Noelle||Jordan Parrish

Chapter 45

I let out a sigh as make myself eat just a little, sitting across from Jordan, who tries to make small talk from across the table, as he describes his day at work.
A single tear escapes my eyes and I'm quick to wipe it away, hoping he didn't see it. Unfortunately he does, and drops his silverware and moves quickly over to me, kneeling in beside me. "Hey, talk to me. What's going on?"
I let out a sigh and turn to him, looking into his fierce green eyes, "I just... Did we make the right decision sending her away with your mom?
He lets out a sigh and stands up, pulling me to my feet with him. Then he pulls me into a tight hug. "I wonder the same thing, but if you're right about the danger that lies ahead, it's the right thing to do."
I look up at him shooting him a sad smile,"I guess you're right. The safest thing for her right now is to be away from us and this town."
He nods his head pulls me close to him again, pressing a light kiss to my forehead.
A loud ringtone interrupts us and I frown in confusion and pull out my phone to see Scott calling me,"Hey Scott, what's up?"
"I'm outside your house with Lori, something happened to Brett, we need you now."
I look up and see the headlights of the light blue jeep shining in my window,"Be out in a sec."

****

I watch Liam as he follows the line of sight that a bloody arrow stuck into a trunk of a tree alongside Lori, Malia, and Scott.
"I think he set a trap," I state as I pick up his phone off the ground.
Scott looks over at me, nodding his head,"He's fighting back. Now we know he's alive."
Lori walks over to the tree and yanks out the arrow,"But he's still hurt. We need to find him, he needs to know we're here."
She turns to howl in the opposite direction of the arrow, but Malia is quick to stop her,"You want the hunter to know we're here too?"
"He's new. We can take him." Liam states, agreeing with Lori.
I shake my head,"It's too much of a risk, way too many things could go wrong for us. What if the hunter isn't new? What if Brett howls back? He'll lead the hunter right to him if that happens, experienced or not."
"No, we could find him first. There's no human that can track sounds faster than we can. And we've got the advantage, we've done this before. We know what we're doing, guys." Scott argues, eyes darting back and forth between Malia and I as if trying to convince the two of us.
Malia frowns in confusion,"How come I can't catch his scent?"
"He's masking it."
Malia rolls her eyes in annoyance,"Can someone tell him not to?"
"He went this way," Liam states, observing the ground. He then takes off, Lori and Malia close behind.
I grab Scott's arm before he can follow,"Scott, his trap didn't work. By the speed the bullet was going, it would've taken an immense amount of focus to be able to dodge it."
"Maybe this hunter is not such an amateur," Scott says, starting to see my own concerns.
He then takes my hand and pulls us through the woods, moving quickly to catch up to the other three. When we finally catch up, they stop dead in their tracks, unable to find where he went.
Scott frowns in confusion,"Uh, maybe he just stopped bleeding."
"I think we should split up," Liam suggests looking at the rest of us. "Lori, Noelle, and I go this way, and you guys go that way."
"Or maybe we go in four directions?" Lori suggests.
Malia shakes her head,"We should stick together."
Liam stares at her in confusion,"We have the advantage, it's four against one."
"Not if we split up."
Liam lets out a sigh,"Right. I've been doing this the last few months without your help. I think I can make a decision."
"Well, if you're deciding to do something stupid and die, then go ahead," Malia retorts, sarcasm practically dripping off of her tongue.
Liam shoots her a glare,"It's one hunter, one amateur who doesn't know what they're doing!"
"Scott... Noelle?" Malia asks, turning to us for help. I look over at Scott, who is uncovering a footprint, one that even I could tell was not Brett's.
Liam's eyes widened,"The hunter. He's covering his tracks."
I look down at the ground, finding something else,"Look, there's another."
"How many hunters have you seen out here before?" Lori asks us.
Scott's eyes cloud over with a knowing look,"A lot."
"Still want to split up?" I ask, giving the younger two a knowing look.
Liam shrugs his shoulders,"We can deal with it. We just need to find Brett's trail."
"No we don't," Lori states, pointing over to a stacked pile of rocks with blood on it."Rock balancing. Satomi taught us. It's him, and I know where he's going."
With that Lori turns away leading us in a direction I knew too well. We come upon an opening, the one that leads to the tunnels. My chest fills with dread, as I know nothing good comes of going down there. I push those feelings away, and follow the others down through the entrance.
Lori walks quickly over to a puddle of blood, kneeling down to observe it,"He's been poisoned."
Scott's eyes widened in realization, "That's why he's not healing."
"What if he only has a few hours to live?" Lori asks, panic and fear written across her face.
"If we howl, we can find him," Liam suggests.
Malia shakes her head, "That's too risky."
"Who cares about the risk? He could be dying," Lori exclaims full of frustration.
"He's still moving," Malia argues.
"Wait guys," I state, moving to crouch in front of the blood puddle. "Let me try something."
I can hear them arguing behind me, but I ignore them, and put my fingers into the still warm blood, closing my eyes.
When I open them again, I find myself right next to Brett himself up above one of the tunnel halls, hiding amongst the ceiling support beams. He looks awful: his eyes are sunken in, dark circles around them as a cold sweat coats his body, his wound on his shoulder drips out a black blood. In a second, I could feel his fear and pain, it was almost an unbearable feeling. Suddenly I hear a loud howl, it echoes through the halls, and I watch as Brett's eyes widen in shock. We both know who was responsible for that, Liam.
I let out a gasp and look up at the group, then down at my hands. They were riddled with dark veins and I could see that my shoulder was now wet with the black blood that was also on Brett. I had successfully connected with him, but his would showed up on me, a sure sign of the danger ahead. I looked up at them in fear, the poison was working, and it was spreading quickly.
"He's still alive and hiding on one of the upper bars above the tunnel. He heard you Liam, but we have to get going... he doesn't have long."
Lori frowns in confusion,"Why didn't he answer us then if he knows it's us?"
"Maybe he can't," Malia suggests.
I turn to Scott to see what he has to say, when suddenly his features turn to horror as he looks ahead, "Lori, no!"
I turn in shock as Scott moves to push her out of the way. Seconds later, a large, metal stake impales him through the stomach. I'm quick to move to him, as his pain begins to seep into my own body. I dopple over in pain for a moment, falling to my knees, but I know that this is not the time for me to stop. I grunt as I stand back up and face Scott, moving by his side. His dark brown eyes are on me, and I can clearly see both pain and concern in them.
I shake my head and turn to the others,"Lori and Malia, you two need to pull out the stake. Liam, you and I are going to hold him back, come on guys."
The three follow my plan as we all grunt in exertion to help our closest friend. When the two finally pull out the stake, Scott's knees go weak and Liam and I grip him tight, lowering him to the ground carefully.
Scott lets out a groan of pain, sweat coating his face,"They knew we were coming-"
"Don't talk, just heal, and let us figure this out." Malia suggest, putting a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder.
I clench my teeth in my own pain from the two injured men, "They've been a step ahead of us the whole time."
"I'm sorry, but I can't wait around. We have to go." Lori states, her worry for her brother growing by the second.
Liam nods his head in agreement,"We still have the numbers, four-to-two. We're faster and stronger."
"They're smarter," Scott argues.
Lori shakes her head furiously,"I don't care who's smarter or faster or whatever, my brother is going to die."
I look back and forth between Scott and Lori, "Lori I know what you're going through, I went through the same thing with Stiles, but something is not right here. The arrow, the trip wire, the poison. These aren't amateurs."
Liam crosses his arms over his chest,"But they've never fought us before."
"And you've never fought hunters, Liam. We need to stick together," Scott argues.
"I need to go!" Lori shouts, panic raising in her voice taking over her usual calm demeanor.
Liam shakes his head,"No, you're not going alone. I'll go with you."
"Liam, you don't know who they are or what they're capable of." Scott calls out.
"Look, I know who we are. We never give up, especially when it's someone innocent, when it's someone alone, when it's one of our friends." Liam begs, crouching eye level.
"Okay, go, go. I'll catch up," Scott sighs, finally giving in.
I look down at Scott and Malia,"You two stay here, I'll go make sure they stay smart."
Scott lets out a sigh, and pulls me down so I am eye level with him, "Noelle, you're already hurting. Please be safe."
A sad smile grows on my face as I feel the full panic of the position he is in,"Don't worry Scott, this is the best plan we've got. You just focus on your own healing."
With that I jump up and follow after Lori and Liam, ignoring the growing pain in both my abdomen and shoulder. Brett didn't have much time left, I could feel it in my body: he was shutting down slowly, and we needed to find him.
I finally catch up with the two, when they halt in their tracks at the junction of four different tunnel directions.
Liam turns to us, frowning in confusion,"Where do we go now? There's got to be something."
As I try to catch my breath, and idea pops into my mind,"Do you smell the scent of poison on me?" The two of them sniff the air, before nodding in agreement. "So follow that scent on him. He's got to smell strongly of it."
They sniff the air once more, before taking off in the left tunnel. I am quick to follow behind them as we wind our way through the halls of the grimy tunnels.
After a while, we slow down to a fast walk, the three of us exhausted from the night we have had.
Lori turns to look at the two of us,"They all look the same, are you sure we are going the right way?"
Liam nods his head, confidence masking the fear that I know is coursing through his veins, "I'm positive. Noelle and I have both gotten lost down here more than once. We just need to keep following the scent."
"I hate that scent," Lori states with a sigh.
Liam's eyes widen,"Wait, I hear something. It sounds like..."
"A heartbeat."
We turn the corner to find Brett sitting there on the floor, black fluid all over his body, as it was losing the inner battle with the poison.
Lori is the first one to him, and looks up at her with clouded eyes," You found the rocks."
She lets out a light chuckle as tears fill her eyes, "Yeah, I found the rocks. Hey, we're gonna get you out of here."
Brett lets out a grunt as we pull him up off the ground, "You guys are dumbasses for risking it for this."
Liam shoots him a close-lipped smile, "Oh, is that your way of thanking us?"
"No Liam, that's my way of calling you a dumbass... But thanks," Brett states with a smirk, covering up the true extent of his pain.
My heart jumps in my chest as a flash of light fills my view, followed by the halls slowly being filled by a cloud of smoke. A high pitched shrill fills my ears, and the three werewolves cover their ears in pain.
Liam turns to me, "Get them out of here, I'll hold them off!"
I nod my head and pull the siblings along with me, as the three of us do our best to ignore the pain that we are feeling. I look up above and stop in my tracks, "Come on guys! This ladder leads to an exit of the tunnel. Lori leads up the tunnel, followed by Brett as she pulls him up and I help from behind pulling him up.
I grunt in pain as we make our way up the ladder and through the street hole at the top. As I reach the top and climb my way onto the road, I hear a voice.
"Noelle wait! God, please Noelle wait!"
I stand up, but before I can see what Liam is yelling about, a bright light behind me, pulls my attention. I turn and see Brett and Lori standing in front of me, grasping each others hands tightly, as a car speeds up right in front of us.
I let out a gasp and try to pull the two out of the way, but it's too late. I see and feel the siblings' pain before I even feel the impact of the car on my own body. The three of us fall to the ground as the truck reverses and drives away. My head its the ground last, as I groan in pain and my vision blurs, they saved me... I have to help them.
I slowly get up, and move over to the two, tears welling up in my eyes. Lori grips her brother's hand, as blood seeps madly from the two. She begins to take away some of his pain as tears fall freely down her cheeks, "Close your eyes."
I grip Lori's hand as we both watch the life leave his eyes. She then lays her head on Brett's chest, physical and emotional pain radiating from her body. I run a hand through her hair as I grip her hand tightly,"L-Lori, I'm so sorry. I-I should've known."
Liam crouches down beside me as she looks at the two of us, "I couldn't take away his pain."
With that, she lays down her head on Brett's chest, her eyes close and the grip she has on my hand slowly loosens.
I hear a growl and look up to see Liam's eyes glowing bright gold, his wolf features evident as he lets out a loud, heartbroken roar. Cars quickly begin to pull up, and Liam does everything he can to look away, but soon the cars surround us.
I slowly stand up, ignoring the pain as I move over to Liam, and wrap my arms tightly around him, pulling his head down so it rests on my shoulder. "Liam hey, you need to breath, close your eyes.
Tears fall freely from my eyes as I know the damage is done, people saw what they saw and even I can tell that they are full of fear. I gasp as Liam's claws sink into my upper arms as he tries desperately to calm himself down.
"I-I'm sorry," he gasps out as the warm blood seeps through my clothing.
I stroke his head, "It's okay, Liam. Just breathe, you have to stop the shift.
As I listen to his deep breathing in the crook of my neck, I spot two people in the back of the crowd that makes my heart jump in fear. The guidance counselor from school... and Gerard.