𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋
𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛 . 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting with my feet up on the window seat writing notes in my Chemistry book. I sighed and leaned my head against the wall.
"How the hell am I supposed to worry about chemistry when there's some psychotic unknown Alpha running around trying to recruit me and kill everyone else?" I asked the two boys. Derek had planted himself in a chair near Stiles bed, an open book was placed in his lap but he wasn't reading it. Stiles was still on his laptop and we were patiently waiting for Danny to arrive.
"You don't need to worry about that." Derek simply said.
"That's where you're wrong. I—"
"Stiles?" Danny's voice wafted up from downstairs.
"Shut up!" Stiles interrupted me. I looked to him, annoyed and offended. A minute later, Danny was up in the room already fighting with Stiles that he was here to do a lab report, not try to discover who an anonymous text was from.
"No, we're doing lab work. Katherine tell him we're doing lab work." Danny turned to me for help.
"Don't include me in this." I said, underlining a sentence in the text book.
"Fine, but tell me one thing. Jackson, is he crazy? I can't believe he broke up with Lydia. I mean it's Lydia for God sakes!" Stiles cried.
"Yeah, because I'm sure it's every guys dream to be going out with an egotistical, selfish bitch." I didn't bother to look up from my book, Stiles was going to kill me for that one...not like I cared.
"Kat!" Stiles gasped.
"No." I simply replied.
"You can't just say that about Lydia, that's wrong."
"Yeah, no, thanks, I really appreciate your input on that." I sarcastically replied. Danny sighed and took a seat next to Stiles.
"Who's he again?" He asked, looking to Derek.
"That's my cousin," Stiles nodded his head, and just when I thought he stopped talking he added something else, "Miguel." Derek and I looked up at the same time.
"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny wondered, eyeing the red stain on his shirt. Shoot, that was blood, I hadn't seen that before since he had his jacket on. But now that he had taken it off, it was very noticeable.
"Yeah, yes. Kat fell and she was clumsy enough to get it on his shirt." Why was Stiles bringing me into this?
"You okay, Kat?" Danny wondered, turning to me.
"Fine. You know, clumsy me." I stared down Stiles as I said the last two words.
"Hey Miguel," Stiles called and turned around to face Derek, who slowly looked up at him, "I thought I told you to borrow one of my shirts!" Derek shut the book he was 'reading' and threw it on the bed. He got up and stripped of his shirt then began rummaging through Stiles' drawer. It was reasonable to say that I wasn't getting anywhere, I had read the same line thirty-seven times. Focusing on trifling things like studying for Chemistry was just impossible with everything going on. And now that Derek was standing shirtless in the room, looking like he was in the middle of a damn Abercrombie & Fitch commercial, I really couldn't focus. I recapped my pen and placed it in my textbook, pushing it away so it was near my feet. I looked to the tattoo on Derek's back, though I always thought it was sexy and mysterious, why did he have something that meant revenge inked on there?
"Stiles," Derek turned around. God his abs looked perfect, "this no fit."
"Then find something else." I couldn't help but realize Danny was staring at Derek. Stiles realized that Danny had been staring. In the mean time, I managed to peel my eyes off Derek's body and take out my phone. I began typing up a long message to Scott explaining what was going on and asking if he got the necklace yet.
"Wh—hey. That one looks pretty good, right Danny?" Stiles playfully hit Danny in the shoulder after Derek had pulled on a gaudy blue and orange t-shirt. They were all way to small, and clinging to his muscles.
"It's not really his color." Danny slightly stuttered, sounding nervous.
"Stiles! None of these fit!" A shirtless Derek held up a brown shirt in his hands. Danny was still staring.
"That's okay, I think we both like it that way." I smirked, looking down to my phone screen. Danny looked over to me, embarrassed by what I said.
"You're a horrible person." He innocently complained.
"I know." I shrugged with a sigh, a smirk still playing on my lips. Danny proceeded to tell Stiles what he would need for the text. I made a decision to help Derek, who was struggling with his shirt choice. I got up and walked over to the dresser he was standing at. My arm reached into the back and pulled out a larger black shirt.
"Try that." I handed it to him and walked over to see Danny typing furiously on the computer. We impatiently waited until Danny finally spoke up.
"There, finally. The text was sent from a computer. This one." We leaned in and read the words on the screen.
"No way, that's got to be a mistake." I said. In boxy red letters it read Account registered to: Beacon Hills Hospital – Melissa McCall.
A few hours later, the three of us were sitting in Stiles Jeep staring at the front of the Beacon Hills Hospital, particularly the Long Term Care building. It was where Scott's mom worked on Wednesday nights. The parking lot had been empty, minus two or three cars at the end of the parking lot. Stiles was on the phone with Scott, he was at the game along with everyone else from the team. He didn't want to call Scott but I had forced him too.
"Call him soon. Don't tell him about his mom, not yet." I had told Stiles after Danny left.
"Ah, so I'm taking a page out of the Katherine Hemmings handbook? You know, when you hide really important things from your friends?" Stiles had retorted cleverly. Okay, I deserved that one.
"Look, if you see my dad just tell him I'm going to be a little late, okay? Alright thanks." Stiles hung up the phone. Disappointment was written across his face. He was supposed to be standing on the front line of the Lacrosse field, not dealing with werewolf issues.
"Stiles, Derek and I can handle this. I want you to go to the game."
"We're already here." He sighed.
"You're not going to make it." Derek informed the obvious.
"I know."
"And you didn't tell him about his mom either." Derek pointed out.
"Let's find out the truth about that first." Stiles looked towards the building.
"By the way, one more thing." Derek turned to Stiles.
"Yeah?" I was surprised at how nice they were being to each other. Usually by now they would be biting down each others necks, throwing sarcastic comeback after comeback. That was short lived ass I watched Derek take the back of Stiles head and force it until it made contact with the steering wheel.
"Derek!" I yelled.
"Oh God!" Stiles pinched the sides of his head, "what the hell was that for?"
"You know what that was for!" Derek pointed a finger from Stiles to the hospital, "Go." Stiles continued to groan in pain. "Goo!" Derek urged. Stiles scurried out of the car and I climbed out of the back.
"Not you." He grabbed my wrist.
"Yes me, I don't want him going in there alone."
"You don't know what you're dealing with."
"I've got somewhat of a clue. It'll be fine." I leaned over and our lips connected for what felt like forever, but it was really only a few seconds.
"Are you coming or what?" Stiles yelled from outside. I rolled my eyes and slid out of the car. The two of us walked into the hospital to find it eerily silent and empty. The sound of my heels echoed through the building.
"Why do your shoes have to be so loud?"
"Can we stay focused please?" I ignored his question. We couldn't hear a sound coming from anyone. We didn't see anyone.
"Hello? Is anyone here or are you going to keep us waiting for another hour?" I called out. No one was here.
"Melissa? It's Katherine and Stiles." There was no answer.
"Where is everyone?" Stiles asked, wandering around. My phone began blaring its Marimba ringtone. Pulling it out of my pocket, I noticed it was Derek.
"What's going on?" He asked me, he probably could hear us from the car.
"I can't find her."
"What do you mean you can't find her?"
"She's not here. No body is."
"Then ask for Jennifer, she's been looking after my uncle." Stiles led us into Peter Hale's room, but we found it empty. The wheelchair was parked at the edge of the completely made bed, it was as if no one had been in here for a few days.
"He's not here either." That was his wheelchair. This was his room. So where was comatose Peter Hale?
"What?" Derek was shocked.
"He's not here. The room's empty, Derek."
"He's comatose, how could he be gone?" Stiles asked. That was the point; he couldn't be gone. There was no way that a comatose man could be moved from his room without a trace. Unless he wasn't comatose at all...
"Oh my God, Stiles...he's the Alpha." After the thought of when Derek told me Peter had been a werewolf crossed through my mind, that was when I realized it. The hand holding my phone dropped to my side.
"Smarter than you look you know." We backed out of the room to see a man standing to our right. It wasn't any man. It was a fully functioning Peter.
"You must be Stiles," he smiled to my trembling friend, "and Katherine, such a pleasure to finally meet you for real this time." He smiled.
"What are you doing here?" We turned around to see Jennifer standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, "visiting hours are over." She gritted through her teeth.
"You..." Stiles pointed at Jennifer, "and him? You're the ones who, oh, and he's the...oh my God, we're gonna die." Stiles began hyperventilating until Derek came out of nowhere and knocked Jennifer unconscious.
"That's not nice, she's my nurse." Peter sighed.
"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way." He demanded.
"Ah, damn." Stiles wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me down to the ground with him. Stiles and I pressed our backs up against the wall.
"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter walked towards his nephew. As an immediate instinct, Derek's eyes turned icy blue and his fangs descended. He let out a loud growl. Jumping off of the wall opposite of Stiles and I, he used it to kick off towards his uncle. Peter caught him and slammed him into the wall before tossing him into another wall. The railings fell to the floor with Derek. Stiles and I began crawling away. Stiles hid himself underneath the reception desk and I was hiding on the other side. I inched myself towards the edge of the wooden desk and peaked out. Peter grabbed Derek by his neck, picking him up and dragging him like he weighed no more than a feather. Derek was struggling, and all I wanted to do was kill Peter for doing this to him.
"My mind and personality were literally burned out of me. It's being driven by pure instinct." Peter let Derek down next to Jennifer's body.
"Get out of here." Derek demanded in barely a whisper.
"I'm not leaving you." I whispered back. Peter squatted down to get a key out of Jennifer's blood stained nurse's dress. Derek weakily stood up.
"You want forgiveness?" Derek threw a punch and it hit Peter square in the jaw. Peter grabbed him by his jacket and head butted him, causing him to stumble backwards.
"I want understanding." The Alpha corrected, kicking Derek in the stomach. He tumbled backwards and landed face first in the small waiting area. The sounds of Peter's footsteps were ringing in my ears. He was advancing towards Derek. I quickly moved myself behind the desk and went in search for something to distract Peter with. Sitting on the base of a broken heart monitor was some type of steel rod. Stiles looked to me, wondering what I was doing.
"Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness" I peaked my head past the desk to see what was going on. Derek tried getting up, he spat out blood that was caked under his nose and on his lips. "Yes, becoming the Alpha, taking that from Laura, pushed me over the plateau in the healing process." Derek got up and they began fighting. Punch after punch, Peter was able to dodge them all. The next punch, Peter caught and he began crushing the bones in Derek's hand. Okay, he was going to really hurt him, this was my queue.
"I tried to tell you what was happening. You and Katherine, I really did. And I thought I made a connection to her too." I could literally hear the bones in Derek's hand crack and turn into nothing. I swung the rod at Peter and hit him in the back.
"Leave him alone." I growled. Peter let go his grasp on Derek's hand and he kicked him down. Peter turned around and glared at me. I swung the rod at him again, but he caught it and threw it across the room. Before I realized what happened, Peter grabbed me by the throat and pinned me to a wall. It was worse than when Scott had done it. It was tighter, more dangerous. I gasped for air, but Peter's hand was blocking any from coming down my throat.
"How could you be so reckless and stupid to hit an Alpha, who can easily rip your throat out with one finger?"
"If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead. You want me part of the pack." After I finished talking, his grasp became tighter and I held back the scream I wanted to yell out with a quiet whimper.
"I see you figured that out. Did Derek tell you? Of course he did." In my blurring vision I watched Derek grab Peter away from me. I fell on all floors and fell into a coughing and breathing fit. Just as I was able to focus once again, I could see Derek being through the glass window of the private nurse's station.
"No!" I yelled, hearing Derek crash to the floor. He was going to kill him! His own nephew! Instead of going after Derek like I thought, Peter came towards me. He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me up, dragging me towards where he threw Derek.
"Walk." He demanded when he got tired of me tripping over my heeled boots.
"You don't have to do this." We could see Derek crawling away, his black sneakers disappearing behind a curtain. Glass crunched under my heels.
"That would put a rather large kink in my plan sweetheart. The whole point in marking you was for a reason, I need more werewolves"
"If you're going to turn me just do it." I hissed. We entered a room where mostly everything was metal.
"Of course I will, but I do have my ways of making you both suffer."
He threw me to the floor next to Derek. We were in an operating room. Even with all the lights shut off, I was able to tell Derek's nose had stopped bleeding. Maybe he was already beginning to heal.
"I was going to wait for dramatic effect." Peter looked towards a mirror and then spun it. We watched in amazement and utter shock as the burns and scars that had tainted the Alpha's skin had disappeared like they were never there. Derek and I watched him with fearful eyes.
"Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened." Peter smiled and looked back to himself in the mirror, admiring his new handsome image.
"When you look this good, why wait." He turned his attention back to us, "Derek you have to give me a chance to explain."
"He doesn't have to give you anything."
"Katherine stay out of this." Derek demanded.
"Yes, Katherine." Peter took a few steps towards us. Derek's hand made it's way to mine and he squeezed it. I looked at him while he looked at Peter. Derek looked so weak, vulnerable, like he could pass out at any moment. I wanted him to get up and kick Peter's lying ass, stop the nightmare, but he couldn't. Peter was much to strong for him, for both of us. But I'd still try to be strong and save both of us from this situation. In the middle of all this drama, something hit me. This was Derek 'don't touch me' Hale. This was the person I'd met weeks ago that reacted to any physical interaction with disdain. He was the guy that wouldn't show any emotion whatsoever. This is the person who uses physicality as a means of intimidation and control. But here he was, lying next to me on the floor, helpless and scared. And you could see it all over his face. And as he squeezed my hand, a surge of emotion went through me; he thought he was going to die. He thought both of us were at the hands of his murderous uncle. He was gesturing to me to give me a sense of comfort because he feared for his life...and mine. It was like I could see right through him with one look. Sure Derek wasn't good with words or expressing humanly emotions, but with that one squeeze of my hand I got everything he was saying.
"Katherine, such a pretty name. Our name is a symbol of who we are, did you know that?" I didn't answer Peter, "Katherine. It means pure, but it also means torture."
"Where are you going with this?" I blankly asked. Peter reached down and grabbed me by the shirt, pulling me up and away from Derek. The grasp he had on my hand broke and every calming motion I had when he held my hand was gone.
"Don't touch her." Derek growled.
"Oh, I hit a nerve. Relax Derek, I just want to have a little fun. Come on, don't you think that having a werewolf girlfriend would be a little bit more fun? You know how boring humans could be." A playful smile lifted up Peter's lips.
"Why did you choose me?" I asked the Alpha in the strongest voice I could muster.
"How could I not," Peter scoffed. "You're so much more feisty than I'd expected." I went to punch him but he grabbed my fist, squeezing it tightly to the point I thought I'd break. "And much more annoying. Perfect traits for a werewolf." Letting go of my hand, Peter grabbed onto my neck for the second time tonight. I could feel his claws poke my skin. This was it, he was going to rip my throat out, killing me for good this time. I could feel the burning sensation behind my eyes.
"Don't you realize that all you are is a liability for Derek?" My eyes closed and instinctively my head turned away from Peter, towards the right. My glassy eyes opened and met Derek's. In his heart, I could tell he wanted to get up and fight Peter to the death, but he couldn't. He was still healing from all the punches and kicks Peter threw at him. Each short breath I took was unstably shaky. Anger and sadness overtook Derek's expression. Peter's thumb was pressed right against where my pulse was pounding through the vein on my neck. His claws decreased into his nails.
"It's okay." I quietly whispered, my eyes still hot with tears. He could tell I was lying from my heartbeat. My head reluctantly turned back to Peter. I didn't want to die, or become a werewolf. I wanted to stay alive and human.
"Ah young love," Peter marveled as he smirked, "so adorable. But it'll have to come to a pause. I'm still not done with you, this isn't finished yet." He smiled. Before I had time to scream, cry, tell Derek absolutely anything, Peter grabbed my neck tighter and grasped the back of my head, and at a supernatural speed he shoved it into the cold metal wall then threw me across the room.
"No!" Derek's yell faded out and so did my consciousness.