Lana immediately approached him and hugged him. "What happened?"
"I betrayed Quinn."
"Excuse me? What happened?"
He sat her down and explained what happened while she was having an important meeting. Fex had sent Quinn back to his room then told the group a vampire had arrived to bring him back to the vampire home world. She discovered Peter was something called an "illegal". Rather than kill Peter, Vorden and Sil attacked Quinn, knocked him out, took his blood so Peter could drink it and smell like a vampire instead of a wight, and Peter went back with Fex, disguised as Quinn.
Lana was dumbfounded. "Why does your group always have strange and deadly things happen?"
"Well, Fex said that Quinn would get in trouble with the vampires for creating Peter. This saved Peter from the humans and protected Quinn but we still had to make the decision for him rather than ask him. He feels betrayed and I don't know what to do."
"What would you want done if it happened to you?"
"Restoration of trust?"
"Sil attacked him. Did he identify himself?"
Vorden nodded.
"Then you need to think of an explanation. Give him a reason to restore his trust in you. Do you need a hug?'
"No, let me give you Sil for that. Actually. There is something else I can offer him."
"What's that?"
"Protection. Fex said once they leave, there are no vampires on the military bases. Meaning Quinn can fight as the alternate tomorrow."
Lana smiled. "Sounds perfect. When will he need to go down?"
"Early. I need to set the alarm. 5:45 am should be good."
Lana nodded. "We have spa appointments for not long after that. This is going to be an interesting experience for us. I guess you, Logan and Sam could hang out with the boys if you want to? Give me Sil while you think about it."
He set the alarm on the hotel clock. When he turned around to face Lana, it was Sil.
Lana smiled broadly at him. "Sounds like you've had an interesting night."
Sil nodded as he approached her and put his arms around her, "I helped knock him out. Vorden was mad at me for scaring him. Why was he scared? I just want to be friends with him."
"Did Vorden not explain it to you?"
Sil did a half-shrugged which she took to mean yes but he didn't really get it.
"Love, has he ever met you before, like had a conversation with you?"
"No. I said hi once. In an office. I was asked to answer some questions so Quinn would not get in trouble."
"Was that your only interaction?"
"No. I attacked him when he was a monster but stopped when I realized it was him. I didn't want to hurt him."
Lana nodded. "So, he was scared because he doesn't understand. There are multiple people in this body and he doesn't know that so he's probably thinking some kind of mind control or some ability was used on Vorden. It's great that Vorden is trying to keep the secret but then he has situations where he needs to let you guys out. He can't have it both ways. Quinn needs to be told something plausible. Maybe even meet you some day."
"I'd like that."
Lana nodded, "but there is a problem with that. He's in school as Vorden Blade not Sil or Raten. It could be dangerous to have someone walk into the area and discover the secret. With me, I could lock down my tree so none could see you and the trees will notify me someone is approaching but now my tree is gone and I don't know if I should grow a new one for the next two months."
"Does this mean our time together will reduce?"
"It will have to. Even having Raten train me. At least until I figure something else out. Oh… I have another tree that I have not visited since I created it. The park became too dangerous. I have not been there since. I'll have to see what I can do for time. I still have to do those papers and test out the dome and now potentially a lab as well. I could have you as my research assistant so we can have time there. We'll have to play the next two months by ear. We have our time here, though."
Sil leaned in for a kiss, "good. I'm really tired, can we climb into bed?"
"Music to my ears. I'm exhausted as well. It's been a full day and tomorrow looks to be the same way."
They climbed in bed and fell asleep in each other's arms. At 4 am Caser woke them because they forgot to refill his bottle. Lana was about to get up when Sil took the bottle and handled it himself. He brought the bottle back to bed and set it up for Caser to eat then smiled at Lana. She smiled back and leaned up for a kiss. They were still awake when the alarm went off.
Just getting out of the shower, Vorden quickly got dressed to head to Quinn's room. He decided to tell Quinn he had multiple personalities. Also to give him the Blade Family backing so when he got called to be in the tournament as Peter's back-up, he could feel safer showing his strength.
Lana got dressed and met the girls in the lobby so they could all experience their first spa ever. They had 4 hours of pampering. Nails, massages and facials. They felt like different people. Then Lana took them back to the VIP stores. They had dinner reservations. While boys could get away with wearing their uniforms, the girls felt different. In two hours, the girls came out with really nice dresses, shoes and handbags. They put their purchases in their rooms then met the boys. Lana was bored with all the events and really only cared about watching her brother. She engaged in small talk for the rest of the day. She volunteered to run for snacks so the others could watch the events. For them, some events got more exciting as the weaker opponents got knocked out but it still seemed they were watching only for something to do. Sam came over to join the groups.
When the contestants for the fighting event came out, Dobin and Quinn were fighting at the same time but in different arenas. He had won the previous day while Quinn was having his debut fight. Lana didn't know that first-year students were still against first-years today. She had missed Dobin's fight the previous day and was hoping to catch every move.
The timer went off with three beeps indicating the fight had started. Dobin used a skill that caused the earth to move under him and it looked like he surfed to his opponent. The problem was it was in a straight line and the other person was ready for him. The student put his hands up in front of him and searing hot flames came from them. Dobin got an earth wall up just in time then put two sides on the wall, he pushed the wall toward the opponent and made spikes come off the other side. The move was done so quickly it was as if Dobin had practiced this many times. The opponent fell off the pillar. Dobin was the winner.
Lana was so engrossed in watching what her brother was doing, she had no idea what happened on Quinn's platform. She had heard voices which sounded like Layla and Vorden but looking at where Quinn was supposed to be fighting now, all she could see was a purplish dome. A few moments later, the dome dropped and Quinn was declared the victor. He appeared uninjured. Lana was glad she was not facing him.
Lana was so happy she hugged little Caser. Both Quinn and Dobin would be fighting again tomorrow. She looked over at Vorden and he winked at her.