All That Glitters Is Silver

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until Peter touched me lightly on the shoulder.

“I know, I’m breathtaking,” He smirked, “But there’s so need to pass out. I just want to ask you something.”

I glanced wide-eyed at Scott who looked just as terrified and confused as I felt. I felt my heart falter a little when I saw Derek standing in the darkness, arms crossed and no emotion on his face. I begged him silently to help me but he didn’t look at me once.

“Cassie,” Peter repeated my name tauntingly, “I’m not the bad guy.”

I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off.

“I can hear the lie in your heartbeat.” Peter muttered, staring intently at my rising chest, “Spare us.”

I swallowed, feeling tears well up foolishly in my eyes. My vision was slightly glazed over as I bounced my gaze from Scott to Derek to Peter. “What do you want from me?” I whispered in a small voice.

Peter stepped closer to me. As a reflex, I jerked back from his extending hand. My obvious disgust didn’t seem to stop him. He played with my hair as he said sweetly, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only hurting the people responsible.”

“R-Responsible for what?” I gulped, wishing he would step far, far away from me.

Peter peeled his hand from my hair and placed it on one side of his face, caressing it lightly. “Everything.”

I shuttered at his touch, regretting coming in here. “What do you want from me?” I repeated, shutting my eyes.

“I think you know.” He sighed tiredly. “You know exactly what I want.”

I did. I just hoped I was wrong.

“The baby.” I whimpered, opening my eyes as he leaned in, putting a hand on my stomach. I felt nauseas.

Peter smiled blissfully. “Yes,” He breathed in deeply before stepping back. “I’m going to make this quite simple. I will ask you once, and once only.”

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat stressfully.

“Will you give me the baby once it is born?” Peter asked peacefully. It didn’t seem as though it would matter much if I said no to him. He had a look on his face like he would get me to say yes eventually and that was more terrifying than anything.

“No,” I said in as steady of a voice as I could muster.

“Cassie,” Derek spoke up for the first time. I looked up at him hopefully but his face gave me anything but comfort. He was glaring hatefully at me, like he couldn’t believe I was saying no to his uncle. Didn’t he realize what he would do to our kid? Probably turn it into some killer for his purposes, make it one of his pack.

I didn’t want that for anyone, least of all my kid.

“No,” I repeated with more vigor. Derek looked pained and disgusted. Why couldn’t he understand? Why was he suddenly siding with Peter? Hadn’t he murdered his sister in cold blood to become the Alpha?

“I’m sorry to hear that, Cassie.” Peter sighed expectantly, “Very sorry.”

I didn’t like the way he said it, like I was about to pay for my refusal.

“We should go.” Peter said carelessly over his shoulder. Scott stood there, unsure of what to do. Derek nodded curtly and followed Peter without another word.

“Derek?” I called into the darkness. There was no answer. He was gone.

I didn’t understand. He was on board and now he hated me again. I couldn’t do this without him, he knew that. The Alpha knew that. He was going to make sure I had no other choice but to give the baby to him.

Scott and I stood in silence, staring at each other in shock when the locker room doors burst open behind us, revealing a very sweaty and out of breath Stiles.

“You guys, we have a big problem!” He announced, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

“Trust me,” Scott said fearfully, “We know.”



Stiles dropped me off. I had called my dad like Chris had told me to. He was out. Probably hunting but he would never tell me that.

There were too many secrets in this family.

I pushed open my front door. No lights were on. It was too early for my mom to be asleep. Was she out too?

“Mom?” I called tentively into the empty house. “Mom, are you home?”

No answer.

I sighed, swallowing back the stressful tears that always seemed ready to fall. I turned on the hall light and saw red. Bile rose in my throat. All I could smell was something metallic-y.

“M-Mom?” I whimpered, edging down the hall. Bloody handprints slid down the hall. There were small pools of blood leading me somewhere. “Mom, answer me!” I almost screamed.

Where was my father?

I closed my eyes, gripping the corner of the wall, bracing myself to what I was about to see. I let out a deep shaky breath, wanting to run screaming. But, I was braver than that. Or at least I pretended to be.

I might as well keep the charade up.

I forced myself around the corner and heard screaming. The bloodcurdling screams echoed in my empty house, chilling me to the core, worse than what I was seeing.

I was too wrapped up to realize that I was the one screaming. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t feel. I was frozen in place.

With great will power, I threw myself onto my knees in front of the crumpled lump that was my mother.

But, she wasn’t my mother. My mother was alive and breathing. This woman—who looked eerily similar—was shred to pieces, bleeding all over the new cream carpet.

My mother would never let anyone step on this carpet with so much as a dirty toe. She would never bleed on it.

A shaky hand rose to my mouth, trying to silence the screams but it was no use. My mother’s dull, lifeless eyes looked up at me, as if to scold me for being so loud and emotional. But, they didn’t. They didn’t see me, not really. Dead people can’t see.

And my mother was dead.

Multiple lines ran down my mother, like something with big claws had come in here and cut her up. It had to be painful. It was probably slow.

Blood spilt out all over the floor, staining my hands as I uselessly tried to stem the bleeding. The jean fabric on my knees was getting saturated in it.

Her body was still warm. If I had just come home sooner instead of talk to Scott and Stiles this wouldn’t have happened.

If I had only said yes to Peter this wouldn’t have happened. This was my payment for my refusal.

This was all my fault. My mother was dead because of me. Murdered.

I turned away from the body just in time to vomit. Oh, how she would have scolded me if she saw this. But, she would never scold me again. I would give anything to be reprimanded by her one last time.

I was still screaming. In between the hyperventilation and shrieks of panic, I heard slamming on my door. A muffled voice shouted something before the front door burst open.

My neighbor appeared with a look of utter shock, “Oh, dear God.”

I vocalized some nonsense, having no control over anything anymore.

“I’ll call nine-one-one!” He announced, pulling out his phone.

My mother didn’t need 911. She needed a coroner. There was nothing anyone could do now.

I leaned my forehead against her shoulder, feeling the warm liquid touch it. I wept into her lifeless appendage. I felt like my insides had been ripped out like my mother’s.

I wanted to die too.

“An ambulance is on its way.” My neighbor reassured me, coming up behind me to take me away from my mother. I screamed at him some more, fighting him off. “It’s going to be okay, Cassie.” He promised.

I stopped struggling to stare straight into his alert and petrified eyes. How could he even think something like that, let alone voice it? Nothing was ever going to be okay again. My mother was murdered and it was all my fault. Everything was my fault.

I wished I could take my mother’s place. She didn’t deserve this cruel death. I did.

My head was pounding, I couldn’t stop sobbing and shouting for my father. My neighbor tried to comfort me but it was no use. I was too far gone.