Don't wanna live as an untold story
Rather go out in a blaze glory
I can't hear you, I don't fear you
I'll live now cause the bad die last
Dodging bullets with your broken past
I can't hear you, I don't fear you now
Wrapped in your regret
What a waste of blood and sweat
Could Have Been Me – The Struts
"How long will that take?"
"It's the internet, Derek. Minutes."
It was rare for me to want to hurt Stiles, but by God I did I want to smack him into another reality.
It was a little after sunrise, and I was sitting at Stiles' desk, hands wrapped around a mug of coffee as I read the words on the papers that were continuously spilling from the printer. Stiles let out a soft snore from behind me, and I took a moment to glance away from my task, eyeing him as he lay in a face-down position on the carpet that I was sure was in no way comfortable. My lips curved up as I watched him, murmuring something unintelligible under his breath. I took another sip of coffee, getting back to work after making sure Scott was still dead to the world.
The sounds of the Sheriff getting ready for the day finally stopped, and I looked up from what I was doing as he approached the door to his son's room. "Morning Jules," John greeted me with a small but warm smile.
"Sheriff," I nodded back with a matching grin. I was thankful for my increased endurance. I wouldn't have been able to handle a whole night of research plus school if I were human. I was used to it anyway; I'd been to college.
"Boys," he said louder, turning to stare expectantly at the unconscious kids. "Hey, time to wake up!" He sighed, shooting me an exasperated look that made me smother a giggle. "Boys!" he snapped, and they both startled awake with a gasp, floundering for a long minute. "I've gotta get to work," he continued after a moment. "You three: get to school."
He turned to leave, but Stiles shouted after him, "Dad! Heather?"
I frowned worriedly, peering over the mug at the older man, listening intently. "No, nothing yet," he told his son reluctantly, lowering his gaze almost ashamedly as he left.
We were quiet, letting Stiles process the news at his own pace. Finally he crawled to his feet, running his fingers down his pants and taking a deep, calming breath. "Ten hours and nothing," he grumbled, pointlessly kicking at the papers littering the floor.
"We're going to find something," Scott assured him gently.
"Finding something doesn't make Erica any less dead," he bit back, violently reaching down to pick up some of the paper, gathering them in his hand. "Or Boyd any less about to be dead."
"We still have time."
"Is this whole remain-optimistic-in-the-face-of-complete-and-utter-disaster thing a part of the Be-A-Better-Scott-McCall-Program?" he snapped with a heavy frown.
"Not if it doesn't work," the wolf replied honestly.
Stiles sighed before answering reluctantly, "No, it works." He ran a hand through his hair, looking back at the papers in his grasp. Something caught his eye and his pulse spiked. He gasped, dropping the papers and sprinting from the room, calling his dad's name. I plucked the discarded paper from the air, peering down at the one that had changed things. There, clear as day, was a photograph of the criminal from the bank heist being arrested – by John Stilinski.
The Sheriff was suspicious about why we wanted to know the details of the heist, but Stiles beautifully spun some bullshit story about a local-modern history paper and a sudden interest in law enforcement. I severely doubted John believed a word of it, but he nonetheless he – albeit suspiciously – told us the robbers' plan before going off to work, a worried look in his kind eyes that wasn't for naught.
"We're going to need all the help we can get," Scott said as soon as the police cruiser had turned the corner, pulling out his phone and throwing his bag over his shoulder, pressing it to his ear as he moved towards the Jeep.
Stiles locked up the house while the beta spoke in low tones with Derek. "After school you should talk to the Original vampire currently crashing in your spare room," he said, coming up beside me where I waited for him on the porch, spinning his keychain on his finger.
"You don't seriously want to ask Kol for help," I said with a disgusted frown at the mere thought.
"I don't have to like it," he mumbled back, glancing to where Scott was still murmuring into the phone. "But we could use all the help we can get."
A thought occurred to me as we were waiting, something I hadn't really considered until just then. My brows pulled together and I turned to look at Stiles warily. "Stiles," I began, and he hummed in acknowledgement, looking over at me expectantly. "Why did you have a condom in your pocket?"
Stiles choked for a second, the sound drawing Scott's attention before he went back to his conversation on the phone. "Full disclosure?" he asked after a beat, and my eyes narrowed suspiciously as his heart sped up.
"Yes," I bit out, watching him cautiously.
"You know the girl who went missing? Heather?"
I had a feeling I wasn't going to like where this was going. "Yes," I repeated.
"She kind of..." he coughed, pulling at his collar nervously. "She sort of...propositioned me."
My eyebrows raised as I watched him turn red. "Propositioned you how?" I asked, my tone deadly. He didn't seem to want to answer. "Stiles," I barked, and he actually jumped at the sound.
It was like the dam broke, and suddenly he couldn't shut up. "She kissed me, okay? I didn't kiss back, or anything like that, but it was her birthday so I went with her to be kind and ask for an explanation, and she kept saying how she didn't want to be a seventeen year old virgin – which is fair enough. And I couldn't find the words until she finally handed me the condom and started undoing my pants. I swear, I instantly pushed her back and told her I had a girlfriend, and she stopped immediately. She felt really bad and seemed like she was going to cry so she asked me to leave. I went back upstairs and that was the last I saw of her. That's it, I swear, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
He took a deep breath, not having taken one during his rant.
I narrowed my eyes at the human kid, not quite sure how I felt about the whole thing. "Oh," I finally said, turning my gaze to my feet as I processed his words. "Why?"
"I don't know, I guess she somehow found me sort of attractive and probably knew I'd be easy-"
"I mean why didn't you tell me?" I cut him off, not in the mood to hear another rant.
He had the decency to look ashamed. "To be honest, I just didn't want you to be mad."
Now it was my turn to feel ashamed. I wanted Stiles to be able to tell me everything and anything. I didn't want him to hold back because he was worried about my reaction. "Why'd you keep the condom?" I asked, deciding not to go into the other, deeper side of things, instead keeping things somewhat light.
He turned an even darker shade of red. "I thought it could, I don't know...come in handy...?"
I decided I wasn't mad at him. He stopped things before they got too far and he came clean about it. It would be petty of me to hold a grudge. I allowed an amused grin to spread across my lips, taking a step closer to the kid, making his heart stutter. "Just so you know," I murmured to him quietly, a mischievous smirk on my face and I leaned into him. "I'm a vampire, so condoms aren't necessary."
His heart sped up even further, and he swallowed thickly, adams apple bobbing in his throat. "But-"
"Not necessary at all," I cut him off, smirking widely as I reached up to press my lips against his. It was more than a kiss of affection. It was a kiss of dominance, one designed to remind him exactly who he belonged to. His breath hitched as I flicked my tongue against his lips, and he all but melted into me, putty in my hands.
I ran my fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands at his neck, making him groan. I had the sudden urge to skip school and stay home all day, show him exactly what being mine looked like.
A throat cleared from the driveway, but Stiles didn't pay any attention, leaning further into me and tilting his head, trying to deepen the kiss. The throat cleared again and I decided, as nice as the kiss was, I didn't feel like having Scott watch on. So with a final flick of my tongue I pulled back, smirking when the human followed me desperately.
"Are you done now?" Scott asked, more amused than anything.
"Cock-block," Stiles muttered under his breath, cheeks warm as he ducked his head and walked down the steps.
It was good to have friends.
I showed up at home that afternoon bearing gifts. I figured a bottle of aged scotch and a compelled coed would do the trick. I wasn't feeling exactly guiltless for snatching the girl on her way to her car, but I was confident that Kol wouldn't do any permanent damage to her. Nothing I couldn't undo, anyway.
"Is that a hint of irresponsibility I smell?" Kol asked, rounding the corner, looking as infuriatingly dashing as ever. His smirk widened as he caught sight of me in the doorway, arm thrown casually over the girl's shoulders, bottle of scotch in my free hand. "What do you want?" he asked, chocolate eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Why would I want anything?" I asked innocently.
"Oh, don't act naïve," he drawled, moving forwards and plucking the girl from my grasp, reaching down to sniff her neck. He hummed contently at her scent, grinning wickedly. "Though I must admit, as far as bribes go, this isn't terrible."
Without waiting for anything further he wandered into the lounge, pulling the hypnotised girl along with him as an afterthought. "Since you mention it, there may be something you could do to help return the favour," I told him smoothly, moving to my side table and uncorking the scotch, filling two glasses generously before moving over to meet him where he stood examining the girl.
"Nothing's ever easy with you, is it?" he asked with an air of false irritation. I rolled my eyes, holding out a glass for him to take. He took a moment to sniff it cautiously, as though concerned I'd poisoned it or something equally ridiculous. "Well, go on with it then," he snapped impatiently, taking a sip and looking pleasantly surprised when he didn't swallow a mouthful of liquified vervain.
"I want to break into a bank."
His face lit up, eyes sparking with mischief. "Now we're talking," he grinned devilishly. "I knew fun-Juliet was hiding in there somewhere."
Okay, that one was on me. I probably shouldn't have opened with that. "It's abandoned, Kol," I corrected him, rolling my eyes once more.
His eyes narrowed again, more in confusion than anything. "Then why the hell would you want to break in?"
"It's complicated," I hesitated.
"Well un-complicate it."
"There's an alpha pack in town and a few months ago they kidnapped two of my other werewolf friends – well, I say friends, but they're more acquaintances really – and we couldn't figure out where they were. But then their other friend and fellow beta, Isaac, found them and then escaped. They took his memories though, so we had to do a whole process to get them back – long story – and it turns out they're being kept in an abandoned bank in downtown. We have a plan to get them back, but we need all the help we can get to pull it off."
Silence.
"Your life is one of those annoying melodramatic shows that play on the television during the day," he sneered, and I couldn't argue with that, not when it was true.
"Look, if for no other reason, do it because you'll get some action from it." Kol's eyes glinted impishly. I scoffed, scowling at him unhappily. "Not like that, you bloody nymphomaniac," I snarled, glaring at him with contempt. "I mean you get to kill some alpha werewolves."
"No need to call names," he purred, letting a few drops fall into the dazed girl's mouth. He was silent for a long time, either contemplating my request or taking his time in order to irritate me. It was working. "Does this mean I get to be introduced to the family?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows at me cheekily.
"Are you going to help or not?"
"I'll help," he nodded, brushing the blonde's hair off her shoulder, running his fingers over the smooth skin her tank top revealed. "If only to cure the boredom this hell of a town seems set on inflicting on me."
I nearly sagged with relief. That had actually gone better than I'd expected it to. "Have your fun, we leave in an hour."
He grinned wolfishly, meeting my eyes as his fangs descended, slipping into the coed's thin flesh, blood dripping down onto her top.
I ignored the sounds of the girl's moans – both of pain and pleasure – coming from the guest room that Kol was holed up in. I took a shower, changing into dark clothing; black jeans and a simple dark blue blouse, throwing a black cardigan over it and tying my hair up into a practical ponytail. By the time I was slipping my combat boots on, Kol was back in the living room, compelling the girl to stay where she was until he got back.
"If Stiles finds your shiny new toy, I'm going to dagger you," I threatened sincerely.
"Well, if he does, I'll make sure to tell him who brought it to me wrapped in a bow," he sneered right back. I curled my lip at him but otherwise didn't comment, not in the mood for another occurrence of what happened in the kitchen only a day ago. "Why don't you buy a car?" he asked almost conversationally as we darted out into the night, keeping to the back streets as we ran to Derek's new address.
"Running's faster," I grunted, sidestepping a pedestrian who seemed startled when I brushed passed her, invisible to the human eye.
"If that was true you wouldn't let your little boyfriend drive you everywhere."
Okay, so maybe I liked that Stiles offered to drive me everywhere, giving me an excuse to spend even more time with him. I sure as hell wasn't going to admit it out loud, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be to Kol if I did. "Shut up and don't run headfirst into a tree," I growled back, darting across the road, working my way into the shady downtown area where Derek and his pack now lived.
"That was one time," he muttered back childishly, pointedly slipping around the trunk of a large oak. I snorted, unable to help the laugh as it bubbled up from my stomach.
It wasn't easy to look back on those first years as a vampire and laugh, but sometimes Kol reminded me that it wasn't all bad times. I needed to remember the good too.
"Are you sure this is it?" he asked doubtfully, eyeing the decaying building as we approached as though he was worried it would fall down on top of him.
I pushed up my sleeve, peering at the smudged letters of the address I'd written down. "Yep," I nodded, glancing to the left where a familiar Jeep sat on the curb, underneath a flickering streetlight. "This is it."
"Is this alpha friend of yours also a drug dealer?"
Again, I snorted amusedly as I gestured for him to follow me up. We took our time on the stairs, Kol forgoing the shady looking elevator in the corner with rusted doors and flickering lights. "Try and be nice," I murmured to him under my breath as we approached the top level, stopping in front of the large steel door that protected Derek's loft.
"I'm always nice," he retorted quietly, ensuring that, even with their advanced hearing, the people beyond the door wouldn't be able to hear.
I shot him an dubious look, but he didn't want to budge. "Also try not to maim or kill any of my friends." I paused, considering my own words. "Except Peter," I amended with a nod. "Feel free to dismember Peter."
"I'll keep that in mind," he smirked. "Now stop stalling and get it over with."
With a deep breath, I reached out and grasped the steel handle, pulling it back with one almighty shove. Stiles looked relieved to see me, and the rest peered at us warily, none more than Peter. "Who's he?" Derek asked with narrowed cobalt eyes, chin jerking in Kol's direction.
"You didn't tell them?" I asked Stiles incredulously.
The kid shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, well – you see...what happened..."
"Kol Mikaelson," he introduced himself, mischievous grin firmly locked into place. "You may know me from my work pillaging and plundering across the western world? Or maybe you've heard my greatest hits as a world class torturer? Perhaps you know me by my other title, even," his eyes widened dramatically and he held his hands out like he was showcasing himself. "The Original vampire."
There was silence, and I couldn't help but take him down a notch. "'One of'," I corrected lazily, and he shot me a displeased glower.
"Do you have to take that away from me?" he asked, turning to look at me in annoyance. I felt comfortable once again. Since our...tiff...in the kitchen, I'd been somewhat on edge, not convinced he wasn't going to turn around and decapitate me for looking at him the wrong way. Things felt normal again, however, and I was once again learning to deal with the knowledge of how easily he could end me, while simultaneously being his friend.
"You brought an Original to our doorstep?" Peter asked furiously from where he stood by the window. "Are you crazy?"
"He's here to help," I told him calmly, rolling my eyes and smirking at the way his heart stuttered when Kol grinned.
"Help how?" Derek asked suspiciously.
"Well, he's one of the oldest and strongest vampires in the history of the world, and therefore pretty much a one-man army. So, we can probably start with basic defences," I turned to look at Kol with mock-seriousness. "Think you can handle that? Be our muscle for the evening?"
"Oh, I'll try to manage," he sneered in the wolves' direction.
"So what do you want as payment?" Peter asked through grit teeth, still staring at Kol like he was about to explode. "Surely you're not doing this out of the goodness of your unbeating heart."
"He's doing it as a favour to me," I interjected, not wanting the Original to mention the lines I'd crossed getting him to tag along. I saw him smirk in my peripheral vision, but didn't move to acknowledge him in any way.
"How do we know we can trust him?" Derek questioned, eager to find any hole he could.
"What's he going to do?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes at the alpha. "Go running to the alpha pack and tell them everything?" Derek didn't look convinced. "Look, are you really in a position to be turning away help?"
With a begrudging grunt he turned back to his plans. Peter inched away as we approached, retreating to the staircase in the corner and propping himself in the middle, keeping a wary eye on the older vampire.
"So," I continued, coming to a stop by Stiles' side and leaning into him out of pure instinct, relaxing as I breathed in his familiar scent. "What's the plan?"
"Okay," my human boyfriend began, pressing into me once before moving to the table before us, unravelling the floor plans he had prepared. "You see this?" he asked, pulling out a red marker and using it to point to a spot in the middle of the plans. "This is how they got in: rooftop air-conditioning vent. It leads down inside into the wall of the vault," he draw a circle around one of the squares on the paper. "Which is here. One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft, now that space is so small it took them twelve hours to drill into that wall, which is stone by the way. Then throughout the rest of the night they siphoned the cash backup to the guys on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."
"Can we fit in there?" Scott asked with a concerned frown.
"Yes we can, but very barely," Stiles answered.
"So I'll do it," I shrugged, making them glance up at me. "I'm the smallest out of all of us, if one of you just barely fits then it'll be plenty big enough for me."
"But," Stiles interjected, holding the red marker in the air. "They patched the wall back up so we're going to need a drill of some kind, I'm thinking maybe a diamond-"
"Forget the drill."
"Sorry?"
"If I go in first, how much space will I have?" Derek asked flatly, peering down at the plans with a frown.
"What do you think you're going to do, Derek? Are you going to punch through the wall?" Stiles asked dubiously, turning around to face the alpha with raised, skeptical eyebrows.
"Yes, Stiles, I'm going to punch through the wall," he responded condescendingly.
"Okay big guy, let's see that fist. Come on, big bad wolf," I slipped a hand over my mouth to contain my amused smirk as I recalled the fist time we'd ever met, and I'd called him the same thing. "See this?" he asked, pressing a hand close to Derek's tightly formed fist. "That's maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid-"
Derek's fist slammed into Stiles' open palm, sending the boy back several steps, gasping in pain. I wanted to be angry at Derek, but I hadn't heard any bones break, so I figured I'd let it slide and just get my revenge in some petty way later on. "He can do it," Stiles announced with a quiet whimper, holding his no doubt aching hand close to his chest.
"I'll get through the wall."
"But who knows how many punches it'll take?" Kol spoke up, propped up casually against the opposite side of the table, peering at us all like he knew something we didn't, which was honestly pretty much Kol's default setting. "You're strong, but you're not strong enough to do it in one punch. Take too long, you'll draw attention and this whole thing will go very bad, very quickly."
"What do you suggest?" he bit back, probably not expecting him to have an answer.
"I'll go down first," he said in a tone that made it clear there was no room for argument. "I can do it in one with no problems. I could probably even do it more quietly too."
"But you don't know who is or isn't with us," Scott brought up with a worried frown.
"Well if you're quick to meet me down there, I'll pinky promise not to slaughter anyone until you arrive," he responded with obvious disdain, smirking condescendingly. "Now, who's following me down?"
Derek turned to look at Peter expectantly. The (now) beta was still sitting on the stairs, clearly hell-bent on staying out of Kol's way. "Don't look at me," he said innocently. "I'm not up to fighting speed. And honestly? With Isaac out of commission, you're not looking at very good odds for yourself."
"I'm supposed to just let them die?" Derek growled at his uncle.
"One of them's already dead."
"We don't know that."
Peter scoffed, leaning forwards to stare at us imploringly. "Do I have to remind you what we're up against here? A pack of alphas. All of them killers. And it's that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, then remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant alpha. I'm sure Erica and Boyd are sweet kids, they're gonna be missed," he said with zero heart, glancing into the distance uncaringly.
"Can someone kill him again, please?" Stiles drawled.
I grinned wickedly. "I volunteer," I was all too happy to say, and my boyfriend threw me a side-smirk.
"You're right, we are going up against killers," Derek said suddenly, eyeing his uncle with contempt. "But we've got a few of our own." He gestured towards Kol, who smirked widely when he noticed the attention was on him, cracking his knuckles loudly for show.
"Derek, seriously?" Peter powered on. "Not worth the risk."
We were quiet for a long moment. "What about you?" he asked, glancing to his left.
"Yeah, if you want me to come-" Stiles began, and I resisted the urge to shove my palm in my face.
"Not you," he snapped impatiently, shooting him a brief glare before focusing on Scott.
"I don't know about Erica," the beta began softly. "But if Boyd's still alive, we have to do something. We have to try."
"But?"
"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd?"
"Well, sound like the sort of thing we'll have to find out for ourselves," I chimed, brushing my bangs off my face and turning to the boys. "We should get going, further into the moon we get, the harder it'll be to contain them."
"So I guess I'll just wait here?" Stiles asked dejectedly, frowning deeply and glancing at Peter warily. "With him?"
"The most important thing to us is that you're safe," I told him, taking a step closer and giving him my full attention.
"Not to me," Derek muttered from behind us.
"Or me," Kol added unnecessarily.
I grit my teeth and exhaled sharply, trying to contain my annoyance. "You know what I mean," I finally murmured back. The sounds of Derek getting his things and Scott looking over the plans got to me, but there was nothing I needed to do except talk to Stiles.
The only human in the room glanced out the window, peering cautiously at the full, glowing orb hanging in the sky. "What if you get bitten?" he asked softly, reaching out to take my hands and pull me further away from the group, giving us the illusion of privacy. "It's a full moon, and something tells me Klaus isn't going to come running a second time in as many months."
Ignoring the other men in the room, I stepped closer, cupping his jaw with my palms and smoothing my thumbs over the skin at his cheekbones. "I won't get bitten," I assured him softly.
He swallowed thickly, frowning as he thought. "That's exactly what you said last time."
"Look, we just have to get in and out with the betas. This whole ordeal will be over in less than a few hours. We'll be home in time to watch a movie before bed."
"You're disgustingly domesticated," Kol muttered sourly from where he stood next to Peter, enjoying how anxious the werewolf was around him. I pointedly ignored the comment, focusing instead on Stiles.
"Are you coming or are you too busy making doe-eyes at your boyfriend?" Derek asked from the door, and I wordlessly tossed him the finger, pleased when he scoffed in reply.
"I'll see you soon," I vowed, pushing myself up onto my toes and pressing my lips to his for one long, blissful moment before pulling back and flashing him a final smile before disappearing after the rest of our ragtag team.
It was still warm, summer hanging on by a thread. Ironically, though we didn't feel the cold, Kol and I were the only ones wearing jackets, both of us silent as we followed the boys around the back of the bank.
"What?" Derek asked snippily when Scott hesitated, staring at the building with worry.
"It's just something I can't get out of my head," the beta responded.
"The moon's rising Scott, what is it?" he bit back impatiently.
"Risk and reward."
I rolled my eyes, not believing he was bringing up the lesson from the other day at a time like this. "Which means what?" Derek asked, sounding as irritated as I felt.
"We're not measuring the risk with enough information. We don't know enough," the young wolf said, genuine concern in his eyes.
"The clock is ticking, Scott," I spoke up, frowning at him as I absently cracked my knuckles, wishing I had a cigarette.
"But think about it, they put the triskelion on Derek's door four months ago. What have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?" He had a point, one I was ashamed to say I hadn't really considered. We could be on a suicide mission and not even know it.
"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail," Derek snapped back restlessly.
"But what if this detail – the reason why they waited – what if it's the most important one?"
"If we don't do something, Boyd and Erica are as good as dead," I hissed, suddenly feeling uneasy.
"The puppy has a point," Kol spoke up, eyeing the building with suspicion. "Something doesn't add up."
"I know what I'm risking," Derek countered bluntly. "My life, for theirs." With that said he leapt up the building with ease, grabbing hold of the hanging ladder on the fire escape and pulling himself up. "And I won't blame you if you don't follow me," he called over his shoulder.
After only a split second of hesitation, Scott followed the alpha into battle.
"What do you think, darling?" Kol asked, turning to me with the usual mirth dancing in his eyes. Always looking for trouble, that one. "Want to poke the sleeping dragon?"
"We might die."
"We might not."
I was suddenly thrown back to a moment over a century ago, when we'd stood outside the bank of a small town just like this, only it was during the day and full of people. We'd bickered pointlessly for a few moments before finally biting the bullet and ransacking the place, killing all who stood in our path and taking everything we could get our hands on. We hadn't needed the money, it had simply been for...fun.
I blinked back to the present, eyeing Kol who was smirking down at me. "Into the dragon's den we go," I hummed, and I couldn't deny the spark of mischief that burned within me. With a wicked grin I propelled myself up the wall, following the path the wolves had taken and climbing easily to the top, smirking as I heard Kol follow immediately after.
When we appeared by the wolves, Derek was already positioning himself to jump down the shaft.
"Thought we'd let you have all the fun, huh?" I asked playfully, still chest tightening with glee at the thought of a good fight.
"Feel free not to enjoy yourselves so much," Derek snapped back. I merely beamed at him through the dark, only the glow of the full moon lighting our faces.
Kol pushed past me, leaping up onto the top of the shaft and sending us all that familiar shit-eating grin. "Live a little," he sniggered at Derek before dropping gracefully down the hole. He hit the bottom nearly silently, and only a brief second past before there was a loud crashing sound, and we knew he'd punched through the wall.
I clapped Scott on the back as I approached the shaft, hopping up and smiling down at my favourite beta. "See you on the other side, buddy," I wagged my eyebrows and disappeared after Kol.
The room I dropped into smelled of dust and werewolf. I stepped through the hole created by my friend, cat-like eyes adjusting to the light with ease as I peered through the dark, trying to spot any sign of a person – friend or foe.
"Hey Boyd," I began gently when I spotted the wolf, standing in the darkest corner, claws glinting threateningly as he stared at me with actual hunger. A moment later another body fell down the shaft, and then Derek was slipping in front of me, hands held out placatingly as he tried to communicate with his pack mate.
Barely a second past and Scott joined us, stepping up beside us and watching Boyd cautiously. "Boyd, it's me. It's Derek," the alpha said soothingly as he growled menacingly.
From beside me Scott's phone began to buzz, and I nudged him with irritation. "Hey Stiles, now's not the best time," he whispered into the phone.
"We're here to get you out," Derek muttered gently, trying to get through to Boyd. I could hear Stiles' voice buzzing in the background, but I didn't have time to focus on it, all of my attention had to be on Boyd if I wanted to get out of this alive.
"Here doggy, doggy," taunted Kol with an eager grin, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet and wagging his fingers at the growling mutt.
"Derek. Juliet," Scott hissed a moment later, shaky hand holding the phone to his ear. "We've got a problem. A really big problem."
There was an animalistic snarl from the corner, and we all looked back at Boyd who was now joined with a smaller brunette werewolf, eyes glowing and claws ready to slice through flesh. "Cora?" Derek asked, heart stuttering as he stared at the girl like he was seeing a ghost.
"Who?"
"One of your wolfy-conquests?" Kol asked jovially, smirking carelessly in the alpha's direction.
"Cora?" he repeated, paying us no mind.
"Derek," the strange girl grunted, sweat dripping down her temple. "Get out. Get out now."
"Not an option, sweetheart," I chimed, cracking my neck once as I prepared for what was sure to be one hell of a fight.
Scott let out a gasp. "No," he breathed, and I looked over my shoulder, following his gaze to Ms Morrell from school standing right fucking there, sprinkling a handful of mountain ash onto the floor, completing what I knew could only be a full circle lining the room. Looks like we were all fighting.
Whether we wanted to or not.
They moved fast, faster than they should have been able to. The small one threw a punch at Kol first, but he blocked it easily enough, stepping aside and making a show of yawning. I shot him an annoyed look and ducked under Boyd's arm, landing a strong blow to his midsection that didn't slow him down for even a second.
He swung back around, managing to sink his claws into the skin at my hips, easily drawing blood. I dove away, letting Kol step in, punching him square in the jaw with enough force to send him back a few steps. There was a feral snarl from behind us, and I knew that Derek and Scott had their hands full with the girl.
Boyd recovered quickly, growling at us menacingly before throwing himself at Kol, trying to tackle him like they were playing football, only to find that Kol wasn't easy to knock down. He stood still as a statue and Boyd grunted with effort trying to push him over.
"Just like old times, eh?" Kol asked cheerfully as he threw his hand out lazily, backhanding the large wolf and sending him flying into a nearby pillar.
"When have we ever been in a situation similar to this?" I asked incredulously, huffing when Boyd got back up, apparently having more endurance than usual thanks to the full moon. I lifted my foot, slamming the sole of my boot into his chest, throwing him off balance and buying me a second to line up a punch to his eye. My knuckles broke at the impact, but I wasn't worried; they would heal.
"You know her?" Scott asked when the other duo had a spare three seconds.
"She's my sister," Derek shouted and I raised my eyebrows in surprise even as I punched Boyd in the throat. "My younger sister."
"What the hell is she doing here?"
"Like I have a clue?! I thought she was dead!"
A familiar scent drifted to me, and I snapped my head to the side, eyeing Allison who appeared from nowhere, screaming at Scott in alarm as the Cora girl tried to bite down on his arm.
The distraction wasn't helping things, and with one almighty shove I was thrown across the room, landing at the barrier of the mountain ash near my human friend's feet. "Hello Allison," I greeted her politely, blinking away the black spots in my vision. "Fancy seeing you here."
She glared at me, clearly knowing we didn't have time for such things. I was going to say more, but a large hand clasped itself around my ankle, dragging me backwards and into the depths of the dusty vault.
I grunted as Boyd's claws dug into my flesh, blood pouring from the wound. He snapped his jaws at me, but Kol landed a hit to the side of his face that hopefully knocked out a few teeth and kept him from biting me any time soon.
"Don't break the seal!" Derek shouted from behind us, attention split between Allison and the girl who was apparently his sister. I didn't make the mistake of looking back, instead kicking my heel into Boyd's junk.
"Boyd!" Allison yelled, and a moment later the air shifted, something in my gut letting me know I could once again leave the room. The feeling hit Boyd and Cora too, and all at once they stopped, turning and bolting straight for the door. For a brief second I was worried Allison was going to be attacked, but I needn't have been concerned, as they ran right past her without so much as a glance in her direction.
We all took a moment to breathe, then Derek was stomping towards Allison, signature angry scowl firmly in place. "Don't touch her!" Scott bellowed from within the vault, holding his bleeding stomach as he scrambled towards the door.
"What were you thinking?" the alpha demanded furiously.
"That I had to do something," she bit back, ripping her arm from his grasp.
"She saved our lives," Scott added.
"Yeah, and what do you think they're going to do out there?" Derek asked hotly. "Do you have any idea what we just set free?" he asked Allison through clenched teeth.
"You want to blame me?" she yelled incredulously. "Well I am not the one turning teenagers into killers."
"No," he retorted bitterly. "No, that's just the rest of your family."
"I've made mistakes," she admitted softly, tears welling in her eyes. "Gerard is not my fault."
"And what about your mother?"
I winced, wishing I wasn't here for this particular conversation. "What do you mean?" she asked with a frown.
"Tell her Scott," Derek said snidely, turning his stare around to the beta.
"What does he mean, Scott?" she demanded gently, fear overflowing in her expression. Scott sighed defeatedly, blood dripping from his chin as he closed his eyes tiredly. "What does he mean?"
Kol's hands clapped together loudly, drawing the attention of the room to him. "Well, as much as I would love to continue watching this drama play out, I do believe we have a pair of moon-crazed teenage werewolves to hunt down," he told us cheerily, rubbing his hands together at the thought of a hunt. "Best to keep the casualties to a minimum, yes?"
"Since when do you care about casualties?" I asked suspiciously.
He shot me an irritated look, clearly telling me it wasn't the time. "You two go ahead. Get a head start and call us if you find them, we'll meet you out there," Derek said, and I knew he was buying himself time to look for Erica's body.
"This isn't one of those times where you say you're going to help and then you don't show up until after we've done all the leg work, is it?" I asked with a smirk, hoping to lighten the mood. But between a terrified and impatient Allison, an exhausted and reluctant Scott and a defeated and annoyed alpha, it wasn't easy to bring things to a lighter level. "Tough crowd," I muttered to Kol, and Derek's expression hardened. "Fine, be sour and see if I care," I huffed. "Kol and I will go have our fun, we'll call you when we have something."
A/N: After reading your reviews I've decided to keep this story in only the Teen Wolf archive, thanks for your help, I was really stressed about it :)
On a different note, I'm kind of in the early stages of a 'The 100' story, it'd be a Bellamy/OC with what I think might be a slightly different take on how a lot of them seem to go. Let me know if you guys would be at all interested – it definitely won't take away from I Know Places, this will always be my priority, I swear it.