As we reached my house, I ran inside to find Louise sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking coffee and eating a bagel. She was in her work clothes too. She looked up when I entered, her face still and expressionless. "Hey." I said, walking over to her. She blinked, forcing a smile. But her heart skipped a beat, and I knew she wasn't herself.
"What's wrong?" I asked, watching as she took a sip of her coffee. "I got your text." She murmured, looking down for a moment. I waited for her to elaborate. Finally she sighed and looked up at me. "Look, you being… alone with Derek is a bad idea-" She began, and suddenly I understood what she was talking about. "We weren't alone." I interrupted, watching as she stopped dead. "Isaac was there too." I explained, and suddenly her expression lightened. "Oh… Okay then. Good." She said. "So why are you in your work clothes?" I asked. She looked up at me. "Oh, one of the staff took a personal day but it's been kind of busy lately so they asked if I could come in." I nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go change." I said, backing away for a moment before sprinting up to my room. I changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a tank top, grabbing my leather jacket from my closet and pulling it around my shoulders before heading back out to where Isaac stood waiting for me in the driveway. "C'mon- we'll take my car." I said, leading him over to it and climbing into the driver's seat. He sat in the passenger's side as I sped off toward Deaton's clinic.
When we arrived, I hopped out of the car with Isaac in hot pursuit. "So, what exactly are you going to do?" He asked. "I'm gonna ask him if he knows anything that might help us incapacitate Jackson long enough to capture him." I said matter-of-factly. "You aren't going to hurt him are you? I mean, for one he seems like a decent guy, and two: he's sorta the only vet we have in town." I rolled my eyes. "I can be persuasive without killing the man, Isaac." I said, tapping on the glass of the front door. I waited for an answer, and that was when I noticed that all the lights were off. "Hmmm…" I hummed, peering through the reflection on the glass. "Maybe he's not there." Isaac said, stepping up to the glass next to me. Only then did I notice the sharp smell of wolfs bane. I frowned, turning in time to see a man standing with a bow an arrow pointed at us. "Isaac!" I yelled, pushing him out of the way as he released the arrow. It flew through the air, and for a moment I was sure he'd missed. But then there was the agonizing pain. Incredible, blinding, searing, pain. It shot through my entire body on such a scale I wasn't even sure where the arrow had landed. But suddenly I was on the ground, my vision blurring as I tried desperately to stay conscious. I lay there, watching as Isaac ambushed the hunter, tackling him to the ground. "Isaac… don't…" I muttered, losing my strength. But I prayed he heard me. The last thing we needed was more bloodshed. I watched as he knocked the guy unconscious, before making his way over to me. He lifted me easily into his arms, and started toward my car. Only then did I notice that the arrow had landed in my abdomen. I felt a white hot pain shoot through me, just as I blacked out.
I woke up in Derek's bed to a skull splitting migraine, and a blinding pain in my stomach. It wasn't the typical kind of stomach ache you might get from bad sushi- this was a searing, white hot agony. I sat up against the pillows, gradually working my way into a full sitting position. I looked around the room for a moment, just as Isaac and Derek walked in. Derek sat down next to me, somehow managing to look both sympathetic, and like he could rip someone's head off at any second. I had never seen this kind of expression on his face- sure I'd seen him mad- but nothing like this. His eyes were rimmed with red- their inner pupils burning green, blue, and silver all at once. It was disorienting to watch. But his eyes never seemed to leave mine as he looked down at me from where he sat. "You're awake." Isaac murmured. I could see the guilty look written in his eyes. I nodded. "Selene I'm-" "Isaac-don't. You know this isn't your fault. The hunter came out of no where. And besides- it's not the first time I've been shot with an arrow." I said, vaguely remembering the night in the woods I was shot by the hunter and Derek ended up taking me home while I was passed out.
"If I'd seen him before hand you wouldn't be hurt right now." Isaac argued, and I sighed, knowing that it was going to be difficult to change his perspective of the situation. I ran a hand through my hair, wincing at the pain that shot through my abdomen. "Look it's not your job to protect me. I'm a big girl Isaac. Besides- I'll be healed by tomorrow." I said with a shrug. I glanced up at Derek for a moment to see that his whole body was rigid with burning anger. "I should go back and rip his head off…" He muttered. I shook my head. "No. Look, more bloodshed is the last thing we need right now. If this goes on any further, it's going to turn into a full on war. Things will get bloody, and innocent people are bound to get caught in the cross hairs. Good, decent people, are going to die. We can't let that happen and you know it." I said. He looked down at me then, turning his searing gaze on me. And for a minute, I was afraid of the look in his eyes. It was purely animalistic, and scared the hell outta the part of me that was human. I felt my heart skip a beat, but I did my best to keep up my poker face. But I could see that his attentive ears caught the blip in my pulse, because suddenly his gaze softened, and he was obviously apologetic. He let out a breath, his lips set in a tight line at his own self frustration.
I let my fingers twine with his, feeling the heat from his body radiate into me. His thumb made lazy circles on the back of my hand. Isaac left the room, closing the door behind him. Derek pulled the covers down slightly, lifting my shirt to look at the gauze. It was soaked with a golf-ball sized circle of blood. "I'll be fine." I said, looking up at him. His eyes were calmer now, watching me. "You don't remember, do you?" He asked. I narrowed my eyes in a frown as I looked at him. "Remember what?" I asked. He sighed. "When I took out the arrow, you woke up. The tip was coated with some sort of solution- a compound of wolfs-bane, and something else. But I had to push the poison out…" His voice trailed off and his eyes became hazy as he was taken back to the memory. "You screamed. A lot." He said, looking down at our clasped hands. I gave his a squeeze, and his eyes met mine. "Hey- I'm okay." I said firmly, letting my hand brush against his jaw line. "Really. I'll be better than new by tomorrow." I said. But the rigid look in his eyes and the tense aura that radiated from him remained. I leaned up and kissed him for a moment, feeling his relax slightly. "I'll be okay, Derek. Really." I said when we parted, leaning my forehead against his. He nodded slightly and seemed to be a bit more rational now. I leaned forward, letting my lips melt back against his. After a long, breathtaking moment, I pulled back just enough to look at him. "Thank you." I murmured against his lips, which were just out of reach. "For, taking care of me." I explained, sensing his next question. He simply cupped the sides of my face in his hands and kissed me once more.