A/N: Lots of edits for this chapter, but I hope it hasn't too many errors.

weregrrrl13 - Sorry to hear about your problems, hope it gets better soon. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter, hope my future plans for Allison won't annoy you too much then (I try to give her some development past her 'must lash out violently' behaviour.)

sharonpijl - There will be another Chris chapter soon (28) as this got so long I thought it was better to split it ;)

Chapter 25 Bloody Sunday

Lydia was about to wake up. Her mind was still fuzzy as she stretched on the bed, getting rid of the tardiness of sleep. Curling up again, she remember whose bed she was sleeping in. As usual Peter was gone and she had the whole bed to herself. The curtains in front of the window were still closed but enough light fell through it. So it was already morning just not as late as yesterday.

One thing was different in that she heard the shower running. As Lydia looked over to the bathroom she saw the door was slightly ajar. Yawning, Lydia decided to remain in bed a bit longer. The bathroom was blocked anyway and she felt comfortable where she was. It was nice and warm.

One good night full of restful sleep had made a difference. While she had slept in yesterday, she had still felt out of sorts and the whole trip to the woods hadn't sat well with her. Despite her formerly high profile in school, she prefered her alone time or time just spend with Jackson. Which had probably to do with the fact that while he liked talking about himself, she didn't need to listen to him but could still enjoy being snuggled up close to him.

Even lying there, Lydia thought about how they would need to buy groceries. Furthermore, she wanted to try and see if she could get more clothes from home. If the moment felt right she'd bring it up. Expecting disagreement from Peter, she hoped that arguing that there was probably nobody watching her house, to persuade him. As she was stuck here for a few more days, she simply needed more clothes.

Lydia sighed, when she recalled that Peter had taken steps to permanently invade her life.

She would have to see how to get him out of it again - but that had to wait. Apart from their Zombie master problems, there was something else running around killing people and if Stiles' theory was right those unusual accidents might indicate a third problem. It was too much to get done in just a few days. As long as people turned up dead in great numbers, Lydia knew she did not want her parents anywhere near Beacon Hills.

The shower was turned off and a series of familiar noises prepared her for Peter walking back into the bedroom. He obviously had not expected her to be awake. Lydia responded to his 'morning' with an equally awkward 'morning'. All this while she was unable to stop staring at Peter who was just dressed in a towel wrapped around his hips.

At first it was involuntary, when her looking was noticed Lydia decided to keep it up rather then look away in embarrassment. Doing her best to try to and appear not particularly impressed she let out a bored sigh. Peter smiled as she walked over to the wardrobe, assembling clothes from it. He laid them on the edge of the bed and after fetching his underwear from a drawer, he turned back towards. her.

He was about to pick up the rest of his clothes, then he stopped his movement and put his free hand on the upper rim of the towel. "Do you mind?"

Lydia just rolled her eyes. "I've seen you naked before."

As usual her comment amused him and after having a short laugh, Peter dropped the towel onto the bed. He was in no hurry to slip into his underwear or to turn. Lydia told herself she didn't avert her gaze just to show how little she cared but if she was honest she did appreciate the sight. Peter gave her a questioning look.

"Well, it wasn't a very clear look," she replied feeling particularly proud of herself this morning.

It was like she was getting back to form. This whole past week she had felt stressed out and irritated at the tiniest things and once more she could gawk at someone without blushing or acting as if she never had seen a naked man. Lydia enjoyed being more in control of herself, especially since Peter made no remarks about involuntary physical reactions.

He sat down the edge of the bed, leaning closer to her. "So how's your outlook this morning?"

Half a dozen witty comebacks came to mind but Lydia decided that gestures were so much more appropriate for dealing with his inappropriate innuendos. So she settled for a look that she reserved for sales persons suggesting a particularly vile piece of clothing, shrugged and then went to the bathroom herself.

By the time she was done and ready to get dressed herself she had the bedroom all to herself. There was of course the danger that he might walk in on her but Lydia was beyond caring, thinking about his earlier question, she thought that maybe she had a more positive outlook. The overall situation was still dire but she felt she had a good handle on it.

With her limited selection of clothing Lydia felt a bit underdressed but for a trip to the supermarket her selection was workable. She took out a pantihose from the side pocket of her overnight bag, grateful she always had three spare ones stored there and after putting it on slipped into socks. After all it was cold outside and they wouldn't be visible with her boots. Those looked better with the blue dress she had brought with her. Her fast packing had not been the best but she could live with the end result. It wasn't like she had been taken to trips into cold outdoors by her friends with less preparation. She could stand having her knees exposed like that.

By the looks of it, Peter was already done eating breakfast but he had left out a plate and other stuff for her. She saw him lying on the couch, his face obscured by the heavy volume that he was studying.

Lydia went to look in the fridge and was reminded again how it was almost empty, she grabbed the toast and the remainders of the cold meat to make herself a quick breakfast. "So any other plans than buying something to eat today?"

"Not really," Peter replied and let the book sink down. "Although, I'm tempted to take a look at that cemetery."

"I'm not," Lydia said quickly and decisively.

The old cemetary was the last place she wanted to go. Whatever was there kept affecting her and staying away was the only protection from that. Peter shrugged at her reaction. "Oh, well maybe not today."

As he went back to reading, she finished preparing her breakfast. Afterwards she sat down to eat but despite feeling hungry her appetite was down. Thinking about her visions near the mausoleum had a worse effect on her than she had imagined. The second time she went back it had been mostly to prove to herself that she had not imagined this and that the statues were there. That experience had only re-affirmed her instinct had been right and her visions weren't some crazy hallucinations.

"Could we stop by my house? I need more clothes," Lydia asked not feeling up to figuring out the most opportune moment to bringing it up.

"Hmm," Peter said from behind the book, "I suppose we could, just as we could stop by the cemetery."

Whatever good mood was there upon waking up was certainly gone now, she didn't even want to eat anything anymore. She slid back the chair and got up. "Fine, forget it," she snipped back.

Before Lydia even knew what she was doing, she stormed off back into the bedroom. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Peter's confused look as he let the book sink down again. Once inside the bedroom, she shut the door loudly. Immediately she was angry with herself for letting this get to her in such an obvious manner. Peter had a way of getting her to do things she didn't want to. In comparison to the other things, going near the mausoleum wasn't that horrible, but Lydia just had enough of it.

It didn't surprise her in the least when the door opened a few minutes later and Peter joined her. She wasn't interested in hearing what he had to say. "Get lost," she told him.

"This is my bedroom," he reminded her.

Lydia wasn't having any of that. "I thought it belonged to a witch."

"Right now, it's mine," Peter began and then smiled widely. "Well, maybe at the moment ours."

The infuriating thing was that she couldn't even say this whole concept was against her wishes, but the way he brought it up was reminding her that she didn't had any privacy either. Hoping that there was a lock on the guestroom door, she turned to leave.

"Fine," she told him upset and attempted to storm past Peter.

Only he didn't let her, stopping her by blocking her way with his arm, Peter pulled her closer. Lydia kept staring down, her entire body tense and ready to resist whatever he might try to make her do.

"I'm really curious what it is with that crypt that it scares you so much," he began. "You faced the Zombie Master again and again, yet a simple vision scares you so much that you're not even willing to go near the cemetery?"

Lydia had to admit - at least to herself - it probably was an unreasonable fear. However, whatever was there in that mausoleum felt a lot more awful than the zombie master. Maybe it was a symbol for everything getting worse. After everything that happened to her, Lydia hadn't thought it to be possible.

After being maimed, she was made to feel like she was losing her mind only to discover that she had developed the uncanny ability to locate corpses. After being almost strangled by an insane darach who had nearly killed the twins when they had tried to protect her from what had seemed like attempt number two. Of course, this time she had been bait. All that after she had helped with this ritual that had brought even more death to Beacon Hills. Leaving her to face that nightmarish thing from the crypt dream only to discover that there was something worse waiting in a mausoleum.

"I just don't see how going there again is helping anything," Lydia said, trying to pull away. "I'm just going to freak out again."

"I wasn't suggesting you go that close again - but I'd like to take a look," he explained with a serious expression. "But if it upsets you that much, we won't go."

Suppressing a sniffle, Lydia looked up. She wanted to ask 'really' but it seemed to passive and with one last sniff, she said determined. "We'd better not."

"We'll see how you feel about it, once we picked up more clothes from your place," Peter tilted his head and leaned a bit more towards her. "What?" he commented her surprised look. "I wasn't suggesting that one depended on the other, just that it would be no effort to go to both. You don't honestly think I'm looking forward to dragging you somewhere that might end with me having a substantial earache?"

She nodded, hiding her relief, by re-affirming his notion. "That's exactly what would happen. It's not like I found out something the last time I was there - except that it happened again."

"We can eventually use that to our advantage," Peter pointed out while trying to calm her down further by stroking through her hair.

"Advantage?" she scoffed his efforts to give this a positive spin.

He sighed, but his explanation remained calm without a hint of being upset. "Yes, we know one place that causes you to have pretty vivid visions. When you feel up to it, we can use it help you spot these places. That way you can avoid accidentally stumbling into these spots and just do it when you believe it's necessary."

It was something she hadn't considered, it was true the closer she got to the mausoleum, the more intense the feeling became. Her past tendency to ignore these sensations and glimpses into the supernatural hadn't exactly helped her avoiding them either. It reminded her of what Yoon had said about standing in the corner or facing this new world she had been tossed into.

Lydia thought Peter's proposal had some merit. It was something she might have come up with, if there wasn't still this dread that took hold of her whenever her powers were concerned. Peter was right, she had faced the Zombie Lord, she could do this. At the moment, she would rather not have an episode like that.

"Well, I'd rather steer clear of the cemetery but maybe - if I don't have to get close to the spot - then maybe later I'm good with going there," she stated and while she was setting terms. "Now, get your grabby paws of me."

Lydia realised that Peter headed her demand and almost immediately stepped back. She saw the disappointed look on his face as he asked: "I suppose now you want me to get out?"

"I've wanted you out ten minutes ago," Lydia remarked but she didn't feel as angry anymore.

Truth was she might have paced around upset for minutes or longer if Peter hadn't come after her and cleared up that she had gotten the wrong message. Lydia was sure he had purposefully made it sound like he was aiming for a 'quid pro quo' deal. Maybe he had and then changed his mind hoping that this course of action would benefit him more.

It was hard to tell with Peter. Despite knowing that he hadn't always the worst intentions, Lydia was still jumping to the worst case scenario first. Which Peter totally deserved. However, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He might not be up to anything benevolent but he probably wasn't pursuing some totally evil scheme, either. Time would tell.

For a brief moment after her reply Peter looked at her curiously, then he shrugged and turned. At the door he turned. "I'm ready to go, but do feel free to eat something. We can leave whenever you're ready. In the meantime, I'm going through this book on cult rituals - you wouldn't believe how many different rituals involving really gross mutilations are out there."

Seeing her raise eyebrow, he tilted his head. "Or maybe you would," then he left her alone.

Lydia sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. It was weird, that she was in one moment so upset about the crypt and as soon as Peter had strolled in, she got all worked up about him. Once Peter actually left and respected her wishes, she felt quite optimistic again. It made her think that maybe she was okay with letting Peter take a look at the cemetery - but only after she was absolutely sure that he wasn't going to make her go near that awful place. Under no circumstance she wanted to feel the dread this spooky run down piece of masonry again.

She also wondered why Peter had not made that last remark about the cult killings, it didn't seem like he had wanted to upset her. It had to be about the other killings, the one that weren't killed by the zombie animals. Lydiae got up, took a deep breath and walked back into the living room. Peter wasn't on the sofa, he was in the kitchen making himself a tea.

"Want one, too?" he said handling the kettle with the hot water.

Lydia nodded. "Sure."

While he got out a second mug and put the tea bag in it, she caught up to the other side of the kitchen counter. Sitting down on the high chair in front of it, she asked. "So, you think it might be a cult or are just looking for the reason behind these killings?"

"It's more a fishing expedition," he replied. "I was at the station the other day - listening in to the officers chattering when they thought nobody would hear them." Lydia rolled her eyes at the remark, but she kept listening, as Peter continued. "They mentioned something about the killer using an axe and then setting his dogs on him or something like that as a theory. There were also organs and body parts missing - presumably eaten."

Peter shrugged it off and set the two mugs with tea to the side to let them brew.

"Yes, the autopsy report said something about that, the Sheriff mentioned something like it last Saturday," Lydia told him.

It seemed like such a long time ago, that they all had gotten along and planned a way to counter the killings. As it had turned out their plan had been somewhat futile, apart maybe from what she had tried: not counting the part where her own efforts nearly had gotten her killed. She really had to convince the others to let Peter and also Yoon see those reports, it was too late to have them see the remains but they might have insights that had escaped the others.

"Whoever," Peter rolled his eyes to the side, "or whatever is doing this, is very good at obscuring its tracks. Maybe - just maybe if you get another dead body vision and I could get there before the police ..."

Lydia nodded, he didn't need to say more. Peter knew more about things that were out there than any other werewolf in Beacon Hills, if he had the chance to examine an undisturbed crime scene, it could give them new insight. Just as he might see something if he had access to all the information. "I could call Stiles and see if he can talk the others into giving us a copy of the autopsy report. I so need my phone back."

Peter leaned on the counter not really entering her personal space but close enough to make her heart beat a bit faster. "I might be mistaken but didn't it end up in a thousand pieces on your bathroom floor?"

"Yeah, but the cards might still be salvageable, either way I need a new cellphone," she replied as if to say that wasn't upset about that event more. It was of course not the destruction of her phone that had gotten to her but what occurred directly afterwards.

"We can look for those," Peter agreed, "I suppose you didn't make a backup copy of your data?"

Lydia shook her head slowly and pouted. "No, I'm always very careful with my smart phones. Especially considering the insane amount of time I needed to call the police in the last year."

That made him smile. "That's only because nobody told you what was really going on. You didn't call the police when Deucalion came after you. You called me!"

There was both pride and satisfaction in his voice and Lydia wasn't having any of it. "You presumably were on your way over and I just needed to press the re-dial number as you were the last person to call me."

"Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't too late," Peter told her as if he meant it, "I was on my way but I might not have hurried had you not called."

While she tried not to think about what might have happened if he had arrived minutes later, Peter had turned towards the tea mugs and removed the bags. He picked them up and gestured towards the table. "Found some appetite?"

Lydia sighed and got up to walk to the table. Her appetite was pretty moderate but her hunger was becoming noticeable. Thankfully, he just placed her mug on the table and went towards the couch. Peter didn't pick up his book though, he leant against the backrest and kept looking at her. Almost as if he expected something from her. While she could not stand these type of situations, she forced herself to play it cool.

The result was her eating the sandwich and enjoying her tea after blowing a bit on it to cool it down faster. Eventually, Peter gave in and spoke again.

"I'm sorry, that Deucalion hangs over your head, but I'm … we're going to need Scott's and Derek's help if there is any hope in solving this problem." Lydia rolled her eyes and if not for the sandwich bite in her mouth would have said something. He picked up on it, before she had swallowed it. "I know, you think, I didn't know that then. True - but as a gesture of goodwill, I wanted to show that I'm reasonable enough not to kill anyone."

Lydia let out an offended laughter, before taking a deep breath. "What you did instead upset everyone even more."

Peter shrugged. "Everyone but you." Those words hit her like a wall of bricks and he wasn't giving her a chance to reply. If she had not been so shocked, she might have yelled at him, that this was only because he already had done to her what was more upsetting. Instead she listened to Peter continue. "Truth is, as long as nobody gets killed and sometimes even then, Scott and everyone around him, are pretty forgiving."

Shaking her head, Lydia just kept on eating. He was right, this was how things were handled around here and Peter was counting on it. As crazy as it seemed, with her being with him, she gave even more legitimacy to this claim. She even wanted the others to come around so they could solve this problem and it seemed once more Peter was getting away with his shady and awful behaviour.

"I'm not," Lydia said, while he looked at her curiously. "I might if you stop that Zombie thing, and whatever is axing people apart so their pet can chew on them. There's the matter of me learning to control my abilities and then maybe … maybe!"

Holding her head up high, she raised the mug and took another sip of tea, while observing him over the rim.

"Then I shall remain hopeful, since I'm going to do all that," he answered her and then leading a bit forward he added. "Bu Deucalion will still be out there."

"I'm not going to ask you to kill him," Lydia shot him down right away. She imagined that this was what he wanted to hear, even though he would never admit it now and Peter proved her right immediately.

He shrugged and with an entirely too optimistic and playful tone, he replied: "I've no idea where that came from, but I'd considered it if you ever changed your mind."

Lydia shooked her head. "I don't know why you guys seem to think that offering to kill people for me is going to win you any points."

It was so much the opposite, death had never sat right with her. Even Peter killing that arsonist gone video sale clerk had upset her: back then she had been outside in the car and not yet on her way to find dead bodies. Still she was so besides herself that her parents provided her with something to calm down.

Peter was of course not taken back the slightest and just asked amused. "Hmm, have the twins been offering my head on a silver platter?"

"I think," Lydia began and looked at him to not miss the reaction, while holding hers back as much as she could. "I might have asked them about any part."

That only increased his amusement. "I don't know about the platter but all you've got to do is ask."

At first she wanted to tell him where he could stuff his innuendos but she dreaded his response to that. Instead she went for the straight comeback. "It's not going to happen and if you drug me again, I'll take the twins up on that offer."

Finally, the smile was showing on her face as his went away. He took a deep breath and there was a look on him as if he was disappointed and it felt good. Peter had probably believed that she would come around. Hoping because she happened to be attracted to him, she would just get over it and eventually act as if nothing bad had ever happened. It wasn't that easy. Lydia might forgive him, if his actions redeemed him but that went far beyond what she had requested and Lydia was sure it would never come to that.

"Lydia, what I did - I had to do," Peter replied as sincere as he'd ever been. "But you should know that I am grateful for your help - however unwilling it was. You might discover that you can count on my protection more than on anyone elses."

Somehow she felt him protecting her was like the wolf guarding the chicken hut to ward off the fox, however for now, with the zombie lord out there and Peter unfortunately being the best repellent Lydia wasn't going to argue this point. When she didn't say anything, Peter continued his argument.

"You might feel right now, that you can't trust me, I think I wouldn't trust myself either - but as you said I always look out for my best interests and that would include taking care of you. Helping you reach your full potential. Whatever else might happen, I told you: we'd be a great couple - but if you say no - I can accept that." Her intense stare got him to amend that. "Barring rare hopefully not re-occurring circumstances."

Lydia laughed as she realised this was just another way of saying 'I hope you won't die again and stay an Alpha'. Whether he had planned to get her to say something like it, it felt unreal because she shouldn't feel that way. She wished Peter would stay out of her life, no matter how often she had indulged in revengeful thoughts, in the end she didn't wished him dead. As for Peter being an alpha, they would have to see what he did with it apart from turning Naira and forming a new pack.

"So, once you've eaten," he asked her, instead of addressing what she had just said: "shall we go and take care of business? I assume you want to start training sooner rather than later?"

"Of course, I need to get this over with, so we might as well do that when we get back and," she pointed out: "you tell me in more detail what I've got to expect."

"Fair enough," Peter replied.

It took them a full hour to get to the garage after their less than cheerful conversation. After that they mostly discussed how much she should pack and that they probably could go back and get more. That there were washers and dryers on every floor, which was good to take into account. It turned out they both were able of doing their own laundry. After all, Mrs. Allen couldn't do everything and with Peter, he was probably to mistrusting to hire someone. The thought of him folding his clothes or even ironing amused her for some reason. Lots of their clothes needed dry cleaning but the majority could be washed.

At her house were enough suitcases for her clothes, so there was no need to bring something to transport them. They needed a lot of groceries, so Peter decided to bring a stable box that would hold three shopping bags. Adequately prepared they drove out and Lydia made a note to bring some sun glasses, as the sky was clear and the sun hit her directly in the eyes.

In one tense moment on their way, they passed a police car but the deputies didn't react or turn around trying to stop them. "It looks like the Sheriff did the smart thing."

"He didn't call my parents either," Lydia said in agreement, "but that doesn't mean it'll stay this way."

"You don't have much faith in your friend's ability to make the right decisions," he teased her.

If Peter wanted her to admit that her friends weren't always making the best decisions, he was mistaken. "It would seem 'right' in this case, depends a lot on how you look at it."

"Yes," he smiled. "That's what I've been saying all along."

Lydia looked at him and realised she was not even upset. Nothing had been clear cut in her life since he had entered it. Before it probably wasn't either but at least she had been able to pretend. Now, everything was uncertain and even analysing the situation every way she turned there were so many drawbacks to all the possible good that might come from it.

"I just miss doing something and feeling good about it," Lydia suddenly said, not sure why she revealed to someone who probably just use it against her. "Like not having regrets or wondering what catastrophe my actions will cause next."

Peter didn't answer right away, he took a deep breath before he replied: "I wouldn't say, bringing me back from the dead or bestowing Deucalion's powers on me was a catastrophe."

"That isn't what I meant," she clarified. "I've helped create this mess, but the ritual wasn't the only thing. But honestly it's none of your business what else I'm conflicted about in my personal - not supernatural aspects of my life."

"You brought it up." Peter shrugged. "I know you don't like people prying into your personal life but you should know - I'm not judging. I was a teenager, too. "

"As if I would let a Hale tell me who I can date or not," she grumbled back, remembering very well about Derek and Cora insisting she stayed away from Aiden. It wasn't that unreasonable but she disliked the manner. With the way things had turned out between them, the thought that it had proved them right in some way made Lydia even more grumpy. She knew her relationship problems had nothing to do with how dangerous her dates were.

It was all because it turned out that you couldn't count on boys to be true to their words. With Jackson it was first you're my girl and then you're dead weight. Including a repeat performance of the same event. With Aiden it was casual sex only suddenly it was supposed to be more from his side. Lydia really couldn't win with guys.

At least she knew that Peter was the last person she'd trust to be honest with his claims about wanting a real relationship. As if she'd fall for that one, especially after he had appeared as his younger self to her. Lydia was not sure what to make of that, but she hated that he had gotten to her, in a way that she still felt betrayed by all their fake head talks seemed to promise.

'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,' she thought.

"So you're currently in a general phase were you reconsider your habit of dating werewolves?" Peter kept teasing her. "Or are you just tired of the overly clingy one?"

"Yes, I'm tired of the clingy one - but I sort of need him now," Lydia replied.

Two could play that game. "Well, I could try to be less clingy - but you seem to enjoy sleeping with me pressed against you. There's this cute little moan coming from your lips when you're half asleep and cuddle against me."

"Watching me in my sleep? That's so Twilight," Lydia poked fun at him.

"Ouch," he retorted. "Comparing me to Edward. That's really below the belt."

Lydia smiled and rested her elbow on the window sill, so she could lean her head on her hand and look at Peter. "What's really embarrassing is that you knew what I was talking about."

"Believe me that's a piece of pop-culture knowledge I'd been happier without. However, one of my old nurses thought it was good for coma patients to be read to - to hear voices." Peter's voice sounded pain stricken but more in a purposefully over exaggerated way. "I think she read all four of those books at least four times to me."

It was hard not to grin ear from ear at this picture, but she couldn't help giving a dry comment. "No wonder you went insane."

Peter shrugged and joined in the grinning. "I always said nobody had any ideas about the horrors I suffered - but at least I was spared her moving onto 50 Shades of Grey."

Lydia flinched at the thought of that and she had only gotten as far as the first page.

"I wonder," Peter continued. "Why would an intelligent girl like yourself know about Twilight? Isn't that more the book for girls who never read before?"

Lydia had to admit he had a point, but it wasn't like it was a big thing. She was a girl, she was supposed to read it. "Everyone talked about it and I wanted to know what it was about. Took me less than two hours for each book."

"You give me back my faith in you," he joked and then said. "I know you watch 'The Notebook' way too often but I'm aware of the real reason behind that."

Sometimes Lydia hated the fact that Peter had been so far into her head. On the vague hope he hadn't that much insight she asked. "What would that be?"

"You knew Jackson hated it and wanted to see how often you got him to sit through it with you. I do feel bad about ruining that for you - it's such a delightfully cruel test of devotion," Peter was clearly appreciating that part of it.

That gave her an idea. "Hmm, looks like a movie we could rent tonight."

"We could but then I would consider us even," Peter smirked.

At that point she noticed the sharp turn left and that they pulled into her driveway. "No, I think it's good for at least two times."

He stopped the car and after shutting down the motor he turned to her and still very amused he asked. "How about we stick to me helping you with your powers?"

Lydia nodded. "I think - I'll go with that, too."

With her mood somewhat improved she was taking the boarded up window relatively well. It was given her a slight chill but she got over it. Lydia realised she was glad that she now had the perfect excuse to move rooms. There was no way she ever sleep in this room again.

Lydia headed straight into the cellar with Peter, to fetch one of those oversized pieces of luggage, her mother used for her trips to Europe.

"Are you sure you're really opposed to moving in?" Peter asked as he carried it upstairs for her.

Back in her room she switched on the light and looked around while Peter put the suitcase on her bed and opened it. Whomever the sheriff had sent to board up the room, they had brushed the broken pieces of her collection aside and cleaned up a bit, stapling the books to one side of the room and putting the shelves against the wall. As she stared at the mess, Peter laid a hand on her shoulder.

"We can take care of it later," he promised her, his voice oddly comforting.

Lydia sighed. "I wanted to move back to my old room anyway."

"Probably, a good idea," Peter agreed.

He went towards the bathroom and looked at the broken mess of her cell phone.

"You see the cards?" Lydia wanted to know.

"Just the one with your data, not the SIM one," he shrugged and rose. "But look for yourself if you don't trust me."

"If?" she asked and walked over kneeling in front of the broken pieces. No matter how many pieces she overturned the card was gone. Peter stood next to her pulling her up when she was done. "It's really not there!" Lydia said frustrated as he handed her the memory card with all her numbers and saved songs and pictures.

"I told you." He did sound slightly insulted.

"My old latin teacher always said: Trust is good, control is better," Lydia wasn't impressed. He knew very well she had no reason to trust him.

"Mr. Schillings?" Peter asked her and when he saw her surprise, he grinned. Lydia shouldn't be surprised that going to the same school they ended up having the same teacher. "He was a miserable old cronie."

"One day in class he got so worked up about a mistranslation by a student, that he got a heart attack," Lydia told him as she walked over to her chest of drawer. "He finally retired that year."

"I'm surprised that didn't happen earlier, with his erratic heartbeat and the choleric tendencies."

For a moment she considered asking Peter to give her space so she could pack her underwear. It felt silly after all that happened. Peter went through a pile of books. "Maybe take your school books along as well."

"I don't need them, I can get them before class starts, if i'm really still at your place," she explained putting a stack of panties into the open suitcase.

"There aren't for you," Peter told her.

Looking at him puzzled she asked: "Trying to catch up on basic algebra?"

"No," he smiled, "but they involve my evil masterplan to get my niece back to school."

Lydia wasn't sure if he was serious about what he said or if he just meant the masterplan part as a joke. It was hard to imagine what he hoped to accomplish by it. Who knew what Cora had been up to while she was gone. The last thing Beacon Hills could use was another werewolf in High School. "Really?"

As he picked up the relevant books and sat down next to the suitcase, he began telling her. "Cora will ask to join my pack, it's pretense of course, for her finding out about what I'm up to. I'll let her, provided she goes back to school."

"Wait - you expect her to spy and you're still letting her in?" Lydia asked surprised.

That seemed to unlike Peter: risking his safety so someone else could benefit. Cora could only profit from more education. Shaking her head she put the socks she had gathered next to her underwear and the books which Peter had put inside.

He smiled. "She can not give the location away, whatever else she finds out is nothing I feel I need to hide." Peter took a deep breath and looked at her. "She's family and I want her in my pack. Cora might come in under false pretense but in the end I think she'll realise this is where she belongs."

There was a sadness in his last words, that made Lydia think that despite everything she had learnt and him killing his other niece that he did miss his family and that he wanted to have what was left of it with him. If he got Cora, then Derek was probably not far behind.

"So you count on including more members into your pack that are already werewolves?" Lydia walked over to her closet and opened it. Looking back for a moment she added: "Instead of turning more people?"

"It's not easy to include already turned wolves into the pack - but I do have a bond with Cora and Derek. They need an alpha and I doubt they follow Scott, since he's so inexperienced and only listens when he wants to," Peter said quite sure of himself.

Lydia focused on picking clothes but kept listening to him. It made sense what he said, at least to a degree when it came to Derek and Scott. They weren't the best at working together, Derek had ended up trying to help Scott but his involvement came mostly through Jennifer getting him to the final conflict. Scott was doing his own thing and it had been Stiles who had thought about going to him for help, however unfruitful that had turned out.

"Although I do have at least one more person to turn - a promise I made."

"I still can't believe that someone would risk dying voluntarily," she replied shaking her head.

Lydia went over the bed and began folding the dressed and shirts carefully with their coat hangers into the suitcase.

"The chances to successfully make it aren't that bad," Peter replied and tilted his head slightly. "But it's only fair to point out the possibility of death."

"On the off chance that you're actually bothering to ask," she reminded him, but secretly she was very curious about what he had to say. He kept thinking about Ethan and what he told her just a few days ago. If the twins were less stubborn Ethan might have the ideal person to ask. "Is there anything that makes it less likely to be successfully turned?"

"Apart from being a banshee?" he smirked at her, but became serious. "It's a stressful time for the body, it would kill a person that was already mortally wounded. Otherwise it's not a science. Some people who are perfectly healthy just die and others who have a serious illness make it. Personally, I think it also has to do with just how much a person wants it."

"But Scott didn't even knew what was happening to him?"

It occurred to her that picking Scott was probably the least planned out thing Peter had done and maybe it was also why he kept thinking twice about his actions now.

"Yes, he thought that he was bitten by a wolf - otherwise he probably would have fought the bite and who knows what would have happened then," he leaned against the head of her bed, making himself comfortable. There was probably not much more to be gained from this discussion as Peter alone had just a hypothesis and hopefully wasn't reckless enough to turn people just to get more data.

"It couldn't just have been Scott that made you say that," she pointed out.

He shook his head slightly. "No, I saw it before with people who didn't make it and the one thing that seemed to unite them was what seemed the will to not be turned into what they thought was a monster." Suddenly Peter smiled. "There are of course those who protest but secretly want to."

Not even wanting to go there, Lydia walked back into her closet. She needed more comfortable clothing and she picked footwear for the apartment, for going out and another pair of boots just in case there was more going out into the woods. While she was in there, she heard Peter getting up again. As she finally went back to the suitcase she saw him looking at the box with her naughty birthday presents from Allison.

"Interesting," he held up the handcuffs to her.

From the look on his face Lydia was convinced he wondered how she was going to react to him using them on her. It was the opposite of what Allison had given them to her and yet the sudden idea of Peter using them to tie her down and then explore her body with the same skill as back in that cabin was arousing and she was grateful for the stack of clothes she had between her and Peter's gaze.

"If you're done snooping through my birthday presents, please put everything where it was," she told him upset at herself for her own thoughts.

That way her flushed cheeks appeared to come from anger and not arousal. As she put her clothes into the suitcase, Peter put the box away clearly not embarrassed, in fact he couldn't shut up about it. "It's nice to see your friends encouraging you."

"They wouldn't be my friends if they tried telling me with whom I can have sex," Lydia said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"That is a good point," he said.

The thought that she might change her mind was clearly not far from his. He'd probably welcomed that attitude then: either her friends supported her or they proved they weren't friends by objecting to her choice. To him this had to be a win-win situation. Lydia wasn't going to let her libido run wild with him and so tried to change the topic to something certain to put a damper onto it.

"If we do go to the cemetery," she began, "you better not try and make me go near that thing because I will scream m- your head off."

With that she headed back to the closet to pick up the shoes and boots she had selected.

"I've no intention to make you go near it, I just want to take a look for myself around the specific tomb," Peter tells her, sounding a bit exhausted. When she headed back into the room, he told her more calmly: "It might not seem that way but I do not enjoy hurting you or seeing you distressed. It's actually quite the opposite."

"You could have fooled me," Lydia rolls her eyes and turns from him. Maybe there were a few instances when someone else caused her distress, like Jackson dumping her, but nearly always when she had been really upset and seriously hurt, it had been Peter's doing.

She can hear him sigh before replying. "That was never the intention, it was unavoidable and I actually feel sorry about that," he tries to assure her. "I don't enjoy hurting you at all," Peter says and Lydia does believe him to a degree.

He might even be sorry but that doesn't change the fact that he'd do it again in a heartbeat if he feels it is necessary to reach his goal. That is why she is expecting him to lure her to the cemetery only to see her reaction to the mausoleum. To learn more about what is going on there. It might be important and that is what makes her want to agree to going - even though she's scared. Lydia wants him to stop lying. "But you'd do it again, without thinking twice if you thought it was necessary."

"Yes, I most likely would," Peter agrees to her surprise. He steps closer and his voice sounds serious: "In this case, dragging you to the mausoleum would accomplish nothing. You need to approach this at your own time, right now we're already pretty pressed with teaching you how to sneak attack a Great Zombie master."

Lydia shivered, spoken out their plan sounded so impossible, but it seemed Peter had confidence in her abilities. While she wasn't looking forward to the cemetary, she was reasonably sure, he wouldn't force near the crypt. I didn't made sense for him to tell her all this and then do the opposite, trust was already lacking and there was no need to make him seem even less trustworthy.

"I'm still not sure, how I can possible control visions, it's so different from the dreams and even there I feel like," she stopped not really sure how she should put it. On the one hand she had managed to see the Zombie Master in all his hand- and headless gory. On the other hand, she had fumbled her way through this, reacting more to the scenes than actually gaining some control. "It's like I can influence one one small part of the dream, but these visions, I have no control over anything."

"You didn't had much control over the dreams to begin with," Peter sat down again. He leaned over to look at her directly while she was busy staring into the suit case. "Fact is, you were magnificent, picking up so fast on some of the basic tricks. I'm sure the Zombie Master didn't expect you being such a formidable opponent."

It really shouldn't matter to her that Peter was always full of compliments but it did feel good. It gave her hope that she'd manage to solve the rest but it was also making her feel better about the whole banshee deal. Maybe all she went through wasn't for nothing or just for Peter's benefit, but for something good. If down the line she could save lives with her abilities, that would mean a lot to her.

Ever since she had started to help saving people, Boyd at the suicide motel, the parents of her friends, even just in diminished capacity had felt good. It seemed like something more important than winning a Field's Medal. Who said she couldn't do that as well? Still, despite the compliments she tried to asses her abilities realistically.

"Yeah, it just it felt as if it had the ability to do much worse," she told Peter.

"Probably," he agreed and leaned back. "These things like toying with people, I'm sure it had acted differently if he had thought you'd get that good that fast. I bet right now it's worried out of it's mind how fast you're going to uncover his head and hands."

That made sense, but it also made her worry about something else. "But this latest killing - it's clearly moving faster because of what I did."

"It's goal is to subdue the entire town and by that I mean to kill every living thing in Beacon Hills," Peter said firmly. "There's no telling what it might do afterwards."

"It will keep killing at a faster pace," Lydia slammed the suitcase shut after she had stored her shoes safely inside. She looked at Peter whose worried expression was a rare sight.

"It might kill more people faster in a panicked reaction, it might have done that anyway - fact is it will keep on killing unless we stop it."

Part of her wished she could stay as unmoved by the deaths as he was: her feeling bad about it did nothing to stop the deaths. Lydia looked around her room, picked up two other books, just in case she needed to clear her head of thoughts about this mess as her gaze fell on a picture of her and her mother. She packed it as well and finally zipped up.

"Okay, let's go to the cemetery," Lydia told Peter.