It's a Werewolf Thing

Kacey ran deeper into the woods, tripping over several roots before collapsing to the ground by a large tree trunk and hugging her knees to her chest as she attempted to calm her unsteady breathing. Darkness gradually fell around her and the cold air seeped beneath her clothes, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. Pushing herself to her feet, she made her way to Stiles’ house and hesitated before knocking on the door.

She knew that Stiles was awake, since his bedroom light was on and, much to her relief, the sheriff’s car wasn’t parked in the drive. It was a few minutes before the door swung open and an extremely tired looking Stiles appeared, frowning as he took in Kacey’s disheveled appearance.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling her inside and closing the door.

“I didn’t mean to do it, he just made me so mad and I... I couldn’t control it.”

“You need to breathe,” Stiles added, guiding Kacey to his room and sitting next to her on the bed, “Tell me what happened?”

“He wouldn’t stop talking, saying stuff about my mom... horrible stuff and the power just surged through me before I could do anything,” Kacey explained as tears ran down her cheeks, “He was standing in front of me one second, then he was lying motionless across the cemetery... Stiles, I didn’t mean to do it.”

“I know, it’s okay... I got you,” Stiles mumbled as he pulled her into a hug, “I’m going to call Derek.”

Nodding in agreement, Kacey laid down and curled herself up into a ball. Watching as Stiles sat at his computer desk, she listened to his side of the conversation he was having with Derek and tried to ignore the concerned looks that he was sending her way.

It was an hour before Derek showed up, climbing through the window and making his way over to Kacey. Crouching in front of her, he carded his fingers gently through her hair and glanced over at Stiles who was watching them silently.

“How are you doing?” Derek inquired, keeping his voice soft and continuing when his question was met with silence, “I know that your dad knowing about your abilities is bad and that you’re probably scared right now, but I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

“He’s going to kill me,” Kacey replied quietly.

“No... Kacey his not going to touch you, I promise,” Derek said as the sound of a car pulling up caught their attention.

Stiles walked over to the window, although he knew that Derek knew who it was and relaxed a bit when he saw his dad’s cruiser parked in the drive.

“It’s just my dad,” Stiles stated as he saw the look of fear on Kacey’s face.

“We should tell him what’s happening, he already knows about werewolves and the supernatural, he might be able to help,” Derek suggested as the sheriff knocked on Stiles’ bedroom door.

“Come in dad,” Stiles said, sending Kacey a reassuring nod and moving to stand beside where Derek was still crouched.

“Stiles, Kacey’s dad just reported her missing, I don’t suppose you’ve seen or heard from... her,” the sheriff asked, freezing in the doorway and rolling his eyes, “What a stupid question, of course you have.”

“Dad, there’s something that we need to tell you and you have to promise not to tell anyone outside of the pack.”

“I won’t say a word to anyone,” the sheriff promised, “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Kacey has powers, I guess you could call it magic and as a hunter, her dad will kill her if he ever found out about them,” Stiles explained.

“Does he know about them?”

“That’s why she’s here, she used them on him and she’s scared that he’s going to hurt her,” Derek added.

“Kacey, do you really think that your dad would hurt you?” the sheriff inquired, “Especially when he knows that you have the pack to protect you.”

“He killed my mom, so what is there to stop him from killing me as well,” Kacey replied, “He doesn’t care that I have the pack.”

“Wait... just hold on for one second and rewind, I thought your mom was killed by werewolves?”

“She was, but my dad paid them to kill her... to teach me a lesson.”

“Here’s what we’re going to do, you’re going to stay with us for a while,” the sheriff told Kacey, “I will then look into your mom’s death, keeping the investigation as low key as possible and see if I can find anything that links it back to your dad.”

“What are you going to tell her dad?” Stiles added.

“I’ll tell him that new evidence came up and it’ll be better for everyone if Kacey stays with us, instead of with strangers somewhere. I am her godfather after all... Derek, what about the other pack?”

“We know that they’re still around, we’ve picked up their scent a few times in the woods and on the outskirts of town,” Derek told him, “Apart from that, they seem to be keeping their distance for the time being.”

“I want you or a member of the pack with Kacey at all times.”

“Yes sir,” Derek agreed as Kacey sat up.

“Are you hungry, Kace?” Stiles asked.

“A little,” Kacey mumbled, feeling drained more than anything else and wanting to sleep for a week.

“Let’s get you some food, then you should sleep,” Derek suggested, earning a nod from Kacey and following Stiles downstairs.

Stiles made them all pancakes and then they headed to bed, but Kacey found that she couldn’t sleep. The next morning, she watched as Stiles left for school, followed shortly by the sheriff, leaving Kacey and Derek alone.

“How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know, Der,” Kacey admitted with a shrug, “Everything is so messed up right now and I’m having trouble figuring out if I’m a good guy, or if my powers make me an enemy.”

“Listen to me,” Derek said, moving to crouch in front of her, “You’re not the enemy, you really don’t have a bad bone in your body and you’d never hurt anyone unless they deserved it. What you have is a gift and it isn’t the gift that makes a person bad, it is their intention behind what they choose to do with it.”

“I just don’t see the good in me anymore,” Kacey stated, feeling the need to open up to him, “My dad’s a murderer, my mom is never coming back and I shouldn’t even be here. The only good thing in my life right now is the pack and I’m terrified of losing you all.”

“The packs not going anywhere, Kacey and neither am I... you’re my mate and that means more to me than anything. We’ll help you through this and I can’t promise that you won’t get hurt along the way, but I will do everything in my power to protect you from harm.”

Kacey looked at Derek, who pulled her forward into a tight hug and held her silently as tears rolled down her cheeks. She had seen too much evil to truly believe that she would always have the pack, but, for now, she was willing to hope at least and trust in Derek’s words. The time up until Stiles got home was spent researching and trying to put together a plan against her dad, which was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

“Why is it so easy to plan against a pack of werewolves, but we can’t even decide what we want to do about one psychotic murderer?” Kacey snapped as she pushed aside the laptop in frustration.

“No matter how twisted your dad is, or how we all feel towards him, he’s still human,” Derek said watching Kacey closely.

Grabbing the laptop back into her lap, Kacey thought for a few seconds before typing lupus ad interfecterom into the search bar and watching the results pop up on the screen. Running the cursor over each link, nothing really caught her attention until she reached the bottom of the page and froze. Clicking on the very last link, she watched as an article appeared on the screen and she scanned through it.

“Listen to this article written by a man named Jeff Lentin, he claims to be some sort of supernatural expert, or possibly just a nut job with a Latin username. The article is about a man that he encountered, there’s mention of a tattoo on his neck and the feeling of darkness... just like I felt when I saw my dad at the hospital.”

“What else does it say?” Stiles inquired.

“That he watched the man come back to life.”

Derek and Stiles both stared at Kacey, who had her eyes locked on the laptop screen as she reread the article in front of her. Everything seemed to be slipping into place, at least for her anyway and instead of making her feel better... it simply scared her even more.