For hours, Derek and Sam just stayed by each other's side, not needing a moment to talk. They didn't need to. If anything, she just wanted him to rest.
As long as she was there, he was gonna rest. That didn't last as his alarm clock blared. He growled and turned it off, rubbing his face as he glanced at the alpha mark on his wall. Sam looked at it as well. "What's it mean this time?", Sam asked, walking over to him.
"It means they're coming. Tonight.", he says.
"Tonight? Why?", Sam asked. "You need to get out of here.", Derek said, ignoring her question.
"Quit that shit.", Sam says, and looks at her phone as Scott informs her of new sacrifices. "Dammit.", Sam muttered.
Derek looked up. "What?"
"Scott's saying there were two more sacrifices last night. And Danny was a potential sacrifice. Somehow Ethan saved him, so I don't know what to make of that.", Sam says, shrugging. "You need to get out.", Derek repeated, and Sam sighed, gazing at him with furrowed eyebrows.
He returned the look, but suddenly sighed as he looked conflicted. "What?", Sam asked.
"Where were you last night?", he asked. Sam looked at him in confusion. "I came to your house that day. You weren't there. Where'd you go?", he asked.
Sam's eyes widened. "You came to my house? Peter told me to meet up with him and Cora— hell, we were looking for you! He had hope that you were alive and then we found out Ennis was alive…I couldn't take it anymore. I left."
His eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. "Left? Where did you go?"
"I met up with Scott and Stiles at a hotel with the cross-country team.", Sam says.
"Why'd you smell like gasoline then?", he pressed. She pocketed her phone, not looking at him. She couldn't tell if he was pissed or concerned anymore. She didn't wanna make it worse. Hell, she, Scott, Boyd, and Isaac almost bit the dust and that would have ruined everything.
"Sam.", Sam heard Derek softly call her, his hand brushing hers. "What happened?"
"The Darach got to us.", Sam confessed softly.
"Who is us?", Derek asked.
"As far as I know, Boyd, Isaac, Ethan, Scott, and me.", she shrugged, looking at him.
"What happened?", he repeated. She informed him of what happened that night.
"Scott didn't even look like himself. I've never seen him like that. So broken. He poured gasoline everywhere and lit a flare. He was going to kill himself. Stiles saved him and took the flare from him, wasn't even paying attention to where he threw it and the flare rolled into gasoline and caused an explosion.", she says, shaking her head. "Somehow, the Darach put wolfsbane in Coach Finstock's whistle. And every time he blew it on the bus, the four of them were just inhaling it."
"And what about you?"
"I don't even know why I was affected.", Sam says, shrugging.
"How were you affected?", he asked. She scratched behind her ear, sighing. "Coach found me in the front office and blew the whistle in my face. Twice.", she tells him, shaking her head at the memory.
"What happened after that?", he asked. Sam swallowed and looked down, already sensing his dread.
"What happened, Sam?", he pressed, taking her hand in his. She had almost gotten distracted. His hand was warm...comforting...a complete contrast to hers.
She felt her throat swell a little with emotion. How does anyone just confess something like that…? "I...made myself think that your death was my fault. That I had killed you without killing you...", she swallowed, and his face instantly dropped, a bit mortified now. "I hallucinated and tried drowning myself. Stiles got me out. Seems he's been the hero this entire time.", she says, clearing her throat. She looked at Derek, frowning at his expression.
"Why? Why you?", he asked. Sam shrugged, looking away. "Guess I couldn't handle your "death" as strongly as I thought I could. I felt bad. I felt…guilty." She chuckled humorlessly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This entire time, I made myself sick at the thought that you wouldn't have able to have a peaceful death that didn't result you getting killed. I was worried. I let you drop."
She dropped her free hand and looked at it in frustration. "I should've been able to help a lot more than what I was doing. That was the whole point of my training and testing my skills. If I was better at my abilities, you wouldn't have gone through that."
Derek looked at her in confusion. "Your abilities? You mean...what you did in the vault? What was that?"
Sam frowned. "I-" She sighed and stepped away from him. It was a little difficult since it was daylight now, but she managed to lift up his legs from his bed, making him look at his own body in bewilderment.
As she stopped, he looked at her in astonishment. He hadn't seen anything like that before. Sam shrugged, "It's weird for me too, but I can apparently control shadows for some reason. I don't know why, but right after Jackson left, I started getting this weird feeling. It felt like a pull. And from then on, that was it. I trained myself to control more and more."
He didn't say anything. He looked like he wanted to, but he didn't know what to say until he finally spoke up. "Something happened while you were gone too."
Sam tilted her head in confusion. "Like what?"
His jaw clenched before he sighed. "After leaving your house, I went to the school. For some reason, I had hoped you were there...I—", he sighed harshly. "You weren't, but I saw a woman. Long brown hair, high heels, getting into a car. I followed her. It was your teacher."
"Ms. Blake?", Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. Derek nodded. "She took me back here. She tried talking with me, finding things to heal me."
"What would she even know what to heal you with…", Sam muttered in confusion.
"I kept telling her I needed to find you and the others. She told me not to. Said it'd be better if no one knew I was alive, so I could make a big comeback.", he shook his head with a half chuckle. "It was confusing because why would she say that?", he asked himself.
Sam frowned at him.
"She started talking more. I was practically knocking on death's door but… she– we slept together.", he confessed.
Sam's eyes widened a bit as she felt a twinge in her chest. Actually... she was feeling a lot. Sadness...relief...frustration... betrayal. But... why? Ignoring it all, she shook her head. "You slept with her?", Sam asked.
"I didn't mean to.", Derek defended. Sam sighed. Derek watched as she made an internal conflict within herself.
Less to say, she was pissed. Pissed at herself for believing he'd actually die. Pissed for trusting that woman to do her job and she couldn't even do that right. Pissed for leaving her with him while he was practically dying. He was telling her that he needed to get to her students who were in danger, and she didn't care.
"I'm sorry.", Derek apologized softly. Sam looked at him in bewildered that he would even apologize for something like that. "What you do in privacy of yourself, has nothing to do with me. But it's just…"
She took a breath. "I don't know what type of state you were in but if it was enough that you were supposed to be damn near dead and she thought it was a good idea to sex you up, I have a problem with that. A big problem.", Sam says and grabbed her things to leave.
"Where are you going?", he asked, getting up.
"Going to school, where else?", Sam asked as she began to leave. He rushed to her. "You're about to do something stupid.", he says, and Sam turns to him.
"Right. Because doing something "stupid" after finding out someone had sex with another person's nearly dead corpse isn't something to be upset about. I don't wanna walk into class knowing that she did this shit without doing anything about it, because apparently words don't work on her. So, my actions will.", Sam tells him, ready to walk out.
He shook his head, trying to stop her again. "Sam–" She turned around to face him, quickly stopping his path.
"We've been worrying about who was gonna be the next sacrifice, looking over our shoulders just in case the alphas wanted to act up and she's getting in the way of that. While she did this, we almost died, and she obviously didn't give a damn. Me, Isaac, Boyd and Scott, we almost died!", Sam yelled, tearing up.
He looked at her in shock, unexpecting her outburst. He finally got a good look at her. Her face was barely swollen but swollen enough to let him know she'd been crying. Her eyes were finally letting up from their redness, but the glossing up was telling him otherwise. And she knew it. "I-", Sam sighed. "This is fucked up. In so many ways than one.", Sam says, pocketing her hands as she backed away. "You're still healing. You need rest. I'll be back later."
Before she could turn away, he quickly pulled her in a hug. "I'm sorry.", he mumbled in her hair, rocking me as she cried. "I'm so tired, Derek…", she whimpered, and his hold got tighter as he apologized again.
Minutes later, Derek let her go to school and he watched her drive away from his building, frowning sadly. He wasn't expecting her to find him. At least, not so soon. He planned on finding them instead, but she was the first one to rush and find him. How'd she even know he was alive?
As Sam arrived at school, she didn't care to show up late in Harris's class. She half expected to hear his snarky voice, but she didn't. Instead, she saw Ms. Blake "Nice of you to join us, Samantha.", Ms. Blake smiled. Sam let out a grumble as she walked to the table Stiles and Scott sat at. They didn't look so happy either.
"What happened?", Sam asked. "Deaton." Stiles answered. Sam's eyes widened. "What happened to him?", she whispered.
"He was taken.", Scott said.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered the pattern. "He's a healer. He's the last sacrifice?"
"Yeah…", Stiles said, scratching his head.
"Then we need to leave.", Sam said.
"There's no clue of knowing where he is.", Stiles told her, looking at her in confusion.
"We need to come up with a plan then. There's no way I'm letting him die after the countless times he's helped us.", Sam determined.
"I'll find him.", Scott declared, and they turned to the front of the class as Blake droned on about nothing.
Sam felt disgusted just by being here with her. None of her friends knew what the hell she did. What she told Derek. In a way, she was grateful that the woman stayed until Derek could heal himself, but...
Their eyes looked up at the sound of the bell and the trio stood, readying to leave. "I'll see you all tomorrow! Study up!", Ms. Blake cheered. Sam grabbed her backpack and walked to the door with Stiles and Scott. "We need to go. Like now.", she told them.
"I know that. We need to go to the animal clinic during break.", Scott says.
"I don't know if you noticed, but the Darach has a very clean way of getting rid of—"
"Samantha, may I speak with you for a moment? Alone?", Ms. Blake cut Sam off. Sam paused, gritting her teeth as she shook her head, glancing at the two boys.
"Wait for me outside.", she says, and they leave. Sam turned around and shoved her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight to one leg.
"Your tardiness and disruption cannot go unpunished. I hope you know that.", she says.
Sam scoffed. "You're really giving me detention?"
She gave her a sorry smile. "I'm sorry, it's the rules. I can't bend the rules for everyone and unfortunately you had to be made an example."
Sam narrowed her eyes.
"I'm sorry, you have detention after school. My classroom. You can't be late.", the woman says. The nerve.
"You think you're some teacher. Hell, you're one crazy necrophiliac for trying to tell me what rules I should and shouldn't follow.", Sam sneered. Ms. Blake looked appalled. "E-Excuse me?"
Sam walked up to her as the woman looked up at her. "I'll come to detention. But don't think it'll be as pleasant as you make it.", Sam grounded out before turning to storm out of the room seeing Scott and Stiles had already left.
Isaac ran up to her. "What's up with you?", he asked.
"Ask Derek's new girlfriend.", Sam mumbled, not bothering to look at him. Isaac chuckled. "New girlfriend? What are you talking about?"
"While we were at Glenn Capri, Miss "By the Books" had fun with Derek while he was damn near dead.", Sam says, and he looked at her in shock. "He told you that?", he asked. Sam nodded. "Wow.", he muttered.
"Get to class, Isaac. Before we both get detention.", Sam says, giving him a small smile. He returned it before Sam went to her next class.
Detention was finally over, and she walked down the dark halls of the school. Something felt off tonight. If Deaton wasn't gonna be the one to die tonight, someone else definitely was.
As Sam reached the front door of the school, a tall, blonde teen came out of the conjoining hallway and blocked her way.
She stopped. It was one of the twins. He wasn't alone. He couldn't be alone. She turned around to see Aiden behind her.
Shit.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes.", Sam sarcastically said, backing away from the twin.
"So are you.", Aiden smirked and grabbed her. Turns out she wasn't the only one who was getting kidnapped tonight. The man-eater herself was too.
They were being dragged through Derek's apartment building and up to his loft. Kali, being the leader of this creepy crew was going to Derek once again to make him decide.
"Please let me go.", Ms. Blake whined. Ethan's hands clasped around Sam's upper arms so there was no point in fighting. She didn't even know their strengths yet, so she wasn't gonna push her luck to fight them alone.
"Quit your whining.", Sam fussed at her. The woman glared at her.
"Both of you shut up.", Kali growled and disappeared inside Derek's loft. "Gotta be honest Derek, when Ennis died, I thought to myself, I'll just go for it. Find you and kill you wherever you stood. And I remembered how you surround yourself with these teenagers—hiding behind them.", she taunted.
"And I thought, what's a girl gotta do to get you alone?" The twins finally dragged them inside, sloshing in water. Sam looked around the dark loft. The moonlight made a beautiful, sparkling light on the water filled loft. There, Sam saw Derek, Boyd and Isaac, glaring at the Alpha crew.
What the hell happened…
Ms. Blake looked terrified as Aiden's hands wrapped around her throat and held her wrist, while Ethan kept Sam upright.
Kali smirked. "You and me, Derek. Or they tear your girlfriends apart. What do you say? Think you can beat me one on one?", Kali challenged. Derek motioned his head for Isaac and Boyd to retreat as he phased, anger settling in his eyes.
"I'm going to rip your throat out. With my teeth.", Derek threatened. Derek and Kali roared and fought.
Sam looked back at Ethan. "How'd you manage to find us out? You like listening in on people's conversations or are you just that attentive?" He jerked her in irritation.
Ms. Blake began thrashing in Aiden's grip again. Screaming as Kali slash at Derek's stomach with her foot. "Derek!"
"Shut up!", Sam yelled, trying to get out of Ethan's grasp. Derek stumbled and eventually landed in the water.
"Derek!", Ms. Blake shrieked.
"I'm gonna kill her.", Sam growled, glaring at the teacher.
"Too bad we'll kill you first.", Aiden said before Ethan shoved Sam in the water.
"No!", Derek yelled at Isaac, who was about to rush over. "Wait!", Isaac warned Boyd, who was about to fight.
This fight was almost pointless. Derek wasn't at his best yet and neither was Kali.
Before Sam could do anything, Ethan's shoe collided with her side, knocking her back into the water. Sam coughed as she held her side. "The hell did you that for!?", Sam yelled.
Aiden rushed toward her, pulling her hair and pushed her under the water. Sam struggled, gripping at his hand, before she raised a hand from under the water and whipped it to the right, causing Aiden to be thrown to the side.
Sam coughed and gasped for air as she saw Isaac take Ms. Blake from Ethan's grip and rushed as he yanked Sam out of the water.
All they heard were sparks and crackles of electricity flowing through the water as Isaac blocked Sam from the sight behind him.
"Take him!", Kali ordered, recovering after getting electrocuted. Derek was weakly lying in the water. Kali grabbed a weakened Boyd and held him up as the twins grabbed Derek, put him on his knees, and gripped his claws.
Sam hid her eyes in Isaac's shoulder as she heard Derek's growl and Boyd's choking gasp.
"I'm giving you till the next full moon, Derek. Make the smart choice, join the pack. Or next time I'm killing all of you.", Kali declared and walked out, Aiden and Ethan trailing behind her. Sam lifted her head and rushed over to Derek as he held Boyd up. Boyd was barely awake, gradually dying. Derek tried to put pressure on his wounds, as he apologized, but they were too deep. Boyd was bleeding out more and was barely healing. It was too late.
After saying his peace, Boyd dropped into the water with a loud splash as Derek stayed on his knees, his hands trembling. Sam watches Cora run past her, crouching over Boyd and cried in his chest. It was almost despicable, how much anger Sam felt for the younger Hale. She felt the need to cry now after everything that's happened. Sam shook her head and looked over at Derek as he looked at his own hands. Sam's eyebrows furrowed as she walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He was gonna blame himself.
He wasn't gonna let this go. None of them were. None of them blamed Derek but he blamed himself. He could've done better. He could've kept Boyd protected. That was another beta down. Isaac was the last one...
He had to leave. If he left, they wouldn't take anyone else from him. They couldn't.
After Boyd's death, it was quiet. They didn't make any moves. Couldn't.
Derek had gone missing right after, and no one's heard from him. Not even Isaac.
He seemed to be avoiding Isaac especially.
Sam and Stiles stayed at loft with Peter and Cora after they had gotten enough water out of the apartment.
"They were there for two days. Waiting, hiding…that's what we're taught to do when the hunters find us. Hide and heal.", Cora said after telling them the story of the time fifteen-year-old Derek was running from the Argents. Peter had saved him, and they hid underground.
"Okay so is two days standard then or are we thinking Derek's on some extended getaway?", Stiles asked.
"Hardly.", Sam replied, sighing.
"Why do you care?", Cora spat at Stiles before looking at both of them. "Why do either of you care?"
Sam sighed through her nose in frustration. "Here she goes again with this bull...", Sam, muttered as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Why do I care? Let's see because over the past few weeks, my two best friends tried to kill themselves, Scott's boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed, Boyd was killed by Alphas, Sam was kidnapped by the Alpha twins and almost got electrocuted. You want me to keep going? Because I can. Alright? For like an hour!", Stiles stressed.
"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora asked, walking towards Stiles.
"Well since he's the one everyone seems to be after it's more like he should do something about it. Yeah.", Stiles replied. Cora sighed.
"I don't know, there's something different about him now.", she scoffed. "He wasn't like this when I knew him."
They looked at her in confusion. "Derek was different?"
"Surprisingly."
"What was he like?", Sam asked.
"A lot like Scott.", Peter walked down the spiral staircase, his boots thudding on the metal.
"Derek was like Scott? I'm having a hard time believing that he changed from bubbly and optimistic to broody and dark.", Sam says, crossing her arms as Peter looked at her. "I mean, it's not an impossible thing, but I just can't see it."
"He was a lot like most teenagers—unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers.", Peter said, walking over to the table they stood at.
"So, what happened, what changed him?", Stiles asked.
"The fire?", Sam asked.
"Nope. The same thing that changes a lot of young men—a girl.", Peter said, and Sam's eyebrows raised.
A girl changed Derek?
"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?", Stiles scoffed.
"Stiles.", Sam scolded.
"Do you remember Derek before he was an Alpha and had blue eyes?", Peter asked.
"Yeah.", Sam answered.
"Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"
"Rankings? I mean his eyes are naturally green but when he changed, his eyes were blue…." Sam thought back to Jackson. "Jackson's eyes were blue too, so would that make Jackson like some omega?"
Peter smiled. "Close, but not quite. If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes."
"It'd be a lot faster if you explained.", Sam said as he sat on the couch.
"Her name was Paige. A sophomore, just like Derek, at Beacon Hills High School, obsessed with music and the cello. Strange for Derek to have an eye on her, being that he was on the basketball team and thrown into his love for the game. But Paige, she was everything to him," Peter smiled at her, catching her wondering expression.
"He never told you?", he asks her. Sam shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know why you expect him to. That's your nephew, you know how he is. He can be an open book but he's not as open."
"Okay, so, Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he?", Stiles asked Peter. "How old were you? How old are you now?"
"40 something?", Sam asked, making Peter look at her offended. "I'm joking!"
"Not as young as we could have been but not as old as you may think.", he replied, unamused.
"Okay that was frustratingly vague. How old are you?", Stiles asked Cora.
"I'm seventeen.", she answered.
"See, that's an answer. That's how we answer people.", Stiles said.
"Well, seventeen how you would measure in years.", Cora corrected with a smile.
"For fuck's sake…", Sam muttered, dragging a hand down her face.
"Okay, how old is Derek?", Stiles asked. "Isn't he, like, 22, 23 almost? He's old enough to drink, I know that since the fire happened 6 years ago.", Sam says.
"Okay, what happened to Derek and the cello girl?", Stiles moved on.
"They're teenagers. One minute it's I hate you don't talk to me. The next, it's frantic groping in any dark corner they can manage to find themselves alone in for five minutes." Peter chuckled. "Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills."
"Why and how do you know this?", Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, you just said they were alone.", Stiles chimed in.
"Back then I wasn't just Derek's uncle. I was his best friend. His closest confidant, that's how I know.", Peter confessed.
"So, you stalked them.", Sam assumed.
"I followed them. And I'm glad I did. Because they got away right before another pack showed up.", Peter said as he got up, walking to the window.
"Another pack?"
"Deucalion, Ennis, Kali, and all of their packs that they killed. Not to mention Derek's mother—Talia.", Peter explained as he looked at the condensed window.
"They were all here in Beacon Hills seven years ago?"
"Yes. All of them. One of Ennis' packs died—killed by the Argents for killing a hunter. Careless beta's, they never know what they're doing. Ennis was angry and searching for revenge. And we all know how an Alpha can be when it's searching for revenge.", Peter said. "He clawed the sign into the distillery."
Sam's eyes widened. "The spiral." Peter drew it with his finger on the window. "Our mark for vendetta."
"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to, like, a whole new level, don't 'cha?", Stiles said, linking his fingers together.
"It's not just revenge. Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family; it's like you lose a limb.", Cora corrected, gruffly. That's what Derek was feeling?
"They wouldn't even let him see the body.", Peter said. "Nonetheless, he was a bit angry."
"Okay, not to interrupt story time or anything, but what does this have to do with Derek?", Cora asked. For once, Sam agreed with her.
"Everything." Peter turned around and started walking towards the table we sat at. "It's never just a single moment; it's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances. I saw profound loss. Derek saw something different. He saw an opportunity."
"To do what?", Sam asked.
"To always be with her." Peter looked down with sadness. "The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it, thinking about it all night, all day, always on his mind. He feared that Paige would find out that he was a werewolf. So, he believed that his only choice to be with her forever was to turn her."
"Derek wouldn't do that.", Sam disagreed. Peter sighed. "I kept telling him not to do it! Every day, the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers. I'll bet he even blames me! He probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."
Sam frowned.
"Another sub plot to the story—Druids."
"Like Deaton.", Sam says.
"And emissaries." Peter looked at Cora.
"Druids are like advisors. And emissaries…they keep us connected to humanity. But they're a secret in the pack. Sometimes only the Alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton.", Cora said.
"Or his sister Morell.", Peter added, making Sam and Stiles' eyes widened.
"Morell? The guidance counselor? She's an emissary too?", Sam asked.
"For the Alpha pack.", Peter said.
"Our guidance counselor? Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff! Huh? I shared some really intimate details with her.", Stiles confessed, awkwardly. Sam rolled her eyes.
"And did she give you good advice?", Cora asked.
"Actually, yeah.", Stiles said.
"That's what they do. That's what Deaton used to do for Talia." Peter sighed. "He asked an Alpha to turn her.", Peter admitted.
"Let me guess…", Stiles began.
"It was Ennis.", Sam says. Why him?
"Why would he choose him?", Cora asked.
"Why not? Ennis needed a new member for his pack. Paige was young, strong. Doing a favor for Derek meant Ennis would be in good with Talia. Back then, everybody wanted to be in good with her.", Peter said.
"He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?", Stiles wondered.
"If he does, he keeps it to himself.", Peter says.
"So, he got her turned.", Sam says.
"Almost." Sam raised an eyebrow in confusion. "He came at Ennis. A fifteen-year-old against a giant. There was no reason for him to fight. She'd already been bitten.", Peter said.
"She didn't turn?", Sam questioned.
"Most of the time the bite takes. Most of the time." The bite either turns you or kills you, there's no in between.
"When you offered it to me, you said 'if it doesn't kill you'.", Stiles said, and Sam looked at Peter in disbelief. "You were gonna turn Stiles!?", Sam exclaimed, and Peter sighed. "If." Peter quietly emphasized. He walked over to sit down on the stairs as Sam glared at him.
"So… I take it her body rejected the bite just like Lydia, mine and Jackson's did.", Sam muttered.
"But the difference was, miraculously you three survived.", Peter said. "I found him in the same spot we hid for those two days. He asked me what was happening to her, but he already knew the answer. It didn't matter she was young and strong; some people just aren't made for this. She fought; she struggled desperately, trying to survive. She knew everything. She knew Derek's secret and she did know she was going to die. She asked Derek to end the pain. And he did."
Peter shook his head as he looked down. "I remember taking her body from his arms, to the woods. To a place where I knew she would be found. Another in a long line of Beacon Hills' animal attacks."
"What about Derek?", Cora asked.
"Taking an innocent life takes something from you as well. A bit of your soul; darkening, dimming the once brilliant golden yellow, to a cold, steel blue. Like mine." Peter's eyes turned blue. With a sigh, he got up from the stairs and walked upstairs to his room. "It's no wonder why he acted the way he acted after I'd gotten bit." Cora and Stiles looked at Sam as she looked down at the floor. "He panicked. I didn't know why. Couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was just reliving that moment."
She remembered back to when he visited her after she had gotten bit. He was so careful… he was waiting to see if she was gonna die…
Something's not making any sense though.
She wanted to know what really happened. Derek's the only one who knows.
"What?" Cora looked at Stiles. "What's this look on your face?"
"What look?", Stiles stuttered.
"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you.", Cora retorted.
"My God, you are so Derek's sister. I forgot."
"What's with the look?", she repeated.
"I just don't believe him. In Ms. Blake's class, we're reading Heart of darkness. It's the first person, narrated by Marlow. The thing is, he's an unreliable narrator. You know the details have been changed just because of his perspective."
"Then we heard the story from Peter's perspective."
"Obviously.", Sam muttered.
"Yeah, I don't think we got the whole story."
"So what? Are you just gonna ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with, then killed?"
"No," Sam stood up. "I will."
"You really think you're courageous enough to do that?", Cora asked. Sam looked down at her. "One of us has to. Me, being the people pleaser and worrywart that I am, I can't stand here while Derek is out there constantly blaming himself for deaths that weren't even his fault. I feel like that's all he's been doing for years and he can't let go of it.", she says, making them look at her in slight shock.
"I just… I wanna know the truth. There were multiple loopholes in Peter's story, and I wanna figure out what really happened. I believe that Derek did kill Paige for her own sake, but I don't believe Peter about Ennis.", she tells them, looking down at her feet. It wasn't fair that he was taking all of this on his shoulders. All alone.
"Neither do I.", Stiles sighed. Sam nodded and went up the stairs, finding Peter in the guest bedroom. His back was faced toward her.
"Yes, Samantha.", he said.
"I want the truth.", Sam says.
"About?"
"Paige."
"I told you the truth.", he says, and she shook her head.
"No, you didn't. I wanna know why Ennis bit her. The real reason. It doesn't make any sense as to why Derek would attack him for doing what he asked.", she told him.
Peter didn't say anything.
Sam shook her head in frustration. "After you bit me, I had no idea what was going through Derek's head. Nothing. No clues, no answers, he gave me nothing because he didn't know himself. But the way he acted; I could tell something was up. You caused that. Why would you try to make him relive that again?", she asked. Peter swallowed, never answering her. He knew she was right. He had already felt bad after losing his powers and seeing how well she was doing without turning yet. He was...sadistic. He knew it and as much as he loved his nephew, most of their family was gone. He had to do something.
Sam stepped away. "I'm going to find out what happened. If it means hunting him down, I'll do it."
"Good luck finding him then.", Peter said.
Sam ran out of the loft, taking Derek's car and looking for the description of where Peter told her Derek's old hiding place would be. The Beacon County Distillery.
She parked the car into an empty parking lot that belonged to a broken-down warehouse and got out of the car as she looked at the building in front of her. There was a sliding metal door halfway open. A large spiral was jaggedly carved into it, confirming that Derek was here or had to be at least.
As she walked into the abandoned building, she could feel the despair that hung in the air.
It was dark but she felt her way around as she saw what the moonlight could show.
Her heart tore as she saw the sight of Derek in front of her. He looked like a little kid who huddled in a corner in fright. Sitting on the floor with his arm wrapped around his legs, his free hand gripping at his short black hair as his shoulders shook.
Cora was right. He lost a lot. It was taking a toll on him. Sam took cautious steps toward him, and his head looked up.
Once he saw her, he quickly looked back down at his knees. Sam came toward him, crouching down to his level. "Hey.", Sam says, taking note of his shuddered breathing.
She kneeled. "Derek.", she called quietly. His head slowly lifted as she caught his watery green eyes. She tried to keep her own from pooling. "Hi.", she says, lightly. His eyes fluttered, blinking back tears as he avoided eye contact.
"You can't blame yourself, Derek. None of this was your fault.", Sam says. He shook his head. "He was. He was my responsibility. I killed him.", his voice broke.
"You did not kill him. The Alphas did. What the Alphas did is not your fault.", Sam firmly reassures. He didn't agree. He wouldn't. "I killed him. I let Erica get killed. They're gone…", he repeated, looking at her with conflicted looks.
He was broken. Tired. More than just upset. Hell, he didn't want her to find him like this. He was trying to keep himself separate from them. It was a better choice. But she kept coming back. For some reason, she knew where to find him. He'd have Peter to thank for that.
He didn't say any more and neither did she. She wrapped her arms around his body tightly. She could feel his shuddering breath against her shoulder as they rocked.
"It's okay. No one blames you. No matter what you say, we don't blame you.", Sam whispered and his body instantly sank into hers. The tension from his body left as he laid his head in the junction of her neck and shoulder.
"I'm not leaving you. I won't leave you. Not again.", she promised. "I'll tell you exactly what I told Scott; you're gonna have to fight long and hard to get rid of me." He didn't want her to promise that. He didn't want false hope. Anything can happen. His family was proof of that. But... he appreciated the gesture and her words.
She rubbed his back as they stayed in the same position for a while.
After she felt his body relax enough, she looked at his face. He looked tired, but a lot less sad now as he looked into space.
"Derek.", she whispered as she wiped his wet cheeks. His sore eyes glanced up at her. "Can you do something for me? You have to promise me that you will, though.", Sam says.
His eyebrows instantly furrowed. "What?", he croaked.
"That thing Peter did to Isaac… I need you to show me all your memories of Paige.", she says and instantly, his whole demeanor changed.
His eyes widened, his chest instantly rose up and down quickly. He shook his head. "I can't.", he whispered, hoarse.
"Yes, you can. I need to know the truth. I need to understand. Please.", she begged. He swallowed, considering the choice and agreed to do it.
Derek took one of her hands in his and reached up with his other, the tips of his fingers brushing the back of her neck.
He felt the hairs on my neck rise as he did it before sinking his claws in her skin.
A blinding white light appeared before her eyes and faded as she saw all his memories of his first love.