A/N: And here is the next chapter, for everyone who wondered what Deucalion is up to and how Peter coming by to meet Lydia goes.
Also a reminder: chapter summaries are on my homepage and the link is in my profile. There is also an overview over which character appears in which chapter. Since the updates do take a bit longer, I hope that helps remember the important parts of the story.
Back at her house, Lydia found herself dodging questions about the store and how she had found out about it. It was lucky that she'd discovered it on her own. Given that the werewolves would have spotted it if she was lying about that. It wasn't that she wanted to be dishonest about it, but she'd seen what Aiden could do when he felt provoked and she wanted to protect Yoon from that.
She finished her dinner as soon as possible and picked the cool pack out of the fridge excusing herself to her room. After a mere ten minutes Aiden knocked at her door and then let himself in.
"You know, it's not like I have any special expectations, but you could at least try not ignoring us every chance you get."
On the one hand she did feel pretty bad for how things had gone, given they kept looking out for her as if that was the most natural thing to do. On the other hand she hated the fact that she had to rely on them and that once more it seemed she had to hide how she truly felt just to make them feel better. After spending all that time doing as much for Jackson she was just not willing to put up with it anymore.
"What do you want me to do? Come down and play scrabble? Watch a stupid movie?" Lydia sighed, feeling so tired from having this conversation. "I'm just not in the mood for company. I wish I was, but I just need some time to myself."
Aiden nodded and it was not in agreement. Lydia could tell that he had expected this reply and now he was nodding along with his own pre-made resolution. It was like she was losing him and the worst part about it was that if not for Deucalion showing up, she probably would've had no problem telling him it wasn't going to work out. Turning it around, if not for everything that had happened, he would not bugging her this much and she would not want to push him away.
"In case you feel like company, I'll be downstairs. Ethan's gone out to meet Danny - but he said he'll be back in a couple of hours," he informed her with a bitter tone.
Then he turned and walked out of her room shutting the door loudly. Lydia sprawled out on her bed, closing her eyes determined to not think of anything. Clearing her mind was not easy given that there was so much to think about. Eventually, she gave up and pulled out her cell phone. As bizarre as it was she could only think of person to talk to in amidst this mess.
Her phone in hand, she typed until she was satisfied with the message: "Got the crystal. Yes to having that talk this evening."
Yet, she stared at the text for a while she finally sent it off. It was about the tenth version she had typed into her smart phone. Inviting him to sneak around the twins was making her feel awful but she was also angry that it had to be that way. Melissa was probably right: she shouldn't be alone with Peter. Only none of her friends seemed to be willing to act as a chaperone of sorts, which meant she had to do it this way.
Even though that might lead to further trouble between her and Aiden if her friends found out. Lydia had no doubt that Peter would make sure they did. She only hoped this would not happen right away. Lydia knew she needed more time to figure out what was going on so she could convince her friends that they should listen to Peter if they wanted to stop these killings.
The more the everyone reminded her how shady and untrustworthy Peter was, the more she realised that maybe exactly because of what Peter did he was the one to ask. Whatever he planned to do afterwards, Lydia believed that he did want these very ghastly killings to end. If they could stop them it hardly mattered if Peter didn't do it for the same reason she and her friends had.
There was no reply to her text and so she re-read her entries in her dream diary and the notes she had made about the dream book in them. It also astonished her how many eyes and eye parts she had drawn into the book. If anyone saw those who didn't knew why she drew, they'd certainly think she was a total nutjob. She also put the dream book on her bed and started to re-examine some of the chapters.
Lydia knew it was a mistake to read lying on her bed, when she found herself napping away. She sat up and yawned. It was probably time to get a cold drink from the kitchen and stretch her legs a bit. When she came downstairs she saw the very intriguing sight of Aiden working out. He was doing push-ups with one arm while being utterly shirtless.
When he noticed her, he stopped and gave her a look that was ruining the sheer optical pleasure for Lydia. "I'm getting a drink, any idea what you want to eat? Or is Ethan bringing something when he is coming back?"
"I suppose we could order pizza or something," he said as if he didn't really cared.
Then Aiden turned his back to her and walked up to the stairs, where he jumped up grabbed between the bars of the second floor railing and began doing chin-ups. Lydia did not stop and stare, instead she walked past him to the kitchen. One thing she knew: she was not in the mood for pizza or take-out. So she made herself a smoothie with frozen strawberries, raspberries, bananas, strawberry yoghurt and milk.
Just as she had poured everything in the mixer and was about to switch it on, she heard Aiden groan and fall. Rushing out she saw him lying on the floor, his face was a mask of pain and his hands pressed against his stomach. Lydia felt a sense of panic as she could not see any wounds or even blood. Even though she had no idea what to do she ran to his side. Dropping down onto her knees next to him, Lydia could tell he was still adjusting to pain.
"Aiden, what is it?" Fear swung in her voice as she pulled his head into her lap.
"Ethan," Aiden pressed out and then with some breaks he managed to add. "Someone shot him."
Then slowly he rose, using her shoulder to prop himself up. He staggered a bit but it seemed like either the pain was lessening or Aiden had grown accustomed to it. Lydia realised her own legs were shaking a bit as she rose from the floor. He was avoiding her, deliberately not looking at her, as he walked to his jacket.
Lydia sat down at the edge of the sofa and watched Aiden pulling out his phone. There was no reply as he called Ethan. "I need to find him, but …"
"... no but - go. I'll be fine."
She saw his hesitation, but only for a moment. It was obvious to both of them, that if he took her with him, she'd not only be a liability but that she'd also be slowing him down. Lydia was pretty sure that with Peter coming by chances of something happening to her very pretty slim but Aiden of course did not know about that.
Putting his clothes back on, he told her to call Scott just to be safe and then he hurried off. She heard his bike roaring down the street even after she had closed the door behind him. It was almost strange to be alone in the house again, especially now that Prada was staying with their housekeeper. Aiden was right about one thing, she probably should minimize the time she was alone.
Walking up to her room, she knew she would make a phone call but not to get Scott to come over: she would call Peter so they could have their little chat. She had just climbed the stairs when she heard the doorbell ring. The sound made her uneasy, as it was unexpected and also meant that she had to deal with someone when she clearly was not up to it.
Lydia wondered if Peter had actually taking her seriously on the whole using the front door given that the twins were not there. As she opened the door, it was not Peter's smug smile that greeted her. Deucalion was standing on her doorstep. The grin on his face chilled her to the bone. Instinct alone made her slam the door in a completely useless attempt to close the door on him.
"Not very polite, are we?" Deucalion mocked her with a sardonic tone.
Deep down Lydia knew even a closed door would not stop him but the shock alone made it hard to think straight. When his hand stopped the door and he stepped forward she first took two steps back and then she ran. Lydia could not believe when she actually was able to put some distance between them. She heard him closing the door as she ran down the kitchen and towards the back door. Deucalion was following her but he was taking his time. There was this horrible noise similar to chalk writing on a blackboard at the wrong angle.
Lydia knew she had a decisions to make: run out the back door away from the house or take the second set of stairs to the end of the second floor hallway. In a heartbeat she decided to attempt to get to her room. She could not even rationally explain to herself why she was heading there. As she ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, Lydia told herself that maybe she could at least reach her cell phone.
On the last step, she stumbled and saw Deucalion almost casually walking up the stairs at the bottom. He moved fast but without actually running. The noise she had been hearing were his claws scraping over the railing and the wall. Getting back on her feet she ran past the guest room she had slept in the other two nights. Deucalion was never far behind and when she reached her room, she slipped inside and locked it in one quick move.
Her cell was still in her handbag and by the time she held it in her hand, Deucalion was playing with the doorknob. The clacking noise made her hands shake even worse. All she managed to do was pressing the redial combo on her cell phone. Then it slipped out of her trembling hands as her door was smashed in once more. She turned around slowly not really wanting to see what was coming at her.
The door was splintered and only hanging on by one hinge, the frame was filled by a creepily, calm werewolf. Deucalion looked different than in the cabin; for once his eyes were no longer bright red but an icy glowing blue. His skin tone remained unchanged instead of the ashen black, but with the fangs, the pointy ears and the excess facial hair, he still looked terrifying. The murderous look in his eyes last night had been enough to scare her, this was tenfold worse. Yet, somehow she managed to open her mouth and speak up.
"If you kill me, you're as good as dead yourself."
It was not so much an attempt to deter him but if Peter picked up, he might hear and if he was close by already, then maybe there was hope left. Lydia was looking around unsure where to go from here; especially since there was nowhere to go, except maybe the bathroom. Deucalion clearly was giving her the chance to make another move. He was like a cat playing with a mouse and Lydia was too aware of that.
Hoping that she could buy enough time, she made that leap and shut herself in the small room with an equally useless door for protection. For a moment nothing happened, then the locked door was opened with a cracking noise as Deucalion pulled it open with an ease as if it had never been locked. He held her cell phone in his hands and smiled viciously from the device to her. Right in front of her he crumbled it and then threw the bent and broken remains at her feet.
"I've no intention of killing you - at least not for now." As he spoke, he closed in on her, making her back up against the wall of the shower. "Last time the two of you had all the fun." He grabbed her neck and pressing her against the cold tiles, he leaned down to her face. "This time, I promise, the pleasure will be all mine."
Lydia found her breathing become faster and more shallow as he made it clear what kind of payback he had in mind. "I wasn't asked either," she replied with her voice sounding utterly hopeless.
"Is that what you keep telling your friends? I'm not new to this, my senses pick up on the smallest signals they couldn't even notice if I pointed it out to them." He leaned closer and his venom filled voice whispered into her ear. "My hearing is particularly sensitive. So don't act as if you aren't lusting for him."
Speechless with terror she knew protesting was useless. If she replied that she was not, Lydia knew she would be lying. Tears streamed down her cheeks, because she couldn't help the fact that despite what happened she felt attracted to Peter. She had no idea how Deucalion had picked up on this. As badly as she searched for words to explain that this did not prove that she was working with him, they wouldn't come to her.
Warm lips pressed against her neck where it was not covered by his hand. He had continually pressed tighter until she was just barely getting enough air to not pass out. Lydia felt the tip of his claws running over her shirt and it was almost like he was testing her. Trying to figure out what terrified her the most.
"Did you have Ethan shot to lure Aiden away?"
It was something that had occurred to her and that now became a tool to distract and delay him by disrupting whatever sick game he was playing with her.
"Oh, is that why Aiden left?" Deucalion's voice was filled with fake pity. "Guess now we know where his priorities lie." There was also this initial surprise that told her he had been waiting for his chance. He clearly was not willing to let her distract him. "That shows clearly that there are only so many favours you can gather lying on your back."
Still holding her up against the wall, his free thumb was suddenly brushing over her lips. As he continued to speak, she felt a claw pulling her lip down. "I'm surprised you haven't made any offers yet. It's not like you haven't already demonstrated where your true talents lie."
There was something absolutely vile about the tone and the gesture but if he was thinking she had any intention of doing so, Deucalion was severely mistaken. As terrified as she was, Lydia turned her head, which caused the claw to leave a bloody cut on it. Once her mouth was free, she looked back at him.
"More like disappointed," Lydia told him bitterly, "we both know that this would never happen in a million years."
Provocation was probably not the most reasonable action but after the past days she had no tolerance left for any of this: not the blatant shaming for daring to enjoy to have sex, for blaming her for that sex ritual in which she had no say in and certainly not for not being traumatised to the nth degree by it. He did not react immediately, just kept staring at her for a moment. Then he used the grip on her throat to slide her down the tiled wall.
"How about in sixty seconds?"
Deucalion sounded very calm and slightly amused. His free hand unbuckled his belt and Lydia realised that she was not in a position to stop him. Still she felt around with her hand and when she touched the knob that turned on the shower, she quickly turned it on. As the water splashed into his face, at least for a moment, he was distracted and let her go.
Lydia had not really expected to get far, being almost on her knees, when she tried to dive past him. The few seconds he needed to recover and turn off the water, just let her pass him a few inches before his hand grabbed her hair and pulled her back.
"I don't know about you, but I think it's a bit too wet and cold in here for my liking."
Dragging her out of the bathroom, she half-stumbled, half-crawled alongside until he finally grabbed her arm and pulled her up only to throw her onto her bed. His jacket and shirt were almost completely soaked at the top as was his hair and face. Despite all this he seemed unphased, calm and collected.
He placed her into the middle and climbed on top of her. Pinning her arms to her side as he straddled her, Deucalion removed his wet jacket. The t-shirt underneath clung to his chest, even without being a werewolf the amount of muscles under the fabric and those well-trained arms would render her defenseless. She really wished she knew how to use her special talents to call for help but that came and went and mostly when she was overcome by a sense of immediate impending doom. Even if she could, that was just another moment. Helpless she watched as he reached to pull off his shirt when he suddenly stopped.
He turned his upper body and looked in direction of her walk-in closet. Then quickly he moved, he was still kneeling on the bed but beside instead of on top of her. As Lydia followed his gaze, she realised she had never been so happy to see Peter.
Both werewolves stared at each other, Deucalion shifted again and she heard his deep, angry breath as his ice-blue eyes pierced into Peter who observed him with an almost serene expression. Somehow Lydia could feel intense wrath radiating from Peter's side of the room. When she looked up at Deucalion she realised that he was still able to kill her with one strike.
"That's close enough."
Pointing his clawed fingers in his direction, Peter took the hint and stopped his approach. Instead he finally spoke. "Far be it from me to judge, but this is low, even for you."
"Just passing the time," Deucalion stated flatly. "You know what I want."
A smile appeared on Peter's face and then it occurred to Lydia that not once since he arrived he had even looked at her. His sole focus was on Deucalion and if he was indeed angry at all, Peter was hiding it very well. The strained sobs were the only noise disrupting the silence, until Peter finally replied.
"You won't get it."
Deucalion's face darkened. "Either you tell me how to reverse the ritual - or I am going to kill her."
"Be my guest."
Shrugging Peter raised his arms and pointed in their general direction. His voice was void of any compassion and when she looked up at Deucalion and saw his eyes turn to slits, she knew he was just mad enough to kill her. Lydia had not really time to process what just had transpired, there was just the shock, maybe a feeling of betrayal but most of all the sense of death coming upon her.
The scream came even before Deucalion had a chance to strike out. His expression turned from cold anger to incredible pain, instead of slashing her throat, his hands instinctively went to protect his ears. Lydia was not sure how long her scream lasted nor did she focus on much while it had come over her.
Once she stopped, Deucalion was crouching on the end of her bed with his gaze turned towards her. Exhausted and scared she found herself staring back into the cold blue eyes. Which suddenly disappeared as she felt his weight being pulled off of her. Still out of it, Lydia looked into the direction her attacker went. Catching a brief glimpse of glowing red eyes, she watched as Peter slammed Deucalion into one of her book shelves. The figurines placed in front of the spines clanged as they fell when the whole shelf trembled under the impact. When Deucalion was pulled off it, the shelves collapsed and everything smashed to the ground.
If she didn't know it had to be Peter, she would not have recognised him. His skin had the same ashen-black tone as Deucalion had back in the cabin, only his face was even more distorted. The mouth was extended with razor sharp teeth, that involuntarily made her clutch her left side.
Both growled at each other, Deucalion tried to fight back but Lydia could see first hand why the twins used to be so afraid of him. Now that Peter had all his power, Deucalion was not standing a chance. Even though he did manage to land a few blows, they barely seemed to phase Peter whose claws left deep gashes. It was hard to follow the fight as the two werewolves moved incredibly fast.
Blood sprayed over the floor and the furniture that was getting wrecked as the two fought each other. It all went down so quickly that she was almost startled when Deucalion leapt at her, but he was stopped and thrown around.
His body smashed vertically through the wall between two windows, smashing both of them and leaving a gap in the wall. The destruction was tremendous despite everything being over quickly. Lydia was not sure whether she was shivering from shock or the cold air that seeped into her room.
Peter stepped forward to the broken window front and looked down. For a moment she felt that he was going to go after Deucalion and then finally he looked at her. His face shifted back and the skin revered back to his normal tone. With one final look down on the grass where she supposed Deucalion still had to be, he said in a calm and yet extremely threatening tone: "If you come near her again, if you even dare to threaten her again, I will put you out of your misery."
A few moments passed and then he stepped away from the windows towards the bed. Lydia felt herself backing up, she only stopped when she saw Peter briefly hesitating in his approach. When he sat down beside her, her heart beat frantically inside her chest. A sense of dread was still over her but she also realised that Peter was not here to hurt her, it was quite the opposite.
"You're safe now," he said reassuringly and held out his hand.
With some reluctance Lydia reached out; she was not even sure if it was just her or Peter pulling her closer but it ended with her leaning against his chest his arms firmly wrapped around her. Nothing was said and slowly she began calming down. Peter kept stroking over her arm and back which actually did help with the process. As her breathing went back to normal and her heart finally stopped pounding Peter pulled her back. He looked at her neck and given how much it still hurt, she did not want to know how bad it was. There was also the small cut on her lips that caught his attention and Lydia was not sure what to make of his reaction. She was convinced he was still angry but that was not written in his face, it was more a feeling. The way he touched her cheek and hesitated to touch even the unblemished part of her lips made it seem as if he actually cared.
"Why act so concerned now?"
Given his past behaviour and the way he acted before, no matter how strategic it might have been, this was gentle approach was making her angry. It might be touching if it was actually real but she knew him too well to believe he actually cared all that much. Especially since he was partially responsible.
"Ever considered that maybe I was acting before? You know why I said what I said back there, don't you?"
Of course, she knew what he had been playing at. Not right away, then again if she had it might not have worked. It was only when she truly believed her life was in danger that she seemed to be able to scream in a way that forced the werewolves to keel over in pain. Peter had certainly counted on it. Yet, hearing his cold words apparently dooming her was not something she could forgot. Especially not the way it had made her feel.
"Yes - but if not for you, he would never have come after me in the first place." Lydia knew she couldn't let him dictate the tone of this conversation, she needed to stay upset at him: alone for the fact that she was too willing to listen what he had to say.
"I know," he said with a guilty face, "I just made the wrong assumption that the twins would be looking after you … mind telling me you what was so important that they left you?"
"Ethan was shot," she said worried. "Aiden went to find him. How could I ask him to stay under the circumstances," Lydia tried to explain and realised that she had grown tired of the constant need for protection. She had wanted to have a moment truly to herself and with Peter coming by anyway it hadn't seemed so dangerous. Of course she had not counted on Deucalion sneaking around her place just waiting for an opportunity. "Knowing you …" her voice trailed off.
"Luckily, I was already on my way," he did sound angry for a moment. Then taking a deep breath he let his arms slide down. "Okay, pack a few of your things."
"What?" Lydia asked looking up.
"You're coming with me," he stated firmly. "At least with me you can be sure, I'll make your safety my top priority."
It was weird, because his statement made her feel angry and at the same time Lydia also liked the idea. There was dispute that he sort of had put her in the middle of this mess, which she figured made her angry about it. That was not it. Disentangling herself from the embrace she threw back her hair to have it out of her face.
"I doubt that anyone besides yourself will ever be your top priority."
He tried giving her a hurt look but ultimately ended up smiling too hard. "Even so, it's not like I'm going to run out on you to watch out for myself." Peter touched her cheek making her look at him as he continued. "Do you honestly feel better about staying with the twins, after this? Maybe with Scott?"
It seemed there was more to say but something distracted him. "Either way it is not up for debate. You can pack or I can carry you off right now."
"Fine," Lydia knew when arguing was useless. "I'll pack."
"Don't take too much time, we are going to have guests."
"Who? The police?"
A nod was all the answer she got, before he stepped past the unhinged door to look down the corridor. She had only her small travelling bag in her closet but that was probably enough for now. Without much hesitation she packed the bare necessities: underwear, socks, a few shirts, a dress, a nightgown and a pair of jeans.
When she stepped into the bathroom a chilly feeling overcame her. In the mirror she saw her neck looked relatively normal, only the cut on her lip stood out. Looking away, she saw that her broken cell on the floor. Another reminder of what almost happened. She wanted to get out of that room, if she never had to go inside again, that could not be soon enough. Quickly she gathered her toiletries and stormed out again. As she put the bag down on her bed, Lydia noticed that Peter was gone and when she turned she saw the blinking police light from the car parked in front of the house.
With little time to lose, she grabbed the notebook from her nightstand, the dream book and just to be on the safe side, this and next month's pill case She really hoped it would not take weeks for things to go back to normal. Since she did not trust Peter nor herself around him, that made total sense to her. There was still a bit of space and she decided to add another pair of shoes, wishing she could take more along.
Zipping up the bag, she heard shouting from downstairs. If she wasn't entirely mistaken it was the sheriff ordering Peter to lie down. Which she could tell was a horrible idea and with the bag in hand she shouldered her handbag with the crystal inside and made her way towards the voices.
Before she even got to the corridor a shot was fired and someone was clearly thrown against something. As she looked down over the railing of the staircase, she saw that Peter had taken the sheriff's gun away. Stiles's father was lying beside the toppled over couch.
"A word of advice: Focus your energy on catching the actual bad guys," he walked over to him and bend down to whisper something to him.
Lydia could not understand what he was saying and by the time she had reached the last step, Peter was already standing up and approached her.
"What did you do to him?" Feeling kind of silly for saying that when it seemed so obvious but she was lacking the right words to voice her disapproval.
With a shrug he calmly replied. "Told him not to interfere, he wouldn't listen."
The sheriff slowly got up again using the toppled couch to help him on his feet. "Leave the girl alone - haven't you harmed her enough?"
Peter smiled amused as he turned back into his direction. The sheriff was only trying to protect her as well, he was just not realising what had happened here. Hoping to defuse the situation she took a hold of Peter's left arm. "Sheriff, it wasn't him. Deucalion attacked me." After a moment she added. "Peter actually saved me."
"I keep telling everyone that I'm not the bad guy," he said gloating as if that one act negated everything else he had done so far. Using the chance he leaned over and took her over-night bag. "Let's go."
"You're not taking her with you." Stiles's father was not ready to give up yet, despite being unarmed and clearly out of his league.
Feeling the tension and annoyance coming from Peter, she tightened her grip hoping he would give her another chance to convince the Sheriff. "I'll be much safer from Deucalion and whatever else is out there. Besides, someone shot Ethan." Lydia could see that he didn't knew about that. "Now, Aiden is out there - looking for him. If you want to help someone who actually needs it - that'd be my suggestion."
"And if I were you Sheriff, I wouldn't call her parents about this either - they're much safer not being here. I can only keep so many people safe."
It was hard to say if that was a threat. The idea alone what might happen if her parents returned and Deucalion and that other thing were still after her, Peter did not need to throw around threats, they would automatically be in danger. Lydia didn't really want them to find out, she knew they could not handle it. "Please, Sheriff."
"If you lay a hand on her - I will find a way to get you," John Stilinski said full of determination.
As Peter could not leave things alone, he moved his free hand around her waist and took a possessive hold of her. "Keep telling that to yourself."
Even though he stared at Peter grudgingly, there was no further attempt by Stiles's father to stop them. Lydia hoped that by making it clear that she didn't mind going with Peter under the circumstances helped to diffuse the situation. There was no doubt that her friends would probably not react too well to this.
Outside they walked past the police car and Lydia had the distinct feeling that Peter was about to slash the tires. Instead he walked a bit faster and they disappeared down the darkening street and she just hoped that the Sheriff had no intention to call the police force onto them. Somehow she just knew this would be a bad idea.
A/N: Next chapter will be another guest POV chapter: The sheriff will have to tell Stiles and his friends what happened and also goes to find out what happened to Ethan.