Lunatic

Emery Halliwell

 

 

“When we are looking at the plays of Shakespeare, the one thing I want you to keep in mind is the social context behind them, the politics and royalty of the time period, can anyone tell me who was on the throne?”

                “Queen Elizabeth the first,” I said, sipping on my hot chocolate.

                Miss Hick’s was great, at the start of every double period she let us bring in our own mugs and stuff to drink while we worked and by God, I needed a hot chocolate and a digestive biscuit, or I’d start screaming.

                I still couldn’t believe what Sky had said and ironically enough, we were looking at Romeo and Juliet – I fucking hated love stories.

                “Yes well done, now Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry the Eighth and I think we know all we need to about him.” Miss Hicks smiled.

                English Literature wasn’t a hard subject for me, sure there were moments I had to google how to spell simple words and got confused over Iambic Pentameter, as well as the new structure of the essays I had to write, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I’d gotten all of the subjects I hated out of the window last year so I could enjoy this one. That and focus a little more on my extra-curriculars – such as finding out who left the necklace in my locker.

                I wondered if I dusted down the locker if any fingerprints would come up? I wondered if it was a Guardian and how they’d gotten their hands on it. If the police didn’t have it then someone must have taken it. There were too many avenues for me to go down, I felt as if I needed one of those crime boards with big threads of red string. I wonder if Stiles hadn’t made a start on his yet?

                “Now, I want you to read the entirety of Juliet’s monologue, take notes and then present why you think Shakespeare used this language, as well as how it affects Romeo.”

                I just had to wait one more year, one more of all this craziness and I was out of here.  

                Before that however, I had to look at this stupid play so, here we bloody go. I could dissect the language later but looking at the text, to me it was crystal clear Juliet’s words expressed her love for Romeo and he was so taken by them, he was willing to give up his family name in order to be with her.

                Yeah, a great love like this had to be fictitious, there was no way it was real.

                He was going to give up everything to be with the woman he loved but then they both died, so it didn’t matter. 

                Romeo and Juliet was one of the best known love stories and yet it ended in tragedy.

                Was Shakespeare trying to say something with that? Were all relationships so filled with love destined to perish under such conditions? Could love conquer all when really, love was the low hanging poisoned fruit?

 

~*~

It was only after a good cry in the girls bathroom over how mean men were, and how I could’ve been so stupid to ever think a guy like Sky would like me, I headed home to find Wyatt in the kitchen.

                “You would not believe the day I’ve had.” I groaned, grabbing for the toast in his hand.

                “You’re telling me, I had Guardian’s up my ass all day about this necklace and chasing leads on where the alpha went.” He said, smacking my hand, handing me a different bit of toast from his plate.

                “You mean they lost him?” I gawked.

                “Yup, apparently it was as if he magically disappeared.”

                I had to hold in a groan – you were kidding me – how did two jeeps of reinforcements lose it?

                “Wyatt!” I heard my dad yell as the door open. “Wyatt, are you here?”

                “In the kitchen!” He yelled back.

                Even though I’d talked myself down from throwing bricks through Sky’s window on the walk home, I found my anger satiated as my dad wandered through.

                My mother, father and Godfather had lied to me so many times but if I’d learned anything, it was the reason behind the lie was always far more complex.

                “You’re both here,” Dad said, his voice thin as if he were looking at two ghosts.

                “Yeah, and we’re not going anywhere.” I told him, trying my best to smile through what I knew, was my own dad’s pain.

                His eyes teared, as if glass were cutting into them and obscuring his vision.

                “We’re not leaving dad,” Wyatt agreed, nodding firmly. “We know what happened to you and mum and we don’t blame or hate you.”

                A slither of a shaky breath blew from my father’s lips, only to be sucked back in.

                “I need you to know when you were born, when you were both born I loved you, I wasn’t Talia’s Guardian anymore, I was your father and I am so sorry—”

                I threw myself into my dad’s arms, squeezing him as tight as I could, burying my face in his chest as warm droplets hit my hair. Dad’s hands clenched the back of my dress as he kissed my head, but my eyes were shut, all I felt was his warmth, even as his body shook.

                “I’m sorry for what we did to you both.” Dad cried, his voice breaking as Wyatt joined in on the hug, his arms resting above mine.

                “It’s not your fault,” Wyatt said. “Dad it wasn’t your fault.”

                I swore to never see my father cry again because it made me feel horrible, it broke me worse than anything else in the world. However, what I felt must have been a fraction to what he’d been carrying around all these years.

                His body didn’t stop shaking, not for a second but I didn’t let go, I held on tight like I was clinging to a life boat. Yes, perhaps we weren’t born from love but our parents had shown us nothing but ever since I could remember. Yes, mum had dressed up drugging me as protection, and dad with his scare tactics in the murder basement, but they’d shown how much they’ve loved us years before Scott got bit.

                Our parents loved us and that was enough for me to keep going.

                We stayed like for another five minutes, just embracing each-other before either of us dared to pull away. When we did, dad’s eyes were red raw and even though he wiped at his face, the old stale tears were replaced with warm fresh ones. I couldn’t imagine what he’d been through with Talia, what she must of put him through for all those years.

                We’d poured a couple drinks and pulled the bar stools to the kitchen island, just to chat, not about Talia or what she’d done but the minor details, about the day the fire happened, was the day my parents decided to run away. The plan was for my dad to take Wyatt and I with him in the car, claim it was to see family back home, my mum would stay behind to keep suspicion low and then join us in a couple days due to a family emergency. I’d asked dad if he worried about leaving mum alone with Talia, but he said she’d offered, and she knew how to keep off Talia’s radar until the time was right.

                “Dad about what I said, when you caught me in Clay’s house,” I started. “I’m sorry, you didn’t abandon the Hale’s, your parents abandoned you.”

                “Emery sweetheart, they were raised just like I was to them it’s—”

                “Please, don’t say normal.” Wyatt cut him off. “Under no circumstances is what they let happen right.”

                “They were just doing their jobs.”

                “Why are you defending them?” He asked. “I know they’re your parents dad and believe me, I know it’s lawful but we need to talk to them.”

                “And what are you going to say?” Dad turned to him.

                “I don’t know but I could always lead with why did you let it happen?” Wyatt retorted.

                “The Guardian protects the pack but the Guardian serves the alpha, end of story.” Dad said, sipping at his glass, seeming keen to get off the subject. “It’s why I was relieved when the Red Guard took an interest in you, since I didn’t want you anywhere near someone like Talia.”

                “You said it was grandad.”

                Dad laughed bitterly.

                “If my father had his way you would’ve been sent to Carly when you were eight, then enlisted with an alpha when you graduated.”

                Wyatt flinched, but he didn’t say anything.

                Was that really what grandad would’ve done? Grandad, to me, was the most stereotypical grandad you could get but what I always got from our visits was warmth and love. Was it all a lie too? Did he think less of Wyatt for joining the Red Guard instead of enlisting with a pack?

                “What’s Calry?” I asked, since I’d never heard of the place before.

                “It’s a place that trains Guardian’s but it’s not a school, it’s a prison, nothings off limits there, they do whatever they have to, to shape you into the Guardian they want.”

                “That they want?” I tilted my head.

                “Calry has a very specific mould they believe Guardian’s should fit into, the longer you’re there the better you’ll be…” Dad trailed off. “But it’s a barbaric place.”

                “Why?”

                “It’s not just training exercises Emerson, when I say nothings off limits I mean it, drug abuse, physical and mental abuse, torture. You learn how to fight because you have no other option.” He said. “Calry operate on the belief of breaking human nature, to replace them with a person who’ll put nothing before their pack. I’ve heard of them bringing in family members and torturing them in front of the Guardian, to see if they’ll break or not. It’s a cruel, cruel place. After you graduate you’re meant to cut all ties from your family because you no longer have one, you were one single person with one single purpose.”

                “Did mum go there?” Wyatt asked.

                “No,” Dad shook his head, before he gently said. “Neither did Clayton, but I know Sky did.”

                “What?” I asked, trying to contain the horror bulging my eyes but Wyatt only nodded in agreement.

                “You’ve seen his tattoos, there’s one that looks like a symbol, the letter C with a cross drawn through it,” He said. “They brand you when you arrive, I guess he tattooed over it to cover it up.”

                Sky had never said, he’d – fuck – what had they done to him in there? He had so many tattoos and so many scars on his wrists, it was one of the first things I’d noticed about him. He’d never mentioned Calry, perhaps there was a reason why. He said he’d known darkness, was that what Calry was? Nothing but darkness?

                Was that why he could snap like the flick of a light? How he could go so cold when he’d been endearing mere hours ago? If Calry snapped human nature in half, what was left in its place?

                “He never said.” I told them. “I’m just his Charge, that’s it.”

                “Oh come on, that’s bollocks.” Wyatt scoffed. “I’ve seen how you look at the guy.”

                “Well it’s all an act.” I laughed, my fingers running around the rim of my own glass. “He just wants intel to get his job over quicker.”

                Now it made sense, if he was trained to be the perfect Guardian then emotional manipulation wasn’t off the table. As soon as Sky thought I knew something that day in the library, he was right by my side. Maybe this entire thing had just been a Guardian trick to get me to open up, like I’d thought in the ice-cream parlour. As soon as he found out I was Clay’s source, things had escalated between us, hadn’t they?

                Maybe Sky was right, maybe I was naïve.

                “He said that?” Dad asked me.

                “Not in so many words,” I said. “But he said what we had was a mistake, called me a stupid civilian, reckless, and then basically said I was nothing more than his Charge, but since he went to Calry I guess it isn’t too shocking anymore.”

                “Well you are reckless,” Wyatt shook his head, but continued. “I can’t believe he said that.”

                “Yup.” I sipped my drink. “I guess it was stupid anyway, I really liked him but I was just a job in the end, ever since he found out I was Clay’s source for the new beta, I guess this whole thing was just to get me to open up more.”

                “It’s a lie,” Dad said, lifting his bowed head.

                “Dad, I appreciate it but he was pretty clear—”

                “I’m telling you, Sky didn’t mean it.” He said, pertinently.

                “And how do you know that?” I sighed, pushing down that slither of hope reappeared in my heart.

                “Well when did he say this?”

                “Today.”

                “Did he see Clay last night?”

                “What’s Clay got to do with it?”

                “Did he?”

                “Yeah, he called him out for the murders in the woods.” I nodded.

                Dad ran a tired hand over his face, muttering something in Lumeric under his breath I didn’t quite catch.

                “And after this, that’s when Sky changed his stance right?”

                “…Yeah,” I said, wondering what he was getting at.

                “Then it was Clayton who told him to say that, probably told him how to go about it too.”

                “What?” I asked, my eyes screwing shut for a moment. “Why?”

                “Emery it’s no lie what you’ve done the past couple months would’ve landed you in prison, but if the Custodial’s found out, given your age, they’d probably send you to Calry,” Dad said. “Clay probably told him breaking it off with you, would protect you from them.”

                Was that true? I wondered.

                I mean, Sky had never mentioned Calry before but surely he wouldn’t of went along with what Clay said? I know Calry was a bad place but no one was going to find out what I’d done, there’s no way they would send me there. Sky was a Guardian, he was just doing his job (yes, it was a shitty job involving  manipulating me), but surely, if he cared that much he would’ve just told me what Clay had said.

                “Then why the theatrics—”

                “Because knowing you’re alive, rather than alive and in that place, apparently, is worth it.” Dad muttered.

                “And how come you’re so well versed in Clay’s thought process?” Wyatt asked, clearly amused by the entire thing as a grin tugged at his lips.

                “Because Clay done the same thing to me, twenty-five years ago.”

                What? I threw Wyatt a look but he looked as confused as I did, why would Clay say the same thing to dad? I mean they were still friends, they hadn’t walked out on each other, unless…

                “Hold on, you and Clay?” Wyatt asked, as if pointing between the two of them, and dad nodded.

                “I refused to marry your mother back in the day, when Talia first made the match, Clay told me I was stupid to ever think it could work between us, that we’d been naïve, then he sprung the news of joining the Red Guard on me, so it would make the transition easier and I was free to marry your mother.”

                My dad was gay? I mean, he’d never mentioned it before, not that he had to it’s just…well I didn’t really get the vibe from him. So was he bi? I mean he had to be if he married mum.

                “So your bisexual?” Wyatt asked.

                “No.” Dad shook his head. “Your mother and I’s marriage was a match made by Talia, I’ve never been with another woman.”

                “So you’re gay?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Right, now we’re adding hate crimes to the list of reasons I have to completely destroy that house.” Wyatt muttered.

                “It – It was different back in my day,” Dad said, like he was trying to defend what happened. “Your mother and I didn’t love each other in the conventional sense, but we started a family together, we made it work.”

                My parents marriage was a sham? I mean, I thought they loved each other, they looked so happy in their wedding photos. I tried to keep the horror from my face, smiling politely and sipping from my glass. My dad being gay was a surprise but apart from that, I was heartbroken him and Clayton had been forced apart.

                Clay and dad, Sky and me.

                Both stories had similar themes, characters and abrupt endings – could it just be a coincidence?

                “I met Clayton when I was quite young, back in Scotland, we grew up together,” Dad said. “He was my best friend.”

                “And they were best friends.” Wyatt nodded, looking at me like this had been obvious the entire time.

                “You probably don’t remember me telling you this but we were roommates in college too,” He said.

                “And they were roommates!” Wyatt and I screamed, bursting into laughter.

                Wyatt slapped the table but dad’s brows only furrowed, as he said.

                “Yeah…that’s why I said it,”

                “No, no.” Wyatt laughed. “It’s a vine, it’s a thing – I can’t believe it, you were roommates.”

                “Yes, yes we were.” Dad nodded, his eyes a little tense as he smiled, like he was looking at a pair of deranged people.

                How hadn’t we noticed this over the years? I mean, I just thought Clay and dad got on really well.

                “Sorry, sorry, circling back to the utter idiotic twat that is Sky Langdon,” Wyatt said, his laughter dying down.

                “Don’t call him that,” I said.

                “Oh, you’ve forgiven him already!”

                “Have not!”

                “You’re gonna call him aren’t you!”

                “No way!”

                “Oh do it – oh please Sky, I know you said I was stupid but I really like you and you’re my white knight—”

                “He is not my white knight!”

                “But you want him to be, don’t you?”

                “Wyatt, fuck off!”

                “I’m just saying for someone who doesn’t like romance, you certainly love your fairytale—”

                “I do not love fairytales!”

                “Oh please, just call him and end my suffering!” Wyatt groaned.

                “No!”

                “Why not?”

                “Because he might actually still be an asshole!”

                “Yeah, but you don’t believe that.” Wyatt smirked.

                No, no I didn’t.

                The argument had come out of nowhere this morning, and from what I’d seen of Sky, he’d acted just like he had that night in the motel, after Clay had read him the riot act. Had all of this been just for show? Had it all been Clay’s influence? I wanted to believe my dad, that our situations were the same but that slither of hope clinging to me was doubtful, I didn’t want to lose hope but I knew how hard it was to resist.

                I didn’t want to even contemplate the idea of Sky’s true feelings because if I was wrong, I didn’t know if my heart could take it.

                “So Clay’s the one making him say this?” I asked, still not too sure of this whole ruse.

                “He’s his mentor, so yeah, given he went along with it sweetheart I think Sky cares about you a lot,” Dad said, a sad melancholic smile on his face. “There’s always a reason why anyone does anything…”

                A reason, there’s always a reason.

                Dad was still talking, something about something but what he’d said in the beginning stuck in my brain. A reason, why would the alpha kill? What did he gain from it? It wasn’t just for the joy of killing because if so, there’d be a massacre. These murders were planned.

                Detective Humphry Goodman from Death in Paradise would be so disappointed in me, I’d forgotten to look at the fucking obvious!

                “We’ve been looking at this all wrong.” I interrupted my dad, from whatever inspirational speech he was giving. “Oh my god, we’ve been looking at it all wrong.”

                “What?” Wyatt asked.

                “The murders, I’ve been so busy looking for a motive when I’ve forgotten to consider all the other facts; the victims, Laura, the bus driver, the video store clerk, the two men in the woods, they have no apparent connection.”

                “So?”

                “None of the victims were related, right?” I asked. “The only ones who were even friends were the ones found last night.”

                “Yeah.” Wyatt nodded.

                “Right so, on the surface no one benefits from their deaths, all accept the alpha.” I asked. “So if it’s only the alpha who benefits, that means it’s personal, like Sky said, the killings were deliberate, planned – this whole thing was planned – it’s for revenge.”

                “Revenge?” Dad asked, pushing away his drink.

                “It has to be, the killings weren’t done out of love since the victims didn’t know each other, there’s no religious aspects at play, and it’s not greed, boredom, or fear.”

                “Wit are you talking about?”

                “The six reasons anyone does anything: love, faith, greed, boredom, fear and revenge – I read – anyway so if this was for revenge, then we need to find out why but we don’t know the why, so we have to look at the other factors which are…” I trailed off, trying to think of all the victims in my mind.

                See, this is where a crime board would be handy.

                “Where they were murdered has to be significant because they were all pretty much abandoned: the Preserve, the video store, the school bus after dark, the woods – the killings themselves were brutal enough to be noticed but it was done in an area no one would find them straight away, so the killer wouldn’t get caught. Which means he still probably has a few on his list…were all the victims from here?”

                “Yeah,” Wyatt nodded. “All Beacon Hills native, some grew up and moved away, others stayed.”

                “So something significant must have happened here,” I said. “In this town, for someone to take revenge.”

                “Which could be anything,” Wyatt said. “We have a crime list as long as eight football fields from the past five years alone.”

                “Not with Laura Hale involved,” I said, a smile on my lips as the mystery clicked together like a jigsaw. “What significant event happened in her life to warrant all this?”

                “The Hale Fire.” Wyatt nodded, catching on to what I was saying.

                “Wait – Wait stop, this can’t be about the Hale fire,” Dad cut in. “How can it be about that?”

                “How could it not?” I asked in return, thinking what Detective Goodman would say. “We’ve been taking everything as fact, when it’s not!”

                “Okay, now you’re just confusing me.”

                “Every nightmare I’ve ever had has been about it, I knew it was significant I just didn’t know it was the key to solving this whole thing,” I said. “Right, the murders have been a revenge plot for the Hale fire so moving on, what made Laura leave the motel that night? Did she have her phone?”

                “No,” Wyatt shook his head. “Well she did, but she left it at the motel and I checked, there weren’t any texts on it.”

                “There’s phones on the nightstands,” I said, remembering them clearly. “Someone must have called her from there.”

                “Only Guardian’s know the connection number.” Dad told me.

                “Once you’ve exhausted every possibility, whatever remains no matter how impossible has to be the answer.” I muttered to myself.

                “Okay, now you’re just quoting Sherlock Holmes.”

                “But it’s true!” I exclaimed, my mind running away with itself, but this time for all the right reasons. “After all these years who’s the one Hale who’s never moved away from Beacon Hills, who’s had the means, motive and opportunity?”

                “Peter Hale,” Wyatt answered, before dad could say anything. “He’s in a coma though.”

                “What if he’s not?” I asked. “He’s a burn victim, comatose from the trauma but what if he’s not? Someone took your phone at the hospital Wyatt, it has to be some kind of Guardian or someone he’s recruited to help him.”

                CLAP.

                CLAP.

                CLAP.

                “Oh, you were right, she really did get all the brains in the family.” A sadistic voice drawled.

                A tall man strolled into the kitchen dawned in a dark leather jacket, his ink black hair reaching the nape of his neck, but what got me, was the viscous grin on his lips and the stain of blood on his shirt. Wait – Wait wasn’t that—

                “Peter,” Dad said, shooting up from his chair, grabbing for my arm.

                “I’d like to point out it wasn’t just some Guardian, that was helping him,” Mum said, slinking in from the shadowed hallway.

                What the fuck?

                “Mum?” Wyatt breathed, but his eyes were as wide as saucers.

                “I knew giving you the Bue Mist was the right call,” Mum said to me. “You’ve nearly ruined everything.”

                I nearly ruined everything? How could I have ruined things when they were the ones killing people? They couldn’t of been, my mum wouldn’t have done that I mean – she was my mum.

                “Peter deserved justice for what the Argents did to him and his family, I offered to help,” She said.

                “Melinda, this is madness,” Dad said, pushing me behind him. “Revenge isn’t going to bring them back.”

                “They took what was rightfully mine, with you gone I could’ve been Talia’s Guardian.” Mum spat. “I am owed, these murders were the least I could do.”

                Peter smiled.

                “Oh dear Johnny, oh dear.”

                “You offered to stay behind to take over from dad?” Wyatt asked. “You were never coming out to join us?”

                “No, but then the fire happened so I had to improvise,” Mum said, shaking her head, before she turned to me. “You really think I didn’t know you and Wyatt were in the club the other night? Who do you think told the bar staff to slip you that love potion?”

                What?

                “That was you?” I asked.

                “I thought it would keep you busy for long enough but apparently not.” She shook her head. “I had Laura’s necklace given to me by a friend who’d found it in the rubble of the Hale house, I’d kept it hidden in Red Rock for some time but had it shipped back, since I thought the heirloom could be used again. I put the necklace in your locker, marked with Peter’s fingerprint to see if you could keep it safe from him, a test if you will, so I took Wyatt’s phone at the hospital hoping you’d see through it but you fell right into the trap – it was pathetic.” Mum laughed. “Then again, bonding you to Derek was my insurance and boy, has it paid off.”

                Who was this woman?

                Did that mean my mum and Talia were in on this illegal bonding ceremony together?

                She reminded me of the man from Clay’s basement, the one who looked like my father but wasn’t as he gripped my chin and tossed me a gun. Peter may the werewolf but the woman stood at the door, scared me more.

                “Peter of course, was still struggling to control shifting on the full moon but I knew if he was an alpha, he’d be able to carry out our mission,” Mum said.

                “Melinda, please tell me this is some kind of sick joke.” Dad pleaded.

                “That’s one thing I always like about you Johnathan, forever the optimist.” Mum muttered.

                “Were you there when Laura was killed?”

                “Who do you think called her?” She smiled. “I told her to meet me in the woods, that Peter wasn’t getting better and I needed help – always the empathetic, Laura, despite not showing it but I blame her father for that.”

                “All this time I thought it was my fault Laura left that night, but it was you.” Wyatt seethed, his eyes alight with a fire I’d only seen once before. “You killed her.”

                “No, not killed that was Peter’s doing.”

                “She was your niece.” Dad glared, his eyes fixed on Peter. “She was your fucking niece.”

                “What can I say?” Peter shrugged. “I lost control but I needed her power, she understood.”

                “You bastard.” Dad shook his head. “You cold hearted bastard.”

                “Yes, yes I’m all of these things but I don’t need you,” Peter told him, as his eyes finally rested on mine. “I want my merkil ladyl.”

                “No way you psycho.” I told him. “As if I would!”

                “Oh, but you will.” Peter said, almost knowingly. “Because if you don’t, you can say goodbye to daddy dearest.”

                The glint of a gun in my mum’s hand caught my eye, her fingers gripping it tightly.

                “Melinda,” Dad begged. “Melinda, please.”

                I wanted to kill Peter, I wanted to fucking kill him.

                How could he have done this? How could my mum? I thought she loved us! She said it often enough the other night, had it been another lie?

                “Okay, stop, stop.” I said, holding up my hands. “I can understand the revenge, I can understand wanting to get even but tell me, what’s the endgame here?”

                Mum laughed.

                “The endgame?”

                “Yeah, what happens after I go with Peter?” I asked. “You kill anyone else involved with the fire, then what? You force Scott and Derek to join your pack then—”

                “Take back Beacon Hills.” Peter cut me off. “You’re not getting a bad deal out of this, you’ll be the Guardian to the most powerful pack in the state.”

                “Why me?” I asked.

                “I can’t mark a Red Guard,” Peter said, his eyes regrettably rolling from Wyatt’s stern glare. “You however, you fragile little thing, I can do whatever I want to.”

                “No ,you won’t,” Dad said firmly, standing in front of me.

                “Oh, Johnathan always playing the doting father.” Peter swooned, his voice sickly sweet. “It’s a shame really, now Emery I’ll give you once chance to come with me and I’d take it, because your mother’s a good shot.”

                “She’s not my mother.” I stated, already pushing against my dad’s arm, but not enough to make him think I was going to make a run for it. “But if I come with you, you’ll stop the killing?”

                “Emery, no.” Dad told me, but I wasn’t listening.

                I only looked to Wyatt, trying my best to use the so called ‘sibling’ bond everyone always goes on about. I looked down his hands and then to dad’s waist, we needed to eliminate the chance of injuries. If Wyatt grabbed dad, it meant mum couldn’t shoot him, then with him on the ground, I could go with Peter. My brother shot me a look in return, one of concern and absolute disagreement but I didn’t care, we didn’t have another option.

                I’d promised to keep my dad out of a hospital bed, and it was a promise I planned to keep.

                I didn’t want to, I had no idea what Peter was going to make me do, if anything. He could tie me up and leave me for dead until he needed me. He could hit me, starve me, put a gun in my hand.

                So I nodded, then like lightning Wyatt yanked dad to the ground, I heard a shot ring so threw myself into the stove but as soon as I heard the thud next to me, I knew they were on the ground, so I stood tall despite my father’s yells and my brother’s groans as he struggled to keep him down.

                Well, this had now taken the top spot for the most stupid plan I’d ever come up with.

                “You want me?” I asked Peter, not giving my mother a second glance. “Do you think you own me?”

                “eipar merkil giordein, I know I don’t, but I know you care about your father enough to come with me,” Peter said, veering down to me. “Because you know I’ll kill him, I won’t hesitate.”

                “Gile eipa yiar wird, gile eipa yiar wird yia anir kil ile.” Give me your word, give me your word you won’t hurt him, I’d demanded, holding out my hand.

                If we were going to play the fucking Archaic Lumeria card, then I’d talk fucking Lumeric.

                “Eipar lie,” Peter said, holding out his hand.

                My vow, that meant, he was making a vow?

                “Emery, don’t!” Dad yelled. “Emerson!”

                I didn’t even think about it, Sky said I was always doing that, running into things without thinking but there wasn’t anything to think about, not now. There wasn’t another choice.

                I clasped Peter’s hand, shaking it, then let go only to turn back to dad with a smile, a smile that told him I’d be okay, at least I hoped.

                Before I knew it I was in a car and driven downtown by Peter, my mother stayed behind, to contain my family no doubt. Peter had told me so himself, said that they weren’t ready for Scott or Derek to know he was behind the murders or the revenge plot. It was now I wished I hadn’t taken the potion that blocked the bond, since right now, it would’ve been my only lifeline, with it Derek would know I was in trouble.

                Perhaps he’d even know my family were to become prisoners in their own house, governed by the woman I’d called my mother.

                “So Peter, you picked a diplegic as a Guardian, good job.” I muttered. “Bit of a fuck up if you ask me.”

                “Not necessarily,” Peter tilted his head. “Because when I’m ready, you’re going to bring me Scott McCall.”

                “I’ll never do that,” I laughed. “You want Scott, I get that but it’s not going to happen, you’re not building a pack and I am not going to help you.”

                “You’re forgetting there’s a woman with a gun back there.” Peter laughed.

                “You’re forgetting there’s two other Guardian’s in that house, how long do you think she’ll be able to keep them locked up before someone realises they’re missing?”

                “Who’d notice they’re gone?” Peter asked.

                “Like I’d tell you.” I scoffed. “You’d just kill them, I’d rather no more bodies piled up.”

                “Speaking of which, toss your phone out the window,” Peter said, as we cruised down the motorway. “I don’t need anyone tracking you, I know what Guardians are like.”

                Fucking hell, was I glad to have this phone holster!

                I took my own personal phone from my jeans and then, tossed it out the open window, barely hearing it clatter on the ground.

                “Why are we going downtown?” I asked.

                “That’s where you’ll be staying, I’ve got an apartment there.”

                “And since you know I’ll try to escape, I guess you’re gonna cuff or chain me to a radiator until you need me to fetch Scott?”

                “I wasn’t going to be that crude.” Peter said, but the familiar sadistic psycho grin tore through his face.

                I knew if I grabbed the wheel and sent us spiralling into another car, it would be no use. Even trying to crash us into a tree wouldn’t do anything, Peter could heal, I couldn’t. Sure, I was desperate but not suicidal.

                It was only when we reached the block of fancy looking apartments downtown and I got out, Peter’s snake like arm slithered around my waist, leading me towards a large set of stairs. I tried to pull away, always walking two steps ahead but that only worked for three flights of stairs, before Peter tugged me towards a door.

                It unlocked with a snap and as he led me in I thought, you know if I wasn’t being kidnapped, I’d actually like to live here. The hallway was spacious and led off to various different rooms.

                “You know I heard about Solaire buildings, they set up different places all around the state, never knew they’d set up shop here,” I said, almost tiptoeing down the corridor, trying my best not to jump at the clunk of the now locked door. “I remember Jackson mentioning it.”

                RING.

                RING.

                RING.

                Fuck – the burner phone – who the hell was calling?

                SCRATCH.

                Peter’s hand tore through my jeans, scratching at the holster I’d placed right below my pocket and ripped out the burner phone. Shit, shit, shit!

                “Well you can’t say I don’t do my job well.” I tried, but gasped as Peter’s grip clenched at my throat. “Go on then, kill me, see if I care.”

                “Now who’s Sky?” Peter asked, glancing at the phone. “Why would he call you?”

                I stared at the phone in horror, completely entrapped by the fact that Peter could track him down and kill him. The last conversation we’d had was filled with nothing but screaming and swearing, he probably thought I hated him.

                “Oh wait, wasn’t that the young man in the woods earlier?” Peter asked, almost amused. “Your white knight? Your white knight to save the day – I’ll admit, it did seem a tad sarcastic but I heard you in the woods earlier.”

                “Oh lovely,” I spat.

                “Shall I answer?”

                “No.” I shook my head. “Not unless you want to be discovered, if you answer I’ll scream.”

                I wanted Peter to answer, I wanted Sky to know something was wrong because if he was calling, it had to mean something! Or was he just checking in on his Charge?

                Peter watched me curiously but smirked, crumbling the burner phone in a tight fist, letting the jagged pieces of wire and plastic clatter on the floor.

                “You’re an interesting one Emerson but right now, I need you to stay quiet.”

                BAM.

                Peter slammed my head against the wall and black dots danced across my vision, pain rattling through my skull.

                “You’re going to get caught you bastard,” I said, then spat in his face for good measure.

                “Yes I will but even then, it’ll be too late.”

                Then with one final smack, I felt a crack and the weight of my own body, as I crumbled to the ground. One thought ringing through my head as I collapsed into darkness – I didn’t want to be a Guardian anymore.