The drive to the Argent's house was spent in a pleasant silence. Just us enjoying each other's company. It felt so good to be around someone that I completely and totally trusted to be there for me. I looked over to Justin who had his eyes on the road. Something looked a little far away in them. I ran the tips of my fingers down his cool arm, trying to distract him from his worries.
"Are you ok? Something seems wrong with you," I asked, upset for him. He turned to me and smiled, but I could tell that it was slightly forced.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel bad about having to drop you off like this. I really hate doing this, Aideen."
"Its ok, I think I'll forgive you this one time," I teased, making him smile for real. I felt a light blush creep onto my face, and I played with my hair to draw attention away from it. When we pulled to a stop in the driveway, I held on to the cake so it wouldn't fly away.
Though I wanted to protest, Justin hopped out of the car to open my door for me like a true gentleman. Even when I told him I was fine, he insisted on taking the large cake from my hands and walking me to the door. I opened it for him and opened my arms to take it back, but he ignored me and walked into the house. I silently shouted at him to get out moving my lips, but he continued to make his way to the kitchen where he put it down finally on the counter.
"Thanks for the help," I said with a hint of sarcasm. He hugged me without a word and I melted into his strong frame, his arms enveloping me. His thick earthy smell made me want to stay there to figure it out as long as possible. Finally he broke away.
"I'll see you at school, ok?" I didn't want him to go, but Stiles was waiting for him. I started walking him back to the door so he would follow and he did. Nodding, Justin stepped out the door and I half-waved at him as I closed it. He was paying too much attention to me and didn't see his car. He ending up running into it, sending me into a fit of laughter when he sat up and said, "I'm ok!" Blushing deeply, he got into his car and drove off, making me sad to see him go.
I looked around the house, looking for any sign of life, but all was quiet. I decided to get more of my stuff to unpack from the garage. When I got to the door, I heard muffled talking about the Argents supplying arms for the police. I smirked as I made my way in, knowing I would find Scott and Allison. I opened the door and walked in, but at first all I saw was the car. I frowned a little and almost went back inside when I got he idea to see what was on the other side of it. I made my way over and leaned in a casual way on he hood, glancing down at a Scott and Allison crouched on the ground.
"Allison, what would your dad think if he was the one to find you like that?" I laughed, making them both grin from relief. They stood up, happy that it wasn't anyone important to get them in trouble.
"What are you guys doing out here?"
"Nothing, Aideen. I just wanted to show Scott my only talent," Allison said while gesturing to an abandoned compound bow in the corner on the room. I nodded.
"Yeah, that is your only talent," I teased. She rolled her eyes and shoved me like she was angry so I ruffled her hair. Scott laughed as we soon started to rough house and I got Allison in a headlock. She gave up, tapping out and I let her go.
"Come on in. Your dad will be home soon, I think," I said, walking to the door back into the house. Scott followed me, pulling Allison along by her hand. He was so gentle with her, it made me wish someone would look at me like that. I pushed that thought away and flopped down onto the couch, taking the whole thing up so that Scott and Allison were forced on the love seat.
"So, how much 'studying' did y'all get done today?" I even made the finger quotes. Allison looked shocked at what I was suggesting and Scott just rolled his eyes but denied it first.
"We didn't do anything like that, Aideen." I laughed humorlessly.
"Yeah, right. Never said you did." Before I could make Allison blush even more, the front door opened and Chris Argent came in caring bags of groceries. He saw us and smiled warmly, holding the door open with his foot for his sister Kate to come in.
"Hi kids!" Kate was happy to see us and dropped her load on the counter next to the cake to come see us. I sat up on the couch to make room for her, not exactly happy about moving again. She smiled brightly at me in that fake way, her cold eyes flashing.
"So what have you all been up to? Keeping an eye on things, Aideen?"
"Two eyes. One wouldn't be enough," I replied. I kept my tone unamused. I didn't like chatting with Kate and she knew it. The only reason Chris let me talk to her the way I did at meetings was because I always burned her politely. He knew everything I said was true.
"This guy here? He seems ok to me. And I love his adorable puppy eyes," she cooed with a sickly sweet voice. Scott was right to look uneasy, wiggling in his seat a little. Allison still held his hand.
"Anyone want to help?" Chris asked, sounding a little put out from the kitchen. I joined him and started putting things away while he brought the last bags in.
"Thanks, Aideen. Glad I have someone here who will do SOMETHING," he said dramatically while Kate just looked back and shrugged at us. I huffed a little. Typical Kate, ignoring work unless it has to do with guns. I finished up and helped Mrs. Argent, who had made dinner for everyone, set the table for dinner with an extra place set for Scott would be joining us tonight. I almost laughed out loud knowing how horrible this was going to go for him. Chris had just cleaned his gun and was in "over-protective father" mode. We all sat down, me ending up between Scott and Mrs. Argent.
Dinner started of wonderfully with Chris asking Scott if he wanted anything illegal. Scott was smart and played if off. I noticed he kept looking under the table at something which I guessed was his phone.
"So, Aideen, honey how was your first day? Everything go alright?" Mrs. Argent, who was always nice to me, asked kindly. I tried to be warm back, something I wasn't good at anymore.
"Yes ma'am. It was great actually. I saw my old best friend, Justin, who plays lacrosse too," I finished, silently jabbing at Chris to ease up on the topic of lacrosse that he had been bashing just a few moments ago.
"Really? He's such a nice boy and his mother makes amazing cakes. Are you two...?"
"No! Oh, no! We're just friends. I actually went to his house to catch up. He actually reads a lot, now. Who would have guessed?" I wiped my mouth lightly with a napkin, not wanting to talk anymore about myself. I shoveled a bit of food in my mouth so they would go back to interrogating Scott, who soon conveniently needed to use the restroom. He was gone for a while, and Allison started to worry. Kate started getting suspicious, as always.
"I'm going to make sure he didn't fall in," she joked, getting up to stalk the teen down. I heard the alarm to Chris's door go off and I assumed he had accidentally picked the wrong door. Kate came back a moment later, and she started cutting slices of cake for each of us, handling the knives loosely, unlike I would have. If there was anything I knew, it was how to handle a knife.
Scott came back in a moment later. "I think I need to be going," he said sweetly, wanting to get out of the crazy Argent home as fast as he could.
"Nonsense. I'm not done with you yet, so you'll stay for dessert." Scott gave a half smile that looked very weak and sat down again next to me and Allison, holding her hand for support. They then quizzed him on his job working at the vet's office and then Chris HAD to bring up the story about how his great to the infinite power grandfather had killed a rabid dog one time. "Lovely dinner conversation," I thought to myself sarcastically. Of course, the story had been edited to the average human version. Not the century old bloodline of werewolf hunter story.
Allison, so sweet and innocent, said that it was because the dog was in misery while her father argued that it was to dangerous to live. And this time, I sided with him. That "dog" had killed many people, and it needed to be put down so no more lives would be lost.
After eating Justin's mom's cake, which tasted amazing, Scott was finally allowed to leave. I gave him a quick hug goodbye and went to the other room so him and Allison could do whatever
they wanted before he left. Suddenly, words that made me freeze were spoken by Kate.
"What did you take from my bag? I don't know if you're curious, or stupid or what, but you better tell me. I hate to accuse those adorable brown eyes, but just empty your pockets."
"Dad?" Allison pleaded for some help, but he just stood by his sister agreeing with her.
"Come on, Scott. Prove me wrong." She was taunting him, and I saw the fear in his eyes. Did he really take something?
"You know what? I'll prove you wrong. It wasn't Scott in your bag, it was me," she said, pulling out a something that made my eyes bulge out of my head. I left the room snickering while Kate and Chris looked away, embarrassed beyond words. Scott left while he could, and I calmed myself down before they could see I thought it was funny.
Allison said it had bee a long day and came to give me a hug before heading up to bed for the night. I waited to make sure she was asleep. I read the prologue of the werewolf book I took from Justin's house. It spoke about how werewolves are real creatures and they should be feared. It said how it would tell me about its characteristics, weaknesses, and everything else known or speculated about werewolves. I would see if it was true or not. I really didn't want Justin getting involved in the world of werewolves. It was too dangerous and I just wanted one part of my life to be normal.
I closed the book with a heavy thud as Chris came in. He sat down next to me on the couch and looked at me with clear honest eyes.
"Aideen, we need to talk. I'm glad you're here. We could use another hunter in this area. There are a bunch of wolves here, and its getting dangerous. You may have heard about the two people killed lately. A bus driver was eaten alive in a school bus in the middle of the night, and less importantly, Laura Hale was found with bite marks all over her dead body."
"Derek Hale's sister? I knew the Hale family. They had kids a little older than me. They're werewolves?"
"Yes, they are," he sighed, leaning back and getting comfortable, "or at least Derek is. He's the last one alive of that family. See, the tragic fire that burned the house down took out many werewolves. A huge pack that could kill at a moment's notice."
"Are you saying you started the fire? You took their entire family away from them? They were just kids..." I felt so bad for Derek. He may be a werewolf, but even they have feelings. He had lost everyone close to him, and now his sister was dead. I was sympathetic with him.
"No, I didn't. Arsonists did. See, I was out the other night and came across two Betas. One was Derek, and the other was smaller. I don't know who it was. We also know an alpha is running around killing people. We just don't know if they're in a pack together or not."
"And Derek may not be a problem anymore," Kate said, walking in," when I got to town, I was attacked by an alpha. He was large and bulky, but the wolf I shot was lean and fast. That would be Derek."
"Do we know if he's dead or not?" I did feel bad for the guy, but he was a werewolf, a killer.
"I don't know, but we could get information about the other wolves if we went to find out. If he doesn't want to help..."
"Kate, we need him if he knows anything. I don't want you to kill him. Just leave him alone until I tell you otherwise," Chris said with authority. Whatever he says goes, and we both knew. The sad thing was that he trusts me, a sixteen year old hunter over his own thirty some sister.
"Sure, bro. Anything you say." She said will lighting the fire in the fireplace, a mischievous glint in her eye that I knew meant trouble. Chris gave her a look that told her she better listen, and then went to his own room for the night. I grabbed my book to head up to my room when I felt it snatched from my hand. Kate studied the pages, he eyes dancing across the cover.
"Give it back, Kate. Its late and I want to go to bed."
"Reading up on how to do the job better? You'll need it. You are still so young."
"Yeah, well at least I follow the rules and my leader doesn't keep an eye open at night for me."
"I wouldn't be smarting off at someone higher rank than myself. Where did you get this?" I thought about all the books in Justin's room and decided it qualified.
"The library," I said taking it back, "now I'm going to bed unless you need anything else."
"One thing. I'm going to see Derek. If he's alive, he'll be at home. I'm thinking it will be sometime soon, and I don't want to go alone. I want you to come with me. You're bloodthirsty enough when it comes to hunting. After all, you're the one who uses knives, the weapon of passion."
I automatically thought to the very weapon hidden in my boot. I leaned a little heavy on that leg.
"I'm not bloodthirsty. I just want justice. And why do you want me to go? You don't even like me. I follow the rules, remember?"
"True, but you are reliable and strong. By the way, I plan to tell Allison soon, about all this. What do think?"
I felt my jaw tighten. I remembered coming home to find my sister's butchered body, killed by a werewolf. It had mauled her to death and my mom and dad told me that day that our family came from a long line of hunters, same as the Argents. Apparently, the werewolf had meant to kill the next in line to join the hunting party. That girl being me. My sister's death was supposed to be mine, and I wished it had been me every day. I knew that the day you found out was the hardest day of your life, and I knew Allison was too soft to take it.
"I think you should wait."
"Well she doesn't have a sister to lose. Well, you I guess, but I doubt your death would hit anyone that hard." And with that she walked to her room. Same old Kate. I rolled my eyes and headed to my room for some late night reading. When I pulled out the book onto my lap in the bed, I kept trying to read it, but annoying little drops of water kept getting the pages wet. I turned out the light and covered my head with the blankets.