"And I have to come, why?" Zoey asks Stiles. "Because, Zoe, all you've been doing the past few days is making out with Lahey, or 'studying' with him," Stiles air quotes the word studying.
Zoey rolls her eyes, "Someone jealous?"
"No. Okay, stop, let's just go."
"Fine, whatever, Mr. Jealous Stilinski."
✠
Stiles and herself find theirselves standing in Derek's loft, Derek nowhere to be found except for Cora.
"They were there for two days." Cora says. "Waiting, hiding."
Cora takes in a breath, facing the window. "That's what we're taught to do when the hunters find us."
As the three teens stand in the loft, outside it's raining and thundering.
"Hide and heal." Cora continues.
"Okay, so is two days standard then?" Stiles asks.
"Or are we thinking Derek's on, like, some extended getaway?"
Zoey scoffs, rolling her eyes at Stiles.
"Why do you care?" Cora asks, turning to face the two teens.
"Why do I care? Let's see," Stiles starts. Zoey slumps her shoulders, rubbing her temple. "Because over the last few weeks, my best friend's tried to kill himself, his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed. Boyd was killed by alphas."
Zoey looks down at the floor as Boyd's name was mentioned; they weren't close, but she did know him and he was considered her friend.
"You want me to keep going? 'Cause I can, all right? For, like, an hour."
"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora takes steps towards them, making Zoey take a step in front of Stiles; her arm in from of his.
"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it. Yeah." Stiles glances at Zoey before walking around her; making Zoey keep a close eye on Cora.
"I don't know. There's something different about him now." Cora stares into one place, leaning her hands on the table, Stiles pacing around in front of Zoey.
"He wasn't like this when I knew him."
"What was he like?" Zoey asks, taking a step in.
The threes heads turn, hearing someone's foot steps coming down the stairs.
Zoey's not surprised that it's Peter.
"A lot like Scott, actually." Peter says, walking down the stairs.
"A lot like most teenagers. Unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic..."
Zoey sighs softly, turning ever so slightly; Stiles following her actions.
"Tolerable really only to other teenagers."
"And so what happened? What changed him?" Zoey asks.
"Well, the same thing that changes a lot of young men."
Zoey furrows her eyebrows together, glancing at Stiles.
"A girl." Peter smiles slightly at the teens.
"Oh," Zoey replies, eyes widening slightly.
"You're telling us some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?"
Stiles' expression is a little like Zoey's. Confused and a little frustrated.
"Do you remember Derek before he was an alpha and had blue eyes?" Peter leans his hands on the table, looking towards Cora.
"Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?" Peter's head turns back to Stiles and Zoey.
Stiles shakes his head, "I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing."
"If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes."
✠
"Did you bring him?" The man asks as Allison opens the door of his room.
A second later, Scott walks in, standing by Allison.
Gerard turns his wheel chair around to look at the teens in his room.
"Come in, Scott," Gerard says. "And give an old man a little something for his pain."
Gerard pulls his sleeve up, facing Scott and Allison.
"You don't have to do this." Allison whispers to Scott.
"If you want me to talk, this is how it's gonna happen." Gerard raises his voice a little.
Scott takes steps towards him as Gerard looks up at him, "If I do this, you tell us everything you know. Everything."
Gerard lets a growl out at him, turning his head slightly.
Scott's arm slowly reaches out for his, grasping it in his hands, taking away the pain Gerard had.
Black liquid begins to fill his veins, going up to his neck; Scott groaning out in pain as his eyes turn a brilliant gold and letting out a pained moan.
✠
Ticking noises start as she starts to play her cello.
Then, she hears the sound of boys playing basketball a few steps away from the room she's in.
She doesn't let it bother her, so she kept trying to practice.
The ticking, her playing the cello, and the guys still continue.
She lets out a sigh, putting down the bow.
"What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?" One of the boys ask as she makes her way out of the room.
She steps out of the room, walking towards the doors; seeing guys playing with a basketball in the hall.
"Hey, do you guys mind?" She asks the guys; making them turn their heads towards her.
"I'm trying to practice." She says and the guys let a "ooh!" out. "How do you know we're trying to practice here, too?" One of them asks.
"Yeah, well, see, I was practicing in the music room, and I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes place in the gym."
"Well I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes place anywhere you got a basketball." They boy says and the others behind him let out laughs.
The boy takes steps towards her as he dribbles the ball and she rolls her eyes.
"See?" The boy asks, standing in front of her.
The girl turns around, only to be stopped by the boys voice, "Hey, hold on, hold on."
"If you get the ball from me, maybe I'll stop."
The girl turns around, "Come on," The guy encourages and dribbles the ball.
"It'll be easy."
The girl watches him carefully and attempts to take the ball away from him.
The boys behind him let out laughs again at her failed attempt.
She tries again as he continues to dribble the ball and not let her get the ball from him.
The boy runs past her and back, making her even more frustrated.
He dribbles it in between his legs, her staring at him, giving up.
She shakes her head and turns around, not impressed at his childness.
The boys laugh, including him, as she makes her way back to the music room, going back to practice.
"Come on, lover boy." The boys turn around, walking away.
The boy stays and looks at the music room doors, feeling a tad guilty.
She plays her cello, looking at the music sheets in front of her.
"Sorry about that." He interrupts.
She looks at him as he stands by the door way, "Whatever." She flips her hair back.
"Hey, what's your name?" He asks, walking into the music room. "I'm trying to practice, if you didn't notice."
"Okay. I'll just leave you alone."
She looks back at her music sheets, attempting to play but hears his voice again.
"After you tell me your name."
"All right. I'll tell you my name," she starts. "If you can play one instrument in this room." She challenges.
"One?" He asks, pointing to corner where the instruments are. "Just one."
"Any of them?"
She nods, looking at him. He makes his way to the shelf of instruments, looking at all of them.
She looks down, then back at him. She sees him make his way back to her, hiding the instrument he has behind his back.
He reveals a triangle, a smirk on his face as he taps the triangle.
She lets out a small huff, looking away from him. "My name is Paige."
He smiles in satisfaction.
"Now please go, so I can practice." Paige nods a little towards the music sheets.
"My name's-" he starts but gets interrupted by her. "I know who you are." She looks at him, annoyance clearly in her voice.
Derek's eyebrows raise as he walks away from her, still holding the triangle in his hands.
✠
"They found a third body?" Gerard asks.
"Another doctor, right after Scott found Deaton." Allison says, standing by the window.
"Right after? Almost like it was expected he'd survive."
Scott rubs his pained hand, looking up at Gerard.
"What's the supposed to mean?" Scott asks, putting his hands down.
"How do you know your Dark Druid isn't your wise veterinarian himself?" Gerard looks at Scott. "Maybe he knew you'd find him."
Scott looks over at Allison, who's eyebrows are also furrowed together.
"Maybe he planned it that way."
"He would never let anyone innocent die." Scott says. "Don't be so sure. You'd be surprised how far some people would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion."
"Or someone like you?" Allison asks sarcastically.
Gerard lets out a laugh at Allison's remark, "I don't go easily, though, do I?"
Gerard brings a tissue to his mouth, spitting out a black substance.
"You know, Scott, you've made me something of a celebrity here. I'm a medical mystery. The cancer is now virtually undetectable, but the doctors have no clue why my body keeps producing and ejecting this bizarre black fluid."
Gerard throws away the tissue he was using as Scott talks, "I did what you wanted me to do. Tell us how to beat him."
Gerard lets out a scoff, "You can't. I've tried."
Allison glares at him, "Then this is a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything."
Allison begins to walk towards Scott, past Gerard. "Sorry you had to do this. Let's go."
Scott looks up at her, watching her walk past him. "Wait. I can tell you one thing."
Allison stops her tracks as she stops by the door.
"Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but he's not always blind."
Allison and Scott turn to face him again, Scott's face confused, as well as Allison's.
✠
"Okay, so if Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he? How old were you?" Stiles asks as Zoey sits on the table, Cora across from Stiles.
"How old are you now?" Stiles asks again.
"Jesus Christ, Stiles." Zoey mumbles.
"Not as young as we could have been, but not as old as you might think."
Zoey raises her hands, furrowing her eyebrows; clearly confused.
"Okay, that was frustratingly vague." Zoey says.
"How old are you?" Stiles asks Cora.
"I'm seventeen," Cora replies nonchalantly. "See, that's an answer. That's how we answer people."
"Well, seventeen how you'd measure in years." Cora remarks and Zoey lets out a laugh.
"All right, I'm just gonna drop it. What happened to Derek and that cello girl?"
"What do you think happened?" Peter asks. "They're teenagers. One minute, it's "I hate you, don't talk to me." The next, it's frantic groping in any dark corner hey could manage to find themselves alone in for five minutes." Peter replies.
Derek and Paige run up a hill towards a abandoned distillery.
"Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills."
Derek opens the door and the two teens walk in; Paige turning around to face him as him and her let out a little laugh.
Paige and Derek's lips meet, kissing passionately.
"All right, hold up, how do you know all this? You just said that they were alone." Zoey remarks.
"Back then, I wasn't just Derek's uncle. I was his best friend. His closest confidante. That's how I know." Peter replies to Zoey, leaning over and resting his elbows on his knees.
Paige then pulls away from Derek, letting out a breath and looking down.
"What?" Derek asks, looking at her in concern. "Why do you like me?"
Derek's expression then turns into confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why do you like me?" Paige asks again, looking up at him.
"Why do you think I like you?" Derek asks. "Honestly, I think, at first, you liked me because I didn't like you." Paige replies.
"So now you're worried that now that I know you like me that I'm gonna stop liking you?" Derek asks, smiling a little at her.
"Not worried." Paige shakes her head. "Just wondering when."
"What if I never stop liking you?" He asks. Paige and himself move a little closer to each other, but him stopping as his sense of smell smells something.
"What?" Paige asks. "Did you hear something?"
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Something happened here," he says as he looks at the rope tied from something hanging from the ceiling.
"What do you mean?" She glances at the rope, then back at him. "I caught a scent. It's blood."
Derek then hears something from outside, turning around towards the doorway.
"All right, now I definitely heard something."
Derek grabs her hand gently, "Derek, I don't hear anything."
"We have to go. Come on. Let's go."
Derek then pulls her by her hand, walking out the back as a pack of alphas make their way to the distillery.
Peter Hale looks behind him, hiding behind something as he hides behind it.
The whole pack walks in, everyone glancing around as Ennis looks up at the rope.
"There. You see it?" Ennis asks. "They dragged him here, an arrow in his throat, and they hung him and cut him in half."
Everyone glanced at the rope then back at Ennis, "They killed on of ours."
"One of yours." Kali corrects. "Why should I care about one of your pack?"
Then a girl with a camouflage jacket and pink shirt steps in, "'Cause the hunters don't discern packs. Especially the Argents."
All of them look at her as she looks at everyone.
"But they do discern motive." Deucalion says, looking up at the rope. "Ennis, why did they kill him?"
"Because your young, naïve beta killed one of them." A guy steps in from beside Deucalion, walking towards Ennis; who keeps his eyes on him.
"Marco." Deucalion calls out. "He killed a hunter, didn't he?" Marco asks Ennis.
"Accidentally." Ennis says, moving closer towards Marco.
"They were all there... Ennis, Kali, Deucalion." Gerard says. "Each with their packs."
Gerard sits in his wheelchair as Scott and Allison sit in chairs, in front of Gerard.
"Before they'd kill them all and decided to form their little all-star team." Gerard continues, looking around.
"But they didn't all live here, did they?" Allison asks her grandfather.
"No, but there was an exceptionally powerful alpha who did live here." Gerard answers. "She had a capacity to shape-shift that was rare among her kind. That made her something of a leader, the kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance."
Allison and Scott listen carefully to what Gerard's saying.
A wolf howl was heard as all werewolves turn their head to the entrance, seeing a dark-furred werewolf running towards the doors.
Then everyone moves to the back, Deucalion the only one standing in place.
The black werewolf makes its entrance as she turns back into human, revealing a beautiful woman.
"Talia Hale."
The girl with the camouflage jacket walks towards her with a woolen jacket-type, draping it over Talia's body.
✠
As Peter Hale listens to what Talia's saying, "It's his right. We're not the only people to adhere to rituals thousands of years old."
"Which is no excuse for not evolving." Deucalion says. "They ripped his claws right out of his fingers. How is that evolving? Useless debate."
Ennis says and walks past Deucalion and Talia, "I'm done with it."
Everyone watches Ennis' movements, making his way to the wall of the distillery.
"Ennis, don't." Deucalion says as Ennis puts his claws on the wall, his breathing gone heavy. "Don't make us part of a historical cliché. With two such powers, it never ends at an eye for an eye. A skirmish becomes a war. Murder becomes a massacre. And we end up no better than our enemies."
Ennis then drags his claws against the wall, drawing some sort of swirl with his claws as it makes a screeching noise. Sparks also spark as he stops, letting out a growl.
Talia lets out a sigh, Deucalion looking away.
Deucalion, Ennis and Talia make eye contact before Ennis leaves.
Peter faces the window, drawing the same exact thing on the window, leaving a mark.
"Our mark for vendetta."
"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to, like, a whole new level, dont you?" Stiles asks as he has his hands together, resting his elbows on the table as Cora sits on the other side, sitting straight.
"It's not just revenge." Cora says, looking away from Peter. "Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family. It's like you lose a limb."
"They wouldn't even let him see the body." Peter says.
As the police push the doors open to the Beacon Hills hospital, Stilinski walks in, "Somebody called for a..."
Stilinski stops in mid sentence as everyone moves out of his way. Stilinski sees Ennis holding onto a doctors shirt.
"Whoa." Stilinski says. "I want his body."
People around them let out a gasp as Ennis makes his way towards Stilinski.
"It belongs to me. Both halves." Ennis says, making Stilinski grip onto his gun.
"First off," Stilinski says. "You need to step back." He says as he pushes at Ennis' chest. "I'm just a deputy. I do what I'm told."
Ennis' shoulders go down a little, keeping his eyes on him.
"And right now, they're telling me there's a young man who was shot in the throat with an arrow and literally cut in half. This is a homicide investigation. Second, no matter how close you were, you're not related."
"He was family to me." Ennis says.
"I don't get it." Zoey says. "What does this have to do with Derek?"
"Everything." Peter replies, looking back at the three teenagers. "It's never just a single moment. It's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, I saw a profound loss. Derek saw something different." Peter walks towards the three, leaning his hands on the table.
"He saw opportunity." Peter says. "Opportunity to do what?" Stiles asks. "To always be with her."
"Her? As in Paige?" Zoey asks as Peter nods in response.
Derek leans against the music doors, watching and listening to Paige play her cello.
Paige lets a smile form on her face, stopping to say something. "What are you staring at?"
"I'm not staring." Derek shakes his head at her. "I'm listening."
Derek and Paige state at each other, "Am I distracting you?"
"No, I've got laser-like focus." Paige shakes her head. "You sure about that?"
Derek walks towards her as she plays the cello, him dropping his bag down.
Paige tries her best to keep playing as he stands behind her, stroking her arm that's holding the instrument.
Derek then leans down, carefully watching her hand skillfully plays her cello. He then moves her hair to the side, leaning down so his lips touch her ear. His bottom lip glides up her ear, making her move her head away.
Derek smiles at her reactions. "I hate you." She looks back at him with a small smile.
"No, you don't." Derek shakes his head. "You love me."
Derek moves beside her, "Hate you." Paige corrects him.
"You love me?" Derek says slowly. Paige nods, looking at him.
Derek then leans in quickly, kissing her lips gently.
"The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it, thinking about it all night, all day. Always on his mind."
Derek watches Paige study, drinking on his drink as his friends converse.
"Why does she eat alone?" Peter asks Derek as he sits across from him. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking out for my favorite nephew, making sure no one has a crossbow aimed at your throat." Peter nods towards his throat.
"I could get you banned from school grounds." Derek says. "You know that, right?"
"No one would ban me from anywhere. I'm too good looking." Peter says. "Doesn't she have any friends?"
"A few. But she likes to study during lunch. And I kind of just don't think she likes my friends."
"No one should like your friends." Peter says, grabbing a Reese's package from Derek's tray. "They're bunch of hormonal half-wits."
Derek looks at him, then sees him look over at Paige. "But that one over there, she's perfect for you. And perfect combinations are rare in an imperfect world."
Derek then stands up, only to be stopped by Peter's voice. "It would worry me too, though. I'd probably be thinking about it all the time."
"Thinking about what?" Derek asks. "Her finding out."
Peter looks up at Derek, making Derek look at him. "You've thought that through, right?" Peter asks. "You know it always happens. One minute, you're in this blissful teen romance, and next, she sees fangs, glowing eyes, claws."
"She doesn't have to find out." Derek says. "But they always do. Especially when they're perfect for you." Derek looks up at Paige. "There's really only one way to make sure you'll always be together."
Peter looks over at Paige, "Turn her."
Paige then looks over at Derek with a smile on her face.
"I kept telling him not to do it. Every day the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers. I bet he even blames me." Peter says. "He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."
"I have the perfect idea," Peter says. "Go away." Derek says.
"Laura told you about the packs being here, right? There are more alphas than I've ever seen in one place. Your mother would never do it." Peter shakes his head. "And these packs won't be here much longer. The time to do it is now. One little bite, and she never gets sick again. She stays younger, more beautiful. Think how she'll be able to protect herself. Derek," Peter whispers. "The bite.."
Peter leans in more, continuing. "It's a gift."
________________________
hi it's literally almost 2:30am and I just finished this in the matter of 2 days. go me.
but chap. 8 is up so!!
this is more than 3,700+ words...
and, btw, ill finish the episode in the next chapter again.
im so tired jesus but goodnight/morning!!!
ps. ill edit it when i wake up or something.
... :)