REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

i.

i. CITY OF BONES

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CARTER NEVER THOUGHT she would find herself in the middle of a sketchy-town in Mexico — she also never thought she would have the chance to say that she was standing between a Banshee and her five-hundred and ninety-three year old doppelgänger. They were cautiously walking further into the town, children and deranged chickens running around them as the sun cast a hot shadow upon them like a thick wool blanket.

The four of them were all a little on-edge, knowing that the Calaveras — a well known family of hunters in Mexico and some parts of South America, who were all ruthless and merciless — and that they didn't allow werewolves to walk around freely without losing their head. And that was why they needed to come up with a carefully thought out plan to face them when they found out that they had taken her brother. Carter had been gone with Raeven when Derek was taken, but only when she and Raeven returned to Beacon Hills after three months away did she find out that her brother was missing.

She hadn't exactly been pleased that none of them had taken the time to call or text her to at least notify her that Derek had been abducted. But, she also understood why they hadn't, knowing that she did not respond to any of their calls or text messages the entire time she had been gone. And with all that has happened to her, she needed to take a step back, take a deep breath, and actually think about all that has happened to her in the past few months. There wasn't much that she could remember though, all of it was whirled into a blur that only cleared out every couple of seconds — giving her a brief look at the memories. The car ride to Washington, the Temple, the ritual, the sound of her scream; each and every small piece was scattered around in her head.

But, what Carter Hale did know, was that she was a ticking time bomb.

It hadn't taken long for her to reach the conclusion that whoever, or whatever, the thing was inside the ancient temple Raeven had taken her to, wanted to unlock the dormant werewolf abilities that her Pheanix side had suppressed. A part of her, whatever small or large part that might be, didn't know how to feel about becoming more of a werewolf. It might have been better, she supposed, that part of her mind becoming stronger than the Pheanix — being able to have more control over the fiery beast. Or maybe she would become more of monster than she already was, having even less control over her actions, horrifically hurting the surrounding victims. The conflict in her mind had been enough to keep her awake at night.

And being around all of her friends again; it was hard for her to believe that in the past several months, she had changed so much.

Standing beside Lydia again, laughing with her over the simplest of things, she realized that she had morphed into someone completely different while she was gone. Being around Raeven or "Rae" as she was known back then, had made her realize that there was still so much more that she needed to discover about herself — more that needed to be dug up from the depths of her subconscious. And sitting in the same room as Scott opened her eyes to what truly happened the night that Allison died: that she had drug herself away from the pain before she could even mourn her best friend, she ran away from the numbness and right into the arms of the monster she had struggled with for so long, and she fled Beacon Hills before she could actually feel remorse for not trying harder to save the huntress.

And yet, when she had looked away from Scott the day she had returned, she saw the boy that she was slowly falling in love with. She saw Stiles, the only light that had been able to break through the dark that is her life and the only thing that had brought her away from the edge. She saw a boy that had been cursed with the fate to love a Pheanix with a dark past and an even darker heart.