Empath

Truth

Chris Argent

My daughter Amber stood before me at the Hale house. She looked mad.

"What were you doing with Derek Hale?" She gritted her teeth.

"What were you doing when Aunt Kate killed a house full of people. Wolves, children, humans. Where were you then?" I looked at her body language.

She was scared of me.

"Let's go home and talk about this," I stepped towards her, "NO! Don't take a step closer. Do you know why I don't hug you? Do you know why I don't let you touch my skin? It's because I'm an empath dad! Empaths feel so much. They see things and sometimes they end up wounded because the memory of an event is so strong that it wounds them. Well guess what Dad. This fire, the memory of it? Burned my hand! I saw them, Dad. I saw Kate light the match while everyone else poured gasoline on the house. You ever wonder why mom always told you why I didn't seem curious what you did? I knew what our family was when I turned thirteen. I could feel it. Every time a coworker came in, I'd see kill after kill. Smirking and congratulating each other to kill a wolf. You've even threatened a kid! A werewolf who hasn't killed a single soul. Then Derek. He hasn't done anything wrong! So leave him alone and face the facts! Aunt Kate is a killer, Dad." She wasn't like Allison.

I was so wrapped up with hunting that I didn't realize that my other daughter knew. She knew what we did. She saw all the details and felt the joy the hunters took in killing because she was an empath. In all my years as a hunter I had never come across one. Except now I had and she had been under my roof for four years and I never knew. She shifted and I saw she was favoring one of her hands.

"Show me," she looked surprised, "show me what you saw."

She walked up to me. She looked up at me.

"Showing you will be painful. Not as painful as it was for me, but still painful." I could still see the doubt in her eyes.

She didn't trust me. She didn't trust that I wouldn't treat her like all the other supernatural creatures. She didn't trust me after learning what my sister had done. I grabbed her uninjured hand. I placed it against my cheek. She bit her lip. She took a deep breath and her eyes started glowing red.

Amber

I focused on pushing the memories into his mind. It was difficult for me. So when he started trembling I pulled away. He fell to his knees in front of me overcome by the emotions and images. My head hurt from pushing the memories into his head.

"Do you believe me?" I pulled away from my father.

He looked up at me not saying a word. I frowned down at him. I wasn't sure if he was speechless because he didn't believe or he did. The thought of him not believing made me angry.

"What happened to 'We hunt those who hunt us?' Kate broke that code. So I will not live by that code. I will not live by the Argent code, your code Dad. I will live by my own code. Kate is supposed to be here in a few days. I will not stay with you. I will stay elsewhere." My father looked like he wanted to argue, but I could also see he understood.

"I am not Allison. I am not in the dark about the supernatural. I am not ignorant. So you will not get to boss me around. You will not force me to stay in the same house as a murderer. I am choosing a new code. One that will be what I stand for. We protect those who can't protect themselves," my father looked surprised, "that includes the supernatural. I will be by the house later to pick up my stuff. I don't care if you or mom don't like it. I'm not going to live in that house."

I turned away. I walked back towards the direction where my car was parked and where Derek should've been. He wasn't there anymore. That was fine with me. Staying away from my family was smart and it meant he was safe. I ran back to my car and got into the driver's side. I climbed in and let myself relax against the seat. That was difficult to do, knowing what I did. I turned to grab my first aid kit from my center console when I saw the necessary items on the seat to bandage my hand. I saw a note. I grabbed and opened it.

𝓖𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓼 𝓲𝓷𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓭.

𝓓𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓴

I smiled down at the piece of paper. He helped me when he didn't have to. He knew what my family did and yet he was still kind to me. I didn't feel I deserved it though. I was clearly nothing like my family, but I didn't feel like I had done anything to deserve his kindness. I put medicine on the burn and wrapped my hand. I started the car and headed for home.

Derek

I watched Amber as she looked at the note I left in her car. I could smell her guilt and sadness from here. I watched as she tended to her hand. Then she left. I could tell she was sad, angry, and felt guilty. I didn't know how I knew that because I shouldn't have been able to tell what she was feeling from this far away.