I was slowly waking from the night before, my head turning to the side with my eyes still closed as I groaned. My arms were chained above my head, and I couldn't see anything just yet.

I heard electricity sizzling and Derek screaming, my eyes opening the rest of the way as I looked around, the musty cellar I knew well.

It was under our property.

Two of the Argents were there, Allison, Scott's girlfriend being one of them, and the other was the girl that had been electricuting Derek and I, trying to goad us into telling her who the Alpha was before we had known ourselves.

I looked down at the patch that was on my side, underneath my ripped shirt. The same patch that was on Derek's, with wires attached to it.

And the other, older Argent woman was starting to electricute me to, over 100,000 volts pulsing through my body, sizzling, scorching every cell that I had and making me screaming myself awake, but after the damage was down and the current shut off, I was already beginning to heal.

"What are you doing to them?" Allison asked. "Is that gonna kill them?"

"Oh, come on, kiddo," the older one said. "Don't get all ethical on me now."

The sizzling started again, and both Derek and I screamed. "What are they?"

"Shape-shifter. Lycan. Werewolf. To me, they're just other dumb animals." She turned up the volts once more, and I tried to keep from screaming. She came closer to me, reaching up to my mouth. "Come here." She lifted my upper lip and lowered my bottom one. "See these right here? These are canines, also known as fangs.Made for the tearing and rending of flesh. Not something you'd find on those cute little leaf-eating herbivores, is it?"

"This is a joke to you?"

"Sweetheart, there are werewolves running around in the world." She let her hand drop away from me and I closed my eyes, hanging my head. "Everything's a joke to me. How else do you think I stay sane?"

"So--it was them at the high school all the other animal attacks?"

"There's actual four of them," she answered. "Another one like them called a Beta, and then there's the Alpha. Alpha's the pack leader. Bigger, stronger, nastier. Those are the really ugly motherfuckers."

When they left, I didn't bother listening to them. I felt too weak, too sore. I needed to heal.

"Come on, guys," the Argent lady said to me and Derek. "He killed your sister. You know, maybe you're not telling me because you wanna kill him yourself, or, for some reason, you're protecting him." She walked over to Derek, leaving me be, and I was glad. I had my eyes closed, so I didn't see what she did. "Oh-oh-oh. Look at that sour face. I bet you're used to people coming up to you saying, 'smile, Derek. Why don't you smile more'? And I bet you're not the only one." she stepped in front of me, and I slowly opened my eyes. "Do you get that a lot too, Tara?" I didn't answer, and she turned away from me. "Don't you just wanna kick those people in the face?"

"I can think of one," I said.

"Promise?" she asked, turning to me. "Because if I thought you'd be that much fun, I'll let you go." She didn't, going over to the table and my head rolled over to where I could look at Derek, who was looking back at me. "All right. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing, God, I hate this detective crap."

"Are you gonna torture us," Derek started to ask, "or are you just gonna talk us to death, huh?"

She turned to me. "Oh, sweetie, I don't wanna torture you. I just--wanna catch up. Hm." She turned away. "Remember all the fun we had together?"

I was so confused.

"Like the time you burned my family alive?"

What?

It was her?

It was her?

This girl?

She scoffed, turning back around. "No, I was thinking more about the . . ." she was right in front of Derek now . ." hot and crazy sex we had." I made a look that said I wanted to puke, and I did, looking away from them, rolling my head to the side. "But the fire thing, yeah that was fun too." Derek was the only one that was pulling at the chains to get to her, to kill her, and she laughed at both of us. "I love how much you hate me. Remember how this felt?" When she lowered her head and licked his abs, I looked away, even more grossed out, Derek growling viciously, canines drawed out as he tried to reach down and bite her. "Hm. Sweetheart. I really don't wanna torture you." The door was sliding open, and she turned away. "But he does."

I didn't look up, but I heard knuckles cracking, popping as whoever it was was about to get started, and the Argent girl was walking away and out of here.

I finally looked up to another hunter that was popping his fingers, looking at Derek. I guess that he had restrictions on torturing girls, including girl werewolves. Right now, I was very thankful for that.

The Argent woman was back, the guy torturer gone, and she let out a very annoyed sigh at the voicemail that said someone else was tired of leaving voicemails, and for her to call her back. "Unfortuneately, guys, if you're not gonna talk, I'm just gonna have to kill you. So . . say hi to your sister for me." Neither of us said anything and she turned her head. "Derek, you did tell her about me, didn't you? The truth about the fire." He hadn't told me. "Did you?" She looked at my face and then stood up, hardly containing a laugh. "Did you tell anybody?" She stood in front of us now. "Oh, sweetie. That's just a lot of guilt to keep buried. It's not all your fault. You got tricked by a pretty face." She chuckled. "It happens. Handsome young werewolf mistakenly falls in love with a super hot girl who comes from a family that kills werewolf. Is that ironic?" I glared at her weakly, barely able to do anything. "Is it ironic . . " she stepped closer, right in front of Derek, " . . that you are inadvertedly helping me track down the rest of the pack . . . again?" My eyes stung, and I blinked. "Or just a little bit of history repeating?"

She walked away, reaching to turn to volts all the way up, as high as it would go just to kill us, and she stopped, tapping on it with her finger. "History repeating . . ." She turned back to us. "It's not Jackson, is it?" She stepped in front of us once again. "Oh, no, no, no. He's got a little scratch on the back of his neck, but . .. he's not in love with Allison." You've gotta be kidding me. You figured it out by a phrase? "Not like Scott."

By a phrase?

Scott had better watch his back.