┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐
chapter ten!
THE FALL
└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘

( frayed, pt. i )

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TWO DAYS LATER, Vera returns to Derek's loft to retrieve the rest of her belongings. She'd come here yesterday as well to grab Isaac's things first. Derek and Cora had been notably absent when she'd arrived, so she'd packed Isaac's possessions in silence, wondering if the loft had always felt as dark and cold as it had during those thirty minutes she'd spent here.

Now, sunlight streams through the gigantic window against the far wall, disrupted by the wide frames that cast tiger stripe shadows over the floor. She finds Derek moodily staring out the window once again. His arms are crossed when she walks in, shoulders tense through his black t-shirt.

It's been two days. Two days since he'd kicked them out, and he hasn't bothered to apologize or offer any type of explanation. He hasn't been answering any of Vera's calls or texts. She hates this feeling of being on the outside looking in. Ever since they were little and had snuck out to eavesdrop on Talia's pack meetings, they've always included one another in their plans. He'd confided in her on who he was planning on giving the bite to once he became an Alpha. Now it's like she's trapped behind a deadbolted door with a tiny window that's too high for her to reach, only capable of seeing what he allows her to.

Vera slides the heavy door shut with more force than necessary so the bang of it hitting the wall echoes throughout the loft. Derek still doesn't move. Nothing in his body language changes, though he'd certainly heard her arrive and likely seen her car pull into the lot, so the only explanation can be that he's ignoring her.

She almost scoffs. How childish. What is he, back in his angsty middle school years?

Then he speaks so abruptly that Vera almost misses it. "I thought I told you to leave."

She shakes her head in disbelief. Leave it to him to get straight to the point and be even more difficult than before.

"Well, some of my stuff's still here, isn't it? You didn't exactly give me time to pack it. I'm surprised you didn't notice that all of Isaac's things are gone." She pauses, waiting for him to say something – anything – and when the silence stretches on, proof that he's not going to reply, she forges on with an edge to her voice. "Are you even going to apologize to him?"

"What I did was wrong–"

"Then tell him that!"

"–but it got you out, and that was what I needed."

"You needed. That's what you needed." Vera's lip curls with anger. "Why does it always seem to be about you these days, Derek? You needed me to come here, so I did. Then you needed me to leave, so you threw me out without any reasoning." She laughs sarcastically, tilting her head up toward the ceiling for a moment. "And, what do you know? Deucalion was there when I got home, waiting for me. So can you cut the fucking bullshit and tell me why it was like he knew I was coming back?"

Derek immediately tenses upon hearing that last bit of news. She sees it in the slight hunch of his shoulders and the tightening of his arm muscles. The sun streaming through the windows makes his figure difficult to see due to the shadows cast over him, but she's spent so many years by his side that his body language is second nature.

When he speaks again, his voice is quiet. "Deucalion wants you dead."

The words make ice-cold terror flood Vera's veins on pure instinct. She sucks in a breath, blinking in surprise at the sentence she hadn't expected to hear right now. "Wha–"

"You, Isaac, Boyd, and Cora. He wants all of you to be killed, and I can't let that happen."

Vera shakes her head and takes a step forward. "Deucalion told me that I don't have to be afraid of him."

"Yeah, because he wants me to do it."

He turns around to face her. His face is too obscured in shadows to see clearly, but his lips appear to be pressed into a line, a chasm between his thick eyebrows as he pinches them together. His eyes scan Vera's rapidly paling face. There's not a doubt in her mind that her racing heartbeat is a thunderous roar to his ears, the scent of her fear and dread and despair filling the cavernous space.

Derek continues talking while she remains too shocked to do so. "They arrived while you were in school. Kali drove a pole straight through my stomach and they told me their plan for me to join their pack– how they each killed their own and absorbed their Betas' powers. I told them I'd never do that. Deucalion said it wouldn't matter because once I got a taste of what it's like, I wouldn't want to stop."

He pauses, searching for the words that appear to be trapped in his throat. Derek may be a relatively quiet person, but it's rare that she sees him afraid to speak. She waits anxiously for him to continue.

"He described killing your father. In detail. I swore that if Kali hadn't been holding that pole steady, I would have killed him then myself."

Vera's mind flashes back to when Talia had informed her mother about finding her father's body in the Preserve. After Daniel Pérez Castillo's system had rejected the bite, Deucalion had slashed his throat to kill him and then torn his stomach to shreds to make him stay dead in case his claws had gone too deep. She remembers hearing the news that her dad would never be returning home. How empty their house had seemed that first night without him and how that monstrous hole never seemed to go away. Her life has felt like an unfinished puzzle ever since, with one of the pieces forever lost so it can never be complete again.

Not only had Deucalion murdered him in cold blood, but he'd apparently relished in it. He'd bragged about it to Derek with the knowledge of how it would affect him.

Hatred rises within Vera's gut, churning so violently that her face heats. She hates Deucalion more than she has ever despised anyone in her life. As a raised Catholic, she'd been taught forgiveness, but thinks God will understand not wanting to forgive the man who continues to gloat about maliciously slaying her father for power.

And Derek had a pole in his stomach. That explains why hers had hurt so badly that day– her body was trying to tell her that something was wrong with her Alpha. It must have gone away when they'd yanked it back out. She briefly flickers her gaze toward the fading red blotch of blood on the concrete floor, then tears it away when her anxious thoughts overwhelm her brain.

Her voice is quiet when she finally speaks. "You could have told us."

"Isaac would have refused to leave, and you know that."

"You still could have given us more than a 'Get out,'" she challenges. "You hurt my feelings, Der. I can usually read you like an open book in all capital letters, but that night, I couldn't, and it terrified me. So please get your shit together and start being honest with us again. We don't like being lied to."

In spite of the heaviness of their conversation, the corner of Derek's mouth appears to twitch with a small smile at her blunt request. "Okay." He jerks his head in the direction of the hallway. "I'll help you pack your things."

He walks around the table near the window and crosses the room, his shadow elongated on the floor. Vera sidesteps so she's standing in his path. He stops before he crashes into her, but she steps forward and throws her arms around him in a tight hug. He returns it after a moment of slight surprise, his hands circling around her back and holding her securely to his firm chest.

"I get angry at you because you're not careful," she says, her words partially muffled by his shirt. "And I know you mean well, but sometimes the things you do can be so stupid. So please apologize to Isaac before the damage gets any worse."

"I know. I will," he promises, rubbing his thumb against her shoulder blade. His voice is softer than she's heard it in a long while. "And I'll be better. I won't do that again."

"Good." Vera pulls away from the hug. "It was a real dick move."

— ✯✯✯ —

Vera wishes that she could read well. Books are usually enjoyable to her, and she loves the sensation of being mentally transported to a new world merely by reading words on a page, but her ADHD usually prevents her from focusing on more than a few pages at a time. Or, in some cases, a few paragraphs.

"What page are you on?" Allison asks Vera from where she sits propped up against her headboard. They've been reading their novel for English class in silence for about an hour, the quiet only broken by the muffled sounds of Chris Argent moving around the apartment or the occasional flipping of pages.

It's Monday evening, meaning the week has only just begun, and Vera is already behind on her schoolwork. She'd been too preoccupied with her previous fight with Derek to do much over the weekend. Then, after they'd finally reconciled yesterday, they'd gone out for lunch and most of her homework had ended up being forgotten. She'd come to Allison's after school in hope that having another person around would discipline her. Evidently, she'd been horribly incorrect.

Vera's eyes flicker to the bottom of the page. "Fourteen."

Allison's eyes widen, her mouth dropping open in a gape. "Vera, we're supposed to have this book finished by tomorrow!"

"I know. I just" – she sighs, fiddling with the loose waves of hair that have fallen over her shoulder – "I can't focus."

Her friend tilts her head to the side with a sympathetic frown. "Do you want me to ask my dad if we have any snacks for the reward system method?"

Vera shoves her pen into the crease of Frankenstein and sits upright on Allison's bed, tucking her knees close to her chest and resting her chin on top of them. She avoids Allison's concerned expression and glances around her room instead. Vera remembers when her friend's old living space had been full of color, showcasing the vibrance and youth of a teenage girl. After Victoria Argent passed away, Allison had destroyed all traces of her former self and kept her bedroom minimalist when she moved into this apartment over the summer. The lack of clutter gives Vera's restless eyes nothing to look at.

"I feel... weird," she says, uncurling her legs from underneath her and sliding off of Allison's mattress. She faces her friend and rakes a hand through her already messy hair. "I feel like – like there's something else I need to be doing, but I don't know what. I feel like I'm wasting my time by doing homework."

"Yeah, but you promised your mom you'd focus more on school after what happened last year," Allison reminds her gently.

"I think I deserve a pass for last year, considering I almost died."

Vera immediately feels guilty once those words leave her mouth in such a harsh tone. She hadn't meant to snap, but sometimes her impatience gets the better of her when she's stressed. Her ragged breathing evens out as she forces herself to calm down.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm really sorry, Allison. I didn't mean to snap at you."

The girl takes it with a smile. "It's okay."

At that moment, Vera's phone buzzes with a text from where it lays on Allison's bed. Vera leans over and grabs it to see a text message from an unknown number.

UNKNOWN: It's Boyd. I got a new phone. Do you know about tonight's plan?

Vera's eyebrows crease. She hadn't heard about a plan at all. As far as she had been concerned, all she was going to do tonight is finish her homework with Allison and then spend another glorious night sleeping in her own bed with her cat.

VERA: no?? what plan are you talking about??

She worries her bottom lip with her teeth as she anxiously awaits Boyd's reply. Allison catches her change in emotion, straightening up and furrowing her own eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, I don't know," Vera replies. "Boyd just asked if I knew about tonight's plan."

UNKNOWN: Ambush at the abandoned mall. It was supposed to be at the penthouse where the Alphas live, but we think Scott's trying to go alone and need to stop him. Derek said he told you and Isaac and that you guys didn't want to come.

Vera inhales a long breath through her nose upon reading Boyd's text. Derek had lied once again by telling the others that she and Isaac said they hadn't wanted a part in the plan. For another time, she's been deliberately left out of something that the rest of the pack is involved in.

But being left out isn't truly what bothers her the most. It's that she'd expressed to Derek how much the lying and deflecting had hurt her, and yet he'd still decided to do it again. Did he think she wouldn't find out? Is her trust some sort of resource that can be tested and strained all the time?

VERA: thank you for telling me

Vera sinks onto Allison's bed with a dangerously impassive expression on her face. Allison watches her warily, closing her copy of Frankenstein and setting it on the blankets next to her. She shifts so her legs are hanging off the edge of the mattress, scooting over until she's sitting beside a silent Vera.

She hands Allison her phone, worried that if she speaks out loud, her voice will tremble with rage and she won't be able to get her words out. The girl reads the messages with her eyebrows drawn in. When she finishes, she passes the phone back with a puff of air through her mouth. "Wow."

Through the hurt lacerating her heart, Vera sends a message to Isaac, her hands shaking from both hyperactivity and nerves at what his response will be. She prays she hadn't been the only one left in the dark.

VERA: did you know about the plan for ambushing the alphas tonight?

LAHEY: uh

LAHEY: no. is that why scott's being so weird?

Vera scoffs a sardonic laugh and tosses her phone on the bed. "Just once, I want Derek to tell me the truth. I'm sick of all of these secrets and lies. First he lied about the Alphas for months and made everyone else lie to me about it too, then he wouldn't tell me and Isaac about why he was making us leave, and now this? I feel like I'm not being trusted. Like I'm giving my all and getting nothing in return."

She knows exactly what she would say to Derek if he were here right now or seemed to actually care what she thought. She'd say that her faith in him isn't something to be taken for granted. That he can't just keep messing things up because he knows she'll always come back to him. Because she feels pretty used right now, and the frustration is making wet anger rise to the surface until she's furiously blinking back tears.

"We have to help them," Vera says thickly, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "Or, at least I do. I can't sit idly by and pretend I don't know about this."

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to go," Allison counters. "Not after you told us what Deucalion did to your father. It's too dangerous."

She stands again, crossing Allison's bedroom until she reaches the opposite wall and then turning around to face the brunette still perched on the bed. "I'm tired of hiding. Besides, he doesn't want to hurt me directly, and he can't hurt my mother, either. She's off God-knows-where doing sales. And, to be honest, I don't care if I die as long as I make a difference stopping the Alphas."

Allison freezes. It takes her a moment to process what Vera had just said, then she pushes herself to her feet and walks until she's standing in front of her and takes her hands.

"You may not care, but I do. Derek does. Isaac, Boyd, and Cora, your pack, do. Dominic and Stiles and Scott and Lydia? Your mother? We all do. So don't talk like that, okay? Don't talk like you dying wouldn't have an impact, especially since I almost watched you do it before."

By now, Allison's expression is desperate, pleading for Vera to understand the gravity of her words. There's a beat of silence. Vera blinks back more tears, her frustration and betrayal building up into one slap-in-the-face realization that she really wouldn't mind. If she was the cost of keeping her friends safe from the Alphas, she would give herself up in a heartbeat. But Allison's words had struck a chord within her. She's right. Her friends and family would definitely care.

She draws in a breath. "Fine. But I'm still going."

Allison nods grimly. "I suppose I can't stop you."

Vera gives her a small, closed-lipped smile because that's all she can manage. Allison walks toward her closet to retrieve her jacket and change into clothes more battle-worthy. Vera steps forward to check her phone, only to get roughly yanked back by something attached to her wrist. She glances down to see a handcuff clamped to her forearm with the other end attached to the desk.

Vera's head snaps up and notices Allison already watching her. The girl merely gives her friend an unimpressed stare before phasing her arm right through the handcuff and dropping it back to her side. Allison shrugs innocently as if to say, It was worth a shot.

Just as Allison grabs her jacket, a soft knock comes from the other side of the closed door. At her consent, Chris Argent opens it and takes a step inside. He gives Vera a small smile.

"Hey, girls. You heading out?" His eyes drift to the forgotten Frankenstein novels tossed on his daughter's bed. "Did you finish your homework?"

"We're going to help our friends," Allison informs him, pointedly ignoring the homework question.

Vera winces. If she had been in Allison's place, she wouldn't have mentioned their real plans to her father. Chris Argent has a habit of being protective, and while he wholeheartedly believes in Allison's abilities as a trained hunter, he still worries about her. He's also not... overly fond of werewolves.

Chris' pale blue eyes harden as they drift to Vera and then back to his daughter. "Allison, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Allison briefly hesitates before nodding. She follows her father out of the room, leaving Vera alone for a few minutes. The shorter girl glances around at the small space and locates her phone among the clutter of their homework on Allison's mattress. Grabbing it, she sends a quick text to Boyd.

VERA: what time were you guys going?

BOYD: Around eight. We want to get there before Scott does so he doesn't hear us coming in.

She can't thank Boyd enough for his honesty. Without him, she would have continued to be blindsided by Derek and the rest of the pack. She hadn't counted on Peter telling her anything. Cora doesn't have a phone, so there wouldn't have been a way to contact Vera, but it still hurts. She had been so joyous upon her sister's return. Now it feels like there's a continent separating them again.

Eight o'clock. The digital clock on Allison's nightstand tells her it's a quarter past seven already, making Vera wonder how the time had seemed to pass so quickly.

She grabs the hair tie around her wrist and gathers her hair into a ponytail, securing it with the elastic. The last thing she needs is her hair obscuring her sight when she's fighting an Alpha pack in an abandoned mall. If there's anything her training sessions had taught her, it's that loose hair is a girl's worst enemy in battle.

Speaking of training, Vera considers the partial flight she'd been practicing over the past couple of days. It comes in short bursts and only lets her rise about a foot off of the ground at a time, nor is it reliable yet, but it could come in handy for added speed.

But there's something else that had happened yesterday. Vera had been brushing her teeth in the bathroom before school, and when she looked back into the mirror after she'd finished, the face staring back at her hadn't been her own. It was ghastly – a mass of razor-sharp teeth in a gaping mouth and eyes that glowed pure white – and had made her shriek in fright. Only, when she had dared to look back into the mirror, she'd only seen her normal features.

She hadn't told anyone because she had scarcely been able to do it again. When she had, it caused a splitting headache for the entire time she'd done it, forcing her to return to normal to ease the pain. Even though she doesn't like Peter, she might have to end up asking for a book on supernatural lore to see if this is normal for humans-turned-phantoms. The Hale family owns a lot of those.

Allison returns from her talk with her father irate and frustrated. She slams the door closed, movements jerky and hasty as she ties her hair into a bun and slides her arms through her black jacket.

"He wants me to stay out of it," she huffs through a sarcastic laugh. "He told me about 'threading the needle,' finding a safe passage through two opposing forces."

"And what did you say to that?" Vera questions.

"That it sounds like saving your own ass." Allison grabs her phone and slides it into the back pocket of her jeans, expression contorted with anger. "Come on. We have to go now if we want to make it on time."

As they hurry out of the apartment and to the elevator, Vera realizes something. "Allison, you didn't bring any weapons."

"It's okay. I have some in my car."

Vera nods. She allows the silence to stretch in the lift, then breaks it by asking, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Like you said, I can't sit back and watch when my friends are in trouble, either."

Her friends. Even though Scott and Allison had broken up last April, they still appear to be on good terms, judging by how worried Allison is. And it's no secret that she, Derek, Isaac, and Boyd aren't on the best of terms. Allison probably doesn't even know Cora. But it's still admirable how she's willing to go to such lengths to protect these people.

Allison drives to the mall like speed limits don't exist. Vera's hands tap restlessly in her lap as the small car flies down the highway, weaving in and out of the sparse traffic that exists at this time on a weekday evening. The old mall is on the outskirts of Beacon Hills. It had shut down in favor of building a new one closer to the central part of town. Vera doesn't know why Scott would attempt to negotiate there of all places, but she also doesn't know why he does a lot of the things he does.

Dammit, Scott, she thinks as she clenches her sweating hand into a fist, why do you always have to be so negotiable?

They burst onto the parking lot, tires squealing, until Allison seems to remember that they're trying to outsmart a pack of Alpha werewolves and drives more quietly. Vera's eyes flicker around the lot of the dark building. The only cars she sees are Melissa McCall's and Derek's. It seems strange that Scott would choose his mother's car over his bike, but it's another one of life's mysteries that Vera doesn't have the time or attention span to dwell on right now.

"How far is their hearing range?" Allison questions once she pulls into a spot near the front, her voice in a whisper.

Vera huffs a quiet laugh. "Let's hope they were too busy to hear your tires."

Allison winces and shifts the gear into park. They climb out of her car with as little noise as possible, heading to the trunk. The taller girl opens it to reveal her bow and a quiver filled with several types of arrows. She slings it onto her back and grabs the bow, closing the door with a soft click that they both cringe at. Any sound could mean certain death for them or their friends.

"I'll head through the wall and check things out," Vera whispers. "You use that door."

Allison nods. She gives Vera an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder before heading toward the seemingly open door to their right. It would be extremely convenient if Vera could grab onto her and turn them both intangible, but she can't, so this is their only option.

Vera disappears from the naked eye just before she slips through the graffiti-covered brick wall. When she emerges on the opposite side, she finds herself standing in an empty store with bare, dust-coated shelves and metal gates pulled over each entrance. The only source of light is the occasional sliver of moonlight that shines through the holes in the ceiling near the center of the mall. She must be on the top floor.

Sneaking through the elongated shadows cast by the pale light on the towering shelves, she soundlessly picks her way through the shop with her head tilted slightly up so her breaths are quieter. If she were visible, the sight would have been odd.

The heavy gates aren't an inconvenience to a person like Vera. She glides through them as easily as a knife through soft butter, spotting Allison hiding behind a corner on the opposite side of the floor. The hunter stares in the middle of the floor that ends in a sudden drop. Where there would normally be a barrier preventing someone from plummeting several floors below, there is nothing but open air. Vera peers over it to see her worst nightmare: her entire pack defeated.

A massive, hulking beast that Vera assumes is the twins in their combined form has Scott and Isaac on their knees, held up by the collars of their jackets. Ennis – a balding man built like a freight train – stares gleefully at the blood pooling out of Boyd's mouth and chest. The only female in the Alpha Pack is Kali. Her feet are bare, exposing her wickedly long and sharp nails to Cora's throat as she steps on the girls' collarbone. Only Derek doesn't appear to be injured or restrained.

But above all, Vera notices Deucalion doing nothing. He isn't fighting. He isn't even in his werewolf form. Instead, he stands perfectly serene in the middle of the unmoving escalator connecting Vera and Allison's floor to their pack's, back straight as a rod and hands clasped casually on top of his white cane. He seems to be allowing his pack to do all of the dirty work.

"Kill him," the Demon Wolf orders, his melodic voice echoing throughout the dark building, causing Derek's head to snap down to a weakened and coughing Boyd. "The others can go. You're beaten. Do it, Derek. Take the first step."

Vera's heart plummets into her stomach. Even as fear and dread seize her body, threatening to make her breaths quicken, she forces it down and wills calm to spread through her limbs. With so many pounding hearts and chemosignals radiating through the room, she isn't sure if the wolves will sense an extra person one or two, but she doesn't want to take any chances.

Kali's sharp fangs gleam in the dim lighting, an acute contrast to her bronze skin and dark hair, as she tilts her head menacingly at Derek. "Are we serious with this kid? Look at him! He's an Alpha? To what, a couple of useless teenagers?"

"Some have more promise than others," Deucalion replies, turning his head to the side.

"Let him rise to the occasion, then. What'll it be, Derek? Pack or family?"

Kali applies more weight to her foot, sending a sickening crack! reverberating through the room as Cora's collarbone snaps. Vera winces, squeezing her eyes shut against the sight of her sister in so much pain.

They need to act soon. If Vera knows anything about Derek, it's that he'll likely do something really stupid instead of heeding the Alphas' wishes.

She doesn't waste another second before dropping through the floor, turning solid in just enough time to land and roll so she doesn't royally fuck up her joints. She freezes as soon as she stands back up. The sound of her movements had fortunately been obscured by Cora's desperate whimpers.

Derek's bloodred eyes flicker back to Boyd's fearful expression. Vera's hands tremble with anxiety, but she forces her body to ignore some of its natural responses to terror as she slowly edges closer to Kali.

An arrow whizzes straight past Derek, piercing the twins right where their gruesome face combines and knocking them backward, causing them to split apart on impact. Vera glances up to see Allison firing her arrows from the floor above. Instead of aiming for more wolves, though, she directs them to the floor where they explode in bursts of blinding white light and sparks.

"Your eyes–" Deucalion shouts over the whistling of the arrows. "Cover your eyes!"

Vera explodes into action. She sprints toward a distracted Kali with all of her might, tackling her off of Cora so the Alpha lands face-down on the concrete with a grunt. Kali roars furiously, attempting to flip them over from her pinned-down position. Vera grabs a fistful of her straight hair and yanks her head up. Then she smashes it down, causing a spray of blood to coat the floor and a howl of pain to pierce the air as Kali's nose shatters.

"Not so fast," a deep voice growls in her ear while a pair of burly arms wrap around her middle and tear her away from Kali. Vera doesn't have time to phase through him before she's flying through the air like a rag doll, invisibility flickering out as she's tossed several yards away.

She braces herself for impact, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her head with her hands. Only the bone-bruising collision with the concrete never comes. Instead, she's seized in mid-air and lands on something much softer and warmer than the floor. She opens her eyes and cranes her neck to see Isaac with his arms wrapped around her and eyes glowing amber, having broken her fall and probably prevented a concussion.

"Thanks," she breathes. He nods in response, speech impeded by the fangs that protrude from his mouth. She climbs off of him and offers a hand to help him back up. He waves her off, motioning to Ennis. The man is stalking toward them, the clock ticking fast until he'll reach them again, so Vera concentrates deeply before putting her half-assed plan into action.

She sprints forward again, though this time, her body turns half-transparent and intangible as she hurtles toward him in a short burst of flight. The change in her face is imperceptible to her except for the piercing headache that it immediately brings. Her skull feels like it's being cleaved in two as her sharp-toothed and gaping-mouthed phantom face roars at Ennis, causing his eyes to widen and feet to instinctively start backpedaling.

It provides just enough of a distraction for Scott to slash his claws at him from behind. Ennis roars as Scott's nails shred his back, whirling around to impale his own claws into the teenager's gut with all of his might. Scott skids backward on his knees at the brunt force, using a hand to stop his momentum as he tilts his head up to glare at Ennis.

What Vera sees causes her to drop back onto the floor. Shock rattles her bones, widened eyes blinking to ensure she isn't hallucinating.

Because where Scott's golden irises should be are the ruby-red hues of an Alpha.

The diversion costs her. Ennis' fist slams into her temple, knocking her down hard. The pain already caused by her facial transformation doubles, prompting her vision to blur as the stabbing ache makes her head swim. She curls her hands into fists. They're scraped from trying to catch her fall, the sides of her hands bleeding slightly where the concrete had torn her skin. The sting makes her eyes water. She squeezes them shut and a pained groan passes her lips.

She wonders why Ennis hadn't used his claws. She doesn't have healing powers, so the gashes would have been more impactful. Then she recalls Derek's words from before– the Alphas don't want to kill her. They only want her hurt just enough to–

"No," she whispers as Derek slams his body into Ennis' back, coming to help her just as they'd known he would.

This has to be some sort of sick plan. It has to be a plot to distract Derek while the real threat restrains her, putting him in the same situation as before: killing one of his Betas is the only way out.

Ennis knocks Derek back several feet with a powerful punch to the gut. Her brother responds by slashing his claws outward, only for his opponent to dodge the blow. They move in almost captivating motions of attack and defense. Slowly but gradually, they advance toward the abrupt drop-off in the center of the floor.

Vera's face twists in a cringe, her vision swaying as she pushes herself onto her aching elbows and turns her head to survey the rest of the scene. The ongoing battle flickers before her. Cora and Boyd are out of commission. The twins are nowhere to be seen. Isaac is busy fighting off Kali, and Scott–

The injured boy stumbles toward the battle between Derek and Ennis, slashing his claws through the latter's calf as they struggle to toss each other over the edge. Ennis roars in pain. His balance is altered, causing him to lean heavily on his good leg. Derek shifts them both closer to the threshold. His hands are curled into fists on the fabric of Ennis' shirt, giving him more leverage to shove the other man off with a firm push.

Ennis tips backward, limbs flailing desperately, searching for purchase. One hand finds it in the form of Derek's shirt. He seizes it and lets gravity do the rest. Vera's heart gives a dangerous stutter as she realizes what's happening, causing her to push herself up further as both Derek and Ennis disappear over the edge.

The booming thud that follows resounds throughout the building.

She gives a desperate cry and throws herself forward. Her forearms carry most of her weight, aching as she drags herself on the concrete, but she can barely feel it. She doesn't feel the splitting agony in her head that makes her vision swirl every time she moves. There's nothing except disbelief and desperation as she gets to her feet for a few precious steps and runs, only for her legs to give out right beside Scott's frozen figure hunched over the drop.

Vera peers over the ledge and immediately wishes she hadn't. On an escalator nearly three floors below her lie the unmoving bodies of Derek and Ennis, sprawled unnaturally and blood pooling around them. It's all she can see for a terrible moment of feeling absolutely numb. She inhales a shaking breath through her mouth.

Then she feels it. The sensation of her heart shredding in two, a harrowing feeling of grief spreading to her fingers and toes until it feels like she, too, is falling, tumbling from the sky until she lands in a tumultuous ocean that drags her under its inky depths. The impact of the water brings tears that come slowly but with all the force of a hurricane. She exhales a disbelieving sob that splinters her ribs. Then comes another, and another, and they keep coming so rapidly she can't breathe, the pain in her head tripling as her eyes refuse to tear themselves away from the gruesome sight of her brother's motionless body.

Then her surroundings are shifting and colors are swirling and it takes her a moment to realize that someone is dragging her backward. She blinks to see Isaac pulling her and Scott away from the edge of the fourth floor. He releases them a safe distance from it, his own eyes wide and staring at the place they'd fallen from. Scott's mouth is stuck open in a gape. He doesn't move, his body frozen in shock. She doesn't even think he's breathing.

Vera's sobs wrack her entire body until her face is soaked in tears. They're the only sound in the room. Isaac tries to place a comforting hand on her arm, but she tears herself away, pounding the skinned part of her fist on the concrete because she needs to escape. To go. She needs to run away from here and never look back. But her limbs are locked, trapping her in this inescapable hell as the waves keep dragging her under.

The only thought racing through her mind is that she went into this fight still upset with Derek. She didn't even get to make peace with him before he'd died.

________

a/n:

unfortunately for vera, being associated with derek means a LOT more suffering :) the dude can never catch a break and is always hurt/in pain/sad for some reason.

i loved writing the parts between her and allison! their dynamic is super important and i feel like the girl characters are often sidelined in teen wolf fics, so i wanted to include a few parts with them together. eventually lydia will be more involved and they'll get to be a power trio.

the fight scene was difficult to write because everything happened to quickly and it's difficult to describe vera's powers without using the same 5 words all the time, so i hope everything made sense. please don't hesitate to ask if you need me to clarify anything that happened. as for her new half-transformation ability, i always planned for that to show up during this battle and it's something she'll get to work on over the course of the story!

—kristyn

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