20. | JAILBREAK.
( shape-shifted, part two )
Astrid didn't have to be a werewolf to sense the bitter emotions that the inhabitants of the home had left behind. Her first impression of the home wasn't negative just because of the crime scene tape but because of the inside. Besides the misplaced furniture and broken glass on the floor being a red flag, the house didn't seem inviting. There were no pictures on the walls of the family, only random collector's items. The color scheme was either cold and seemed to suck the life out of everything or just plain boring.
But the top floor was nothing compared to the basement. There was a lock on the door (that Derek had already broken) and that was when she had to mentally prepare herself for what she would see next. She was the second person to go down the stairs, still not sure why she had been told to come along but her curiosity was slowly besting her. It was dark and damp down there but that wasn't a problem for the brunette. She had very good vision and seeing in the dark had never been an issue for her.
Except that she didn't want to see what was down there. It looked like a modernized medieval torture room; there were at least three different bloody hammers strewn around the floor, a clown was sitting in a chair in the corner and the entire room looked as if it had been ransacked. As she walked around, Astrid could make out faint scratches in the wall. Just imagining the sound and the pain made her recoil and bite down in discomfort. But the worst of it was the freezer on the wall closest to the stairs.
Scott had opened it and the girl walked over in order to get a look inside. It was empty, as expected, and there were more scratches. Like, dozens more scratches. These ones weren't just a carving either, they were long red streaks and they were all over the freezer. On the lid and on all four sides of where Isaac would have been sitting at. Hell, she figured there were probably some on the floor too.
By then it had become too much and Astrid pushed past Derek to head back upstairs and wait outside of the house. It's not like she would miss anything important anyways; the trip was just a reason for Derek to teach Scott some more things about being a werewolf. Even if she was supposed to gain something from the ordeal, she couldn't handle being in that house any longer. Imagining what Isaac's dad had done to him for however long made her want to vomit.
Astrid didn't know how long she had been outside when Derek finally joined her. She didn't particularly care but it did make her wonder how long she was capable of zoning out. That may be a useful skill for her in the future.
"You're very squeamish." she didn't turn around to face the werewolf, only stood there with her hands in her pockets.
"Sorry that the image of someone getting abused doesn't sit well with me."
She didn't need to look at the man to know that he was shooting daggers at her from his eyes. But she was being brutally honest - that's just how she was.
"Your boyfriend is coming to get us in a minute." he suddenly said, making her cheeks heat up.
"He's not my..." she grunted and dug her foot into the sidewalk. "I don't even like guys."
"And yet your heartbeat spikes when someone mentions him. And I can smell your crush from a mile away."
She turned to face him slightly and raised an eyebrow. "You stretch before that reach?"
Derek looked at her confusedly, before simply shaking his head at the teenager. Astrid couldn't help but bite her lip as she thought about the situation. She'd be lying if she said that she hadn't been stressing over the situation ever since she came to terms with the fact that she felt something for a guy. Well, if you could call screaming into a pillow 'coming to terms' and researching if it was normal.
Of course Astrid knew that bisexuality was a thing, but she thought it was something that you just always knew. Like she had always known she liked girls. Apparently it wasn't and the sixteen-year-old felt very stupid and very confused.
But that was two weeks ago and she had calmed down since then. She had shoved that disgusting feeling of having her heart be pulled whenever she saw him or came near him. And the jealousy that made itself present whenever Lydia was mentioned.
Astrid wiped away those thoughts when the familiar blue Jeep pulled up to the curb, the tires barely missing it. She smiled at Stiles, who waited on the other two people to get into the car, before climbing into the backseat. Derek followed and got into the passenger side and she didn't miss the look that he gave the werewolf.
"I really wish you would've gotten in the front seat." she saw him looking at her through the rear view mirror and laughed when Derek glared at him.
"Never mind. This will do just fine."
The teenage boy drove off and Astrid leaned her shoulder against the passenger seat as she listened to Stiles tell her what the plan was. Derek glared at her but the teenage girl only waved him off and continued to pay attention. There was a hunter on his way to the station to kill Isaac, but Allison had slowed him down for the time being. Hopefully it would buy them enough time. All they needed to do was distract whatever officer was at the front desk, get the keys to the cell and get out.
Astrid kept repeating to herself that it would be an in and out kind of job as they pulled up to the station. She just hoped that her dad wasn't working otherwise she'd have to do a crapload of explaining.
Stiles put the Jeep in park and everyone directed their attention to the department's large window. "Okay, now the keys to every cell are in a password protected lockbox in my father's office. The problem is getting past the front desk."
It was a woman at the front desk, so Astrid knew she was no help there. Even if the officer did swing that way, she was still underage.
Derek realized this too and went to open the car door. "I'll distract her."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa... You? You're not going in there." Stiles had grabbed the werewolf by his leather jacket, and the outcome of that didn't look too good to her. "I'm taking my hand off."
"I was exonerated."
"You're still a person of interest. Let Astrid go."
Astrid clicked her tongue and looked at him. "The likelihood of her being attracted to me is probably very slim, I'm not getting that vibe from her. Besides, she isn't my type. Just let Ryan Gosling do his thing here."
Stiles furrowed his eyebrows as he looked between the girl and the werewolf before groaning. "Okay, fine. What's your plan?"
"To distract her." the distraction said, as if it weren't obvious enough.
"Uh... Huh. How? By punching her in the face?" the brunette bared his teeth at the werewolf, who smiled sarcastically.
"By talking to her."
"Okay, all right. Give me a sample. What are you gonna open with?"
The car was quiet as Derek only looked at the teenage boy, more than likely thinking of different scenarios as to how to murder him quickly. Which wouldn't be hard. Especially since she was thinking the exact same thing.
"Dead silence." he said, tone dripping with sarcasm afterwards. "That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?"
"I'm thinking about punching you in the face."
"Oh my god," the girl threw her hands in the air and sighed dramatically, catching their attention. "We're running on limited time here so can we just go in for Christ's sake?"
Derek was the first to get out and slammed the door behind him. Stiles only looked at the girl as she climbed into the front seat and waited until Derek was far enough away to follow after.
"What did you mean by she isn't your type? Why did you assume I meant you had to flirt with her?"
The brunette looked over to the boy to find him watching her. Knowing he wouldn't let it go, she ran a hand down her face and looked at him with a bored expression. "What do you think genius? I'm gay. Now come on!"
The girl jumped out of the Jeep and hurried after the werewolf, hearing the sound of another of the car's doors close right after. She slowed down once she got to the first set of doors and opened them quietly and watched from around the corner near the second set as Derek began talking to the woman. Stiles opted on poking his head out of the glass doors as if that weren't suspicious at all.
He then creeped past the front desk but started moving around and being stupid. Astrid punched him in the arm hard, yet still quietly, which made him return to normal. They made it to the office, which happened to be nearly pitch black and kind of scared the girl. The only light in the room came from the streetlights outside but they didn't help very much. They did allow her to see the various boxes around the office, however.
Thankfully, Stiles knew his way around the office. Astrid grabbed onto his arm and let him lead the way. He seemed to find the keypad to the safe, she could tell by the clicks in front of her. But the light was decent over there and she could also tell that the box wasn't operating anymore. She pulled it out of the wall to prove her point and the boy looked over at her as if realizing something.
He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out of the room, mumbling something about finding the keys. He rounded around various corners before colliding with someone, preventing them from going any further.
"Sorry we were just..." the girl's eyes looked at the unknown man's thigh. More specifically the large stick of wood that looked awful like where an arrow would have hit. Allison's arrow that was meant to slow an undercover hunter down.
In a quick motion, the hunter had Astrid in a half choke-hold and a large portion of her hair wound around his fist. Normally she would have already escaped but the hair part made it kind of difficult. That wouldn't have happened if she had been wearing her hair in a ponytail.
Stiles made a move to come closer but the hunter told him to stop. "You move any closer and I shove this needle right in an artery."
The boy halted and looked down. His eyes met with Astrid's, which just so happened to be rolling. He could have laughed except for the fact that he knew the hunter was deadly serious. Said man told the teenage boy to follow them. He did as told but paused once they were right in front of the holding room. On the wall was a fire alarm and he was seriously considering pulling it.
Astrid's eyes were wide in a silent plea for him to do it and she sighed in relief once he did. The hunter shoved her to the ground and Stiles ran forward, checking to see if she was okay. She nodded quickly and turned around to see what the hunter was doing, only to find the man stopped in front of an empty cell.
Isaac, fully wolfed out, suddenly appeared and tackled the man to the wall. The hunter still persisted in trying to inject the curly-haired werewolf but the supernatural creature simply slammed the man's head into the wall. The hunter's eyes rolled back and he slowly sunk to the floor. Isaac grabbed the syringe and threw it across the room. It clattered to the floor and Astrid watched as it was crushed under the boot of Derek, who had finally come from his flirting session.
Isaac's head snapped over to the two humans in the room, who were cowering over to a corner in the room. Stiles moved in front of Astrid as the werewolf crept closer. He didn't have to though; Derek stopped the beta in his tracks with a roar so deep it made the girl's bones rattle. She wasn't afraid of it but it was pretty damn powerful.
The blonde, still in werewolf form, cowered against the wall opposite them and Astrid immediately crawled over to him. His arms were covering his face, claws still extended and she could see his body shaking. Despite the other two brunette's objections, she moved in a little closer.
"Isaac, you're okay. It's just us. We came here to help." her voice was calm and soft, aiming to calm him down some.
He uncovered his face, which had now gone back to human form, and sweat beads covered every inch of it. And when his eyes met hers she could feel the terror that was flowing through his veins. It made her heart break. He still shivered and couldn't seem to break eye contact with Stiles, who stared at him from across the room in wonder.
She knew that he was only wondering how Derek got Isaac to shift back to his regular form, but she couldn't help but wonder if a small part of him was wondering why he seemed so afraid too.
Astrid looked back to the blonde, who still had his body curled up against the wall as he looked between the two males in the room. She glanced at the other two for a second and Derek was glaring at her as if to tell her to hurry it up. She turned back to Isaac and looked him in the eyes.
"Isaac, you need to calm down so Derek can get you out of here. Okay?"
He didn't respond and she groaned. Despite her better judgement telling her that touching him in any way might freak him out more, she grabbed his hands. It made her look at her and she smiled.
"You're leaving with Derek, right now. Listen to him and I promise that you'll be okay. Nod if you understand."
The young werewolf nodded vigorously and she helped him stand up. Derek grabbed him and they disappeared seconds later, leaving Astrid, Stiles and the unconscious guard in the room together. She heard footsteps rushing down the hall before the fire alarm was turned off. Seconds later, Sheriff Stilinski and her father (along with two other officers) were standing in the doorway of the room with disappointed looks on their faces.
The fathers looked at their children and the teenagers stared back at their fathers. They were at a loss for words - how were they supposed to explain any of that to them?
Stiles suddenly cleared his throat and pointed to the guard. "Uh, he did it."
Stilinski only shook his head as the two officers behind Makoa rolled their eyes and walked away. The taller officer grimaced at his daughter before calling her name. The girl could only give her dad a sheepish smile as they walked away from the room. He told her that he was taking her home and wanted an explanation on the way there.
She nodded in understanding but her mind was focused on other things. The girl pulled out her phone and opened her conversation with Stiles. Her fingers raced over the keypad and typed out a quick message which got a reply even faster.
Me
thanks for shielding me from isaac earlier
i mean he probably would have torn you to shreds but still
Sid from Toy Story
No problem
And I definitely could have taken him
The text made Astrid smile as she read over it again before locking her phone up. She would probably be grounded again, but it was a pretty decent night. Who knew?
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{Word Count: 2697}
First update of February! I can't believe that we're already 2 months into 2018 and a month away from my birthday. On another note, I also can't believe that this book is at 20 chapters already. We're not even halfway through season 2 and we're that high already.... Be grateful for this slow ride though, cause we all know about the drama that happens next season.
Anyways, see y'all next update!