bloodlust // stiles stilinski [on hold]

03. Thirst

***

Scott looked down with curiosity at the semi-conscious blonde girl. He wondered what she was seeing in her memories.

Suddenly, she started to twitch. Her legs moved as if she was running in place, and Scott could faintly hear her muttering. Natalia's eyes snapped open and before she could grab his mom, Scott held her down. "Hey!" he shouted, trying to get her to focus. It was as if she were in a dream.

"I have to run!" she yelled. "I'm running...I run..." He held her down firmly and pushed Kira behind him, for he didn't know what the blonde would do if she got her hands on her.

"Natalia!" he shouted again. Thankfully, she stopped twitching and focused on him. She sighed in relief as she came out of the nightmare that was her memories. Once her body relaxed, Melissa helped the girl sit up.

Natalia was glad that she could remember her past, though a little part of her didn't want to relive it any longer than she had to. It was too painful.

Melissa bent down to look her in the eyes. "Natalia, your kind is not typically known of around here," she said carefully.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "My kind? What does that even mean? What the hell am I?"

She dreaded the words she knew were coming next.

"Well, I believe you're a vampire."

"No!" she yelled. Scott restrained her as she lunged for Melissa. "Get your hands off of me," she growled at him. Her emotions were going haywire. She wanted to cry and scream all at once. The heightened feelings she had earlier were only escalating.

"Calm down," Scott said, trying to soothe the girl.

That is the last thing you tell a female, moron, Natalia thought to herself.

"You're wrong Melissa. I..." She looked out the window with a blank expression. "Those are only myths." But she knew she wasn't being logical. Obviously she wasn't human anymore.

"Most of the myths you know are actually real," the nurse explained. "Werewolves, witches, anything you can think of. It's all real. And now I suppose vampires are too."

Natalia wanted to believe Melissa, but it was so hard to wrap her head around it. She was a vampire. She probably slept in a coffin too, or wore white makeup in public.

She shook Scott's hands off of her arms. "So you want me to leave," she said with a sigh. "You said I'm not known of around here, so I'm guessing werewolves won't be happy to have me strolling through town." It was the only logical thought running through her mind at the moment, even though she didn't have anywhere to go.

"That's not fair, Melissa," Kira spoke up, touching the nurse's shoulder. "We've never seen a vampire around here before, and she doesn't even know how to use her powers. What's the harm?" Kira wanted to help the blonde, knowing what it was like to be different. She was a thunder kitsune herself, and being able to shapeshift into a fox wasn't exactly what people called normal.

Melissa sighed, turning her dark eyes on the brunette. "Secrecy usually fails around here, but we can try. I'll call Deaton."

Kira smiled at Natalia. "You can stay at Scott's place." She ignored the glares Scott gave her for volunteering him to keep the blonde.

"Werewolves?" Natalia interrupted. She was still utterly confused with what was going on around her.

Melissa shrugged. "Yeah, werewolves," she said. "Scott's an Alpha, and the only supernatural beings really around here are werewolves. We have seen plenty of different kinds appear out of nowhere..." She glanced at her son, thinking of all that had come to Beacon Hills in the past months. She hated to see him struggle with new danger that may arise with a vampire, but the mother knew it was the right thing to do for the girl.

Kira took the hand of the confused vampire. "Why don't we get you home."

***

Scott, Kira and Natalia walked into the front door of the werewolf's home. Natalia had recently discovered that the two had a thing for each other, but "it was complicated." She wondered why.

Thinking of love made her weary, the image of Aaron creeping into her mind. She remembered the feelings she held for him. They were very much real; she actually loved him.

But then he snapped her neck.

Natalia took a seat on the bed in Scott's room. Kira laid a large, dusty book in front of the blonde. "This is the Bestiary, or the book of creatures. All the myths you need to know about are in here," she explained. "You said you were changed on a solar eclipse, yeah?"

She looked away from Kira and swallowed hard, remembering the pain and betrayal of that night.

"There is a prophecy in here about you, I think," Kira continued, opening the Bestiary to a certain page for Natalia to read.

The vampire born on the night shared by the sun and the moon shall be mighty and brave. They shall be the witch to prevail and destroy the evil that created them, and all of their challengers shall be punished. By their hands, goodness can triumph gloriously or evil will be released horrifically. They are the Ekham, they are the One.

Natalia only stared at the fine print. This couldn't be about her. How was she supposed to restore goodness or destroy her challengers?

"Look," she finally said, rubbing her temple, "I just found out what happened to me. Can we talk about this tomorrow?" She looked up to see Scott nod, dark eyes full of pity. She resisted the urge to lash out at him because she didn't want pity. She wanted answers.

Why me?

"You can sleep in here. If you want to change clothes you can. Make yourself at home," Scott said. "I think I have some clean sweatshirts around here somewhere."

"Thank you," Natalia whispered. Kira walked out, and Scott stayed behind. He held out his wrist, and just the sight of the offered vein made Natalia's mouth water. She hated the feeling but wanted the blood so badly...

"I saw how you looked at that girl in class," he said. "Vampires need blood, right?" As an answer, he saw her eyes darken at the mention of blood. "Go ahead. I'm a werewolf, I heal."

Hesitantly, Natalia took his hand. She wondered how to actually drink his blood. Would it leave a big mark? Would it hurt him?

The urge to feed took over her mind when she nuzzled her nose against his wrist, finding the right artery she needed. She felt her canines sharpen, and she sunk her teeth into his flesh.

As she fed, the wolf pulled her to him and tried not to wince too much from the pain of his blood draining.

The liquid was bitter tasting to the new vampire, but she supposed it was because of his wolf heritage. Still, the blood was filling and tamed the flames growing in her throat. "Natalia," Scott warned. The blonde opened her eyes and lifted her mouth from his vein. She looked up at him with wide eyes, seeing his face had paled. Then she knew she took too much.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, watching in fascination as the opened veins healed right in front of her.

"It's fine," he said, rubbing the healed skin. "You'll learn."

"Thank you," she said. The teen wolf smiled at her, eyes glowing a faint red as he walked out to take Kira home.

Natalia felt stronger now that the fire in her throat had been tamed. She decided to pull on a baggy sweatshirt of Scott's for the night and crawled into bed. It was time for her to stop thinking about the crazy world she was about to dive into and just relax for the night.

With one last thought of Aaron, she was fast asleep.

***