12. CODE BREAKER

"Take me, and let Stiles stay with Lydia. She needs a hospital!".

It was hard to remain calm when both your friends' lives were on the edge of death.

"No, you're both coming with me.", Peter stated.

"Just kill me. Look, I don't care anymore.", Stiles cried.

Peter extracted his claws, pressing them against Stiles' neck, urging him to stand up.

"Call your friend. Tell Jackson where she is. That's all you get.", he ordered before turning to me, "Let's go.".

After Stiles called Jackson, Peter made sure we walked in front of him so we didn't get any ideas of escaping. 

"Ladies first.", he smirked, opening the door to the Jeep.

I didn't say a word as I climbed into the backseat. I just hoped that the stunt I pulled with Lydia bought her some time until she got to the hospital. 

"Don't feel bad. If she lives, she'll become a Werewolf. She'll be incredibly powerful.", Peter said.

"Yeah, and once a month, she'll go out of her freaking mind and try to tear us apart.", Stiles retorted.

"Well, actually, considering that she's a woman... Twice a month.", the Alpha joked, turning around to give me leering expression.

I shot him a death stare, and he chuckled, before directing us to an abandoned parking garage. 

"Don't think I've forgotten about our deal, Lorelai. Time is running out…", he sang as we got out of the jeep.

He led us to another black car close by, pulling out the keys from his pocket.

"Whose car is this?", Stiles asked.

"It belonged to my nurse.".

"What happened to her?", I questioned as Peter opened the trunk.

"OH MY GOD!".

Stiles and I yelled at the same time. There, lying inside, very much dead, was Nurse Jennifer. I stumbled backwards, my hand covering my mouth. 

"I got better.", Peter said, handing Stiles a laptop bag. 

"You got b- what the hell is wrong with you?!? Do you kill everyone who outlives their usefulness to you?", I shouted.

"Oh, Lorelai, I thought you knew me by now. Saw your future yet? And by the way, you may have slowed down your friend's bleeding, but it doesn't mean you saved her from the bite.", he smiled as he took the laptop out of its bag.

The element of surprise I hoped for was gone. I kept forgetting that he knew my grandmother.

"Good luck getting a signal down here.", Stiles grumbled.

Peter also pulled out a little black box- a MiFi.

"And you're a Mac guy! Does that go for all Werewolves, or just a personal preference?".

When Stiles gets nervous, he rambles, a lot. Sometimes I wished the guy had a mute button. Peter told him to get everything on and connected.

"You know, you're really killing the whole Werewolf-mystique thing here. Look, you still need Scott's username and password, and I'm sorry, but I don't know them.", Stiles filled him in as he worked.

"You know both of them.", the Alpha said in an obvious tone.

I could feel his patience wearing thin and the more Stiles denied he didn't know, the more aggravated Peter got. Eventually, he gripped Stiles by the back of his neck and shoved hard against the trunk.

"Peter! Let him go!", I shouted, moving closer.

"I can be very persuasive, Stiles. Don't make me persuade you.", he looked at me while he threatened my friend.

I knew he intended those words for me too. Stiles kept trying to crack the password, questioning Peter as he stalled. He was hoping to figure out what the Alpha's plan was after he found Derek.

"Do you know why wolves hunt in packs? It's because their favoured prey are too large to be brought down by one wolf alone. I need Derek, Scott and Lorelai. I need all of them.", Peter explained shooting me a look.

I gulped, as Stiles defended Scott and my honor saying that we won't help him. I honestly had to restrain myself from punching him hard in the face. My emotions were all over the place, and if I decided to follow through with my rage, there was a possibility of getting Stiles hurt.

"Oh, they will... because it'll save Allison. And you will, because it will save Scott and Lorelai- your best friends, whom you know so well, you even have Scott's username and password.".

Stiles sighed, eventually typing in the correct details into the laptop. Turns out that Scott loved Allison so much, he used her name as his login details. If I wasn't terrified for the both of us, I would have come up with a very funny joke about how whipped he was.

"They're keeping Derek at his old house?", I pointed out, catching a glimpse of the screen.

"Not at it, under it. I know exactly where that is.", Peter scrunched his eyebrows, closing the laptop.

Suddenly, a loud howl came out of nowhere, and I had to cover my ears to block the sound out. 

"Lorelai, what's wrong?".

Stiles skidded to my side.

"You didn't hear that?".

He shook his head, confused. I heard another howl not too long after that. 

Peter stared at me curiously, "I'm not the only one who knows where Derek is, am I, Lorelai?".

He shoved his laptop into Nurse Jennifer's car, asking Stiles for his keys. He bent them before handing it back. 

"Don't you understand yet? I'm not the bad guy here.".

"You turn into a giant monster with red eyes and fangs, and you're not the bad guy here?", Stiles scoffed.

"Not to mention, you threatened to put me in the ground if I don't join your murder club, and you killed your niece.", I added.

"Those were just some minor inconveniences.", he waved me off, turning to Stiles, "I like you, Stiles. Since you've helped me, I'm going to give you something in return. Do you want the bite?".

"What?", Stiles asked surprised.

"Do you want the bite? If it doesn't kill you, and it could, you'll become like us.".

The look on Stiles' face said it all- he was actually considering it. I wanted to convince him not to, but all of a sudden, I heard a high pitch ringing and everything became blurry.

"You're running out of time, Lorelai. He needs you, they need you…", the familiar voice of Laura Hale filled my ears. 

"Peter won't kill you, at least not now. You have to save my brother, and the other beta!", she shouted.

"Lorelai? Lorelai!".

Stiles' panicked voice pulled me out of daze.

"He's gone. Come on, we have to get to the hospital.".

He gripped my arm, pulling me towards the Jeep. It seemed that I completely missed Peter's goodbye. 

"Stiles…".

"Looks like we're gonna have to get there on foot… I didn't get the bite, if that's what you're wondering.", he said, staring sadly the jeep.

"I've seen what it did to Scott, and to you. And… And I don't think I'm strong enough to handle that.", he continued softly as we walked out of the parking garage.

"You're so much stronger than you give yourself credit for, Stiles. I think you turned it down because you're not a power hungry maniac like some people we know…", I squeezed his arm gently.

He shot me a quick smile. I filled him in on what Laura had told me.

"At least we've established that one of your special powers is communing with the dead…", he stated.

Pondering on his words, I toyed with the pendant that rested on my chest, wondering if there was a way I could somehow speak to my dad. Maybe he could tell us who killed him…

∞∞∞∞

Stiles and I rushed out of the elevator, just to be met by a very furious Sheriff.

"You know what? It's good that we're in a hospital, because I'm gonna kill you.".

"I'm- I'm sorry. I lost the keys to my Jeep. We had to run all the way here.", Stiles answered breathlessly.

"Stiles, I don't care!".

"Is she gonna be okay?", I squeaked, my eyes drifting from Lydia, to Sheriff and then to Stiles.

"They don't know... Partially because they don't know what happened. She lost a lot of blood, but there's something else going on with her.".

I didn't have to ask the Sheriff what he meant, because I already did. Peter said that your body can reject the bite, which meant it could kill her. I excused myself from the father and son conversation, to get a closer look at Lydia. 

"Is she… Is she gonna become one of them?", Jackson sighed.

"I don't know.".

"You dropped this in the parking lot.". 

He handed my purse which I had forgotten about. I was still mad at him after what he did to Scott, and I was too tired to hide it. I heard Mr. Stilinski ask about our werewolf friend. Stiles sent both Jackson and I an alarmed look. Jackson shrugged his shoulders, saying that he didn't know where Scott was.

I scratched the back of my neck, my stomach churning. Laura was right, I was running out of time. I knew where they were keeping Derek, I just didn't know whether he would still be there when we got to him. I gave Lydia one last look, hoping that this wasn't the last time we were going to see her. 

"Where are you going?", Jackson questioned as I began to walk away.

"Why do you care?".

"Look, I'm sorry about everything-".

"Lorelai! We need to find Scott, now!", Stiles came rushing towards me.

"Neither of you have a car.", Jackson shot.

"We're well aware of that, thanks!", I retorted.

"Here, I'll drive. Come on-".

"Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn't make it okay, all right? Half of this is still your fault.", Stiles said, irritated.

"Look, I have a car. You don't. Do you want my help, or not?", Jackson demanded.

Stiles asked if the guy brought his Jeep and then grabbed the keys of his hand. I was about to head out with them when unfortunately for me, my mom popped up from out of nowhere.

"Lorelai! What are you doing here?".

I cringed, giving the boys an apologetic look before pulling my mom aside. I told her about Lydia and that we came to see if she was okay. My mom then pursued to tell me about how Lydia's body was constantly going into shock.

"Do you have any idea what happened to her?", she asked, concerned.

"Uh… I heard it was animal attack?".

She frowned, the wheels in her head turning. 

"Where did your friends go?".

I turned around to see that they disappeared.

"Oh… Mom, I gotta go. I'll see you later!".

I kissed her cheek quickly and took off. I scrambled for my phone, searching for any sign of the boys. That's when I saw Mr. Argent barge out of a hospital room, anger evident on his face. I ducked behind a wall, watching him and his goons run towards the exit.

"I only turned my back for two minutes. How the hell did you manage to get kidnapped?!?", I yelled at the boys as they stepped out of the examination room they were trapped in.

"It was Kate, Allison's aunt. She was the one who initiated the fire that killed Derek's family.", Stiles said breathlessly. 

"Oh god…".

I heard a gunshot go off in the distance, my heart jumping out of my chest.

"They're in trouble!", I shouted before running off.

"Lorelai! Where the hell are you going?", Jackson called out.

I left Stiles to update Jackson as I ran as fast as I could. At least this time I knew where I was going. Thankful that I was still wearing the combat boots, it started to rain as I went deeper into the woods.

When I finally reached the burnt down Hale house, I saw Allison kneeling over her dad.

"Allison? Allison are you okay?", I rushed over to her side. 

I heard noises coming from inside the house as she looked at me, shock and fear on her face.

"You're… You're one of them?", she asked shakily.

"Not exactly.".

I placed two fingers on the side of Mr. Argent's neck, he was still breathing. Suddenly, a body was thrown out the house, Scott. He struggled to get back on his feet but had no time to recover as Peter literally crashed through the wall in his full Alpha form, grabbing Scott by his collar.

"PETER!!!", I screamed.

It was like my heart was pounding hard out of my chest, and I could feel the same tingles on my fingertips, except this time it was different. The wind began to pick up and it felt like it was connected to me. 

"LET HIM GO!!!", I bellowed as I pushed the gust of air towards the Alpha.

I didn't realize how truly strong it was until Peter wasn't standing in front of us anymore. Everyone stared at me for a few seconds, shocked at what had happened.

"I-".

Our moment was cut short when the monster barged out of the burnt house for the second time that night. His red eyes full of rage, he lingered on me for about a minute. He was about to charge when the sound of tires screeching caught our attention. Stiles and Jackson, an unlikely pair, had come to our rescue. Stiles threw a beaker at Peter, a Molotov cocktail, however the damn monster was able to catch it before it broke. 

"Scott! Allison's crossbow!", I yelled.

The teen wolf grabbed the item which lied close by and tossed it to Allison who snatched it with ease. She nocked an arrow into the bow, letting it fly just as Peter was about to launch the beaker at us.

Immediately, it exploded, and the Alpha was on fire. Jackson flung another and Peter's entire body was covered in flames. Roaring loudly, he still made an attempt to attack us, and I shoved Allison out of the way.

Scott's instincts kicking in, he jumped in front of me, kicking Peter in the face and he stumbled to the ground a few feet away from us. The fire died out, and he returned to his human self, his body covered in burns. 

Everyone stood in utter silence, unable to say anything. Allison approached Scott, who was still in his werewolf form, and I made my way towards Stiles. I hugged him, and Jackson, thanking them for showing up when they did. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw a silhouette moving towards Peter's body- Derek. None of us had any idea where the hell he had disappeared off to during our confrontation with Peter. 

He stood over the dying man's body, and I kind of already had a feeling about what he planned to do. Peter turned his head to the side, a painful expression on his face.

"Lorelai, I made you… You need to heal me… You owe me this much…", he muttered, gasping for breath in between his words.

"You're nothing without me… I can teach you control…", he continued.

"She made it this far on her own. She doesn't need you, nobody does.", Derek spat, his body in attack position.

Scott, now aware of what Derek was about to do, pleaded with him, "Wait! You said the cure comes from the one who bit you. Derek, if you do this, I'm dead. Her father, her family, what am I supposed to do?".

I noticed the conflicted look on Derek's face before he extracted his claws and slit Peter's throat. I stumbled backwards, even though we'd seen worse, it was still startling to witness. Derek turned to face us, his eyes glowing bright red.

"I'm the Alpha now.". 

∞∞∞∞

"It's probably best if you remove the necklace before you go to bed, Gariníon.".

My eyes shot open to the sound of Cahira's voice. 

"I heard you and your friends killed Peter Hale…", she said, her eyebrows raised, "Spirits talk.".

I had somehow travelled back to same place I spoke to her the last time.

"What am I doing here?".

"You tell me. We don't go looking to talk to the living, it's more like the other way around.".

It was still going to take some time to get used to, but I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. 

"Huh… Well, there's a lot actually… I spoke to a lady we knew back in New Orleans, Ms. Amelia- she told me about this prophecy regarding Beacon Hills, and how I'm supposed to save the town?".

"That damn witch, I knew she couldn't keep her mouth shut! You were only supposed to know about it when you turn sixteen.".

"Okay well, I guess that's a 'two months' from now problem… What about the journal and the… And the bow staff? Why are the pages blank?".

She looked at me, confusion on her face.

"What do you mean blank? And how the hell do you know about the bow staff? It was destroyed years ago, we didn't want it falling into… The wrong hands…".

She gave me a solemn look.

"The journal's linked to a very strong magic, as well as the bow staff. There's only one reason why the pages are blank, and the bow staff returned… Great evil is coming to Beacon Hills, Lorelai.".

"You mean it's about to get much worse than Peter?", my voice trembled when I mentioned his name.

Cahira nodded, "Learning to control your abilities should be a priority now, as well as joining a pack. It's the only way you'll be safe…".

She approached me, resting her hands on my shoulders.

"You'll find the right one, and I'll be here to help you. But as for now, you need to wake up. You've wandered a little far off from home.".

As soon as she said that, I jolted awake, shivering from the cold breeze that seeped in through my pyjamas. Rubbing my eyes, I soon realized that I was no longer in my bed, but the same place I was bitten by Peter…