The Adelina Hale Story
Book 1: I See You
Ft. Stiles Stilinski
Addie Hale's POV:
Could life be any stranger? Well if you ask the people of Beacon Hill the answer is a definite hell yeah. But for me strange is normal; a little too normal maybe. I was born different, like my brother before me. Both of us carried in our blood a genetic quirk that had run in our family for generations; one that causes us to howl at a full moon.
Okay so we don't really howl at the moon; that's just a load of crap Hollywood made up. Nope, instead, if we want to be as careful as possible we go somewhere safe where no one can get hurt…or changed. My brother deals with it his way…I deal with it my way. Which usually involves handcuffing myself in our makeshift padded cell. Margot has grown use it and that alone makes me love her as though she were my real mom.
Margot became my guardian after my family was killed in a fire. My brother was so young he couldn't raise me. Instead he disappeared leaving Margot with the instruction to raise me as a normal human being. She enrolled me in school, and even gave me my new name: Laura Moon Hanley, or Lor, as most people call me.
It worked flawlessly for a while. I actually began to believe I was normal. Then the change happened.
It's hands down the most terrifying thing in the world. I remember actually being able to hear my every bone crack and twist, and feeling it was much worse. After a while it became easier, shifting I mean. Living with the side effects, like the heightened sense of smell and increased hearing, that was even harder to overcome.
Eventually I started doing things a typical (mind you a bit stereotypical) wolf would do, like taking walks in the middle of the night.
Good thing I did too.
I saw my neighbor leave in his police cruiser. I thought it was just another regular crime like a B & E or hit and run, but then I heard his son speak frantically on his phone. He was trying to reach his friend. I knew right then something big had happened, after all Stiles (my neighbor's teenage son) wouldn't have been freaking out so bad if it wasn't. I watched as he raced to his jeep with his phone attached to his ear.
I waited until he was down the street a ways before jumping out of my window. I landed on both feet, zipped up my hoodie, and took off running. I'd only been to Scott's house once for his tenth birthday party (Margot made me go) but I still remembered where to go. Stiles was on the roof of the house by the time I got there.
I hid behind a nearby bush and focused my wolf hearing on him, ready to pounce if he slipped and needed saving from a bad case of death. Scott appeared on the porch with a baseball bat. His heart was racing with fear. Suddenly both he and Stiles screamed as Stiles' upper half dangled from the roof. That crazy son of a-
"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?!" I heard Scott snap at his best friend. Better him than me.
"You weren't answering your phone! Why do you have a bat?"
"I thought you were a predator!" I fought to suppress a laugh.
"A pre.." Stiles chuckled slightly. "Look, I know it's late but you've got to hear this. My dad left twenty minutes ago, dispatch called. They're bringing every officer of the Beacon Department, even the state police." Oh shit! I was right it wasn't a regular petty crime.
"For what?" Scott asked, his heart and breathing back to normal.
Finally Stiles climbed down from the roof. I breathed a huge sigh of relief; there was no way I could live with myself if anything happened to him that I could've stopped, like say falling off his best friends roof.
"They found a body in the woods."
"A dead body?" I would've face-palmed myself so hard if I hadn't been frozen in shock.
"No, a body of water. Yes dumbass, a dead body!"
"You mean like murdered?" Please say no Stiles, please say no.
"No one knows yet. They said it was a girl probably in her twenties."
"Hold on if they found the body then what the hell are they looking for?"
"That's the best part," Stiles said a little too happily for comfort. "They only found half. We're going."
And I'm sure as fuck going with you. After all that's my sister they're talking about.
I followed them, tailing the jeep until it stopped in front of a sign that claimed trespassing into the preserve at night to be forbidden. 'Course that didn't stop us.
"So we're seriously doing this?" Scott asked still a little bit unsure about the whole little adventure he was about to partake in. Can't say I blame him; missions like these are not for the sweet and innocent.
"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town!" Stiles pointed out which was very much true; Scott was the ultimate king of bitching.
They started walking into the woods with Stiles manning the flashlight. I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them I could see everything. God I love my wolf eyes.
"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow." Scott whined, I rolled my eyes and tried to keep up with them while staying out of sight.
"Right, Scott, because sitting on a bench all season is such a grueling effort." Oh god these boys and their lacrosse. It's not like the team is any good on the field anyway, especially Jackson being a total attention whore and…fuck I can't believe I'm actually ranting about this bullshit sport.
"No, because I'm playing this year," Scott said sounding rather pathetic. "In fact I'm making first line." I had to try very hard not to snort which sucked to all hell.
"Hey, that's the spirit." Stiles said full of sarcasm. "Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."
Scott rolled his eyes. "Just out of curiosity which half of the body are we looking for?" Finally back to the serious stuff.
"Huh," Stiles got a curious look on his face. It was kind of cute actually. Whoa did I just say cute? I didn't just say cute…I just said cute. "Didn't really think about that…"
"Seriously?" I whispered accidentally. I quickly shut myself up and continued to listen.
"And what if the killer is still out there?" I sighed. If only they knew…
"Didn't think about that either." They started trudging up a small hill. I recognized it immediately and knew we were close.
"Comforting to know you planned this with your usual attention to detail," Scott said now doubly worried and he wasn't the only one.
"I know right?" Stiles said as Scott starts struggling to breathe. He took his inhaler out of his pocket and inhaled a couple puffs.
"Maybe the severe asthmatic should hold the flashlight, huh?" Yeah maybe he should, I agreed silently. Oh balls we have company, I groaned as I picked up the scent of many humans and at least two dogs. Lights flooded the forest a moment later making Stiles and Scott duck for cover. I on the other hand shoved myself behind a nearby tree.
A second later my ears picked up on the sound of the two boys bolting for their lives. "Stiles wait!" Yeah Stiles wait up! I thought following them as best I could.
"Come on!" God this boy was nuts…but for some reason I liked it. 'Course he wasn't so enthusiastic when he was suddenly face to snout with a police dog. Oh shit! I backed up and hid behind a sapling.
"Hold on, hold on. This little delinquent belongs to me," I heard the Sheriff say.
"Dad, how're you doing?" Face it Stiles you are sooo grounded. Hell I would be too if Margot caught me out here.
"Do you listen in on all my phone calls?" Not intentionally…
"No…not the boring ones."
Sheriff shined his flashlight around the forest raising my blood pressure a few notches. "So where's your usual partner in crime?" WHAT?! I focused my hearing a little more and found the sound of asthmatic lungs nearby. He was hiding.
"Who Scott? Scott's at home. Said he wanted to get a good night's sleep before the first day of school tomorrow." Stiles lied through his teeth.
"SCOTT! ARE YOU OUT THERE?" Sheriff shouted scanning the woods for young asthmatic. "SCOTT!" The light faded finally. "Alright young man I'm gonna walk you to your car and we're gonna have a discussion about a little something called invasion of privacy." Translation: Stiles is gonna have his ass handed to him.
Every other light disappeared and soon enough Scott and I were in the dark again. Scott bolted out of his hiding place and unknowingly sped passed me. A lot of noises filled the air, I recognized it as being a dozen or so hooves. Both Scott and I fell back in shock as a herd of stags flock passed us as though frightened by something. That's when I picked up two scents'. One was of death. I watched horrified as Scott, while looking for his inhaler, found my sister instead. Half of her anyway. Jesus shit!
The other scent I couldn't recognize entirely but there was something familiar about it. Scott jumped back from the shock of having found my sister and took a slight tumble off the hill. That was when I heard the growl. Oh shit…"SCOTT RUN!"
Too late for not even a moment later it passed by in a blur and pounced, biting a huge chunk of Scott's side. I ran as fast as I could, in full wolf form, and growled at the beast. It looked at me for only a second before taking off. Scott, now in pain, took off running. I shifted back to human form and followed suit.
I knew he was safe when he at last arrived at the animal clinic where he worked. Exhausted and drained I began the long walk home. And as I did I took out my phone and dialed the first number in my address book. It rang a couple times before going to voicemail.
"D, it's Addie." I sighed, "We have a problem."