Hello! Sorry for the slow update, but college and work are taking up a lot of time right now so I'm going as fast as I can while still making sure the chapters turn out good. Please enjoy chapter 6!

Disclaimer: I don't own Legacies or any of its characters.

Rafael and Landon were back.

While Shiloh was neither thrilled nor upset at the sudden return of the two boys, she couldn't say the same for everyone—namely, Hope.

The tribrid's mixture of anger and curiosity for the human teen was not unexpected, but it was so strong that Shiloh could practically taste it. From what she could gather, Mr. Gilbert had brought them back late the night before and left soon after. Shiloh had seen him walking past the library when she was supposed to be doing homework.

Although her inability to focus might have had more to do with the gargoyle and Josie lashing out at Hope, Dr. Saltzman and herself after they had killed it. Shiloh couldn't help but retreat to the library like a kicked puppy and sulk.

She had accomplished practically nothing and there was a Supernatural History exam coming up that she was in no way prepared for. If she was going to pass she would need to find time to study.

But, things weren't going to make that easy for her.

The next morning Dr. Saltzman called a mandatory assembly. Sheriff Donovan had come to the Salvatore School to inform him that two Mystic Falls students had gone missing overnight. When he said one of the girls was Dana, Shiloh's eyes zeroed in on Lizzy, who was sitting in the row in front of her.

"What?" the blonde hissed, noticing the girl's somewhat accusing look glaring into the back of her head. "Why are you looking at me like that, Krypto?"

"No reason," Shiloh drawled, passing a picture of Dana to the witch sitting next to her, "but you don't seem all that surprised to hear the news."

"If you hadn't noticed, I was a little too busy turning into a statue to go on a killing spree," Lizzy reminded her, rolling her eyes.

Shiloh shrugged, whispering "True, but everyone knows how much the two of you hate each other."

"Please, like I'd ever break a nail trying to kill Dana," her tone heavily implied that the thought was ridiculous. "She probably just got drunk slutting it up at a party and is hungover somewhere with her friend."

Dr. Saltzman and Sheriff Donovan returned the students' attention the front of the room. Since Dana's friend Sasha was not the type to just disappear, the two thought that something else was at play. They were enlisting some students to help find out where the girls went in the guise of an exchange program.

Shiloh thought the entire idea was stupid because she couldn't believe that Mystic Falls kids would buy that some of the Salvatore students would want to mend fences.

On the other hand, Lizzie was suddenly full of compassion.

"Well," she stood up and positioned herself in front of her father, "I guess I can put aside my differences with Dana for a day because that is what heroes do," Lizzie straightened her blazer. "So, I volunteer as tribute."

Shiloh couldn't understand where this hero mentality that the blonde twin had developed came from or why she was quoting the Hunger Games, but she wasn't sure she wanted any part of it. Especially if that meant going to their rival high school and playing nice.

"I'm in," Kaleb shot up from his chair, closely followed by MG.

"I'm in, too."

"I'd like to help," Shiloh turned around in shock as Hope volunteered.

While Hope was always helping in these types of situations, her actions put her right into a group with Lizzie, who was not her number one fan and vice versa. Even though she really wasn't interested in going, Shiloh felt the sudden pulling sensation in her gut and knew it would make her more uncomfortable ignoring it than being surrounded by Mystic Falls students.

Sighing, Shiloh pushed herself out of her seat, "I guess I'm in, too," she tried to pretend she didn't see the smug smile Hope sent her.

"Actually," Dr. Saltzman said, "I think I'm going to need you for something else today, Shiloh."

Nodding in confusion, Shiloh slid back down against the wooden chair. She had no idea what the man wanted her for, but at least she got out of Mystery Inc. duty with the Scooby Squad. She could still feel the sire bond tugging at her, but it was easier to push down with Dr. Saltzman's order.

Plus, she'd probably be able to get some studying done in the meantime.

The volunteers gathered around the headmaster after he dismissed the assembled students.

Shiloh waved, beaming sarcastically, "Have fun at school, kids!"

A snort from her left caused her to turn and see Josie covering her mouth and looking away, but Shiloh could still see the corners of her mouth raised.

She was counting that as an improvement.

Lizzie, Hope, MG, Kaleb and shockingly, Landon, had left for Mystic Falls High later that morning, leaving Shiloh waiting on whatever Dr. Saltzman had planned for her. In the meantime, she went to her morning classes and then the mess hall for lunch.

With all her friends gone and her distaste for the other wolves still going strong, Shiloh was alone with her textbook in the furthest corner of a table. She alternated between turning pages and shoveling chips into her mouth.

Shiloh pretended not to see Josie and Rafael sitting together, but couldn't fight the way her fingers dug into the table's surface.

She didn't consider herself to be a jealous person. The only other person that caused her to react in a similar way was Penelope back when she still was dating the brunette siphon. It didn't help that she knew Josie had a crush on the new werewolf.

So, when Jed made his way over to Rafael and Josie, she noticed.

Her negative feelings for the alpha overpowered her jealousy and before she realized what she was doing her feet were carrying her to the group of three.

"Bounce, witch," Shiloh heard Jed order Josie.

Clenching her fists, the hybrid quickened her pace. No one—Jed, especially—would get away with being rude to Josie. Even if her so-called crush was mad at her at the moment. Plus, she knew what this conversation was about and the possibility of it turning physical was high.

There was no chance in hell she was gonna leave Josie in the middle of two werewolves bursting with testosterone.

Rafael blew Jed off, "As soon as Josie and I are done."

"Actually, newb," Jed continued, "I'm your alpha. You're done when I say you're done."

The new werewolf rose to his feet and Shiloh arrived just in time to provide enough of a distraction to slow down the inevitable fight.

"Hey, Jed," she grinned, "don't you have a tree somewhere you have to pee on?"

Jed narrowed his eyes at the hybrid and she noticed some of the pack members closing in around them in her peripherals.

"This is pack business, half-breed," sneered Jed, but Shiloh could still see the hesitation that formed on his face at her appearance. "Why don't you run off to your loner friend, Mikaelson?"

A growl escaped her throat and Shiloh felt Rafael shift forward behind her.

Clearing her throat, Josie stood up. "Would you look at the time?" she glanced at an imaginary watch. "As fun as this hurricane of toxic masculinity and whatever," Josie gestured to Shiloh without meeting her eyes, "this is, I have to get to class."

"I'll walk you," volunteered Rafael, sending Jed one last challenging look.

Before Shiloh could push away the hurt from the brunette siphon's clear dismissal, she and Rafael had already exited the lunch room.

"You better be careful with that one, Jed," she warned the angry alpha, who was staring after them, "he doesn't seem like the submissive type."

Jed gave her a withering glare as she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder as she went to retrieve her textbook from where she discarded it earlier.

Dr. Saltzman intercepted her a little bit later in between classes and pulled her into his office.

"I need you to come with me," he told her, "I have a favor to ask you."

He led her across the school grounds to the woods where Sheriff Donovan was waiting for them. He explained that they had found Sasha's car flipped upside-down and Dana's dead body was nearby.

"You want me to what?" Shiloh questioned, rubbing at her ear as if she had misheard him.

"I need you to transform and try to find Sasha. Vampire and werewolves both have an enhanced sense of smell, but a transformed wolf's senses are at their peak," Dr. Saltzman explained.

It wasn't that Shiloh was opposed to it, but she hadn't prepared her state of mind for the pain that the shift still caused her. She couldn't understand why he wanted her when there were plenty of other ways to track Sasha.

"You couldn't have had Hope do it?"

"No," he replied, leading her to where the sheriff was standing by an overturned car. "I needed Hope in Mystic Falls because of her magic. She has the most magical knowledge out of all the witch students at school."

"Doesn't the police have dogs?" Shiloh tried.

"Dogs can't travel at sixty-five miles an hour through the woods," Dr. Saltzman pointed out, "and you are the only other student at this school besides Hope who can shift at will."

"Fine," she sighed, rolling her neck in order to get rid of all the kinks.

Sheriff Donovan was convinced that a vampire was behind the attack, but Dr. Saltzman was adamant against it. They were arguing about it when the sheriff asked him to tell him Dana there were no sides but stopped short in front of a bloody jacket.

"So, is Dana a vampire now?" Shiloh broke the silence, her question lingering awkwardly in the air.

"I need you to find Sasha now," Dr. Saltzman's expression was dark.

There was no arguing with that order, so Shiloh gave him a quick nod and scurried off to find a far enough spot in the woods to shift. She grabbed Sasha's bag on her way so she had a scent to track.

She stripped herself of her clothing and immediately dropped to all fours to prepare for the transition. Every shift after her first got easier, but not less painful. She just learned how to deal with the pain instead of letting it control her.

Soon enough, a silvery wolf stood in her place and its eyes glowed gold before fading to her normal green.

It took several moments to shake the fog of the wolf's natural instincts from her mind. The instincts were what made werewolves so vicious during the full moon. Once she overpowered them—which took some time to learn—Shiloh had almost full control over her own actions.

By the time Shiloh got back to the abandoned car, Dr. Saltzman and the sheriff had gone. She lifted her muzzle into the air and took in a deep breath. The first obvious scent she detected was Dana's. The scent of Chanel No. 5 mixed with blood burned her nose.

The next scent was Sasha's, which she knew from taking a whiff of the missing girl's backpack. It was laced with fear but the lack of rusty smell led the hybrid to believe that Sasha was still alive.

The third and final scent was unfamiliar to her. It had a musky overtone that made the fur on the back of her neck stand up. Whatever it belonged to was something that Shiloh wasn't eager to cross paths with.

While Dana's trail ended at the bloody jacket that lied discarded in the dirt, Sasha's scent was intertwined with the unknown third creature.

It must have carried the girl away deeper into the woods.

Following Sasha's scent proved to be difficult because there was no discernible direction that whatever had taken her was moving in. Its path appeared to be random and there were several times that the trail doubled back.

It had to be looking for something, Shiloh thought.

But it wasn't until Shiloh arrived at the old mill, where Sasha's scent was the strongest, that she realized what it was looking for. It needed somewhere to hide its prey while it tried to get the knife.

Coffee and sweet pea paired with the harsher tang of werewolf caused Shiloh to pause. While the werewolf was almost impossible to identify, she knew that sweet smell of morning coffee and sweet pea shampoo anywhere.

Josie.

Both were still fresh, which meant that they had either just left or were still inside.

Tilting her head to the side, Shiloh listened intently for several moments until she heard three quiet heartbeats.

There was no telling what she would find inside but knowing that Josie could be there pushed Shiloh into high gear.

Shiloh crept into the old building, claws clicking against the wooden surface of the floor. Two of the three heartbeats sped up in sync with her steps.

The lower floor was desolate, but the loft was covered in…spider webs?

If there hadn't been a party there once a week, Shiloh might've believed that it was just really bad cobwebs. This looked like something straight out of a Syfy film.

"Hey, we're stuck up here!" her keen hearing matched the voice to Rafael.

Once she pinpointed the direction the voice had come from she found him and Josie mostly hidden by the white webs, effectively trapped by the sticky substance.

"It's a wolf," Rafael pointed out the obvious, "but it's not a full moon."

"Hybrids can shift at will," Josie explained, narrowing her eyes at Shiloh's wolf form, "and since Hope went with Lizzie and the others, there is only one other hybrid at the school," she bit her lip, "Shiloh?"

Shiloh gave her one quick nod to confirm.

Relief flooded the siphon's brown eyes, "Shiloh, we're stuck in this web. We need something that can cut it."

Ignoring the warmth that blossomed in her chest, Shiloh signaled to the door and did a small turn trying to say, 'I'll be right back.' She hoped that Josie or Rafael understood that she needed to change back or she would be useless. Wolves didn't come with opposable thumbs.

Neither of them called out after her as turned and trotted out the back door, thanking whoever was up there that she decided to leave a bag with a pair of leggings and a t-shirt inside. Shiloh only needed to shift back in the woods one time and sneak back to her dorm buck naked before she thought ahead.

The change back was quicker but no less painful. She was jumping into her leggings when she heard Rafael call out again.

"Conner?" she heard Josie ask uncertainly right before the same musky smell from earlier hit her in full force.

Shiloh wasted no time grabbing the nearest thing she could turn into a weapon—a fire poker leaning against the side of the building—and rushed back inside to face…

A. Giant. Freaking. Spider.

The monster was big, ugly and black as coal. Not to mention its upper half was burnt, smoking and turning a sickly orange color. Shiloh assumed Josie had used a spell if the bright flash she saw before she entered was any indication.

Gulping, Shiloh held up her weapon of choice and cleared her throat loudly, "Hey, you Harry Potter knockoff! Look over here!"

Her taunting seemed to work or maybe the creature just wanted to kill the nearest living thing. Either way, the action got its desired result.

It turned its beady eyes on her and clicked it's fangs together menacingly.

Shiloh raised the fire poker and swung it like she imagined a knight would have during medieval times, striking the spider creature in the side and eliciting a shrill cry.

Raising the metal object to attack once again, Shiloh watched in horror as the monster turned and shot out some sticky webbing that hit the fire poker and her arm. The force that it hit her with propelled her back into the wall, trapping her by the hand that was still clutching the poker.

Seemingly satisfied with having incapacitated her, the spider turned its attention back onto Josie and Rafael. No amount of supernatural strength would budge her appendage that was stuck to the wall, meaning she could only struggle and watch as the thing went after the other two.

"Hey, douchebag!" Shiloh had never been happier to see Landon, mostly because she knew that Hope would be with him.

The spider stepped toward him and Landon took a step back, letting Hope and Lizzie pass him. She glanced up at Josie to see her and Rafael kissing.

Her stomach churned and she focused her attention back on the newcomers. There would be plenty of time to mope later when the threat of death wasn't as imminent.

"Josie I'm gonna need your help!"

Shiloh watched as the three witches joined hands, Rafael bounding down the steps with what she could only guess was Sasha wrapped up in webs. He slipped out one of the exits as the girls started chanting a spell.

Their hands glowed as Josie and Lizzie siphoned power from Hope, sending the spider up against the rafter with the sheer power of their spell. It let out one last cry before exploding and sending orange goo everywhere.

Thankfully, Shiloh reacted quickly enough to cover most of her face from the creature's guts with her free hand. The other three were, admittedly, not so lucky.

"Ew," Lizzie whined, flicking it from her eyes and staring at her fingers, "this is so gross."

"At least you're not Dana," Hope reminded her.

Shiloh didn't think being a vampire was that bad. But Dana's personality would be amplified to annoying times ten.

"What happened to Dana?" Josie asked.

Hope faced the brunette on her left, "She literally puked her guts out after that thing liquified them," she continued, "and then your sister hid her body in the glove compartment."

"What else was I supposed to do with it?" Lizzie questioned when Josie turned her wide eyes on her.

"Um, you guys?" Shiloh finally called out, getting fed up with being stuck to the wall, "This is a great conversation and all, but I kind of need some assistance."

All three girls looked at her as if they hadn't noticed she was still hanging there. Hope moved to hover her hands over the webbing that trapped Shiloh against the building and uttered a quick spell that disintegrated the substance right off of her.

"Thanks," Shiloh rubbed at her freed appendage, trying to wake the nerves up.

"That looked like a pretty sticky situation," Hope smirked at her own pun.

Shiloh scoffed, "That was so clever. I bet you've been waiting a while to use that one."

"Maybe," she hummed, "maybe not."

Satisfied that the monster was destroyed and that everyone was safe, the four students exited the building still covered in orange gunk. The boys watched them from where they stood positioned around Sasha.

They managed to unwrap the human girl from the cocoon of web and she seemed shaken up but was luckily otherwise unharmed.

While they were walking back, Shiloh felt someone fall into step beside her.

"Hey," Josie greeted, still looking beautiful despite the spider guts covering her body.

"Hi," whispered Shiloh, still upset about seeing her and Rafael kiss earlier. Somewhere in her head, she knew they did it so Josie could siphon from the werewolf, but she also knew that Josie had a crush on him.

"I just wanted to thank you for trying to help earlier," the brunette told her, sending her a small smile.

Snorting, Shiloh corrected her, "The key word being 'trying' to help."

Josie stopped, grabbing Shiloh's arm to get the older girl to halt, too.

"It doesn't matter if you saved the day or not," she informed her, "but you risked your life to try."

Shiloh still didn't see it that way, but she nodded because Josie had an effect on her that made Shiloh want to believe her.

"Also," Josie bit her lip, "I wanted to apologize for yelling at you yesterday after the whole gargoyle thing. I was just a little upset and—,"

"Hey," Shiloh put her hand up, effectively stopping the girl's rambling, "I get it, I do."

Josie studied her for a minute before giving her another smile, a full one this time, before catching up with her sister who was a little ahead of them. Shiloh watched her go with a smile much wider than the one she plastered on that morning.

Rafael was forgotten for the moment.

The group brought a confused, but silent Sasha, to the front gates of the school, where MG would compel her to forget about everything that happened. Shiloh was tired, hungry and covered in monster goo.

She had done her job and found Sasha like Dr. Saltzman had asked, even if she wasn't the one to save her.

"Are you staying here?" she asked Hope, who hadn't moved toward the entrance to the school's grounds.

"Just until MG's finished," the tribrid explained.

"In that case," Shiloh grinned, "I call first dibs on the shower!"

She took off running before Hope had even fully registered what she had said.

"You better not use all the hot water!" Hope called after her roommate.

"No promises!"