Anigen - Derek might or might not, but I fear Cora is going to be around, too (and hopefully getting less pointless)
sharonpijl I - really wanted them to deal with it, it's so ridiculous how many conflicts are never addressed on twhe show.
Weregrrrl13 - Felt it was only natural that learning these things needs time, but I guess Derek beat it into them :P
SecretsofNelle - You're going to love chapter 31 then ;) I feel for Derek to get over that, it needs to get out.
Midnight Chamber - I try to tell a bit more about the new pack here and there ... ;)

A/N: Also many thanks to SecretsofNelle for beta-reading this chapter for me.

Chapter 23 Another Night

Naira and Rubèn dropped them off at the apartment. Instead of through the garage they entered through the front door. The building looked so normal and yet seeing Peter do something as normal as check his mail box was weirding her out a bit. It did not help that it was already dark and she did feel uncomfortable just thinking about her going after that zombie thing again.

When the elevator came down, a couple in their twenties was stepping out, slightly drunk. They looked at them snickered and went towards the main door. "If I really can't get drunk, I consider that a blessing," Lydia said irritated.

There was something about people looking at her and laughing that always gave her pause. Even though it did not make sense as she was just doing fine. On their way to the apartment they heard loud music from another apartment on the floor. It did seem that not everyone was worried about the curfew. Except maybe those two they had just met.

While she would prefer to be at home, Lydia felt glad as she stepped in the apartment. Immediately, she walked over to the couch and removed her boots. Peter had taken off his jacket first, stood there and smiled at her.

"What?" Lydia asked.

"Just glad you're feeling at home," he said and slipped out of his shoes, then walked over to her boots and put both away in a shoe cabinet.

Instead of giving him the satisfaction of being upset about that remark she owned it and slipped out of her jacket, holding it out to him in silent demand for him to hang it up. As Peter complied with that, she stretched her leg over the seating area and leaned onto one of the pillows. That way she occupied the entire couch, blocking the spot that Peter had sat yesterday along with any other possible area.

"It's a really comfortable couch," she finally said.

"Yeah, Ines choose that one well," Peter leaned against the backrest and pulled out his cell phone.

"Is that the witch, who owns the apartment here?" Lydia wondered suddenly curious about it again.

Peter nodded as he sent off a text. "Yes, Ines refused to give it up - even after they were no longer allowed to come here. I was looking for a safe place to stay and this was perfect"

"And this Ines is a witch - as in can cast spells and make potions," Lydia barely stopped herself from asking if Ines flew around on a broomstick.

"At one point there were not only druids and werewolfs in Beacon Hills but also a family of witches. I grew up to become friends with her older sister Jenna, or rather at that time, she was called Samuel and a boy. I was hanging out more with Sam than with my sister's oldest children or anyone else who's last name was Hale - at least until Derek became older:"

His cell interrupted him with a beep, Peter checked the message and said. "Yoon wonders if she should bring take out over? Are you in the mood for something Italian? That's what she's in the mood for."

"Fine, lasagna sounds good," Lydia replied still surprised about what she just heard.

While she was prepared for Peter to put a spin on some of the things he told her, she was still surprised to hear that his best friend while growing up turned out to be a transgender. She wondered what to make about him basically stating that they were much closer than he had been with his family and also probably the pack, which seemed referred to the same group of people.

Lydia waited until Peter was finished texting Yoon, before she asked. "So Ines and S- Jenna - are they still alive?"

"Well, obviously I killed them both," he said somewhat glib.

His amusement and the way he looked down to her, told her that he was kidding. A horrible subject to joke about given that he had put a few people underground.

"I just wondered - why wouldn't they live here?" Lydia said.

"Because, they are forbidden to return here - the high council of witches - yes that is a real thing," Peter said and walked over to the dinner table, "they made Beacon Hills off-limit for witches."
"They must think you're really bad influence."

It was a lot to take in, but she remembered Peter mentioning that his sister and the mother of the other witch, Jenna, had been against them seeing each other.

"Oh, I certainly am," Peter admitted proudly, "but that's not the real reason for what happened. You see, male witches are maybe ten percent of all the witches - they aren't regarded highly."

Peter turned back to her, pacing in an out of her field of vision. Until she decided to lie on her stomach. It was clearly a topic that upset him a lot.

"Male Witches don't hold any positions of power, they are basically what omegas are to werewolves, "Peter continued. "They either suck up to someone or they are on their own. Believe me, when it comes to punishment and revenge, witches can be a very nasty group of people."

There was so much aggression when he spoke about them, that it was obvious that something really bad had happened. Before her assumptions ran away from her again, Lydia decided to ask. "They did something to your friend, didn't they?"

"Separating us was the least of it. Her mother and her friends weren't accepting that Sam wasn't a boy, they saw it as a ruse to gain respect and access to the family's arcana," he stopped and looked at her. "You see, her older sister was not interested in taking up the mantle of clan leader."

"And they wouldn't accept Jenna because she was not a woman in their eyes?" Lydia said suspecting that with all societies that preferred one gender over the other, the dominant one would seek to keep the weaker one in their places at all cost. If society in general had a problem with people who sought to become their true gender, why should witches be any different?

Peter nodded. "Men aren't allowed to become clan leaders, it is not always the oldest daughter but it has to be women." Then he walked around once more, avoiding to look at her whenever he related the more personal details of the story he had begun telling her.

"Jenna did receive a lot of hate once she dared to be herself. At first, I wasn't too supportive either but," he took an agitated breath, "it did make sense. It didn't matter to me in the end. I liked her for being smart, clever and magical. At first I did not even knew that my mother was a witch, we just were two supernatural teens stuck at Beacon Hills high school."

That was something Lydia knew all too well. While she was extremely curious to found out what happened to Jenna, she did listen a bit to what happened when Jenna came out. The way Peter portrayed himself as the super supportive best friend was certainly not something she was ready to believe. In his tale he came around very fast and while she might do him injustice there, she did not believe that part.

But the fact that she lost most of her other friends and was shunned by classmates and most of her family rang true. It was not much better nowadays and she did understood that it might be hard to accept. The way Peter spoke about her, telling her in detail how she secretly began transitioning via hormones with the support of Ines, made Lydia believe that in the end, he had accepted her as whom she was.

During his narration, she became surer that part of the reason he was avoiding to look at her most of the time wasn't to hide him spinning a more favourable version: he was trying to hide how this story affected him. Either that or Peter was the most brilliant actor ever to walk over California's soil.

In all fairness, it was not just himself who was described as being close to perfect: the way Peter described Jenna, she had to be the smartest and funniest person he ever met - himself of course not included. She had a dark sense of humour where others played cruel pranks they enjoyed playing a game where they insulted others without them noticing. Which seemed oddly benign and malicious at the same time.

It helped of course that Peter was pretty much the best player in the school's basketball team and it did create a buffer for Jenna whom nobody dared to cross openly after a while. Lydia thought it wiser not ask what he had done to ensure that. It surprised her a bit when Peter almost out of the blue mentioned a male witch who did take Jenna to the prom. For a moment she expected a Carrie like scenario where the other witch was out to humiliate Jenna but it turned out that the evening went great. They double dated and had a great evening, which made her ultimately think about her own prom and who might take her. Those thoughts did not last long, when she felt that Peter was about ready to tell her what happened to his witch friend.

"Then somehow it came out that my mother was a rather infamous witch, who had been sentenced to something called the eternal death," he shrugged and Lydia had a hard time telling how Peter felt about what happened to his mother. It seemed he barely knew her. While she watched him, he still pacing, continued. "Either way, in the mind of a witch the sins of the mother are handed down to the children and unless you got a couple of other female witches speaking out for you - you were forbidden to interact with other witches."

"Did you even know her?" Lydia asked not sure if it was a good idea to bring up his mother. There was also the fact that she seemed to remember that Peter had initially made it seem that witches were just in general opposed to everything that was supernatural for being pretentious snobs.

Peter shook his head, "I never cared to find out. She dropped me off just days after I was born. I really did not care. Never knew she was a witch until that day either. Wasn't told much either, but I listened to Deaton talking with my sister about this. Learned quite a few things that way."

It seemed that Stiles had been right about Peter knowing so much because he crept around a lot. Lydia had of course experienced it inside her head and then there was that moment when he had shown up when they had to deal with Jackson. Not to forget about the many instances when he had just turned up like a bad penny in her life again and again.

"I imagine," Lydia said a bit disappointed that Jenna's fate was still not explained even though she was gaining more insight in what happened. "So did you two break the rules?"

Which was almost a silly question given that Peter clearly liked to make his own rules.

"Numerous times," he admitted with an almost melancholical smile. "We weren't caught by the witches though, Laura did eventually put an end to us snooping around, by ratting me out to my sister."

Lydia was on two minds about this, it seemed like it was something made up to excuse what he had done by making Laura out to be this mean snitch. Yet, it could be true and would be awful if it had led to his friend getting into trouble.

"Is that supposed to make it okay?" she decided to say.

Peter shook his head. "Actually, Laura probably saved me a lot of trouble. You see Jenna was growing more confident and decided to read in the Grimoire more and more often. Had I been caught with her, I'd probably suffered the same fate as she did - maybe even worse."

That reply was not something Lydia had expected, but she could tell that Peter felt no gratitude towards his niece. There was clearly some animosity but that was something Lydia would find out another day, the question that burned on her mind was: "What did the witches do to her?"

"Jenna was of course trialled as a male witch, they took her eyesight and her speech. So she could never look at a grimoire again or tell anyone about what she had seen," Peter said, closing his eyes. "They imposed heavy restrictions on her - she spends most of her time under house arrest."

"That's horrible," Lydia found it incredibly petty and somewhat unbelievable. "All of this just for looking at a book?"

This whole time she had expected to hear about Jenna doing something awful and for some reason no matter how Peter would put it, Lydia figured he had to be behind it and then it was just about her doing something so harmless.

Peter was back to leaning against the backrest of the couch. With a somewhat serious expression he said: "She challenged the status quo. That was almost worse than looking at a book. Not that this wouldn't have a harsh penalty as well. Ines told me witches have particularly malicious sense of law and order."

Lydia had the feeling there was more to this story but it was hard to tell if Peter was just exaggerating what had happened or had left something out. She got a different impression from what he had told her on her birthday and that indicated he probably had not crafted a story but stuck mostly to the truth as he remembered it.

Then she realised something else. "This apartment, the lack of decorations, the surfaces … this apartment was initially meant for Jenna, wasn't it?"

Peter nodded. "Ines had tried to get her sister away and back here, but they caught them leaving and made it impossible for Jenna to sneak back here."

"That is why the apartment has this enchantment - the other witches wouldn't find her here," Lydia said and let out a sigh. It was heartwarming to think about what Ines tried to do for her sister and disheartening to think of Jenna sitting blind and unable to talk in the unrelenting grasp of a community of witches who shunned her. And just maybe, Peter actually torn up about it, because he could imagine from his own similar experience how awful that must be. He did attempt to hide it but Lydia was sure that he was genuine in caring about his old highschool friend.

A beep from his cell phone broke the weird mood that had come over Lydia. Peter looked at the phone and then said. "Yoon will be here in fifteen minutes," he sighed and stepped away from the couch. "I should set the table."

Lydia rose from her comfortable position but remained seated on the sofa. As she watched Peter, she wondered what he was playing at or if he was. Even bad guys needed to eat and thus handle the dishes before and after dinner. As much as Naira pointed out that Peter's kitchen was badly stocked the place looked clean. Since she doubted Peter let many people in here, he probably looked after the place himself.

That was something she didn't want to think about: the concept of Peter having a normal everyday life was an image that didn't fit with the view she felt she needed to have to be on alert. It was just like on her birthday, Peter had a way of bringing up what happened to him and it was hard not to care. At least for her and he knew that, even though he had not exactly painted it in lively colours she had gotten the idea from his story about Jenna that he never really had it easy. No matter how often she told herself that it did not excuse any of the things he did, it just made him seem more human.

She decided to make herself another tea and suddenly they were involved in talking about groceries and what they needed to buy and what they would order. They still had not finished that discussion when the doorbell rang and Peter buzzed Yoon and opened the apartment door for her a few minutes later.

It did not surprise Lydia the least bit that Yoon was wearing a black leather outfit and apart from the bag with the take-out had a black helmet dangling in her hand. She greeted Lydia and told her how impressed she was with her progress. Then Yoon added: "The next part will be more difficult but I'm more confident that you'll figure it out successfully as well."

"Can't happen fast enough," Lydia replied with a bitter tone.

Peter managed to look as if the comment was not a slight against him and instead agreed with her. "While we shouldn't rush you, it would be best to take our zombie fiend out before he can gather more power. Especially since he does that by killing people."

The last sentence was clearly an afterthought. However, it was a good point. Lydia still felt at loss about the recent killing, even though she was doing her best to figure it out, she had the feeling many more would die before she was able to find the missing body parts, they needed to find

"I'm not sure about you, but I think maybe we should eat first and then talk about torn off body parts," Yoon suggested and began unpacking the food.

Lydia could not help agree wholeheartedly with that suggestion and Peter went along with it. He obviously had no problems discussing gruesome details over dinner but he knew he gained nothing by pushing it on them. Lydia wasn't so sure if Yoon really had a problem with it either and wondered if she had that said only to support her.

Her appetite was already pretty low and the lasagne was so huge that it almost made her give up before she even started. Since the others ate theirs, she began taking a few bites as well.

"So do you also order a lot of take out?" Lydia asked.

Yoon nodded. "That or I warm something up. I don't know my dad used to do all the cooking - but he let me help." She shrugged and battled with her Spaghetti Carbonara. "I feel just pretty sad cooking by myself."

"My parents always had someone cook, unless it was salad, that was something my mom did on her own, sometimes," Lydia shared in the vain hope to find out how the Hales handled dinner.

Peter did not take up the cue, instead he replied: "Cooking takes up too much time anyway."

It was almost like he avoided the topic. Every time food came up, Peter seemed almost too dismissive as if he wanted to make sure that everyone knew he did not care about it. Yet on her birthday, he had shown a very refined taste.

"How are the two of you getting along?" Yoon wanted to know and added with a side glance to Peter. "I hope he's behaving."

"It could be a lot worse," Lydia said thinking about how true that was in light of what Peter had already done to her.

That said, Lydia liked Yoon's tone. It was as if she really did not care about how dangerous Peter was. That was probably a good mindset for an Emissary, as she wouldn't be afraid to give out advice or tell Peter when she disagreed with what he was doing. Then again Yoon was just a druid and there was little she could do if Peter was not listening. He did seem to value her input, which had surprised Lydia a bit at first.

"Why wouldn't I?" Peter said as if the whole idea of him misbehaving was completely baseless.

Yoon rolled with her eyes. "I can think about a dozen reasons."

Lydia smirked at the comeback and entirely unoffended Peter smiled at his Emissary as well.

"As curious I am to hear all twelve of them, I believe you have found out more about our zombie friend?" he inquired since everyone had stopped eating anyway.

"Yes, I have, I already told you about how these things have the ability to alter memories and play with people's minds. They use that to keep people trapped in an area," Yoon said and leaned back looking at Lydia for a moment longer as before. "They can sent dreams but it concerns me that this one was able to harm Lydia in hers, that is not something they normally do. Nor do they prey on such large towns."

Peter seemed thoughtful, then replied somewhat concerned. "It could be numerous things - the Nemeton might grant it more power already. It could just work on banshees."

"Or whoever wrote about them just did not experience this," Lydia added with a renewed feeling of dread. Unwillingly she found herself looking at Peter and thinking that she was glad that he could protect her from that thing. Taking a deep breath she added: "What else can this thing do?"

Yoon sighed. "What can't it do? - It can teleport itself, make itself invisible, take other shapes and create zombies out of humans and animals. Some accounts even say it can re-animate individual body parts and other claim it can briefly stop time."

"These powers, clearly have limits or else he would've grabbed Lydia already instead of bothering with her dreams," Peter pointed out and Lydia felt very grateful he did because that thing sounded terrifying.

"It could be that he was afraid to face her not knowing exactly what she was, maybe it costs him too much energy or he could have been toying with her," Yoon sounded reluctant as she mentioned the latter part and hesitated before she added. "It is probably a good thing, that you've brought her here. Outside the apartment, I advise for Lydia not to be alone. It can't be destroyed without its missing limbs but it can be temporarily put out of commission by grave wounds."

Peter shook his head softly and smiled at her before saying firmly. "Don't worry, I won't let her out of my sight."

On the one hand Lydia felt reassured and glad to hear it as she believed he was meaning every word he said. Peter was not fooling around, he did not made idle promises. On the other hand it seemed like in every crisis it was he who got exactly what he wanted. Leaving her with the ultimate question what she wanted. Surprisingly whenever she thought about that, it was not Aiden or Jackson she kept thinking about. It was not Peter either but a lot of the things she wanted did come back to him, she wanted to learn about her powers and wanted to stop these killings. He made her feel in ways she rather not feel around him or at all: he could terrify and arouse her. It even went as far as her thinking about him when she was having sex with Aiden. It was maybe time for her to stop worrying about what Peter was getting out of it and come to terms with what she wanted. That way she could at least try and make some of that happen.

After giving Peter a stern look, Yoon went on explaining: "One thing though will work in our favour: it will have hidden his head and hands in one safe location and when we get those, the zombie master will focus on getting them back."

"Overpowering it will be difficult enough," Peter said thoughtfully leaning back in his chair. "What about the minions?"

Yoon let out a heavy breath. "Those are indeed the problem. While other beings can also create a Tupilaq, the ones you will encounter are very hard to put down."

"A Tupilaq?" Lydia interrupted, it was obvious that Peter knew what Yoon was referring to but she wanted to know as well.

"That would be the undead Frankenstein animals that are doing the killings for the zombie master," Peter told her.

Yoon nodded and added: "When they said the bite marks were unidentifiable and Peter told me it was something undead I suspected right away that it was a Tupilaq or two. However, ordinary these can be blow or cut apart and that would be it."

"Have you found out how to stop them?" Peter asked as if this was not terribly bad news but just another little detail.

With a smile, Yoon pulled out a few items out of her bag: there were several roles of bare wire and plastic bags as large as Lydia's hand that were filled with some white crystals.

Lydia looked at it with suspicion and then asked: "Is that salt?"

"Yes, it is," Yoon laughed. "i know it does not look like much but the only way to put a true tupilaq down is to put salt into his mouth and wire it shut. So I took the liberty of getting these," she grabbed a roll of wire and unrolled some of it, then she spoke as she demonstrated: "As you see, here's a sharp little tool that makes it easy to snap it off. So one roll should last for more than one. I suggest everyone keeps three rolls and several packs of salt."

"I assume they should be open somehow," Peter picked one up.

"Of course," Yoon agreed. "Salt will not work immediately, there needs to be a fair amount. The Tupilaq will try to spit it out, this is more than enough content to drop it. The zombies will be much easier."

Peter and Yoon seemed pretty unconcerned, that last bit just made Lydia frown and feel more worried. The werewolves would be able to defend themselves and again she was left to rely on them. Whether it was the Twins, Scott and his ragtag pack or Peter and his new one this was not a threat she was able to handle on her own. Even Allison would not be able to fend those things off by herself. While Lydia had no problems accepting help, there was something about depending on either of those three groups that felt wrong to her. She had the feeling that was because she was not really that close to either one.

Aiden was wonderful distraction and when it came to sex she did feel safe with him, because he never pressured her and always gave her the feeling he'd stop if she want him to. That was it, she did care that deeply for him. Scott might help her but only because he liked playing the hero. He did not really care for her. With Allison and Stiles - who did care - Lydia was currently at odds. At least with Peter she had no problems using him, but she wondered what would happen if it became so dangerous that his life was on the line. Lydia would bet he would save his own ass first and foremost.

Hearing that the zombies would stop if they were sufficiently damaged was not lifting up her mood in the slightest. Lydia knew she probably should learn to fire a gun but the idea of running around putting headshots into walking rotting corpses was just as abhorrent to her as the dead walking around. She was the girl who did the research and since Yoon had done that, it left just one task for her and that was the key to the whole mission to stop the Zombie Master.

"So how do I find the head and the hands?" Lydia said sighing. This was not something she had ever wanted to say. Even though she should have gotten used by now to the fact that finding dead bodies and parts of them was her new special gift.

"It will be a difficult progress," Yoon said uneasy and slowly. "You'll require a lot of training."

That didn't sound too bad but there was something about the look on Yoon's face that concerned Lydia a great deal, then Peter cleared his throat.

"You will need to learn how to differentiate what in a dream comes from you and what someone else plants inside it," Peter leaned forward putting his arms on the table. "Yoon probably fears that it might be triggering for you - since I'm the only one who can train you."

"Once you've mastered that, you'll have to learn to invade his dreams and do the same thing," Yoon added.

The thought of Peter spooking around in her dreams once more was indeed not very pleasant. Lydia felt her mouth dry and so she picked up her glass and drank the rest of the water. All the while telling herself, that it would not be that bad. Now she was aware what was going on and as an extra benefit she would learn something that spared her the same thing for the future.

"When do we start?" she said, trying to hide the unease in her voice.

"Not tonight," Peter replied and stood up. "You need to rest."

Lydia did not like the thought of wasting time or Peter dictating the terms. "People could die while I take an completely unnecessary outtime."

"With everything that happened, you really should take the time, if you push yourself too hard, you'll just burn out and will need even longer to be in shape," Yoon explained calmly, but Lydia pouted emboldened by her success and willing to get this over as soon as possible. "It is a very difficult process to master - just think how long it took Peter who had nothing else to do but try and communicate with you to get a halfway clear message through."

Lydia remembered all too well, at first she had no idea why she had taken off into the woods but in hindsight she realised that it was Peter who had grabbed her out of the murky depth of the bathtub. What she hadn't realised was that he might not have done that on purpose.

"There is something else," Yoon looked at Peter. "You need to smooth things over with the others. You need more than two other pack members to beat the Zombie master."

"Preferably another alpha or two …" Peter moved his chair under the table.

Rolling her eyes, Lydia looked up at him. "I think hell will freeze over before the Twins agree to help in a joined effort with you."

"In that case, maybe a larger pack would work," he said and looked with a smirk at Yoon who was everything but amused.

"Or another pack," Yoon sharply said and reminded Lydia a bit of strict teacher. "There is no time to draw in the others or find new candidates and train them. You need to get Scott and the others on board."

"I've already offered my help and suggested that we work together," he replied and shrugged before leaning against the kitchen counter.

"You should be glad the others hadn't had the chance to go after you. Because after what you did, they see you as an enemy and I can't blame them. But I already told you what I thought about it," Yoon looked at Lydia.

Her heart had started to beat a bit faster when she heard Peter getting lectured by his emissary. The reminder of what had happened on her birthday was making her feel so conflicted, but ultimately sad for all the wrong reasons. The thought that Yoon had given Peter a piece of her mind about it, was somewhat gratifying. While Yoon turned her gaze away towards Peter moments later, Lydia was glad that there was one person who knew what happened who did not treat her as victim and still was neither excusing Peter's behaviour nor refusing to work together with both of them.

"What do you want me to do?" Peter said it as if there was nothing to be done about it.

"You should meet with Scott and the others," Yoon began but was interrupted by Peter.

"That would accomplish nothing, I've already tried that and they didn't listen, you can ask Lydia."

While she did not want to be drawn into this on Peter's side, she nodded. "I tried to convince them with rational arguments, they don't want to listen."

"Then make them, demonstrate them that you don't need to be their enemy," Yoon shook her head. "It's not just about the Zombie Master, you need to show everyone that you don't intend to use your powers against them. Otherwise I can guarantee that you'll end up six-feet under and I assure you, I won't let you terrorize Lydia again."

For a moment Lydia saw Peter move but then he just crossed his arms in front of him and with a dangerous tone, he asked: "How would I get them to see that they need my help to stop this threat?"

"By showing your willingness to give up Lydia," Yoon said and glanced over to her, "that is if that is what she wants."

This time Peter moved, he was so incredibly fast that Lydia jumped up startled when he suddenly was leaning over the table almost snarling at Yoon who sat there not flinching one bit. "She's not safe with them," his voice had this growling undertone as he spoke.

Calmly staring back at the red eyes, Yoon replied: "I know, but that should be her decision. You can't expect the others to work with you when you kidnap their friends."

"How's he supposed to help me train to find the head?" Lydia asked and Peter turned to her and then back at Yoon as if he wanted to say that even she could spot the error in Yoon's plan.

"If the others are not willing to let you work together with Peter, then more people will die. But the thing is, if you find the head and the others won't work with Peter, then you went looking for it in vain," Yoon explained.

"I don't really have a choice," Lydia shrugged somewhat lost, "what difference does it make?"

"You always have a choice," Yoon said firmly. "You can leave, you can look the other way, you can hope that we find the head by other means, it speaks for you that you don't see that as an option - but if you intend to work on this with Peter to stop more people from dying, then your friends needs to hear that - all of it."

That was not exactly what Lydia wanted to hear, her breath became a little faster but she knew that Yoon was right. She had always hidden parts of her dealing with Peter, because she was afraid her friends would hate her even more. That was probably because she did not want to admit to herself that she was glad that Peter had not left her a choice. But Yoon was right, she needed to stand by what she wanted to do, no matter how bizarre that might seem to her friends or herself.

"But what if the others won't accept my decision?" Lydia asked.

Despite looking at Yoon, Lydia saw Peter's astonished look when he realised what this meant. His aggressive demeanour subsided.

"That's why you should meet at a public place - if they really are that uncooperative, then they have a difficult time making you go with them," Yoon replied and put her elbows on the table and then rested her chin on her folded hands. "Honestly, I think if you really convince them that this is your decision then you won't have a problem."

Lydia sighed, so it was not just up to her to find the missing body parts, whether Peter, Scott and the others would work together also rested on her shoulders. All Lydia wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep feeling Peter's warmth around her. She let out an embarrassed laugh even though the other two could not possibly guess her thoughts.

"We'll see," Peter said doubtfully. "When do you suggest we arrange the meeting?"

Yoon leaned back. "I'll hope I can find Alan tomorrow, tried to call him today and Marin, too - neither would reply."

"So you intend to get Deaton to see things your way, hoping he makes Scott see the light," Peter smiled smugly. "I guess I shouldn't doubt your plans."

"Scott seems to listen to Alan, even though he doesn't like you, I think he's rational enough to realise that we need to work together on this," Yoon remarked. "I think, I'll ask him to set up a meeting with Scott, Stiles and Isaac on Monday - at the Beacon Hills mall?"

"Yes, to Scott and Stiles," Peter replied thoughtfully. "But I rather have Derek there - and Cora can come as well."

"They're back?" Yoon was surprised. "Hmm, that should make things easier, Derek has been cooperating with you when necessary, from what you told me."

"Derek might not like me, but he knows my advice is sound," Peter said as if it was just one random unimportant fact and shrugged it off. "I admit our relationship is a bit murky - but I think we're clear on the important issues."

Which oddly enough reminded Lydia of something else she had meant to ask about.

"Yoon," Lydia addressed the other woman, "You said if the crystal became too dark, it could shatter and wouldn't protect me anymore."

"Has it become dark already?" Yoon asked and when she saw Lydia nodding she added. "You better show me."

Lydia stood up and went to bedroom, where the murky crystal still lay on the nightstand. As she walked back, she heard the last pieces of an argument.

"... but if she asked nicely, I wouldn't say No," Peter told Yoon and smiled at her in a way that told Lydia he had referred to her.

"You're unbelievable," Yoon said and added a word that Lydia did not quite understand.

As she could imagine what Peter had been referring to she rather quickly gave Yoon the crystal. "It got a bit dark already."

"A bit?" Yoon did look unhappy. "This Zombie master is indeed quite powerful. But I see if I can cleanse it a bit. Might take a day or two, I admit I have never done it before."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Peter said, "in the meantime I'll just have to keep Lydia safe."

Lydia did not protest, she was not looking particularly happy but she had come to terms with the arrangement. In her mind she already wondered how she was going to explain that to the others without letting on too much. Nothing really seemed a good way to reveal that she wanted to stay with Peter, at least for the time being, because she only got to sleep restful and undisturbed by nightmares if he was sleeping next to her. After all them doing this training thing could probably be done with him being anywhere. She could not even lie and pretend that she found this arrangement horrible given that the werewolves were so good at figuring out when someone lied.

Yoon reminded Peter again, that he needed to prove himself to the others, that there were more problems than the Greater Zombie Master out there. Lydia could tell he was aware of that but also that he disliked the idea of having to prove himself. It was like expected that the arguments were in his favour and that was all there was to it. But Lydia knew that Yoon was right, it would take a lot for the others to accept Peter again as a sort of ally.

He had gotten to an uneasy ally status with Derek and Scott, but by kidnapping her and using her for his ritual Peter had painted himself as villain all over again and also spurned what little trust the others had extended him. There was no remorse for his actions, which only made things that much more difficult with the others.

Peter was nonetheless on board with the meeting on monday, he suggested a time and place in the mall and Yoon would call him tomorrow once she had spoken with the other emissaries or talked to Scott or Derek directly. Despite their disagreements Lydia could see why Peter had wanted her, Yoon was not that secretive and gave actual sound advice. Something she had seen Deaton only do under pressure and never witnessed with Mrs. Morrell.

When Yoon said goodbye and left, she excused herself to the bathroom and began slowly getting herself ready for bed. It took her even longer than usual because she kept looking around in the bathroom, as she tried to figure out what was going on with her. Even when she had lied to Jackson about hating him, she had known very well that she did not. Here she just kept looking into the mirror asking herself what she felt exactly. As she removed the make-up and then took care of her stressed out skin, she stopped as if a deeper look would make her see the answers. Lydia only knew that she should not feel so at ease to go about her regular business, but there was also something soothing and familiar about her daily routine.

Once she was done, had taken a shower and slipped into her nightgown and the robe she went out to make herself another tea. Peter just asked her if she wanted to go and sleep soon: no buzzing around her if she was really okay, if she thought she could handle it - just a simple check for time so he knew if she might need him soon. Lydia realised that was another reason she rather duck this situation out with Peter, she did not miss the way her friends looked at her and how she was constantly asked if she was coping as if she was about to burst and shatter like fragile glass.

Yet, she was still mad at Peter, when some time later, he slipped into bed next to her Lydia had more to say. "I won't tell the others about my parents, as I do not want to make things more difficult - but I'm not going to forget about it."

"Why should you?" His tone was amused but revealed that he was proud of his actions.

"I'm not buying that you did this a favour to me, so stop pretending," Lydia said feeling like she wanted to kick him or jab her elbow into his side. The only reason she did not was the feeling she hurt herself more in the process.

Peter ran his hand over her face, brushing a strand of hair from it. "If you feel like I'm only doing this to get better access to you, then consider this: I could have done nothing and then if not through the Greater Zombie Master or Deucalion, sooner or later something or someone coming after you would have hurt or even killed them. I think my solution is probably the best for all parties involved."

Lydia let out a sigh. He had not fully convinced her, but Lydia knew she lacked the arguments to convince him, because everything Peter did had more than one side to it and in his mind the positive effects always outweighed the bad ones.