Afterlife {Stiles Stilinski Book One}

Chapter 9*

A hysterical crowd gathered at the video store after the alpha attacked and murdered someone at the video store. "Okay, why the fuck are we on the roof when we can be in the crowd blending in? We might even be able to get a better look," I say.

Derek glares at me. "You didn't have to come." A gurney with a body bag gets rolled out into the parking lot. "Scott, are you starting to get it?"

"Uh, I get that he's killing people, but I don't get why. I mean, this isn't standard practice, right? We don't go out in the middle of the night murdering people, do we?" Scott asks.

"No. We're predators, we don't have to be killers," Derek explains. He looks over to me with an accusatory stare.

I roll my eyes. "But the notion of killing you is so fun."

"Behave. Why is he a killer?" Scott asks.

"That's what we're gonna find out," Derek replies.

"You know, I have a life, too," Scott says.

I shake my head. "You spent all of Sunday gushing about some comic book with Stiles. No, you don't."

"Yes, I do! I don't care what Derek says about him making me his pet, or part of his pack, or whatever. I have homework to do. I have a parent teacher conference tomorrow because I'm failing chemistry," Scott complains.

"You wouldn't be if you just let me compel that smug son of a bitch," I mutter. It's no secret that my confrontations with Harris are a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

"You want to do homework? Or do you want to not die? You have less than a week before the full moon. You don't kill with him, he kills you!" Derek yells.

"Okay, who came up with these rules?" I question.

"It's a rite of passage," Derek explains.

Scott throws his hands up. "You know what else is a rite of passage? Graduating from high school, and you don't need to kill anyone to do it. Why can't you find him yourself? Why can't you just sniff him out when he's a human?"

"Because his human scent could be entirely different. It has to be you. You have a connection with him, a link that you can't understand. If I can teach you to control your abilities, you can find him," Derek says.

"So, if I help you, you can stop him?" Scott asks.

"Not alone. We're stronger in numbers. A pack makes the individual more powerful," Derek replies. Maybe that's why Klaus wants a pack so much. I need to stop thinking about him.

I completely spaced out until I heard Derek say, "And that's what keeps you human, pain. Maybe you will survive."

"You know what else makes you human? Sleep. We really need to get some so catch ya later, Derek." I grab Scott by the shoulders and start walking to the other side of the roof. We make our way down back to my car that's parked over to the side.

"You guys really don't like each other, do you?" Scott questions.

"What tipped you off? The constant threats or Derek's resting bitch face? Really using those keen werewolf senses, Scotty. I really do want to go to sleep though," I explain.

We get into my car. "What do you think about all of this?" Scott asks.

I start up the car. "About what?"

"Everything. The alpha, school, Allison- I don't know," Scott replies. He doesn't take his eyes away from the window.

I pull out of the lot and get onto the road. "I'm not sure. The guy who turned me is unkillable, so I never really thought about trying to overpower him. That's why I ran. You on the other hand, might actually have a chance. Especially, if we stick together."