Author's Note: Okay, sorry for the wait, I've had a lot of schoolwork lately :/ luckily, school's almost out so soon I'll be able to post way more often! :D
So, here's the second chapter, I hope everyone enjoys it ^_^
Scott
"Do they know what happened? Have they said anything over the radio?" Stiles reaches into the pocket of his hoodie and pulls out the heavy black police radio.
"Not much," he mumbles as he drops down onto the couch beside me, "they were busy trying to get Avery out of the car."
"They couldn't just pull her out?"
Stiles shakes his head, "They said she was losing too much blood to move her right away, the EMTs had to stop some of the bleeding first." Stiles flips the radio on and then the voices of Beacon Hill's policemen fill the room.
"Any word on the girl's condition?" A woman's voice comes on the radio.
After a moment, a response comes in, "She's still in surgery," Stiles's dad says in a tired voice, "nurses say she's got some internal bleeding, they're working on that now but it'll be a while before we know whether or not she'll pull through." The static from the radio makes everything all the more harsh, all the more surreal.
Silence fills the room before the woman comes back on, "Did you get a good look at her before she went into surgery?"
"Good enough, why?" Stiles's dad asks with an edge in his voice.
"Something's not right here, Sheriff," the woman sighs, "I'm at the scene now, but it just doesn't add up, the car is completely totaled, the passenger's side is crushed in," the woman pauses, I can almost see her peeking into the passenger's side as she continues, "but the driver's side has barely any damage."
Sheriff Stilinski
"but the driver's side has barely any damage." I hold my radio up to my face, the volume is low in an effort to keep people from hearing it. I look up and make eye contact with a nurse behind the front desk as she tries to listen in to the radio. She quickly turns away and makes herself look busy.
I push off the wall I've been leaning on for about an hour and a half now and make my way into an empty room. I close the beige door behind me but don't bother flipping the light on. Light pours in from the window, the parking lot lights and flashing police car lights reflect into the plain room.
I walk in and sit at the foot of the white-sheeted bed, I rub my forehead, there's some days I wish I wasn't Sheriff, "What're you getting at, Kelly?"
Kelly is our department's accident reconstruction expert, if she says something's off, then it's either she's right or the evidence is wrong in my book. She's been through a hell of a lot with me and she's a skilled investigator. She knows what to look for, where to find it, and who to go to for information.
"There's blood all over both of the front seats, not just the driver's side. I think there was someone else in the car." I let out a deep sigh, this complicates things.
I run my finger over the push-to-talk button and press it, "You're saying that the passenger's side is completely crushed in, right?" I watch the red and blue lights as they dance around the room's walls.
"Roger that." Kelly says flatly. "But from the looks of the passenger's side, no one could've walked away from an impact like that." My eyes go wide in realization of what Kelly is getting at.
This time I slam the talk button in, "You think she was in the passenger's seat when the car crashed?"
"Exactly." I run my hand through my short hair and let out another heavy breath.
"Tow the car back to the station after you're done with the scene, there's nothing more we can do tonight but pray that she makes it." I look out the window to see another news van roll into the lot. "We'll get the forensic team to examine the car in the morning."
"One more thing, Sheriff," Rob's voice comes on the radio, "there's some reporters out here waiting for you to have a conference." I hate press conferences, there's never anything I can tell them besides 'I can't disclose that information,' or 'it's still an ongoing investigation,'
I walk to the window to see a few reporters along with their cameramen standing closely behind a few of my men that I brought with me to keep the press out of the hospital. "I'll be down in a minute." I turn back, pull the door open and walk out of the room.
When I walk back into the waiting room a woman with dark red hair is sitting in one of the chairs talking on the phone. Her hair is nearly perfect, though her eyes are red and her cheeks are tear-stained. "I don't know, Joe!" she whispers in a stern tone.
The woman pauses for a response on the other end before talking again, "I'm not sure, all I know is she was in an accident and they're working on her now." I realize that this must be Avery's mother, I walk and stand in front of her, she looks up and whispers to me, "Just a second."
I nod and take the chair across from hers, "I'm not sure, listen I have to go, the Sheriff is here, you get your ass on the first flight to California, I'm not sure what's going to happen." The woman's voice shakes as her eyes fill with tears. She flips her phone closed as she throws it back into her purse.
"I take it you're Mrs. Chastings?" I ask in a soft voice.
She shakes her head, "Avery's father and I divorced years ago, I go by my maiden name, Reese."
I give a small nod, "Ms. Reese, I'm terribly sorry, I know this must be difficult, but what can you tell me about the last time you saw Avery? Did she say she was going somewhere with anyone? Did she have any plans?"
Ms. Reese wipes her eyes with her hand, "She asked earlier if she could go to some party, but I-I can't remember the name…" Ms. Reese brings her hand up and rubs her forehead, she's visibly shaking and her skin seems abnormally pale. "I can't remember," her face goes from white to red in a matter of seconds as she begins to sob "I'm sorry, it's just everything's so…uncertain right now."
I stand up and walk to her, I kneel down so that she looks at me, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking this right now, listen, you try and remember the name and when you do," I reach into my coat pocket and hand her my card, "you call me, alright?" The woman just nods her head as she takes the card from my hand.
I give her a quick hug and leave for the press conference. Normally I'd push for an answer, but I know what she's going through, at least to a lesser degree.
I can never keep tabs on Stiles, and during those crazy 'mountain-lion' attacks a few months ago, I couldn't stop worrying that I would show up to one of the scenes and see Stiles laying there, dead.
But I guess that's the burden of being a parent, constantly worrying about where they are, what they're doing, who they're with, and I guess now for Ms. Reese, whether or not she'll be able to see her little girl again.
I brace myself as I step through the hospital's automatic doors and hear the reporters all begin calling out questions of the accident, Avery's condition, and the investigation.
It's going to be a long night.
Stiles
"But what can we do?! They probably won't even let us in!" Scott calls out behind me, but I ignore him as I unlock my old jeep's door. I climb in the driver's seat and Scott slides in the passenger's side. I turn on the engine and fasten my seatbelt.
"We're going to check up on my dad, isn't your mom working the late shift?" Scott nods.
"Yeah, but whenever stuff like this happens she gets real upset."
"Well that settles it, then, I'm going to see how my dad is doing and you're going to see if you're mom's okay. That is, unless you have something better to do…?" Scott sighs and puts his seatbelt on. I pull out the radio again and reach to flip it on-
"We need to talk." A voice says in the back seat. Scott and I jump at the same time, taking in sharp breaths, my eyes snap up to the rear view mirror to see a pair of green eyes staring back at me. Scott flips around in his seat as I let out a relieved breath.
"What the hell are you doing in my Jeep!?" I say, grabbing my chest as my heart tries to get back in its natural rhythm.
"I've been here for a minute or so, you two were just too wrapped up in each other to notice." Derek says in his usual aggravated tone.
"We're busy, Derek, can't it wait?" Derek's eyebrows push together in confusion.
"Where are you going at four in the morning anyway?" Scott sighs and turns back around. I catch his gaze and he nods his head to the police radio. I reach and flip it on.
"To the hospital," I say as I put my Jeep in drive and pull out of Scott's driveway.
"Tow truck just arrived; we're loading the car on now." Kelly's voice comes on the radio along with some scratchy static.
"Good, the sun will be up in a couple hours, we can get a better look at the entire scene then, Sheriff said he wanted that road blocked off till we're done searching the area so set up a road block on Hickory street on both ends." Rob says with a flat tone. I look back to see Derek listening intently to the radio.
"What're they talking about?" Derek says in a confused voice.
"A girl from our school was in an accident tonight, no one knows what happened yet," My dad's voice comes on the radio.
"Shhh! Scott shut up!" I turn the nob up on the radio and pull up to a red light as my dad's voice cuts through the static with news.
"The Doctor just came out, she's stable, though she's still considered to be in critical condition; they were able to stop the internal bleeding but there was some serious trauma to her head, she slipped into a coma about a half hour ago while she was in surgery."
Scott and I look at each other with matching looks of worry. "Friends and family are allowed to visit, but make sure no reporters or journalists get in; they'll pull anything to get a leg up on each other and I don't want this poor girl's family being hounded during all this."
I look to Scott, "That settles it; we're going to see her." Scott nods in agreement.
We barely know Avery, besides a couple small conversations in chemistry and that time I ran into her on the sidewalk, but it just seems like the right thing to do right now. Scott seems to have realized this too since he hasn't put up any more protests.
"Who is she?" Derek asks in a less demanding voice than usual.
"Her name is Avery Chastings." I say flatly. I don't like the fact that he for some reason is coming along with us, and especially don't like that he's asking all these questions like it actually matters to him.
Scott elaborates on my curt answer, "She's a grade older than us, played on the girl's lacrosse team, I think she was committed to play for Maryland." Scott looks over to me, "I guess that's over now, though."
"You don't know that, Scott, she could snap out of it and get better." Scott gives me a doubtful look, but offers no argument. I look in the rearview mirror to see Derek giving me the same look. I clench my jaw as I turn into the hospital's parking lot.
Derek
We pull into the lot and see a small mob of reporters and cameras, a few policemen stand guard behind some metal gates that are set up in front of the entrance. Scott and Stiles unbuckle their seatbelts and get out. I open my door and step out as Stiles makes his way around the crappy Jeep of his. "Oh, no, no, no, you stay here." He points to the Jeep.
"And do what exactly?" I ask in annoyance.
"Watch the Jeep like a good guard dog." I give a growl as I brush by him. He sighs and follows with Scott. We walk to the police line and Stiles runs ahead. "Dad!" one of the men turns and Stiles jogs over.
Scott and I make it over to hear them in the middle of their conversation, "You'll have to make it short, there's a couple kids in there already to visit, but it'd be best to make it short." Stiles's dad says.
The Sheriff gives me a wary look before asking Stiles why I'm here. I roll my eyes as Stiles tells him I'm here for the STD clinic. The sheriff looks back to me with pursed lips.
Fuck you, Stiles.
Scott tries to hold in a laugh next to me and I try to hold back a fist to his face.
The police let us pass and we enter the hospital quickly. Stiles asks the nurse what room Avery is in and she informs him that she's on the second floor in the ICU. We walk to the elevator and step inside, dull music plays in the background as we go up.
Stiles waits impatiently right in front of the elevator door, I come to stand right behind him. "Hey Stiles," his head turns into my palm as I slam his head into the metal door, "you know what that's for, too."
The doors open and Stiles falls out and onto the floor. I walk out into the waiting room as Stiles scrambles to his feet with Scott trailing behind. I stand to the side of the front desk as Stiles asks once again where his friend's room is. I can't help but smirk as a red mark forms on his forehead.
That's what you get.
In the far corner of the waiting room I pick up a conversation between a policeman and a young blonde girl, "She never goes to parties, who told you she did?" The blonde asks in a shaky voice.
"It doesn't matter, do you know of any parties that were going on tonight? If you know anything we need to hear it," the policeman says in a firm voice.
The girl lets out a small whimper, "No, I don't know anything about a party." Her heartbeat quickens.
She's lying.
Stiles and Scott sign in on the visitor's clipboard and I lean on the counter as I listen more closely.
The policeman sighs, "Any problems you know about with her home life? Was there a reason she might've wanted to…..harm herself?"
The blonde looks at the man in disbelief, "You mean like suicide?" the man nods, "No!" the girl yells, causing a couple heads to turn in their direction, the girl notices the attention and then whispers, "Avery would never do that," she pauses to sweep a strand of her short hair from her eyes, "her mom can be really controlling, but she would never-"
Stiles's stubby fingers snap repeatedly right next to my ear, snapping my attention back to him, "-to go in, you stay here." He says at a mockingly slow pace, "Comprendé?"
I roll my eyes as walk to one of the empty chairs to get a better spot to eavesdrop. I focus back on the girl's voice, she's obviously getting more and more upset the longer she's questioned, her heartbeat stammers unsteadily.
"I don't know!" she says loudly, a sob breaks her words, her heart beats faster yet, "Please, I just want to go see her, she's my best friend!"
"I'm sorry, Miss Kline but the sheriff will want to talk to you first," the girl rolls her eyes and sucks in a deep breath before wiping her red cheeks with the sleeve of her Navy sweatshirt, "he should be up any minute, he had to go answer some questions from the press and make sure no reporters got in," the girl just nods, "just wait here, he'll be up soon."
The officer turns and walks away, leaving the girl alone. A group of teenagers sit in a row of chairs to my left, they look up to her when they realize their friend is done being questioned. The blonde just raises a finger as if to say, 'just a second'.
She digs her phone from her black purse and walks to look out the window on the far side of the room, she lifts the phone to her ear and waits. "Jake," her voice breaks, "I don't know where the fuck you are but as soon as you get this get your ass over to the hospital," the girl pauses as her voice grows thick with emotion, she breaths in and then adds, "we need to talk." She draws the phone away and then slips it back into her purse.
She walks back to the group of teens, all of them look to one another for something to say, but silence is all that is between them as the girl melts into the chair, sobs breaking from her chest as a boy holds her.
I stand and walk to the hallway where Scott and Stiles had left through; the two are far down the hall, their heads turning from left to right in search of the right room number. I begin walking fast down the hall, listening in to each room trying to find the one with the girl. The faster they both visit her, the faster we can leave, and the faster I can talk to Scott.
A woman's cold voice catches my attention in a room far down the hall, "I told you," she says sternly, "I told you not to go, but you didn't listen, and now look at you." I watch as Scott and Stiles turn into the room where the woman's voice is.
"Hi," Scott's voice begins, "we came to visit Avery," the woman sighs. I draw close to the room.
"Well, here she is," her voice is filled with nothing but bitterness, "excuse me." The woman's footsteps storm out of the room and out into the hallway. The woman's long, dark red hair creates a curtain as she looks down in her purse and pulls out a phone.
She brings it up to her ear and sweeps the hair from her face. She's maybe in her late thirties or mid-forties, though for having a daughter in the ICU, she looks surprisingly…..put together.
She gives me a passing glance as she begins talking on the phone.
I turn into Avery's room and see Stiles standing at one side of the bed and Scott at the other. Stiles's back hides my view of the girl, so I walk further in.
Scott's head snaps up from looking down at the girl, "Derek?" he asks in a confused voice.
Stiles spins around, "Oh, no, I told you to stay out there!" he says in a hushed tone, as if the girl would wake up if he spoke too loudly, and as I come to the foot of the bed, it's clear she won't be waking any time soon.
A periodic beep comes from a heart monitor, along with the rushes of air from an artificial ventilation system, meaning the machine is breathing for her. I recognize the equipment from when my Uncle was on it years ago after the fire.
"No, you need to go." Stiles says as he tries to get me to move to the door, I just glare back at him.
"Stiles, it's fine." Scott says flatly, Stiles just sighs and takes his place on the other side of the hospital bed. Normally he would've put up more of a fight.
I look back to the girl, only this time I focus on her, and not on the machines keeping her alive.
Long, light brown hair is splayed out over the bland white pillow beneath her, tubes seem to spill from her mouth, a small mask-like piece of plastic holds them all in place, covering her nose, mouth, and most of her chin and hiding them from view, making it impossible to see what she really looks like.
A large bandage covers her right temple, a red stain seeping through the pure white gauze. Red and pink scratches are scattered across her lightly tanned skin. The metallic scent of blood fills my senses, Scott must smell it too since his nose is crinkled by its strength.
The ventilator rhythmically sucks in and pushes air out of her lungs, a steady drip comes from the blood bag that is slowly filling her veins with the thick red liquid. Her slim wrists are strapped to the rails of the bed, to keep her from ripping the tubes out of her throat, were she to wake suddenly. But looking at this all, I doubt that's a possibility. An image of my Uncle's hospital room flashes into my head, it's like déjá vu.
Everything is a mirror image of my Uncle's hospital room, the tubes, the ventilator, the smell of rusty metal. Everything's the same.
Except for her.
The machine beeps steadily, voicing that she's still alive. But her heartbeat is all I need to tell me that. It beats slowly, her body is trying hard to heal, trying to make the most of every pump of blood. I focus my sense on her, trying to get a sense of how much damage her body has taken.
It's an extra sense, useful for gauging the life left in both werewolves and humans alike.
I feel a stab of pain to my temple, matching up with the wound on her forehead. Next I feel a crippling throb to my right leg, almost to the point to my leg caving out from under me. I draw my focus away from that injury and then feel a slow pain at my heart, as if it's giving out slowly.
I look over to see Scott grabbing at his heart, a pained look on his face. Younger werewolves are always more sensitive to the pain, their bodies aren't used to having the sense. "She's not going to make it, is she?" he turns to me.
I focus back on the girl, though this time I try to get a feeling from her, I try…..connecting to her in a way, to see if there's anything left in her.
When I tried with my Uncle, there was never anything there, towards the end, I stopped trying, but then he turned out to be alive and well…
"She's trying to fight it," I say after a moment, her body is weak, but she's still in there. I can sense it.
Stiles turns around, concern clear on his face, "She's trying? Well, is she gonna make it or not?"
"I don't think so." Footsteps draw into the doorway and we all three turn to see Melissa McCall walk in, three syringes in her hands.
"Scott? Stiles?" she says, sadness clearly in her voice as she walks to the side of the bed. Stiles moves and gives her room to work. "Was she a friend of yours?" she asks them after they don't respond.
"She was in our chemistry class," Scott says quietly.
Melissa lifts the I.V. and injects each of the three drugs into the girl's veins. "This poor girl," Melissa says, shaking her head, "we just sent her blood work off to the lab, hopefully we'll figure out what happened to her soon."
Four more figures appear in the doorway, the teenagers from the waiting room make their way in. The blonde girl that was answering questions covers her mouth and inhales deeply when she sees Avery.
Scott, Stiles and I all take that as a cue to leave. Melissa finishes her work and meets them out in the hall. I decide to take my leave while the three of them are talking about how they got here and whether Stiles's dad knows he's here or not.
I make my way back to the elevator and lean against the back wall, closing my eyes as I listen to the music that hums in the background, as I listen, flashes of Avery cross my mind.
"Stars shining bright above you,
Night breezes seem to whisper, 'I love you',
Birds singing in the sycamore tree,
Dream a little dream of me."
I wonder how long it'll be till her heart just gives out, her body took too much damage; her heart just can't keep up.
The doors open and I step out into the lobby. I make my way to the side of the hospital and from there into the woods. On the police radio, they said they were blocking off Hickory street; an old back road that cuts through the woods.
If I hurry, I can make it before the sun rises completely so the cops won't be able to see me. I let the wolf take over, let him lead me through the woods and to Hickory street.
Why Scott calls this a curse, I'll never know. I've always loved the feeling of running through the woods, giving in to something so primal, letting my senses guide me. I've always loved the wolf within me.
Before I know it, I'm at the side of the road, the flashing red and blue lights of police cruisers light up the woods around the old road, making it difficult to stay out of sight.
I use the trees for cover as I draw closer to a badly damaged tree, the bark of it ripped off on one side, nearly falling over. The smell of blood fills my senses, the same blood I smelled on Avery. But there's something else, something I've been finding too much lately.
I follow the scent back a few feet, right before the crash would've been. Five deep claw marks are etched into the trunk of the tree, a familiar scent lingers at its base.
"Fuck," I cuss under my breath. I take off back through the woods towards my house as I go over things in my head.
I'd wanted to talk to Scott for a reason tonight, there's a new werewolf running around Beacon Hills, it's not a scent I recognize but it's been popping up all over my woods lately, as far as I can tell, it's another alpha.
Which means Avery might've seen it on the edge of the road, and swerved to try to miss it, making her crash… or the werewolf might've more….directly caused the crash.
Either way, she'll be dead soon enough, so that's a pointless lead.
The sun begins to rise slowly over the forest, telling me I've been up for a straight 24 hours.
I make it to my front porch and swing my door open and shut it behind me. I make my way up the stairs and to the back of the house where my room is.
I've been slowly rebuilding the house, so far I only have my room, the kitchen, and the upstairs bathroom fixed up, but that's all I need for now.
I walk into my room and grab some clothes from my dresser before making my way into my bathroom. I take a quick shower, though my head still races with thoughts of the accident, this possible alpha running around, I shut the water off and step out of the shower, grabbing a towel and quickly drying off.
I throw on a plain charcoal T-shirt and black sweatpants and make my way back to my room. I'd been out all night trying to find this alpha, but never caught a whiff of it, so I'd gone to tell Scott to keep a look out, though now my eyes ache with need of sleep.
I close the curtains over the windows, casting the room in darkness. I lay back in my bed and quickly find sleep.
A snarl wakes me up, and I sit up to find myself in a hospital bed, I look around for the source of the sound. A curtain to my left separates my bed from the one just across from me. A shadow sits up painfully slow and slides off the bed, coming ever closer to the thin curtain.
A wicked snarl rips from the figure as it comes to stand right behind the curtain, ready to attack.
I tear the curtain back, only to find a girl staring back at me. Her light brown hair drapes over her shoulders, framing her tanned face perfectly, a ghost of a smile plays at her full lips, two deep blue eyes seem to look right through me.
She wears a tight black dress, revealing a wide pair of hips, slender waist and generous breasts.
"Don't leave me." She says as she hikes her dress up and comes to place one leg on either side of my hips. "Don't leave me." She says again as she leans down to me, my arms encircle her waist, pulling her against me, her breath trickles over my lips.
She leans in and kisses me, slow at first, then speeding up, deepening the kiss her tongue slips into my mouth. She rips my arms from her waist and pins them on either side of my head, I let her lean in to my neck, she trickles light kisses down to my collar bone, "Don't let me die."
She leans back up, her deep blue eyes now blazing gold, and two fangs biting at her bottom lip as she looks down at me, her eyes half lidded. Her fingertips trail down my chest, leaving deep scratches where they travel. "Please, Derek."
Author's Note: The song in the elevator is "Dream a little dream of me" by Mama Cass Eliot I don't own the song or anything so yeah :)
I know Avery's mom kinda went from hysterical to completely stoic real fast but it's cuz her mom is a controlling crazy lady. I'm pretty sure she's bipolar but who knows?
Anyways, tell me what you think! :)