Something was wrong. The wooden buildings lined up in front of Ellie were a good indicator to start.
The wooden sign and dirt road was another. Saloon. It looked like a scene from an old western movie.
She gazed up and noticed the stars were brighter than she had ever seen before. Not an ounce of light pollution to be found.
She turned when the sound of shouting and angry voices drifted in from behind.
She spun around and spotted a large mob, forming a circle around something she couldn't see from her position.
She was dreaming. She had to be.
She approached cautiously.
A flash of silver drew her attention to the side. An old man stood there, gun in one hand, and a large knife in the other. The blade was dripping thick, red liquid onto the ground.
She swallowed thickly. This man screamed danger. He was wearing black from head to toe, and there was a strange pendant hanging from his neck. Looked like some sort of wolf, but she couldn't get a good look from where she was and she was too terrified to approach, even if he couldn't see her.
Sudden anxiety hit her, and she began pushing and shoving people to the side to get through. They didn't even acknowledge her.
She stumbled out into the center and froze at the scene in front of her. There was a man cradling a woman as they knelt in the dirt. Cradling a bleeding and bloody woman. He was dressed up and looked as if he were the sheriff. If the gold star that was pinned to his chest was what she thought it was, then he must have been the sheriff if this town.
He was bent over the woman's form, face hidden in the woman's red soaked dress.
The woman wore a white old western styled dress, blood soaking the fabric and spreading out on the dirt beneath them.
Ellie gasped as the woman's head lolled back, and she got a good look at the women's wide, vacant eyes. Tears had been pouring down the woman's blood splattered pale face. She looked frozen in pure agony and horror.
Ellie stumbled back as she realized she was looking at an exact copy of herself. Her doppelganger. And she was very dead.
The crowd began to part, and Ellie watched in horror as the old man from before stormed his way through the parted townspeople.
He didn't speak. He just glared at the couple before him. He raised the knife, and his lips began to move, but Ellie couldn't hear a single word as the man began to circle the couple.
Ellie let out a cry as the grieving man raised his head, face completely wolfed out.
His fangs elongated, facial features more wolf-like with wicked sideburns. But his eyes. They were glowing a vivid red that sent a shiver down Ellie's spine. He was pissed. The most she had ever seen before.
Ellie's breath caught in her throat. She recognized that face. Even behind the unfamiliar wolfed out features and long shaggy hair.
"Derek." She whispered out, hands raised to cover her mouth.
His gaze snapped over and locked onto her form. His eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing.
His gaze shot back down to the woman in his arms before looking back up at Ellie.
He opened his mouth to call out to her, no doubt, but Ellie reacted first. She caught sight of the old man as he prepared to throw his knife, and Ellie's body reacted before her mind.
She threw herself in front of Derek and her doppelganger, caught the knife in between two fingers, and threw it right back at the man.
It embedded deep into the man's shoulder, and he stumbled back with a cry.
Ellie gaped down at her hands in shock. 'What the fuck!?' She screeched, but no sound escaped past her lips. She spun to face Derek, who was staring at her in complete shock, still clinging onto her doppelganger's body.
"Witch! A witch and a demon!" Someone in the crowd screamed out and Ellie flinched back. Derek's lips snarled. He threw his head back and let out a loud howling roar.
The townsfolk cowered back. The old man got to his feet and reached for his gun. Ellie squared her shoulders and held her ground in front of the couple behind her.
"So even in death, she still tries to protect you?" She could hear the old man's voice now. He tisked.
Derek lunged around Ellie's body, pushing her back towards her doppelganger as he flung himself at the old man, claws out and ready to do some damage.
Ellie let out a horrified scream as the telltale sound of a gun going off rang loudly in her ears.
She closed her eyes as the world around her began to move, as if she were traveling through a tunnel at high speeds.
When her world stopped spinning, she tentatively opened her eyes to look around.
The world was on fire around her, the town ablaze. But it was eerily quiet. She could smell blood in the air. So thick even she could smell it.
A loud growl sounded behind her, and she turned slowly.
A large, very large wolf stood on long legs. Its hackles raised and a large snarl on its snout. Large, razor-sharp teeth glistened as drool dripped from its lips.
It was covered in blood. She took a step back and the crunch of the gravel under foot made the wolf stand at attention and it spun in her direction to face her head on.
She let out a startled yelp and fell to the ground as she tripped over nothing while trying to back away.
Glowing red met hers as she let the tears fall to the ground.
~~~~~~
Ellie woke in a cold sweat, chest heaving, and she was sobbing, loud and ugly. She wiped at her eyes and let out a scream as hands gripped gently at her wrists, trying to pry her hands away from her face. She hadn't realized that she wasn't alone.
She sprang away from the reaching hands, the world fuzzy around her as she scrambled off her bed.
She needed to paint. She needed paint. Pintpaintpaintpaintpaint.
Her hands grabbed the supplies off her desk, and she shoved her little night stand out of the way so she could access her wall.
She shrugged the hands off her again, batting them away as she got to work.
She doesn't know how much time had passed before she was slumping in her seat on the floor just after reaching high to get the last stroke down.
She gazed at the image. It almost felt alive. It was of the two doppelgangers. The woman cradled in the man's arms.
They were facing her, the woman's face turned away and hidden in the man's shoulder and not visible, her arm hanging limply by her side while the other rested over her stomach. Blood pooled around them and her midsection.
The man's face was completely wolfed out and he was howling into the sky. And finally, behind the pair, was an angry, blood covered, snarling wolf.
She stared at the painting. Staring right through it as her adrenalin seeped out of her. Her breathing calmed down and she sagged in place. Shoulders hunched in on herself.
Ellie looked down slowly when warm hands reached around her and gently pried the paint brush from her fingers. She followed their movement with her eyes.
Oh. She was covered in paint. She raised her hands and stared at them blankly before turning slightly to watch as Derek handed her brushes over to Stiles, who was watching her, looking at her as if she would break at any moment.
Her eyes rolled up into the back of her skull and she collapsed, Derek catching her as she went limp.
Stiles was at her side a moment later, looking up at the painting in awe.
"She's done this before. When she's sleeping. She dreams, comes out of it hysterical and paints something new." He whispered out.
Derek's brow furrowed and his teeth clenched. "Her heart stopped, Stiles. For nearly twenty minutes while whatever she was seeing was happening."
Noah, who was watching from the doorway, swallowed audibly and closed his eyes in pain.
"There must be some latent creature blood in your family somewhere. An ancestor. This doesn't just happen to humans."
"Is she alright?" Noah asked softly as Derek carefully picked Ellie up, his arms coming around behind her back and under her knees. He took one last look at the painting and can't help but notice how much that man looked exactly like him.
He walked towards the door and passed Naoh with a nod as an answer.
Scott was looking around Noah's shoulder, biting at his lip as he watched the pair.
"Where are you taking her?" Noah asked quietly.
Derek looked down at the woman in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder as she slept.
"She needs her Alpha." Derek spoke and Scott perked up. He rushed to Peter's door and opened it for them. Scott's wolf let out a happy whine as Derek passed him, glad to have helped in some way. His wolf didn't like that a pack member wasn't feeling well.
It had taken a few days and some deep conversations with Derek, but he had forgiven Peter for biting him without consent. Peter wasn't in the right mind. His wolf only thought about revenge and building a pack to become stronger to carry out said revenge.
Derek laid her out beside Peter, and she immediately curled onto her side and into Peter's chest as best as she could.
Red eyes opened slowly, as if sensing his pack members' need for comfort. Derek carefully lifted Peter's hand and laid it over Ellie's shoulder, his uncle's fingers clinging to the fabric as tight as he could manage.
Peter caught Derek's eyes and Derek nearly sagged at the look Peter had. Peter was content.
Derek turned and motioned for the rest of the pack to come closer.
"We shouldn't leave them for the night. She needs as much comfort as possible. And it might help Peter heal quicker as well."
Stiles stepped forward with a look of total confusion. "What might help?"
Derek looked away, his scowl in place. He hated that he had to admit this. "Sleeping near them."
Stiles let out an excited gasp. "A puppy pile!?"
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up at the ceiling. "Shut up, Stiles. Only three of us are wolves."
Scott was already placing himself on the other side of Peter. "I still don't quite get the whole pack dynamics yet, but this feels right."
Stiles was instantly curling up behind Scott, muttering a quiet, "It's still a puppy pile." as he pouted. Derek went around the bed and got in behind Ellie.
Noah watched in amusement. The five of them made the bed look small. "We need to get bigger beds. Especially if this is going to be a common occurrence. Good thing we get to live in a bigger house soon." He spoke before laying himself down at the end of the bed.
This wasn't going to be a fun night for him. But he didn't want to leave his family alone.
Yet somehow, in the middle of the night, Ellie ended up on top of Derek, Stiles on top of Scott, and Noah had wormed his way between his daughter and Peter.
Their pack was an odd one, but one none of them would ever want to lose or replace.