Chapter 8 - ABOMINATION PART 2
"Valerie!"
I was starting to slowly regain consciousness and I was hearing my name being called multiple times. I had no idea what was going on, or what had happened. I smelled the chlorine from earlier and that's when I remembered exactly where I was. My eyes snapped open and I felt a pounding sensation in my head.
"Valerie! You freaking idiot!"
Then there was that.
I sat up slowly, rubbing the back of my head and looked around. I saw Stiles and Derek in the pool and it looked like they were struggling. I remembered how the lizard had sliced the back of Derek's neck causing him to go unstable and then that's when it attacked me and I must have knocked out from how hard I hit my head.
"How long was I out for?" I asked, suddenly really embarrassed.
"Oh, I don't know… how long has it been Derek? Like more than an hour? I don't know!" Stiles said sounding agitated, spitting water out of his mouth.
I frowned and looked around but there was no sign of the creature.
"Where'd it go?" I asked.
"It's been leaving and coming every few minutes, "Derek answered sounding extremely tired. "I suggest you either jump in the pool now or get the fuck out of here as fast as you can and find Scott."
Are attention turned to the loud screech we heard and that's when I looked up to see the lizard staring right at me and just like a bullet, it shout out towards me.
"Valerie, jump!" Stiles shouted.
Without a second thought, I ran forward and held my breath, jumping into the pool and holding my nose as soon as I was completely in. There was a brief moment of silence as I was under and just as I reached the surface, I opened my mouth to take in as much air as I could. I swam up to the boys and helped Stiles out by putting Derek's other arm around me and I held him up as best as I could without drowning myself.
"This is just great." I muttered.
The lizard crept around for a few minutes hissing at us before it left again.
Derek remained silent as we talked. It was just little things here and there. My anxiety was through the roof at that point and all I thought about was trying not to die. We swam over to a slightly shallower part but it was too risky to get anywhere near where we thought the thing could reach us. It was a long while before I felt Derek getting heavier, knowing Stiles was loosing his grip and the creature had left the room like it had been doing every few minutes.
"I can't hold on much longer!" Stiles gasped.
I looked around and pointed at the diving board, "Let's just try to hold on to those bars for as long as we can. I don't think it's going to come back for a bit."
Together we swam up to the board and it was a bit higher than I expected but Stiles tried and tried to reach for it but then his fingers slipped and they both started to sink, dragging me down but I felt a hand on my arm pulling me up and I was so thankful to see it was Scott.
I coughed out water when he sat me down on the floor and he reached in to pull out both Stiles and Derek. There was a loud roar and screech coming from the lizard, which burst into the room and knocked Scott back. I tripped backwards over Derek's legs causing me to fall down on him and he let out a loud huff.
"I'm sorry!" I apologized.
"It's okay," he said struggling to breathe properly for a moment. I rolled off of him and helped him to sit up. I was sure the paralysis was wearing off because his fingers were starting to move, so were his hands. He was able to sit up by himself, with the help of the diving board he was leaning on.
The lizard attacked Scott and I cowered back in fear as it threw him against the wall, shattering a mirror in hundreds of pieces. Stiles stood going next to me. I was afraid of what would happen next except out of nowhere, the creature stopped stalking and out of nowhere it just screeched and jumped up on the wall to crawl over it and went flying through the roof.
Not too long after that, Scott, Stiles and I were surrounding Scott's mom's car with Stiles' laptop propped up on the hood. They had stolen Gerard's keys where on a USB he had saved a bestiary, which had very detailed writings about things hunters have come across over the years. The answer to what was the creature we saw tonight would be somewhere there. Hopefully. Scott was trying to look through countless pages but it wasn't even in English and there was no way to translate it.
"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott sighed.
Stiles stood upright and looked over to see me shivering. Without a word, he wrapped an arm around me and I gladly held on to him needing any kind of contact to get warm as fast as I could. The pool was so freezing and now I was worried about catching a cold.
"It's called the kanima."
We turned our attention to Derek who walked over to us, Erica behind him.
As soon as we had left the gym and made sure he was completely okay, he had gone to go find Erica.
"You knew the whole time?" Stiles asked in an accusing tone.
"No." Derek said, and eyed us for a moment longer before looking at Scott, "Only when it was confused by its own reflection."
"It doesn't know what it is… or who…" Scott thought.
"What else do you know?" Stiles pushed.
"Just stories…" Derek said with a small shrug. "Rumors."
"But it's like us?" Scott wondered.
"A shape-shifter, yes. But it's-it's not right. It's like a…" Derek suddenly looked like he was struggling to find a word.
"An abomination." Stiles said matter-of-factly.
There was some sort of flicker of emotion in Derek's eyes as he nodded just slightly. He looked at me with a sad look on his face before he started to turn, shaking his head. I wondered at the moment what he was thinking.
"Derek! We need to work together on this," Scott said, stepping forward. "Maybe even tell the Argent's."
"You trust them?" Derek asked slightly disbelieving.
"You're extra friendly with Valerie." Erica muttered from behind him.
Scott ignored her, his temper suddenly flaring.
"Nobody trusts anyone. That's the problem! While we're here arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us, and it's killing people! And we still don't even know anything about it!"
Stiles' grip on me tightened momentarily and I stayed silent as I watched Derek's face closely.
"I know one thing," Derek said with an angry look, "When I find it… I'm gonna kill it."
"Okay so… the kanima… kanima… There's not a lot online about whatever this is." Stiles said from the computer.
I glanced up from my spot on his bed and sighed.
"Whatever, just come sit next to me, I'm freezing!"
Stiles closed his laptop and stood. He kicked his shoes out of the way and climbed on the bed, getting under the covers and sitting next to me. He had let me come over and I showered and borrowed some of his pajamas. My dad was not home so instead of staying there, I wanted to be here. It was a lot cozier in Stiles' home than in mine.
"Who do you think it could be?" I asked.
"Five bucks says it's Jackson." Stiles said.
I shook my head, "Not. Five bucks says it's Lydia."
"Yeah right, she's an angel. She can't be that… thing."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm serious though. If what they said is true, about it not even knowing who he… or she is… I mean… for all we know, it could be anyone. Ugh this is so frustrating." I banged my head back on the wall a few times.
"What's up with your cheek?" Stiles asked after a minute.
I had no make-up here so I hadn't gotten to cover up the scratch and bruise Erica had left me.
"It was Erica. Yesterday. When I was with Scott and that whole thing with Derek and Boyd happened."
"So… what's up with you and Derek?" he pushed.
"Nothing is up." I said, looking at him seriously.
"You can't pull that shit anymore, we're not dumb."
"I don't know what's going on."
"Are you two hooking up?"
"Are we-what? No!"
"Oh my God, you two are!"
"Stiles!"
"Valerie!"
I turned my head to look at him and glared.
"So what if we are?" I asked defensively.
Stiles put his hands up in surrender, "Hey! Not my problem! I mean… as scary as he is, underneath that entire sour-wolf exterior, I'm sure there's… well there's a nice… caring- oh yeah right, how in the hell did you manage to hook up with Derek? What is he even like when he's not being a creepy dick? Is he any good?" Stiles blabbed.
I smiled in spite of myself and rolled my eyes at him, "Shut up. He's not… okay, he's that bad. Yeah. But I mean, I think there is something good in him… way, way, way, way, deep, deeeep down somewhere… I don't know. I feel good around him; even when he's acting like the biggest most frustrating asshole in the world." I shrugged.
"You didn't answer my question. Is he any good?" Stiles asked with a serious expression on his face.
I could never stay mad or sad for too long when I was around Stiles; there was something about him that just made you at ease.
"Yes. He's good. Better than good. Amazing." I winked.
"What's amazing?"
We both jumped and turned our heads to look towards the door to see Stiles' dad with a smile on his face.
"Uh, the game tonight!" Stiles said hurriedly.
I mentally face-palmed myself. Stiles could be so obvious sometimes. He's lucky his dad just didn't care or want to know exactly what he did sometimes, worried for what the response would be. So he only nodded and asked if I was staying for the night before leaving to his room.
Stiles stood up and looked through his DVD's to pick out a movie to put on. I checked the time and threw the covers off, standing up.
"I'll be right back." I said with a small smile, putting some of his shoes on and grabbing one of his favorite red zip-ups to pull on before I made my way downstairs quietly and out through the front door.
I walked along the side of the house and walked towards some trees to hide myself in the shadow. I waited for a few minutes, rubbing my arms and walking around so I wouldn't be as cold. I gasped as soon as I felt arms around me and I turned to see that it was Derek.
"Hey." He only looked at me with a frown and I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck, "How are you doing?" I asked.
"Fine." He shrugged.
I stood up on my toes and kissed his lips softly.
"Thanks for that." He whispered against my lips.
"You're welcome." I whispered back.
Our breaths came out in slow white puffs because of the cold air. He held me tightly against him. We stayed silent for a few minutes. I wasn't sure what to ask him because there were a million questions. I didn't want to make him feel overwhelmed at the moment. He seemed so calm and not tense like he usually was. I kept my forehead on his chest and I heard him chuckle.
Looking up, I furrowed my eyebrows, "What's up?"
"Stiles." He muttered. I raised an eyebrow.
"His dad is asking if you and him are together or not because he's not buying the fact that you two aren't." I smiled.
"What did he say?"
Derek's eyebrows shot up, his eyes wide for a moment before he looked down at me.
"I'm seriously going to bash his head in a wall."
"What?! Why?" I asked and he shook his head.
"I'm going to get going." He kissed my forehead and I huffed.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"How can I make you stay longer?" I asked, bringing my arms up around his neck again.
"I have a few things in mind but it wouldn't be such a good idea." He said after a moment.
"Why not? I don't care." I shrugged.
"I think you'd care if the surrounding neighbor's heard you screaming." He said suggestively.
"Mm-mmm." I pursed my lips, hiding a smile and stood up on my toes to kiss his lips. His arms went around me once more and he pushed me up against the tree behind me.
"I really need to go." He murmured into the kiss.
"I bet you do." I said back, running my fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair. His hands gripped my arms tightly and he took them off of him. I opened my eyes just as he broke the kiss, leaving me wanting more.
"Sour-wolf." I muttered, shaking my head.
I licked my lips and he stared down just as I did and back up at me.
"I'll see you tomorrow. I have things to do." He said in a low voice.
I nodded and he brought my hands down to my sides. He touched my face and kissed my lips once more. I just about melted into that one because he had kissed me so tenderly. Just as he took a step back to turn, I caught his hand.
"You better not cross the line with Erica or I won't hesitate to kick her ass."
Derek looked at me, trying not to smile and nodded once.
"Go inside, you're shivering. I don't want you getting sick. Also, Stiles is wondering why you're taking long."
I smiled at him and let go of his hand, standing up taller off of the tree. I turned to go head inside and locked the door behind me. I heard something in the kitchen and thought it was probably Mr. Stilinski. Heading upstairs, I knocked once before opening the door to Stiles' room and saw him lying in bed with the TV on, movie playing.
"Why'd you take so long?" he asked.
"Talking to my dad." I lied.
Unzipping the jacket, I laid it behind his desk chair and crawled over his legs to get in next to him.
"My dad thinks we are definitely together." He said.
"'Thinks' or did you just tell him we were?" I turned my head to look at him.
"Sorry! He thought I was lying big time, I cracked under pressure and at how awkward it was the way he was looking at me like he was about to give me the talk or something so I told we were and that I'm being safe, and-"
"Oh my goodness." I said, covering my mouth so I wouldn't laugh.
"Are you mad?" he asked.
"No, but now he thinks we're together, do you think he won't let me over anymore or he's going to make me sleep on the couch now?" I asked.
"I doubt it," Stiles shrugged, "He's happy that I'm actually with a girl and he thinks that maybe you can be a good influence on me." I laughed lightly and shook my head.
I got completely under the covers and snuggled up against his side.
Smiling, I rubbed my hand on his stomach.
"So boyfriend, want to break out that box of condoms you have hidden in the bottom right drawer of yours?"
"W-what?" Stiles stuttered looking completely terrified.
"Hey, your dad thinks we're dating, might as well go all the way now, come on, don't be shy." I smiled and winked, letting my hand travel up his chest.
"Valerie. You're not serious." He said with a frown.
"Oh but I am, you just got me thinking… you looked so good in the pool, all wet, and strong and hero-like." I said in a soft voice. I bit my lip and my eyes widened seeing how pink he was turning in the face and I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"You are such a little punk." I laughed, slapping his chest.
"Tease." He muttered, standing up to turn the light off.
[ END OF CHAPTER ]
I felt… or rather still feel iffy about this chapter :/ I hope it's alright!
I'D LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO Undeniable Weirdness THOUGH BECAUSE HE'S AN AWESOME AND LOYAL REVIEWER, YOU'RE SO CUTE *heartsheartshearts* *criestearsofblood*
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