15

The forest in her mind faded away. Scarlett was back in her own mind. Black sat not far from where she and Silva stood as the forest disappeared. Black stood up immediately, her brows furrowed when she noticed Scarlett and Silva's bloodshot eyes. Black didn't expect that they'd both be crying. Silva had told her everything already, all Black needed to do was find a way for Silva to tell Scarlett.

Black and Silva had known each other since Scarlett was just a young dempire. Ramona had accidentally numbed Black instead of Silva but they didn't know that until they heard Ramona say it. Black was caged deep inside Scarlett; Silva came to find her and had somehow freed her form the cage but Silva was caged instead. They eventually found a way to free themselves entirely after Scarlett's first visit to the deepest part of her mind. For a demon who was supposed to be manipulative and deceptive, Black never acted like that, she genuinely cared for Scarlett and Silva. She didn't try to take control when she had the chance. She just wanted Scarlett to stop suffering.

The night Ramona had numbed Black, Scarlett was just three years old, that happened before Nicole and Scarlett met. Black knew what Ramona wanted to do but what she didn't know was that it was meant to be Silva and not her. She tried to tell Scarlett but Ramona had blocked their communication link before she even began the spell. Ramona told Scarlett it was a spell to protect her, it wasn't actually a lie but it wasn't the full truth either.

Ramona had visions of Scarlett killing them and dying even before Scarlett was born. She tried to push it aside thinking maybe she was just being scared. The nightmares had happened when she was pregnant for Zev but they weren't as severe as the ones she had when she was pregnant for Scarlett. Two years after Scarlett was born, she showed immense power of Draco which caused her hair and eyes to turn silver. Ramona knew she had to do something to protect her daughter and family, she didn't want to numb any part of Scarlett knowing she could accidentally numb her demon since she wasn't sure if Draco could even be numbed but she was glad it had worked but later on as Scarlett grew up, Ramona realized she had numbed her daughter's demon with Draco

Scarlett cried hard that day, the spell was sheer pain and it caused Scarlett to trash and bleed in the process. Ramona knew it wouldn't have been as painful as it was if it was her demon but Draco was hard to defy especially the silver one she had thought was a just a myth. Somehow part of what Scarlett endured from Nicholas was Ramona's fault. She had taken her Scarlett's demon away and caged it deep inside Scarlett without even knowing. It was an accident but still. Nicholas had tried on different occasions to make Scarlett unleash her demonic powers but it never happened and he always called her a disappointment thinking she was a late daïmon. Fortunately, he noticed something was wrong before he killed his granddaughter due to training.

Loretta knew about it though. She was the only one Ramona told what she had planned to do. Loretta tried everything she could to stop Ramona but Ramona wouldn't listen to her. It hurt to see a young dempire hybrid that had a very dangerous future ahead of her, live and train as a vampire hybrid. Loretta knew nothing would alter the future. What Ramona was doing would either make things worse for the future or ease the struggle Scarlett would go through and she didn't know which it would be. Loretta tried to teach Scarlett how to use dark magic but without the demon being there, it just wasn't possible so she just gave up.

A bitter sweet smile spread on Scarlett's face as Black's words hit her hard. She'd believed what her mum told her about the spell and when she said that Black would be fine. She believed her mum when out of curiosity; she'd asked her mum why she couldn't yield dark magic and her mum said she was just a late daïmon and never said anything about it again. Scarlett wondered how she could have been so naïve and stupid not to ask why she couldn't hear Black's voice anymore. She should have said she felt incomplete, like a part of her was missing all these years.

A drop of tear escaped from Scarlett's eyes, what more did she have to go through? What else was she meant suffer? Black and Silva embraced her; they wouldn't be here because of her. There were so many times when Scarlett would be reckless with her life but they were glad that was just Scarlett being Scarlett.

"Hey, don't cry we haven't got the chance to celebrate your birthday yet so can we do that now?" Black asked trying to lighten up the mood.

"We don't exactly have a gift but…"

"Being here with you guys is already a great gift, I'm complete now that's all that matters," Scarlett said and they smiled. But they didn't notice that Black's smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Tell us about Dracaena Silva, grandmother has told me the myth of the silver dragon but she never elaborated,"

"Okay, um…Dracaena was a beautiful place, it was a place granted to us by the Ancients,"

"Who are the Ancients?"

"Dragon originals, the first creatures to roam the face of the earth, they helped the angels against the battle with the demons who wanted nothing but hate, anger and war,"

"Grandmother never said anything about that,"

"It's not much of an important detail so that part of the tale is always edited out," Silva shrugged.

"You're kidding right, who wouldn't want to know about angels and demons it would be amazing…put this on your list of your stories, I have to hear this,"

"Do you have any idea how I even know this…?" Silva paused. Black and Scarlett nodded. "That's where my story begins," she said and they smiled expectantly at her. "After the war between the demons and angels, the Ancients were granted a gift from the angels…the silver flame, the most powerful dragon flame that ever existed. I'm not sure how the myth of the silver dragon began but that was when I was born; I lived with the Ancients until a vision was seen that Lucifer was planning something else, so I was sent to earth to stop him,"

"What did he plan to do?"

"Lucifer created the shades to take revenge for the demon's betrayal against him, he's not one to take betrayal likely but he did betray God,"

"That's amusing," Black said.

"It is, anyway Lucifer was banished from heaven with other angels who also went against God, they swore vengeance, they became demons and they are what we now know as Originals. There are good Originals and evil ones. The shades had a king that was infatuated with another even though he was married, he even sought to kill his own wife and children just to please her but his wife took her daughter and disappeared into the Abyss of Lost souls, only the blood of the silver dragon can bring them back,"

"That's you," Scarlett said.

"Not me Scarlett, it's you, I'm just a mere spirit right now, I am you, and what I have is yours,"

"I can't possibly save the mother and sister of a shade can I?"

"His wife was a dempire Scarlett; surely you can't let a fellow dempire lose his mother and sister,"

"How do you know that?"

"He asked me to help him before I died and I promised him, I made my father give him my blood just so he could live while I protected his brothers in black crystals,"

"What does your blood do?"

"When mixed with the Lethe's water, it gives immortality and when pure it heals drastically but when you drink, it'll take away your memories," it seemed Scarlett didn't hear that last part.

"My blood can do that?"

"We're the same Scarlett,"

"What about the black crystals what're those?" Black asked.

"It's a crystal that protects someone or preserves life for a very long time, it has a time limit though because it'll shatter once it's magic source is weakened, so the name doesn't really mean anything in what it does,"

"What did Lucifer do to Dracaena?" Black asked.

"It wasn't him it was the shades, they sent monstrosities to Dracaena, they destroyed everything in their path, darkness covered everywhere they went…they didn't stop until they killed every last soul in Dracaena and then my father but my father killed the last monstrosity and shade before he died but he made sure I wouldn't die, I was killed in the war but I wasn't thinking straight so I thought since father had killed the last shade and monstrosity and Dracaena went down with the death of the monstrosities, being Draco and still alive was just stirring up more trouble, I didn't think Lucifer would create more shades nor would he help them get the Devarian throne."

"Was your father the king?" Black asked.

"He was,"

"You've been out for too long Scarlett, let's not get them worried," Black said.

"I agree, you've probably been unconscious for two days now,"

"I'll come see you guys soon," Scarlett said and smiled. Black and Silva gave her an informal salute and she returned it and soon she began to fade from the darkness of her mind.

***

There was no one in her room when she woke up and she felt surprisingly relieved. Knowing all these things lifted all the frustration she had pent up in her. She sighed to herself; soon she would leave everything because she knew. If only knowing wouldn't cause a problem.

Scarlett felt a wave of nausea hit her and she ran to bathroom, she hadn't eaten anything for a while so she just ended up vomiting blood. She'd seen way too much blood at one go. She stood under the running water exhausted, she really needed to rest without any interruptions, she liked that she knew a few things now but knowing them always interrupted her sleep time and sleep was one thing she really needed but she wasn't sure if that was possible on the island. She wanted to spend extra time on the island but that wouldn't be possible at a time like this, it was hers now, she could come whenever she was free and that would be after all this.

Scarlett thought they could return to the mansion in Kersa and there she would finally sleep but then…She got dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. She walked out the back door of the mansion and found her elite team sparring against themselves in an intense match while her grandfather, father, brother, cousin, Michael, Chris and Xander were going against themselves. Debbie, Regina, Ramona and Nicole were cheering them on. They didn't notice her at the door as she watched them with a smile on her face.

In the kitchen, Gallus sat on the counter. He smiled when he saw her. She grabbed a pack of bacon, a bowl of chicken laps and a takeaway of prime ribs and beef from the fridge.

"That's a lot of meat," Gallus commented.

"I'm not keen on vegetables, just meat and I haven't had actual food since my accident, you can't blame me," he rolled his eyes at her. She fried the chicken and grilled the prime ribs, beef and bacon and garnished everything in a really wide tray. She sat beside Gallus and passed him the tray. They ate the meat in silence until Scarlett finally broke it.

"Who are you?" Scarlett said.

"What?" Gallus asked confused. Why was she asking him that all of a sudden?

"Who are you? What do you want from me? These were the questions I always asked you,"

"Okay what are you getting at?"

"Now I know the answers,"

"Which are?"

"You're Gallus Grey, my friend and…okay maybe I don't know all the answers but right now that's for you to decide,"

"Do you trust me that much?"

"I won't call it trust because I don't trust so easily but yeah…I guess I do,"

"You've definitely learnt a lot this past four months kiddo, I'm proud," Nicholas stood at the door frame and smiled at her. He strolled toward them and took a lap of chicken from the tray.

"Uh…grandfather, did you hear everything I said?"

"Yeah I did and I can see him, I'm not sure why but I can," Nicholas said and took a bite of the chicken in his hand.

"So can Debbie and Luis," Gallus interrupted.

"What?" Nicholas said with his mouth full.

 "When the hell were you going to tell me that?" Scarlett yelled.

"You never asked," Gallus simply said. Scarlett sighed and continued eating.

"Isn't this a bit too much meat for your human kiddo?" Nicholas asked.

"I haven't tasted food since four months ago old man, let me be,"

"I'm not that old," Nicholas said. "Just three thousand and five hundred years," he whispered. Gallus grinned at him.

"I need bread," Scarlett said.

"You need what?" Gallus asked.

"Some bread will really help this meat go down," she said. Nicholas walked to a cupboard and brought out a loaf of bread and handed it to her.

"Take your time kiddo, we'll leave whenever you're ready," Nicholas said and hugged her. Something wasn't right about Scarlett when he hugged her. She didn't hug him back immediately and he knew it wasn't that she was surprised. He felt she was restraining herself. He knew she was planning something very dangerous and they wouldn't like it. He kissed her forehead and left with a smile. He just hoped it wasn't something that would hurt any of them.

'That's a first' Scarlett thought as she stared at Nicholas' retreating back.