DEREK WATCHED AS HIS YOUNGER cousin slowed her running as she grew closer to him, shocking him by coming to an immediate stop directly beside him. The two Hales stood in the middle of the Beacon Hills High School hallway, in absolute silence. They knew what they were waiting for, it was only a matter of time before the two other werewolves would arrive in front of them, ready for a fight. Ready to kill.

He watched her stare towards the double doors, and it was almost as if his stare was enough to make her think that he was daring her to speak, especially aware that she didn't want to. When she was a child, he constantly noticed how she focused on the different tasks that had been given to her. She dealt with them swiftly, but effectively, something she mostly learnt from her mother, but now it seemed like a distant memory for her to deal problems with a certain tender element. Something that the brunette definitely got from her brother.

Valentina felt no need to gather up any courage to look up to him, only to immediately regret it when she did. To her, Derek was an open book, and she could read him simply through his eyes, or just by the way that he acted in situations. She already knew that he didn't particularly want her out with him, but then, even if it seemed like it was only for a slight second, she could see it as clear as day. He was scared. And he knew that she'd seen it.

"They've been out for three full moons." It was the way that he repeated the statement that all of them had been mentioning caught her out. She found his answer for her unannounced question unsatisfying, and like a complete state of the obvious, which it was. Technically, it wasn't even an answer to her question, more like she had been given a faulty excuse.

"I can take them. And you know I can." Her words hit him like a brick, but it was only when she looked at him again that it finally sunk in. Of course she could take them, he thought, she just didn't have to, at least not alone. If he decided to be honest to himself, he'd know that he didn't want her to do this either because, he wouldn't be able to handle getting her back just lose her again, similarly with Cora.

"Val, you need to stop—"

"Stop what? You don't need to protect me anymore. I did just fine in all those years without you." Even she knew it was a low blow, but she had always been willing to do and saw what was necessary to get what she wanted. Despite what she had said, he still seemed to be edging her towards the exit of the school. "Derek, I've had enough. Get out of my way before I make you."

The alpha dropped his hands down in a huff, squinting his eyes as if it was the only physical action he make to do to help properly understand her. "Why? Just so you can get yourself killed—" When the sentence dropped, Valentina listened in to her surroundings to see why and heard the quick footsteps of the werewolves that they had been spending their whole night awake for.

"I'll get Cora down there, you take Boyd. We get them down to the boiler room and we're done, okay?" Fighting all the things he felt the need and desperate want to say, he simply nods in response ergo leading her to do the same before the double doors were slammed open. She was met by the familiar sight of her cousin, only she was much younger the last time she had seen her, yet she still had the same features. The brunette was sure that she would share the same joy at their reunion when she was in the right mind, or she wouldn't.

Exhaling, she flicked her head to each side before baring her fangs, she moved towards her and grabbed her upper arm. Claws ripped at her skin which caused Valentina to push her onto the ground, an uncomfortable amount of blood dripping down her arm, but she knew it would heal. Valentina pressed her knee against her abdomen as she tried to solve how she would get her to their destination with minimal injury, though she was unable to stop her from continuing to claw at her face.

Finally deciding what to do, the alpha flipped the beta over to her stomach and pressed her arms assertively against her back. When she managed to get her to the stairs leading to the boiler room, she wasn't able to see Derek, yet she figured he was either already running out from putting Boyd in there, leaving him somewhere behind her or he had to go through the other entrance. As there was too much going through her mind about how much injury had been caused her face and arms, she couldn't focus well enough to hear with her extra abilities.

With her self-preservation mindset kicking in, she pushed Cora inside, slamming the firmly door shut. Cora seemed to move on swiftly from this, and though it surprised her, she certainly did not mind it. She slid her back against the door but when she looked up, Valentina saw Isaac's frozen face from the top step. The blood on her face was still wet and some of it trickled down her face when she watched him move slowly down the stairs, cautious to see if she was going to make a move, one that she didn't know she had to make.

"What happened?" She asked, coming out with a small puff, like a reminder to him that she still was still breathing, but a reminder to her that she needed listen. No sound coming from his mouth, the alpha didn't have to ask twice for the time to focus on her abilities before she heard the sound of skin being ripped from inside the boiler room. All she needed to do was look to the beta and she knew who it was.

Without another second of hesitation she moved to open the door, but Isaac swiftly grabbed onto her waist. She screamed at him to let go, thrashing her arms outwards wildly, and atlas it did nothing. If her mother was looking at her Valentina would know exactly what she would say: you're pathetic; you're not even trying; you're not supposed to feel so weak that you're in such a hideous state like you're in; he wasn't worth it, you're not worth the effort. And she would be right.

Valentina wasn't using any of her supernatural abilities, she was hitting against him and trying to break free like a human. He did what he could to not meet her eyes, because he knew that what he would see there would break him. Isaac was told of what she had been through, and now the only family she thought she had left was being torn apart by another, whilst he held her back from stopping it happen. It made him wonder about what gave him the right to do that.

"Please," It almost sounded like a whimper, making him look at what he feared most; her eyes. Tears glistened them like ice on lake during winter, and it absolutely terrified him. Placing his hand on the back on her head, Isaac pushed her head into her shoulder, and though she fought it, eventually she went limp and they fell to the ground.

She thought about how terrible she was to him in what was their final moment together. In their final moment, she was selfish and for what reason? Because she wanted to be involved in something? She should have just left them to do it themselves, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt, or at least the final time they talked wouldn't have been with her being such a bitch.

With her mind running, she almost didn't hear it, it almost passed her mind like a fleeting shadow but they both heard it. A heart beat. Pushing herself up from her knees, she moved quicker than he could think about stopping her. Valentina ran into to the boiler room where she met Scott and her cousin, his head hanging low with claw marks running in different directions one this chest.

She let out an exhale of air, one that she was completely unaware that she was holding in. Yet with the undeniable relief that she felt, anger seemed find a way to course her way through her veins as well as thoughts like: how could I be so stupid to have actually let him take that risk, why did he do that, why the hell was he even in there in the first place? Somehow with all these questions it resulted in slight self-hatred, so instead she projected this onto someone else. The victim just happened to be Derek.

"There's a teacher," He began before Valentina could even say anything about his complete stupidity. "I'll take care of her. Get them out of here." Isaac and Scott look to each other for a split second before moving to help the unconscious werewolves while the brunette crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him with eyes that could kill. At first he was unaware of this, taking his time to check the wounds that rested over him until the male alpha finally looked up to meet her gaze.

"The hell was that, huh? Didn't have the time to think before you ran in here, like an idiot, and decided you liked the idea of getting beat up by your beta and your sister. It's great to see her by the way, it's nice that she gave you such a sweet 'welcome back' present." While Derek stood up and was making his move to walk away from his cousin, the betas found a hard time trying to contain their chuckles as they did was what asked of them.

"Do not walk away from me, Derek Hale!"

Her shout was enough to gain his attention, a slight turn of his head was what suggested to her that, even though he found her tone extremely threatening, he needed to deal with the teacher the was in the other room. A scoff fell from her lips and with the flick of her wrist, the alpha took it as the confirmation that he needed to be able to leave her. Valentina slowly moved her head up towards the ceiling, her hand soothing the drying blood on her neck. She was surprised to figure out that she felt the weird urge for verbal consultation; one that she had usually never felt before.

"I'm going out for a breather." The brunette explained before leaving the two so that she could exit the school entirely, where she met the night's cool breeze. Her hands moved to continue massaging her head, yet failing to calm her in any way. A headache seemed to rack her mind and even with peace that she felt outside after the extreme stress that she felt inside the school, it would not dare to seize. How she so desperately wished for the night to end, or at least give her the chance to sleep, but that would be assuming that she would even let herself do that.

Atlas, a certain Stilinski boy was getting out of his parked car when he saw the figure of a girl sitting on the ground near the entrance of the school, her head in her hands. As quickly as he could, he ran over to her, though with the amount of noise that he had made, it caused her to look up at him. Stiles stopped moving. He immediately saw the blood that rested on her face like dried skin, and was quick to assume the worst.

While she saw him rushing to her side in a heartbeat, it was like time had stopped, trying to give her enough time to process what was happening. Yet to Stiles, it was all going way too fast, and he needed a second to make sure that she was okay. His hands moved to rest on either side of Valentina's face as he tilted her side to side, checking for any injuries that might have not healed, returning to her gaze when he didn't find any.

"Don't worry it's mine." The alpha assured him, not willing to give him any more time to form additional assumptions of what may have happened, especially when she was so sure that Scott would just fill him in anyway. Her eyes lingered on the ground below them, becoming slightly uncomfortable by his lingering touch while he found himself shifting his weight from one leg to another. It seemed as though even his body was aching for something to happen.

"Is that supposed to make it better?" Stiles finally asked, his eyebrows furring as he tried to understand where she was coming from. As Isaac and Scott load up the passed out werewolves into Derek's car, her innocent eyes flicked up to him, telling him all the words that she would never say, but what he needed to know. He longed to bring her into his arms and comfort her in all ways that he could, even though he knew she just saw him as Scott's friend.

⋆。 ̊ ⋆ ࿐

"So Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott asked while his friend pulled up the sheet to cover Heather's pale body, but even with the sheet, she couldn't stop staring down at the girl. Her hands rubbed her upper arms as if the warmth she was gaining was supposed to comfort her after she knew that a girl had died. A girl she had met, though briefly, had died, and she wasn't able to stop it. Maybe it was her inner hero complex getting the better of her, but being around the best friends that was next to then, seemed to bring out that side of her.

With her hazel eyes flicking up from the body that laid in front of them, they glanced over to the Stilinski boy as he predicted, "You're gonna wish they did." The werewolf turned himself to face him properly, hoping to find the answer to his question being conveyed physically so that he didn't actually have to ask. It seemed as though it wasn't quite his lucky day.

"Why?" Slowly, he found his eyes drifting onto her solemn face, still covered in her own blood. As Scott learnt more about this girl, he found himself becoming even more confused, until he reminded himself of what she had been through. All of this 'these teenagers are idiots' that she was spouting, may or may not have been true, but what was, was how she was refusing to let anyone try and find some sort of connection to her. Meaning that as she stood there, clearly in pain, she would immediately refuse any aid with the answer that she barely knew them.

"I'm not exactly sure yet. The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily, eventually they're gonna find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather, the guy Lydia found at the pool, all three were virgins." He declared, breaking the werewolf from his invasive thoughts. "And they're all gonna have the same three injuries: strangled, throats slashed, head bashed in. It's called the three fold death."

Swallowing dry, Stiles leant forward slightly on the metal as he expected a question to come for his best friend. "So if these aren't random killings, then what are they?" He decides on asking, leaving Valentina to her thoughts as she figured out what was going on in Beacon Hills. A deep exhale falls from his lips when she answers the beta's question, his eyes moving over to meet her's in the middle.

"Sacfrices."

well hi

soooooo i hope this chapter was okay considering inspiration was nice enough to grace us with her presence... once a week,,, the auDACITY--

sorry i can't promise anything update wise on this book but i can ask:

do you want me to continue the hospital scene?

it's the least i can do considering i suck ass bc that would be major stalentina content.

also after watching twd, i kinda realised how similar some aspects of her and daryl are-- liKE I WAS THINKING ABT HIM BEFORE I KNEW HIM. that's love.