Derek met her on a Saturday night.

The bar hadn't been his idea. When he revealed several from his graduating class would be going out to celebrate surviving their finals, Laura kicked him out for the night, locking the door behind him. When his group saw him walk into the bar, they threw up their hands and sloshed their drinks with cheers.

The plan was to hit several bars, annoy as many people as they could, and try to get through the night without anyone getting a public intox ticket. They didn't notice Derek staying behind when they left, and for that he was grateful. For all that Laura wanted him to go out and socialize, to make friends outside of class, the idea didn't interest him. She wanted her little brother back, the boy with golden eyes.

That boy had died Paige. He was cremated with the rest of his family.

He sat at the bar, nursing a beer he couldn't taste or feel when he noticed a body sidle up next to him, despite the open seats farther away. He arched a brow, glancing at the person out of the corner of his eye, and noticed it to be a woman. A girl, more like, his age if he had to guess.

Dressed in an olive green utility jacket a size too big and sporting long, light brown hair, she seemed… out of place. She noticed his gaze, and rolled her head to the side to look at him. She regarded him for a moment, and he her.

She had soft features, but an underlying hardness hid in her eyes. Blue eyes. Her scent, consisting of something sharp, something he couldn't quite place but made him want to sneeze, was laced lightly with sweat, as if she had been in a rush earlier. It was tainted with gunpowder and salt, and Derek turned to look around the room as an uneasiness settled in his gut. No one else watched their interaction, but he eyed the exit nonetheless.

"Aren't you going to offer to buy me a drink?" she finally demanded, and Derek would have choked on his own drink. He wondered if this was how all female hunters went about with kills; seduce and destroy. After all, it had worked so well for Kate.

"I wasn't planning on it," he replied in deadpan. He wondered if Laura would let him back in if he told her he was being accosted by a serial killer. Surely she would.

The girl scoffed, rolling her head back in annoyance.

"Men," she muttered in scorn. Derek drew back in contempt, and waited for her to get up and leave. Maybe she didn't even know what he was. Instead, she raised a hand and got the bartender's attention. "Jack Daniels? Fantastic, two," she ordered, before turning back to Derek. "So. Relatively handsome guy like you just gonna waste your time here alone?" she asked conversationally.

"I'm celebrating," he said before he could stop himself. "Can't you tell?"

"Oh, a celebration." She seemed amused, and slid over one of the shots the bartender set in front of her. "What are we celebrating?"

He looked down at the shot, and her hand still rested by it, in his space. The sleeve of her jacket pulled up, revealing a wide leather band around her wrist, and he filed it away to examine later. He looked back up at her. She waited patiently, blinking up at him. He could get up and leave, go home to Laura. She would understand. But the girl didn't seem to know what he was. Her intentions, as far as he could tell, weren't malicious. But then again, he didn't notice anything about Kate either. He considered her, the girl accosting him. Her hard green eyes, full lips, direct attitude. It was, against his better judgement, attractive.

And, if he was being honest with himself, he always did make questionable choices when it came to women.

"Why don't you tell me," he told her before tossing back the shot, and she grinned. It's all teeth.

Her name was Lana. She gave no last name, and neither did Derek. They spent all of thirty minutes at the bar before returning to her motel room. Derek left before the sun rose, and she was content to let him go.

He had no expectations to see her again; they hadn't shared numbers. It suited him. It suited her.

(Derek is graduating college, not high school, just a heads up)

Thanks for stopping by and reading this here short little prologue! The first chapter will definitely be longer. If you haven't already, you should check out my other two teen wolf fics: Kerosene Hearts and Mostly Void!

Stay schway, y'all!