It's the Same Wherever You Go
Chapter Thirty-Two
Who's The True Victor?
The room was dark, only being lit by a candle chandelier above the long table where the meeting was being held. It was quite . . . strange.
Not that the meeting was strange, oh no. What was strange was a person, a woman in fact, hanging above the table, softly pleading for her life.
"Please . . . I've done nothing wrong . . ."
The entire room erupts in loud, boastful laughter. Their pale faces had red splashes across their cheeks.
From the head of the table came a whisper of a voice. "Nothing wrong, hm?" the voice hums, over pronouncing their vowels, dragging out their words.
Tears profusely fell down the poor woman's face, her heart racing from the hysterical fear eating her up inside. Just from those three sounds, she knew she wasn't leaving this room. Well, alive anyway. From her hanging position, she could see everyone. But what struck her as odd, she knew two personally, and a couple from previous interactions. But no one was coming to her rescue.
"Please . . ." she whimpers softly, looking at every individual sitting at the table, pleading for her life.
A loud slam echoes around the room, making everyone flinch from the sound. At the head of the table, the mysterious person stood from their seat, pointing something at the desperate woman, whose breathing became more erratic. Frantic.
"Allow me to inform everyone here on what you did," the voice says, their gaze moving to every person in turn. "This woman has been feeding our children lies and writing articles about how our kind is dying out, and that we should find ourselves mating with other creatures. Even werewolves."
Not a sound was heard at the table. But each pair of eyes began to move up at the panicking woman, who began pleading for her life once more, but her pleading dies on her tongue as she looks up at the head of the table, locking eyes with the host. A personal so vile and evil, no attempt at begging was going to save her.
The person's red eyes stare into her soul, until they point at her again.
Their pale lips began to form words, as a green light begins to form in front of the woman.
"Avada Kedavra."
Tears fell from her face before she squeezes her eyes shut and feeling the killing curse strike her in the chest, eradicating any source of life from her body.
The spell that kept her suspended above the table finally releases her lifeless body, allowing the woman to collide with the table below. A loud bang echoes around the room.
ITSWYG
A loud bang echoes around the room as Jaydra's green eyes snap up from the pages of The Deathly Hallows from the Harry Potter collection.
Locking eyes with the counselor, as well as the French teacher, Miss Morrell, Jaydra wills her heart to slow down, the organ trying to burst from her chest from the startle. She was sure Lord Voldemort had come for her soul in that very moment.
Miss Morrell smiles softly, her rich sepia brown skin shining as the sun shines through the bay window on the far side of the room.
"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" the counselor asks, moving to sit at the desk across from Jaydra.
The young hunter finally pries her fingers away from the hard back copy of the book and, after placing her bookmark on the page, closes it and lays it across her lap.
"A bit," Jaydra admits. "I was immersed in the world."
"What house are you in?"
The question from the counselor caught Jaydra off guard, and her emerald eyes move from her book in her lap, and locks with Miss Morrell's amber brown eyes.
The only reason the teenager was here in the room was the satisfy John, who begged her to talk to the professional counselor about what happened at the station.
Sitting up straight, Jaydra crosses her right leg over her left and calmly answers, "Everyone expects me to be a Ravenclaw," she softly says, before a small smirk comes across her face. "But I'm a Slytherin."
"Slytherin?" Miss Morrell echos, leaning in towards the teenager. "Isn't that the evil house?"
A sneer comes up on Jaydra's face. "Slytherin's are not all evil," she growls out. "You seem to forget that all of the other houses have had dark wizards in them. Quirrel from Ravenclaw, and Peter Pettigrew from Gryffindor just to name a couple."
"What about Hufflepuff?"
Jaydra grits her teeth, but quickly comes up with the answer, "Where it's true that there's no record of names for dark wizards in Hufflepuff, they still existed at some point. Maybe that's why Hufflepuff can be dangerous. They keep their machinations so well hidden nobody ever suspects them."
"But Voldemort was a Slytherin, and he was the most evil, wasn't he?"
"You seem to forget, Merlin and Slughorn were both Slytherins as well." Jaydra's eyes narrow. "Sure, Slughorn wasn't the greatest teacher out there, but in the end he fought against his former student to protect Hogwarts and the students that stayed to fight."
Miss Morrell allows a ghost of a smile to come across her face as she leans back in her chair, the tension in the room finally easing up.
"And that's what you do, isn't it, Jaydra?" she asks. "You protect people, just like you did for Scott, Stiles, Melissa, and the sheriff, right?"
Jaydra's body tenses the tiniest bit, her teeth gnashing together in her mouth.
There it was. The questions about the station, but Jaydra was ready for her.
"Of course I did," the sandy blonde student answers. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
"But during this time, you were so calm, and collected . . ." The words hung in the air, almost suffocating the hunter. "Why is that?"
"I stayed sexy, and I didn't get murdered," Jaydra says, a small smirk on her face. "I listen to many Podcasts in my time, and they're true crime. And at the end, they try to give some tips for what to do when you're in that kind of situation. So I went with my gut."
"And that's why you stay calm? Listening to instincts?"
"I'm still here, aren't I?"
Three thin lines begin to form on Miss Morrell's forehead as her eyes narrow in on the teenager. She was starting to grow annoyed at Jaydra's evasive answers.
"Don't you feel sorry for him? Matt, I mean," the counselor asks, trying a different tactic.
Jaydra shrugs her shoulders, glancing out at the window. "Honestly? What happened to him when he was nine sucked, he almost died. But that doesn't justify him killing all those people and almost killing my friends and me."
"You're right, it doesn't," Miss Morrell agrees. "But you're still here to tell your story, he's not."
Jaydra lets out a deep sigh. She heard from John that Matt had been found in the creek, drowned. And she had a sinking suspicion on who did it. It wasn't an accident.
"Now, we should really talk abo-"
"I do not want to talk about my brother, just leave it alone," Jaydra snarls, her green eyes snapping over to Morrell, almost daring her to say another word.
A lump forms in the counselor's throat, which she quickly swallows and lets the topic go.
"Very well, but I must ask this, Jaydra," Miss Morrell looks up and crosses her arms as she leans back in her desk chair. "Do you feel safe? Now that this is all over?"
The hunter snorts a laugh, her fingers instinctively tightening around the book resting in her lap.
"It may be calm now, but nobody's safe, this is just the beginning," she whispers softly, allowing herself to be honest for once.
The comment makes Miss Morrell sit up straighter. "There is no danger now, Jaydra . . . Matt's gone . . ."
"I never said it was Matt."
"What do you mean?"
Without allowing a beat of silence to go by, Jaydra grabs her copy of the Deathly Hallows and holds it up. "Everyone thought Voldemort was gone, as was any threat he carried behind him. But he came back, and so many people died because of it." Lowering the book, Jaydra's green eyes lock again with Morrell's brown. "Just because one threat is gone, that doesn't guarantee we're safe."
A ghost of a smile comes across Miss Morrell's face. "Wise words from a Junior."
Reaching down to grab her back pack, Jaydra stands up and walks to the door, clearly done with this once in a lifetime session.
"Because I've seen the world for what it truly is," Jaydra comments, opening the door about to leave the room, when Morrell's final question makes her pause.
"And what's that?"
"A shit show."
ITSWYG
After finishing a shift at work, Jaydra heads to the burnt remains of the Hale House, to speak to Derek. The Alpha called her earlier during her work shift, to fill her in on what Lydia did while everyone was hallucinating at her birthday party.
Jaydra visibly shivers as she thinks back to her own hallucination. Her father, John Winchester, promising that she will eventually be the death of everyone she holds dear. Especially the Alpha she loves, Derek.
Swallowing the lump that was starting to form in her throat, Jaydra forces herself to think about the main problem they have now.
Lydia, under the power of the former Alpha, Peter Hale, raised him from the dead.
"And now, on top of all this other shit, I have to worry about him," Jaydra sighs, laying her head on the steering wheel after parking her car in front of the burnt house.
Forcing herself out of her car, Jaydra walks into the foyer of the house, noticing Derek standing in the former living room of the house, looking over something on the table.
But that wasn't the pressing issue. It was the fact Erica and Boyd were there.
"You decided," Derek growls softly, his greenish-brown eyes glancing back at the young betas.
The gears spin in the hunter's head, and she was quickly able to put two and two together. "You two are leaving," she states, startling the young Betas, who never heard her enter the house. "When?"
"Tonight," Erica announces, holding her head up high.
"Everyone's going to be at the game," Boyd informs. "We figured it was the best time."
"It's not like we want to . . ." Erica adds on, sensing the heavy tension in the air.
"What do you want then?" Derek demands.
"Well, since I just turned sixteen a month ago, I wouldn't mind getting my license," Erica retorts, shifting her weight onto one of her legs, leaning against the door frame. "I can't do that if I'm dead, you know."
"Well, we told you there was a price."
Boyd snarls at Derek's statement. "You didn't say it would be like this!"
"No, I did," Jaydra states, stepping up in front of Boyd, staring the Beta down.
Growling softly, Boyd steps down from Jaydra's clear challenge, moving to stand next to Erica.
"And Derek told you how to survive," the sandy blonde hunter continues, moving to stand by Derek. "You do it as a pack."
"And you're not a pack without an Alpha," Derek reminds the two.
"We know."
Jaydra lets out a small laugh. "So you want to go look for another pack?"
"How are you even going to find one?" Derek asks.
"We think we already did," Boyd announces.
Those five words sent a cold chill down Jaydra's spine. If there was another werewolf pack near by, the turf war could be catastrophic.
But the logical side of her brain reminds the teenager that Derek would know if another pack was moving into Beacon Hills, so the next possible options enters her mind.
Hunters.
"What?"
An excited grin spreads on Erica's face, a look Jaydra hasn't seen in a few weeks. "Like, all of a sudden, we heard all this howling! It was unbelievable!"
"There must have been a dozen of them," Boyd added.
"Maybe more!"
Crossing her arms, the hunter scoffs. "Or only two."
Crestfallen looks come across the young beta's face at Jaydra's words.
"You know what the Beau Geste effect is?" Derek asks, taking the chance to inform his pack. "If wolves, and werewolves, modulate their howls with rapid shift in tone, two can sound like twenty."
Erica's mouth opens and closes multiple times before she finally finds her voice. "It doesn't matter, okay?! There's another pack out there."
"And you two already made up your minds, eh?" Jaydra asks, leaning against the table.
"Yeah," Boyd nods. "We lost . . . It's over. We're leaving."
Sarcastic laughter comes from the sandy blonde. "No, you're running. And once you start, you won't stop."
At her monotone voice, Erica and Boyd leave the Hale House, running off into the night.
Derek sighs loudly, putting his hand on the table of books. The Alpha seems indifferent on the outside about losing two beta's, but Jaydra knew better.
Placing her hand on the square of his back, she rubs gently. Her fingers touch the tattoo that lays under the thin material of the shirt, a silent promise.
I won't ever leave you.
But, like all tender moments, it didn't last long.
Sensing someone walking into the room, Derek grabs the a shard of a broken mirror, turns around, and throws it at the unwanted guest.
"Oh fuck me!" Jaydra groans, spotting the figure.
"I expected a slightly warmer welcome, but point taken," Peter Hale sighs, looking where the mirror shard went pass him.
But the room quickly turns to a serious tone as Peter faces the two.
"It's quite a situation you two have on your hands." The uncle gives his nephew a dry laugh, running his hand over his face. "I-I mean . . . I'm out of commission for a while and suddenly there's lizard people, geriatric psychopaths, and you're cooking up werewolves out of every self-esteem deprived adolescent in town."
Crossing her arms, Jaydra steps forward. "Yeah, and you were sooooo great in your reign of terror on the town."
Peter's eyes narrow in on the hunter, but the dam was slowly crumbling as Jaydra lets everything out.
"Yeah, this isn't the best situation to ever be in, but at least Derek isn't a big headed asshole that just wanted to create a pack for power, even killing his own niece to get to it!" Jaydra's green eyes stare down into Peter's. "And fuck! YOU turned Scott into a werewolf! But you get on Derek for that?! DID YOU FORGET THAT YOU EVEN GAVE THE OPTION FOR STILES AND I TO TURN?!"
With each step closer to the ex Alpha, Jaydra's normally steady, calm voice, raises to unusual heights.
"Oh, and let's not forget the fact you tormented and terrified multiple kids in our school, and even scarred some."
Grabbing her shirt, Jaydra pulls down the neckline, revealing the three gnarly scars that were given to her by Peter himself when he was in full Alpha mode while in the high school.
"So maybe I'm crazy, but compared to you? Derek's fucking sane."
Peter opens his mouth to try and retort to the hunter's words, but his nephew interrupts, breaking the tension, and changing the topic before a fight breaks out.
"What do you want?"
"Well . . . I want to help," Peter admits. "You're my nephew, and the last bit of my family left. There's so much I want to teach you, so . . . Can we just talk?"
Taking a few, brave, steps to the current Alpha, Peter places his hands on Derek's shoulder.
Derek's greenish-brown eyes zero in on Peter's hand, as a malicious grin slowly comes onto his face. "Sure."
Blink and it would be missed, as Peter's body goes flying into the stairs, via Derek's hands.
The sight gives the blonde hunter so much satisfaction, but there were some other things to be done before the game tonight.
"You seem to have a hand on everything here," she muses, going to walk to the door. "I need to go and get ready for the game."
"Be careful," Derek calls after her.
Jaydra just raises her hand and waves after him, the second silent promise of the night.
ITSWYG
Taking little time to process everything that's happened in the past few hours, Jaydra rushes to Beacon Hills High School to prep for tonight's big game. Big for two reasons.
One, it's a big game in the season. The final game to be exact.
And two, Gerard has something planned with Jackson.
The blonde walks into the female lockers to change into her uniform before walking into the male side to hear the speech from Coach Finstock.
Sitting on the bench beside Scott, the hunter begins lacing up her shoes, until she glances up and catches a glance of Melissa walking into the locker room, moving to stand near Scott, Stiles, and Jaydra. The trio.
"Good morning," Finstock begins, pacing in front of the team. "In less than an hour, aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind."
Rubbing her forehead, the sandy blonde hunter lets out an audible sigh. She didn't believe Scott and Stiles last year when they told her of the coach's ritual, but this was her second time hearing it.
"What . . . ?" Melissa asks, vaguely recognizing the speech as well.
"Mankind . . . That would should have new meaning for all us today."
"What the hell is he talking about?!" Melissa demands, looking at her son.
Scott's chocolate brown eyes look up at his mother. "He does this every year."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, you get used to it," Jaydra mutters, her hands double checking her lacrosse gear.
But Finstock continues with his speech. "We are fighting for our right to live!"
And it was surprisingly working, with a loud "YEAH!" from the players.
"Wait . . . Is this . . ." Melissa's eyes widen as the name of where the speech sparks in her mind.
Stiles nods. "Yeah, it's the speech from Independence Day."
"It's his favorite movie," Jaydra quips.
"Does he not know any sport speeches?"
"I don't think he cares."
Reaching the end of the speech, Finstock yells out, "TODAY WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"
Smiling at the pumped up players, Jaydra stands. "At least it pumps them up, eh?"
But the smile across her face tuns into an immediate frown when the principal walks into the locker room, said room dropping a few degrees from the sudden tension.
"Well spoken, coach," Gerard says, his eyes scanning over the group. The older eyes linger on the trio and Melissa, before finishing over the rest of the players. "And while I haven't been here long, there's no denying my pride in having a winning team for this school. I know you will all be brilliant tonight, even with only one co-captian leading you tonight."
The rest of the speech didn't register to group, surprise faces looking at one another.
Scott gets up and runs over to the coach to demand an explanation, whereas the hunter of the group stays seated on the bleachers, her green eyes moving over to glare at Gerard and Jackson.
Shit was about to go down tonight.
ITSWYG
The trio sits out on the benches, waiting for the game to start.
"Your dad coming?" Scott asks Stiles, his eyes scanning over the field for the umpteenth time.
"He's already here."
"Do we have any idea what's going on?" Jaydra interrupts their discussion to focus on the main issue.
But Scott merely shakes his head.
Stiles' normally happy-go-lucky attitude was gone when he somberly asks, "It's going to be bad, isn't it?" He didn't wait for a response before continuing, "I mean, like . . . People screaming, running for their lives, blood, killing, maiming kind of bad . . .?"
Not to be one to gently ease people into things, Jaydra merely hums, "Looks like it."
"We're losing . . ."
"What the hell are you talking about, Stilinski?!" Finstock walks up behind the students, flabbergasted that his players were even talking about defeat before the game even begins! "Winchester! Get your ass on the field and in position!"
Jaydra glances over at the young beta werewolf before pushing her helmet onto her head and running out onto the field.
But imagine the blonde's surprise when Stiles comes onto the field as well.
"What the hell are you doing out here?!"
Giggling excitedly, Stiles explains. "Something happened with Greenburg! Now I'm in the game!" But the realization slowly kicks in as the referee blows the whistle, signaling the beginning of the match. "Oh, dear God . . ."
"You'll be fine!" Jaydra assures. "Just keep moving!"
Following her own advice, the hunter stays on her toes during the game, but even then, the other team proves to be just as good, if not better. Even if their tactic was to shove whoever held the ball to the ground.
Groaning, Jaydra picks herself up off the ground, making a promise to tackle number seventeen into the ground for payback. But her vow of revenge took a back seat when her eyes settle in on a familiar face joining the team. Isaac Lahey.
"Oh, I could kiss you!"
"Please don't," the pup whines. "I don't want Derek's wrath on me."
"So, what's the plan?"
"Take out as many players as I can so that the coach has to put Scott in."
Jaydra grins wickedly. "Brilliant."
The plan works wonders, with Lahey tackling about five of their own players, putting them out of commission.
"One more should do it," Isaac says to Jaydra as the next play begins.
But who would have guessed, Jackson had to ruin the party. The mind controlled student slams into Isaac, his claws sinking back into his gloved hands.
Running over to the pup, Jaydra's eyes notice a small cut on Isaac's leg.
"Nothing's broken," he says in response to the concern on Jaydra's face. "Jackson nicked me, I can feel it spreading."
"Fuck . . ."
EMT's rush out onto the field again to remove Isaac so the match can continue.
Jogging over to the sidelines to grab a quick drink of water, the green eyed player overhears the conniption that Finstock was having.
"McCall, either you're in, or we forfeit . . ."
Taking that as a sign to get on the field, Scott grabs his helmet, pulling it on, before walking over to Jay. But someone else notices the change in the air. Melissa.
"Something's happening, isn't it?"
Scott nods. "You should go."
"So should John and Lydia," Jaydra agrees. If the shit hits the fan, they don't need to be there.
"Oh, we're not going anywhere," Melissa states, a serious look on her face. But her chocolate colored eyes zero in on Scott. "What I said earlier, forget it. If you can do something to help, you do it." Apparently, Melissa realizes how big this all was, and how hard the teenagers of Beacon Hills were trying to save it.
Scott smiles softly. "I will."
ITSWYG
Even with a werewolf on the team, Jaydra and Scott found themselves lying on the ground staring at the stars.
"You know, I'm really starting to hate number seventeen on their team," Jaydra snarls, pushing herself up. Not one to normally ignore one of Jaydra's quips, Scott stayed silent, making the hunter glance over. "You okay?"
"No," Scott growls, his eyes darting over to the field house. "Gerard's got Isaac."
"That man has no morals," Jaydra grunts, standing up. "Go stop him, I'll keep everything sane as much as I can here."
Taking the hint, Scott pushes himself up as Jaydra stomps over to the rest of the team.
"OI!" the hunter screams out, gaining the attention of the rest of the Beacon Hills players. "Aren't we the Cyclones?" A few scattered agreements were heard from the group. "Then here's an idea, how about we try scoring and beating these players?!" The team cheer and get back into position, making Jaydra grin. She'll lead this team to victory if she has to.
Hearing the whistle blow again, Jaydra rushes in and picks up the ball in her Lacrosse net. Once secured, the female player begins to weave through players to reach the goal at the end of the field. But out of her blind spot, another player comes up and tackles her to the ground.
The ball gets thrown out of her net and lands in front of the terrified Stiles. Has he even moved from his spot since the game began?!
Acting on instinct, Stiles reaches down with his net and picks up the ball. Then proceeds to run towards the goal.
The crowd begins cheering for the terrified player, encouraging him to throw the ball. And he did, successfully scoring a point, with the crowd erupting in positive fanfare.
Grinning with pride, Jaydra slaps Stiles on the back and praises him. "Now all we need to do is follow your lead and we'll win! We only need one more point!"
The next play was tense, with all of the players doing what they can to score the next goal, but it came down to Stiles once again, who was finally getting the groove of the game. Scooping up the ball, Stiles rushes down the field again.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jaydra spots a familiar jersey running after her friend.
"Hello, seventeen," She snarls and uses her body weight to slam into said player, taking them to the ground.
When Jaydra stands back up from the tackle, the entire field erupts in cheers. Stiles won the game.
The female Winchester was about to run and congratulate her house mate, only for someone to grab her shoulder. Scott.
"Nothing happened," the werewolf reports.
Opening her mouth to say something didn't feel right, Jaydra's eyes widen as the field floods with darkness. Someone had shut off the field lights.
Instinctfully, Jaydra lashes out and grabs onto Scott's arm. Since the werewolf could see much clearer in the dark than she ever could.
"SCOTT! JAYDRA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
The voice belonged to Melissa McCall, who rushed out onto the field the second Stiles won the game, but was now lost in the sea of darkness.
"Mom!" Scott calls out, and jogs over to Melissa. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine!" Melissa assures her son. "But somebody is hurt. Somebody went down on the field before the lights went out."
"Who?" Jaydra demands, fear flooding in her stomach.
"I don't know . . ."
Lights flood over the field as the electricity comes back to life.
Blinking rapidly, Jaydra's emerald eyes quickly adjust to see what exactly happened in the darkness. But nothing seems out of pla-
"OH MY GOD, JACKSON!"
The shrill shriek from Lydia made a shiver goes down the hunter's spine. Scanning the field, Jaydra notices the kanima's host laying on the ground. Motionless.
"Jackson! What happened to Jackson?!" Lydia demands, looking around as Melissa rushes over to help as well.
"Can we get a medic over here?!" Finstock yells, panic flooding his voice.
Melissa kneels down on the ground beside the unconscious teenager, and places her finger against his neck. Her face grows grim.
"No pulse . . ."
Glancing down at the teen's fingers, Jaydra's green eyes register the blood on them. This examination catches Scott's attention as well.
"He did it to himself . . ." Scott says softly, not able to grasp the reason why Jackson did it.
Running up onto the field, John pants heavily as his eyes scan the group, but his face doesn't register relief of finding them. Just more panic.
"Where's Stiles?!" he gasps out, looking around again. "Where the fuck is my son?!"
The words hit Jaydra in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs. "STILES?!" the blonde shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth. "STILES!"
Silence was the only answer to her cries.
Tilting her head up to the sky, Jaydra lets out an ear splitting, desperate, scream of anguish. This could not be happening. She already lost one brother, she can't afford to lose another . . . not even honorary.
A/N:
Hello my lovely readers! How are you doing? Happy I finally updated this story?
Well, in case you guys didn't hear, I had some changes happen the last half of the year and I haven't had enough time to sit down and write, so expect some more time between each chapter, but don't worry! I won't let it die!
Anyway, hope you like the chapter, and please review! I want to hear your thoughts and ideas!
Much love,
ShadowLegacy11