Casey.
The same person who called Piers and told him that I was sleeping over at their house.
Was this some kind of sick joke? Because if so, I wasn't laughing.
This person knew so much about me, yet I knew nothing about them.
The part about them always being with me- That had to be metaphorical, right?
But if it was metaphorical, how could they have known I snuck away to the lacrosse meet?
The piece of paper I'm holding shakes as result of my shaking hands. I try to keep my heart rate to a minimum so that I wouldn't attract attention from Derek or Isaac, but it was becoming increasingly hard. I needed to get out of here, I needed to do something. I needed to think.
If the person just dropped this off, chances are, they're still here. And if they're still here, maybe going outside isn't the smartest thing to do. If this person was with us on the bus ride to go to the meet, they also had to be from the high school, and the only people at the high school tonight who may have been able to destroy those cameras were us. This was probably just a prank from one of my friends. That's all it was.
With a shaky breath I fold and pocket the note. I grab the garbage bag silently and sneak out of the loft and into the open. I'm met with the sounds of crickets and passing cars. I knew I had to do this quick, or Derek and Isaac would grow suspicious of my absence.
I walk around the back where the dumpsters were. The dim light poles above me flicker on and off, only making this whole thing creepier. I look around timidly before I opened the dumpster and tossed the bag of cameras into it. I pull the note from my pocket and read it over once more. Should I really trash this?
I eventually come to the conclusion that I shouldn't. If this is real and I need to build a stalking case up because of this person, this could be evidence.
Deep down, I know that wasn't my reason for keeping it. I was intrigued. Something in me couldn't throw the note away, no matter how creepy and stalkerish it was.
So, I pocket it once more and walk as casually as I can into Derek's loft, shutting the door and locking it behind me. I walk up behind Isaac and Derek, looking down at Cora. Her lips dripped with blood when she coughed, her eyes flickering between open and shut every few seconds. Derek held his fist up to his mouth with tears in his eyes as he watched his sister struggle to hold on.
"She's dying, isn't she?" Isaac asks.
"I don't know."
"So what are you gonna do?" Isaac asks again, his voice getting a bit meaner this time around.
"I don't know."
"Wanna figure something out?" Isaac scoffs, looking to Derek in disbelief, "Because while they were out there trying to keep people from being killed, you were in here rolling around in the sheets with the actual killer!"
Derek doesn't say anything. It's now that I finally see Isaac crack. For the first time in forever, Isaac cracks.
"Do you know how many people she's killed?" He yells out, holding back tears. "Erica and Boyd are dead, Cora is dying, and you are doing NOTHING!"
Derek stays still, not even bothering to blink. I sniff and cover my face with my hands, his words provoking something in me.
"Why'd you do this to us, Derek?" Isaac mutters with a hopeless chuckle, leaning in closer to him, "Was it all about power? Were you bored? Lonely?"
After a few seconds, Derek replies with a small "Maybe."
I laugh and shake my head bitterly, about ready to kick his head in right now. I completely agreed with Isaac. We should be doing something right now instead of crying- We should be going to find the only person who can help us save the people we love, but instead, we're here, doing nothing. Isaac's jaw clenches angrily and he grabs my hand, walking towards the doors.
"I promised Cora I wouldn't leave," Derek stops us, "I'll help the others when I find out how to help her."
"THERE'S NO TIME!" I scream at him, my voice giving out.
"And the full moon's coming, the sheriff and Melissa are going to be dead, so we're going to try to help them." Isaac adds angrily, "You can sit here and perfect the art of doing nothing."
▲▼
For whatever reason, Chris speculated that Jennifer may have brought her victims to the memorial bank, so that's where we went. I wasn't too sure on his reasoning behind coming here, but it was a theory nevertheless and we needed to take each one we had into consideration.
Allison, Isaac, Chris, and I all walk through the vault door, memories flooding back to me. On the back wall, I notice a spot of my dried blood from when Boyd and Cora attacked us on the full moon. I sigh deeply, searching around the room for signs of anyone.
"It's empty," Allison states.
"Be careful anyway," Chris speaks quietly. He whips out a rod and presses a button, electrifying it.
Isaac gives him a weird look. "I thought you only used that on werewolves?"
Chris stops walking and nods slowly. "I do."
He suddenly turns around and presses it to both of our stomachs, our bodies shooting up with electricity. We both fall and spasm on the ground, coughing and groaning, or muscles straining. Chris grabs Allison's wrist and handcuffs her to the wall.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"I'm sorry," Chris says sincerely, "But you have to trust me on this."
I choke out a groan and find the strength to prop myself up against the wall. Chris walks to the middle of the room and pulls his gun out, looking to the opening of the vault. He tosses the gun off to the side, worry laced all over his features.
Jennifer enters the room, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Now this is a sacrifice."
With that, she turns into her true self. The ugly darach with the slashed face. She roared at us and charged towards Chris, both of them disappearing as soon as their skin made contact.
Chris willingly gave himself up to her.
We're all completely silent for a solid minute before the soft crying of Allison could be heard throughout the room. I lean on my knees and watch as Isaac gets up to his feet, shaking out the weird feeling that was left from being electrocuted. He walks over to Allison and grabs hold of her handcuffs, ripping them off of her wrist.
She begins to fall forward and Isaac latches onto her, supporting her upwards.
"Why did he do that?" She cries, looking down at the ground.
"I don't know," Isaac whispers, "We need to go, okay? We need help-"
Allison latches on tightly to his arm with no intention of letting go any time soon.
"Allison," He lightly shakes her, making her look up at him. "Allison, we have to go."
"They're all gonna die," She cries, "Aren't they?"
His eyes roam her face, just as hers did his. It was similar to the way Isaac's eyes roamed my features in his car in the Dairy Queen's parking lot that one night- The night where we laid all of our cards on the table.
He brings her into a hug and huffs out, wrapping his arm around her head protectively. I look down at the ground, my heart beginning to beat out of my chest. I can't be here anymore, not when my boyfriend is looking at her like this. Not when my boyfriend is hugging her like this. I push off from the floor and run out of the room, neither of them caring enough to run after me.
I exit through the hole that Derek punched through that night. Climbing down the ladder on the side of the building, I lost my footing and fell on my backside, knocking the wind out of myself. I gasp for air and cough, arching my back. Go me.
Once I'm fine I get up and look at where I was. The familiar alleyway was dark and creepy, sending shivers up my skin. Lifting my head up to look back at the hole, it was obvious that those two weren't choosing to follow me anytime soon. I hug myself, not able to get their looks out of my face. I couldn't deny being the jealous girlfriend anymore. I was beyond jealous. I was furious. He had been skipping out on my calls, texts, not hanging out with me as much, all because he was always so busy with Allison.
I sniff and laugh to myself, looking up at the sky.
"God, you're so fucking pathetic, Carmen," I cry into my sleeve, biting down on my lip to prevent from being too loud. I wipe my face clear and sigh, beginning to walk away when a piece of paper flies my way and attaches itself to my arm. I groan internally because of the wind and pulling it away, expecting it to be some stupid news article or something, but it was more than I ever bargained for.
Carmen,
Sucks being the third wheel, doesn't it?
I'm sorry about what happened in there.
And Im truly sorry for what's about to happen.
Sincerely,
Casey
My eyes go wide at the writing. What did this mean? How was this person able to give me these notes?
I open my mouth to scream Isaac's name, but before I can, all that's visible to me is someone's arm before I'm hit over the head with something and I fall to the ground, unconscious.
▲▼
I blink rapidly at the contrast of the harsh light on my eyes compared to the sleeping darkness I was just engulfed in. My headache rushes in as soon as I sit up, taking in my surroundings. I was in the familiar loft, Isaac sat across from me on the other couch parallel to the one I was on. It was a relief to not see Allison stuck to his side for once.
I touch the back of my head and wince at the contact. When I take it away, blood covers my fingertips. I sigh and look around for Derek. That's when I notice that the loft seemed a lot emptier than usual.
With furrowed eyebrows I begin to sit up, Isaac immediately rushing to my side to sit me back down.
"You need to rest," Isaac orders, looking to me sternly. "You took a big hit last night."
I notice that instead of hugging me or kissing me like he usually would, he merely ordered me to sit down and rest. He looks at me sadly and takes a seat next to me.
"Then how did I . . What happened last night?" I whisper.
"Well, in short," Isaac kicks back in his seat, "We found out that she was keeping them at the nemeton. Allison, Scott, and Stiles did the ice water memory thing, found them somehow . . Scott's a true alpha, but we already knew that . . Jennifer died and we saved the parents, that whole process was stupidly long, but we did it. I'm in Scott's pack now . . Kali is dead-"
"What?" I furrow my eyebrows, turning to face the dirty blonde. "You're in Scott's pack? Why?"
Derek walks down the spiral staircase of the loft along with Cora. Both held large bags in their hands, neutral looks on their faces. Derek nods me over and Isaac sighs, standing up with me. I walk over to him and give him a strange look, "What's this all about . .?"
"We're moving to Mexico," He says simply, making my eyes go wide.
"Wait, what?!"
"I figured it's safer for us there." He sighs upon seeing my broken expression. "I need to protect my sister and myself."
I gulp and nod, looking down at my shoes. "I understand, this is just so sudden. I wish you guys the best, I'll miss you every day."
Another person in my life, gone.
"I have to tell you something, Carmen." Derek suddenly changes the subject, his demeanor completely switching. He grabs hold of my arm and drags me off to a corner of the room, leaning in to whisper to me. "You're the only person I'm telling this, but I'll be back. I swear, I'll be back."
With glazed eyes I nod and reach up to hug him. He returns the gesture effortlessly and pulls away, his stern gaze still left on his face.
"I need you to stay away from Casey."
My eyes go wide and I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. How did he know about this?
"I need you to promise me that you'll stay away from him," He grabs onto my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "No matter what they say to you, you cannot listen to them. I knew him in high school and I thought I'd never see him again. He's the one who convinced me to turn my first love, and she ended up dying. He knew she would. They'll use you for what you are and then throw you to the side like garbage, and you can't believe them."
"Who is they?" I ask, trying to take all of this information in at once.
His jaw clenches and he gulps, "I don't know exactly. But I know that their intentions are anything but good. I already told Scott everything he needs to know about the situation so that if Casey tries anything, he'll know."
I nod slowly and he brings me into another tight hug, rocking me back and forth. "I'll come back for you, I swear I will. I'm going to miss you so much."
I sniff and pull away again, wiping away at the tears on my face. He pulls an envelope out from his pocket and hands it to me. Again, it had my name written in sharpie on it with the smiley face. I take it from his hands and Isaac leads us all to the front doors of the loft.
"Make the smart choice." Derek tells me before him and Cora leave out of the door. Out of my life, for however long they decided to be.
"What does he mean?" Isaac asks.
I shrug, examining the envelope in my hands. My answer to him was truthful. I genuinely had no idea what was going on. Apparently my stalker was very real and went to highschool with Derek, meaning that this definitely wasn't a prank and that I should be very worried. He told me to make the smart choice, but what choice was there to make?
I timidly open the envelope and pull out the familiar looseleaf paper, this note longer than all of the others.
Carmen,
Congratulations on this new chapter of your life. No more alphas to deal with, no more kanimas, no more anything. You're completely scot free to live your life as a normal teenager right now. You deserve it.
I've requested for Derek to give you this letter himself. Obviously he wasn't too happy to see me- I'm sure he told you the whole story about his first love, bla bla. It's all bullshit. He paints me as a monster, but I'm really not that terrible. I just do things for the greater good of everyone, I'm sure you understand.
But, Derek is gone now. Off to start his own new chapter. That means, you can no longer be a part of Derek's pack. Isaac let this happen naturally; Joined Scott's pack. He was in it long before Derek even announced that he was leaving, he just didn't know. You, for some reason, won't succumb to Scott's pack. It's strange.
You're an omega now, Carmen. And everyone knows that omegas don't last long, especially not in Beacon Hills.
Simply put, you'll be dead in no time.
I wouldn't say you have anything to worry about right now, though. I've been with you this whole time. I know what you're capable of, and I want you. WE want you.
Don't get your panties in a bunch, it's really not that big of a deal. Honestly, a lot of this is just . . Scare tactics, you know? We won't hurt you. If anything, I've been you're guardian angel through all of this.
By the way, you're welcome for bringing you back to the loft last night.
This will all be over soon, but at the same time, this is only the beginning. And I can't wait for our journey together. This will be the last note you'll receive from me, as I presume it won't be long until we 'properly' meet. Last time we met was a disaster, don't you think? Though, that was my fault. My apologies.
Whatever. For now, go back to living your life, and don't worry about any of this. The time will come when it comes. And I can't wait until it does.
Sincerely,
Casey