Love's Spiral

Spencer abruptly woke with a scream. She realized she was screaming along with Derek. Derek, himself, was still shackled to the metal gate that hung from ceiling to floor. Spencer was feeling the shocks that were coming from Derek. Or at least, Spencer had hoped that she was. She hoped that Kate wouldn’t have hooked Spencer up to the electricity. Spencer was human. Sure, she had certain powers, but she was still human in the way that she healed. The only way her healing would be superhuman was on a full moon, or even when she would channel Scott or Derek, feeling their power.

Spencer had light circles in her eyesight. She tried to blink them out of the way so she could examine her surroundings. Maybe find a way out. When her eyesight was clear, she stumbled to her feet. She didn’t have the use of her hands, as they were tied up behind her back. She tilted her head up, looking right at Derek. She was on the floor directly in front of him, but across the room.

“Derek.” She mumbled, moving forward, but immediately falling down again. She was chained up to the wall by her feet, shackles around her ankles. “Derek.” Spencer groaned again. “Help.”

“Awh, look who’s finally come back to consciousness.” Kate sauntered forward toward Spencer. She squatted down in front of the girl to look into her face. “Derek, sweetie, you’ve really outdone yourself. She’s gorgeous. I didn’t think you were into redheads though. Always thought you were more attracted to blondes.”

“Let us go. Or I swear I’ll - ”

“You’ll what? Zap me with some of your witchiness? I doubt you have the strength.” Kate sneered, getting back onto her feet and walking towards the machine hooked up to Derek. Kate put her hand on one of the knobs. “Go ahead and scream. No one knows you’re here. No one can hear you.” Kate smirked, and turned the knob. The shocks came.

So did Spencer’s sharp screams. This time, Derek didn’t groan or writhe in pain. These ones were hooked up to Spencer. Kate had taken this kidnapping too far. She was crazily working through this.

Kate turned off the machine.

Once Spencer had calmed down from the electricity, she looked down at her side. She had her own set of wires hooked up to her from the machine. Spencer dropped her head and sobbed. “Derek… Do something. Please.”

“Please, Derek. Save me.” Kate mocked. “It’s just like you to find someone who you think you can save.”

Spencer focused her energy on the locks. She can do this. She can unlock them. She knew the incantation. She took as deep of a breath as she could and tried. Spencer mumbled the words to herself, focusing on the shackles that held her down.

“Ah, ah.” Kate stopped, quickly turning the knob again.

Spencer squirmed with the shock of electricity and then went limp a few seconds later.

“You’re not getting out of here.” Kate threatened.

“Derek, you gotta do something.” Spencer told him, looking back to him, taking strained breaths. “There’s got to be someway out of here.”

Derek forced himself not to look at her, keeping his eyesight down in the corner of the room.

!@#$#@!

“Call it again.” Scott ordered Stiles as he rifled through his room.

“It’s not here.” Stiles assured, sitting in Scott’s desk chair that was set in the doorway to stay out of Scott’s way.

Scott moved around his covers, hoping his phone would pop out somewhere.

Stiles raised his arms to the side in defeat. “So, you lost your phone. Why don’t you just get a new one?”

Scott moved to look under his bed. “I can’t afford a new one. And I can’t do this alone. We have to find Derek.”

“Well, A, you’re not alone. You have me and Spencer. And B, didn’t you say Derek walked into gunfire? He sounds pretty dead.”

Scott rushed to his bathroom. Maybe he left it in the sink? “, Spencer’s gone, too. She went looking for Derek. Because, B, she knows that he’s alive. She had another one of her freaky feeling dreams. Argent’s plan was to use him to get the Alpha. They’re not gonna kill him.”

“Alright, so then just let them do what they’re planning, you know?”

“Are you not hearing me? Spencer went looking for Derek. Argent might have her, too. You can’t tell me you’re not worried.”

“I am worried. Of course, I’m worried. But you said that Deaton said she could take care of it. So, she’s okay, right? I mean, she has to be. They’ll use Derek to get Peter. They should, at least, let Spencer go. She’s not a werewolf. Problem solved.

“Not if Peter’s going after Allison to find Derek! I can’t protect her on my own. Which means we have to find Derek first - just help me!” Scott said, exasperated from looking for his phone.

“You know, you probably lost it when you two were fighting. You remember that? When he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior here?”

“He wasn’t going to kill anyone.” Scott assured, in all seriousness. “And I’m not letting him die.”

“Could you at least think about letting him die?” Stiles asked. “For me?”

“Spencer trusts him. Why can’t you?”

“Uh, let’s see. He’s threatened to kill me on multiple occasions. He’s a werewolf. He kinda stole my girlfriend. He’s a murderous werewolf. Oh, yeah, and because of him, my girlfriend’s probably locked in some cage right now and I can’t do anything about it.”

“That is definitely the right way to react when your girlfriend goes missing.”

“There’s nothing we can do! There’s nothing I can do! There’s not much reason in worrying too much.” Stiles said, as Scott stopped his search and stared into space. “Deaton said she was fine. So, she’s fine. What?” Stiles asked, noticing Scott’s blank expression.

“My mom just got home from work.”

“Is she okay?” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head.

“What’s she doing?”

“Crying.” Scott sighed and walked to his bed.

“Scott, you can’t protect everyone.” Stiles told him.

“I have to.” Scott insisted.

!@#$#@!

Kate strolled into the dark basement with Derek’s leather jacket strung over her shoulder. She smirked. “You know, I always liked how you looked in leather.” She said, suggestively.

Derek growled angrily at her.

Kate threw the jacket on the same table as the electric machine. She reached for the knob that was hooked up to Spencer.

Derek, who noticed, growled, threateningly.

Kate smirked and turned the knob anyway.

Spencer awoke with a scream.

“Morning, Sunshine.” Kate joked.

Derek bared his teeth towards the blonde.

Kate stopped the electric blast with a laugh, and started digging through the pockets in the jacket.

Spencer was in the corner breathing heavily. Her breaths turned into coughs as she woke up. She blinked up at Derek, who was still avoiding her gaze.

Kate pulled Derek’s wallet from his jacket. “Come on, Derek. He killed your sister.” She pulled out some cash and pocketed it. “Now, either you’re not telling me because, well, you want to kill him yourself, or, for some reason,” She paused, examining his driver’s license, “you’re protecting him.” Kate walked over to Derek, chuckling. She grabbed his chin. “Look at that sour face.” She said, holding the card up to him. “I bet you always used to get people coming up to you saying, ‘Smile, Derek. Why don’t you smile more?’” Kate turned away, walking towards Spencer. “Don’t you just want to kick those people in the face?”

Derek looked up, glaring after Kate. “I can think of one.” He said, hoping to distract Kate from anything she was about to do to Spencer.

“Derek, don’t.” Spencer begged, hoping he wouldn’t feed the flame.

“Promise?” Kate turned back to face Derek. “‘Cause if I thought you’d be that much fun, I’ll let you go.” Kate sighed and walked back to the jacket, picking up his cell phone.

Spencer looked closely at the cell phone. She furrowed her brow when she was confused by something. That wasn’t Derek’s phone. It was Scott’s. Hopefully, Scott would noticed his missing cell phone soon and figure out how to GPS track it.

“Nothing, nothing, nothing.” Kate said, scrolling through. “God, I hate this detective crap.”

“Are you gonna torture me, or are you just gonna talk me to death, huh?”

Kate turned around. “Oh, sweetie. I don’t wanna torture you. I just… I wanna catch up. Make sure your little girlfriend knows exactly what’s going on.” Kate looked at Spencer huddled against the cellar wall and smirked in the girl’s direction. “Remember all the fun we had together?”

“Like the time you burned my family alive?”

“What?” Spencer questioned, looking up at Kate.

Kate turned back to Derek with a smirk, and walked towards him. “No, I was thinking more about the...hot, crazy sex we had.” She grabbed at the waistband of his jeans. “But the fire thing, yeah, that was fun, too.”

Derek tried to lunge himself at Kate, but with the chains, it was no use for him to get any further.

Kate laughed. “I love how much you hate me.”

Derek was breathing heavily.

“Remember how this felt?” Kate asked, leaning down. Kate licked up his abdomen.

Spencer quickly pushed forward, wanting to kill Kate herself.

Derek only snapped back and growled, baring his canines.

“Mmm, sweetheart, I really don’t want to torture you. I wanna torture her.” She whispered to him, gesturing with a flick of her head back towards Spencer. “Torturing her might get you to talk. But him…” Kate turned to face Spencer and the door opened fully.

The man who slid the door open appeared in the room.

“He wants to torture you.” Kate left after her comment, leaving the man with the bat to attend to Derek.

Spencer wanted to do something. Hurt the man. Kill the man even. She didn’t care. He was hurting Derek, which, in turn, was hurting her. There was nothing she could do but watch. Spencer hoped that watching could make her angry enough for her to use her strength and get them out of there. She kept thinking about everything that just happened. Everything that Kate said. What happened with her and his family. It was so much for her to take in.

Finally the man left, leaving Derek to heal. The two sat in silence for a long time.

Spencer wanted to talk about everything that’s happened. She knew for a fact that Derek wouldn’t want to. She was scared to ask about it.

Derek knew it was coming. He just hoped it wouldn’t.

“Derek.” Spencer called.

Derek continued to look at the floor.

Spencer sighed. “Derek, please. Talk to me.”

Nothing.

“Look at me.”

Nothing.

“Breathe or something. I can’t handle this silence.”

“What?” Derek snarled.

“What the hell was that?”

“What was what?”

“The thing with Kate.”

Derek’s jaw tightened and he looked away from her.

“It was her. She was the girl from before. The ‘friend with benefits’. Only she wasn’t just a friend with benefits, was she?”

Derek looked at Spencer through his eyelashes. He didn’t want to lie to her. He didn’t see any point in it. “No. She wasn’t.”

“She got close to you. And she started the…”

“Fire.”

“She’s the reason that you don’t open up to me. She’s why you’re so closed off to people.” Spencer took a deep, but shaky breath to clear the lump forming in her throat. “You loved her.” She said with certainty.

“No.” Derek insisted.

“Derek, this is the only way I could think of as to why this upset you so much. Why you’re so closed off. Why you don’t trust me. You loved her and she betrayed you.” Spencer smiled and sighed. “It makes so much sense now. Any I thought I was doing something wrong. I thought it was because I was some kid. But it’s not.”

Derek didn’t respond.

Spencer continued. “I always thought there was a possibility of meeting this bitch, but never under these circumstances.” Spencer looked to Derek.

Derek looked away from her. “She’s coming back.”

“Derek…” She begged, hoping he’d say something.

“Shut up.” Derek ordered.

Spencer sighed and slumped herself against the wall.

Kate strolled in moments later. She took a seat in the chair next to the machine and pulled her phone out. After pushing a few buttons she held the phone up to her ear.

Spencer listened in.

It was Allison’s dad. “Hey, it’s me. I’m getting tired of leaving messages. I want to know where you are. Call me. Now.”

Kate sighed, annoyed and hung up the phone. “Unfortunately, Derek,” She mused, “if you’re not gonna talk, I’m gonna have to resort to extreme measure. I’m gonna kill your girlfriend.”

Spencer eyes shot up to Derek, begging him to do something.

“And if you still don’t talk, I’m gonna kill you.” Kate looked to Spencer, reaching for the knob that was hooked up to her wires. “Say hi to who would have been Sister-in-Law Laura for me.” Kate paused when her hand touched the knob. “You did tell her about me, didn’t you?” Kate asked, angling her head towards Derek, awaiting an answer.

Derek just glared, exhausted.

“The truth about the fire? Or did you?” Kate questioned, getting out of her chair.

Spencer let out a sigh of relief when Kate’s hand fell off the knob. She looked to Derek who looked distraught. She’d never seen him like this. Derek was vulnerable, looking as if he could cry.

Kate gasped realising he hadn’t said anything to Laura. “Did you tell anybody?”

Derek looked away.

“Did you tell your girlfriend?” Kate asked, turning around to look to Spencer.

Spencer held her stare with Kate. Derek might not have been strong enough to have the upper hand, but Spencer wasn’t going to let Kate have it.

“Oh, sweetie, that’s just a lot of guilt to keep buried. It’s not all your fault. You got tricked by a pretty face. I bet this one’s played lots of tricks on you.” Kate laughed. “It happens! Handsome young werewolf mistakenly falls in love with a super-hot girl who comes from a family that kills werewolves. Is that ironic?”

Spencer kept her gaze on Derek, hoping maybe she could pass some hope or strength onto him.

“Is it ironic that you’re inadvertently helping me track down the rest of the pack again?” Kate asked, chuckling. “We’re just a little bit of history repeating.” Kate moved back over to the machine, but paused when she got there. She tapped her fingers on the box. “History repeating.” She thought aloud. Kate walked back to Derek. “It’s not Jackson, is it? Oh, no, no, no. He’s got a little scratch on the back of his neck, but he’s not in love with Allison. Not like Scott.”

“Leave Scott alone!” Spencer shouted, trying to push herself forward to get to Kate. “He hasn’t done anything to you.”

“What are you gonna do about it?” Kate asked rhetorically, as she walked towards the machine and turned Spencer’s knob.

Spencer stopped fighting against the chains and started struggling with the volts running throughout her entire body.

“Stop!” Derek growled at Kate. “She’s not a wolf! She’s just human! She can’t heal like I can! You’ll kill her!”

“That’s the plan.” Kate said, turning off the machine anyway. She laughed and made her exit out of the dark cellar. Kate nodded to the man that was outside the door and he closed the door.

“Red?” Derek called. He didn’t get an answer.

Spencer was shaking, curled in a ball on the floor.

“Spencer!” Derek shouted.

Spencer still didn’t get up.

Defeated, Derek thrashed himself against the gate and it’s chain. “Red, you’ve got to be okay.”

Spencer slowly raised her head off the ground.

“Red?”

“Talk to me.” She said, just above a whisper.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know. Anything. It helps.” She breathed.

Derek sighed. “You were right. Like always. I was in love with her. Or I thought I was. Then she used me to get to my family. She started the fire. She killed my family. And I’ve been living with it ever since. You let me in and I couldn’t do the same. That’s because of her.”

Spencer struggled to push herself up into a seated position against the wall. She took in a deep breath. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Derek looked down. “I couldn’t. It would be admitting that everything was my fault. Why my whole family died. Why my sister is dead.”

“It’s not.” Spencer argued. “You couldn’t have known that she was lying about who she was. You couldn’t have known that she was going to burn this place down. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It is! Everything is. You being here, right now, that’s on me.”

“I came here to get you. That was my choice.”

“If I hadn’t been here, you wouldn’t be either.”

“Derek, will you shut up?!” Spencer pushed. “God, I’m sitting here, trying to make you feel better and let you know it’s not your fault. You are a good person.”

Derek started to shake his head to show that he didn’t agree.

“You sacrificed yourself to Kate for Scott and Jackson. You can’t save everyone. No one is perfect. You’re not. I’m definitely not.” Spencer sighed. “I’m missing my first high school dance where I actually have a boyfriend to go with .I had a dress picked out and everything. One that I wasn’t going to wear with leggings or shorts under. And for me, that’s a big deal. Granted, I didn’t know that I was going to be kidnapped and held against my will by your crazy, evil ex...whatever. But I gave up an amazing night with a guy who loves me and is amazing to me to save the guy that I’m not supposed to love, but can’t do anything to help.” Spencer said, looking down into her lap.

Derek looked up at her, feeling so much in that moment. He knew though, that nothing that he said would ever make her believe he’d be honest with her. She belonged with Stiles anyway.

“They’re probably worried about me.” Spencer said quietly. “Wondering where I am. I didn’t leave a note for Scott to tell him what was going on. Deaton might have told him, but even if he didn’t. I’m such a bad friend.”