Darkest Powers fanfiction
EVERYONE'S SECRET
Derek Souza/OC: Mary Ralluber

Author's Note: Phew! This chapter's longer. (: Isn't it great that Mary's away from Davidoff? *sigh* I'm so happy for her. (: But, now she's on the run, so I guess that's not so good. At least she gets to be in her wolf state. Freedom comes with a price, Mary. Well, enjoy the chapter and please review! Thanks! :D

Chapter 17.

The woodsy scent welcomed Mary with arms wide open as she became enwrapped by the darkness of the forest, walking into the threshold of trees. She panted heavily, leaning against as mossy tree trunk before crumbling to the ground. She'd done a lot of running, and a lot of dodging of tranquilizer darts. Her face met the earth and she dug her muzzle into it. She'd gotten out of that crazy ward. She didn't know if they'd already experimented a bit on her, but at least they hadn't touched her puppies. Sighing, Mary's eyes began to close, and she drifted off into a deep sleep, only to be awoken hours later by something disturbing.

She began to feel something leak between her legs, something liquid. She started to breathe heavily, whining and trying to keep her tone low. The liquid began to soak into her fur. She neared her nose towards the substance and instantly howled briefly. She was discharging blood.

Fear instantly swelled inside her body. She began to shift back to her human body so she could really see what was going on without all of her fur over her body. Blood trickled down her legs, smearing against her fair flesh. Mary's heart raced. Her fingers grazed the blood before placing both of her hands on her large mound. Five months pregnant, she mentally feared for her babies, even if she had wanted that abortion.

"I must be on my period," she said out loud to herself, "but pregnant women don't get their periods, do they? Besides, I'm not even cramping." She gulped and took a heavy breath. She could only come up with the conclusion that it was her period that was causing her to bleed, but, little did she know, that that was not the case.

"I don't want them born," Mary again said aloud. "I don't want to bring them to this world. If I'm miscarrying, then nobody can blame me. It'll be natural." She nodded and tilted her head back against the tree. "It'll be natural. Don't be afraid to miscarry, Mary. Please, miscarry. Don't let me bring them into this world."

Eventually the blood ceased and Mary traversed through the forest, looking for a creek or a small river to wash herself in. The animals around her stirred erratically when she passed, sensing the werewolf walking about them.

She finally came across a river where small deer were sipping from, but at the scent of Mary, they reacted maniacally and darted off. She was used to animals reacting this way. It was why they never could have animals on their ranch. She remembered her mother always wanting to fill the horse stalls and the barn with an abundance of farm animals, but D. Jay always refused. Mary remembered the one time Fiona bought themselves a white bunny rabbit when she was just a little girl—perhaps three or four. She smiled at the memory, remembering how happy she'd been seeing the furry creature. But the rabbit squealed and reacted so abnormal, as if it were afraid to be around her. Before Mary could even hold the rabbit for the first time, it ran away. It was after that that D. Jay said very firmly that they were not allowed to get any more animals, and Fiona obliged timidly.

Mary's smile had fallen during the remainder of the memory. She sighed and gazed down at her reflection. She almost jumped at the sight of her face. She saw her eyes turned dull and the heavy dark bags hanging underneath them. Her lips were pallid, almost the same color as her skin, and chapped. Her hair was wild, as if she'd been living in the forest for more than just some hours. Her bodily appearance had changed as well. She hadn't seen herself at all, since she became pregnant. In place of her stomach lay, what she though, a huge smooth tumor. Mary cringed at the sight of herself. Her breasts had also enhanced, much to her demise.

"Damn it. As if my boobs weren't big enough to begin with," she groaned.

Tired of looking at herself, she stepped into the shallow river, kneeling so that the water reached just the tip of her mound. The water immediately turned red as she bathed herself, splashing the water around her waist. Immediately, she was struck with another shock of pain in her abdomen. Mary's hands immediately flew to her mound as she cringed, doubling over in the water. She moaned and clenched her teeth together, breathing through her nose.

"God," she said through gritted teeth. "Being pregnant sucks. Thanks a lot, Derek."

Of course, Mary knew this wasn't Derek's fault. She'd been the one to seduce him into making love with her. She was rather mad at herself than Derek. Derek didn't even know, unless the doctors at the Edison Group lab told the nurses at Lyle House, who then told Derek, but, for some reason, Mary didn't seem that likely. They were good at keeping secrets, and they probably didn't want Derek to come running after her for her protection.

The contractions finally ceased and Mary sighed heavily. Had Derek escaped Lyle House and was looking for her right now? Or was he still at the home with the belief of never seeing her again anyway? The tears returned to her eyes and she didn't struggle to keep them from falling. Instead, she let them, and they strolled down her cheeks quickly, dripping into the river and making small ripples in the transparent red water.

An unwanted scent cut through the woodsy aroma of the forest suddenly, and distracted Mary from her depressing thoughts. She sat up, alert, and quickly climbed out of the water. She crouched on all fours, listening for any unnatural sounds.

Sure enough, the scent and sounds came together. Guards from the Edison Group had followed her into the forest. They dressed as soldiers in the military, their boots snapping every twig and small fallen branch in their step. Mary glared and her heart raced. She Changed into the black wolf and darted off, not bothering to shake off the water that clung to her now wet fur.

She cursed them for following her, but she knew it had been expected. They'd gotten there fast. Mary knew she had to be expecting vehicles chasing after her as well.

She delved deeper into the forest, where the animals got bigger and more dangerous, and she startled them all with her scent and presence. She cursed them, too, for making so much racket. Now the soldiers were bound to know where she was. At least deeper in these trees it was also darker, and her black coat camouflaged well with her surroundings.

She knew one thing; the Edison Group would not take her back. Ever.

Mary didn't want to hide anywhere she knew they would check, such as a cave, so she decided on a thick lush bush. It wasn't so big, but with Mary's type of body, she could easily hide in it. She slithered through the branches and made herself comfortable. She needed to wait for them to pass, and she also needed to rest. Despite her feelings towards Dr. Fellows, she knew that she'd been right about at least that, that Mary needed to rest and take it easy. Unfortunately, the life of a werewolf was never easy.

She absentmindedly licked her paw, cleaning herself, as she listened for the soldiers to draw near. Sure enough, they'd picked up the noises the wild forest animals had created, using them as a path to get closer to Mary. Davidoff must have informed them of how werewolves stirred other animals out of control.

"Split up," she heard one of the soldiers bark at his teammates. His scent was so strong as he stepped in front of her bush, the leather black of his boot marked with mud and blood. The scent tickled her nose. "The animals are still going berserk, so she must still be around."

"What about the blood in that pond?" asked another soldier. "We should check around there some more."

"No," the first soldier snapped. "The animals are calmer there. She isn't there anymore." Mary heard the clicking of a gun being loaded and she tensed. Judging by the scent of its ammo, she knew it was loaded with bullets, rather than tranquilizer darts. She knew it. If she didn't kill them, they'd kill her. She guessed that whatever Dr. Fellows had said about not killing her because she was pregnant hadn't fully gone through their thick heads. At least if she died, her babies would die as well, thus sparing them from entering the cruel world.

But Mary didn't want to die. Despite her horrid past and horrid situation present, she still wanted to live. Perhaps there was a chance that she wouldn't have such a horrid future. Now that she was out of the lab, out of Lyle House, away from D. Jay, perhaps there was a chance.

So, if there was a chance, why did she want to kill the babies?

She mulled it over in her mind. She didn't want them because she knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to care for them. Mary thought she'd be a horrible mother, especially because she never wanted to be one. She couldn't put them up for adoption because the babies weren't even human, and they'd be brought right back to a lab like the Edison Group's. The only solution was an abortion, but as she thought about it, killing unborn babies sounded so wrong, so vile, so inhumane.

She thought of Derek, who so longed to grasp hold of his human half and be normal. She thought of her father, who lived to kill and taste blood. She thought of Dr. Fellows, who wanted her to keep the babies alive, to keep them away from danger. And then, finally, Dr. Davidoff's face emerged, his words echoing through her mind.

"You'd be killing two innocent lives … Two innocent unborn lives."

And she remembered her response right back at him: "What does it matter to you? You've destroyed many innocent lives! Many innocent bornlives."

She didn't want to become her father. She didn't kill for the hell of it; she killed when she was in danger, such as the guard that would have shot her in her room.

What would Derek do? Derek wouldn't want a baby, let alone twins, she thought. But he also wouldn't have wanted Mary to have an abortion either. He'd say abortion was inhumane, and she knew how he was against most things inhumane.

Aw fine, she thought stubbornly. I'll at least think about keeping them. But I've got to get away from these damn soldiers before I don't even get the chance to think about it!

They lingered around a while longer, and Mary waited impatiently for them to leave. She tried to ignore the small contractions that stirred in her abdomen, raising her annoyance level.

Stop moving! she scolded mentally to her unborn twins, and they soon stopped, as if they had heard her.

Finally, most of the soldiers had trailed off. She backed away from the bush, her body low and scraping the floor. Suddenly, she got a wave of the first soldiers scent as he knocked the butt of his shotgun against her head. Luckily for Mary, it wasn't as powerful as the soldier had wanted his blow to be, so she remained conscience, but very angry.

"There you are, you little bitch," he snarled and Mary roared at him, pouncing on him and pinning him to the ground. He fumbled with the gun, but her body was pressed to hard against it that it remained useless against his chest. She swiped her paws against his face so harshly that his skin was peeling off of his face. He cried out in pain, pressing a dirty palm against his fresh wounds to stop the bleeding. Mary quickly pounced off of him and backed away. She could hear footsteps and shouts coming back towards them. She watched the soldier writhe in pain, reaching for his shotgun and struggling to aim it at her.

"Fuck you … bitch!" he seethed. Mary growled and turned away just as the soldier shot—and missed miserably—at her. She jumped over the bush she'd been hiding in and ran off.