Born To Hunt (Book 1)

End of the Line

The second we arrived back to the house, Chris told me to get a bag packed and that he didn't know how long Allison and I were going to be away. So, I ran up to the room that my brothers and I shared and changed into clothes more suited for hunting or traveling. Then I started throwing random clothes into my bag, before tossing in weapons too. I stare around the room, sighing at how empty it looked now that Sam, Dean and I had all taken the majority of our stuff out of it. I throw the bag over my shoulder and throw the door open, raising an eyebrow at Mrs. Argent who had her hand raised as if she was about to knock. 
    "Hi Mrs. Argent. Can I help you?" I ask, wincing at the way my voice sounded. Allison had cried the whole way to the house, which made me cry as well. I felt horrible for my best friend, and I felt horrible for Scott and this whole situation in general. 
    "I need you to look out for Allison. Kate can be reckless at times, and I don't want anything bad to happen to her while you girls are gone." She says, not even bothering to say hello. I nod once. 
    "I will, that's been my job since day one here, and I plan on doing it better from now on out." I say, wincing at the frown that Mrs. Argent gives me. 
    "Good. You also need to refrain from telling Allison about the other things that are out there. I know that you've seen many of them first hand, or have heard stories from your father and brothers, but Allison doesn't need to know them. Understand?" Mrs. Argent asks, her face cold and hard. 
    "I understand." I say, and her face softens slightly. 
    "That's a good girl. Now, head on out to the car. Kate and Allison should be waiting for you." She says, the ghost of a smile on her lips. I nod and take the stairs two at a time before climbing into the backseat of the car.
    "You know you can't do this without me. You're not gonna find him on your own." Kate pouts as Chris comes towards the car. He completely ignores her and looks down at Allison with a small smile.
    "We're gonna talk about everything, I promise. Call me when you get there." He says before backing away. Kate just shakes her head and pulls the car out. I jump slightly as my phone starts to buzz again. I pull it out of my pocket and frown at the number. 
    "Hello?" I answer, not sure who it was. 
    "Tori? Thank god, I can't get Allison to answer." Jackson says, panic clear in his voice. 
    "Jackson? What's wrong?" I ask, and Allison instantly sits straight in her seat, glancing back at me with concern. 
    "It's Lydia. Stiles called me and told me to come get her from the lacrosse field and that that was all he was allowed to say. So I went the field and she was covered in blood. She's in the ICU right now and they said that it was a really bad animal attack, but I'm freaking out Tori." Jackson stammers out, and I can tell by his voice that he's been crying. 
    "I- I don't know what to do. I'll talk to Allison and call you back." I say before hanging up quickly. Allison raises an eyebrow, and I take a shaky breath, ignoring the tears falling down my face. 
    "What's wrong?" She asks.
    "They found Lydia on the lacrosse field covered with blood. They said-they said it seemed to be an animal attack. She's in the ICU." I say bluntly, seeing no reason in sugar coating things for her anymore. Allison lets out a breath before turning to Kate. 
    "We have to see her before we leave town. She's our best friend." Allison begs, and Kate nods and takes the exit for the hospital without arguing. Kate parks, and turns to Allison. 
    "You girls can go in. I'm gonna wait in the car." She says, and Allison nods. I follow her out of the car and into the hospital, my hands shaking. I hate hospitals with a burning passion, and despite hunting things that go bump in the night, hospitals are my number one fear. We ride in the elevator in silence, and the second it stops I rush towards the room in the center, where I can see bright hair. I gasp as I notice all of the bruises on Lydia's arms. My lip starts to quiver as I glance over all of the tubes and machines that she's hooked up to, probably just so that she can stay alive. A new fire rushes through me, and although I would never hurt Scott, beating the shit out of Peter and Derek sounds good right now. I glance over at Allison right as she jumps back away from the room. She turns to me, her lip quivering as well, so I grab her hand and squeeze it real quick before we turn around and head back towards the elevator. We walk all the way back to the car in silence, and as we climb in, I ignore the pitying look that Kate gives both of us. 
    "You getting it now? It's what they do, and they can't help it." Kate says, fake sympathy in her voice. 
    "All of them?" Allison asks, her voice breaking with sadness. 
    "Yes, Allison. Even Scott." Kate sighs, pulling the car out of the parking lot. I sit back, frowning as I stare out the window. The whole time I had been in Beacon Hills Scott had been a werewolf. And Scott hadn't hurt anyone, not even Derek. Even though Derek really deserved to be punched in the face with werewolf strength.
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My heart pounds as we drive towards the Hale house, parking not too far away. Kate and Allison had decided that we were going to go and teach Derek and Scott a lesson. I'm not sure what lesson we're trying to teach Scott, but it's probably not a lesson that he wants. I grab a gun from my bag and several knives, sticking them through my belt loops. Kate leads Allison to the back of the SUV and shoves a bow and quiver of arrows at her, telling her the difference between the two arrows. We walk, as quietly as possible, towards a tree. 
    "What kind of bullets?" Kate whispers, looking at my gun. 
    "Not wolfsbane, I didn't have time to switch them out at the house." I reply, fighting back the urge to puke at the thought of using a wolfsbane bullet on Scott. 
    "They'll still hurt like a bitch. When Scott and Derek get close enough, shoot Derek in the shoulder or chest area. Not a fatal shot though." Kate instructs me, and I nod. Although I didn't want to hurt Scott, Derek was an asshole who had tried to kill Scott on several occasions. Also, he wasn't innocent like Scott was; his eyes told any experienced hunter that. I take in a breath as Scott and Derek stop, before aiming and firing at Derek. He jerks back, cursing in pain. I frown as Scott glances at us, betrayal on his face when he sees both Allison and myself with weapons in our hands. 
    "Now the leg." Kate says, and Allison takes the shot this time, hitting Derek in the upper thigh, causing him to fall to the ground. "Flash bolt." Kate says, and Derek panics. 
    "Scott, your eyes!" He calls, and Scott doesn't listen. He just continues to stare at Allison, until she lets the arrow fly and he falls the ground, momentarily blinded. Derek rips the arrow out of his leg, and jumps up, limping, but pulls Scott up and tugs him along towards the house. Allison, Kate and I pick up our weapons and walk after them, not in a rush as Scott was still blinking the light out of his eyes and Derek had fallen trying to help Scott. 
    "Allison, I can explain." Scott breathes out. 
    "Stop lying, for once stop lying." Allison spits out, anger coating her usually smiling face. 
    "I was gonna tell you the truth at the formal. I was gonna tell you everything. Because everything that I said, everything that I did-" Scott starts, trying desperately to tell his side of the story. 
    "Was to protect me." Allison says, an unreadable expression on her face. 
    "Yes." Scott says, a bit of hope left in his voice. 
    "I don't believe you." Allison shakes her head, her voice shaky and tears threatening to fall. 
    "Thank god. Now shoot him before I have to shoot myself." Kate says, no emotion in her voice. My eyes widen and I shake my head.
    "But-" I start, but Allison cuts me off. 
    "You- you said we were just gonna catch them." Allison says, her eyes wide with fear. 
    "We did that. Now we're gonna kill them. See. Not that hard." Kate states, shooting Derek in the chest, and I shake my head. 
    "Kate, my family goes by a code. Saving people, hunting things. Scott hasn't hurt anybody, he's still a person." I stammer out, shaking my head as Kate just chuckles.
    "Sweetheart, Winchester code doesn't go here. This is an Argent mission." Kate starts, turning between me and Allison with a frown. "Oh no- I know that look. That's the 'you're gonna have to do it yourself' look." She adds, cocking the gun and pointing it at Scott's head. 
    "Kate, Kate." Allison tries to push Kate, but Kate elbows her and Allison falls to the ground, looking to me for help. I rush at Kate, trying to take the gun, but she just whirls around and whacks me with the gun. I hiss in pain and fall to the ground. 
    "Kate!" Chris calls, walking into the clearing. Kate turns to him. "I know what you did. Put the gun down." He demands, and Kate shakes her head. 
    "I did what I was told to do." Kate says roughly, the gun still pointing at Scott. 
    "No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house, ones who were human. Look what you're doing now. You're holding a gun at a 16 year old boy with no proof he spilled human blood. We go by the code- Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent." Chris says, and my eyes widen. Kate started the fire and killed all those people. All because she thought that werewolves were beneath her. 
    "We hunt those who hunt us." Allison translates, her voice barely a whisper. I turn to her, eyebrow raised as I silently ask if she's okay. She nods slightly, and I turn back to Chris. 
    "Put the gun down," He starts, raising his gun and shooting the tree right behind Kate before pointing it at her. "Before I put you down." Kate rolls her eyes, but puts the gun down. Scott lets out an audible breath, and then the front door of the Hale house creaks open. I jump up, grabbing Allison and tugging her backwards, away from the house. 
    "What is it?" Allison asks, her eyes wide. Kate and Chris both aim their guns towards the door, and I do as well, making sure Allison is behind me. 
    "It's the Alpha." Scott says, standing next to Chris in front of me and Allison. A blur rushes out of the door, knocking Chris down, and running a circle around us, managing to also knock down Allison, Scott, and me. 
    "Come on! Come on!" Kate yells, spinning in circles as she waits for the alpha to come after her. Peter appears beside her, twisting her hand and forcing her to shoot the air instead of him. Kate grunts in pain as he picks her up and throws her towards the house. He rushes over to her, picking her up by the neck and pulling her into the house. 
    "No!" Allison yells, jumping up and heading into the house. I curse under my breath and follow after her, my heart pounding. I gasp as I rush inside and see Peter holding his claws against Kate's neck. Allison whimpers slightly. 
    "She is beautiful, Kate. She looks like you. Probably not as damaged. So I'm going to give you a chance to save her. Apologize. Say that you're sorry for decimating my family, for leaving me burned and broken for six years. Say it- and I'll let her live." Peter demands, not moving his claws from Kate's neck as Allison cries. Kate makes eye contact with Allison. 
    "I'm sorry." She says breathily, terror covering her face. Peter hesitates a moment, before he slashes across Kate's throat, letting her go as she falls the floor lifelessly. Allison cries out and starts towards Kate, but I grab her wrist, tugging her back and away from the psychopath in front of us. 
    "I don't know about you, Allison, Victoria,  but that apology didn't sound very sincere." Peter says, stalking towards us. Scott and Derek walk in, putting themselves between us. 
    "Run." Scott tells us, and we run. We run out the door and towards Chris, who was still lying on the ground. 
    "Dad. Dad. Dad." Allison says, shaking him. I stand up, cocking my gun, ready to go defend Scott and maybe Derek, when Scott flies through the window. Peter follows in his creepy alpha form. I aim, but before I can shoot, a Porsche swings into the clearing and Stiles jumps out, throwing a bottle of chemicals at Peter. Peter catches the bottle, and Stiles groans. I immediately aim my gun at the bottle, hitting it straight on. It explodes on impact, fire rushing up Peter's arm as he roars. He swats his arm around in an attempt to get the fire off, but Jackson throws a bottle at him and suddenly, Peter's whole body is in flames. He glares at me and Allison and totters towards us. 
    "No!" Scott screams, jumping and knocking Peter back. He flails and falls to the ground, writhing in pain. Allison walks towards Scott, and I rush towards Stiles, ignoring the flaming, dying alpha on the ground. I wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. 
    "I thought that you were dead." Stiles says, hugging me back. "Peter said that he was going to kill you." He adds, his voice cracking. 
    "I'm a Winchester Stiles, I'm hard to kill." I joke, pulling back slightly. Stiles smiles softly and leans forward. I shut my eyes and lean forward, butterflies exploding inside of me as his lips touch mine. 
    "Wait! You said the cure comes from the one who bit you. Derek, if you do this, I'm dead. Her father, her family- what am I supposed to do?" Scott cries out, reaching towards Derek. Derek glares down at his uncle for a moment, before reaching down and slashing his throat out. I wince slightly. Derek stands straight up and turns towards us, his eyes blazing red.     "I'm the Alpha now." He says, his voice two octaves lower. Things just got even more complicated.

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END OF FIRST BOOK