DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. Well that's not a true statement I do own some things, like my laptop, but I don't own Teen Wolf so there's that. I'm just having fun with the characters.
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome those that have recently favorited and are following the story. I hope everyone is enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying creating this fan fic. It's actually turning out better than I could have hoped. To my reviewers... thank you so much! All of the feedback and encouragement you all have given is truly appreciated.
Phoebe Nixon: I'm glad the reaction and Cora's actions made sense. I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again but it's very important to me to make sure not to pull people out of the story, that includes not having characters act completely different than they are in the show, and Cora, although frustrated does seem protective of her bro. Besides I like her!
TheWalkingSilence: Thanks! Now that Holly is more established, I plan to have her interacting with more of the canon characters in the coming chapters. So you'll definitely see some Cora/Holly interaction.
DivineDusk: There will be different POVs coming up. One of the things I wanted to do in the beginning was establish Holly, and also I needed to make sure I would be able to capture the voices of others in a believable way. I feel comfortable enough at this point to branch out a bit more so you guys will probably be seeing different pov from different characters incorporated in the chapters to come.
OhhKellyRose: Originally I was going to do weekly updates, but I'll probably try to do more bi-weekly updates as time allows. I giggled when I read you devoured the eight chapters so quickly. Talk about a boost to my confidence! But you're right, I shouldn't let the number of reviews get to me, especially since I'll be writing it anyway. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous 8!
MrsAlexandra-Hale: I wish WISH my first kiss had been that amazing. Of course I also wish at that age I had a best friend that looked like Derek. Alas... *sigh* One of the things that I love and hate about Derek is that he doesn't ask for help, even when he should. It adds to that adorable conflicted personality of his. Like he has to protect everyone and can't lean on anyone. I also love Peter, he's awesome. It's fun to imagine what he might have been like when Derek was younger. My vision of him is less of another parental figure and more of a big brother.
So, there will be more flashback scenes, maybe even an entire flashback chapter since it seems everyone is enjoying reading those, and to be honest with you all, I've really enjoyed writing them. It makes me rethink aspects of their relationship to envision how they interacted as teenagers.
As always, please review. If you read something that takes you out of the story, something you want to see more of, or something you want to see less of, please be sure to add that in my review as I can mold the chapters so we all continue to enjoy them together!
Anywho... this chapter is definitely rated M, so consider yourselves warned.
NO SPOILER FOR ANY EPISODES
TAKES PLACE BETWEEN EPISODES 4 - 5
Chapter 9 – Bad Romance
It felt like it should have been tomorrow or the day after.
It definitely didn't feel like less than twenty-four hours had lapsed. She'd spent the majority of the day in a hyper-aware, at times nearly frantic state. Her mind never drifted far from the memory of Derek impaled, of the blood thick red, and then black blood oozing from his body. On the moments she could see more than Derek, run through and bleeding, she saw him lying unconscious on the ground behind a rapidly control losing Cora.
She tried to preoccupy her mind with other things. The repairs in the library had been finished which meant the transition from the boiler room and the classroom began. Practice with the swim team, finding someplace else to stay. The extended stay inn was a temporary solution, but she already decided her childhood home wasn't inhabitable anymore. At least not by her. Too many bad memories threatened to choke her every time she walked through the door. The thing with Derek only sped up the inevitable. She tried to focus her mind on mundane things, but it always returned to Derek. Was he dead? Alive? Did he need her?
When he turned up outside her door she felt like the elephant that parked itself on her chest since early that morning finally wandered off. But the feeling of desperation left the complete numbness in its wake.
Holly never felt so completely and utter numb in her life, well almost never. The day she stepped onto the patio and saw something at the bottom of the pool, only to get close enough and discover the something was her mother, came close. She felt like she moved through a dream, though a nightmare came closer to describing the events she witnessed. Several times as Derek drove she wondered if she were in the middle of a nightmare. When she pinched her arm and it led to absolutely nothing she decided to deal with the events as if they were real. At least until someone told her otherwise.
She remembered telling Derek she was hungry. She guessed that was why they ended up at a diner. Even though she didn't remember stopping, or walking from the car to the booth near the back, or ordering a burger and fries the waitress dropped off. At least she had been hungry. The thought of eating turned out to be more appealing than actually eating.
It started raining again, harder than it had earlier judging from the ferocity from the drops of water slapping against the window.
She watched Derek's reflection in the glass. Of course he had one, vampires were the supernatural creatures that didn't cast a reflection, not werewolves. She thought back to the lore on werewolves as she watched him eating. The events appeared to have no effect on his appetite as he wolf down his double burger.
Wolf down… she smirked at the expression, and the smirk turned into a chuckle which melted into a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Derek questioned confused.
"This," she made a broad gesture. "All of it. I wouldn't be surprised if an orderly didn't appear to hand us both medication."
"This isn't a hallucination," Derek stated sternly.
"I know."
"Everything that's happened in the past twenty-four hours did happen."
"Yeah," the amusement departed as abruptly as it arrived. "I know."
"You haven't eaten," he pointed out.
"I'm not hungry."
"You said you were."
"I guess I'm not anymore."
His face contorted in a concerned frown. He placed both hands on the table on either side of the plate. Those unsettled green eyes, eyes that she'd seen flash red in his loft, bore into her from less than five feet away. "I know you have questions."
That got another bout of dark chuckles from Holly. "Derek, I don't even know where to begin."
He didn't move. Not a flinch of blip at her words. He just sat there, watching her, like he could sit there watching her for the rest of the night.
"What time is it?"
That got him to move. A slight shift to his left as he pulled his phone from his back pocket, looked at the screen and replaced it.
"Ten eighteen."
Holly closed her eyes. It felt so much later than ten-eighteen. She watched his right hand slowly creep across the table, inching his fingers closer and closer to her hand. Once he was close enough, he brushed the tip of his index finger against the back of her hand. The contact was minimal at best, but even the slightest touch from him felt as comforting as a full body hug from others.
"On a scale of one to ten, with ten being join the witness protection program, how bad is this?"
"Twenty," he replied point blank.
Holly exhaled. It felt like she'd just been punched in the chest. "Is it going to get worse?"
"Probably."
"How much worse?"
He paused at that, staring down at their hands for a several moments before answering as clearly as he had earlier, "A lot worse. Bodies in the street worse."
"Why does Deucalion want you to kill your pack?"
"Some packs have initiation rites members have to pass before they are admitted."
"Then why do you want to join their pack?"
"I don't," he bit the words back as the first two came out in a louder tone. "He's not asking, he's dictating. I have two options."
She breathed in slowly remembering Deucalion's words. He wanted Derek to kill his pack but if he refused, if he didn't… Holly closed her eyes and exhaled softly.
"If you don't kill your pack, he will. Won't he?"
"Yes," he nodded in confirmation.
"And what does he want with me?"
"I don't know," the uncertainty clung to his words. "You're not in my pack," he frowned and curled his fingers around her hand. "But that doesn't mean he can't use you to get to me."
"Use me?" Holly swallowed audibly and curled her fingers around his hand. "Kill me?"
"Holly you can't come to the loft anymore. It's too dangerous now."
"I gathered that."
"Not because of Cora…"
"I know. Yes she scared me but I get it. She was scared, she thought you were dead." That brought a bit of a frown over her features as she met his eyes. "How is she alive? Not that I'm not happy she's not dead but I thought she—"
"—died in the fire?" Derek finished, "Yeah so did I. I don't know how she survived or where she's been."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," he answered with a disparaging shrug.
Reluctantly, Holly pulled her hand from Derek's warm grip so she could press her fingers against her temples. Her head throbbed, either from lack of food or lack of sleep. For a moment as she stared into Derek's eyes she considered telling him about her run in with Deucalion. But she bit the words back and let them die on her tongue. She didn't know how much more he could take before his plate overflowed but she wouldn't add one more problem that needed to be solved. One more question that didn't have an answer. Besides, hadn't Deucalion been there before her? It could have all been an ugly coincidence.
Maybe if she repeated it enough times the lie would stick.
"I should get you back to the hotel," Derek spoke softly.
"This whole things makes going to work seem utterly ridiculous."
"You could just call in tomorrow, take a day off, and sleep in."
Holly chuckled softly and shook her head. "I think I'm already on thin ice with the principal."
"Why are you working there anyway?" Derek shifted his weight long enough to pull his wallet out and leave money for their food and tip on the table. "Your father may have been a bastard but your family was one of the wealthiest in Beacon Hills and you're the only surviving heir."
"I don't work at the high school for the money."
Holly stood and followed Derek to the entrance of the diner, waiting until he had the doors unlocked before running between the raindrops to the car. She felt like she should have added a 'but' to her explanation, most people would have. 'But I get fulfillment from working at the school'. 'But I want to give back to the community'. Only Holly didn't have a 'but' to add, not one that she felt she could explain.
It was less tied to something she wanted to do and linked to some instinctual requirement. She had to work at the school because she felt she needed to be there. She just had no idea why she felt the need.
Holly leaned her head back against the head rest, closed her eyes and breathed in Derek's scent. He smelled like the forest, like rich dirt and cut grass. She almost lost him, she still might. She knew he wouldn't kill his pack, which meant he would have to kill Deucalion, and probably his pack… or they would kill him.
Derek pulled the car into the hotel lot and parked near the rear exit. From the outside, the door was accessibly only with a room key card. They entered through the door but used the elevators to take them to the third floor. Derek stopped her when they reached the door, she could only assume he was listening to any sounds that might be coming from the other side.
"You just listened to see if someone was inside, didn't you?"
"Yeah," he nodded, offered a hint of a smile and followed her inside.
"That's…" a nervous laugh trickled from her lips as she closed the door behind Derek and activated deadbolt and the bar lock, "Going to take some getting used to."
"Do you still want to get used to it?" Derek asked as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
Holly slipped out of her jacket, tossing it across the couch as the questions hung in the room. She felt the weight of Derek's eyes following her, waiting for her answer. She stepped out of her shoes and turned to face him. He had the look of a man bracing himself for the worse.
If she told him no, she would most likely never see him again, though she knew he would be there in the shadows, watching out for her. Protecting her, just as he promised, but giving her the space she requested.
"I'm not going to lie, Derek, your world terrifies me. You can inflict and heal wounds that should kill you. That would kill me. I should be running, as fast as possible, in the opposite direction. But I'm not."
The neutral expression faltered slightly at those last three words. A crack in his stoic façade.
"I can't leave you. Even if staying puts me in harm's way I won't leave you."
"Being around me could get you killed."
"I'm more afraid of losing you again."
"Then you're crazy."
Holly gave a shrug as she slowly closed the distance between them. She'd never seen Derek afraid, but the look gracing his features couldn't have been anything other than fear. She knew better than to think he was afraid for himself. The fear was for her, for what Deucalion and his wolves could do to her.
"You used to call me crazy all the time."
"Holly. Leave," he insisted.
Holly touched his shoulders and trailed her fingers down his arms.
"Take the train or the bus… drive down to San Francisco and take a flight anywhere. The further away the better."
She abandoned his arm in favor of skirting her fingers under shirt, slowly pushing the cotton upwards. She wanted to see it for herself. Needed to see it.
He clenched his muscles at the initial contact and momentarily closed his eyes.
"Leave Beacon Hills. Put this town in your rear view tonight and don't look back."
She half expected him to stop her as she continued to push the shirt upwards and revealed the corded muscles of his abdomen. He tensed, his breath hitching at her kiss. She brushed her lips across the spot, once ruined by the pipe and now completely healed.
"Holly," her name left his lips on a soft sigh.
His entire body trembled under the embrace of her lips. She thought he would pull away; instead he dislodged the hem of his shirt from her fingers and pulled it over his head. Derek slid his fingers against her cheek, as his lips caressed hers in a kiss that ignited a smoldering fire from her mouth to her sex.
Holly held off breathing as long as possibly for fear it would wake her from some beautiful dream. When she finally pulled back for a quick gulp of air, the intense desire behind his eyes sucked it right back out.
She thought it would hurt when he claimed her lips again. That the onslaught of the kiss would be brutal and demanding. Derek cupped her face in his hands and captured her bottom lip between his teeth, tugging it into his mouth where he could relentlessly devouring it. Just as before, he used his mouth to seduce her, led by the sensuous dance of his tongue.
Derek pressed his solid build against her. She felt the corded thick muscles in his shoulders and back moving under the touch of her fingers. Her touch explored his shoulders, his back and down to his waist driven by the need to feel as much of him as possible.
She felt his touch against her back, his fingers under her shirt caressing her skin. She was vaguely aware of a tug against her bra a moment before Derek broke away from the kiss and removed the tee shirt and bra from her body. Her garments joined his somewhere on the floor.
He rejoined their mouths passionately, like her lips alone stood between him and death. He circled his arms around her body, one palm pressed against her back, the other fervently gripping her backside.
Holly molded her body against his, crushing her breasts against his chest. It felt like he was on fire, or maybe that heat radiated from her to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist when she felt Derek hoister her effortlessly into the air. Her lips departed from his to nip against his jaw, his throat, his shoulder. She needed to taste every inch of him, explore the contours of his body.
Quick strides delivered them to the bedroom. The soft sheets of the king sized bed greeted her back as he stretched across the surface. The absence of his body created a deepening ache between her legs. Each place he kissed felt touched by fire until each breath Holly capture came out in quick pants. He was stripping her, leaving her naked and quivering on the bed from his touch.
She sat up to reach for him the same time he rejoined her. Ten seconds. Ten long seconds for him to undress her, undress himself. Too much time passed. Holly needed to feel his body against her.
She opened her legs to him as he returned to her. His body balanced on his forearms keeping his weight from crushing her. He brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek, tracing the outline of her ear. Her own palms ached to touch him, satisfied only by the feel of his warm flesh as she skimmed them over his sides and down his back so her fingers curved against the swells of his cheeks.
She felt him hard and fully aroused at her entrance, but he paused and held himself at bay.
"Look at me Holly."
She didn't realize she'd closed her eyes until he made the request. Until she opened them to see those deepening olive pools staring down at her. Everything about him lay open and naked before her in those eyes. She touched his face, caressing her fingers against his jaw. Tracing her thumb against his lips.
He'd been waiting for her acceptance. The moment she touched him, he moved his hips, slowly pushing into her. Slowly joining their bodies until she thought she would burst from being so completely consumed by him. She watched his eyes flashing, glowing red to olive green, back and forth, like Christmas lights.
He waited.
Waited for her to adjust to the feel of him in her body. Waited for her to accept him. All of him.
Holly reached up. Her lips greeted him in a kiss that barely brushed against his lips. Her fingers curled around the back of his head and combed into his short hair, urging him down. It was all the encouragment Derek needed. He retreated only to roll his hips as he pushed back inside her. He captured the cry that slipped from Holly's lips as he devoured her mouth again.
Air.
Derek was her air. Everything about him, his body, his tongue, his sex worked to keep her alive. She needed to feel him, needed him to fill her in every sense of the world. She kissed him hard. Her tongue pushed past his, entering his mouth, desperate to convey the need he had awakened.
The dreams of sex with Derek paled against the experience. He moved his body, rolled his hips, and brushed his fingers against her side and moved them upwards to knead her breasts like he'd made love to her before. Like he knew exactly how and where to touch her inside and out to tighten the coil in the pit of her stomach.
Holly brought her legs up, bending her knees and wrapping her legs around the back of his thigh. She fell into sync with his rhythm, matching each thrust of his hip. Creating a path of fire against his body where her palms pressed, against his skin, where her nails dug into his flesh.
His pace remained steady and driven but he grew creative with the movement of his hips, rolling, pushing, some shallow, others deep and penetrating, but each tightened her body more driving her into a near frenzy until he pushed her over the precipice.
She felt like she was falling. Her climax created a möbius event. The muscle spasms of her sex pulsed against his. Derek thrust his hips harder and faster, unwilling to let the muscles keep him from her core. The friction he created just pushed her body deeper and repeatedly into a frenzied ecstasy release.
Their lips remained locked, devouring each other in a kiss. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. So much pleasure she felt her brain and body short circuiting. Holly wanted him to stop but needed him to keep going. Her body gorging from the pleasure he created.
Derek thrust savagely inside one last time before his own release lodged his body deep inside hers. His muscles tensed, arms straining and trembling with the effort to keep his weight from crushing her. He continued to kiss her as his passion peaked. His vocalization lost in her throat.
Gradually their bodies relaxed, spotted vision returning to Holly as she opened her eyes. Derek lowered his body against hers and pressed his lips to her temple. He slipped his arms under and around her, pulling her against his body as he rolled them onto their sides, facing each other. Locked in an embrace. His lips found the tip of her nose then, barely grazing it.
"That was better than I imagined," Holly sighed softly.
She slipped a hand around to his back and pressed the other to his chest, drawing an infinity sigh with the tip of her nail.
"You imagined having sex with me?"
Holly hoped the absence of light in the room hid the blush creeping into her cheeks and neck.
"You can tell when I'm lying, can't you?"
"Yes."
She exhaled a content sigh and decided to answer with silence.
Funny how a day that started so horrible ended so perfectly.
It hadn't been a dream.
Sunlight filtering in through the sheers covering the window illuminated Derek's face, giving him the look of a slumbering angel. He lay on his stomach, his right arm tucked under his pillow, his left flung over Holly's waist. As if even in sleep, he wanted to keep her close. He looked at peace, like the stress and problems from his life decided not to follow him into his dreams.
Holly propped her head against her hand and shifted closer to Derek on the bed. Her eyes focused on the triskele tattoo drawn in the middle of his shoulder blades. With her right index finger, she traced the pad over the spiral. Starting at the end, tracing it to the center, and tracing another branch to the spiraling end. By the time she reached the end of the last spiral, she settled back to focus her gaze on Derek's open eyes.
He stared at her. His eyes shifting as he seemed to study every aspect of her face.
"Did you know you have a few freckles on your back?"
He nodded his head slowly and rotated his body until he rest on his side. "When I was little my mother told me they marked the spots kissed by angels."
Holly grinned at the answer, "I like that."
"Me too."
She tried to keep her gaze focused on his, but his lips were too tempting. The harder she tried to stay focused on his eyes, the more she felt her gaze drawn to his mouth. He had a perfect mouth, beautiful lips. Beautiful lips that curved into a smile at the left corner.
Derek raised his right arm and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand as he leaned in to place a delicate kiss against her lips. Fleeting, just the whisper of contacts. Holly imagined the kiss that woke Sleeping Beauty felt something like that.
"Hi," he whispered and brushed his thumb across her lips.
"Hi."
Lying in bed next to Derek, life seemed normal. No werewolves trying to kill them. No Alpahs. No Betas. Just them. But even as she realized it, Holly wondered, would the outcome be the same if the events were different. If she never hit Derek with her car, if he never saved her life in the boiler room of the school… if none of it happened, would she still be lying in bed with Derek?
"You're beautiful."
Those two words snapped her attention back to the werewolf sharing her bed.
"Did you hear me?" he questioned and traced his finger along the bone structure of her face. "I said you're—"
"—I heard you," she interrupted quickly.
"What's the matter?" he moved his thumb across her brow and down the bridge of her nose. "I thought women loved hearing they were beautiful."
"When it's true."
"You don't think I find you beautiful?"
Holly just stared into his expectant gaze. If she said yes, he would know she was lying, if she said no it would spark a conversation she had no interest in having. Did he think she was beautiful? Had he caught genuine feelings for her or did last night spring from open wounds on their soul? She held no illusions that part of last night was need based.
They both needed comfort, the touch of someone who cared for them. They both needed someone to chase away the demons of the day even if only for one night. It meant more to her than just sex, more than a warm body to bring her comfort. But Derek was a man, and a werewolf. And guys didn't necessarily attach the same emotional bond to sex as women.
Holly rolled over and swept the blanket aside but he wrapped his arms around her. Pulled her back into the cradle of his body. He held her tight. She felt the contours of his chest against her back. Felt the semi arousal nestles against the curve of her buttocks with no attempt to coax her legs apart. Instead he nudged his nose along the edge of her ear.
"I. Think. You. Are. Beautiful."
He punctuated each word with a delicate kiss to the curve of her ear. She didn't answer him, but then he issued a statement, not a question. He continued placing feathery kisses against her skin. Kissing behind her ear, along her jaw, and meandering down to her shoulder.
"Derek?"
"Hm?" his answer came through continued fleeting kisses.
"What does the triskele on your back mean to you?"
He chuckled softly and continued planting kisses against her skin. "What makes you think it means something?"
"Hello," she craned her neck enough to glimpse him for a moment over her shoulder. "Have we met? I might not have known you were a werewolf, but I'd be willing to bet I know everything else about you."
"Good point."
The heat from his chest faded as he pulled away from her enough to press two fingers against her back. He moved them in a circular pattern twice and branched them out. She pressed her lips together when his touched caused a shiver to run the length of her spine.
"Alpha," he spoke softly as he drew the first branch and came back to center. "Beta," when he made the second branch push away from the spiral, Holly realized he was tracing on her skin the tattoo on his back. "Omega," he concluded with the last branch.
"You're an Alpha?"
"Yes."
Holly parted her lips but stopped short of speaking. Her teeth gnawing softly on her bottom lip.
"Spit it out."
Derek settled down behind her again, though his fingers continued to stroke up and down her arm. Like he needed contact.
"Can a person become a werewolf from bite? Like in the Wolfman?"
"Only if they're bitten by an Alpha. If the bite doesn't kill them, they'll turn."
"Doesn't kill them?" she repeated turning to rest on her back. She let her gaze once again meeting his. One hand held the sheet in place, as if she were covering anything he hadn't already seen. "They have to be mauled?"
"No, it's just a bite but…" he pressed his lips together. "It's like a virus. Only if your body doesn't except it, it'll kill you."
"That sounds… risky."
"Especially now, with Deucalion…"
And just as quick as a blink the troubles of their lives settled in behind his eyes. He stared down at her for several more seconds before leaning in and pressing his lips to her forehead.
"I need to go."
Holly nodded and watched as he swept the covers aside. If he felt any embarrassment at his nakedness he didn't show it. She meant to look away, but once her eyes landed on his physique they refused to be denied. Every inch of him lean and toned. If fat existed she couldn't find it.
He slipped into his jeans, zipping them but leaving the button and belt undone as he moved to sit on her side of the bed. Holly propped herself up on her right elbow, her left hand still modestly holding the sheet to her chest.
"I never asked what you were doing in the boiler room of the school in the middle of the night."
"Reading," she answered softly. Her gaze searched his face though she wasn't sure what she expected to find, "Researching really."
"Researching what?"
"My mom. I discovered that her maiden name was from some ancient race of elves or something." She smiles at the last words that slipped from her lips caused Derek's serious expression to melt for a moment. "Maybe elves or hobbits. Though I'm not sure how I'd feel to find out I was related to hobbits."
"You haven't found out yet?"
"No, I did more sleeping than researching."
"You have some time now." Holly felt her heart breaking as Derek's smile faded. "Holly, what I said last night… Stay away from the loft. Do not come there, under any circumstances. It's not safe for you there anymore."
"It's not safe for you either."
"I can take care of myself."
"So can I."
"You can't," he caught his volume short of yelling at her but the fingers that curled around her arm showed no sign of releasing her. "Not against them you can't. If you tried, they would kill you, just to prove they can. Just to hurt me. You see them, any of them, you run. You hear me, you run."
"Derek you're hurting my arm."
He released her instantly and snatched his fingers away with a wide surprised gaze. His eyes focusing on the arm in question.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"—it's okay. I know," it was a conscious effort to keep her left hand from rubbing her bicep where his fingers dug in. "I get it. They're werewolves. Whatever I do to them they'll heal. Whatever they do to me will probably result in me bleeding out externally or internally."
"Just…" he paused staring at her with a pained look. "If they come for you, get some place public. If you can, get to Dr. Deaton."
"The vet?"
"He's more than just a vet. He knows about us, about my kind. More importantly he knows how to defend against us."
"You're going after them aren't you?"
"If I don't kill them, they'll kill me, or my Betas. I can't let that happen."
She felt a hand squeeze her heart, "Am I going to see you again?" his silence caused the hand to tighten. "Derek."
"Not until this is finished."
He kissed her hard. The kind of kiss that lovers gave before going off to war. If Holly thought it would have done any good to cling to him, if she thought it would have stopped him she would have flung herself from the bed, latched onto his ankles, and never let go.
"Derek!"
She was out of bed before the door closed. The robe in the chair snatched up and hastily wrapped around her body as she ran from the bedroom to find the apartment beyond empty. A gentle breeze blew in from the open terrace door.
"Derek!"
Holly darted to the terrace and looked up, and then down but saw no trace of him. The fingers tightened their hold around her heart as she stepped backwards into the room. She felt like she'd be sick, one hand moving to rub against her stomach, the other touched the back of her neck, flinched and stopped.
It didn't hurt.
Deaton gave her a local, but it wore off hours ago. Hadn't she felt it throbbing last night at the diner? Holly retreated into the bedroom and into the connected bathroom. In the mirror, she peeled the bandage off and placed it on the sink. Five slits of dried blood stained the cloth, but as her fingers gingerly explored the ruined skin they didn't meet with the feel of stitches or pain but smooth, unblemished skin.
"That's not possible."
Frantically Holly used her palm to feel for the wounds, sliding her hand lower than they originally had been. Finally she abandoned the bathroom long enough to bring back the compact mirror from her makeup bag.
Turning her back to the mirror she dropped the robe and lined the compact up to see her neck and nearly dropped the small hand held mirror to the ground.
Her skin hadn't just mended; it didn't hold any evidence of having been damaged at all.
Not a scratch.
Not a scar.
Not a trace of the injury remained.
