Chamomile
(Chamaemelum nobile, Matricaria recutita)
It is excellent for soothing stomach problems, headaches, and nerves and is an ideal herb to give to children.
The bus finally came to a stop outside a dingy motel. Dark shadows clung to the corners of the car park and the harsh neon light of the motel sign did little to illuminate the courtyard as we unloaded the bus. Instead it cast an eerie glow across the entire place. Coach had truly found us a gem here.
"Listen up," he began as we piled off the bus. "The meet's been pushed till tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves. You'll be pairing up. Choose wisely. And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants. Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves! There are three of you? Why are there three of you?"
His brows furrowed deeply at me and the girls. Everyone else had already found partners and were making their way towards the questionable motel. Leaving myself, Allison and Lydia alone in the courtyard. In all honesty I was surprised he even realised the others had joined us. Letting my shoulders rise easily I shrugged back at him and plucked the key from his hand.
"I bet the receptionist counted the room wrong. Don't worry Coach we'll just share." I didn't give him time to argue as my ushered the girls past him.
The closer we got it the building the slower Lydia moved. Her entire body seemed to shut down as she stood staring at the flickering neon lights. Allison, who had now placed a worried hand on the red heads arm, and I shared a look over the top of her head.
After a few beats of silence she finally spoke. "I don't like this place."
"I don't think the people who own this place like this place. It's just for a night," replied the hunter in an attempt to lighten the mood but Lydia's feet stayed rooted to the ground. Her eyes glazed.
Her quiet voice filled the now empty courtyard, "A lot can happen in one night."
As always Lydia was right. A lot could happen in one night. Scott had become a werewolf in one evening, we defeated an alpha and now we could be faced with some new horror. I eyed the building before us suspiciously. Sure the stairs looked like they violated six different safety standards and the windows of the rooms simmered thanks to the thick layer of grime that covered them but that didn't mean monsters were lurking about. It just meant Coach had crappy taste in Motels. Right?
In an attempt to move Lydia on I swung my arm around her shoulders and jested, "because that isn't ominous. Just pretend we're at the Hilton, though I don't think I'm going to try the room service."
The room did not disappoint. A single dark rug had been placed over a suspicious looking stain that peered out from under the bed closest to the door and a stale smell clung to the air. Lydia was not happy. She had not waited around to inspect the room. Turning sharply she strutted back out of the door muttering something about complaining to reception. Neither Allison or I followed her.
Leaving Allison to shower I wandered back out onto the grated walkway. I watched Lydia wrench the reception door open and decided to leave her be. Instead of scurrying after her, I plucked a cigarette from my pocket and perched on the stairs. She hadn't seemed right earlier and I had every intention of staying there to check on Lydia when she came back. However things never go as planned, as I saw the red head start her return journey across the courtyard the sound of glass smashing distracted me.
I edged down the stairs toward the noise, only to find the way blocked by a vacant looking Boyd. Now I have never thought of Boyd as my friend, I don't think I've ever even spoken more than a few words to the guy. Though I guess neither of us were winning awards for our conversational skills. I had thought we knew each other well enough to show each other some manners. So when I placed a hand on his shoulder to ask if he was okay I couldn't help but let out a scream as he swung his elbow back at me.
Glowing amber eyes peered down at me as I gripped the railing behind me. Luckily I had been a few steps about him and had managed to stumble out of his path. I gaped back at him. He didn't even have the manners to apologise. I could understood him being on guard, he wasn't the only one. But the sullen werewolf just walked straight past me without a word. I had every intention of giving him a piece of my mind until my eyes fell on the shattered glass of the vending machine below me. Dealing with Boyd could wait.
Grinning to myself I settled into the bed with my stolen goodies. I hadn't even had the chance to pick my first treat when Lydia and Alison came battling through the door. Both frowning and muttering hastily to each other.
"We need to find Emma," Allison told the red head behind her. Lydia merely pointed at me making the ex-hunter spin to face me. "Good. Now we just need Stiles."
I groaned and fell back onto the bed. Why did everything always have to end up going wrong? I tried finding out what had been happening but Lydia insisted that she wouldn't repeat herself. So I was forced to wait for Stiles to appear before the girls told us about the suicides and the counter in reception.
As we got further into the discussion Allison began to tell us about Scott's early visit. I almost didn't believe her when she said he had walked in on her showering. Scott seemed like such a Boy Scout. "Last time I saw Scott act like that was during the full moon."
"Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me too," Stiles added as he began to pace with the girls around the bed. Why couldn't anyone sit down? Standing and pacing wasn't going to help at all. As if hearing my Inner rant Stiles peered down at me, actually he wasn't looking at me. Instead he was eyeing that collection of candies piled up on the bed in front of me. "but actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him put his fist through that vending machine."
"I could have paid for these," I challenged his knowing look as he pointed toward my treats.
"You didn't though did you."
"It is the motel," Lydia cut us off. The panic was clear in her voice. As she spoke she began to rummage in the draws beside the bed. "Either we need to get out of here right now, or... someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism asap, before the werewolves go crazy and kill us."
She had pulled a tattered bible from the draw and waved it frantically in the air. Shaking my head at her dramatics I plucked the holy book from her hands and set it down on the bed. I made a mental note to look into exorcisms with the rate we were going it would probably be a handy thing to know.
The others continued batting ideas off each other. I tried to focus on what they were saying but the tattered pages of the bible were tugging at my curiosity. Why would a bible have so many ripped edges? Surely it wasn't that well read. Flipping the book open I stared at the paper that had been tucked carefully into the folds. Newspapers. Three of them to be exact. Each one documenting a gruesome death that had occurred at the hotel.
"Guys," I said slowly trying hard not to let my voice tremble. Perhaps Lydia was right, something was wrong with this place and we needed to leave.
Allison was the first to spot the newspaper clippings I'd laid out on the bed before me. My sweets long forgotten. Stiles plucked one of the scraps up and read the headline aloud, "28 year-old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri."
"Oh, no. Look at these two. They both mention the room 217. These are probably all the suicides that happened in this room," Lydia added.
"So if every room has a Bible…" Allison hesitated as if saying the words out loud would make it all too real.
"There could be articles in all the rooms," I finished with a firm nod.
Stiles dropped the newspaper and scoffed. He tried to ease the tense that had filled the room with a joke but it didn't work particularly well, "That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow. This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."
"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?" I didn't get a chance to ask Lydia what she meant by that. Had she and Allison run into some sort of trouble earlier or was this just one of her strange comments that seemed to become a more frequent part of her personality.
Darting from the room Lydia headed straight for the room next door. As usual we were left trailing behind her in confusion. Her manicured nails dug into the hand as she frantically began to shake the door. What the hell was she up to?
I stepped forward and placed my hand over hers. I wasn't sure why it was so important to her but she needed to calm down. "Stop, Lydia it's locked."
"It was not locked before," came her short reply. Brushing my hand away from hers she continued to rattle the door.
Allison tried a more forceful approach as she began to bark orders. "Forget it. We need to get Scott, Isaac, and Boyd out of here."
Stiles moved back down the hall at Allison's words. He had almost reached the stairs when the sound of a power tool pulled his body to a sudden halt. Why would someone be doing work at this time of night? Lydia seemed to be just as confused as she frowned at the wooden barricade in front of her, " I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?"
"Was that a handsaw?" Alison questioned back.
Slamming his body into the door Stiles managed to unhinge it and with an additional kick from Allison the door swung open. To our surprise we found Ethan alone in the soon to be renovated room. His hands clutching the handsaw we had all heard. That wasn't the strangest part. No the strangest part was the fact he was trying to force the power tool into his stomach.
Stiles lunged forward with more courage than he should possess. Did he forget he was human? We hovered in the doorway trying to find a solution while Stiles struggled to keep the teen from tearing himself in half. Lydia was the first one to jump into action as she wrenched the power cable from the room.
After that chaos erupted. Stiles almost fell on the handsaw. Allison had jumped into the middle of it all and Ethan started clawing at himself. I'm not sure what happened but one moment Ethan looks like a moon crazed wolf and the next he resembled a lost child.
"Aah! What just happened?" Ethan shook his head from side to side as if trying to clear his mind. His eyes were wide as he stumbled from the room. He clearly didn't want our help so I wasn't quite sure why Stiles insisted on following him. Reluctantly I trudged out after Allison and Lydia, who had exited the room moments after Stiles. It wasn't until they reached the courtyard downstairs that Ethan finally turned on Stiles. "Didn't you hear what I just said? I don't know how I got there or what I was doing"
"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know? We did just save your life," Stiles snapped back with the usual amount of snark.
Ethan cast his eyes to the floor and let out a sigh, "And you probably shouldn't have."
"What now?" I questioned the group as we watched the werewolf retreat back into the motel.
Allison glances back at us and reminded us of her earlier orders, "I'll find Scott. You guys grab Isaac and Boyd. The best thing we can do is get them out of this place."
As Allison darted off, Stiles turned to me. Successfully blocking my way up the rusted stairs. His eyes narrowed and filled with suspicion. "If something in your bag is doing…"
"What the hell does that mean!" I snapped back before he could finish.
I wasn't in the mood to hear one of his wild theories. Particularly if he was intending on pointing his finger at me like this was some sort of witch trail. The harsh light of the motel's sign highlighted his face making his deep frown more prominent. Did he really think I could have a part in this? I was human for god's sake and last time I checked humans couldn't force people to off themselves.
Glaring up at him I dared him to continue. "I saw Scott's wound, you did something. That means you have some hoodooie mumbo jumbo in that bag."
"Mumbo jumbo? I stabbed him to try and jump start his healing. That's all."
Stiles paused at my words. He looked conflicted as he choked out a low, "stabbed him!" He paused again finally taking his hands off the rails and letting me move up the stairs to join him. As I came closer he questioned carefully, "So you didn't do a spell?"
"A spell? This isn't some childish fairytale Stiles. You can't just wave a wand and make things better."
"but back when Gerard had us locked up, you."
I shook my head. Had he thought that had been a spell? Sure I had gotten the idea from an occult book but it was basic science. Perhaps when it had first been created it was seen as magic but now it wasn't anything more than a party trick. A bit of spice and few special knots. "it was just powder. Move the bag, release the power that's all. Nothing magical about it."
"Yeah but, fine. It's not you. What if it's Lydia?"
"It isn't Lydia," I growled at him.
Finally standing on the same step as him I pinned him with my fiercest glare. Was he really going to try and blame one of us for this? Vibrant hazel eyes clashed with my icy blue orbs. Neither of us spoke as we held the others stare. Our equally stubborn natures prolonged the silence as neither wanted to give in first.
Stiles finally relented though I couldn't take it as a victory as he started moving back up the stairs. Towards Lydia. "Not that I don't trust your judgement on friends or anything but I think I might just,"
"Don't you dare," I spat as my hand curled around his wrist stopping him from moving any further.
"What are you two bickering about now?" Lydia's crisp tones drifted down to us. She stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed. Her foot tapping the metal flooring as she waited for one of us to speak.
"Oh, no, I w…" Stiles began though he seemed to think better of it and stopped mid sentence. My relief was short lived as he wrenched his arm from my grip and continued, "All right, Lydia. I didn't want to say anything, but this... everything we're going through... we've kind of been through something like this before, a lot like this."
"What do you mean? When?" While her words expressed confusion I could tell from her tone she knew where he was going with this line of thought. She was too clever not to have guessed what Stiles was hinting at.
"Your birthday party, the night you poisoned everyone with wolfsbane." The moment he had said it out loud regret flooded over him. His face twisted and his body jerked forward toward the redhead who looked ready to bolt. "I'm sorry, okay? Look, I didn't mean that you're trying to kill people, okay? I just... I just meant that maybe... maybe you're somehow involved in getting people to kill themselves, you know? Which now that I say that out loud, it just sounds really terrible, so I'm just going to stop talking."
"God you're such an idiot," I muttered as he cased after Lydia.
Deciding not to follow the pair I headed back towards our room. With Allison rushing off to find Scott and Lydia and Stiles heading towards Isaac and Boyd's room it seemed pointless for me to search for the werewolves. Instead I planned to consult the tattered notebooks in my suitcase. Sure I hadn't created something to make the pack suicidal but perhaps it was possible.
I never got that far though. As I reached the room the hairs on the back of my neck rose. The door was swinging from its hinges. Clearly someone, or something, had forced its way through the locked door. With more bravery then I think I've ever possessed I crept towards the doorway and surveying the room. Nothing else in the room seemed to have been touched. Then I saw it.
The rug by the bed had been moved. The corner turned upwards as if someone had darted across it in a panic and was that someone's foot? As I moved further into the room the shoe vanished. Yes, someone was definitely under the bed. Sinking to the floor I crawled towards the bed. My hands quivered and my heart pounded against my ribs. Part of my brain was still sending out unhelpful warnings and my flight response was screaming at me to run.
For once I ignored it. I sank further down until my stomach was flat on the floor. In the shadows was a terrified looking teen. His entire body curled up into a tight protective ball.
"Isaac?" My voice seemed to shock him as his head shot up like a whip. Large panicked eyes met mine. Once again the mere sight of Isaac's large puppy like eyes made my heart pause. Never had I met someone who pulled such a fierce protectiveness from me.
How had Stiles woken Ethan from his traces earlier? What had happened between them? They had fought and Ethan had fallen. Heat! Ethan and burnt himself as he fell, that must have been it. Reaching into my pocket I dug my lighter out and tried to wiggle my way under the frame of the bed.
"Isaac, I can't reach you," I started softly trying to get him to move closer. His panicked eyes watched my arm snake it's way closer to him. It took him a few moments to understand what I wanted him to do. As his clawed hand reached out toward mine I did my best to hold my hands steady. "Just a bit closer."
Flames licked the palm of his hand as it settled over mine. His eyes flashed and a roar ripped through his throat. I had scrambled backward quicker than I thought possible and made a beeline for the bathroom. Gripping the door tightly I tried to slam it shut but it was stopped inches away from the frame. Sweat began to build on the back of my neck as I eyed the clawed hands gripping the door frame so tightly it was beginning to splinter. I stared at the hand, watching as the red raw burn that covered its palm began to heal. My body stayed frozen in place as the door was pulled from my grip. My vision began to blur as tears started to form.
I was going to die.
"Emma?" Isaac croaked as if he had just woken up. No that was wrong, it was more like the kind of croak someone had after a night of singing loudly with their friends, or I imagine in his case screaming all night alone. Blinking the tears from my eyes I peered up at him. My heart continued to pound even though his eyes had settled and his features appeared entirely human.
"I was looking for, I was, I couldn't, and I didn't know who else to…" he paused.
Dry lips pressed against mine as I waited for him to continue talking. The suddenness of it all had forced me backwards into the bathroom and I might have gone further had his hand not curled it's way behind my head to hold me in place. Isaac was kissing me. And in those few brief moments my mind went blank. Now as we all know I'm not a prude and this was most certainly not the first time I'd been kissed. But it was the first werewolf.
The kiss was short and chaste. As he pulled away his hand still wound around my curls I watched him carefully. That wasn't the kind of kiss I was used to. I'm not saying that fireworks went off or any cliche romantic crap like that. No, The kiss hadn't magically made me fall in love. Nor was it followed by a heartfelt confession. It's just I was just used to hook ups, simple lust driven kisses that held little emotion. That kiss had not been one of them. It had felt heavy despite the gentleness of his actions. It had been filled with a strange sense of need that I couldn't quite place.
Before either of us could say anything a scream tore through the air. Lydia!
Sprinting from the room we found Scott, Stiles and Lydia bundled on the floor paces away from a roaring fire. I blinked. Inside the fire was a figure screaming with rage, a scared repulsive figure that was looking right at me. The others seemed too busy to notice and Isaac had already vaulted the railing to get closer to Scott. I frowned as the figure stood straight. It's wails coming to an end as it's lips pulled upward into a gruesome smile. No it wasn't that they were too busy to see it. They just couldn't see it. So why could I?
Once the fire had settled and everyone had been deemed safe we took refuge on the school bus. No one brought up the figure in the flames and I had no intentions of being the first. I had no desire to give Stiles any ammunition. He had already made it clear he was willing to blame me for events beyond my control. So I stayed quiet. I settled into a seat a few rows back from the group and did my best to ignore the not so subtle glances Isaac was sending my way.
I could have talked to him sure. I could have been mature and told him that I probably wasn't the kind of girl he needed. Told him that I could barely deal with my own issue. But I didn't. Instead I pretended to sleep.
Sorry for the long waits between updates! I can't make promises but I'm going to try and update a bit more regularly. Thank you to everyone who has favourited and followed this story it really means a lot to me. Also, I usually try to reply to people's reviews directly but I've forgotten to send a few messages. So I'm going to try replying to them on here. Hope you don't mind.
Thanks LoubellRose for the review. I'm glad you like Emma. You are spot on with Kali and you shouldn't have to wait too long to find out about her scars.
Thanks ghostfox59 for the continued support! I hope you liked the IsaacXEmma in this one. Though I should warn you I'm a huge Isaac and Allison fan so savour these moments while they last.