded, standing as well, although more slowly. "Ask away. I only know what we knew back when I changed the grey-folk, but you're welcome to it." Amber smiled. "What's the best kind of familiar? And how do you know which one is best for you?"

Raena thought for a moment before smiling. "I guess the one that improves your magic the most, makes it easiest to use, would be a Luna; you know, a were. As for how you know, well... you'll know because of how you're connected to them. The stronger the connection, and the more they want to be your familiar, the more effective and complete the bond will be. Does that answer your question?" Amber nodded, a certain boy she'd met coming to mind. "Yeah... I think I understand." She smiled, holding out her hand. "Alright, Raena; lets go face those vampires. I'd rather they not feel crushed for the rest of the day. Depression is easy to get when you drink blood for a living." Raena nodded, taking a deep breath before allowing Amber to lead her from the panic room.

The next month, after her club had been formed, she confronted a certain boy about what she was. She told him to act like his favorite animal for a week when he didn't know what she was. She had forgotten her encounter with Raena, part of a spell the witch had cast to aid in wearing her mask. Suddenly, she seemed to have much darker hair, darker, more tanned skin than before, and ever-changing eyes. She also acquired two adult faeries as familiars, something she found very useful not much long after.

_________________________________(A/N) Hey Guys! I finally did this! Rae_Sword , please be proud of meee!!! XD
Well, thanks for waiting! As usual, if you've got a request or suggestions or questions; just ask! I'd love to answer you're questions and requests and I'm always looking for advice! Thanks again, Sept-mates!

Till next time, Sept-mates!

Your Poet and Scribe,
~ShadeFinder<(0^0)>