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Track 01 - Look Too Closely Fink by Teen Daze
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{Thursday: Evening, in The Styx, BH. CA}
Along the Industry Bridge, one of the lesser used 'off' ramps into Beacon Hills on the 101 highway, was a thin strip of divey Motels, a rundown gas station and a 24-hour Diner named Tony's owned by a guy named Benny.
Located North enough it was outside of the power outage, out of society enough to attract the Red-Bull infused cross-country drivers and the occasionally inattentive road-tripping family. A perfectly public enough place for their private confrontation.
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Scott hadn't considered their appearance when he led his friends into the diner. He had only thought about how good it would feel to have warm food in their stomachs and to rest together in comfortable seats. It hadn't occurred to him that their entourage looked like they had just survived the zombie apocalypse. Under the bright lights in the mirrored doorway, he thought maybe this wasn't the best idea.
The "Please Wait To Be Seated" sign gave him time for a pause.
"Guys," he turned to Stiles, Lydia and Allison collected in the small waiting area with him. Stiles' hoodie bore a small stab wound and wet streaks that were undoubtedly blood, albeit drying down his right arm. Lydia's looked a bit scraped up, but her hair remained powdered with ash that the bike ride hadn't entirely blown away, not to mention her black wool pleated coat turned grey from debris. Allison still wore her archery gear, thankfully not her quiver, and looked mud clad and grass-stained pretty much everywhere. "Maybe this isn't the best idea."
"Ya think," Stiles quipped, shaking out his hair, deliberately spraying everyone with a rain of dirt. Allison ducked out of the spray and Lydia shoved his bad shoulder to make him stop.
"How many in your party?" The waitress asked. Scott whipped around to face her without realizing he didn't have the right words to excuse their leaving. Or an excuse for them at all.
"There are 6 of us," Allison answered as she stepped forward to Scott's side and placed an encouraging hand on his arm.
"Alright," the waitress didn't look remotely bothered with their appearance. In fact, she hardly acknowledged their uniqueness except to look them over a second time and add, "It'll be a booth in the back. If that's alright with you?"
"That'll be great," Scott sighed in relief and followed her along.
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Track 02 - Metal and Dust by London Grammer
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In the Men's room Stiles wiped furiously at the hoodie's sleeve. The blood was lifting but stains seemed inevitable. They weren't his real problem; the banister had left a hole the size of a small fist. The banister also left him with a slowly healing stab wound underneath his right shoulder blade that radiated pain, cramping his neck that stabbed his nerves with every move of his arms. When he ran his hand through his hair with aggravation, he felt he deserved the pain that came with it.
This item, this red hoodie, this stupid bloodied up and torn goddamn thing was the first thing Scott gave him. Melissa, Scott's Mom said it was his favorite thing, but he went and lent it to Stiles, in turn he ruined it.
It felt like a bad omen. When he stayed hidden things seemed easier, painful emotionally but easier while staying in Beacon Hills. With Scott and Lydia beside him, he'd felt more assured and had been able to find more answers about his missing pack members in 24 hours than he had in 2 weeks. They made the answers come easier but the choices so much harder. If he hadn't been selfish and dug up the corpse first, he might have seen the obvious signs of a trap. He wouldn't have endangered his living friends for a dead thing. He would never do that again, but how could he possibly prove that to them or to himself?
He violently threw a bar of soap into the sink when the knock at the door ripped him out of his obsessive thoughts. Stiles swung the door open to reveal Lydia standing tentatively on the other side. It wasn't the presence of a friendly face that knocked him out of his anxiety spiral but the sight of Lydia filling up the doorway of the designated space of a "Men's" bathroom.
"What is it?" he heard himself say, thankfully in a tone that was more out of concern than accusation.
As usual, she looked put together, her hair combed back, her face washed, and clothes neatly dusted. She stood poised and looked him over from bottom to top. "Your hair is leaking pink," she pointed a line, tracing the air from where water and blood changed colors as it transferred from his hands onto his hair.
Stiles dropped his hands away from the doorframe and straightened up. "I knew that," he turned back around to face the mirror. Lydia watched through the reflection as he repeatedly scooped up fresh water, running his hands over his face and through his hair. She tried not to stare at the hole through the back of his black shirt and instead stared at the detailed 'Día De Los Muertos' sugar skull splayed across his chest in the reflection. She thought the detail mocking in the face of events.
"I thought about turning my t-shirt inside out," he smiled reassuringly at her through the mirror.
"I bet you did," she blinked and came back from her worried expression. She smiled briefly and her steadier façade came back in place. She stepped through the doorway and ignored the rules that denied her "Woman's" entry.
"Are you using cold water?"
He shook his head in negation. At the sink, she took the hoodie from where it hung over the faucet beside him.
"Here," she turned the cold water on high and soaped only the stained area up into a frothy mound. Her hands were far more delicate around the tear. She assured him it would come out and since the tear was not far from the seam it would be an easy mend.
"Lydia, what are you doing in here?" What he meant to ask was 'why are you helping me?' her uncertain silence afterward as she let the water run along her still hands said something. He recognized a familiar guilt reflected in her face.
"You don't have to help me," while reaching for the hoodie, he turned off the faucet when someone suddenly turned the knob to open the door.
"Occupied!" they shouted in unison, turning to slam closed the door and Stiles locked it this time. Sighing Lydia slipped into her cool façade once more.
"Well, someone needs to help you," after aggressively wringing out moist arm of the hoodie she handed it to him.
"And I owe you-"
"-You definitely do not owe me!-"
"-you wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't dragged you two out there with me."
"-then you would have gone alone. Right?"
"I could have just called the police," she suggested, feeling confused she internalized and looked away. When he didn't take the hoodie back right away, she shook it at him.
"You want to call the police before you call me?" his voice raised, as he snatched it from her hands and yanked it on still partially wet.
With her apology ruined she stammered, "I'm supposed to call you first whenever I find a dead body?!"
"YES!" he shouted. As he clutched her shoulders, forgotten was the guilt from moments earlier. His doubts were made clearer with a bit of perspective.
Lydia didn't doubt his conviction but considering how things played out she doubted his ability to keep safe despite his well-meaning. She shook her head and felt a stress headache coming on, and something more traitorous than having debris fall on her.
"No," she pushed off his hands and stepped around him unlocking the door with a turn of the doorknob.
"Yes," he pushed back in the lock.
"Stiles," she glared, "no!"
"Stiles, yes!" he pressed his body against the door.
She definitely sensed stress ahead, "it almost got you killed."
"So, you almost got killed, too and we're both still alive. See, teamwork." They were at a stand-still, but Lydia broke first, tearing her eyes away.
"I take that as a yes," Stiles ducked his head to see her bite her lip to keep from grinning, with that he felt a burden lifted.
She righted herself and took in a deep breath, "whatever it takes to get you to stop that man from banging down the other side of the bathroom door."
Stiles grinned and held the door open to lead them out. Lydia crossed her arms and marched out stridently, equally amused as exasperated. The man watching them leave, however, held none of their sentiment but quite a lot of judge-y judgment.
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Track 03 - Under The Tide by CHVRCHES
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While Allison and Scott slid into the booth across from each other's as Stiles disappeared to the bathroom. They could have sat beside each other and held hands, but they wanted to drink up the sight of one another.
"You look like a mess," she smiled a smile that meant 'you're mine' and gave no warning when she reached across and pushed his hair back from his forehead.
"You look amazing," Scott grinned, pleased to be under her exclusive attention. The last time he had seen her at the school she had been stolen away by her family without so much as a goodbye. Awkward or otherwise.
Now it was her turn to stare. She tilted her head and squinted her eyes her silent accusation of lying but she leaned over the table to kiss him instead.
"I was so scared," she whispered still bent across the table. Playfulness aside, she cupped his face as though they needed even more seclusion than their private booth supplied.
"I wasn't," he smirked cockily, "I knew you would come for me."
Her eyes narrowed further as if she were trying to examine straight through his words into his soul to see the realness of it. She pressed her lips together and lifted one brow, "Scott, are we going to have houses fall on us again?"
"No, ma'am," the cockiness of his smile went away replaced by a playfulness.
"And we're not going to drown ourselves in poison again either?" she said with more authority and pressed their head together for emphasis.
"No, ma'am," he answered, and she kissed his forehead at that.
"Find another seat, sweetheart" and Lydia gave no warning when she returned from the bathroom and pushed Scott to move over so that she could sit across from Allison. She looked a little better, with her hair combed, her face washed and her eyes bright with amusement as she challenged Scott to move.
Stiles returned from the bathroom and slipped in on the opposite end of the booth bench, he no longer had blood on the side of his face, his hair lightly moist and cleared of blood and dust but his right arm trembled from slow healing.
Allison smiled at the act of Scott being sandwiched by Stiles and Lydia. The girls reached out and held hands, Lydia could feel rope burns on her wrists pass the materiel of her archery gloves. She tsked and rubbed them gently to sooth, ignoring the markings of lights bruising on along her own wrists. Allison smiled and let Lydia's nervous tick continue.
However, Scott put his hand on Stiles good shoulder and insisted Stiles take his denim jacket. Stiles' face colored a little at the offer, but he waved him off.
"Seriously man, you're soaked, and I wouldn't want you to puke or something," Scott already shifted out of its sleeves when it seemed Stiles suddenly remembered his aversion to blood. They scrambled out of the opposite side of the booth and after several efforts Scott managed to help Stiles to put his arms through the sleeves. Allison watched and tried not to laugh as the boys nearly spun out and toppled over, twice. Lydia simply rolled her eyes.
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Track 04 - Future Starts Slow by The Kills
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When Isaac entered moments later after having parked the KingQuad ATV, the sound of him loudly knocking back the diner door announced an end to their nesting easiness.
"We need to talk while she's on the phone," he announced upon sitting. He had marched toward them and dropped into the space across from Stiles and next to Allison but left an awkward cavernous 14 inches gap of between them.
Allison looked discomforted more than most, since it seemed despite having helped rescue her friends her Aunt Kate had become the target of derision.
"How did you end up at the Hale House?" Isaac asked of Stiles.
"Lydia," Scott answered. Lydia nodded in confirmation.
"Did you, you know-?" Isaac took a dramatically deep breath. She stared at him in confusion, and he opened his mouth in awkward vowel-like gestures.
"You can say scream," Stiles gestured across at him toward Lydia, as if the connection could possibly be made, "the word isn't taboo."
"It's just I didn't hear her this time," he snapped at Stiles.
"Do you hear it every time?" Lydia asked.
"Yes," Scott answered.
"I think so," Isaac answered.
"It was earlier this afternoon," Lydia recounted "while you guys were in detention."
"Ohhh," both Isaac and Scott said in unison. Allison and Stiles shared a second-long look between them.
"What?" Lydia demanded, feeling annoyed to be left out.
"I was knocked out by a bookcase," Isaac explained.
"I think I may have had a concussion," Scott theorized.
"I wish I heard it," Stiles tacked on.
"Mr. Harris took all of our cell phones. I'm so sorry Lydia." Allison squeezed Lydia's hands as a show of apology. Lydia shrugged. In the grand scheme of things, hearing her scream hadn't really mattered if they weren't able to help.
"Why are we trying to hide what we say from Allison's Aunt?" Lydia finally asked.
"She says she might know things," Isaac's voice faltered as he struggled to perfectly phrase his next sentence.
"Things about your Alpha, Derek Hale," explained Allison, evading his attempt to sidestep her feelings.
Isaac nodded, fiddling with his hands under the table and while his posture stiffened. Stiles processed this information while his stance took a false calm, he sat back in his seat and stretched his arms out onto the table.
"W-why would she know that?" Scott wondered aloud.
"She was brought in as an expert." Allison shrugged. She looked around the table, her dark eyes were determined, and her expression was open and honest. "I don't know what makes her an expert, but they wouldn't have brought her in if they weren't absolutely sure she knows what she's talking about."
"So, she knew Derek but didn't know we were part of his pack," Isaac looked to Stiles. There was a flash of relief in their eyes, but it was short lived.
Kate arrived and she didn't take a place in the booth instead she dragged over a chair toward the head beside Allison, taking control of the table. On the open and opposite end, Stiles and Isaac looked ready to bolt at any moment. They occasionally shared intense 'Maybe we should get the fuck out of here' stares. An awkward silence remained until the waitress laid out cups and dropped a coffee pot on center of the table between them.
"Alright guys," Kate cleared her throat, "caffeine up. It's already late so our recap session needs to be done a lot faster."
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Track 05 - She's Not There (Zombies Cover) by Nick Cave and Neko Case
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Not having much to say but also not to be settle on inaction, Lydia insisted on serving everyone. She shuffled the mugs around, filled them to the brim, she nagged about the amount of cream/sugar intake and forced them to pass the cups along. They muttered amongst themselves almost ignoring Kate entirely.
"Isaac?" Kate interrupted and jerked her chin across the table "is that Stiles?" Isaac nodded tersely, he felt like he had given up some government secret. "Good," she conceded, "I'm glad you found each other. And you're Scott?"
"Yes Ma'ammKate," Scott mumbled on the intake of one short breath, then hid behind the lip of a cup.
"It's nice to see you can manage to keep a shirt in one piece," Kate grinned eyeing Scott from top to bottom.
Allison's cup clattered to the table "Aunt Kate!"
"And you're Lydia, I've noticed you."
"Have you?" she replied behind her slow sips.
"A lot," Kate teased, "on my niece's Instagram," and she added in a lighter tone, "I've seen you make her happy. I've also noticed you insulated her wardrobe."
"You're welcome," Lydia grinned openly. Allison groaned and hid her face behind her hands. Stiles and Isaac tried and failed not to grin to different measures of amusement. For Isaac in a level of empathy. For Stiles because of outright bliss.
"You know, I can't always be there for her," Kate said sincerely, "I was trying to thank you."
"You're embarrassing me," Allison mumbled.
"Well," Kate said thoughtfully, took a long sip of coffee and rotated the cup in her hands "no more embarrassing than finding you playing 'finger my keystrokes' with one Werewolf boyfriend in your parent's room in the morning, to hiding another one in your bedroom the next night."
The table turned still enough that you could hear a pin drop.
Allison slowly turned to face 5 very attentive faces, "that is not what it sounds like." When she looked desperately toward Isaac for help all eyes zipped toward him.
"You were in her bedroom?" Scott asked Isaac. "Why were you in her bedroom?"
"Isaac is not my boyfriend!" Allison snapped at Kate.
Isaac began to babble. "There's a perfectly logical excuse... that I happen to not be able to think of at the moment. Did I say excuse? I meant reason. I meant reasons."
"Bro, what the hell?" Stiles squinted at Isaac.
"Yes, Allison." Lydia said calmly. "That makes it sound so much better. I hid a 'not boyfriend, but totally hot Werewolf guy' in the private bedroom of a Hunter's daughter because..."
"Oh!" Allison deflated.
"I didn't want to leave her alone!" Isaac shouted, and everyone turned to stare at him. "I mean, after what happened at the school, we should not have been alone. Lydia was with them, and she practically told me to! With the text and she's my-"
"I'm your what?" Lydia cut in icily.
"You're my friend and I trust your advice," Isaac paused and shook his head in defeat. "You were worried when Allison hadn't responded to your texts. I knew you'd want to know for certain she was okay. Ok?"
"He did actually give me text updates," Lydia smirked. "A little obsessed but charming. You guys should really loosen up."
"Okay?" Isaac declared to the whole table.
"OK!" amused, Kate leaned back. She had edged forward defensively with every raised tone of voice.
"Thanks man." Scott said low toward Stiles, "for not leaving me alone. After the whole library thing."
"What-really?" Stiles answered back, his expression was mocking.
"Yeah," smirked Scott and he leaned into Stiles good arm. They jostled playfully back and forth.
"You spilled it on my clothes," Lydia groaned after coffee got knocked onto her dress, with both hands she tried vainly to wipe the one item she wore not entirely stained by smoke or debris. "I could kill you, I could murder you both!"
"Oh Lydia," Allison shook her head sympathetically, "or later we just finish burning the whole outfit. Save the friendship?"
"This is a beautiful thing we have going on here," Kate interrupted, her voice steadier and more commanding. "I wonder how Jackson fits into your group dynamic?"
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Track 06 - D is for Dangerous by Arctic Monkeys
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Their banter stopped like a grenade had been dropped in the center of the diner.
"Your teacher, Mr. Harris, said," Kate continued after indelicately clearing her throat, "that while most of you were at detention together, Jackson was in attendance too. None of you have checked in on him?"
Crickets.
Something like crickets, or rather there were heartbeats as Lydia's slowly sped in panic, Allison's in apprehension. And the boys noticed. Isaac's oozed uneasiness, Stiles remained still because he expected a play for power, but Scott's worry radiated.
"Well, 4 hours afterward he was found in the center of the town's power outage, fried with enough kilowatts to put our town out for a couple of days. Fortunately, he's only half dead."
"Is he-?" Lydia stared at Kate while she reached a hand across the table blindly for Allison and was met halfway. The table waited for an answer to Lydia's unfinished question.
"Is he what?" Kate half-turned to face her. "Is he OK?"
Lydia shook her head, "changed?" Allison pressed her hands firmly into her friends as she observed the similarities between Kate and Lydia, their pointed questions.
"So," Kate pets Lydia's arm, she smiled, brave-faced in a sincere emphatic gesture, "we have a confirmed Kanima sighting then?"
"Yes," Allison nodded, and Lydia didn't have to answer anymore.
"Kanima?" Scott had wanted to know more about Jackson but in all truth was unsure of how to bring it up. Allison's Hunter status was still a very new and touchy subject amongst them all.
"Kind of like a lizard," Isaac recounted, "venomous claws, double row of fangs, scales and a tail."
"Lizard-ish." Stiles expanded, "there is a Beta form. There's one that's less... lizard."
"-and how long have we known?" Kate kept her attention squarely on Allison, judgment tainted her tone.
"Confirmed, 2 maybe 3 days but I've suspected for longer," confirmed Allison.
Lydia gasped her name, pulled her hand from Allison's, and stared in disbelief. There were secrets and then there were 'secrets'. "-but he can't control himself anymore," Lydia recited from the bestiary what she learned in defense of Jackson, "Someone is doing this to him. Someone can control him. Someone can control all of-"
Kate calmly placed a hand back on Lydia's shoulder, encouraging her to sit calmly back down "-I know how a Kanima works honey. I wasn't blaming any actions on him. In fact, I think electrocuting himself saved someone else's life tonight." The table became stunned, not in a silence exactly, as someone swore to themselves and someone else bashed their knee on the table when they squirmed in their seat in surprise.
"It did," Kate emphasized, "but it obviously hasn't gone unnoticed. If he wasn't under the control of someone here at this table, no offense-"
"Offense! Offense taken," Stiles shot forward.
Kate continued undeterred, "-then pretty soon whoever is using him as their pawn is going to notice he isn't where he's supposed to be?"
"Jackson can be a bully-" aggravated, Scott leaned forward onto his elbows and spoke clearly to everyone.
"-an utter asshole," Isaac added.
"-a selfish lay," Lydia offered.
Mildly confused but undeterred, Scott continued "right all that, but he's our... that. No one should use him against his free will like this."
"You were really struggling there, man." smirking Stiles clapped him on the back.
"Yea, I really was," Scott hung his head, and glanced toward Stiles. Between them Lydia rolled her eyes and elbowed for them to return their attention toward the whole group. After a sigh Scott continued, "It's just Jackson is really kind of a jerk, but he's also just like us. High School sucks, and then this happened to us. We're supposed to be changing but it's supposed to be our choice."
"Yes, you are teens," sighed Kate. "Plus, you are this, the result of being raised as a Hunter, being raised as a part of pack, being raised sheltered and because of that the benefit of being unaligned." A thoughtful pause settled.
Isaac broke the silence with his straightforwardness. He finished his coffee and dropped his mug with a clatter. "Not to interrupt your monologue, but you sure know a lot about us," he handed over her keys to the ATV, "aside from you're god's gift to body armor, we don't know shit about you."
"Thank you," Kate grinned and reached for the keys.
When their hands clasped his claws extended and he kept their hold, "you owe me a story."
There had been many awkward silences throughout the night but none so malicious; Lydia had a hand over her mouth and watched wide-eyed while everyone glared. Allison had her knife pulled from her holster without thought. Stiles leaned forward, his grip on the table enough to mark the wood. Scott's eyes lightened but didn't change color; he put a hand over Stiles' and clenched a fist to keep any claws from either extending or being seen. Meanwhile Kate's smile extended to observe them, especially Isaac; his slowly healing rope burns, discolored from poison that seeped through open cuts. He would hardly be what she would consider a threat.
"Yeah, I do." Kate didn't skip a beat. She moved her right hand to pinch a pressure point on Isaac's wrist and force his claws to retract. She sat back, pocketed her keys, and sipped her coffee with ease although her heart rate changed minutely. She resettled herself before speaking, her voice wasn't as hard as before but it wasn't exactly tender. It was didactic.
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Track 07 - The Way You Are by 46Bliss
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"The story is about another idiot teenager, 16-year-old Derek of the venerable Hale pack. This is about the 1st hunt I had as an acolyte, the 1st love of my life, the reason I defected from the main branch of Argent's and reason why my brother Chris and I only hunt and kill supernatural treaty breakers. And the only reason I have ever, would ever come back to the hallowed grounds of Beacon Hills.
"Argents are raised to be strong, our sons are trained to be soldiers; our daughters, to be leaders. Beacon Hills wasn't always the calm, friendly town you kids grew up in. For a long time, my family had a faction here once. It used to be a real Beacon for monsters that bumped uglies in the night. But Werewolves, they're gate keepers, they're guardians. And 16 years ago, someone broke the boundaries of peace, and the packs were dedicated to resolving it amongst themselves.
"As Hunters, it piqued our interest, but it didn't mean we had to get involved. Personally, I didn't know where I stood. Chris was excited to be placed in field work, to track and investigate but I wanted to be a normal teenager. I begged to be enrolled into the local high school. And I was used to getting my way.
"Of course, I was a tomboy. By practice I registered under a different name than Argent and joined every team that would have me. I didn't expect to find a Werewolf there, but Derek was athletic and egotistical, not smart enough to be subtle, he made point-guard on the basketball team or didn't bother hiding his supernatural talents. I understood what it was to not want to be homeschooled by freaks and to just want to be normal, so I didn't rock the boat. I didn't report him to my family. But I didn't stop observing him either.
"Then a girl in the school named Paige turned up dead."
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Track 08 - Master Hunter by Laura Marling
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"Paige's neck had been snapped but she showed obvious lycanthrope infection. Afterward Derek's dropped out of public school altogether. Derek wasn't an Alpha then, he couldn't have infected her, but he acted like a guilty man.
"Every Argent instinct felt I needed to investigate. Even if Derek had committed some mercy killing, which he had, I felt if I reported him earlier her life would have been spared.
"Not being able to go back in time and report to prevent this meant finding the actual culprit responsible for her inciting infection would be next to impossible. Beacon Hills still had so many pack clans in BH. Old ones: the Primal Pack, Kali, Pelt, Satomi, Deucalion, and new ones like Ennis & Vaughan, etc. so my Father, Gerard Argent lashed out and declared war on a weaker clan, nearly picking them all off.
"Chris and I were still pretty green, and Gerard didn't want us involved. He thought keeping us at arm's length would make us pliable. At the time we thought it meant our Father's 'concern' meant he thought we were soft, he thought we couldn't handle it. We misunderstood. He was managing us, he had plans for us. We misunderstood a lot of things. We thought war was breaking out because of Derek, not because my Father is a psychopath using old world bullshit to hide his play for power.
"So, we decided to evade my Father entirely and go straight to the source. We went to Derek. We went to into the woods to visit the Hale House. We observed them but they were normal. A Mother, Sisters, Brothers, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins. Derek barely left the Estate; he never left the grounds and went through a massive sullen phase. It was... it was really hot.
"I visited, a lot under the guise of a home tutor. They had a handful of in rotation, they were wealthy influential people, and it wasn't uncommon to have people coming and going. Chris easily set up some special surveillance. They never knew we were Argents. Their Mother Talia was great, his siblings were nice, his older sister Laura and I grew close, and I ended up really comforting Derek. But his Uncle was a sociopathic creep. He was as bad as Gerard. I realized that too late."
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Track 09 - So Far From Your Weapon by Dead Weather
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"Maybe he just felt territorial and possessive, maybe he found our surveillance I don't know, but one of Derek's Uncles realized Chris was a Hunter and tried to hurt him. No, he tried to murder him. Within the agreements of Hunters and Werewolves it's very 'Look But Don't Touch.' We hadn't attacked, we hadn't broken any laws. We were investigating that was all. But he was trying to take my brother's head off. Derek misunderstood and over-reacted, his Uncle Peter told him Hunter meant killers and our investigation made us spies.
"It happened fast. Mentioning Paige had only been the beginning of a long line of our reasons for being there. Of my wanting to be there. Chris and Derek fought for a while, but it wasn't something detrimental, it was under control. It was under our control until it suddenly wasn't. A fire broke out. I did start the fire, but it was aimed at his Uncle. He had manipulated the 3 of us but I finally escaped him by trapping him in the unused wine cellar. There was no way of knowing his Uncle had some booby-trap rigged up in there until it went up like fireworks, taking him and a number of Cousins that got locked in.
"Laura, she was the first of Derek's sisters to go back into the fire to rescue people but only she didn't come out. I know her death wasn't my fault, but I was instrumental in orchestrating it. That I can never forgive myself for and I know Derek can't either. She did get a few family members out of the fire, a scattered few. By that I think you know I do mean scattered. There are still Hales wandering around without a pack.
"Whatever it was that Peter meant to do, whether to gain leverage over Talia or to just cause chaos I'm not sure. When he went, he took not only the people but the Estate, the history and all their secrets. I guess in a way he won."
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Track 10 - Glory and Gore by Lorde
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"And me? When Chris and I escaped the Argent family was right there. They said I was a hero.
"I told my Father I loved Derek and begged him to let him go, not to hunt him; to let him live. My Father covered my confession up.
"Whatever disturbance was going on in Beacon Hills was somehow burnt away with the Hale Estate. I don't know what else our family said to end the war, but it must have been worse than burning children alive.
"Oh, but they 'hero-worshipped' us, it made the separation that much easier. Chris and I defected though; we made it public that we couldn't abide killing children and burning them alive. We made agreements with supernaturals to uphold treaties, to settle them if they were broken and, unlike our Forefathers, we will broker new ones. Violence would be the last option.
"A while later, I did eventually find Derek. Although he said he was looking for surviving members of his pack, I had no reason to trust him. I warned him turning back up in Beacon Hills looked like a grab for power, even if he didn't have the numbers. So, a new treaty was bartered; if the Hales never turned back up in Beacon Hills than I never had a reason to come back to shut them down. After all there were other places to build a pack and other ways to make wolves: births, choice, discovery. As long as he didn't steal his strength from people like his Uncle had then we never had to see each other again. And I never heard from the Hale pack again, until yesterday."
Playlist Available: 8tracksDOTcom / bhanesidhe / 11-were-you-heard
Playlist: transferred over to youtubeDOTcom / bhanesidhe / playlist