Chapter 18 - A Lie

November 1 2003, 4:15 PM.

At the deepest part of the Beacon Hills Preserve.

A teenager with a black hair can be seen running away while breathing heavily.

*Swoosh*

He ducked down and dodged an arrow that was aiming for his head, before he continue to run.

However, he didn't get that far as he suddenly bumped into someone else.

The teen then nervously and quickly distanced himself from the other person that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

However, before he could panic even more, he heard the shaky voice of the said person.

"You.. you're from the Hale pack."

The person in front of the teen, who turned out to be Derek, is a young adult man who has a haggard and scared look.

"Wh-"

Derek tried to ask who the man is, when he find out that the person in front of him knew his pack's name, but he didn't even get to finish up a single word.

*Striik!*

This is because an arrow suddenly pierced through the throat of the unknown werewolf.

"Ru..n"

After getting out of the shock, the Derek listened to the man's words and so, he started to run once again.

•••

When Derek left, the hunter's identities were revealed as they approach the young beta.

There are five of them and one of them is Gerard's son, Chris.

They all approached the beta that was before halting their steps as one of them spoke.

"Is this the one?"

"Yes, he killed two of ours."

The one who asked was none other than Chris and the one that shot the beta answered him, along with a nod.

The beta, who is in front them, is the one that accidentally killed the other hunter a few nights ago.

Even more, he also killed another one yesterday, just to scape the hunters when they were following him.

"We have a code, remember that. We don't just kill anyone. Find the other one and bring him back alive. Alive."

Chris firmly said to him before he began to walk forward along with the other hunters.

Chris said this because he wants to know what really happened first before they start killing someone.

But rather than following behind him and the others, the hunter that Chris just talked to began to drag the beta out of the forest instead.

•••

Meanwhile a few hundreds of meters away from the hunters.

Derek can be seen running as fast as he can while hiding behind the trees.

As Derek run, the trees around him, that he can hide at, continue to narrow down.

And just as he was about to pass by the last tree, a hand pulled him from behind and brought him somewhere.

The next thing Derek knew, he was now in the weird tree that he, Drake, and his friend went to.

"Peter?"

"Shhh."

Seeing the person who brought him here, Derek's eyes widen in shock before he spoke only to be shush by him.

Derek and Peter then did what was taught to them which was to hide and heal.

As well as to wait for the hunters to leave.

This made them to hide under the ground for two days, before they hurriedly return home.

•••

An hour later.

Inside of an abandoned distillery at the outskirt of the Beacon Hills, a teen boy can be seen sitting on a chair while his face were buried onto his hands.

"He didn't turn."

The teen, named Drake, said with a voice that contained a lot of guilt.

He was talking about his homeroom teacher, Mr. Rouk.

After he bit him that night, he followed him to see if Mr. Rouk would really leave the city after he got what he wanted.

But then that happened.

"What!?"

A brunette teen girl exclaimed before she added.

"I thought when someone is bitten it automatically means they're going to be a werewolf?"

The teen girl, named Paige, asked Drake before she reached and held his hands.

"So did I, but clearly that's wrong."

"Do you know why?"

Drake answered and Paige then asked again, which he answered by shaking his head.

"Maybe you should tell this to your mom now?"

Paige suggested as she caresses the hands of her boyfriend.

After that night, Drake freaked out but still chose to keep what happened a secret.

However, the guilt is hunting him whenever he sleeps.

And for the past few days, he would also randomly have nightmares and hallucinations.

That's why when he finally decided to tell it to someone, that someone is Paige and not his mother.

As for the reason why he kept it?

It's because he's scared of what his mother and siblings would think after learning the truth.

They might start treating him like a freak because his bite has a different affect and is unable to turn someone.

And what's worse is that, instead of turning, Mr. Rouk got tortured by the bite instead.

Tortured enough for him to wish to die.

That's why, Drake answered Paige's suggestion with.

"No, please promise me you won't tell them."

Paige helplessly nodded with a sigh before she speaks again.

"Maybe there's something more than the bite? Like a trigger."

"... It's possible, but I don't know how that works."

And thus, they continue to discuss about the possible trigger until Paige exclaimed once again.

"That's it! Maybe the trigger is your will, just like how you would do whenever you shift into a werewolf, you should will for it when you bite someone."

"Will? So you're saying that I wanted that to happen?"

Paige nodded as she added.

"Sadly, maybe, but mostly yes."

"Paige!"

At his girlfriend's indecisive words, Drake couldn't help but whisper yell.

"Sorry. Anyway, answer this, what's on your mind when you bit Mr. Rouk?"

"I... I wanted him to be gone... Like gone forever."

"Then I'm right! That's also the reason why you didn't help him, right? Wait- that's the reason you didn't help him?!"

Ignoring the last part of her question, Drake began to think about what she said.

Paige's honest words hurt Drake but he couldn't really deny what she said and so all he can response to her is...

"Maybe... Alright I admit that may be the reason why I didn't help him, but that still doesn't confirm your theory."

After hearing Drake's confirmation, Paige stood up, while pulling Drake with her, and said.

"Then bite me and we'll see if you're really different from the other's."

"What- No! I won't bite you! What if that happens to you too!?"

Clearly not happy at Paige's words, Drake started to shout as he pulled her in his arms. But then, Paige looks up to stare at his eyes and said.

"Drake you need to do this if you want to know if you're really different from them."

"But- but it's you we're talking about. This can kill you, I can kill you. If this fail, I don't know what I will do..."

"Well we don't really have a choice, you can't just bite some random people because it may just happened again.

And for this test to work, it has to be someone you deeply care about and so it has to be me."

Paige softly said before she added.

"Besides I trust you and I will put my faith in your bite, even if it kills me. So trust me too ok?"

Seeing the resolve inside of her eyes, Drake closed his and took a deep breath.

After that, he leaned his face closer to hers and rest their forehead with each other, before he whispers.

"Although I hate this plan, let's do it. But we'll do it at the treehouse."

And with a nod from Paige, they the left the abandoned distillery and went to their little house.

•••

A couple of hours after Drake and Paige left the abandoned distillery, a group of people arrived and enter the said building.

The group is numbering over 20 people and 5 of them are females.

And among those men is an old man that Drake saw a few nights ago.

The old man who's called Gerard.

Although he is here, his son, Chris, is not with him right now.

It is because, he is still looking for the other beta that they failed to catch earlier.

Gerard stepped forward to stand in front of the people who's with him before he starts to speak.

"Gentlemen, this is where we found the body of our brother that they killed."

He paused for a second to analyze the faces of the other men before he continues.

"See that rope there? They hanged him up there and played with him like a toy!"

What the old man said is obviously a lie.

This is a story that he secretly made and spread.

Gerard did this for a certain purpose.

And this purpose is, of course, to plant the seed of anger and thirst for vengeance inside of his fellow hunters.

As for the hunters with him at that time, they're still with Chris, who is currently looking for the other beta that they failed to catch.

They're completely unaware about what Gerard had done, as the old man carefully spread the fabricated story.

Although there's some who did learned the truth, they were payed by Gerard to remain quiet.

"And so, we're here to give them a medicine of their own!"

As he shouted this, a couple of men brought in a young werewolf and then they hang him up in the air, with a rope.

"Le-let me go!! I didn't d-do anything wrong!!"

The werewolf is the beta that was shot by one of Gerard's trusted men earlier this morning.

"Start the interrogation."

Gerard said to a fat man with a scar on his face before he sat on a chair, not far away from the beta.

Hearing the old man's words, the fat man approaches the tied up werewolf before he begins to torture him.

"Ahhhhh!! Kgeellbb!! Grahaaa!!"

Even though the beta's mouth is gagged with a ball of clothe, he's still able to scream as loud as he can.

After torturing and questioning the beta for an hour, they let him fall to the ground before bisecting and finally killing the young werewolf.

"Such a loyal dog, don't you think?"

After the beta died, Gerard asked the man besides him who nodded as a response.

Gerard then shook his head as he thought that they just wasted their time in here, simply because the werewolf didn't say anything to them.

Not a single thing, nothing about the monster that they're trying to find or even about his own pack.

After releasing a deep and weak sigh, he finally stood up before he looks at the faces of his men once more and say.

"Start cleaning this place but leave the body of that monster behind."

""Yes sir!!""

At his command, all the men shouted, all at the same time, before they starts to pack their torture equipments up.

After that, they began to wash off all of the blood that the werewolf spilled all over this place.

Gerard, on the other hand, forcefully hid a satisfied smirk that he accidentally let out as soon as he got out of the building.