Chapter 4: House party
Song:
Shots by Imagine Dragons
The structure of the Hale house was just as Amber remembered. Though the roof was half missing, and the house was overall charred and battered, it was still recognizable to Amber.
She spotted a mound of dirt which was loose and different from the surrounding dirt. A strong smell flooded Amber's nostrils. She knew what was buried beneath the dirt. It was Laura, well at least half of Laura. The top half of her body rested a few feet into the ground.
Memories of Laura Hale made Amber shiver. Laura was Amber's role model. She looked up to Laura, and aspired to be just like the strong-willed young woman. But now she was gone, just like the other eight Hales who died in the fire.
"What are you doing here?" She jumped as she heard Derek's voice behind her. He was standing on the front steps of the broken house.
"We need to talk," Amber moved closer to him, "What happened last night... it was—"
"A mistake, I know," Derek bitterly snapped, disappearing into the house. Cautiously, Amber made her way through the charred doorway.
"No, actually I was going to say that it was pretty incredible," she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, this all isn't a game to me. I care about you, Ambs." She let out a light laugh. "Why are you laughing?" he whipped around, now facing her.
"Because Derek Hale isn't really known for being all soft and gushy, like you are right now." Her smile decreased the tension. "And this isn't a game to me either, Derek. You're the only person left in my life who actually understands me, who gets who I really am." Her hand moved to the side of his face, gently brushing his cheek as their lips met for a soft kiss. It wasn't at all like the last kiss they shared, hungry and aggressive; it was gentle and tender, almost as if Derek thought that if he was any less gentle, she would shatter into a million pieces.
The couple was interrupted by a voice screaming from outside the Hale house. "Derek!" It was Scott McCall, "DEREK!"
Derek swiftly made his way outside, so slyly that it caused Scott to jump just as Amber had earlier.
"Stay away from her! She doesn't know anything!"
"Yeah?" Derek made his way down the front steps, closer to Scott. "What if she does? You think your little buddy Stiles can just Google werewolves, and now you got all the answers, is that it?"
Amber could hear Scott's heart racing from inside the house.
"You don't get it yet, Scott. But I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen— You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone," Derek picked up Scott's lacrosse stick from his bag, "Your mom, all your friends, and when they see you..." Derek sliced through the netting of the lacrosse stick with his fingers, "Everything falls apart." Throwing the lacrosse stick into the air, Derek disappeared before Scott could even catch it.
Derek stood beside Amber inside the burnt house, listening as Scott scampered back into the woods.
Amber's phone buzzed— Lydia was calling her.
"Hey Lyd," she answered the phone.
"Where the hell are you? Jackson's freaking out! He's demanding that you need to be here, holding his hand," Lydia mocked.
"Alright hold on I'll be there in like five minutes," she hung up the phone. "Derek, I gotta go. I'll see you later, right?"
"Yeah," Derek nodded, pulling her into a tight hug. Their lips met for a quick kiss before Amber left for the hospital.
••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Where have you been?!" Jackson yelled at his best friend.
"Sorry, I've been busy," Amber let out a small chuckle.
"Gross," he scoffed, slightly laughing before he winced in pain. "Can you please tell them that I need a cortisone shot?" Jackson complained.
"Doctor?" Amber called the man in the white coat over, "My friend here is in excruciating pain, and he has a huge lacrosse game to play in tomorrow night— he's our star player. So I would say that it's necessary for Jackson to get just one little shot of cortisone, wouldn't you?"
The doctor did as suggested, finding it amusing how convincing the teenagers were, then Jackson was on his merry way.
"Did he do it?" Lydia jumped out of her seat as Jackson and Amber walked down the hall.
"He said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me," Jackson responded bitterly, still in pain.
"You should get one right before the game, too." Jackson seemed aggravated by Lydia's suggestion. "The pros do it all the time. Do you want to be a little high school amateur? Or... Do you want to go..." Lydia got right up in Jackson's face, their lips almost touching, "...Pro?" Their lips connected into a passionate kiss.
Feeling uncomfortable, Amber slowly walked away, stopping as she spotted Stiles sitting and reading a pamphlet about the menstrual cycle.
"Reading about anything interesting?" Amber joked as she took a seat beside Stiles.
"What- uh- no- I wasn't-" Stiles stammered.
"The scent was the same," Scott rushed up to Stiles, frightening him for a brief moment.
"You sure?" Stiles asked, standing up to meet Scott.
"Yes."
"So he did bury the other half of the body on his property?"
"Which means we have proof he killed the girl," the two boys got excited. Amber kept quiet. If she told them anything about Laura or the hunters, they would possibly never trust her again.
"I say we use it," Stiles began walking down the hall.
"Wait, Stiles! How?" Amber chimed in, standing up and following him down the hall. She was beginning to become concerned for Derek's safety.
"Tell me something first. Are you going to help us or are you going to go back pretending like I don't exist?" Stiles snapped at her.
"I- I'm in. One hundred percent with you," she attempted to be confident but she was actually terrified.
"Alright. Then we're gonna need a shovel."
•••••••••••••••••
Guilt nearly made Amber sick to her stomach. She was accompanying her two friends at digging up half of her boyfriend's sister's dead body. To say it was immoral was a major understatement.
Stiles's Jeep pulled up to the Hale house. Derek had just left— Amber had sent him a text telling to meet her at her house to ensure that the Hale house would be vacant. The boys whipped out their shovels and flashlights, approaching the burial sight.
"Wait, something's different," Scott observed.
"Different how?" Stiles questioned.
"I don't know." Reaching the spot where Laura was buried, Scott raised his shovel, "Let's just get this over with."
The boys began digging as Amber stood over them, shining the flashlight so they could see. Pretty soon, they had dug a hole a couple feet deep.
"This is taking way too long," Scott complained.
"Just keep digging," Amber encouraged.
"What if he comes back?" Scott was overly worried.
"Then we get the Hell out of here," Stiles answered.
"What if he catches us?"
"I have a plan for that," Stiles wittily responded.
"Which is?" Amber asked Stiles with curiosity.
"You and I run one way, Scott runs the other. Whoever he catches first, too bad."
"I hate that plan," Scott continued to complain as Stiles's shovel hit something beneath the dirt.
"Oh, stop, stop, stop," Stiles held his arm out, preventing Scott from digging any further. They leaned down, clearing the loose dirt away with their hands, fumbling to untie knots of a rope, which they assumed held together half of a body.
"Hurry up, guys," Amber rushed them, unknowing when Derek would give up waiting for her arrival. She had already received four texts and two missed calls.
"I'm trying. Did he have to tie the thing in like 900 knots?" Now Stiles was complaining.
"Here, I'll do it," Amber handed the flashlight to Scott and bent down, grabbing the rope and swiftly untying the knots. They pulled back the cloth that was previously held together by the rope, revealing a monstrous wolf head. Stiles and Scott screamed in fear.
"What the hell is that?!" Stiles yelled.
"It's a wolf," Amber answered.
"Yeah, I can see that," Stiles threw in a touch of sarcasm. "I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood?" he asked Scott.
"I told you something was different," Scott said in realization.
"This doesn't make sense," Stiles thought out loud. Amber then received a text from Derek.
—I'm worried about you. Call me when you get home. I'll be at the house.—
"Guys, we gotta get out of here," she told them.
"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up." They quickly began shoving dirt back into the whole, when Stiles stopped abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Scott questioned.
"You see that flower?" Stiles was staring at a flower a few feet away from them. Amber knew exactly what type of flower that was— wolvesbane.
"What about it?" Scott continued asking his friend.
"I think it's wolvesbane," Stiles pondered.
"What's that?" Scott was clueless.
"Uh...haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?" Stiles asked, with an obvious tone.
"No," Scott answered bluntly. Stiles looked over to Amber, hoping she'd seen it.
She looked over at Scott, "Lon Chaney Jr? Claude Rains..."
"The original, classism werewolf movie?" Stiles raised his voice.
"No! What?!" The two guys were both becoming aggravated with each other.
"You are so unprepared for this," Stiles muttered. He stood up, walking over to the purple flower and pulling out of the ground, revealing a rope attached to the root. Yanking the rope, more and more was pulled out of the ground, eventually revealing that it was in the shape of a spiral.
Amber knew what this was, and she certainly knew that they really shouldn't be disturbing it. These burials were basically sacred; digging it up was practically disgracing the Hale family, who Amber had the greatest respect for.
Amber and Scott stood over the half of the body, which was now in human form.
"Stiles," Scott called.
"Holy..." Stiles jumped back as he saw the human top half of Laura's body.
They refilled the hole with dirt, planning on calling the cops on Derek Hale, leading to his arrest for the murder of the girl who's half of her body was found in the woods. What Scott and Stiles were unaware of, however, was that not only was Derek innocent, but that the Jane Doe was actually Laura Hale, his sister.
Stiles drove the three of them home in his Jeep, dropping off Scott first.
Guilt overflowed Amber's conscience. Her thoughts were racing, coming up with every possible scenario of what could happen to Derek, and what he would do if he found out she helped Scott and Stiles.
"Stiles," she said softly.
"Yeah?"
"Can I stay with you tonight? I'm just a little... shaken up. Because of the body and all?" He could tell that something was wrong. Amber stared off into the distance, her eyes glossed over.
"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Stiles was concerned for Amber. She looked as she was in a lot of pain, but Stiles didn't know what was the cause of it.
Stiles would never truly understand her until she was ready to open up to him; luckily for him, he already knew that, and was willing to wait.
A/N:
Sorry this chapter took so long to be posted! I've been super busy with work and family stuff, but as soon as I found the time, I worked really hard to get this finished and posted for you! I know that not a lot really happened in this chapter, but there was so much dialogue that it took up a ton of the typical 6 pages that I write! There's definitely some Stamber stuff in the next chapter, which I just started working on today and will be posted ASAP! Please follow and favorite! And please please please review! I love hearing your opinions!
QOTD: How much longer do you think Amber will take to tell Stiles and Scott the truth about her past? ;)
Respond in starting "AOTD:" :)))
Thanks guys! I love all of you,
Izzy xx
P.S. For some reason, my computer is spazzing out and won't let me do any bold, italics, or even any page breaks, so this is my rough draft. I'm so sorry that this doesn't look clean or nice in any way! Thanks for your patience and understanding! I'll fix this as soon as I get my computer fixed!