Chapter 24:
Audrey Mendler
The next morning, Audrey didn't expect to find Derek still here, beside her all warm and cuddled up as his arms locked her in place. She thought he left the moment she fell asleep, but guess he didn't want to. She felt something that no one could explain except her and Derek. She felt like she was actually safe home.
As she tried to pry herself off him, she gave up. He was just too strong and trying to pull him away only made him tighten his arm around her. He groaned, "Five more minutes."
Audrey smiled as she pulled Derek into a lingering kiss, causing him to wake up a little bit more. He opened his eyes and smirked, "Okay, fine. If that's how you're going to wake me up every morning then I'm up for it."
"What do you mean every morning?" Audrey asked, "You still kind of scared the crap out of me when you snuck into my bedroom. How did you even know I live here?"
"I saw you walk on your way to school, remember?"
Audrey gave him a confused look. She didn't remember any of that. She suppressed a small chuckle, "Um no. I don't."
Derek realized her confusion and suddenly felt stupid. His old self drove her to school, not him. He suddenly panicked, but went with the flow. He said slowly, "Uh, that's because I forgot to say something. . . I didn't know if it was really you, but then I saw you come home one day while I was with, uh, Scott and Stiles."
Audrey just nodded, snuggling into him more as the breeze from the air-conditioning blew throughout the room. Derek encaged her with his arms again as their legs tangled under the sheets, and he tucked his chin on top of her temple. As they listened to the soft silence, with little birds chirping inaudibly in the background, Audrey tried to savor every sensational moment this time consumed. Suddenly, there were soft noises of feet shuffling down the staircase, doors opening, and actions in the kitchen being made. Audrey groaned, knowing there was no going back to a peaceful sleep. She hid her head in the covers as he heard Derek chuckling lowly in amusement.
"I think I should go." Derek said as he untangled himself from Audrey and lifting himself off the duvet and mattress. He stretched his arms, showing off his god-given body. Oh my lord, Audrey thought inside her head.
"I'll text you?" Audrey asked as she slowly uncovered herself from the sheets. She picked up her clothes off the floor.
"More like I'll call you," Derek said, planting a kiss on her forehead, "I always love hearing your voice. But right now, put some clothes on, okay? It irritates me when people see you like this."
Audrey laughed, trying to hold back how loud it was at his ludicrous statement. She shook her head, "No one has ever seen me like this. Only you."
Derek's smile grew into a smolder as his cheeks blushed crimson. He opened the terrace sliding door and stepped onto the platform railing of her balcony, swinging his leg over. He then looked at her and pulled on a soft, yet serious look, "I will call you."
"Okay."
She followed him out the door, watching him climb down the vines onto the pool area until there was no longer a sight of him. Then, she began to freshen up a bit and go downstairs, meeting her sister making breakfast. Well, what she could make of breakfast. None of them were the best chefs in town. On the table was toast with a side of jam and better, waffles (made from the toaster), and surprisingly, some eggs.
"Morning." Amber greeted groggily with a small smile on her face. The atmosphere felt normal again. . . Kind of.
"Good morning, Sissy." Audrey greeted as she took a piece of toast and a butter knife, choosing jam as her topping. She went to the fridge, fishing for those raspberries she had been craving for a little while.
"Sleep well?" Amber asked, "I made scrambled eggs."
"I can see. Are you sure? Or did you secretly zap those there or something?"
"Okay maybe I lied," Amber conceded, "I didn't make them, but at least they're there, so might as well." She took a fork and scooped some from the pan for her own.
Audrey sat down on the counter island, eyeing Amber as she takes a bite of her toast. Her eyebrows rose in curiosity, "Then who made it?"
"Jance." Amber replied.
"That's right." His voice echoed from the hallway. He sauntered in nonchalantly, greeting everyone with a heart-warming grin. Now, it felt just like the old days, except without Violet and Garrett anymore.
"What are you doing here?" Audrey snipped, the back of her hair bristled.
Jance narrowed his eyes and sighed, "Audrey, look–"
"What are you doing here?" Audrey repeated.
"He's here to help us practice." Amber replied for him. She finished her plate of eggs and stuck it into the dishwasher. Standing beside him, they both flashed Audrey impishly smiles. Now that Audrey viewed it, she can't compare the differences between Amber and Jance. They were both acting like the same person, a different person. Amber added firmly, "You're coming with."
"Why?" Audrey asked.
"Because," Amber looped an arm around her, dragging her closer to them, "we're going to teach you how to control your shifter powers. But first, you need to know and learn your aim. Jance and I will help you with that."
"What do you mean by Jance and you? Is he a shifter, too?"
Jance sighed and stepped forward to Audrey, still leaving a proximity of space for her comfort. He spoke softly, "I was going to tell you once you were getting the symptoms, but you never told me when you were having them." Audrey looked away, but Jance gently tugged on her to face him, "Audrey, look I'm sorry about what I did to you. I know it was uncalled for, and it was out-right disrespectful of me, but–"
"You practically abused me." Audrey muttered coldly.
Jance pursed his lips, "I know. But, I was doing that to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" Audrey crossed her arms. What could he possibly protect me from by dragging me like a stuffed animal? She thought. Jance's little sorry speech was beginning to become frivolous. It was just a waste of time.
"From Liam." Jance said sternly.
Audrey looked at him as if he had two heads. But, then again, it did kind of make sense since Liam is a werewolf. But right now, no one knows that Audrey knows. If that made sense. Audrey fished through her mind for an excuse.
"Okay, I get it," Audrey exaggerated, "I get it he has I.E.D., but that doesn't mean he was gonna take it out on me."
"No, that's not what I mean," Jance shook his head, "I mean, yeah, that could've happened, but no, that's not what I meant. He's not just a human, Audrey. He's a monster."
At that moment, Audrey understood why Liam hated himself. He was always so afraid of everyone because revealing himself would lead to comments like these. At first, she thought that Liam said he was a monster because he just thought he was. But, hearing it from someone else's mouth made it seem like it had been said one too many times. She frowned, "Is this why you told me to stay away from him? Because he's a monster? Jance, look at yourself."
"We're all monsters, Audrey." He replied.
Amber strolled up next to him, laying an arm around his shoulders as she leaned her head on his, "He's right, you know."
Audrey glared at Amber, surprised by her churlish remark, "You're supporting him? Why? Are you guys together or something?"
"Yes." "No!" They both replied in sync. The two then looked at each other confused. "Yes." "Yes?"
"I guess yes." Jance replied innocently.
Amber rolled her eyes and stated, "Yes, we're together. Aren't you two over each other?'
"Yes." Audrey said, but Jance's reply was the opposite. Audrey shot him a piercing look, causing him to shrink back slightly in fear.
Amber shrugged, "Guess things were meant to take another toll."
Audrey became harrowed at the current situation. She thought Amber was her sister, and older replica of her, with more experience to life. And going through enough, she thought Amber would have the smart brain to learn from her and everyone else's actions. But right now, she was just giving herself the road to malice and hell.
"You know what, let's just go and practice already," Audrey said as she padded up the stairs to get ready, "I want to know more about my power and it seems you two have the answers. Show me, and then I'll leave you two to. . . whatever it is you guys do."
And, it was back to square two between her and Amber. She officially hated her.
As soon as everyone was ready, the three drove out to a place secluded— the woods. Audrey was equipped of her old bow and arrow, the one that she almost killed Derek Hale with. Now that she thought of it, she needed to know her Derek's last name. It was odd how she never knew. Once they arrived, Amber went straight to teaching her how to shoot, using the same key notes as Kate had shown.
"I can't do it." She mumbled after her third shoot, which hit the trunk of a tree too high for them to reach.
"You just got to keep focusing," Jance perked, "Here, focus on the target with just your eyes. Make sure your bow is in straight position and concentrate."
He placed his hands on Audrey's, guiding her on where her fingers should be, curled around her weapon. He eyes squinted at the little bulls eye that Amber had pinned up, looking straight at the center. Suddenly, she felt her eyes shift, zooming in on the target.
Audrey could feel her eyes changing back to black, and she knows it was happening just by the look of her nails slowly morphing into her black claws. Amber told her, "Close your eyes and focus on your shifting. You can control your transformation if you focus hard enough."
"What if I don't want to show my claws, but keep my eyes?" Audrey asked with her eyes closed shut.
"Just focus." Amber replied.
Audrey's eyes were still tied shut, hard enough to know that she was trying her best to concentrate. Once it all clicked, Audrey had let go of her bow and shot the bulls eye, right in the center in one shot. Audrey opened her eyes and awed in surprise.
"I did it." Audrey gawked in happiness, "Oh my god, I did it!"
Jance and Amber smiled at her with proud faces. After Audrey was done with her little happy rain dance, they went back to becoming serious. "Okay, keep practicing and then we'll do a little history." Amber said.
All three of them walked upward to an old, wrecked warehouse. Or so it looked like it from the outside. Once Jance slid open the door, they entered a nicely furnished training room, filled with many targets, weapons, and other sorts of equipment. Amber led Audrey to a section, where she was to stand in the middle of a square platform inside a simulator.
"Alright, Audrey, there will be targets put up and some will aim at you, so you better keep your shot up ready. Remember to focus, okay?" Amber said through an intercom. Audrey shot her a thumbs up and was ready for practice.
Audrey's ear perked up as soon as she heard the swishing of a moving target. She turned around sharply, shooting an arrow at the designated spot. As time passed by, more targets began popping up and graphics of certain creatures came to view, heading for Audrey. In the blink of an eye, she shot each of them individually, even some like killing two birds with one stone. Or in this case, an arrow. After a round, she had ended her training with satisfaction and a sweet smell of victory.
"Not bad for a first timer." Amber smirked, "Now, come, we have to tell you some big news."
Jance dropped his dumbbell, settling down beside Amber. He wrapped an arm around her, his clear stench of sweat filling in the air. The girls silently gagged as he grabbed a towel.
"Okay, so you know we're not completely human, we're considered a supernatural being." Amber explained as Audrey nodded. She continued, "We're not the only supernatural out there. There's other creatures that can do something as inevitable as we can, but for different reasons."
"And us?" Jance added, "We were created to kill them."
Audrey cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"It means we had another life before this, Aud." Amber said, "We were brought back to life to kill these supernatural creatures of Beacon Hills."
"Why?" She asked.
Jance shrugged, "That's only for the Benefactor to know."
"The Benefactor?" Each new word added more confusion to the bunch. Who the heck is the Benefactor? Audrey thought.
"Our creator." Jance replied.
"Have I seen this. . . Benefactor before?"
"Nope, none of us have. He or she said that it will reveal itself to us once all that are on the list are killed." Amber said, "And these creatures? They can look as normal as day, like us. So far, the ones we are targeting are in our region and in our. . . social circle."
"Which is why I told you to stay away from Liam." Jance pointed out.
Audrey was astonished by what she was hearing. She had to stay away from Liam to avoid becoming attached to him, since he would be killed sooner or later. By her own family, or close people now as she should call it. "Are you telling me that now I know that I am a shifter, I have to kill all my friends?"
"Shifters are created to kill. And, considering that practically all of your friends are werewolves or something else, with the exception of human Mason, then yeah, you do." Amber replied impishly, "At least we get paid for it."
"How much is Liam worth?" Audrey asked.
"Three." Jance replied, "Three million, to make that clear. That deputy thinking he is only worth five dollars is stupid."
"Oh, give him a break!" Amber laughed, "He doesn't even know who he is yet. He's a late bloomer, like Audrey."
"Excuse me? I'm right here you know." Audrey retorted with a glare.
Amber laughed and took in Audrey's new appearance. She was no longer an ingénue, she was now an assassin. "It's our job to kill them, Audrey," she told her (not so little anymore) sister, "After that, we're free of harm. And face it, it would not just benefit us, but all of Beacon Hills, too."
"But Liam is not trying to be feral to anyone." Audrey objected, "He's trying to be as normal as everyone else."
"Oh yeah? Well, wait until you see him trying to thrash your throat on a full moon," Jance retorted, "And it's not just gonna be your throat he'll be ripping apart. You'll just be another chicken on his bucketlist."
Audrey shook her head, denying every bit of it. Liam could do better than that. He'll learn from his mistakes. All Jance was saying is wrong. She tried to open her mouth to snipe back, but his phone buzzed.
"What's wrong?" Amber asked warily.
Jance glanced at both of them, "It's the Benefactor. We have to check if Scott McCall is really dead at Beacon Hills Hospital. Let's go."
They all gathered out of the warehouse building, running toward Amber's car. As soon as they buckled up, the last quote Audrey ever could really clearly hear from Amber was, "Get ready for your first mission, Audrey."
A/N- voting will end on Sunday, August 17, 2014! all leftover voting will be counted at 11 am on Monday, August 18! just letting you guys know!
current score count:
• team liam- 1,447
• team derek- 1,496
btw I'm sorry this wasn't the best chapter. at least audrey is aware of herself now!