AT THE BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL:
After getting ready for the gym, Venice walked out of the girls locker room only to bump into someone.
"Watch it!" Venice snapped in annoyance, not even looking up to see who she bumped into.
"Why are you being so cold, early in the morning? What got your panties in a twist?" the person whom she bumped into, asked her, making the brunette to look up at the person and glare at her.
"Someone's finally decided to show up after being MIA for god knows what and how long" she snapped, looking at her blonde best friend.
Lily just smiled in reverse and said "Sorry hun. Got some stuff that needed to be sorted as soon as possible", which actually meant, helping the brunette's mate, who recently turned into an alpha, to form a pack, as soon as possible.
Venice just rolled her eyes.
"And what do you want to sort out, might I ask?" Venice asked.
"You'll know that very soon" Lily replied and dragged her BFF to the gym.
In the gym, a rock climbing wall was set up and everyone were gathered in front of it, where Coach Finstock was present. He told that everyone should climb the wall in pairs. He made Scott and Allison to climb the wall first. The pair started climbing, while Lydia joined Venice and Lily.
Scallison seemed to have a conversation going on, which's about a creature, that Allison saw, the previous night in the Lahey house, when she locked Scott in the freezer, since it was the full moon. Well Scott made her to lock him up, but apparently, when a creature that seemed to be the size of a human which have a tail and have eyes like a snake showed up, Scott broke out of the freezer to protect Allison, which made the creature to just hiss at them and escape from there.
The two of them weren't exactly talking about the creature, seriously. They were just talking about it, while flirting with each other shamelessly. Allison looked like she was slowing down for Scott, but apparently, Scott was just admiring the view! And then, when Allison started climbing the wall, more quickly, Scott climbed it quicker than her, which resulted in Allison glaring at the beta playfully and then, out of nowhere, she kicked his foot, making Scott to loose his balance and fall down, on the mat. Everyone erupted in a fit of laughter.
"McCall, I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy. Right?" Coach asked Scott, who was still trying to catch himself from the fall.
Everyone laughed hearing it.
"All right, next two. Stilinski, Erica, let's go. The wall" the coach said after Allison came down the wall.
Stiles looked at Erica and then at the wall, as if he just won a jackpot and eagerly ran towards the wall. Erica on the other hand, stared at the wall, looking panicked. Venice noticed it and walked towards her.
"Hey. You alright?" she asked the frizzy blonde, while gently touching her shoulder.
"Yeah. I am" Erica managed to reply and walked towards the wall.
Both Stiles and Erica started climbing the wall. While Stiles completed climbing the wall and came down, Erica was only halfway, climbing the wall and with the looks of it, she was freaking out. Stiles beamed and raised his arms in victory, while looking at Scott and the four girls. The five of them just smiled in response. Erica on the other hand, didn't move an inch from her previous position. Instead, she started breathing heavily and started crying. In short, she was hyperventilating. Stiles just looked at her in shock. Everyone walked towards the mat, looking at Erica.
"Erica. Dizzy? Is it vertigo?" Coach asked, looking up at Erica.
" Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear" Venice corrected, making the coach to look at her.
"Yeah. She's just freaking out" Lydia added.
Everyone looked at Erica.
"Erica" the Coach called her.
"I'm fine" she replied, though she clearly wasn't.
Lily looked at the blonde girl intently, as if she's analyzing her.
"Coach, I think she's epileptic. It's not safe for her to climb the wall" Venice told the coach, making him look at her.
"Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff? I have to get-" Coach muttered, looking at Venice.
He then looked at Erica and said " Erica, y - you're fine. Just - Just kick off from the wall. Th - There's a mat to catch you. Come on."
Erica slowly slid down the wall.
"See, you're fine. You're on the ground. You're all right. Let's go. Shake it off. You're fine" the Coach told her.
While she was walking away from the wall, many people laughed looking at her.
"Alright. Next two! Jovan and little McCall!" Coach announced.
Venice stilled hearing the very familiar last name, while Lily was observing her, looking very amused. Venice shook her head and shrugged it off, walking towards the wall. As if things couldn't get any worse, she froze in her spot after coming face-to-face with Nick Jovan, who happened to be her ex-boyfriend.
What on earth is he ding here? Venice thought, looking at Nick, while Nick just smiled/smirked looking at her.
*****
"What the hell is he doing here?" Venice asked, while she and Lily went to the girls' locker room.
Lily just remained silent.
"Oh god! My life's becoming a freaking disaster! First it's Peter. Now it's Derek and then, my ex-boyfriend popped up in my life, out of nowhere!" Venice exclaimed.
"Hey. No need to be so sour about it. Maybe he just moved to Beacon Hills" Lily said.
"If so, WHY? Why Beacon Hills of all places?" Venice asked.
Lily remained silent.
"I have a very bad feeling about what's happening" Venice muttered.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked.
"I don't know. That thing that Scott and Allison saw last night, Isaac being a beta, Allison's jackass of a grandfather. All this stuff happening with Derek, I just.. It-it doesn't feel right" Venice rambled.
"I think you're just overthinking everything" Lily said, making Venice shoot her a what the hell? look.
"Do you wanna know why? Because things between you and Derek can be settled once you put the whole "You killed Peter instead of letting Scott do it, getting rid of any chances of Scott becoming a human" thing behind you, because he's got his own reasons to do that. And then you two can become all lovey-dovey, because honestly, that guy's too grumpy around others and he needs some love and affection" Lily said.
Venice looked at her blankly.
" And you know who else wants to have a good time? Lily! Lily wants to have a good time - Many, many times. Several times in a row. In several different positions" Lily added, but the brunette seemed to have her head somewhere else.
It's like she doesn't even have any control over herself anymore. Even her hand started shaking, making Venice look at her hand.
" Are you even listening to me? What- what is that?" Lily asked Venice, when she saw Venice's hand, that's shaking a bit.
Venice immediately ran towards the gym room, with Lily on her tail. It's like as if her body could sense that something wrong, something bad is about to happen. As soon as they entered the gym room, they saw Erica, climbing the stone wall, without any gear. She looked like she's having a seizure.
"Oh, my god!" Venice whispered.
Just when Erica's about to fall down, Scott rushed towards the wall and caught Erica. He then laid her down on the ground. Stiles and Allison, along with a few other students also rushed into the room.
"Put her on her side. Put her on her side" Venice told Scott, who complied as he was told.
"How'd you know?" Allison asked Scott.
" I just felt it"he replied, while Erica suffered a seizure.
*****
AT THE BEACON HILLS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL:
Melissa was checking up on Erica, who was admitted into the hospital after the seizure.
"It's been a while since we saw you, Erica. You were being so good about taking your medication" Melissa told the blonde, who was still laid on the bed, staring at the nurse.
"Are you gonna tell my mom?" Erica asked.
"Well, I swear I don't want to, but there's this team of lawyers in the back who would break my legs, and I don't know if you've seen my legs, but for a girl my age, they're still pretty hot. So.." Melissa trailed off.
Erica grinned hearing it.
Melissa patted her head, softly and said "Doctor's gonna be in in a minute, okay?"
"Okay" Erica replied and Melissa left.
Erica sighed and closed her eyes. A dark clad figure showed up in the room and pushed the gurney out of the room, very silently. Erica opened her eyes and frowned when she realized that she's being wheeled to somewhere out of the room. She tilted her head to look at the person who's wheeling her, but the person laid his hand on her head and said "Lie still."
Erica complied as she was told. He lead the way into the morgue and made the gurney to come to a halt. Erica cautiously sat up, breathing heavily. The clad figure, who happened to be a very sexy guy, giving off a bad boy persona, walked around the gurney, with her medication in his hand. He leaned onto a table, facing her and started reading the side effects of the medication that Erica's been using.
" Side effects may include anxiety, waking, acne, ulcerative colitis. Yeesh" Derek said looking at the medication.
"Who are you?" Erica asked, sitting up.
"Let's just say we have a... mutual friend" Derek said, looking at her.
He placed her medication on the table he's leaning on and said " You get a- warning right before you have a seizure."
"It's called an aura. It's- it's like a metallic taste in my mouth" Erica stuttered.
"You don't have to lie, Erica" Derek said, flashing her a friendly smile.
" What's it really taste like?" he asked.
"It tastes like blood" Erica replied, on the verge of tears.
"What if I told you- that all of this could go away? The side effects. The symptoms, all of it. And what if all those things not only went away, but everything else... got even better?" Derek suggested, being very careful with his words.
"Then I'd do whatever it takes to make everything better. I'm willing to do whatever it takes" Erica said.
For once, she didn't stutter. He heart rate was even and she looked very confident.
Derek smiled, hearing it.
*****
AT THE BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL:
It was lunch hour for Venice and she was going towards the cafeteria when she spotted Nick and Harley, the same girl who insulted Allison, a few days ago. While Harley was flirting with Nick, who's the supposed new guy, who also happened to be very hot, Nick looked not at all interested in her. He was just looking at Harley, trying to think of a very polite way of getting away from her. Venice looked at the two of them, with Harley's back facing Venice. Nick lifted his head and looked at Venice.
Venice wanted to know what he's doing here and with the looks of it, Nick looked like he came here on purpose and she needed answers, ASAP. She made her way towards the two of them.
Walking towards Nick, she grabbed his hand, making both Nick and Harley to look at her. Venice then started walking away from there, dragging Nick along with her, who followed her like a puppy. Harley too followed them, clearly not liking Venice stealing Nick away.
When Venice was about to enter the cafeteria, Harley blocked Venice's way, making Venice raise a perfect eyebrow.
"What?" Venice asked her.
"I'm talking to him, Venice" Harley said.
"Well, I'm interrupting Hollie" Venice shot back, purposefully saying her name, wrong.
"And if you haven't noticed, he's definitely not your type. So, save the guy and yourself some misery and leave him alone" Venice shot at her and strutted into the cafeteria, dragging Nick along with her.
And by the looks of it, Harley got the message to stay away from them. At least for the time being. The two of them reached a secluded corner and Venice immediately let go off Nick's hand. She turned around, not missing the curious glances she got from Scott and Stiles.
"Okay. What the hell are you doing here?" Venice asked him.
"To study. And graduate" Nick replied, flashing her his boyish smile.
Venice rolled her eyes and said "Let me rephrase it. What the hell are you doing, in Beacon Hills?"
"Can't I just look after my ex-girlfriend?" Nick asked in reverse.
" What guy will move to Beacon Hills, all the way from NYC, just to look after his ex-girlfriend?" Venice shot back.
Nick just smiled, leaning on the wall comfortably, looking at her.
"Can't I just look after my best friend who's my ex-girlfriend?" he asked.
He clearly didn't want to tell her why he came to Beacon Hills and everything about him seemed very fishy for Venice.
"Are you going to answer me properly or not?" Venice asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Now where's the fun in doing that?" Nick said, with a smile.
Venice glared at him while he just smiled at her.
"Screw you" Venice said and turned around, walking away from him, towards Scott and Stiles, but stopped in her tracks when she saw a girl entering the cafeteria, making every head in the room to turn to look at her.
That girl being Erica Reyes. She was wearing a short and tight leather skirt, paired up with a white top, black leather jacket and cheetah print heels. Her long and frizzy blonde hair's now curled, framing her face, perfectly. Her face no longer held any acne, but was coated with make-up and her lips with red lipstick. There's a lot of change in her hold demeanor. She walked towards a guy, grabbed an apple from his tray and took a bite from it.
Lydia walked towards the table where Scott and Stiles were present and placed her hands on the table, while looking at Erica and asked the boys "What. The holy hell. Is that?"
"It's Erica" Scott replied.
Erica smirked looking at Scott and Stiles and then looked at Venice with a smile and strutted out of the cafeteria. Venice immediately walked out of the cafeteria, following Erica. Scott and Stiles did the same. When the three of them walked out of the school, they saw Erica slid into a sleek black Camero. Derek's Camero, to be more precise. Venice gritted her teeth, looking at them, probably because of anger or jealousy or both. Derek who's seated in the driver seat, looked at the three of them and flashed a smile at them before speeding away from there, while Venice kept glaring the car until it's out of the sight.
*****
AT THE ARGENT'S RESIDENCE:
Allison, Lydia and Venice were in Allison's room, talking about girly stuff, while getting ready to go to the ice rink. Stiles apparently took the keys of the rink from Boyd, who works there. Stiles even payed him fifty dollars in order to get the keys. Chris Argent came to the room, knocking the wide ajar door, making the three girls to look at him.
"You headed out?" Argent asked, looking at Allison.
"Studying" Allison replied.
He glanced at Lydia and then looked at Allison and Venice and jerked his head, motioning them that they need to have a small talk. Allison sighed while Venice kept her face neutral and walked towards Chris.
"Just studying dad" Allison told him.
"I get it" Chris said.
He then sighed and said "But we need you two to remember what happened."
" You want us to stop being friends with her?" Allison asked.
" Actually, we want the opposite. I know how this might sound, but we need you to keep an eye on her" Chris replied.
" You want us to spy on her?" Venice asked.
" We want you to look out for your friend to make sure everything's okay with her" Chris replied.
All three of them turned around to look at Lydia, who's taking various selfies in different poses.
" Seems okay to me" Venice said in a sing song voice, looking at her strawberry blonde best friend, while Chris looked at Lydia with raised eyebrows.
*****
AT THE ICE RINK:
Stiles unlocked the entrance of the rink and he and Scott entered first. Stiles switched the lights on and looked at Scott, both of them smirking while looking at each other. Venice, Lily, Allison and Lydia walked inside with huge grins on their faces. Venice looked at Scott and Stiles with an I'm impressed expression.
Stiles, Lydia, Venice and Lily were tying their skates when Lydia said "Can it get any colder in here?"
Stiles immediately fished out an orange sweater from his bag and gave it Lydia, saying "Here."
"This guy's hopeless" Lily told Venice making Venice chuckle.
Lydia looked at the sweater and then at Stiles and said "I'm wearing blue."
Stiles just frowned in response.
"Orange and blue. Not a good combination" Venice explained to Stiles.
"But it's the colors of the Mets" Stiles said, making the three girls to give him an 'are you kidding me?'look.
Stiles raised his arms in defense and tucked the sweater, back in his bag.
Venice stood up and walked towards the rink and started skating slowly. She gradually increased her speed, gliding gracefully, doing a full 360 degree turn and figure turn. Scott and Stiles looked at her in astonishment.
"Wow! My sister's a pro in skating" Scott said, looking at Venice in astonishment.
Lily and Allison grinned looking at their best friend and Lydia looked quite impressed.
A few seconds later, all of them went to the rink. Lydia and Stiles were skating together, while Allison was teaching Scott about how to skate. Lily was skating too, like a maniac. Venice can't help but laugh, looking at her blonde best friend. Lily was always like that, whenever she gets on the rink.
Everything went fine until Lydia crouched down and stared at the ice. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she started screaming and wailing. As soon as she screamed, Venice stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Lydia, but she was feeling too weak. It's like all the energy was drained away from her body, her vision was blurry and soon, black spots filled her vision and darkness consumed her.
As soon as Venice collapsed, Scott rushed towards her, being the only one who noticed what happened to her. He even saw the small amount of blood trickling down her ears, before she collapsed.
He knelt down and pulled her into his lap. And surely, there was enough blood that trickled out of her ears which made him freak out.
*****
TIME SKIP (THE NEXT DAY):
AT THE BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL:
Apparently, everything was fine with Venice, when Scott took her to the hospital. Venice was pretty confused with everything that's been happening with her. First, the vision she got at the Lahey residence, when she went along with Scott and Derek to know what happened to Isaac all these years, the uncontrollable feeling she got only to find out that Erica climbed the wall without a gear and then, her body shutting down when Lydia screamed, though her vitals seemed perfectly normal.
Scott confronted Erica about who's gonna be Derek's third beta to which she answered "Why does there have to be a next when we've already got you?" and then, she told Scott about a time when she got a seizure, before she got turned, while putting on a front as if she's seducing him, which didn't go unnoticed by Allison who stared at them from a distance. Scott just walked away from her and went to the cafeteria and sat beside Venice, who was already sitting by an empty table, clearly looking zoned out. Allison came and sat behind Scott, with her back to his.
"I know how it looked, but she came up to me" Scott told her, though his back was to hers.
That made Venice look at him, clearly coming out of her zoned out state.
"I'm not jealous" Allison told him, making Venice look at the two of them, questioningly.
"You're not?" Scott asked her, with a crooked smile.
"She's with Derek now, isn't she? Like Isaac" Allison asked him, making his smile to fade.
" You can't get caught in the middle of this. Don't you feel what's happening? My grandfather coming here, Derek turning Erica and Isaac, it's - It's like battle lines are being drawn" Allison told him.
"I know" Scott replied.
"There's always crossfire" Allison said, while Venice looked at the two of them, listening to them, silently.
"What am I supposed to do? I can't just stand by. I can't pretend to be normal" Scott told her.
"I don't want you to be normal. I want you to be alive" Allison said and before Scott could say another word, she stood up and walked away from there, almost bumping into Stiles.
"Scott. Do you see that?" Stiles asked him, pointing towards an empty table.
"What? It's an empty table" Scott said.
"Yeah, but whose empty table?" Stiles asked.
"Boyd" Venice muttered.
*****
"I'm going to go to the ice rink, see if he's there. And if he's not at home, you call me, got it?" Scott told Stiles.
"And what should I do?" Venice asked him.
"You? You're gonna straight home and do whatever normal stuff that normal teenagers do" Scott told her.
Before Venice could say anything, Scott said "I don't know what happened to you yesterday, but I don't want to take any chances. Please. Go home."
Venice sighed and nodded.
*****
AT THE ICE RINK:
When Scott went to the ice rink. There, he found Boyd, on an ice tractor, at the edge of the rink.
"Boyd!" Scott called, walking towards him.
Boyd glanced at him and continued to do his work.
"I just wanna talk" Scott told him.
Boyd just continued to ignore Scott.
" Hey, come on, Boyd, please" Scott pleaded.
Boyd just kept doing his work.
" Did Derek tell you everything? And I don't just mean going out of control on the full moons. I mean everything" Scott asked.
Boyd turned off the ice tractor while rolling his eyes and said"He told me about the hunters."
" And that's not enough for you to say no? Whatever you want there's other ways to get it" Scott tried to convince, but Boyd cut him off, saying " I just wanna not eat lunch alone every day."
"If you're looking for friends, you can do a lot better than Derek" Scott told him, but Boyd wasn't buying it.
"That really hurts, Scott" a voice rang out, making the two teenagers to look at the source.
" I mean, if you're going to review me, at least take a consensus" Derek said, standing a few feet behind Scott, along with his two betas and Lily.
Scott stared at him with wide eyes and mouth hung open, clearly not expecting him to show up at the rink.
"Erica, how's life been for you since we met?" Derek asked the Erica.
" Hmm... In a word- Transformative" Erica said and snarled at Scott, with her fangs protruding out.
"Isaac?" Derek asked.
"Well, I'm a little bummed about being a fugitive, but other than that, I'm great" Isaac said with a smirk.
"You're with them? How could you?" Scott asked Lily.
"Trust me, Scott. It has to be this way. And if you're wise enough, you'll join us too" Lily said.
"Okay, hold on. This isn't exactly a fair fight" Scott said.
"Then go home, Scott" Derek told him, with a smug expression.
He then tilted his head and both Isaac and Erica started going towards Scott. Scott growled and punched the ice, making it break. His claws showed up and his eyes were glowing amber in color. His whole face wolfed out.
"I meant fair for them" Scott corrected and growled at them.
*****
Both Isaac and Erica wolfed up and started fighting with Scott, charging at him. Scott managed to dodge their swipes and kicked Isaac in such a way that he flew and came in contact with a nearby wall and fell down. When Erica climbed onto his back, Scott swung her at the tractor. Isaac charged at him again and so did Erica. After a few seconds of charging at each other, Scott managed to beat the two betas.
Derek just smiled looking at Scott, looking as if he's impressed with Scott.
" Don't you get it? He's not doing this for you. He's just adding to his own power, okay? It's all about him" Scott told the two betas, while both Derek and Lily looked at him.
" He makes you feel like he's giving you some kind of gift when all he's done is turn you into a bunch of guard dogs!" Scott said and slid Isaac's and Erica's bodies towards Derek's feet.
Derek looked at his two betas and said " It's true", looking at Scott.
" It is about power" he added.
Derek started walking towards Scott. Claws grew from his nails and his eyes were glowing red in color.
Fangs protruded from his mouth and he growled at Scott, who kept looking at him, a tad nervously. Derek banged Scott's head with his and swiped at his chest with his claws, making Scott to scream in pain. He then punched Scott at his jaw and stomach. When he was about to attack again, Scott jabbed his face with his elbow. When Scott was about to attack again, Derek blocked his moves and repeatedly punched him on his face. He then caught the teenager by his shirt, lifted him up and threw him flat on the ice. Scott coughed out blood and before he could even breathe, Derek stepped on his chest, making the teenager to gasp. Scott tried to push Derek's foot from his chest, but Derek seemed to have a strong grip.
"Derek!" an all too familiar voice rang out, making all the six members to look at the source.
Venice McCall was standing at the other side of the rink, her eyes wide, clearly looking at what's in front of her, in disbelief. She stared at her cousin, whom she considered as her brother, desperately trying to breathe in. His face was turning blue, from the lack of oxygen in his system, because of Derek. She could even see the small puddle of blood beside Scott.
"Let him go" she said lowly but sternly, her eyes brimming with tears.
Derek heard what she said and immediately stepped away from Scott, as if he forgot that he's choking the teenager. His features went back to his normal human self. Venice immediately ran towards Scott who was gasping for air. She crouched down beside him, and helped him sit up. No words can explain how she's feeling then. Never in a million years has she thought that Derek will hurt Scott to the point of fatality and then looking at her cousin lay there, struggling for oxygen, under her soulmate's foot made her mind to go back to the night when she found out that her family died. She was never this scared of anything and after what happened to her parents and brother, she treasured the little family she's got, afraid of losing them too.
"Angel, I-I can explai-" Derek was saying but got cut off by Venice, who spat "Save it."
Derek understood that she doesn't want to talk to him, right now. He even thought that he wouldn't be surprised if she won't talk to him, anymore. That made his heart drop, along with the chances of getting her back too.
He sighed and turned around and looked at Isaac, who immediately got the message that the should leave. All of them except Boyd turned around to leave. Boyd glanced at them and got off the ice tractor.
"Don't" Scott choked out, making Boyd look at him.
" You don't wanna be like them" he added.
"You're right" Boyd said and lifted his hoodie up to reveal a bite on the side of his abdomen.
" I wanna be like you" he added and followed the others.
Isaac looked at Derek who's face remained cold and expressionless, though his eyes could tell a lot more and then at Venice who is probably looking like a sad mess. As soon as Boyd joined them, all of them walked out of the rink.
*****
AT THE ANIMAL CLINIC:
After what happened at the rink, Venice took Scott to the animal clinic as he asked her to.
"Why aren't you healing?" Scott muttered, lifting his hoodie up to look at a gash on his lower abdomen, while walking into the examining room, along with Venice, who was pretty much zoned out, having no idea of where she's even going.
"Because it's from an alpha" Deaton said, standing in front of the two McCalls, making Venice break out from her reverie.
Both of them looked at the examining table and their eyes widened at the sight in front of them. A body was laid on the table with a number of gashes on it. Hell, Venice even knew who that person is. He's the same guy who once kidnapped her from the gas station to give her a little training session, along with Chris. The guy's shirtless and the whole of his upper body were filled with gashes as if some creature forced its claws into his body and dragged them.
Deaton walked towards the body and looked at Scott and said "I think maybe we better have that talk now."
-----
So, this is the 16th Chapter. Hope you guys like it!
I'm so sorry for such a late update! Some stuff came up and I couldn't update as soon as possible.
So, what do you think about the chapter?
Why do you think Venice's ex showed up?
Feel free to comment your opinions!
And thank you soo much for 4.15K+ reads!!!! Love you all!