Weregrrrl13 You are definitely onto something ;)

bugmama90 Hope the wait was not too long, I update as fast as I get the chapters beta-read.

BTW, thanks to raktajinos for beta-reading this chapter for me, as well as emeraldawn and calrissian18 for their continued encouragement.

When Lydia woke up, she was lying on a bed. It was still dark or dark again, she could not tell which it was, as she had no idea how long she had been unconscious. The light was turned off but she saw that faint city lights outside the windows. Maybe they were back in Beacon Hills, even though not in her room. At any rate, any joy about being back in civilization was overshadowed by being in pain. When she moved, a sharp jolt seem to run from her butt through her spine.

She winced and decided to remain still for a while longer. Lydia had never felt so sore but most of all she was worried about injuries. Peter might have drugged her but it had not been the type of drugs that spared her the memories of what had happened. A shiver ran down her spine, when some details flashed back to her. Lydia drew the blanket around her a bit closer.

Then she realised that she was back in her dress although her underwear was missing. Did that mean that Peter had dressed her or had someone else done it? She doubted anyone had come after her but soon her question was answered as she felt hand stroking over her the side of her face.

"I can tell you are awake," Peter informed her.

Lydia did not want to say anything. She felt her throat tighten and her eyes tearing up. A small sob escaped her as she felt him lying down beside her. Crawling under her cover. She felt the rough fabric of the jeans he wore brushing against her leg. That was hardly making the closeness less worse.

"You always come through for me," he said and wrapped his arm around her. "I wish there had been a less harmful way to accomplish what we did."

His hand stroked over her belly before he slowly undid a button from her dress and slipped it inside.

"I know it must hurt."

Closing her eyes, she felt a few tears running down her cheeks which were then swept away by warm fingers.

"Don't worry, I am going to take of you."

Unable to move, being too terrified, Lydia did not move her head away from the kiss he placed on her cheek. As his lips touched her skin, she also felt a warm wave going through her body. Right from where his hand was on her stomach. Then the pain she had felt was not all that bad anymore and few moments later, all that was left was a bit of soreness.

"See that was not so bad, was it?"

Shaking her head, not even sure if she wanted it to mean "No, you are wrong" or "Yes, it was not that bad". All she knew was that she was not getting away from him, unless he let her go or by some random chance someone dropped in. The latter seemed rather unlikely occurrence. Especially, since she was not even sure where they were. It definitely was not a run down place, from what she could see in the semi-dark and by the feel of the bed, this was pretty high standard.

"What am I still doing here? Where is here?"

Even though her voice was a bit shaky, she was proud that she managed to say something at all. Peter was still caressing her stomach, his face was so close to her neck that she felt his breath on it.

"We are back in back in Beacon Hills and here is my apartment. - As I said, I am taking care of you. In fact, I have drawn a hot bath for you." He stopped, then added almost as an afterthought: "And Happy Birthday."

Lydia swallowed hard. "What time is it?"

"Oh, still a couple of hours left," he sighed. "I am afraid, I must confess I sent a few messages from your phone to your friends, telling them that you went away with your parents, who did not want a repeat of that disaster during your last party."

"So absolutely no one is missing me."

"Yes," he said and she could almost hear him smile. "Don't worry, I have you home before nine."

Lydia turned her head a bit. "Really?"

"Of course," he brushed a strain of her hair out of her face. "You don't still think I am going to kill you. - Because that is the last thing on my mind. Not just because you are so helpful."

His hand moved further up her body and when she felt he might actually reach for her breast, Lydia somehow managed to move her arm. Putting her hand on top of his, the dress fabric separating them, she stopped it. At least he took it as a signal to stop. Not that he had shown the same restrain a few hours before. Looking back Lydia was well aware that whatever happened, had not been an exorcism for Derek. She had felt something taking her over but that might have been the drug. While she doubted it had even been Derek, Lydia knew she had to find out more. If she wanted to make sense of what had happened.

"How is Derek?" she simply said causing Peter to laugh for a moment.

"He is fine, somehow he did not feel compelled to stick around. I am sure, in time he will thank you properly."

She did want to point out that Derek might have the dignity to be too embarrassed to face her after what had happened, unlike a certain someone who could not get his grabby paws of her. Only she knew that it could not have been Derek. He would be insanely angry with Peter for doing what he had done. Lydia said nothing, not wanting to hear what Peter would say to it. Not wanting Peter to hear her react to his comments.

There was also this feeling around him, that always made her reluctant to say anything in the first place. Like even when she had not know it was him, she had felt sort of threatened by him appearing in her backyard. Maybe her instincts had been right, that she really needed to call someone for help - even if the police were utterly useless. Especially in this situation, it was hard to ignore that she did not just feel threatened - but also aroused by him. Maybe that has been part of the reason she had always felt threatened.

Fantasizing and going after pretty boys had always been her thing, but she had always been in charge. If she wanted to, she could push those thoughts aside and go on with whatever else she wanted to. With him that was different. It was kind of difficult to breathe or stop her reacting to his presence.

The absolute worst part of it of course being the fact that he had to know. Lying that close to her, he must sense pretty well how she was reacting to his touch. Obviously, he should also be aware of how tense she was but so far that had never stopped him. The last thing she did want to get into was a discussion about what she wanted more, him close to her or him getting the hell away from her.

Even without saying anything, Peter slipped out of the bed, giving her some room. After a moment, Lydia turned and looked at him. Her cheeks were still smeared with tears and make-up. Even the waterproof stuff could only stand that much. She did not care, Lydia wanted to know if she could bear looking at him without falling apart, like she had done so often in her dreams.

Much to her surprise he was not looking at her. Peter actually avoided her gaze almost like when she had met him again back at Derek's place. He leaned to the night stand and slowly dialled up the light on the lamp there. When he turned back to her, he handed her cloth tissue. Lydia sniffed and then cleared away the tears along with the black and skin coloured smudges under them. She blew her nose.

"Now, what?"

"Now, you take a hot bath."

Obviously, he was not interested in making any snide remarks about her appearance. She was not really surprised, apart from calling her a narcissist, Peter had never said anything bad about her. With some hesitation, she threw back the cover and swung her legs over the edge. A sudden move that sent a noticeable pang through her lower body.

"Uh", she protested.

"You know, I could carry you."

Lydia suppressed a moan as she sat on the corner of the bed. The pain was not that bad but she had yet to stand up from the low bed and walk to where ever the bathroom was. She could do it, it might be uncomfortable but she was sure she could make it there. After all she had survived the gashes in her side. But Lydia was not really that keen on proving how tough she could be. She did not want to risk that it was actually so bad that Peter would watch her wince with ever step.

"You should - you know."

Her voice sounded somewhat stronger and more accusing. It might come from the fact that despite his earlier intrusive behaviour that when being faced with her, he actually seemed remorseful. Then he leaned down to pick her up: his lips coming unnecessarily close to hers. 'So much for remorse', she thought as she almost automatically wrapped one arm around his neck.

"Where is my underwear?"

While she was at it, she might as well ask the important question. Even though other things were probably more important than her underwear. What she really wanted to know, was something she could not bring herself to ask. Like if he actually thought taking away a bit of her pain and giving her a hot bath would excuse what he had done.

Lydia did not want to think about that at all. Not about what kind of magic he had actually used her for this time, certainly not the fact that he had drugged and essentially raped her. Even worse, the shape he had used to do it. That thought made her skin crawl even more in light of how thinking about everything that had happened up to that point still caused her to feel aroused.

It was better not to think about that at all, she had wasted enough time in Ms Morrell's office. She did not want anymore counselling sessions. Nobody to tell her that she was messed up. Apart from the nightmares, she had gotten through everything remarkably well on her own.

When Peter opened the door to the bedroom and carried her into the room behind it, she saw that the place was not exactly small. The only reason it had seemed that way is because it had been a guest bedroom. The second probably leading to a bath without a tub. It was a nice place, the living room was big. Not as big as the one at Derek's place if one could call that a living room. There was an area with couches and a TV, an open kitchen with a bar and a corner with small dinner table. In the middle there was open space and, she saw five more doors. The light was dim and she could not make out many details but it all seemed quite elegant.

When they reached a door, she saw the faint light coming from the keyhole. As this seemed to be the intended goal, she opened the door and immediately felt the slight steam rising from the room. It was a surprisingly nice looking bath. Another door lead to what she assumed to be the actual bedroom.

Some part of her began wondering how he was able to afford all that, considering the house fire, coma and death thing. Lydia certainly wasn't going to give him the satisfaction about saying something nice about the place. She was anyway wondering why he had brought her here. If he drove her home, she could find her way back here and that should concern him.

He walked her over to rather large tub, which easily was able to fit two people. The ceramic was a pleasant sky blue tone instead of a blinding white, so often used. The shower was spacey as well, from what she could see behind the frosted panels. The tiles were the really impressive part though. They fit the colour scheme but some of them had a very subtle wave scheme on them. It all came together over the wall on the tub, where several rows and columns of tiles formed the image of a woman whose dress and the waves seemed to become one.

"The apartment belonged to a good friend of mine, technically it is still hers."

Lydia looked at him, upset as it felt he read her mind again. Even though, she had been gaping at the motive, which might have invited her thinking about how the hell he had something like that in his bathroom.

"Well, she has better taste in interior design then friends."

He pouted a little, before replying. "I wish I could argue with that."

"What happened to her?"

It was almost as if she knew that something had happened to her. Like she could tell from the tone of his voice. Instead of an answer he let her down on the blue rug, steadying her for a moment until she stood on her own. He looked at her as if was waiting for something. Which was of course for her to get into the tub. Just out of nowhere Lydia found herself slapping him.

The smack sounded a lot louder in the tiled room, than she had anticipated and part of her wondered how he would react.

"I guess, I deserved that."

"Yes, you did."

With that she felt like slapping him again, then maybe some more. Only as she lunged, he caught her arm. A firm grip on her waist, he pulled her closer.

"Don't start something, you don't want to see through."

"If you think, I am going to undress, with you in here ...", she broke off.

Peter looked at her challenging and she put her hands on her wrists and stared back. She was not sure what she was trying to accomplish. After all, if he wanted to he could easily tear off her dress: no werewolf powers were necessary for that trick. Somehow she doubted that he let her win in a power play. It was almost like she was daring him, too.

"I have seen you naked before." Peter sighed: "Oh well, compromise, I turn around - if you slip, I can still catch you."

Then he actually did turn crossing his arms and waiting, probably listening as well. Lydia was surprised, this was not something she had expected. Was it truly a compromise or would he turn at the right moment?

"Why would I slip?"

"I drugged you, I might have injured you - making the exercise quite possibly rather unpleasant ..." Peter remarked.

"Now, you are all concerned? Or are just acting concerned, so that I won't tell my boyfriend that you ..."

Lydia stopped, still unable to call what happened by its proper name. "Well, sort of boyfriend - at any rate - we both now who'd win in that fight."

Peter scoffed amused. As if that thought did not bother him at all, but he kept his back turned to her. "Yes, I know who would win that fight. But that's not the reason, I am concerned, Lydia."

"Forgive me, if I don't believe that."

He nodded. "Of course, I do - if you get in the tub. It will help."

There was something about the way, he said it. That made it almost impossible to keep her anger up. Looking at the hot water, she had begun unbuttoning her dress. He was sort of right, the hot water could not hurt. With no peeking, she actually made her way into the tub. The hot water actually felt wonderful. Using her legs and getting into it, was not even that painful. Must have something to do with what Peter had done earlier to her.

"I'll will get you some towels and something to wear."

With those words Peter left her alone to soak in peace. Lydia looked around the room, realising that suddenly there was really nothing left to distract her from what had happened to her last night. Somehow going back to it, was not making her feel as she should. Looking at the dress that Peter had so slowly unbuttoned, did not make her feel violated - it made nipples stiffen, even in the pleasantly hot water. It made her feel bad, like there was something wrong with her.

At least she still felt positively crept out when she remembered how it all had ended. Something was definitely wrong with her, she kept thinking. Then Peter came back into the bathroom. Carrying two white towels, with a package from Macy's and a long blue dress. Lydia could not help but blush wondering if he was able to see anything given she was in hot water.

"Towels, and something to wear," he said. Then he walked past her and put the towels down before hanging the dress on a hook and then laid the package down on a shelf. "You know, there really is no reason for you to blush."

"Who is blushing?" she snipped back. "It's the hot water."

Kneeling down by her side, he said almost softly. "The way your body re-acts to me. It's not like you have any control over it. I meant what I said, I was hoping you might enjoy it. I know you did - to a point."

"Yeah, that's right," Lydia found herself saying before she realised how that must sound.

That was the dreadful part, Peter would always be able to point out that she had not only been totally into it, that she was still reacting to it, just thinking about it.

"As I said before, you are strong. You pulled through that last ordeal, remarkably well. Much better than I had anticipated. Except of course, for the part, where my bite brought out the banshee in you."

Lydia was glad that he did not make any remarks about her slip of the tongue. He seemed appreciative about her ability to cope with everything that he had put her through. That she had not gone crazy or was a complete mess, was for her to be proud of. It was not some badge of merit Peter had any right to pin on her. But instead of calling him on it, Lydia found herself wondering about something else.

"Brought out? Are you trying to tell me, I would have become a banshee anyway?"

"Actually, no, you may never have found about it. But it had to be there. An Alpha can only turn people into werewolves."

Somehow that made sense. The fact was there were almost no information available on banshees that seemed to fit her. Even though she was rather suspicious about whatever might have actually happened last night, apart from the obvious, Peter definitely knew something.

"How come you know about banshees?"

"I could tell you that, if ..."

His hand touched her hair and stroked it down to her neck where his fingers moved through it until she felt his finger tips on her skin.

".. if what?"

"I can wash your hair?" Peter's voice sounded alarmingly innocent.

Lydia looked at him. "What? Are you serious?"

"Absolutely, you got such beautiful hair."

"Whatever,"she sighed.

If there was one thing she liked it was compliments. Not that she should care about what Peter thought about her. This and curiosity got her to focus on the fact that it was just hair washing. So she just dove under the hot water. Letting her hair soak, washing away the tears and her smeared make-up. When she could not hold her breath any longer, she rose back up.

"You look even prettier without make-up, did I ever tell you that?"

"No, I don't recall that."

Peter did not waste much time, he had already reached for the shampoo and poured some of it into his hand. Then she heard how he spread the substance between his palms. She had a coiffeur do this a hundred times and yet now it felt strange. His fingers moved with a firm touch massaging the shampoo into her hair. But he did it slower, in a way that was more sensual than anything else.

Letting out a sigh, she remembered that they had a bargain. "So, how do you know about banshees?"

"It's a bit of a longer story, but to start it off - you know about Deaton and what he does for Scott and Derek?"

"Yeah, he is sort an adviser for alphas and a druid, the non-murderous kind."

"Yes, that is true," Peter continued. "Druids know an awful lot that they dislike sharing, out of fear that someone misuses that knowledge."

"Someone like you?"

Lydia asked, immediately thinking about that little moonlight ritual or Peter somehow knowing that she was immune. Somehow she was not sure if spooking around in her mind was something werewolves just knew how to do. Her hair was now mostly on top of her head, his fingers moving easily through all of it as the shampoo made it slippery.

"Yes, but the druids are not the only ones, who like to guard their secrets ... there are also witches," saying this he was so close that Lydia felt his breath on her bare neck.

"Of course, there are - is there anything that does not exist?"

A revelation that somehow seemed only logical. Werewolves, druids and darachs, kaminas and banshees - if those existed why not witches, vampires or ghosts? Lydia was too relaxed thanks to fingers running over her head to muster any sort of anxiety about this.

"Luckily a few things have not been seen around for a few centuries. However, most things exist, just different from what is shown in printed books. Like the banshees," he said reaching for the shower head. "There was this young witch, she and her family lived here."

He paused and began rinsing out her hair. Lydia just closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation. Wondering what happened between Peter and this girl. If she had to take a guess, she would say it probably did not end very well. At least not for the witch.

"Derek was still so little then, my sister had become pack leader and I knew witches and werewolves do not mingle. So, despite the unspoken rule, I sought her out. Jenna, that's her name, was a rebellious little witch. Told me things I was not supposed to know about, like her families' arcana."

He stopped as he turned off the water, hanging up the shower head.

"Arcana, is that like a spell book?" Lydia said curious.

"Not quite, it's a family history, a book that is filled with whatever contact that family had with beings that are magical like them. Witches, even more so than the Argents, are matriarchal, it's only meant for the eyes of the next leader of the clan."

Putting a comb on the edge of the tub, she saw that Peter reached for conditioner. Despite the feeling that she had spent too much time in the water, Lydia wanted him to go on.

"But you talked her into showing it to you?"

"As I said, she was rebellious, I barely mentioned it - but she brought it up again and again, until I finally agreed, despite knowing it was dangerous. Getting caught would have been really bad for both of us."

"So, that book, then you saw it ..." Lydia broke off.

As she felt comb gently running through her hair thus distributing the conditioner she sighed softly.

Peter continued: "Yes, I've gotten a really good, long look and in that book it spoke about a banshee, that the clan had encountered in the 1850s - there were pages upon pages, detailing what the banshee had been doing, what her weaknesses are, her strength and ..."

Lydia felt the comb in her hair slowing down as he hesitated. "How the banshee was killed?"

Taking in a sharp breath, he confirmed her assumption. "Yes, it was not pretty story.- Let's just say, the less people know what you are, Lydia, the better for you."

Despite the water still being warm, she felt a chill on her neck. While she had her doubts about what he told her being the full truth, the way he said it, sounded like he was warning her. It felt like more than advice. There was something about her being a banshee he had not yet told her.

"Not that you need to worry, you have your friends, who will protect you - and you have me. While you might not have noticed any physical increase in power, let me assure you, once allow me to assist you in reaching your full potential, you will be incredibly powerful. You have a very strong mind ..."

"... look, I am not on a power trip. I just want to know how to get rid of these nightmares that make me get up and drive around town to the nearest torn up body. At least I want to know how to get to them in time to save them. I've found enough dead bodies ... I am so done with that."

Peter whispered to her, just shushing her, as he continued to comb conditioner into her hair. It worked, she was calming down a bit. Considering most of the time spend with him, she was either scared out of her mind or terrified of some hideous vision, this was actually a nice change. Being able to find a path back to being calm and relaxed was not that easy for her.

"We certainly will be able to reach that point. If you are patient enough."

"So what happened to Jenna?"

"Her mother and my older sister decided that we were not allowed to see each other anymore. They moved - to Salem, if you can believe it."

"You never saw each other again afterwards?"

Lydia asked, not even sure why she wanted to know that particular piece of information. Peter was obviously not giving her the whole story but it could hardly be as simple as, her showing him the book and the whole thing ending because of custodial interference.

"No, we never saw each other again," he said with solemn voice.

"So, it's not her you got this place from?"

"That would be her sister."

"You also slept with her sister?" Lydia said.

"Actually, I slept with neither of them ...," Peter complained with an almost offended undertone. "Jenna and I were just good friends and Ines, well, she is fond of everyone who accepts her sister."

"Oh, and why would the witches and your sister have a problem with that? If they did not knew about you sneaking a peek at their special book?"

Putting the comb away, Peter used his hands to straighten her hair, leaving her shoulders bare. She was not really surprised when his hands touched them.

"That's because, a lot of witches are snobs, they look down on every other supernatural being. They especially did not like me around them. But that is a story for another time."

Lydia leaned back looking up at him: "Like that needs an explanation."

He leaned so close down that it seemed like he was going to kiss her, but when she sunk down to avoid his lips, he stopped. Instead, he got up sounding somewhat disappointed. "I'll have to make a call, when I get back I rinse out the conditioner - unless ..."

"I do it myself," Lydia replied. "You know, I am kind of hungry - for food."

"Don't worry, I have that covered. How are you feeling?"

Now, that he mentioned it, she realised that physically she felt really good. There was not even the hint of pain or soreness anymore. That seemed rather suspicious to her.

"Good, really good actually. You did not drug me again, did you?"

He laughed. "Feel the need to strip me out of my clothes?"

"No," she said sharply.

Shrugging he replied: "Then I guess, I did not. What I did do, is put something in the water that sped up the healing process."

"Something like a potion?"

"Something like that," he nodded.

After that he turned and left her alone once more. Leaving her to wonder why he was so overly considerate. It was a nice thought that he might actually feel bad about what he had done but there was something fishy about his whole behaviour. The last time he had not bothered with her either, although he had not been exactly in the best of shapes then. Then it dawned on her, that if this did speed up the healing process, then there would be absolutely zero physical evidence of what had happened.

Staring at the door she let out an angry breath. "Of course, why am I surprised about that?"