AUTHOR'S NOTE: You didn't think Avery would actually let it go, did you? Here's a filler chapter before we get to the more heartbreaking chapters. If you're wondering what boots she slips into, they're on Polyvore under the Chapter 8 set where it said "night shoes". I didn't make a set for this chapter since she is still in the same clothes.
After Isaac had left, Avery tried her best to abide by her friend's wish and stay away from Derek while he cooled down or did whatever it was he needed to do. She picked through her sleep clothes, found a decent shirt and shorts to sleep in, but by the time she managed to step towards the bathroom- she heaved a sigh frustration and rushed back to her room.
Dropping her clothes on her bed, she slips on a pair of boots and retrieves her daggers, shoving one in each boot before walking to her brother's room. "I'm heading to the 7-11, you want anything?"
Stiles turns to look at her, a cherry twizzler hanging from his mouth as his fingers continued to click away at his keyboard. "Nah, I'm good."
"Okay, well, can I borrow the Jeep?"
This time, his fingers do stop. "Uh, sure." His eyes dart to his desk in search for his keys. "Did something happen to your bike?"
"Slick roads." She shrugs with a grin. "I'll endanger my life by chasing after werewolves and vampires but I won't endanger it by driving on a slick road."
"Nice." Stiles snorts, fingers closing around his Jeep keys before tossing them to his sister. "Don't crash."
"Never." She sing-songs as she catches them and turns on her heel, heading downstairs.
..
..
The trip to Derek's is a lot further than that of the nearest 7-11 so she knows Stiles will be calling to see where she is at any second now. Not wanting to feel guilty and lie to Stiles about her whereabouts, she turns off her phone and leaves it in the Jeep as she makes her way to Derek's building.
Instead of doing the smart thing and taking the stairs, she risks her life by taking the creaky and rusty elevator up to the very top to cut back on some time. And by the time she makes it to the very top, she doesn't hesitate to slide open the door to Derek's loft with a grunt.
She finds Derek standing near the windows with his back to her.
"What are you doing here?"
Avery rolls her eyes at his ability to know it's already her. "You're a giant ass, you know that?" She says without answering him. "Kicking Isaac out with the alpha pack out there- not your smartest move."
"I had no choice."
"That's bullshit and you know it." Avery strolls in- stopping by the table where she, Stiles, and Peter last worked at. "You're stronger with a Pack. You can't just kick him out and-"
"You have no room to speak." A new voice enters and Avery whirls in the direction where said voice came from. There's a girl standing there, hair pulled up in a ponytail and clad in a black sports bra and black work-out capris. "What Derek does and does not do with his Pack is none of your concern."
"Are you freakin' kidding me?!" Avery scoffs at who she presumes to be Cora. After all, she looks a bit like Derek. "I might not be considered Pack like you or Isaac but at least I'm thinking at full capacity here. An alpha is at his or her strongest with a pack behind his back. If they're looking to pick off Derek, how long do you think he's going to last with his pack scattered around town?"
Cora glares at her and Derek finally manages to speak. "You don't understand. They want me to kill my pack." Cora growls lowly at the fact that Derek easily gave up information to a human. "I did what I had to do and got Isaac to safety."
Avery sighs, feeling sympathy for the alpha in front of her but Cora's growling catches her attention. "Yeah, well what about her?" She nods in the she-wolf's direction. "She's pack, is she not? Why isn't she on the streets yet?"
"I'm his sister." Cora snarls at her.
"And?!" Avery finally blows up, throwing her arms out as she whirls on Cora. She's only met the she-wolf and already she's annoyed with her attitude. "Do you really think the alphas are going to care? As long as you're considered pack, you have a target on your back just like Isaac does. And Boyd."
Cora's eyes glow an eerie yellow after the mention of Boyd's name. She growls and snaps a mouth full of fang in Avery's direction while Derek watches on, rolling his eyes at their drama.
Cora is still snarling at her, eyes glowing, and when it doesn't seem like she's going to stop and might even advance on her, Avery slowly crouches with her eyes still on wolf and grips a dagger in each hand. Derek immediately sees the daggers but he doesn't intervene since he knows that Avery is just protecting herself. Besides, it's not like his sister would attack.
The two girls face off and the second Cora finally realizes the daggers at Avery's side, her eyes glow brighter and she roars. Avery quickly stands and twirls the handles in her hands, stopping to grip them so that the blades are pointed downward. The second Cora lunges with claws, Avery sidesteps and positions her arms out in front of her, the blades by her outer forearms and dodging blows.
She really doesn't want to injure the wolf though it seems Cora is trying her hardest to injure her.
Derek immediately tenses before he runs around the table, freezing the second he sees the back of Avery's legs hit a chair which startles her. Cora sees her opening, slashes upward and catches Avery in the stomach.
Avery doesn't cry out or yelp in pain and she's not really surprised that Cora got her but when the she-wolf's claws snag in her shirt, Avery sees her opportunity and readjusts the daggers in her hand, bringing them out in front of her- one arm atop the other- and slicing outward across Cora's chest and stomach.
Cora does yelp in pain, stumbling backwards to touch at her wounds. Derek is still shocked that the two actually attacked each other and when he sees Cora gearing up from another attack, he roars. His eyes go alpha red with his fangs extended and Cora immediately freezes, shifting back to human form. When the threat is no longer, Avery relaxes and lets her arms go limp at her sides.
"Are you two crazy?!" He yells at them as he finally rushes forward and grabs his sister by her upper arm. "Avery is a friend of the Pack- not to mention protected by vampires and a hybrid." Cora's eyes subtly widen, the anger still there as she chances a look up at her brother. "She ends up severely hurt or dead and then we're all dead!" Cora opens her mouth to say something but the snarl from Derek has her snapping her mouth shut and turning her heated gaze back to Avery. "And you!" He rounds on Avery. "This is my little sister. You're not allowed to attack her."
"I didn't attack. I defended." Avery spits out, adrenaline still pumping. "Tell your little sister to keep her claws to herself and we won't have any more problems."
Derek scowls at the both of them, still angry but when his eyes dart down to Avery's stomach, she moves to cover up. "Where's my jacket? I'll be needing that so I can walk into my house without raising questions."
"Avery-"
"Don't." She seethes, cutting him off. "I'm not pack as Cora's already said and I'm not your little sister. I don't need to be babied. I can take care of myself."
Cora bristles at her words but Derek growls and grips her arm tighter as he stares down at her. His anger quickly slips into confusion as he takes in his sister's wounds that Avery inflicted upon her. "What did you cut her with? Why isn't she healing?"
Cora's angry scowl quickly darts down to her cuts, brows furrowing when she realizes she hasn't healed yet. "Did you poison the blade with wolfsbane?!" She growls as she realizes the cuts are stinging.
Avery sighs at the siblings, turning in circles in search of her belongings when she finds her jacket thrown on the sofa. She walks over and picks it up, slipping it on as Derek and Cora continue to prod at her wounds.
"Why isn't she healing?"
"I'm friends with vampires and werewolves." Avery mumbles as she zips up her jacket to hide her stomach. "Do you really think that I wouldn't befriend any witches along the way?" Both sets of eyes snap up to see Avery walking towards the door. "The blades are blessed by a High Priestess to prevent a supernatural being from healing straight away. Just be glad they're nicks and not stab wounds." She calls out over her shoulder. Before she can shut the door behind her, she looks up at the stunned siblings. "And Derek, think about what I said. It really is stupid of you to kick out your beta especially now since he's staying with Scott." And yeah, she knows it's a low blow since Stiles had filled her in one day when he told her that Scott wasn't officially part of Derek's pack because he was already an alpha of his own, or so Derek had said, even though he was still a beta. And when Derek's eyebrows raise at that bit of information, she feels a bit guilty but she needs him to open his eyes and see the bigger picture. "If you're not careful, D, Isaac might just join a new pack."
And with that, Avery shuts the door and takes the elevator back down to ground level. She doesn't bother with her phone as she gets in Stiles' jeep and heads to the nearest 7-11. She picks up a cherry slush to keep up appearances and a container of Pringles before deciding to head home.
..
..
Of course, as soon as she gets home, Stiles wonders what took her so long. She pushes pass the stinging pain in her stomach and prays that no blood is visible. She quickly lies about having had bought more snacks and eaten them before she even came home, and that was what had delayed her.
Stiles eyes her critically before shrugging and letting it go.
Once in the safety of her room, Avery makes sure to shut the door behind her and scurries to her mini-fridge. Grimacing when she feels the wounds pull, she manages to crouch down and reach towards the very back of her fridge where a hidden shelf holds vials. She quickly pulls one out, uncorks it, and downs the contents in one gulp. She gags at the taste but manages to keep it down and seconds later, she rushes to her desk and downs some of her slushie to get the taste out of her mouth.
The second her brain-freeze hits and one hand clutches at her head while the other covers her mouth, her bedroom door slams open and Stiles storms in with none other than Derek right behind him.
"Let me see it." Stiles demands, cheeks flushed in anger.
"See wha-"
"Dammit, Avery! Derek told me what happened. Now show me."
Avery narrows her gaze at Derek who doesn't look amused in the slightest. "You tattled on me? What are you, six?"
"My sister wanted to kill you." He dead-pans. "She would have killed you if you weren't skilled in fighting and since she's starting school with you, I have to inform someone of the little rumble between you so you two aren't alone when you eventually cross paths again."
"You're such a baby." Avery groans.
Stiles lunges forward, hand aiming for the zipper of Avery's jacket but she slaps his hands away. "Will you stop? I'm fine."
Derek rolls his eyes. "I can smell blood."
"Keep your nose to yourself, Sourpatch!"
"You're not fine. You got clawed by a werewolf." Stiles exasperates. "We need to clean it so it doesn't get infected and to make sure you don't need stitches."
"It's not infected and I don't need stitches. I've already taken care of it."
"Then prove it." Derek challenges her. "Show us that the wounds are okay and we'll leave you alone."
"You know, I don't think I approve of the two of you ganging up on me."
"Avery." Stiles presses.
"Okay, okay." She caves. "I don't even know why you're freaking out." She says as she unzips her jacket and slips it off. "I told you, I took care of it." Their eyes immediately fall to her stomach where blood soaked part of the white skull of her shirt and where Cora's claws ripped it open. She lifts up her shirt for them, smirking at their dumbfounded expressions when all they find is her blood-stained skin and the smooth planes of her stomach. "See? I took care of it."
"Wha- how?!" Stiles demands, his shocked gaze meeting his sister's gaze.
Avery snorts, turning to her desk and picking up the now empty vial she had drank from. "With this."
She tosses the vial to Stiles but it's Derek who catches it and examines it before sniffing curiously at it. "Blood?"
"Mhm."
"You drank blood?" Stiles' face contorts with disgust. "Gross."
"How would blood heal-" Derek stops mid-sentence, mind racing as he stares back down at the vial in his hands. "Vampire blood."
"Ding, ding, ding." Avery grins at him. "I have some stowed away for emergencies." She tells him. "And since I didn't want to worry Stiles or Scott, I drank some."
Derek tosses the vial back to her with a shake of his head. "Whatever." He says as he heads for her window. "I still have to inform Scott, Isaac, and Boyd of this. They're going to have to keep you two apart until you learn to behave in each other's presence."
"Please." Avery scoffs. "That's all your sister. I'm not looking for a fight unless it's to help take down those asshole alphas."
Derek leaves and when Avery turns her attention to Stiles, her brother immediately gathers her up in his arms. "I should be really pissed right now but I'm glad you're okay."
And wow- that kind of stung.
She almost wishes that he would be mad.
To shout at her getting into a scuffle with Cora.
To do something besides cling to her as if she's someone precious.
Out of the time that she's gotten to know her brother, she's never seen this side of him and it's actually scaring her to know someone cares this much when her life is constantly in danger.
Stiles really adores his sister, huh? :)
AND I'M SO SORRY FOR THE SHORTNESS OF THIS CHAPTER! I THOUGHT IT WOULD TURN OUT LONGER :(
Please drop a review so I know what you're thinking of this all.
