Love's Spiral

Isaac sat at the kitchen table across from his father. He was nervously pulling pulling apart his biscuit and eating small pieces. He looked from his plate to his father, scared of the outcome of this conversation. Isaac had been trying to get his grades up, and it seemed to be paying off, but he still had at least one grade that his father wouldn’t be happy about.

Isaac looked up at his dad. “Um, so far it’s an ‘A’ in French and a ‘B-’ in econ.”

Mr. Lahey nodded approvingly. “What about chemistry?” he asked, continuing to eat his dinner.

Isaac stuttered. “I-I’m not sure. Midterms are in a f-few days and Sp-Spencer’s really been helping me study, s-so it could go up.”

“Is Spencer that redhead? From yesterday and the other morning?”

Isaac nodded, wanting to quickly move on from Spencer. Even though he didn’t want to talk about his grades, he really didn’t want to talk about Spencer.

“Is she the Sheriff’s daughter?”

“N-no. She used t-to live with h-him.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“Well, s-she’s just tutoring me. W-we’re not really friends.”

Mr. Lahey nodded. “So how’s chemistry now?”

“The grade?” Isaac asked, nervously.

“Yeah.” Mr. Lahey said, annoyed.

Isaac shook his head. “I-I’m not sure.”

“Well, you just said that it could go up.”

Isaac wiped his forehead, and pushed his hair back. His father had just caught him in a lie. “I just… I-I meant generally.”

Mr. Lahey turned his main attention back to his plate. “You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, Isaac?”

Isaac looked up and shook his head slowly. “No.”

“Then tell me your grade.”

“I-I just t-told you. I-I don’t know the grade.” Isaac stuttered.

“You wanna take this little conversation downstairs?” Mr. Lahey threatened.

Isaac’s heart dropped but he kept his attention on his father, trying to guess his next move. He shook his head.

“No? Then tell me the grade, son.”

Isaac looked at his plate. He debated. He wanted to counter. He knew that he could get his grade up. “Dad, this semester’s only half over.”

“Isaac.”

“There’s plenty of time for it to go up…”

“Isaac…” Mr. Lahey warned.

“I’ve been studying everyday with Spencer.”

“Isaac!” Mr. Lahey said forcefully.

Isaac had to give in. “It’s - it’s a ‘D’.”

Mr. Lahey stopped. “Alright.” He said, setting his silverware against his plate.

Isaac watched him carefully.

“It’s a ‘D’. I’m not angry.”

Isaac was relieved. Only for a second.

“You know I’m gonna have to find a way to punish you though. You know, now I have my responsibility as a parent. So, we’ll start with something simple.” Mr. Lahey said, looking around the kitchen. “Like… Tell you what, you do this dishes and clean up the kitchen, okay?”

The relief was back. Isaac untensed his shoulders and watched his father. Isaac always ended up cleaning anyway. “Yeah.” Isaac nodded.

Mr. Lahey took a drink from his small mug. “Good. Because I’d really like to see this place spotless.” Next Isaac knew, the same cup was in pieces on the floor.

Isaac cowered in his chair, staring at the smashed cup.

“Know what I’m saying?” Mr. Lahey questioned. “You know? I mean this entire kitchen.” He slammed his hands on the table and the rest of his dishes broke and went off in different directions. Isaac immediately took a scared, defensive pose against the wall behind him. “Yeah!” Mr. Lahey shouted. He picked up the glass vase that was in the middle of the table. He moved it around in his hands. “Yeah, absolutely...” He said, before throwing the vase at Isaac. “...spotless.”

The boy quickly cowered, covering his face with his arms. Only he didn’t move fast enough and a piece of glass landed on his cheek close to his eye. Isaac lifted his head and looked to his father. He cringed as he pulled the piece out of his cheek.

Mr. Lahey shook his head at his son. “Well, that was your fault.”

Isaac looked at the glass and then back at his dad. He felt a strong urge to stand up to him. Isaac was quick to get on his feet, standing before his father. “You could have blinded me.” Isaac seethed, feeling an anger flow through him.

“Shut up!” his father pushed. “It’s a scratch! It’s hardly even…” Mr. Lahey trailed off as he watched the cut on his son’s face disappear.

Isaac’s hand went to his face. He touched the cut and noticed there wasn’t any blood on his fingers. His dad was confused. Isaac looked from his fingers up to his dad. He noticed the confusion so Isaac quickly bolted from the room.

“Isaac!” Mr. Lahey called after his son.

Isaac raced out the door and picked up his bike that was on the sidewalk up to his house.

“Isaac!” His father called after him.

Isaac didn’t stop at his father’s voice. He could get out of the house now. He could protect himself. But where did he go now? Isaac was sure his father would follow him. Would he go to Derek? Everything in his gut told him to go to Spencer though. So he pedalled as fast as he could. Even when he started hearing thunder and it started to rain, he kept pedalling. It was dangerous for him on his bike in the heavy rain. He decided to ditch his bike in an alley and climb up the building. Isaac felt strong, powerful. Like he could do anything and everything. He smiled through the rain at his transformation.

Isaac looked down into the streets and saw his father’s car pull up to the alley he had just been in. He watched as his father got out of his car, angrily, and call for him. Mr. Lahey took of his glasses. He couldn’t see through the steam and rain in the alley. Something at the end of the alley caught his attention. Isaac turned in the other direction to see what his father saw. He couldn’t tell what it was with all the steam coming up into the air.

Isaac’s father wiped off his glasses and put them back on. “Alright!” he called, clapping his hands. “That’s enough. Let’s go!”

Isaac didn’t move.

“Isaac, grab your bike and let’s go!” Mr. Lahey threatened, taking off his glasses again.

But Isaac didn’t want to go. He was done with the hell his father had put him through.

The figure appeared again.

“Isaac?” Mr. Lahey questioned. He held his glasses up to try and look at who was at the end of the alley. He started shaking. He backed away. He put his glasses back on and saw the figure fully. It wasn’t human. “Holy…!” he said, before turning and running back to his car. Isaac didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what that thing was. All he could do was watch. Isaac’s father struggled to get into his car, but he knew that even in the car he wasn’t safe. The creature had pulled off the door to the car and lunged at his father. Isaac’s eyes went wide at what he saw. He had to move. He ran. He jump from building top to the next and finally came to the end of the tall buildings. He jumped down, landing on his feet and ran to Spencer’s house.

After arriving to her house, he went around to the side of the house, to her bedroom window. Thankfully, she was there and he banged on the window. She jumped and pulled the earphones from her ears. She felt herself shift just enough for her eyes to change and her claws to come out. She quickly retracted them and turned around, seeing Isaac at her window. Spencer got up from her bed and went to her window, opening it. Isaac climbed in, soaking wet.

“Isaac, what happened? Are you okay? You’re all wet.” Spencer pointed out.

“Yeah, it’s raining.”

“I see that.”

“You said I could come to you if anything happened.”

Spencer nodded, thinking. “What did he do?” she asked, referring to his father. She instantly began searching his visible skin for any bruises.

“Nothing!” He said, panicked. “I-I think he’s dead.”

“Who?”

“My dad.”

Spencer paused, taking him in. Something was different. She sniffed the air around him, ignoring the smell of the rain. “You’re a werewolf.” She said, certainly.

He took a step back, cringing, afraid of her reaction.

“How are you a werewolf, Isaac?” she asked him, persistently.

“Derek. He- He said he was a friend of yours.”

Spencer shook her head, pulling her hair out of her face. “Did you kill your father?”

“No.” He said, quickly, honestly. “It wasn’t me. I-it was… Well, I’m not sure what it was, really…”

“We have to go see Derek.” she said, unquestionably. She walked to her closet and started putting pants on over the skirt of her dress. She put on her sneakers too.

Isaac watched, confused, as she maneuvered about her room. “Wait, are you a werewolf, too?”

Spencer paused. “To put it simply, yes.”

“And not simply?” Isaac questioned.

“There are a lot more than just werewolves in my world.” The two quickly walked out of Spencer’s room and out the front door. Spencer started running through the rain to Derek’s underground subway hideout. They got there in under five minutes, quicker than if they would have driven. Isaac ran down the stairs first. “Derek!” Spencer called.

“Derek?” Isaac shouted right after. He nearly fell down the stairs trying to go down them. Spencer took them two at a time. “Derek!” Once on the ground floor, Isaac ran for the car he knew Derek stayed in.

“God, it’s like you’ve been here before.” Spencer said, jokingly.

“I have been.” Isaac said, honestly. Isaac climbed into the car and Spencer was just behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked.

“My dad.” Isaac started. “I think he’s dead.”

Derek was hiding out in the shadows with his eyes glowing.

Spencer groaned. “Would you please come out? I really don’t like feeling like I’m a part of some horror movie.”

Derek walked forward until the light shined in on him. His eyes turned back to their natural green-blue color. “What did you do?” he asked Isaac.

“That’s the thing.” Isaac answered. “It wasn’t me.”

“Then what was it?”

“I-I don’t know. I couldn’t see it well. And it moved fast.”

“It?” Spencer questioned.

“It looked human, sort of. But it wasn’t.” Isaac clarified.

“You don’t have any other details?” Derek asked.

“You know, none of this would have happened if you’d done what you said you would and talked to me about biting someone else.” Stepping around Isaac to stand in front of Derek.

“You would’ve advised me not to.”

“You’re damn right, I would have. I wanted one normal friend, Derek! You knew that! I told you that! Isaac was that for me. And now you’ve pushed him into this world of danger and his father’s dead.”

“I’m not really complaining.” Isaac said.

“Shut up, Isaac.” Spencer said, forcefully, turning his head towards him. He saw the flash of gold in her eyes.

“O...okay.” He said, backing off.

“I asked him, Red.” Derek argued.

Spencer turned her attention back to Derek.

“I asked him if he wanted the bite. I told him everything. All about the hunters and the dangers. And he still wanted it.”

Spencer looked to Isaac. “Is that true?”

Isaac looked from his friend to his alpha.

Derek nodded encouragingly.

Isaac nodded back to Spencer.

“Isaac wanted to finally stand up to his dad.” Derek said, gaining Spencer’s attention. He was tired of all the broken bones and bruises.

“You ass.” Spencer said to him. “I didn’t tell you that so you could feel the need to get him out of a bad situation. I told you in confidence so you would understand why Isaac and I got along.”

“You told him?” Isaac asked.

“I didn’t think he’d use it against me like this.” Spencer shook her head at Derek who just stared at her with a smile on his face.

“You know, you’re really kind of cute when you’re angry.” Derek joked, raising his brow.

As much as her heart was beating for the compliment from Derek, she couldn’t break. She couldn’t let him get away with hurting her and breaking her trust. She pushed passed Derek and went to the table where she knew his wallet was. She picked up the keys to his Camero.

“What are you doing?” Derek said, blocking her path out of the car.

“Showing you just how cute I can be.” She said with a sweet smile. She jumped up and caught herself on the roof of the car. She swung over him and landed behind Isaac. “We’re leaving.” she told Isaac, walking out of the carriage, Derek’s car keys in hand. Derek let her go though. Spencer found the Camero and got in the driver’s seat. “Get in.” She ordered. Isaac quickly got in the car, not questioning. Spencer sped out of the makeshift parking spot Derek made for himself. The car ride was silent, awkward almost.

“I’m sorry.” Isaac said to Spencer. “I should have talked to you about it.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“I wanted to. Everything in me told me to. I just didn’t know how you’d feel about the whole situation.”

“Well, obviously I’m not exactly pleased. I would have warned you away from this. I don’t want this for you. It’s dangerous.”

“No more dangerous than being beat and locked in a freezer.” Isaac said under his breath.

Spencer heard him. “Actually much more dangerous. Derek must not have told you everything.”

“He told me about the hunters. The Argents. Allison’s family. That we had to watch ourselves around them and how we let ourselves be known.”

“You have to watch yourself around everyone.” Spencer stressed. “You have to be extremely careful with how you present yourself. How you notice things. Especially tomorrow. You cannot get angry. You can’t let yourself get frustrated. You have to stay absolutely calm. No one can find out that you’re a werewolf.” Spencer paused, thinking about her statement. “No one can find out that either of us are a werewolf.”

“No one knows you’re a werewolf.”

“Just Derek. Scott and Stiles are in the dark.”

“But they’re your best friends.”

“They also aren’t very happy with me because of Derek killing his uncle, the old alpha, and ruining Scott’s chance of finding a cure.” Spencer pulled into the driveway of her house and parked the car.

“Scott’s a werewolf?” Isaac questioned.

Spencer bit her lip and looked down at her lap, a little frustrated with the amount of information that wasn’t shared with Isaac before Derek bit him. She took a deep breath. “He didn’t tell you everything.” She groaned and banged her fist on the steering wheel.

Isaac jumped and cringed at the noise.

Spencer saw it out of the corner of her eye. She sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just taking it in. I told Derek about your situation because he’s my alpha. He’s also one of the handful of people that I can trust and consider my friend. I had no idea that he would go to you and change you. I’m sorry that it happened to you. And, even though you hated him, I’m sorry your dad died.”

Isaac and Spencer both sat in the car for another few seconds in silence before he spoke up. “I feel responsible. Like it’s my fault that he’s dead.”

“Isaac, it’s not your fault. I promise you. You didn’t kill your father. As much as you would have liked to. And even if you had, that weight that gets put on your shoulders for killing the person who helped bring you into this world… It isn’t worth it.”

“What does that mean?”

Spencer paused and unbuckled her seatbelt to turn in the seat and face him. “I killed my dad. Slashed his throat.” She said, as she channelled her wolf and drew her claws. “He wasn’t my dad anymore.”

“Neither was mine.”

The two sat again in silence before Spencer decided they should go inside. “Let’s hit the sack. I’m exhausted.” Spencer said, pushing the door open.

“I’m staying here?”

“Tonight. It might give you some kind of alibi for when they find your dad.”

Isaac nodded. He followed her through the front door of her house. A woman that Isaac assumed was Spencer’s mom was sitting in the chair in the living room that had a view of the front door. She quickly got out of her chair and walked towards the teenagers.

“For a second I thought that was Derek since it was his car.”

Spencer wasn’t going to stop and talk to her mom. She rolled her eyes and turned away, grabbing Isaac’s arm, pulling him along. “Amy, Isaac. Isaac, Amy. We’re going to bed.”

“Nice to meet you.” Isaac called as he was pulled into Spencer’s room.

Spencer closed the door once Isaac was securely in her bedroom. She dug through her drawers pulling out a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt that belonged to Derek. She handed the clothes to him.

“Did you seriously just walk right passed your mom into a closed bedroom with a guy?” Isaac questioned, taking the clothes.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have the best relationship.” Spencer said, pulling the jeans down that she had on over her dress. She shed her dress and stood in front of Isaac in her bra. Isaac turned away, embarrassed. His cheeks turned bright pink and his heart rate picked up. Spencer smirked and laughed to herself. Isaac went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, Spencer was in bed, going through a few things on her phone. He looked around the room.

“Where am I supposed to sleep?” Isaac asked.

“In the bed?”

Isaac didn’t respond. Instead his cheeks turned pink again.

“Unless you’re not comfortable with that. I wouldn’t mind, but if you do, I have a blow up in the closet.”

Isaac nods and goes for the closet.

Spencer shook her head. “It’s in the back right corner.” Spencer watched from her bed as Isaac set up the blow up mattress on the floor. “Blankets on the shelf overhead.”

“Thanks.” Isaac said, reaching for them. He got himself comfortable on the mattress. He sighed and faced away from Spencer.

Spencer reached for her bedside table lamp and turned the light off. “I’ll see you in the morning. I promise you that we will figure this out.”