11

Inside a dense forest, a mansion stood radiating with elegance and grandeur; no one would've thought people could live in such a place. At the back of the mansion was a large clearing that was used as a training ground. Two persons were sparring against each other head on a part of the clearing, dempire against lycan, their fight intensified with every blow struck. At another part of the clearing, two others fought against a beast.

A man landed on the ground with a slight thud. He had dirty blond hair and forest green eyes. Two women stopped in front of him, one had short red hair and hazel green eyes, the other had long blonde hair and dark brown eyes. At his back, the body of the beast the two women were fighting landed heavily causing a slight raise of dust.

"Luis?" the red head called ignoring the dust and the beast's body. "I missed you so much," Larisa said.

"I missed you guys too, I got caught up in the mission, Scarlett Quinn is very hard to find just like her grandfather," Luis explained.

"It's Scarlett's birthday today," Ariel said. "We're going to see her," Luis sighed weakly. He just dealt with an angry Scarlett and in less than five hours he would still have to face her again. He wasn't exactly scared of her but he couldn't deny that he was shaken a bit.

"It's great to see you again man," Miguel, a man with auburn hair and dark brown eyes said.

"The bloodsucker's back," Levy, another man with black hair and eyes said.

"Thanks I really missed you guys,"

"Go get ready we'll talk later," Levy said.

***

Chris and Michael rushed Scarlett to the bedroom that occupied the end of the plane. They laid her on the bed and watched her silently with worry etched on their faces. What the fuck was happening to her? They weren't sure what to do or where to start from; they turned to Nicole for answers. They'd seen Scarlett's eyes flash red before she dropped Luis from the plane and they'd watched her and Nicole speak to each telepathically; Scarlett would've definitely told Nicole if she felt odd.

"What happened to her?" Chris asked. Nicole looked up at Xander and then at Michael before she turned to him.

"She said someone was trying to invade her senses, she wasn't sure who though, she could only stay conscious for a little while," Nicole explained to them.

 "She doesn't look uncomfortable, she'll be fine," Michael said. "…hopefully," he breathed out.

Scarlett lay on the bed unconscious, her eyes fluttered open and she found herself somewhere dark. Her eyes fixated on a figure, she made it out as a man, his face wasn't clear but she'd felt his aura for some time now and she knew it was him.

"Hello princess, it's nice to see you're in good shape,"

Who are you and how do you know I'm a princess?"

"Not all of us have forgotten the real dempire royal bloodline princess," he paused. "I'm Gallus; I never thought I'd see you in this lifetime,"

"What do you mean?"

"We can't talk this way; I'll drain you before we even begin,"

"What are you talking about?"

"Happy birthday princess, we talk…sooner or later," He said and vanished. Her eyes flew open. She tried to sit up but she couldn't, she was too weak. So this was what he meant by he'll drain her, she was glad her curiosity was in check or else she would've made him drain her completely. She managed to get her phone out of her pocket and dialed Nicole's number.

"I need blood Nicole," she said as the line connected.

"Ms. O'Connor, please let me handle this," she heard David's voice in front of the door. The door flew open and the fresh scent of a woman filled the room, her eyes turned scarlet with hunger, she had no idea where she got the energy from but her body suddenly felt light. She was just about to sink her fangs into the woman's neck when David's voice brought her out of her dazed state.

"Ms. Quinn!" he called out. Scarlett stilled. The woman's scent was driving her crazy. She closed her eyes and groaned in frustration. The woman flinched when she heard Scarlett's groan. Scarlett knew she would kill the woman; she had almost if David didn't call out to her.

 "Isn't there anyone who's dead?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"No Ms. Quinn and we can't kill anyone if that's what you're aiming at, the humans here are willing and won't mind if you drink from them all," David said. Scarlett groaned again and threw her head back. She wasn't exactly a fan of drinking from too many humans just so she could quench her thirst because she didn't want to kill anyone, she would rather drink from an animal than do that so she refused David's offer.

"Extract it," she said and brought out her credit card. "A hundred dollars should cover at least a glass full," she said and tossed the card to the woman. Scarlett opened her eyes and they slowly returned to their grey hue. He wanted to ask but decided against, he wasn't sure if she was thinking straight, after all hunger could twist someone's reasoning. He watched her quietly as she lazily fell back on the bed.

 He gave her a dagger and compelled her to cut her palm with it. The woman fell unconscious in his hands by the time the glass was full. She sat up and stared at David but before she could say anything, he answered the question she was about to ask.

"She's fine, just unconscious," he said and carried the woman on his shoulder. He left the glass of the blood on the table and left the room. David's eyes met with Nicole's as he closed the room door. Nicole stood a few feet away from the door. It was a good thing he stopped Nicole from going into Scarlett's room when Scarlett called her. With the way Scarlett lunged herself at the woman, he wasn't sure if she would be able to control herself with Nicole, lycan blood was very tempting. Nicole sighed in relief. She didn't exactly know what to do when Scarlett called her but she had acted on instinct without reasoning.

Scarlett gulped down the blood in a matter of seconds, she wasn't satisfied but at least she regained her strength back, which was all she needed. She didn't see the need to hunt again since she had just returned from a one week hunting spree.

The plane finally landed at twilight, they'd been airborne the whole day and Scarlett's feet felt numb. The plane landed on an island where David took them a parking lot. They got two cars; both from Grey Enterprises and drove to a dock in silence.

"My birthday is all about travels isn't it Nicole?" Scarlett whined.

"I'm sorry, but the people we invited are night creatures and well there's a particular venue for this," Nicole explained. She jumped into the speedboat and Scarlett followed behind her, soon enough the distance between them and the boys was close.

"Ms. Quinn, you should slow down," they both didn't realize when they had sped past the boys until David called out to them.

"This is awesome," Nicole said and did a triple jump into the water. Water splashed all around them. Scarlett pulled Nicole up into the speedboat and by the time they reached their destination. The island was beautifully decorated with scarlet roses and silver lights that made the roses look even prettier at night.

"This…" Nicole began. "…is our final destination," she said and dragged Scarlett who had a dazed expression on her face out the speedboat.

"I…I don't own this," Scarlett stuttered. She let her eyes sweep around her surroundings. Her eyes fell on a woman's black tresses, she only knew one woman that had such length and color of hair and the woman had a hand placed around her waist. She looked up at the man who had his arm around the woman's waist, even though they had their backs at her she knew it was them, their scent never changed and the sound of their heartbeat was still so familiar and calm. "M…mum dad," she whispered to herself but it was loud enough for anyone who had supernatural hearing. The man and woman turned towards her and their eyes met. A beautiful pair of slate grey eyes and distinct grey eyes peered at her own grey eyes that had blue sparks in them with so much warmth and joy. She was excited and anxious; it had been nine whole years since she'd seen them again. She felt something block her throat and her eyes burned.

She materialized in front of them and hugged them tight as though not wanting to let go. She hugged as though if she let go, they would vanish but she knew they wouldn't go anywhere. They were here now and they would never leave again.

"Alright I think that's enough or we'll spend someone's nineteenth birthday hugging all night," Regina said. Scarlett let go off them at Regina's statement. Her face was all smiles.

"I missed you both so much,"

"We missed you too Scarlett," Ramona said and kissed her forehead. Scarlett and Ramona almost looked like sisters but Ramona was far older than Scarlett yet anyone who saw them always thought Ramona was Scarlett's older sister.

"Where's the birthday girl?" a very familiar voice made everyone's head turn.

"Brother!" Scarlett shrieked and jumped on her older brother. Zev hugged Scarlett tight and ruffled her hair before putting her down.

"Someone's been working out a lot lately," he said. "Happy birthday Scar,"

"Thank you,"

"You got our gift, how do you like it?" Zev asked. She followed his line of sight and stopped at the chain necklace around her neck.

"The necklace is actually from me but I didn't want you to know so I had mum write the note," Zev explained.

"It's amazing, thanks,"

"Scarlett! I'm so glad you're okay, happy birthday," Debbie exclaimed while hugging her.

"Hey Deb, thanks, How are you feeling?"

"I should be asking you that but I'm great thanks,"

"Hey kiddo," Nicholas' voice made their head turn. "You like the island?" he asked.

"It is amazing grandfather thank you,"

"Let's test it shall we?" Nicholas asked, his voice echoing.

"How do you test an island?" Debbie asked.

"We're about to find out," Chris said with a smile on his face.

"Does he always turn everything into a training session?"

"Very likely," Michael said

"First one to round the island five times gets a reward of five hundred billion dollars," Nicholas announced.

"Come on grandfather, if you really want to test this island, make it ten," Zev suggested.

"Ten laps? Isn't that a bit too much cousin?"

"It's just the right amount Driguez,"

"I think the birthday girl should just get the reward, it's her birthday after all," Xander said.

"That's not how it's done Xander, everyone to the starting line, you're all running this race," Nicholas said with a grin on his face.

"Come on Xander, we'll prove to these demon bloodsuckers that lycans are the fastest race to ever exist," Nicole said putting up a challenge.

"Oh please you shape shifters couldn't touch a hair on my body, we'll beat you easily," Chris said accepting the challenge.

"It's settled then, dempires against lycans, which race will win the race?" everyone laughed at Regina's play of words.

"On your marks…"

"Get set…"

"GO!!!"