Wolfbane Heart

Jude had been waiting in the Jeep for Scott and Stiles for about ten minutes, wondering how long it would take for them to fill the hole back up. She jumped in surprise when both of them lumbered back into the car.

“Wow, that didn’t take too long,” she said, making Stiles scratch the back of his head nervously.

“Yeah, we didn’t cover it back up,” he said, making Jude arch her eyebrow at him.

“Then what did you do?”

“We, um, mighthavecalledmydadaboutthebody.”

Jude blinked at him in astonishment for a few seconds before regaining her wits and grabbing a book from the dashboard, hitting him over the head with it a few times.

“Why the hell did you do that?”

“Um, I don’t know, maybe because there’s a murder victim buried here??”

“Stiles! Derek didn’t murder that wolf-woman-person!” Scott and Stiles looked at her dubiously, making her sigh and hit her head against the dashboard, “Stiles, if he killed her then why would he bury her with the spiral of wolfsbane?”

“What? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well obviously the wolfsbane rope kept her in her wolf form. Why would Derek take the time to pay her respect like that if he was the one who murdered her?”

“Well maybe it isn’t a form of respect! Maybe it’s the opposite, maybe it means like ‘haha suck it wolfy,’” Jude looked at him for a second before sighing again.

“Stiles it was in one of the books we read last night. A werewolf that’s able to completely shift into their wolf form are in a category separate from other werewolves. You pay your respects to them by making sure that they’re buried in their wolf form.”

Stiles and Scott looked at her in shock for a second before turning back to face the windshield.

“Well maybe Derek is a respectful murderer,” Stiles continued, making Jude smack her forehead. Scott winced.

“I don’t know Stiles, what if Jude is right? What if we just dug up a grave of someone he knew? I mean Derek is a pretty gloomy person but I don’t think that he is stupid enough to kill someone and then bury them directly outside his house,” Stiles just kept on ignoring them and driving down the road, making Scott sigh and run his hand over his face.

“I’m going to do a few loops before I hear that Derek is in custody over my police scanner and then we can go back. I want to ask the Sourwolf himself who the wolf was.”

Jude sighed from the back of the car and shifted in her seat to look out the window. Once Stiles was set on a plan, no one could talk him out of it. Even her.

After circling the neighborhood a few times, Stiles’s radio crackled to life

“Suspect Derek Hale found in his home, being detained for the moment.”

Without even hesitating, Stiles pulled a U-turn and headed back in the direction of the charred house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We need to get in there.”

Jude and Scott turned to look at Stiles incredulously.

“You want to get into a police car, unnoticed, during a crime scene investigation in order to talk to a person that you just got arrested?” Jude asked from her hiding spot behind a tree.

“Precisely!”

“Okay, just checking to see where your level of sanity is at,” she muttered, following behind him and Scott as they made their way towards the house, doing their best not to alert any of the policemen.

“Scott, can you be the lookout for my dad? I think Jude and I should question Derek.”

“Cause you always put him in such a talkative mood,” she said under her breath, quickly dodging a light punch that Stiles threw her way. Scott agreed to the plan, and Stiles wasted no time in pushing Jude into the car. Before Jude even turned around in her seat, she could feel the heat from Derek’s glare burning into their backs. Sure enough, when her and Stiles managed to swivel around, the elder werewolf looked nothing short of murderous.

“Heeey bud,” Stiles finally said, looking like he immediately regretted his decision of getting in the car. When he turned to her for help, she shot him a look that said “you got yourself into this mess.” Stiles sighed, “Listen, we just want to know why you bit Scott. And who that woman- wolf, sorry- was, and why you killed her, and why you were intent on taking Allison home from the party, and when Scott is going to turn, and-“ Stiles cut off when he saw that Derek had no intention of answering him, and was still glaring holes through his head. “Look bud, I’m not scared of you and- AHHH,” Stiles nearly flew away from the metal barrier when Derek lurched forward, growling at him. Before Stiles could say anything else, a familiar arm shot into the car and dragged him out.

Jude sighed, turning to Derek before she got out, “I am sorry, for whoever she was to you,” she said, making Derek’s face flash in confusion and something else that she couldn’t identify before she slid out of the car on her own.

Quickly skirting around the argument that Stiles and his dad were having, she jogged back to the safety of the woods to where Scott was standing.

“Did Stiles find anything out?”

“What do you think?”

“Okay, good point. Is he accidentally telling his dad that we were all in the woods the night we searched for the dead body?”

“Probably.”

“Well this is going great already,” Scott muttered, making Jude bite her lip to hide the laugh that was threatening to bubble to the surface. They only had to wait a few more minutes before Stiles came trudging in their direction, his dad headed in the opposite way with the other officers. “So did you end up telling him everything?” Scott asked once Stiles was inside the forest line with them.

“Dude, no! What do you take me for, an amateur?”

“Stiles…”

“Guys I cracked like a fucking egg.”

Jude and Scott both shook their head, smiling exasperatedly at their ridiculous friend.

“Can we please go get some milkshakes and burgers like normal teenagers?” Jude asked exasperatedly, wanting more than anything to get away from the crime scene.

“What are we, the teenagers of the 1940’s? Let’s go get wasted, do some ecstasy, and tweet about the entire experience!” Stiles enthused, making Scott laugh and making Jude look less than impressed.

“The milkshake and diner era was in the 1950’s Stilinski, do your research.”

“Well maybe I would know that if I was a nerd and spent three hours more than everyone else on researching sessions,” Scott shook his head at both of them as Jude stuck her tongue out at Stiles in a very mature manner.

“Milkshakes it is…” Scott muttered, throwing himself in the passenger seat of the baby blue jeep as Stiles sped off towards the one lonesome diner in Beacon Hills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t know if I can force a milkshake down my throat while that spectacle is occurring ten feet from us,” Stiles mumbled around his straw while subtly trying to turn his gaze towards the booth where Jackson was practically suffocating Lydia with his mouth. Usually the ancient diner was a place of immense comfort with nice pastel colors, peeling painted signs, and sweet aromas of apple pies, but apparently today their sanctuary was interrupted.

“At least there’s no tongue,” Jude commented, but soon winced as her statement was immediately jinxed.

“You just had to add to the horror,” Stiles said, pointing his straw at Jude in mock anger. She shrugged unapologetically, shrieking in laughter when he flicked some of his fries at her. Scott cried out as well when some of the ketchup hit him directly on his right cheek.

“Stiles! That was my good side!”

“Yeah, it’s a shame that ketchup stains are permanently damaging,” Stiles retorted sarcastically, making Scott retaliate by smearing some whipped cream on the front of Stiles’s shirt.

“Well isn’t this adorable,” a familiar voice drawled from the right of their booth. All three swiveled around to see Jackson standing their with his hands in his pockets and a judgmental look on his face.

“Is there a reason that you’ve decided to grace us with your presence?” Jude was about to reprimand Stiles when Jackson responded,

“Not particularly, just confused as to how you losers have ever managed to get this far in high school. Or even how you managed to gain any more friends than yourselves.”

Jude looked at Jackson in shock as he strolled away towards the bathrooms, checking out a girl seated at the counter as he went.

“Is it just me, or is he an extra dose of asshole lately?” Jude couldn't even find it in herself to scold Stiles for bad mouthing her ex, because he was right. Jackson had always been a bit full of himself, but this was a new level even for him.

“It’s cause he got the position of team captain this year in Lacrosse,” Scott answered glumly, “Now we all get to take orders from him at practice.”

Jude swiveled around in her seat to look at where Lydia was still seated. The girl in question was staring after where Jackson had disappeared, a frown pulling at her lips and her eyebrows furrowed. It appeared that not even his girlfriend had seen that side to him before. Lydia’s eyes finally cleared and she swept her gaze over to their table. Jude sent a hesitant wave her way with a small smile, one that Lydia returned after a beat.

The two girls’ exchange was quickly ended when Jackson slid back into the booth with Lydia, threw a few bills on the table and tugged on Lydia’s waist to drag her out the door. All that Jude saw before the door slammed shut was a small wave coming from a sad looking Lydia Martin.

“That was weird,” she muttered, gaze still turned towards the entrance.

“Nah, Jackson’s always been a jerk Jude, you were just too busy dating him to see it.”

“God that was not a good time for us, always having to put up with Jackson’s presence and seeing you guys make o- AHHH,” Scott’s sentence got cut off by Jude smearing the rest of her milkshake on his face.