"Where have you been?" Allison's voice questioned from over the phone. "Is Stiles with you?" Arden frowned slightly, her green eyes narrowing.
"Stiles?" At the mention of his name the amber eyed boy glanced at her. "Yeah, he's standing right in-front of me why?" Arden never got an answer however because Stiles quickly snatched the phone and started chatting with the young Argent. Arden glared at him. "Wow, someone's a little grabby."
"Hey, sorry! Harris literally just let us out of detention. Literally. And he had my phone the whole frickin' time." He started to dig for his keys in his back pack, seeming unable to find them. "Wait, what guy?" Now Arden was extremely interested.
"What is she talking about?" She asked but Stiles shot her a look and continued his conversation with Allison. Now annoyed Arden roughly grabbed Stiles' backpack from him and quickly fished his keys out from the bottom, before shoving the bag back into his arms.
"They're sending him to the station for Isaac." Arden's emerald eyes widened, Stiles said something else but she missed it. Arden wasn't sure what Chris was thinking sending a hunter after a sixteen year old who had yet to harm anybody. "Yeah, wolfsbane." Seriously Chris? Stiles meet Arden's wide eyes."It means they're going to kill him."
"Okay, while we're on the way to pick up your little werewolf boyfriend you're going to answer some questions." Stiles basically commanded as he pulled out of the parking lot of Beacon Hills high school.
"Derek's not my boyfriend." Arden shot back, and it was true; even though they had kissed a few times, and were technically living with each other for the time being, they had yet to define their relationship and Derek didn't seem like the kind of guy who did that easily. Mostly likely Arden would help him with his current situation then he would push her away again just like he did four years ago, but it was something that Arden didn't want to think about.
"Whatever, your little werewolf acquaintance then." Arden rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone.
"What did you want to know?" Stiles seemed pleased with the slight breakthrough.
"What are you going to tell Allison?"
"That's a long story, and a little personal..." Arden grimaced, clearly uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, but Stiles sensed something else as well.
"Are you even willing to answer other questions that I'd ask?" Arden looked at him slightly hurt and confused, which led Stiles to quickly elaborate. "I mean you get pretty dodgy when we try to ask you things, like you're hiding something."
Arden sighed, thinking how to answer him. "I'm sorry about that, I haven't really had to answer to anybody the past couple of years, and not knowing you guys too well I didn't know how to respond. Besides that, sometimes my sarcasm can get the best of me." Stiles seemed to understand where she was coming from.
"How about we play twenty questions?" At this idea Arden sent him a genuine smile.
"Sure, you go first."
"Okay, we'll start out generic. Um, how about name and birthday?" Arden laughed the trill filling the car and Stiles felt a smile splitting his face.
"I was born on October 3, and my name is Arden Bane, which I think you already know."
"What, no middle name?" Arden grimaced again.
"I have one...It's just not something that I like to tell people."
"Why? Is it something terrible like Eunice?" Both Arden and Stiles chuckled lightly.
"No, nothing like that," Arden sighed. "It's Herne." Stiles stared at her slightly baffled.
"Herne? Like hunter Celtic God Herne?"
"Yeah, you could say that my parents really enjoyed their jobs." Another grimace, and Stiles couldn't help but smile softly at her.
"It's okay, it's really not that bad, trust me. I've been on the horrible name bandwagon my whole life."
"What do you mean?"
"Stiles isn't my real first name, it's just something I decided I wanted to be called when I was younger." Arden couldn't help but smile and laugh at his quirky attitude.
"What's your real name then?" Stiles made a sound that even Arden's highly trained ears strained to hear. Arden narrowed her emerald eyes and leaned closer to him.
"Did you just sneeze?" A scarlet red blush tinted Stiles' pale cheeks, and realizing that he was just as uncomfortable with the topic of his name as she was when it came to the discussion that she was going to have with Allison she quickly changed the topic. "So my turn, favorite color?" The question was simple, but it was the first thing to fly out of her brain.
"Um, probably blue." Arden nodded. "Question three, how long have you known Derek?" If Stiles had been watching Arden close enough and not paying attention to the road he would have noticed her posture stiffen slightly.
"I've known Derek for as long as I've been alive. My family and me used to live just a few minutes away from the Hale house. We didn't like each other at first though."
"Really?" Now, learning about her past, Stile's seemed more intrigued.
"Yeah," Arden replied through a laugh. "Derek's about four years older than me and when I was about four and he was eight our parents forced us to have a play date together. Let's just say that things didn't go too well..."
"What do you mean things didn't go well? Did you guys not get along?"
"You could say that..." Arden squeezed her eyes shut for a second. "He cut off one of my pigtails and so in retaliation I punched him the face." Stiles' booming laugh was all that was heard for the next minute. "So...How long have you known Scott?" Stiles didn't fail to notice her attempt to change the subject.
"We met in kindergarten so since we were about five."
"Why are you back in Beacon Hills? Allison mentioned something about you living in New York." Stiles asked as he turned onto the street that Isaac lived on. Arden nodded, her hands fiddling with the ends of her hair slightly.
"I've lived in New York since Allison moved here, I only came back because Derek asked me too." It was quiet for a second as they pulled up in front of Isaac's beat-down home, and Arden could help but cringe and feel despair as she tried to imagine the life the Isaac had there. The silence continued as Stiles texted Scott to let him know they were there. A moment later Derek was walking out the front door of the house, and Stiles noticed the way that Arden looked at him.
"You would do a lot for him, wouldn't you?" Stiles question was gentle. Arden was quiet for another moment before answering him softly.
"I would die for him."
"Okay," Stiles spoke as the trio pulled up to the Beacon County Sheriff's Department. "The keys to all the cells are in a protected lock-box in my father's office. The problem is getting past the front desk." Arden nodded glancing up at the lady that worked the desk before continuing to ruffle through the black duffle bag that Derek had handed her when he got in the car. Before they left Isaac's house she had shifted to sit in the back seat so she had more room to discreetly arm herself with the weapons in the bag. Slipping a long knife into the inside of her left boot she was finished; she had a total of five knifes hidden on her body: one in each boot, one up each sleeve of her leather jacket, and one, under her clothes, strapped to her back at the shoulders, in addition to that she had a small retractable cross bow attached there as well. Believe it or not this was light arms for Arden. She doubted that she would need all of it, Isaac shouldn't be too terrible to control with the right tactics, but it was the addition of the hunter that Gerard was sending to the station that had her on edge.
"I'll distract her." Derek said like it was no big deal, beginning to unbuckle his seat-belt. Arden stuck her head in-between the seats in order to feel more apart of the conversation.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You?" Stiles exclaimed reaching an arm across the counsel to hold Derek back in his seat. "You're not going in there!" Derek looked down at the arm the Stiles had placed across his chest then looked up at Stiles, and Arden couldn't help but chuckle softly while Derek looked like he was about to disconnect the arm from Stiles' pale body. Stiles seemed to notice the look too. "I'm taking my hand off," he said hastily retracting the appendage.
"I was exonerated." Arden raised her eyebrows, her lips pursed slightly; so this is where the conversation is going.
"You're still a person of interest." Stiles barked back and Arden had to give him some credit for standing his ground.
"An innocent person of interest."
"You guys we really should-" Arden tried to intervene and tell them that Isaac didn't have much time left but they ignored her.
"An- you? Yeah! Right!" Arden rolled her eyes at their childish behavior and huffed, slumping back in the back seat. "Okay, fine. What's your plan?"
"To distract her." Derek stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Uh-huh? How?" Their behavior towards each other was starting to get on Arden's nerves. They can bicker later, we need to be worrying about how to get Isaac out. "By punching her in the face?" Derek laughed a mocking laugh.
"By talking to her."
"Okay alright. Give me a sample. What're you going to open with?" At this point Arden had resorted to banging her head against the back window. Derek simply continued to stare at Stiles. "Dead silence. That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?"
Derek shrugged his shoulders. "Thinking about punching you in the face."
"Want to know what I'm thinking about?" Arden almost shouted from the back seat, causing both boys' heads to snap around to look at her in surprise. "Yeah I'm still here, in the back seat." She spat sarcastically. "I think that I'm going to punch both of you and go save Isaac myself because your bickering isn't helping anything! Now both of you get your asses out of this damn car before I castrate both of you!" Seconds later the were in front of the Sheriff's department and Arden was smirking smugly to herself.
"So what exactly is our plan?" Stiles whispered as Derek walked up to the front desk.
"We sneak past while Derek's talking to her, get the keys from your dad's office and then you let me deal with Isaac." Stiles just looked at her.
"Oh yeah? And just exactly how do you plan to deal with the six feet of brand new werewolf in there?" Arden rolled her eyes at his tone and flashed him a sliver of the knife she had hidden in her left sleeve.
"Just trust me alright?" Stiles' eyes bulged out of his head.
"What is with you and knives?" Arden turned her head and ignored him as she slowly started to make her way to the door next to the front desk. The only thing heard being Derek's obnoxiously flirting. When both teens had made it past the door Arden mimed sticking a finger down her throat and gagging; Stiles laughed quietly in response.
"Seriously. Disgusting." Arden whispered, but smiled because she knew Derek could hear her.
"Okay here we are," Stiles said as they entered his father's dark office. "The lock box should be right over here." Stiles fumbled with the box for few seconds.
"Stiles?" Arden whispered concerned. "What's the matter? We have to hurry."
"It's not here." He mumbled confused. Arden's eyes widened when she realized what that meant.
"Shit." Without waiting for Stiles she burst down the hall heading to where she figured the cells would be. Suddenly without warning and with Stiles right behind her she ran right into someone; specifically a bleeding man dressed in a deputy's uniform. "Double shit." She mumbled.
She quickly pushed Stiles behind her before he could say anything. Arden gulped, as she looked down at the man's leg to see the front end of an arrow sticking out of it, and blood leaking to the floor. Recognizing the arrow after a second she had to struggle to keep a smile off her face. Good shot Allison. Taking a chance and looking up at the man's face she was surprised to see that she recognized him, having run into him a few times while hunting with Chris or Kate. Now she only hoped that he didn't recognize her.
"Hey there pal. Ran into an angry hunter without a permit? Man that sucks, I'm sorry." Unable to stop herself from talking Arden could only smile sweetly after and try to look as innocent as possible. Please don't recognize me...Please don't recog-
"Hey, you're Chris' niece aren't you? The Bane girl." SHIT. Before Arden could reply or retaliate the man had his gun out of his belt and against her forehead.
"Holy shit." Stiles squeaked. Spinning Arden so her back was now press against the front of his body the hunter turned to look at Stiles.
"Now you better listen to me boy. I don't know what the pair of you are doing here but you're not going to get in the way of justice ya' hear?" Arden scoffed loudly and as a result the gun was pressed tighter against her head, the wolfsbane needle now positioned at her throat and the arm holding it trapped her to him. "You're the Sheriff's boy aren't you? Lead me to the cells." Arden met Stiles' gaze and noticed that he looked scared and concerned for her, so she smiled softly at him and mouthed that she was fine.
"Just do as he says Stiles." She murmured softly, and it was a second before he nodded his head and started off down the hall.
As they rounded the corner outside the cell block, Stiles still in front of them, Arden spotted a fire alarm lever on the wall and knew that it was her chance to strike. Taking a depth breath Arden collected her thoughts before she threw her head back straight into the hunter's face, feeling the satisfying crack of his nose breaking. The hunter wailed in pain, the agony of his injury causing him to drop the gun which Arden swiftly kicked towards Stiles, but he managed to hold onto the syringe of wolfsbane. Lunging forward, Arden was just able to pull the bright red lever, before the hunter slammed into her sending her stumble a foot or two into Stiles, efficiently knocking him down, as the three of them stood in the entrance of the cell block. In a fit of rage he grabbed a fist full of her hair, causing her to gasp in surprise, before driving the needle fully into the soft, tender flesh of her neck.
Stiles' wide golden eyes met Arden's, as he looked on helplessly from his spot on the floor as the hunter injected three fourths of the wolfsbane into her bloodstream. A scream tore it's way from her pale lips as she trashed in the man's arms, her eyes flashing purple as they once again met Stiles'. He felt sick to his stomach as he watched on paralyzed as she writhed in pain. Never before had he felt so helpless. Suddenly out of nowhere Isaac, completely wolfed out, tackled the hunter to the floor; Arden falling out of his arms to the floor close to Stiles. Now able to move Stiles scrambled over to her and gathered the brunette girl into his arms, sitting her across his lap.
"Ar-Are you okay?" He asked worried as he pushed her bangs away from her forehead. Arden nodded swiftly still gasping for air as she curled in closer to Stiles, who instinctively held her tighter and let her rest her head in the crook of his neck. She had frightened him beyond belief; first when the hunter put his gun to her head, and now when she had been in so much pain. He had only known the girl for about two days but he already felt incredibly protective, and attached to her. He had never acted like this with a girl, only dreamt about it with Lydia, but he was starting to find that Arden was special.
"Hi-Hide behind the desk," Arden mumbled into Stiles' collar as Isaac continued to struggle with the hunter. "It would be better for us if Isaac doesn't see us once he's done with him." Stiles nodded fiercely and quickly moved them to sit behind the desk. A loud crack was heard as Isaac broke the man's arm, and was followed by a thud as he banged his head into the concrete wall. "Man he's not having a very good day." Arden chuckled lightly as she wobbled her way out of Stiles' embrace. Isaac, now having knocked the hunter unconscious decided it would be a good time to notice they were still in the room. Stiles was shocked that she was joking and now trying to walk after what she'd been through.
"What are you-" Arden cut him off with a raise of her hand as she made her way slowly to stand in front of Isaac; she was weak and shaky from the wolfsbane, but she had to do this. His now golden eyes were filled with panic, and his breathing was erratic. He was running on pure instinct right now.
"I-Isaac?" She murmured softly, trying to maintain eye contact. "It's me Ard-" She was cut off when Isaac darted his arms out his clawed hands clamping onto her forearms before dragging her into his embrace. Stiles gasped and it was clear that he thought Isaac was going to hurt her, but Isaac had different plans. He whimpered slightly as he placed a hand as gently as he could on the back of her head and forced her to rest her forehead against his chest. Bringing one hand to clench the sweaty material of his t-shirt Arden pushed herself closer to him as she started to run a hand through his tousled hair. "Shh, Isaac you're okay. You're going to be fine."
"D-Did he hu-hurt y-you?" He stuttered as Arden's eyes widened. He had been protecting her. When he tackled the hunter he did it to protect her. She was amazed that during his first full moon Isaac was able to keep his thoughts straight enough to realize she was in trouble and help her.
"I'm okay now." She once again stepped closer into his arms, their breathing both shallow, forgetting momentarily that Stiles was in the room. "You saved me Isaac, you saved me." They stood there for a second before the sound of glass breaking caused Isaac to tense up. Looking up through her fringe Arden saw that Derek had entered the room and had stomped on what was remaining of the wolfsbane. Sensing Derek as a threat he wrapped Arden tightly in his arms almost to the point where it hurt and started to grow fiercely at Derek; he was protecting what he saw as his: Arden. Derek looking over at Arden and seeing that she was in no danger but realizing he had to get the situation under control before anyone came in he let out a loud growl towards Isaac his eyes flashing red. Seeming to snap out of his transformation he let go of Arden and stumbled backwards sitting on the floor against the wall; his eyes once again blue in color, and sweat drenching his face as he cowered on the floor.
"How did you do that?" Stiles questioned as he stood up from his position behind the desk. Derek simply glanced at him.
"I'm the alpha." Both Arden and Stiles scoffed slightly. "Are you okay?" Derek asked moving to stand closer to her. Arden rolled her emerald eyes that now looked a bit more lively.
"Everyone needs to stop asking me that. I'm not a china doll!" Derek rolled his eyes back at her.
"We need to get Isaac back home before he hurts anybody else." Arden nodded.
"You go on and I'll stay here with Stiles, make sure nothing goes bad on this end. I'll meet up with you guys when everything is taken care of." Derek nodded giving her a soft look before shuffling Isaac out of the cell block. Isaac turned to look over Derek's shoulder and Arden shot him one last comforting smile.
"So that was a wild ride wasn't it?" Stiles looked at her like she was crazy as she sat on the ground next to the cell.
Several moments later Stiles' dad entered the block flanked by two real deputies. He stood in the entrance as he took in the scene before him. Isaac's cell empty, the metal door completely mangled, the unconscious and beat-up "deputy" in laying on the floor and his son standing stupidly in the middle of the room.
"Uh, uh, he did it." Stiles said as he pointed a finger at the hunter on the floor. While saying this the ever-hyper boy shuffled about on his feet and moving out from in front of Arden drew the Sheriff's attention to her. His eyes widened as he took in the girl sitting cross-legged next to the once occupied cell.
"Arden? Arden Bane?" A sheepish smile found its way to Arden's face.
"Hey there Papa Stilinski."
Hey guys, so the first person that can tell me what the "She's The Man" reference is you'll get a shout out next chapter. Three reviews for the next chapter please that would put us at 21 reviews. Thank you! xx