The helicopter buzzed over head, completely deafening as deputies and the Sheriff surveillance the crime scene. Cameras flashing, police radios blaring as the deputies talked among themselves about the scene. It was gruesome, blood everywhere. Sheriff Stilinski used to be in the dark about these things over the past year or so. These cases would be ruled as homicides that would later be cold cases that were unsolved. It caused so much pressure on him, caused him to drink. Now that he had been in the know--albeit, most of what he was now in the know of, he didn't believe or want to know--anything was possible and that terrified him more than when he didn't know anything. Sheriff Stilinski pulled his deputy, Deputy Jordan Parrish to be exact, to the side, away from other officers. "Hey, let's get everyone off the roof and see if you can stall the M.E for five minutes. I've got an expert of my own coming to take a look."
Jordan Parrish just look bewildered a bit, eyes wide. "You have an expert on teenage cannibals?" What did he not know and what should he know that the Sheriff did?
"Five minutes, Parrish." It felt like Sheriff was pulling teeth, he hated leaving Jordan in the dark. He was a young kid, full of life and being in the dark about all of this could only lead to his demise. Is this what it felt like to not know everything, just a bunch of constricting lies around your neck like a noose? As Parrish cleared out the officers from the roof, Sheriff turned around and felt his heart drop when he saw a figure standing there.
His brooding look was to never be mistaken. Dark jacket and jeans that complimented his gray t-shirt. Blue eyes unlike anyone had ever seen, his face covered in a dark stubble that matched his hair. Derek Hale had come to help the Sheriff.
"Uh, I guess you've been there long enough to hear that we need to be quick about this. Scott said he caught himself a wendigo" Sheriff spoke to Derek. Derek's eyes had been scanning the scene. His eyes remained focused on the body on the ground.
"Cannibalistic shape-shifters" Derek replied, defining what a wendigo to Sheriff. "But I haven't heard of them in Beacon Hills for a long time. Must have been well hidden." Derek's attention went elsewhere, scents filling his nostrils that the average human couldn't smell but he can. Something was off about the story he had heard before. His head turning around, his body shifting from its original direction to a different one. "How many people did Scott say were up here?"
"Just Sean and the axe murder, who apparently has no mouth." Sheriff answered. Derek's eyes canvassed the scene, his eyes jumping in every direction. He knows he can smell it, its right there underneath his nose but he can't find where its coming from. Just as Derek stepped onto the ledge, he found it. Blood. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Sheriff asked.
Derek's eyes lifted from the ledge, trying to piece together what happened. Blood on the ledge, where did the person go? "There was someone else..." Derek started, his senses kicking into overdrive to sort out everything he should know. "Someone young. And male."
"You can smell his fear?" Sheriff asked. All of this was still new to him, so many unanswered questions and so little time. His eyes remained trained on Derek, watching his movements, even the small ones.
Derek sighed, looking down at the ground before looking over at the Sheriff. "And his blood."
- - -
How stupid can Scott be? Stiles says he's just still a human regardless of his new title, but if he wasn't so damn concerned with his idea of being the best, keeping his position on the team and doing everything he could to keep himself from losing his captain position, none of this would have happened. The insanely talented and athletically gifted freshman, Liam Dunbar wouldn't have been hurt and he wouldn't have been in the hospital where a crazed wendigo would be. Scott wouldn't have needed to protect him and then even worse, bite Liam. Now, that leads him in this predicament wondering how the hell is he supposed to fix this. He's an alpha, he's supposed to know how to fix these things. Scott had no idea how to make any of this better.
Stiles rushed into Scott's home, following behind his best friend. "Like I said, I told my dad everything I could" he spoke, keeping in tow with Scott.
"But you didn't tell him about Liam?" Scott asked, panic evident in his voice.
Stiles squinted his eyes, lifted his hand in slight disbelief. "You barely told me about Liam. What did you do with him anyway?"
"He's upstairs" Scott recalls, a slight sigh leaving his lips. Stiles steps are a few paces behind his alpha best friend.
Stiles just stops and scrunches his brow. "...doing what?"
Scott just sighs, his steps halting on his stairwell. "Laying down."
Although the words were simple enough, Stiles felt confused and just cocked his head to the side, his face mirroring the confusion that clouded his brain. Scott sighed and trudged up the stairs, Stiles trailing not too far behind. The duo entered the McCall bathroom, the shower curtain opened and sitting in the porcelain bathtub, sat a terrified young Liam Dunbar. His arms and legs were covered in duct tape to keep from escaping, mouth taped shut to prevent from shouting. His breathing was heavy and pant like, fear and terror covering his face. Stiles sighed as his gaze drifted over to Scott before closing the curtain again.
How could Scott be so reckless? He bought him back to the McCall home? Had he forgotten his his brain worked? Stiles and Scott sat down on his bed, Stiles feeling completely lost. "...so you bit him." The sentence came out more of a statement than a question, the answer was quite obvious.
"Yeah" Scott replied, his voice a bit defeated.
"And you kidnapped him" Stiles spoke again, trying to piece together how everything happened.
Again, Scott looked down, his voice still defeated. "Yeah—"
"And then brought him here?" The words sounded foreign and dare he say it, stupid. The more he tried to piece together what could have been the reasoning of all this, it just felt like lost steps.
"I panicked" Scott replied. There was a pause between the two men.
Stiles nodded once. "Yup."
Another pause fell between the two best friends. How were they supposed to fix this? This has gone wrong in so many ways and now they have to fix this mess they're in.
"This isn't going to end with us burying the pieces of his body out in the desert, is it?" Stiles asked. In the background, the sounds of Liam's muffled cries behind duct tape could be heard.
Stiles sighed "As a reminder, this is why I always come up with the plans. Your plans, suck."
"I know. Which is why I called you..." Scott felt defeated, like every moment of lies and deceit, like every second of trying to keep up with his new title of being a 'true alpha' was causing him to mess up somehow. " So, what do we do?"
The room is quiet, the slight sound of breathing from both males and the jagged breathing from Liam in the bathroom meshing with the sound of cars driving down the quiet street. Stiles stood with a sigh, grabbing a chair from Scott's desk and then proceeding to nod in the direction of the bathroom where Liam was currently stored. The duo placed him into the chair with a grunt.
Stiles and Scott step back, looking at the young boy in the chair. Scott could feel his heart break, was this what Derek and Peter would have seen when looking at young Scott when he was first bitten? "Liam..." Stiles spoke "...we're going to take the take off your mouth. If you scream, it goes back on. If you talk quietly, it stays off. Got it?"
Liam's eyes drift back and forth between the two males in the room who have two completely different looks on their faces. Liam was terrified, still he nodded yes in compliance. The two older boys had a silent debate over who would take the tape off Liam's mouth before Stiles stepped forward removing the duct tape from the younger boys lips, which resulted in Liam grunting in a bit of pain.
"Okay Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight and a lot more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?" Stiles often spoke in loops and while he hadn't done that in a bit of time thanks to being possessed by the Nogitsune, it was a habit. Scott and Liam stared off, trying to find the point of Stiles' statement.
Liam shook his head a bit. "Not really..." he replied.
"Good. That's good" Stiles spoke.
Scott came back to Earth after trying to figure out what the hell Stiles was talking about. "I don't understand either..."
There was that stupid slight pause between Scott and Stiles. This was probably the fifteenth between the two. "Maybe you should tell him" was all Stiles said before Liam's eyes grew a bit bigger, in dire need of answers that apparently Scott held.
Liam's gaze shifted between Scott and Stiles. Was anyone ever going to tell him anything or were they just going to keep him strapped to s damn chair? Fed up, in need of answers and terrified, Liam spoke with authority. "Tell me what?"
Scott took a small step forward. "Liam, what happened to you--what I did to you, which I had to do in order to save you..." the young alpha wolf started, trying to find the right words to say. "...its going to change you."
"Unless it kills you..." Stiles blurted out. Scott turned to look at Stiles, wondering how the hell did he manage to let that slip from his lips. "...shouldn't have said that" the young Stilinski male mumbled before looking down at his hands.
'Unless it kills you?' Liam thought to himself. Is he about to die because he decided he wanted to impress the coach and the rest of the team over in Beacon Hills? 'I'm only fifteen...' seemed to echo through his mind over and over, small sniffles and a look of sheer terror covering his face.
"Uh-oh. Uh-oh is he...is he crying?" Stiles asked. Well if he didn't feel like complete shit before, he feels like it now.
Scott kneeled down to Liam's eye level, feeling nothing but guilt and disgust with himself. "Liam, you're going to be okay." Suddenly Scott felt like the words were falling upon deaf ears when the younger boy started to slowly sob. "You're not going to die."
"Probably not" Stiles added. The pessimism was falling from his lips like word vomit.
Scott couldn't help but look over at Stiles a bit sternly. "Stop it" he commanded.
"Okay, possibly not." Word vomit again from Stiles.
"Would you just help untie him?" Scott felt nothing but negativity, he hated every second of it. Maybe there was hope for Liam, maybe he'd end up like him, except not so much on the true alpha thing since it only happens every hundred years apparently. The two older boys remove the tape from Liam, who just sat in the chair with his head hung low.
Scott just felt like scum. There's other ways to save someone, did giving a young boy, regardless of his health status, the same bite that Scott himself didn't want the only way to save Liam's life? "Liam, are you okay?" Scott asked.
"We're sorry about that..." Stiles added with sincerity. "...we're really sorry."
In that very second, it all hit Liam. He wasn't bound to a chair, his limbs worked and damn it his ankle still might be a bit crappy at the moment but this was his chance to run for it. He could flee and be spared of whatever weird and possibly fatal fate he could face with these two men. Turning his body, his hands grip at the chair, swinging it with full force—and maybe a bit of fear driving his adrenaline—smashing it against Scott and hitting Stiles a bit.
Stiles looked over at Scott, face down on the ground and praying that McCall wouldn't wolf out and kill Liam before the bite could kill him. "Liam, what the hell is your-"
The question came to a halt as the young boy took a swing, hitting Stiles in the face and landing the punch he hooked would buy him time to escape. Liam sprinted from the room, his feet sliding across the hardwood floor in the McCall home. The realization made Liam stop in his tracks. He was putting weight and running on an ankle he couldn't even stand on just a few mere hours before. His gaze adverted down to his ankle, was he able to do this because of adrenaline and fear? Was Liam miraculously healed and cured? Just as Liam reminded himself that there wasn't any time to ponder that when talks of change and death were uttered in his presence by two guys he barely knew, those two men emerged from the room.
"Get him!" Stiles shouted as the two best friends charged at Liam, sending all three bodies tumbling down the steps of the !McCall household. The shouts that previously filled the home were now replaced with groans of pain, three bodies laying at the base of the steps. Liam reacted quickly, groaning and attempting to climb over Scott and Stiles. Scott and Stiles also reacted quickly, grabbing a hold of a leg and shouting to the other how they had a hold of him. Seconds later, Scott and Stiles realized they only had a hold of each other. The front door was opened completely and Liam was nowhere in sight.
"Your plan sucked too..." was all Scott could say completely out of breath before standing up straight. "I'm going to the Argent house. Maybe he'll have one of those supersonic tracker things and we can maybe find Liam."
- - -
The Argent/Flores household was quiet, lights off except for the faint light from Eden's room where her desk was. Books spread across her bed, a piece of a Sour Punch Straw still in her mouth as she hugged her pillow. Eden had been studying for school, something she always used to do to stay ahead of the curve in classes. Everything was so quiet, the soft sounds of the wind blowing against her window, the rustle of the leaves in the cool night breeze, it was tranquil. The sound of the door closing sounded loud in Eden's ears, a girl who had been used to sleeping lightly for years thanks to training. Her eyes opened slowly, breathing slowing to a steady pace. Wolves knew this was the Argent household, did he have enemies that might want him dead? The Latina slowly arose from her bed, feeling for a thin rod she kept near her bed that doubled as a staff. Bare feet touching the cold hardwood of the floor, eyes squinting to adjust to the faint darkness.
A heavy thud of a footstep is heard through the house, echoing off the walls. Holding her breath, twirling the rod between her fingers, Eden moved swiftly and with calculated speed before stopping, hearing a voice scream out. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness without her glasses, her heart rate slowing down before momentarily stopping and speeding up again. "Scott?!" she asked incredulously.
"...Eden?" Scott questioned back, his eyes squinting. Eden's cover was blown. "What the hell are you doing in the Argent house?"
"What are you doing in the Argent house?" Eden responded right back, watching Scott's actions. His eyes squinted as he stammered a bit over his words.
"I-I-no I asked you first!" Scott exclaimed. Eden bit down on her lip to keep herself from laughing at Scott and his actions. Eden sighed and ran her hands through her hair, Scott just watched her movements carefully. "Well...?"
Eden's brown eyes met his of a similar shade. "I live here. I've been living here..." she started before looking down at her feet. "I've been here for about two months, living with Chris."
"Are you like...dating him?" Scott asked, his nose scrunched up as Eden's eyes lifted from the floor. A shocked expression covered Eden's facial features as her mouth gaped open, eyes wide with shock and disgust.
Eden shook her head back and forth vigorously "What? No! Gross. He's my legal guardian, that's only legal in like Kentucky or something. No." she spoke, trying to breathe after that accusation. "My parents...they uh, died. Chris took me in. Part of the code."
Scott stopped moving for a moment, his eyes locked with the young Latina's before moving forward. "Code?" he asked in a low voice. Again, she had said too much but at this point her cover had been blown by staying in the one place she thought she was safe. "You mean—"
"Its one of the many hunter's code. You were in love with a damn good hunter, you should know there's more than one code for us" Eden commented, resting her back against the wall, rod still in hand. Scott was a good guy, but wolves were never too keen on other hunters. "We take care others as if they were our own. Its the code that bought me here."
Scott nodded and leaned against the wall opposite of Eden, his eyes of brown diverted down to the ground. There was a lingering silence between them, but there were so many unasked questions also dangling in that silence. "Are you going to kill everyone here?" Scott asked in a somewhat timid tone. The way his head was tilted toward Eden, the light cast of light against his tanned skin and dark eyes, it was almost child like. Puppy like even. Eden just chuckled.
"No" the young brunette spoke simply. "Protegemos a quienes no pueden protegerse a símismos."
Scott's eyes gleamed in the light, a small smirk playing against his lips. "I have no idea what you just said." Eden couldn't help but laugh.
"We protect those who can't protect themselves." The words were simple and true, the words rang in Scott's ears loudly, causing the sides of his mouth to curve upward for a moment before curving downward. "It wasn't my original code, but not only am I living by Argent code because I'm in his household, but because its Allison's code. She was a good friend of mine. I can't betray her code." It might not have been an answer the young werewolf wanted to hear, but its one he'd have to take. "You didn't answer me though. Why are you here? How did you manage to get in?"
"There's a spare key outside in the plant in front of the door. Allison told me about that key. I was hoping I could come in here and find something for tracking" Scott answered candidly. "I didn't bet on getting my head knocked off with a stick—" Scott joked as Eden laughed a bit.
"I didn't bet on a werewolf breaking into my apartment but we all can't see the future can we?" Eden joked back. "Wait, tracking stuff? What happened?"
Scott bit down on his bottom lip, withdrawing all information he could since he barely knew Eden. "Can I plead the fifth?" Eden's eyes just scanned over his body, crossing her arms over her chest. Scott couldn't help but sigh. "I made a huge mistake. I thought I was saving someone and in the end, I might have either signed my death warrant or his."
Eden couldn't help but sigh and push herself from the wall on her side of the hall. "Omega or Beta?" It was a simple question but Scott just looked at her with pleading eyes, hoping her old traits wouldn't come and bite him in the ass. "Different tracking devices and methods for different types of wolf. Just asking so I know how to help you."
Scott's lips curled into a small smile before looking down at his feet. "Beta if he takes the bite."
"Your first?" Eden was full of questions and being that Scott hadn't killed her, she felt a bit more at ease in asking him these things. Eden's footsteps were soft and practically silent before she turned to Scott who was still standing in his spot. "Look, I barely know you but from everything I've heard, you think with your heart most of the time instead of most alphas who think with their minds and think of power..." Eden started, leaning against the wall and looking over at Scott. "...you had the right intentions. If it was to try and save someone and not for a gain of power, then maybe you shouldn't feel like you're in too damn deep. If he hasn't taken the bite, the tracker isn't going to find him. He won't hear it. You know that better than anyone."
Scott's eyes of brown looked down at the floor. "Give him time?"
"Give him time..." Eden walked in the direction of the kitchen, grabbing two bottles of water and handing one bottle to Scott. "Also, let's not tell the world about me living I'm the Argent home? I almost attacked you, if other wolves learn a new hunter is in town, regardless of the fact that they've retired out of the hunting game, I'm going to probably die."
The alpha wolf just chuckled and shook his head. "You're with Argent, you're safe. If you were a Calavera, that would be a different story. Thanks for the water and the advice."
Eden just sighed and continued to walk away from Scott who was headed toward the door. "Remember, he's young. You were him once before. He's terrified. Be the alpha he needs you to be, not the one he or you wants you to be."
"And you remember that you're protected. Not only by Argent, but myself now if you need it. Just don't take my head off with a staff again" Scott joked before closing the door behind him.
- - -
The day had been weird for Liam. He woke up feeling different, nothing felt like it had done previous days before. His senses felt heightened, everything felt like he was experiencing everything in high definition. His alarm clock was louder, heart beat deafening in his ears. Its like Liam could hear his neighbor breathing through the brick walls of his home. Then of course the weirdest part of it all was when he changed the bandage on his wound he had gotten from Scott when it was gone. It was like it healed rapidly overnight. His ankle good as new, a bite mark had vanished, senses heightened. What was going on? The young freshman found himself running to school, the complete three miles and he did it effortlessly. After lying to his best friend, Mason, Liam needed to get inside and avoid Scott for the rest of the day. Rushing through the hall, Scott was on his trail. All Liam needed was to get inside a classroom of some sort, he wouldn't go into a classroom that wasn't his, right? That was the goal before Stiles appeared in front of him.
"Liam! Hey!" Stiles yelled. If Liam was trying to be sneaky and dodge Scott, Stiles would be the reason for the whole plan to go down the drain.
Scott quickly approached, coming up behind Liam. "We need to talk."
"Back the hell up, okay? Both of you" Liam demanded. Yes, Liam had a million questions and needed a million and one answers but he also didn't want these two who might have tried to kill him, anywhere near him.
Scott just sighed. He needed the younger boy to listen him. Scott did exactly as Eden told him, he gave Liam time and remembered what it was like for him when he received the bite. It was hell and the only person that helped him through it most of the time was a person who wasn't a wolf at all. Although Scott McCall will forever be grateful for Stiles Stilinski and thankful he didn't run away when he had all right to, its not the same. This was Scott's chance to make sure Liam didn't go through this alone like he had. "Can you just listen to me for one second?"
Liam's eyes locked with Scott's and in a split second, Scott panicked. What is he supposed to say to make Liam want to stick around? There wasn't a speech given to him when this happened to Scott. Okay, maybe there was...one speech. That speech.
"Liam..." Scott spoke, a small pause in his speech before continuing and feeling like mentally kicking himself in the brain the second it clicked that those words were going to be his next ones. "we're brothers now."
Liam couldn't believe what he was hearing. Brothers? "What?"
Stiles squinted his eyes, hadn't he heard about this speech before? "Oh god. That's..." Stiles halted his speech, he couldn't even believe these were the words leaving Scott's mouth. Of all things he could do, he gives the Hale speech? Stiles felt horrible, he just hung his head in defeat.
"What are you talking about? We just met and you bit me" Liam added, which only furthered his mission in his mind to get away from Scott and Stiles as far as he could.
Scott couldn't believe in true Stilinski fashion, he was suffering from word vomit. Unfortunately, the words from his word vomit were words he had heard before. Did he have to use the Hale speech? "The bite..." Scott started, feeling like it was too late to go back now. "...the bite is a gift."
"Scott, stop" Stiles spoke, shaking his head in disbelief. He had heard enough of this, he had enough of the stupid speech. "Please, stop." Walking next to his best friend, standing in front of this damn Liam character that seemed to be a bunch of trouble at this point. "You. You, we're trying to help you, you little runt."
Liam squinted his eyes. "By kidnapping me?"
Damn this kid was good. "Just to clarify, Scott kidnapped you, okay? I aided and abetted" Stiles retorted.
"Liam..." Scott started. Maybe it was time for him to be himself. Eden's words echoing through his brain 'Be the alpha he needs you to be, not the one he or you wants you to be'. "I've gone through this before. Something's happening to you..." he added. What was the right set of words he was looking for, the ones that might help him describe what is about to happen? Nothing came to mind, at least nothing extensive. "something big."
Liam looks back and forth between the two older males. "Nothing's happening to me." That's the only logical explanation he could think of, the only thing that he could say. He's normal and everything that happened was pure adrenaline. Adrenaline healed his ankle, adrenaline gave him the power to run and hear better. Adrenaline healed the bite mark. Ripping the bandage off his arm, he revealed the bite mark had disappeared. "Nothing."
With that, Liam walked away, noting that Scott and Stiles knew something. They knew about what this big thing that may or may not be happening to him, but for right now, he needed to be away from them.
"So...what do we do now? I mean you Hale'd him" Stiles spoke, looking down at his hands and sighing. Scott rocked on his heels, shrugging before walking in the direction of English class. "Wait, whoa where are you going? We've got Algebra."
Scott turned to face his best friend. "I know. I have to head toward English really quickly. I need to see a friend."
"Scott, I'm your friend" Stiles yelled before taking two steps forward to attempt to catch up to Scott. "What's going on?"
Stiles never got an answer, Scott just clasped his hand on his friend's shoulder and walked away in the direction opposite of the class he had. Was Scott keeping secrets? Scott was terrible at secrets, at least he was terrible at keeping them away from Stiles. He kept his footsteps light and quiet, slowly peeking around the corner Scott disappeared down when his whiskey colored eyes caught sight of Scott standing close and talking to Eden. Why couldn't he just say he was seeing Eden? Then his stomach began to hurt and do that weird feeling when he got mildly jealous. Stiles just couldn't understand why. Eden looked over her shoulder, behind her before walking off side by side with Scott. Is the reason Scott said not to trust Eden was because he wanted her for himself? Scott would never do that to his best friend, right?
- - -
Eden closed the door to her locker, sighing as her head seemed to pound more from figuring out some kind of solution to help Scott. It was already a bit weird for her, he came to her for help after only somewhat being nice after finding out she's a hunter and he's a werewolf. The bite had taken to Liam and Scott needed to keep his eyes on the young beta. Just as she closed the locker door, a mass of blonde hair was in her eye line. "Jesus Christ!" the brunette whispered, holding her heart.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you..." Garrett spoke, smile plastered on his face. "I forgot I'm often light on my feet, I should work on that."
The young brunette just laughed, she's light on her feet too thanks to being a hunter. Could Garrett be one too? It didn't matter, after all she wasn't an active one herself. "Yeah, maybe you should..." she spokewith a laugh in her voice. "What brings you my way?"
"What are you doing tonight?" Garrett asked. There was something about the way his eyes sparkled, his cheeks were accentuated when his teeth just bit down mischievously on his bottom lip. There was a slight pick up in her heart rate the more she observed him.
Eden crossed her arms, licking her lips before shrugging "Study and maybe some Netflix? I've been rewatching some old shows I used to watch when I was younger—"
Garrett chuckled and shook his head "This is high school. You have all the time in college to rewatch those shows. I bet the one you're watching is already being rerun in syndication..." Garrett had a point. Damn, he had a point. Lifting from the lockers a bit, Garrett inched closer to Eden. "My friend got an invite to a party tonight, apparently everyone is supposed to be there. Us newbies gotta stick together, so I thought I'd tell you about it. Maybe convince you to go and save a dance for me if you go..."
In eyes so blue, there was something hidden. Maybe it was this endless stream of charm hidden behind blue irises that he showed on his own terms. Maybe its the lingering fear Eden had about Garrett and she couldn't detect why it was there. Maybe its the fact that she knew nothing about Garrett, yet was completely enthralled in him and wanted to know more although it might be the most terrifying thing she does here in Beacon Hills. "What time and where?" Eden replied with a huff, feigning disappointment that her plans had to change.
Garrett just smiled again, dimples playing along his cheeks. "I'm still finding out the information, when I know it all, I'll shoot you a text."
Eden nodded and watched as Garrett slowly backed away. His swagger should be annoying how high it was but instead it was entrenching and probably deadly. "Wait...you don't even have my number!" Eden laughed. Garrett turned around and flashed his smile.
"Don't doubt my sneaky ways..." is all he said with a wink.
Eden remembered to take heed to those words.
- - -
"And where have you been young lady?"
The words alone made Eden freeze in her tracks. One earned hanging out of her ear to hear her surroundings, after all if Scott could break in, anyone at this point can. Her orbs of brown shifted over to the dining table. Clothing in pure classic all black, like old habits when they die hard. "Chris!" Eden exclaimed, happy as ever that her guardian had made it home safely and not dead. She didn't know if she could handle another person close to her dying. The two embraced for a minute, each second ticking by and feeling more and more right and safe and like family thatneither one cared. "I took the long way home, I didn't think you were coming home tonight."
"All business has been taken care of, I decided to return a day earlier than expected..." Chris added with a genuine smile. He couldn't even tell you the last time he actually smiled and meant it lately. "Hope you don't mind me home--"
"You should move the extra key outside the door, Chris..." Eden spoke, rocking on her heels and pushing her hands into the pockets in her dress. Eden was getting the hang of California weather and clothing, wearing a soft blue dress, black booties and a cropped black cardigan over the dress, her hair in a side fishtail braid, its like she belonged a bit. "...people know about it and well, that's not good for little ol' me."
Chris chuckled and headed back into the kitchen, searching the cabinets for what he could scrape up to make a quick dinner for he and Eden. "I'll remember that. I'll also set up trick wiring at the door."
"Scott McCall knows..." Eden mumbled, her feet seeming way more interesting than the possible look on Argent's face. "He uh, used the key outside the door while I was here. I almost took his head off. Did you know he thought we were dating? That was probably the weirdest thing ever—"
"You told him you were a hunter?" Chris asked. His back still facing Eden's direction as she leaned against the wall frame, arms folded. "What did he do?"
"Assume I was going to kill him." Eden chuckled at the memory, looking down at her feet again. "He decided to keep my secret as long as I kept his. Fair deal if you asked me. Although there is something you should know..."
Argent turned to face Eden, stern look crossing his face. "Don't tell me you kissed him and had him sleeping naked in this house. I mean he's a nice guy but I've had enough of the werewolves being in a relationship with the teenage girls in my presence—"
"Chris! Chill!" Eden laughed. "Granted, Scott McCall is a cute guy, has this kind of puppy dog thing going for him, but no. I'll pass." Eden sighed and let her eyes jump everywhere. "Scott tried to save a young boy falling off the roof at Beacon Hills Medical Hospital. He bit him out of panic because he couldn't reach him with his hands. The boy took the bite, Chris. Scott has a beta and their first full moon is tonight..."
Chris rubbed his temple, sighing as he processed the information. Eden's cover was blown and although Scott was a trustworthy person, her plan was to live a normal life and now that shred of normalcy was gone. Now add in that Scott McCall has a beta. "Do you know of his plan to keep this beta contained?"
"I told him to keep the beta away from people. Too many would send the beta under a full moon—their first to be exact—into a frenzy. He said something about he knew a place and thanked me for my help..." Eden replied, a soft chuckle escaping as she thought about how she helped Scott. "I'm not used to this, helping wolves and all."
"You get used to it, kiddo." Chris turned to face his somewhat adoptive daughter. Most days she was her own entity, her own person and Chris adored that about Eden but other days, rare days, Chris would look at Eden and see his daughter Allison standing in front of him. Their eyes both full of wonder, while Allison's hair was darker than Eden's, they both had similar shapes and smiles. Sometimes it as easy to see Allison in Eden, it was like Chris never said goodbye to his daughter. Other times the image would fade and it'd be like ripping the bandaid off to remind him that his daughter was gone. This was a good day. A good memory of Allison. "So, I'm thinking I make dinner tonight. Chicken Parmesan tonight?"
Eden bit down on her bottom lip. "I kinda got invited to a party tonight...?" She wasn't sure of Chris' policy on partying on a school day. Her parents were somewhat flexible with those kinds of things, they wanted Eden to appear as a normal teenage girl, not so much a huntress. "I mean I don't have to go if you don't want me to! I can stay indoors and we can have a somewhat family dinner and—is that fettuccine? Let's have fettuccine alfredo tonight, I can cook the chicken for it and I can stay indoors and—" Eden quickly tried to back track. Chris smiled.
"Relax, kiddo. This day of popularity would have come sooner or later. Besides, we should discuss a curfew and what not. Being a young girl with a few friends, you'll be hanging out and its good. Your parents would want you to have a normal life..." Argent spoke with a soft smile.
The small smile couldn't be wiped from Eden's face at the mention of her parents. God, she missed them so much. "My curfew with my parents was eleven-thirty on school nights, no later than one am on weekends. We can always work with those times..."
Chris couldn't help but smile the same small smile that Eden had. "Eleven-thirty sounds like a pretty reasonable time. Fine with me. Just no drinking and driving. Have someone bring you home, someone trustworthy."
"I assume you're volunteering McCall if he's there. I'll pass the message..." the young huntress laughed before hearing the familiar chime of her phone signalling she had received a message. Her eyes of brown scanned the screen before feeling a slight wave of panic. "Chris?" she asked slowly, handing him her phone to read the address of the party. "Please tell me you know that address..."
Argent's eyes read the words on Eden's cell phone screen. "Yeah. That's the Martin lake house—"
"Martin?" Eden asked. There was a slight sharp intake of air she inhaled and it felt like the beginning of a plan that she wasn't even a part of, unraveling quickly. "Keep your phone near by and turned on, Chris."
Argents steel eyes watched as Eden grabbed a light jacket, pulled her hair from her jacket and walked toward the door. "Why?"
Eden huffed "Because we might need help and I don't mean of an adult kind, I mean of a hunter kind. Freshmen suck and are nothing but trouble..." she spoke before closing the door behind her.
- - -
This party was entirely too loud but damn did it seem fun. Maybe the whispered reputation of Lydia Martin: Party Extrordinaire was true. Music flowed from speakers, cheers and hollers of fun echoing off walls, high pitched chatter mixing with the bass from the sub woofers. Orbs of brown scanned the room, looking for a mass of blonde hair that she had been invited by. Saying hello to a few people who actually remembered her and who she was, Eden felt content in her place.
And then her gaze fell on Garrett. He had been a gentleman, paying for a keg of beer and throwing the money for it as if it were nothing. His lips touching the glass he was drinking from before his gaze met his phone. Maybe Eden should take the first step, find him and ask him to dance. He was an attractive guy, athletic and obviously kind and generous. A smile spread across his face and Eden felt the same smile tug along her cheeks. As Garrett walked out of the kitchen, phone in hand, Eden took one step forward before stopping in her tracks.
Garrett had walked over to a female Eden had seen her with once or twice before. She was around his she range she assumed, Eden didn't know her name at all. At the moment, she didn't want to. Garrett's embrace entangled her body, lips met hers and Eden felt the world slow down. Garrett had a girlfriend? He lied?
Boys suck and this was a prime example of it. There was the temptation of tears behind her eyes that threatened to spill from her glossy eyes as she watched the scene in front of her. Strong hunters don't cry, she tried to ration in her head and sniffled her tears before she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. The caller ID reading 'Argent' across the screen.
"Its not eleven-thirty yet—" Eden dead panned, trying to keep her voice from wavering and showing any kind of betrayal.
"Meet me outside, the woods outside the Martin lake house. You really know your stuff. Let's hope you remember how to isolate without killing and harming."
Looking down at her feet, covered in black heeled booties, she silently cursed before heading out the door and into the direction of the woods. Chris stood stoic, waiting for her with a gun and a crossbow and arrows in his hands. A constricting feeling hit her chest like cinder blocks, bows and arrows were Allison's thing, not Eden's. "I..." the brunette started, shaking her head a bit. "I can't work a bow and arrow. I mean, I can, but that's not my thing. I can't..."
Chris nodded his head once, knowing what she was trying to say. "I'd never make you do something you're not comfortable doing. I've already set up a corral in the clearing, I'll lead the beta that way with a flash arrow. You'll help Scott find his beta and keep his beta contained. I can handle everything else." The task seemed so easy, so effortless, like a first level training hunting mission. The sound of dried leaves crumbled slightly underneath their feet before the two hunters stopped in their tracks, listening for any and every sound around them. The wind howled softly in the darkness, leaves flying in the breeze, bugs making sounds in the background. In the small silence, Argent and Eden heard it. The sounds of growls and ruffling in the distance. The two sprinted in the direction of the sounds, leaves crumbling underneath their feet as they skid to a halt at the top of a hill.
Argent looked down at his hand, the crossbow that was once his daughters fitting tightly in his grasp. All of it hurt so much, it was all so soon to go through this, to miss his daughter and now be thrust back into this craziness. A sharp inhale was all Chris took before picking up the crossbow and aiming for his spot, waiting for his shot. Eden listened on to what was happening below. Liam blamed Scott for what happened to him, for biting him and making him a werewolf. Most times, Eden would have agreed but if Scott didn't do what he did, Liam could have died. Scott told Eden he had lost enough people in his life, he couldn't lose another. As Liam's hand outstretched as if he were about to strike Scott, Chris released a flash arrow, the light temporarily blinding Liam as he ran off.
Scott's eyes met the two figures in front of him with a look of appreciation. Eden and Chris began to walk over to the young Alpha who was still leaning against the tree where the arrow had just been shot over his head. "How did you know?" he asked, his gaze upon Chris before he noted Eden standing next to him.
"Got invited to a party, saw the address and it all clicked. Decided to come in case you needed my help. Its the least I can do" Eden spoke with a shrug and a small smile, one which Scott returned.
Chris extended his hand and grabbed onto Scott's hand, helping him up from his previous position. "I got your text." is all he said, the unspoken bond between the elder hunter and the young true alpha wolf clear as ever to Eden. Had she been taught wrong all these years that all wolves are evil beings? Here were two different people, a hunter and a werewolf, getting along just fine. "There's a clearing just North of here. All you have to do is corral him there. The rest is taken care of..." Argent's steel eyes landed between Scott and Eden, who both just nodded once at each other, knowing they'd be working together to corral the young beta.
"What are you going to do?" Scott asked Chris. There was a slight tremble in his voice. For once, Scott didn't know exactly what to do. Usually he flies blind in these situations until he finds the solution that had been there all along. This time, he had no idea what to do.
Argent sighed. "He's your Beta, Scott. The better question is 'what are you going to do'?" The words rang simple yet true to McCall.
"He won't listen to me" was all Scott could say, the way he spoke and stood seeming like he felt defeated in a way.
Chris looked down, nodding his head as he spoke. "He will if you start using your own words."
In the distance, Liam's screams were heard. They were loud, as if he were in complete agony. Eden's and Scott's heads snapped in the direction of the sound. The young Latina could feel her heart pounding in her chest, feel her adrenaline but also a sense of fear. She hadn't done this in forever, what if she would suffer the same fate as her parents? Chris handed Scott the remote for the sensors they'd need to corral the young Beta in one area. After a quick glance shared between Argent and Eden, and then the same one between Eden and Scott, the two teenagers raced into the darkness of the woods together to get to Liam.
Eden felt the familiar burn in her lungs when she ran too fast in heels but she kept completely in tow with Scott who hadn't used his speed to blow ahead of Eden. "Give me the sensor" Eden called, which Scott passed the remote to her, throwing it to her which she caught. Pressing the button, the emitters had been activated. Scott winced. "I'm sorry!"
"Its okay! We just have to get to Liam!" Scott called back. As the sensors went off, keeping the young Beta contained, the two caught up to the clearing, hearing the high pitched sounds the rods emitted. There sat Liam on his knees, covering his ears and crying out in pain. His ears weren't used to the loud sounds. Eden clicked off the emitters, the noise stopping, the lights stopped flashing. Eden kept her space, pressing her hand against Scott's lower back to urge him to move. Scott inched closer to his Beta, keeping a close eye on him.
There was a lingering terror and fear in Liam's eyes, he didn't know what was happening to him. He wanted to blame Scott, keep the older boy away from him but he knew deep down he couldn't do that, because Scott had answers. His orbs of blue locked onto Scott's orbs of brown, then over to Eden's and back to Scott. "What's happening to me?" Liam asked with fear lacing his words.
In that moment, Scott saw himself not too long ago. That same kid who was terrified and bitten, the one who feared what was happening to him and it killed him. "The same thing that happened to me" Scott replied. The young alpha inches closer to the young, terrified beta. Scott began to kneel down closer to Liam and Eden took a cautious step forward, remote to the emitters in hand. Eden could feel someone behind her, slowly turning her eyes met the figure of Chris Argent appearing in the darkness.
"They can't know about this..." Liam spoke, voice trembling a bit. "My mom, my step-dad. I can't do this to them again..."
Scott sat in silence, listening to Liam speak. "What do you mean, again?" he asked. There was a story, everyone has one and it was time for Scott to learn Liam's story.
"I got kicked out of school...and I deserved it" he started, his breathing jagged yet slow. Scott continued to listen on. "The way they looked at me when they saw what I did to that car..."
Eden just watched on, biting down on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure what to say or do yet, this was Scott's time to be an alpha on his own. "Liam, its okay."
"They can't see me like this..." Its all Liam could say and it felt like its all he could repeat before breaking down into sobs. Eden knew the words Liam wanted to say, but she couldn't fix her mouth to say it. Not in front of Scott.
"Like a monster?" Scott questioned, taking the words right out of Eden's mind and mouth. Scott began to stand up, the way he stood, the way his breathing had slowed down, his gaze locked and intensified, Eden felt compelled to keep watching. "You're not a monster. You're a werewolf..." After the words left his lips, Scott's eyes began to glow a bright red. "Like me."
Eden stepped forward, extending a hand to Liam and placing her other hand on Scott's shoulder. "You'll be okay, Liam. You'll be okay." It felt like the words were a lie leaving Eden's glossed lips but for the first time she felt like they were the truth. "It'll be hard, but you'll be okay and you'll learn. You're not a monster."
Liam's eyes were full of sheer terror, but he placed his hand inside Eden's to stand. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew he had to find out.
That and maybe, he'll be okay.
- - -
Beeping sounds were heard from the pristine white room. It wasn't exactly pristine, red wine marks on the white carpet and the walls were soundproof. Lydia had been in the room for who knows how long, a record that barely made noise seemed to be the key she needed to some code she had written.
Kira stood in the room with her, eyes watching as the code appeared on the screen. Fingers tapping against the computer keys, eyes of green trying to decode the code when it asked for a keyword. She knew the keyword, it had been what she heard while in soundproof room trying to figure it all out, the keyword had been all she heard while a record played. Lydia knew typing out the word would sting on her fingers like a burn.
Allison.
The code disappeared, only to be replaced with names. Some were names she had never heard of before, some she just recently heard of like the Walcott's. Then there were familiar names like Scott's, Derek Hale's, Kira's and her own. Next to the names, numbers.
"What is this?" Kira asked, kneeling down to try to understand what the hell was going on.
It all clicked in Lydia's mind. "Its a list of supernaturals in Beacon Hills..." the strawberry blonde started. "Its a dead pool...and we're all on it."