Now Or Never

20

"Well, I have to get back, the rush hour should be coming soon. I'll make sure to schedule you more, alright." He put his earphones back in and picked up a box. Passing me the way out, he smiles, "Text me later, babe." 

"Yeah." I tried not to show the shakiness of my voice. "I'll text you."

Why would Derek assume I trust him enough to speak to him alone? He's crazy if he thinks I'm ever going to fall for that. It's most likely a trap and I'm not that stupid.

———

I park my car in front of the warehouse and look at the time. It's almost 6. I sigh and unlock my iPhone. Should I tell Jackson? Maybe it'll just worry him, he'll try to find me and probably fight Derek. He might get hurt. I need to know what this asshole wants. 

Instead of pressing Jackson's contact, I call Diego. I trust him enough to tell him that I'm meeting his evil brother, who threatens to kill me, alone in a large building in the middle of nowhere. I hear the dial of the phone.

"Hello?" Diego picked up and I smiled.

"Hey." I sigh. "I'm going to make this really quick. Your brother wanted to meet me alone at a certain place and so I'm here now. I'm about to go in and see what he wants, just to let you know."

"What? No- Spencer. Do not-" I hung up on him. My chest clenched at the fact that I might get hurt. Reluctantly, I send him the address of my location before getting out of the car. This will give me time to talk to him and if anything bad happens, I know Diego and Jackson will be here in time. 

Sand crunches under my feet as I walk toward the big warehouse. My breath quickens the closer I get. With the cool air surrounding me and the smell of dying weeds, I am sent into uncomfortable anxiety about going in. Am I making a mistake?

I opened the large metal door and it swung with a loud creak. Inside, it was huge and empty, pillars the only thing placed inside. I swallowed nervously as I walked further into the building. My heels echoed through the hollow room. Windows on the top show the moon outside and give a little light. Even with the natural moonlight, I turned on my flashlight on my phone.

"Um- hello?" I called out into the emptiness. My heart clenched once again in absolute fear. "Derek?"

My hands shook rapidly and my throat dried roughly.

"Spencer." A deep familiar voice called from behind me. I jumped in shock and turned around to see Derek dressed from head to two in black which surprisingly still made him seem like he walked out of a Hollister ad.

"You scared the fuck out of me." I breathed out. He narrowed his eyes at me, it was filled with a strange curiosity. It was like he couldn't believe I was standing here in front of him.

"You look just like her yet you are so... different." He stepped closer to me and I took a couple of steps back.

"Who?" I asked. He's been repeatedly comparing me to this girl that I know nothing about.

"Charlotte." He stated the name felt familiar. "She was the love of my life, a century before you were even born."

"What does she have to do with me?" I asked confused.

Derek pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and showed me the lit-up screen. It was an old picture of me, my long blond hair perfectly curled and my face abandoned from makeup. i noticed she had a small mole on her upper lip and her eyes were light, almost blue but with the quality I couldn't make it out. The black and white picture had my body in a long puffy dress but she was taller than me and much paler. And then I knew, that was Charlotte.

"Why- how does she look like me?" I asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. Charlotte was human and died human. I held her in my arms as she took her last breath. I buried her. She is gone but you- you are here." He explained.

"I am- Derek, I'm not Charlotte. I don't know how I look like her but I know for sure that we are not the same person."

"I know. You are completely different." He mumbled sadly. His eyes stare into mine, he sees nothing familiar in them. Derek held a look of loneliness on his chiseled face. 

"How?" I asked. He stared at me with his blue eyes and his blonde hair styled.

"You are loud and filled with fire. You are stubborn and filled with so much anger that it makes you dangerous. Charlotte... was the opposite. She was funny and kind. She was caring, loving, calm, and happy. But I know for a fact that you both share this bravery and you're both so strong." He told me. The look on his face told me he was speaking the truth. He was imagining that girl in the past, I could see the pain on his face. "But your eyes." He sighed. "They're brown. They're beautiful but they're not Charlotte's."

I didn't know how to respond, my whole life I didn't know about these creatures in hiding and now I am surrounded by them. I am supposed to be scared of the big bad Derek but instead... I feel sorry for him. To love someone so much, to outlive them, and then decades later run into a girl who looks almost exactly like her at a dinner party. So many emotions were brought to the surface, I wouldn't even know how to understand them.

"Did Charlotte have a daughter or something that continued her bloodline?" I need answers now. I didn't know for who at this point but I didn't care. My mother and I have always shared the same looks so if I am related to Charlotte then so is she.

"Well, I distance myself from it in the end. Charlotte was getting older and I was unwilling to bring her into this kind of life. I wouldn't change her into one of me and she can never start a family with me. So I had to leave, married, sure but she was safe in her normal life. She had a girl a month before her death. I gave her to the father and he raised her." Derek stepped forward and this time I didn't move back. "You think that you are her great great granddaughter?"

"I don't know. Did her daughter have a child?"

"I left Europe after I buried Charlotte so I don't know." Derek paused suddenly, his head lifted up, and turned to the big metal door of the warehouse. "Someone is coming so I am going to tell you this one thing quickly. There's a man, he's human but he is powerful. He's coming after Dimmsvale. He wants all the supernatural dead and he has an army. He cannot know that I'm telling you this. Understand?"

"Derek. What-"

"Do you understand, Spencer?" He hissed in frustration.

"Yeah, I understand."

Derek pulled me to him and looked into my eyes. I didn't move a muscle as he kissed my forehead. "Be careful." He whispered.

The big metal door banged open and I turned around. Six men were outlined with shadows. I looked back at Derek but he was gone. I turned to the men and they walked closer to me, in the light I could see their faces. Diego and Jackson were in the front. Cayden and Tori were standing next to Jackson and two unfamiliar men were standing next to Diego.

"Spencer," Jackson said worriedly.

Claire update; this was a really weird and fast chapter. so uh- sorry.