3

Three months later, Scarlett and Nicole trained together until after twilight, they had quick showers and decided to drive around the city. They drove around aimlessly and stopped at the side of the road where there was a dark alley, rogues came out one by one, eyes red and veins beneath their eyes, they tried to attack them but the guys materialized in the car and Chris drove them away.

"What's up girls?" Michael asked.

"Don't drive anywhere near there," Chris warned.

"Unless you're looking for a fight," Michael added with a smile and they nodded although they were both ready for a fight. They stopped at one of Mr. Quinn's mansions in the city. As they got into the mansion, Scarlett started hearing faint grunts and her very sensitive nostrils perceived the scent of impure blood, there was an additional scent to it. The sounds were very faint but Scarlett could hear it. She closed her eyes and saw a young dempire girl in the middle of rogues. The girl was bleeding and her wounds weren't healing, they were getting worse and she was losing a lot of blood. Her blood was greenish black and the additional scent was coming from her.

Scarlett materialized at the girl's location and observed the girl, she noticed the color of her eyes, they were dull though but it was a distinct grey color that had blue sparks in them. She slowly killed the rogues and made her way to the girl. The girl kept fighting; she wasn't going to let her guard down just because someone knew she was in such a situation. 'What if this person suddenly captures me?' she thought and lost consciousness after she killed the last rogue attacking her.

Scarlett materialized behind the girl just before she landed on the ground and caught her; her heart thudded in her chest. Why did she suddenly feel that rush of adrenaline when she caught the girl? She felt her pulse quicken as she stared at the girl's face closely, there was something about this girl that felt so natural to her. She pushed the thoughts aside and vanished with the girl in her arms and appeared in the bathroom, she washed the girl's face and wounds.

"I need clothes for um…say a fifteen year old," Scarlett said as she rushed into the sitting room with the unconsciousness dempire girl in her arms.

"Shit! Scarlett what happened?" Nicole asked.

"She was attacked by a group of rogues…she was poisoned…"

"Black's bane," Xander arrived with the clothes; Scarlett and Nicole took the girl to one of the rooms and washed her up. They dressed her up and laid her on the bed.

It was past midnight when the girl woke up, she was scared, the last thing she remembered was a strange person appearing and helping her out with some of the rogues and then she lost consciousness. She wasn't feeling the effect of the poison anymore and all her wounds were almost healed and the bloodstains were gone.

"Who are you?" the girl said as the door pushed open and the person who'd appeared at her fight scene walked in.

"You're awake…how are you feeling?" Scarlett asked.

"I'm fine," the girl said. Scarlett stared at the girl intently; her eye color was the same as her mum which only meant she was a hybrid but her eyes…why grey? How and why did she have these features?

"I'm Scarlett,"

"Debbie, what happened?"

"You passed out; I brought you here and saved you,"

"How did you…?" Debbie asked. Scarlett's eyes flashed purple and blood flowed from her mouth. "You sucked it out, didn't you?" Debbie asked panicked. Scarlett didn't answer her instead she went to the bathroom to wash the blood off and Debbie followed her. "It's in you, it can kill you…we have to get it out,"

"I know that, I'll be fine,"

"Are you sure? That's Black's bane, the strongest and most lethal poison against dempires, it can kill even the strongest blueblood," Debbie said. 'She has the features of a dempire royal but she knows nothing about it' Scarlett thought. Scarlett took her jacket off and bit her left wrist, blood flowed slowly from it. She placed it in front of Debbie and Debbie's eyes turned crimson and veins appeared below her eyes as the scent of Scarlett's blood reached her nostrils.

"You've lost a lot of blood and there's no way you can go hunting right now…" Scarlett paused. "…take as much of my blood as you need, don't worry the poison hasn't circulated yet," Debbie grabbed Scarlett's wrists and sank her fangs into Scarlett's wrists. After Debbie had taken almost five mouthful of Scarlett's blood, Scarlett pulled away from Debbie's grasp. "That's enough, you need to rest now," she said as her eyes turned scarlet and veins appeared on her face as it paled while Debbie's crimson eyes returned to its beautiful grey color and the veins vanished.

"Thank you," Debbie said. Scarlett left the room, her scarlet eyes changed to ruby red. As she walked into the sitting room, Chris was shocked at the scent of royal dempire blood. He turned to Scarlett's direction and saw her opening the fridge; she brought out a bottle of blood and gulped it down.

"When you said you were going to take care of her, you never said anything about being her food source," Nicole yelled.

"Do you have any idea what your blood does to dempires?" Chris queried.

"I do," Scarlett said indifferently. "The effects shouldn't be that strong, I'm a hybrid," she said. Scarlett hated when people reminded her of her status, it was obviously useless.

"Scarlett, you're a blueblood…you'll have to take more than just a bottle to be sated," Michael said. Scarlett sighed in annoyance and vanished leaving everyone staring at the position she stood. She materialized in the room where Debbie was trying to sleep.

"Do you eat normal food?" Scarlett asked. Debbie eyes flew open, she hadn't expected that question but she nodded in response. Scarlett introduced Debbie to Bridget, one of the maids working in the mansion. Scarlett told Debbie to ask Bridget for anything and then she left. She grabbed another bottle of blood from the fridge and sat next to Nicole while she drank.

"You know that was dangerous right?" Nicole said. "If you hadn't given her your blood, you wouldn't be going through this right now," she noticed the way Scarlett's eyes changed from red to grey every now and then and her face paled even more.

"I'm fine…" she said but stopped short when she coughed a handful of black blood. They stared at her quietly, wandering what was going through her mind. Chris, Michael and Nicole knew Scarlett wasn't planning on going to hunt just yet, they knew she had other plans but what the plans were, they had no idea. Scarlett already knew she needed to hunt; the poison was circulating faster now that she had given Debbie most of her blood to help Debbie recover. Scarlett went to Debbie's room again; she was already done eating by then.

On their way back, Scarlett got out the car, her eyes were a darker shade of red, she had been quiet the entire ride but now the bloodlust was just too much, she feared she wouldn't be able to control it. They thought she wanted to hunt so they let her leave on her own. Unknown to them, the rogues who had tried to corner them at the alley and attacked Debbie were following them at a safe distance.

***

In an abandoned factory, Scarlett stood at the entrance, her eyes were the darkest shade of red they could become, her fangs grew long and sharp that they pierced her lips. Her face was covered with black veins that popped out and threatened to burst. Killing intent surrounded her and eyes as bright as blood peered at her.

"What's a drained hybrid going to do against full blooded vampires?" one spoke. His voice sounded authoritative and he seemed to be the leader of the group.

"I think she sucked out the poison from that dempire girl," one of his subordinates whispered.

"Poor hybrid, you just got your death sentence, it's only a matter of time," Scarlett didn't flinch; she leaned on the wall behind her. "Wow hybrid, you overestimate yourself," she couldn't exactly see their faces since they were covered in black hoods. They attacked her head on; Scarlett killed them off with ease, she managed to kill the first horde of vampires, but unfortunately as she fought, the poison circulated even faster, she clutched her chest in pain and fell to the ground sweating, her eyes switched from grey to red and then to black. "Your death sentence awaits hybrid," the leader said. They attacked her relentlessly. She smirked and regarded the rogues for a bit, her grey eyes slowly changed to crimson; the bloodlust coming from her was intense and suffocating. A silver spark flashed in her crimson eyes but it was only for a split second.

'Something's different about this one' the leader thought and fled the scene. Scarlett lost control of her mind; she didn't know what was going on anymore. "It's your death sentence," she whispered and by the time she gained control of herself but she was a bit confused. What had just happened? The rogues' bodies fell to pieces but she couldn't find the leader anywhere. Scarlett fell to the ground in pain, she tried to heal but the poison didn't let her. She concealed her presence when more rogues appeared but that didn't work either, the poison was affecting her powers. They found her few minutes later because of her scent, she tried to escape but crash landed into the wall, she smiled at the damage caused, it was just like the one in the training room. She lost control again, her eyes were scarlet and her right arm shone silver, with a swift strike she attacked the rogues with the sword that had appeared in her arm.

***

Nicole stood at the balcony with Michael, Chris and Xander, Debbie was inside resting. Her eyes flashed silver and she saw a vision of the person she expected to be hunting lying battered on the ground covered in blood with dead bodies all round her. Michael had seen when her eyes turned silver, Nicole's eyes only changed color when she shifted and wanted to use her powers and when she did shift, the color of her eyes would change to a bright magenta but now that it shone silver, he knew she had seen a vision of someone, but who the silver light was, he had no idea.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"Scarlett…something's wrong with her," Nicole stuttered as her eyes returned to its normal color. "She's surrounded by bodies of vampires…she's injured and unconscious…her wounds aren't healing,"

"Where is she?" Chris asked.

"Abandoned factory at the east of the city," she replied. Dark magic surrounded them and soon they stood in the abandoned factory. The scent of blood lingered everywhere and it affected Chris, his eyes turned crimson and his throat itched. Michael, Nicole and Xander went inside; the entire place was filled with dead and chopped up pieces of vampire bodies.

"Took you guys long enough," a subconscious Scarlett barely said before falling to the ground with a thud. Nicole rushed to her, her face paled when Scarlett's body glowed purple.

"The poison…she needs blood," Michael said. He carried Scarlett in his arms and Chris took them back to the mansion.

"Maybe I should give her my blood, the purple glow's getting darker," Nicole said. Scarlett entire body paled even more and the color of her lips turned to powder blue.

"Don't! She'll kill you before she realizes it,"

"She won't!" Nicole argued.

"C'mon Chris, let's try this out, she'll die,"

"We just got her back man, we can't lose her again," Michael said but before Chris could reply, Nicole's wrist was already in Scarlett's mouth and the scent of blood lingered in the room. Scarlett's lip color slowly returned after a while but it faded again and Scarlett's light breathing stopped. Nicole was left in shock; she didn't want to believe it so she kept feeding Scarlett her blood.

"She's dead Nicole," Xander said.

***

Scarlett knew she was dead. She had tasted blood…blood that at a moment like this, only Nicole would be irrational enough to feed to her. The dark place she found herself in brightened up a bit and she saw herself lying on Nicole's lap with Nicole crying.

'So this is how it feels like seeing your own body' she thought. Scarlett observed Nicole; she was crying seriously, an image of her mother appeared beside Nicole. "I miss you," her mother voiced out and smiled but she faded away as fast as she had appeared. Her body got up from Nicole's lap and stared her right in the eyes…there were silver sparks in them.

"We can't leave yet…look at her,"

"The poison'll just do us more harm,"

"But…"

***

"No don't say that! Scarlett's alive, She not dead…no please Scar," Nicole cried. She hugged Scarlett's body. Xander told Mr. Quinn about Scarlett but he wasn't the least bothered.

"She'll be fine Xander," he said and left a confused Xander standing in his study

"I'm not going anywhere I promise," Scarlett whispered. Xander had just stepped into her room and he stood there speechless when he heard her speak.

"I…I thought I lost you,"