A/N: I don't own anyone but my OC'S….though I wished I owned the rest…..*sighs*
The dream haunted, no tormented Derek.
He had thrashed about while drowning in a pool of his own sweat while the cruel hand of time continued robbing him of precious rest.
The corridors were vacant, void of anyone or anything living. The only sounds were from the thunder of his footfalls as Derek rushed from room to room.
"Brooklyn!"
His heart was pounding in his throat as he couldn't pick up a single breath or heartbeat. The darkness shrouded any dangers but those were the least of his worries. Where was she? Why wasn't she calling out to him? He battled back the surging panic but felt it becoming a futile effort. He reached the triage but discovered only an empty coldness that ripped the warmth from his body.
"Brooklyn!"
His head darted in the next door, finding an empty bed. The next one, the one after that, and then the one after that were all the same: nothing.
"Aw," a feminine voice broke the heavy silence. "What's the matter Sweetie? Can't find your girlfriend?"
Derek's face morphed into a fiery mask of cold rage and hatred as Kate sauntered out in the hall. She was clad in tight dark jeans with a tank top that was one size too snug with a denim jacket to compliment the trampy ensemble.
"Where is she?" The werewolf lowered his head revealing the electric blue rings pulsing within the pearl colored whites.
"What's your rush? I thought we could catch up on old times…You know…..the hot sex on those cold rainy nights. Of how you spend the winter nights in my bed."
"Shut up," Derek curled his hands into fists.
"Wait, that's right, you haven't told her about us have you? I mean after all, it was you that caused the fire. You pretty much led us to the rest of the pack."
"Bitch," Derek growled with controlled hatred.
"Now that's not what you were saying the last time we were together," Kate smirked.
"You lied to me! You used me!"
"Well I couldn't help it if you fell for a pretty face. But then again it looks like history's about to repeat itself now isn't it?"
"She isn't like you!"
"Right," the smirk dropped only to be replaced with disgust. Kate rolled her eyes sarcastically while circling around the werewolf. "She's just oh so perfect."
"She's not a backstabbing slut like you."
"Aw my feelings are hurt; really they are," Derek knew she was feigning her pain.
"Last time, where is Brooklyn? I'll only ask nicely once."
"Or else you'll shift and rip my throat out right? So predictable," Kate stuck her fingers in her mouth and let out a high pitched whistle. Leveque appeared with Brooklyn struggling in his iron grip. Her eye was swollen shut as a cut scarred her pouty lips. The fear was washing off her body like a river over rocks. Her heart was racing as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Brook," Leveque held the knife to her throat.
"Ah ah ah Lover Boy," he pressed the knife closer to her skin, "That's as far as you go."
The sinister glint in his eye told Derek he would do it.
"Now you're in a bit of a predicament now aren't you?" Kate's arrogance was shining through. "Now you tell us who the Alpha is and we'll let your little girlfriend go. I give you my word."
"You're lying," he narrowed his eyes.
"Maybe," Kate shrugged, "Maybe not…."
Leveque snickered as he kept the blade steady on his captive's throat. Brooklyn was shaking as the hunter knew she wouldn't live for much longer.
The shadow lurked in the corner of Derek's eye. The scent followed and he didn't have to guess what was coming.
The Alpha ripped into Leveque's spine, ripping out the perfect row of bone and cartilage. The older hunter's eyes went wide as his life was ripped apart from behind. Brooklyn froze and heard the low rumbling in her ear. Leveque was dead before his body crumpled against the tile, the thick crimson pooling around his lifeless form.
"Derek," Brooklyn whispered as the Alpha rushed for Kate. Kate went for her gun but it was swiped from her hand in one strong blow. But it didn't stop her from putting up a bitter fight. The hunter whipped out the cattle prod.
"900,000 volts," the prod extended with thin streaks of electricity crawling up the intimidating device. The Alpha dodged the first lunge taking advantage of the human's slow sluggish movements. Kate wailed in pain as her shoulder was twisted and jerked around into a full circle before it was savagely torn from its socket. Derek watched in horror and a demented sense of victory as the hunter bled to death. But the Alpha wasn't finished.
Its canines tore into the weak but tender warmth of her throat, letting the blood rush over its mouth and snout. A tiny gurgle died in her throat, the final breath of life that departed Kate Argent.
Derek started for Brooklyn but the Alpha blocked his path and started shifting. The fur and ripped sinewy muscles melted away revealing solid hard flesh kissed with a light summer tan. Blonde hair that was spiked in all of the right places came into view. The icy cold stare pierced like a knife as Derek felt the sickening feeling racing all over his being.
Jackson grinned revealing the perfect rows. His body was clad but in jeans as he stood off against the older wolf.
"Sorry Hale," he leered. "But I get what I want…..Always."
Derek couldn't move as some invisible force glued his feet against the tile. Jackson spun around and faced Brooklyn, sizing her up like a piece of choice meat.
"Stay the Hell away from me!"
"Sorry," he shook his head, "No can do."
"Brooklyn run!"
Brooklyn turned to flee from the teen but Jackson was faster and stronger than her. His arm hooked around her waist tackling her hard to the slick floor.
"I always wondered if you were a fighter….."
The long canines protruded from his gums before sinking deep into her shoulder. Brooklyn wailed in pain which only made him bite harder and deeper.
Derek howled in anguish as and shifted into the wolf, breaking free from his unseen prison. But as he reached the werewolf and his hunter, the pair vanished before his very eyes.
"NO!" He screamed and froze at the very spot. "NO!"
Derek shot up in his bed, finding the other side vacant and cold.
"Brooklyn?" He leapt from the bed and fetched the black boxers that dangled from the chair.
"Brook!" He rushed down the steps and listened carefully. His hearing alerted him to the parlor on the right.
Brooklyn sat at the table, reviewing the list. The only names left were two: James Unger and Donovan Freeman. She was waiting for the laptop to start up, hoping there was enough juice left in it to get in and find out who these two were and how they were linked. Her eyes went to the battery icon noticing she had only 2 hours left.
"Should be enough," she mumbled. Her first stop was the county sheriff's site. Most had their inmates or offenders listed as part of some new law the government had passed.
My federal tax dollars hard at work…
The hunter started with the first name and within seconds she had a hit.
"Well, what do we have here," the rap sheet went back to when he was 12 listing various offenses from shoplifting and trespassing to…..
"Arson," she stopped reading. Brooklyn didn't have to theorize that Freeman wasn't too far behind.
"Not exactly Beacon County's finest most upstanding citizens."
The hunter thought of something and ran the name of the dead video store clerk through the system and got another hit.
"Arson," the crime was sitting at the top of the list staring back at her with bold thick letters.
Now the picture was becoming clearer. Everyone that had been killed, with the exception of the final three, possessed either knowledge of fires or had intimate experience with being fire starters.
"Well I think we know who the next victims are gonna be," she shut the laptop down.
"Brook," Derek hovered in the doorway. "Didn't you hear me?"
"Sorry," she shrugged. "But I found out something."
She stood with the list in her hand, eager to share what she had discovered. Her heartbeat went up a tick as she slid a finger down the names.
"All of these," she pointed at the clerk's name and two delinquents' names, "Were charged with arson at some point. But the two college studs were studying fire science and physics meaning…."
"The Argents hired them," Derek's face instantly darkened.
"But we don't have the smoking gun Derek," Brooklyn hated to bring up the tiny but nagging fact. "Once we get that link then we strike but you know we can't go in half assed on this. They outgun us both. Even if Markus was to come up here we would still be outmanned."
"Which is why we need Stiles' help," Derek's expression shifted to contemplation.
"Well Scott better stay the Hell away from me," Brooklyn tensed. "It's because of him we're in this mess."
Brooklyn managed to slip into Scott's house while he was still at school. Her car was parked a few blocks down, concealed by an old gate that had been long neglected. The lock was easy to pick as she suspected and strolled right inside. Derek didn't know she was there, waiting for the teen and he wasn't about to find out either.
The hunter walked through the house, careful not to touch anything. Her scent would hang in the air that much she knew but Brooklyn was okay with it.
Let him follow it right to me…
We need to have a little friendly chat…
She took the steps like she lived in the house: casual and slow. Her gloved hand glided up the railing, finding it smooth even through the leather barrier. The atmosphere was bright and welcoming as she reached the top and took a right.
"Yahtzee," she strolled into Scott's room. "Typical teenage boy's room."
At first glance nothing seemed to indicate a teen wolf resided here but then again Brooklyn knew better. Stiles had all the books at his place, scattered about the desk and bed like they always belonged there. She caught the photo on the desk and plucked it gingerly between her fingers.
"Aw now isn't that sweet," the photo was of Scott and Allison. "Still pining over the girl I see."
Brooklyn replaced the photo and sifted through the papers and folders finding more school work and other miscellaneous things.
"No father," she observed, "Interesting."
The hunter dropped the bag at her feet while easing into the chair in the corner and waited.
Scott pulled up to the drive, relieved to be home after another hellish day. Allison refused to speak to him and even accused him of screwing with her head when he sent the photos from his phone of their date in the woods.
He wanted nothing more than to hear her say she was sorry and wanted him. But Jackson was going to see to it that never happened in this lifetime.
The clock's ticking McCall…
At this point he didn't care if Derek and Brooklyn were hurled behind bars! Screw the Alpha and screw the Argents!
He stormed in the house but halted at the scent that greeted him. The hunter was there! In his house!
Scott hurried up the stairs, going on all fours down the hall and to his room where Brooklyn calmly sat.
"We need to talk," she crossed one leg over the other. Her expression was unreadable but Scott could hear a steady controlled heart beating.
"About what?" He felt his anger slowly creeping up.
"About how you threw Derek and I under the bus," Brooklyn stayed seated. "You told them we killed those people?"
"What was I supposed to tell them?"
"Maybe something other than it was 'Derek Hale and Brooklyn Ravenwood killed those people including his sister'," she did her whiny impression of him then straightened up in her seat.
"Maybe you did!"
"Now you listen to me you little whiny immature brat," Brooklyn stomped her foot down and produced a gun in her hand. "Because of you our ability to track the Alpha has been severely handicapped! I ought to beat your scrawny ass into next week."
"That would be a bad idea," his anger was gradually gaining traction as his nails shot out.
"Well selling us upriver was a bad idea! In case you haven't noticed Scott, the world DOES NOT revolve around you!"
Brooklyn watched as his eyes glowed pale yellow and canines peeked past his lips.
"Oh now we're gonna pout and shift. You think you can beat me? I'm a faster shot."
Scott growled and lifted his head to face his adversary, never letting his eyes waver from the gun.
"You know I've had it with your temper tantrums and childish lashing out Scott! It's time you grew up! You don't scare me one bit! You're just a scared little boy!"
The teen wolf pounced on the hunter pinning her arms against the desk. Brooklyn glared through the loose strands of copper and launched her knee against his groin. Scott wailed and collapsed as the pain rushed through his body but it wasn't enough to silence the wolf.
The anger was too great this time.
Brooklyn was stunned that he was still in wolf form but wasn't going to throw in the towel so easily.
She dove for the gun and slid across the wooden floor. The wolf snapped his body around and prepared to attack again. Brooklyn swept her leg taking the wolf down to the floor. His clawed hand slashed through the denim and flesh, eliciting a short but angry yelp from Brooklyn.
The dizzying rush of copper and iron threw the wolf into a frenzy as it dug its nails deeper into her leg. Brooklyn felt her body being lifted and slammed face down on the floor. It lashed out across the back of her legs, watching the dark stain spread across the worn material. But he underestimated his foe.
The hunter turned her upper body and struck the wolf across the jaw temporarily stunning it and loosening the hold it had over her. In pain and bleeding, Brooklyn hurried to a crouched position with gun trained and cocked.
"I'm not some weak bitch," she stared the wolf down. "Yeah, that's right."
She could feel the injuries slowly healing but she was still in a sorry state and the wolf knew it.
The wolf went for a third attempt this time succeeding. Brooklyn smacked the back of her head against the front of the bed, causing her vision to darken and blur. The shooting pain felt like powerful bolts of lightning striking her down. The hunter pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead feeling the tears squeezing from her eyes.
She knew the wolf could sense her weakness but the debilitating pain was too great for her to withstand and fight off Scott. The werewolf leapt on her lap and raked its claws across her chest. Brooklyn screamed in pain as skin was ripped like tissue paper. It went for the final blow but was hurled against the far wall.
Derek towered over Scott, fully shifted and angry. He growled with dominance over the lesser wolf and belted Scott hard across the face. The larger beta watched as the smaller one reverted to its human state before it allowed its human side to reemerge.
Stiles was by Brooklyn's side, taking the gun and putting it aside.
"Oh….my….holy….god….."
He saw the five deep gashes across her torso and chest and spied the blood on her jeans. The teen spotted the shirt on the bed and pressed it against her body.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Not the time," she pressed her lips tightly together and curled her hand into Stiles' shoulder. Stiles yelped at the pinching sensation but didn't slip away.
Derek got off of Scott who was looking up with bewildered eyes.
"What the hell just happened?"
"You nearly killed Brook that's what," Derek turned to tend to the hunter who wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere.
"Save it whatever it is you're going to say," Brooklyn shot her hand up.
"What were you thinking?"
"Like you two I also sometimes have anger management issues," the hunter said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And this is how you cope? Oh my god are you insane?" Stiles interrupted.
"No," Brooklyn shook her head, "I'm human."
Sorry about the late update...Yes Brooklyn might have been a bit insane to do that but she's a hunter and human...And again your feedback and the adds and alerts are love! I am toying with the idea of doing a 1-2 shot with Jackson...Maybe some kind of off shoot...What do you all think?
