Burn Amongst Humanity [D. Hale ]

|IX|

"The Tell: Part III"

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Casey had just fallen asleep on the stairs at the Hale House, she was so exhausted and she suddenly snapped awake when she felt like she was falling, only to realize that she was at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ow." Casey muttered and once she was sure that she was at least not all concussed, she looked up to see that Derek was standing over her. "Okay so, either you moved me down here, or I did actually move and I ended up falling down the stairs." She said and he held out a hand to her, which she gladly took and he helped her stand up.

"I heard you falling, so, I just put you at the bottom of the stairs as opposed to letting you, actually just fall down the stairs." Derek said and she nodded a little. "You know how long you slept for?" He asked.

"Too long?" Casey guessed as Derek's laugh was slightly humorous, which is a surprise to most. "How long did I sleep for, Derek?" She asked.

"Fourteen hours." Derek said and Casey looked up at him, as her facial expression was stunned and surprise was all over her.

"Wait, Derek, I actually cannot tell if you're messing with me or not." Casey admitted as Derek went back to doing pullups, as she spoke to him.

"Nope, I'm not." Derek said and he dropped down onto the floor, as he started to do pushups.

"You are still a werewolf, Derek, you don't have to do repeated repetitions of everything." Casey pointed out and she was sitting down on the stairs as she watched him do his workout.

"Shut up." Derek said and Casey narrowed her eyes, as she looked toward the direction of the door.

Derek got up and he was staring directly at the door, as he pointed at the "kitchen" area and Casey nodded a little. Casey held one of her knives in her hand, and Derek pushed as hard as he dared to, as Casey went into the kitchen and Derek held a finger up to his mouth and she nodded. "How many?" She asked quietly.

Derek held up six fingers and Casey's eyes flashed and she grabbed another knife in her other hand. Derek shook his head at the sight of the weapons. Casey put the knives away and she ducked quickly through the hole in the wall, that came just from Scott being a dumbass, right being a dummy and throwing Derek, right through it.

Casey's eyes widened at the sight of Kate Argent walking into the burned house and Casey was feeling it, the familiar surge of rage. "Too bad your sister "bit it" before she had her first litter. Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut her in half!" Derek roared at Kate's words and two of the hunters went flying.

Casey was calmly now pointing a loaded gun at Kate's head, while it was Derek, who was shuddering on the floor from the cattle prod. "I would say that it's nice to see you Kate, but I can't say it and mean it."

"Casey Branson. You're in over your head, kid." Kate remarked and Casey quickly ducked the swing from the gun behind her, as the other three hunters had shown up, as Casey was locked in a fight with three people much bigger than she was.

Casey had managed to take down one of them, but the other two had beaten her until she spat blood to the side and she was on the ground. "Am I though?" Casey asked sharply and she was staring at Kate defiantly, as her lip was split open, her left eye was swelling and even more blood was on her face, running down from an open gash on her forehead from being hit by a gun.

"You're bloody and beaten, you have no werewolves to protect you and you are out of allies. You and Derek are completely alone." Kate said and Casey chuckled softly.

"Says who?" Casey asked and then suddenly, a gunshot went off and one of the hunters that was holding her in a armlock, he went down hard with a bullet to the head.

The other one was turning around to face this new threat, but he was slow, and then ended up being thrown into the wall. As Kate let loose with the gun, Derek grabbed Casey and ran as the two of them met up with Tye and a familiar face in the woods.

"Trent Argent." Derek said as Trent put his gun away, and Casey winced a little. "Casey, you're shot." He said and she shook her head.

"Just a graze, I'll be fine." Casey murmured and she shook her head and that caused her even more pain. "Tye, why the hell aren't you at school?" She asked.

"Free period." Tye replied and Casey nodded a little. "Looks like we are all headed to the home made mostly of mountain ash... again." Tye muttered.

"You didn't complain about it for six years, so, don't you dare just start all of that shit now." Casey muttered as Derek looked at her. "Fine, it'll be faster." She muttered and he picked her up quickly, and they all took off running through the woods.

Trent opened the door to the house since he was still human and Tye was going to get the first aid kit. "Remind me again, Casey, why you aren't going to the hospital?" Derek asked and he quickly borrowed a shirt from Trent.

"Too many questions." Casey muttered as Tye brought the first aid kit. "Trent, please go and make sure that all the windows and the doors, that they are shut and locked." She said as she opened the kit and got to work on cleaning herself up.

Casey bandaged the grazing bullet wound on her side, quickly pulling a loose shirt on over her injured stomach. "You've got new bruises now." Tye noted and Casey scoffed.

"A dollar in the jar over there, for every new bruise, scar or injury that Casey Branson gets." Casey said quickly with a humorless laugh and Derek shook his head from the other side of the kitchen.

"That's not funny Case." Derek murmured and Casey finished with her wounds, as she tossed the bloody stuff away and cleaned her hands of the blood. "You should have stayed hidden, I could have handled them all myself." Derek said as Casey looked at him.

"Oh yeah? Seemed like you were doing real well against Kate." Casey had hit a low with that one, as Derek sighed. "Sorry." Casey murmured and Derek looked at her. "I didn't mean it."

"I know." Derek said simply as she walked over to the fridge and she was opening it, looking around at the food in the fridge... or lack of it. "You need me to go shopping?" He asked.

"I'll pay you back if you do." Casey promised as she grabbed a jug of milk and she twisted off the cap, drinking directly from it and Derek raised his eyebrows. "Problem?" She asked.

"Not even gonna try." Derek murmured and Casey had a shopping list that was pinned to the fridge as he grabbed it. "Trent, open the door for me, will you?" He called out.

"Where's your car?" Casey asked.

"Out front, I moved it last night just after you fell asleep." Derek said and he shook his head. "See you soon with the food." He said and he dropped a twenty dollar bill in the "injury/scar/bruise jar" and Casey chuckled quietly as he left.