Authors Note: Alright, the first half of this chapter is the rocky portion that I was hesitant about in the last update, but after Quinn and Rachel get to Shelby's house I completely rewrote it and I'm considerably more pleased with the result. This is also the longest chapter of the story so far, but there's a big reveal.

As always, leave a comment if you like what you see and I'll keep writing.

I don't own Glee, it's characters, or any of the supernatural.


Shelby Corcoran had retired from competitive show choir competition at the end of sophomore year, moving several towns over and settling down. The major reason for this change was the new child she was bringing into the world; a half human, half vampire daughter Quinn had given up at birth. Luckily she had taken after her human father, however. Beth would be just about one year old by now, Quinn mused. The fact the Shelby took the baby in technically made Beth Rachel's half-sister, but Shelby wasn't meant to have a large part in her daughter's life. The two had only met by chance, as competitors on the battlefield that was show choir. Rachel probably found the whole thing rather poetic, the blonde thought to herself.

Quinn was parked outside of the Berry household, waiting for Rachel to come out. They were hoping to get to Van Wert by nightfall, Quinn putting her faith in the tinted windows of her Volkswagen for the time being. She was somewhat groggy being out in the daylight, but they had a bit of a trip ahead and didn't want to wind up at Shelby's at three in the morning. Rachel had to have pulled some strings with Jesse St. James to find the retired coach, but it was a matter of life or death.

That wasn't entirely true either, Quinn thought, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. The severity of the situation was debatable at best, and talking to Shelby Corcoran would probably lead them absolutely nowhere. Quinn had met Rachel's mother in the hospital and she hadn't caught any strange vibes from her then. If anything Shelby was as unaware of any non-human influence in her blood as Rachel was.

At that moment Rachel opened the car door and slipped inside, careful not to open it very far. Quinn was parked in the shade, but the sun wasn't going to be setting for a few hours yet. Best not to risk it; Rachel didn't know how much light Quinn could take.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Rachel asked, zipping up her jacket all the way, covering the scars on her neck. The veins were looking far less serious since their meeting in Quinn's bedroom. At least today Rachel was actually wearing something under her coat.

"I started it," Quinn said quietly, putting on a pair of white sunglasses and pulling away from the curb.

The little red car sped off in silence for a long while before Rachel turned on the radio, dialing around until she settled on a station. A song by Amy Winehouse was playing, which Quinn recalled Santana singing at sectionals this past season. Valerie, it was called. Rachel smiled a little, also remembering where she had heard the song before. "We won sectionals with this song," She said softly, looking at the sun setting outside her window.

"You of all people should know we didn't win, we tied with the Warblers for that performance," Quinn replied, taking her eyes off the road for a moment to look at Rachel. The brunette sniffed a little, but Quinn could see the smile in the corner of her mouth. "I remember I was with Sam then. We sang together for that performance too," Quinn reminisced, thinking back to Sam's visit the week before. She hadn't heard from him since.

Rachel was still looking out the window, possibly caught in reminiscing of her own. The song ended and changed to something from the top forties chart. "Do you remember when you hated me?" Rachel finally spoke up. Quinn was about to reply, but found herself unable to find the words. It was a different world back then; before humans knew about vampires. Back then Quinn was practically a newborn and had found a steady blood-flow in Finn, and the last thing she needed was losing him to the girl who was now sitting in her passenger seat.

"I don't think I ever hated you, Rachel," Quinn said, glancing over again. "I just found you threatening."

The brunette couldn't help but laugh at this, causing the blonde to frown. "Why would I have ever been a threat to you?"

"It wasn't about social status. I had that in the bag when I was a Cheerio," Quinn tried to cover her tracks. "It wasn't even about Finn at the time. I had only just become a vampire then, and I needed to keep myself fed or I might have attacked someone long before then," She explained.

"Finn was just your meal plan?" Rachel asked. She sounded appalled.

"Something you'll learn if you ever become like me, Rachel: food comes first." Quinn's tone was grim even as she said it, but it was true. Before vampires were public she would have gone to any length to keep her secret safe. Finn, Puck, even Sam had been, to some extent, used. Finn had been used the most, of course, and they both knew it. The car fell back into silence.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" Quinn asked. There could have been any number of things Rachel was referring to with that question; her mind raced through the options briefly, but the actual question was some surprise.

"Become a vampire, I mean. Why did you do it?" Rachel caught Quinn's eyes as they looked at each other, but the blonde just shook her head. When it was said like that, her reasoning would be given some kind of monumentality. It hadn't been like that at the time. She had been young and impressionable, and in the end it hadn't been much of a choice. She shook her head again.

The question fell into silence as they pulled off the highway, following the directions Rachel had gotten from Jesse. Before long they had stopped in front of a small two story house in the suburbs. The sun was still in the midst of setting below the trees, the sky turning an orange-pink color.

"Do you want to wait?" Rachel asked, glancing through the tinted windows.

"I can manage," Quinn waved it off. They wouldn't be out long, so it would be a quick in and out of the fading sunlight. There were lots of trees around, creating a pretty good amount of shade as well. Rachel opened her car door and stepped around to the curb, and after a moment of hesitation Quinn followed. Being out during the day felt as if she was wearing a backpack filled with bricks even as she was keeping to the shadows. She didn't dare go into the direct beams of sunlight, but luckily they were becoming few and far between.

Rachel rang the doorbell, and the two girls could hear someone moving around behind the heavy wooden door. After a moment it opened, Shelby standing in the doorway with a small blonde child in her arms. Quinn felt a stir in her chest as she looked at the child she hadn't seen in a year. Beth had grown up and looked right at home in Shelby's arms. Quinn looked at her feet, unable to look into her biological daughter's bright blue eyes. She shouldn't have come.

"Rachel," Shelby sounded surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't tell her we were coming?" Quinn asked, stepping to Rachel's side.

"I'm sorry, mom, we just needed your help with something," Rachel said quickly. She had already forgotten she wasn't supposed to call this woman her mother. It was the same way that Quinn wasn't allowed to call Beth her daughter, and she was fine with it, but seeing her now… Quinn shook it off.

"It's not about Glee club, is it?" Shelby asked. "You know I'm retired."

"No, no, it's not about Glee. It's about me," Rachel hesitated before the last word. Shelby looked from her daughter to Quinn and back again, and then she stepped aside to allow the two high school students in. Rachel stepped into the house, but Quinn hesitated. She found herself unable to move past the threshold, as if all of her muscles had locked up. She looked to Shelby, who seemed to understand what was going on.

"Quinn, please come in," The brunette said. Quinn was immediately released from the bonds of her restriction to never enter a mortal home without permission and the weight holding her outside ceased. She stepped inside graciously and Shelby pointed them into the kitchen. Her house was brightly lit and nicely furnished, with baby toys scattered throughout the halls and littering the floor. She had spared no expense with bringing Beth up, eager to make up for how she had never been a part of Rachel's life.

Shelby entered the kitchen moments after the two girls, having put Beth down for a nap. "She's lovely," Rachel beamed.

Shelby smiled and nodded. "All thanks to Quinn, of course." The vampire nodded herself, but her eyes betrayed some hint of sadness. Shelby turned to Rachel, changing the subject. "What did you need to talk to me about? You're a long way from Lima," She seemed wary.

"Well," Rachel began, but trailed off. It was a rather long story, and there really wasn't any way to explain it other than from the beginning. Rachel glanced to Quinn, who nodded. Rachel went to her jacket and unzipped it, displaying the bite wound on her neck. The black veins were visible but less extreme than they were the night of her visit to Quinn's room.

Shelby stood and went over to Rachel, placing her hand on her daughter's chin with a look of concern. She then turned to Quinn, her eyes changing to accusatory. The vampire looked away, knowing that Shelby must think she was a monster. Rachel pulled her jacket back up and covered the wounds. Shelby stepped several paces back. "How did this happen?"

Rachel began to explain everything that had happened up until that point; she started with the encounter outside Finn's house, describing how she managed to get away. Quinn interjected with the effect that Rachel's blood had on her, and together the two explained the remainder of the story. Shelby sat down and listened, until finally Rachel ran out of things to say.

"And now we need to know if I have anything out of the ordinary in my blood, and both my dad's are human, so that just leaves… you, mom," she said in a soft whisper. Shelby looked down and thought about the matter for a long while, then shook her head.

"Rachel, you're something extraordinary," the older woman said, placing a hand over her daughter's. Rachel looked into her mother's eyes and blinked, not sure if she was being complemented or if this was an answer to their question. Shelby went on. "Our kind don't normally pass on our genetics when we breed with humans. I'm not sure how it passed along to you, but this bite seems to be causing a reaction. Your body is repelling the evil in the bite."

Quinn leaned forward, her mouth slightly agape at what she was hearing. It wasn't the fact that Shelby called her evil, but that there was something strong enough to repel the darkness of a vampire bite. The way Shelby was talking about the issue, it was as if she was fully aware of what Rachel was.

"Then… What am I?" Rachel looked up, into her mother's eyes. Shelby put a hand against her face tenderly, then her fingers traced down to her daughter's neck. The parallel bites and black veins pulsed at the touch and Rachel winced away. Shelby looked into Rachel's eyes and Rachel looked back, relaxing. Slowly Shelby's fingertips grazed across the wound and Quinn could have sworn she saw the tips of her fingertips glowing, but immediately she had to look away. The light was something disturbing to her, something that was comparable to sunlight. She couldn't look directly at it, and even from this distance she could feel its heat. Quinn jumped to her feet, ready to bolt from the room, but the light had died down. Shelby pulled her hand away from Rachel's neck, revealing the two holes had closed. The veins were slowly disappearing as well, as if the poison had been drained from the wound. Rachel put a hand to her neck and then looked back to her mother, who could only smile.

"Mom… how did you…?" Rachel whispered, looking from Shelby to Quinn. Her mouth was open in surprise.

"Honey, there are a lot more things in this world than humans and vampires," Shelby said with a small laugh in her voice. There was some crying coming from upstairs, which all three noticed at the same time.

"Quinn, would you like to say hello to Beth?" Shelby asked, addressing the vampire directly. Quinn squirmed in her chair, uneasy at the thought. Shelby put out a hand, and Quinn could only look at it. Maybe it was some kind of trick; she had just healed Rachel's wounds with a touch, she was probably capable of so much more. Foregoing Shelby's hand Quinn got to her feet, Rachel standing as well. Quinn could see her legs were shaking, probably alarmed at her mother's display of power.

The three went upstairs, Shelby leading the way into the nursery. A bright blue sky was painted around the walls, complete with realistic depictions of clouds. Toys littered the floor, just like the rest of the house. In the corner was a crib, which the blonde baby was currently standing in, gripping the bars to keep her up. Shelby lifted Beth out of the crib and held her, allowing Quinn to see the child she bore. The babies blue eyes settled on her biological mother and she smiled, reaching out for Quinn.

"Miss Corcoran, I…" Quinn whispered, feeling her eyes welling up. Shelby stepped closer to the vampire and placed Beth into her arms. The little girl looked up at her mother and laughed once, running her small fingers through Quinn's blonde hair. It was as if she recognized it, but that was impossible.

Rachel, standing nearby, stepped over to Quinn's side and put her hand out for Beth. The baby grabbed her finger and held her there before bursting into giggles. Rachel smiled, but turned back to the baby's adoptive mother. "But mom, as nice as this is, it hasn't answered my question. What am I?" She asked one more time.

Shelby looked to Quinn holding her baby, and then she motioned for Rachel to follow. "Quinn, we'll be in the next room for a moment. You should stay with Beth for your own safety," Shelby said quietly. "I don't know how this might effect you." Quinn nodded, gently bouncing the baby. Rachel's eyes caught hers, and silently the brunette agreed to tell the vampire whatever she discovered.

Rachel followed her mother into the master bedroom. Shelby turned back to face Rachel and put out her hands. Rachel seemed skeptical that anything would happen, but slowly a light began to build up around Shelby. It was the same light that had resonated from her fingertips in the kitchen, but this time it was several times brighter. Shelby seemed completely concentrated on the display, the light growing stronger. Finally she brought her arms back and the light branched out, creating two large arcs from her center to far past the tips of her hands. These strands of light gave two great waves through the air, their true shape becoming more detailed each time. When the light became far brighter than Rachel could handle, Shelby released it, and the room fell back to darkness. The beams of light had disappeared, leaving Shelby in her human form. Somewhere in the display, Rachel had fallen to her knees.


After saying their goodbyes to both Shelby and Beth, the two returned to Quinn's car. The sun was now fully down and they had another hour ride back to Lima. Shelby had put Beth back to bed for the night and watched as they pulled away, the little red Volkswagen heading back to the interstate.

"So what happened?" Quinn asked. Rachel had been quiet ever since coming back from her mother's room.

Rachel bit her lip, thinking over the words. There really was no other way to say it; she had seen what her mother truly was, or at least a corporeal form of it. As difficult as it was to say, she managed to whisper it, staring off to the road ahead.

"I'm part angel."

The car was silent as Quinn digested this for a long while, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. Finally she cracked a smile.

"I thought you were Jewish."

Rachel looked at Quinn and Quinn looked back at Rachel, and the two both began to laugh.