Chapter 20

Two Weeks Later…

"What?" Scott exclaimed.

"Do you know if he was a virgin? You were there when he, you know, got sacrificed."

"I was in the back room putting dog food away," Scott replied.

"But you were there," Stiles pressed.

"Yeah, but don't worry. My boss came up with these new rules. I have to sleep with all of the customers," Scott said sarcastically, his face beaming with a goofy grin. He rolled his eyes and shut his locker.

Stiles's face fell. Melanie snorted and laughed. He's hopeless, she thought with no intention of stopping their conversation. This was too funny. You couldn't pay for entertainment like a seventeen year old boy talking about his virginity.

"Why are you asking," Melanie chimed in, trying to stop laughing.

"Well, virgins are usually the prime targets for sacrifices and lately a few teenagers have been killed. I'm a teenager and a virgin. I need to have sex, like right now. Somebody needs to have sex with me."

He looked at her and paused with a thoughtful expression. She stopped laughing suddenly and looked at him with disgust.

"NO," she exclaimed, staring at him in disbelief. "I am not de-virginizing you!"

"C'mon! I could be the next person sacrificed. Please! I need to have sex like right now."

"Okay, I'll do it," Danny piped up, coming up beside her. "Come over around nine and bring extra clothes. I like to cuddle after."

"Really? Are you kidding?" Stiles's eyes lit up.

Scott and Melanie looked between the two expectantly. This was too good. She started laughing all over again.

The night she got home from the hospital, Danny declared that he was staying over for the night. She remembered the aggravated look on Isaac's face. It was strange. His whole composure changed from the attentive intensity he had at the hospital. He went to bed without out a single word to either of them.

She and Danny ended up staying awake the rest of the night. He kept coming up with questions. There wasn't any sign of shock or disbelief. Her time in a coma must've allowed her to skip it. One thing he made clear after the long talk revolving around her life and the idea of the super-not so-natural lives of their friends was that he wasn't ever leaving her side. He never planned on it either. But, he understood why she was so tough and obnoxious. Most of all, he understood the secrets. Hearing those words was like a dream, so she had to have him repeat them.

"Yes, I'm kidding," Danny laughed. He and Melanie walked off laughing even harder.

"That's uncool Danny! You can't play with a person's emotions like that!" Stiles called after him, hurt and put out. Others walking down the hall gave them strange looks. Scott rolled his eyes and grabbed Stiles by the collar then pulled him off to class.

Stiles had been putting all of his energy into solving the murder-sacrifices lately. Heather's funeral over the weekend had something to do with it. So did all of the other deaths around town including Melanie's near-death experience. And now, Mr. Harris was missing. The police questioned all of them. Parrish, the deputy, looked at each of them skeptically as he got their statements. He was getting suspicious and sheriff Stilinski was running out of ways to keep him off their backs.

Most of the time Stiles was in the library with Danny. Danny was good with technology and Stiles was good with…whatever Stiles was good with. Normally, that was being extremely alert to detail and annoying and sarcastic. When he wasn't in the library he was in his room, glued to his laptop and papers and books.

Melanie had every intention of getting back to her training like she told Derek. She was out of practice. She'd gotten back into stretching habits at least, but couldn't wait to get back to hand-to-hand combat. Her hands and legs ached to kick a little ass. It would certainly relieve a lot of the tension that's been continuously building lately. Melissa put in stitches on her back just two days ago though.

"Mel." Stiles grabbed Melanie as she came out of the cafeteria.

"Whoa!" she said, bumping into his shoulder. The apple in her hand fell to the ground.

She shoved him away, sneering. There goes my lunch, she thought. Damn.

"Whatever you want, no," she said.

"You don't even know what I was going to say," he exasperated, his fingers unclinging from the straps of his bookbag and stretching out, matching his excitement.

"No," she said again.

"Look, I'm going to the cemetery later. I was hoping you'd tag along," he told her, stepping in her path.

"Why?" She stared at him skeptically.

"You saw fireflies."

Her eyebrows rose, still not catching onto what he was saying.

"We don't get fireflies around here."

"So?"

"It's not normal," he said, getting louder.

Melanie laughed nervously as people started to stare.

"Talk a little louder. I don't think the entire hallway can hear you," she hissed. "And, no. My back is still shredded. If I got attacked then killed, I'd find a way to kill you in death. I'm not looking to get myself killed."

"So…" He still waited for an answer.

"Fine. I'll meet you there around nine."

"Why nine?"

"I have things to do." Melanie rolled her eyes and departed from him, but not before smacking him upside the head.

"What was that about?" Isaac asked, coming from the opposite direction. Allison, holding his hand, shared his concern.

"Nothing."

"Do you really think he's onto something?" Allison asked.

"Danny does." Melanie thought about it a little. He was crazy about his suspicions. Everybody left him to that. "Yeah, I do."

Danny was making his way towards lunchroom when he saw Lydia and Aiden in the chem lab. They were going through Mr. Harris's desk.

"What are you doing," Danny said, dropping his bookbag by the door.

"He's the last one to go missing. There might be a clue," Aiden replied, not looking up from the drawer he sifted through.

Danny picked up some of the papers on top of the desk.

"We've looked through that already," Lydia said.

Danny put the papers aside, seeing a stack of graded quizzes from a few weeks ago. He picked them up and started searching for his. Both he and Melanie had studied hard for that quiz. D. A. R. R?

Danny's eyebrows furrowed confused. These weren't grades.

"Guys," he said.

Aiden and Lydia stopped and looked up at the same time.

"Check this out."

Peering over Danny's shoulders they looked at the quizzes. D.A. R. A. C. H. Darach.

"These aren't grades. I think this is that clue you wanted," Danny said.

"We need to talk to Scott," Lydia said, snatching the papers from his hands.

"Darach. What is that," Danny asked.

"I don't know," Aiden replied.

The three of them jumped as the bell sliced through the silence in the room shrilly. They split off to their classes, leaving the desk a mess.

At a quarter to nine Stiles pulled up to the cemetery entrance. Melanie was leaning against her car. A white cord worked from her pocket up to her ears. She stared off in the distance. Her eyebrows perked as he got out of the jeep.

She took out her earbuds and stuffed them in her hoodie pocket. She wrapped her hoodie tightly around her waist and met him at the gate.

"Okay genius, what are we looking for?" she asked.

"You know, Scott is usually more thrilled when we going on these little investigations," Stiles said pointedly.

"I'm not Scott. So again, what are we looking for?" She looked around blandly and unenthused. Mostly she was just tired.

Stiles cringed as if she'd already hit him.

"I don't know."

Melanie stopped and turned. Her lips puckered furiously. In the dark, he could see her cheeks reddening.

"Are you serious?!" She bellowed.

Stiles jumped back. Her fists were clenched. She really wanted to punch him now. Biting the inside of her cheek she walked ahead. What possessed this boy to go around half-cocked? There was nothing wrong with hunches, but people could get hurt or extremely dead on hunches. She knew from experience. She shrugged, her back itching.

"You act just like him! You're so mean," he said.

"Who? Derek?" She smirked.

"You're like the female him, except you probably don't punch as hard, not being a werewolf and all," he commented.

"You sure about that," she asked, grinning mischievously.

"Don't even—ow!" he yelled; Melanie wailed on his arm. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," she smiled gleefully.

"You smile," he breathed heavily, rubbing his arm, "at my pain."

"I can't help it. It brings me joy in my state," she said, still smiling.

"How is your back?"

"It's getting better. Scott's been insistent about taking the pain away. So has Isaac," she answered.

"What about Derek?"

"He lets them and says that it'll help me get better quicker than the pain meds," she replied, shrugging. Every time she argued with Derek about it, he'd overpower her by prodding at her.

Pulling out her iPod, she turned on the flashlight app and held out in their path.

"Turn that off!" Stiles hissed, grabbing for it.

"No! We could break our necks out here." Melanie pulled it from his reach causing him to nearly face plant.

"And, if the killer is out here he'll run away."

Melanie huffed. Her tolerance was wearing thin quickly. She turned off the light and shoved it back in her pocket. Though the sky was clear with stars spotted across it, the slivered moon did nothing to light their path. She looked around, squinting. Some gravestones were easy to spot with how tall they were. It would suck to trip on something like that. Other than those lumpy shapes, she couldn't really see. She seriously regretted leaving her glasses at home.

"Stiles, I can't see a thing-waa!"

Melanie thumped to the ground, landing on something hard.

"Hey, you okay," Stiles asked.

He swung around and tripped over one of Melanie's feet before receiving an answer. Landing across her lower back, she screamed and shoved him off. Her back surged with indescribable agony. Just breathe, in and out, she thought to herself shakily. Her vision blurred from her eyes watering. She shut them just as tightly as she clenched fistfuls of grass in her hands. Their cool blades sprang out from between her fingers.

Her head laid against something cool and hard. Concrete. She let out a few coughs from inhaling dust that had flown up and clouded around them from the fall. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times from the sudden dryness in her eyes.

"You okay?" she said through gritted teeth. Her back throbbed and she'd bent one of her broken fingers a little too far. Keeping her mouth tightly shut was all she could do to not cry.

"Yeah," he coughed.

Melanie rolled onto her side, but remained there for a few minutes, coughing some more from the dry air. Her lungs burned.

"What about you?"

"I'll survive," she replied, letting out a long, shaky breath.

Stiles crawled up to her side and helped her sit up. She winced in the midst of the motion and closed her eyes, not letting any sounds of pain out. Hopefully, none of the stitches ripped.

"I hate you," she grumbled, tilting her head to the side and glaring at him. He always had to make a situation worse.

He ignored her and was tapping on the concrete slab they fell onto. It was rectangular with an inscription near the top. It was a grave.

"Weird way to bury someone," he commented.

"Can we go? This is pointless. The fireflies have obviously caught on to your devious plan," she said sarcastically.

Stiles stood up and spun all the way around. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. His palms were sweaty with that familiar scared feeling. There was something out there. He could feel it. He just couldn't see it. The only bugs out here were the crickets singing their usual tune. Those werewolves weren't the first ones here that night. They just got to Melanie first. Stiles thought that bringing her back here would lure it out. Not telling her about that part of the plan was for the best. He valued his life and she'd murder him if she knew.

The Darach. That's what Deaton said the killer was called. He'd found out through Scott who found out through Lydia, Danny and Aiden. Stiles didn't fully trust the twins though Lydia had moved on and was dating Aiden again. Even Danny and Ethan were working out their relationship. Those guys had been in the alpha pack. Sure, going omega made them weaker, but they weren't any less shifty.

Sighing, he nodded. Gently, he took Melanie underneath the arm pit and helped her stand. The pain made Melanie want to scream all over again, but she clenched her jaws to silence her whimpers. She breathed heavily through her nose. She patted him on the shoulder, feeling okay enough to walk. He didn't seem so sure, but stayed quiet and let her go. He knew better than to argue by now. She had violence added to her agenda, and he had a bat which he'd never hit her with. He wouldn't think twice about hitting Derek though.

"Let's go," he said, getting one last glance at the strange in-ground tomb. The name wasn't visible in the darkness. The crack from their landing on it made it difficult to read it as well. He hoped that whoever it had been wouldn't come haunt them for accidentally breaking it.

Melanie nodded, clearing her throat from an itching at the back of her throat. A little water would fix that right up.

Melanie opened the front door quietly and snuck into the house. Everyone except for Stiles, Lydia and Cora had been on her case because she was acting like she hadn't even been hurt. Stiles knew she'd do whatever she wanted. Lydia didn't care. But, it was getting annoying to listen to them tell her that she needed to slow down and take it easy. Pushing through the pain and acting like it was any other day was better than being the helpless victim and Cora encouraged that to a point.

Tiptoeing upstairs, she went into the bathroom and pulled down the cream Melissa had given her along with a wash cloth. The gashes across her back had healed a great deal. They weren't as big. A little longer and she'd look all shiny and new. The stitches would help lessen the scarring. She tossed her hoodie to the floor then peeled her shirt carefully off. She'd bled through the material pretty roughly. There was no hope of saving this shirt. She sighed sadly. I really loved this shirt, she thought, dropping it beside her hoodie which had also been stained with blood. She took off the braces that her fingers were put in. Melissa recommended taking them off every once in a while and letting her fingers breathe. The small casts on them had been taken off last week. Both fingers ached. She bent them some, but couldn't bend too far.

Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, she turned on the faucet and ran her fingers through the water slowly. The water pressure both hurt and was softening. The sound of the rushing water was soothing. She put the rag under the white rush, remembering the time she and Laura went to these hot springs. It had been one of her favorite times. Laura had treated her like an adult.

Melanie let out a hitched breath as she reached back and pressed it to her shoulder blade. The hot water stung at first then faded.

"Mel? Hey, you here?" Isaac called. The sound of the front door closing followed.

Melanie sighed. He had that tone again. Why was he so freaked lately? He acted like she was going to die any minute. And, yeah, she had a few close calls, but she was fine. She had to be fine. Like the last couple of weeks, she ignored him. Looking at him, made her ache, and always left her with screwed up feelings.

"Mel!" he yelled. Thumps of his panicked footsteps bounding up the stairs echoed.

He stopped in the doorway, frozen at the sight of her. The doorframe under his grip cracked. She held the washcloth under the warm water again to rinse the blood out. The pink tint of the water slowly turned clear and she pressed the cloth to her bleeding skin again. Like before, the washcloth drank up her wound. The stinging sensation was less.

"Privacy!" she yelled, turning away from to shield her front.

Isaac turned away. Melanie looked over her shoulder. Her hair blocked most of her view, but it looked like he was blushing. She wasn't sure. The corner of her lips twitched and she bit her lower lip. Her back was bleeding and he was blushing. Awkward.

"What happened?"

"Stiles tripped and landed on me," she replied.

She froze feeling his hand over hers. She snatched her hand away quickly. Her mouth hung open nervously. There was a tingling where he'd touched her.

"Is it bad?" His voice was soft. He pressed the cloth gently along the spot that seeped.

"Uh, no. Did any of the stitches rip," she asked, keeping her eyes forward. Her chest felt as if it'd cave in any second.

"No."

She jumped, feeling his fingers touch her back tenderly underneath the knitted part of her skin. He was doing it again. He was taking away her pain. She didn't understand how werewolves could do it. They're aggressive creatures. Their instinct was to tear anything in their path apart. How did they develop a virtuous ability like this?

The tension in her shoulders loosened, and she slumped, nearly leaning back into him.

Isaac watched her skin rise with goosebumps. Touching her smooth skin made him crazy. Trying to convince himself that he loved Allison wasn't working anymore. He was going to spend the night with her tonight, but a twist in his gut told him that something was wrong. He shouldn't have been going to stay with his girlfriend.

Unknowingly, his eyes illuminated again as they travelled over Melanie and drank her in. Even the brutal wounds over her back were beautiful. They were slender and clean and elegantly curved.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

She kept her arms crossed over her front and stood up. The water was shut off.

"I'm pretty—" she coughed, "pretty tired. I'm going to get some sleep."

She rubbed her throat.

"Are you okay?" His eyebrows creased with concern.

"I think I'm just catching a cold," she shrugged, still going to the door.

He heard her clear her throat as she made her way to her bedroom. The washcloth splatted, landing in the tub. Pink tinted water, seeped from it and slithered down the drain. Sleep. That's one thing he hadn't been getting a lot of. Those five days of her being unconscious was bad, but now that she was up and around it was worse. Nights were restless. His chest tightened whenever he saw her which was all the time. He wondered if she felt the same tension. She had to of.

He turned off the light and made his way to his bedroom. There were a few things he had to grab before going to Allison's. He didn't hear anything from beyond Melanie's door. She probably fell asleep as soon as she hit her pillow, with the covers twisted around her taut body, and her hair wrapped around her neck and splayed behind her while the dark devoured her in her deep slumber.

A sigh from behind her bedroom door jerked him from his thoughts quickly and left him jarred.

"Isaac…"

He stared at the door. His jaw slackened and a blank expression came over his face. Looking down, his eyes widened. He held the doorknob to her room in his hand. He let go and backed away into his room carefully because at any moment he'd go back and quietly sneak into her room where the dark depths would engulf them both and hide them away. It would keep them out of the bright lights of the world because they both belonged in the dark. They understood it and it was comfortable, welcoming even. That darkness was everything that had made them both stronger.

He closed his bedroom door to further separate himself from her. His chest rose and fell heavily as he struggled to keep calm. He flexed his shaky hands. He'd almost gone in there. Who knows what would've happened if he did. Seeing her lie there asleep. Maybe she'd say his name again. What's happening to me, he thought.

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