My One Exception - Book 1

My One Exception - Magic Bullet

"That's awesome! I love animals, too. I actually prefer them over most people" Charlotte said honestly.

Scott nodded in agreement "I feel that. I'd like to get more into it once I graduate."

"Well, keep doing what you're doing. It seems to be working." Charlotte said, taking a sip of wine.

Scott smiled "Thanks, Charlotte."

She smiled back at him "Please, call me Char. We're friends now."

Allison looked the happiest she had been all night. After more talk about drinking, drugs, and lacrosse, Scott excused himself to make a phone call.

Charlotte said she needed to get something out of her room, but it was just a chance to hear Scott's conversation.

"Smell like what? Ok, take him to the animal clinic. He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster. How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million! This house is like the freaking Walmart of guns! I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing." After a few moments, he hung up the phone.

Scott was a werewolf, Charlotte was sure now, and he knew the one Kate shot. This was a chance to save him. Charlotte was nervous about outing herself so early on, but she liked Scott. There was something good about him, she could tell.

She heard Kate tell him to use the guest bathroom. She slipped down the hall while Kate wasn't looking. She found him standing in the bedroom, looking nervous. He could probably find it on his own, but she wanted him to know that he had an ally.

"Black bag under the bed. Open the wooden box in the ammo case. Take one of those." she told him quickly. He looked surprised, but said nothing "I'll cover for you." and she shut the door.

Scott was stunned, Char knew what he was and still wanted to help him. She really was different than the rest of her family. Once he got it, he returned to dinner only to have Chris tell him about rabid dogs. It was was a warning, Scott heard this loud and clear, but at least he had someone on his side now.

It was finally time for Scott to leave but Kate stopped him. She accused him of stealing something, but Allison covered it up, albeit hilariously. Scott mouthed "Thank you" to Charlotte before speeding off on his bike. Charlotte knew then that she was finally going to be able to make the differences she had always wanted to.

"I'm going to go check on something." Charlotte said to Chris.

He looked a bit skeptical "Do you want one of us to go?"

Charlotte just shook her head "No, I got this." She headed to her rental car that she had picked up that morning and headed to the clinic. She saw a Jeep and a bike outback.

Three young men exited, one of which was Scott. Scott loaded his bike in the back of the jeep and they all left. Charlotte followed at a safe distance. They pulled up the high school and Scott and the dark haired guy got in a black Camaro. This was weird. The Jeep took off and the Camaro went in the opposite direction. She knew Scott was the one to follow.

After about ten minutes, they guys pulled up to a building called Beacons Crossing Home, which was a long term care facility. Why is this getting more confusing, she asked herself. She followed them in at a safe distance. No one was at the front desk, so the three of them were able to sneak in. She saw the guys go into a room but they thankfully left the door open, so she could hear everything.

"Who is he?" Scott asked. "My uncle, Peter Hale" the dark haired guy answered. Oh my god, these were the Hales, Charlotte realized. That means that this was Derek. She had heard about this fire.

"Is he like you? A werewolf?" Scott asked.

"He was. Now he's barely even human" Derek responded sadly. "Six years ago, my sister and I were at school. Our house caught fire. Eleven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor" Derek explained.

"So what makes you so sure that they set the fire?" Scott said, now sounded skeptical. Charlotte was pretty sure she knew who "they" were.

Derek scoffed "'Cause they're the only ones that knew about us."

"Then they had a reason." Scott justified.

"Like what? You tell me what justifies this." Charlotte head something move, she wasn't sure what it was. "They say they'll only kill an adult and only with absolute proof, but there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. This is what they do, and this is what Allison will do."

"What are you doing? Visiting hours are over." a very cranky nurse said from the doorway. Charlotte had seen heard her coming and ducked into an open room.

"We were just leaving." Derek said to her and he and Scott took off.

Charlotte waited for the cranky nurse to disappear before slipping into Peter's room. It was dark, but she could see a little due to the street lights outside. Peter Hale sat in his wheelchair in the middle of the room, completely still. Charlotte wasn't sure she could even see or hear him breathing. As she got closer, she saw the awful burns that covered the right side of his handsome face.

Charlotte could feel the tears well up. Her family had caused this, or more so, Kate had caused this. She knew of her family's brutality, she had seen the aftermath of what her uncle had done to a wolf years ago. He had threatened her to keep quiet. She felt dumb to think Kate would turn out any other way.

She sat down on the bed, facing the poor man in the wheelchair. "Uh, hi Peter, my name's Charlotte, it's nice to meet you. I'm not sure you'd say the same thing once you know you know who I really am. I'm an Argent...not something I'm extremely proud of." Charlotte found it hard to look at him, not because of his appearance, but the shame she felt being associated with who did it. "I had nothing to do with the fire. I hadn't put all of the pieces together until tonight." The gravity of the situation was setting in - Kate was a murderer. What else had she done?

Charlotte started crying, she couldn't hold her tears back any longer "I know this won't mean much or change anything, but I am truly sorry for what happened. I know I can't bring back what's lost, but I promise you, I'll bring Kate to justice." she quickly wiped her tears away and got up. She stopped beside Peter and put her hand on his shoulder. "You guys were never the monsters....we were." she meant to blink back a tear but it fell onto Peter's hand. Charlotte opened the door and checked to make sure it was clear to leave. She looked back at Peter one last time before closing the door quietly.

Charlotte got back to house just in time to catch the tail end of Kate and Chris' conversation. "And we do it according to the code." she heard Chris demand.

"You and the code." Kate chided.

"It's there for a reason, Kate." She heard a match light.

"Of course." The fireplace roared to life. "I always play by the rules."

It took everything Charlotte had not to kill Kate then and there. What a lying bitch. Play the game, she reminded herself, play the game and take her down.