It was just before seven and I was walking to Justin's house, his werewolf book I had finished in hand. I was happy to see him again, but I was scared our relationship had changed. And I didn't know if this was a good or a bad thing.

I knocked on the door of the house, smells of pastries wafting out the door. Justin's mom shouted for me to come in. I made my way to the kitchen where she was juggling two cakes.

"Here, let me help," I offered. I held the refrigerator door open for her to set the cakes inside. She smiled gratefully at me while freeing herself of the load.

"Aideen, you angel, how are you?"

"I'm great, Mrs. Topain. I just came to see Justin. Have you seen him?"

"Well," she said, looking annoyed, "he was set on going to the movies with his friends. If he made plans with you and forgot, it's probably because I had him working all day. You can wait a little in his room if you want." I felt bad about him not remembering, but I smiled brightly for his mom. I did as she suggested, going to Justin's room.

I looked around the shelves of many books. While I was there, I replaced the one I borrowed. There was one lying down instead of up. I took a look at it. Inside was a personal note from a Laura. I guessed it was Laura Hale, the werewolf Justin had been with.

I sat on the bed and put my nose into the book for a while. It was all about Titanic, the great ship that so many people claimed was unsinkable. This was sadly proven false when it hit an iceberg and filled slowly with water until it split in half and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic. Another creepy tid-bit is that most people didn't even drown. They froze to death in the water. It was a horrible disaster.

When I looked up again, it was getting dark. I checked my watch and saw that it was seven thirty. I glared at the time and put the book back. He was thirty minuets late and had forgotten about me. I felt anger flush my body as I walked out the door. It was late and I needed to get home anyway.

He better have a frigging good excuse when I talk to him next time.

I finally got back to the Argent home. I flopped down on the lumpy couch and flipped on the TV. A news broadcast caught my eye.

"And at the local movie rental shop, the body of the salesman was found. It looks as if some animal, the man suspect being a mountain lion killed him. The young man who found the body, who's name we cannot give out for privacy reasons, is being questioned by sheriff Stilinsky as we speak. And back to the weather-"

I clicked the off button on the remote. My thoughts were speeding a million miles a minute. What if it wasn't a mountain lion? What if it was a werewolf? What if it was my werewolf? I shook my head again to clear the thoughts. Since when did I start to refer to Justin as "mine"? This was getting bad.

"Aideen, dinner's ready. Hey, are you ok?" Allison had come into the room and had found me wallowing on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little freaked out about the attack at the movie store. Do you know who the witness was?"

"Yes, actually. It was Lydia and Jackson. She just texted me about what happened and said she needed a little time to relax so not to text her. I'm worried about them both."

I nodded to show I agreed. Poor Lydia was to prissy to see something like that. Jackson, well, I didn't really care about him. " I'm actually just going to get some sleep. I had a really long day and I don't feel so good. I'll see you tomorrow," I said getting up. Allison hugged me before I had the chance to escape.

"I missed you. We need to hang out, just you and me sometime soon," she whispered in my ear. I smiled at her and tromped up the staircase. I fell onto my bed, getting ready to fall asleep when I heard a knock at my door. "Come in," I mumbled to my pillow.

The door creaked as it swung open. I looked up from my comfy spot to see my least favorite person standing before me.

"Kate, what can I do for you," I said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in that way that made me want to say, "well who dropped a house on your sister?" But out of respect, I never had.

"You can be 'sick' from school tomorrow and come with me to pay our local werewolf a visit. Like I said, I need someone I can trust." More like you need someone who will make sure your brother doesn't eat you alive. I really didn't want to miss school, or the chance to flip out on Justin. But my duty came first.

"Yeah, I can do that. What time are you wanting to go?"

"Noon. Be ready." With that lovely note, she finally left me in peace. I rolled over, ignoring the little sting I still felt from being stood up today. I didn't have much experience in the area of boys, but I did know that something like what he did was not ok.

Blood was everywhere. You couldn't open your eyes and not see red. The pink walls of my sister's room was massacred. I felt fear and dread grip me as I walked over to the bed where the ugly red pooled around. I pushed closer to it, trying not to step into the sticky liquid that etched itself in my mind.

I was close enough to touch the blankets covering a still lump on the mattress. The smell of rust filled the place. The smell I recognized with blood. Though I knew, even at the young age of ten that under that blanket was something horrible, I still yanked the blanket away.

It dropped to the floor in time with my heart, wallowing in the red underneath the young victim. I screamed when I saw my sister's mangled body. Her beautiful pale flesh had been torn enough to show the bone. She lay on her stomach so that the message etched in her back could be seen.

Hunter

I woke from my nightmare that haunted me at least once a week. the guilt of her death came back to me again. I didn't cry about it anymore. I just... couldn't. I felt like a monster for not being able to do so.

Because of that dream, I remembered my task for the day. I had a werewolf to question.

Though I felt bad for Derek losing his sister, his last relative due to that fire, I needed to know if he was hurting anyone. Justin seemed to trust him, allowing me to give Derek the benefit of doubt. But he could also be lying to the teen. I had given my word I wasn't going to let anyone get hurt to Justin. Kate had already told me that we were just going to talk to him to see if he will help us.

I would make sure he wouldn't die. I had no obligation to Hale, other than the promise to Justin who was on my pissy list today. But I still would keep my word.

I dressed, adorning all my weaponry from the other night. My blades had been cleaned and placed on my legs in the holsters. I had washed my red jacket when I was alone in the house earlier so all of Justin's blood was gone. I tossed that on and went to meet Kate.

She was waiting for me in the car outside. She waved me over to her and I got in shotgun even though older hunters sat in the back two seats. Though I am young, I am experienced and strong. I have rank in the hunter world and Chris lets me have my way most of the time.

We all drove in silence to the edge of the woods where we pulled off and parked. We made our way to the burnt house, Kate and I leading the group. I didn't have my weapons drawn like the rest but I could change that in a second.

When I saw the house with my own two eyes, I felt Derek's pain. His family had been totally destroyed and he was alone. Not only that, but he was living in the place where everyone he loved died. I knew what it felt like to have your life torn apart. I hoped that he wasn't the one hurting people so that I could keep my sympathy for him.

We made it to the door and walked in. The walls and floor were scorched and worn down. This place wasn't safe to live in. It would have been beautiful before the fire.

"Where is he?" one hunter asked. I looked around for any sign of him, but saw none.

"He's probably out back, burring a bone in the yard." the younger one joked. I glared at him. There was no reason to insult anyone.

"Really?" Kate glared, "A dog joke? That's best you got going in there and you're going to get eaten alive. Try something like, 'Too bad your sister bit it before she could have her first litter.'"

"Kate! That's enough!" I wouldn't allow personal jabs at his sister. That was just wrong. She needed to leave his family out of this. But it was too late. A loud thud of bone boy getting tossed into the wall alerted me to Derek's presence. He jumped on the wall and snarled at us. He looked pissed and I didn't blame him.

He then jumped on the banister and kicked the older hunter into the other room. I stood to the side and watched as Kate pulled out her cow prod. Derek licked his lips, glaring at her more than any of us. He was giving her the look I had always wanted to give her.

He shot forward to attack Kate, and she zapped him with the giant taser. He fell to the ground, writhing in agony on the floor. Kate laughed and circled him like prey.

"Wow! This one grew up in all the right places." Now that I payed attention, the shirtless man on the ground did look good. He was impressively fit. Kate had defended herself, so I wasn't going to jump in, but when he tried to crawl away and she zapped him again with a wicked smile, I snapped.

"Kate! This isn't what we came here for. We just came to talk. Don't hurt him just to cause pain. He hasn't done a thing to you." Kate looked at me with that stupid smirk. Derek's grey eyes looked up at me with an expression on curiosity.

"Come on, you never let me have any fun!" Kate teased me. I glared at her and stood my ground.

"This isn't fun! It's cruel! You never said anything about this. All we came to do was talk. We have no proof he hurt anyone. Either talk to him like a person, or leave him alone. And put that thing away now." Derek was leaning against the wall, trying hard to sit up. He eyed Kate warily, but glanced my way every once in a while.

"I think you're a little young to be giving orders, Aideen." Kate was loosing the playfulness in her tone. i didn't care. She was out of line. No one was supposed to get hurt.

"Maybe, but Chris isn't. Do you want me to tell him about today?" Kate didn't move and shot m a death glare. "Then put it away," I said, nodding to the prod. Reluctantly, she closed it and put in back in her belt.

I walked over to the hurt werewolf, keeping a respectful distance. He glared at me, but he didn't attack. Kate stooped down to him.

"Believe it or not, Derek. We didn't kill your sister. Yes, she was severed into two pieces and used to capture you, but we didn't do it. It's a little too Texas Chainsaw Massacre for me." Kate had gotten playful again. i didn't understand her. I had never seen her like this. She acted like she was... flirting. Derek didn't say anything.

"What, you think I'm lying?" She continued. Derek finally snapped back at her. "It wouldn't be the first time," he growled. I froze at that. Did these two know each other? I watched him, making sure he wouldn't attack anyone.

"Oh, sweetie. How about this? you just listen to my heart and tell me if I'm lying, ok?" With each word, Kate crawled closer and closer to him.

"We... didn't... kill... your... sister..." On the last word, she was right on his ear. I could tell he wasn't comfortable with the situation. Kate backed up.

"You hear that? No blips or up-ticks. Just the steady beat of cold hard truth. We found bite marks on her. What do you think did that, Derek? A mountain lion?" She finished sarcastically.

"Look, Derek. What we want to know is who the alpha is. That's all. Why don't you just help us out?" I asked, trying to sound nice. He looked over at me, not angry, but hurt and lost. I knew that look. He didn't know who the alpha was. Kate saw it too.

"Guess who just became completely worthless?" Kate said, pulling out her gun and shooting at Derek.

"No! Stop!" I yelled, tying to help the wolf. Derek hadn't hurt anyone that I knew of. He didn't deserve to die. He didn't deserve any of this.

He ran fast. I didn't even see him fly out the door. I could hear him run for a minuet when the gun stopped, but after that I had lost him.

"What the hell was that, Kate? You just said we were going to talk to him! Not torture the poor guy! He just freaking lost his sister! why did you do that? You act like you guys know each other."
"Oh, are you on his side now? He's a threat to people, Aideen. And yes, we do know each other, but that was a long time ago. Now lets get back. This was all a waist of our time."

Kate woke the guys up while I stormed outside the house. I could feel eyes on me, and I knew Derek was watching. I still felt horrible for what Kate had done, and I felt I needed to try to make it right. I hoped with is hearing that he would be able to hear me.

"I'm sorry."