Top Dog at the Rodeo

“I don’t plan on dying today.”  Frankie nodded at his words and smirked. “Good..that’s good”  A chuckle escaped her lips even though the whole situation was surrounded by stress. She felt worry—not really something she had felt in a long time, apart from for herself.  Yet she wasn’t the kind of female to break or crumble in those kind of circumstances, sometimes she had even been known to work more efficiently in them. She knew being that way would make her appear cold and abrupt to some, but in some weird way, that was easier for her to have them believe it. Experience had proved ‘feel good’ emotions were over rated, they eventually left you empty and more numb than you were before.

As Derek agreed with her about getting out of the way, Frankie got up from her knees and stood. “Yeah..I thought so” She let out a small chuckle followed by a deep, calm inhale as she took a few paces backwards—enough to be out of reach as long as he didn’t lunge forwards. If he did?…Frankie refused to think about that one.  She knew she would question herself over the next few minutes as to why she would remain in the room and not move her ass and run, but she figured the fight or flight mode never truly worked anyway when facing some supernatural being. She stood with a concerned but yet unruffled composure, her blue hues focused intently on his actions, the corners of her lips turned up slightly to give off an air of reassurance.

She watched him changing, the smell which emanated from the wound was pungent and nothing like she had ever smelt before. Frankie swallowed thickly, feeling her heart rate start to pick up and yet physically to look at, you wouldn’t even notice.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him shift before, but it was different then. Last time it was more controlled and something which he chose to do. This time it was like he was struggling to control his wolf side and Frankies eyes did momentarily shoot to her gun which was still discarded on the floor. Hindsight told her it would have been a good idea to have picked it up beforehand. Not that she had any intention of using it if she could help it—but at least it would have been a last resort by wounding him.

"Derek…" Her voice was calm and level, so much lower in volume than the growl which erupted from his chest, but it was still there amidst everything that was going off and she had no idea whether it helped or not. She saw the scowl he gave and it was laced with some sort of easement for her benefit. She responded by nodding and not faltering in her expression—even giving a small soft smile. Okay so on the inside she was apprehensive, but there was no need to show that, not with the shit he was enduring right now.

Seeing the black ooze from the wound, the blonde mouthed the word ‘fuck’ more or less at the same time as he actually said it and she mumbled. “Yeah..” Though as he pushed himself from the chair and the sound of cracking bones could be heard, Frankie stumbled backwards a little bit, her lower back hitting the corner of the table before she manoeuvred around it, making sure to keep that space between them.

When he started to shift, he barely recognized her through the pain, through the urges of the beast in him that seemed more dominant then ever. He had to admit, ever since he'd met Sterling, the wolf in him played a more prominent role, but this was something different, it was like the wolf in him was frantic, to stay alive, to fight the poison, and frantic animals were dangerous, everyone knew that.

The wolf didn't hear her call his name but he could smell her, her odor was stronger than he remembered it, and as he looked to her, and she nodded his nose wrinkled before he howled in pain as his bones broke and his body morphed without him wanting it to. Panting as the transformation seemed to cease, he felt his heart still racing like it was trying to break free but he held it tight, trying to breathe through it, through the pain, through the change.

"Here..water.." When his hues finally lifted to her, it was with a glare, a huff that explained 'water, wouldn't solve a thing' and he was ready to knock it from her hand with a growl, but she was helping him and when she pushed it right to his lips, almost forcing him to drink, he swallowed it down and moved to sit back in to the chair, hearing her swearing he glared "Yeah..." he grumbled, rolling his eyes before snatching the flask from her and drinking the whole lot down.

When he was finished he held it out to her and looked to his leg, the wound sealing itself, but scarring. His nose wrinkled again, hating the thought of another scar and his head lifted to her before he pulled up his trousers and fastened them. "I suggest you move a little further back next time." he said as he slumped and let his breathing return to normal. "I could smell you're apprehension." he said with a slight smirk "You were like a willing meal, just stood there.."

It always confused him when people backed away in fear from him, or turned on him in anger. He wasn’t accustomed to being judged on the behavior of others. In Heaven, only one’s own actions, or those of another whom you had spoken in support of, would reflect upon oneself. On Earth, it seemed, the actions of an entire people could reflect on one individual. 

"If it makes you feel better, I haven’t seen them kill a single werewolf while I’ve been here. In fact, there was one living here. At least, temporarily." He remembered his ‘run’ with the guy. No one had been bothered by the wolf’s presence there. Not that he’d observed, at least. 

But he understood. He’d felt uncomfortable more than once in the presence of humans. Usually because they either blamed him for the current state of affairs, or they expected him to perform miracles to save them. The latter had led to nothing but disappointment on their part, and guilt on his. 

Inias watched Derek pluck away the damaged wood and nails. He had to admit, he envied the claws. He would’ve loved a set of his own. Unfortunately, as he was currently human, there were only a few ways to come by such a thing. And he didn’t think his vessel would appreciate any of them. 

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't seen them kill a single werewolf while I've been here." It didn't but he did like the fact Inias was trying to comfort him in some way. The Alpha gave a smile "Thanks." he said with a chuckle, honest in his gratitude but it didn't change a thing for the wolf, he preferred his own company to those of people like the bitch that slaughtered his family. He'd been learning not to judge a book by its cover, not to damn an entire species because of the actions of a few, but it was hard going when the single most traumatic event of your life revolved around it.

Hunters, had shaped the untrusting, unfriendly man he was today, and he hated them. Of course he had met good ones along the way, he had to admit, Allison Argent had changed, she fought on their side, and her father too, but he still couldn't get over what Kate did, burning his entire family alive. It was hard to move past something like that, even after the world as he knew it ended.

"It was Inias right?" he checked, before saying the wrong name, giving a glance to the Angel as he worked, ripping down some broken roof beams, ones that weren't bearing the brunt of weight, tossing them out the door into a pile of unwanted material. "Do you have new boards?" he asked, looking at a new hole in the ceiling he had just made with a light smile as moonlight beamed down on him. "Or should I go cut some?" he asked and looked back to the other man, curiosity was getting the better of him, he had to admit there were a hundred and one questions floating around in his mind and he was dying to ask just a couple.

Peter had to chuckle at his nephew’s comment and added, “She definitely seems to wear the pants in whatever relationship this is.” Suddenly that knife she had been watching was plunged into his side. What normally would have felt like a pin poking through his skin was a searing white hot pain that got worse the more the knife was pushed through him and even worse when it was pulled out. The wound did not close but instead he just began bleeding out.

Through gritted teeth he all but screamed, head falling back behind him as he tried to get over it. It could have been worse but this was bad enough he thought. Through the pain he laughed and said, “Oh you’re poking me in all the wrong places, sweetheart.” Humor through pain. That was the way to go. His head rolled over heavily as he looked at Derek, watching the way the woman played with the knife. She had better not stabbed him because as soon as just one hand was free, that would be the end of her.

"Business? And what would you call this - pleasure?" Peter snorted and rolled her eyes when she made that remark about him being the brains of the pair. Oh he was. The wolf’s eyes darkened as he watched her take a stab - literally - at Derek, the blood dripping down his skin. "You bitch…" He said in a whisper.

"Whoops." Okay so it was Peter’s fault after all. Was there any doubt in the first place? Derek may not have been innocent but he wasn’t a murderer either. He didn’t go around killing as he pleased. Now there were a few people that the alpha had killed over the years. Okay maybe more than a few. But since the apocalypse he had stuck to creepy crawlies like himself. Including the alpha Crowley had set him up with that she was sure the woman was referring to. "You do realize that every pack these days are scattered? Not just your precious alpha’s?" He sucked his teeth and gave her a fake disappointed look. "Oh, sorry…ex alpha.”

"Whoops." "That's it?" he cocked a brow in his uncles direction with a slight irritated huff, the pain getting to him. "You get us both tied up, essentially drugged and stabbed, and you say Whoops?" he gave a snort, because that too, was just like Peter, he was never any good at taking blame and responsibility for his actions. Then his mouth just carried on going and Derek had to just sit, stand.. or rather, stay chained there while his uncle made it worse and taunted their captor by mocking her dead lover. It wasn't that Derek was opposed to the idea of teasing these people, but he would rater not prod and poke a hungry bear when they're metaphorically smoothered in honey.

"You honeslty don't know a thing about us" Derek gave a look to his uncle, wondering if he meant what he said, because honestly, he knew Peter, he'd had this conversation with him, and he knew his uncle would kill him if it meant his own survival. Peter couldn't help but put himself first, it was just in his nature. His brows arched in a way that communicated everything he was thinking to his uncle, including his skepticism.

"Oh, you'll fight, or you'll both be killed." her head turned to glance over her shoulder as she glanced to the big stoic guy behind her and he moved to Peter. Derek tensed, his own fists clenching as he saw the males fists ball, the muscles in his arms flex and he looked at the girl with a growl "We won't fight." he spat out with narrow eyes and he chuckled a little till her attention went back to Peter. "We all know your reputation, killing your own family." Derek just looked to his uncle "She's got your number." he said, trying to chuckle, but it came out slightly bitter, knowing she was right.

All he could think about was Laura as the girl came up close to him, he felt the metal on his skin but it wasn't that he needed to worry about. It was the nod she gave to the other man before he punched Peter and walked over to the wall, flipping a switch that from the sounds of it, turned on the air conditioning, and from the burn in the back of his throat when he breathed, it was spreading the wolfsbane. He started to cough and felt the chains loosen, though the cuffs stayed clamped around his wrists so tight they were causing bruises, but he fell away from the wall and rolled his shoulders. He honestly, felt weak, he felt like the wolfsbane was going to make it almost impossible to fight. "This is crazy..."

     His eyes did narrow then, even sightless, the mention of the archangel caused a shudder to run down Sam’s spine… “You’ve what!?”

       ”- —Famous?  Huh, no.  It’s not like we go spreading it around, but I’m not gonna deny who I am — you know, so you know.  Doesn’t change anything…”

      Or maybe it did.  He was just being slammed with label after label.  Vampire.  Hunter.  And he was getting really sick of the assumptions.  He was ‘Sam’.  Just Sam.  That was it.  Anything else was just a matter of perception — however you wanted to see things… And if the ‘hunter’ and ‘vampire’ came before the person, then there was very little Sam could do to change anyone’s mind about that.  Not that he hadn’t freaking tried.

    “Yeah, well — I doubt you know the full story.  Pretty sure that whatever… He… Told you was quite happily biased.”

      “Have I ever done that!?  What do you think I was doing in that field dropping croats?  I could have sat pretty and watched.  I could have taken a pot shot for your head with my blade.  But I didn’t.  So what do you think?”  

    “Look — The only things I ever killed when I was a hunter were those who were hurting or killing other people — or trying to kill me.  Who didn’t have enough of a handle on it.  It wasn’t hunting for huntings sake.  It wasn’t even about hunting.  It was about helping people.  Saving people.  And I’ve met more than a few creatures who walked away at the end of the day, because they didn’t want that — didn’t want to live like that.  Didn’t want to be what everyone thought they were supposed to be…”

        “I don’t know what you were taught.  Or how you were raised — but my whole life I was told to shoot first ask questions later.  And I didn’t… Y’know, I went to college… Wanted out of the life, for things to just be… Normal.  Or as normal as they can ever really be when you know what’s really out there.  But — it didn’t work out.  So now, I just do what I can to make sure as many people keep breathing from one day to the next…”

                    “…Regardless of ‘what’ they happen to be.”

The last part was said quietly — some days Sam didn’t even know what he was… hunter, vampire, vessel, canon fodder, saviour, killer… The list went on.

Derek got it, he did, Sam used to a hunter, he didn't want people judging him on the fact he was a vampire and nothing else, but it was hard to change the hard wiring of a brain. "And, I have that assumption made every day." he didn't want to go in to detail, to tell Sam what had happened with his family, but he was presumed a monster, he'd been shot at, shooed, stabbed, all because of what he was, and while he didn't like the assumption, he understood it, it's why werewolves tried to keep themselves to themselves before all this whole Apocalypse thing.

The mention of Lucifer had the vampire on edge and Derek had to cock his brow in curiosity, he'd learnt a lot of things since the world fell into despair. Angels and Demons were real, the Winchester brothers were the chosen ones.. blah blah blah, and yet Sam seemed pretty shocked that he'd even known about them. "You're joking right?" he asked with a slight smirk "Lucifer's plan.. pretty sure I'm not the only wolf that knows he wants you." he said with a shrug. "But here you are, safe, and not in the clutches of a megalomaniac." he was trying to get the point across, that he wasn't against Sam, if he was, the rather vulnerable blind bloodsucker would be dead, or worse.

"I don't doubt it." Derek said, knowing damned well he couldn't trust a word uttered by that fork headed tongue, but still, he felt like he knew something, which was always better than nothing. The problem was, they were both obviously as pig headed as each other as Sam just refused to soften on the matter and Derek had tried the honest approach, the 'Derek' approach, and so far, nothing was working. Sam seemed determined to be seen as 'Sam' rather than a vampire, or as a hunter, to be accepted as nothing other than himself, but he wasn't ready to accept Derek as himself it seemed, because Derek was a grumpy, untrusting... well, Stiles would probably say 'asshole', but we will stick with 'guy'.

Listening, actually trying to listen and understand rather than just roll his eyes at the trip down memory lane, Derek gave a small sigh "But you were 'normal', in a sense." he said with a light shrug "You were human. I don't know human, I've never known it. I've only ever known, hiding from hunters, and that you can't just go to school and forget about, believe me, I tried, and my entire family suffered for it." JESUS! Why was he telling Sam all this? He hated sharing with people, and hated talking about his past, but he couldn't just shut up and grunt when he'd invited the man back to his home.

Hearing the sigh escape Sam, the Alpha let one of his own slip out and looked to the other man "I'm grumpy, it's who I am, I'm impulsive... I'm trying." he admitted and just looked to the other male with a nod as he said he wouldn't ask him to put himself in danger when he was unable to help.

"Cellar, no!" he said with a small shrug "But I have a very large stock room with a tiny blacked out window." he said with a smile. "Just don't drink it dry." he smirked and slid off his stool and towards Sam, his hand going to the vampires shoulder. "Want me to lead you?" he asked, trying to keep his tone as light as possible, but for Derek, even a light tone probably sounded aggitated or midly menacing.