A/N: Hi there! I hope you like what you're about to read!
Disclaimer: Jeff Davis own my life.
Confession: Listening to your best friend's ideas might actually be a bad idea.
A cool winter breeze blew gently through the sleepy little town of Beacon Hills. Due to the late hour, many of the residents were already asleep, save for one Scarlett McCall. The girl danced around her bedroom, leisurely getting ready for bed. She straightened her things for the next day, and then proceeded to do a few pull ups on her bar. Music drifted through her room, a low rock ballad that kept her on pace for her nightly exercise. After she'd finished her set, she dropped down and went to wash her face and brush her teeth. Scarlett paused once she reached the mirror, taking a minute to examine her appearance. Her long wavy ebony fell from the top of her ponytail, as if spouting from a fountain, and splashed onto her right shoulder. Her face, a warm cinnamon complexion, was fairly clear, besides the random spot of acne. Her eyes were a warm and dark earthy color, swirls of green intermingling with the predominant brown, framed by long dark lashes. Her nose sat long and thin, protruding ever so slightly from her face. Her high cheek bones traveled down her face and settled into her angular jaw. Scarlett smiled slightly at her appearance. She only saw what she had seen for the past 16 years; an average girl.
Her thoughts, however, were rudely jerked away from her when she heard an unusual rustling sound outside. She froze, trying to muster up some courage to check it out. Scarlett grabbed an old baseball bat propped against her door and cautiously made her way outside. Something rustled again and she braced herself, holding the bat at the ready. The thing swung down from the rafters and she swung the bat wildly, her eyes clamped shut.
"AHHH! Wait! Don't swing at me!" Cried an annoyingly familiar voice. Scarlett opened her eyes to find, as she suspected, her best friend Stiles hanging upside down from the rafters. The cheeky looking girl grinned sheepishly, before swinging herself down from the bar she was hanging onto.
"Hey chickadee! Guess what I just heard!" She said excitedly, her voice taking on a sing-songy lilt. Scarlett raised an eyebrow and surveyed the girl. Stella "Stiles" Stilinski had a pale complexion, occasionally dotted by the random mole or freckle. Her whiskey eyes shone excitedly and her thin pink lips pulled upwards into a smirk.
"What?" Scarlett asked wearily.
"My mom picked up something very interesting on her police scanner," Stiles said, her voice barely containing her excitement. Scarlett perked up; Stiles' mom was a cop, so whatever it was, it had to be better than her nightly routine.
"What? What did she hear?" Scar asked, her own excitement growing.
"She got a call about a dead body in the woods, and all of Beacon Hill's police force is out in the woods right now!" Stiles said, dropping her voice several decibels.
"What do you mean? If they found the body, then why are they still looking?" Scar asked, confusion taking over her excitement.
Stiles gave her a knowing smile.
"That's the best part; they only found half a body,"
ↄↄↄ
It had taken the girls twenty minutes to finally get all the way to the preserve, where the crime had occurred. The snuck into the woods and carefully careened around, on the lookout for cops, half corpses, and murderers.
Scar wheezed slightly as they climbed up a small but steep hill, her asthma taking control of her weak lungs.
"Don't you think I should hold the flashlight? Because I have a higher chance of dying than you?" Scar asked, lagging slightly behind Stiles.
"Oh, suck it up. We're not too far now, I feel it in my bones," The comparatively healthier girl responded sagely.
Scar was about to crack what she thought to be a witty remark, when suddenly the girls heard voices and barking. Scar hid behind a large oak tree behind her, but unfortunately, Stiles wasn't so quick on the uptake. The devious adventurer shrieked as light poured onto her and promptly fell to the ground cowering. Scar silently prayed for her friend's safety, because if she was caught by Mrs. Stilinski, the sheriff, she was sure to be grounded until she died.
She heard the quiet sounds of Stiles trying to convince her mother that she hadn't done anything wrong, and that she totally shouldn't be punished. Scar strained to hear the conversation before her own name was called out into the darkness. She froze, and held her breath, praying even harder that she wouldn't get caught. Stiles thought quickly, and convince her mom that Scar was in fact, at home, sleeping. Scar released the breath she had been hold and relaxed as their voices and footstep faded away. She made her way out from behind the tree and surveyed her surroundings. She figured she could get to the freeway and jog the rest of the way home without her father noticing she was gone, as he was working the late shift at the Beacon Hills County hospital. She walked carefully and quickly through the darkness, using her phone as a light. The soft sound of pattering hooves accosted her ears, and she turned staring into the darkness behind her as the sound only grew in volume. But before she could run, the source of the sound sprung out from behind the trees and leapt at the frozen girl. A scream left the girls mouth as she dropped to the ground to avoid being trampled by the deer. Her efforts bore no fruit because she was hit by terrified deer and was sent tumbling down a steep ravine. She landed with a soft thud, and worked to regain the breath that was knocked out of her. She checked herself, and to her horror, found that her very expensive inhaler was missing. She tried to calm herself down from the frenzy she was in by looking all around her. She pulled herself up and carefully started to survey the ground around her. She passed her light around quickly, not even registering it had landed on something until a second after. She flashed the phone back and screamed at the sight. There, before her, was the upper half of a dead, blood splattered young man, staring up at her with cold empty eyes. Scar stumbled backwards desperate to escape the body. She calmed down after she had reached an empty clearing, far from the body. A soft growl hit her ears, and she stiffened, turning slowly to face whatever had made the sound. A pair of large red eyes faced her, and something dark and massive jumped for her. The scream was ripped from her mouth by searing pain on her ankles, and she thrashed violently, trying to escape the beast. The pain in the ankle was abruptly cut off when the monster sunk its teeth into her side, making her sob and howl with pain. The thing released her and she stumbled up, adrenaline pumping through her broken veins, pushing her to outrun the thing that was chasing her. She managed to make it to the freeway and stopped, catching her breath. A wolf's howl pierced the cool night air and she looked at her wound before making her way home.
ↄↄↄ
The next day, an overly excited Stiles bombarded the tired girl with question about the body, losing her inhaler, and the animal attack. They chatted in hushed tones as they walked into the building together, arguing about whether there really were wolves in California. Scar bid her friend goodbye at her locker and went to her first class of the day. She settled into class and began pulling her books out of her bag. Suddenly, the bell rang extremely loudly, and the poor girl clutched her ears and winced in pain. Thankfully the noise stopped, but in its place came the various, and unnaturally loud sounds of buzzing, pen clicking and heartbeats, that seemed to reach no one else. She looked around frantically, her own heart joining the harmonized beating of the others. Then, as if cutting through the noise, came a boys voice, a warm sweet tenor against the grating sounds of the classroom. She focused on the voice, working to decipher the words.
"3 calls on my fist day is a little over doing it don't you think, mom? Everything except for a pen, don't tell me I actually forgot a pen!"
She focused harder and could suddenly hear the beats of the boy's heart, and she singled out the noise, the smooth soothing thumping got louder as the boy approached the classroom. The door open and in stepped a totally hottie. He was tall, built like an Adonis, with a warm a smile, dark chestnut hair cropped short, and dazzling blue eyes. She shook herself free from her momentary stupor in time to catch his name. Alvin Argent. A transfer student from LA. Alvin made his way towards her and she felt her heart beat louder and her whole world got a little more wound up, and he was coming her way, smiling at her like a god—oh, he was only moving towards the empty seat behind her. Scar dug frantically through her bag before pulling out a pen. She took a breath, and turned, offering the pen to the boy with what she hoped was a charming smile and her name. He looked momentarily surprised before taking the pen, introducing himself, and giving her thanks. Scar turned back into her seat and beamed, pleased with herself.
The forty-five minute period flew by, and she began to gather her things when Al placed the pen back on her desk with a dreamy smile. She smiled weakly back at him and continued to get her things, before sashaying out of the classroom, to be met with Stiles and her friend Adrian, from Stiles' trig class. The two were conversing with each other about Al, with Adrian wondering how the hell new boy was here all of five minutes and he was already in Lyle Martin's clique, Stiles shrugged, before replying that beautiful people herded together. Lyle Martin had been Stiles' not so secret crush ever since the third grade. Unfortunately for Stiles, Lyle had zero idea that she even existed. Scar strained to hear Lyle and Al's conversation.
"Dude! Nice board! Where did you get it?"
"Back when we lived in LA, I was big into skating, but so far, I haven't found a place to skate here"
"I know tons of cool spots; I skate too, when I get a chance"
"Hi Boys! Lyle, who's this?"
"Hey Jackie, this is Al, he just moved here"
"Nice to meet you! I'm sure Lyle invited you to the party after the scrimmage Friday night?"
"Like football?"
"No way, Football is a total joke here. In beacon hills, we play lacrosse"
"I'd like to, but its family night"
"Oh, bummer dude, maybe next time?"
"Yeah definitely"
With that Al left Jackie and Lyle at the lockers and made his way to class. Scar frowned lightly; as she had hoped Al would be going to the party the second Lyle brought it up. Then, a hand flailed wildly in front of her face and she recoiled. Stiles gave Scar a ticked frown to which Scar countered with a sheepish smile. The skinny sarcastic girl gave her a forgiving smile and the day passed almost surreally for Scar. She heard and smelt things she definitely shouldn't have been able to hear and smell, at all. By the time the end of the day rolled around, Scar was in an odd trance of sensory overload. Stiles met her at her locker and together they made their way towards the locker room. Stiles was babbling on about how lucky they were that the school was letting girls have try outs first, and that girls would get first preference of picking their practice schedule. Scar listened quietly, which was fairly unusual considering they were talking about lacrosse, Scar's favorite sport.
"Okay, what gives? You've been über strange today," Stiles asked, tired of being ignored and tuned out.
"Huh? Oh, it's just… I'm just thinking about try outs is all," she replied, feeling guilty for snubbing her friend. Stiles offered her a cynical smile.
"Why freak out if you already know were going to end up on the bench the whole season?"
"Stiles, you have to at least pretend to be optimistic. And besides, I have a feeling I might make it to first line this year,"
The cynical girl only ran a hand through her chin length brown hair and sighed.
"We better get going, coach is assembling us," Stiles told her, referring to the short and muscular looking woman, Coach Belinda Finstock, screaming at the girls on the field. The two girls shared a weary smile at their coach's antics and ran onto the field. Scar glanced around and noticed Lyle and Al sitting on the side lines. Lyle, decked in his own lacrosse gear, chatted to Al, pointing out the different girls on the field. Scar watched as both their gazes fell her way, and she smiled boldly at them, slightly surprised at her bravery. Coach quickly explained tryouts and had the girls line up to hit the ball into the goal. Scar moved to join them, but was stopped by her Coach.
"Not you McCall, you play goal today," She instructed Scar. Scar blanched; she had never played goalie before.
"Um coach, I really don't think I can play very well," she said, squirming under the hard gaze of her coach.
"I know. But it'll give the girls a good first day back boost," she told the disgruntled girl. "And McCall? Try not to take them to the face too hard,"
Scar trudged to the goal box, and braced herself for the first rounds of sure-to-be lethal lacrosse balls. The first player, a sophomore named Sarah Greenberg, ran towards her and lobbed the ball as hard as she could at the goal. Scar brought her stick up quickly and smoothly to catch it, which, to her surprise, she did. She stared, astounded, at her stick. She agilely threw the ball back to the next player, who also charged at the goal box and chucked the ball at Scar. The ball was caught with the same grace and speed as the last time, if not a bit more. Then, Jackie Whitmore strode to the front of the line with a harsh snarl on her otherwise beautiful face. Her icy blue eyes gleamed with determination as she charged on ahead, moving predatorily with the speed and grace of a cheetah. Her long blonde ponytail whipped around the back of her head as she stopped smoothly and hit the ball with enough of to knock Scar completely off her feet. Scar muttered a curse under her breath and moved to catch the ball. To her, and everyone else's, surprise, she'd managed to catch the ball. Jackie flung her helmet to the ground and gave the astonished girl a killer glare. Practice continued to move at the same speed; girls trying to trip up Scar and Scar spectacularly outdoing them. To Scar's complete and utter shock, she had made first line; she would finally get to play. Stiles ran to her best friend at the end of practice, gushing praises at her amazing performance. The girls chatted about the practice to the locker room, where they changed out of uniform and into regular clothes, and continued to talk about it all the way to the car. Scar reminded Stiles that they needed to go to the preserve before Scar's shift, so they could find her missing inhaler. They wandered the forest, taking the general direction they had taken the previous night.
"The being awesome at practice isn't the only thing, Stiles," Scar told her friend. "I can hear things too, and smell things!"
"Smell things, what do you mean smell things?" The smaller girl questioned.
"Ummm, I can smell the mint mojito gum in your jacket pocket," Scar offered. Stiles muttered that there was no mint mojito gum in her pockets but searched them none the less, only to find half a stick of gum in her left pocket. She gave a surprised look to her best friend.
"Maybe this is like my body filling with adrenaline, like before it goes into shock or something!" Scar said, a tint of fear coloring her voice.
"You said this all started after you got bitten in the woods right?" Stiles confirmed.
"Yeah. Why? Do you know what this is?" Scar asked.
Stiles adopted a sly look on her face. "Yeah, I think I've heard of it,"
"Oh my god, really?"
"Mmhmm, it's a special kind of disease,"
"Crap! Is it curable?"
"Nope. But the good news is that it only happens once a month,"
"Once a month? Really?"
"Oh yeah. It's called lycanthropy, you know," Stiles howled to demonstrate her point.
Scar frowned at her silly friend. "Stiles, be serious! I could, like, die or something!"
"I am being serious! But really though, if you see me melting down all the silver I can find in shop class tomorrow, it's because Friday is a full moon," Stiles replied. Scar moved to open her mouth and rebuke her friend, but a low, feminine voice cut her off.
"What are you doing here?" The voice belonged to the young women standing in front of the two girls. She was clad in black leather clinging tightly to her shapely body. Her pale face, framed by long dark hair, was pulled into a frightening and annoyed look. The girls exchanged terrified glances before Scar spoke up, informing the woman that they were looking for her inhaler, but they were going now. The woman quirked an eyebrow, and chucked the inhaler in question to a dumbstruck Scar. She then proceeded to warn the girls never to trespass on her private property ever again. With that, she turned and walked off into the tree line, leaving the girls confused and a little scared.
"Scar that was Darian Hale! Her whole family burned to death like ten years ago in a house fire! Remember? She's only like a few years older than us!" Stiles said, finally registering who they had encountered. Scar frowned lightly.
"I wonder what she's doing back," Scar mused, turning the inhaler over and over in her hand. Stiles shrugged and they walked in silence towards Stiles' powder blue, slightly banged-up jeep.
"Aw crap, I'm gonna late!" Cried Scar, only just noticing the time.
"Better get a move on chickadee!" Said Stiles, hopping into the front seat and starting her car. Scar smiled at her friend and the pair quickly made their way out of the preserve and across town to the vet's office Scar worked at. Stiles stopped in the parking lot and quickly unloaded Scar's bike, bid her friend goodbye, and drove off. Scar chained her bike up in lightning speed and dashed inside the building. She reached the back examination room completely out of breath and to her dismay, minutes late.
"I'm so sorry, Ms. D! I promise I won't be late again," She gasped out while crashing unceremoniously into the examination table. The young African American woman who stood before Scar only chuckled.
"You're all of two minutes late honey," she informed her young, worried employee.
"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking," Confessed Scar, unable to meet the eye of the role model.
"Scarlett, you are the least slacking kid in this entire town," Ms. D said, quirking up an eyebrow. "Now come help me with the cats."
Scar smiled at her boss, pleased to know all was forgiven. She grabbed the bag of catnip from the corner cabinet and made her way done to the cat room.
"Hey Kitties!" she sang out, only to be met with yowling and screeching from the agitated felines. Scar reared back quickly, slightly terrified at what had happened. She shook her head and started the rest of her chores. Hours passed by and the office remained empty, save for the doctor, her employee, and the animals. Scar relaxed in the examination room and got her homework done, while chatting pleasantly to her boss. Soon it reached closing and Scar bid the Vet goodbye and began to close down the office. Once Scar was sure the Vet was gone, she flipped the open sign on the door to closed and walked back into the nearby bathroom. Scar had with her gauze, tape, and peroxide, to clean out the wound. She lifted her shirt and gingerly removed the bandages she had applied the night before. To her complete and utter shock, the vicious bite mark no longer had a place on her skin, which was now smooth and completely healed. A sharp rapping on the glass door of the vet's office startled her and she peeked her head out to see someone frantically knocking on the door. Realizing who it was, she hurried to the door and pulled it open.
"I didn't see! I looked down for half a second to change the song on my iPod and then I just hit it! I swear I didn't try and hurt it!" Exclaimed Al, talking frantically in a panicked rush.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. What did you hit?" Asked Scar, slipping into her vet's persona.
"A dog. It was on the road and I hit it—" Al told her, his voice cracking from the panic.
"Do you know where it was? So I can send animal control to go get it?" She asked, already slipping her phone from her pocket.
"No, I don't know where, but I have the dog with me, in my car," He told her, his eyes wide and worried.
They walked to the car and Al popped the trunk. Indeed there was a little dog there, perhaps a mutt. Seeing Al, the dog barked and growled. The frazzled boy jumped back, moving slightly to the side.
"Let me see if I have better luck with him," Scar said. She focused her gaze on the dog and it growled at her too, before she felt something shift inside her. The dog quieted and bowed its head.
"See, he was just frightened," Scar placated.
"That makes two of us," Muttered Al. Scar gave a comforting smile before picking the subdued dog up and carried him inside the office.
"What can we do?" asked Al, who had calmed down sufficiently.
"Well, I can bandage her up, into a splint, I've seen the doctor do it a million times, and then I can give her some pain meds, and settle her down into a kennel for the night," Scar told him, already beginning to bind up the dog. Minutes passed as Scar quietly worked on the dog. She gave him a dose of pain medication and turned back to Al, a smile on her face.
"All done!" She chirped. He gave her a sincere smile.
"You, uh, have an eyelash," "Oh," "Here, I'll get it,"
Scar blushed as his warm fingertips ran across her skin.
"It's probably from the rain," she said, feeling the need to fill the silence. He nodded at her, his eyes still locked on her face.
"Uh, sorry for freaking out on you before…" He trailed off, an embarrassed smile gracing his lips.
"oh don't even worry about it. Had it been me, I would've had a mental breakdown," Scar told him.
He smiled lightly, "You don't seem like the type,"
"Trust me; I would've had the biggest girliest fit ever," Al laughed at the statement and shivered a little.
"I, uh, have a t-shirt in my bag. It's pretty loose on me, so…" Scar offered, already rising to get it.
"Uh yeah that'd be great," Al accepted the shirt with a gracious smile and promptly pulled off his own. A tiny gasp left Scar's lips and he paused.
"Oh! Uh, is this, I mean, are you good?" he asked, still shirtless.
"I'm fine," Scar squeaked, trying furiously to tear her eyes off of his perfect torso. She finally managed to take her eyes off him and looked at the wall, silently cursing her idiocy.
"It fits fine, "Al said, giving her a tension breaking smile she couldn't help smile back at. They chatted quietly while Scar put the dog up in a spare kennel. She walked with him to his car, only to spend an extra minute with him.
"So… Is it really family night on Friday or do you wanna maybe go to that party with me?" Scar asked, a strange courageousness taking over her. Al beamed at her.
"Can I pick you at six?" He asked.
"Um yeah! Most definitely!" She replied, amazed he had said yes.
"Cool. See you tomorrow?"
"Yep! At school, in our classes," Scar babbled, realizing only too late that she sounded like an idiot.
He laughed, got in his car, and drove off, shouting bye to her as he disappeared into the night.
ↄↄↄ
The next few days went by quickly, a blur of lacrosse practice, school, and Stiles disappearing off to the library to do "research". Scar had told her best friend all about how he had gotten a date with Al, which Stiles had been completely supportive of, and about how quickly the bite had healed, which Stiles had reacted very oddly to.
Finally, Friday afternoon had arrived and the girls scrimmaged first. As predicted, they won, and everyone went home quickly to get ready for the big party Lyle and Jackie were throwing. Stiles, who had been assigned the bench, had neglected to show up. Scar rolled her eyes at her best friend's ridiculousness. She was probably at home, snuggled up on the couch, stuffing food into her mouth, and watching Netflix. Scar, bags in hand, biked quickly to Stiles' house, eager to tell her that they won. She arrived much faster than normal, and headed to the door. Mrs. Stilinski let her in, and the two chatted briefly about the game. After the sheriff had left for work, Scar made her way to Stiles' bedroom. She stopped for a minute, because she could hear frantic shuffling of paper and the sound of Stiles heart beating absurdly loudly. Scar shook her head to clear it of the sound. She had mastered the art of completely ignoring all the additional input her senses were providing her. She walked into the room and seemed to startle Stiles, who jumped out of her seat.
"Jesus Christ! Don't do that to me! Anyways I need to talk to you!" Stiles yelped.
"Sorry… okay shoot," Scar replied, figuring her own news could wait.
"I've been doing tons of research, on the internet, in books, at the library," she punctuated each action by shoving sheaves of paper at her friend.
"Okay, okay, okay… Ummm, well, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna say it. I've been doing a lot of thinking about that bite you got, and it really didn't add up: the bite, the healing, the amazing lacrosse skills, the smelling random things in my pockets. So I did a lot of research, and I got deeper and deeper into it and I've got it, buddy. I figured it out!" she said, her words blurring together into a wild rush.
"Whoa, slow down. How much Adderall have you had today?" Scar asked, a knowing smile settling on her lips.
"I don't know, like a ton, but forget that! We have to focus on you! Tonight's the full moon and you could change at any second—"Stiles started, before Scar cut her off.
"Jesus Stiles, not this again! It was kinda funny the first time, but now it's so not!" Scar told her, agitated that this was what Stiles had been running off to do. Her best friend only gaped at her.
"Scar, think about it! People don't just wake up one morning and are able to do what you did! That isn't humanly possible!" Stiles insisted, her voice shrill and loud. Scar paused, thinking about it. What scared her the most was that Stiles could actually have a point. That joke in the woods was definitely not a joke anymore. She worked her face into an expression of disbelief.
"Okay, say you did have a point. But why would that even bother me?" she asked, scared to have her fears confirmed.
"Because, it wouldn't be just the moon that would cause you to physically change, but it would be when your blood lust is at its peak," Stiles explained, sinking into her chair. "You're cursed, Scar."
"Blood lust?" asked the changing teen, her vision already starting to blur red around the edges from the tight grip of fear on her mind. Truth was, she'd thought something like this was happening, but had convinced herself that none of this was real. Now, hearing Stiles say these things, somehow made it real; and that made her mad.
"Yeah, your desire to maim and kill," Explained the human girl, staring at her friend with an expression of worry.
"I'm already feeling a desire to maim and kill," muttered Scar darkly, hating Stiles for making all of this real. Her friend ignored her comment and popped out of her seat.
"See, the change is a trigger, okay. It happens when you're mad, and your hearts starts beating too fast. And I've never seen anyone get your heart beating like Al does, so I'm canceling your date," Stiles moved to grab her friends phone, only to find herself shoved against the wall, claws digging deep into her shoulder. A terrified whimper escaped her lips, and seemed to jar Scar out of her rage. The aggressive teen immediately released her, murmuring apologies as she quickly backed away, barely pausing to gather her things. Stiles waited until her heart stopped pounding to release the breath she subconsciously held. She grabbed her computer chair for support, and felt strange rips in the fabric. Upon inspection, Stiles realized that claws had erupted out of Scar's fingertips and slashed through the heavy mesh netting on her chair as though it was paper. Her fears had been confirmed, and if she didn't do something about it, someone was going to get severely hurt.
ↄↄↄ
In all fairness, the night had started out pretty great, a little awkward but still good. Al had picked her up, talked to her father, opened up her door, and told her she looked good. The fell into easy conversation, and Scar swore to god that she had never felt more comfortable with a guy before. They arrived at the party and he got her a drink. They chatted to other people, talked to Stiles, who seemed to have forgotten all about the little incident earlier, and made their way to the backyard, where all the action was happening. Al asked her to dance and she obliged. That's where, she supposed, the night took a turn for the worst.
Her heartbeat seemed to drown out any and all noise, and she focused solely on the way he was ghosting his arms respectably up and down her sides. He led her gently with his hips, and her heart stopped every time their hips nudged against each other. Her vision was starting to red around the edges, and she groaned, a harsh pain erupting in her lower gut.
"Hey, are you okay?" Al asked, his smile slipping quickly into a frown of worry. She shook her head and untangled herself quickly from him. He reached for her wrist, to pause her so he could help, but she snatched it away and almost ran for the door, doubling over and crying out in pain. Faces blurred and voices floated just above her head, too far to understand. She burst out of the part, gasping for air that wasn't filled with the scent of teen hormones. Something primal took her over and she was off, navigating the streets with expert precision. Minutes behind her, Al escaped the throbbing clutches of the party, looking for his long gone date. The boy, realizing she was gone, cursed lowly under his breath and got inside his car, ready to leave. However his car had other ideas, as it flat out refused to start. He got out, and gave his car a rough kick for good measure.
"Car trouble?" Al whipped around at the sound, only to be faced with a stunning young woman, who was clearly a few years his senior. She tossed her ebony hair behind her and walked forwards.
"I'm Darian, a friend of Scarlett's"
ↄↄↄ
The night pulsed with energy, and Scar felt herself being forced into its throbbing beat. Her vision tinted red, and her sense replaced her human consciousness. Pure instinct drove her, urging her to find something to easy the hunger coursing through her. The girl dropped to all fours and charged on into the darkness, her destination unknown. Her need to think had dissolved and it felting freeing, in a sickly twisted way. The wolf commanded Scar's mind, and she handed it over readily. The ground beneath her changed, going from harsh human concrete to soft familiar earth. Her heart beat like a war drum, urging her to hunt. It was then she saw a gray hoodie, hanging from the trees. The smell of it hit her abruptly, forcing her back to human. It was Al's hoodie, the one he wore to pick her up. Fear coursed through her and she whipped her head around, looking for him. In her momentary distraction, something powerful and agile hit her full force. Her wolf took her over completely, and she fought against the opponent. Claws and fangs flashed in between the clashing wolves, and Scar was rough shoved against a tree, and pinned there. The sharp face of Darian Hale looked angrily down at her, and Scar thrashed roughly against her.
"Let me go!" she cried, baring her fangs in anger.
"Shut up! We're not alone," Darian murmured lowly but menacingly.
"You did this to me?" Scar demanded twisting under Darian's tight grip.
"So? The bite is a gift. People would kill for what you've been given!"
"I don't want it,"
"Is it so bad, Scarlett? That you can move faster, better, and stronger? That your senses are unparalleled?"
"I don't care! I don't want this!"
"We are sisters now! We look out for one another"
Before Scar could retort, a rustling startled the girls, and Darian released her. Scar stood abruptly, ready for a fight. Darian disappeared into the shadows, intent on taking the intruders out. However, Scar was not so smart and stood defiantly, baring her fangs. An arrow whizzed through the air and ripped through her forearm. It exploded on contact, pinning her to a tree. Blinding sparks erupted all around her, and Scar howled again, the pain in her arm too great to bear blind. People stood before her, but she could not make them out. The sparks cleared and she could suddenly see a middle aged woman, strong and obviously beautiful, holding a gun at her. Scar shrank away, but she needn't to, because Darian had amazingly taken down the woman's companions. The Huntress scampered back, disappearing into the woods. Darian regarded Scar coolly, before roughly ripping the arrow from her arm. Scar yelped, but muttered a near silent thanks.
"Who were they?" Scar asked when the blood flow had slowed.
"Hunters. The kind that have been hunting u for centuries," Darian replied, her eyes looked on the tree line.
ↄↄↄ
The next Monday, Scar came to school completely subdued. After Darian had given her a quick werewolf 101, she ran home and called Stiles, who was completely nonplussed. They talked for hours, spending all of Saturday researching and planning. Stiles had assured the teen wolf that she would find a way to help her best friend. The only thing that remained untouched was Al. Unfortunately, the saying "speak of the devil and he shall arrive" seemed to extend also to think of the devil. As the changed girls made her way to lacrosse practice, Al cornered her.
"Hey, I need to talk to you," He told her, a steely look in his normally warm blue eyes forcing Scar to stay.
"Look, about the party…" Scar started, not quite sure how to proceed.
"If you didn't like hanging out with me, you could've said so. Or did you get sick? I noticed you looked pretty pale that night," He said, unable to remain angry at the gorgeous girl before him.
"It was definitely an attack of something… Al, I really liked hanging out with you, but I just couldn't that night. I was totally not myself," Scar explained, bracing herself to be dumped. To her surprise, Al's expression softened into a slight smile.
"Okay, I believe you," he said, shyly looking at his feet, not wanting to meet her gaze.
"So, will you give me a second chance?" Scar asked hopefully. He looked up at her adorably hopeful face.
"I will, but please explain to me what's going on?" He pleaded, hoping to elicit an answer from her.
"Just trust me?" Scar half-asked.
"Am I going to regret this?" Asked the weary boy. Scar blushed, and looked at her hands.
\ "Probably…" she trailed off, praying he wouldn't take back her second chances. However, Al only laughed, refreshed by her brutal honesty.
"Okay, you get a second chance, Scar. I'll talk to you later, my mom is here," He bid her good and brushed a quick kiss against her cheek. Scar heart stopped beating, and started up twice as fast, butterflies erupting and swarming in her stomach. He climbed into the red SUV in front of them and waved goodbye at her. Scar gave a little wave back and smiled at her luck. It was then that she caught a glance at his mother. Suddenly, Scar was back in the woods, her wolf completely on edge. There before her, stood the huntress who had tried to kill her. It was just her luck that she was also Scar's quasi-boyfriends mother. She scampered off quickly to the locker room, heart beating loudly.
A/N: Hey guys! Hoped you liked it! Let me know your thoughts, comments, concerns, critiques, etc. I'll post the next chapter in three weeks if you want me to continue!