^^Thank you so much for all the support and reviews! Really, just thanks for giving my story a chance. First things first, the timeline I'm basing this off of-the battle with the Alphas went down and everything, but Derek is still an Alpha because Cora never got sick. I probably would've written this differently but I started and finished this before I'd seen the last two episodes of season 3A, so some things are different. Also, I made everyone get along better because I think it's cute when they act like a pack, okay? So bear with me.
Warnings: Lots of foul language, gore, and Wal-Mart mocking. If you like Wal-Mart and this insults you, I apologize. That demon store is handy for a lot of things, I admit, but it doesn't make it any less disastrous.
Oh, special shout out to STEVERANDLE'STWIN, thank you so much for taking the time to actual PM me, it was really cool to know my work is appreciated. Thank you to anyone else, too, if you decide to stick with me. I'll try to be fast with updates. ;) Key word, try.
Emotions were not really his thing (Not anymore. Anger, annoyance, and guilt were the only ones he was really good at.) but Derek was sixty percent sure that Isaac and Stiles were fighting over him. Isaac had used his werewolf advantages to get himself to Derek faster than Stiles after they'd parked the jeep and was now toting him around Wal-Mart. Anytime they passed too close to someone he would end up with his beta's face buried in his hair as the kid scented the hell out of him. He didn't actually mind, it was kind of nice and made him feel safe.
What he didn't like so much was Stiles trailing along behind them with a dejected pout. Really, he was obviously going to have to do some damage control and write up a damn chart or something to ration out who got to hold him and when (If you told him twenty four hours ago that he would be even pondering rationing out cuddle time he would've torn your throat out with-wait for it-his teeth). God help him. Why was this even his life?
"Stiles, if you look at the girl clothes one more time, I will be forced to start screaming for someone to save me from my horrible kidnappers." Derek deadpanned, his eyes narrowed and his little face scrunched up too cutely for the threat to even bother the teenager.
Stiles scoffed, looking away from where he had been eyeing a small shirt with a rainbow kitten dancing across the front, the words 'YOU ROCK!' standing out in a nauseatingly, bright pink. "This is Wal-Mart, Der'. They got good at ignoring children's cries for help long ago."
What the hell do you even say to that?
All had been going as well as can be expected when the worst person to bump into when you're in a vulnerable situation popped up with a mantic smirk. Lydia Martin, smelling of fruity perfume and her strawberry curls cascading around the shoulders of her jean jacket, had stepped out from behind a graphic tee rack. Unsurprising, she looked completely out of place in the low-light setting with her impeccable high heels.
"Derek." She grinned down at him sharply and he fought the urge to shudder. "Allison said you were cute, but I think she understated that a bit. My day just got a tiny bit more interesting."
"Hey, Lydia." Stiles greeted pleasantly, blushing a little as he came to stand beside Isaac. "What are you doing in Wal-Mart?"
"Shopping." She arched a delicate eyebrow and then stuck her hands out towards Derek. "Give him here, Curly."
For a minute, it looked like Isaac was going to say no, but alas, Derek was shit out of luck. His beta was unfortunately smart enough to know denying Lydia Martin anything was suicide. Lydia held him high up on her shoulder, one arm braced behind his back while the other folded beneath his bent knees. Growling was ineffective against the girl, (much like a lot of his other favorite things to do, being three took the extortion out of all of it) he knew but he couldn't seem to stop himself from trying.
"Now, now, Derek Hale, you stop that. I'm going to find you much better clothes than Stilinski and Lahey so you should be grateful."
All it took was connecting eyes with the rainbow cat to convince him. Shit, she could put him in a Power Ranger costume for all he cared so long as that pink monstrosity never came in contact with his skin. Ever. Stiles sent him a mildly betrayed look when the growling suddenly cut off.
"Stiles. Don't even. I'm not wearing anything that grins back at me in the mirror." Derek stated in a firm tone as he tried his best to ignore his and Isaac's pout faces. Good lord, it was like they were fighting over their favorite action figure or something. Laura would be laughing her ass off at him right now. He didn't even want to know what Peter and Cora would do.
Clothes shopping with Lydia was…different, to say the least. There wasn't really any feedback, or questions on preference so much as the girl picked what she wanted with a determined look. She browsed efficiently through the children's racks like she lived there and just tossed selected items back to either Isaac or Stiles to carry, and because they valued their lives they said not a word. Derek couldn't even complain himself; they were amazingly enough all clothes he would've picked out. Well, if he was normally into shopping the toddler section.
He did start to get worried though when they had well over twenty different outfits and Lydia still didn't seem to be slowing down any.
"Just how long do you expect me to be stuck like this?" Derek asked wearily, blowing a wayward curl out of his face as he fought against the red hair invading his space on Lydia's shoulder.
"It's good to be prepared." Was the answer he received as the teenager picked up yet another shirt and tossed it back to Stiles, absently bouncing Derek in her arms.
Shit, at this rate he was going to spend five hundred bucks at Wal-Mart. He was pretty sure this was more clothes than he owned at home, even.
"Now onward to the food aisle." It seemed they'd finally come to the end of the toddler's section.
"I have food at home." Stiles said, looking slightly affronted.
"Fruits and veggies are good and all, Stiles, but children actually need more. Carbs may not be the Sheriff's best friend, but you can't cut them completely out of Derek's diet."
Stiles just huffed, shifting his hold on the clothes in his arms and poking his tongue out at Derek when they looked at each other. Derek refrained from doing it back (just barely) because he was not actually a child, contrary to his current form.
=3
If Derek never saw the inside of another Wal-Mart in his life, it would be too soon. Much too soon. He would rather face another alpha pack than deal with the bitch checking them out. He had to forcefully restrain himself from snatching the gum right out of her mouth after the third loud 'pop'.
People, blowing bubbles isn't cool or cute, it is annoying to those around you. Especially if they happen to have supernatural hearing.
The Sheriff's car was in the drive way when they reached Stiles' house after dropping off Isaac at Scott's. (It'd been way too hard to get Isaac to leave his Alpha's side and Derek was both flattered and annoyed with the coddling. Okay, he mostly frigging loved it.) Derek mentally prepared himself for confrontation. But, alas, luck was finally on his side. From his perch on Stiles' hip, the second the front door opened he caught the light snores coming from down the hall and the sound of a steady heartbeat.
"Long shift." Stiles said and flashed a grin before trumping up the stairs to the bedroom. "You are probably going to have to talk to him eventually though."
Yes, he would, but he would put it off for as long as possible, fuck you very much. The Sheriff intimidated the shit out of him.
=3
Derek's eyes shot open at the sound of his name and he searched out his senses for Stiles in the dark room. He was there, sleeping deeply beside Derek on the bed with his arm tucked around his side. Blinking confusedly, he looked to the other side of the room and froze.
A woman sat in Stiles' computer chair, her eyes two ink blots focused on him and a predatory smile stretched wider than humanly possible. The smell of wet earth and rotting vegetation saturated the room and made his breathing harder. She raised a finger to her lips as he opened his mouth to ask what the fuck she was doing here. "No, little puppy. Don't want to wake your friend, do we? Your very vulnerable human?" The nails on her hand glinted wickedly in the light from the window. "Or maybe…we do? I've been very bored without you, sweetness." She hissed at him.
Stiles breathed slowly at his back, warm air tickling the curls at on top Derek's head. He slowly shook his, trying not to move too much. God forbid he be the reason Stiles gets gutted in his bed while he slept. He has enough guilt to last him several life times without getting another friend murdered.
"You're such a good boy, Derek." She cooed, "You're so good for me. Now you are going to do everything I tell you to, baby boy."
=3
Stiles was still dead asleep by the time Derek had wiggled into one of his new outfits and was zipping up a dark hoodie over a long sleeved shirt. He decided to take the extra time to lace up his little, black boots just because the only other pair of shoes he'd got was Velcro and he was not ready for that yet. Truthfully, he would probably never be ready for Velcro, ever, because seriously no one could make Velcro sneakers cool and he had enough shit going on. He did not need anyone flaunting over how adorable their resident Alpha was in Batman(Stiles literally begged.), Velcro sneakers.
The witch- Golem- whatever sat patiently waiting for him from her seat in the computer chair, alternating her gaze from Derek to Stiles with her grin still in place. How had she gotten past Scott and the others? Had she slipped by them unseen, using one of her spells or was one of the Pack laying out there in the dark, hurt? It made his belly go hollow to think about one of them injured because of him. He would accept whatever she wanted from him as long as no one else got hurt because he couldn't protect himself.
She was up and hoisting him up onto her chest as soon as he was dressed, cooing softly in his ear while she stroked his curls. "I missed you, sweetness. Oh, we're going to have so much fun, you and I." She went on as she walked towards the window. Just as she went to open it, Stiles gave a sleepy groan from the bed and reached out a hand to where Derek was supposed to be sleeping.
The Golem went very still and her eyes narrowed into wicked slits. No please, no, let's just go, leave-she began to hiss low in her throat and Derek could hear Stiles' heartbeat speed up a little. He was going to wake up, shit-Making a desperate sound, he glanced up at the woman. "Leave him alone, I'm doing what you wanted, let's just leave." He whispered and she turned her eyes to him.
"Derek…?" Stiles mumbled from the bed, just waking up and noticing the small body was missing from the bed. And Derek thought she would kill him; thought that she would decide Stiles was too much of a nuisance, or maybe that she wanted the chance to take out her boredness on someone and kill the teen while he was still groggy and half-asleep.
Derek wouldn't be able to stop her, not like this. He wouldn't be able to save the boy who'd become one of Derek's closest friends despite how many time he'd been tempted to kill Stiles himself.
But in the end, just as Stiles sat up with a confused frown, the Golem just gave a cackle and threw both herself and Derek out of the window.
The wind whipped past his cheeks and his eyes shut automatically. Stiles was calling his name, voice panicked and he resisted the urge to fight back-to seek comfort and safety back in the teen's room. Stiles couldn't protect him from this thing, not by himself. They hit the ground hard and he could've sworn the bitch broke something but she shot up running without pause. How was anything supposed to defeat her?
"For I am but a vessel." The only way to win was to take out whoever was controlling her.
Through the trees, she carried him close; nails sharp and needy from where they pressed into his baby fat. Howls went up back from the direction of Stiles' house and Derek felt a moment of hope. They were fine, they would find him and take him back from the Golem-they'd find the person controlling her together and defeat her. But the howling had a defeated edge to it and the Golem's smile was formidable in the moonlight.
The Pack wouldn't find him in time. He could smell the air all around and the whole forest seemed to smell of weathered plant life and fermentation, hiding the Golem's chosen path from those using their noses to follow. They could track her footprints but it would take longer and the teens had never been good at it. Derek knew this for a fact; he'd tried very hard to teach them how to track without their senses. Boyd had been the only one who'd ever really had the patience for it.
Derek would have to face the witch on his own. In the body of a fucking three year old. Damn his life.
=3
He'd been expecting a foreboding cabin out in the middle of the woods, or a cave, maybe? What he got was a well-lived in camper and a fire surrounding by three older women giggling into their hands. Are you kidding me? Well, he was never believing television again; after the scary hideout he'd fabricated in his mind the RV was kind of a let down.
They were all roughly thirty to forty years old, the youngest one with only a few greying hairs beginning at her temples. The youngest wore a bright sundress with sandals, her brown hair up in a loose bun despite the chilling temperature. The second oldest was dressed like a soccer mom; she wore pressed khaki capris and a stripped collar shirt, her dark hair streaked with white and cropped close to her chin with a pair of wire frame glasses resting on her face.
The last and oldest lady was a little more what he'd been expecting. She was dressed in a long flowing dress with a dark colored shawl wrapped around her bony shoulders. Her hair was an old, washed out blonde-grey and fell to her waist in tangles. She smiled when Derek and the golem came into view, her wrinkles parting to show jagged teeth lined with black gums. Jesus, he knew it, they were gonna eat him, he thought just as they reached the edge of the fire. Those were the teeth of someone who was accustomed to eating raw flesh and not brushing. She'd be picking him out of her teeth for weeks.
The old women threw her head back and gave a low, smoky-sounding laugh, one that would normally belong to someone half her age. "Relax, little one. We will not eat you." She said in her husky voice, the words thick with an accent. He stiffened in the Golems arms. Of course she could read his mind, why the hell not.
"At least not until we're through with you!" The youngest crowed, delighted at his discomfort. Fucking witches, really, "We need you alive for our plans."
"We don't need all of him." The soccer mom grumped. Sundress elbowed her in the shoulder and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please, you're a pussy; you wouldn't eat him if Lady Vadoma demanded you to." What accent did the old woman have? He couldn't quite place it and he'd always had a knack for languages. That name was definitely foreign, he was sure of it.
The oldest women, Lady Vadoma seemed unbothered by the use of her name, a bad sign in all kidnapping cases, and stood up from the lawn chair. Her arms went out towards them and the Golem thrust Derek out for her to take. No, no, she gripped him tightly around the waist and pulled him close, milky eyes roaming over his childish features in satisfaction. "Yes. You will do nicely, child." She said, her breath washing over him and he resisted gagging. He couldn't smell raw flesh on her, but he could smell the rabbit stew she'd had for dinner mixing disgustingly with the smell of rotting teeth. What does rotting teeth smell like, you ask? Terrible, it smells fucking terrible. She wrapped his shivering body up with her in her shawl and ran a gnarled hand over his pale cheeks. "As peculiar and inessential as it was, Angela, I truly commend thinking of the age regression spell."
Angela, the one in the sundress gave a pleased grin and put her hands on her hips. "See? Easier to handle and cute as hell! You can't go wrong with an age regression spell!"
The soccer mom rolled her eyes. "I think we could've handled him just fine as an adult. We've handled full-grown wolfs before."
"Yes. But this is Derek Hale and he has a Pack. He is not like the Omegas we have dispensed before him. True, we could have easily handled him as he was, but this is a fascinating variation all the same." Lady Vadoma clucked and her teeth looked sharper as they stepped closer to the fire side.
"Well, excuse me if I don't particularly care to do this to someone who looks like a damn kid!" The soccer mom shot an accusing hand out towards the Golem. "And could someone please tell her to quit starring and go do something important! She's fucking creepy!"
"You're such a baby, Sandy." Angela giggled behind her hand. "Really, quite your bitching already before Lady Vadoma gets annoyed!"
Lady Vadoma only gave Derek a secretive smile and a wink before throwing a glance to the Golem. She hadn't moved an inch from her spot and starred unblinkingly at Derek and the old women holding him, her lips still stretched into that smile though now there was no emotion behind it. Like looking through the windows into an empty house, all that malice and wicked glee had left behind an empty shell waiting for its next command.
"Guard the perimeter. Make sure we do not receive any unwelcome guests." Lady Vadoma told the creature. It blinked and turned without a word, eyes lingering on Derek just long enough to make him shift before heading back off into the tree line.
What the hell was he going to do now? That thing was guarding the camper so the cavalry would be a long time coming and these ladies were looking antsy to start whatever it was they planned. Vadoma was a Romany name, he was pretty sure and if he was right, he was in deep shit. Gypsies freaked the hell out of him. His mother used to tell him stories of what the Gypsy culture would do to 'cleanse' people of their wolf back in the old days. How they would catch little cubs, steal them away from their Pack and use their werewolf abilities to stay young and beautiful.
Derek had always figured it was just stories passed down for fun; to be told and shared around with the family on days they spent in the woods waiting in anticipation for the moon to rise so they could run together as a Pack. He'd been finding out lately that a lot of those stories he'd been told when he was young weren't just stories anymore.
^^ Okay! I reckon I have one or two more chapters and I can wrap this story up! Probably two so I can save one chapter for cute de-aged Derek moments or something, I'm still not quite sure how to finish this one. I know this one isn't near as long as the first chapter but I didn't want to finish it up too soon. Thank you for reading, reviews are welcome!
Note: "Vadoma" means: a name which some etymologists believe must have its root in Slavic vadit, vedet, or wiedziec, meaning "to know," because pagan magicians were called veduny, "the knowing ones." I got this from a website for Gypsy-or Rom names and I liked it so I used it.