Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Vampire Diaries or Teen Wolf. :)

Author's Note: So... I ended up having time to edit this and post it tonight too! I will post the next chapter on Monday next week and updates will be pretty consistent again. Review and let me know what you think!

CHAPTER 12

4 months later…

A knock at the door distracted Lyanna from her task at hand. She had been organizing the blood bags that Mrs. McCall had gotten her the night before by blood type in her fridge for the last 20 minutes, making sure it was perfect. She assessed her work and gave a satisfied nod before flitting to the door with her vampire speed and peeking around the blinds.

Lyanna blinked in surprise at who it was, but opened the door anyway and plastered a smile on her face.

"Hey Scott. What's the special occasion?" she asked while gesturing for him to come in.

"No special occasion, I was just wondering if you wanted a ride to school?" Scott said hopefully, pausing when he saw the immediate change of expression on Lyanna's face.

"Scott, I-"

"Listen. It's been four months since you've seen any of us and Damon says that you're doing a really good job controlling yourself. Too good of a job actually. It's the first day of school, I think it's time you show up," Scott explained determinedly.

Lyanna looked at the overly-confident boy for a minute, lips pursed as she weighed the consequences of going to school. On the one hand, Scott was right. Lyanna had taken to vampire self-control like a pro. She knew that certain characteristics were heightened when you became a vampire, and her need for control was certainly one of those characteristics. On the other hand, Lyanna knew that she would be overwhelmed with guilt if she hurt someone, let alone someone that she cared about. The risk far outweighed the reward.

"I'm sorry Scott, it's not worth the risk," Lyanna said shortly, turning to go into the living room and grab a grimoire.

Ever since she got back from traveling the country with Damon, Lyanna had read every single grimoire in the house at least twice. It was the only way that she felt any sort of connection to magic anymore, something she missed more than anything.

"So you're saying that school isn't worth it, that your friends aren't worth it… That Stiles isn't worth it?" Scott asked, following her into the living room. She paused at that and looked at the boy in annoyance. They had a staring match for a few moments before the annoyance melted away on Lyanna's face.

"Convince me," she muttered while collapsing into her usual arm chair.

"Me or Isaac will be next to you the whole time in case anything happens and if you start to get hungry at all then you can leave immediately. We'll help you… you're a part of our pack Lye," Scott said quickly and she felt her heart start to melt a little bit.

"You don't have to be alone," Scott added quietly. Lyanna thought for a few moments.

"Fine," she finally replied, zooming up the stairs before Scott could blink. She quickly changed and brushed her teeth before zooming back down. There were definitely a few perks to being a vampire, like enhanced speed and not needing to take showers as much. Lyanna would still trade that to be human again in a heartbeat of course. Scott watched as she stuck her hand in the fridge and emptied two blood bags into a thermos, grimacing at the dark liquid.

Lyanna followed Scott outside and that was when she remembered that Scott had offered her a ride to school. Sitting in her driveway was an old looking dirt bike painted a faded looking green with the number 32 on the front of it. She gave Scott a skeptical look as he gave her an excited grin and went to turn on his bike.

"You know I could probably run faster than that thing, right?" Lyanna asked over the tiny roar of the bike coming to life.

"Be nice," Scott shouted before tossing a helmet to the girl.

Lyanna just snorted and tossed it back, watching with amusement as Scott caught it with a confused look.

"I'm practically indestructible now, genius. You need that more than me," she said with a nod to the black helmet in his hands before hopping on the bike behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

Lyanna felt her body freeze at the sight of the crowded hallway in front of her. She turned, intending to head right back home, but Scott grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around, pulling her towards her locker.

"I reeeally hate you right now," she muttered as they came to a stop in front of her locker.

"You'll get over it," Scott replied, waving Stiles over while Lyanna shoved her head in her locker.

"Hey man, so I was thinking. Derek has a tattoo, right? Maybe you should ask him for help?" Stiles asked, not noticing Lyanna yet. She however immediately went still at the familiar voice, vowing to keep her head shoved in her locker for the rest of the day.

"Yeah, he's got the triskele tattooed on his back. That means there's gotta be a way to do it without healing, right?" Scott replied, trying not to draw attention to the vampire next to him even though he immediately noticed the change in her demeanor.

"Although he might have his hands full," Stiles said with a nod at the missing persons flyers, which had been hung all around the school. Not knowing what Stiles was talking about, Lyanna unconsciously stuck her head out of her locker and followed their line of gaze, seeing Boyd and Erica's faces on the posters.

"When did that happen?" she asked without thinking. Stiles turned to her immediately, finally realizing who had been hiding in the locker. Stiles hadn't seen Lyanna in four months, yet she looked exactly the same. Perks of being a vampire, he guessed.

"Hi," Stiles said immediately, staring intently as she turned to him, caution in her eyes.

"Hi," she replied back, hesitant to say or do anything else. There was an awkward silence as Scott looked between the two.

"Um… Anyways Scott, I actually have a spell that might work to get you a tattoo… Though I can't really do magic anymore…" Lyanna explained quietly, shoulders sagging as she remembered yet again that she wouldn't have magic for the rest of her life.

There was silence again and Lyanna avoided the looks of pity on Stiles and Scott's faces.

"...I don't know what happened to the library while I was gone, but I want it cleaned up. And…and what the hell is this?" the trio heard a voice say down the hall. They all walked together and turned to see the old principal holding up Gerard's broadsword, a look of complete and utter shock on his face.

Lyanna started to laugh as Stiles grabbed hers and Scott's arms and pulled them back. They laughed with her and the tension between them all broke.

"First period?" Scott asked and Stiles nodded as the two of them started walking. They paused though when they realized that Lyanna hadn't followed them.

"C'mon it'll be okay. You're doing great," Scott said with a smile.

"It's not that… I got a call from Ms. Morell over the summer…" Lyanna started.

"What is it?" Stiles asked, moving closer to her.

"Well I never told you guys because it honestly never came up. Plus I had some classes with you because of how my credits transferred from Mystic Falls, so neither of you really noticed but… I'm technically a year older than you both," Lyanna finished, waiting to see their reactions.

"What… But that would mean that…"

"You're a senior?" Stiles finished when Scott trailed off.

"I don't have any more classes with you guys… Except for econ I think," she said quietly. She saw Stiles' shoulders deflate at that and she gave him an apologetic glance before waving goodbye.

Lyanna didn't see the boys until lunch when they all sat together outside.

"So… how was your summer? You know, learning control and all that?" Stiles asked her. Lyanna took a moment to think about just how much Stiles could handle hearing about it.

"Okay, pick one," Damon said while looking around the dive bar that they had walked into ten minutes ago. They were in a little town outside of Dallas, Texas, following a lead on where Stefan might be while also learning control.

"Pick one what?" she asked, looking around warily at the people laughing and drinking.

"Someone to eat," Damon said in exasperation, rolling his eyes at the girl.

"Excuse me?" Lyanna whispered angrily at Damon.

"Rule number one of being a vampire: snatch, eat, erase," Damon said dramatically before taking a sip of bourbon.

"No way, Damon. I am not going to risk killing someone," she muttered while sitting back in her chair.

"You won't kill anyone, I'll be there to stop you," Damon replied.

"No," Lyanna reiterated, raising an eyebrow in challenge at him. Damon just glared back at her before pouring her a glass of bourbon, having compelled the bartender for the bottle when they first sat down.

"You need to relax," Damon said, plastering on a charming smile and sliding the glass towards her. Lyanna caught it and took a sip, grimacing at the burning liquid.

"I don't need to do anything, thank you very much," she replied with a sarcastic smile back at him. Damon just rolled his eyes, looking up as the bartender came up to them.

"I'm going to need to see some ID from the young lady," the man said gruffly, a slight twang to his voice. Lyanna glanced at Damon warily and he nodded at the man and winked. She knew what he meant immediately and grimaced. He wanted her to compel the bartender.

Lyanna had an idea how it worked. She just had to look the man in the eye, hope he didn't have vervain on him, and tell him what she wanted him to believe. She took in a deep breath and looked at him.

"You don't need to see my ID," Lyanna said quietly.

"Sorry there sweetheart, but I definitely need to see some ID," the bartender said a little stronger this time. He clearly didn't expect her to fight him on the matter. Lyanna closed her eyes in frustration before opening them again and making clear eye contact with the bartender again.

"You do not need to see any ID from me," she said confidently, waiting to see how he would respond with baited breath. The bartender paused.

"Y'all have a nice night," the man said before turning and heading back to the other side of the counter.

Lyanna let out the breath she had been holding in relief.

"Nice job," Damon said with a small smile, looking almost genuine. She said nothing, shocked that she had actually compelled someone.

Lyanna blinked back to the present day, meeting Stiles' brown eyes.

"It was great," she said in what she hoped was a cheerful voice, though Stiles would probably see through any facade she put up. Before he could ask her another question, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac spotted them and moved to sit at their table. Lyanna froze when she locked eyes with Allison, noticing the girl's hesitation. Everyone grew still as they watched them. Allison set her tray down and opened her mouth to say something to her, but didn't get the chance. Lyanna stood abruptly from her seat and turned to walk away without another word.

There was a shocked silence at the table before Stiles moved to follow her. She heard him, but she kept moving until she was in the school courtyard beneath one of the big trees. She stopped there and waited for him to catch up to her. When he did, he found her breathing heavily and looking panicked.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that. We should've warned you that she would be there or something," Stiles said when he saw her expression.

"I never want to see her again," Lyanna said with venom in her voice.

"Well… That might be kind of difficult-" Stiles started but he was cut short by a sharp look from her.

"I don't care. She almost killed me, Stiles. How am I supposed to be okay with that?" she asked. He moved closer to her, putting a hand on her arm warily. She paused and leaned into his touch without thinking.

"I-I'm sorry for storming off," she said quietly. He moved closer to her, putting his arm around her and pulling her in for a hug.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said, noticing her visibly relax after a minute. She turned and moved to sit down in the shade of the tree they were by and Stiles followed.

"So… How have you been?" Lyanna asked without looking at him.

"I've been okay… I missed you," Stiles said quietly and she looked at him.

"You grew out your hair," she mentioned with an awkward smile. He rubbed the back of his head self consciously.

"Yeah, I kinda got tired of the short hair…" he said, trailing off.

"I like it," Lyanna said and he smiled at her before looking down at her hands. They were silent for a while. She had clearly forgotten how to talk to people that weren't Damon.

"Nice ring," Stiles said suddenly and Lyanna held up her right hand and glanced at the dainty gold ring with the blue stone.

"Thanks, it's a daylight ring. So I don't burn in the sun," Lyanna explained, then she perked up.

"That reminds me! I have something for you," she exclaimed before digging into her bag and pulling out a thin leather bracelet, careful not to touch the charm on it.

"A bracelet?" Stiles asked, holding out his hand while she put it on his left wrist. He ignored the way his heart sped up at her light touch.

"Yeah, the charm has vervain in it. It makes it so you can't be compelled by a vampire," Lyanna explained, pulling back to admire it on him.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Compulsion is like mind control. If I wanted to, I could make you do whatever I want, unless you're wearing vervain. It's toxic to vampires, see?" she said before touching the charm on his bracelet and sucking in a breath when it burned her. He grabbed her hand and looked at the burn on her index finger, watching as it healed right before her eyes.

"That's so cool," Stiles said and she smiled at him.

"There are some perks, I guess," Lyanna replied. The bell rang and Lyanna stood with Stiles, grabbing their stuff and heading back towards the school.

"Thanks for this, but I was never concerned about you trying to do something like compel me," Stiles said.

Lyanna just shrugged.

"It'll give me some peace of mind that you're safe, even from me," she said.

They parted ways after that and Lyanna's afternoon passed by uneventfully until last period. She was stuck in advanced algebra, staring bored out of the window when she got a text from Scott. She raised her hand immediately and asked to go to the bathroom, moving to meet him out in the hallway.

"What's going on?" Lyanna immediately asked.

"Isaac is at the hospital. He was brought in with a girl and he has no idea what happened. Do you think you could do that mind compulsion thing on her?" he asked as they jogged across the parking lot to his bike.

"Yeah, I can do that," Lyanna muttered before hopping on after him.

When they got to the hospital, they met his mom.

"Lyanna! What are you doing here?" Mrs. McCall asked warmly. Lyanna smiled at the woman.

"I heard there's a woman who might need some persuading to hand over any information she has," Lyanna said with a wink.

"You can do that?" she asked and Lyanna nodded.

"We're gonna get Isaac first though," Scott interjected and his mom nodded.

"He's in room 215 if he isn't already in surgery," she said and Scott gave his mom a kiss on the cheek before they moved towards the elevator. Just as the door was closing, a cane stuck itself in, followed by an older man wearing sunglasses.

"Could you hit the button for the second floor please?" he asked, but the button had already been pressed by Scott earlier. They were quiet as they rode it up, Lyanna's leg starting to shake at how slow the elevator was moving. Finally, the doors opened.

"You wouldn't mind helping me out for a second, would you?" the man in the elevator asked, putting his hand on Scott's shoulder without waiting for his response. Lyanna bit back the 'no' that had been halfway out of her mouth before moving around them quickly and heading towards room 215. The room was empty though.

"Crap," she muttered before moving back towards Scott and watching as the man finally moved down another hallway and Scott could finally catch up.

"He's not there," she muttered as they moved quickly past the room, keeping an eye out for the tall wolf.

They both turned the corner and stopped to see a nurse walking away with someone in a wheelchair. The nurse, who turned out to be a very tall and menacing looking man, turned around and looked at them, revealing Isaac passed out in the chair in front of him. Scott's expression grew serious.

"Get Isaac," he said before he started running towards the elevator with a growl. Lyanna flitted past the two of them before the other wolf could react, grabbing Isaac out of the chair and flitting back out of the elevator as Scott jumped in right before the elevator doors shut. Now he was stuck in there by himself.

"Uh oh," Lyanna murmured to herself, picking Isaac up again and flitting up the stairs, having seen the other wolf press the button for the 4th floor. She was there before the elevator and pushed Isaac into another empty wheelchair just as Derek rounded the corner.

"What are you doing here?' she asked as she propped Isaac up in what she hoped was a comfortable position.

"Scott's mom called me about Isaac," he said as the elevator dinged. Derek was on the move, grabbing the wolf who had Scott in a chokehold and flinging him across the hall. Lyanna paused when she got a good look at him. He was an alpha.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Derek asked the two of them like a parent scolding their kid.

"We need to get him out of here," Lyanna interrupted and Derek moved to grab Isaac. They snuck him out through the stairwell and into Derek's car, driving him to Derek's old house. As they parked, Scott's phone rang and Lyanna listened as Stiles' voice came through.

"We got a serious problem at school. Ms. Blake's class-" Stiles started.

"Hey, can you tell me about it later?" Scott asked.

"Uh well, no. Pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion," Stiled replied.

"Alright, then meet us at Derek's house," Scott said before hanging up. Derek moved to put Isaac down on a table nearby before digging through some scraps of wood on the ground.

"You don't still live here, do you?" Scott asked him.

"No. The county took it over, but there's something here that I need. It'll help heal a wound from an alpha," Derek explained.

"But it did heal, he's just sedated," Lyanna chimed in.

"Not on the inside," Derek said and she looked back at Isaac with concern.

"Are you gonna tell me who that was back there? That alpha?" Scott asked next. Lyanna looked up and watched Derek carefully.

"A rival pack. It's my problem. I know you wanna help, and you did. Both of you. I owe you one. Now go home," he said, looking at the two teens.

"Not a chance in hell," Lyanna responded and Derek shot her annoyed look.

"Hey Derek," Scott interrupted before the two could start going at it.

"If you wanted to repay that favor now… There is something you can do for me," Scott finished. Lyanna already knew what it would be, seeing him hold his arm while looking at the man.

After he healed Isaac, they moved to another room.

"Stiles is here," Lyanna said before moving to open the front door for him. He jumped as she opened it, not expecting it to move.

"Sorry, I heard you coming," she said with a smile before leading him to where Scott and Derek were.

Derek's eyes were glowing red as he looked at Scott's arm.

"Yeah, I see it. It's two bands, right? What does it mean?" he asked. Scott sighed.

"I don't know. It's just something I traced with my fingers," he explained, drawing the same thing in the dust by him.

"Why is it so important to you?" Derek asked.

"Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?"

"To mark something," Stiles said with a satisfied smile.

"Well that's in Tahitian. In Samoan, it means 'open wound'. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now to make it kind of a reward," Scott continued.

"For what?" Lyanna asked quietly.

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wanted. Four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a uh…"

"Like an open wound," Stiles finished, looking at Scott with understanding. Lyanna glanced between the two boys, lingering on Stiles. He glanced at her and she looked down, feeling inexplicably guilty.

Derek nodded before moving to grab the blowtorch next to him.

"The pains gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt," he said shortly.

"Ah, that's great," Stiles said sarcastically.

"Do it," Scott said determinedly . He lit the flame torch and Lyanna grimaced as Stiles exclaimed his discomfort.

"That's a - That's a lot for me, so I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside," Stiles said before heading for the door. Derek just watched him go before turning to Lyanna.

"You're gonna need to hold him down," he said to her. She nodded quietly, placing both hands on his broad shoulders. She braced herself as Derek began, pushing hard against Scott as he started screaming. 10 minutes later, Derek was done and Scott had passed out.

"Well that was disgusting," she said after calling Stiles back in. He helped Scott pull his outer shirt back on as they moved to leave.

"Well, it looks pretty damn permanent now," Stiles said and Scott agreed.

"I think I kinda needed something permanent, with everything that's happened to us-Everything just changes so fast. Everything's so uh… ephemeral" Scott explained. Lyanna raised a brow at his word choice in amusement as Stiles nodded.

"Studying for the PSAT's?" he asked.

"Yep," Scott said and Lyanna laughed as they continued towards their cars. Lyanna was down the patio steps before she noticed Scott had stopped and was looking at the door to the house.

"You painted the door. Why'd you paint the door?" Scoot called out to Derek.

"Go home, Scott," she heard Derek say from further in the house. But Scott only looked back at the door.

"And why only one side?" he muttered before his claws were out and was scratching furiously at the thing. Lyanna's brows furrowed and she moved closer to watch. Underneath was a symbol in black paint that she recognized from her studying over the summer and she sucked in a breath.

"The alpha pack…" Lyanna muttered to herself without thinking, pausing when the others turned to look at her in shock.

"A what?" Stiles asked.

"A pack of alphas," Derek said in confirmation.

"What, all of them? How does that work?" he asked, looking between the two of them.

"I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deucalion. We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for them for the past 4 months," Derek said.

"Let's say you find them. How do you deal with an alpha pack?" Scott asked.

"With all the help I can get," Derek replied. Scott turned to look at Stiles and Lyanna, debating quietly with them about whether to get involved. Stiles was about to open his mouth when a voice interrupted them.

"Where is she?"

Lyanna moved further into the house to find Isaac sitting up and looking at them.

"Where's the girl?" he asked, looking dazed.

"Crap… We forgot about her," Lyanna said, looking at Scott.