Blue Moon » Stilinski

Seven

            “What do you mean, end up like Erica and Boyd?” Innocence swarms around the room like a cloud, turning a house of smoke into a house of gold.

            His gaze is tinted with sympathy, voice cold. “Erica and Boyd are dead.” He says it with such finality that it’s impossible to remain upright.

            I collapse against the wall, fingers clawing at the decaying wallpaper. The words ring in my ears, pressing against my skull. Dead. Dead. Dead. Denial pours from my lips, firm disbelief. “No, they can’t be dead. Erica and Boyd are just missing. We went out to look for them yesterday.”

            Derek shakes his head, mouth a straight line. “The alpha pack kidnapped them. If they killed Aubrey, what purpose would they have in keeping Erica and Boyd alive?”

            Something about Derek is off; some bit of information is out of place in my head. “But why would the alpha pack take Erica and Boyd? And how could they?” The Hale house is a barricade, an iron skeleton. Only a seven-nation army could penetrate the framework.

            When he doesn’t respond, I growl, “Derek, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

            His gaze shifts over the ground, suspicious. “The alpha pack didn’t just go after Erica and Boyd because they’re sadistic and cruel. An unusual thing about alphas is that we can sense when the loyalties shift within a pack. When the alpha pack found Erica and Boyd, they were not part of a pack. They decided to leave, Isaac, and the alpha pack took them to warn us of how destructive they can be. Don’t you see? I underestimated them, but I WILL NOT let that happen again.” 

            Comprehension dawns on me, rage boiling in my veins. Derek is the reason that Erica and Boyd are gone― the reason that my friends are dead. Before I have a chance to bite down on my temper, words spill out. “So you think that sitting here and doing nothing is going to help? That it’s going to bring Erica and Boyd back? You think that cutting yourself off from the rest of the world is really going to make a difference?”

            “Isaac,” he pleads, voice stained with bitterness. “Please― I’m only trying to keep you safe―”

            I cut him off, ignoring his protests. “You’re not doing anything. Not a damn thing! You hide away and wait for your problems to magically be solved. You’re a coward. Do you hear me, Derek? You are a coward. What kind of a man are you?”

            “Isaac, stop―” His tone is threatening, a crown of thorns surrounding a garden.

            But I can’t stop. Even if I want to, I can’t. “You’re the reason that Erica and Boyd are dead! You killed your own pack― your own family. You murder everything that you touch!”

            I don’t see it coming. There’s a snarl, a flash of red eyes, and then Derek scrapes his claws across my face. Pain washes through me and I crumple to the ground, blood gushing through my trembling fingers. All of my anger dissipates and is instead replaced by disbelief.

            Immediately, his viciousness erases itself from his face, horror engraved in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry I’m―” He trails off, stunned, and all I can do is blink. Did that really just happen? Did Derek really just hit me? But when I look back, it’s not Derek’s face I see― it’s my father’s.

            “Isaac, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to―” Derek apologizes, his voice weighed down by remorse; my father is not capable of any emotion save for sadism.