After admitting that I could actually be something not entirely human, it were as if Scott and Stiles couldn't leave me alone. Scott admitted that he felt responsible for my safety since the Kanima, apparently what that reptile creature was called, should never have been allowed to place innocent people such as myself in danger, so he felt it his responsibility to keep me safe and also warn me about the hunters. As far as he was aware, they only hunted werewolves, but that didn't mean to say that they didn't occasionally go fishing for sirens for a change of pace.
What made things a tad bit complicated, however, was the fact that Allison's dad Mr Argent as well as her grandfather were hunters. The latter being the most dangerous one. "So…you're a siren?" Allison asked as the four of us sat together in private, out of sight of preying eyes so that no one would find out about our little gatherings. "Is that even a thing?"
"I don't know, you tell me, but my family history is pretty damn adamant about it." I answered, already feeling totally done with toady.
"Hey, what if there's something about them in the bestiary?" Stiles suggested, however Allison winced guiltily.
"I'm still having trouble trying to translate it. It's hard enough trying to figure out the part about the kanima, but if I happen to unearth something, I'll definitely pass it on." This was so weird. Never in my life did I think I would be having this kind of conversation.
"Well, whatever. It's not like I go crazy every full moon and try to kill everyone. So if you'll excuse me, I am going to go back to failing my classes and disappointing my parents in order to forget all this ever happened. I don't care if there's a killer reptile on the loose, I just want to continue with a mundane life and hopefully, never speak of this again."
"Wait, you're not going to help us?" Stiles seemed surprised. Surely he should have noticed by now that I don't exactly play team sports, I'm more of a solo career kind of girl. Also, I did almost let a guy drown because I was so concerned with keeping myself from dying, so there's that too.
"No offence, but what do you think a bunch of teenagers can do against a monster like that? If it's going around killing people, then maybe it has a reason for doing so. Instead of focusing on the killer, perhaps you guys should start looking at the victims, see what that turns up for you." I suggested before getting out of there as fast as I could, not wanting to be pulled into their supernatural world. I was starting to get my thoughts back on track, intending to focus on French class after lunch, however when somebody stepped in front of me I pulled up short to avoid walking into them. "Do you mind? I'm kind of in a hurry."
The blonde smiled, revealing pearly white teeth as she placed a hand on her hip and stuck out her voluptuous curves. In the back of my mind I recalled a past image of her being this scruffy nobody who everybody knew as the girl who'd peed herself in public. Erica. I felt tense around her, wary. The way she was looking at me and licking her lips, I felt like I were a slab of meat on a plate ready to be devoured, and not in a good way. Totally freaked out, I carefully moved around her before heading off to my isolation class, glancing back over my shoulder only once to find Erica still smirking after me.
I should have known then that something was wrong, however I never would have guessed that Derek and his, what do you call it? Pack. Derek and his pack would show up in my bedroom. I got in from school and dropped my bag down on the bed, books spilling everywhere as my organised chaos of a study floor lay spread out with paper, books and notes scattered everywhere in a barely functioning system. All my returned test papers were pinned to a board in their respective classes, along with lists of subjects which I'd failed on and didn't understand which was basically most of them, so as I naturally started to pick up my usual routine of doing my best to read and study, I practically died of fright when I heard a laugh behind me.
"Well would you look at that. Looks like the school's most popular girl is a closet dumbass." Erica announced as she picked up one of my papers, scrutinising it before showing it to me with a patronising smirk. "Really? You can't even pass econ? Doesn't coach practically give his grades away?"
"How the hell did you get in my room?"
"Oh sweetie, it wasn't that hard." Erica pouted at me before looking past my shoulder where I suddenly received the daunting feeling that it wasn't just the two of us alone in my room. "Isn't that right guys?"
"Almost too easy." Whirling around I saw three more figures standing in my room, all of them I recognised. Two were from school, the other was Derek. Briefly I cast my eyes over to Isaac, the one supposedly responsible for his father's murder. He too had this cocky smirk on his face that I wanted nothing more than to smack clean with a heavy book, but when Derek began to prowl towards me, all attention was stolen towards him.
"Cordelia, right?" Derek began seemingly in a polite manner but everything else about him screamed intimidation. The broad shoulders, the stance and tension in the room. I was in serious trouble.
"Cordy, actually." I glanced around nervously to each of them in turn, praying to god that they weren't here to kill me. Can I at least get through the week without another near death experience? They were getting really old pretty quickly. "What do you want? I haven't said anything about what happened last night, and I'm not going to either. You don't have to threaten me or anything."
"Smart girl." Derek praised, though that irked me somewhat and it must have shown in my face because he cracked a smirk. "But that attitude is going to cause you problems one day, you better work on that." Like I need advice from him, his attitude was nothing to be desired either. "But we're not here to threaten you. We're here to learn what you are, and since you are the main topic of discussion for today, it only makes sense that we bring our questions directly to the source of confusion. So, how about you straighten some things out for us?"
"Well, Erica's already figured out I'm not the smartest kid on the block. Maybe you should ask your questions elsewhere." Just like Derek had warned me, my smartass mouth got the better of me and before I know it, his hand was fisted around my neck in a squeeze which cut off the air supply to my lungs. Immediately I scratched at his hands, trying to pry him off of me but any marks I left on his skin healed instantaneously, making my eyes widen as I started to turn blue at the lips as I choked.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" Nodding my head, Derek let go of my neck and I buckled instantly, dropping to the floor as I coughed for air, grasping my throat as it began to bruise and swell. "Now, what are you? As far as I can tell you're not a shape shifter like us and your scent seems normal, except for the fact you smell like water." Derek informed me as he took a seat on the couch, making himself comfortable as Isaac stood nearby.
"Makes sense. She practically lives in the water even at school." He noted, making my brow furrow slightly. Since when did Isaac Lahey pay attention to how many hours of practice I put in? Scrap that, what the heck do these people want from me? I can't tell them anything now, not after they broke into my house and started choking me before even offering up a 'please' or 'thank you' first. Seeing that I was stills struggling to breathe, Isaac came a little closer and crouched down, gingerly touching my shoulder but I jerked back and away from him, backing up until I hit the side of my bed. Oh god, they hadn't hurt my parents had they?
"My…parents…where…are they?" I wheezed, feeling as though my throat was still being crushed by Derek's masculine hands.
"Oh, they're okay. Your mom is downstairs in the study and your dad isn't home." Isaac told me reassuringly, however this caused Erica to perk up with interest, grinning wolfishly. Excuse the pun.
"Looks like somebody has a crush on the popular girl. Isaac, you should have said so sooner."
"Shut it Erica." I could barely process a word they were saying, but all the same I looked up into Isaac's eyes in order to read him, working through the impressions I got from him and strangely, I felt an odd sense of warmth and caring which I had never bothered to notice before.
"Enough, we're wasting time." Cutting everyone short, Derek leaned forwards so that he could study me closely, the stern furrow of his brow deepening. "Tell us everything you know and what you are, and we won't hurt you." Now, in hindsight, what I did next was probably a very poor decision, but since I was impulsive by nature, I couldn't exactly help myself. I just felt a sudden overwhelming rush of anger and indignation towards a man whom I'd helped save, twice, even at the risk of drowning myself for him. He dared come here into my home, my sanctuary and not only physically assaulted me, but threatened me too? I am not going to give him anything. So, with a face full of pride and blatant rebelliousness, I told Derek Hale to go fuck himself.
A cold silence settled in the room out of disbelief, the others staring at me like I'd completely lost the plot. Maybe I had. Hell, it had been a rough week. Derek's face shifted through the motions, first in shock, then angered, then slowly deepened into a powerful rage with seemed to snap something inside him. In less than a heartbeat he'd crossed the distance between us and grabbed me by the neck again, this time lifting me clean off the ground even as Isaac protested but was pushed aside by his Alpha who roared aggressively in my face.
Flinching I closed my eyes and kept them tightly locked shut, shaking like a leaf as all bravery deserted me once and for all. I just wanted him to let go and leave me alone. I didn't care anymore. I wanted to be able to go through a single day without something occurring or scaring the living daylights out of me. I wanted to return to a normal life, but now that everything had changed, I knew then in that moment as Derek roared at me, there was no going back. I'm pretty sure I fainted out of terror, going utterly limp which forced Derek to reconsider his tactics a little.
Coming back around I found myself lying on my bed after dark with a blanket wrapped around me completely alone. Thank god they'd left, but I doubt they'd give up that easily. They'll be back, and next time I doubt they'll let me off lightly just because I fainted. Still, it was nice of them to place a blanket around me, but like hell does that mean I'm going to forgive them. When I get hold of that pack, I'm going to skin them and make slippers out of their fur, so help me god.
Angrily I kicked off the blanket and let it fall to the floor, sitting up and tenderly felt my neck. It was swollen pretty bad and in my mirror I could see some dark, angry discolouration in the form of finger marks where Derek had grabbed me. That bastard. He's going to pay for defiling my flawless skin. Carefully drawing in a breath, I started to get up when I noticed something on my bedside table. A scrap of paper torn from one of my notebooks with someone else's scrawled handwriting. I picked it up warily, uncertain of whether or not I should read it, but when I saw only two words written there, I figured it couldn't be anything too bad. In fact, it was totally the opposite. The words 'I'm sorry' were written in slightly messy handwriting, the black ink smudged slightly in one corner signalling the hand used to write with.
My best guess was Isaac, but I couldn't exactly be sure. All the same, an apology meant nothing and I did not forgive them. Going into my bathroom I ran myself a bath, deciding that a good hot soak was exactly what I needed, and once the bubbles were frothy and the steam frosting the mirror I sank into the warm folds which completely encompassed me, stealing away all the aches and pains of my body and making everything seem momentarily better.
I took to massaging my throat, wondering how I was going to hide this from my parents and the school, because I don't think makeup would quite do the job. A thought suddenly crossed my mind and I lifted my left leg out of the water, looking to the absent claw marks thoughtfully. Well, it was worth a try. I mean, it's not like I can get any worse at this point, right?
Closing my eyes I took several deep breaths before carefully beginning to sing, working around the swollen cords of my throat until I began to feel a soothing sensation which dulled the pain, allowing me to sing a little better. That same feeling of ephemerality began to take over, dulling the senses save for the sensation of hearing which focused entirely upon my own voice. I could hear each shift and change in my tone, the unwavering reverberation which swelled with daunting strength and amity until I began to feel a tingling sensation at my neck.
The water had risen up to the injury and within moments the swelling was reduced and the bruising completely eradicated, leaving no indication that I had ever been hurt in the first place. This time I was far more aware of what I was doing, so as the song ended on the final high note, I touched my neck and marvelled at this wondrous ability. "Thank you distant relative Melusine. I owe you one." A song for healing. I wonder just how extensive an injury this type of power of mine could heal. Could I impart it onto others? Were there limitations? Would the healing fail if I messed up the song?
So many questions, and for the first time since discovering the first indication of such a world as this existing outside the norm, I felt oddly…excited.