┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐
chapter four!
SISTER, SISTER
└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘

( chaos rising, pt. ii — fireflies, pt i. )

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

STILES SLAMS A map of the bank onto the table in Derek's loft, using a desk lamp to see through the multiple layers of sheer paper that create the entire picture. Vera leans over it with her elbows resting on the table, her faux leather jacket creating an efficient barrier between her skin and the cold surface. Her fists squish the soft skin of her cheeks together as she watches every one of Stiles' hyperactive movements intently.

"Okay, you see this?" he asks, tapping a small area labeled 'vent' with the cap of his red sharpie. "This is how they got in. It's a rooftop air conditioning vent. Leads down inside into the wall of the vault, which is here." He yanks the cap off and messily circles the place labeled 'vault'. "Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft. Now, that space is so small, it took him about twelve hours to drill into that wall, which is stone, by the way. Then, throughout the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up to the guys back on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."

"It took you almost twenty-four hours to figure all of this out?" Vera questions with raised eyebrows, recalling when he'd told Derek that the internet would only take minutes for him to discover the robbers' heist plan.

Stiles jabs the marker at her, narrowly missing drawing a red dot on her nose, as his brown eyes squint in annoyance. "You— you, be quiet. At least I got it, alright?"

"Can we fit in there?" Scott questions disbelievingly.

"Yes, we can, but very, very, barely," Stiles responds, capping the sharpie after shooting Vera one last playful glare. "And they also patched the wall, obviously, so we're gonna need a drill of some kind. I'm thinking maybe a diamond bit—"

"Look, forget the drill," Derek pipes up from his spot leaning both hands against the table, head thoughtfully turned toward the pencil-sketch drawing of the bank's floor plan.

Stiles pauses, eyebrows furrowing and spastic hand movements freezing in place. He drops his arms with a confused expression directed at Derek. "Sorry?"

"If I go in first, how much space do I have?"

Stiles rotates his head incredulously, tapping the end of the sharpie on the table. "What do you — what do you think you're gonna do, Derek? Are you gonna punch through the wall?"

The Alpha straightens up, crossing his burly arms over his chest and giving the boy a falsely sweet smile that acts as a polar opposite to the sarcasm in his voice. "Yes, Stiles, I'm gonna punch through the wall."

"Okay, big guy, let's see it. Let's see that fist. Big, ole fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there. Don't be scared. Big Bad Wolf, yeah," Stiles challenges, to which Derek reluctantly forms a fist with an exaggerated eye-roll at his rambling. "Okay, see this?" He holds up his palm directly in front of Derek's knuckles. "That's maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid co—"

Derek rockets his fist into Stiles' palm without warning and without even blinking, causing the scrawny boy to topple backward and slam onto the table at the unrestrained force he'd used. He cries out, cradling his injured palm in his good hand and scurrying away to walk it off. "Ah. Ah! He could do it."

"I'll get through the wall," Derek assures him with a roll of his eyes. Stiles lets out another whimper from the middle of the room in response. "Who's following me down?"

His eyes shift to where Peter sits on the spiral staircase that leads to the second floor, only for the older man to shrug. "Don't look at me. I'm not up to fighting speed, yet."

"I say we risk it," Vera cuts in. Leave it to Peter to decline to help them out when he doesn't get something immediately in return, and they don't even know if he's telling the truth about his lack of appropriate fighting skills.

Peter inclines his head at Vera in a withering glare. "While I'm touched by my favorite non-blood-related niece's sentiment and concern for my overall wellbeing, I'm going to have to decline. Honestly, with Isaac out of commission, you're not looking at very good odds for yourself."

"So I'm just supposed to let them die?" Derek inquires.

"One of them is already dead."

"We don't know that!"

"Do I have to remind you what we're up against, here?" Peter asks, voice lined with venom. "A pack of Alphas. All of them, killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha." He pauses, running his fingers over his knuckles while averting his gaze from them. "I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids. They're gonna be missed."

"Could someone kill him again, please?" Stiles begs. Vera points to him in agreement. Though he'd revealed a piece of information she hadn't known — since when can two Alphas combine bodies? — she still thinks they'd be better off without his constant negativity.

Peter regards his nephew with a tilt of his head, eyebrows raised in incredulity. "Derek, seriously? Not worth the risk."

"What about you?" Derek asks, turning his head to look at Scott.

Stiles, mistakenly thinking that he's being addressed, shrugs nonchalantly. "Yeah, if you want me to come—"

"Not you."

Scott juts his lower jaw to one side before rotating it back in place, dark eyes filled with contemplation as he weighs their odds and options. Finally, he says the words that Vera had always known were coming, because Scott McCall can't give up on anyone to save his life. "I don't know about Erica, but if Boyd's still alive, we have to do something. We have to try."

"But?" Derek presses, catching the hidden emotion in Scott's voice. It takes a moment for Vera to decipher it— confusion.

"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd?"

Vera sighs. "I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out when we get them out of there." She glances at Derek, standing up straight and crossing her arms over her chest, leather squeaking with the movement. Her weight shifts to one side of her red sneakers. "What do you need me to do?"

"Isaac still can't fight and there's no way you're going against those Alphas — especially since Deucalion mentioned your dad — so you guys will be on scouting duty," he answers with his eyes locked onto the map. "You'll be close enough to come help if we need it but not so much that the Alphas will be able to smell you."

Vera bites back a groan. Scouting duty with Isaac? They may as well be out to kill each other. They've never been assigned to work together on pack missions before — Derek had always known it was a recipe for disaster — but she can already guess the outcome. There's no doubt in her mind that Isaac will say something that makes her fingers itch to tear the brunette curls right out of his head, but she'll have to settle with biting back instead. She isn't sure why Derek is making them team up now instead of splitting them up to cover different areas.

"And me?" Stiles pipes up. "What's my cool backup-in-case-of-emergency job?"

Derek raises his eyebrows at the younger boy, regarding him with disinterest. "You'll be staying back here with Peter."

Vera barely manages to stifle a snort with her hand. Stiles catches onto the obvious movement, pale face hardening into a scowl at the amusement shining in her coffee-brown eyes. Scouting with Isaac doesn't sound so bad anymore. She'll take that over hanging out with Peter any day.

— ✯✯✯ —

"I don't see how we're being helpful at all."

Vera rolls her eyes so hard her head moves with the motion, neck craning to the side so she can narrow her eyes at Isaac dramatically. He's sprawled out on the hood of her car with his back against her windshield. Lanky legs extend all the way to the headlights, his hands fiddling in his lap absentmindedly as he stares upward at the full moon. His wool peacoat makes him look like some sort of aggravating fashion model posing for an invisible photographer.

She leans her hip against the driver's side door, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes had been glazed over for the past five minutes as she'd daydreamed all the ways that this mission could go wrong. The knot of worry in the pit of her stomach tightens with every passing second that there's no word from either Scott or Derek. So far, there hasn't been much conversation between her and Isaac for the past hour— it's like the stress from tonight has drained their usual snark.

Now he's just getting on her nerves.

"I told you, we're here for backup," she reminds him tiredly. "If things go south, we can easily make the trip to the bank. Plus, if they need help getting Boyd home or something, we have another vehicle."

"I still think Derek just wanted us to feel useful," Isaac argues, dropping his hands into his lap and shifting so he's facing her. "Think about it. The Alphas are going to hear us coming, so what's the point if we pop in during the fight? We have no element of surprise, here."

His gaze skitters away from hers. His eyes are jumpy, hopping from place to place as he slightly twists his mouth to the side. There's another reason for his agitation: Isaac doesn't want to go back to that place.

Vera lets the conversation die on that end, deciding she can't win this one. Anything she says will be rebuked by his fear of facing the Alphas again. She honestly can't find it in her to blame him. He'd barely gotten out alive, and he probably wouldn't have if that girl on the motorcycle hadn't saved him.

They lapse into a silence that's only interrupted by the faint sounds of other cars passing by a few blocks over. It's not tense, but it's not particularly comfortable, either. Vera finds herself bouncing her leg up and down in discontent, the lack of conversation now serving as a menace to her hyperactive mind. She'd rather be bickering again than stewing in this stiff quietness.

But when Isaac speaks, it's not to provide some jab at whatever he can find to complain about. His voice comes out hesitant. It's like he's treading on eggshells, speech overly careful and layered with something that might be fear at her reaction. "Uh, why would one of the Alphas be asking about your father?"

Vera should have known this question would be coming from him, but it still makes her feel like she's swallowing a handful of glass that shreds her insides on its way down. She glances down at her sneakers for a moment, shaking her hair out of her eyes before looking back up and pointedly avoiding his cautious gaze. Her breath comes out in a long exhale that puffs out her cheeks.

She hadn't told Scott when he'd asked a similar question two days ago. But there's something about Isaac that makes her more willing to talk– especially since her father had been directly mentioned by one of the Alphas and he'd been the one to overhear it. Plus, he's had his own plethora of familial issues that she finds she can relate to. Derek had told her about Isaac's past and his older brother, Camden, who had lost his life in the military a few years back at only twenty-four years old. His mother must have been absent, because Vera is only aware of his abusive father. She honestly hadn't felt bad when Jackson Whittemore had torn him apart in his kanima form last winter.

"My entire family consists of humans," she begins, speaking carefully, somehow feeling like she's also treading dangerous waters by recalling her own past. "Most of them are still in the Dominican Republic, where my mom is from, or Puerto Rico, where my dad was born, so it's just us in Beacon Hills. Well, my mom and I. My dad– he, uh..." She trails off, her throat closing against the violent memories that plague her mind. She clears it and forces herself to keep going. "The leader of the Alphas, Deucalion, bit him against his will when I was seven. My dad's body rejected the bite, so Deucalion finished him off to take the remnants of whatever power he had."

The silence that follows Vera's story is heavy. It smothers her, hugging close to her body like a ten-pound blanket has been draped over her shoulders and she can't shrug it off. She's about to beg him to say something when he opens his mouth as if he'd read her mind.

"...Wow," Isaac breathes, making Vera huff an ironic laugh and nod, pressing her lips together. A thought strikes him and makes his eyebrows pinch together. "Wait, your dad rejected the bite, so—"

"Yeah," she confirms, already knowing what he's asking before he can complete the question. "When I was bitten, there was a huge possibility that the same thing could have happened to me. Derek knew that. I guess he figured that, even if my body did the same thing, at least he tried. He thought it was worth the risk to keep me alive."

She remembers that moment with disturbing clarity. How he'd apologized beforehand, knowing how she'd feared the bite for years because of her father's fate. When Vera had slowly healed, Derek had nearly cried in relief. Then she'd started hurling up rejection fluid and he'd nearly lost his mind. But she'd managed to cling onto life and became... this.

"Does anyone else know?" Isaac questions.

Vera snaps back into the present moment, her vision going sharp again as she tunes back into her surroundings. She shifts her weight onto her opposite foot. "No. Well, nobody except you, Derek, Peter, and Dominic. But none of the others do." She sighs, her next words coming out reluctantly. "Maybe I should tell them. I feel like they deserve to know in case– in case something happens."

He doesn't respond out loud, just nods contemplatively. She's grateful for the quiet this time. It's as if he's aware that this decision is one she has to make on her own and he doesn't want to overstep his boundaries by providing his input. Isaac has been fairly open about his trauma, but if anyone can understand why she wouldn't want to tell anyone, it's him.

"Why have this happen tonight, though?" she wonders aloud as she stares up at the stars, deliberately switching the topic back to their task at hand. "I mean, yeah, it's a full moon, but they've been wolves for months— they should have control. Like you." Vera glances back at Isaac. He's fully human despite the full moon hanging above them, the sky so clear it's like a purposeful taunt to the beast inside of him. "How does it work? Do you have an anchor?"

Vera recalls learning about anchors from Talia— how a single person can have the power to keep a wolf at bay during the beckoning call of a full moon. Allison had been Scott's. Derek doesn't need one because of his family's mantra. The concept intrigues her, finding it fascinating how an individual has the power to keep a werewolf human.

The curly-haired boy shakes his head. "No. It's more of a, uh— a mantra Derek taught me."

"Alpha, Beta, Omega?" Vera questions before he can say it.

Isaac nods. "Yeah. I repeat it over and over in my head, sometimes mumble it when that won't work. How'd you know what it was?"

She uncrosses her arms, letting a fond smile lift her lips for a moment. "You have to remember that I grew up with Derek. It's an old Hale saying that's taught to wolves since childhood. They taught me everything I know: how the moon cycle affects werewolves, how to fight—"

"Fight?" Isaac cuts in incredulously, pushing himself up to a sitting position and raising a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "I don't know how anyone could be scared of you, Pérez— you're fun-sized. I could pick you up by the scruff of your neck like a kitten."

"Oh, I could punch you into next Tuesday, but Derek said no unsupervised fights between pack members." Vera smirks. "If you don't believe me, Peter trained me and Derek's siblings himself. He was not gentle. And besides..." She lifts up a hand, letting it disappear down to her wrist. "I'm getting pretty good at this."

She blinks out of sight. Isaac straightens, wide eyes staring at the spot she'd been standing only seconds ago and lips parted in slight shock. Vera doesn't even care that her lack of visibility doesn't mask the sounds she makes as she climbs on top of her trunk. Gripping the top of the car, she heaves herself on top of it so she's lying flat on her stomach with her hands folded innocently under her chin.

Isaac continues to search for her using the one sense he can't find her with. Vera almost shakes her head at the fact that he isn't using his heightened sense of smell or hearing to detect her heartbeat— werewolf abilities apparently don't add common sense to their list.

She reaches out and pokes him in the shoulder. Isaac jumps and whirls around, back twisted to see behind him. Vera's form becomes visible once again, her eyes colored an eerie milky-white as she smirks at him. "Boo."

Isaac rolls his eyes while she grins to herself, proud of her small accomplishment, and shifts her eyes back to their normal chocolate brown. Then she looks down at the drop her tiny body has to make to the ground and realizes her mistake.

He notices it, too. "I could offer to help, but I think I'm just going to watch you struggle."

At that moment, Vera's phone buzzes in the pocket of her jacket. She digs it out and feels her heart drop when she sees it's a call from Scott. Her hands already tremble with anxiety as she answers it, holding the phone up to her ear. "What's up? You need us?"

"They're headed to the woods," Scott informs her in a ragged voice, suggesting that he's in the middle of running.

"They?" Vera repeats. "You mean they're out?"

"Yeah, but they're not self-aware, okay? Listen to me: they will try to kill you. They haven't been able to shift for three full moons. Be careful."

"Okay," she replies, unsure of what else there really is to say. "Meet you there. Stay safe."

She hangs up the call. Isaac had surely been able to hear Scott's voice through the speaker, so she doesn't bother reciting the information back to him. She just slides off of her car and clambers into the driver's seat as Isaac hurries into the passenger side. A moment later, seatbelt buckled, she sets them off toward the Beacon Hills Preserve.

"So there were two people in the vault?" Isaac questions as Vera speeds them through the darkened streets of Beacon Hills. "Is it Erica?"

"I don't know," she answers with a slight frown, heart already beginning to speed up its beating from adrenaline. "Scott didn't say who it was."

Isaac taps his fingers on the door restlessly, the sound ticking at Vera's brain. They hadn't dared to turn the radio on in case Isaac would miss hearing something important. His werewolf abilities don't seem to be working in their favor yet.

"This would be much faster if I was running," he grumbles.

"Well, you're stuck in this car unless you feel like carrying me, because like hell am I being left behind—"

"Pull over."

Vera squints her eyes at him without taking her eyes off the street. "What?"

"Pull over! I hear something."

Immediately, she slams on the breaks, probably ruining her tires while doing so, but she reminds herself that she's getting her motorcycle soon and steers the car to the side of the road. Isaac throws the door open as soon as they screech to a stop. The road they've stopped on is framed by the preserve on either side, and he walks toward the wooded area closer to them with his head tilted toward the towering trees.

"What do you hear?" Vera questions in a whisper. She'd already gotten out of the vehicle as well, now cautiously walking toward him and trying to catch onto what he's hearing even if she knows it's futile. There's nothing except the slight rustling of the leaves from the wind.

Isaac holds out his index finger to shush her. She falls silent immediately, fingers becoming cold with trepidation and limbs growing heavy. Her arms feel like two dead weights at her sides. She knows that her adrenaline rush will focus on keeping her alive more than anything, meaning her fighting will be sloppier than usual.

Then he walks closer to her with his arm outstretched toward her. His gaze is still locked onto the pitch-black forest, though, so she creases her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you doing?"

Vera has her feet planted firmly on the ground. The next thing she knows, Isaac is grabbing her and hoisting her onto his back in one fluid motion that makes her head spin. She instinctively loops her arms around his neck, not really caring if she's close to choking him. His hands slide beneath her denim-clad knees to keep her secure.

"Carrying you," he replies, turning his head so she can see the assholish smirk pulling up his lips, a flash of straight teeth in the half-obscured moonlight.

Vera squeaks in surprise as they take off sprinting through the preserve. Her surroundings become mere streaks of color, navy, black, and gray conflating to give her a head rush. Here, the moonlight is mostly hidden by the tops of pine trees, dousing the woods in even more darkness. Vera squeezes her eyes shut so she doesn't become dizzy. She can feel every leap and footfall as Isaac bounds over the terrain, cutting them through the trees faster than her car could ever take them.

They slow to a stop. Isaac isn't even panting, arms still pulling her legs close as he surveys what's in front of them. Vera peels her eyes open to see a roaring campfire in the near distance. Beside it is a small tent, in front of which is a girl around their age, staring at a snarling figure in terror. The foe is small and built like a female, but from so far away, Vera can't tell who it is. One thing's for sure— it's not Erica. She doesn't have her tall frame and long blonde hair.

Isaac bends down so the drop to the ground isn't so far. Vera slides off of his back, sneakers landing silently on the grass. He gives her a wait here motion and explodes into action. His shoes slam against the ground as he jumps in from the side, taking the werewolf's attention away from the defenseless girl. He lands in a crouch and slowly lifts his head to glare at her. The wolf snarls again, a distinct sound that tugs at Vera's brain as if she's heard it before.

Isaac charges. The girl roars this time, claws fully extended and facial features completely warped by the shift that's overtaken her. She raises a claw to scratch at him, but Isaac easily dodges the blow and strikes her in the head so hard she collapses into the dirt.

But she's not staying down. The second Vera sees the girl's legs swinging around, signaling she's about to jump to her feet again, she lets herself turn invisible and ducks past the bystander. Isaac's opponent grabs him by the front of his black coat with incredible speed. The next moment, he soars through the air and smacks painfully into the branch of a nearby tree. He lands in a motionless heap on his stomach.

Vera has a split second to act. Deciding that their best bet is to use the element of surprise to detain the girl, she keeps herself out of sight and pounces, holding her arm firmly around the girl's neck. Even though Vera is shorter by several inches, she can still apply the right amount of pressure to the point on her throat that should knock her out easily. This move has helped her win spars against Derek countless times. But something is wrong.

Whatever effects the full moon has don't make her body behave like a human's should. Instead of going limp in Vera's arms like she should be, the girl blindly seizes Vera's body and flips her over her head. The smaller girl's back painfully slams against the ground and immediately knocks the wind out of her as an ache spreads down her spine.

Vera glances up at the she-wolf's snarling face leaning above her. She doesn't have to look down to know she's visible now, her concentration having been broken by the unexpected flip. The girl's golden irises have tripled in size and nearly seem to glow in the dark. The thick skin around her eyebrows has drawn them into a permanent downward position, saliva dripping from her gleaming fangs. Her brunette hair is matted back from her face and falls a little past her heaving shoulders.

And Vera goes completely still even as her claws raise to bestow a killing blow, shock freezing her in place.

It's been years, but she could never forget that face. The face of the girl who had played with her and Dominic as kids. The face of a girl she'd thought she'd lost in the catastrophic fire. One who she'd spent years mourning the loss of. The face of her sister.

If she'd had any breath to spare, she would have gasped out her name. Cora.

Just before her claws can slash downward and tear her skin open, a figure comes out of nowhere, leaping toward Cora and connecting their feet with her legs. Both of them go sprawling to the ground. Vera clutches her chest, still trying to get air into her lungs as she watches Scott flip himself back to his feet, standing over Vera protectively and daring Cora to take another step closer.

Isaac appears over Scott's shoulder. Another growl signifies Derek's arrival, all three of the wolves cornering Cora so she can't harm the namelesshuman who's still watching in silent terror. The younger Hale's instincts tell her that the fight would mean an instant loss. She turns, hair flying behind her as she flees the scene and disappears into the thicket of trees surrounding them.

Derek follows immediately behind her. Vera barely has time to comprehend what's going on before the sky and trees start swirling together, someone's arms sliding under her back and beneath her knees as she gasps for air. Her face is hot despite the wind that whips around them as she's carried like a child. After a few moments, they come screeching to a stop, and Isaac sets Vera onto her feet. She hunches over with her hands on her knees. The position opens up her airway a little more, turning her feeble chokes into pants that become steadier with every breath.

"Cora," she finally forces out, glancing up at where Derek broods by a tree trunk, arms crossed over his chest and head tilted downward. It takes her a moment to notice a tear on the sleeve of his olive-green t-shirt and another slash near his abdomen from an injury that has already healed. Whatever battle they'd had before wasn't a successful one.

"I know," he mumbles, voice laden with too many emotions for Vera to individually decipher.

Isaac speaks next, his voice more confused than alarmed as he asks, "Wait, so who was that?"

"Our sister," Derek answers with a huff. "We thought she died in the fire. Obviously, she didn't."

Realization dawns on Vera, causing her to slowly straighten up despite her still-aching lungs. If Cora had been in the vault with Boyd...

"Erica?" she questions, voice barely above a whisper. She can't manage anything louder. Her chest tightens with dread for the answer she's been fearing for months, eyebrows pinching together.

Derek hesitates a moment. Then he shakes his head, grief plaguing his features and pulling them downward like they're succumbing to Earth's gravitational pull. Every ounce of him seems tired. Tired of losing people he cares about, tired of chasing after things that never go his way.

Vera steps back at the impact of the news, covering her mouth with her fist to stifle a gasp or a sob— whatever noise had been trying to force its way out from between her lips. A lump lodges in her throat and makes it ache when she tries to breathe through her nose. Retracting her hand even as tears flood her eyes, she sucks in a breath through her mouth and forces it to come out slow and controlled. The confirmation of a lost pack member makes it feel like she's lost a limb. Like her world has been set off-kilter, forcing her to stumble around in search of flat ground that she'll never find again.

Scott catches up to them a moment later, head swiveling around in confusion as he slows to a stop beside them. "Where's Cora?"

"We lost her," Derek replies gruffly.

"We—" Scott cuts himself off when his phone vibrates with an incoming call. He quickly yanks it out of the pocket of his jeans and answers it. "Hello?" Vera can barely hear the indistinct sound to Stiles' panicked voice spewing words through the speaker, but without werewolf hearing, she can't decipher exactly what he's saying. Whatever it is makes Scott's eyes widen in shock, Derek's jaw clench, and Isaac raise his eyebrows in shock. "Are you sure? Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them? Please just do it." A pause followed by a heavy sigh that makes his shoulders sag. "Okay, thanks for letting us know."

He turns around with a defeated expression, eyebrows creased. Vera glances uneasily between the three wolves. "What?"

"Lydia found a body by the pool," Scott informs her in a voice heavy with despair. The slivers of moonlight that break through the treetops highlight the worry screwing up his tanned face, crooked jaw locked as he forces his voice not to shake. "The kid had his throat slashed and Stiles said there's blood everywhere."

"This doesn't make any sense," Derek asserts, shaking his head as he stares at the dark grass at his feet. "The public pool is all the way on the other side of the woods. We haven't tracked them anywhere near there."

"Derek, they killed someone," Scott reminds him.

But the Alpha isn't so quick to believe it. "How are they moving so fast?"

"Derek."

"They can't be that fast on foot!" he exclaims vehemently, brows furrowed until a deep crease forms a chasm between them. His refusal to believe that his Beta and sister had committed such a horrendous act radiates from him in waves that even Vera can detect.

"They killed someone," Scott says, voice hard. There's some other emotion lurking beneath his firm tone— guilt. "Some totally innocent kid is dead, and it's our fault."

Derek's lips press together in a line. He averts his gaze from Scott's for a moment before admitting, "It's my fault."

"We need help."

"We have Isaac and Vera now."

"I mean real help."

Isaac and Vera both shoot Scott offended looks, so he quickly backtracks.

"They're too fast for us, for all of us. They're too strong, too rabid."

"We'll catch 'em," Derek says confidently.

"What happens if we do?" Isaac questions with a slight chuckle of wry amusement. "We just gonna hold them down until the sun comes up?"

Nobody offers a different solution. The weight of their situation is heavy on their shoulders, a burden that makes Vera tense and shrug her shoulders as if warding off the invisible load. This problem seems bigger than the three of them. It isn't something that they can solve on their own. Scott's right— they do need help.

A long moment passes before Derek admits through clenched teeth, "Maybe it would be easier just to kill them."

Vera rears her head back in shock, stepping toward him in protest. "Derek, you can't just kill our sister and Boyd."

"It isn't the right thing to do," Scott adds, ever the moralist.

"What if it's the only thing to do?" Isaac challenges.

Vera shakes her head in refusal to believe that. If she feels such an enormous hole of loss because of Erica, she doesn't want to know what it would be like to lose Boyd and Cora, too. Especially when she's just gotten them back.

"There has to be a place we can lure them," she says. "A safe house, a place we can lock them in where they can't break out on their own—"

"No," Derek cuts her off with a hint of dismay in his voice. "Not when they're this strong. No house stands a chance against them."

"If we can't even catch them, what else do we do?" Isaac questions.

A gleam of determination flickers in Scott's dark eyes, something so different from the former hopelessness that it draws Vera's attention to him. "Someone who knows what they're doing."

Derek's voice is full of dread when he inquires, "Who?"

"Someone who knows how to hunt werewolves."

_________

a/n:

this is my first chapter of 2020!! welcome to a new year and a new decade. hopefully this year is better than 2019 (pLEASE let it be better).

i can't believe this book is at 4k reads already!! thank you all so much for your support :)

i couldn't help but think of this scene from parks & rec as i was watching the scouting scene with vera and isaac, so i made a meme of it

this has nothing to do with the chapter, but some of you may know that vera's faceclaim, aimee carrero, is the voice of elena of avalor on disney jr. what i didn't know was that tyler freaking posey guest starred as prince alonso and they sang a song together! so here's vera and scott singing their lil hearts out (also, if you haven't heard tyler sing before, he's awesome! STREAM "THIS MESS" BY FIVE NORTH)

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

i'm heading back to my university in a few days now that winter break is almost over, so an update may take a while since i currently have ongoing stories and will be focusing more on 2 of them. i haven't updated those in a hot minute so they'll be my main priorities!

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! please drop a comment and let me know what you thought. what did you think of vera's story about her father? rip daniel, you deserved better

—kristyn

( word count: 5.9k )