Chapter One: Argent
She shouldn't have been surprised that a mere six hours after moving into their new house, and only two hours after crawling into her bed, she was being dragged out of it.
"Duty calls." Her father whispered. No doubt keeping his voice low as not to wake Allison who was sleeping peacefully in the next room.
It was nights like these that she envied her sister's ignorance as to the real reason why their family had over 650 guns in their garage. There was no use dwelling on that now, her father was right, duty called.
Her dad left her room, presumably to the garage where she would meet him in no less than ten minutes. Alex Argent plaited her long blonde hair, unusual for female hunters who more than likely cut it short for convenience. Alex took her responsibility to her family very seriously, but one thing she could not bare to part with was her long locks. She slipped on the black yoga pants and matching black top she kept in her top drawer, readily available for instances like this.
She crept quietly through her house, nodding at her mother who watched her silently from an arm chair in the pitch black of the living room.
She punched in the code to the garage door and stepped through taking immediate inventory of her team for the night.
Her father, of course, strapping a bow and arrow to his back. He looked solemn as he always did before a hunt. Sometimes she wondered idly to herself, that if he had a choice, would he be doing this at all? She knew the answer. No. He didn't love it like her mother did.
There were two other men gearing up. Jonathon, a loyal confidant of her fathers who had followed them to Beacon Hills from Washington. He was incredibly handsome with his dark skin and soulful eyes, eyes she found herself staring into more than once since his friendship with her family had begun. She'd seen him looking back on occasion with something akin to potential in his gaze, but the point was moot. They were hunters and connection was weakness.
The third man was someone she didn't recognize, but she knew her father had connections around the globe, so she didn't think twice about it. He was older and rugged, and judging by the way he was handling the sword in his grasp, experienced. Alex knew her father wouldn't introduce them until the third time they hunted together, an unspoken tradition in their line of work. What was the point when most barely survived the first? Hunters didn't waste time with pleasantries.
Alex laced up her combat boots and holstered six throwing knives to her body. One at her ankle, one on each thigh, and one on each hip. The sixth she kept in her hand to play with in the car. A nervous habit she had developed over the years, but if anyone asked, it simply helped her focus.
She covered up her torso holstered with her trademark leather jacket and took her spot in the passenger seat of her families black sports utility vehicle.
The ride was quiet, which was not unusual, except for the last five minutes where her father would go over the plan that everyone already knew to a 't'. It was life or death out there on a full moon, a fact that they had all learned the hard way.
"Stick to the trees." Her dad reiterated, "No kill shots."
Another part of The Code; trap the shapeshifter, deliberate with your team the best course of action, kill it. 'Deliberating with your team' was a formality. The decision was always to kill it.
The SUV stopped at the entrance to the preservation, her dad killed the lights and they all drew a collective breath before slipping out of the car and going their separate ways.
The cold September air crept through her clothes, chilling her. She drew her jacket tighter across her chest and tried not to think about how she could see her breath curling around in the air as it left her lungs.
The Preserve was dark, the only light coming from the full moon. It hit the towering trees and cast menacing shadows on the forest floor. Her head snapped up when she heard a great howl coming from, as far as she could tell, three kilometres away. Her feet moved at a sprint, pushing harder when she heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot.
She burst through the clearing, immediately noticing her whole team closing in on a figure with glowing eyes that leapt at an impossible height over fallen trees.
Running away, she thought, this one didn't want a fight.
Her knife was poised in her hand, ready to throw, but she hesitated as the whizzing of an arrow was heard overhead. She heard the thump as it missed its target and lodged itself deep in a tree. Her father had missed, but she would not.
Her knife left her hand. Steadfast and true. It hurdled through the air, a more menacing sound than her fathers arrow. A more satisfying thump as it embedded itself into a tree, but not before tearing through the werewolf's wrist and pinning the beast to the tree.
Her father, only a few feet in front of her, looked back briefly with pride glinting clearly in his eyes. The team advanced on the shifter, watching it struggle to escape.
Suddenly, Jonathon was thrown from beside her, landing meters away with a groan. The older man was next, thrown harshly against a tree and Alex winced when she heard the snap of his spine. Dead.
In all the commotion, Alex had taken her eyes off the target and when she looked back to where she had pinned the mark, it was gone.
"Fuck." She swore under her breath.
"There were two." Her father concluded, coming to stand beside her, suddenly. She holstered the knife she had pulled on him with a smirk, "Never sneak up on an Argent." He said with a genuine smile.
Jonathon, who had limped over to them, gun at the ready, questioned breathlessly, "Two beta's?"
"Looks like it." Answered her father, a crease in his forehead.
"It killed Gatlin." Jonathon said, morose. They must have been friends. "I'll bury the body."
"Perks of the job." Alex quipped. "I'll help."
Jonathon nodded at her, grateful.
"No." Her father said, hand on her shoulder, "You need to get some sleep. You have your first day of school tomorrow."
Alex rolled her eyes, hoping Chris would see them even in the dark of night, and rolling a silver tipped throwing knife expertly between her fingers, "I'd rather dig a grave."
"Alex," Her father said, a warning tone creeping into his voice, "Car. Now."
"Yeah, yeah." She placated, "Let me grab my knife."
Alex walked to the tree where she'd trapped the werewolf and where her knife had fallen to the ground, dripping in blood. At the tip of the blade, the red blood bubbled, sizzling where it came in contact with the silver tip. She grabbed the blade and walked back to her father, a wry smile on her face, "At least it'll be in some pain for a day or two." She wiped the blade clean on her pants, "Small victories."
She followed her father back to the car, where he quickly peeled out of the Preserve.
"You did well tonight." Her father praised, eyes never leaving the road.
"When do I not?" She replied, haughtily. A smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"I want you to take the lead on the next hunt." He said, eyes serious.
"I'm assuming you haven't run that genius idea by mother." Alex said icily, staring out the window at the unfamiliar roads. Another new place she'd have to acclimate to.
"No, I haven't-"
"Because that is Allison's place." She finished for him, "Not mine."
"I know it's difficult." He sighed.
"Difficult is moving from city to city and having to figure out where homeroom is," She said narrowing her eyes at the road in front of her, "Not being able to have a proper relationship with my sister is not difficult, it's excruciating."
Chris Argent was intelligent enough not to push his daughter on this particular subject. It was a sore spot for the entire family. They pulled into their driveway and rolled to a stop in the garage. They took off their gear in silence and Chris looked at his daughter, wishing there was something he could say, but she was stripped of her weapons and pushing open the garage door before he could think of anything. He was surprised to see her poke her head back through the door.
"I can't take the lead because if I do, when you finally decide to tell Allison, I won't want to give it up." With those last words, she closed the garage door and crept through the hallways for the second time that night, nodding at her mother who had not moved an inch and dropping into bed.
She closed her eyes and hoped that the three hours of sleep she could get where as restful as eight.
"I'm going to drink the last cup of coffee if you don't get up!" Allison threatened, knocking loudly on her door for the third time that morning.
Alex groaned unintelligibly and then came to her senses when her tired brain registered the thought of no coffee. "Don't you dare." She growled, jumping out of bed and racing Allison down the stairs. By the time they reached the kitchen they were laughing wildly.
"Full pot?" Alex groaned looking at the freshly brewed coffee in the pot on the kitchen counter and the beautiful aroma, that nearly brought her to tears, filling the kitchen.
"Oops." Allison laughed, shrugging her shoulders with a sly smile. "Did you sleep in your jogging clothes?" Her sister asked with a furrowed brow.
"Yeah," Alex sing-songed, swiping the buttered toast out of her sisters hands with an evil smile, "So what?" She arched her brow and took a huge bite of toast, "Yum."
"You, are awful." Allison laughed and then added seriously, "and fast."
"You forgot beautiful and perfect."
"Right, yeah." Allison mocked, putting two new slices of bed into the toaster, "Except, the downright scary bags under your eyes." Allison turned to face her sister head on, "I came to your room last night - you weren't there."
Alex stiffened, "Couldn't sleep." She shrugged with a fake smile, "I went downstairs to watch stupid informercials, you know how those put me out." Another lie.
"Explains why you look like a crackhead." Allison laughed, until a rogue piece of toast hit her dead in the forehead.
"So, concealer?"
"Our bathroom, top drawer." Allison answered while wiping butter out of her eyebrow, "Meet me in the car in twenty, or I'm leaving without you."
"Just enough time to paint on my mask." She deadpanned, taking the steps two at a time. She took off the clothes she slept in, glad Allison hadn't seen the dried blood on the right thigh where she's wiped her knife clean.
Alex chose a pair of grey tights, light pink dress and her leather jacket to wear. She regarded herself in the mirror after caking concealer under her eyes and wondered if she looked like someone who killed supernatural creatures as a part-time job. She slipped on her high heeled black boots and laughed.
"Definitely not."
Allison was waiting in the car for her when she stepped out the front door. Neither their mom or dad had come down to say goodbye so Allison had decided to take the sports car. Alex nodded her approval at the rebellious choice.
"Pretty with just the right amount of 'I don't give a ...'" Allison said, looking her sister up and down, trailing off due to her aversion to swearing.
"We both look hot," Alex concluded, sliding in the car, "So let's go make this school our bitch."
The principal had asked the two sisters to wait outside while he got their paperwork in order. Allison took a phone call from their father while Alex had gotten up to survey the schools grounds; access point, exits, security cameras. She'd walked the perimeter and was rounding the corner back to the front of the school when she saw the principal had come back out to collect them.
"There she is." Exclaimed Allison.
"Sorry," Alex shrugged, "Just getting a feel for the place."
The girls followed the principal into the building, "How did you like it?" He asked Alex.
"You have a lovely school." Alex said, rolling her eyes at the back of his head and receiving a warning glare from Allison.
"It is, isn't it." The principal said, proud, unaware of Alex trying to hold in a mocking snort, "Well, here we are, your homeroom, I think you two will appreciate that we kept the both of you together."
"Oh, yes sir." Alex said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm at this point.
"You pleasant young ladies will fit right in." The principal opened the door and handed some paperwork to the teacher and walked out without a parting word or glance.
"Welcoming." Snarked Alex.
The class didn't bother to hide their stares while the teacher sifted through their paperwork. They were no strangers to this, so Alex stared right back, a hand on her hip, while Allison stared at the floor, trying to hide the colour in her cheeks.
"Class, welcome our new students, Alex and Allison Argent." He stuttered with the alliteration, as everyone did and continued, "Please make them feel welcome."
Allison led the way to the two empty seats near the back. As they approached she noticed a boy with brown eyes and dotted with freckles staring at her like she was naked. Alex stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.
"Stiles!" The boy beside him chided, "Jaw. Off. Floor."
The freckled boy obviously didn't hear him because he jumped out of his chair, catching his leg on the desk and falling directly at her feet.
"You can have my seat!" He said breathlessly from the floor and gesturing to his now unoccupied seat, while a few of his classmates laughed.
"This one is fine, thanks." Alex said, looking down at him and eventually taking a wide step over his sprawled out body.
"You're welcome." He squeaked out with a humorously high pitched intake of breath as he got a clear view up her skirt.
The boy picked himself up off the ground with extremely spastic arm movements, smiled and nodded at no one in particular, sat down and muttered, "Nailed it."
Alex turned to face her sister and roll her eyes but Allison's attention was on the boy sitting in front of her, the friend of the spastic one, he was smiling and holding out a pen to her. She was smiling and accepting. A perfectly innocent meet cute, except the knife sized wound on his wrist, angry, red and rimmed in silver.
"Motherfucker." She let out at a loud whisper. Too loud, as the whole class turned to face her, including the teacher. "Uh, freedom of speech?" She shrugged, feigning apologetic.
The teacher simply shook his head and returned his attention to his desk.
"I think I love you." The freckled boy declared, earning a small laugh from Allison.