Splintered

Chapter 14: Meet Violence with Violence

WARNINGS:

LANGAUGE

VIOLENCE

KNIVES

MENTION OF PAST ABUSE

The deeper Nora walked the worse she felt, she could swear that someone was watching from the trees but every time she looked she could hear a laugh that twisted and turned to something more chilling and familiar. It made her check her hands a few times to make sure they weren't sticky with blood.

The laugh seemed to be coming from everywhere. She must have been walking for a long time because the forest suddenly seemed so dark. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up a split second before she was face down in the dirt.

She expected the Alpha but the body on top of her's was decidedly female, "it's been quite some time since I got the drop on you," she could smell the slight hint of bourbon on Kate's breath.

That was enough to snap her into the present time and place, "what the hell is your problem?" She pushed up sending Kate sprawling into the leaves.

The forest didn't seem as dark now and the laugh had disappeared. But she still scanned the area as she sat on her ass ten feet from Kate's spot. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but she still felt she was being watched and she'd never hoped more in her life for it to be the Alpha.

"What are you doing out here Kate?" Nora tried again to get a straight answer out of her Aunt.

"I was tracking a lead after I stopped and cleaned up your mess again," Kate sneered as she stood up.

Nora stood up, her body tensed in fight or flight due to the proximity of the woman in front of her. She reached back expecting her knife to be tucked into her waist band only to remember where it was. She knew she couldn't lead Kate back there or even admit where the hell she'd been. Kate must have noticed the action though as her eyes zeroed in on Nora's still empty hands at her side.

"Plus I was hoping for a good fight," Kate smirked, "the last one I had the other guy didn't really fight back."

Nora rolled her eyes, "Kate just get to the fucking point."

"Chris has me chasing ghosts and I'm bored," she whined, "I have better things than that to do."

She had taken out her knife and was inspecting the light glittering off of it.

"Oh Kate, let me take this burden off of your hands," Nora was trying very hard not to face palm at the privilege.

"Watch that tone," Kate pointed the knife at her, "but I appreciate it."

"I texted you the pins he wants checked," Kate started to walk away, "something about alarms triggered or some shit."

Nora's phone beeped and when she looked at the list "fuck Kate," there had to be twenty different places on there.

Nora took off in the general direction of her bike making sure to give the Hale House a wide berth, forgetting all about the eyes watching her. But those eyes didn't forget about her.

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Derek's head was a mess, he didn't understand what was happening. He knew everything had been a mess for the past six years but it felt like it was building to something worse. And at this point he couldn't see the forest through the trees. Like there was no light at the end of the tunnel, just a steep drop into a dark sea. A sea that he didn't feel he had a life preserver to survive.