✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 2.04 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
'look, i love beacon hill's very own romeo and juliet more than anybody, but i have done way too much cardio already this year. no more my friend. no more.'
✧༺♥༻✧
Reaching the lakes of Beacon Hills, Lottie looked around the area before stripping off quickly and diving headfirst off of the short pier leading into the water.
The change was easier this time, still particularly uncomfortable and borderline agony as her skin fused together and her legs became a tail, but not as bad or as frightening as the first time. She swam around, flipping her fin with a smile, her excitement of being a siren taking over for the first time since the bite. She stopped in her tracks when she heard laughter. Turning around she spotted Mayalila.
"Mayalila! How are you?" Lottie asked as she swam over to the woman with a grin.
"I've been well. I see you have become more comfortable with your new life." Mayalila grinned at the girl, bringing her close for a hug.
"It's taking some adjustment but I'm getting there. I can control my claws really well now. And I've been having baths literally everyday so I can try and transform smoother and less painfully. My eyes changing I struggle with when I'm angry though. That's part of the reason I've come to visit. My anger." Lottie admitted bashfully, looking at the lake floor. Mayalila reached forward and tipped the young girl's head back up.
"Charlotte. You have gone from a normal human life to being thrust into the world of the supernatural and have become a part of it yourself. You aren't a being that you are familiar with. You are one out of two left in this world. You are doing tremendously. Don't be ashamed of a bit of anger."
"It's not just a bit of anger though. The slightest thing sets me off. Well not the slightest thing." Lottie began.
"Explain. Maybe I can offer some insight."
"This girl. She's recently become a part of Derek's pack. New werewolf. She hurt Stiles. He's my best friend and I lo-" Lottie stopped, shocked at the words about to come out of her mouth, shaking herself slightly she continued, "Anyway, she hurt him, not in a life-threatening way but she knocked him out. He's human, I don't want him hurt and I know his chances have increased tenfold being in this world but if I can stop it? I will. Nobody is going to hurt him." Lottie admitted with a determined look on her face as Mayalila smiled in her direction.
"How long have you been in love with this Stiles?" She smirked as Lottie blanched.
"What? Wha- I'm not- No he's my best friend." Lottie spluttered until she sighed resigned at the knowing look on Mayalila's face. "Fine. I may have a tiny crush on Stiles. It came out of nowhere. I just- I really do care for him. More than a friend."
"He's a lucky boy then if he's got you fighting his corner. He'll be okay. What happened after you found out he got hurt?"
"I went to her house, waited for her, then beat the shit out of her?" Lottie grinned embarrassed. "Look, my issue isn't what I did, it's the fact I don't regret it. Am I a bad person?" She asked, throwing her arms up in the water.
"Are you a bad person for defending your friend? Charlotte you beat the girl up, you didn't kill her." Mayalila tried to comfort.
"No I didn't. But I did threaten to if she ever touched Stiles again. And then compelled her to forget I was ever there and that she couldn't remember what happened." Lottie groaned.
"Oh. Well that's maybe not what I meant when I talked about compelling and mind control but I mean you've covered yourself so well done." Mayalila smiled awkwardly.
"I'm a terrible person." Lottie moaned, covering her face with her webbed hands.
"I am not cut out to deal with a hormonal teenager." Mayalila grumbled quietly. "Look, Charlotte, the past is in the past. It's done. Don't beat yourself up about it. You protected your best friend. I'd do the same."
"Really?"
"Charlotte. I've killed for less. Trust me, you're doing fine." Mayalila admitted glumly, her eyes glazing over as she clearly thought back to those times.
"Well I don't plan on actually committing murder. But yeah, will this anger ever go away?"
"Maybe. It's probably more about getting a handle on it. You're doing great though Charlotte, really."
"Okay well, let's move onto happier topics. What have you been up to?"
"Not an awful lot. I swam up to meet some friends off the coast of Hawaii the other day. Other than that, I just keep floating? That's what that fish said in that Disney film right?"
"Sure. Just keep floating." Lottie grinned at the woman. That's what Lottie needed to do, keep her head above the water, not let the dark anger take over. Just. Keep. Floating.
✧༺♥༻✧
Lottie sped into the parking lot of the auto-mechanics garage and jumped out of her car like a bat out of hell. She got a call from Sheriff Stilinski when she was changing into her clothes at the lake and was told that Stiles was in trouble and could she get to the garage. Looking around panicked, Lottie spotted Stiles sat in the back of an ambulance. She ran over and pushed past the officers, elbowing them out of the way as they tried to hold her back.
"Stiles!" She shouted drawing both the boy and his fathers attention. Stiles let out a breath of relief at seeing the girl he was besotted by and smiled as his dad told the officers to let her through. "Are you okay? What happened? Noah, you may have two or three complaints about a teenage girl speeding through a stoplight later by the way."
"I'm fine. I was just telling my dad that I just walked in and saw the Jeep on top of the guy. That's all." Stiles explained, not making eye contact with either part, twitching his hand slightly. Lottie frowned at the gesture, taking his hand in hers, only to frown when he didn't hold her hand back.
"What guy? What?" She asked, confused by the whole ordeal, until she saw a black body bag being wheeled away.
"What's wrong with your hand?" Sheriff Stilinski asked.
"Nothing. Can I get out of here now?" He asked as he shook his hand free of Lottie's trying to shake feeling back into it. It was still paralysed from his ordeal.
"If there's something you don't feel like you can tell me..." His father started.
"You think I'm lying?" Stiles asked incredulously, ignoring the squeeze Lottie sent to his shoulder, where she'd put her hand.
"Of course not. I just worry about you. And if maybe you saw someone do this, if you're afraid they might come back to make sure you don't say anything about it..."
"I didn't see anything. At all. Can I go, please?" Stiles asked, getting up from his seat and making his way out of the ambulance, Lottie following.
"Yeah. But not in your Jeep. We're going to have to impound it. Sorry, kiddo. Evidence." Sheriff smiled apologetically as Stiles groaned, heading over to Lottie's car. "Little Lotts?"
"Yes, sir?" Lottie paused, waiting for the older man to speak.
"If- if he says anything, I don't expect you to break his trust and tell me but if he's in danger, tell me. I need to know. He's left alone too much. I worry."
"Noah, trust me. I won't let anything happen to him. Not now, not ever. I promise." Lottie swore, linking her finger with his. "Now I best go, Scotty has just arrived, I'll be kidnapping both him and your son for the night." She grinned, skipping over to her boys. "Time to go boys."
"You were right. It's not like you. Its eyes were almost... reptilian. But there was something about them." Stiles explained, turning to Scott who was sitting in the back seat of Lotties car. The other day Scott had spotted a green scaly monster-like creature, of course the teenagers couldn't catch a break and now how to deal with this.
"So we are dealing with a Jurassic Park reject then?" Lottie asked.
"What do you mean?" Scott asked Stiles, ignoring Lotties humorous comment.
"You know how when you see a friend in a Halloween mask, but all you can actually see is their eyes? You feel like you know them but you can't figure out who it is." Stiles explained.
"Are you saying you know who it is? " Lottie asked, confused.
"No. But I think it knew me." Stiles sighed.
✧༺♥༻✧
"Sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this. I know because I love you. I love you more than–" Stiles started, looking into Scotts eyes, unaware of the soppy look Lottie was sending his way. "Oh my God, you and Allison seriously have to find a better way to communicate." Stiles cut himself off. He'd be relaying messages between Scott and Allison all morning.
"Come on, you're the only one we can trust." Scott started, only to be interrupted by Lottie coughing. "Besides you, Lottie. But she won't run back and forth for us."
"Look, I love Beacon Hill's very own Romeo and Juliet more than anybody, but I have done way too much cardio already this year. No more my friend. No more." Lottie grinned, waving a finger in Scott's face as the boy smiled back down to her.
"Did she say if she was coming to the game tonight?" Scott asked Stiles.
"Yes. Message complete. Now tell me about your boss." Stiles told the boy as he put an arm around Lottie and pulled her to sit on his lap. Scott grinned listening to the raised heartbeats of his best friends before answering.
"He thinks Allison's family has some kind of record of all the things they've hunted. Like a book."
"Like a Bestiary." Lottie and Stiles realised at the same time.
"A what?" Scott asked dumbfounded.
"A Bestiary." Stiles repeated.
"I think you mean bestiality." Scott told the duo, like they were the dumb ones.
"Scotty, I don't like to judge but you said that with almost too much conviction. I don't know what you're into but I promise, a Bestiary and bestiality are two very different things." Lottie looked on, concerned at the boy.
"It's like an encyclopaedia of mythical creatures." Stiles explained.
"Why am I the only one who doesn't seem to know any of this stuff? " Scott asked incredulously.
"Considering my best friend is a creature of the night I kind of make it a priority." Stiles smiled, making Lottie feel guilty. She had to tell him she was a siren soon, before he found out another way.
"Exactly Scotty. You started to howl at the moon, we started researching." She agreed.
"Okay, if it can tell us what that thing is–" Scott started.
"And who." Stiles added.
"We need that book." Lottie finished.
✧༺♥༻✧
Lottie was sitting with Allison in the courtyard when Stiles came over and started to relaying the message from Scott as she laughed.
"I think you mean–" Allison started as Stiles had just told her about the Bestiary.
"No, I mean Bestiary. And the two of you--I don't want to know what's going on in your heads."
"I guess they're both just really into the whole werewolf/animal side of Scotty." Lottie mused with a shudder.
"Can you describe this thing?" Allison asked.
"It's probably a book. Old, worn–"
"Bound in leather?" Allison suggested as she then proceeded to tell Stiles her grandfather has a book just like it. Lottie chuckled as Stiles went running off to Scott, knowing he'd be back in minutes, very out of breath. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sat right here. He could just call me and speak to you when he gets to Scotty. He won't though." Lottie laughed.
"What's happening between you two anyway?" Allison asked mischievously.
"What do you mean? Nothing-nothing is happening?"
"I see the looks you give each other. And the personal space? Yeah there is none at all anymore between the two of you." Allison thought aloud.
"We've always been like that. I don't know what you're talking about." Lottie denied.
"You like him, right?"
"I-I mean I-"Lottie stumbled over her words, blushing furiously when Stiles came back. He gulped large breaths of air and was panting like a dog. He took a deep inhale of Scott's inhaler before relaying his newest message.
"You know, drug dealers have been using disposable cell phones pretty successfully for years." He breathed out.
"My parents check every call, email and text message I send. Trust me, they'd find it."
"Jesus Christ. They sound like fun." Lottie mumbled, groaning when Allison elbowed her, taking that moment to stand up and make her way to Stiles' side.
"Can you get the book?" Stiles asked.
"Not without the key." Allison told him with a determined look, before standing and walking away, off to get the key.
"Stiles?"
"Yes, Lotts?" He asked, turning to face the girl with a smile.
"I want Dunkin' Doughnuts." He let out a light laugh, before taking her hand in his and dragging her to his Jeep as she laughed.
✧༺♥༻✧
Sitting on the bleachers next to Stiles, Lottie shivered as the cold bit at her skin. The Beacon Hills High Schools Lacrosse team was currently having their asses kicked. Stiles wrapped his arm around Lottie and gave her his hoodie from his bag, to which she took gratefully with a smile.
"Come on! Is that thing even a teenager? I want to see a birth certificate!" Coach Finstock shouted as a player on the other team, a huge hulk sized player, knocked another Beacon Hill's player down. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"
"Eddie Obomowitz. They call him The Abomination." Stiles explained.
Jackson and Scott began working as a team and fought against the Abomination as Erica began to cheer Scott on in the crowd, making Lottie turn and glare at the girl.
"Right, I'm gonna go and search the office. I'll be back soon okay?' Stiles turned to Lottie, using his fingers against her chin to draw her attention back to him. He'd got the keys off of Allison earlier that day.
"Okay, be safe. Call me if you need me. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" She asked.
"I'll be fine. See you in a bit." He rushed and quickly kissed Lottie on the cheek before running off, leaving her with her jaw dropped. She lifted a hand gently to her cheek and smiled. Unaware that both Allison and Melissa McCall were sitting watching the young girl with fond looks on their faces.
The game continued to be violent, ending up with Danny being sent off with a bruised head. Coach turned to the benches with the aim of putting Stiles in but when Lottie smiled apologetically he began to pull at his hair in stress.
"Where the hell is Stilinski?"
"Coach. If I may? I have a suggestion." Lottie said, walking up to the Coach.
"Anything. I'm desperate."
"See that guy up there." She started pointing into the crowd. "He'd be brilliant. Put him on the team. This will be all the trial he needs."
"You! Have you ever played lacrosse before?" Coach shouted as he summoned the boy.
"Yes Coach." The boy smiled at Lottie.
"Welcome to the team."
"Why did you do that?" He asked Lottie as Coach walked away.
"Because you deserve to have fun. Be a teenager. Be a part of something. Go crush him Boyd." Lottie smiled. However when she turned back to Boyd's seat, she frowned. Erica was gone. And Stiles still wasn't back. Groaning, she turned her back to the match and made her way to the school.
She paused when she saw Lydia sat in her car crying.
"Lydiapad? What's wrong angel?"
"I'm being dramatic, it's nothing."
"It's not nothing. Look why don't you get yourself home and I'll meet you there later and we can talk about it okay? I just need to sort something out first okay?"
"Stiles right?" Lydia asked, smiling softly when Lottie nodded. "He went into the school, Erica went too about two minutes ago. Can we stay at yours?" Lydia asked.
"Of course. Here's the key, you can keep it. I have another. Let yourself in, make yourself at home and I'll be there as soon as I can okay? Love you Lydia."
"Love you too Lottie. So much." Lydia smiled tearfully as Lottie opened the car door and hugged the strawberry blonde.
"Drive safely okay?" Lottie told the girl before taking off into a run into the school. Clearly her compulsion was weak as she hadn't got control yet.
Lottie entered the school building, heading straight for Gerard's office when she heard splashing coming from the school's pool. Curiosity filled her and despite the fact curiosity killed the cat, she slowly made her way into the pool. The splashing had stopped. She saw Erica laying in a crumpled heap on the floor and as she walked over to the girl she heard a hissing behind her. Turning she came face to face with the creature that had been taunting Beacon Hills.
Green, slimy, scaly skin covered its body as it crouched before her. Long sharp talons that looked eerily like Lottie's tapped on the tiled floor as the beast focused its yellow orbs at her. She allowed her form to change as her claws extended and her eyes changed. Lottie was about to lunge when she noticed a shape in the water. She realised with a sickness settling in her stomach it was Stiles. And he wasn't alone. Without a second thought, she stripped her jumper and skort off and dived in. Her figure fused into her siren form quickly and painfully as she reached the boys in seconds, propelling them up to the surface. She barely even registered the pain as she lifted Stiles out of the pool first and then lifted Derek out. Then she panicked.
She was in the school pool. With a tail and gills. Claws and fangs. And she couldn't transform back. She was too highly strung to focus. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, calming her breaths. Looking over at Stiles she felt her heart rate calm down. She was not going to let him find out about her like this. What she didn't realise was that a certain blonde had roused from her state and saw Lottie transform back to her human state.
Lottie quickly put the jumper back on and begrudgingly put the skort back on, mumbling to herself about being an idiot as she realised she'd forgotten to take her underwear off and now had to go commando. When she was decent she ran over to Stiles, as he woke up spluttering.
"Stiles. Stiles breathe." She calmed as he choked on water. She gently rested a hand on his chest and focused on the water within him, willing it to leave to help him. With one final splutter, Stiles coughed up what seemed like a lung full of water. She let go of his chest in shock, unsure of whether or not she did that or he did on his own.
Scott came barrelling in the room and roared in his wolf form at the green creature that Lottie had forgotten all about. He lunged for the beast but it was faster and surprisingly strong as Lottie watched on, desperate to get involved and help but too scared to reveal herself. The beast and Scott met mid-air and crashed down onto the tile floor, claws and teeth colliding as they fought. The creature wrapped it's tail around Scott's leg and threw him into the wall of mirrors in the pool area and glass shattered around the group. Lottie shielded Stiles and laid herself over him, shards of glass lightly attacking her back.
Looking back up, Lottie groans lightly as the glass dug in. The creature was about to go for the killing swipe when Lottie quickly laid Stiles back down and approached Scott cautiously, knowing this may be the moment they all find out about her. As much as she wished it was on her terms, she wasn't about to let Scott die without a fight first. Bending into a crouch, she breathed deeply, when the strangest thing happened.
The piece of mirrored glass Scott held in his hand, reflecting at an angle that offered the creature a glimpse of it's own reflection. For a second, it looked like the creature's eyes returned to a human state when it quickly flashed its double-rowed set of fangs and hissed at its reflection. It lept up onto the wall and crawled across like a spider before it darted out of one of the high windows and escaped into the night.
A collective sigh of relief was shared as Lottie reached out a hand to help Scott up before she made her way over to a still weak Stiles. She reached down to him and was surprised when he tugged her into a tight hug.
"Don't you ever try and do that again. What were you gonna do? Sass it to death." Stiles scolded as Lottie hugged him back.
"Stiles. I'm fine. Come on. We need to get you warm." She reassured as she helped him up. She sent a quick glance to Derek making sure he was okay before leading Stiles out of the pool. Lottie was still furious at Derek for turning her friends. Isaac now lived a life of a fugitive and pure, sweet Boyd had no idea of the danger he'd signed himself up for. And as for Erica, whilst she did not like her, she didn't wish for any deathly harm to come to her.
As the trio made their way out to the parking lot, Scott led them over to his mothers car where he pulled out his laptop and reached into his pocket for a USB.
"Where did you get that from?" Lottie asked as she hugged Stiles tightly, rubbing her hands up and down his backs trying to warm him up.
"Allison. It contains the bestiary." Scott explained as the screen came to life and a page with a document appeared. Scott clicked on the document and they were greeted with pages and pages of strange black and white images amid thick paragraphs of almost illegible text. "That's not English."
"Wo-hoh-oah. Slow down their Sherlock." Lottie teased the boy.
"Is that even a language?" Stiles asked.
"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott groaned exasperated. Lottie sighed, just wishing for the night to be over so she could go and comfort her favourite girl.
Stiles' hands grazed over the glass in Lottie's back and pulled his hand away in shock.
"Lottie you're-"
"It's called the Kanima." Derek interrupted as he walked over with Erica in tow. Lottie glared at the girl as she smirked at her.
"You knew this whole time?" Stiles fumed as he began to carefully take the glass out of the jumper, aware that some pieces were embedded in Lottie's skin.
"No. Only when it was confused by its own reflection." Derek explained, trying to meet Lottie's eyes.
"It doesn't know what it is." Scott said.
"Or who." Derek added as Stiles finished pulling the glass out, pulling Lottie back into his chest.
"What else do you know?" Stiles asked him.
"Just stories and rumours."
"But it's like us?" Scott queried.
"A shape-shifter. But not right. It's..." Derek trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"An abomination." Stiles finished. Derek nodded in his direction, sending one last sad glance to Lottie, he really did miss her and all her sarcastic comments and nicknames.
"I've seen a couple of abominations recently." Erica hinted, smirking at Lottie who glanced at the girl confused.
"Well, as riveting as this has been. I have a date with a certain strawberry blonde." Lottie said, shaking off the feeling she got from Erica's smirk.
"A date?" Stiles panicked.
"Lydia, dummy." She smiled. She reached up and gave both Stiles and Scott a kiss on the cheek before moving towards her car. As she made to leave, Derek moved after her only to be stopped by Scott calling out to him.
"Derek. We need to work together on this. Maybe we even need to tell the Argents." Scott tried.
"You'd trust them?" He asked, shocked.
"No one trusts anyone. That's the problem. And while we're arguing about who's on what side, something stronger, faster and scarier than any of us is killing people and we still don't know anything about it."
"Scotty has a point. A little trust goes a long way." Lottie mused.
"I know one thing. When I find it... I'm going to kill it." Derek grumbled.
"Ooo, big bad scary Alpha. I'm quaking in my boots. On that note, I'm off. Stiles text me, I wanna know you're okay. Second-hand drowning is a thing. Laters, losers." And with that she left the group, them watching on as the hurricane that was Charlotte Bailey, left them all in her wake.
✧༺♥༻✧
Lottie pulled into her drive with a sigh of relief, tonight had been too close. She needed to get control of her transformation and control of whatever that beast was too, Stiles could've died tonight. Grabbing the bag of sweet treats she'd bought, she made her way up to her front door, a soft smile gracing her face when she spotted Lydia curled up on her sofa watching Gossip Girl.
"Hey Lydipad. How you doing?" Lottie asked as she sat down next to the girl and brought her into a hug.
"I don't know what's wrong with me Lo. I can't remember where I went or what happened and I went to Ms Morrell and she was useless. I just feel like I'm going crazy. Look what I did in my sleep." Lydia ranted as she yanked off the gloves she'd been wearing to show Lottie her bloodied knuckles. Lottie gasped quietly, taking Lydia's hands in her own gently.
"Oh Lydipad. I promise I'll get to the bottom of this okay? We'll figure it out."
"How? We don't know what happened to me." Lydia sighed.
"I might have an idea. I'll work on the theory and get back to you okay? Now, shall we turn this off and watch a bit of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging?" Lottie grinned, nudging the girl to distract her.
"You read my mind. Did you bring-"
"Reese's Pieces? Of course I did. Now I'm gonna crack open a bottle of wine and we are gonna watch chick flicks and cry till we pass out okay?"
"Okay." Lydia grinned as Lottie got up and made her way to the kitchen. "Oh and Lo?"
"Yes?"
"Love you."
"Love you too, Lydiapad."
The two spent the rest of the night snuggled up and watching all their favourite chick flicks. They only paused their marathon when Lottie's phone lit up.
Batman: I'm alive. Feeling much better. Thanks for saving my life Catwoman. Wish you were here xxxxx
"Batman? Let me guess... Stiles?" Lydia asked with a smirk, snatching the phone from the girl. "Wish you were here? Oh Stiles, you dirty, dirty boy."
"Lydipad! Give it back!" Lottie shouted, running after her friend around the living room. "He just means because we've basically been with each other every night for like a week now. Stop."
"I'll give it back when you're honest about your feelings." Lydia told the girl, standing on the couch raising the phone far beyond Lottie's reach.
"What feelings? Lydipad, stop being silly."
"Lo, you're falling for him." Lottie paused her jumping, a frightened look falling on her face. She kept getting asked about her feelings. She knew how she felt she just hadn't admitted it outloud. Well, not to anyone above water and on land anyway.
"No- no I'm not. I'm- we're just friends." She stuttered.
Lydia smiled at Lottie sympathetically, climbing down from the couch, she handed Lottie's phone back to her. "Lottie, you and I are friends. You don't look at me or Scott or Allison the way you look at Stiles."
"I- I may- maybe I do. Oh fuck."
"Why are you so worried? He's besotted with you." Lydia asked confused.
"No he isn't. He's been in love with you for years Lydipad. I'm his best friend. No feelings involved and he will never know about this blip." Lottie convinced herself.
"He's not in love with me anymore, I'm not sure he ever was. It'd be a real shame for the both of you to let this pass. It could be magical." Lydia smiled softly as Lottie sat back on the sofa.
"I- I can't risk it. Not right now."
"Well I want to be the first to know when those lips of yours smush together with his." Lydia smirked, poking Lottie in the side making the girl laugh.
"Never gonna happen. Don't hold your breath." Lottie smiled, daydreaming about a certain boy and the taste of his lips.
Catwoman: Wish I was there too Batman :) xxxxx