Pretenders

ONE

   CHAPTER ONE
( MEETING )

IT'S BEEN WEEKS SINCE THE ANUK-ITE. Scott called a pack meeting, plus Theo. Theo wasn't pack, as Stiles liked to remind him. Scott got the tip about the hunters from Gabe.
Gabe didn't die. Well he did, technically. With vampire blood in his system. He's a vamp now.
  That meeting is what led to the pack, plus Theo, running away from hunters. Unfortunately, the supernaturals all got shot.
  They were stranded, too far away from anyone's house. At least that's what they thought. They all stopped and looked around. The hunters were far away.
  Theo looks at everyone and sighs. He shakes his head, panting. "We can't keep running."
  "Yea?" Stiles questions. He takes a breath. "What do suggest we do?"
  "Listen smartass," Theo starts, "my house isn't far away. You all can stay there for the night. My friend, Alex, can get all the bullets out and make sure they aren't poisoned." He leans on a tree. "Though, I think they are."
  Stiles scoffs. "You have friends?"
  Theo rolls his eyes and stands up straight. "Screw you. Lets go." He starts walking away then turns around, walking backwards. "Unless you wanna get shot at more."
  Reluctantly Stiles follows Theo, along with the rest of the pack. They arrive at a large house and Theo walks to the back door.
  "Dude, this is your house?" Mason asks.
  Theo nods. "Yeah." He shuffles though his pockets. "I just need to find my keys." He pulls out a keychain. "Here it is." He unlocks the door. He walks in. No one follows. He pokes his head out of the door with a raised eyebrow. "You guys coming?" They all look at each other and follow Theo.
  As they close the door, Mason looks around. "Intense." They hear someone walking down the stairs. They all turn to see a girl, around their age, walking down the steps. She's wearing sweats and a sports bra, her white hair in a bun.
  Her eyes widen when she sees them. "Uh... what happened?" A look of realization crosses her face. "Hunters?"
  Theo nods, holding his shoulder. "Hunters."
  Theo staggers and the girls runs up to support him. "Dude, don't go dying on me just yet."
  Theo takes a deep breath as the girl helps him sit down. "I think the bullets are poisoned."
  She glances at everyone else. "Who else got shot?"
  "Every supernatural. Save Lydia," Theo answers.
  The girl nods and walks to the kitchen. "Everyone take a seat and I'll heal you." She comes back with medical tools and a bottle. Everyone stays quiet as she takes the bullets out of everyone. She glances at all of them. "It's a poison," she explains. "Ricin. It's known as the deadliest poison in the world. You're lucky that you're supernatural creatures, or you would be dead by now." She walks away again and comes back with water bottles and hands them to everyone. "Stay hydrated. The ricin will dehydrate you. I'll work out an antidote. It'll give me 30 minutes. Try to keep your heart rate down. If your heartbeat's going crazy, it'll pump the poison through your system."
  Thirty minutes later she comes back with 6 vials of a blue liquid. She hands them to the pack. They all drink. She checks over their healed wounds. "Yeah. That should do the trick." She looks at all of them. "You're all staying the night?"
  Theo nods. "Is that not okay?"
  "No. It's fine. Just gotta set up the guest rooms," she says. 
  "Uh, how many guest rooms do you have?" Mason asked.
  "Two," the girl and Theo say in unison.
  "And you two share a room?" Liam asks, with more spite than he thought he had.
  "Ha! Uh, no," the girl gestures between her and Theo, "we are just-"
  "Friends," Theo finishes.
  "Sure." Mason rolls his eyes.
  "I'm gay," the girl says.
  "Oh," Corey breaths.
  "Awkward," Stiles comments. He yelps when Lydia smacks him.
  "My name is Alex. I know who all of you are, so no need for introductions. Theo has told me all about you," she tells them.
  They all look at Theo accusingly. He just shrugs.
  "Who's sleeping with who. It's two to a room so three of you have to sleep in the living room. We have an air mattress in the closet that I can blow up for you guys," Alex explains.
  "I guess Corey and mason will share and Lydia and Stiles will share, since they're the couples," Scott suggests.
  "Actually, Scott, Lydia and I broke up. So I'm gonna sleep out here," Stiles says. 
  Scott nods slowly. "Oh, okay. Is everyone okay with the sleeping arrangements?"
  They all nod.
  "Okay then," Alex starts. "I'll show you to your rooms and Theo will set up the blow up."
  She leaves with Corey, Mason, and Lydia as Theo opens a closet door, pulling out a bag.
  "So Theo," Scott starts, "how did you meet Alex?"
  He shrugs. "Work."
  "You have a job?" Stiles asks.
  Theo scoffs. "I have a life Stiles."
  "How'd you two afford this place?" Malia questions while looking around the room.
  Theo rolls out the mattress and plugs it in, turning it on. "She has money from... things and I have money from the Dread Doctors that I never used."
  "Dude," Liam shifts in his seat, "how much money did they have?"
  Theo shrugs. "Millions." That leaves everyone wide eyed. Alex walks back in just as the mattress finishes filling up with air.
  Scott is the first to recover from shock. He turns to Alex. "Thank you for letting us stay here."
  She shrugs. "You should be thanking Theo. I would've turned you away if he didn't give me his puppy eyes." Theo rolls his eyes as he puts a sheet on the mattress.
  Scott turns to him. "Theo." Theo looks up at him. "Thank you."
  Theo nods slightly. "No problem."
  "You should all get to bed. You've had a long day," Alex suggests.
  They all agree and take showers and head to bed. Theo walks back to the kitchen and sits next to Alex, who is on her computer.
  Without turning to him she says, "I meant you too, Theo. You need to rest."
  Theo gets up and grabs a beer. "You know I can't." He sits back down.
  Alex sighs and closes her computer. She turns to him, grabbing her wine in the process. "You don't sleep."
  "Neither do you," he argues.
  "That's different."
  "No it isn't."
  They sit in silence for a couple of minutes.
  "I worried when you didn't come home when you said you would," Alex admits.
  "Sorry," Theo chuckles.
  "It's not funny. You may not care about your health but I do."
  Theo's smile fades. "I know." He sighs, not realizing that the people in the living room are listening in. "I'm not used to someone caring about me. I'm not used to this life."
  Alex gives him a sad smile. "One where you matter?" He nods. She takes another sip of her wine. "I was used to mattering too much but, not in the way people want to matter."
  "How people wanted to use you for your power?" Theo questions.
  Alex nods with a sad smile. "I was never considered as a person. Always as a prize or weapon to be won."
  "I can relate to being considered a weapon." He pauses, gathering his thoughts. "The Doctors always told me that I was a weapon-"
  Alex cuts him off. "And weapons never weep."
  After taking a sip of his beer, Theo gives Alex a questioning look. "Your mother?"
  She nods and finishes her drink. "Do you wanna finish watching Stranger things?"
  "Sure," He says shrugging. "It means I don't have to sleep which means no nightmares." The two go upstairs.
Stiles sits up. "Nightmares?"
Liam rolls his eyes. "You seem to forget that he went to hell." He sits up. "When we went to the hospital, trying to attract the ghost riders, he walked in and froze. When I asked what was wrong, he just said that he thought he was somewhere else. I asked where and all he said was a bad dream. He left it at that. I think he was remembering hell."
Malia crosses her legs. "What do think happened to him?"
"It has to do something with his sister," Stiles says, "she is the one that dragged him down there."
"Let's just go to sleep. In the morning we should find out more about Alex," Scott suggests.
They all agree and go to sleep.

***
A/N— Editing, editing, EDITING.
So fun...