17

Scarlett woke up in the afternoon and had a shower. The cruiser was already waiting at the dock. Usually, Nicole would come drag her out by now but she hadn't so she went to Nicole's room and knocked on the door but no one answered. She pushed the door open and found the room empty; Nicole's scent was very faint in the room as though she hadn't been in there. She asked Chris about her whereabouts and Chris told her he was also looking for Michael. Scarlett went to Michael's room to confirm and when she knocked on the door and went in and didn't smell his scent, she knew both of them hadn't been in the mansion for while.

Scarlett remembered Nicole went out for a hunt but shouldn't she have been back by now? She told Chris anyway and they went to the forest to look for them. They followed Nicole's scent into the forest and surprisingly Michael's scent was also present. Their scent got stronger and stronger the farther they went into the forest. They stopped at the clearing where Michael and Nicole met last night and at the other side of water, at the foot of a tree, Michael had his back to the tree half naked with Nicole straddling him and her head on his chest.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Scarlett exclaimed while Chris laughed out. His laughter woke Nicole up instantly.

"Shit! What the fuck are both of you doing here?" Nicole asked as she stood up and adjusted her hair, her cheeks flushed pink.

"Shouldn't we be the ones asking you that?" Chris asked with a grin on his face. "Wake up lover boy; we're heading back to Kersa,"

"Fuck off Chris," Michael groaned and got up.

"You told me you wanted to hunt?" Scarlett asked with a slight smile on her face.

"I did hunt and I met Michael here, get the clothes?"

"C'mon Scarlett, it's very obvious they hunted and they got exhausted, so they slept it out…it's common for lycans don't you think?" Chris said. Michael glared at him. "You guys…?"

"No we didn't,"

"Here lover boy," Chris said and threw Michael's shirt at him.

"Quit calling me that,"

"So you guys officially a couple now?" Chris asked. Michael and Nicole stared at each other. Chris grinned knowingly at Scarlett and they both laughed.

"I think I hear the cruiser," Nicole said.

"Nice try Nikki, but you're going to answer that," Chris said.

"Leave it to me Chris, I'll get it out of her," Scarlett said and turned to Nicole who looked at her with a nervous smile on her face. "You have a lot to tell me," Scarlett said and dragged Nicole away from the clearing.

"Can we not talk about this?" Nicole asked.

"Don't worry, I just have a few questions to ask, first of all, you're comfortable with him right?" Scarlett asked.

"What…what kind of a question is that?" Michael asked. They were still within earshot.

"Answer it Nicole, are you comfortable with him?" Scarlett asked ignoring him but seeing Nicole's hesitation she continued. "Michael has been our friend since we were little and I know you've had feelings for him since then, so are you comfortable with him?"

"You know I have feelings for him then why ask me that? Of course I'm comfortable with him," Michael grinned hearing Scarlett and Nicole's words.

"He isn't forcing you to do anything right?"

"You're kidding right Scarlett?" Michael asked.

"You're asking me these questions like you're my mum or older sister,"

"I'm just trying to protect you Nicole, we both know Michael can be…well Michael and I don't want him to hurt you because if he does anything that'll hurt you, I'll make him beg for death…there's absolutely no way I'd let anyone go scot free after hurting you, not even him,"

"I'm with Scarlett on this, if you hurt Nicole, I'll kill you," Chris said and patted Michael's back.

"Sometimes I wonder who's older amongst us…us or Scarlett." Nicole said and they laughed.

"C'mon Chris let's give the love birds some privacy," Scarlett grinned and she and Chris left.

"I won't do anything to hurt you Nicole, you know that right?" Michael asked taking her hand in his and staring into her sky blue eyes.

"I know Scarlett can be…very protective sometimes," Nicole said with a smile.

"Michael Chen," after a pause, other words rang out. "Nicole O'Connor," Scarlett and Chris called.

"Wait until you're out of earshot," Chris teased as he and Scarlett let out a laugh. Michael groaned and Nicole laughed at him. He leaned in and kissed her lips before he took her hand and they left the clearing.

The cruiser was large and white in color. The front deck was filled with booths selling different items ranging from food to weaponry. She did need a weapon, Nicholas had taught her how to use a sword but she didn't really like swords and another dagger would be nice Even though she wasn't keen on using it, she still needed a new one.

"Hi, you got anything for a hybrid?" Scarlett asked.

"Make your choice, we got uh…daggers, swords, name it," the man said.

"I need something less conspicuous,"

"What about this?" the man brought out a piece of metal and unfolded it. It was a sword; its blade was black and its hilt, silver. "One of a kind, naturally covered in poison, not the most lethal but deadly,"

"Thanks…"

"Jacob,"

"Thanks Jacob, this is perfect, what about daggers?"

"This should be perfect for you," a larger man appeared beside Jacob. Now that she noticed, Jacob's blond hair looked just like the one in her nightmare and his face. Her eyes darted to the large man who'd just appeared beside Jacob. 'Now say goodbye Quinn' the words from her nightmare echoed in her head. She stared at the sword in her hands and back at Jacob, this was the same sword the blond man in her nightmare had stabbed her in the heart with. She looked at the larger man, so this was the man who was stupid enough to trust a certain Claire till the day of his death. "I'm Kylian Jacob's brother," he held a dagger that oozed dark magic dangerously.

"It's made purely of dark magic," Jacob said.

"Thank you,"

"It's been a pleasure meeting you…Ms. Quinn," Scarlett went inside one of the rooms in the cruiser and tucked the sword and dagger in her boots and jeans. She was thinking about the two dempires she'd seen earlier, so those were the two assholes that she would face in future. She still wondered what Kylian did to Claire that made her poison him with her blood which led her to killing Claire for that same blood but she couldn't find any good reason. She lay on the bed and soon her eyelids felt heavy. She didn't fight the sleep as it came and immediately drowned in the peaceful world of her sleep.

Thirteen hours after Scarlett fell asleep, rogues attacked the cruiser and they killed the human attendants and attacked head on. A rogue's body smacked against the window of the room Scarlett was sleeping in causing the window to crack. Scarlett's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was a trail of blood on the window. Outside, she could see her grandfather dropping the body of a rogue from the sky. She took out the dagger her grandfather had given her when she was younger and walked out of the room twirling it in her finger and sighed. She was thankful she'd at least gotten a lot of sleep but she was still excited that she'd get one last exciting battle before she left her family.

Jacob and Kylian were surrounded by a lot of rogues and they were getting brutally beaten. Scarlett knew helping them would only cause her death in the future, she knew contemplating it was stupid because her nightmare was still a vivid memory in her head and she obviously didn't want that to happen. As she stood there still thinking on what to do, a rogue attacked her, she stabbed it with her dagger. She turned to Jacob and Kylian again and sighed, she was really going to be stupid right now.

Scarlett threw her dagger at a rogue that was about to stab Kylian. The dagger her grandfather had given her wasn't made with dark magic but it had a mind of its own when it wasn't being handled. The dagger twisted itself in the rogue's chest; blood sprayed from the rogue's chest and flowed like water from his lips.

Kylian turned and his eyes met with Scarlett's. He smiled at her and her dagger returned to its place in her hands. She couldn't help the dread that filled her heart at that smile. A loud bang sounded and the ship began to sink. She turned and found out it was exactly where Kylian and Jacob were fighting. Well…she did plan on killing them after this, so maybe the explosion just eased her of the stress. Nicholas enclosed everyone in a protective barrier, everyone except Scarlett. He looked around and found her surrounded by rogues; their fight was very close to the spot where the explosion had occurred. 'Shit! How the fuck did she get there?!' Nicholas cursed internally. Nicholas flew to where Scarlett fought but a barrier blocked him.

"Don't be stupid kiddo, let me through, they're too much for you!" he yelled but Scarlett ignored him. The dark magic in her new dagger oozed dangerously. It swirled toward some of the rogues and beheaded them in an instant while she dealt with the others. The images from when she was in Silva's mind replayed in her head, the last vision she'd had of her family and their dead bodies. This was the best way she thought of protecting them, to prevent Debbie, Nicole, Zev and everyone else form dying.

"How long have you known about this?" Gallus asked. Everyone could see and hear him. They didn't know him and they wondered how he knew Scarlett. Luis wore a smile on his face. Debbie, although she'd seen him before, she didn't know who he was while Nicholas tried to make Gallus change Scarlett's mind.

"Gallus stop her, she'll kill herself, don't let her do it!"

"What are you talking about?" Scarlett asked. Her family was even more confused that both Scarlett and Nicholas knew who this man was.

"How long have you fucking known about that kid?! When were you going to tell me you knew about all that?" he yelled. While the dark magic from her dagger dealt with some of the rogues, she and Gallus fought the others. Although there was tension between them, they fought and killed the rogues swiftly.

"I couldn't let what happened in nightmare and visions happen Gal, I was going to kill them, my own family Gal, don't you get it?!"

"You should have told me, said something…anything at least, we're in this together, have you forgotten?"

"I haven't Gal, but in my vision, you weren't there, no one was there to help me bring them back or to protect them from me, I sat there holding their lifeless bodies and crying my eyes out praying I was just hallucinating, but I wasn't, I killed them. In my nightmare, all my visions and the images that flash through my head, someone I love always dies, I can't bear that, I just can't!!!" she screamed. Dark magic surged from her body, the power was just too much. The pulse of it pushed Gallus out of the barrier. He tried to go back in but it was too late. The explosion was loud and deadly. The cruiser sank even faster. Nicholas' shield shattered into pieces and the impact sent them flying back to the island's shore.

The cruiser caught fire; the dead bodies of the rogues were reduced to ashes. Zev, Chris, Nicholas, Regina, Nathan, Debbie, Ramona and Miguel spread their wings and flew upwards. They used their dempiric vision to look for Scarlett but there was no sign of her anywhere. Dread filled their hearts as the cruiser sank completely while fire reduced it to ashes. Scarlett was still missing and the mind link they had with her was severed. They couldn't hear her heartbeat, sense her or feel her dark magic. Scarlett was gone and they couldn't do anything about it. Even her body was missing. Nicole slumped on the floor, her head buried in her palms.

"SCARLETT!!!" Nicole screamed. Tears flowed down Ramona, Debbie and Nicole's cheeks, their eyes reddened. The sound of bones breaking echoed and Nicole's form changed into something larger and furrier. Her fangs and claws sharper and her eyes a darker shade of magenta than normal as her howl echoed into the night sky.