Sorry for the wait guys, school has gone back which means I have super little time to write due to massive amounts of work :( but I will try and update when possible!
Disclaimer: Only own Madeleine Jackson and the plot.
When I was little I would have a bath every night. I used to lie there, floating in the warm water, painting pictures in my head of fantasy worlds in which I was a hero, a world in which everyone loved me. As I got older, I started to take them when I was stressed. I would hold myself under the water, prohibiting myself from breathing out until my head was clear. Then I would come up out of breath, red faced and dizzy. But my mind was always clear, and I was always calmer.
The minute my brother had bought me to his studio apartment I had made a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door to shut off his concerns, stripping down and running the water. I stood shivering as the bath filled to the brim, hopping from toe to toe in order to try and escape the cold tiles. I could feel tears running down my cheeks but I refused to sob, refused to give in to all the emotions threatening to overwhelm me. I ignored Jordan talking to me through the door, instead gently lowering myself into the tub, taking a deep breath before pushing my head under the water, holding myself under with the side of the bath. I lost track of the seconds I had been under as I allowed the peacefulness and silence to take over my body and mind.
Spots were beginning to form in my vision as my body fought for control, my lungs begging to take in oxygen. I released my hold on the side which was keeping me submerged, allowing my body to float to the surface. My mind was empty as I came up gasping for air.
I emerged from the bathroom almost an hour later, jolting Jordan out of his snoozing from where he sat outside the bathroom door.
"That's creepy," I remarked, staring at him with my eyebrow cocked. "What are you doing?"
"I was making sure you're okay," he explained, guilt pasted across his face.
"Not the time to start," I scoffed, pushing past him only to have him grab my arm. "What are you doing?" I asked for the second time.
"I never stopped caring, Madds." His voice was full of sincerity but I pushed it off. "Scott called a meeting. They want you to come." I gave him a smirk.
"So does this whole 'supernatural' part of me give me VIP access to the inner circle?"
"I'd like you to say that in front of them and see them all disagree," he chuckled, pushing me in front of him as we exited his apartment.
We arrived not long after at a large building, my eyes wide open, taking in my surroundings, as I followed my brother up a set of stairs. The loft went silent as I walked in, all eyes turning to observe me as I passed through the door.
"Hi." I gave them all an unsure wave, triggering them all to start moving again. Scott and Stiles moved directly to greet me. They seemed to have warmed to the idea of me, Stiles slinging his arm around my shoulder and Scott giving me a welcoming smile. Kira, Malia and Lydia however, still looked unsure at my presence. There were two other boys with us now; I recognised one of them to be Derek, but I didn't know the other one.
"I'm Liam." The unknown one spoke up, sensing my confusion. I threw him a wave.
"Madds." I introduced myself with a grin. He looked younger than the others, more scared. But that fear was countered with a look of defiance in his eyes that I remembered seeing every time I spoke to my mother. "Bear with me, I've been aware of your crazy world for all of a few hours." This earnt me a hard look from Derek.
"It's not something to joke about."
"Well then explain please," I requested. "So I know Derek and Scott, you guys are werewolves. What about the rest of you?"
Derek chose to be the one to explain.
"Liam is a werewolf too. Lydia, a Banshee. Kira is a Kitsune … It's like a fox. And you and Parrish, we aren't quite sure yet." He concluded, and I turned to Kira, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"You're a what?" I had no idea what Derek had just said regarding Kira.
"Kitsune." Her voice was soft as she answered.
"I don't know what that is, but cool." Stiles chuckled from where he leant against a wooden beam.
"So they don't know what you are either?" I turned to ask my brother and he shook his head.
"A few months ago one of my colleagues set my car on fire with me handcuffed inside it. I walked out unscathed, so apparently I'm something." I felt a jolt in my heart as he spoke. Maybe he was growing on me. Maybe I didn't want to lose the only family I had left.
"Well I'm glad they didn't succeed." He looked a bit shocked at my overly nice words. "Dammit I'm going soft," I growled. I pointed my finger accusingly at Scott and Stiles. "I blame you two." There was a slight pause before I moved to ask the question that had bugged me since that morning. "What killed my mother?"
"What do you mean?" Malia asked me, at the same time Derek asked another question.
"Why do you say what, and not who?" I chose to reply to Derek.
"I say what, rather than who, because whatever killed her, whatever did that to her face, that was not human. Before, I would've thought it was an animal. But now, I'm not so sure." Derek looked impressed and I silently patted myself on the back. Score one to Maddie.
"We don't know what it is yet. But we're working on it," Lydia explained, pursing her lips.
"So you guys fight these things?" The group nodded. "How are you still alive?" I asked in amazement. Stiles let out a small cough.
"We all aren't," Scott answered me, his voice heavy with loss and I quickly shut my mouth. We all sat in silence for a moment, before it was crudely interrupted by the blearing of an alarm. Derek leapt to his feet, slamming his fist against a button on the wall and staring at the door.
"We have company." His words caused the group to spring into action. Jordan reached out an arm to pull me behind him, but I shrugged him off, training my gaze on the door, my heart hammering in my ears.
Something hit the floor in front of me, and next thing I knew bright flashes were illuminating the room. I could hear the pained growls of what I only assumed to be the werewolves in the room as I shielded my eyes from the blinding lights. It was over as quickly as it began, but as we gained our vision back, we noticed the two men stood in the doorway, two rather large guns pointed in our general direction. There was a short stand off before one of the men stepped forward.
"We know about your killings. And we are here to stop you." His voice was low and hard, sending shivers up my spine as I realised he was speaking without mercy.
"It wasn't us," Scott growled. "We didn't kill anybody." I caught on quickly to what they were talking about, and I made a split decision that I may have regretted in the near future. I went to step forward, freezing as a gun was trained at my head. I took a deep breath before opening my mouth.
"It wasn't us. My mother was one of the ones killed. We want to find them as much as you do." They both seemed unconvinced, guns still trained on our frozen figures. This time Derek growled from where he stood.
"You're outnumbered. We mean no harm to you, but if you continue to threaten us, you will lose this fight. Leave." His voice was deep. The two men looked at each other briefly, before lowering their weapons.
"If you get in our way, or if we find out that you had anything to do with this, we will find you, and we will kill you. We hunt those who hunt us." I saw Lydia, Stiles, Derek and Scott's eyes flash with recognition as those last six words were spoken by the retreating men.
"We need to find Argent," Derek said, Scott nodding in agreeance. I didn't care about what they meant at that stage, my gaze focussed on my once again shaking hands, my body struggling to control it's breathing. My body was becoming overwhelmed, exhausted, after today's events.
"Can we go home?" My voice was a small whisper as I turned to my older brother. He looked at his phone quickly before looking up at me in apology.
"The Sheriff is calling me in, and I need to update him on the hunters … you can probably come to the station if you want but-" Scott cut in before he could finish his sentence.
"I'll drop her back at your apartment," he offered. Jordan gave him a grateful look, before giving my a one armed hug, dropping a key in my hand, and racing out the door, phone to his ear as he rung Sheriff Stilinski. The dark haired girl stared at me as Scott led the way out of the loft, but I shrugged it off. He offered, not me, and I was secretly a fan of causing trouble. It made life a bit more exciting in my opinion.
…
The wind rushed past our bodies as we sped along the road, my arms wound tightly around Scott's waist. From the sounds of it I would be completely fine if I fell off, but that didn't make me any less scared. Eventually we pulled up in front of Parrish's apartment, the roar of the motorbike's engine ceasing and leaving us in silent. I pulled the helmet off my head, shaking my knotty hair out and pushing it behind my air, out of my face. I blushed as I realised Scott was staring at me.
"What?" My voice was suddenly defensive and he looked a bit shocked, causing me to cringe. He just laughed uncertainly, brushing it off. He held out a hand, helping me dismount the bike. "Thankyou." My voice was full of sincerity as I gave him a smile.
"For what?" He asked.
"Dropping me home?"
"Oh, right." I rolled my eyes.
"Idiot."
"Hey!" I poked my tongue out at him as he objected to my statement, but the happiness was only temporary.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "Like truly okay. Not just saying you're okay for the sake of everyone around you," he added.
"I will be," I murmured in response, feeling myself getting choked up again as I remembered the events of the past day. "I mean, in the last twenty four my mother died, I found out supernatural beings existed, and that I was one myself, and I was just threatened at gun point by people who claimed themselves to be hunters. Hunters who were hunting us. So considering all that, I will be. Just maybe not quite yet. But the worst bit? These aren't even the worst few days of my life. Unfortunately, I've had days which beat these. " Surprising me, and I think himself, Scott reached out and pulled me into his chest, resting his chin on top of my head as he held me tight. I further surprised myself by letting him, snaking my arms around his back, holding him just as tight, and breathing in his smell.
"You're one of us now, Madds. You're a part of my pack. And no one in my pack gets left behind."
Hopefully it's not too rushed and it makes sense. The plot should start properly moving along now, and I'll try and explore Maddie's relationship with Parrish a bit more + the rest of the pack :) Please let me know what you think! xx