AN: Wheeew, so like four months, right? :D Five? Truth being told, I knew the beginning, general idea and the almost-end to this story, and I make everything else up as I go. We've passed a milestone now that I thought up probably years ago. Dymn I'm a slow writer and I apologize.
Moral of my author story: I tried my best and it probably still wasn't that great. I'm going to hell probably, but I love my readers! (Even the ones who mysteriously follow/favorite but DON'T review D: lol) See you at the bottom!
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"Dammit, stop!"
"Please, let's think about this!"
"I just wanted to talk to him!" Tyson growled and threw his hands up finally as he gave in to the restraining arms of Cody, who had long since knocked his dart gun away, and the hard look that Senna was giving him.
Never one for unneeded violence, Senna took a deep breath and put her hands up to hold her head. None of it was making sense, the night was going so well...
"Why would you do that, you jackass? Parlaying darts?! On Ethan?!"
"What the hell else was I supposed to do?! That look he was giving was one of a beast ready to attack! If I'd have actually landed a dart, he would still be here!"
"Paralyzed, you bastard!"
"It would have felt like falling asleep! I wasn't going to hurt him!"
Benny, who had been standing frozen just at the corner of Evelyn's backyard herb garden, looked back at the trio. It was the first time he'd moved from his dazed position since bending low to examine the kicked up soil and claw marks where Ethan had surely run through the garden only minutes earlier.
"Enough!" Senna yelled, silencing both of the men as she kicked the dart gun further away, knowing that it was probably empty now, but knowing these two, she wouldn't put it past them to wrestle over it just to beat each other with it like a stick. "Both of you, this is not going to help! Tyson, I'm sorry, but I'm sure we're all in agreement that there are to be no more weapons used tonight. Go inside and pack it up."
"What?" Tyson's eyes widened, even as he was pushed out of the way by Cody as the raven-haired man stormed off into the house. After stumbling a step, Tyson reached to retrieve his gun and ammo. "Senna, I understand Cody's response to all of this, but-"
"Soilse urghabháil."
Tyson was halted in place suddenly and then abruptly let go as the glowing green lights missed its target by barely an inch, not enough for the magic to take hold.
"Dolor fulgu-" Benny stopped the incantation on his tongue and scowled menacingly at the hunter. He seemed to take a breath in to steady himself as the light that was beginning to turn blue in his hand faded and wisped into the faint dusk light around him.
"Benny! Wait! We can talk-"
"Soilse urghabháil!"
The blazing green lights didn't miss a second time, and made solid contact with Tyson, knocking him to the ground, unmoving.
"Benny!" Senna cried, looking back and forth between the two males, one on the ground, and several yards over, to the other, who stood with a tense arm outstretched and an even more tense posture. "What did you do to him? I know what he did was inexcusable, but magic-"
"He'll be fine." Benny's cold voice and colder eyes made the blonde woman visibly flinch. "But he's not welcome in my house anymore. I want him away from here."
"Benny-"
"He attacked Ethan!" Benny snarled. "He was hurt, not insane! Ethan wouldn't have hurt any of us!"
"I..." Senna wanted to argue more, but arguing with a confused, very angry and very defensive teenage sorcerer outside of his own home didn't strike her as a great idea. Especially after one of her idiot friends had just opened fire against his - very hurt! Evidently. - best friend.
"I understand." Senna sighed inwardly. "I'll leave with him once he...um, unfreezes?"
"Be sure you do." Benny sounded slightly less hostile now that his grandmother had come to out her hand on his arm. Both of the Weir's were now moving towards their front porch, where Cody was walking down the steps. With an armful of weaponry and other practical belongings, he stormed over and unceremoniously dumped them to the ground next to Tyson's paralyzed form.
"That's everything." Cody glared.
"I'd appreciate it if you would please escort Tyson away from our residence once he awakens." Evelyn said once she ushered her grandson into the house. "I'm afraid Benny isn't going to be very forgiving, and..." She paused and said her next words with a bit of regret. "I've given you all no small amount of trust in the past months, and I dare say, this little event tonight has made me reconsider a bit. At least, where he is concerned."
The hunter on the grass made no move except for his arms to relax ever so slightly from their
"Oh Evelyn, I never meant for any of this to happen!" Senna plead silently with her eyes. "I swear, he had good intentions, he's just impulsive-"
"Don't defend his case, Sen." Cody cut her off, surprisingly looking more tired than angry. He glanced at the house with the look of a man who'd just seen his hopes fall apart right in front of him. The anger from moments ago hid just beyond the onyx tones of his irises. "I'd say it's a lost cause."
"Tell Benny.." Senna was at a loss for words and simply sighed. "We'll talk later. I'm so sorry."
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'I should go back' Ethan thought frantically as he breathe deeply and grasped at his injured hand, not sure what to do in this situation. 'I should really go back.'
"Benny..." Ethan murmured and he closed his eyes in discomfort that had nothing to do with the throbbing burn in his palm.
A burn that was still nearly all he could think about.
Damn, he'd lost it back there...but what was that freak Tyson trying to shoot at him anyway? Those poison darts? To think, Ethan had always thought that if nothing else, Tyson was a good guy. Strange, intrusive and trigger-happy, maybe, but he didn't think he's shoot at him. In his pain and anger-induced hazy state of mind, he'd managed to run a good two miles and a half (stuck between transformations) before collapsing and allowing himself to...lick his wounds, so to speak.
How he wished it would stop burning! God, how could he have not felt it coming before he grabbed it?! It was like a white-hot rod of iron scorching his skin. Even as it felt physically cool when he grabbed it, the metal had burnt his skin with a heat that had almost felt malevolent.
"That's gonna leave a nasty scar, no?"
Ethan started, jumping up and growling before he could stop himself. A man with black hair and a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up stood not ten feet away from him, arms held open cautiously.
"Easy there." The dark haired man said, just as a light breeze blew his scent towards Ethan, who's eyes narrowed considerably. vampire...
"I'm not in the mood for a confrontation." Ethan snarled as menacingly as he could manage. Hopefully the vampire couldn't see how inexperienced he was. Then again...what supernatural being in Whitechapel didn't know Ethan Morgan? It seemed as though his enemies knew him better than his friends did these days.
"Right, neither am I." The man stepped forward, dropping his arms and taking on a slightly more casual stance. His voice held just a hint of a French accent. "I'll make this quick, Ethan. The Vampire Council has been made aware of your new...status."
"I have no affiliation with the Council." Ethan gritted his teeth. "The Weir's and I have always tried to keep to ourselves. That hasn't changed."
"Oh, but hasn't it?" The vampire gave a dubious look. "In your case, at least. Our sources have reported your interacting with people less than friendly to our...community. Care to explain?"
"I can't much explain anything when my hand feels like it's just been torched!" Ethan exclaimed suddenly, doubling over, as if he wasn't already sitting on the forest floor. For a moment, the vampire glanced down at the hurt flesh.
"I'm done here anyway." The vampire knelt, pulling a white cloth from his pocket and then handing it to Ethan. "There's a creek not too far from here. Best wash the remaining burnt skin and residual silver away or the wound will be even slower to heal." He paused and gave the younger boy an odd look. "Can't tell you how weird it is to see you so...supernatural. I mean, I know you were a Seer before, but those are some eyes you have...and even that half-transformation back there was impressive for a werewolf your age."
"Is this over?" Ethan snapped, not being able to concentrate on anything much, but wanting to get to the aforementioned creek as soon as possible, if it would help the pain.
"We are." The vampire sighed. "Just watch yourself, Ethan. I'm only the messenger, but...some advice...don't get in with the wrong crowd. The circumstances are bad enough as they are. We at the Council will be keeping tabs."
With that, the vampire in the vibrant red jacket stood and flashed away with little more than a rustle of leaves.
Ethan, for his part, groaned and struggled to his feet before trudging away. He'd never had a serious injury before, other than the time he'd fallen out of the Weir's treehouse when he was little and almost broke his ankle. The burn didn't seem like it was just on his hand...it was an odd sensation, like having a fever- it was making his whole body sluggish and fatigued.
Five or so minutes of walking later, the young werewolf-slash-seer finally made if to the creek and submerged his injured hand into the water. There was a sharp stab of pain for a few moments before it began to feel better- and the stinging, unbearable pain dulled until it was only an intense throbbing.
'Damn near perfect.' Ethan sighed and allowed himself to relax a bit to the feeling of soothing cold water. Whatever relief he could find, he would take, and it barely registered to him that he might not be in his right mind - a vampire had been within biting distance not ten minutes ago - before he lost consciousness.
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Silence.
Uncomfortable, delicate silence...and for once, Cody was reluctant to continue breaking it.
"I'm sure he'll be back, Benny." Cody tried to comfort the boy. Obviously distraught, Benny had been sitting in the Weir's laundry room for the last half-hour with the same blank expression.
Benny made no answer.
"Benny..." Cody tried to approach the subject gently. "I think we need to do something...or at the very least talk about this. It's not good to be so upset and not talk about it, and...your worrying your grandmother."
"I'm not upset." Benny spoke finally, and hopped down from the washing machine where he'd been sitting, staring out the back window. "I'm just..."
"..." Cody waited but Benny didn't continue, so eventually the taller man just put a hand on the boy's shoulder and steered him to the kitchen where he'd been heating milk in a small pot. Next to the water lie three clunky cups of the Weir's specially made hot chocolate concoction. Carefully, he began to pour the hot milk and mix the thick paste into the stuff.
"I heard your grandma rustling around in her office." Cody voiced quietly. "Think she's planning another expedition? That's what you did the first time Ethan went missing, isn't it?"
"He didn't go missing this time...and Grandma knows better than that. E's not stupid, or helpless...especially not now." The spellmaster had a slightly glum look about his face now, a minute change from his formerly expressionless face. "He'll come around."
"That's exactly right." Cody nodded firmly, in his head proud of the way Benny was handling it all. "In all the short time I've known you boys, one thing I'm sure of is that your hearts are always in the right place. I know he'll come back. Maybe sooner than you think."
Benny nodded, dispirited. Cody silently cursed that idiot Tyson for once again ruining everything. The very thing he did best.
Resolutely, Cody slid a steaming cup of hot chocolate over the table to where Benny sat. The spellmaster nodded his thanks with the smallest of smiles.
Cody spent a moment in contemplation of what to do or say next. He'd never been good at comforting people. Luckily, he was saved from this decision when he heard Evelyn coming down the steps and made himself scarce upon her arrival.
"Everything happens in it's own time, son." Grandma Weir covered her grandson's hand with her own as she made her way through the kitchen. "You'll see."
"I know, Grandma." It wasn't that he was feeling particularly...talk-y...but he had learned over the years that his grandmother was a force to be reckoned with when ignored.
After a few moments of silence, Benny let go of a long breath and slumped over his hot chocolate. "I guess the one thing I don't understand is why Ethan couldn't just trust me."
"Sometimes it isn't a matter of trust, Benjamin." Grandma reminded him gently. "Consider Ethan's position in this. We don't know the things he's struggled with. If you've guessed the same as I, that Ethan has been in contact with other people with knowledge of the supernatural world, consider this- not all of them may have been friendly."
Benny's only answer was a furrow in his brow. Discreetly, while Grandma gingerly sipped her own hot chocolate, and reached around in the cupboards for whatever it was she was looking for, he glanced to where Ethan's backpack and iPhone lay on the counter across the room. When Grandma turned back, he gave her a small smile (and promised himself that he'd take Ethan's things and make sure Tyson didn't get his grubby hands on them, no matter what).
"Ethan's smart. Smarter than I am, and he...he's my best friend. He has his reasons."
Right?
"That's the right way to think, Benny. I'm sure Ethan's just taking the time to calm down before he comes back. After all, he's got nothing to fear here. He knows that." Grandma sipped at her drink one last time and walked over to his side of the table to give his cheek a pat and a kiss before pushing his mug towards him and heading off to her room with an order to, "Drink. Soemtimes hot chocolate and a little relaxation is the best cute for stress."
For once, Benny wasn't sure he agreed with that sentiment. Grandma must have been worried about him if she was telling him to drink more hot chocolate.
For a moment, Benny sat there and sort of meditated, (as if Benny Weir knew anything other than chaos and mischief in his mind) but for the moment, he was feeling something close to absolute calm. Not the shaky numbness he'd been feeling before as he sat in the laundry room...just calm. Settled.
A few minutes later, he grabbed his chocolate, Ethan's phone and bag and headed upstairs.
Once there, he found himself scowling at the phone, sly suspicion rising and calmness being tainted with tension. It was just Ethan's phone...he trusted Ethan, would trust him with his life...and even after everything that had went down tonight, Benny could conjure no angry feelings for his best friend- only confusion, relief, and worry.
Confusion- because why did Ethan feel that he had to hide all of this from him? Relief because, well, the wolf was out of the bag, rather literally, as he was sure Ethan had to have...well, wolfed out after seeing the bright green his eyes had glowed- and he was pretty sure he seen elongated canines as well. At least now, there would be no more dancing around the subject...if the frequent illness and changes in Ethan's overall person weren't enough of a clue, the burning at the touch of silver was a dead giveaway. Sure, there might have been a lot of creatures that shied away from the stuff, but only werewolves actually burned at its touch. Well, shifters burned as well, just not as violently.
Which was exactly why he was worried!
'Grr...' Benny's thoughts began to stray towards Tyson again and he huffed. Still, he worried about the fact that it had been almost an hour and Ethan had yet to make an appearance or...well, he couldn't exactly call Benny, could he?
The spellmaster eyed the iPhone that rested on his bedside table.
Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a peek? He and Ethan had never been secretive about texts or pics. Not even when Ethan had had a crush on Sarah (and Benny was still not completely sure that Ethan was over it) and texted the girl constantly did Ethan show any real reluctance to let him see their messages. He'd even asked Benny's dating advice from time to time!
(Note to self, watch what you say and do around friends and family members when coaching your same-sex best friend in the art of dating. Or you might find yourself in a very confusing situation when said best friends butch of a dad walked in on said conversation.) Looking Ross Morgan in the face for all of two days had been severely awkward at best.
Steeling his nerves and convincing himself that Ethan in fact would not be angry with him for doing so, he swiped his thumb across the screen and typed in what he knew to be Ethan's recent pass-code. It hadn't been changed. Eyeing the photos app, Benny's brow furrowed and he tapped on it before he could stop himself.
Screenshots of different maps and what seemed to be historical reports and articles, mostly occupied the camera roll. Pictures of his physics and finance notes that he'd sent Benny, along with a couple of random memes. A few pictures of Benny from a couple months back as he tried in vain to cut an apple in elegant, picturesque slices also took up a few columns. Benny smirked at that, flipping through a series of photos in which Ethan was grabbing for the knife in Benny's hand, a scolding look on his face. It must have been one of the rare times Ethan had allowed Rory to steal his phone.
Benny's amused expression dropped slowly into a confused one as he caught sight of a picture from yesterday (how could he have scrolled past it?) which was...huh.
Ethan. With a...blonde girl?
Benny blinked and then squinted. Not Erika, and most definitely not Rory, though they wouldn't have showed up on camera anyway. She was blonde, bright eyed and very pretty. Flawless. Like Erika, maybe even more beautiful. And she was smiling brilliantly, her near-glowing face in close proximity to Ethan's.
Ethan, who was smiling a strange smile he hadn't seen in a while. The last time he'd seen that particular smile was the day after he'd drank the toxic coffee that had turned nearly the whole town to zombies.
Relieved and relaxed, but with stress hiding just behind those mahogany eyes of Ethan's...
Who was this chick? She was seriously hot! Benny huffed. Was this the person Ethan had been driving with the other night?! It had to be! The background of the picture showed a pane of glass reflecting sunlight that had to be from a car, Benny was fairly sure.
His eyes narrowed.
So, E had been hanging out with people, not being completely antisocial...
Part of him was inexplicably bothered by this. Like Grandma said, it was likely that not all those who Ethan had been in close contact with (with ties to the supernatural world) were friendly. Then again, who said she had anything to do with the supernatural? She could have just been a girl...
Benny scowled. He didn't know which option was worse.
E had time to take selfies and hang out with people he didn't even know? Not to sound conceited, but Benny and Ethan had never hung out with someone they didn't both know. It just wasn't something that happened, in all of their years they'd known each other. They'd always been...together.
The gorgeous blonde stared back at him tauntingly with her big, sparkling eyes. Looking closer, she did look a little...ruffled at the same time. Was that a cut just on her temple? Maybe she was one of those supernatural people...
It made Benny feel...
Sad? Replaced?
No way, the sorcerer tried to convince himself. It was just a picture, with no explanation or suggestion that it was anything more than Ethan taking a picture with a girl. It was just Benny's imagination gone wild...
The spellmaster looked up and almost directly into another picture of Ethan's smiling face. A picture taken of the two of them last summer. In fact, there was at least three pictures of Ethan and he in Benny's room alone, and more in the desk drawer, probably, from Ethan's brief phases in which he discovered the art of photography. Even more photos hung throughout the house, and Benny knew a few of his own pictures hung in the Morgan home.
Benny let out a slow breath, and felt a bit of his pent up tension melt away. No matter who that girl was, or what Ethan had going on, Benny would trust him. He was being silly. Like Cody said, Ethan's heart was always in the right place, and Benny knew he would always mean more to him than some tacky blonde he'd just met.
Benny sipped his hot chocolate and blinked as he got a whiff of some kind of spice that he hadn't noticed before. All of a sudden, his bed looked very inviting and the thought of lying down for a while was overwhelmingly charming.
Even as he lied down before shoving Ethan's backpack under his bed and his phone in the drawer of his nightstand, light confusion plagued his consciousness. Funny thing was, that blonde was still on his mind- she and Ethan looked pretty comfortable. And he wasn't sure what bothered him so much about it.
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Ethan awoke slowly to the faint sounds of whispers down the hall.
"-very mysterious."
"I still think we should wait for him to wake up before we head out. He shouldn't be left here alone."
"You worry too much, Ethan's not a baby. He's a werewolf! He can look after himself."
"He was sure looking after himself earlier."
'I can hear you.' Ethan wanted to groan. The voices of Tasha, Jason and Kate were more than recognizable, even through a wooden door, and the space that speedster them. Wherever they were, Ethan knew it wasn't in a hotel room.
And it smelled like dirt, really strongly. As though he were lying in one of grandma's flower beds after a storm.
This time, Ethan did groan as a bolt of pain shot through his hand as he attempted to clench it in his sleepiness. The voices down the hall immediately cut off, and Ethan could hear muffled footsteps walking towards him.
But he didn't hear the creak of a door. In fact, something seemed to slide as the first pair of feet reached his door.
"Ethan." It was Jason's voice. "You're awake."
"About time too." Tasha commented from behind him, and when Ethan cracked open his eyes just a bit to look at them, he seen Katee smiling at him from over Tasha's shoulder.
"Listen, Ethan, your wound has been treated and bandaged." Jason nodded to him with what Ethan guessed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. "It might hurt for a while, but over the next few days it'll gradually disappear."
"Oh...right." Ethan sat up, feeling awful, almost nauseous. All that had went on at the Weir's house...it was all real , not a dream.
"You might feel a little lightheaded or even sick for the next couple of hours." Tasha explained to him and when Ethan looked up, Jason was gone and only the two girls remained. "That's normal for a werewolf who's come to contact with silver, just ask Katee. Anyway, sorry to be in a rush, but we've just made a major breakthrough, and I have to be on my way. Katee'll take care of you."
With a pat to his shoulder, Tasha was off and Katee was string next to him on the bed.
"What's all this about a breakthrough?" Ethan rubbed his forehead with his good hand. "How long was I out?"
"Not sure how long you've been asleep, but you've been here for almost two hours." She smiled brightly at him. "Your healing factor's a little slow, I'm afraid. But that's not a problem, you're in good hands."
"Thanks Katee." Ethan sighed and looked at his hand, now bandaged in clean gauze, and smelling of sweet herbs. "So, silver huh?"
"A real pain in the ass sometimes." The blonde nodded, taking his hand to feel up his wrist with delicate fingers. "Burns werewolves like iron burns faeries. Or like holy water burns vampires. Thing is, silver is a lot more sturdiness to hard metal than water, right? At least water evaporates."
"No kidding." Ethan winced, and shivered when he imagined what his skin probably looked like. Blistered and red and disgusting...
"The important thing is," Katee took a bottle of water from the side of the bed Ethan was lying on. "There was no blood poisoning. That would've posed quite a threat. Lucky for you, the silver didn't pierce your skin, only touched it. By the way, how did this happen?"
The pretty blonde tilted her head and Ethan felt a feeling of warmth overcome him. Still, the humiliation of his loss of control and disappointment in himself was evident in the forefront of his mind.
"Um...I think I'd rather not talk about it." Ethan slumped and something in his expression must have told Katee that this was a touchy subject for him. "It was an accident and I kinda made a fool out of myself."
The other werewolf patted his shoulder sympathetically.
"So...what's this breakthrough everyone's been talking about?" Ethan asked for conversations sake. What he really wanted to do was lie down and wallow for a couple more hours.
"Oh! That." Katee grinned and leaned forward until she was mere inches from his face and whispered, "We found one."
Ethan blinked. They found one? What was...
"Really?!" Ethan asked suddenly, as he straightened up on the bed. "Which one?"
"A dagger." Katee whispered again, and Ethan realized that yeah, maybe they should be as quiet as possible. "It was in an abandoned church not far from here. The defenses were difficult to break through, but finding it was beyond easy. Kind of a miracle, actually. Jason came across it yesterday by accident."
"Wow. We've been searching for so long, I kind of started to think that..." Ethan grimaced.
"I think we've all thought at one point or another that they didn't exist." Katee shrugged and remained talking in whispers. "But we found one, and Tasha thinks she may have come up with a method to help find the others."
"That's...great news." Ethan sighed, and leant back in bed. Katee nodded and smiled down at him, placing a gentle hand on his arm. Ethan smiled back but with a tinge of...what? Loneliness? Kate's hands were suddenly too soft.
When the blonde werewolf left him to be alone with his thoughts for a while, Ethan couldn't help but miss his idiot best friend, worry about him. He wondered what had happened after he'd freaked out and left.
He'd left the kitchen with everyone else in an uproar, that much he knew. After he'd gotten through the window and across the yard with adrenaline rushing through his veins, it had pretty much been agony from that point.
The teen sighed. He needed to straighten this out. More than anything, he wondered how this could have gone so bad when they were just starting to get better. He had actually had Benny there next to him for almost a whole day after keeping him past arms length for so long.
Tomorrow, Ethan swore. Tomorrow, he'd set everything right, no matter what happened.
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AN: Kind of disappointed in this chapter. But, the real action begins after this! And if anyone hadn't noticed, I'm updating a bit more frequently, or, I'm starting to...a little..
A lot's happened since we last talked, bros! I field tripped to Washington DC, graduated high school, turned eighteen, started college, bought a new car, and now I'm on the hunt for a job with my newly-acquired CNA license! In that order! :D Still don't have my drivers license though! Gotta work on that yet, lol (Not to mention, my mom left us in January (left our family, not the earth, to clear that up) and I was kind of forced to become a teen parent to my two younger siblings- I learned to cook, clean and run the house pretty quickly after that!) but yeah...real life kicks you in the ass sometimes, but you've gotta take the good with the bad, right?
A big thanks to everyone who reviews, any comments are appreciated! Especially from a select few who almost ALWAYS review my stories, and I love you guys!...and seriously. Reviews are drugs, O_O and I'm having withdrawls. *shakes weakly as I type* I guess no one reads MBAV anymore, huh? Shame! It was on Disney the other day! (My dad looks at me with that stupid "oh my god, you still like watching these shows" look when I get caught marathoning MBAV) but what does he knwo? lol Anyway, sorry for any mistakes and for the lack of action in this chapter.
Xx
Updated 10.12.16 7:02PM