32

"Scarlett," Eliza called.

"Hey how are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy but I feel better, thanks,"

"You just woke up…I should call the doctor,"

"Wait, what about mum and dad and Ryan?" Eliza asked. Her eyes held little hope that the people she called family would be here but the apologetic look in Scarlett's eyes was enough to answer her questions. "I at least thought dad and Ryan would be here,"

"You know about that?" Scarlett asked surprised.

"Mum never lets me forget I'm not hers…Ryan doesn't care though," Eliza explained. She turned her gaze to Nicole and Nicole smiled at her. "You're Nicole O'Connor, Scarlett's best friend,"

"How do you know that?"

"The press may not know a lot about you but I do…and I may have done a little snooping around in Scarlett's old phone,"

"What?" Scarlett asked, she'd been looking for that phone and Eliza's been with it all this time.

"Ms. Quinn Ms. O'Connor," a male voice called. Scarlett and Nicole turned to the source of the voice. "I'm here to check on Ms. Swan," the doctor said. They gave him room and he checked Eliza's vitals. "You'll be discharged soon Ms. Swan, we just need to monitor your health for some time,"

"You're coming with me when you get discharged, I'm not letting you stay with Lionel again, I'm pretty sure Debbie wants someone her age to talk to,"

"Can I see Ryan and dad first?"

"Sure…get some rest and make sure to take your mediations okay,"

"I will…if you answer me first," Scarlett stared at Eliza confused and then turned to Nicole. "Why did you give me your blood? How did you appear like that and how did you fight those men alone? Who were those men anyway?" Scarlett and Nicole looked at each other. Their eyes locked on each other as they spoke telepathically.

'It's best if you tell her Scar'

'I know but if she knows….it'll become a danger to her and her family'

'She has us to protect her'

"What're you guys doing? Can you talk to each other through your eyes? Is that possible?" Eliza asked when she noticed the way they looked at each other. Scarlett closed her eyes and sighed.

"Promise me you won't say a word to anyone Eliza," Scarlett said.

"I won't," Eliza nodded with a smile.

"You know I lost my memories right?" she asked and Eliza nodded. "I made myself lose my memories, there's something called a Lethe, its water makes the dead lose the memories of their past life…I didn't exactly die, it's difficult to explain what I did to myself but I drank the Lethe's water and I lost my memories," she paused. "I gave you my blood because you were poisoned with something that could kill you in less than seconds. I can teleport to wherever I want, whenever I want to and I've been training to fight since childhood. Those men…they were dempires, part vampire, part demon…they're real, we're real, werewolves, werepires, demons, shades, vampires and lycans, it's all real," Scarlett explained.

"What are you exactly?"

"I'm…I'm a tribrid, human, dempire and Draco,"

"What's Draco?"

"It's Latin for dragon,"

"Shit! Can you breathe fire?"

"I'm not sure; I just figured it out,"

"…okay um, what about you Nicole?"

"I'm a lycan,"

"I've always told Ryan this stuff is real," Eliza exclaimed. Scarlett explained everything she could to Eliza and once it was midnight, she let Eliza rest and left with Nicole. She spent a few minutes with Nicole before she left for her training with Seth. She knew she was late but Seth had other things to do right? She materialized in the clearing; everywhere was pitch black, she felt a force push her back and she collided with a tree so hard that she felt its roots in the ground weaken.

"Fuck," she groaned, she felt something cold graze her skin and when she looked up, a pair of stormy ice blue eyes peered at her.

"Next lesson…always be on guard," Seth whispered into her ear before pulling back and creating enough distance between them. He lunged at her fast and hard with his dagger, statistically aiming at her vital points but only giving her minor injuries.

"I thought this was training, why the hell are you trying to kill me?"

"Take this as war Reckless,"

"This isn't war and I thought jumping into war head first is suicidal,"

"Not if you know your strength,"

"Even with strength one can still lose in war, you have to be tactical not suicidal," even while talking, they still fought each other and the more they fought, the more intense Seth got. The scent of Scarlett's blood began to linger with every strike of his dagger. She was on the defensive side and she hated the fact that she hadn't even scratched him while she was covered in her own blood. One hard attack sent her to her knees. Seth vanished after that final blow; visions flooding his mind.

***

Scarlett lazily got up when she realized Seth was gone. Her wounds were healed but…it was too fast, no matter how minor. She was sure she hadn't tasted even a drop of blood ever since she gave Eliza a drink from herself which meant her healing abilities were supposed to have drastically weakened so how the hell did she heal that fast? She rested her back on the stump of a tree and lowered her head so that it rested on her bent knee; she felt Seth was even more demanding than her Old Man Quinn.

Her nose picked up an intoxicating and pleasant scent…blood! Her eyes darkened, she was beyond starved…she hadn't tasted blood for a while now. In an instant she was gone from where she sat, she didn't teleport but her superhuman speed got her to where the animal lay whimpering due its injured leg. She had her fangs in its neck faster than she could imagine and think about not losing her rationality. She drank until it was drained then she flung the body away. She wiped the blood stains off her mouth and looked around, there was another injured animal and she was still parched, her inhuman speed was even faster now and she was within the perimeter of the other animal within seconds. Just as she was about to get to the animal, a large beast pushed her away, it had auburn fur and she stared into its fierce sea blue eyes, Xander.

'Scarlett' a male voice echoed in her head.

"Xander," she called. The lycan ran back into forest and when it returned, Scarlett was wiping the blood of the animal from her mouth, the lycan was Xander and he stared at her surprised, he'd just gone to change and his prey was already nothing but a bag of bones. He was dressed in a blue sleeveless shirt and ripped jeans.

"You're alive," he exclaimed and hugged her. "You have no idea how devastated I've been ever since that night, I…I thought you were dead,"

"I'm not…much of a hugger Xander,"

"Sorry about that," he said and pulled away. "I didn't hear anything from Nicole, Michael or Chris in these six months so I thought the worst had happened…when did you come back?"

"Two weeks ago," Scarlett replied.

"What're you doing here anyway? This is the daemon forest you know that right?"

"I know, I haven't exactly explored this part of the forest before but this is where I train,"

"That can't be, it's a Grey brother who trains here,"

"He's teaching me to fight with daggers,"

"Seth Grey?" Xander asked abruptly. "Stay the hell away from him Scarlett, he may not be the devil but he's done far worse than the devil,"

"What're you talking about?"

"Just do yourself a solid and stay away from him Scarlett," Xander said. A howl interrupted their conversation. "I have to go…" he turned to the animals he'd hunted but… "…you sucked them all dry…the pups need food, I'll see you later,"

"I can help you hunt,"

"That's alright, just stay away from him okay," he said and fell to the ground as his bones shifted. Scarlett watched in horror as he groaned in pain, fuck! So this was what Nicole and Michael went through every time they shifted…she couldn't bear that, she silently thanked whoever she could for not being a lycanthrope…this was just messed up. After what seemed to be a while, his form changed and he reluctantly turned away from her and howled before running off.

***

"I saw Xander today," Scarlett said as she appeared in the sitting room in Michael's mansion where Chris, Michael and Nicole sat with glasses of champagne and a board of chess.

"The last time I saw him was six months ago," Nicole said.

"I told him to take a break from all these problems and I gave him a little gift to keep him occupied," Michael said nonchalantly.

"Why did you tell him to leave?" Scarlett asked. "He's pretty much part of our family so why is he taking a break from our problems?"

"You took a break didn't you?" Michael retorted.

"That's not what I mean,"

"Can we not start this right now," Chris interjected.

"What gift did you give him?" Nicole asked. Scarlett turned to Chris annoyed and his voice echoed in her head and what she heard, shocked her.

"What's up with your hair Quinn?" Chris asked changing the topic.

"My…my hair, um I merged with my demon and this happened," Scarlett said unsure of how to put it into words. "I'm not exactly sure why it's changing color but ever since my merge, my anger has been heightened as well as my dark emotions like right now…I want to rip out a certain lycan's throat,"

"Yeah right," Michael taunted.

"What about Draco?" Chris quickly said.

"I don't know…I'm still trying to figure things out," Scarlett said. Nicole stared at her, she got up to get a closer look, soon she was inspecting Scarlett's face like she was looking for any skin irritation or anything that was a threat to her best friend's beautiful face.

"When was the last time you had a decent sleep Scarlett?" Nicole asked carefully like she was counting her words. Scarlett wasn't exactly sure what to say, it had been a while and if she said so, Nicole would snap, Chris would nag her, the only person who she was sure wouldn't give a damn was Michael, he was the only one who didn't yell at for things as meaningless as this even when they younger.

"It's…it's been a while, I train throughout the night,"

"May I remind you that you are human?"

"Let her be you two…she knows and she can take perfectly good care of herself," Michael interrupted.

"Thanks Michael," Scarlett said and vanished leaving them to their game and champagne.

"What happened to the exchange of words?" Nicole asked; she wondered why Scarlett and Michael were always like this even when they were younger and it still hasn't changed…but it did seem to gotten worse now that they could physical.

"It's just how our relationship is…if Scarlett and I go a day without exchanging words...there's going to be chaos,"

"How are you sure there'll be chaos?" Chris asked with a raised brow.

"Because we've tried it, a year before we left Ensco… Scarlett and I tried for a day not to bicker but we ended up doing something I can't remember what that made Regina punish us to give her fifty pushups," Michael said with an air of nonchalance around him. Chris and Nicole stared at themselves then at him, they had no idea about that.

***

Scarlett materialized in her room and heaved a sigh, she was in no way ready to listen to Nicole nag her about the importance of sleep to the human body. She took a quick shower and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts and a large shirt and then fell flat on the queen-sized bed, she closed her eyes and soon she was in her mind. The first thing her eyes landed on was Black whose hair was partly red as though it was dyed and her eyes had a blazing inferno in them, Scarlett didn't care about the changes as long as she was alright.

"You know, one day when you come here; you won't find either me or Silva,"

"I don't want that to happen,"

 "By then we'll be one person, one Scarlett," Silva replied. "Black's merge was a success…your hair proves it,"

"What about yours Silva?"

"I am whole Scarlett, it's you who isn't, we need to merge with you," Silva said. "Black is whole now…whenever you're ready, Black and I will merge then we'll merge with you and you'll be whole,"

"Can you guys do it now…the merging?"

"Are you sure you're ready? Your hair will turn silver a little," Black said.

"So if I eventually become whole…my hair will change color?"

"You can control it actually, becoming whole has its perks, you can transform to a dragon…I'll explain that another time but the color change in hair is just a sign that it worked,"

"I'll be able to turn to a freaking dragon!?" Scarlett asked. "Hey wait a second, will it be as painful as when lycanthropes shift, because if it is…then I think I'll pass," Black grinned at her and held Silva's hands, their bodies slowly merged and they became one. A few seconds later, a girl with black, red and silver hair, black, red and silver eyes stood in front of Scarlett.

"Hello Scarlett," the girl said. "I'm Damon,"

***

Seth held the file in his hands he'd asked Kieran to compile about the girl in the hospital. Elizabeth Swan, 'What beautiful secrets do you have hidden?' Seth thought. He flipped open the file and scanned through the girl's details.

Elizabeth Swan, Mark Swan's illegitimate daughter, fourteen years ago; he had an affair with his secretary and had her. Unfortunately for the girl, her mother died at childbirth so Mark brought his illegitimate daughter home and his wife wanted nothing to do with the girl. Ryan, Elizabeth's supposed older brother cared less about how his little sister came to be, he loved her and that was what mattered to him. Elizabeth attended the most elite school in Ensco and is extremely intelligent.

Elizabeth's personal details weren't giving off any important information, Seth sighed, there was just something about the girl that seemed odd and he needed to find out what it was before anyone who would hurt her did. The next file intrigued him though. Claire Steele, Elizabeth's mother who was presumed dead after childbirth but the funny truth was this woman wasn't dead, he'd seen her at the party his brother threw and he was almost a hundred percent sure she'd come to see her daughter. If he really wanted to know anything about Elizabeth Swan, he would have to find and interrogate her mother, Claire Steele.