Burn Amongst Humanity [D. Hale ]

|VIII|

"Yeah, I think so." Casey murmured and her hands were shaking as she tried to get back to reality from where she was in her own head. "What did I do?" She asked and Derek shrugged a bit.

"Tried to punch a crack in my windshield and almost very nearly kicked and hit me in the face once, but other than that, nothing really." Derek said and Casey looked at him, with narrowed eyes and he was shaking his head. "I'm just kidding." He murmured and Casey unclipped her seatbelt and she got out of the car. "You need to sleep, Case, this is getting to be a problem." He said and she looked at him.

"You don't sleep." Casey pointed out quietly.

"I'm not a human who has one of the most stressful jobs in Beacon Hills, who also has a house that no supernatural creatures can get into without you leaving a window or a door open." Derek countered swiftly and Casey grumbled something under her breath but she quietly nodded at the words to admit defeat. "You off-work tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah. I was supposed to go in, but Sheriff Stilinski was able to see how zombie-eyed and half-dead that I looked and told me to take the day off." Casey murmured and Derek nodded. "You weren't supposed to agree with that." Casey said, smacking him on the arm. Which only succeeded in making her hand hurt and Derek laugh.

"Ow." Derek said for her benefit and she was shaking her head at the word as they walked up to the house. "You sure you're okay? Your heart was going way too fast for it to be normal."

"It's nothing." Casey said and she knew that he was able to tell she was lying, but he didn't press and she was grateful for it.

"You know, I have a life, too. So does Casey!" Scott was pulling Casey into the middle of something that their resident reluctant hunter, really didn't really want to have to deal with at the moment.

"No, you don't." Casey knew better than to get in the middle of it, as she was already sitting at the top of the stairs with her head against the wood railing, watching the two werewolves.

"Yes, I do! I don't care what you say about him making me his pet or..."

"Part of his pack."

"Pack of his pack."

Derek briefly turned around from where he was staring at Scott, to look at Casey, who had spoken up. "Sorry, I know. Your territory." Casey said and she held her hands up in surrender at the look. "My bad." She murmured.

"Whatever. I have homework to do." Casey's incredulous look must have been all over her face and she was staring at the sophomore student and she was shaking her head. "I have to go to a parent-teacher conference tomorrow because I'm failing chemistry." Scott complained.

"You wanna do homework? Or, do you wanna not die? You have got less than a week until the full moon. You don't kill with him, he kills you." That was true.

"Is that the initiation for all the packs?!" Scott asked and Derek was staring at him.

"Most." Casey answered the question from Scott, only, when it was very, all too clear to her that Derek wouldn't answer it.

"Yeah well, do you two know what else is a rite of passage? Graduating high school! And you don't have to kill anyone to do it!" Scott shouted at them as Casey was now rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Because even if she wanted to sleep, it was highly unlikely that she was going to be able to sleep in this environment. "Why can't you just find him yourself? I mean, you have a werewolf hunter with you!" Scott shouted at Derek as the older werewolf was shaking his head.

"As soon as I finished my hunting training at 15, as soon as I forged my silver bullet and got this." Casey was rolling up her right sleeve to reveal her tattoo of the code. "I swore to myself that if I ever had to kill a supernatural creature again, it would only be in self-defense."

"What changed your mind?" Scott asked and Casey shook her head a bit and Scott narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Derek and Laura saved my life. We were kids, a rogue alpha werewolf had come into the Hale Territory and they were out to prove themselves as werewolves and valued members of the pack, while I was sent out alone with two guns, two clips, two knives and a camera." Casey said and Scott looked at her.

Casey took off her jacket and pulled her shirt to the side slightly and there was a scar across her chest of claws, which were thick and she looked at him. "I swore self-defense only, after they got me to the hospital and my family, they didn't show up at the hospital until the next day." Casey said and put her jacket back on, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm semi-retired."