Derek Hale.
Ariel didn't really know how she felt about him. He was hot, that was for sure. She was totally into that whole leather jacket, stubble, tattooed back package. But on the inside, she wasn't sure he was so attractive.
Sure, he'd had a bad life. His family had been burnt to the crisp when he was about 16- that's something no one ever should have had to go through. He lived in the shell of his old house, surrounded by the memories of his family who had died there.
That gave him kind of the right to be a little of an antisocial dick. Ariel was sure she would do the same if her family died. But Derek was a big antisocial dick. He was an enigma and she knew first hand how rude he could be. Hell, he'd just kissed her very violently, without even asking! Yet there was something about him that convinced her that he was more than an angry fur ball.
That didn't matter though, did it? He was dead. Maybe. Most likely. Even if she didn't like the guy, even if he had just kissed the hell out of her without any warning, she wouldn't wish death upon him. She also wouldn't wish him the legacy of being known as a fugitive.
Her brother apparently wasn't as empathetic as her.
"Are you freaking kidding me? Derek is your scapegoat?" Ariel hissed, smacking her brother up side the head. "You idiot!"
"Yeah, nicely done." Stiles whispered sarcastically. The three were huddled on the far side of the cafeteria, where the teenagers had holed up after the alpha had crashed through the ceiling. Lydia, Jackson and Allison were standing on the other side, staring angrily at the three. They weren't exactly happy with them, having furtively avoided their questions and told them the older guy who they sometimes hung out with was chasing them through the school.
"I didn't know what to say." Scott cried. "I had to say something."
"How about saying you don't know???" Ariel ran a hand through her hair angrily.
"If he's dead it doesn't really matter, right?" Scott moaned when he thought it through. "Except if he's not."
"Why do you care about that evil, evil man, Ariel?" Stiles frowned protectively. "He just attacked your face and it was profoundly disgusting."
"That doesn't mean we should pin murders on him! AGAIN!" Ariel whisper shouted.
"Oh my god, I totally just bit her head off." Scott ignored the two and looked mournfully over towards Allison, who he had snapped at earlier. Ariel rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might fall out of her head.
"And she'll totally get over it." Stiles sighed at his best friends total incapacity for anything but puppy love. "Bigger issues at hand here, like how do we get out of here alive?"
"If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it already." Ariel shook her head. "This is a game of cat and mouse to him. He wants something."
"It's like he's cornering us or something." Scott nodded.
"So what, he wants to eat us all at the same time?"
"No." Scott looked off thoughtfully at Stiles's question. "Derek said it wants revenge."
"Against who?" Ariel sighed. "Me? Because I kissed Derek?"
"I don't think so. He wouldn't hurt you. Allison family?"
"Maybe that's what the text was about." Stiles nodded. "Someone had to send it."
"Okay, assheads!" Jacksons strode forward, done with the threes evasiveness. "New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?" Stiles bristled and Ariel put a comforting hand on his shoulder before glaring at Jackson.
"He's right." Scott whispered. "Tell him the truth if you have to, just call him."
"I'm not watching my dad get eaten alive." Stiles refused.
"Alright, give me the phone." Jackson reached for Stiles, only for the boy to whip around and punch him full force in the jaw. Jackson reeled backwards, his hand clutching his face as he fell to the ground. He splayed out dramatically, looking every part a theater kid who just got play punched. Allison immediately rushed forward, caressing his jaw.
"Jackson! Are you okay?" Ariel noticed Lydia looking at the scene with purses lips, artfully containing her jealousy behind an arched eyebrow. Scott, on the other hand, was full on glowering. "Hey, are you okay?" Allison sent a glare at Stiles, who reluctantly pulled out his phone.
"Of course he's alright." Ariel snorted. "He's just acting like a baby." Jackson glared and Allison made a move to say something but fell silent as Stiles began to talk into his phone.
"Dad, hey, it's me. And it's your voicemail." Stiles sighed unhappily. "Look, I need you to call me back. Like right now." The barricade of chairs and tables began to shake as the alpha threw itself at the door. The whole cafeteria shook at the force of his blows and Ariel almost cried. "We're at the school, okay? We're at the school!" Stiles hung up the phone and they huddled together, taking steps away from the shaking door.
"Oh god." Lydia muttered almost hysterically. "Oh my god."
"The kitchen." Ariel blurted, pointing towards the room. "The door out leads to the stairs."
"Which only goes up." Stiles cringed at another loud smash.
"Up is better than here." The barricade toppled and they took off, sprinting through the kitchen. Ariel took the stairs two at a time, extremely thankful that she had dumped her heels. They made it upstairs, with Scott directing them quickly into an abandoned classroom.
It was Harris's room, Ariel noted with a grimace. There was no more fitting place to get murdered than chemistry. "It all leads back to Harris. That is one shady aardvark." Ariel whispered to herself.
"Jackson." Stiles panted. "How many people can fit in your car?"
"Five, if someone squeezes on someone's lap." The boy in question looked over.
"Well that's fucking great because there's SIX of us." Ariel swore. "Whatever, I'll ride on the roof if I had to, we just need to get out of here."
"There's no getting out without drawing attention." Scott shook his head mournfully.
"What about this?" Stiles motioned to the door on the far side of the black board. "This leads to the roof. We can go down the fire escape to the parking lot in like, seconds."
"That's a deadbolt." Scott sighed. "The janitor has the key."
"You mean his body has it." Ariel dragged Scott and Stiles away from the group, speaking quietly. "Why don't we just break it?"
"That'll raise too many questions."
"Well yeah but that's better than being dead." She hissed.
"No, I can find the body." Her brother shook his head. "I can find him by scent, by blood."
"Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly horrible idea." Stiles snarked. "What else you got?"
"I'm getting the key." Scott announced louder. Allison's face automatically shifted from worry to disbelief and Ariel cringed as the girl's frustration began to show.
"Are you serious??"
"Well, it's the best plan."
"Um no it's not." Ariel muttered under her breath. "Just break the damn thing."
"Someone has to get the key if he want to get out of here." Her brother ignored her.
"You can't go out there unarmed." Allison was near hysteric at the thought of her boyfriend going out to face a murderer. In an effort to calm her, Scott grabbed blindly around for a weapon.
He came up with a pointer, complete with a hand at the end. When he only received incredibly unimpressed looks, he set it down. "Well, its better than nothing."
"There's gotta be something else."
"There is." Lydia stepped forward confidently, speaking up for what seemed like the first time that evening.
"What are we gonna do? Throw acid on him?" Stiles muttered sarcastically.
"No. Like a fire bomb." Lydia shrugged primly. "In there is everything you need to make a self igniting Molotov cocktail."
The room fell quiet, everyone staring at her with wide eyes as she offered some proof of her hidden genius. "A self igniting...." Stiles was dumbfounded.
"Molotov cocktail." Lydia backtracked elegantly. "What, I read it some where?"
As she and Jackson set to work breaking glass and mixing chemicals, Ariel pulled her brother aside. "I'm coming with you."
"No you're not." Scott shook his head. "It's too dangerous-"
"He won't hurt me!" Ariel hissed. "I'm his mate!"
"Which is all the more reason you have to stay here!" Her brother reasoned. "You need to protect them while I'm gone."
"Okay then how about I go find the janitor and you-"
"Ariel you know you can't fight him out there." Scott shook his head. "I have to protect you. I have to protect all of us." He gestured to the room. "That's why I have to go, and only me."
"But..." Ariel gave up, instead wrapping her brother in a tight hug. "Be safe." She whispered. "I can't lose you, especially not to him."
"I'll be safe." Scott offered her a reassuring smile. "I promise."
But as he ventured off into the dark school, Ariel couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't going to be safe at all.