Derek
I took Lena into a nearby garden. Tonight was the night I was going to tell her what I actually was. But I couldn't just tell her, I wanted to show her. I planned on just talking to her until it got dark, then I would say I am going to get something, then when she calls out my name several times, I'll appear behind her as a werewolf. Once she starts screaming—as she should—I would shift back and tell her it was me all along. Hopefully she doesn't run away and dump me.
I lead her into the middle of the garden, where there are cement pillars standing in a big rectangle, each pillar was covered in vines, so it made the garden have a jungle effect. I thought this would be a good place to stop and talk. Phase one begins.
"Let's stop here," I say, sitting down in the grass. I pat the ground next to me, signaling her to do the same.
"These are new shorts and I don't want grass stains on them, so I'm just going to sit on this rock."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously. I'm not like you who wears all black all the time."
"That's not true. I am wearing a gray shirt tonight." I unzip my leather jacket and show her the color of my shirt. She leans forward to get a closer look, since the sun was setting fast and growing darker by the moment.
"Wow," she says, "that's impressive." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice and I cock and eyebrow at her. She smiles and looks away.
It was now pitch black, darkness had engulfed the world around us, it was now time to show her who I truly was.
"Hey, Lena," I say, rising from the ground.
She looks up at me, "Yeah?"
"I'm going to get something really fast, okay? I'll be right back."
She grabs onto my jacket sleeve as I start to turn away. I look at her hand, gripping my arm and then at her. She quickly pulls back her arm, holding it against her chest. She looks away from me and I begin to walk away. Once she thinks I'm out of earshot I hear her say, "Please, God, bring him back. Please keep me safe. Please don't let anything happen to either of us. Please." I crinkle up my eyebrows, but I couldn't stop my plan now. I had to go through with it.
I wait in the darkness for a little while, so it would look like I was actually getting something from somewhere. I watch her, sitting on the rock, twiddling her thumbs, and looking around every other second. I'm holding a stick, and I decide it's time to snap it so she knows someone or rather something is here. I break it in half and she hears it, automatically sitting up straight, alarmed by the sound. "Derek," I hear her call quietly, "is that you?" I don't answer. I start to walk around the pillars, shuffling my feet. "Derek?" she says quietly now. I hear her heart begin to beat faster. "Who's there?" I don't answer. "Hello?" She's crying.
I start to run; I pass her, catching a glimpse of her face. She's pale. I keep running. I can't stop now, I can't. I shift. Lena starts to run, but she doesn't know where, just somewhere. She wants to get out. I have to get to her. I am still running outside of the pillars, but I start to get ahead and then, we met. I stop her dead in her tracks. I can feel her heart about to leap out of her chest. She screams a blood curdling scream as she looks at my face. I didn't even have enough time to shift back before she was on the ground… passed out.
"Lena?" I am by her side, her left arm crossed over her body. I grab her left hand and listen for a pulse. She's alive. "Lena, Lena can you hear me? Lena?" she groans a little bit. "Lena, wake up." A tear rolls down my face. I didn't mean to do this to her. I didn't want this to happen to her. How could I have known? "Lena," I whisper, "Lena come on, wake up." She groans again, rolling herself on her back, flinging her arm over her limp body.
"Derek?" her eyes flutter open.
"Lena!" I situate her body so she's leaning up against mine.
"Derek, you should have seen what I just saw. It had fangs and pointy ears and claws and its eyes," she turns her head so she's looking into my eyes, "they were red. This may sound odd, but it looked like a werewolf."
"Lena—"
"I know, I sound crazy," she repositions herself, rubbing against me, "werewolves don't exist."
"Lena," I say standing up. She looks at me, leaning back on her arms. "You don't sound crazy."
"Yes, I do," she says laughing.
"No, you don't," I say as I shift.
She gasps, then covers her mouth. She gets up from the ground slowly, I expect her to run away and tell the whole town about me, but she doesn't. She walks towards me, then stops about 6 inches from me. I turn my face away from her. I feel so exposed. Lena gently rests her hand on my chin, slowly turning my face towards her.
We stare at each other until she smiles and whispers, "What I didn't tell you before was, I've always thought werewolves were hot."
I chuckle a little bit, my body loosening from being so tense before. Then she stops smiling and looks at the ground. My heart sinks. "It's okay if you don't want to date a werewolf," I say to her.
"No, Derek, I'm not just going to leave you just because you showed me who you are. It's not like you go around killing everyone." Her head raises, "Do you?"
"I've never killed anyone," I reply.
She lets out a big breath of air, "Thank God!"
"Then what's wrong if you're not upset about me being a werewolf?"
"I haven't told you everything you exactly need to know about me."
She sits down on the ground, looking up at me. I take a seat next to her.
"You know that my father died when I was three, correct?" I nod. "Well, I didn't tell you how he died." Her face turns dark, her heart beats slower, she's afraid of telling me something. I grab her hand to comfort her. She looks at me and goes on. "He was like a spy or something for the U.S. government, I am not sure exactly what he was, or even did because it was so confidential. Well, once he had to go on a special mission in Italy, which is where he grew up and everything, he even had a dual citizenship. The mission went smoothly, he came back without a problem, but about a week later, Italy figured out he was a spy for the U.S. They sent over men to get rid of him." A tear fell down her cheek when she said this, but she quickly wiped it away. "It was the middle of the night and some of them came into our house through my parents' windows, but there were two who came into Bella Luca's and my windows. They were dressed in all black and carried big army guns. They either didn't speak English or didn't want to. I, only being three, my Italian wasn't very good at that point. They were pointing their guns at us in our beds and screaming, 'Bambine ottengono nell'armadio!' Luckily, my sister, who was 13 at the time, knew it ment, 'Little girls, get in the closet!' She carried me out of my bed and into our small little closet. The last thing I remember in the man in black closing the closet door on us and then a gun shot went off.
"When my mother came to retrieve us, my father was dead. Police were everywhere in our house. They asked my mother and sister questions as I sat on my bed, crying. Mr. Stilinski was there and noticed me crying, he came into my room, pulled me on his lap, and started to talk to me.
"I wasn't exactly okay after that day. I was always jumpy, expecting someone to come after me with a gun, saying I was the next to die. I would have horrible night terrors that would leave me waking up in a cold sweat. When I was nine, Bella Luca thought I should get psychiatric help. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. It's been several years now and even though I'm not as bad as I used to be, I am still fighting this disorder every day. In fact, I pepper sprayed Stiles today." She looks down and plays with her rings. "So that's me."
"Lena—"
"Trust me, if there was a way to make this go away, I would jump on it in a heartbeat."
I thought about The Bite and how it could possibly cure her disorder, but I wasn't about to risk her life so she could be normal, I was falling in love with her. So, I bit my tongue about it.
"Lena," I push back a strand of her hair, "we both have our quirks and your disorder, I don't find a problem with it. I'm here to protect you, remember? I will always be here for you." With that, I press my lips onto hers and kiss her, hard and passionately. She didn't care that I was a werewolf and I didn't care that she would most likely pepper spray me every so often.
