Thank you to all who reviewed; I had this mostly written before the first one even came in, so I am going to publish it though not everyone likes Erica (lol) I find her to be an intriguing character. Some have suggested Derek/Isaac, and I will likely try that in a separate fic (The groundwork is all there.) but I really want to learn more about his character from the show first. Anyway, I wanted to post this before I ransack the basket of plot-bunnies that popped up for Boyd. Hope you enjoy!

Erica: Little Girl Lost

"Let me show you." Derek said…and Erica Grey's heart stopped in her throat as she watched his eyes flare crimson. Then he smiled, and his teeth were no longer human looking.

He was even more incredibly handsome than before. Erica gave him a smile that was only slightly deranged. Part of her felt this couldn't possibly be true; that in some psychotic Twilight fueled dementia she was imagining supernatural saviors rescuing her from a life that was worse than death. She closed her eyes and lay back, content to let the fantasy continue, not even bothering to hope that this was real and that she was not still back at school convulsing even while her bladder and bowels let go to the disgust and amusement of the Beacon Hills High School student body.

Cool dexterous hands glided slowly up her bare legs, lifting her hospital gown higher and higher. When her pale stomach was exposed, she felt him lean over and place a soft kiss on her side. She wondered what it would be like to be undead.

"Um…" she began, hoping that single stupid syllable wouldn't send him running. "Aren't you supposed to bite me on the neck?"

He stopped and straightened up.

"What exactly do you think I am?" he asked, teasing amusement in his voice.

"Well…your eyes are red, just like in the books…"

He laughed softly. It sounded honestly amused, and not at her expense.

"I guess I should have expected that. Think the other 'team'."

"Oh…oh…oh my God, you must think I'm fuck-tarded."

"No, not at all. Are you disappointed? Do you want me to wheel you back?"

"NO! No, please…I always thought the stupid bitch should have gone for Jacob. Not that you're like him, I mean…oh my God, just bite me before I die of embarrass-"

He growled, and she heard the indescribable sound of his flesh changing. She didn't look, didn't want to see until it was over. With a sudden panic, she felt the 'aura' start. The metallic coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, as if she were the one that had bitten him. The shakes began, and her jaw clamped shut.

He didn't abandon her. She felt him swiftly roll her over on her side. In the next second, the teeth penetrated her quivering flesh. She felt a shrill piercing scream fill her, waiting to be unleashed…only she couldn't since her jaw was wired shut. But something strange was happening…the neural signal that was even now bouncing back and forth across the two hemispheres of her brain like uncontrolled lightning was suddenly tapering off as it met an answering wave of force from the powerful agents released into her bloodstream at the site of her bite-wound. A slow but inexorable heat-wave radiated outward from the bite, quieting down the spasms caused by the weird 'glitch' in her brain that gave her the seizures. Her legs stopped flailing, and her arms unfastened themselves from her chest. Her head was still shaking back in forth in stupid uncontrollable denial when the wave finally arrived and seemed to surround her brain in an envelope of heat.

She felt an indescribable twisting sensation from deep in her mind…and the lightning signal vanished. The storm in her head had moved on, letting bright warm sunshine through.

Her body relaxed…completely relaxed…and she felt more in control of it than ever before. There was a blissful emptiness within her, as if the epilepsy were an evil spirit of some kind that had suddenly given up and departed after trying to wrest control of her body for years.

'I am alone in here.' She thought to herself. It was like paradise. Except…she wasn't alone. Her hyper awareness of her body, learned from years of struggling with her illness, informed her that there was indeed another presence within her. But unlike the gibbering lunatic imp that caused her epilepsy…this had the feel of a faithful protector, a firm ally and guardian…like a giant monstrous guard-dog. Make that wolf.

The presence was small…seedlike…germinal. But it was already growing and spreading its essence throughout her body, filling her from within, sharing its life-force with her while destroying the damage her condition and the grueling medication had done to her for years.

"It's taking…faster than before. Isaac's presence in my Pack made the bite stronger." Derek said softly.

Erica sat up. The move was sinuous, almost predatory. Derek looked the way he did before…and he was smiling at her. The blood around his mouth made him look sexy and terrifying at the same time.

"Isaac? You did this to Isaac?"

Derek nodded. "He was the one that told me about you."

Of all the people at school he could have chosen, Isaac was the one person she actually didn't hate. He was beautiful, healthy and strong…but he always had a look on his face that was at least as haunted as hers. They always seemed to recognize each other, as if they were kindred spirits of some kind. Like brother and sister. No…that wasn't quite right. She didn't know what demons haunted him, but he never once looked at her like she was a freak. Not even close. If he had a hand in her change…she owed him something special. Something he wouldn't forget.

The bite was scabbed already. Derek was looking really impressed with himself. He handed her a plastic bag containing her clothes. She lithely hopped to her feet and turned her back to Derek…something inside her told her this was disrespectful…but that he would allow it.

"If you want," he began. The pause was alive with unspoken meaning. "I can give you some privacy."

She didn't answer, just pulled the hospital gown over her head and stepped into her sweat pants. She pulled the Sweatshirt on over her head, and turned around slowly. She caught her reflection in a mirror for just a second, and smiled. She wondered if her mother would even recognize her. The acne was long ago and far away.

"I think, at this point, I have nothing to hide from you anymore." she licked her lips at him, and she actually heard his heartbeat quicken. Oh, he had given her so many weapons besides teeth and claws. She couldn't wait to use them all on the whole damned world.

"Let's…take you shopping." He had wiped away the blood, and crooked his arm for her. She stepped into her sneakers and slipped her arm into his.

"Tell me that you have a hot car as well." she purred.

He just grinned at her.

{}{}{}{}

When Derek dropped her off at her house, her mother was on the phone with one of her fellow surgeons. Erica stopped and listened to the conversation from outside the home. In the mere two hours they spent at the mall shopping for clothes and hairstyling, Erica had completed more than one transformation process. She was no longer human. No more bite-wound, no more epilepsy…no more fucking Youtube videos. And no more pet project for her neuro-surgeon mother.

"…yes, I am aware that cutting through the Corpus Callosum would block the seizures, but you risk causing 'Split Brain' Syndrome, not to mention loss of her 3-D vision. How can she enjoy the movies after that? No, removal of the hippocampus would cause total shut-down of her long term memory storage mechanism. It would be like that awful 'Fifty First Dates' film, only without the dates. Well, nothing can be done anyway until they find where she managed to wander off to. Run away? Merrill, my daughter can barely walk without tripping over her own feet. I doubt kidnappers would bother with the effort of abducting her, either. If I only knew that using that experimental drug on her would have caused all of these problems…"

Erica growled low in her throat. She stepped up to the door and unlocked it, slamming it open hard enough to crack the wall behind it.

She heard the phone hurriedly hung up, and a moment later her mother appeared.

"Erica, where on earth have you…"

Dr. Linda Grey looked at her daughter for the first time with an unfamiliar emotion. This was highly unusual since she had rarely felt emotion for her offspring even from the time she was born. She engaged in a pro forma month of breast-feeding that left her slightly disgusted with the child, after which she chose to view her as an opportunity to engage in some experimentation with drugs that had not yet been approved for clinical trials. The disastrous epilepsy had been a boon of sorts, since she now pioneered research into the condition that led to lucrative funding and grants and public speaking engagements. Of course, hiring a full-time live-in nurse had been necessary, but she could well afford the expense. As Erica approached adulthood, and her potential for research experimentation declined, Dr. Grey was considering permanent institutionalization for her daughter

Except now, that highly unusual emotion kept her from speaking or moving from her spot while she beheld the young magazine model passing herself off as her daughter.

The emotion was, of course, terror.

Erica was looking at her with a gaze that was piercing…knowing almost.

"Mother. You're looking…alarmed. Anything wrong?" The voice seethed with razor edged confidence. Dr. Grey had never felt inferior to another human being her whole life, and was now made to feel like…like a deer or a sheep by her neurologically impaired train-wreck of a daughter.

"Erica…they told me you left the hospital. I assumed you'd run away." Her voice faltered, and she cursed herself.

"Soon, maybe…but not today. I'm just here to drop off some clothes, and then I'm off." Erica walked towards the stairs, her heels echoing off the marble floor.

"But your seizure! Your medication!" Impulsively, Dr. Grey clutched her daughter's arm. The next thing she knew, she was being slammed into the wall, and sliding upward as Erica easily supported her mother's weight with one hand.

"No more seizures. No more medication. No more fucking guinea pig daughter. I'm 18 in two weeks, and Grandpa's trust fund money is all mine. Then I move out, and you will never fucking come near me again. That's the plan. Any objections?"

Erica squeezed tighter, and Dr. Grey felt her daughters' incredibly sharp nails digging deep into her throat. Blood flowed down into her blouse, the wetness in her cleavage reminding her vaguely of that long ago aborted attempt at nursing her baby.

Erica dropped her. Dr. Grey landed on the floor, and contemplated the awesome possibility she would have to visit the hospital in a…non-professional capacity.

"It's probably best…if you don't even speak to me anymore. Not one… single… word. I don't know what I might do." said the Erica-Impersonator.

Dr. Grey stayed where she was until Erica left a few minutes later. Then she took four Valium and washed it down with Scotch, and fell into her bed…after making sure her bedroom door was securely locked.

{}{}{}{}

She met Isaac at the park. It was nighttime, and no one frequented the place for fear of muggers. They sat side by side on swings, just sharing the warmth of each other's presence in silence.

Eventually: "Thank you."

Isaac shook his head. "You should be thanking Derek."

"You sent him to me. This…is incredible."

"You're beautiful. I mean…" he faltered, unable to look at her.

"I have Derek to thank for that. He spent quite a bit on me today…"

"You were beautiful before Derek found you. You always were."

Erica blushed. His steady heartbeat cut off the reflexive denial hiding in her throat. "Even after Freddy Overlock filmed me pissing myself, you thought I was beautiful?" She felt no shame telling him about this.

He shrugged. "Freddy Overlock spent some fun days having a few fake teeth put in for doing that. Besides, I've…been there. My Dad locked me up so long once that…well, it wasn't pretty."

Her heart broke for him, then. They had a great deal in common it seemed. She listened to him recount a laundry list of hurts (ending in his father's bizarre murder and Isaac's own recent jailbreak), after which she shared what she had learned this very day about her mother. Now she had trouble looking at him.

They swung ever so slightly in total silence for a few minutes.

"Wow, we're really screwed up!" Isaac suddenly chuckled. It was infectious, and she was laughing along with him. The laughter grew until they tumbled off the swings and reflexively grabbed each other for support. They straightened up, looking into each other's eyes. Erica studied him closely for the first time…the Turning had not changed him as obviously as it had her…He looked the same, but there were subtle differences. His hair, his eyes…even his jawline. There were minute changes that erased the hunted look that dominated his features. The invisible mark of the predator was there, that hidden sign that let most humans know not to fuck with the people that had it.

"No. We aren't the screwed up ones."

He leaned down and kissed her then, and she responded with an almost totally alien feeling of real passion. It was too new, too raw, too powerful.

"I-" he began.

She gently placed a finger on his lips, silencing him.

"No, don't say it…not just yet. Give me some time to adjust. When you say it, I want to be able to say it back. From what I'm feeling…that might be pretty soon."

He nodded, and took her hand, a shudder flowing through him as he interlaced his fingers through her own.

They sniffed at the same time, just a second before they heard the voice.

"All right kids, your money and your jewelry and no one gets hurt."

The victim (who didn't yet know he was one) waved around a knife that would do him no good at all in the last few minutes of his life.

"Isaac, there's something I've been wanting to do with you. Are you… ready?" Her gorgeous eyes flicked towards the confused mugger.

"Well, I wanted to wait…but sometimes you have to just seize the moment." Isaac smiled even as his eyes flashed bright amber.

Love and Death (that old married couple) hastened to the park that night to claim their newest victims.