Stiles Stilinski smiled to himself as he drove. After the Lacrosse match, he had hung around the fringes of the crowd that always gathered around Scott when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Figuring it was one of what he and Scott called the Not All Wolf Pack, he turned, bracing himself for whatever banter might get thrown at him. When he saw who it was, however, his smile froze.
Behind him stood a girl he had never seen before. She had dark brown hair that fell down her back in perfect spirals and bright blue eyes that seemed to take up her whole face. Her nose tilted upward in a manner that reminded him a bit of Lydia. But his long time crush had never looked at him the way that this girl was looking at him right now. Her expression was as predatory as he had ever seen. And, given that he ran with a werewolf pack, this was remarkable indeed.
"Hi." She said, the right side of her mouth quirking up, revealing a deep dimple in her cheek. "I'm Melody."
"Uh…hi." Stiles stammered. "Stiles." He added almost as an afterthought. He tried to offer his hand but he realized that the girl was now too close for that and dropped it lamely.
"I know." She said. "I saw you on the field. I'm from Central. You're hot." Melody, it seemed, wasn't much for the subtle approach.
"Um…thank you, for-for, um…that." Real smooth, Stilinski. Real smooth. He thought, but his blundering didn't seem to faze Melody.
"My parents are out of town this weekend." She said still flashing him that strange half smile. "Want to come to my place?"
Warning bells went off in his head, but he ignored them. "I absolutely want to go to your place." He said and he let the girl lead him away.
She now sat in the passenger seat of his Jeep, not saying a word, her hand resting lightly on his thigh, making it a little hard for Stiles to concentrate on the road.
"Turn left." She said. Finally. "My house is on this street."
Stiles obliged, and a few minutes later they approached a large two story house with Greek style columns and a large front lawn. "Nice place." He said as they got out of the car.
"Wait till you see the inside." She said, humming an odd tune as she headed toward the house.
Melody didn't waste any time with the nickel tour. She grabbed Stiles by the hand, still humming and pulled him up the marble staircase. As he trailed behind her, he noticed a lot of statues, pottery, and paintings everywhere, mostly depicting Greek gods. This theme carried over to the upstairs as well. Melody pushed him into a room with a big seashell shaped bed in the center but little else in the way of decoration and Stiles got the eerie feeling that he was being watched.
"Uh, Melody are you sure, no one else is home?" he said.
Melody turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Positive." She said, rolling up on her toes and pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss.
"Okay." He mumbled, his voice sounded dazed even to him. A chill ran up his spine and this time he was sure someone else was in the room. He tried to pull back but Melody pressed herself against him. And that was the last coherent thought he had.
Stiles woke with the sun shining in his face. He squinted and ran a hand down his face before looking around. He was alone in Melody's bed, shirtless. He must have fallen asleep there. He groaned. Dad is going to kill me, he thought. He sat up and began searching around for his phone.
He finally found it on the floor near the bed and his head spun when he read the time and date display: 2:17 PM, Sunday, October 20. He had been at Melody's house for almost two days and he didn't remember any of it. He also had 15 missed calls, 12 voice mails, and 47 text messages. Everyone must be going nuts.
He started to dial his dad's number when Melody came back into the room.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Just calling my dad." He said distractedly. "Hey, Melody why don't I remember anything after Friday night?" he asked cautiously.
Rather than answer, Melody hissed and lunged at him, knocking the phone out of his hands and against the wall. She pinned Stiles beneath her, her hands like manacles on his wrists.
He struggled, but to no avail and scowled. "So you're not human. I'm guessing." He said.
Melody hissed again in response, and Stiles noticed for the first time a pattern like fish scales on the side of her neck.
"Girl named Melody, Greek museum for a house, fish scale skin." He listed. "So, siren. Great."
Melody sat up, keeping her hands pressed into his chest, and began to hum again. Stiles could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. He tried to fight it but within seconds, his world went black.
Stiles woke up with a splitting headache. He looked around to find that he was in a basement. There was no light save for a very faint glow coming from a high window. He finally spotted Melody in the corner of the room, kneeling before what Stiles was sure was an altar, holding a dagger, of all things, between her palms. She chanted in a language that Stiles didn't understand. She stood, still chanting, and walked over to him. The dagger was now gripped in her right hand.
When she got close enough for Stiles to see her face, she stopped and Stiles realized that her skin was now a pale blue green and the scale pattern had spread. Her hair looked wet and matted, like she had been swimming in the ocean.
"You will die tonight, mortal." She said her voice soft.
"Maybe." Stiles said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "But you won't be far behind me. You messed with the wrong mortal." He struggled against the restraints keeping his hands above his head.
The siren scoffed, "I am beyond the reach of mortal laws, and your father cannot touch me." Stiles wasn't sure how she knew his dad was the sheriff but he wasn't surprised.
He laughed, trying not to wince when it shot pain through is ribs. "You might want to check your crystal ball again, sister." He said "I'm friends with four werewolves, a druid, a banshee, and two werewolf hunters. You kill me and your ass is driftwood."
A flicker of fear flared in the siren's eyes but she suppressed it. Glaring at Stiles, she lunged forward and slammed the hilt of the dagger down on his temple and he fell unconscious for the second time that day.
He woke again only a minute or two later to the sound of a crash. The basement door splintered open and Derek Hale's deep growl echoed through the cavernous space. Melody charged at the alpha when he reached the bottom of the basement stairs and was almost instantly thrown back the way she came. She hit the wall a few feet from Stiles hard enough to leave a dent in the cement blocks.
She started to get back up but Derek was on her before she could stand. He grabbed the sides of her head and wrenched, nearly twisting her head clean off. The siren crumpled to the floor and dissolved into a pool of brackish water.
Derek stood there breathing hard, his jeans soaked to the knee for a few seconds before turning his red eyed glare on Stiles. He stomped over and broke the shackles, catching Stiles before he fell all the way to the floor.
"Thanks, man." He said and attempted to stand on his own but Derek had other ideas. He scooped Stiles up into his arms and carried him up the stairs and out of the house, depositing him in the passenger seat of his car. They had started down the road before he said a word.
He tossed a cell phone in Stiles's lap. "Call Scott, and tell him you're okay before he calls in the National Guard." He said curtly.
Stiles quickly dialed his best friend's number. He answered before the first ring was over. "Did you find him." he said.
"He found me." Stile said simply.
"Stiles!" he said. "Are you okay? What happened? Where's Derek?"
Stiles laughed "I'm fine. It was just your average, every day run in with a siren and brush with death by sharp knife. You know, the usual." He said, causing Derek to roll his eyes. "Derek is right here."
"I've been texting your dad pretending to be you. I said your phone was broken." He said.
Stiles remembered is phone hitting the wall at Melody's house and winced. "You weren't wrong." He said.
They pulled up in front of Derek's apartment building. "Hey, I'm going to go. Can you get my Jeep and bring it to Derek's?" he rattled off directions and with a few more exchanges and yet another assurance that he was fine, they hung up. Stiles tossed the phone back to Derek and followed the alpha up to his apartment without a word.
When they were both in side, Derek spun to face him. "You spent the whole weekend with a siren, you idiot." He said backing Stiles against the wall and pinning him there between his arms.
"I mean…she looked normal." Stiles said sheepishly. Derek had always been cantankerous with him but Stiles had never seen him this angry with him.
Derek slammed his palms into the wall, causing a fine cloud of dust to surround them. "You could have been killed, damn it!" he shouted.
Stiles saw his eyes flash red again and he shrunk against the wall, suddenly afraid.
Derek's expression softened and he backed away quickly. "Sorry," he mumbled and retreated to the other side of the room. He turned his back to Stiles and leaned against what Isaac had taken to calling the war table. "It's just…you need to be careful." He said softly.
Stiles slowly crossed the room and rested his hand on Derek's shoulder. "I will. I promise." He said. When Derek didn't turn around he gripped the alpha's shoulder tightly. "Hey, I'm sorry." He said.
Finally, Derek turned around, a look in his eyes that Stiles couldn't identify. He reached up and placed his hand on top of the younger boy's and guided it off his shoulder. Instead of letting it go, however, he laced their fingers together. "You guys are all I have left." He said, an odd quality to his voice. "I can't lose you. Any of you." With that he leaned forward, placing his other hand on Stiles's cheek. "Especially not you." He said and closed the distance between them, sealing their lips together.
At first, Stiles was too stunned to react. He had never kissed another guy before. And he certainly never thought that Derek would kiss him. Once the shock wore off, he began to kiss back.
For a while they did nothing more than stand there, touching nowhere but their interlocked hands, Derek's hand on Stiles's cheek, and their lips. When Stiles began to respond, Derek let loose a growl of triumph, sliding his hand to the back of Stiles's head and stepping closer until their bodies were flush against each other.
Stiles timidly ran his tongue along the seam of Derek's lips, earning him another growl. Derek turned them until Stiles was half bent backward over the table, the edge pressing into his spine, causing him to grunt in pain. Derek took this opportunity to slide his tongue inside Stiles's mouth. For what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, they kissed.
A pounding sounded at the door, jarring them back to reality. Reluctantly they disentangled themselves from the embrace.
"That's um…that's probably Scott." Stiles stammered.
"Guys?" Scott shouted from the other side of the door.
"You should go." Derek said. "Your dad is probably worried." He said. For some reason he was unable to look Stiles in the eye.
"Yeah." Stiles said. Feeling awkward now himself. "I should…go" he said, slowly backing away. "Thanks though. For, um, for everything." He said and turned and fled, sparing one last look at Derek, who stood with his palms flat on the table, breathing hard, before he opened the door the door to Scott's anxious face on the other side. "Come on, let's go." He said, pushing past the confused beta and into the hallway.