She was disoriented when she woke up, shrouded by the warmth of her surroundings that should have worried her but didn't. Her eyes peeled open slowly as to ignore the bright light that filtered in through the window near her bed. She could hear the slow beep of the coffee pot downstairs, signaling that someone was making coffee. Probably her father she thought sleepily before slowly closing her eyes once again. Her heart clenched, taking a sharp pause as her eyes snapped open suddenly to take in her surroundings. Three soft snores came from their mouths, the boys whom she loved endlessly looked peaceful and serene as they slept. Her face moved slowly from side to side, gazing at their faces and how they differed. Theo's mouth was open slightly, shallow breaths filtering in and out at a rhythmic pace. Delcan was more restless but still peaceful in his own way, arm thrown carelessly over his eyes to block the light from his fitful dreams. Stiles was snoring loudly from his chair, eyebrows scrunched together as he cuddled his baseball bat tightly against his chest.
Clarissa sighed in sorrow, a permenant darkness surrounding her heart as she realized the previous night had not been her worst nightmare coming true. It was obvious from the sharp smell of the coffee the sheriff was brewing downstairs, not as bitter as her father took but more of a tangy smell. She could smell the sheriff and Stiles' scents all over the house, the faint hint of a woman's perfume that had faded over the years but as if not to be forgotten. It was real, her parents demise and it crushed her. Took her to a place that she wasn't sure she wanted to go. The darkness that had surrounded her heart over the years of gut wrenching loss had finally taken over, pulling her into a place that she was sure would destroy her.
Her breath halted as she felt eyes on the back of her neck, the even sound of his breathing become harsher as he woke from his peaceful slumber. His arm felt heavy around her waist, almost like a restraint keeping her from running into the self destructive pit that had formed at the base of her stomach. "I can't do it."
"I know." He whispered softly, his arm pulling her back to rest against the sharp contours of his body. If she wasn't so saddened, she might have blushed at his way of comforting her but this was not the time or place to succumb to her inner desires. The time would come, that much she knew, the dangerous path that the two were beginning to take with each other had finally begun to show. A path that would diverge like two trailheads in a graceless wood: one that would tear them apart at the seams or make them stronger in the cruel world they had come to know. "But you aren't alone Lissa."
"I can't protect him. Not from this." Her eyes clenched tightly at the gentleness of his tone, the promising words that even he knew wouldn't placate the trembling teenager. A small tear emerged from the corner of her clenched eyes, before she opened them to look at the hair that covered her younger brother's head. She felt like a failure, unable to protect him from the helplessness of the pain of loss. She had fought with vigor through the years to keep him away from the supernatural, like she had done with her parents whom had been ecstatic at the fact that their daughters as finally branches out from her small circle to make friends. It had plagued her, the fact that they had remained blissfully unaware of the tragedies that had claimed Beacon Hills until their last breaths. The tingling sensation of lips being hesitantly pushed against the back of her neck soothed her, even in that moment Theo was hesitant with her. "How do we move on from this?"
"It'll hurt like a bitch." The new voice that joined the conversation startled the pair and Clarissa's eyes moved to meet the saddened whiskey colored eyes of Stiles Stilinski. "It will surround you for the rest of your life. The ache of losing them. It's how I felt, how I feel."
Clarissa looked at him in understanding, remembering the moment that he had come into class after losing his mother. It was the first moment that she had truly seen Stiles for what he would grow to be. A warrior, surrounded by sarcastic whit that guarded his walls. She remembered him coming into class that day, Lydia and Jackson had been surrounded by their crafts in blissful ignorance but Clarissa saw him. She saw the pain in his eyes as he sat by his best friend, no sarcasm painted across his face as he stared down at his desk. His eyes had looked up to dart around the room, meeting hers and she offered him a small hesitant smile.
A smile like he had given her after Theo had lost his sister and moved away from her. It was the only time that Clarissa had broken from her harsh facade, offering comfort to her fellow classmate who had experienced the crushing loss of a parent. It hadn't changed anything back then, she had still followed her path of becoming a harsh human being, not wanting to show people how weak that she had become at the loss of her friend.
"How'd you deal with it?" Clarissa's parents were apart of her story, something that she had never thought would leave her. Forever was not a word that Clarissa had been familiar with, she had given up on the hope of forever the moment that Scott McCall had been transformed into a werewolf. People's lives were ephemeral in their world, never lasting more than a few years. Allison had been the harshest blow, the most ephemeral being that Clarissa had come to know. She was beautiful and a warrior, something that the blonde had clung to as she watched her best friend bleed out across the blackened concrete. Her parents weren't supposed to be ephemeral, to her they were supposed to last forever as they had not been tainted by the sharp talons of the supernatural world like her friend.
"With Scott, my friends." Stiles sighed, looking pointedly towards the boy who had kept a constant grip on her from the beginning of the conversation. "You have us. I might have been hellbent in keeping you from the pack before because I didn't trust you. I couldn't because of my own selfish reasonings Clarissa. But you did that damned thing where you wormed your way into our hearts."
"Will you all shut up?" Delcan's irritated voice piped up from under his arm. The girl smiled in good humor at her brother, knowing that even in his darkest moment that he would be slightly sane. "The lovebirds behind me woke me up and then your voice, which is like something scraping on a chalkboard Stilinski, has interrupted my beauty sleep."
"Delcan Bane." She snapped, face adorned with a heavy blush at the implications that her brother had created. She shivered as Theo's hand moved from her waist, the loss of contact almost saddened her, to ruffle the brunette hair of Delcan Bane. Her brother groaned before removing the tanned arm that rested across his head, revealing the ugly grimace plastered across his face.
The brunette glanced around the room before his saddened eyes settled against on the cool material of Stiles' baseball bat. "I won't hesitate to shove that bat up someone's ass if they don't let me get back to sleep."
Stiles threw the bat away from him, to the corner of the room in horror at Delcan's threat unaware that this is how he grieved. Sarcastic remarks and distancing himself is how he would get himself through this. The auburn haired girl smiled softly, wrapping her arms to pull her brother against her. It was an odd combination, the feel of Theo's calming presence behind her and the distant feeling that her brother gave off from in front of her.
Clarissa met Stiles' eyes, knowing that this was the calm before the storm. Something that Scott has explained to her once came rushing towards the forefront of her mind, something that Destiny had carefully explained to him after the death of Allison Argent. Regression to the mean was something that had begun to plague her mind. The honest hope that the scale of life tipped from bad to good and settling in the middle of both. It seemed that the scales were not in their favors, knowing more pain than most people had in their short lives but also love. A nagging thought stuck with her though, Theo coming back to her had been the scale that tipped to good and her parents had been the scale to tip into the bad. Her life had become a scale of good and bad, in-between was a blur of memories that struck her as neither. The horrid thought struck her silently as she laid in the glowing light of the early morning sun. Regression to the mean had been something that they had been praying for silently over the years but the scales would tip to a point that they couldn't escape from. Clarissa Bane knee that the odds would never be in their favor, a sickening game of tug of war between the two states of life.
War was brewing silently, it had been at the back of her mind for some time now. Time for peace had drawn to a close, the peace that Scott McCall had so harshly fought to protect and it would crumble around them in ashes. Ashes would settle and Clarissa valiantly swore to herself that she would protect the people that she loved. She had failed with her parents but she would not fail with anyone else. Clarissa Bane was both heaven and hell wrapped into one person but she knew one day that she would have to choose between the two. The war raging inside of her had slowly come to a boiling point as she begun to see the truth of Beacon Hills. War was coming and she knew that she could be heaven for the climate, the cool air that would lap at their burned wounds in the end but she would choose hell. Hellfire would rain upon her enemies if they stepped towards her family as she knew that people only went to hell for the company that resided there and Clarissa Bane was on a warpath to rain down hell upon her enemies.
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Clarissa felt utterly alone as she laid on the worn down couch in the Stilinski household. The male residents of the house had made themselves scarce by going to work and school respectively. Delcan had surprised her thoroughly, leaving to find solace in the company of a dark haired lacrosse player that she knew would protect him. Theo had been called by Scott, whom had asked if he would stand guard at the animal clinic over over Josh's decaying body. The boy had gone hesitantly after many reassuring words from Clarissa that she would be fine alone at the empty household.
Fine was too strong a word to describe the chimera though and as the day progressed on slowly she could feel her nerves coil in her body angrily. She had scrubbed the house down and straightened it by the time the doorbell rang. The scent was familiar to her which left the girl in a state of confusion as to why he had come looking for her there.
Corey Bryant stood shivering at the front door when she had opened it with a look of concern gracing her features. She could smell his fear and hesitance about standing in the front porch of the sheriff's household but the overall appearance is what shook her the most. An array of fading colors surrounded his right eye, the yellow tint being the most prominent as if it was something that had happened to him days ago.
"I didn't know who else to go to." His voice wavered lightly, the small semblance of tears forming at the corner of his eyes setting her into motion. Clarissa pulled the young boy into her, pushing down the anger she could feel welling in her chest at the thought of who had done this to him. She knew exactly who as done it and they would pay for every action they had made against their only son. "Mason told me about your parents and I'm so sorry Clary. I didn't want to bug you but you're the only person I trust."
"Which one?" Clarissa's voice was hardened by the severity and the truth of the situation. She had waited patiently for her moment to bring down the parents that she had detested, the moment that she would rip Corey Bryant away from the household that showed him no love. "I swear to all that is holy Corey. I need to know which of those bastards did this to you."
"They've never been violent before." Corey stuttered out completely and utterly broken. Clarissa's heart shattered for the boy in front of her, the pieces of her already mangled heart pulverizing into dust from the look of pure defeat on Corey's face. "What did I do wrong Clary?"
"Listen to me." Clarissa declared fiercely, her hand gripping Corey's chin in a soft grip but stern enough so that he knew she was serious. Her eyes, broken and unusually blue, stared into his dead brown orbs. She knew that this was the moment that she had been waiting for, the one where it was finally time to get their lives together. "You have done nothing but be the wonderful human being that you are. They're horrendous human beings who should not affect you because you, Corey Bryant, are better than the rest of us."
His eyes clenched shut and Clarissa took that moment to observe the yellow bruising that surrounded his once unblemished face. It was fairly new, that much she could tell from the hint of the black tones from the corners closest to his eyebrow, but the rest of it was turning yellow at an unusually rapid pace which terrified her. Clarissa's mind was working in overdrive at the sight that lay before her. She had already deemed that
Corey Bryant would soon be thrust into the supernatural world and she wanted to scream at God. Scream at the unfairness of it all because this person was completely and utterly pure and untainted by the horrors they faced. He looked like the child he was in that moment, trembling and scared from the lash that had finally shown his parents true colors. She could feel the nausea build in her stomach as she realized that she had to inform him. Bring him to the revelation that the supernatural world existed before she could go through with her plans.
She felt like she was about to strip the boy of the innocence that he had possessed in his ignorance. She felt like the monster that she had feared all along as she looked at his face, one that would soon become clear as he healed from the wounds that his parents inflicted.
She felt alone, burdened by the choices that she made when it involved the protection of the people that she loved dearly. Clarissa needed to protect him, like she had protected Delcan all the years prior but unlike her brother Corey had become like her: a casualty in the ever growing war of the supernatural and the ignorance of not knowing. She was a flesh and bone human being that had been previously unaware of the world that lay around them, one that had been hazy through a glittering aura of bliss. She wanted to drown herself in an alcoholic haze, wishing that she could deter herself from once more ruining a young life in hope of protecting him. "Corey. There's something that I need to tell you."
His eyes opened warily, looking at her with suspicion as she moved towards the kitchen of the Stilinski household that she had scrubbed clean not even an hour prior to him arriving. The drawer she had reorganized time after time glared up at her heavily as she opened it, flashes of silver entering her eyesight as the light glinted off of the deadly knives that lay there. Her hand moved forward shakily, feeling the wariness that radiated off of her friend quietly. She could feel him back up as she took the knife out of the drawer and she internally grimaced.
"Clarissa, what are you doing?" Corey asked quietly, unsure of which one of them would be hurt during the next few moments. He backed away as she swung around with the knife in her hand, a maddened look filling her eyes as she looked down at the cool metal.
"I need to show you something. Something that ruined our lives." Clarissa mumbled slowly, her eyes trained on her reflection in the knife. Her reflection flared up at her hatefully, showing the broken girl that she tried to push down at every opportunity she had. Her hair was wild as curled strands had fallen haphazardly out of her ponytail that stuck out from the back of her head. Her normally azure eyes had a look in them, one that raged with the fire that she felt for vengeance. She wanted retribution from God, retribution for the losses that her friends and family have faced. She wanted to hunt down every living creature that had every hurt, killed, or tortured any person that Clarissa had ever come in contact with.
She didn't feel the pain when she slashed the knife across her skin, didn't feel the way that it slid across her pale flesh like a knife sliding across butter. She felt Corey jump towards her, slapping the knife out of her hand.
"What the fuck!" Corey exclaimed, his voice breaking as he grasped her bleeding hand in his palm. His skin was heated as it contacted against her chilled flesh, the contrast causing amusement in a sick way for Clarissa. "Are you fucking insane?"
"This is what I wanted to show you." Her voice was void of emotion, watching the substance drip down her fingers like rain against a windshield. Corey looked down at her hand in confusion then, watching as the black tar like blood seeped through her wounds. Clarissa's lips upturned into a twisted smile, swiping at the inky black substance with her sleeve to show the unblemished skin underneath the sticky mess. "This is what I've become."
"What? How is this possible?" He whispered the question so quietly that it took Clarissa's enhanced hearing to understand his garbled words. His eyes darted from the dark stained skin towards her eyes slowly, he had slight fear in them from what Clarissa could see but he did not back away from her in terror. That was a start. "I always had a suspicion about you guys. The secretive glances when things go wrong."
"There's a lot you need to understand Corey." Her voice sent chills down his spine, he'll it sent chills down her own spine as they stared at each other. She wiped away the rest of the black residue from her skin before turning to move towards the living room, expecting him to follow her. She could feel his eyes on the back of her head, watching her as she sat down on the couch facing away from him. She smiled softly at the hesitant footsteps that came towards her, watching as he came to sit down next to her on the couch. He took her arm softly in his hands once more feeling over her skin, making sure that he wasn't imaging the smooth skin that was unmarred from the blade she had diced it with. "It's something that we can all do, you included. Have you noticed anything weird about yourself in the past couple of weeks?"
"I always had a suspicion that there was something odd about you guys." Corey mumbled quietly, his hand letting go of her arm to rest against his knees as he pulled them to his chest. "I heard stories when I first got to the high school about you and your friends. How Scott went from a severe asthmatic to being the star lacrosse player. How you all seemed to show up at crime scenes at the wrong time, finding bodies."
"Everything you know about the world is wrong. Glossed over because we as human beings don't want to admit the possibility of something else being out there." She murmured looking at him warily. She pulls her knees up to her chest, matching his positions before she begins to explain everything to him. She explains about how she found out the supernatural existence that seemed to populate Beacon Hills. About how she, Lydia, and Allison got tangled up into the pack's activities and growing into a sisterhood that she couldn't help but miss dearly.
She sat there and explained the horrors that she had endured, about the love she had gained from her friends over the years. It took hours to explain everything from the beginning and then to the end, about how she believed that he was a chimera like her: an experiment from the Dread Doctors. She promised him to let him read the book, hoping to unlock the memories that had been stolen from him.
"How did you guys survive all of that?" Corey questioned softly, his eyes saddened after she had finished her tale and believing every word that dropped from her tongue.
A sad smile graced her lips, thinking about the pain and suffering they had endured over the years. Thought about the fallen pack members that they had lost over the years. From Allison and her dimpled smile that would give her the hope that only a sister could and Erica who in the end was a girl who just wanted to fit in. To Boyd with his sullen personality that opened up to sarcastic wit and banter if he could trust you and Aiden who just wanted to be a good guy for her strawberry-blonde friend. "Not all of us did."
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She felt anxiety build up in her chest as she looked at the sleek building in front of her. The familiar black car sat at the very front of the post scene gave her slight relief, knowing that he was there. She had left the house shortly after Corey did, who she urged to go find Mason Hewitt whom he had approached earlier today to find out where she was. The manila folder in her chilled hands felt heavy, almost like she was carrying a brick but she knew that was because of her hesitance to speak with the man who owned the building in front of her.
She took the steps two at a time to reach the door and the blinds that shielded the glass door were cracked showing her the scowling face of the receptionist that sat there. She plastered a twisted smirk on her face, masking the anxiety she felt as she opened the door. Clarissa watched quietly as the red headed receptionist glared up at her from her computer, irritated that her work was being interrupted. Clarissa's lips grew wider as she stared down at the older woman, leaning against the smooth wood with a smirk.
Her fingers circled the wood slowly, tracing a pattern that was almost mocking as she ignored the receptionist's growing glare. "Is Mr. Whittemore in?"
"May I ask who's asking and if you have an appointment?" Her voice was scratchy, as if she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day which could tell clearly from the faint smell of smoke that permeated from her skin. Her red hair was split and frizzy around the elastic that held it away from her face.
"I don't need an appointment." The girl's smirk deepened across her face, stretching until it was almost a feral smile as she stared down at the woman like she was her prey. "I'm an old friend. Shared a crib with his son when I was a wee infant."
The older woman frowned heavily, not believing a word that tumbled out of the young teenager's mouth. As she was about to open her mouth a gleeful voice interrupted her, making her clamp her mouth shut in irritation. "Clarissa darling! Helen you should have pulled me out of my meeting for this."
"Mr. Whittemore." Clarissa smiled coyly at the older man. His brown hair was starting to grey in areas all over his scalp but that didn't stop the infectious smile from appearing on his face. "I've been meaning to drop by and see you."
"Is this about the thing we discussed a few weeks ago?" The older man's smile turned wary as he observed the teenager in front of him. Clarissa knew that her demeanor had changed slightly, emitting false confidence from her body language that she didn't really possess. It was almost as if the older man could see right through her. "Why don't you come into my office and we can talk?"
Clarissa nodded, waiting for the esquire to turn around before raising her eyebrow towards the receptionist known as Helen and sticking her tongue out as if she was a small child. She felt smug as she stepped into the posh office that her friend's adopted father had created for himself and made a mental note to call and check up on the American werewolf that lived in London. The man nodded towards the chair by his desk, moving to sit at his own as his eyes trailed on the manila folder that she laid delicately on his mahogany desk.
"I've come to get a few things straightened out, sir." Her voice was clipped and all business as her hand moved to open the folder. She reached in and took out a stack of papers, a few pictures mixed into the tall stack.
"Clarissa." The older man began, his voice soft as he observed the young woman in front of him. He had a sad smile on his face as he looked and saw her mother's eyes in herself. "I'm sorry about your parents. They were wonderful people and you shouldn't have to go through this alone. If you need anything please call us."
"That's why I'm here." The blonde girl nodded curtly, ignoring the prickling sensation that was threatening to overtake her. "I want to get my affairs in order. Make a plan of action for mine and my brother's inheritance. I also don't want my brother going into the system as I am of age I would like to be his legal guardian."
"I think we can get that arranged." His sad smile turned into a straight line as they began to discuss the business, ignoring that this was his friends' daughter. "And the other thing we discussed last time we talked?"
"I have evidence this time. Enough to get what I want sir." Clarissa Bane smiled swiftly, a malicious kind of smile as she thought of the people who would soon feel her rage. But this rage couldn't be acted upon rashly, she would have to be sneaky as she went through with her plans. Her hand pushed over a picture towards the esquire, one that made her want to vomit as she looked at it. Corey Bryant's face stared up at her from the photo paper, a picture that she had taken before he had left the sheriff's household earlier that day. "I still want Corey Bryant out of their custody and since my parents are no longer here to get that custody, I would like him placed under my care until we can find someone fit enough to take care of him. I've been looking into finding his cousin but it's a long process, he hasn't heard from her since her parents died in a fire years ago and he has no idea that I'm looking for her."
"With everything you've showed me, I think we have a chance to build a case on this. Get him out of there." Clarissa smiled at his words, a true smile that her plans were seemingly going in the right direction. She stood up slowly, moving to shake the older man's hand. He grinned and pulled her into a hug, one that made her want to cry as he used the same cologne that her father used. It was familiar as he had watched her grow up into the young woman that stood before him. "They would be so proud of you."
"I hope so." She murmured sadly, eyes clenching as she hugged her friend's father tightly. "I really hope so."
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Theo's phone call came as she was exiting the office of her friend's father and it terrified her. She had almost cracked her phone between her fingers as she listened to him explain that he and Stiles had been attacked while they guarded Josh's body at the animal clinic. Something in the back of Clarissa's mind screamed at her, screamed and cried that she was in the middle of a brewing war. She was finally beginning to understand why Theo had come back, knowing the drive of needing a pack to survive.
She felt her rage at the situation as she parked her car on the side of the animal clinic. She could smell the flames that fanned across the parking lot, see them as they flickered in the darkness that drew her in. She exited her car furiously and storming over to the two boys, both of whom were covered in blood. Clarissa's eyes narrowed as the placed the tail end of Stiles' jeep back on the gravel and they lingered on his face while he turned to face her. "What the hell happened? I'm not around for a day and things turn to shit."
"We were attacked." Theo muttered lowly before turning to Stiles who sat unhappily on the ground, doused in blood. Clarissa's heart dropped as she observed both boys but her eyes lingered at the dried blood that was at the corner of Theo's lips, how it was a darker shade than the rest. Her eyes darted subconsciously to the arm that she had sliced open earlier to prove her point and back to the blood. Something was gnawing at the back of her mind as she stared at him, trying to piece together the puzzle in her brain. She subconsciously backed away as he turned to look at the sheriff's son. "We should get you to the hospital. You took in a lot of smoke."
"No, I'm fine." Stiles mumbled lowly, his hands pushing him away from the ground making the gravel shift and crackle under his weight shifting.
"You look like shit." Clarissa declared, moving closer to examine the taller boy slightly. She could feel Theo's eyes on her back, watching her as she dabbed at a cut on the brunette's forehead before crossing her arms. "You both do."
"Thanks." Stiles sarcastically muttered before observing the damage that his jeep retained with a sigh. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the shrill sound of his scanner whirring to life in the jeep.
"Suspect in 187 is in custody and in route to station. Suspects name is Yukimora, Kira."
The trio circled around the window in hesitation and Clarissa smiled softly but nervously as Theo placed his hand over hers. He turned to look at her with a grin before looking at Stiles in question. "What's a 187?"
"Homicide." Stiles murmured after a slight pause, his voice breaking at the beginning. Their friend had committed a heinous act but they knew in their hearts that it couldn't be true.
"You've got to be kidding me, right?" Clarissa exclaimed after a moment of the boys looking at each other. "Kira couldn't hurt an innocent person. It was probably a chimera who went rampant and deserved it."
Clarissa turned to look at the boy who had a steady grip on her hand, one that she trusted with everything, and noticed the smile on his face. It sent shivers down her spine because that smile was directed at her words, words that showed just how much she was willing to bend the rules to protect her family.
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