Jamie sat on the couch opposite Derek. "I don't know what it is, or where it's come from, or who makes it or hell, how they even know about my pack in the first damn place. I just know that it's killing them". Jamie took a deep breath and a swig of beer. She may have had some anger issues.
Derek turned the bottle over in his hand. "But why me?" he asked. "I have my own problems here, Jamie. With this Alpha pack in town – not to mention the family of hunters who seem to make it their mission to try and kill me every other week."
Jamie picked at the label of her bottle, staring at the floor. "I didn't have any one else", she said in a voice so small, if Derek didn't have superhuman hearing, he would have never heard it. Vulnerable. That was definitely a new one for Jamie.
"What about Adam?" he asked, trying to keep the envy out of his voice. It's not every day one of your friends runs off with your girlfriend. He had never quite gotten over that one.
Jamie smiled sadly and nodded at the vial. "Like I said – there is no one else".
A silent sadness filled the room. He, Jamie and Adam had been an almost inseparable trio at school. And when they found out about his curse, they joined him. True best friends. But the summer after graduation, he caught them together. And he had never seen him since. Jamie usually popped up every now and then, never with a happy ending. But the years apart didn't stop the feeling of loss that now filled Derek – to hear one of his friends had died.
This was quickly filled with anger. He would find out who did this. And he would make them pay.
Derek grabbed his cell phone off the table and text Scott. He probably wouldn't know anything, but there was a good chance Allison would, given her family. He would have liked to cut out the middle man but apparently having a teenage girls phone number was "inappropriate".
"I can check out a few leads, but I doubt I'll come up with much. Make yourself at home", Derek said, pocketing the vial and heading out.
Jamie sighed. Derek was such a conversationalist, it almost killed her. She got up and wandered over to the window. It was a nice view. Nicer than the burnt out shell of a house he had been living in for the past 6 years. It couldn't have been healthy for him.
She headed up to a shower, haven driven most of the night. She was physically exhausted but her mind was racing. A long, hot shower would surely take care of that.
She stripped down and stepped into the bath, playing with the temperature setting. The shower was almost ice cold and a small smiled slid onto her face as she wondered who Derek had been thinking about for that.