That Girl (A Derek Hale Love Story)

Chapter 14

EDITED

Haylie stood on the front porch, covered in the light from the fly catcher. Her foot continued to tap on the wooden planks with a click from her small heeled boots. She could feel the sleeve of her denim jacket as her fingers played with the rope tied around her wrist and began to wonder if she should have dressed warmer. It was dark and freezing so, while she thought the black denim and grey hoodie may help disguise her in the woods, it wasn't proving to be the best choice this late at night. She also wondered if she should even still be wearing the rope that she was fiddling with.

However, before she could think anymore about the man who gave her the 'protection' to begin with, two headlights pulled into the drive. Stiles jumped out of the jeep just as Haylie's' feet hit the ground in front of him. "Where's the other shovel?" He asked but the response he got was his sisters perfectly manicured nails pushed the two shovels into his chest. Haylie climbed into the back of the jeep, dodging the empty takeout boxes on the floor.

"What did you mean exactly by the scent was the same?" She asked Scott before he even got the chance to say hello.

Stiles got back into the Jeep and reversed out while Scott turned to face Haylie. He tried to explain it best he could, but, when he was struggling to understand any of it himself it was difficult. Stiles spoke a lot. Within the drive, they had moved off from talking about how they were about to find a second half of a body, and onto how Scott even got bit in the first place. "You know, I hate to say it guys." She started, "But you must have known going into the woods at night to search for a dead body was never going to end well for you."

"You still haven't told us why Derek told you any of this?" Stiles asked, eyeballing his sister through the rear-view.

She thought about telling them the truth. Then she thought about telling them what Derek told her to say to her dad. "He didn't tell me. I found out." It was the truth, just not all of it. "You guys were acting weird and sneaking around so, I did some sneaking of my own." The two boys frowned at each other, slightly offended by the 'sneaking' and 'weird' terms. "I found that research you did in your room..."

"You went in my room." Stiles could have crashed with how quickly he spun his head round to the backseat.

"Relax Stiles, your internet history is safe." She continued as best she could by telling as little lies as possible. She avoided mentioning the Alpha. Maybe because until they knew for certain, Haylie still had faith in the man that promised to protect her.

They pulled up a short distance from the Hale house and Stiles turned off the car before turning round to face his sister. Scott followed suit and sighed. "Haylie, if Derek has admitted to using you to get to me, surely all the more reason to trust us."

Haylie nodded, knowing he was right but still choosing to have faith and remain silent on the fact Derek didn't do this to Scott. Although, as they fell into a short silence she wondered, what if he did do this to Scott. What if he needed help beating the Alpha so turned Scott for backup? What if he was still lying to her? "It looks like he's still here." Stiles said and pointed to the black Camaro in its usual place. "Can you call him? Lure him out?" Haylie frowned at the suggestion. She was starting to feel like all she was good for was to be used as a pawn between these three guys.

"No, I'm not going to 'lure' him out." She mocked and looked back from her brother to the house.

"Why not? He obviously likes you." Haylie's head snapped to Scott as her cheeks started to heat up.

"What? No, he doesn't." Both boys raised their eyes considering the last time they had seen Haylie not put together and confident was when they teased her as children. "I mean," She looked down to her black jeans and shook her head to compose herself. "I mean, if what you're saying is true. Then he was probably just scoping me out to be his next victim so..."

While she trailed off Stiles began to nod uncomfortably. "I think Scott meant he likes you because he hasn't killed you but, I guess you make a good point." Scott looked to his friend before back at the girl he wasn't even sure he could consider a friend for the last couple of years. She was contemplating something in his eyes. Although, in reality, the second she said the words out loud, she got a dull feeling deep in her chest that maybe her words were true. Maybe he was still using her, and he was going to kill her just like he had done with this girl. It was then she realised where she wanted to place her trust.

"What did you think I meant?" She shook her head at Scott's question but all parties in the jeep knew she thought he suggested Derek liked her. Before she could come up with an excuse to save herself some awkwardness, Scott spoke again. "Shh."

The three teens shrunk a little deeper into the jeep as they saw the Camaro headlights come on. It felt like the longest 30 seconds as Derek came down the stairs and climbed into his car and drove away. Mainly because not a single breath was let out inside of that 30 seconds. They were all too scared that if they breathed Derek would hear them. "It's now or never, right?" Stiles said, finally letting out a deep breath.

The two boys had been digging for a while when Haylie couldn't stand just staring anymore. She began to pace around the hole they were digging, her eyes open to see any headlights indicating Derek's return. "Have you thought about what we're going to do if Derek comes back?" She asked, folding her arms to shelter from the cold air.

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, we all run in different directions and whoever he catches first, too bad." Haylie nodded just the once out of irritation but not having the need to argue with that terrible plan.

"I think I hit something." Haylie rushed back over to the boys just as they got down to brush the soil off what looked like a sack. She bent down to take the shovel away from Scott as he appeared to be struggling to get the rope untied.

"Wait, Scott." Stiles grabbed his friends' hand just before he could reveal what was inside. "Are you sure you want to see what's under here?"

Scott nodded but at the same time still looked hesitant. "I don't know, something's different." He confirmed. He has sensed it the second they had gotten out of the jeep but hadn't said anything to avoid questions about his new senses that he couldn't answer. He took a moment but then pulled back half of the sack.

Both boys jumped out of the hole while Haylie stumbled back with one hand gripping the shovel and the other containing her scream. "What the hell is that!" Stiles screamed as they stared at the black dead wolf with its eyes staring back at them. Scott took a deep breath before getting back onto his knees.

"I told you, something was different."

Haylie scoffed and removed the hand from her mouth. "Yeah no kidding. That's a wolf. Not a girl. An actual wolf." She said, still not able to take her eyes off it.

"Maybe we should talk about this later." Stiles said, his eyes leaving the wolf and taking in their dark surroundings. "He obviously moved the body so let's get out of here before he comes back." Scott nodded and reached to pull the sack back over the animal. "Wait." Once again, his hand was stopped by his best friend's grip. "Do you see that?" Haylie tuned around to follow her brothers' line of sight and landed on a small purple flower sticking out of the ground. So out of place on its own, but it definitely had their attention. "I think it's wolfsbane."

Stiles stood up but Scott just shrugged. "So..."

"So? Haven't you seen The Wolfman?" Stiles said with a hint of irritation. When he looked to his sister and saw the same lack of knowledge he groaned. "You are so unprepared for this." He mumbled to himself before standing and moving over to the plant. He moved some soil away around it before he begin to tug. Haylie watched as he pulled it out of the ground and began to follow one single long root. He was circling the body to try and get it all free and it had the three teens so mesmerised that when he finally got to the end they just stood in silence for a moment. When nothing else happened, Haylie looked back down to the body that the root had circled and froze.

"Guys?" They looked back down to the body in silence. No longer were the eyes of a wolf staring back. It was the eyes of a girl.