Chapter 34: What We Do in the Shadows

The night was dark. Along the street of houses, the only illumination came from porch lights, and even then the shadows were prevalent. There was one home in particular, with a red front door and an old-fashioned lamp hanging next to the front door on the porch. Within the home were four heartbeats. Three of humans, one of a canine. Two were upstairs, beating slowly and soundly as the people they belonged to slept. The one downstairs was relaxed, closely placed with that of the dog, both colocated with the faint sound of late night television. They seemed so content on the main level of the home, but what the boy hadn't realized was that he was being watched.

Outside of 8228 Bridle Avenue, Sammy stood hidden in the shadows, the porch light obstructed from her by a tree in the front yard. She was dressed in a black t-shirt and a pair of black leggings that she'd stolen from her room earlier that day. She'd made the active decision to leave her hair down to hide her pale skin, and keep her feet bare to silence her steps. That, and the fact that she wasn't a fan of cleaning the blood out of her shoes after killing Cole in the woods. Unlike the other two kills, she'd thought it through, rather than simply stumbling upon her prey at some party. He was the last one on her list after all.

For possibly the tenth time that day, her phone began to vibrate in her legging pocket. It wasn't even surprising anymore. What was even more predictable was the fact that the caller ID read Stiles. She would've pressed ignore, and gone about her night, but Sammy was in a playful mood. With a sigh, she clicked the answer button and lifted the phone to her ear.

"You know," she began, "I should thank you. You reminded me to power my phone off."

"Sammy, where are you? Scott said you came home, that he could smell that you'd been in your room recently. Do you even know how many times I called-"

"I needed some clothes, what did you expect?"

"Sammy! Where are you?!"

"I'm safe. Which is more than I can say for some people at the moment."

"Glad you're safe, but you need to come home. Derek is perpetually pissed off and honestly, so are the rest of us-"

"I don't care. Derek doesn't have the right to get involved in my life anymore, and neither you nor Scott can even begin to understand how I have felt, and how much I need to do this."

"You're killing people, Sammy!"

"I'm only killing the ones that killed me-"

"But you're alive! Gerard is gone and Jackson didn't mean it!"

"No, I died long before that, and none of you understand that," she said firmly before hanging up the phone. She powered the cell phone off and tucked it away, back into her legging pocket. What made the situation even better was the fact that the dog got up, and that meant Brandon needed to take it outside. Once the backyard light turned on, Sammy snuck around the house and hopped the fence.

Once again, she was hidden in the shadows, but this time in the shadow of the house as Brandon stood outside. He was bleary-eyed and focused on watching his dog sniff around for a spot. After a quick breath, Sammy simply snuck behind him, standing between him and the back door to cut off his escape from her. She took a moment to listen for his parents, and they were still perfectly asleep upstairs in a room that faced the front yard.

"Nice house," she finally said, revealing herself. "Is it far enough away from me?" she teased him. A deadly smirk pulled at her lips as he jumped at the sound of her words.

"Jesus!" he said rather loudly, but once her eyes glowed blue, he froze.

"Don't scream, Brandon. If you do, you're not going to like what happens," she threatened, her claws extending from her fingertips as her teeth grew into fangs. His eyes drifted downwards, seeing her claws. He swallowed out of pure nervousness.

"Sammy," he said, slowly putting his hands out in front of himself, as if he thought he could defend himself from her. "What are you doing here?"

"Now, now, I have a few questions of my own. Be patient," she instructed.

"Sammy-"

"If you could do it all over again, would you still drug me? Would you still do what you did?" She asked, her head tilting to the right as she watched him. His eyes had been full of fear, but now they were painted with guilt.

"In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea, but Cole and Thomas had been bugging me about how much they liked you. Since you rejected the three of us so much, the idea of doing that to you became an ongoing joke. But then one thing led to another, and it was fully planned. Thomas had gotten ahold of the drugs, and once you were all loopy and falling over, it'd become real. I told them we shouldn't, but they said we were in too deep," Brandon began to explain. His words caused her eye to twitch.

Then she asked, "How did it make you feel?"

"I felt...powerful from it. I mean, I still wish I tried to sleep with you the normal way, because there's a lot more pride in conquering a girl that's willing-"

"Except you conquered me anyway, like a coward," she snarled at him. "Why did you do it?"

"I told you, Cole and Thomas had been bugging me about their little crushes-"

"Funny, in death you all throw each other under the bus, don't you?" she laughed quietly.

"I know Cole and Thomas are dead. Pushing Thomas out of a window is one thing, but I'd been unsure about how you killed Cole until tonight. You're here to kill me too, aren't you?"

"Tell the truth about why you did it," she told him.

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to be creepy like those guys on Criminal Minds and say that, 'you were too perfect, I had to defile you' ? No. It was much simpler than that. I was tired of you saying no to me, and if you were gonna be drugged, I might as well let Thomas and Cole have their turn. I mean, they wanted you as bad as I did," he answered.

Sammy rushed forward, grabbed him by the throat, and said, "I was a virgin, and the three of you, especially you, ruined me. I was broken and defeated. I couldn't even bear to be touched by people I trusted. I couldn't wear clothes that actually fit me because they felt unsafe. I felt unsafe. It didn't matter who looked at me, my skin would crawl and burn at any kind of eye contact."

"You seem fine now-" he croaked out, so she tightened her grip.

"That's because I died," she snapped at him. "You're lucky. If I kill you here and now, you only die once. Ever since you did what you did, I have died over and over again. You started it. I died that night, and I just kept dying, little by little, every single day until I died for real. And it's funny how when I genuinely get murdered in cold blood, it actually brings me back to life as something far stronger than you'll ever be," she growled at him. His eyes barely blinked as he watched her in fear.

Sammy slammed his body into the grass and pinned him there with one hand, it still gripping his throat. Her free hand reached for his face. Brandon didn't even beg for his life, he just laid there wide-eyed as his hands hit and pulled at her to try and save himself. Her face fully shifted, and his fear grew and took root in his very soul as her true monster was revealed. His dog barked briefly, but her eyes made contact with its, her growl forcing it into submission.

Brandon gasped and thrashed about, but he wasn't strong enough to stop her as she dragged her claws from his hairline, down his face that he'd had so much pride in, until she reached his neck. Sammy skipped past her own hand on his neck where she'd been securing him, and raked her claws down his chest. She shredded through shirt and skin, all the way down to his navel, slowly as he bit back his own pain.

"This is how I was killed for real, if you were curious," she told him before plunging her hand into his abdomen. He tried to cry out in pain, but her hand whipped from his neck to his mouth, muffling his sounds of agony. She removed her hand from his stomach, it covered in thick, hot blood.

"See? That's your blood!" She told him excitedly. "Remember what you told me that night? 'Look at yourself, Sammy. Your body is all weak and worn out. It's pathetic.' Remember telling me that?" she mimicked him, forcing her voice deeper to mock his words. "You know what, Brandon? Your body is weak and pathetic. You are twice my size, and yet you're over powered by a pipsqueak of a girl. Though now, I have the unfair advantage, just like you did back then. When you drugged me?" she plunged her hand back into his stomach, his cries still muffled by her hand over his mouth. "That was an unfair advantage. I couldn't fight back, I couldn't move. But you can, and you still aren't strong enough to stop me. I suppose that's real power, isn't it?" she snapped at him. His blood was getting everywhere, and her hand inside of him was surely coated in it.

"So unlike what you did for me, I'm gonna stick around and make sure no one saves you. I'm going to watch as the light leaves your eyes," Sammy promised him. She slashed his throat to stop him from crying out for help.

Sammy stayed there, crouched over his body as the fight all but left him. His eyes started into hers as his breaths labored and his heart slowed. His blood escaped him, making his body colder and colder as his life slipped away into the grass. When his heart stopped, and his final breath passed his lips, Sammy watched as his eyes unfocused and death took hold of him. She stood up and turned her back on his limp body. For a moment, she froze, seeing her reflection in the back sliding door. It was her eyes again. They'd turned green once again, and the glowing emerald energy lingered a bit longer than before. But once it faded and her eyes were her normal ocean blue, she moved on, hopping over the fence. She ran away from the scene of her crime.

She'd sprinted for maybe five blocks, following the trail of shadows cast by houses, cars, trees, until she'd spotted Aiden's truck. He'd waited for her, as promised. She tapped on the passenger side window as thunder rolled across the sky. The smell of rain graced her nose as Aiden leaned over and opened the passenger door for her before tossing her a towel to clean off her bloodied hands.

"How'd it go, princess?" Aiden asked pleasantly, like a husband when his wife comes home from an important day at work.

"That felt extremely liberating," she told him, finally climbing into the truck again. Aiden began to drive away.

"I'm glad. He was the last one on your list," he grinned, rounding a corner. "What does that mean for you now?"

"Not sure, exactly. It kind of put a kink in my home life, But I do know what it means at the moment," she told him. As the truck pulled up to a stop sign, she pulled Aiden's face towards hers, unable to contain her desire, her need, to kiss him. It was mind-numbing, but then he pulled away.

With a laugh he said, "Don't worry, we'll get to that later, baby. First, I'm gonna get you some dinner. There's a Sonic down the way, and it should make a good alibi that you're getting dinner with me," he grinned. Sammy grinned and kissed him on the cheek this time.

"Can we get milkshakes too?" she asked in an elated tone, reaching down to the floor of the truck and opening up a container of wipes to better clean the blood off of herself.

"Of course, why else do you think I suggested going to Sonic?" Aiden said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He reached over and rested his hand on her thigh.

"I'm gonna play music," she announced briefly before grabbing his phone and opening up spotify.

"Whatever you want, baby," Aiden smiled. She scrolled through the playlist she made on his phone and put on Bust a Move by Young MC. She casually began to dance in the passenger seat as she finished up cleaning herself off and tucking away the bloody wipes and the rag he handed her into a plastic back to be thrown away at their next convenience.

"Aiden?" She looked over to him, remembering her eyes.

"What's up?"

"When I killed Thomas, and just now when I killed Brandon, my eyes...they were green again. This time they stayed like that for a few seconds instead of a flash."

"I had a feeling that you might say that."

"Do you know why they do that?"

"No, I don't. But Deucalian might."