Blue Moon » Stilinski

Fourteen

"Is this one of those 'join the dark side' campaigns? Because you might have to try a little harder to recruit me." Scott narrows his eyes, jaw clenched. Darkness surrounds him until he seems to be made up entirely of shadows. This is not the kind, smiling Scott I met that day in the hall. This is a menacing alpha, ready to do anything to get what he wants. Life has hardened him into someone almost unrecognizable.

I wonder if something insidious grows inside of him, too.

"Resist all you want," Paul says, placing his hands on Scott's shoulders. "But you can't fight what's inside of you. You can keep denying it, but there's a monster lurking within you, and it's dying to get out." He thrusts his claws into his shoulders, and a gasp escapes from Scott's mouth.

Pain lines Scott's face, written in the storm clouds of his irises. I want to run to him and figure a way out of here, but I just let myself sag in Jake's grip. "I'm not like you," Scott growls, gaze flitting over the ground; the concrete is bloodstained. "I'm never going to do what Roxanne wants me to. I'm never going to join your pack."

Paul sinks his claws farther down, and I almost cry out in agony. He's an inch away from severing a major nerve. "I think you're going to find, Scottie, that you don't have much of a choice. I also think you're going to do whatever Roxanne wants you to, because I can be very... persuasive when I need to be."

Blood wells up between Paul's fingers, pouring over the front of Scott's shirt. I keep staring at the sheen of sweat covering his body and I keep waiting to hear the scream that's lodged in his throat. "Go ahead," he gasps, voice barely under control. "Torture me, kill me. I don't care. But you're never going to win. I'm never going to become one of you." A smile flashes across his face, a macabre line of victory. "See, that's the difference between you and I, Paul― I'm not afraid of dying for what I believe in. At least I'm brave enough to be true to my word."

"How dare you," he starts, ripping his claws out so fast that Scott slumps forward with a cry. "How dare you think that you are better than me. You don't seem to realize, Scottie, that we are exactly the same. You think that I'm a monster because I have more blood on my hands than you do? Your hands are just as stained as mine. The only difference is that I killed people with my own hands, while you killed people using the hands of others. Tell me― how many people have you neglected to save? Has that thought ever kept you up at night? Think about that before you tell me that you're not already a monster."

"You and I are not the same," Scott says, but he doesn't sound as sure. "We will never be the same."

Paul leans against the wall, his face hidden in shadow. He is calm cool collected, back in control. "You can say that you're never going to join this pack― that you're willing to die in order to be good― but I can see your future. There's darkness inside of you that you don't want to acknowledge, that you don't want to grow. But guess what Scottie? It's spreading― more and more each day. It's only a matter of time before you give in to it."

"I'm not going to become like you," Scott whispers, blood staining his breaking willpower. "Nothing you say will make me join your pack."

Paul just smirks, completely at ease. He has the upper hand, and he knows it. "Really? There's nothing that I could say that could change your mind? Not even a little control?"

Scott stiffens, and my body goes rigid against Jake. That is a word I have only ever seen glimpses of― one that I have reached out for with grimy, trembling fingers. Control. It's the humanity that calls out to the beast within me.

"Don't you want to be in control, Scottie?" Paul's voice is unbearably intoxicating, offering a sweet pill to swallow. "Don't you want to be able to stare at the moon without the fear of it turning you against your friends? Don't you want to be able to be with the girl you love? Don't you want to take control of your shift, your life, everything? Because I can make it happen for you, Scott. If you join this pack, you can have everything you've ever wanted."