CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX:
IT'S A PARTY
THE SOUND OF ALLISON AND her father yelling her name and Isaac's was faint. Cold shivers were running up and down her paralyzed body. When the people disappeared, the two Argents were quick to burst into the door. Allison was quick to run over to Isaac while Chris checked on Gwen.
"He's freezing dad, he's like ice."
"So is she." He turned from Gwen to check on Isaac first. "Isaac, look at me. Isaac."
"What's happening to them?" Allison panicked, glancing towards Gwen who was in the same state.
"Isaac, come on." Isaac was panicking ,deep breaths falling from his lips. "Isaac, listen. You have to turn. Look at me." He slapped the boy. "You need to trigger it. Come on. Turn!" He punched Isaac over and over again until suddenly a growl escaped Isaac's lips, his eyes glowing as his teeth turned into fangs. He quickly sat up before turning to look at Gwen.
"Gwen." He was quick to move over to her. "Gwen."
"Isaac, what happened?"
The boy had tears in his eyes. "Did you see them?"
"Who?" Allison whispered.
"There were five of them." His voice was soft and scared as he spoke. "They wore black. I couldn't. . . I couldn't see their faces. They were covered."
"What do you mean? Like masks?"
"One of them. . . I could see his eyes. They were greenish-yellow. Like a. . . like a firefly." He turned back towards Gwen. "Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?"
"She needs to trigger it. She needs to turn." Allison replied.
"If she turns, you might not have a bedroom anymore." Isaac whispered, wiping away his tears with shaky hands.
"She's got this." Allison nodded.
Isaac looked at her before looking down at Gwen. "I'm sorry." And then he broke her arm. A howl of pain fell from her lips as she shot up, eyes glowing, teeth bared as she immediately went for the attack. Isaac was quick to move out of the way, turning and wrapping his arms around her tightly, holding onto her until she calmed down. When she was calm, he let her go.
"What the hell happened?" Gwen asked, her voice cracking, trying to hide the fear that she felt. "Wh-what the hell―︎what happened―︎who?"
"Are you alright?" Isaac asked her.
She nodded. "You?" He nodded back before he hugged her and she tightly hugged him back, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck as he kissed her on the forehead. The sound of moving made them turn. They watched as Allison's dad quickly stood up.
"Security system wasn't triggered." He sighed, closing the window.
"Then how did they get in?" Allison frowned, a hand placed on Gwen's arm.
"They didn't." Isaac answered, Gwen squeezing him a little more tighter. "It was like they came out of the shadows."
Allison, noticing the look on her father's face, was quick to ask, "Do you know what that means?" He didn't answer. "Dad?"
"Um. . . I'm not sure." He walked back over to them. "Listen, the three of you. . . I need you to keep this quiet for a few hours."
"From everyone?" Isaac croaked.
"Just for twenty-four hours."
"They could've killed them, dad." Allison whispered, looking up at him.
"But they didn't. And I think there's a reason why." The three teenagers turned to look at him. "I think they might've been after me."
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She didn't want to go to school that day, still shaken up about what had happened. The night prior. The whole town had no electricity, so it was completely dark out. She stayed in Isaac's arms the entire night, and when morning had come she hadn't wanted to move but Allison and Isaac had persuaded her to get up. They had simply just hung out in the apartment until night came, which was when they were planning to tell Derek what had happened.
They made it to Derek's loft, Isaac look at the two before pulling open the door. At least fifty or so people were inside Derek's loft. Bodies were painted, people were wearing masks, all of it glowing in the black light that had been set up. Music was loudly blaring from the DJ. All of the teenagers rose their eyebrows in surprise.
"Derek can never know about this." Isaac told them. The two nodded in agreement.
"Party, anyone?" Gwen hummed, glancing at the two before making her way into the crowd, grabbing a beer as she did so. She ripped the top off, drinking the beer and dancing with the crowd, turning around and smiling when she saw Isaac coming towards her. "Come on, sweetheart. It's a party." He looked at her and she handed her beer to him, a smile gorming on her face. He rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile that fell on his lips at the fact that she was recovered from what had happened.
"We should probably see if Scott's here." Isaac called over the music.
"We can't tell him what happened." Gwen reminded. "He's here somewhere. I can feel it. Now, do you want to continue to talk about Scott, or do you want shit to get serious and paint my body?" She stripped her shirt off, her blue bra practically shining in the black light.
He looked her up and down before nodding his head. "I want to paint your body."
"That's what I thought." She kept her shirt tied to her pants, not wanting to lose it in the crowd. She grabbed a paintbrush with orange paint on it, handing it to her boyfriend. "Make me a masterpiece."
The two danced together, with Isaac twirling her around, her back pressed against his chest before spinning her back around to look at him. They both had paint on their bodies with Isaac's being on his face and down his neck and Gwen's being on her chest and back. She placed a hand on his cheek, their noses touching before they shared a kiss with one another. That's when she could feel something behind Isaac's ear. She carefully pulled away, a frown on her face.
"What?" Isaac asked, confused.
"There's something behind you ear." She moved his head slightly to get a better look. "There's a mark behind your ear. Come on." She grabbed his hand, and he didn't hesitate to follow her as they made it through the crow and to the bathroom. Gwen turned the light on before bending his ear and showing him the mark. "See that?"
"What is that?" Isaac whispered.
"It looks like the number five." Gwen mumbled, confused.
Isaac was quick to turn to her, moving her hair out of her way, revealing the same exact number behind her own. "You have it too." The sound of someone groaning grabbed their attention. The glanced at each other before turning their heads towards the sound. Isaac placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder, going in front of her and towards the the barrels that had ice sitting on top of it. Behind it was Ethan who was in the same state Isaac and Gwen had been in when they had been attacked.
The two were quick to get over to him with Gwen sitting him up right and Isaac slapping his face in hopes of waking up. Knowing it wouldn't work, he grabbed Ethan's arm before quickly breaking it. A howl escaped his lips as his eyes glowed blue before Isaac grabbed his chin, moving his head to the side to reveal the same number behind his ear as well.
Gwen sat back with a sigh. "It's the same. It's the exact same."
The sound of the music being cut grabbed their attention before the sound of Derek's voice filled their ears as he yelled, "Get out!" Gwen and Isaac were quick to grab Ethan, both of them supporting him as they made their way back to the main room that was now empty except for Derek, Aiden, Allison, Kira, Scott, and the shadow people.
The group watched as the shadow people all turned to look at Aiden. "Guys, they're all looking at me." They took a step closer to him. "Why are they all looking at me?" Another step. Then another. "Guys?" That's when Scott and Derek quickly jumped in, beginning to fight the people. When Derek snapped one of their necks only for it to snap back in place, they instantly knew this was trouble. Once Scott and Derek were shoved to the side, they all turned back towards Aiden.
Isaac was quick to remove his arm from Ethan's, Allison running over to help Gwen hold the boy up. He ran forwards, stopping behind one of them and making his claws appear. One of them turned to look at him before reaching into its chest and pulling out a katana, causing Gwen's mouth to go slightly agape, watching as it spun the weapon around professionally. Without another word Isaac backed up.
"Somebody do something!" Allison begged as two of them grabbed onto either of his arms before another one stood in front of him, placing its hand on the back of Aiden's head as its eyes started to glow. Once the glowing stopped, it placed its finger swiftly behind Aiden's ear before allowing him to fall to the ground. Then they turned towards Scott and Kira, causing the boy to quickly get up from the floor showing his eyes and fangs, but before they could get to him the sun started to raise and they dusted away as if they were never there.
Ethan was quick to run over to his brother whilst Scott asked, "What the hell were those things?"
Isaac glanced towards Allison and Gwen before saying to Allison, "Your dad's twenty-four hours are up." He then looked at the others before telling them what Argent wanted them to keep quiet.