DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Wolf
Secret trysts in the woods weren't usually Ellie's thing, but they were the only way for her to see Scott now without her family finding out. They couldn't openly date in school (in case a teacher or student accidently let it slip that Ellie wasn't following the carefully listed set of rules her aunt had given her), so meeting in the middle of the night was the best way to continue their relationship.
Checking quickly that the coast was clear, she quietly tiptoed from her bedroom and down the stairs. When she reached the back door, she slipped out of the house. It was cold outside,s o she'd bundled into her warmest coat and hat.
Once inside her car, she lightly blew onto her window. The secret messages had been Scott's idea, and they made her smile to see. He'd passed the car earlier that day (probably in the school car park), and had noted the time.
Midnight.
Ellie's smile was a little dreamy as she put the car in drive and headed for the preserve. Their meeting place was near the overlook of the town, about a mile from the old Hale house. They'd arranged it by remembering where they'd walked on her birthday. Using her phone as a light (and trying not to remember the last time she'd used it for that exact purpose - in the school, being chased by the alpha), she stumbled between the trees.
Did Scott forget?
Leaves rustled behind her, and she spun on her heel to inspect the noise. A foot away from her stood a silhouetted figure, two glowing spots where their eyes were supposed to be.
She let out a breath of relief. "Scott."
"What are you doing?" he asked worriedly, approaching so they were closer together.
"I was trying to find you," she smiled widely, "With all of the crazy that's been happening, I've wanted to see you properly."
"Did anyone see you leave?"
Ellie shook her head. "No, I was careful. What's wrong? Is it the full moon?"
"No, it's not that," Scott denied, frowning. "I just... wanted to ask you some things; about your family and, uh, your grandfather."
Oh. That... wasn't the romantic conversation she'd expected.
"I don't really know that much about him." Ellie shrugged, "He's just the guy who sends a cheque in the mail every year for my birthday. My parents' funeral was the first time I'd seen him since I was a little kid."
"Does he know about me?" Scott asked seriously, eyebrows knitting together. "About us?"
"No, Uncle Chris hasn't mentioned it," she told him honestly. "And he seemed pretty intent on letting you live for my sake, so I don't think he'd sign your death warrant. Why? Did something else happen?"
"We just have to be more careful now." He said ominously.
"... They're not going to split us apart."
"No."
"You want to know why?" she leaned up and brushed their noses together, grinning. "Because I ;love you."
"I love you," he replied.
They kissed, and her family wasn't mentioned again.
;
Ellie woke up to the sound of her phone dinging with a message. She knew it couldn't be Scott - he wasn't stupid enough to message her when her family was watching her as closely as they'd been since the winter formal.
Lydia:
Get up, I'm picking you up in 20 minutes.
Oh.
She'd almost forgotten that it was Lydia's first day of school. After the accident, and then being found from a naked hike in the woods, she'd been held back from going to school for an extra couple of days. It was incredibly lonely in school, but, luckily, Allison was rekindling the friendship between them, and the boy from the day of the funeral, Matt, was providing excellent locker conversation.
Falling out of bed, she yanked herself into a standing position and hurried to get dressed. Her clothes were reserved (just jeans and a t-shirt), but she coupled the outfit with insanely tall heels and a complicated tied-up hairstyle.
When she was sorted, she grabbed some toast from Allison's plate ("Hey! That was mine!" Her cousin yelped).
"I'm getting a ride form Lydia," Ellie rolled her eyes. "No time to make breakfast. Do want to come with?"
"... Sure. I've been meaning to see how she's dong."
Outside, Lydia's Beetle pulled up, and the two girls climbed inside (Ellie called shotgun, so Allison was stuck squished in the tiny back seat). The journey was silent, though, form the tightening of her hands on the steering wheel, Ellie suspected that Lydia knew that her friends were brimming with questions.
It wasn't until Lydia has parked the car that Allison blurted: "How are you? I'm so sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital; I was going through a dark period. With everything that happened, and you going missing and everything... I just need to know if you're okay. Are you okay? You seem okay. Why did you run out of the hospital?"
Lydia said nothing, instead opting for swinging out of the vehicle. Ellie followed immediately, giving Allison an exasperated look. Those questions weren't upsetting or anything.
"I don't remember anything," Lydia told them quietly as they walked to the building. Loiterers had already retreated within the building, or to watch lacrosse.
"You don't?" Ellie blinked owlishly, "So, it's just, like, a blank?"
"They called it a fugue state, which is basically a way of saying that 'We have no idea why you went running through the woods naked for two days'." The strawberry blonde explained. "But, personally, I don't care." They stopped in front of the school doors. "I lost nine pounds."
"Are you ready?" Ellie asked worriedly, jerking her head in the direction of the building.
Her taller friend scoffed, "Please, it's not like my aunt's a serial killer," and walked confidently inside.
Both Argent girls flinched, surprised by Lydia's vindictiveness. They shared a look, took a simultaneous deep breath and followed her inside.
Everyone inside stopped and stared at Lydia, like they were waiting for her to crack and run away screaming. Ellie stopped behind her, offering a comforting smile. "Maybe it's the nine pounds."
Lydia flicked her hair and swaggered determinedly up the hallway. Allison bumped Ellie's shoulder, and the two girls separated to their lockers.
;
Isaac Lahey had been arrested for his father's murder.
It was weird; Ellie honestly couldn't see him as the sort of person to commit homicide on a family member.
Well, until Stiles caught up with her, that is. The pale boy explained that Isaac was a werewolf ("What?!" Ellie yelled) and that he was going to spend the night in jail - over a full moon.
"Shit," Ellie said bleakly.
Stiles barked a laugh. "'Shit' is right."
;
"... Do we have proof?" Ellie heard Gerard say later that night.
"Not irrefutable," Chris said seriously. "... But not insignificant. The driver's side door of Lahey's car was prised off."
"Prised off?" Gerard repeated.
Ellie's uncle paused. "Ripped off."
Her grandfather met her eyes then, and cleared his throat. Chris turned to see what he was looking at, noticed the teenager, and grimaced. He, at least, had the gall to look embarrassed at the conversation. At the implications of the conversation. They were planning the murder of a 16-year-old boy who might not have even done anything wrong... it was despicable.
Her uncle pulled the doors closed, but she didn't move.
Allison had joined her by the time she heard the doorknob turn and a man bumped into her. He was wearing a sheriff's uniform and carrying a suspicious box, but she simply apologised and let him pass her.
"Allison?" Gerard called. Ellie's cousin turned to look. "Come in, we'd like to talk to you."
"We're supposed to study with Lydia. I really don't have time to chat..." the taller girl started.
Chris cut her off. "Actually, that's who we wanted to talk to you about, sweetheart."
Ellie and Allison shared a look, and Ellie muttered, "Good luck," before her cousin walked slowly to the room.
;
When Allison was let out, she quickly pulled Ellie into her bedroom and called Stiles. He was huffing as he answered, "Hey, sorry, Harris literally just let me out of detention. Literally. And he had my phone the whole freaking time."
Ellie motioned to her cousin to put the phone on the desk for her to hear better, before saying: "Well, we need to do something right now."
"They asked me all of these questions about Lydia and how she was bitten by Peter," Allison added, "And then they sent this guy out."
"Wait, what guy?"
"He was, uh, dressed in the same clothes your dad wears." Ellie explained, "Like a sheriff's deputy, or something."
"They're sending him to the station for Isaac." Stiles' voice was mildly horrified.
"He was also carrying this box with something on it, like..." Ellie frowned, recalling an image of a flower. Was it a flower? "It was a carving, or something."
"What was it?"
Allison started flicking through one of her hunter encyclopaedias. "Hold on, it's in one of these books." She said, "I'm taking a picture." The Argent girl aimed her phone at the book and snapped a shot, sending it quickly.
Ellie peeked her head around, gasping in surprise when she saw the exact flower it was. Scott had said something about that.
"Did you get it?" Allison asked impatiently.
Stiles groaned. "Yeah, wolfs bane."
"... What does that mean?" she said after a moment.
"It means they're going to kill him." Ellie answered for him.
;
Allison had split off from her cousin, going to 'slow down' the goon sent to the station. Ellie had nodded, agreeing with Stiles' plan, before saying that she would find Scott.
The other teens had been wary at first, unsure if it would be safe for the small brunette, but Ellie was adamant about finding him.
"Scott won't hurt me," she told them confidently. She knew he wouldn't.
Stiles sighed, "Fine. He's at Isaac's house."
"Thanks."
;
Ellie wasn't entirely sure how she knew where Isaac's house was, but she found it anyway. When she pushed into the main hallway, she was greeted by nothing but silence. Frowning, she pushed open doors until she found a staircase that lead to the basement.
"Scott?" she called tentatively, using her phone to shine around the dark room. In front of her, quivering and crouched down, was Scott.
She hurried to him, dropping her duffel bag on the floor next to her as she knelt in front of his form. The zip squeaked loudly in the quiet room, and she carefully pulled out the pile of chains Stiles had dropped at (well, actually thrown from the window of his jeep on the front porch of) the house.
"Do we- do we have to do this?" Ellie asked tentatively.
Scott looked up slowly, showing his glowing yellow eyes. "Yes."
"Where?"
He gently grabbed her wrist and pointed the phone light at a freezer that was tucked away in a corner opposite them.
Ellie stood up, pulling him with her, and guided him to the machine. Thankfully, it wasn't on, so when she lifted the lid and helped him inside he didn't freeze to death. Every fibre in her body told her that she shouldn't do it, but he stared at her pitifully. "Please, Ellie," he whispered. "I don't want to hurt you."
Swallowing, she leaned down to kiss him softly. "I love you," she whispered, before closing the freezer and sealing him inside. "It's done," she declared after a minute. "I locked it."
"Go," he ordered weakly.
"I'm not going to leave-"
"Go!"
His shout was so loud it made her ears ring, and behind it was the power of a werewolf that was barely holding onto its control.
Ellie ran.
Upstairs, she stopped, panting, and walked to the kitchen. She considered pouring herself a glass of water, but decided against it. The last thing she needed was even more DNA in the house then there already was.
Behind her, she heard the sound of hissing - more like a lizard than a cat. Ellie twirled around, gasping, and saw... something.
In the low light, she could vaguely make out the green tinge to its scales and horrendous, glowing yellow eyes. It was grotesque and monstrous. When Scott transformed into a werewolf, it was sort of beautiful. Natural. But this thing, whatever it was, was an abnormality. It wasn't right.
And so, she did the only thing she could do: she screamed like a little girl and grabbed the closest weapon to her - a butcher's knife.
"Come on!" she yelled at it, putting herself in the defensive position her dad had shown her a million times. "Come on!"
The lizard-thing didn't have enough time to come at her, though, because something crashed through the wall and tackled it before it could.
Scott, werewolf form Scott who had been adamant he couldn't control himself, crouched protectively in front of her. The thing hissed at him, before scurrying up the wall and out of the building.
"What the freaking hell was that?" Ellie gasped.
Scott jumped up. "I... don't know. But I have a feeling we're going to find out."
a/n okay, new chapter! I didn't really want to write today, but I had to because I'm going away tomorrow. I'll be back on Frdiay, but I'm going to Paris!!!! And DISNEYLAND!
Yay me.
Thank you for reading :)