These things will change
Can you feel it now?
This revolution
The time will come for us to finally win
And we'll sing Hallelujah Hallelujah
-Change, Taylor Swift
My evening started out normal. Dinner with my nephew and sister, and then at ten o'clock I had went to my room to dink around on my computer. I laid down after an hour to try and sleep, but I couldn't. I was starting to get really pissed off when I heard some bumps from outside the house. Worried it was someone trying to break in I grabbed my .9mm from the corner of the room and headed out. At the same time my nephew, Scott, was walking out of his room with a wooden bat. I nodded at him and we headed out to the porch. Hearing the noise again I watched as Scott gripped his bat tighter and we both started looking around, finally looking up I noticed a figure climbing up the trellis. The figures feet slipped and he fell hanging upside down in front of Scott and I. Both my nephew and the intruder started screaming as they came face to face. Recognizing the intruder as Stiles Stilinski, Scott's best friend, I rolled my eyes and lowered the gun.
"Fucking pussies." I mumbled before tuning into their conversation.
"Why do you have a bat? AND A GUN? ARE YOU LICENSED TO CARRY THAT?" Stiles asked pointing in between Scott and I.
"I thought you were a rapist." I told him at the same time Scott replied, "I thought you were a predator." I threw him a weird look. A predator? Really.
"A preda- What? Alright I know it's late, but you've gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave 20 minutes ago. Dispatch called. They're bringing every officer from the beacon department, and even the state police." Stiles told us. My eyebrows shot up. I took a few steps closer to the boys.
"For what?" Scott and I asked.
"Get this. Two hikers found a body in the woods." My eyes widened in surprise.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, while Scott, my dearest nephew, though not the brightest crayon in the box decided to have a moment.
"Like a dead body?" he questioned his best friend. I gave him an "are you really that stupid look" while my buddy Stiles went with the sarcastic approach.
"No, a body of water. Yes, dumb ass a dead body." I snickered slightly before an interesting thought crossed my mind.
"Wait... If the hikers found the body, what are they looking for?" I questioned. Stiles grinned.
"That's the best part. They only found half." He said his voice rising a pitch at the end
"No shit!" Stiles nodded excitedly and then looked to Scott.
"We are so going." he said.
"Alright, well you kids have fun. I'm going back to bed. See ya." I told them before turning to head inside.
"You're not gonna come? C'mon Cora you love crap like this!" Stiles whined. I smiled slightly at Scott's best friend.
"True, but I'm tired and tomorrow I finish up the remodel on my apartment and that's going to take a while, so I'd like to get some sleep before that." I replied heading inside. I shook my head at myself, I was a horrible aunt. I debated about running outside and telling them I would come, but I particularly feel like running around the woods searching for weird death in the middle of the night. I had pretty much given up that life, but still, maybe I'd look into it tomorrow. I went upstairs and laid back down, knowing that work was going to be hectic tomorrow.
I woke up a few hours later to Scott shaking my shoulder, I scowled at him for a moment before I noticed he was in pain. I sat up quickly and started looking him over trying to find his injury.
"Scott? What happened? Are you hurt?" He didn't say anything just lifted up his shirt to show me a nasty bite. "Holy shit! What the hell bit you?" I asked jumping from the bed and rushing into the bathroom to grab my first aid kit. I made him sit down in my desk chair and turned on the lamp so I could see his side better.
"It looked like a wolf." he told me through gritted teeth as I poked at the skin around the bite trying to decide if I need to take him to the hospital to get stitches. I narrowed my eye brows, there hadn't been wolves in California in 60 years, there'd been wer-. My eyes then widened in shock. It couldn't be. They hadn't been in Beacon Hills in at least three years. I pulled a gauze pad out of the kit and taped it to his side.
"Alright, you should be fine. Keep cleaning it and if it starts to look weird you need to tell me so I can take you to the hospital." Scott nodded. He then left. I went to the window and stared up at the moon.
The next morning I got up early and got dressed for work. I owned a bar, a bar that had previously belonged to my father, but I was also the assistant lacrosse coach and the varsity softball coach. Though softball was currently out of season. I left when Scott was getting up, Melissa was still sleeping having worked the late shift the night before. I grabbed my leather jacket and walked out and threw a leg over the side of my motorcycle and took off towards the bar. Pulling up I smiled at Anna, the only employee who had been there when my dad was still alive, and the only one who would know about what was going on in Beacon Hills right now.
"I think they're back." I told her. "Them or another pack." She let out a sigh and followed me inside. She had the morning/afternoon shift and I was working the late night shift since my remodel on the upstairs apartment would be finished then.
"Have you checked?" She asked hanging up her coat. I shook my head.
"No, I'm honestly just contemplating waiting and seeing if he comes to me. I'm sure Laura would have, but maybe they aren't in town. Maybe I just want it to be them." Anna sent me an understanding smile, before starting to set everything up for the day. I sighed and headed up to my apartment.
I smiled looking at the recently painted walls. It was time to put all my furniture back. Well at least what I could do by myself.
I worked on moving the furniture for the whole day, my mind not really on the task at hand, but on what could be going on in town right now. I really needed to check on that body from last night. Once I was done with moving the furniture, I noticed that I had just enough time to change and head to Lacrosse practice.
I pulled up to the school a little while later. Coach Finstock was exiting his car at the same time.
"Hey Cora." He said as we walked in. I smiled at him.
"Hey, Chuck. How big of a turn out do you think we'll have tonight?" I asked referring to try outs. He smiled.
"Well there's gonna be the all the first and second string jocks, and then some of the freshman coming in." I nodded and we walked the rest of the way making small talk about the upcoming season.
Upon reaching the field I headed out to the middle and smiled fondly at some of the memories that flashed through my mind. A few minutes later players started trickling out and Finstock motioned me over as he came out.
"We just running some drills today?" I asked as I met him at the edge of the field. He nodded and motioned over to Scott who stood with Stiles off to the side.
"Let's put McCall in goal." He told me. I nodded, though somewhat reluctantly.
"Give them some first day back confidence." I said with a slight frown on my face. I watched as Finstock went and told Scott he was going to be Goalie today, and started writing down the names of the kids that I knew that had played before. I then went around gathering all the freshmen names. I waved at Lydia and raised an eyebrow at the girl sitting next to her as they headed towards the bleachers. Lydia smiled and waved enthusiastically back.
"Did you finish up your remodel?" she called. I nodded and turned towards the practice where everyone was waiting for directions. I looked at Finstock and he motioned for me to speak.
"Alright you little shit heads, welcome back to school and the lacrosse team. To all you newbie freshmen... well you guys..." I chuckled, "good luck surviving. Today's just going to be an easy back to work day. We're going to run some practice goal shots... More than anything to get you guys back into the groove. The hard shit starts tomorrow." I looked around at all the faces and a few of the freshman looked scared, but their were a couple little cocky ones that smirked at me.
"What does a chick know about lacrosse? This is a man's sport." One of the older players reached over and smacked him. I chuckled.
"You my friend just made my shit list. I'd watch yourself. You might just find out how much I know." I told him before blowing the whistle signaling the start of practice.
Scott took the goal and all the other players lined up in front of it. Finstock blew his whistle and I watched as Scott fell to the ground clutching his head. I scowled. This couldn't be happening. Just as he was getting back up the first person in line ran forward and made his shot, which ended up hitting Scott square in the face. I winced and looked to Stiles who was cringing slightly. Scott recovered quickly and the next person was off. I thought about turning away, because I really didn't want to watch him completely suck it up, but I remembered my suspicions and they kept me watching.
To my surprise, and everyone else, Scott caught it. I let out a small cheer. Finstock gave me a weird look, most likely forgetting that Scott and I were related. The next person went and once again Scott caught the ball. I smiled widely and fist pumped. A few more players went through, Scott stopping the ball from going into the net each time, when finally Jackson Whitmore, the team captain, stepped forward. I, along with everyone else, watched with a bated breath as he took off towards the goal before shooting for it. I'm pretty sure that I yelled the loudest in excitement when Scott caught it, which is saying something because Stiles yelled extremely loud. I noticed Scott look over to the bleachers so I followed his gaze and noticed the new girl smiling shyly at him. I smirked, little Scottie had a crush.
"You were fucking amazing today, Scottie! I'm so proud of you!" I praised Scott as we walked through the Beacon Hills Preserve. Stiles nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! How'd you do it?"
"I don't know." Scott stated as he jumped into the creek slightly before jumping to the other side. "It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball." Stiles followed the same path Scott took. I headed a little farther down the creek and walked across a log. Stiles shook his head at me, which got him the one fingered salute in return. There was no way I was jumping into that creek with my favorite heels on. "And that's not the only weird thing." Scott continued as we continued on through the forest. "I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things." I sighed. My theories were proving to be more and more correct as he continued to talk.
"Smell things? Like what?" Stiles asked.
"Like the Mint Mojito gum in your pocket, and the vanilla lip gloss in Cora's." Scott answered. I quirked an eyebrow before sticking my hand into my pocket finding the lip gloss that I thought I had lost. Stiles stopped walking.
"I don't have any Mint Mojito-" Stiles said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of gum. I reached over and snagged it from him and popped it into my mouth.
"Thanks, pip squeak." I told him before starting to apply some of my lip gloss.
"So all this started with a bite."
"What if it's like an infection? My bodies flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something." Scott asked. I covered my giggle with a cough.
"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this. It's a specific kind of infection." Stiles stated. I furrowed my eyebrows as Scott turned to look at him.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy." I grinned from behind Stiles. You don't know how right you are my friend.
"What's that? Is that bad?" Scott asked sounding extremely worried. I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing at how slow Scott was.
"Oh yeah real bad." I stated.
"But only once a month." Stiles added.
"Once a month?" Scott asked confused.
"Mm-hmm." Stiles hummed.
"Like a period." I added. Scott looked between the two of us repeatedly waiting for more.
"On the night of the full moon." Stiles finally told him. We looked to each other before both letting out little howls. Scott scowled and pushed Stiles. I giggled.
"Hey you're the one that heard a wolf howling." Stiles stated.
"There could be something seriously wrong with me." Scott told him as we started walking again.
"I know you're a werewolf!" Stiles joked, I let out a little fake growl. Might as well act like I don't know anything. "Okay, obviously we're kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's because Friday's the full moon." Stiles continued as we came to a stop. Scott looked around curiously for a moment.
"Maybe we're in the wrong place." I said shrugging, after coming to the conclusion he was looking for the body and his inhaler.
"No, I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler." Scott said bending down to rifle through the leaves. I scanned the ground looking for anything that would confirm what Scott was saying. Noticing some blood I realized he was right.
"It was here, if you look really closely you can see blood, there." I told them pointing to the spot. They both looked at me like I was an alien before shaking themselves out of it.
"Maybe the killer moved the body." Stiles supplied.
"If he did I hope he left my inhaler." Scott mumbled. I placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder to steady myself and bent down pulling off my heels. My feet were killing me.
"Yeah, no shit. Those things are like 80 bucks." I mumbled. All of a sudden Stiles moved causing me to loose my balance and fall into a tree.
"Ouch! Nice job, Stilinski." I noticed Scott stand up and quickly pushed off of the tree to see what they were looking at. My eyes widened and a small smile slipped onto my face when I saw who was standing in front of them taking deliberate steps towards us.
"What are you doing here? This is private property." He stated. I quirked an eyebrow.
"Actually we're on the preserve, Mr. Tall-dark-and-pop-up-outta-nowhere." I stated. Stiles elbowed me in the ribs.
"Ah, sorry man. We didn't know." I scowled and smacked Stiles on the back of the head.
"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but... never mind." Scott said cautiously.
"Yeah, my nephew's inhaler. Have you possibly seen it?" I asked stepping out from behind Stiles. He eyed me up for a moment, I could see the questions in his eyes, but he reached into his pocket and tossed Scott's inhaler at him before turning and walking away.
"Okay bye! It was nice seeing you Derek! Call me!" I called after him. He just ignored me and continued walking. Well that was rude. Scott and Stiles both looked quizzically at me.
"Alright dude, I gotta get to work." Scott stated.
"Dude, that was Derek Hale. You remember right? He's only like a few years older than us." Stiles stated.
"I knew him in high school." I threw in. Leaving out the fact that he had been one of my best friends.
"Remember what?" Scott asked.
"His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like, 10 years ago." I frowned at the memory. It was coming up on the anniversary of the fire soon actually.
"I wonder what he's doing back." Scott mumbled. You and me both, Scottie. You and me both.
I climbed off of my bike as I pulled up in front of the run down house. I stared up at it remembering what it was like before the fire. Sighing I pulled off my helmet and placed it on the bike before walking up to the house. The door was unlocked so I walked in looking around.
"Derek!" I called. "Are you here?" A few seconds later he appeared at the top of the steps.
"What are you doing here, Cora?" he asked walking down towards me. I quirked an eyebrow.
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been gone for five years and then just randomly show up. Not to mention the girl who was murdered, around the same time. Now Scott's acting weird and it all seems to point back to you." Derek narrowed his eyes at me.
"You think I killed her? You think I killed my own sister?" My eyes widened and I gasped, not expecting that in the slightest.
"Laura's dead? I-I don't understand, who killed her? Was it hunters or what? Oh my god!" I rambled before leaning against the wall, I felt like someone had just run me over with a car. Derek walked closer to me and gently wrapped an arm around my waist leading me towards the couch. He lowered me gently onto it and then sat down next to me.
"I don't know. That's why I'm here." he told me. I placed a hand on his shoulder for a show of comfort.
"I'm so sorry, Derek. She didn't deserve this. If you need my help with anything, you'll let me know right?" I asked. He just stared a me for a moment before nodding. It was silent for a few seconds before I finally spoke.
"Do you know what's wrong with my nephew?" I asked. I already knew, but I needed him to confirm it. Derek nodded.
"He's been bitten." I sighed.
"Did you?" I asked. He shook his head.
"It was whoever killed Laura and became the Alpha."
"Alright. It was good to see you again Derek, but I have to get going. I'll see you around." I told him turning to leave. I changed my mind at the last moment and turned back to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him.
"I really am sorry about Laura, Derek. I'm going to miss her." I said into his ear. I pulled back and looked directly into his green eyes- the ones that I had fantasied about as a teenager- and made him a promise that I knew I would keep unless I died. "I'm going to help you find him, I promise. We'll avenge her. Oh and if you ever want someplace to stay, my spare rooms always open." He nodded.
"Thanks." I gave him a small smile and turned to the door.
"Hey Cora." Derek called after me. I turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For not believing you about Kate." he stated. I was thrown back the memory flashing through my mind like it had happened yesterday.
FLASHBACK
"Derek she's bad news! She's just using you!" I exclaimed tying to get my point across to he werewolf in front of me.
"Back off Cora! Why can't you just except the fact that I'm in a relationship and move on?" he asked angrily. I glared at him.
"I have but that's not what this is about! She's a hunter! She's using you to get information about your family!" I yelled. Derek let out a growl at me.
"No she's not!" he roared. "She wouldn't do that! She loves me and I love her!" I rolled my eyes.
"You're not in love! You're 17 years old you're still a child!" I yelled angrily.
"You don't know anything Cora! You're just a pathetic whore that's been following me around for the last ten years!" he yelled. I sucked in a breath and tears welled up in my eyes. "Did you think I didn't know about the guy you're sleeping with? The guy that's 5 fucking years older than you!" he yelled. "So you have no right to preach to me about who I'm with. You can't even hold down a relationship." he spat. I reached forward and slapped him. The sound resonated through the forest. I had expected him to growl and change but the exact opposite happens he looked completely shocked.
"I'm not a whore you prick." I said softly. "But don't worry, you won't have to worry about me "following" you around anymore." I stated before spinning on my heel and heading towards my house.
"Cora!" he called.
"Fuck you Derek!" I yelled spinning to look at him. "All I was trying to do was look out for you. But she's got you so wrapped around her fucking finger that you can't see what she's doing to the people that have been by your side for years. When was the last time you actually did anything with your family? Huh? You don't see how it's effecting them that you're never there but I do! You don't see how it effects your sister! And it's all for some fucking cunt that doesn't even care about you Derek! The first chance she gets she's going to try and kill you. And none of it has to do with the fact that she's a hunter. It all has to do with the fact of what kind of hunter she is. She's an Argent, Derek! I know they talk about the code, but come on how many times has some psychotic person in that family broken the code?" I told him. I then proceeded to turn towards my house and not look back
END FLASHBACK
A week after that fight the fire happened. I had forgiven him as soon as he and Laura had showed up on my doorstep needing someplace to stay. I had let them in right away and never thought about that fight again.
"I forgave you for that a long time ago." I told him giving him a reassuring smile. He nodded.
"I know, but I never apologized." he stated. I shot him a grateful smile.
"Thank you." I started to leave again but then a thought occurred to me that stopped me in my tracks.
"Derek, what happened to Laura's body?" I asked. He walked a few steps forward and grabbed my hand leading me out to the side of the house. He led me to a patch of fresh dirt. I gave him a thankful smile and hugged him close letting a few tears slip down my cheeks. Derek wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I knew how hard on him this was, and the way he was holding me I knew he was trying to hold himself together. We stood there like that for a few moments mourning in silence. Mourning a friend, and mourning a sister. When we finally pulled apart Derek placed his hands gently on my face and with the pads of his thumbs wiped away my tears.
"I really missed you, D." I told him softly. He gave me a small smile and pulled my head towards him laying a soft kiss against my forehead.
"I missed you too, C." he said pulling me into another hug.
Tuesday, I brought all my stuff to my apartment.
Wednesday, Lacrosse tryouts were held, and to everyone's surprise Scottie boy made first line.
Thursday, I unpacked all my dishes and books and such. All in all it was a pretty boring week. A week in which I saw just about everyone, everyone except the old friend that I really wanted to see.
Friday, found me in my newly remodeled apartment unpacking most of my clothes. Lydia's party was tonight and Stiles was going to pick me up so we could keep an eye on Scott. It'd only been a few hours ago that the Aderall junkie of a teenager had called me in a panic. Rushing over there I realized what was wrong. He had figured out what happened to Scott, and in the process of trying to alert Scott, my nephew had halfway hulked out on his BFF. Once I had calmed him down I explained that I had already known, why I had already known and a few key things about me and my family that no one had known except my mom- but it was her side of the family.
I ran to the door when I heard a knock on it figuring it would be Stiles. I opened it and sure enough it was him.
"So, I've got this magic watch and it tells me that you aren't wearing any underwear... Is that true?" He asked. I had to hold back a laugh, this was gonna be good, I could tell. You see, Stiles and I had this little competition going on of who could come up with the best pick-up lines.
"No, of course I'm wearing underwear." I stated. He shrugged and pretended to look down at his watch.
"It must be an hour fast." I started laughing.
"Holy shit, Stiles! That's the best one so far." I exclaimed. He shrugged.
"What can I say? It's natural talent." I chuckled and then began to try and think of a pick-up line to put me back into the lead.
I jumped out of Stiles' jeep as he parked in front of Lydia's house.
"Alright, so all we need to do is keep an eye on Scott, and if anything to strange starts to happen, we're going to drag his ass out of here." I told Stiles. The teen nodded and climbed out of the car.
Halfway through the night I noticed Derek standing out on the edge of the party eyes locked on Scott. It was a few moments after that, that the moon reached it's apex and Scott started rushing from the party, his date trailing behind him confused. I started pushing my way through the crowd, trying to get to either of them.
"Allison!" I called when I made it out of the party. She turned to look at me wondering who I was.
"I'm Cora Cavanaugh, Scott's aunt. I want to apologize for him. He has really bad asthma and he started having an attack. His inhaler was in the car." I explained.
"Okay. But then why did he leave?" she asked.
"I think he was a little embarrassed. He really likes you and-" I was cut off by a familiar voice.
"Cora!" Derek called walking over to us. I turned to look at him. He smiled slightly at Allison. "You must be Allison. I'm Derek a friend of Scott's. He asked me to give you two a ride home." Derek explained. Allison looked at me for conformation. I eyed Derek up for a second before nodding at Allison.
"It's good to see you Derek. You haven't been around lately." I faked like he was a friend of Scott's. Derek shrugged before leading us to his car, ignoring the double meaning behind my words. My mouth dropped when he led us to a sexy, sleek black 2011 Camaro.
"Dammmmmn." I whistled. "When did you get this?" I asked excitedly as I bounced over to the car. I ran my fingers along the door handle before pulling it open and throwing myself in it excitedly. I saw Derek shake his head and try to hide a smile as I started running my hands all over the car. Allison climbed in behind the drivers seat and Derek climbed in and started the car. The car ride to Allison's was silent except for Allison giving directions from the back.
Once she was dropped off and out of the car, Derek pulled out and sped off. I turned to him, hell bent on getting some answers.
"Alright. Talk. What the hell was that about?" I asked. Derek just ignored my question and reached around to the backseat and pulled Allison's jacket into the front. He then threw it onto my lap. I quirked an eyebrow.
"If this is some crazy stalker thing, I am not helping with this Derek." I told him as seriously as I could. "Man, does this chick have like a really appealing scent or something?" I asked. Derek shot me a glare.
"Wow, tough crowd. Seriously though, what the hell is going on, aside from the full moon, and why am I currently holding Allison's jacket?" I asked.
"Take off your coat." Derek ordered.
"Whoa buddy. How about you buy me dinner first and then we'll talk." Derek growled.
"Cora, just take it off."
"Oh demanding, I like it! But I don't know how we're gonna pull this off with you driving." I said pulling my coat off, Derek let out another growl.
"Geez calm down, D. I'm just fucking with you." I said rolling my eyes, then giggled at the irony of my statement. Okay, so maybe I had a few drinks at the party, or I just liked teasing Derek.
About three minutes later, yes I watched the clock, we pulled up in front of the Beacon Hills Preserve.
"Stay here." Derek ordered grabbing mine and Allison's jackets. I nodded and climbed into the back to lay down. I was kind of tired.
I woke up a little while later to someone lifting me out of the car. I opened my eyes slightly to see Derek was the one carrying me.
"What happened?" I asked as he walked into Melissa's house, the door must have been unlocked.
"Don't worry about it right now. Just go back to sleep." He told me as he headed up the stairs. I let out a yawn and nodded my understanding. He walked into my room and laid me down on the bed. I kicked off my shoes, and pulled the covers up to my chin. He turned to leave, but stopped when I called out to him.
"Hey, Derek?" I asked. He looked back to me. "Yeah?"
"Don't leave me again. Okay?" I told him sleepily. He gave me a small smile.
"I'm not going anywhere, Cor. Go to sleep. I'll see you later." I nodded letting out a yawn and rolled over falling asleep to the sound of a car pulling out of the driveway.
An: So what'd you think? I have a little bit of the next chapter written up but not much.. Oh and I didn't go into detail about her past when she explains it to Stiles because I think that's more of a conversation to show with Scott participating because he's her nephew. Thanks for reading!