(Sorry I had the idea and realized I needed to write this after I put up Ch 3)

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CH 2.5 Shimmer and blur

She wanted to go outside. Autumn was Trinity's favorite season as she sparred with Epimetheus. The day-walker had served as her protector since she was born, but he was also her mentor in many things. His mother was a Fae and his father a Shadow-Assassin Vampire. After the Fourth War but before the Fifth War, vampires began finding their beloveds among the other species just as werewolves were. Due to ancient beliefs about hybrids, children of the pairings were often killed, not because they were stronger and had gifts of both species but because many were unstable. Having a dual nature was normal for the supernaturals, as all non-humans were called, but when the hybrid children matured, their three souls would battle if they were not carefully raised to work together. Only the half-human hybrids did not suffer this form of multiple personality disorder which is why only they were accepted over the centuries. Since the Fifth Great War and the onset of the Infant Plague, they had discovered that hybrid children were more likely to survive. Trinity wondered what her third form would look like.

"Keep your guard up, Princess... What are you thinking about that has you so distracted today?" He asked as he stopped their lesson.

"Will I have a third form like you? I mean, will I have pretty, feathered wings and such or will I be an ugly demon like Master-of-Arms Lucius?" Trinity asked, thinking about how the Fae-Walker hybrids looked like the ancient pictures of angels with halos and beautiful feathered wings.

Epimetheus's frown slightly marred his perfect features. "I don't know. In recent generations, hybrids with Walker and Werefolk lineage have brought a resurgence in a once lost third form called a Gargoyle. I'm sorry, but I only know of males with this trait and less than one hundred are known to exist in the world and many of them work for the Guardians as protectors."

"Like you did?" She asked as she gulped water.

"Yes, every male supernatural is required to do a tour with the Guardians because there are so few of us," Epimetheus reminded. "But many Luna and Beta females also volunteer. It is a dangerous job because evil thrives when it thinks no one is watching."

"Like the Pure Blood Zealots?"

"I see little ears hear what adults worry about," he scolded with a gentle smile.

Shrugging sheepishly, Trinity picked up her practice sword again. "I hope I have a warform. My inner shadow whispers to my wolf and my mortal. She says she's a beautiful demon and that we are special."

"My mother Alya said you were special and must be protected when you were born. She also told me to teach you the Path of Light and your great-aunt Levena agreed." He watched her as she moved through the training forms of feinting, striking, and blocking. "In a few decades, you will be of age to learn to shimmer and I will teach you to control it, but you need to master blurring first."

"I like blurring, it's fun to go so fast, but shimmering sounds scary," Trinity admitted as she poked the target spots on a mannequin.

"The thing with shimmering through the shadows is you must always have the place you are going clearly in mind. You don't want to appear somewhere and bounce off a wall or tree, or trip over a footstool or large stone or become trapped within something because you weren't careful. The gifts of the Shadows to move between places is a blessing and a curse, and it makes the hunger much worse if overused. Blurring is a much safer way to travel." Epimetheus turned his head for a moment then announced, "Your beloved and his siblings will be home from school soon. Go and pack..."

"Thank you, Metheus." She blurred up the stairs before he finished.

"For your weekend away." He laughed after the last word.

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"Found you!" Coen yelled exuberantly as he chased Camillia.

Callen stood frozen where he was tagged. Trinity ran past him and slapped her hand in his. They both ran toward the safe tree and shouted, "Run, Cami."

Coen cut the turn around a bush tighter and leapt over it to tag his sister.

Camillia froze after two steps, panting, "No... Fair... Let's play... Something else."

"I like freeze tag," Coen folded his arms in front of him, posturing like his father often did.

"Yeah, because you're faster than us," Callen pointed out. "Let's play Hide and Seek."

"No," Coen refused.

Trinity giggled. "Just because you're bad a hiding."

"Alphas don't hide," Coen growled. "We hunt. Hide and Seek is a baby game."

"You're just saying that because Callen can always sniff your smelly socks," Camilla taunted with a laugh.

"It's true," their middle brother agreed.

"Let's race to the river," Trinity suggested. She liked racing now that she was learning how to blur. She could travel twice as fast as she could run. She could beat everyone except Coen every time. The triplets all gave her a deadpan look, so she suggested, "What if I gave you a head start?"

"I'd rather climb a tree," Callen complained.

"Okay," Coen agreed. "We'll see who can climb one of the big redwood trees the fastest."

"Can't we start with something smaller?" Callen complained. "Dad said to stay out of them."

"I bet Trin could beat Coen up a redwood," Cami dared.

"What about you?" her middle brother snapped as their eldest twin nodded, "Let's make it interesting, boys versus girls."

"I don't like heights and Callen trips climbing the front porch steps." Cami planted her hand on her hip. "And if you want interesting, then last one to the top has to do the other's chores for a week."

"Deal!" Coen said, as Callen responded, "Last one to the old Reds loses." He and his brother sprinted away as Trin stared at Camillia.

"But I've never blurred up a tree before, Cami." Trinity turned away and hunched as Camillia held wound her shoulders and wrapped her legs around her best friend's waist.

"It doesn't matter, you still climb trees faster than anyone else. I know you can win," Camillia insisted as Trinity used her vampiric speed to move through the trees. After a few moments, they passed Coen and Callen, beating them to the base of the giant ancient trees.

While Trinity panted, Camillia looked upward. "Grandmum told me once these trees almost died out. That there were only a few places in protected forests where they grew because the humans cut them all down. I wonder why today's humans are so nice while the old time humans seem so stupid?"

Trinity nodded. "Grandfather Cain is always welcoming to human beloveds after the Fifth War. He says we are to few to refuse any mating but there are a lot who think vampires should only have vampire beloveds."

Nodding Camillia revealed, "There are a lot of werewolves who think only wolf mates count but Mother says the gods and goddesses know the world is too poisoned for pure bloods to survive in, or humans." Camillia looked around then whispered, "Her great-grandfather was a shadow walker. He and his mate were killed, but her sister escaped with their son and daughter and hid with an urban pack."

"Really?" Trinity was shocked. "So you're all... like me?"

"No, we don't have a shadow like you, just wolves, but Mother thinks someday everyone will be hybrids. It's the only way for babies to survive now," Camillia scowled as she looked toward the direction her brothers were coming from.

"Maybe your shadows just haven't woken up yet," Trinity hoped wistfully. There were no other hybrid children at Bloodstone clan except her baby brother, and she was so lonely when she wasn't visiting Darkwood because the three vampire youths of the clan were all older teens and mostly ignored her. She had heard them talking about her being a hybrid and wondering if she would stay pale or turn blochy like a Painted Pony when she grew up. It made her cry to hear their hurtful, mocking words. Hybrids often had albinism, vitiligo, or hyperpigmentation. It was harder for them to pass as humans because they looked so different.

Trinity was quiet too long and Camillia took her hand, smiling bravely as if she knew what Trinity was thinking about. "Don't think about what they said. They're just boring old vampires. They're jealous they only have two forms and don't get to mate a handsome wolf and have babies that will live." She smirked as she flipped her braids over her shoulder with the back of her hand. "Not everyone can have pretty wolf mates."

"Do you hope your mate is a vampire? Or maybe a Fae?"

"I'll be happy with whoever Fate sends me... As long as it isn't a dog like my brothers who will need a flea bath every week."

Coen reached them first, panting, "Who needs a flea bath every week?"

Camillia grinned at her brothers then winked at her best friend. "For the rest of your mated life."

Giggling, Trinity hugged her. "You're silly."

Callen looked between them in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Camillia giggled then pointed at two trees. "The Old Uncles. Last one to the top has to do the chores of the other."

Callen shaded his eyes as he looked toward the tops of the twin trees. "That's over a hundred meters. Father said we weren't allowed to climb that high. Nothing taller than ten."

"Fine, if you're chicken, they can climb something else." Camillia challenged her eldest brother, "So are you ready, Coen? Or do you just want to admit Trini can climb better than you?"

"Wolves can climb trees just as fast as vampires," Coen boasted as he walked over to a much shorter elm tree. The scarlet leaves waved in the breeze and littered the brown and green grass around it.

Trinity looked at several trees then picked a conifer. It had more branches near the bottom. "This one."

Callen stalked around the tree then agreed. "They are about the same height but..."

"Ready, steady, go!" Camillia shouted.

Startled, Trinity and Coen stared at her then they both hurried to start climbing. Trinity squeezed through the branches, squirming her way up the conifer as fast as she could. Glancing over, she saw Coen was behind then he leaped upward. To her horror, the branch he caught with his hand broke off and he plummeted downward with a shout of dismay.

"Coen!" Trinity screamed as he crashed into he ground. Suddenly, she was standing over him. Her skin felt clammy, like she had walked into a dew-wet spiderweb on a cold morning. Falling to her knees, as he rolled over, she was horrified that his arm was bent below his elbow. He sobbed in pain.

"Oh goddess, your arm!" Callen exclaimed as Camillia shouted through their family link to their parents.

'Epimetheus, help us!" Calling to her protector, Trinity's inner shadow demon showed him the steps of the hospital as she demanded, "Coen, get on my back."

"You can't carry me," he refused.

Suddenly, Trinity snarled at him. "I can too." She stood and turned as Camillia pulled Coen to his feet.

"Just hold on with your good arm." Camillia wrapped his unbroken arm around Trinity's shoulders from behind.

Trinity grasped Coen's arm as he groaned into her hair, then she took off running in a blur of motion, dragging him.

Too slow, and I'm getting too tired. We won't make it, Trinity thought after several minutes, then her inner shadow showed her the meadow between the redwoods and the pack houses.

'Jump to there, my mortal,' it whispered in Trinity's mind.

Trinity leaped over a log and was shocked to find herself going faster, in only a few steps she crossed the forest and stepped into the meadow. For a moment, she thought she would collapse but she focused on the streets between them and the pack hospital. She panted as she turned, then she collided with Epimetheus. He slowed her before she collided with a truck.

"I've got you, Princess." Holding the children, he leapt skyward with his wings spread wide then landed at the pack hospital steps.

"Sleep, pup." He touched Coen's forehead as the young wolf sobbed in his pain.

Luna Ceresa and Dr. Reynolds rushed out as Coen collapsed in his arms. Epimetheus lifted the lanky boy and carried him inside as Trinity sat on the steps panting. She was suddenly so hungry she couldn't stand it. Her nose twitched with the smell of warm blood inside the people around her. Her tongue ran over her fangs as she stared at her nails. Suddenly, the sensation of dew and spiderwebs brushed her skin. Looking at her black eyes in her reflection for only a moment, she yanked open the refrigeration box in front of her and pulled out a blood bag. She bit it and sucked it dry, then she grabbed another, and another. It tasted so good.

"Princess? Three is enough." Epimetheus's calm voice made her hiss at him because he wanted her to stop. "Listen to me... You have to control your hunger. You need rest, not more blood."

Refusing him, she reached to take another, but he caught her wrist. "You cannot drink wolf blood."

"Give it to me." She tried to claw him, but he flipped her around and hugged her back to his chest as he held her arms. The door shut between her and the blood bags as he pulled her away gently.

"Trinity, listen to my voice. You're tired and hungry after carrying your beloved all the way back from the forest. Please, my princess, you must resist the desire for more blood."

Trinity shuddered, feeling the sensation of starvation passing and the euphoria of power waning. Glancing at her reflection, she saw her eyes looked normal. "Metheus, I'm so tired." Her eyes closed on their own and she fell asleep standing up.

He picked her up and carried her upstairs.

"What happened? How did they get here so quickly?" Luna Ceresa demanded. "Blake is barely a fourth of the way to where Callen and Camillia are at a full run."

"I believe, Princess Trinity has discovered the ability to shimmer between places while blurring. It is not a lesson I have taught her yet because it is so dangerous, and usually the ability doesn't manifest until the vampire is in their third to fifth decade." Epimetheus laid Trinity on a bed then Luna Ceresa started an I.V., "I need to notify my lord and her father, she almost lost control of her shadow to the hunger."

"Go, I'll watch over her. Coen is in surgery now." Ceresa watched him go then got a washcloth and cleaned the blood from Trinity's chin. "Don't lose yourself, Trin, Coen needs you to be his light." Sighing, she began to pick the leaves and needles out of Trinity's pale hair as she thought about her mother's lineage and the dark whispers that sometimes made Coen's wolf act irrationally. Hybrids always struggled, even generations later, with having more than one inner voice.

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Coen woke up slowly as Dr. Reynolds checked him. He still couldn't open his eyes, but he whispered, "Trin?"

"She sleeps," Epimetheus answered. "She over-exerted herself in her panic to get you to the hospital after you fell and broke your arm. Can you tell me how you arrived so quickly?"

"She... she blur ran and then she would jump and everything felt like a cold fog and spiderwebs on my skin. It hurt so much but I didn't let go," Coen murmured.

The Fae-Vampire hybrid nodded silently at the Shadow Walker and Alphas standing in the room, then he said, "Thank you for telling us, now go back to sleep."

"Epimetheus?" Coen resisted the warm sleepy feeling overcoming him. "How..." he yawned, "How can I be a hybrid when I grow up? I want to have a shadow like she does," Coen sighed as he sank closer to sleep. "Sometimes I hear a whisper that isn't my wolf, it... it says she's mine, and I should kill anyone who wants to hurt her." He snored slightly.

The adults looked at each other. Lord Constantine put his palm on Coen's forehead then frowned as he glanced at Epimetheus. "Have you felt a shadow emerging in him? He has vampire in his lineage many generations ago."

"No, I have not. I only sense his wolf has a dark and jealous temperament," Epimetheus answered.

"Ceresa has sensed the same," Alpha Blake muttered. "We are doing our best to train him to have the same temperament as his brother and sister."

Constantine nodded, "That is all we can do. Teach our children to protect and lead others with compassion and to be good people."

"And pray that they choose to stay that way," Alpha Andrew added.