This gif kills me guys. It kills me.

Chapter 35 ✧Death Changes Us✧

Hesitantly, Braeden looked away from the bleeding Derek and up at me. I managed to hold her gaze but I still couldn't stop the tears spilling from my eyes.

"Can you shoot a gun?"

I looked at the weapon she was holding with wide eyes. I'd never held a gun and I honestly never planned on it. But then I looked back down at Derek who was still gasping for breathe, crimson blood starting to drip from his mouth now. Just as I began to nod my head, Derek cut me off.

"No," Derek said, still managing to sound firm despite his condition. "Give it to me."

"Derek, I can-"

My arguing was stopped short by Derek grabbing my wrist and squeezing it lightly. I shook my head weakly but definitely, not wanting to see him waste his last few breathes on protecting me.

"Charlotte, I-" Derek was cut off by his own coughing, causing me to choke on the tears I was just short of drowning in now.

"Derek, it's fine," I hushed him gently, taking a deep breathe to control my sobbing. "You don't have to protect me anymore."

"Char, I will always protect you," A beaten down voice declared.

Dereks determined tone reached his pale eyes that were staring straight at me. But despite their firmness, they were also soft, and loving. I almost laughed at the emotion they held because a year ago I never would've imagined Derek capable of such a thing.

"The day your brother came to me and told me your father was killed, I promised him something," Derek began to explain. My crying slowed down as I looked up at him carefully, I had never heard this story. "He was terrified of what was going to happen to you so I promised him that I would protect you with my life. I'm not going to break that promise now, Charlotte Lahey."

I let out a shaky breath, confused as to why Isaac had never told me that. Maybe he had wanted Derek to tell me himself.

"As moving as this is, we don't have time for it," Braeden cut in. Both Derek and myself nodded understandingly. Braeden then handed the gun over to Derek and pressed it firmly in his hands while saying, "Stay with me, Derek. You're going to be okay."

"It's a mortal wound," Derek grunted, "And right now I'm feeling pretty mortal."

"I'm not going to let him die," Braden promised me as she reached over Derek's body and put a hand on my shoulder. I nodded once more but didn't know what she could do to save him.

"You might just have to concentrate on saving yourself and Charlotte," Derek told her as she stood back up with her shotgun in her hands. I looked down, anger flooding through me as I tried not to hate how I was still the one being protected, the one in need of being saved.

Braeden slowly edged away from us, turning a corner around the old church and disappearing from my view. Within seconds gunfire filled the dusty air. It seems as though Braeden had found a Berserker.

My eyes closed tightly as the sounds of gunfire changed to a different pitch. It sounded like Braeden had changed out her weapons. I felt Derek squeeze my hand, his way of telling me that we were fine.

The thing is we weren't. One of the reasons Derek had been so hard to live with was the fact that he was so extremely insufferable. He couldn't seem to understand that he was actually important and that he didn't need to prove himself or anything.

He didn't understand that it was not okay if he died. I would not be okay if he died.

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and as it did, I felt like my heart did the same. My breath hitched as I craned my neck in hopes to find Braeden but she was no where in sight. Something had most definitely gone wrong.

And then, just as abruptly as the shooting sounded like it had stopped, it started up again. but there was more this time, so much more. My lungs filled with air again and I let out a relieved breath. Maybe we had been saved and maybe, just maybe, we could make it out alive.

"Derek, Derek! Do you hear that?" I questioned the Hale happily. I scanned our surrounding and could see the flashing of the guns firing. Shouts began radiating over from where the fighting was taking place and even though I was taking french I could clearly recognize that the shouting was in spanish.

Never would I expected to be any where near happy to see or hear the Calavera's but right now, happy wasn't a strong enough word to cover how I felt towards their arrival. I was ecstatic.

When I realized Derek hadn't answered me, I frowned and looked down to him. I gasped sharply, seeing his eyes becoming glossy. The blood-stained sides of his lips tugged upwards in a weak smile before his eyes fluttered shut.

"Derek," I whispered, my eyes watching his face for any hints of life. My breaths were shaky as tears were once again forming. "Derek, no! Please, Derek, you can't die! You can't do this, you promised you wouldn't leave me again," I whimpered. "Please don't leave me."

There was no response. I gripped his bloody shirt tightly and fell forward, sobs racking through my body. I wanted to do something, hit something. I wanted to make the Berserker's pay for what they did to my friend. But I couldn't I was too weak, I was always just too weak! When it came down to it I couldn't protect the people I loved because I couldn't even protect myself.

I was hopeless and now Derek was dead. It was Allison all over again.

People keep getting hurt around me and all I can do is watch. I have no purpose in this pack. I'm the weak link, the little pup that needs protecting.

My sobbing suddenly stopped, their were no more tears for me to cry. I sat back up, trying to wipe tears from my face but only succeeding to smear Derek's blood on it instead. With a deep breathe, I stood up.

These past few years all I felt was fear and sorrow. But now something inside of me has snapped and I only felt one thing.

Anger.

Braeden slipped passed my, collapsing to her knees as she saw that Derek Hale was no more. I stayed silent and finally felt my breathe steady.

I backed away from the dead corpse of one of my few friends. I turned my back, not wanting to watch and more blood spill from his body. My feet carried my numb brain over to were the fighting was. Guns were still be fired, Shouts were still being yelled, and nobody was caring that Derek had just dyed. Like Deucalion would most likely say, another pawn had been struck down.

But Derek was more than a pawn to me and I was going to show the Berserkers that.

As soon as I made it over to the fighting, a Berserker turned and faced me. It's big, bone covered body moved towards me but I did not flinch or run. For once I stood my ground, not an ounce of fear being present in my body.

I was no longer in control of my body. I was just moving, no thoughts passing through my brain. My hand drifted out in front of me, and I flicked my wrist so my palm faced the Berserker.

I watched in awe. As my hand flicked in it's direction, the berserker flew backwards, collapsing against an old ruined wall just like Derek had.

Whatever I was in, I was snapped out of as a hand clasped down on my shoulder. I jumped, suddenly aware of everything around me. I turned my head to look over my shoulder only to see Deputy Parrish.

"What are you doing," He questioned and I couldn't help but wonder if her had seen what I had just done.

What had I just done? Was that even me? Never in my life had I done something like that. I mean, I hadn't even touched the berzerker, it just... moved as if my only will power had control the winds to shove it backwards But that was impossible, wasn't it?

"I don't know," I whispered, not really talking to Deputy Parrish. I looked down at my hands, expecting their to be a significant but their was nothing. They were still Charlotte Lahey's fragile little hands and yet I didn't feel so fragile any more.

Parrish tugged me behind him as the same berserker I had just rammed to a wall got back up again. It stepped towards us and Jordan Parrish immediately began firing shots at it but the guns had no effect.

"We need to get behind the cars," He shouted. I nodded in agreement as we both turned and ran behind one of the Calavera's SUV's. For the moment we seemed to be safe.

"Uh, Deputy Parrish?" I surprised myself at how clear my voice sounded as I spoke to this stranger. The Deputy looked up at me as he reloaded his hand gun. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Call me Jordan," He instructed, holding eye contact with me as if to make sure I understand what he said. "You're Charlotte, right?"

I nodded once.

"Well Charlotte," He cocked his gun, the reloading process now being done. "I think you know by now that I'm not just a deputy."

I smiled at his response, his reaction to being a supernatural creature certainly wasn't a bad one. He stood up, using the car for cover but still taking clear shots at the berserker. I watched but didn't do anything else because, honestly, I had no clue what I could do. Maybe, like Deputy Parrish wasn't just a deputy, I'm not just a hopeless and weak teenage girl.

"They're not going down," Jordan shouted, turning to look at Chris Argent who I hadn't realized was using the wall behind us for cover as he too attacked the berserkers. "Nothing is getting through that armor and I'm running out of ammo."

Chris disappeared behind the wall but I caught glimpses of him messing with his gun. Apparently he hadn't lost hope that we could win this. I frowned, not sure if I could say the same thing about myself anymore.

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SOOO I'm not even going to lie, this chapter made me cry. Maybe because I'm the writer and I don't want it to end and all but still, I freaking cried. Darlotte hit me right in the feels like fifty times. Plus, there's one more chapter left in this baby so you know, prepare yourself while I prepare Charlotte.

Speaking of my main Bae Cha, this little change happening to Charlotte is something I've been planning for quite a while. We might not have realized it in this book, but Derek means a lot to Charlotte because he had saved her and her brother multiple times. In the prequel you will see just how much Hale means to the Lahey's. So his death obviously impacted Charlotte hard and now you see how Death Changes People (hence the name)

Also I'm sorry that I haven't been updating. Christmas break was supposed to be basically one huge updating spree and then I got really sick (AGAIN) and it just so happened that I couldn't write with out getting a headache. And then when I started writing again I had all these feels about The Flash and The Vampire Diaries which is why I've been writing those stories instead of this one.

Question - What do you think is happening to Charlotte????