Dead Behind the Eyes – Chapter 25

"Are you okay?" Scott asked as he flung the door open catching Skylar off guard.

She glanced down to her ripped up jeans and Derek's leather jacket she was hugging against her bare upper body.

"Skylar?"

"Is mom in her room?" she managed to ask.

He nodded and watched as she silently walked past him and up the stairs.

"I just got off the phone with Stiles; he said you guys were able to save Isaac." He said quietly as he leaned against the frame of her now closed bedroom door.

A few moments later she opened the door, now in a t-shirt and pajama pants as she nodded in agreement with what he'd said.

Walking back into her room she opened her closet as she said, "Thanks for everything you did tonight. Not just you but Allison, I know she helped a lot too."

After a few silent moments of observing her body language he said, "He was innocent."

She closed her eyes and sighed, before she turned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" He asked.

"How do you always manage to do the right thing?"

"I don't…" He breathed out.

"Either way, thank you." She said, her dark brown eyes locking with his for a few seconds before she spun and grabbed an empty bag.

"Wait, you're leaving again?" He questioned, frustration apparent in his voice.

"Yeah, after everything that happened today… I think I should be with my… pack." She said as she quickly avoided his eyes.

"Skylar, every time you take off , I'm worried sick about you. And I know mom doesn't say much about it, I think she's afraid if she's tries to discipline you that you'll disappear on us… but she notices every time you don't come home at night." He warned.

"Are you trying to guilt trip me?"

"No, I just want you to see what's going on!" He argued with her.

He watched as she folded a pair of jeans and tucked them into the bag.

"We're your family, Sky. We worry about you." He continued.

"Are we?" she breathed out, exhausted from the events of the day.

"You know we are." He sighed.

"We're blood, yeah. But Scott when you look at me, what do you really see?" She questioned him as she folded a shirt and laid it on her bed.

"I see you, Skylar. I look at you and I see the girl who I've shared every single birthday with. I remember all of our stupid fights and I miss the way we used to be so close." He said, his voice trailing off as he saw her shaking her head back and forth.

"That's not what you see, that's what you remember. Just like, I think about you and all I can see is this nerdy brother of mine who was perfectly content sitting on the sidelines and who used to spend way more time playing video games than you'd spend practicing for lacrosse." She said with a small, sad laugh.

"But then, I look at you Scott and I don't see that person anymore. I don't know if it's because of the bite or if it's just you. But you've grown up into this amazing, strong person. You don't sit on the sidelines anymore; you're co-captain of the lacrosse team! If you can help someone, it doesn't matter what the danger is to you, you do the right thing and you help. You want to save everyone and as strong as you are, there's still this… like, boyish innocence in the way that you think everyone can be saved."

He opened his mouth but she cut him off.

"We've got the same eyes… and sometimes I'm just foolish enough to think if I stare at myself long enough in the mirror, I'll see a bit of your light. But I don't… the light, and your courage and strength… it's just not there." She said as she zipped the bag shut.

"You're right, it's not there. But you don't need it to be, because you've got your own courage and strength. Look at everything you've been through, and where you're standing today. You beat an addiction and you're doing so good in school right now, you've held down a job and…" He tried to explain to her all of the good things she had, but she quickly dismissed him.

"You may not know exactly what you see when you look at me, but I do. You look at me and you see your own failures. You feel responsible for what happened to me and guilty because you didn't know how to help me. The same way that mom looks at me, and wonders how she missed all the warning signs." She admitted, as she crossed the room and pulled on her converse shoes.

"That's not true… we're proud of you and even though you're hiding it, I see you're still trying to deal with everything that's happened to you… I want to help you, but honestly I don't know what's going on inside of your head half the time." He exclaimed, just wishing she'd open up to him.

"You don't want to." She whispered as she pulled a black hoodie on over her pajama top.

"Yes, I do."

Shaking her head back and forth she said, "It's dark in here, Scott. It's so dark... These are my demons that I live and fight with every single day. My nightmares that wake me up every single night and it's not your burden to bear."

She took a deep breath before continuing, "But it's okay, because in spite of all that, I let Isaac in and amazingly enough he didn't go running for the hills. You've always had a place you belonged, and I don't know if it's because of everything he's been through or what, but when he looks at me, he sees the real me and he accepts it."

Shrugging and not letting her twin brother get a word in she continued, "Maybe damaged people just flock together or something, because as weird as it is… even Derek and I sort of get each other."

He wanted to tell her she was wrong, but in a way he was afraid she was right. When he thought about her, he chose to think of happy memories from their childhood, not about everything she'd been through.

And he did feel guilty; he'd spent so many nights wondering how differently things could have turned out if he'd paid more attention to her.

Every time she walked past him in a short sleeve shirt and he saw the scars on her arms, it was a reminder of all the times and years he wasn't there for her.

He didn't want to admit it, but she had a point. In a way, she was the embodiment of his own failures.

And now, to his own dismay he couldn't get his tongue to form any words.

"You have to let me go, Scott." She whispered as she pulled the bag on over her shoulder and started past him down the stairs.

But before she could reach the front door he grabbed her arm and said, "Let you go? Do you mean for the night… or forever?"

Gently pulling her arm away she opened the front door and walked out.

~()~

Skylar pushed the door to her house open and walked inside as she dropped her bag to the floor with a thud.

Heading into the kitchen she glanced at the microwave and saw it was a little after 3 am.

Sighing at realizing even if she did have her own comfortable bed to sleep in, it wasn't going to matter, she only had a few hours before her alarm would be going off.

Deciding instead of sleeping, she'd drop by her brothers room to let him know she'd come home instead of staying at Derek's hideout. Werewolf or not, she was pretty sure her back couldn't handle another night of sleeping on that subway car.

But soon, every thud of her footsteps as she climbed the stairs was deafening and the sickening copper scent of blood was nauseating.

"Mom? Scott?" She called out, but no one answered her.

Just as she rounded the corner to the upstairs hallway, her heart started to race.

There was blood everywhere, the walls were smeared with it, large puddles were all over the hardwood floors.

"Scott!" She screamed as she reached her twin brothers room first.

The only sound she could hear was her own breathing, as she pushed the door open and raced inside.

Tears flooded down her cheeks as she saw him lying on his back on his bed, his chest torn open and not breathing.

Somehow managing to find the strength in her legs, she stumbled down the hallway until she reached her moms bedroom.

Please be okay, please be okay.

She cried under her breath over and over as she reached forward and slowly turned the door knob, but there was something blocking the door. She didn't need to look inside to know it was her mom's lifeless body.

Taking a few staggering steps backwards and trying desperately to breath, her nails dug into her scalp and she pulled violently on the roots of her hair, frantically shaking her head back and forth screaming out in pain from the loss of her family.

Gasping for air she held onto her throat and tried to take a deep breath, but her heart was broken and her lungs wouldn't fill with oxygen.

Realizing she needed to get out of the house, and away from the scent of blood she tried to run to the stairs, but her legs collapsed and she landed with a hard thud on the floor inches away from her bedroom door.

It was then that she felt a strong pair of hands gently pull her to her feet.

Looking up she saw it was Isaac.

"They're dead!" she shrieked as she grabbed onto his shirt and sobbed loudly.

"I know." He whispered back as he rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to calm her down.

"You need to sit down." He said softly as he pushed open the door to her room and led her inside.

"What am I going to do?" she asked through her loud, pained cries while she sat with Isaac, the pair of teens were leaned against the headboard on her bed as he continued to try and calm her down.

Leaning closer to him, she buried her face in his shirt trying to block the smell of blood.

But instead of his familiar scent, her nose was met by the stench of chemicals and fire.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt them." He said as he tightened his arms around her shaking body.

Keeping her face buried against him she nodded and clutched onto him.

"I tried to warn you…" He whispered, as he smoothed her hair down and repeated, "You didn't mean to kill them."

Her entire body tensed and she froze, it felt like ice was running through her veins as she pulled back and gasped, "What?"

He pulled her closer to him and continued to hold her as he said, "You're going to get through this, we'll get through this together."

"I'm all alone." She cried trying to wipe the tears from her face.

"Shh, it's okay. I've got you…" He soothed.

"I… I've got to get out of here." She said feeling like she couldn't breathe again.

He kept his arms locked tightly around her as he pressed a kiss to her temple and said, "You can't run from what's inside of you… there's no escaping what you are."

Her red, blurry eyes finally managed to focus on the large mirror above the dressed on the opposite wall from them.

"No… no… no." She sobbed even louder as she stared at their reflection in shock. It wasn't Isaac who was holding her, it was Peter Hale.

"You –you killed them, you killed my mom and Scott." Skylar wined, trying desperately to squeeze out of his crushing embrace, but it was useless.

"I didn't do this… you did." He admitted.

Before she could argue he pointed out, "You couldn't get away from the scent of their blood because your clothes are drenched in it."

Gathering the strength to look down she gasped at the sight, her clothes were completely covered in blood.

"Poor Skylar…"

She shook her head back and forth, as a new wave of tears hit her. This was her worst fear, hurting the people she loved the most.

"You should have just stayed away from them… you know you don't belong here. You're nothing like them and there's no point in pretending you're good."

Grabbing onto the sides of her head she pulled on her hair as she cried, "I… want to be… I want to be good."

Pushing her arms away and grabbing her chin, he made her face him as he said, "Why would you want that? Look at your potential, Skylar."

Her face twisted in confusion as she stared back at him.

With a look of admiration in his eyes he continued, "The Vikings would wear wolf skins and even drink wolf blood… they believed it helped them take on the wolf's spirit in battle. You're a true wolf, Skylar. Don't try to hide the darkness inside of you, harness it… use it to make you stronger, more lethal."

Tears continued to flood over her flushed cheeks as she looked away and stared at their reflections in the mirror.

This was impossible, Peter was supposed to be dead.

He finally let go her, she quickly jumped up from the bed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"This… isn't real. You're dead!"

"Am I?" He asked, as he stood and faced her.

Nodding wildly she pointed at him and asserted. "You're dead… and this is some kind of nightmare. My family isn't dead."

"Oh… but they are."

"No."

"They had to go, Skylar. We had to kill them…" He said taking a few steps closer.

Fearfully she backed up and looked around her bedroom.

Grabbing her by the throat and pushing her against the wall he raised her up until her feet weren't touching the ground.

Choking and gasping for a breath she held onto his arm that was holding her up as she kicked her feet and tried to break free.

"It had to happen… you couldn't stay away so you had to get rid of them, because sometimes the people closest to you could be the ones holding you back the most." He said as he let go of her neck and she fell to the floor gasping for air.

Coughing and sputtering her throat burned as she scooted backwards away from him, until she managed to get up on her feet.

Taking the stairs a few at a time she raced out the front door and looked around for a neighbor or someone to help her.

But her fearful eyes landed on a familiar blue jeep in the driveway.

"S-Stiles?" She whisper-yelled as she neared the jeep.

"There you are!" A voice called from behind her.

Spinning around she breathed a sigh of relief that he was okay.

"You have to go… get out of here now!" she yelled as she reached down and grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the jeep.

"What? I just got here…" He argued as he pulled his arm from her grip.

"I don't have time to explain but Scott and my mom…" Her voice trailed off as she heard a loud howl in the distance.

Turning around she surveyed the empty street before she looked back to see Stiles was on the ground, slumped up against the front tire.

There was a puddle of blood around him.

"Stiles!" she yelled as she dropped to the ground and shook him.

Just when she'd given up hope that he could possibly be alive, his eyes fluttered open.

A look of terror and agony in their honey brown shades as he tried to scoot away from her, but was too weak.

Wiping her cheeks she said, "It's going to be okay, Stiles…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized he wasn't just afraid of what was happening to himself, he was looking at her like she was a monster.

"Stiles?" She questioned, her voice shaky.

He opened his mouth and let out a rattling breath before couching up some blood and laying his head back against the tire.

Mustering the last of his strength he managed to choke out, "Why…"

"What?" she asked, but there was no answer. He was gone.

Looking down she screamed at what she saw.

Her claws were out and they were inside his shredded chest. She hadn't been shaking him, she'd been slicing him open.

Falling back on the pavement, she stared down at her hands and screamed. Her voice and pained cries echoed throughout the still neighborhood.

Hearing footsteps she looked up just in time to see Peter as he reached down and grabbed her arm, breaking bone as he roughly pulled her to her feet.

"No… no, no more! I can't take anymore!" she shouted, struggling to get away, but in one quick movement he smacked her head against the hood of the jeep and let her body crumple to the ground.

~()~

"Stop it!" She could hear Isaac saying, but his voice sounded distant and almost mechanical.

"We have to wake her up." Derek gruffly responded.

"By breaking her arm?" Isaac snapped.

"Yes."

"Skylar!" She heard Isaac yelling over and over, his voice was coming more into focus every time she heard her name.

She tried to answer him, but she didn't have a voice. She had no idea where she was but there was nothing but darkness. A void.

When she couldn't hear him saying her name anymore, she started to lose hope of ever making it out of wherever it was she'd ended up in.

But the silence was shattered by her own pained screams as her arm was broken again.

Derek breathed a small sigh of relief as Skylar's eyes popped open.

Lost in a state of confusion from the realistic nightmare and in pain from her broken bones, her eyes glowed bright golden yellow and her canine fangs showed.

"Is she okay?" Isaac asked as he looked to Derek.

But all Skylar could remember was how Peter had tricked her and somehow taken Isaac's form in her dream.

Raising her good arm she punched him, sending him flying backwards.

His body collided with a far wall and he landed with a pained thud as he held onto his broken jaw.

Not understanding that Derek was trying to help her, she tried to hit him too. But after seeing what she'd done to Isaac he quickly intercepted and pinned her arms down.

As she thrashed and tried to get away, he was starting to loose his grip on her. He hadn't expected her to be that strong.

His eyes glowed red as let out a fierce growl, asserting his dominance over her as an alpha.

She gasped, and her eyes went back to dark brown.

"Derek?" She asked confused.

Then she realized he had her pinned and she tried to squirm free as she fearfully gasped, "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" He responded, not letting go until he was sure she was herself.

Closing her eyes and trying to control her breathing she said through gritted teeth, "I have some serious issues with being pinned down, so you need to let go of me right the hell now."

He moved and let her up.

She scrambled to her feet and shot him an angry look as she dusted her pajamas off and looked over to the subway car several feet away.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, her words venom laced as her heart raced inside of her chest.

"Because I didn't know what you were going to do next. You broke Isaac's jaw." He responded, wondering what had happened.

Confusion set in as she looked over to see Isaac standing by the wall opening and closing his mouth as the bones healed.

"You woke us up… screaming and thrashing around. We didn't know what was going on, but we couldn't wake you up." Isaac explained as he walked closer to them.

Her mind raced back over the events of the horrific nightmare and she looked down to her shaky fingers, relieved to see they were just her normal human fingers and nails and they weren't covered in Stiles' blood.

But the nightmare had felt so real.

She closed her eyes and felt sick as she remembered the sickening warm feeling of her hands covered in his blood, the slimy, sticky feeling of his torn flesh.

The next thing she knew Isaac and Derek were leading her back inside the subway car and Isaac was pushing a half full bottle of blue Gatorade to her trembling lips.

"Drink." He instructed, she jumped as the plastic collided with her bottom front teeth.

Finally agreeing she took the bottle from him and drank some of it.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath she looked at Isaac with tears in her eyes as she apologized, "I am so sorry about your jaw."

Shrugging he said, "It's okay, I'm all healed up."

Her chin quivered as she thought back to her dream, this was exactly why she didn't let things progress between herself and Stiles. He'd end up getting hurt and she'd be responsible, he was human after all.

Moving to the seat beside her Isaac pulled her shaking body against him as he asked, "What happened?"

She looked down to the Gatorade bottle and then to Derek who was sitting in a seat facing them with a look almost seeming to resemble concern.

"It was just a nightmare…"

A/N- I hope you all liked the chapter. ^_^

Thank you so much for reading!

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