HARSHER THAN THE BARK
A/N: I really am sorry that these updates keep coming so far apart guys. Apparently all of my teachers decided that they would give out shit loads of homework this week so I have had no time to write or update and it pisses me off because I feel like I'm making you guys wait so long. Anyway, please forgive me and I will try to update as regularly as possible :)
Enjoy...
"I like moments like this." Scarlett sighed, her cheek pressed against Derek's chest as she lay on top of him. He hummed in agreement, tracing random patters onto the exposed part of her back with the tips of his fingers.
"But, it would be so much better if we were naked." He complained making Scarlett laugh and sit up so that she was straddling his waist.
"Hmm…" She slowly moved her hands up his chest and leaned down to his ear. "We don't have time to be naked." She leaned back and smirked and he rolled his eyes as he began tracing the top of the lacy bustier she was wearing, brushing his finger across the tops of her breasts that the bustier generously showed off.
"You certainly are a tease ma chérie." Derek murmured, looking at her with fascination.
Scarlett bit her lip. "Has anyone ever told you that you sound incredibly sexy speaking French?"
Derek shook his head, grinning. "Non, juste vous chérie."
"J'aime quand tu m'appelles chérie." Scarlett giggled.
"Guess I'm not the only one who sounds sexy speaking French." Derek laughed, capturing her lips with his own and kissing her painfully slowly. He pulled away and looked like he was listening in to something. "They're back."
"Oh, goodie." She said sarcastically. He smiled and pecked her lips again before urging her to stand up so he could get up as well. Scarlett did so begrudgingly and walked out of the subway car with him following her. The two of them sat on the step together and watched as Erica and Isaac entered, dragging Jackson along with them.
"What happened to you on the night of the full moon?" Derek asked, getting straight to the point, ignoring Jackson's pleads to be let go.
"Why are you here Scarlett?" Jackson asked, his attention turned on her. She went to answer but Derek cut her off.
"That's not important right now. What's important is you telling me what happened on the night of the full moon."
"Nothing." Jackson hissed. "Nothing happened."
Derek looked back up at him. "You're lying. Scarlett, hand me those gloves." Scarlett looked beside her and saw the black pair of gloves that Derek was referring to. She picked them up and gave them a strange look before handing them over. Derek started putting them on and Jackson started struggling against Erica and Isaac's grip even more.
"I-I can prove it! I taped myself." Scarlett raised a brow. She knew Jackson was a creep but that was just beyond strange.
"You taped yourself?" Isaac asked with a laugh.
"Yes." Jackson answered in his face. "It was the night of the full moon and maybe while you were curled in the corner having an existential crisis about turning into a monster…I was preparing for the so-called gift your big bad Alpha promised me! But what do I get? Nothing. You want proof? Let me get the video."
Scarlett looked at Derek expectantly, thinking he'd let Jackson go so he could get the tape. But instead he shook his head, picking up the shard of glass from next to him. "No…no, I have a better idea."
"What is that?" Jackson asked, the panic evident in his voice and on his face as Erica and Isaac forced him to his knees. Scarlett's eyes widened a little, even she wasn't too sure about what Derek was doing. She put her hand on Derek's arm when he stood up, stopping him momentarily.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Just watch." He told her, shrugging her hand off and walking towards Jackson with the shard of glass in his hands. "You know Jackson…you've always kind of been a snake and everyone knows a snake can't be poisoned by its own venom." Then it clicked for Scarlett what he was doing. She thought she had seen some sort of liquid on the glass. It must've been the toxin that the Kanima used to paralyze people.
Isaac and Erica forced Jackson's mouth open and held him still while he made struggling noises as Derek tipped the glass and a drop of the toxin went into Jackson's mouth. They made Jackson swallow it and then stepped away so that he fell to the ground. Scarlett stepped up next to Derek to watch what was happening.
Derek looked around and sighed when they all saw that Jackson was in fact paralyzed. In a way, Scarlett was kind of glad that he wasn't the Kanima because if he was then Derek would have killed him and it didn't matter how much Scarlett didn't like Jackson, she didn't want to see him die…just like he had told her that he didn't want to see her end up dead either. Also, if they had tried to kill him then she would've stepped in the way to prevent it and there would just have been so much chaos that was probably best to avoid at all costs.
Derek went over to Jackson and crouched down beside him. "You're still a snake Jackson. Just not the one we're looking for." He got up again and walked back inside the subway car. Scarlett followed after him when she saw Isaac beginning to talk to Jackson.
"If it's not him…then who the hell is it?" She asked, leaning on a pole. Derek clenched his jaw and looked at her.
"I have an idea. But you're not gonna like it." Her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Well who e-" Her eyes widened when she saw the look he was giving her. "No. No way. It- it's not Lydia if that's what you're thinking."
"Think about it. She was the only other person bitten that didn't turn." He said, his tone bordering urgent.
"But it can't be her. The night that Tucker, the mechanic, died? I was with her. I slept next to her the full night." Scarlett explained.
"Maybe you just didn't hear her getting up and leaving." Derek suggested.
"I think I would've heard her turning into that thing!"
"Kanima." He corrected her. She glared at him.
"Whatever, she would've killed me. Not just left me sleeping soundly."
"It didn't kill you the other night either though. Remember that? It had plenty of chances to and it didn't. Stiles said that when he looked into the Kanima's eyes, it seemed to recognise him. Do you think it recognised you?" Scarlett sighed. It had looked like it recognised her but she didn't want to tell him that. Although, he could take a good guess from her facial expression. "It did, didn't it? Ever occur to you that maybe that was the part of Lydia that was still awake, still human, telling herself not to kill her best friend?"
"I- no." Scarlett shook her head. "It isn't Lydia, Derek. Believe me."
"Well maybe it's you." She heard Erica say behind her. "We should test her, just to be safe."
"It's not her." Derek said sternly, giving Erica a dangerous look for even suggesting such a thing.
"I hate to break it to you cupcake, but I was never bitten. Now, if you'll excuse me I don't feel like being harassed any longer." Scarlett reached for her bag, shouldered it and pushed past a smirking Erica to get out of the subway car and make her way to the stairs which she practically sprinted up.
As Scarlett was walking to her next class she suddenly felt herself being shoved up against the lockers, startling her.
"Tell me what you were doing with Derek." Jackson growled at her, seeming to be incredibly angry for reasons Scarlett wasn't exactly sure of.
"W-what?" She asked, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.
"Did he turn you? Huh? Are you one of them now? Were you just gonna let him kill me if that stuff didn't paralyze me?!" What the hell was he getting so worked up about?
"No, I'm not-"
"Don't lie to me!" Before Scarlett could reply, Jackson was yanked away from her and thrown up against the lockers beside her by Isaac.
"Back the hell off." Isaac growled at him, shocking not only Jackson but Scarlett herself. Jackson glared and then walked off angrily. "I got your back." Isaac smirked at Scarlett who was still processing what had just happened.
"Um…thank you?" She wasn't really sure what to say in this situation. It had been extremely unexpected. She had just figured that since Erica didn't like her then neither would Isaac. Then again, she was nice to him before so maybe that had something to do with it.
"No problem." He shrugged, walking away and leaving her completely puzzled as she actually made her way to class. When she arrived, Lydia had already saved her a seat next to her.
"You look…confused." Lydia pointed out as Scarlett sat down.
"I am." She confessed. Lydia shrugged and started taking down notes from the board as Scarlett kept glancing at her sidelong. Surely she wasn't the Kanima. Lydia was a world class bitch most of the time but she wasn't capable of murdering anyone. There had to be someone else…someone they had missed because there was just no way that Scarlett was going to accept even the slightest possibility that it was Lydia. Because accepting that might lead to it being true and it being true led to Lydia's imminent death. Something that Scarlett wouldn't be able to handle. Lydia didn't deserve to die. She had so much going for her. She was going to graduate extremely easily and then go to some fancy university and become famous and win prizes for being the smartest person alive. So, Scarlett was simply not going to let her be killed.
Scarlett looked over at Scott and Stiles who were talking in hushed tones to Jackson who kept eyeing Scarlett with distrust. She made a face and turned back to the lesson. Coach had asked a question and Lydia put her hand up but Scarlett hadn't heard it so of course, she didn't. He ended up choosing someone else anyway. When that person had went up and answered the question he then asked another one and this time he did pick Lydia. She made her way up to the board but when she was up there she seemed to go into some sort of trance, writing the same thing over and over again, all over the board. The whole class started whispering and Scarlett just looked at Lydia with a face full of confusion that soon turned to worry as Lydia turned around and started crying with her eyes closed, looking like she was having some sort of nightmare.
"Lydia. Lydia. Lydia…" Coach said a little louder making Lydia's eyes snap open. Her makeup was all smudged from her tears and she looked petrified as the whole class stared at her. "Okay then, anybody else wanna try answering? This time, in…English?" The class burst out laughing and Lydia just stood there. "Uh…female McCall! Take, Lydia to the bathroom and…help her." Coach said, not sure of how to handle the whole situation.
"Sure thing Coach." Scarlett sighed, picking up her bag and Lydia's and walking towards the front of the class to take Lydia to the bathroom.
Scarlett handed Lydia more toilet paper to help dry her eyes. "My makeup is a mess." Lydia complained, wiping the mascara from under her eyes as she looked in the mirror. Scarlett sighed and took her makeup bag out, setting it beside the sinks.
"Come here." She said, motioning for Lydia to turn towards her. She started by cleaning up all of the smeared makeup and then she started reapplying the mascara and eyeliner. As she did so she thought she should probably ask about what happened. "So, what was it?"
"What?" Lydia asked, looking upwards as Scarlett put mascara on her bottom lashes.
"You know what. Did you see something? Because you looked pretty freaked."
"I didn't see anything. I'm not going crazy." Lydia told her defiantly. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"I didn't say you were. I just wanna know so I can help you out." She said sympathetically.
"I already have the school councillor trying to 'help me out'. I just need you, as my best friend, to believe me. I am not going crazy." Scarlett nodded and took out Lydia's favourite lipstick of Scarlett's to put it on her. Lydia turned to look at herself in the mirror again, impressed with the way she looked.
"Perfect." Scarlett said with a smirk, zipping her makeup bag back up and putting it away just as the bell for next period rang. Chemistry…great.
Allison sat down next to Scarlett after silently asking Scott why he was sitting next to Lydia. He nodded towards Erica and Isaac who apparently were there to test Lydia which made Scarlett's blood boil because it meant that despite her plea to Derek to believe that Lydia was innocent, he had sent them to test her anyway.
"What's going on?" Allison asked in a whisper.
"Nothing good." Scarlett replied quietly, sending a glare Erica's way before Mr Harris started talking.
"Einstein once said, 'Few things, are infinite. The universe and human stupidity' and I'm not sure about the universe…I myself have encountered infinite stupidity." He said, patting Stiles' shoulder. "So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class you're going to combine efforts for a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are in fact, better than one or in Mr Stilinksi's case, less than one. Erica, you take the first station. Start-" Suddenly every male's hand, save for Scott, Isaac and Stiles', shot up in the air. Scarlett looked around and scoffed. "I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr McCall. Alright, next two."
Allison and Scarlett shared a pissed look as Erica looked at both of them triumphantly.
Scarlett was paired with Isaac, which wasn't that bad, and he sat and watched her do most of the work, only passing her what she needed and writing down what she told him to. After a while the silence was kind of annoying her so she spoke up. "So, you had something to tell me the other day, right? What was that?"
He looked at her, kind of hoping she would have forgotten but, of course, she hadn't. "Um, nothing. Nothing, it doesn't matter." He covered, quickly moving on to something else that still had a connection to his question from the other day that he never got a chance to ask. "So you and Derek, huh?"
She looked at him and gave short smile. "Yeah."
"How long's that been going on for?" Her brows furrowed in confusion. What was with the 20 questions?
"Not- not that long actually." She shrugged. As Isaac was about to ask another question about Scarlett's relationship, Mr Harris rang the bell and Isaac was forced to leave so that the next person could sit with Scarlett. And she felt so relieved when he was gone. She didn't really like the way he was trying to pry into her relationship with Derek. Yeah, they were only simple questions but she had a feeling if he had been able to stick around longer they would've gotten deeper.
Scarlett finally turned her attention to whoever her partner was and she sighed when she saw it was Taylor. At least it wasn't someone she didn't really know. Scarlett continued doing the experiment and Taylor began writing down notes quickly.
"So, when did Isaac Lahey get so hot?" Taylor asked, glancing hungrily at Isaac. Scarlett scrunched up her face, looking at Isaac. She had always seen him as cute rather than hot but…Taylor kind of had a point. Becoming a werewolf did good things for that boy. Oh God, she was beginning to sound like her blonde friend. It didn't matter if she thought Isaac was hot anyway, she didn't like him like that. And, she also only had eyes for one guy…
"Yeah well he's more confident now and you know what they say, confidence is sexy." Wait, did she just call Isaac…sexy? No. No, she most certainly did not.
"Very true." Taylor sang, looking at him again and biting her lip.
"What happened to your date from the other night?"
"Eh, we had a fun night but then he became a bore." She shrugged. "You and Isaac seemed chatty though…you feel like putting in a good word for me?"
Scarlett laughed. "Sure, why not?" She thought it would be interesting to see what his reaction was anyway.
"You truly are an angel my dear." Taylor smirked. Scarlett drew a halo around her head with her finger, making Taylor giggle before they got on with the experiment. When it was time to move again, Scarlett got landed with some random guy.
"If you have catalysed the reaction correctly then you should be looking at a crystal." Mr Harris said. Scarlett looked in her beaker and made a proud face as she saw the perfect crystal. Although Chemistry wasn't her favourite subject, she was still good at it and wanted to excel in it because Sciences always looked good on college and university applications.
"Now, for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy…you can eat it." Scarlett let the guy take the crystal out of the beaker with the tongs and he offered it to her.
"You did the work." He said. She smirked and took the crystal carefully, biting into it. It didn't really taste like anything, but she liked crunching it for some odd reason.
"Lydia!" Scott suddenly jumped up, making the whole class stare at him. Lydia turned around and looked at him innocently.
"What?" She asked, holding the crystal up.
"Nothing." He said, sitting back down. Scarlett looked at him oddly, wondering what the hell his problem was and then she saw the gooey liquid that dripped from the crystal as Lydia placed into her mouth. Scarlett held her breath and watched intently along with Scott, Isaac and Erica as nothing happened to Lydia.
Scarlett, Scott, Allison and Stiles all walked into Coach's office together.
"Derek's outside waiting for Lydia." Scott told them all. Scarlett frowned at that. She really wished that he would've listened to her when she told him it wasn't Lydia because despite her not passing the stupid test, she was not the Kanima. And nothing could convince Scarlett otherwise.
"To kill her?" Allison asked.
"If he thinks she's the Kanima then yeah." Scott replied.
"It's not her." Stiles said with an air of finality.
"I'm with Stiles. It can't be Lydia. It's someone else. Who gives a shit about some stupid test?" Scarlett asked, her anger rising ever so slightly.
"Well, it doesn't matter because Derek thinks it's her." Allison said, sounding defeated. "So either we can convince him that he's wrong or…we need to find a way to protect her."
"I don't think he's gonna do anything here. Not at school." Scott said, shaking his head.
"What about after school?" Allison asked. "What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"
"By three o'clock?" Stiles asked, incredulous.
"There could be something in the Bestiary." Allison suggested.
"Isn't that written in Latin…?" Scarlett asked, seriously doubting that they would have enough time to find something that would prove Lydia's innocence. She was all for trying though.
"Yeah, and it also happens to be nine hundred pages long." Stiles added on.
"Actually, I think I know someone who might be able to translate it." Allison suddenly realised.
"I-I can try to talk to Derek…maybe try to convince him to give us a chance to prove that it's not Lydia." Scott said doubtfully.
"No, no. Derek isn't going to listen to you…" Stiles said shaking his head before slowly turning his gaze to Scarlett, making Scott and Allison's follow. "But he'll listen to you."
Scarlett sighed. "I already made it pretty clear this morning that I didn't think it was her and there was no possible way it was Lydia because I was with her the other night when the Kanima killed Tucker and yet, here Derek is trying to kill her."
"You were with Derek this morning?" Scott asked with a glare.
"Not the time, Scott." Scarlett told him, not in the mood to fight with him even more.
"Okay. Here's what we're gonna do." Scott said, leaving his annoyance at Scarlett for another time. "Scarlett and I will go and talk to Derek as soon as school finishes while you two get Lydia and take her back to our house. Tell her whatever you have to just make sure that she stays inside and you keep the door locked until and be careful." Scott's tone became softer as he looked at Allison.
"What does that mean?" Allison asked quietly.
"It means you can't heal like I can…I just don't want you getting hurt." Scott whispered to Allison, who sighed and got up to rummage around in her bag until she found a portable crossbow.
Scarlett cocked her head to the side and raised a brow. "Huh. That's handy." She murmured to herself.
"I can protect myself." Allison told Scott confidently, holding the crossbow up. When Scott gave her another look, her face turned soft. "What? Did something else happen?"
"I just don't want you getting hurt. Seriously, if anything happens, call me. Okay? Cause I-I don't care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever, I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can." Scarlett's heart ached as she watched Scott talk to Allison. He really did love her. He loved her enough to risk being caught by her father just in case she needed help. Scarlett scoffed internally. And Derek wouldn't even trust her on one thing that she was absolutely sure about…No. No. That was wrong of her to think. Derek was just trying to stop people from being killed the best way he knew how; by eliminating the threat. Scarlett couldn't blame him for that and of course all the signs pointed to Lydia but she wasn't his best friend like she was Scarlett's. He hadn't known her forever so Scarlett couldn't expect him to understand why she was so adamant that Lydia wasn't some scary ass snake-creature thing that was murdering people. And she also couldn't expect him to say the things that Scott said to Allison. Their relationship was just starting even though it felt like they had been together for so much longer.
Scarlett sighed and walked to the door, seeing that Scott looked like he was ready to go. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see Scott holding an arrow right in front of her forehead. Her eyes widened as she looked at Stiles who had shot the arrow at her, and then she looked at Scott. He had literally just saved her life…again.
"Oh, whoa…uh, sorry. Sensitive trigger on- on that." Stiles said, pointing to the mini crossbow.
Scarlett and Scott left the room and began walking to their next class together. "Thank you…for you know, catching the arrow." Scarlett said, glancing at her brother.
"I wasn't just gonna let you die." He said, keeping his eyes straight ahead of him.
"So…you do still love me then?" She asked with hopeful eyes. Scott sighed and looked at her.
"You're my sister Scar. Of course I love you. I'm pissed at you though. And I don't agree with your decisions and I think they're really stupid and you made a terrible mi-"
"Okay! I get it…you think I'm an idiot. But you don't hate me so I'll take that." Scarlett smirked. Scott shook his head and pulled the door to the classroom open and held it for her as she walked through.
At the end of the day, the twins made their way across the lacrosse field, in silence, towards Boyd who was waiting for them.
"Where's Derek?" Scarlett asked. "I need to talk to him."
"Talk to me." He said.
Scott sighed. "I don't wanna fight." He told Boyd, walking closer to him. Scarlett stayed by her twin's side the whole time.
"Good. Because I'm twice the size of you."
"True." Scott admitted. "Really, true…but you know what I think? I'm twice as fast." He said before he caught Boyd off guard and tackled him to the ground. Scarlett saw Derek approaching them and she quickly moved around the two boys to get to him.
Before she could say anything he was already talking. "She didn't pass the test, Scarlett."
Scarlett groaned. "I don't give a shit about some stupid test! I do, however, give a shit about you killing an innocent person! An innocent person, who by the way, happens to be my best friend!"
"She's a killer." He said, acting as if he wasn't fazed by the pleading tone of her voice. Inside he was beating himself up. He hated to do this to her, to take away her best friend but if he didn't then Scarlett might be the next victim and he wasn't at all okay with that.
"Do you trust me at all?" She asked, staring into his eyes with her doe-like ones.
"I trust you more than anyone." He told her quietly.
"Then trust me on this…please." She begged.
"We're not gonna let you kill her." Scott said, stepping up beside Scarlett. Derek shared a small laugh with Boyd, which Scarlett found completely rude and disrespectful given the circumstances. Given how much Derek knew he was going to hurt her by doing this.
"Oh, who said I was gonna do it?" Derek asked. Scarlett's eyes widened slightly…of course, Erica and Isaac. She took a breath and calmed herself as she remembered that they had a plan. Stiles and Allison were going to get Lydia out of school quickly and they were going to take her to Scott and Scarlett's house where they would be part of the study group.
Scott looked back towards the school and Boyd took that as his chance to slam him to the ground, making Scarlett gasp and cringe at the same time.
"I don't see why you think you have to protect everyone now Scott," Derek shrugged, stepping in front of Scarlett to look down at Scott. Both McCall twins glared at him as he did so. "Even so, Lydia has killed people and she'll do it again and next time it's gonna be one of us." He said, glancing at Scarlett as the thought of her being ripped to shreds entered his mind. It was enough to scare him to death. He wasn't sure how he would be able to live without her if that happened, which only made him want this over with faster so that she was out of danger.
"You're wrong." Scarlett said from behind him. He looked at her again and shook his head.
"She was bitten by an Alpha. It's her."
"You saw that thing up close," Scott said, leaning on his elbows. "You know it's not like us."
"But it is! We're all shape-shifters. You don't know what you're dealing with. It happens rarely and it happens for a reason."
"What's the reason?" The twins asked at the same time.
Derek sighed. "Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person that you are…and even Stiles calls her cold-blooded." He said, helping Scott up.
"What if she's immune? What if there's something inside of her that made her immune to the bite which is why she didn't get paralyzed?" Scott asked.
"No one is immune." Derek stressed. "Never seen of it or heard of it because it hasn't ever happened."
"It happened with Jackson." Scarlett muttered.
"That's why you tested him, isn't it?" Scott questioned angrily. "Because you gave him what he wanted. Peter said the bite either kills you or turns you. I bet you were hoping he would die! But nothing happened, right? And you have no idea why, do you?"
"No." Derek admitted, clenching his jaw.
"Well I have a theory…Lydia's immune and somehow she passed it on to Jackson. You know I'm right-"
"No!" Derek shouted.
"You cannot do this!" Scott argued. Scarlett watched the two anxiously. This shouldn't even be an argument that they were having. This shouldn't be happening in the first place. Things like this weren't supposed to happen in real life.
"I can't let her live!" Scarlett jumped slightly at the harshness of Derek's voice. He looked back at her, sensing her unease before sighing. "You should've known that."
"I was hoping I would convince you. But then," Scott looked at Scarlett. "We weren't counting on it." Derek gave both of them a confused look and Scarlett sighed. After everything, him trying to kill her best friend and all of it…why in the hell did she feel guilty? She had no reason to. This plan was going to stall them. It might even give them the chance to prove Lydia's innocence. Her feelings for Derek were just getting in the way.
Scott looked at Scarlett and she gave him a nod, indicating that it was okay for him to go. He looked at them all again before taking off at a sprint back to the school.
"What did you do?" Derek growled, grabbing Scarlett's arm. She grimaced and shoved his hand away.
"I didn't do anything. I've been here the whole time. Lydia, on the other hand, is somewhere safe…" She told him, turning on her heel about to leave.
"You know we have to do this. I can't keep putting your life at risk by having Lydia turn into the Kanima. Especially not when we can stop her." Derek said, causing her to turn around and walk towards him until she was in his personal space, jabbing her finger into his chest.
"You do this and I will never forgive you." She said, her voice teetering on the edge of a broken whisper. She didn't want to be saying this but she wasn't capable of stopping herself. She was so angry with him though. How were they ever supposed to be a couple if he didn't trust her? Because she trusted him more than anyone and it hurt that the trust wasn't returned even though he claimed it was. "Never." Her glare faltered as she saw the hurt flash in his eyes but she ignored it and walked away from him and to the parking lot so she could get to her house ASAP.
Scarlett groaned as she knocked on the door yet again. "Stiles, it's me! Just me."
"So Derek isn't out there?" She heard him shout from inside.
"What? No, no. It's me. Alone, solo, by myself. Now open the fucking door!" This was ridiculous. He had refused to let her into her own house because he suspected that as soon as the door was open they would be ambushed by Derek's pack.
"Move." She heard Allison say and then she heard a bang like Stiles had fallen into something which, knowing him, he most likely had. All the locks on the door started to unlock and then Allison appeared in the open doorway, yanking Scarlett inside.
"Thank you." Scarlett said to Allison while she glared at Stiles who was just getting up from falling into the coat-stand by the door.
"Where's Derek?" Stiles asked, locking the door again and putting a chair underneath the doorknob.
Scarlett raised a brow at him as she started speaking. "I don't know. Probably on his way here. Where's Lydia?"
"Upstairs with Jackson." Allison answered.
"Jackson's here?" Scarlett asked incredulously. Allison nodded. "Great. So what do we do now? Just…wait?"
"Not for very long." Stiles muttered, looking out the window. Allison and Scarlett shared a look before moving the curtain and looking as well to see Derek, Isaac, Erica and Boyd all getting out of Derek's car.
"Well shit." Scarlett sighed, letting the curtain close over as she moved back to lean on the wall. Allison moved her mini crossbow to her other hand so that she could snatch Stiles' phone out of his pocket. He went to protest but she was already dialling Scott's number and walking away.
"What do you guys keep weapon wise?" Stiles asked, turning to face Scarlett. She gave him a blank look.
"A frying pan." She shrugged. He gave her an incredulous look. "Oh, or Scott's baseball bat."
"Not helpful." Stiles told her, looking back out the window.
"Says you." She scoffed.
"You need to get here. Now." Allison said into the phone, glancing over in their direction. Scott told her he'd be there soon and she hung up. All of them looked out the window again nervously. The pack had moved closer to the house and they were all talking to each other, sparing glances at the house, most likely discussing how they were going to get in. Scarlett caught Derek's eye but she couldn't bear to keep looking at him, not now, not when he was plotting to kill her best friend. She quickly turned her head to Allison who was looking anxiously at Stiles' phone as she started typing in a number.
"What're you doing?" Scarlett whispered, causing Stiles to look around as well.
Allison looked at her and shook her head. "I think- I think I need to call my dad."
"But, but if he find you here you and Scott-"
"I know." Allison cut Stiles off, wiping at the tears that had begun to well up in her eyes.
"Allison, if you call your dad…he'll kill them." Scarlett said worriedly. She wanted them to go away but she wasn't going to let Derek get killed. Or any of them for that matter. The other three were only teenagers. Her peers…letting them be killed wouldn't be fair. In this situation, it was the people on Scott's side that had to be the bigger men. It didn't matter that Isaac and Erica were going to try and kill Lydia, their deaths wouldn't be right.
"I know. But what else are we supposed to do?" Allison's voice was quiet and sympathetic because she knew that the hunters would kill the pack, Derek along with them, but she couldn't just let them kill Lydia either.
Scarlett's heart rate picked up quickly. "Be the bigger people…Allison, I can't- I can't sit back and watch them...Derek, be slaughtered. I don't agree with what he's trying to do but put yourself in my shoes, if it was Scott out there trying to kill her…would you still call your dad?" Allison looked down at the phone and shook her head, locking it and looking back at Scarlett. "Thank you."
"I have an idea." Stiles spoke up. "Just shoot one of them."
"Are you serious?" Allison asked, continuously glancing out the window.
"We told Scott we could protect ourselves. So let's do it. At least give it a shot…they don't think we're gonna fight so I guarantee if one of them gets hit they'll take off. So just shoot one of them."
"Which one?" Allison looked out again, eyeing the pack.
"D-Derek." Stiles breathed. "Yeah, shoot him. Preferably in the head."
"No!" Scarlett protested causing Stiles to glare at her.
"If Scott was able to catch an arrow then Derek definitely can." Allison said, agreeing with Scarlett. Not for the same reasons, of course, but still agreeing.
"Well shoot one of the other three then."
"Shoot Erica." Scarlett muttered pettily.
"You mean other two?" Allison asked, her face close to the window as she peered out of it. Stiles looked at Scarlett with a worried expression as they both peered through as well.
"Where the hell's Isaac?" Stiles asked, seeing only Derek, Erica and Boyd still standing outside looking in. They backed up, Allison pointing the crossbow at the door shakily until someone came up behind her and pushed her down to the stairs. Isaac then turned to Scarlett and Stiles who were both shaking slightly. He punched Stiles in the face, sending him flying and he went to go and beat him up some more but Scarlett quickly got in between the two. Isaac growled but didn't make another move. Then it clicked.
"You can't hurt me." She said in realisation. Isaac glared at her, eyes glowing a bright golden colour. "He told you not to. And when your Alpha gives an order…you have to listen, don't you?" She smirked slightly, still staying put in front of Stiles who was slowly getting back to his feet.
"Move." Isaac growled, eyes locked on Stiles who had grabbed a vase and thrown it at him. Isaac ducked quickly and it shattered against the wall behind him.
"Stiles!" Scarlett hissed. That was her mom's favourite vase. While she was distracted, Isaac darted around Scarlett and lunged at Stiles. Stiles fell, hitting a chair and clawed at the carpet at Isaac began dragging him backwards. Scarlett turned quickly and jumped on Isaac's back, putting her arm tightly against his throat so that he couldn't breathe properly causing him to let go of Stiles. Isaac struggled and so did Scarlett as he moved backwards and slammed her against the wall knocking the wind out of her. She groaned and let go as she slumped against the wall.
"Sorry." He shrugged, playing it off as nothing although he did actually feel bad about hurting her. It's not as if he wanted to. Even if Derek hadn't given the order not to lay a finger on Scarlett and to protect her, he still wouldn't intentionally hurt her. She was somewhat of a friend and the fact that he had a hugely embarrassing crush on her didn't help matters. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Isaac rubbed his throat and went after Stiles again. Just as he was about to grab Stiles, Scarlett got up and tackled him to the ground, only being able to do so because she had caught him off guard. While Stiles and Scarlett struggled to keep Isaac pinned down, they completely missed Erica sneaking into the house and up the stairs. Isaac continued his attempts and clawing at them and when he managed to push both of them down so he could stand up he swung his hand back, about to claw Stiles but instead he ended up slashing Scarlett who had jumped in front of Stiles to take the blow again. Isaac froze and looked at the claw marks on her arm that were gushing with blood.
Scarlett yelped in pain, covering the wounds with her hand while she stared at Isaac in horror.
"Oh God…" He said, his voice full of worry and fear. "Scarlett, I'm so s-" Before he could finish his sentence he was knocked to the ground by a roaring Scott. While Scott fought with Isaac, Stiles grabbed Scarlett's hand and quickly led her to the bathroom where Melissa kept the first-aid kit. He sat her down on the toilet lid and grabbed the box, taking out the rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball. She clenched her teeth as he cleaned the wounds and then wrapped a bandage around them quickly.
Stiles stood back, wiping his forehead and sighing. "Well, at least you're not gonna bleed out."
Scarlett looked at her arm. "Thank you." She said gratefully, appreciating what a good friend Stiles was to her and to everyone.
"Do you think he meant what he said about being sorry?" Stiles asked out of the blue, referring to Isaac.
"No. I think he's scared shitless because he went against what Derek told him." Scarlett answered immediately, not having a clue about how Isaac really felt about hurting her. "Let's go." She said, getting up and walking out of the bathroom with Stiles in tow. They ran into Allison who was dragging a paralyzed Erica out of Scott's room. Scarlett and Stiles gave her a questioning look and she smirked triumphantly, telling Stiles to help her. When they got down the stairs, Isaac was half unconscious with Scott standing over him. Scott opened the front door and threw Isaac out, then Erica, and then the four of them walked out afterwards standing side by side.
"You know, I think I'm starting to get why you keep refusing me Scott. You're not an omega. You're already an alpha, of your own pack…but you know you can't beat me." Derek said, looking at all of them, his eyes lingering on Scarlett before moving to the bandage on her arm which she subconsciously covered up.
"Maybe not, but I can hold you off until the cops get here." Scott retorted, glaring at Derek. The smile dropped from Derek's face as his head snapped in the direction that the sirens were coming from before he, and everyone else, looked up at the hissing sound coming from the roof. Scott, Scarlett, Allison and Stiles all ran from the porch onto the street so they could see what was happening. When they saw the Kanima, Scarlett instinctively moved closer to Derek who took a step in front of her as the Kanima turned to look at them all letting out a horrific screech before jumping off of the roof and running away at an incredible speed. Scarlett hadn't noticed that she was clinging onto Derek's arm until she looked down. She quickly let go but she didn't move away, she just averted her gaze.
"Get them out of here." Derek said to Boyd, nodding to Isaac and Erica who were still on the ground. The sound of heels on the porch made everyone turn their heads to the house again to see Lydia walking out looking angry.
"Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" She shouted. Scarlett's eyes widened as the realisation set in.
"It's Jackson." Scott whispered, only loud enough for the three teens beside him to here.
The wounds in her arm started to burn as Scarlett picked up the shards of glass that were once the vase Stiles threw at Isaac. She winced but ignored the pain. She had to get all of this mess cleaned up before her mom came home and threw a fit.
"Who did that?" She heard Derek ask from behind her. Of course he came back. Everyone else was gone so it was the perfect chance for him to talk to her. Scott had gone with Stiles back to Stiles' house for a while, Allison had taken Lydia home, Boyd had taken Isaac and Erica away and, of course, Melissa was at work.
"What? The glass? Stiles. He threw a vase at Isaac and he missed." She shrugged, not turning around. Derek rolled his eyes and walked towards her, taking her hand and pulling her off the ground. She sighed and kept her eyes locked on the floor as he gently touched the bandage.
"Not that…this." He said.
"It was an accident." She told him, not wanting to go ratting Isaac out. He moved her hair behind her ear, making her look up at him.
"Tell me Scar." His voice was soft yet there was a warning undertone to it. Scarlett felt herself leaning into his touch and wanting to forgive him for everything and just kiss him because his sensitive side was showing through again and she couldn't resist when that side of him showed through for her.
"Don't do that." She said, putting her hand on his to take it away from her face. "Don't try to act all caring and sweet and assume that I'll just forgive you for what you tried to do…for not trusting me even though I trust you more than I trust myself." He closed his eyes in frustration as she bent down to pick up the rest of the glass before taking it away to the kitchen to put it in the trash. Scarlett fought the urge to cry as she straightened up the rest of the house so it looked normal again. When she was finished she rushed upstairs and Derek followed her, refusing to leave with her angry at him.
Scarlett went to her bathroom and grasped the sides of the sink, looking at herself, breathing heavily. She was so conflicted. There was a war going on inside of her head. One side of her wanted to tell Derek to fuck off and leave her alone and be angry at him and the other side told her that doing that was a very bad idea, that if she couldn't talk to him and work through it then what kind of relationship would they have?
She looked at him in the mirror as he walked in behind her. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Why didn't you just listen to me?"
He sighed and walked closer to her. "Because everything pointed towards her. And I was so sure that's who it was and I wanted to get rid of it and I'm an idiot."
She nodded. "Yeah…you are." After the battle in her head it was apparent that her feelings for Derek were greater and more powerful than what her mind thought was right. He could sense her mood lighten a little and he stepped forward, gently moving her hair to one side and pressing a kiss to her pulse-point. He looked up into the mirror and saw her eyes had closed and she had a look of pleasure on her face. He moved his hands onto her waist and continued pressing open-mouthed kisses to her neck and shoulder and she thoroughly enjoyed it, biting her lip to supress the moan. "Promise me-" She gasped slightly when he gently nipped at her skin. "Promise me you'll start trusting and listening to me."
"I promise." He whispered in her ear before nipping it lightly and moving back to her neck.
"And promise that you, or anyone from your pack, will not so much as go near Lydia again."
"Promise."
"Good." She said finally, opening her eyes and looking at their reflection in the mirror. She had to admit they looked extremely good together. She sighed. "We would make such pretty babies."
The very thought should have had him running for the hills but it didn't. He wouldn't mind kids in a few years maybe…if Scarlett was the mother. He smiled and looked at their reflection as well. "Maybe one day." Scarlett turned to look at him with the surprise evident on her face. How was it that all the anger she had felt from earlier was completely gone now? She didn't even want to be mad at him now. Actually, she kind of wanted to rip all of his clothes off and bang him but she resisted because not only was Scott probably going to be home soon but she didn't want Derek to think that she would just accept his apology, everything would be fine and they would just fuck to make up. That would make her seem like some sort of pushover that let him get away with anything and that was most definitely not what she was…or what she wanted to be.
"Holy shit." She cried, grabbing her arm as the scratches started hurting like hell. Derek quickly grabbed her hand and started taking the pain away. "What the holy hell is that?" She asked with wide eyes as she saw the black veins going up his arm. As she watched them, she slowly felt the pain fading away.
"That's me taking your pain away." He told her slowly, letting go of her hand again. "Better?" She looked at him and nodded before jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist as his hands automatically went to her ass to hold her up while they started making out wildly. He backed them up so that she was sitting on the edge of the counter and he was between her legs.
"I'm being serious, you know that right?" She panted. He gave her a questioning look.
"Serious about the babies?"
"What? No, I mean- yeah, I'm deadly serious that we would make pretty babies but that's not what…I'm being serious that you have to start trusting me. I can't just keep forgiving you so easily and then screwing you like nothing happened." She said, her mind stopping her from going any further with him until she knew for sure that there relationship wasn't going to be built on just sex.
"Look, I meant what I said. I promise. I'm going to start listening to you. Trust doesn't exactly come easily to me but I trust you, Scarlett. You are the person that I trust the most in this world." He said sincerely. She sighed and kissed him again.
"You better mean that."
"I swear, I do. And I'm gonna make it up to you…just not right now." He told her, giving her an apologetic look. The small smiled dropped from her face and she raised a brow at him.
"What? What do you mean not right now? Where the hell are you-" The look he gave her explained exactly where he was going without him even speaking to her. "You're going after the Kanima." She scoffed slightly, shaking her head and jumping down from the counter to walk back into her room. Derek looked after her with guilty eyes before following her.
"It's gonna kill someone else if I don't stop it." She continued to face away from him and he thought it would probably be best to just leave her without making her angrier. He looked at her again, hearing her heavy breathing, before sliding the window open. When she heard that she turned to look at him.
"Derek-" He turned to face her again just in time to meet her lips with his own. She placed her hands on the sides of his face as he placed his around her waist, pulling her close. After a few more seconds of the passionate kissing, Scarlett pulled back looking at him with gentle eyes. "When you're done being an idiot…come back here. Come back and let me know that you're still breathing because if you don't then I'll go insane."
"Nothing is going to happen to me-"
"Derek. That thing is stronger and faster and it can freaking paralyze people with its claws and just, please, please be careful because I can't lose you…" Her voice broke as the tears welled up in her eyes. "Promise me you'll come back."
"I promise I'll be back. I'll come back to you, Scar, whatever it takes." He promised, stroking her face. She leaned into his touch, never wanting him to let go…but he did and then he was gone. Leaving her standing there, looking out the window and feeling numb. Until he was back to her, unharmed, she would feel numb because without knowing Derek was safe she wasn't capable of caring or thinking about anything else.