𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙀
ミ★ ( seven deadly sins, act three ) ★彡

     "HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" Derek Hale asked Lucy as he brought her a can of coke to cheer her up that night after he had brought her home from the school and helped clean up the black blood that she was stained with.

     "I feel like I almost died again." She responded as she accepted the red can and immediately opened it up. "And I was more afraid of the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to see you again or tell you I love you one last time." She looked down.

     Derek made a move to sit next to her on the bed and opened his arms for her to cuddle up to him. "We're safe now."

     "For now." She mentioned. "Or until someone decides to act on another attack on all of us." Derek didn't respond knowing she was right. He unfortunately had no idea what to do anymore or how to make her feel better — she was equally as vulnerable as the rest of them now and he didn't know how to make her less terrified about that fact.

     The two laid there in silence as a thought came to her mind. "Today, when we were in that vault, I had to be strong for those kids — I had to lie and tell them it was going to be okay when I had no clue if it would be — and it came to me that I didn't want to be strong at that moment; I wanted someone to be strong for me and tell me that it was going to be okay." She admitted. "And my person wasn't anywhere near me to do that."

     He felt horrible that he thought that looking after Braeden in the hospital was more important at the time because she had no one else to do it for her. He would have loved to have Lucy by his side but he didn't want her to be jealous by the amount of attention she was getting from him — it was stupid but Lucy had admitted that she didn't trust Braeden and in his mind it made sense for her not to be around her.

     Derek kissed her head. "I'm here now, I promise." He whispered.

     "But for how long?" She asked him, sitting up, Derek tried sitting up with her but winced slightly and grabbed onto his side, hoping she wouldn't notice. "You're hurt." She observed looking at his white top and seeing the small red stain on his side where something was bleeding.

     She moved to have a look at it, glaring at him to not think about slapping her hands away like she sensed he would, and lifted it up seeing a bullet wound from where he must have been shot that day. "This is what I'm talking about. Why aren't you healing?" So much for their bond helping him stay alive.

     "Some wounds take longer." He answered her, trying to brush it off that he was losing his power.

     She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, maybe I would believe that if I didn't already know how fast you can heal from a bullet wound." She said and he rolled over to his side, turning his back to her like it was the best way to get her to stop pushing for information and stop her from finding out about his lack of abilities. "Show me your eyes." She said, hoping that she would be able to see how long they would have left by the colour of them.

     "You just saw them." He said to her causing her to give him a look.

      "Don't be an ass, that's my job." Lucy remarked, rolling her eyes once more. "Show me your real eyes." Derek turned over to her and looked at her, but nothing changed in his eyes. "You can't anymore, can you?"

     Derek sighed at maybe he would finally have to fess up. "How long has it been like this? Tell me the truth." She snapped.

     "I haven't been able to turn for a few days now." He admitted.

     "Did you not think it wasn't important to tell me these things?" Lucy stood up. "I waited for you to tell me this whole time, but instead I had to hear from my brother that you're losing your power. Not my boyfriend. My brother. I even had to find out everything else that I should have been told by you from him. When are the lies going to stop?"

     "So you know everything?" Derek asked her, looking up to see her angry face.

     The devil took a deep breath in to calm her anger and sat beside him again. "Why didn't you tell me that you were my soulmate?" She questioned. "Why didn't you tell me about everything?"

     "At first I didn't say anything because I was afraid that this was all an act and you were just using the pack and I as a way to turn us into sinners like your legends say. Then I didn't say anything because I was scared to trust another woman who could turn out like Jennifer and Kate —"

     "Sounds like you didn't have much faith in me." Lucy interjected with a raised eyebrow, not impressed that that was Derek's initial thoughts about her.

     "And you proved me wrong." Derek realised he was wrong almost immediately, but he was too afraid to let her in and now all he could do was wish that he had done it sooner because he was missing out on precious time with someone amazing. "The whole time that I didn't tell you, it was because I was making excuse after excuse to prolong the inevitable because I didn't want you to run off once you found out. What we had was perfect and I didn't want anything to change just because I told you that we were mates — and I realise it was stupid."

     "Derek, as much as I wish I had heard it from you, it's okay. Hearing it from my brother cleared up a few things that would have made me run from you — but that's not because of you." She explained.

     If she had been told by Derek that she was his soulmate, she would immediately have thought that their entire relationship was fake and planned by her father — like how she did with Gabriel — but she wouldn't of had the explanation to say that her thoughts weren't true and she probably would have bolted.

     "I really do love you, I was just scared for things to change and I didn't want to lose you." Derek admitted.

     She offered him a hand up and the two stood up. "Derek, after everything that's happened, you really aren't going to lose me, but I'm going to lose you if we don't sort this out soon." She said and pointed at his bullet wound and the fact that he was losing his power. "That's something I wasn't too happy about hearing from my brother."

     "I'm sorry." He apologised and she only shrugged at him. It was over now; the past was the past and they couldn't change it. They could only deal with the present to fix their future.

     She pulled him out of the bedroom and grabbed the can of coke with her, bringing him to the kitchen where the barely used first aid kit was and pushed him against the bench so she could take care of it.

     "This is something I didn't think we'd be doing." The werewolf commented as she started to disinfect it with an alcohol wipe.

     "Yeah, well we probably didn't think that we would ever get to the point where you wouldn't be able to heal by yourself in five minutes." She muttered as she cut up the gauze and placed it on top of the wound before taping it onto his skin. "You're lucky it's just a graze, you just need to make sure it doesn't get infected — which I'm sure is something that you've never had to do before."

     Derek rolled his eyes at her but didn't say anything at her remark because it probably would get infected somehow knowing his luck.

     He looked down at it and lightly put his fingers on top of the bandage only for his hands to be slapped away by Lucy's. "That means no touching it." She said as she took a sip of the drink in her hand. Derek chuckled at her and went to pick up a shirt to put back on. "I didn't say anything about putting that back on." Lucy said suggestively making Derek smirk and throw the shirt away.

     He walked over towards her and bent down to give her a kiss which she quickly reciprocated and wrapped her arms around his neck, his hands wrapping around her waist to pull her closer to him.

     She pulled away for a moment to smile at him and he quickly lifted her to sit her on the bench behind her, kissing her deeply again while she giggled.

     After a few smaller kisses, Derek pulled away and Lucy ran a hand over his cheek. "So is that it now? No glowing eyes, no healing?"

     The man only sighed and rested his forehead against hers, not looking into her eyes as he responded. "Smell, heading, speed, everything."

     Lucy grabbed his face in her hands. "That's okay, you've can still probably win in a fight." She winked, hoping it would boost his ego a little bit. "And you've got me."

     "Until you lose your power also." Derek pointed out.

     "About that..." She trailed. "There's a way to stop all of that from happening..." She admitted, but then she began to not want to freak him out that moment when he was already stressed out by everything else. "But I don't want to get into it tonight. I just want to be with you and not worry about the world for one night."

     Derek sighed at her, wishing she had spoken up about the turning but nodded. She could never hold a secret from him for too long anyway. "Just for tonight."

     Lucy smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She wanted to tell him about the turning, but then again, she wouldn't be able to handle the rejection out Derek said no. She wouldn't be able to handle living without Derek — now she understood why soulmates couldn't live without each other. "Have I told you I loved you today?" She changed the subject.

     "No, I don't think you have." Derek said teasingly, deciding to go along with it for the night.

    "Well, my apologies." She said kissing him. "I love you, a lot."

     "I love you more." Derek responded and going in to give her another deep kiss.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     The next day, Lydia and Stiles came barging through the loft dragging Jordan Parrish behind them. Lucy and Derek walked over to them to see what was going on and the teenagers said that Scott was on his way also while they explained to them what had happened with Jordan.

     Derek began to inspect the deputy, looking up at him. "He covered you in gasoline?" He recalled.

     "It's the hair and nails, isn't it?" Lydia pointed out. "The parts of the body that are essentially dead."

     "They should be gone." Lucy agreed. "But then again, so should the rest of him since he was set on fire."

     "Not if he's like us." Scott pointed out.

     "I don't think he's like us." Derek shook his head.

     "Then what is he?" Lydia asked.

     "Sorry, I have no idea." Derek answered with a shrug.

     "You knew about Jackson and Kira." Scott reminded him how it was Derek who figured out what Jackson and Kira were.

     "This is a little out of my experience." He said pointing at Parrish. "There might be something in the beastiary. Did you try Argent?"

     "I don't know where he is." Scott responded.

     "Hold on, what's a beastiary?" Parrish spoke and then shook his head. "Actually, that's not even my first question. Just tell me one thing... are all of you like Lydia?" The pack looked at him to elaborate. "Are all of you psychic?"

     Lucy snorted. "Psychic?" She laughed. "Honestly, bless your soul that is just too cute."

     "Not exactly." Scott answered the deputy's question.

     "Okay, then what are you?" He asked again nervously.

     Derek looked at Lucy and Scott and Lucy put her finger onto the tip of her nose signalling she didn't want to go first and Scott would have to go.

     Scott looked at her and she shrugged. "You know the rules, Scotty. I shot-notted. You're going first."

     The true alpha sighed and closed his eyes before opening them again to reveal his alpha eyes to the deputy who quickly stumbled back onto the couch where everyone began to explain what they were and what has happened in Beacon Hills.

     "I'm confused. What's a kanima?" Parrish questioned, his head struggling to get around that.

     "Ugly lizard." Lucy answered his question from her spot in the room next to Derek, who she was leaning against, making the deputy nod his head in understanding.

     "But we'll get back to that." Scott pointed. "Just know that everyone everyone like us — everyone with some kind of supernatural ability — is on the dead pool."

     Parrish furrowed his eyebrows. "But I don't even know what I am."

     "I'm pretty sure they don't care." Derek stated.

     Lucy then raised her hand. "I think I know what you might be." She said and Jordan's head snapped to hers. "I've been thinking about it ever since we met, I felt strangely connected to you — but not in the way I am with Derek. It's like I've met your soul before from somewhere."

     "What are you trying to say?" Both Scott and Parrish asked.

     Lucy looked at Scott and pointed at him. "Do you remember that night when you, me and Stiles went looking for Malia's car wreck for clues to help us find what happened to her?" She asked.

     "Yeah, what about that night?"

     "That night Stiles made a comment about not wanting to face a set of triplets that formed into a three-headed hound of Hell and we started to talk about Cerberus." Lucy recalled. "Cerberus was a Hellhound — and they rarely ever possess someone as it takes extraordinary circumstances for it to happen."

     "Like being set on fire?" Parrish asked nervously.

     "He may have been in your vessel for months before today but you've only just been technically reborn as a Hellhound because you were sacrificed in fire. Him possessing you may even be the reason you were drawn here — because I am — and it also may be the reason you're alive since Hellhounds are immune to fire." Lucy shrugged. "It's maybe what made me feel like I've met you before, because he's connected himself to you. But either way, I can't know for certain until I'm face to face with you shifted and I don't think you'll know how to do that anytime soon."

     Jordan Parrish's eyes were wide as could be as he tried to process the information that was just given to him from the girl in front of him. He had no idea what she was but she seemed to know a lot about Heaven and Hell and Hellhounds. "And that's not going to change the fact that you're on the list and assassins are going to kill you for five million dollars."

     "How many assassins are we talking about?"

     "We're starting to lose count." Lydia answered with pursed lips.

     "But is it still just professionals?" Scott questioned.

     "I don't think Haigh's ever tried anything like this." Parrish responded, he didn't think his partner could be a professional killer. "I think he was taking a chance."

     "Obviously he was if his attempt to kill you is to burn you alive in your patrol car." Lucy remarked. "Not subtle, it's messy, it takes a while... and it smells."

     "Don't ask." Derek said quickly before the deputy could jump in and ask how she knew so much about that. "But if Haigh was taking a chance, that means anyone with the dead pool could take a chance."

     "But if Haigh had it, then who else does?" Parrish asked. "How easy is it to get this thing now?"

     The group looked at each other wondering the same question and Lucifer raised her hand again slightly. "I'm gonna say it since no one else is, but I'm going to assume that it's very easy now." She answered and then shrugged. "But either way, when we find this Benefactor guy, I'm gonna snatch the money and crack his jaw — Brooklyn style."

     Parrish's eyebrows furrowed again. "About the money, you said that it adds up to the 117 million that was stolen from your vault?" He asked the Hale who nodded. "When I looked at it, it didn't add up to that. It's sixty million dollars over."

     "That means someone's reached into their pretty little trust fund to pay someone to deliver my head on a platter. I'm assuming a church group." Lucy concluded and then rolled her eyes saying, "You'd think after thousands of years and numerous attempts on my life they'd realise that I can't be killed. And I'd think I'm worth more than sixty million, but whatever."

     "Things are different now." Derek reminded her, there might actually be a chance that she could be killed and he wanted her to offer him the chance to turn so she didn't have to die.

     "Don't remind me." Was all Lucy could say. "But I'm not worried. I'm too good looking to die now. I'm in my prime, baby."

     Lydia then began to talk about how she believes her grandmother was The Benefactor or was helping The Benefactor as before she 'died' she wrote the code that built the dead pool because she had predicted all of them.

     She explained how Meredith and the Martins were connected and how their history lead up to this final point.

     She then placed a piece of paper on the table and explained how her grandmother had left her a code with a message on it, but no cipher key, and that was all they need to to figure out.

     Scott stayed behind after everyone left and noticed the gun that Braeden had gifted Derek with on the bed. He went over to it and picked it up.

     "Careful with that." Derek said when he saw the true alpha inspecting the weapon.

     "I thought you didn't like guns." Scott recalled as he passed it back to Derek.

     "He doesn't." Lucy said as she walked into the room. "He's just adapting."

     "Does this have something to do with your eyes?" Scott asked him.

     "My eyes, my strength, the healing... all of it."

     "Gone?" Scott gasped.

     Lucy nodded, "Like the wind." She frowned quietly.

     "Whatever Kate triggered within me, it's still happening." Derek explained.

     Scott then fiddled with his hands as he realised he was going to have to tell the couple in front of him the final piece of information that was being held a secret. "If the dead pool really was made by a banshee then there's something else that you two should know about." He said to them.

     "What else could it possibly be?" Lucy frowned.

     "Derek's name broke the third list." Scott confessed. "It was a cipher key."

     "And the other two keys were Allison and Aiden." Derek recalled while Lucy walked over to him to stand by his side while she worried, she knew what it meant by having his name be the cipher key. He was going to die — they had suspicions that he would if they didn't solidify the bond but having his name be a key made it even more real.

     "I don't want to make you nervous but it kind of feels like there might be a pattern here, doesn't it?" He theorised. "Allison, Aiden... you."

     "Names picked by a banshee."

     "It could mean that you're in danger." Scott said with wide eyes.

     "Scott, banshees don't predict danger. They predict death." Lucy reminded him angrily. Time was running out for them, and fast.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───