" There you are! I was worried you'd make me wait,"

Derek wondered whom, might that unfamiliar feminine voice belong to, it sounded muffled and quite distant to his ears.

But questions such as: Who was speaking? And what were they talking about? quickly turned to: Where am I? And: What happened to me? Once he successfully managed to push past the heaviness of his eyelids that is.

The lights were harsh on his pupils at first, but were gradually accepted, to allow the sight of a plain white ceiling.

Only a few seconds were enough for the man to comprehend he was in a hospital room after that, and memories of the reasons that brought him there started flooding his finally conscious mind.

"You're Maylee?... The banshee..." now that voice on the other hand sounded very familiar, it was Lydia's.

He snapped his attention back towards the conversation he was originally listening in on, which he realized was happening in the room right next to his own.

"I think you have more pressing questions to ask me Lydia,"

There was an awkward silent gap which, wouldn't have felt nearly as long for anyone else as it did to Derek, he... By nature, wasn't a patient man to begin with so he wasn't ready to welcome any additional suspense, not in times like these anyways.

Fortunately, his friend's voice came to ease his nerves when she spoke up once more, "The vision, the one we just had...It means people died there..." the young woman half asked half stated her last line, she sounded very unsure of her words or even what order she should mouth them in.

"People die everyday dear, and we don't have time to beat around the bushes so be more precise, how many did you see?" such a cutthroat response coming from such a sweet and calming voice, moreover, something in her speech sparked some questions in Derek's mind, a bother about her choice of words that he couldn't pinpoint the origin of quite yet.

"Three people," stated Lydia.

"Three? Alright, why three?"

"The spiders, the flood and the earthquakes, they intersect in one unique point each,"

"Great, what do they each represent?"

"A phobia,"

"Yes, each of those phobias belonged to someone that has died there, but many people died in that place, so why are these three special?" quizzed Maylee

"Well, these three are directly connected to our current situation,"

The quick to the point tête-à-tête between the two banshees had been flowing forward for sometime, both evidently too immersed to note the palpable tension in the room, too focused on each other to even consider the third presence standing among them.

Scott lost the north somewhere in the middle of that conversation, so he chose to remain on the sideline, perfectly fading into the background, so much so that his eavesdropping friend didn't pay any attention to his heartbeat, the third one in that room beside the two women, although that only lasted until the true alpha finally spoke his mind, " So you had a vision about three people that died recently, and the cause of their death is at the very least connected to what we are dealing with now, what about the location then?"

The wait for an answer wasn't very long," The dread doctor's basements," Maylee replied.

" Right, ... You're the gardian angel! You're the one who told Braden to save us and... that I have to go with her to that basement?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

" For the most part yes, I am, but that's another story for another time. Now, about that cause of death, what can you tell me about it, Lydia?"

" What do you mean?" Lydia spoke again.

" Well, you mentioned the phobias, what else did you see? We both know you saw more than that, I was there too"

" Well, if you saw it too, why does it have to come out of my mouth, can't you just say what you saw?"

" I saw a strange and intimidating woman, a woman that uttered words dedicated to you and only you, that was your vision Lydia I was only intruding, a spectator if you like and thus those words are unfamiliar tome but in no way are they to you. So... I'll ask again...What did you see?" Maylee explained.

"I saw!... I... Saw..."

If the tension was palpable before, it definitely escalated past that point, getting unbearable by the second, with both banshees growing impatiente, their voices progressively but surely raising, Maylee on one hand fed up with Lydia who kept dancing around the fire and Lydia on the other one clearly frustrated from the fact that she was being hounded with questions at such intensity.

But what was frustrating her the most, was the realization that she did need the push, because unlike the idea Parrish had formed about her, she knew she wasn't as confident in her abilities as much as he thought she'd be.

The fire was there, she needed only to reach for it but mostly, she needed someone to help her get over the fear of doing so.

Dead silence fell all of the sudden, after she'd pronounced those last words. Her mouth agape, eyes widening, she just froze in place as a dawning realization creeped in on her. A glimpse of a foreign visage uttering very non foreign words. How could she have forgotten that part? By far the most important piece of the vision, " Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it..." she whispered those words just loud enough to be intelligible for Scott and Derek's ears, although neither of them understood the meaning nor the weight of that statement, they could only presume it was important seeing the shaken state of their friend.

People often prefer to hear major revelations about their own identities from a caring friend, or at the very least from someone serving them as a guide, but assuredly not from someone that qualifies as a foe. Unlucky Lydia, had to face the latter option, not that it was much of an << option >>.

The very first person to identify which supernatural creature she was and to label her as such, was ironically, also trying to end her life at the very same time.

" Jennifer Blake..." Murmured Lydia.

" What? Why... are you bringing her up? "

" Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it... Jennifer Blake was the one who said these words to me... When she found out I was a banshee, " Lydia said more to herself than to Scott.

Scott still couldn't comprehend why she was bringing Jennifer's words up, surely it couldn't be because she saw her in the vision? Or could it?

" Jennifer Blake was the druid that went sour after a member of the alpha pack tried to kill her, wasn't she? " Maylee's interjection had drawn both of their attention upon herself.

But it did get Scott by surprise," You know about the alpha pack? "

" Well of course! Every supernatural creature that lived for more than three decades knows about them, "

" But she had a different face in the vision..." Lydia said in a hushed voice again.

" With enough power a druid can make you see whatever they want, from your wildest dreams to your deepest fears, not that complicated really," the other banshee clarified.

The implication of those words landed a tremendous blow to Lydia and Scott who, could use the shake out of their stupor.

But their shock was nothing compared to that of Derek, he laid there expressionlessly staring at the white ceiling above but seeing nothing other than her face: Jennifer Blake or...By her real name Julia Baccari. She had done quite the number on him, and everyone he ever cared about at the time. Him, who had truly fallen deep into the clutches of her love.

The countless innocent lives she took in order to exercise her revenge could never be paid forward, she lost sight to the rage that occupied her heart, too blind to grasp how high the price to pay for bringing down the one who victimized her and left her for dead.

The last time Derke'd seen her; she was bleeding oceans from her slashed throat. But wasn't she dead? everyone had assumed so when nobody had heard anything about her. Was she back? And if yes, then why? Another revenge? She was a true monster in a category of her own. Monroe and the hunters, the scorpion men that attacked them and now Jennifer Blake? which way should they turn their heads?

" I believe you have quite the heavy history with that one," Maylee's words called Scott back to reality.

" I really thought she was dead..."

" Scott, I've seen people rise from death before my eyes, remember? I don't think anything can surprise me anymore,"

A knock on the door made the two friends jolt out of their states, Braden's face slowly peeking through, " Scott? It's time for us to go?"

" Right now? Can't wait a while?"

The answer quickly came to him, but not from the person he was asking, " Absolutely not! Any delays in the schedule can result in a disaster,"

" Wait... You're ... The gardian angel?" Braden asked.

" For the most part, now off you go unless you want to die horrible deaths!" Maylee responded nonchalantly.