1: Can't Fight the Moonlight
Standing next to her car, Rhiannon nervously clutched onto the strap of her bag with a growing whirlwind of nerves in her stomach as she looked around to all the other students talking amongst one another.
She thought to herself that making it through the day would be much easier if she had at least one friend, but it was her first day of high school in Beacon Hills. After her parents divorced she'd moved away with her mom and had only spent a few summers in the town since. She'd never bothered trying to stay in contact with anyone she'd met over those summers, never saw much of a point to it –but that was a decision she was starting to regret the longer she stood paralyzed.
It was now or never. Well, if she actually had a say in the matter it would be never but after her last runaway attempt and being tracked back down by her mom's new pack, it seemed the best decision for everyone if she went to live with her dad.
Closing her eyes she pulled in a deep breath and tried to focus on finding her first class and not allow herself to be overwhelmed by everyone else's emotions.
As she neared the entrance to the school, Rhiannon came to a stop at the sight of a familiar face as a teenage boy walked past her nearly stumbling over his own feet as he tried to avoid running into the students coming out of the school.
"Hey!" She called out, getting his attention as she asked, "It's… Stiles, right?"
"Hi, hey, uh… hey you!" He failed to find the right words; his forehead lined with confusion as he looked the blonde teenager over and asked, "How's it going?"
"You don't remember me, do you?" Rhiannon asked, with a barely audible sigh. Her plan was to attach herself to someone for the day that she knew, but it was clear by the look on his face he was deep in thought trying to figure out how she knew his name.
Oh well, she thought, it wasn't like being on her own was something alien to her.
"I'm Rhiannon, we met like a year or so ago when I was staying with my dad…" Her voice trailed off, "You know what? It was probably longer than a year ago… sorry."
Just as she started to turn away she could almost see the lightbulb turning on in his mind as he said, "Rhi!"
"Yeah, it's me." She nodded in relief. Maybe the day wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Do you go to school here now?" He questioned, stepping closer to her as a few students walked between them as if the pair wasn't having a conversation.
"Yeah, first day." She admitted, as she leaned in and said, "I'm not really big on being the new student and you're the only one I sort of know… so it's okay if I just kind of stay around you, right?"
Stiles' eyes bugged as he stammered out his answer, "Uh, yeah…. sure, that's fine. Great actually, that's just… great."
Running a hand through his hair he offered a slightly wavering smile. Normally there was a million worse ways to spend a day of school than having a pretty girl willingly sticking by him, but he'd barely gotten any sleep the night before. It had been another miserable night plagued with terrible nightmares and his last few conversations with Scott he'd gathered his best friend was having an equally rough time since they'd been surrogate sacrifices to save their parents.
That along with being warned by Deaton that giving power back to the nemeton would turn Beacon Hills into an actual Beacon for the supernatural made it seem like the worst time in the world to be making new friends and bringing them into the mess that was currently his life.
"No, it's alright. I think I manage-" she started to say, sensing he didn't really want her around him. It was so obvious she was sure she would have even been able to pick up on it even without werewolf senses.
"No!" He quickly cut her off, immeditly feeling bad. "It's okay. I'm just kinda going through a thing right now… and my friends are also going through a thing and…"
His voice hung in the air as he lowered his head and rubbed his tired eyes.
"Do I even want to know what kind of thing you're talking about?" she asked, stifling a laugh.
"Honestly, no." He admitted with a weak laugh of his own, "But it doesn't matter, who do you have for first class?"
Pulling her folded up schedule from her pocket, she handed it to him and looked around. Not seeing the look on his face as he unfolded the paper and struggled to read but to his dismay the letters seemed to be floating around the page, some of them landing backwards or upside down in patterns he couldn't begin to discern.
Raising his head he started to try and figure out a way to get her to read her schedule to him, but he caught sight of Scott heading towards them from the parking lot and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Pushing the schedule back into her hand he said, "You remember Scott, right? I think he can probably help you find your class better than I can."
As he spoke her nose wrinkled as she picked up a strong scent in the air, the unmistakable, pungent odor of brute strength, mixed with overbearing tones of authority –the scent of an alpha.
With all her senses on red alert, she whipped her head to the side to see another familiar face. She'd met both Scott and Stiles a few years back when her dad was working out a deal at the police station to upgrade their inventory of fire arms, her dad worked as a federally licensed gun dealer with his own warehouse on the outskirts of Beacon Hills.
She knew without a doubt that the Scott she'd met before wasn't even a beta wolf, let alone an alpha. Which meant somewhere along the way Scott had not only been turned, but also gained alpha status –something almost unheard of for someone so young.
But in her experience, that young of an alpha meant one thing; danger. Not only in his ability to control his shifting, but also in how he must have killed an alpha to gain his power.
"I think I'll manage." She quickly said, pulling her schedule away from Stiles, but as she did, she caught another scent; fear.
Looking back she saw Scott breaking into a scrambled run, like he was trying to escape something. Only the only thing following him was his own shadow.
Her eyebrows raised in question with a slight amusement tugging the corner of her mouth up into a smile, what kind of alpha is afraid of their own shadow?
"Oh god…" She heard Stiles mumble under his breath as he rubbed a hand over his face before calling out to his best friend and rushing over towards him. Curiously, she followed behind.
"Hey, hey, you alright?" Stiles asked, bringing his friend to a stop.
He nodded, but Stiles knew his friend better than that, "You don't look alright, Scott."
"I'm okay." He defended.
"No, you're not. It's happening to you too… you're seeing things aren't you?"
Rhiannon lowered her head in confusion as she listened to them talk and she was starting to gather it was no joke when Stiles said he and his friends were dealing with things.
"How'd you know?" Scott asked him, and Rhiannon moved behind a tall cement post to block herself from view. She'd been raised and trained to hide her own werewolf scent, no one would know what she was unless she wanted them to.
"Because it's happening to all three of you." A female replied.
Peeking out from behind where she was hiding, Rhiannon saw a girl with red hair approaching them with a brunette at her side who had the same bitter scent of fear radiating off of her.
Remembering the new student he'd left behind, Stiles said, "Oh guys…"
His voice trailed off as he looked around, no longer seeing her.
"What?" Scott asked him.
"I was supposed to help her find her class…"
"Help who?" The brunette asked, looking around them.
"No one now, I guess…" Stiles replied, looking around thinking the girl had disappeared a little too quickly, but he had other problems to deal with.
Rhiannon watched as the group of friends headed into the school, but she stayed where she was hidden for a while longer. She had no idea what the group of teenagers had gotten themselves into, but she was getting the feeling Stiles was also telling the truth when he told her she didn't want to know.
Pulling in a deep breath, she headed towards the school with a new plan in mind. Make at least one new friend and stay away from the alpha wolf that was spooked by his own shadow.
A plan and task that seemed easy enough until she walked into her first class just as the bell rang to see both Scott and Stiles in the class, with the only available seat next to Scott.
This wasn't what she'd signed up for, not at all. With that thought she turned and started for the door but was brought to a stop as the teacher asked, "Everything okay?"
"Uh, yeah… I just, I think I'm in the wrong class."
Looking over she saw Stiles give her a half smile and small wave, then her eyes went to Scott who gave her a friendly smile but it didn't ease her nerves. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him as she continued, "Definitely in the wrong class."
She saw Scott's eyebrows lower in confusion and she quickly looked back to the teacher who asked, "What's your name?"
"Rhiannon Carroll."
Checking his class roster he said, "Looks like you're in the right place. Have a seat."
Slowly she moved towards the empty seat and dropped down with a thud as she let her bag fall from her shoulder onto the floor and refused to look back at Scott and Stiles. She'd agreed to live with her dad and finish out school in Beacon Hills, she'd never agreed to anything else and knowing the body count of the small California town seemed to rack up monthly –the safest bet was to stay away from Stiles and his friends.
Surveying his class, the teacher smiled as he said, "Good morning, now that everyone is settled I'll introduce myself. My name is Mr. Yukimura, I'll be taking over for your previous history teacher. My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure by now you all know my daughter, Kira."
The room fell silent and Rhiannon looked over her shoulder to where a pretty Asian girl in the back row was slowly sinking down in her seat as if she could just disappear under the desk at any minute, anxiety was pouring off the teenager and it was clear that had to be Kira.
"Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school, or brought home a friend for that matter." He continued and Rhiannon looked back to Kira as she dropped her head on her arms folded across her desk in disbelief that her dad was outing her in front of everyone.
"Either way, there she is." He finished, pointing to her as she slowly raised her head and gave a weak smile as a low rumble of laughter filled the room.
Laughing along with them, Rhiannon devised another plan –befriend the other new girl. Maybe they could navigate this new school together.
Or not, she thought when she saw Kira and Scott make eye contact and could hear both their hearts picking up speed. If Scott got his claws on her he'd get her pulled into his pack's mess that Rhiannon was now desperately trying to avoid. Worse even would be if he sunk his teeth into the teenager, quite literally. Then they'd have a new beta running around and Rhiannon knew most of the time newly turned betas were a terrible liability to have around.
It was later that day, that Rhiannon was at her locker when she realized it was just across the hall from Stiles' locker. So far her plan to avoid him and his friends had been a failure of epic proportions.
Turning her back to them, she tried to focus on putting her morning books away and getting the ones she'd need for her afternoon classes but her concentration was soon drawn to them as she overheard Scott tell Stiles they needed more time to get back to normal.
"Yeah, well lets not forget that we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures. There's a pretty good chance that things are never going back to normal." Stiles argued.
Rhiannon's eyes widened as she continued to stare into her own locker. The word mess wasn't even covering the immense problems Scott and Stiles seemed to be facing, how the hell a group of teenagers had managed to somehow turn Beacon Hills into an actual beacon, she had no idea.
Normally she would have called their bluff on such a crazy idea, but ever since she neared the town there had been a pull she couldn't explain, like Beacon Hills was the place she needed to be. It felt like she belonged there now, in ways she'd never felt when she'd came to visit her dad before.
If the things they were saying were true, then maybe instead of avoiding them at all costs she was starting to feel like maybe she needed to keep an eye on them for everyone's sakes. They had a lost look about them like someone had tossed them into the deep end of a pool without teaching them to swim first.
"Scott, your eyes!" Stiles gasped.
"What about them?" Scott asked in a strained voice, and Rhiannon's skin felt prickly with the shift in the air of the hallway.
"They're starting to glow! Stop it. Scott, stop… stop it." Stiles demanded but it was clear his friend couldn't help it before he ever vocalized the fact.
"Alright, uh, just keep your head down." Stiles instructed.
Shutting her locker, Rhiannon turned around intending to try and help the alpha before he lost control and maimed everyone in sight but stopped when she saw Scott leaned down slightly with his head lowered to Stiles' chest, where his friend was holding onto him trying to both hide his eyes and find an empty classroom.
Even with the potentially perilous state of what was happening, she couldn't help but let out a small laugh as Stiles pulled Scott with him back and forth across the hallway at a loss of what to do, before finally leading him into a classroom.
For a moment she considered going after them, especially with the sound of Scott's rapid heartbeat thudding loudly through the closed door but she decided, she'd let the human handle this one, better that she didn't out herself for being a werewolf.
Something she'd learned from a young age was that in a town where there were werewolves, there would also be hunters and the longer she kept what she was a secret, the better shot she had at staying alive. Which among many things, meant she needed to blend in.
Almost on cue Kira turned onto the hallway Rhiannon was and the werewolf set her eyes on the student, and made a beeline for her.
"Hey, it's Kira, right?" she asked coming to a stop in front of her.
Looking up with a slightly startled expression on her face she stuttered, "Y-yeah, I'm Kira."
"I'm Rhi, I'm new here too. Just moved in with my dad."
"Oh, hey." She greeted with a smile, "I'd welcome you to Beacon Hills, but I don't think I've lived here long enough to do that."
Rhiannon stifled a laugh as the girls heartrate picked up and she avoided eye contact like she couldn't just believe what she'd said.
"I know." She nodded, "I was thinking maybe we could try this whole new student thing together? Might have a better shot of making it out of here alive as a pack."
"A pack?" Kira asked, thrown off by her choice of words.
"Yeah, you know… pack, clique… whatever you wanna call it."
With a laugh Kira said, "You were in history with me, weren't you? I can't believe my dad said that in front the class."
"You don't have to do this." Kira quickly added, "I'm not really as desperate for friends as my dad made me sound… well, I don't really have any friends but-"
The bell rang and cut the end of her sentence off, something Kira was thankful for when she couldn't stop herself from rambling.
"Alright, well… I'm going to lunch, where I don't really want to spend my first day eating by myself. So, if you wanna give this friend thing a shot, I'm in if you are." Rhiannon asked with raised eyebrows.
Taking in a breath and mentally commanding herself to not start rambling again, Kira gave her a grateful smile and nodded, "I'm in."
~(A few days later)~
Rhiannon glanced up from her history homework over to the table where Scott and Stiles were sitting with their friends during free period.
Over the past few days she felt like she'd gotten a pretty good lock on the entire group. From what she'd seen Scott didn't appear like the type who'd murder someone for alpha status, but things weren't always what they seem and she still didn't trust him. Stiles was clearly human, at times adorable and rather clumsy but still human –though she was starting to feel like he was in Scott's pack despite not being supernatural.
She'd met Isaac, another werewolf in her math class, he was a beta and fairly new –but seemed to have more control than the alpha did which was strange but so was everything else she was overhearing from them. There was tension between Isaac and Scott, which Rhiannon gathered was from them both having feelings for the brunette girl she'd learned was named Allison Argent, a prominent name in the hunter community but she seemed nice enough.
Then lastly was Lydia, a girl who aside from being beautiful and having impeccable fashion sense was also a genius. There was a sadness in the air around the redhead, a distant feeling like she had one foot in the spirit world and one foot in the living realm which meant one thing; Lydia Martin was also a banshee; a walking omen for impending doom and only the second banshee that Rhiannon has come across in her entire life.
Rhiannon flinched when she heard the annoying snap of pencil lead against grained notebook paper and she turned her attention back to Kira who was sitting across from her at the table.
"Everything okay?" She asked her newest and so far only friend.
"Yeah." She cheerfully replied as she clicked the end of her mechanical pencil a few times before getting back to her homework assignment, and trying to pretend like she wasn't more focused on glancing over her shoulder at Scott McCall, than she was on trying to get her homework finished.
Nodding Rhiannon went back to her own notebook until she heard the same sound of the pencil lead breaking again, she couldn't stop herself from letting out a small growl under her breath and making a mental promise to herself that if Kira broke the lead one more time she was taking that pencil away from her.
"Hey…" Kira whispered leaning over the table some as she asked, "Do you hear what they're talking about?"
"I'm pretty sure everyone does." Rhiannon nodded, not understanding how or why the group always felt the need to discuss their very supernaturally stemmed problems out in the open all the time, but it sure made spying on them easy for her. Especially since they were all so wrapped up in their own heads and haunted by their problems that they didn't seem to notice they were all being watched. Something she found a little amusing.
"I think I know the answer to what they're trying to figure out… I think they're talking about bardo." Kira said, beaming a smile as she spoke and causing Rhiannon to realize immediately her friend had no idea that they were talking about their real life problems. Kira simply thought they were trying to figure the answer to some question.
Seeing the thoughtful look on her face, Kira said, "Bardo is-"
"The state between life and death." Rhiannon cut her off with a coy smile as she said, "The whole near death experience, hallucinations along with not being able to tell the difference between what's real and what isn't, kind of gave it away."
Seeing the surprised look on her face the blonde shrugged, "What? I happen to be very well versed on the supernatural."
There was a few moments of silence before Kira questioned, "Well, what do you think?"
"I think they're in over their heads."
With a confused look Kira stammered, "N-no… I mean do you think we should go tell them, you know… about bardo."
"I think we're safer staying out of it." Rhiannon said as she looked back down to her notebook and tried to focus on the short-essay answer to her next question.
Kira's face contorted with a look of confusion as she looked to her only friend. She really liked Rhiannon, over the past few day's they'd practically been inseparable during school hours and she'd even had her over to her house for pizza the prior night but sometimes she wasn't entirely sure what was going through her head. She always seemed like she was distant, lost in thought but then managed to keep up with conversations without missing a beat –even when it seemed like her mind was a thousand miles away. Not to mention the way she spoke about some things like it were a matter of life and death, saying if they stuck together they might have a shot of making it out of high school alive –a funny enough joke, but Kira was starting to get the feeling Rhiannon meant most of what she said quite literally.
"I think we should go tell them." She stated.
Not looking up from her homework Rhiannon sighed, "Well there is only two of us so it's not like we can take a vote." Looking up to Kira with an arched brow she continued, "Are you saying you want to go tell them or are you indirectly asking me to come with you?"
"Sort of both." She answered as she closed her books and gathered them in her arms.
"Alright then." Rhiannon nodded in defeat as she started to gather her own books but stopped once Kira was stood up and walking away towards the group of friends, then she opened her notebook back up and picked up where she'd left off while listening as her friend tried to help Scott and his friends.
"Hi, sorry… I couldn't help overhearing what you guys are talking about, and I think we actually might know what you're talking about."
Rhiannon cringed with the overwhelming feeling of embarrassment that carried through the air with Kira's scent as she suddenly was able to come up with a million ways she could and should have worded her sentence better.
"We?" Isaac asked, looking at the new student with his eyes slightly squinted from the sunlight.
"Yeah, Rhiannon and I-" Her voice trailed off as she realized her friend wasn't standing beside her, she was still back at the table they'd both been sitting at.
"Rhi..." Kira called out with a nervous laugh.
Closing her notebook for good this time, she gathered up her text book and her bag off the ground, at least Kira seemed to have the pack mentality of sticking together down.
As she approached the group of friend's, Stiles raised his hand in a lazy wave as he said, "Hey."
"Hey." She replied, but it sounded more like a statement than a greeting.
"It's called bardo." The teenager gruffly continued for her friend who had fallen silent in her short absence.
Kira looked at her with widened eyes before nodding to the table and saying, "It's a Tibetan word… it literally means 'in-between state' –the state between life and death."
Clearly not happy by being one-upped on her knowledge of anything, Lydia questioned, "And what do they call you?"
"Kira." Scott answered, causing the teenager to blush as he added, "She's in our history class."
"So, are you talking bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia asked, proving she did have some understanding of what was being said.
"Either, I guess… but all the stuff you guys were just saying, all that happens in bardo." Kira explained as she sat down on the empty space of bench next to Stiles and continued, "There are different progressive states where you have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear and you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."
"Wrathful deities, and what are those?" Isaac repeated back in question.
"Demons." Rhiannon replied, pulling the tables attention back to her as Stiles exclaimed, "Demons! Why not?"
"Hold on…" Allison asked, still processing the information, "If there are different progressive states then whats the last one?"
Rhiannon bit down on the side of her tongue and mentally tried to will Kira to not state the answer so cheerfully, but it clearly didn't work as Kira smiled with her answer, "You die."
~(Later that week)~
The sun was just starting to set as Rhiannon was getting home from seeing a movie with Kira, she'd already dropped her friend off at her house and was just getting near her house when she spotted something that didn't belong in her driveway –a police car.
Her heart started to thud in her chest wondering what was going on and hoping that her dad was alright. Pulling to an abrupt stop next to the curb, she quickly killed the engine and barely got her door shut behind her as she ran towards the large house.
"Dad?" She called out, pushing the door open and looking around, her eyes stopped on some boxes and luggage bags stacked up in front of the couch.
"He's not here."
At the sound of the familiar voice, Rhiannon crossed her arms over her chest and stared to the kitchen doorway and waited until her older sister stepped into view holding a half-eaten green apple in her hand.
"Josephine." She greeted, dropping her arms to her sides as she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I just graduated from the academy… top of my class, but the only station hiring right now is Beacon Hills. Dad's letting me stay here till I get on my feet and get my own place." Josephine admitted as she took another bite from her apple.
With her eyebrows lowered in confusion, it took her a few moments to catch up before she asked, "Wait… you're a cop now?"
"Is it that hard to believe?"
Rhiannon shot her a look as she said, "I don't know, Jo. I haven't seen you in like three years, you remember that right? Three years since you took off and left me and mom… three years without a single phone call or text or anything at all."
"I know." Her head fell forward in guilt as she avoided her younger sister's bitterly harsh gaze. "I was a different person back then though… had that Winters' wild streak in me." Josephine reasoned with a small shrug and the excuse of their mother's maiden name.
"The same wild streak you've got from what I hear… mom told me you ran off again." Her tone sounded like she was starting to get into a lecture.
"You have no right to judge me or tell me what to do!" Rhiannon accused defensively.
"I'm not, I just don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did. Look, I get it… being a teenager is hard enough when you don't have a waist deep pile of supernatural problems piled on, not to mention trying to stay hidden from hunters. But I don't know… sometimes I just feel like maybe if we'd had a really good role model, things might have turned out differently for me."
Rhiannon dramatically rolled her eyes as she sighed, "You really think you're gonna be some kind of role model to me now?
"Why not?" Josephine shrugged, before leaning back into the kitchen and threw her apple core into the trashcan across the room.
"Literally, a million reasons, but to start with… I'm doing just fine on my own-"
"But you don't have to be on your own now. I'm a different person, so much has changed, Rhi." Josephine said but her sister wasn't having any of it.
With raised eyebrows and a cocky smile gracing her face, Rhiannon nodded, "Yeah, clearly you have. Killer eyes, sis."
Josephine's eyes glowed a cold blue as she let out a growl at her sisters words, in response Rhiannon's eyes changed to their werewolf gold as she growled over her older sister causing her eyes to go back to their human hue.
Turning and heading for the stairs, Rhiannon tried to let go of the ball of anger churning in her stomach and get back to focusing on her plans for the rest of the night.
"Look Rhi, if you really want me gone I can see if dad will let me borrow money for a hotel or something until he gets the apartment above the garage finished."
Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon looked over her shoulder as she said, "No, you should stay. I mean what could go wrong with an ex-hunter and his two werewolf daughters all under the same roof?"
"Rhiannon." Josephine sighed.
"Now all we need to do is invite mom and that psychotic alpha she's hooked up with to come stay with us and we'll have the makings of cable's next top reality show." Rhiannon yelled as she reached the top of the stairs and went into her bedroom.
"Real classy! Dad must be so proud of you." Josephine shouted back after hearing her sister's bedroom door slam shut.
It was close to an hour later when Rhiannon jumped from her bedroom window onto the ground below landing perfectly, standing up she looked around the dark yard before breaking off into a run towards the Beacon Hills preserve.
The last couple of days in her continued spying on Scott McCall and his pack including everything from a couple humans to a banshee, she'd learned they had been trying to track a coyote in the woods they were convinced was actually a girl who'd gone missing eight years prior after a deadly car crash that had killed her mom and younger sister. She'd heard on a local radio station on her drive home from the movie theater that Malia Tate had been found alive, so apparently they were right and had actually succeeded in their plan. Now she thought that Scott could probably make the were coyote a part of his pack as well, apparently anything goes.
She hadn't been in the woods long at all when she became aware of the fact that she was being followed, but after catching a familiar scent she grew more irritated than frightened as she expertly ducked behind a tree and circled around until she was the one sneaking up behind her older sister. Within seconds she leapt at her, knocking her to the ground and the police issued handgun from her hands.
Scurrying to grab the gun and then get to her feet, Rhiannon smirked as she pointed the gun to her sister who was now also on her feet facing her.
"Bang… your dead." Rhiannon said nodding to the gun in her hand that was set to aim right between her sister's eyes.
"Funny." She feigned amusement as she held out her hand for the weapon.
Spinning the gun in her hand and handing it to her sister, Rhiannon said, "You know, if you spent more time on using your heightened senses and less time trying to play human, you'd have known I was behind you –and you'd know better than to follow me."
"I wasn't sneaking around. I didn't care if you knew I was following you." She said looking around then in the dark woods as she asked, "What are you even doing out here so late."
When her younger sister shot her a look, Josephine's forehead lined as she questioned, "You feel it too, don't you?"
"The supernatural pull to be in Beacon Hills, yeah. I feel that among a crap load of other things, something is wrong here." Rhiannon admitted, with her lips angled down into a frown.
"What do you feel?
Directing the question back to her older sister she questioned, "What do you feel?"
Walking to the side, Josephine laid her palm flat against a tree trunk and closed her eyes as she pulled in a breath and slowly exhaled, trying to focus all of her senses as she said, "Buzzing… like bugs or energy…just buzzing."
"Yeah, every time I pass the woods I feel that. There is something out here and I'm going to find out what it is." She said in an authoritative tone. Spinning on her heels she turned to walk away and her sister quickly caught up, gun still in hand as she picked up on her sister's tone and realized, "You know something don't you?"
Eyeing her from the corner of her eye, Rhiannon admitted, "There's this pack at my school-"
"A werewolf pack?"
"Not exactly…"
"Then a pack of what?" Josephine asked her younger sister.
"There's this guy at my school named Scott. Same grade and age as me, only he's an alpha and first I thought he obviously killed for the power but I've been watching him and I don't think he even cares about the power. I'm honestly not so sure that he ever has or could even take a life if he had to."
Coming to a stop Josephine asked, "Wait, like… a true alpha?"
"I thought those were a myth." Rhiannon shrugged as she also stopped and turned to face her.
"How can you think it's a myth, that's what our family's alpha status came from, a true alpha –hundreds and hundreds of years ago."
"Yeah, but I thought it was just bedtime stories mom told us. But Jo, listen… Scott's pack is a straight up melting pot."
"What?" Josephine asked with an exasperated sigh.
"From what I've seen… his pack has one other werewolf, a human, a banshee and a hunter."
When a look of pure shock spread over her sisters face just barely illuminated in the moonlight leaking through the tall trees and canopy of limbs and leaves, Rhiannon nodded and vocalized, "Yeah, like I said, it's a complete melting pot of every supernatural creature within a twenty mile radius."
"That… that doesn't make any sense." Josephine finally said tucking her hair behind her ears one at a time with her free hand.
"I'm starting to gather that not a damn thing makes sense in this town. If we're being entirely honest I'm about like point-three seconds away from packing my bags and moving back to moms." Rhiannon said. She was sure that her sister had a comeback to what she'd said, but it fell on deaf ears as it felt like every small hair on the back of her neck was standing on end and Rhiannon quickly shushed her sister in response to the eerie feeling.
"The buzzing." Josephine silently mouthed earning a nod of agreement from her sister.
The feeling of energy that had seemed to have been flowing through the woods wasn't just a feeling anymore, it was not an audible noise coming from nearby.
Side by side, both sisters moved closer to the source of the noise both of them taking every single step in caution with their senses on high-alert.
"I think it's coming from that old tree stump." Rhiannon whispered as they reached a clearing and a old, very wide tree stump came into view.
To both of their dismay a few fireflies made their way out of the deep cracks on the top of it.
Being six years older than her sister, Josephine remembered more of her childhoold in California than her little sister did, and never in the years she'd lived there or the summer she's spent there after moving away with her mother did she ever see a glowing firefly in California before.
"Holy…"She started to breath as some more fireflies came out of the dead remains of a once grand and larger than life tree, "Rhi, come on. We need to go now, we gotta get the hell out of here."
As they both turned to run, Josephine's fear got the best of her and she sprinted off leaving her younger sister behind who was a little too mesmerized by the sight in front of her to fully feel the danger of what was happening in front of her own eyes.
At first Rhiannon thought it looked nothing short of absolutely magical, thousands of glowing bugs flying up out of the tree base and roots faster with each passing second. It was an incredible sight, that was until the bugs started to form into three separate forms and soon their light was overtaken by black shadowed smoke swirling around them and forming into human-like shapes.
The longer she stared the more the astonishment wore off and replaced with a primal fear and the instinct that she needed to run for her life, what she was now seeing was no trace of the fireflies –except for the yellowish-green glow of the eyes behind the masks of the three beings that had appeared.
In a fit of panic she spun around to make a run for it but managed to get her legs tangled up and came to a crashing stop with a thud on the ground. Looking over her shoulder she saw the black smoke still forming the three things, which she'd best describe as demons. Taking a deep breath her eyes glowed golden and ready for a fight as she pushed off the ground and ran to hopefully get out of the woods before those demons caught her. She wasn't looking to get into a fight with firefly-turned-demon monsters, but better to be prepared than caught off guard.
Quickly all of her focus was soley on escaping and finding some feeling of safety. She knew better than to completely focus on one thing, even when running for her life she'd been trained to still be alert of her surroundings and approaching threats from all angles. But no one had ever taught the appropriate response to witnessing fireflies morph into seven foot tall monsters, maybe if they had she'd have sensed the oncoming car just as she made it to the road.
There was a flash of headlights, and a white hot pain from the collision before everything went black.
Groaning Rhiannon opened her eyes, the confusion of getting hit by a car and blacking out still dominant in her mind she stared up to a pair of green eyes intently staring back down at her.
Like a deer in the headlights or possibly even a moth drawn to a flame, she was in a fuzzy state of awe as she started to realize those eyes belonged to a face and that face belonged to a panicked man, who's mouth was moving but her ears weren't absorbing any of the sound coming out of it.
There was an almost blissful pure silence to the moment until a distant ringing sound grew louder and louder and louder until all she could hear was the agonizing ringing in her ears along with the deeper undertones from his voice, though she still couldn't figure what he was saying.
All she was currently aware of was exactly how attractive the face attached to those green eyes was and on any other occasion she was sure she also would have enjoyed the sound of his voice as well, but in those moments –mixed with the ringing noise it was morphing into the most annoying sound she'd ever heard.
"Shh…" Rhiannon breathed, not sure if her voice was audible or even how loud she was being.
"Don't move!" He instructed placing a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder to keep her place when she tried to roll over onto her side to get up.
"I don't know how bad you're hurt, but you got hit pretty hard. Just try to stay still and keep your eyes open, okay? Stay with me."
His eyes locked with hers and the former stunned expression gave way to one of anger moments before she threw her hand up to cover his mouth and stop him from saying anything else as she muttered in pain, "Shut up."
Now it was his turn to be completely stunned by the situation as he was motionless for a minute before he gently took hold of her hand and pulled it away from his mouth, "Don't move. I'm going to call for help, just stay here. I'll be right back."
Weakly she nodded closing her eyes and rubbing her hand over her face when he let go of it, but the moment he stood up with his back turned she sat straight up. Knowing most of her injuries had already healed and the events from just moments before in the woods came flooding back as the ringing subsided and the haziness faded.
She looked over her shoulder to the woods and for a split second was relieved that she didn't see the demons coming after her, but that didn't mean she was safe. There was still a heavy feeling of danger in the darkness that night and she'd just seen firsthand what the darkness could hold.
In her attempt to get scooted around and sit up further, she quickly become aware that her right kneed was dislocated, without hesitation or time to talk herself out of it she reached down with both hands and popped it back into place.
Immediately cringing from not only the pain but also from the sickening pop that echoed through the empty street.
She was pretty sure the noise was loud enough even a human could hear at the distance the man who'd been trying to help her was standing, one stolen glance in his direction and she knew that was the case. He was standing still with his back turned to her, shoulders up in response to the stomach churning noise.
Slowly he turned back around and she avoided his eyes and tried to pretend like she had no idea what the noise was. Normally she would have played human and acted injured as to not set off any red flags that there was something different about her but there wasn't time for that. Not tonight with seven foot tall demons in near proximity, which meant this handsome stranger was going to get a glimpse into her world.
She pulled herself to her feet as she watched the shocked expression on his face grow, before he quickly regained his composer and rushed to her side with a friendly hand on her arm trying to help steady her as he said, "I told you not to move."
"Yeah, that's not really an option right now." She stammered, looking back to the woods, feeling the sense of dread grow with every passing second.
"I need to go." She said dismissively as she started to walk away but he stopped her as he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't just let you walk away after that. To be honest, I don't even know how you're standing right now."
"You barely clipped me." Rhiannon lied to no avail when he nodded to the car and said, "Well, the dent in the front of my car says otherwise."
Thinking she might still be confused or suffering from trauma he asked, "Can you tell me todays date?"
Giving him an unamused look she said, "I'm okay, really."
"Can you at least tell me your name then?"
"Only if you tell me yours first." She said eyeing him suspiciously.
"Parrish." He answered, then nodded as he clarified, "Jordan Parrish."
"Rhiannon Carroll." She replied, eyeing him again before turning back to the woods where an unnatural wind was blowing leaves across the ground while everything else stayed still.
Seeing the distressed look on her face and picking up on how she kept looking to the dense trees lining the woods, he asked, "What were you running from?"
Her blue eyes locked with his and her mouth hung open as she tried to form an excuse. Normally she had at the ready responses for things to keep people from asking more questions, but at the time she had none.
"I'm a police officer. I can help you, but I need you to talk to me." He said, also eyeing the woods but he got the feeling she was seeing more in the darkness than he was.
"Where are you hurt-" He started to ask but was cut off as she loudly shushed him and stared off into the woods all her senses on red-alert.
"Rhiannon?" He wasn't sure why he'd started whispering, and as she turned back to him and their eyes locked –he just knew that her eyes had seen far more than anyone ever should.
"We need to get out of here, now." Her words cut through the night, as her hand landed on his arm as if she were going to take off running at any second and drag him with her out of danger.
Her voice was steady and calm and that startled him more than whatever she was seeing out in the darkness that he couldn't. She didn't seem like someone who'd just been knocked several feet backwards from being hit by a car nor did she seem to be in shock or pain anymore.
It wasn't the thought of imminent danger that set a chill to his bones, it was the look on her face, the same look he'd seen before, like a solider preparing for war and he wasn't entirely sure why –but he believed her.
A/N - Thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you all liked the first chapter and I'm so excited to share this story with you all.
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