Amber Waves of Angst

Chapter 11

A/N – Just a warning, there are dark themes in here regarding abuse.

When Erik didn't come back to the theatre, Laurie got up and left Aaron sitting in his seat. As she passed, he gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat. Laurie could never describe to anyone the happiness she felt that her brother was feeling the same euphoria of new love right now. The thought that the two boys were not in danger but probably off somewhere snogging made her flush, but she had been the protective sister for so long that she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. Once she made sure he was okay, she would go back and enjoy the movie.

Entering the lobby, she saw that people were buzzing around, talking excitedly about something that happened in the parking lot. Feeling a chill shoot up her spine, she found Erik's scent and tracked it down to the exit. Outside, an ambulance waited and several police cars were parked with the lights flashing.

Bursting through the doors, she saw Erik's body on a stretcher being loaded into the back of the medical vehicle by some paramedics.

"ERIK!" she shouted. She shouldered her way through the police officers (who were stunned that a teenage girl knocked them aside with such ease) and confronted the one that looked like he was in charge.

"That's my brother. What happened?" she demanded.

"He seems to have fainted, we can't find any injuries on him. His life signs are fine, but we need to run some tests at the hospital. If you want, you can come with us."

Laurie looked around frantically for Robin, but didn't see him. She noticed another ambulance a ways off.

"What happened over there?" she asked, pointing.

"We're not sure. Some kind of car accident..."

"I'll meet you at the hospital!" she called as she raced to the other scene. She had to find out if Robin was alive. If what her grandfather said was true that a werewolf died when their bonded mate was killed, that would explain why her brother was unconscious.

Anson Cooper's Mustang was upside down on the pavement, and they were pulling his body from the wreckage. There was a lot of blood, and one sniff told her that the bully was no longer among the living. A paramedic pulled out a bag of pills and another that contained a needle and some bottles of liquid.

"Looks like steroid abuse, among other things. I bet the toxicology will come back with some interesting results." He shook his head.

Swearing, Laurie tried to recall Robin's scent. Calling it up in her mind, she cast about for the trail, and followed it to the bus stop. Apparently he had decided to go home. How could Robin have left her brother lying there like that?

'Oooh, wait until I find you, jerk.' she muttered to herself. She had grown to like the young man, but nobody abandoned her brother and got away with it. She texted Aaron to meet her at the car, and her parents to meet her at the hospital. Both responded that they were on their way, so Laurie jogged over to the Camaro, thanking the gods that she and Erik had their own sets of keys.

She picked up Aaron, and told him what she knew. He was shocked at Anson's death, and slammed his fist into his leg when she told him about the steroids.

"That stupid kid...we lost a player last year like that, I knew him for years. I swore never to let anybody play if I thought they were using. I thought your brother was using that first day, but he said he wasn't and his blood came back clean when they did the mandatory testing. I'd like to know how Anson got away with it! What do they think is wrong with Erik?"

"They said something about running tests. I guess we'll find out when we get there."

The teenagers met Derek and Stiles at the hospital and were shown to Erik's room where he was awake, but yelling and screaming that he had to leave. He calmed down a bit when he saw his family, but still looked ready to wolf out at any moment.