CHAPTER 1 – A NIGHT IN THE WOODS

Tonight was a little cold for the end of summer holidays; my brother was in his room, threading his lacrosse stick for practice tomorrow while I was in the living room watching TV. I heard a thud and muted the TV.
"Olivia, was that you?" Scott called out to me.
"No." I sat up and closed my eyes, listening. I smiled when I heard the familiar heartbeat of my brother's best friend Stiles. My brother walked ahead of me with a baseball bat, I'm not sure why he believed he would be able to defend himself better than I could. I'm 21 years old and I've had years of self-defence training and fight training, my brother is 16 and has never fought a day of his life. I was so zoned out that when Stiles hung upside-down from the lattice on the side of the house, I jumped and screamed.
"Stiles, what the hell" Scott yelled.
"Why do you have a bat?" Stiles asked him. I took the bat from Scott and sat it on the chair.
"I thought you were a predator" Scott replied.
"A pr- what?" Stiles spluttered. "Look, you've gotta come with me. My Dad got a call a few minutes ago; he's calling in all of Beacon Hill Department and even the State Police. A couple of joggers found a body in the woods" Stiles explained.
"A dead body" I asked as Stiles untangled himself and stood on the grass.
"No, a body of water" Stiles said sarcastically. "Yes, a dead body" Stiles said and I glared at him.
"Don't be a jerk" I said.
"We're going Scott" Stiles said to my brother.
"I'm going with you. I'm not letting my little brother get killed in the woods if the killer is still out there" I said and walked inside to grab my jacket while Scott headed to his room to get changed and Stiles waited in the living room.

It wasn't long before we were walking through the woods. I could smell blood, I tried to convince Stiles to walk in a different direction to the body but he was adamant that he was going in the right direction. We were getting closer. I began to recognise the scent, Laura Hale, my Alpha, my friend. I had to call Derek, I had to get him here before Scott and Stiles found her.
"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight" Scott said to Stiles. I looked behind me to see my little brother leaning against a tree using his inhaler.
"Stiles, slow down" I said. We all heard barking once we got up the hill. We dropped down behind a tree root but Stiles got up and ran for the trees and Scott and I started to follow him but Stiles tripped and was caught by the police dogs.
"That little delinquent belongs to me" Sheriff Stilinski said as he lifted Stiles by the shirt. "So do you listen in on all my calls?"
"No, not the boring ones" Stiles admitted.
"What about your usual partner in crime?"
"Who? Scott? Scott's at home, he said he wanted a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow" Stiles lied. The Sheriff shined a light in Scott's direction and he kept behind the tree.
"Scott? Scott, are you out here?" the Sheriff called out. He then turned back to Stiles.
"I'm going to walk you back to your car and we are going to have a little talk about something called invasion of privacy." The Sheriff walked Stiles back through the trails to his car and the rest of the Police dispersed in search of the body.
"Liv, where are you? I can't see very well" Scott called out.
"Over here." I shined my phone's light at him and he walked over. There was a rustling before Scott was knocked to the ground and deer were jumping over him. I quickly ran over to Laura's body and was about to move her when Scott got up and began calling out for me.
"I lost my inhaler" he said, he spotted the body and fell backwards, tripping over a root and falling down the hill.
"Scott" I called out and leaned at the edge of the hill.
"I'm okay" he called back. "Find my inhaler and I'll meet you at the edge of the forest." I ran to the body and saw Scott's inhaler, put it in my jacket pocket and picked up Laura's body. I walked to the old Hale house and Derek was waiting on the porch.
"I'm sorry" I said, my eyes felt like they were burning as tears began to form. He stumbled down the stairs and took his sister's body from my arms and gently placed her on the ground.
"Laura, I should've been here. I'm so sorry" he started to cry. I placed my hand on his shoulder and moved beside him.
"I should've gone with her; she told me she was meeting with someone who could help her find the Alpha. It's my fault" I told him. He looked me in the eyes, his werewolf blue showing. He was losing control. "Derek, breathe. What's your anchor?" I asked. His eyes went over his sister.
"She was, after the fire Laura was my anchor" Derek said. His breathing was getting heavy.
"Then focus on something else, change what your anchor is" I told him.
"To what?" he snapped, his fangs and claws showing. I hesitated, trying to think.
"The Argents, what they did. The Fire" I said. He growled.
"Not helping." He said.
"Me, make it me" I said, placing my hands on either side of his face. "Derek, focus on me." His eyes slowly changed back to their human hazel and then his face changed back.
"How did you know that would work?"
"Truth or Dare on my birthday a few months back. Your sister dared you to kiss me if you have ever had feelings for me, and you kissed me" I said. Derek went quiet and I looked to Laura's body. "I'll help you bury her." He nodded and lifted her up.
"We'll do it tomorrow. I'll wrap her up in cloth for now." He turned and headed inside the charred remains of the Hale Manor.

I walked up the path towards the Hale house, I almost changed at school, I knew I had to see Talia. I smelled smoke and burning flesh. I ran faster, hoping to just see people camping and someone had accidently burned themselves but as I reached the Hale Manor I stopped in my tracks. The house was on fire, the screams coming from the basement. I ran to the side of the house, Talia was hovering over her husband and holding a child, there were various other bodies in there. Peter was halfway through the bars, I grabbed his hands and pulled, but he was stuck. I reached into the house, my arms started to burn as I pulled Peter's foot from where the skin had melted to a chair. I pulled Peter's arms again and his body came through to the dirt path. I pulled out my phone and called 911.

I didn't realise I was zoned out until Derek was shaking me.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I shook my head.
"How can you stand to be here?" I asked. He looked around the house.
"It's safer than being listed in a hotel, if there are hunters here then it's not safe. They don't know about you, so you're safe to stay with your family" He explained.
"Point taken" I nodded. "You could at least put some furniture in here, maybe a bed" I suggested as I spotted the sleeping bag on the floor. Derek looked to me and shook his head.
"Are you judging my interior designing?" he smirked.
"Maybe" I replied and sat on the couch while he wrapped his sister's body in cloth and tied a few ropes around to hold it closed. Once he was done he moved the wrapped up corpse upstairs and then came back down and sat with me.
"How did you find her?" Derek asked. My head shot up.
"Scott" I gasped. I heard a howl and looked at Derek.
"The Alpha" he said. I ran outside and followed the smell of blood to the road where my brother almost got hit by a car.
"Scott, are you okay?" I asked. He lifted his shirt and I saw the bite.
"Something bit me, I think it was a wolf" he said. I hugged him tight, I never wanted this for him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I haven't been writing for a while but with my new role within work, I have a little extra free time! PLease let me know what you think! I have the first season done already (14 Chapters) and I will be posting 1-2 times a week - depending on how many people follow/favourite/review the story :)