This Isn't The End {Stiles Stilinski}[1]

The Art of Understanding

"Hunters? What, like werewolf hunters?" She questioned, her voice raising a couple of octaves at the end.

"Yeah. Technically, they hunt all kinds of creatures, but they call themselves werewolf hunters. We're their main target." I probably shouldn't have told her there's more than werewolves, but I was in a lot of pain. "The Argents are one of the most prominent hunter families."

"Wait. The Argents? As in Allison's family?" The car braked abruptly and she apologized profusely when I moaned in pain.

"Yes, Allison's family. I don't know if she knows though. Her dad shot Scott with a crossbow the first time he turned."

"Holy shit, they don't know he's a werewolf, do they? Would they kill him?" Rae questioned, driving a bit faster afterward.

"No, they don't. They just know of him. And no, they have a code. They won't kill any of us unless we've shed human blood." Saying the words, I felt a deep pang in my heart as I thought of my family and the hunter that certainly didn't go by the code. I wouldn't tell anyone that though.

"Oh god, okay. That's good, I guess. Unless Scott hurts someone. Oh my god, what if he kills someone? We'll have to-"

"Please, shut up." I interrupted, the rambling driving me crazy.

"Sorry, sorry. This is all just so new. I didn't even know for sure what was going on until tonight. I don't know any specifics." At her words, I opened my eyes and looked over at her as she glanced at me. Her eyes were wide and I could practically see the gears turning in her head.

"I can tell you if you want." Her head whipped around to look at me before looking back at the road. "If you let me stay with you until I heal."

She seemed to think for a second before answering. "Yeah, you can stay with me. I may not like you much, but I don't want you to die."

I smiled lightly at her words, amused by them. "Why not?"

Rae turned to look at me once again with furrowed brows before facing forward. "No one deserves to die. And you might be annoying and grumpy and mean, but from what I can tell you've been trying to help Scott. That means under the surface, you're a good person. He's a total stranger. You didn't have to help him, but you did."

My eyes widened at what she had deducted on her own. Most people only viewed me as an asshole, they didn't actually realize who I was beyond the facade I showed to keep people away.

"I know I don't know you and I don't know your life, but I do know what happened to your family. I get why you would want people to think that the brash, scowling, infamous Derek Hale is who you are. You don't want people to get close to you. I'd do the same thing." Taking a moment to ponder over the girl's words, I turned my gaze to face out the windshield.

"How do you know so much?" I questioned, facing her once again.

Glancing over, she answered quickly, not even needing to think over her words. "I'm usually pretty good at reading people. And I surround myself with people who wear masks. My own sister pretends she's this ditsy blonde when she literally has like a 5.0 GPA. She's super talented too. She could've been a professional figure skater, she can bowl strikes every time, and she's an artist. Scott is ever the optimist and is always trying to help everyone, even when they don't care about him, but deep down I know he questions himself and whether anything he's doing matters. Stiles is always sarcastic and goofing around but that's mainly a defense mechanism so that he doesn't get hurt or stuck in awkward situations. Jackson is an asshole and I hate him most of the time, but he's just covering up the fact that he's always felt like he doesn't fit in. He's an angry and deeply sad person. He just wants to feel like his parents are proud of him, even though he's never met them. Everyone's got a mask of some sort, some are just more ingrained than others."