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[TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER!]
"I hate you, I seriously fucking hate you." Aires hissed with narrowed eyes as she glared at the Argent.
"You're the one who stayed up on a school night. And you decided to ditch yesterday, you can't do that today because then Gerard will get suspicious." Allison shot back in a stern voice, making the Hale roll her eyes as the girl dragged her down the hallway.
"Gerard can suck my dick." She grumbled back whilst shielding her eyes from the heavy light.
With a grin, Allison nudged the girl. "Someone's grumpy this morning."
"You woke me up at five in the morning to translate archaic latin for you whilst only having an hour of sleep-"
Aires words were stolen from her as Allison pulled her behind a bookcase before shoving a random book into her hand, forcing her to pretend to read it. The two were sneaking around, the last thing Aires wanted to do.
With a groan, Aires grinded her teeth as she slipped through the pages of a chemistry textbook.
"This was everything Aires could translate and trust me, it wasn't easier to get her to do it that early." Allison whispered whilst handing the boys the tablet through the shelves.
"Fuck you Alli." Aires shot back with a roll of her eyes.
She wasn't supposed to be involved with the kanima drama, she had gotten a free pass and yet she somehow was stuck helping them, stealing what little time she had. To be fair, there was little she could do about the coven. She couldn't exactly prepare, she just had to wait.
"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott asked.
"No that's all it said." Aires mumbled whilst roughly flipping through the pages of the textbook that sat in her hands.
"Are you sure? Did you read it all?" He pushed.
"Yes you ass, that's all she gave me and that was all it said. If you're not happy with what I gave you then learn it and translate it yourself." She snapped, slamming the textbook on the shelf.
"Hey, calm down." Allison whispered, holding onto the girl's hand. "Scott she did the best she could. Stiles was right about the murders by the way."
"Yes!" Stiles squealed, pumping his fist in the air, making Aires roll her eyes at him.
"It called the Kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's a story in there about this South American priest who used the Kanima to execute murderers in his village." Aires mumbled, picking up another book to flip through.
"All right, see? So maybe it's not all that bad."
"Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to." She bluntly stated.
The Stilinski boy's jaw dropped, his eyes widened as he shook his head frantically. "All bad, very bad, very bad."
"Here's the thing though, the Kanima is actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be until it resolves that in its past which manifested it."
"Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy I could've told you that myself."
Aires groaned, scowling as she shook her head. "No dumbass, it has to do with his parents. His real parents. His background and why he has his identity."
"But does anyone know what actually happened to them?" Scott asked.
"Maybe Lydia?" Allison whispered.
"And what if she doesn't?" Stiles shot back.
The Hale clenched her fists, taking deep breaths as she tried to restrain herself. "You know if you don't let me talk, I'm gonna jump over this bookcase and strangle you."
Stiles squirmed about, nervously fiddling with his hands. "Oh, okay."
"Talk to her, if she doesn't know then there's another way. I'll talk to Jackson, I don't have a restraining order against him. That got to mean something, right? He didn't get one against me so maybe he'll talk to me?"
"And what if he doesn't? What if he attacks you." He stated bluntly.
Aires scoffed, turning her head and revealing her vampire side. "I can take care of myself, Scotty." She sassed back.
"Ree, if he does anything-"
"Like?" She interrupted, becoming slightly annoyed.
Stiles stuck his head through the gap. "Anything evil." He hissed.
The girl grabbed a hold of his face, shoving him away from her. "I'm doing it, talk to Lydia and I'll talk to Jackson. Okay assholes?" She mumbled, earning franctiac nods from the boys.
"Good." She whispered, nodding her head before strutting out of the library.
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"Did you get any sleep last night?" Sage asked, humour lacing her voice.
"Nope." Aires snapped with a roll of her eyes as she dodged the busy crowds in the hallway.
"How tired are you?" She asked in between laughs.
"Tired enough that I've almost committed homicide on Stiles a few times today." Aires groaned, running her fingers through her hair.
On the other side of the call, Sage smiled at the irritation in Aires voice. It was amusing to her, to see her so hotheaded.
"Well, please refrain from committing murder, it would be a pain in the ass to bail your ass out. Or help you bury another body."
A smirk ghosted the Hales lips at the image of a pissed off Sage at the police station before she shook it from her mind. "I have to go." She said regretfully. "I need to go talk to Jackson so-"
"Woah, what?" Sage interrupted, raising her voice slightly.
"I have to, it's part of the plan-"
"Aires are you serious? He's killed people! He's not innocent-"
"We both know I'm no better, in case you forgot."
Silence filled the air between them with neither one of them moving to break it. The memory of Aires taking that man's life replayed in her mind. She was no better than Jackson. But she didn't seem to care too much about it.
The truth was, she had completely forgotten about killing him. It wasn't like it would be for most people, she didn't feel one ounce of regret and that scared the hell out of her. If she was capable of murder just how far would she go.
"Just be careful." Sage warned, making the girl scoff and roll her eyes.
"God, you sound just like Scott." Aires mumbled before hanging up the phone.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and shoved her phone in her pocket whilst strutting down the hallway. She didn't need the constant reminders to be safe, she knew what she was doing, she knew that she had hundreds after her. In her life she had became a master at constantly looking over her shoulder.
"Aires?" Erica whispered as The Hale rounded the corner, only to come to a stop in front of the blonde.
The two hadn't seen each other since her and Isaacs big fight. Erica overheard the last part of it and couldn't help but feel extremely bad for the Hale, she had a part in egging Isaac on and winding him up. It wasn't intentional but she was jealous and jealousy was an ugly disease. She didn't know what was happening between the two but knew that Aires wasn't to blame for what went wrong. The girl had so much going on and the least thing Isaac should expect from her is a relationship, even Erica knew that.
"Are you-" She began, only to be cut off by the girl.
"Erica I really don't have time to talk about yesterday, okay?"
"I just wanted to see if you were okay. Derek wants an update on the Kan-"
"Well, tell Derek if he wants an update to come and ask me himself instead of getting his beta's to do his dirty work. I'm done with him and his bullshit. Go ask someone else and leave me out of it." She snapped before storming off and leaving the girl far behind.
At the bottom of the corridor she could see a few freshmen staring at her, making her anger grow. "What the fuck are you looking at?" She demanded.
The girls' eyes all widened, each of them shrank with fear before averting their eyes and darting off. Aires was one of the most popular girls in school along with Lydia, people feared them but also wanted to be best friends with them.
Aires scoffed before flipping her hair over her shoulder and storming past them. She rolled her eyes and strutted down the hallway, the last thing she needed was to cause another scene. Quickly, she pushed open the locker room door, slipping inside before anyone could notice her.
"Jackson?" She called out, slightly pissed off as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"In here." His voice boomed throughout the room, making the girl roll her green eyes again.
Ignoring the disgusting stench of the boys locker room, Aires walked around the corner, coming face to face with a very naked Jackson in the shower. She scowled, narrowing her eyes on the boy who was only smirking.
"Really?" She hissed whilst biting on her cheek to stop her from exploding. "You could have warned me, you know." She spat, disgust lacing her tone.
"You're the one that walked into the boys locker room." He sat flatly, his eyes holding no emotion.
In an instant, she knew. Aires picked up on the way he was acting. She wasn't speaking to Jackson, she was speaking to whoever was controlling him.
"You know what, forget it." She snapped before throwing her arms in the air.
It was the prime time, the perfect opportunity, but she didn't have time to deal with it, not with everything else going on. She had agreed to help Scott and Stiles as much as she could before she had to deal with the coven. She knew they were coming, her time was up, however she still wanted to help her best friends.
Sage was back at the house, doing as much digging as she could whilst Aires was forced to attend school and keep up appearances. She felt like she was wasting time being there, time that she could be spending doing anything else. There wasn't really any way of preparing though, she knew they were coming and she knew they wanted to kill her. She also knew that trying to control her magic was a lost cause, she wasn't able to when she was younger so why would she be able to now? She also knew that they weren't coming to bargain with her, so what exactly was it she was supposed to be doing?
"Did you want to talk about something?" He asked, suddenly standing directly in front of her so that she couldn't leave, still naked.
"We can talk later, when your dick isn't in my face." She growled before taking a step back, trying to get as far away from him as possible.
"No." He snapped, pushing his body close to hers, their faces inches apart. "Let's talk now."
"Move out of my way Jackson." She said lowly.
"No, we need to talk, about a lot." He whispered in her ear whilst slowly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She knew he wasn't Jackson then, he wasn't the boy she knew, he was a stranger and standing in front of him, with him naked and towering over her, it brought back a sickening sense of deja vu.
"Are you feeling okay? Because your heart is beating like crazy." He whispered under his breath, a sick smirk on his lips. "Are you nervous because of me? Do I make your heart flutter?"
A scoff fell from Aires lips. "Really?" She choked out in between laughter. "You think that I, Aires Hale, get nervous around someone like you? Are you delusional?" She asked, taunting the boy.
Jacksons smirk dropped, quickly replaced by a hard glare. The girl was getting to him, and he didn't know how to shut her up. She knew what she was doing was wrong but she was acting out of pure panic. Deja vu had hit her, making her feel like a ten year old all over again. She didn't want to kill him for Lydia's sake and she couldn't exactly use her magic with cameras right outside that would pick up the audio of her destruction.
"Really Jackson? I mean I know you're a jock and all but seriously how dumb are you?" She sneered. "You may have been able to manipulate and gaslight Lydia but I can see right through you. You want everyone to love you, to be obsessed with you. You think that you could get any girl you want, that girls would throw themselves at you because your Mr Jackson Whittemore. Well guess what? You're just another dumb arrogant jock."
"Shut up."
"Aww, did I hit a nerve? I know it may be hard to hear the truth given that nobodys ever said it to you before-"
"SHUT UP!" He screamed, eyes wide and furious- murderous.
She should've shut up, she should've left whilst she still could. But she refused to let him make her run, she refused to be chased, she refused to relive the memories she had from when she was ten years old and trapped in a house with her stepfather.
"You're a coward, and i'm not on about Jackson. I'm on about the one that's hiding behind him. You're pathetic." She hissed.
Suddenly, her back smacked onto the cold tile floor. Jackson's body hovered above hers as he pounded his fist into the tiles beside her head. It happened too fast for her to grasp it, for her to realise.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Aires' head pounded at the contact with the ground, however that wasn't what she was focused on. Jackson's body was practically on top of hers, his face extremely close. She sucked in a breath, trying to push the flashbacks out of her head. This wasn't like last time, he wasn't her step father, but he wasn't exactly Jackson either. She didn't know who was behind him, controlling him, she didn't know just how far they'd go.
Seeing her sudden shocked state, Jackson smirked, inching his lips to just above her ear. "Scared?" He taunted.
Her whole body had frozen up, she was unable to move or even speak. His voice replayed in her head, the same word her stepfather had said to her before he ruined her life.
"Wow, Aires Hale scared of a guy on top of her, holding all the power. I guess I know how to shut you up for good now." He taunted, slowly bringing his body even closer to hers.
The second his hand touched the top of her thigh she broke from her trance, finally finding her voice. It felt like her body had been paralysed but for some reason her voice came back to her, and she couldn't have been more grateful. She couldn't move her body, the panic had paralysed her, but she still had her voice. Panic took over her as she realised what was about to happen, flashbacks of her stepfather forcing himself on top of her were in the front of her mind, erupting a scream from her lips.
"NO!" She screamed, thrashing her head about frantically. "NO!" She screamed, pain lacing her tone. "JACKSON STOP PLEASE!"
His hand slowly travelled to her waist, lingering at the top of her skirt. That was it, history was once again about to repeat itself. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She was paralysed in fear and trauma.
"NOT AGAIN, NO!" She screamed, a strangled stop escaping.
Suddenly, Jackson broke out of his trance, staring at the frantic girl underneath him. His eyes widened in confusion when he saw who it was.
"What the hell, Aires?" He said, just as Scott broke into the locker room door.
The second he saw the terrified girl on the floor with the naked boy on top of her, he put two and two together. Without another thought, he jumped at Jackson, ripping his body off Aires and throwing him into the lockers.
The girl sighed with relief, pushing herself off the dirty locker room floor. She leant against the wall, allowing herself a few moments to recollect herself before she came back to reality. A gasp fell from her lips as she watched the boys fight.
"I HAVE A RESTRAINING ORDER!" Jackson screamed, his face burning a bright red.
Scott scoffed, narrowing his eyes at the boy. "Trust me, after what I just walked in on I'm restrighting myself enough." He spat.
"I don't know what you're on about." The Whittmore hissed, smiling tauntingly.
Scotts eyes glowed a bright yellow, his breaths coming out fast and ragged. "I'm gonna fucking kill you."
He lunged at the boy, lifting him up and slamming him into the sink. Aires gasped, running around the corner in an attempt to get their attention. "Scott its okay. It wasn't him, he didn't do anything."
"STAY AWAY AIRES! HE'S GONNA GET WHAT HE DESERVES!" He screamed before slamming his fist into Jacksons jaw with a sharp crack.
The Hale ran her fingers frantically through her hair as she watched the scene in front of her. Part of herself felt guilty for not stopping it but the other part of herself wanted to see him hurt. She knew it wasn't the real Jackson, however his words kept replaying in her head. 'I guess I know how to shut you up for good now.'
Jackson threw Scott into a wall, hitting him in the chest repeatedly until Scott caught his fist, crashing it in his hand and reversing their positions. Scott pinned the boy against the wall, punching him in the face over and over again until he started to bleed.
"SCOTT!" Aires panicked.
The Whittmore grabbed a hold of the boy, grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him out of the door. Aires ran after them, the tears burning in her eyes as she tried to forget about the events that happened moments before.
"SCOTT PLEASE STOP. I'M FINE! I SWEAR TO GOD I'M FINE!" She pleaded.
"NO YOUR NOT AIRES! I SAW THIS ASSHOLE, I SAW WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO." He screamed.
"That wasn't him, Scotty! You know it wasn't him!"
Just as the McCall threw another punch, Stiles and Erica rounded the corner, running towards the scene.
"Enough." Erica screamed, pulling Jackson off of Scotts body as Stiles grabbed a hold of Scott.
He quickly turned to face the crying girl, his eyes taking one glance at the state of her to know she wasn't okay. She never cried, ever. Whatever had happened in there was bad, he knew it.
"Oh my god, what happened?" He whispered, earning a quick shake of her head from Aires.
"HEY! What do you idiots think you're doing?" Harris' voice boomed down the corridor.
He looked around at the group of teenagers before his eyes landed on Scotts. "Want to explain Mr McCall? Stilinski? Hale?"
"Hey, you dropped this." A blue eyed boy spoke up, shoving an ipad in Allisons direction.
"YOU AND YOU! ACTUALLY ALL OF YOU, detention at three."
Aires scoffed, shaking her head before storming off. Scott quickly ran after her, grabbing her by the arm to face him. The girl sighed, shaking her head as she was pulled into the boy's arms.
"I'm fine." She growled. "I'm fine."
But it wasn't true.
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Aires pov...
I was pissed to say the least, inside I was rageful, ready to snap anyone's neck who even slightly irritated me. I skipped the rest of my classes, staying in the ballet studio and practicing. I had too many missed calls from Stiles and Allison and even a text from Jackson, however I completely ignored my phone. The truth was, I wasn't sure if I could talk to them about what almost happened. I was still in a state of shock, history almost repeated itself.
I slipped into a seat on the table furthest away from Jackson, I knew he wasn't in control at the time but still couldn't stand to be near him.
"We can't be in detention together, I have a restraining order against these two." Jackson spat, pointing at the two boys.
"Fine, you two can move to Miss Hale's table." Harris scoffed.
A small smile tugged on my lips, I didn't want to speak to anyone however I felt happy at the thought of them being near me. I always felt safe with them around. The boys practically ran over to me, Scott taking a seat directly next to me whilst Stiles sat in front of me, a small smile on his face.
"Hey." They whispered in unison.
"Before you ask, I'm fine." I forced out with a nod, lying through my teeth. "I didn't get a chance to talk to Jackson, not the real Jackson anyway. Things got bad very fast and he ended up pinning me on the floor, he was naked from showering and he started saying things. I froze up and whoever is controlling him caught on to why I froze up, he said he knew now how he was going to make me shut up." I was blurting it out, sounding distant. "Scott got in before anything could happen and then Jackson snapped back into reality, he didn't even know what had happened."
"Ree." Stiles whispered, clenching his fists tightly.
"It's fine, I'm fine. Nothing happened and I'm not talking about it anymore." I dismissed before pulling out a book to read.
"I'm gonna kill him." Stiles hissed to Scott.
"No you're not." I shot back. "Scotty already tried to and almost succeeded. I don't need your dumbasses in jail, not when we need to find out who's controlling him. Wanna hear my bet?"
"Yes." Stiles threw back, practically jumping out of his seat as he leaned across the table.
"I think it's that guy with the blue eyes, he's creepy and he's always around at the moment. Everywhere I turn he's nearby and I swear I've never seen him before. Plus he gives me bad vibes." I didn't have a motive for it being him, I just didn't like him, he was getting creepy towards Allison.
"You just don't like Matt." Scott dismissed whilst rolling his eyes at me.
"Who?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"The boy your on about, he's called Matt."
With a roll of my eyes, I gave him a light shrug as if saying 'oh well'. His name wasn't important to me so there was no way I was gonna remember it. I narrowed my eyes on him, watching the way he watched Allison.
Very bad vibes.
The sound of a chair scraping filled my ears and I lifted my gaze to see Jackson running out of the door.
"Nobody moves!" Harris warned before chasing after him.
It all went to hell because seconds later, Scott and Stiles flew out of their chairs, stumbling their way over to Erica's table. I shook my head at them, confused as to how my best friends were acting. However, I pushed it aside, it was normal behaviour for the two. I took out my phone and quickly started replying to Allison's worried messages. She was across the room from me but I didn't feel like moving.
The sound of the door opening snapped me back into reality, making me shove my phone deep into my pocket.
"You may go when you're finished reshelving." Harris announced before picking up his bag and leaving the classroom.
Of course he would get to leave. "Asshole." I mumbled under my breath.
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Aires pov...
"What happened?" Erica asked from behind me as I struggled to place a book on the top shelf.
"Nothing." I shot back, earning a groan from her.
"Aires." She whispered softly. "I could feel the fear radiating off your body, you were terrified."
"I'm fine."
"If something happened in there, I swear to God I will-"
"Erica, I'm fine." I snapped quickly, needing to shut it down. "What happened in there happened, it can't be taken back and I cant change it so let's drop it. Besides, literally nothing happened, Scott arrived just in time."
"Fine." Erica threw back before storming off.
From the other side of the bookshelf, Stiles hissing grew louder. He had been trying to get my attention and I had been ignoring him.
"Pssst! Ree Ree," he whispered in a sing-song voice.
"What?" I snapped before pushing aside a book to glare at him.
"If Jackson's parents were murdered then that falls in line with the Kanima myth, right?" He asked.
I barely knew anything about the kanima, just what my grandma had told me. "I mean it's a factor that could lead to it yeah. The Kanima seeks out killers but that still doesn't tell us why Jackson turned into one in the first place, he turned into one because of his past, his identity."
Stiles sighed, resting against the bookcase. "Well I guess that's something." He grumbled, a sour expression on his face.
Rolling my eyes, I turned back to my trolly and began snatching up books and placing them in their correct places. I needed to get the fuck out of school. I could be dead in a few days and yet I was spending my last few moments stacking shelves. I should have compelled Harris to let me go. I was scowling, so pissed off and so sucked into my head that I almost missed the loud crash coming from above my head.
"AIRES!" Erica screamed, and suddenly, she threw me across the room, making me smack into the wall.
"Fuck." I cursed, wincing from the sharp shooting pain in my back.
I barely had time to blink before Jackson grabbed me by my forearm, picked me up and flung me across the room like a doll. The second my head collided with the brick wall my vision went dark. I could feel blood seeping from my head, I could feel myself slipping.
From inside my mind, I could hear faint whispers, almost like a heated discussion was taking place in my brain.
"Give it a week Marin, it could be sooner."
"A week? The Kanima has been revealed,now is our best chance! She's distracted, consumed with another problem, she won't even see us coming-"
"She won't see us coming anyway. Nobodys there to warn her, trust me she's completely oblivious."
"And what if she's not? What if that old Hale bitch knows?"
"She doesn't." A new voice said, one that I recognised almost immediately. "Her Grandmother hasn't stepped outside of Portland, she'd be dead the second she did, the barrier works very quickly. Now, this isn't up for discussion. We are an hour away, on the outskirts of her territory. If she knew we were here don't you think she would've made it a point to showcase it?"
"What about Brynn?"
The name rang a bell in my head, Brynn was a girl in her Art and French class. We used to be friends when we were younger thanks to the coven but we grew apart. However, I knew I could trust her.
"Brynn won't say anything, her Mother showed her what the consequences will be."
There was a loud pause of silence. I wasn't sure what I was hearing but I knew exactly who the voices belonged to, the Coven.
Suddenly, my body jolted up leaving me gasping for air. I scratched at my neck frantically as my eyes slowly adjusted to the flickering light above me. I was back in the school library and it was wrecked.
"Hey we're gonna get you out of here" Stiles whispered whilst touching my face.
"They're here."
"Who?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"The Coven."
And I had one week left before they arrived.
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Happy Late Christmas! I hope you guys had a great time <3
Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and what you want to see next!
Love you all <3