See Chapter 1 for all warnings.
To Save Them All
11
School is a disaster for the teachers, with the discovery of the second half of Laura's body, and the new information that she was murdered and the whole thing was staged to look like an animal attack, the school pretty much gives up on maintaining any lessons and frankly the teachers are as bad, if not worse, at this gossiping thing.
A curfew has been set for everyone in the town, other than people that have to work the night shift, and of course all the kids are now going to break the curfew for kicks, just because they can.
Rolling my eyes at the idiocy going on around me I tune back into the cute-fest of Scott and Allison as they do dumb love bird stuff. If I wasn't a werewolf I'd be worried about tooth decay from sitting too close to them.
Surprisingly they are sticking to the curfew, mostly because I've pointed out they can still be close and skype each other, without putting their loved one at risk, and I may have used the argument that they don't want each other wandering around in the dark if there's a serial killer on the loose. They bought it and will be safe enough for a while.
During a free period I may sneak off and hack the school computer systems which are so archaic and old they might as well be from the stone age, the search engine algorithms are so basic I want to bang my head on the table, Jesus how did I get anything done back then. Urgh it's a miracle we survived at all.
In the end I do get my hands on Garrison Myer's address, he works at the school as a driver so it's not that hard to get, though the video store clerk and the two thugs are a bit harder. I also swipe Mr's Harris' while I'm here too.
Hopefully Peter is off refining his plans, I got a text from dad saying they've arrested the nurse, so Jennifer is now in for questioning, Derek's in to identify his sister's body, and he will hopefully keep his mouth shut about burying his sister's body and not get himself arrested this time around.
All in all, things are going great.
Tonight I'll start hunting down and terrorising the people involved, Kate will have heard about the goings on and the moment the name Hale pops up she'll come running to 'help' her brother clear things up.
Smiling to myself I sneak back to where I'm supposed to be to find a group of kids in a circle being nasty little sons of bitches to some poor soul, they're jeering and laughing at their victim, and I think one of the little fuckers is videoing the whole thing. God kids are horrible creatures sometimes and I breathe in sharply to find out who they're bullying…
… And I know that scent, just in passing, but I know it.
It's Erika.
For a few seconds my vision bleeds red and all I want to do is rip those shits a new one with my claws, I want to rend them apart and paint the walls with their innards. Clutching a desk for dear life I try to shove my anger down, slaughtering them won't help any of us in the long run, no matter how good it would make me feel.
The desk cracks in my hands and there are large holes where my claws punched through the wood. Concentrating on those I force my breathing to slow and when I'm fairly sure I'm under control I stride towards the group of jackals.
"Hey!" I elbow my way in and I don't hold back on the strength, I don't care if I hurt them right now. "What the hell are you doing?" On the floor poor Erika is having another epilepsy fit, "Jesus, someone get a teacher and call for an ambulance…"
"Do it yourself," one of the kids says, he's holding his phone so he can catch Erika's fit on it and probably post it on You Tube later.
"Fine," I huff and flee the room using my new agility to dodge the desks, then I sprint straight to the Principal's office and fake panting from running, "Ambulance, you need to call an ambulance, Erika Reyes is having a fit, the kids," I sob slightly, "God they're just videoing her and trying to make it worse with flashing lights and…"
The secretary is already on the phone and the Principal himself is suddenly there, I lead him straight to the classroom while someone fetches the nurse. With a figure of authority behind me the kids scatter, slowly, and it's slowly enough the man can identify each and every one of Erika's tormentors, he probably won't be able to stop them, or be able to punish them very much but it's something.
Erika's sobbing on the floor and I don't think about it as I kneel on the floor in front of her, the worst of her fit is over, but I can smell she's peed herself, and the kids will never let her forget that, "Erika," I grab her hand, "Breathe Erika," frantically I check her out, but I've never had to deal with epilepsy before, bullet wounds and blood, sure, lots of times, but this is something new and I don't want to fuck it up.
It's also making me remember the library and when she was caught by one of Jackson's claws, she had a fit similar to epilepsy then, Derek was forced to break her arm to kick start her healing, only she's not a werewolf now.
Her hand tightens on mine and I kneel there uselessly murmuring her name and telling her that she's safe, which is a blatant lie, the kids that harass her are still here, in a few days she'll have to face them again.
The nurse comes running into the room, the ambulance has been called and will be here soon. She checks Erika over and doesn't make me leave, she lets me stay and hold Erika's hand. And then the ambulance is here and I'm not allowed to follow, though Erika turns her head enough I can see her staring at me as they wheel her out, and then she's gone. Great now I'll have to make time to go see her in hospital and make sure she's okay.
Damn it.
I feel like a failure, I'm handling Peter and the whole murderous werewolf vs arsonist Hunters better than this.
Shit.
Scrubbing my hand over my face I ignore the kids whispering around me until the sound of nails on wood gets my attention. Lydia Martin is standing next to the ruined desk and running her fingers over it, it's obvious she can see the damage I did to it and she's frowning, that's not good, that's not good at all.
When she turns away to talk to Jackson, "Jackson, look at this," I have to improvise and throw a spell to repair the damage, her immunity screws it up but I fix enough of the desk so that there's only a slight crack along it and no claw marks at all, "The desk Jackson."
"Babe?" Jackson is being his normal dick self and he dismisses her, "It's a desk Lydia, and it's cracked, this place should invest in some new ones."
"What?" Is said under her breath and she looks around the room to catch me staring at her, I wave and give her a big goofy grin, she stiffens and snuggles into Jackson as she dismisses me.
Well that was too close.
Giving up on school I go home with Erika's stuff and snag my armour, putting it on underneath my clothes I go to the hospital, I'll visit Erika and make sure she's okay before I go and scare the crap about of Myer.
Erika's parents are standing outside of the room I was told Erika was in and they just look so broken and depressed, they were ecstatic about her miracle cure the first time around, they started planning things they could do as a family but never could because of her epilepsy, they wanted her to experience the world. And then she died and they only had parts of their little girl to bury. The funeral was depressing as hell and I've never forgotten it.
"Hey Mr and Mrs Reyes, is Erika up for visitors?" I do my best polite teen impression, it rarely fools anyone. I hold up her bag, "I brought her things from school for her."
"And you are?" Mr Reyes is glaring at me like this is all my fault.
"Stiles, Stiles Stilinski," and at the mention of my surname Mr Reyes relaxes.
"I'll ask if she'll see you," he gives his wife another hug and vanishes into Erika's room, she's surprised when she hears I'm here but tells him to let me in. "Okay, but five minutes and no upsetting her," he warns me and I slip into her room after promising to be good.
"Hey Erika," I saunter up to her bed, she's a mess, she looks exhausted, her hair is bedraggled and even birds wouldn't nest in it, but she's alive and that's good enough for me. "I brought your things for you."
"Thank you," her voice is meek and she won't quite look at me.
Screw it, I drag a chair over and plonk myself down by her bedside, glancing around I find a conversation point, "So TV's bust then, or aren't you allowed to watch this close to recovering from an attack, 'coz I know when Scott has an asthma attack we have to do special stuff for him 'til his body can bounce back. Though for him it's more sit quietly and keep breathing so TV's kind a good choice for that, hey you could totally read a book, but maybe that strains your eyes, sorry I don't know anything about how epilepsy works, so maybe you could get talking books, you know listen to a book. It'll give you something to do while you recover and you won't get so bored, because laying in a bed for hours without anything to do? Urgh hell…"
I babble on and fill the silence because I've always been good at that and when Mr Reyes tells me it's time for the doctors to come around again I bounce to my feet and reach out to squeeze Erika's hand, "I hope you feel better soon Erika, take care, okay?"
She nods and has that 'I've been Stilesed' look, her eyes are glazed and she's still trying to keep up with the conversation, "Okay see you round Erika," I breeze out of her room and wave when I get to the door. I thank her parents for letting me visit and start on my journey to go get Myer to give himself up when a hand comes out of nowhere and suddenly my ear is grabbed.
"Stiles," its Scott's mom, "What are you up to now?" Wow she always did assume the worst about me.
"I'm here visiting Erika Reyes and bringing her stuff to her, she left it behind in the school after her fit, ow, ear, ow," I wiggle but she's not letting go.
"I hope you weren't making fun of her…" She threatens me.
"NO! God no, it'd be like making fun of Scott for having asthma, seriously my ear…" And she lets me go with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, I know you and Scott are always getting in trouble," I'm offended by that accusation, we don't get into trouble, trouble finds us, occasionally we help it along, "But you've never made fun of him for having asthma, and I know you've shelved some of your more crazy plans because he can't always keep up, or he's having a bad day. I should know better than to think you'd pick on Erika like that."
As apologies go it's not bad, "Yeah, people shouldn't be picked on because of things they can't control, except idiot bullies for some reason can't see them for the awesome person they are."
"No they can't," she smiles at me and pats my shoulder, "Now don't forget about the curfew, I'll walk you to your car, and you go straight home, okay?"
"Okay," I smile and nod and inwardly seethe. I even wave to her as I drive off and curse under my breath, now I'll have to run all the way from my house to get to Myer's house.
Damn it.
At least Erika's alright though. Now all I have to do is come up with a plan to get back at her bullies.
A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, I've tried to catch those I could, but I'm only human.
Again thank you for all reviews and follows :)
