It was somewhat early in the morning in Beacon Hill's High parking lot as the members of the McCall pack, featuring Mason, reunited to discuss the latest threat, better known as Tracy Stewart.
"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping. It was a real disorder. It was night terrors," Lydia informed them as she stood next to a worried-looking Liam a few feet away from Stiles's old jeep. After Malia, Kira, and she had found the bodies of Tracy's victims, Scott had asked them all to meet him in the parking lot.
"Well, now she's the night terror. Especially since no one can find her," Stiles retorted, sarcasm dripping from his tongue. Liam couldn't help feeling anxious as they all talked about Vinnie's sister as if she was a monster. The boy had met her countless times, and she had been sweet, making the situation even more difficult to digest. If he thought about it, it would be more probable for Vinnie to be the psycho wolf than her sister, the girl having some unresolved anger issues she had to work through.
"Okay, I know we're all tired and miserable..." Scott trailed off, glancing discretely at Liam, whose chemo signals reeked of worry and anxiety. It wasn't difficult for the older boy to figure out why, his long-lasting crush on Tracy's sister evident to everyone but the girl herself. "Except for you," The alpha finished firmly, staring at a cheery Mason beside him.
"Oh. I'm sorry. This is all just mind-blowing." Mason raved as he stared at the supernatural beings in awe. "You're a Kitsune. I don't even know what that is," the teenager gaped at the Japanese girl on Scott's side, who shifted on her feet, uncomfortable at the attention.
"I'm still learning," Kira answered, an awkward smile on her face.
"Liam, we said you could tell him. Not invite him to the inner circle," Stiles retorted, annoyed at the weirdly excited young man who was quite literally glowing at the new information.
"Uh, I'm in the inner circle?"
"No," Both Liam and Stiles shouted at the same time, and Mason didn't even flinch, his excitement far too great to care.
"Guys, look, back to Tracy. She's just one lone wolf. We can find her," Like the great leader he was, Scott redirected the conversation back to the main issue.
"One lone serial-killing wolf," Malia recalled the night before and the bodies they had found.
"Uh, she only killed one person, you know. The other two were mauled," Lydia ignored Stiles' useless observation and focused on Liam who had been checking his phone every minute in hopes of getting a text from his best friend who had gone AMO since the night before. His heart clenched in pain as he thought of Vinnie learning about her dad's passing and being completely alone. He hated himself for not being with her at that moment, but he knew that by saving Tracy, he would save her more pain in the long run.
"What about her sister? Do you think she might know something?" Lydia turned to the young beta as he looked up from his phone with a frown adorning his features, the boy feeling protective of his friend, not wanting to involve her in any of this.
"Don't even think about it," Liam snapped, clenching his jaw as he glared at the innocent girl, who only raised a brow in response. "She's not part of this, and none of you is gonna talk to her."
"Then you ask her," the werecoyote interrupted him, an impatient look on her face. Liam glared at her, his angry expression conveying how he felt about that too. The teen wolf felt thorned, for one, he wanted to leave her alone and never bother her with the supernatural, but he also wanted to stop Tracy, and no one knew Tracy like Vinnie did.
"Liam," Scott began softly, all too familiar with what his beta was feeling. "I know you want to keep her away from all this, but she already lost her father. Help us save her sister," The young true alpha said. His words seemed to strike a chord inside the blue-eyed boy, as he closed his eyes and hung his head in resignation.
"Even if I wanted to, I can't ask her." Before Stiles could complain, Liam continued. "I haven't seen her all day, and she hasn't answered any of my texts since last night." The worry in his voice was obvious even to a deaf man as he ran his hand through his brown hair in exasperation. The boy refused to think of what it could mean, not believing Tracy would ever hurt Vinnie.
Silence enveloped them as they pondered on the new information. Their faces demonstrated what no one wanted to say out loud, in fear it would set the young werewolf off. If Vinnie was missing, the probability she would be found alive with a loose Tracy was low. Liam was well aware of it, but he refused to believe it, he would find Lavinia and she would be okay.
"She's probably just dealing with her grief, Liam. I'm sure she's fine," Kira's sympathetic words meant nothing as the boy could hear her heartbeat jump a beat.
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The beeping sound of the heart monitor woke her up. Pain was the first thing she became aware of as she regained consciousness. A low grunt left her lips as she slowly opened her brown eyes, the artificial light hurting her eyes. She blinked and after some seconds she managed to keep them open. Her eyes darted to the bandage on her clavicle and the spots of blood that had seeped through the gauze.
Still disoriented, the girl looked at her surroundings in confusion, knowing she was in a hospital, but not knowing how she had gotten there. Her last memory was her fighting Tracy before she hurled her across the street like a rag doll. Remembering the feeling of being paralyzed, the girl raised her hand in panic, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she once again regained control of her extremities.
She glanced at the clock across the room that read 5 p.m., her eyes widened in alarm, and quickly sat down. Her vision turned foggy as bile rose in her throat, but pushed it aside as she realized she had no idea if Tracy was okay. Without hesitation, Vinnie pulled on the cables connecting her to the different machines, a drop of blood appearing where the IV needle used to be.
The girl glanced around the room looking for the pajama she had been wearing when she left the house, but it was nowhere to be seen. The only clothing in the room was a blue jean jacket that had been placed over her upper body while she slept, keeping her warm in the otherwise freezing room. Warily, she inspected it, not knowing where it had come from or to whom it belonged, but the woody smell of it was strangely familiar. Weird.
With no other choice but to wear the fabric, she slid her arms inside the sleeves and stood up, the oversized garment warming her immediately. The jacket fitted enormously on her body as it fell to her knees, hiding the horrible white hospital gown that broadcasted her ass to the entire world through the gap in the back.
Her vision turned black for a second as she lost her footing but managed to hold herself up by leaning against the wall. Bile rose to her throat as dizziness attacked her. Vinnie didn't have to be a doctor to know she had a concussion, the dizziness, nausea, and throbbing pain in her head being the most usual symptoms.
For the second time in two days, the girl was shoeless as she opened the door to her room and peeked outside, nurses walking all over the place. After the coast was practically clear, she exited the room, her head hanging low, using her brown locks to hide her face as she passed a nurse who was too busy to notice her.
Vinnie turned right on a corner and saw the elevator at the end, but the familiar face of Dr. David Geyer, Liam's stepfather, forced her to quickly hide behind the same wall. With her heart in her throat, she stole a glance at the man and saw him pacing while dialing something on his phone before bringing it to his ear.
"Liam, thank God, I've been calling you like crazy all day," Mr. Geyer exhaled as Liam picked up on the other side of the call. Vinnie's heart skipped a beat as she realized what the man was doing. "Look, it doesn't matter," Liam answered something she couldn't hear, but David interrupted him and raised his hand to motion him to stop even though Liam couldn't see him. "Vinnie's here," He informed Liam, making the girl wince in response. Now that Liam knew she had been hurt, her escape window had been shortened by a lot. "Yes, Lavinia Abbot, your best friend," Dr. Geyer affirmed him, his voice firm. "We believe she was attacked last night, the boy that found her didn't offer much information either," He continued, telling his stepson all he could without alarming more than he was. The boy? Vinnie frowned in confusion but couldn't remember how she even got to the hospital to begin with. "Listen, just come here quickly, because she's gonna need a friend when someone tells her what happened to her dad," the doctor said before hanging up.
For a second, he leaned his head against the wall and took a deep breath before walking the other way. Vinnie, however, stood rooted in her place. The conversation repeated in her head like a broken record, focusing on what he had said about her father and completely forgetting about the boy who found her. Uneasiness bubbled in her gut, but she forced herself to set it aside. She was sure her dad was fine, it was her dad, and nothing would happen to him. She made herself believe that as she finally got into the elevator and made it to the first floor.
Keeping her head down, Vinnie bypassed the reception desk filled with nurses and finally walked outside. Not knowing where to start looking, the girl made the fast decision to go home, figuring that would be the first place Tracy would go back to.
It took her around forty minutes of running, dry heaving and almost passing out to make it home. She half walked, half crawled to the door, and pushed it open, but remained silent, not knowing which Tracy she would encounter. Her head throbbed painfully, a remainder her sister was no longer human. Pain shot through her chest at the thought of her sister losing her humanity, though it could also have been due to her broken ribs.
"Trace?" Vinnie whispered and slowly opened her bedroom door, her eyes widening at the sight of police tape over the bed. A crime scene, she realized. Confused and overwhelmed, Lavinia backed away until her back hit the wall, pain shot through her bruised spine as it made contact with the cold wall, and a hissed left her lips. Scrunching her face, Vinnie gently grabbed her aching side and kept looking.
Numbly, she went to her room and grabbed her emergency phone from her nightstand. With shaking hands, she dialed her father's number by heart and waited, as it rang, and rang, and rang. The call went to voicemail. Cursing under her breath, she tried again, and again, and again, but he never picked up.
A tear ran down her face as she opened her message apps and saw the last text her father had sent her the night before.
Hi Lavi, I don't think I'll make it back home until the morning. Currently at the station waiting for my client to be relocated. Love you, don't fight with your sister.
Cursing, the girl sat on her bed and the TV turned on. Startled, she realized the hard box on her ass was the TV remote and hastily grabbed it to turn it off. But the images on the screen made her halt.
The news lady, Savanah something, was in her usual spot on set, and from the angle it was being recorded, only her face and shoulders were visible. Savanah was talking but the screen was muted. At that moment it didn't occur to her to unmute it, not even when the image changed and she was hit with a picture of her father and her sister.
It was easy to put together what that meant, but she refused to believe it until "Accomplished defense Lawyer, Martin Stewart is found dead after his daughter murdered him, and two other people" appeared on the screen. Lavinia couldn't believe her eyes and took her phone out. The TV had to be lying, but the moment she typed his name, article after article appeared before her eyes. She opened one article, and then another, but they all said the same thing. A horrified expression overtook her face as she felt tears fall from her eyes. A sob escaped her lips and like in the movies, all her time with him started replaying in her mind. From her first day of school to their first daddy-daughter dance to the last night she saw him.
Everything felt like a daze as she stared at the screen unemotionally, tears streaming down her face and wetting the gauze on her cheek. Her hands shook as she tightened her grip on the phone. Her eyes focused and unfocused, and she was sure she was going to throw up. Vinnie barely made it to the bathroom before all the contents of her stomach emptied themselves.
Sobs wrecked her body as she lay her head on the cold toilet, the chilly ceramic brought her little comfort as she replayed the news in her head over and over. The more she thought about it, the sicker she felt herself becoming. She had to stop, but she couldn't. Her daddy was dead. Her big sister, her hero, killed him. What was she supposed to do now? Was Tracy going to kill her too?
No, she told herself, that wasn't Tracy. The thing that killed her father was not her sister. Tracy was trapped inside it, but she was going to save her, she had to.
Vinnie took a deep breath and braced herself for the imminent dizziness as she stood up. Shaky hands dried her tears and even though all she wanted to do was rot in that place, she left the bathroom.
She didn't know where to start looking, and for a second she wondered if she even wanted to find Tracy anymore, but quickly shot the thought down. That wasn't Tracy. Knowing the last place her father had been was the station, the girl returned to Tracy's room avoiding looking at the bed where just a day ago they had been hanging out and fished her sister's keys out of her hoodie.
In retrospect, it would've been a good idea for Vinnie to change attires, but the numbness fogging her thoughts made her reckless, and such things as clothing felt insignificant in a moment like this. So, not wasting more time, Vinnie left the house with the same hospital gown and jacket on her body.
If her neighbors were to look outside their window at that moment, they would be in for a shock at the youngest Abbot's appearance. Her hair was, considering what it had been through, not as messy but the bandage around her head, the stitches on her cheekbone, and the mad look on her face, made her look deranged. And in that moment, with grief pounding at her door, maybe she was.
Not caring about the fact she was forbidden by the law to get near a wheel, the girl got inside the car and turned the engine on, thoughts of her family pushing her through the pain and desperation as she backed out of the house.
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Vinnie didn't bother turning the car off as she ran out of it leaving the door open and barreled through the police station without a second thought. Expecting to see the place filled with Deputies the girl was met instead with darkness and vacant spots. She walked in and stepped on something wet, the girl looked down and saw blood. Her steps faltered and a knot formed in her throat.
She wondered if her father's blood was still staining the road where they found his body. It probably was. It probably would for a long time.
"Vinnie? Is that you?" Sheriff Stilinki's voice reached her ears from her right. The man lay on the floor behind a desk. She quickly approached him and kneeled by his side, looking for any sign of a wound. He was paralyzed, she realized, just like she had been the night before. That could only mean one thing. Tracy was here.
"My dad and Tracy, is it true?" The girl asked the Sheriff, even though she knew the answer. Stilinski stared at her from his spot on the floor and hesitated for a second, but the news was too heart-wrenching to lie to her. So with a solemn face, he nodded his head.
"Yes."
Lavinia recoiled slightly and felt the air being knocked out of her lungs as she closed her eyes. It took her a second too long to put herself together and when she was sure she wouldn't start bawling her eyes out again, she opened them. She would have time to grieve later, right now she needed to concentrate on finding her sister. The Stilinski man eyed her reaction and felt his heart ache in sympathy at the strong front she tried to put up, tears swelling in her eyes she wouldn't let fall. The man had known Vinnie since she was a baby and even though she was the youngest of the family, she was fiercely protective of them. She went as far as to threaten one of her father's clients after he yelled at him when she was only eleven. Seeing her face fall and look so damn small made him want to take his words away.
"Did she do this too?" Her voice was so small he was surprised he even heard her. He didn't say anything, knowing where this conversation was heading, but his hesitation was enough for her as she clenched her fist and stood up.
"Wait Vinnie, don't go! You can't stop her!" Noah Stilinski yelled as he heard her footsteps grow fainter. Like in a trance, the orphan girl paid him, and Kira's shouts no mind as she ran to the basement.
The place was dark as she entered, racks all over the place making the place look darker, but the small rectangular windows allowed the moonlight to illuminate the room just enough for her not to crash. Her eyes glanced around and a black liquid mixed with something that looked like Mercury caught her attention, before she could dwell more on it, the sounds of a fight reached her ears.
As fast as she could she emerged to a rack-free zone and was met with Malia, a girl from school, standing over her sister, her foot over her neck as Tracy struggled under her force.
"Leave her alone!" Malia had no time to turn around when Lavinia flicked her wrist and sent the girl flying across the room, knocking some shelves on her way down.
Vinnie kneeled next to her sister, her normally brown eyes a dirty yellow just like a reptile's. Half of her face was covered in dark green scales and just like the day before, her nails had turned into claws. "Trace?" Upon hearing her sister the girl's eyes turned back to normal and her scaly-filled hand flew to her neck as she coughed due to the pressure Malia had exerted.
Afraid and confused, Tracy crawled away from her sister. "Tracy, it's me," Vinnie tried to grab her hand, but she snatched it quickly. Looking at her, realization dawned upon her, Tracy thought she was dreaming. Vinnie could count with her left hand the number of times she had seen Tracy that scared and they were all during a night terror. During those episodes, her eyes would lose their light and after they ended she wouldn't remember a thing that happened during them. "Tracy, this isn't a dream, you are not dreaming," she assured the girl as she stepped closer with her hands raised to let her know she wouldn't hurt her.
"What's happening to me?" Tracy's broken voice asked her little sister who even though was the youngest in the house, was the strongest of them all.
"I don't know, but you're gonna be okay," Tracy threw herself at her sister's arm and sobbed on her shoulder. "I'm gonna take care of you, okay?" Vinnie promised her as they held to each other for dear life.
Meanwhile, Malia had already dusted herself off and was currently staring at the young girl with a confused and slightly pissed-off expression. Her heart ached for the sisters who held each other like a lifeline but still wondered how the hell she had ended up at the other side of the room.
Suddenly, three big masked creatures materialized out of thin air, and before she could warm the girls, they slammed Vinnie against the shelves. Malia shouted something and tried fighting them but one of them appeared next to her and smashed her painfully against the wall. Again.
"Leave her alone!" Lavinia fought against their restraints but the thing was stronger than her as it pushed her head and kept her hands still, leaving her defenseless. She felt the stitches at her side pop open and her ribs ached at the force they were using but she kept struggling against them. "Stop it!" The Abbot girl yelled at the top of her lungs when one grabbed Tracy and introduced a jumbo-sized needle to her neck. Their eyes met for the last time as they turned glossy and mercury began to pour out of her mouth. A scream pierced through the night and Malia watched in awe as Vinnie's eyes started glowing a white color and seconds later the lights flickered on before completely bursting, electricity and broken glass raining over them. The racks around them started shaking and the objects inside them flew out crashing against the walls. One of the creatures tilted their head and regarded the screaming girl with interest.
"Her condition is terminal." The creature holding the needle said and the man pinning Vinnie to the shelves let go of her as Tracy fell to the ground and walked away.
"No no no no," Lavinia repeated, as she scrambled to her sister's unmoving body. Her hands frantically shook her small frame as tears fell from her eyes dripping onto her pale skin. A heart-gutting sob tore through Vinnie's body as she gathered her sister in her arms. "Open your damn eyes, Tracy, you can't do this to me," Vinnie didn't seem to notice the havoc around her as shelves swayed back and forth at Vinnie's distress as she petted Tracy's hair like she had done to her countless time before when she couldn't fall asleep. "I can't lose you too," she whispered as she rocked back and forth, her sister unresponsive.
Malia watched in horror at the mess around the sisters, glass, tools, and papers scattered around the room, forming a small circle around them that no object penetrated. The were-coyote witnessed Vinnie's world collapse as the sister broke down in front of her, guttural sounds escaping the small girl that would hunt her in her sleep.
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Well, I really hoped you liked this chapter.
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