Unleashed [ 3.4 ]
School hallways were primarily empty with no students early in the morning, they were quiet with the occasional footsteps of other teachers or doors being pulled open and shut. With the events of the nights prior Jennifer Blake found that any kind sound or even wary location caused her to become paranoid.
As she walked down the halls trying to reach her classroom she couldn't help but feel the panic arise in her making her increase her pace towards her room. Once reaching the door, she closed it shut, leaning her head against the door as a sigh of relief escaped her lips. But when she turned around she let out a scream finally noticing the male figure.
Derek Hale stood there, hands behind his back, eyebrows raised towards the teacher. Jennifer reacted quickly grabbing a yard stick behind her using it for some sort of protection.
"What do you want?" She asked the man anxiously, "You gonna threaten me? Tell me that no one's gonna believe me? Try to scare me? ...Kill me?" Her voice trembled as she spoke.
The werewolf looked at her with a weird face, "I was gonna see if you were okay..." He answered skeptically as she held the yard stick towards him.
"Physically or emotionally?" She questioned, "Although, I guess that presupposes I was emotionally okay before any of this, and, according to my therapist, I– It's been debatable for a long time."
Derek nodded with amusement," I think you're gonna be okay." He said, taking the yard stick from her grasp.
"Obviously, you've never taught high school. In twenty minutes, I have to start two dozen teenagers on The Crucible, and I honestly have no idea what I'm gonna say." She rambled on.
"Well, why don't you start by telling them that it's an allegory for McCarthyism?" He suggested.
She backed up a bit, "Is that a subtle way of suggesting that I shouldn't say anything? Because I won't." Derek chuckled as he went to reach the door but was stopped by her voice, "Is there another reason you're here to check on me?" She had a smile on her lips.
"My girlfriend and her mom were the two people that were at the school that night with you. They wanted me to make sure you were alright."
The smile on her face faltered the slightest bit, "Girlfriend. You mean Nova Montgomery?" Derek nodded, "Oh. And how is she doing?"
"She's doing just fine." Responded.
The space was quiet as she reached for the door knob pulling the door open, " ...Who are you?"
"I'm Derek."
"I'm Jennifer." She smiled before watching him leave out the door. A scowl made its way to her face, once he was finally gone. She needed his trust and with Nova in the picture, it would be difficult to get that, so her work just got hard.
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
As Nova was entering the school, she noticed the all too familiar werewolf walking her way. As they met one another she looked at him with confusion, "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I came to talk with the teacher from the other night." He told her before clarifying a bit, "Don't want her saying anything or doing anything irrational."
"That's good. I do feel bad that she had to witness that." Nova frowned, "My mom gave her the day off yesterday so today I have to face her and I'm afraid of it being awkwards or that she thinks something weird about me."
"I think you're safe from any awkward interactions." Derek chuckled, "And there is nothing weird about you, you're perfect." He cupped her cheeks before pulling her in for a kiss only to be interrupted by a bell.
She sighed pulling away, "I have to get going, Harris doesn't like us being late." She leaned up to peck his lips softly, "I love you."
"Love you more." He said as she pulled away.
She gave him one last smile before walking away in the direction of the school while he made his way out of the school. And as they made their own ways none knew of what was in store for both of them and what it would lead to.
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
Nova had been having a rather normal school day for attending Beacon Hills Highschool where things always seemed to go wrong. But that was always cut short.
"Nova!" She turned around and watched as Stiles caught up with her. "Are you busy?"
She shrugged as she entered the library, "I guess not." Stiles trailed behind her, "What's going on?"
"Well since Scotts dealing with the alphas I thought you can help me with something else." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Have you ever heard of the threefold death?"
She thought for a moment before speaking, "I know it is attributed to ancient rituals. Why?"
"You know about all the murders that've happened?" He asked the girl, "I think they're sacrifices."
Her eyebrows shot up in confusion, "Sacrifices?"
"First three victims– all virgins, all killed the same way." He told her.
"All of them?" She questioned unsurely, "What about Kyle?" The boy seemed hesitant and just looked lost.
"I don't know yet..." He sighed defeated, "Look I know how it sounds–"
"It sounds like a pattern." She cut him off, "Kyle's part of it...just need to piece him into the puzzle."
Stiles looked at the girl with a hint of a smile, "You believe me?" Up until now everyone seemed to dismiss his thoughts or at least didn't really put too much thought into them.
"I'm a witch." She joked crying to him to chuckle, "I know a thing or two about rituals."
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
While all the investigating was going on and the twins continued to cause problems at school, the rest of the alpha pack were off causing just as much trouble. Derek's loft had been broken into and both him and Cora were left to fight them off but of course they were overpowered. Cora was released but wasn't able to do anything but watch as her brother was tortured by a long pole plunged through his stomach.
"See, the reason I'm always invested in new talent is simple. We all know a pack is strongest due to its individual parts– the stronger the individual parts, the stronger the whole." Deucalian spoke as he stood, "When I lost my sight, one of my Betas assumed I wasn't fit for my role anymore. He tried to take it from me. Killing him taught me something about Alphas I didn't know they could do. His power was added to mine. I became stronger, faster, more powerful than I'd ever been. I tested this new ability to subsume the power of your own by killing another one..."
The blind man chuckled, "In fact, Derek, I killed them all. I took the individual parts and became a greater individual whole."
He bent towards the struggling alpha and felt around the structure of his face, "...You're right, Kali. He looks like his mother." He smirked before standing back up, "You'll get to know me, Derek... like she did."
"I know you." Derek grunted, "I know what you are...you're a fanatic..." He said with trouble.
Deucalian scoffed, setting his walking stick down on the table, "Know me? You've never seen anything like me!" He turned dramatically as thunder and lightning boomed behind him, "I am the Alpha of Alphas! I am the apex of apex predators! I am Death, Destroyer of Worlds! I am the Demon-Wolf!"
Kali pulled the pole from out of Dere, "...I hate when that happens." He said as he pulled off his glasses. "I hate that you are so reluctant to join us Derek."
"Maybe we can persuade you a bit, no?" A smirk made its way to Deucalion's lips as he heard the loud pulse in Derek's chest raise. "What about the little girlfriend? The young Circe."
"Leave her out of it." Derek gritted through his teeth, wincing in pain from being impaled by a pole.
"You know I've never had the pleasure of meeting a witch, only heard stories." Deaucalian mentioned, "One of the most powerful supernatural beings there are. I always wondered how they would react to the bite of a werewolf."
"Probably kill her." Ennis spoke up with a smirk.
"Or make her stronger. Turn her into– what are they called?" He continued to taunt as he made his way to the door with the rest of the alphas, "A hybrid. She could end up just as strong."
He turned to face Derek one last time before fully exiting, "Don't worry though, I don't want her to be anything else but herself. She would be better use that way." He had a smug smile as he made his way out.
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
Because Stiles and Nova had free periods they were able to leave school and went on to gather more information that could help them. There was only one person that either always had answers or always had more clues; Alan Deaton
"You're out of school early..." He announced as the two highschoolers walked into the animal clinic.
Nova gave a short nod, "Yeah, free period, actually."
"Um, I was just headed home to see my dad. He's, uh... You know, I guess you probably heard people are kind of getting murdered again. It's his job to figure it out." He told the veterinarian.
"I gathered as much from the "Sheriff" title." Deaton remarked back to the boy.
"Yeah, um...you know, but it gets kind of hard for him to do his job when he doesn't have all the information. And we all know he's missing pretty much half the story here, right?" Deaton gave a small nod. "So then, I started thinking, and I remembered someone else who does have a lot of information."
"Someone who always seems to know more than anyone else around here." Nova started making Deaton look at her with raised eyebrows, "Someone like you."
Deaton sent them a small smile and opened the gate letting them pass through all the way inside.
"All these symbols and things-- the triskeles, the bank logo, the mountain ash-- all of it is from the Celtic Druids. And anyone who has ever looked up "human sacrifice" before knows that the Druids had a pretty big hard-on when it came to giving one up to the gods." The two followed behind Deaton and as they did they Nova, noticed a table with an assortment of different substances.
"You ever hear of the Lindow man? Two-thousand-year-old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut-- three-fold death. They also found pollen grains in his stomach... Guess what favorite Druid plant that was?" Stiles kept on ranting on.
Deaton sighed looking down, "Mistletoe." He answered.
"I'm just telling you everything you already know, aren't I?" Stiles questioned. "Then why aren't you telling us? Stiles exclaimed.
He spoke up hesitantly, "Maybe because when you've spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away-- denying it, lying about it-- becomes a pretty powerful habit." he frowned.
"All right, so this guy... is he a Druid?" Novas questioned.
"No. It's someone copying a centuries-old practice of a people who should have known better. Do you know what the word "Druid" means in Gaelic?
"It means Wise Oak, right?" Nova asked and earned a nod from Deaton, "I remember reading about it a bit, uhm...the Celtic Druids were close to nature, they believed they were keeping it in balance." She gave a brief explanation.
Deaton agreed before adding on. "They were philosophers and scholars-- they weren't serial killers." he defended.
"Yeah, well, this one is." Stiles said with no emotion.
"He's right." Nova concurred backing up Stiles, "There's someone out there killing people with no mercy and no intention of stopping."
No one got the chance to say anything afterwards as Stiles' phone rang making him answer it. Nova peeked over his shoulder to see it was Lydia.
"Hey, I can't talk right now." He answered but after a few moments on the phone his expression changed completely, "Wait, what?– Yeah, are you sure he's missing?" He asked.
After he spoke on the phone, he turned to nova with a worried stare, "We got to go." He turned to Nova before looking at Deaton, "We might need your help."
On the way back to school Stiles had given an explanation to both Deaton and Nova on what Lydia had found and what they were going to be faced with. They made their way through the school once they arrived and all the way to the music room where they met with a traumatized Lydia.
They all listened to the audio once arriving before Stiles and Nova got to look for anything that would give them information while Deaton re-listened to the audio.
"Can we get a copy of this?" He asked Lydia.
"Hey, Doc...? Any help would be, you know... helpful..."
"Each grouping of three would have its own purpose, its own type of power. Virgins, healers, philosophers, warriors..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait-- warrior, could that also be, like, a soldier?" Stiles questioned the vet.
"Absolutely." Deaton confirmed.
Stiles pulled out a picture of the teacher and showed it to the rest of the group, "Kyle was in ROTC with Boyd." Stiles realized as he remembered the small interaction with Boyd earlier in the day, "That's got to be it."
"There's the pattern you were looking for." Nova pieced it together with Stiles.
"Where's Boyd?" Deaton asked.
"He's probably home by now. I'm gonna try and get him on the phone." Stiles pulled out his phone to dial the werewolf.
As he did so Nova looked around some more before noticing Lydia's gaze, "Lydia...? What's wrong? Is there something bothering you?"
"No, it..." She began but took a small moment to think, "I mean... I just thought of someone else with a military connection."
The other three turned to her, "Who?" Deaton asked her
"It's sitting right on his desk... the West Point honor code."
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
The four rushed into Harriss' classroom to find no sight of the strict teacher. As much as many students despised Harris, Nova was sure no one would want him dead– at least she didn't
They all gathered around his desk looking around, "This is just one of many possibilities. He could have simply left for the day..."
Stiles reaches down to grab Harriss' satchel, "Yeah, well, not without this..." He showed it to Deaton.
Nova on the other hand was looking down at the stack of papers scattered messly on the desk, "What?" Deaton tried to see what was wrong.
Stiles picked up one of the papers she was looking at, "This test is graded "R."" He read off the letter on the top corner.
Lydia picked up another, "This one's an "H"..."
Nova moved all the scattered papers around, "They all have a different letter."
Deaton sighed, "You remember I told you "Druid" is the Gaelic word for'"wise oak'?" They nodded, waiting for him to continue, "If a Druid went down the wrong path, the "wise oak" was sometimes said to have become a "dark oak." There's a Gaelic word for that, as well..."
"Darach."
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
After the day that Nova had at the school, it didn't end there. After receiving a text from Cora –which was surprising– she went over to the loft in hopes of checking on Derek.
"What's going on?" Nova questioned as she arrived at the loft.
Derek sighed, speaking up before Issac could, "What are you doing here Nova?" His tone was harsh but Nova disregarded it.
She came down the steps, "Making sure you're alright."
"Well I'm fine, so you can leave now." The comment caught her off guard and made her halt before she could reach the alpha, "Take Issac with you, I need him moved out of here."
Issac's face fell, "Ah... I don't get it. Look, did something happen?"
"It's just not gonna work, I've got Cora now, it's too much. I need you out tonight." His face was turned towards the window as he spoke.
Nova felt sick at the way Derek was acting. Not twelve hours ago he was fine, he was amazing.
"Did I do something wrong, Derek?" Issac asked genuinely
"You're doing something wrong right now by not leaving." Derek answered frustratingly before turning around, "Both of you."
Issac pleaded with the man but it was no use, he was not letting up. "Come on–" Issac said one last time.
That last plea made Derek snap, he threw the glass cup from his hands and lunged it towards the wall behind both of them, "Go!"
Both flinched hard as the glass shattered behind them. Isaacs ptsd being brought up for the second time today made Nova look at him with concern.
As Nova turned to Derek she shook her head, "You can't do that to him." She yelled– it was one of the first times anyones heard her be so loud.
But Derek didn't break, "I can. So both of you go. Now."
Nova's eyes began to water as she felt like the Derek she knew was leaving before her eyes. She actually feared him a bit. "You're being mean."
He groaned with annoyance, "God why can't you just get the hint." She looked at him with confusion, "I need you out. Whatever this was, it's done." When she made no effort to leave he slammed his both hands down with force on the table causing her to flich, "Goddammit Nova."
Issac was still there and stood not too far fearing that Derek would actually hurt her.
The witch made no effort to give up on her boyfriend, "No." Nova shook her head. "You don't get to push me away. You said you loved me, you don't push away people you love." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Derek went to argue again but she cut him off, "You can scream, yell and throw things but I'm not going anywhere." She walked around the table to Derek.
Derek tried to step back from her but she caught his wrist before he could, "I'm doing this for your own good."
She nodded understandingly, "I know. I know you're doing this because you think it's what will keep me safe but the truth is, I'm safest with you." Her hand reached up to cup and caress his cheek, "You told me nothing was going to change, so I'm not going to let it. I love you, so please don't push me away."
Instead of answering Derek pulled her in for a kiss, the feeling of being close to her eased his nerves. Once he pulled away, their foreheads rested against one another, "I love you too." He told her sincerely.
As they pulled away from their small embrace Derek spoke up once again. "I just need to figure things out, okay? So, take Isaac with you and let me have the time to calm down." She nodded understandingly.
They both reluctantly let go of one another. She knew that Derek was under pressure and with everything going on he really did need time to think about things. He already lost Erica, and he refused to keep on losing people. As she made her way towards the door she stopped just before completely walking out and turned to look at Derek, he had already been staring at her, and mouthed the words, 'I love you' causing her to send him a smile as she exited the loft.
Issac immediately wrapped his arms around the girl and they walked together to her car. Their car ride wasn't long so and as they arrived they both exited the car and went towards the front door. When she opened the door, her parents were still up talking in the living room.
"Hey guys." Her dad made his way over to them, "What's wrong?"
"Issac needs a place to stay."
Issac went to shake his head, "I can find somewhere else, I don't want to be a bother–"
Before he could finish, Alice intervened with a kind smile, "You are more than welcome to stay." She stood next to her husband.
"I'll show him up." Nova told her parents and quickly grabbed his hand to bring him upstairs and show him where he would be staying.
She got him situated with a room, blankets, clothes and anything he would need. "I know you probably want to shower so I'll leave you to it–"
"You want to talk about it?" He cut her off.
Her eyes began to water once again but she stopped herself from letting any tears come out, "I'm fine." She stated unconvincingly, "If you need anything you can let me know." She gave him a tight lipped smile before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.
As she made it in her room, she closed the door shut. She did her nightly routine before changing into pajamas before heading to bed. Though she was actually tired, it seemed as if her mind wasn't because she couldn't help but wonder about everything.
Her thoughts raced with thoughts of Derek. She didn't want to lose him. Not in any capacity.
˛ ☾*
Hope you enjoyed! 💫 Comment & Vote
A/N: So...thoughts? Also I feel like this chapter sucks, so sorry. I did make some tiny changes for the upcoming chapters so I hope you'll like it.