Today was the Hale family's annual hunt. The Hale family was particularly large, and only a few lived in Beacon Hills, the rest residing in other rural villages and remote locations. They preferred geographic isolation, but never could stand being alone. The Hale's were exceptionally familial for such an intense and spread out pack, but this made each and every reunion so much greater, especially for Derek.

The younger children of the family were never allowed to go on the hunts in an attempt to preserve their fragile naivety and innocence. The innocence and naivety of a werewolf, though, can only be preserved for so long, so once a Hale reached the age of ten they were allowed on the hunts as a sort-of rite of passage. This year Derek turned ten. Not until after the hunt, but they made an exception so that Derek would'nt feel left out. It was about eight in the morning and the family had just congregated at the Hale house for a quick debriefing.

Derek ran out of the house in a pair of old jeans and a red t-shirt with an extraordinary grin on his face. The Hales were talking in a mob formation, standing relatively close to each other ad making it difficult for Derek to see everyone. The one person he certainly did see, though, was his Uncle Peter.

"Uncle Peter! You said you weren't coming this year," Derek cooed.

"Well where did you hear that, Derek? I certainly never told you," Peter responded, a smug grin forming on his face.

"I maybe...possibly...could have heard you fighting with mom on the phone. You said you had business to attend to."

"What business could be more important than the Hale hunt?"

Derek smiled at his uncle. His dad, an intense figure with broad shoulders but a warm demeanor stood on the patio. "Listen up everyone. This year will be a bit of the routine work as usual. Our main goal is deer and bear. Go ahead an pick off anything else you wish to, but be wary of the smaller populations. Also, Talia, Peter, and Myself will be patrolling for a rival pack that has been toying with our borders. Make sure to stay within our territory and do not aggress any omegas on the way. Let the hunt begin." Everyone jolted into the woods, turning halfway or even all the way wolf. They set off in packs of two and three mostly. Immediate families stuck together, as per ususal. Derek ran off behind a few of his cousins, but had trouble keeping up. Once they were out of sight he stopped and looked around.

He stood in a grave of autumn trees, brown, withered leaves lying below his feet. He could hear absolutely nothing, even with his werewolf hearing. In fact, his sense weren;t picking up anything. This is when he started to fear. It was never quiet, he could always hear the pulsing heart of a small rabbit or the wind howling through the hills. He smelled nothing. He started turning around, over and over, as if his spinning would fix the issue. Then he saw a figure ahead.

"Dad?" he cried, relieved. Derek began running towards the broad figure, a chill leaving his body with each step.

Again, he stopped. The silhouette hadn't responded. No movement, no sigh, nothing.

"Peter?" he whimpered, a desperationg growing in his voice. He took a few steps forward.

Nothing.

"Mom..." the cry was no longer a question, but a frantic hope. But this wasn't mom. Or Peter. Or dad.

The figure moved forward with agression in its step. It pulled out a sharp object from its side and with a swift motion towards him Derek could no longer see. He screamed in absolute agony and brought his hands up to his eyes. He felt thick wetness seeping down his face, way too much to be tears.

"Enough. We don't want to kill him. We just needed an injury that induced a scream." Derek heard. The voice was smooth. It had an British accent and belonged to a man.

"Come on, I've been stuck with him for months. I wanted to have a bit of fun before the big bang tonight." This voice belonged to a girl. She was younger, probably around Derek's age. She sounded sweet. Derek was comforted by this voice, though. It sounded familiar. Sorta of like-

"No, Kate. Go hide before his mother comes." The male reprimanded.

It was Kate. Kate, the person he like-liked. They had been friends for two months now. 'Why was she saying "stuck with him" like a bad thing, ' he thought, 'I thought she liked me, too.' Derek felt defeated. He just lay there, sadness enveloping him. He heard another pair of footsteps approaching, rushed and accompanied by two others. He still could'nt smell anything but iron, but he knew it was his mom.

"Wow, Talia. You look gorgeous." The man commented.

He heard the man's footsteps near him. They were heavy and confident. Then something blunt hit his head and it went black.

Derek wakes up in his bed, he is pretty sure. His vision is still extremely blurry and the pain in his head is making everything harder to understand. He glances over towards his doorway and Peter is standing there. He sorta looks surprised.

"Peter?" Derek mumbles.

"I'm here, Derek. How are you feeling? Can you see?" Peter urges him.

"I can see a little bit...it's just really blurry. And my head hurts."

"It'll go away after a good night's rest, kiddo."

"What happened? I remember voices and I think Kate was there and-" Derek chokes up a little.

Peter's hand is rubbing his back now. "It's okay. Just some strays looking for trouble. And I don't think Kate was there. You probably just hit your head on the way down and started imaginging things to make yourself feel better. Brain does funny things like that."

"Okay," Derek mumbled inaudibly. He was tired and consciousness was fleeting fast.

"I love you, Derek," Petere kissed his forehead.

"Love you, Uncle Peter," Derek said, slipping into sleep.

Peter covered Derek with his comforter and shut the main light off. He sat outside of Derek's room just thinking for a bit, because who messes with the Hale's? Wait, who blinds little kids? Peter was just baffled with the whole situation and needed sleep himself. He shut his eyes and tried to tune in to the conversations downstairs. Everyone had stayed at the Hale home this hunt because of the attack. Someone was attacking the family. Two of the cousins had already been killed before the hunt and now this whole situation with Derek. No one was risking going back home. They were stronger united. Peter was just falling into unconsciousness just as he heard the calm conversations downstairs turn into screams.

He raced down he stairs and saw his family surrrounded by flames. His neices and nephews sobbed, his cousins yelled for help, and he saw a glimpse of his family huddled together. The inferno was closing in on them and one of the flames grabbed his son's shirt and lit his whole outift on fire. Peter screamed for them to run, to burst through the flames, but the ceiling was falling and people were becoming illuminated with fire. The support beams fell in front of Peter and he was cut off, left to hear the doomed cries of his entire family. "Peter, save the kids! Get as many people out as possible!" Talia shrieked above the noise.

Peter turned around and saw Laura standing behind him, rubbing her eyes, in a trance. She was sleep- walking. Peter picked up Laura and bounded up the stairs. He hauled Derek over his back and went to the stairs. The flames were crawling up faster then they should have, eating away each step and devouring the railing. He turned around and went to the window where he saw the roof jutted out about ten feet below. another fifteen feet beyond that was the ground. He set down Laura and Derek and grabbed the now wide-awak Laura by the shoulders.

"Do you know how to get down?" Peter interrogated.

"Yeah..." Laura responded, scared and shaking.

"Get down then. Take Derek with you. Go straight to the police station. Don't look back, you can't, and take care of Derek."

Peter rose and turned around. He paused, and then disappeared into the pool of flames that used to be the stairs. Laura picked up the still passed out Derek and climbed down to the ground. She now heard the low groans and shrieks emitted from the house. She felt warmth at her back and the house threw distorted shadows in front of her, bodies twisting and boards falling. She started sobbing and ran forward, but never looked back.