All That We're Living For
Chapter IV
The Waiting Game
_oOo_
"I wish I was in love but I don't wanna cause any pain
And if I'm feeling like I'm even, we've got nothing to gain . . ."
- BANKS
"The Waiting Game"
_oOo_
It was dark.
Liam knew he was in a different place. He could feel it, deep down in his bones. He couldn't explain it but everything felt dreamlike. It didn't feel real.
He couldn't see.
Where are you?
Liam turned, squinting his eyes, trying to make out something from the heavy fog. There were faint outline of trees all around him, mist engulfing around where he was standing.
C'mon! Figure out where the hell you are!
"Liam?"
His name came from behind him somewhere and it seemed to echo distortedly in his ears. It was eerie. He turned. "Hello?"
"Liam?" It sounded like Josephine's voice, but he wasn't entirely sure. Then it was Scott's voice. Stiles'. Lydia's. Kira's. Derek's. His mother's. His stepfather's.
"Liam?" The voices whispered his name again. Liam spun around, searching for the source. "Liam? LIAM!"
His name rose in their voices, becoming louder and louder, and then it was all of their voices yelling or whispering or screeching his name, their voices overlapping each others.
"Ahh!" His body jerked out from underneath him as his knees gave away, hitting the dirt below him. He screamed in pain, trying to block out the voices. "God! Eeugh!"
He clenched his teeth together, shutting his eyes as he covered his ears. "Ahh!"
Then, the voices stopped abruptly when Liam thought his head was going to explode from the pain that the voices were causing, slowly and hesitantly uncovering his ears.
One final voice seeped into the sudden quietness and Liam heard: "Kill him."
Liam's eyes snapped open and he looked around wildly. People around him kept giving him weird looks and he glanced down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Liam came to the conclusion that he must've had another vision.
Well, that's embarrassing.
While glancing down, he then noticed his palms were streaked with his own blood. What's up with me stabbing my own hands? Liam shook his head to himself in disbelief. Ugh. Great. Now, how am I gonna explain this to Coach? "Oh, yeah, Coach? My hands are bleeding because I stabbed myself with my own claws while I was having another freaky vision! Can I go to the bathroom?"
Liam wished that sometimes that blood would vanish when the healing process started. It was difficult to explain how there was blood when there was no wound to be found. He could say that it was leftover paint or something equally stupid like that. He honestly wasn't very good at making excuses, even if his life depended on it.
"Liam."
The young werewolf glanced up, startled, nearly jumping out of his seat. He forced himself to remain calm while Coach Finstock glanced suspiciously at Liam and his bloody human coach reeked of alcohol he'd probably been drinking during class. Liam should've smelled it but he didn't. And he should've heard him coming up from behind too. Stupid vision. Maybe it blocked all his senses when he was under.
Still glancing suspiciously at the young werewolf, Bobby Finstock finally said in a surprisingly, almost normal-ish voice, "Go to the nurse and go get your hands fixed. We can't have you not playing on the field next week, don't we? You hear me, Dunbar? Its like having a delicious Kentucky Fried Chicken without the meat, you hear?"
"Uh-huh," Liam uttered,confused, wondering what the hell a chicken breast had to do with lacrosse. Leaving the room, he heard the frantic scrambling of his classmates and their equally frantic scribbling pencils as they rushed to get their worksheets finished on time and with Mason cursing under his breath.
Walking down the hallway to the bathroom (and not the nurse's - for obvious reasons), Liam's brain scrambled around, trying to recall what had happened previously before the Attack of the Vision.
His life was becoming an freaking horror movie as if that wasn't enough. Granted, an insane version of it, unlike the one he had now, which he liked. Most of the time.
He remembered that he had gotten himself up for school, eaten some breakfast upon his step-father's arrival, and in between 6th and 7th period, running into Stiles and Lydia. They were using their study hall period to go over to Deaton's clinic for whatever reason. Remembering going into Coach's class where he'd been zoning out listening to Coach rambling on about the difference between an alpaca and a llama when shortly, therefore after, he must have had the vision.
He quickly darted into the bathroom, washing his blood off of his hands, watching as the clear water from the faucet wiped it into the drain. He took a deep breath, hands gripping the edge of the sink he was leaning against and glanced at his reflection.
"Get a hold of yourself, Liam. You're gonna be okay. The sun, the moon, and the truth."
He repeated this a couple of more times before he met his eyes in the mirror, watching in horror - barely registering as they turned golden without his permission before fading into his blue color before they eventually turned into a milky-white. He stared in horror when he finally realized what was happening, when his hand curled into a fist and smashed the mirror in front of him into pieces with one hit.
His first thought out of all things was incredibly stupid. He'd complained, Oh, c'mon! I just cleaned that! to which a male voice inside his head replied, Too bad.
The freaking out part came a split second too late. He tried to pull himself away from the mirror. But his body stayed in place and Liam felt a smirk spread across his face. He knew that he wasn't doing it and then Liam suddenly got hit with a wave of drowsiness. He tried to keep himself awake and alert, but another part of his mind was whispering to him, What's wrong with taking a little nap? He knew that it would be wrong to do it even though he was tempted to. But he had to stay awake. This . . . person or ghost or demon or whatever was possessing him and he wasn't about to go down without a fight. Who knew what they could do his body while he was gone? This being inside of him was sure to wreck havoc and chaos around Beacon Hills or worse, would hurt his friends, like it had done previously with Stiles and Lydia. He had to warn the others. He had to protect his pack. Liam had to stick around to figure out who this possessor was.
One thing that he noticed was that he could still see, which meant that he still had the ability to pay attention to whatever his possessor was going to do next.
Hopefully.
Then a dreaded thought came to him: what if this whole seeing thing was only temporary and afterwards, when they were done, whoever was possessing him would take over his body completely until Liam wouldn't be able to hold on anymore? This sent a jolt of fear down his spine and he went into action.
C'mon! You gotta stay awake! Liam started throwing random thoughts around to keep mind alert, trying to ignore the drowsiness that was slowly overwhelming him, also purposely ignoring the fact that whoever was possessing him could hear everything he was thinking right in that moment. Hey, hey, you know what you can do to this guy when you get out of this?! You can nom on this sonofabitch on a rabbit sandwich! Yeah! Or you can get Stiles' bat and beat the shit outta this "so-called" messenger! Yeah! Hey, whoever's in here BETTER GET OUT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL KILL YOU.
There was silence for a short minute before the voice snorted in disbelief and answered aloud in Liam's voice, "I'd like to see you try, Dunbar."
Liam growled sluggishly in reply, failing at being menacing, while his thoughts began to jumble together, unable to correctly form coherent sentences.
It felt like his mind was going blank and all that he wanted to do was sleep.
A little sleep never hurt anybody, has it? You'll be fine . . .
Liam's vision wavered, then began to slowly plunge into darkness . . .
Don't -!
_oOo_
"- Don't you die on us, Liam!"
He was met with a harsh, bright white light that illuminated his entire face, staring into its beauty, its warmth. It was calling him, beckoning him forward.
I know you're still in there!
"Go home, Liam."
He wanted desperately to turn around, to apologize, but then he'd be tempted to bring them too. But they wouldn't going to allow that, even when that's what they'd been longing for.
"I'll come back," he promised.
He heard a sniff from behind and then a choked up chuckle. "You won't. Not for a while, at least. That we can promise. Go home to our pack, Liam. Save our home and our family."
The light became brighter and brighter and opening his mouth to release one last apology, he raised his hand to shield his eyes -
_oOo_
Bolting upright, Liam propped himself up, rolling immediately onto his side, his stomach as he did so, thick, black liquid spewing out of his mouth, sharp pain spreading throughout his body. The black substance tasted like tar, although he wasn't sure because he'd never tasted tar before in his life. He watched in pain as the black liquid from inside his mouth - his lungs - dribbled onto the white floor below as he tried to cough the remainder of it up. A hand was on his back, patting against it a little roughly and then, another hand was around his wrist and Liam looked up to see Scott, crimson eyes blazing -
The pain stopped as the coughing died away and then he was breathing normally again. The Beta carefully sat up straight while Scott had let go of his wrist and Liam was now slowly scanning his surroundings, trying to make sense to where he was at, while his brain complained that it was still feeling like it was stuffed full of cotton.
His head was pounding as he took the place in, recognizing that he was in Deaton's veterinarian clinic, sitting on the metal table he'd been on last time. When he'd gotten poisoned with wolfsbane (courtesy of supernatural assassin/murderer/friend/douchebag Garrett) and Deaton had to cut his chest open with a knife, to let his chest fart the wolfsbane out.
Nonetheless, no matter how hilarious that might've sounded, it hadn't been a pretty sight to see. And this whole puking black goo thing was no better.
"Liam?" Scott was looking worried, the tone of his voice serious, Alpha-like.
Liam realized that everyone else was there, including Deputy Parrish.
"Yeah, its me," he managed.
"You sure 'bout that?" Stiles retorted instantly and he sounded a little angry.
Liam turned to Stiles, opening his mouth to explain when he stopped short. Stiles' right arm was held up in a white makeshift sling, his arm seemingly appearing a little bent out of shape. Liam could smell the faintest scent of the human's blood, slowly gathering underneath the sling. Liam glanced to the strawberry-blonde girl next to him, seeing that Lydia had a medium-sized jagged cut on her cheek, her green eyes sharp and wide with fear, while Kira clutched her katana to her chest, holding it tight. Deputy Parrish, who was also standing next to the fox, was tense, hand reaching for the gun that was on his holster, like he was threatening to use it. Movement shifted from behind him and Liam saw Deaton. He quickly turned back to Scott.
"Scott, whatever I did, that wasn't me," Liam stated.
"Liam . . ." Scott said, taking a small step forward. "We know. And we want this to know that it wasn't your fault."
Glancing toward the others, he muttered sarcastically, "Great. What . . . the hell did I do?"
"Well, for starters, you broke my arm -" Stiles immediately said.
"Wow. You got straight to the point, Stilinski," Liam retorted without meaning to. "Way to go."
Stiles glared at Liam. "I'm not in the mood, Dunbar."
"Guys, stop," ordered Scott. "Stiles, just tell him what happened."
Stiles sighed. "Scott, can't you do that whole stick-your-claws-in-your-neck thing that you did before with me and Lydia with the Nogitsune?"
"I suppose I can try -" The True Alpha began, then stiffened.
Liam frowned as Scott headed toward him in a briskly manner. As he leaned back, Scott grabbed his chin forcefully and then jammed his claws into the back of Liam's neck. Liam screamed in pain. Quick flashes of images ripped through his mind.
He was in a classroom, Scott sitting in the desk next to him. Then, it was like Liam was in Scott's mind. Like he was Scott in one of his memories. Liam understood he was going to be Scott McCall for the time being.
_oOo_
In Scott's memory, Mr. Yukimura, Kira's father, was in front of him, mouth moving and opening, but no sounds were coming out.
A metallic screeching sound entered his ears. Scott/Liam immediately grimaced in pain and covered his ears.
"Scott, you okay?"
He glanced toward Stiles who was sitting across from him and nodded. "I'm sure it was nothing."
Scott wondered what the noise had been. He was extremely worried, knowing that his friends and family were in danger from being possessed by a spirit. He didn't want a repeat of the Nogitsune. But he'd noticed that it seemed to have a grudge against Liam or that's what it seemed like. He was concerned about the young werewolf. Just when everything would be all right again, it'd all go downhill. Liam would be fine and then he would snap for no reason and -
"Stilinski!"
Scott frowned. It sounded like Liam's voice. Mr. Yukimura stopped talking, looking around like he was doubting what he'd heard. Everybody had heard it.
Stiles glanced to Scott for no confirmation, looking confused."Is that -?"
"Yo, Stilinski!"
"Yup. It's definitely Liam."
Scott bolted out of his seat with Stiles following close behind.
The two rushed into the hallway, looking for the young werewolf, but he was nowhere to be found. As Scott went down the hallway, he noticed five long scratches engraved on the lockers. That must've been what the noise was.
"Get your ass out here! Stilinski! McCall! I know you can hear me!" Liam was screaming at the top of his lungs when Scott and Stiles finally realized he was not in the building. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
When they went outside, they saw Liam standing next to Stiles' Jeep, one long silver crowbar in hand. He was pacing back and forth, impatiently. He stopped when he saw them and smiled smugly.
"Finally," Liam said, drawing out the last syllable with a small hiss. Scott was taken aback when he saw that his Beta had milky-white look glazed over his eyes. "Took you long enough." Without warning, Liam started to smash the crowbar into the Jeep's door.
"No!" Stiles cried out, starting forward to his precious Jeep when Scott stuck out his arm to stop him. The growing crowd of classmates behind them whooped excitedly, ready to see a fight.
"Don't. He's possessed." Scott kept his voice low.
Stiles swore underneath his breath. "Great. And what are we going to do now? He's destroying my Baby!"
Ignoring this, Liam continued to smash in the door, then moved on toward the windshield, breaking the glass.
"Liam, stop it!" Scott commanded, letting his eyes go red. He saw Liam freeze in mid-air swing and slowly lower the crowbar. The young werewolf turned, hesitantly.
His eyes were indeed milky-white, like Scott had suspected. Opening his mouth, Liam rasped out in his voice, "It's not my fault. This is my only ticket out of here, McCall. You wouldn't understand."
"Whoever you are, we can help you," Scott reasoned softly and determinedly, letting his eyes fade back to his normal. "We can help you. Just let Liam go."
Liam let out a tiny scoff and a bitter laugh. "And look how well that worked out last time."
Scott only stared, speechless. He was figuring out what he had to do next. This wasn't working.
"None of you understand."
Scott watched as Liam dropped the crowbar, clattering to the ground.
Liam cracked his neck side to side. He glared toward Scott and Stiles, suddenly shouting, "None of you understand! You're ruining everything!"
He body-slammed into Scott, knocking him off his feet with surprising strength, landing a hard punch on the Alpha's face. Stiles was trying to tug him off, but it was no use. Liam sent him staggering back straight into the crowd. Mason, who was standing in front, helped Stiles back to his feet. Together, with effort, they both dragged a writhing Liam off of Scott.
"What's wrong with you?!" Mason was shouting toward Liam. Liam glared toward his best friend, giving a low growl, his eyes wild and unfocused. Then, Scott watched as he stood up as Liam's eyes cleared when he blinked, squeezing his eyes shut, breathing heavily.
Coach Finstock decided to take this appropriate moment to cut in. Meanwhile, in the whole time, he'd been betting with Greenberg on the winner of the fight, even though Scott and Stiles were "like sons to me." Coach shouted, "Hey, what's going on here?"
He paused, seeing Scott, Stiles, Liam, and Mason. He turned back to the crowd and yelled, "All of you back to class! There's nothing to see here, except for these idjits!"
As the grumbling and dispersing crowd slowly left, returning back to their classrooms, Bobby Finstock faced the four teenagers. "Well?" he demanded, waiting for a answer.
Stiles rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He opened his mouth to talk. "Well -"
Coach blew the whistle around his neck. "Save it, Bilinski!"
"Uh. Actually, it's -"
Coach blew again. Wheet!
"Look, if you'd just -"
Wheet!
"Coach -"
Wheet! Wheet! Wheet!
"Just -"
Wheet! Coach laughed at the boy's face, as he blew his whistle again, longer and harder until his face turned red. But Stiles looked determined to finish his sentence, though. He wasn't going to let this happen again. Last time, they'd been on a bus on the way to a haunted motel and Coach had ridiculed him until Stiles had given up and went back to his seat. There was no way he was going to let this happen again. Scott could sense anger and frustration rolling off the human boy's scent.
"Would you just listen?!" Stiles finally exploded, reaching out and yanking the whistle from Coach's neck. He tossed the whistle to the side and proceeded to talk. Coach stared in surprise, mouth slightly agape.
"Whatever happened here today was not Liam's fault, okay?"
Coach looked toward Liam after taking his eyes off Stiles. "That true, Dunbar?"
Liam nodded. "I forgot to take my meds today. That's why I was . . . off. Sorry, Coach. I'll pay for this, I swear."
"Better," Stiles muttered under his breath while Liam shot him a look.
"McCall?" Coach looked toward the former lacrosse captain for confirmation.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. That's what happened," Scott lied, stuttering a bit.
Coach stared at the four boys in front of him. Still glancing suspiciously, he said, "All right. But you three need to report to detention tomorrow after school - not you, Mason. I'm so utterly and profoundly disappointed in all of you. And Stilinski, you're buying me another whistle." And with that, Coach retreated back into the building.
"That was weird," Stiles said. "Shouldn't he be, like screaming at us or something?"
"Yeah," Scott agreed. "That was so . . . not like Coach, at all. Mason, go back to class. We're taking Liam to the hospital."
Mason studied Liam, Stiles, and Scott. Scott knew that Mason was getting curious and suspicious about everything that had been happening. He didn't know whether Liam's new senior friends were trustworthy or not. They kept dragging Liam off at weird times during the day in school or he'd wouldn't show up until the next day and he wouldn't talk about it. It was just like his boyfriend, Brett Talbot. But Mason respected his friend's privacy, just like he'd respected his own. Mason figured that Liam would be ready to talk about it whenever he was ready.
Mason sighed. "Be safe. See you tomorrow, I guess."
The memory changed abruptly.
Liam was just Liam now.
He realized that this new memory must've been when he was still possessed and the bastard inside of him was pretending to be him, because he didn't remember this at all.
It was raining and he was standing outside of Deaton's clinic. Scott and Stiles were walking in front of him, about to enter through the clinic door, when all of a sudden, he'd grabbed the True Alpha's shoulder for no particular reason and shoved Scott to the side. Stiles gave a shout of surprise and jumped back to avoid the young werewolf's claws.
Liam turned on the human, watching as Stiles turned for the door, yelling for Deaton. Stiles only managed to grab the handle, twisting it halfway before Liam grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking him backwards harshly, ripping Stiles' shirt in the process. Stiles let out a pained "Oof," as then he scrambled to his feet, heading toward the clinic door once more. Scott was rousing, shaking his head groggily when he got up. Liam was stronger than him at the moment, probably thanks to the possessor inside of him. The True Alpha had nearly been knocked unconscious when he'd collided with the pavement below him.
Liam reached for the metal stick that was lying on the ground and threw at Stiles' retreating back. The sharpened point at the end of the metal object pierced Stiles' shoulder, going through the bone as blood began to pool out. The human gave another scream of pain, this one full of pure agony, crashing down to the ground on his knees as he did so. Scott snapped his head to his best friend's direction upon hearing what had happened. The True Alpha immediately rushed to his friend's aid, yanking out the metal stick, siphoning Stiles' pain.
The clinic door swung open to reveal Deaton, holding a syringe in one hand. Deaton made a move toward Liam, but Liam dodged the emissary's aim, knocking the syringe out of his grasp and shoved Deaton back against the door. Stiles, with his good arm and hand, managed to grab ahold of the fallen syringe while he struggled to his feet. The young werewolf growled in anger when he saw what was in the human's hand, preparing himself to attack, but Stiles lunged first. impossibly, the erratic human that couldn't stand or sit still, somehow managed to inject the substance inside of the syringe into Liam's chest - but not before Liam grabbed his arm and twisted it back hard enough. An audible cracking sound was heard and a pained moan escaped Stiles' mouth.
"Get him inside the clinic!" Scott was shouting. Whether he was talking about Stiles or Liam, he did not know because Liam's senses were dulling, fading to black -
_oOo_
"Liam!"
A sharp pain streaked from behind the back of his neck and he snapped back to reality. In front of him, he saw Scott being held back by Stiles and Deaton, while Parrish had his gun drawn. He was pointing it at Scott and Lydia and Kira were trying to convince him that he was possessed. Scott was breathing heavily, squeezing his eyes shut. His body relaxed and his eyes snapped open instantly, the color of dark brown. Stiles hesitated before asking, "Scott?"
"Yeah. It's me. And before you ask, you were the one that wanted to find Laura Hale's body that night, not me."
Stiles let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that, Scott."
Scott was quiet when he looked down at his hand, seeing his bloodied claws. He gave an audible swallow. Glancing up, he met Liam's gaze.
"Liam . . . I'm sorry for whatever I did."
Liam rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously, wincing at an invisible pain that wasn't there. It was healing, he knew, and he was grateful for that. "It wasn't you, Scott. Don't beat yourself over it. But I think . . . whoever it was . . . was trying to help me remember what happened to me when I was . . . possessed."
Scott frowned. "Really?"
He gave a small shrug, not sure how to explain. "I saw what happened at school and what I - he did and . . ." Liam trailed off, thinking about the memories he'd been shown. Something didn't seem to add up. "I remember coming here and Stiles putting something into me from a syringe but . . . It doesn't explain why Lydia has a cut on her cheek and why everyone else -" He stopped talking, noticing Scott and Stiles exchanging a look. so he must've been right. Something else had happened after he was injected with that syringe.
"What is it?" asked Liam. He was nervous, because there had to been a reason why that they were keeping something from him. Something that they didn't want him to know. Cursing inside of his mind, Liam thought he knew the reason why. He must've done something really horrible if they didn't want to tell him what he had done - or rather what the spirit inside of him had done.
"Liam," Scott exhaled slowly. He began to speak in a tone that Liam didn't like.
Yup. He definitely screwed up this time.
"We brought you in here to get the wolfsbane out of you . . . and you . . . you . . . sort of died."
". . . What?" Liam dead-panned.
"Well, it didn't happen exactly like that," Stiles interrupted. He shifted slightly in his spot by Lydia, leaning against her for support. "You were conscious and we thought we finally had you back but it turned out to be another trick. And then you died. For like a second."
"What?" Liam repeated, an incredulous tone creeping in his voice. He had . . . died? Which made absolutely no sense. Then he remembered the dream he had had before he woke up. A bright light. A voice telling him he should go home.
The thought of him dying finally sunk in. He took another minute to really process it.
He had died. But he'd survived.
Somehow.
Maybe he was meant to live. Maybe he was meant to keep living until he found his purpose, which for all he knew right now, was to help Josephine find her killer.
Liam sucked in a slightly, deep, quivering breath, closing his eyes, resting his head in his useless hands. He wondered how he had let the spirit gain control of his body so quickly. He had not fought as hard as he wanted to and he had failed. His friends were hurt because of him. This was all his fault. If he just never had that stupid dream or vision . . .
The globe of the world was spinning and wobbling, being set in motion by an invisible finger. The day had gotten away from Liam again and he could see that it was night. From the window in Deaton's clinic, he watched as the moon ducked behind a thin cloak of grey clouds as it hid its face for grief.
"The sun. The moon. The truth," he whispered softly to himself. He glanced down, inspecting his bare chest, noticing a scar that still had faded yet. A quick flashback revealed that he - or rather the spirit inside of him - had injected Liam's body with a dose of wolfsbane. The spirit had done it after it had possessed and taken Liam over. The werewolf figured that the syringe that Deaton had had (and what Stiles had injected him with) had been the antidote to the wolfsbane inside of him. The result of the wolfsbane inside of him must've been what had him vomiting up that black goo.
"Do you want to go home?" Deaton was asking. Liam turned, paying attention to the emissary.
Turning to the others, he said aloud, "This is all happening because of me. No matter what you guys tell me, this all started because of me. If I just never had that vision -"
"Liam," Deaton said back in a gentle voice. "This is not because of you. This is another being at hand that is trying to make your lives hell. This is not your fault."
If Deaton was trying to be encouraging in his usual cryptic way, Liam didn't feel like it was working. "But it is," Liam countered quietly."Whoever this spirit is, it won't stop until it gets whatever it wants from us. And Josephine, she's here because of me - somehow. I'm connected to her in some way and I'm not sure if I want any part of it. I know that it means that we can find who her killer is . . . but I'm just worried that I'll screw everything up again and that everything will all go to hell from there. What use am I if I can't keep controlling myself anymore?"
"My sister says "If you're going through hell, keep going." We can get through this, Liam. It's just a matter of time and everything will fall into place, sooner or later. Everything will make sense even if you don't believe it right now."
The others were standing right behind him, unsure what to say. Liam could smell the uncomfortable silence in the room. They had tried before, while he had gotten himself possessed by that damn spirit, trying to help him regain control and look where that had gotten them. Everything was a mess; people were being murdered left and right, whether there was a supernatural force behind it or not. Liam tugged on his shirt which was lying near him, planting his feet on the cool floor. He could hear the Pack calling after him when he left through the door.
If you're going through hell, keep going.
Keep going.
Going through hell . . .
One foot slid in front of the other, thunder and lightning crashing through the sky, drenching Liam as it plastered his hair to his wet forehead.
Next thing he knew, he was home. He trudged up the stairs in his house, passing quietly by his step-father's room, knowing full well that he was asleep. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Liam did not bother to turn on the light or seek the comfort of his bed; he stared at the wall in front of him, waiting, wishing for something to happen. A thought came to his mind, but he pushed it away, chiding himself that it was stupid, a stupid, stupid idea. But it seemed like he had no choice and instead of taking the front door, he climbed out of his window, getting doused with rain once more.
He made his way to the front door of the place he'd been seeking. Hesitating, he raised his hand to knock. When he received no answer, Liam found that the door was unlocked and pushed it open. Inside, it was dark, except for a single night light plugged in the corner of the living room.
He found Josephine sitting on the floor, legs tucked underneath her, in front of the McCalls' low coffee table. a white box laid on top of the table and papers had been scattered about, just some old-faded photographs and old reports he would've thought nothing about. He stood there for a minute. He made no sound and Josephine made no move that she had even heard Liam enter. Perhaps she did not even know he was there in the first place and was too preoccupied to answer.
Finally, when the silence was too heavy to bear, it was her who opened her mouth and spoke first.
"Apparently," she said softly, but to Liam, her voice sounded like a shout. his sensitive hearing made it easy to hear her over the rain. "The police were completely baffled by my murder." A faintest hint of an accent pushed through and Liam wondered how he had never noticed it before. He was unsure of what to say, so he let her keep talking while he tried to figure it out.
"They hardly questioned anybody, said that they had no suspects. Gossips about whether it was a secret lover or a betrayal from my mother and father. Ha!" Josephine turned her body slightly. Liam saw a brittle, yellowed old newspaper in her hands. "My obituary," she explained.
He blurted out, "You weren't meant to see that." He honestly did not know whether Melissa had intended to leave the box out for Josephine to find or had just forgotten to take the box back to the morgue. He guessed that she just hadn't had the time to take it back yet. His werewolf vision heightened the newspaper and he could read the fine print - literally.
It read: Josephine Laddens, beloved daughter of Arthur, was laid to rest Thursday in Beacon Hills Cemetery. There was a picture next to her obituary, one of the living girl in front of him, eyes bright and curious, long curly hair and her dark skin.
Standing slowly to her feet, Josephine turned. The ancient newspaper in her hand fluttered silently to the floor when she let it go.
"I . . . am cursed," she spoke finally. "Otherwise, I would not be here right now. I've always believed that magic was just make-believe and superstition, old curses brought upon the tongues of my ancestors. But now I've come to believe that they're cursing me to this lifestyle because I have wronged them somehow. I am being punished. Punished to be a werewolf for the course of my new life in this lifetime. That's why I have been brought back. I'm sure of it." A disbelieving smile and laugh escaped. "And - and you're cursed too. Plagued with this a - ability to see the details of my mur - death, over and over and over again. Can't you see? We . . . are cursed."
Liam ran a hand through his damp hair, a slight cough forcing its way out. Light flooded the living room as he switched a nearby lamp on. The rain had ceased sometime during Josephine's speech. Her eyes were sad and anger and fear filled them. He smelt it on her scent.
She was breaking.
No, scratch that.
She'd already broke. Here she was, standing here in front of him, tears streaked on her cheeks and it should've been realized sooner.
How could Liam not see it before? Did they really expect her to be okay with being thrown into the modern world after 74 years and expect her to adjust this quickly? Liam studied her body language: the way she held her arms close to her chest, the way her eyes darted left and right at every new sound that passed by the McCalls' house in the evening, the dark circles lingering underneath.
She wasn't okay. Liam didn't need to ask that. She was perhaps angry and terrified at them for doing all of this to her, throwing all these new information toward her. Her parents' deaths, her death, the fact that she was now a supernatural creature, and the fact that someone or something was still running around amok - alive or dead - after murdering her.
He wondered why he had come, regretting his actions very much. He should've stayed with Scott and the others. He shouldn't have come at all.
Telling Josephine not to torture herself would probably make things worse. He felt horrible, guilt crashing into him, because it was his fault that she - No. It wasn't me. I didn't kill her.
But he felt horrible for not realizing what she was going through sooner.
He wanted to make her forget everything for awhile, all the dark memories and thoughts that were swimming behind her eyes. Innocent once . . . and now she must've believed that she would never be innocent again. How was she suppose to let all the things she remembered and learned so far, let it go quickly?
"I - I should've have come at all," he stuttered. " I don't . . . "
Her eyes met his with an accusing and disbelieving look in them. He started to back up slowly, when his eyes landed on her ripped dress. A scream let loose. His body jerked out from underneath him, back arching.
"You think you can hide from me?! I'm the one who says how. you. die."
Liam was running, panic and terror spreading throughout his whole being. But he had to keep running. Something was after him, something dark and dangerous and he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet whoever or whatever was chasing him. He tripped, landing hard on his elbow with a pained grunt. Scrambling to his feet, Liam's claws dug into the dirt underneath him. Breathing heavily, his canines slipped out, and he avoided slamming into the trees, leaping over fallen roots. Scanning his surroundings, it looked to Liam that he was in the forest, the same forest he had been in during his time at school. It looked different though, he noticed. Blackened and burnt like it had gone through a nuclear bomb.
"Come out, come out wherever you are, my little wolf." The voice sounded too close for comfort and this sent chills down Liam's spine.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" yelled Liam, knowing he was probably giving away his position. But he had to know.
The air stilled around him and it felt like he was suffocating. He grasped his throat, desperate for fresh air, and collapsed backward, colliding against something in the process.
It was the Nemeton. Still preserved like nothing had happened to it and Liam couldn't figure out why it was the only thing not burnt. He laid on top of it and tried to roll off, feeling like something terrible would happen to him if he didn't get off of it.
He couldn't move.
Above him, a figure materialized from darkness. Vision dimming, he only managed to make out that the figure was brandishing a long, thin pointy object before it swung in his direction.
A loud echoing scream ripped from his throat. "NO!"
Jerking upright, Liam placed a hand to his neck, fingers searching for a large, gaping bloody wound that was sure to pulse and burst out any minute now. Nothing happened. Terror still spread throughout his veins and the suffocating air wasn't fading away. Then slowly, it did and he gulped in the new fresh air greedily, longing to return back to breathing normally. It dawned on the young werewolf that Josephine was crouched next to him and was frowning in a way that he didn't like.
"What?"
She didn't speak and Liam wondered for a moment if she was ever going to.
"You said, "They are coming." Who are 'they?'"
Pushing a trembling hand through his hair, he breathed out shakily, "I don't know. I don't even remember saying that."
There was a quiet moment. Josephine kept staring at him, giving him a strange look.
"I think we all know that it would be best if we stayed away from each other," Josephine said coldly. She stood up and Liam propped himself up onto his elbows, watching her. He slowly struggled to his feet. "Obviously, your visions get worse when I'm around and yet . . . You still need me."
Josephine turned on her heel sharply. Making her way back to the low table, she began furiously cramming all of her evidence of her cold case back into the box. Slamming the lid shut, tight and secure, she whirled back around to face Liam. "I will help you. On one condition."
Liam swallowed. "All right," he replied after a second of hesitation. "Name it."
"You . . ." Josephine pointed her index finger toward him. There was a dark look in her eyes and yet, at the same time, her eyes were far, far away. "Liam Dunbar. I help you find the meaning of your visions and in the meantime, in exchange for this, you help me with my lycanism and find the person who murdered me. Like you said earlier, you believe that you're seeing everything from my killer's eyes, so he - whoever he is must still be alive. Once we find him . . ."
This wasn't going to end well, was it? Liam could practically see the wheels turning in her head and he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear her proposal.
Josephine wasted no time and the last of her words poured from her lips. "I want to exact my revenge and kill him."
END.
I apologize to everyone that this is late, there are really no excuses, but I'm glad that people are reading this story! It looks like I will only be able to post once a month and I'm sorry if I got anyone's hopes up for a double update.
On another topic, did anyone see the teasers for Season 5? Of course you have! :) In my opinion, it looks scary! I mean, c'mon, the whole "Watch Your Pack" thing and "The Doctors Will See You Now." (P.S. I still maintain the fact that "Watch Your Pack" is Season 5's official tagline.) And Lydia! What's happening with our favorite Banshee? I swear, they better not torture her at Eichen House, and does anybody else think she kinda looks like Void? Is Void going to be back, because that'd be cool and then we could have Nogydia! Enough rambling from me. But yeah, what are your thoughts about Season 5?
Also, I have been thinking about taking a short break until Teen Wolf finally comes back on, to see if I can tie in my plot with S. 5's storyline. If all goes well, I will post the next chapter tying in with the premiere, "Creatures of the Night." But it may not be likely posted in June, but in July, due to a surgery I desperately need to have. (In case anyone's wondering, I basically have a tumor on my ovaries - not life-threatening - but I need to have it removed.)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will tell you that two more guests will show up in the later chapters. Any idea who they are? *hint* It's mentioned in the first chapter. ;P
EDIT (5/19/15): I remembered what I had to say: Don't hesitate to PM or review on my story. I really would like to know how I can grow as an author and improve my writing skills. If you see a slight error in character actions or if they become too OOC , please don't feel afraid to ask me to change some things and leave a suggestion. I want to bring my idea of Teen Wolf to life for you. And if any way, Josephine becomes a Mary-Sue, stop me immediately. I would like a character who is flawed and isn't perfect and can be someone that you can relate to. Same goes for Liam, since this is in his point of view.
Thank you for reading this (and my long rambling) and I hope y'all have a great day/night.
There are the following people I thank so far:
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
mattmurilo, SnarkyLittleHufflepuff, n9horsesbubbles, vinny-nicole, Fixie13, andreagjervold, MistSpade, BrooklynTeen, TvRomances, Bluegirlassasin6444, CaliGirl17, oscarthedolphin531, Emy Dagger, OlicityWestAllen143, PitMaster115, QueenOfMyPlanet, abbzmay, carolinesalvatore21, cassandra karin, lillypilly01, YMCMBYoungin13, BlackRabbit148, abbzmay, the s33r, WriterGurl11, 99danas, FreeLion, Reader237, and amaliesofie.