The GIF is of Selene.
As we exited the church we were approached by the women who I recognised as Araya Calavera. She immediately questioned us and we told her where she could find Selene and Peter and she send a man she called Severo and a few others to help Selene in collecting him.
Malia remained close to Stiles and Kira close to Scott. I trailed behind them slowly with Liam frequently looking over at me. I didn't know if he was afraid or concerned, maybe both, but I decided to ignore it for now.
I immediately began to look around once we were outside, the sun beginning to rise until my eyes landed on Derek.
"Oh my god." I whispered.
"What? What!" Stiles panicked, quickly looking behind us as if he was expecting Peter to charge out and lunge at him.
I couldn't seem to reply in words and found myself running at a standing and healthy Derek who appeared to be putting a shirt on, for some reason previously being shirtless. He had just straightened out the blue long sleeved top when I barrelled into him.
"Hey." He chuckled, instantly wrapping his arms around my waist.
"What happened?" I demanded as I stepped back, looking up at him.
"Temporarily died." He shrugged. "I was evolving." He then stated. Clearly noticing that I was not following he smiled gently before explaining. "Remember when I told you my mother and Laura could transform into actual wolves? Just like Malia can take the shape of an actual Coyote, and you for that matter." I nodded. "Well that's what was happening to me."
"Oh." I said slowly, realising why he had been topless, but not quite understand why he had to die to evolve, but hey... who said the supernatural was simple? "Kate?" I asked.
Derek shook his head, "She doesn't have anymore Berserkers, but she got away. Chris went after her, but she still got out. The Calaveras and Argent are going to continue tracking her down."
"How did Chris and Parrish find us?" I asked, looking over to where they stood talking amongst themselves.
"Chris confronted Peter yesterday, but he drove a metal rod through Argent's side. Parrish was following Peter, apparently had been since Meredith Walker and he found and saved Chris. They went to the Calaveras for help and then came here." Derek explained before becoming distracted by three men carrying Peter's body out of the church before loading it into the back of Braedon's prison transport van. Behind them was Selene.
She looked over to us, locking eyes with Derek before heading back to the truck she had arrived in and jumping in the back. She dug around in her arsenal for a while as Braedon walked over to Derek and me, smiling lightly and nodding in my direction as she did. Selene jumped back down and walked over to Braedon, handing over a few more syringes of liquefied yellow wolfs bane just like the one she had injected Peter with.
"That should be enough to keep him out for the journey." She stated to the mercenary.
"Journey?" I asked.
Selene turned to me and nodded sharply. "He's to be taken to Eichen House where he can be safely detained."
"You won't kill him?" Derek asked.
"No. I convinced Araya otherwise. He's already come back from the dead once, it's best if we play it safe. Don't want anymore surprises."
"I think last time was a special circumstance." Derek stated.
"Yeah... well let's keep that between ourselves." Selene said back in a small voice.
"You did love him." I said before I could stop myself. She turned and studied me for a moment. "He told me the story, but... he said it was all fake."
She shook her head. "No. But it should have been. He wasn't always like this." Her eyes flicked up at Derek before scoffing with a smile. "Well... he's always been a cocky narcissist..." She continued, "and power intrigued him, but not this. Trauma does things to the mind. Things you can't understand unless you experience them yourself."
"You won't let him go?" Braedon asked.
"People can change easily. It's changing back that's difficult. I follow the code and although I won't see him dead. I can't see him free." Selene stated. "Besides. He's in your hands now."
"What makes you think I won't kill him?" Derek asked, looking over his shoulder to where Peter lay inside the van.
"He's the only family you have left, Derek." Selene replied in a soft voice.
Braedon and I both looked up at Derek, wondering if he would mention Cora. He seemed to contemplate it as well as he looked at Selene, studying her. He dropped his head to the ground, a light smile appearing before he looked back up at the hunter and gently shook his head.
"Cora." He stated.
Selene's lips parted slightly as a mixture of emotion crossing her face. "She's alive?" The hunter asked and Derek nodded. For the first time I saw the hunter smile. A small one, but something told me she didn't do it often. "Good." She nodded, unable to say anything else and probably thinking that asking for details would be crossing a line.
"Corbaeu!" The hunter named Sever shouted, catching Selene's attention as she whipped her head around to see him gesture for her to follow him.
She turned back to Braedon, no ounce of that smile remaining. "Call Araya when you get him to Eichen House." She stated before nodding a goodbye to me and Derek, her eyes lingering on her old friend for a moment before swiftly walking away.
"Corbaeu?" I asked once she was out of earshot.
It was Braedon that answered me. "Another French hunting family. Supposedly, werewolves wiped them out almost twenty years ago. Selene was five and the only one to survive."
"Supposedly?" Derek questioned.
"The Calaveras know the most about what happened. They cleaned it up and took Selene here, to Mexico, to be raised by them afterwards, but I heard the story directly from Selene three years ago and... not everything ads up." Braedon shrugged.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Lets just say that Araya and her men got to France a little too quickly. I think Selene understands that, deep down, but she won't admit it."
"There's enough yellow wolfs bane to keep Peter out for the trip back, but be careful." Chris's voice snapped our attention over to where he stood speaking with Scott.
"Are you really going with them?" Scott asked.
"I made a deal with the Calaveras weeks ago. They'll leave you alone, all of you, but only if I help them catch Kate."
"What if you can't?" Kira asked.
"I'll find her... someone has to." He said back as he stepped back and began to leave with Araya.
They all began to pile into their vehicles, some just jumping on the back. Selene stared at the van containing Peter for a moment before glancing back over to Derek, her mouth threatening a smile that never came before nodding stiffly and walking away.
"Selene!" I was surprised to hear Jordan yell. She turned back around to face him as he threw her a shotgun.
She shook her head and threw it back. "Keep it. I guarantee you'll need it again, Deputy." She spun back around and lifted her self up into her truck, turning the key and causing an unbelievable amount of power to burst out of the engine, so much that it even caused the body of the vehicle to shake as it came to life.
The radio blared out through the speakers with the window down as she reversed at a speed I was surprised didn't cause the truck to tip and wheeled the heavy machinery around before taking off down the dirt road, dust flying behind her, probably making it difficult for the other drivers to see that were following behind her.
"She doesn't seem like she's that much like me." I found myself saying, looking up at Derek, remembering what Meredith had always said.
"She's changed." Derek said in a small voice, "But then again... that driving..." He teased and instantly waked his arm lightly before walking over to Jordan as Derek chuckled.
I raised my eyebrows up at the shotgun in the deputy's hands as he shrugged, "She leant it to me, apparently one handgun wasn't enough."
I chuckled as he opened the car door for me and I jumped in. Derek, Braedon, Scott, Liam and Kira all rode with Peter in the van while Jordan drove's Derek's car with me in the passenger's seat and Malia and Stiles in the back.
The trip home was silent for the most part as we all sort of stared plainly out the window. Jordan dropped Stiles and Malia off at the station to see the Sheriff and I was original going to go in with them, but decided against it. I wanted to be alone. So instead I had Jordan drop me off at Scott's before he left to give Derek his car back.
I stood outside the house for five minutes, but never went in. I began to slowly walk down the street, unaware of where I was going and as I was walking I received a group text message from Scott.
The Eichen House staff took Peter off our hands. He's now contained and being monitored. -Scott
Forcing myself not to think of Peter I thought of Scott instead. The bond was gone. I didn't know exactly why, but my best guess was that when Scott lost his humanity it put strain on it, pulling us apart, but when I lost mine as well that strain grew and it simply just snapped.
I guess we could go back to Deaton and fix it, which was probably the plan, but for now I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I knew that was probably a dangerous thing to do, but every so often I would think about my friends, refusing to let that darkness take over. It was frustrating really and in a way I did want the bond back, but I also wanted to learn control without it.
I was thinking about where I was walking and only began to take in my surroundings when I passed a small one story brick house and smiled at it, thinking about the many times I had seen Isaac pull up to a screeching halt on his pushbike in the driveway so suddenly that it sometimes looked like he would fly over the handle bars, but he never did. I crossed the road and walked another ten metres until I was looking up at a large modern style white house and even found myself smiling at it.
Jackson would have thought I was crazy, looking up at his house and smiling fondly, but I guess I missed even him, oddly enough... and that bloody porsche. It was when I came to the house next door that my smile dropped. The two story classic house loomed over me sending a chill up my spine.
I hadn't been back here since I moved into Scott's but I had often wanted to return, however was always too frightened to. However that fear soon faded to peace.
I was home.
Without thinking I approached the front door and reached for the handle, but stopped myself an inch from touching it. Someone had probably moved in, this wasn't my house anymore.
I turned on my heels and took a few steps, but stopped yet again. There was no car in the driveway and those stupid pink flamingos that my mum had loved so much were still in the garden. The personalised mailbox still read 'Fields' and when I looked back over to the house I noticed that the same curtains hung on the windows, blocking the view to inside.
As if becoming possessed I ran to the door again, this time not hesitating in turning the handle, but of course it was locked. I looked to my left and saw the bush where we kept the spare key and rummaged around in it until, yes, it was still there. I turned the key and charged through the entrance, the wooden door slamming shut behind me as I spun around, looking at everything.
It was exactly how I had left it except there were no dishes and when I looked in the pantry and fridge I realised that someone had cleaned it out, keeping it tidy. I bolted up the stairs and barrelled into my room, my breathing heavy. Nothing had moved, except Buster's bed that was usually at the foot of my bed, but was now at Scott's.
Beginning to recover I slowly exited the room and found myself dizzily walking down the corridor and reaching out to open the door to the master bedroom. My finger's hovered over the handle as I took in a deep breath and then ripped it open. The door swung open as I stood in the frame, staring at my dad's made bed and tidy room, exactly how it had been.
Except there was someone inside.
Standing at the foot of the bed facing me was him... the man in the shadows, Hans Kalb.
"You here to lecture me about loosing it?" I asked, oddly comfortable with his presence.
"I'm here to ensure that you don't. Your friends betrayal..."
"Don't." I shook my head.
"You must talk about it, Annabelle..."
"Do you have to call me that?" I asked cutting him off in a pathetic attempt to avoid discussions about Peter.
"It is your name."
"Most people just call me Anna." He only stared and I sighed, knowing he would never use my nickname.
"You must find someway to move on, do not dwell on the bad or you will want to shut it all out." Hans went right back to the point.
"Move on? Move on!" I yelled. "I trusted him! Everyone told me not to, but I did, anyway! I trusted Matt and deep down I always wanted to trust the Twins, before they turned good. I always wanted them on our side! I worked with the Nogitsune and just last night I tried to kill Scott and almost did!"
"It is part of who your are, Annabelle. You will learn to control that."
"Part of who I am?!" I demanded.
"The nix is an evil spirit. In Greek Mythology, Nyx was the Goddess of night and was birthed by Chaos; it is from her that the name Nix was derived. There are many different legends from different cultures. Some take the form of a white horse that was called the Brook Horse or Kelpie, but this was just one of the many shapes that the Nix took. Another example was that of a mermaid or sometimes Siren, it varies depending on what you read, however, it's always a version of a water monster. But in one legend it says that 'only one who is unable to love can win her.' In other words a Nix is drawn to evil souls. You will eventually learn to recognise that. Your other side can sense evil and misdoings in someone else's nature and it is drawn to it, often without you even knowing."
"Wonderful." I muttered.
"When we last spoke I mentioned that you must find someone who is your equal, who can pull you back without the bond. Your friends can sometimes do this as Stiles did last night, as Isaac had done in the past and even Peter on occasion, but that will not be enough if you truly let go."
"Yeah, yeah, true love, got it." I rolled my eyes with sarcasm. Did I believe in love? Yes. Did I believe in true love? Not exactly.
"Do you remember how your friend brought Jackson back? By calling out his Christian name?" I nodded, "It will be much similar. If you truly lose control your equal will be able to bring you back simply by calling your name... your true name, Annabelle." He said, putting emphasis on my name, clearly meaning that simply 'Anna,' would not work.
"Alright, I'll go and sign up for some online dating sites then shall I? Do you think I should put Nix in my bio?" Sassy comments, always an excellent way out of a conversation you don't particularly want to be having.
His jaw clenched, clearly not a humorous person... ghost... spirit... hallucination, whatever. "It's not that simple and there's one more thing."
"Isn't there always."
"Upon saying your name it could go one of two ways. The first being that you come back, that your compassion comes back or the second... you die." If I wasn't confused already, I definitely was now.
"And what defining fact determines whether I live or die?" I asked.
"You." He stated. "You must accept it. You must choose. You can choose whether you live with your emotion and the possibility that you could revert back to your dark self at any moment and take another life." I flinched picturing Jake. "Or you can choose death."
"And that would be it? I'd just drop dead?"
"Not exactly... you'd drown from the inside on the water that you inhaled upon your previous drowning that activated the Nix curse."
I took in a deep breath and let it out, "Well... I wouldn't hold your breath, no pun intended, on the true love thing happening anytime soon. I think I'll just couch potato it for the next couple of days, go back to Deaton and get him to fix the bond, etc. It might be a safer bet than going guy hunting with no actual surety."
He clenched his jaw again and I could tell my responses were getting to him, thankfully, because I really just wanted to be left alone.
"They will find out eventually... about Jake and you know they won't take kindly to it. It could cause another..."
"No." I said sternly. "They won't find out, I won't let them."
"What are three things that cannot be long hidden?" He asked.
"No!" I shouted and he was gone.
Tears began to stroll down my cheeks again and I wiped them away with the back of my sleeve, suddenly realising I was still wearing the hoodie that Peter had lent me on the trip to Mexico. I ripped it off and threw it across the room as more sobs came and I slowly reached my dad's bed, curling up on it and crying myself to sleep.
There will either be one more long chapter or two medium length ones left and then I will post the Preface to the next book, 'Awakened,' right after!
More info on the Nix!!! Let me know if you have any questions or something needs clarifying. I am taking this from actual sources, but i'm also putting my own spin on it and I'm drawing from various legends, but they're all essentially the same one from different cultures, as mentioned above.
For those who have ready 'Burnt' I am leaving out the part with the re-eduction as it's irrelevant to Anna's story and would be a pain to explain everything, but Braedon does know everything so if I don't include Derek finding out in my next update you can assume that Braedon told him.