we were raised in darkness.

I’m gonna make some trouble

DAUGHTERS OF THE NEMETON + LARIANA

FIGHT FOR YOU - CHAPTER FIVE

warning. 

“You’ll cause their ruin. You always do.”

Ariana stared down at her hands, willing the tremors to stop, but the earthquake only seemed to grow, the ground rumbling loudly below her.

DAUGHTERS OF THE NEMETON 

⮑ ariana petrakis | genevieve carey | siobhan brady

Babe, there’s something tragic about you                          Something so magic about you                                                            Don’t you agree?

“ Always and forever. “

Ariana held her breath as she watched Genevieve moving towards her, her small frame moving gracefully across the field, through the tall grass and the patches of dirt, still slightly stained with blood from the last time they’d been here. After everything they’d been through, something about this moment felt a little too real. A little too final. 

They’d been through a lot in the last few months. They’d been torn apart and put back together so many times that sometimes Ariana couldn’t remember where they stood. But for now it seemed like Genevieve was here with a white flag, no sign of hostility on her face, and no sign of a vengeful pack behind her. That was a relief. 

“Ari…I’m sorry I’m late,” Genevieve said finally as she stopped in front of Ariana. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did,” Ariana replied with a small shrug, her heart heavy as she looked at Genevieve, seeing the pain in her eyes as hard as the wolf tried to mask it from her. “After what I did-”

“But we’re here now. Together,” Genevieve cut her off as she reached out to grab Ariana’s hand in her own, squeezing it tightly, forgiveness overwriting the pain. “I believe you. I believe you want to help and I believe that we can end this for good.”

“It’s risky,’ Ariana warned, squeezing Genevieve’s hand back. “I can’t guarantee it will even work.” 

“We’re connected for a reason,” Genevieve responded with a soft smile. “You, me, Siobhan. Wherever the heck she is right now,” she added. “We’ll fight this war together.”

“Always and forever,” Ariana quipped, her eyes misting over slightly as she quoted Genevieve’s old words back to her, grateful that despite it all, despite the pain and the heartache, they still had each other. 

Genevieve’s smile widened as she nodded. “Always and forever. Now let’s go save our friends.” 

“ Why didn’t you tell me? “

Ariana stared at Liam, her heart pounding as she tried to form the right words, her hands shaking by her sides as they always did these days. 

“Ari? Is it true?” Liam repeated his question, his bright blue eyes looking intently at her. 

If Ariana didn’t know better, she’d say he was worried about her but these days she wasn’t so sure anymore. These days it was more likely that he was worried about the others and how Ariana would affect them. It was a miracle he was standing here at all. So maybe it didn’t matter if she told the truth now. If she admitted the horrors she’d done. If she admitted to the monster she was becoming. 

“Yes.” Ariana spoke finally, giving the briefest nod of her head. 

Liam inhaled slowly, processing. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked after a moment, his hands running through his hair as he shifted his weight between his feet uneasily. His brow was furrowed in concern, but there was a hint of pain in his eyes, betrayal and a lack of trust coming through. 

Ariana couldn’t help letting out a scoff. “Because I didn’t want you to look at me like that,” she said bitterly, hugging her arms around her thin frame. 

“Ari, we’ve both done things we regret. I know your past,” Liam said, his voice softening slightly. “I don’t judge. I can’t judge.”

“But Scott will,” Ariana countered, hugging herself tighter to try and hide the way her hands were shaking. “He’ll never forgive me if he finds out. I told him I wasn’t a killer anymore. I told him that was in my past. But I killed her. She’s dead and her blood is on my hands.” 

Liam faltered, his eyes widening at her small outburst. “But…but it was an accident, right? Scott can’t blame you for that.”

Ariana took a slow shuddering breath as she stared at the concrete, the devastating words hovering on her lips. She could lie. She could nod and agree. She could let him save her. But it was too late now. She knew that. 

After a moment, Ariana lifted her gaze to Liam. “What if it wasn’t?”

wow i typed up a really lovely long response and then tumblr refreshed on me??? how rude???? anyway ok so basically i’m trying to avoid the typical love triangle cliches because they are cringe and here on this blog we want to shake things up!! so basically when hayden enters she is clearly not into liam but he feels guilty for how he treated her in the past but ariana gets slightly jealous and it gets worse as the book goes on. when hayden starts to demonstrate her chimera abiltiies liam wants to do whatever he can to help her (he clearly gets that from scott) which unfortunately results in him brushing ariana off at times when she needs him most. she feels like it is her sole responsibility to defeat the donas and she’s slowly being consumed by darkness so right when she needs him, liam is off saving hayden. 

bUT that’s not to say that the girls don’t get along because hayden and ari actually do bond quite well. they’ve got similiar sass levels and they click easily once they actually chat. hayden isn’t into liam initially anyway and she doesn’t want to come between a relationship so she does her best to keep liam at arm’s length because she wants ariana to like her and wants to be her friend. but that said, she does get closer to liam as they spend more time together and things get complicated. and then they’re going to get a whole lot more complicated due to certain events that happen in season 5…

FIGHT FOR YOU - CHAPTER FOUR

trust. 

The screams, never ending, always there in the back of her mind. They were so loud. They screamed for what seemed like an eternity, getting louder by the minute. 

The only quiet she seemed to have anymore was when the doctor injected the mysterious substance into her neck, letting her slip into a brief moment of unconsciousness, her brain coming to a dull whisper of thoughts before she woke up again and repeated the cycle once more.

You three look like you’re up to something,” Stiles declared loudly as he sidled into the chair next to Ariana, essentially announcing his arrival to everyone in the library. 

“Loud,” Siobhan replied back dryly from her spot across from Ariana, barely bothering to lift her head from the wooden table where she’d been mostly zoned out for the last half hour. 

“And proud!” Stiles replied with a wink. It was a miracle that he and Siobhan hadn’t murdered each other yet, although that was probably mostly due to Sibohan’s lack of energy these days. Still, Ariana was sure that Siobhan would cause plenty of harm if she could. 

Genevieve was the only one sensible enough to hush Stiles, nudging Ariana’s foot under the table as the two of them surreptitiously closed the books in front of them before Stiles could get a good look. “Hi Stiles,” Genevieve said, drawing his attention away from Siobhan once the books were closed. 

“Why are you here?” Ariana interrupted bluntly, nudging him slightly and causing him to almost fall of his seat. She bit back a smirk, instead just raising a single eyebrow. 

“I was here to study but as I said, you three look like you’re plotting something and I am merely looking out for the safety of everyone around you.” Stiles waggled his eyebrows for emphasis while Siobhan let out a bored sigh, her eyes drifting shut again. 

“We’re having a secret meeting. Girls only,” Ariana retorted back to Stiles as she attempted to casually lean on the books on the table, covering the names as best she could.

Luckily Stiles didn’t notice her odd posture as he fired several questions her way. “Ooh how mysterious. What kind of meeting? Are we talking boy drama? Or mysterious power drama?” 

“Funny you should ask! Actually murder was a part of the agenda today. Know anyone who would want to volunteer?” Ariana said, plastering a big excited grin on her face. “We’re looking for someone super annoying, preferably with a weird name.”

Stiles held up his hands in defence as his eyes widened slightly. “Hey, no need to be rude. Siobhan is sitting right there.” 

“Ha.” Siobhan had enough energy to lift her head up to give a single monotone syllable laugh, the dead look in her eyes giving a clear suggestion of how ready she was to commit a murder right there. Genevieve and Ariana both bit down a laugh, ducking their heads down in sync. 

Stiles seemed to get the hint as the three girls refused to actually elaborate any further. “Alright, I’ll go take a poll and find you some viable candidates,” he declared, sliding off his chair and bouncing back out of the library, apparently forgetting all about his intentions to study.

Genevieve waited a moment until Stiles had disappeared before letting out a breath of relief. “Yikes,” she said plainly, running a hand through her long hair as she flipped the closest book open again. “Okay, where were we?”

“Sacrificial rituals and how to reverse them,” Ariana supplied helpfully as she opened up her notebook, her eyes scanning the notes she’d been taking just moments ago. 

well here is a little potential sneak peak into 5b :P

Ariana should have known better. She’d accounted for everything, every single movement and every single act of retaliation. But somehow she hadn’t accounted for Liam being here. 

“Liam, I’m not here to cause trouble,” she said simply. 

“Really?” Liam stared back, wide eyed and tense. “Because we’re kind of the middle of something and you showing up hasn’t been a great sign lately. You just cause chaos, Ariana.”

Ariana nodded quietly. She supposed once she would have been hurt by that comment, especially hearing it from Liam. Now she just felt numb, too busy focusing on the plan. “I’m here to help. Trust me.”

“Trust you? You don’t know the meaning of the word,” Liam shot at her, practically spitting the words out as his look shifted into one of betrayal, memories flooding back to him. “You’ve betrayed me over and over again. You hurt people I cared about. You’ve killed people. What you did to Genevieve? You nearly destroyed her.”

Ariana pursed her lips, inhaling slowly, dismissing the small tug she felt hearing Genevieve’s name, knowing what she had done. “I’m doing what’s right,” was all she said as she flexed her fingers gently by her sides, preparing. 

“Right, stopping the Donas. No matter what the cost.”

“Believe me. Hate me. I don’t really care either way. I’m here because I’m the only one to can help,” Ariana said, finality in her tone as she dismissed Liam, moving past him calmly. If he was startled by the lack of emotion in her eyes, he didn’t react. 

She didn’t pay attention though. Instead Ariana focused on honing in the darkness inside as she moved forward, her mind calm and her movements slow and steady. 

“What are you doing?” Scott’s voice was urgent as he appeared, filled with a thousand more questions as he rushed closer to Ariana.

Ariana stared up at the Beast, searching for any sign of Mason, but the monster let out a vicious roar, all rage and wrath, far from the pure dark eyed boy she knew. “I’m here for Mason,” she said loudly, interrupting the deafening sounds of the Beast, her eyes narrowing slightly.

FIGHT FOR YOU - CHAPTER UPDATE

history.

Here she stood, teetering on the brink of chaos. Finally ready to fall.

Ah I originally intended to tie up Ariana’s story just in season 4 so Take Me Down was going to be a single story, but then I kept watching the show and having more ideas and then the Donas storyline popped into my mind and I knew it would take more than one book to explore everything there. And the main reason for the trilogy specifically was because I had very specific cliffhangers that work best at the end of one book, leading into the next. So TMD ended with them discovering the existence of the Donas and realising that Siobhan was included. So Fight For You will have a very hefty cliffhanger that has gigantic consequences that play into Blood Runs Deep :)

Ahhhh well that largely depends on which route I go with the ending because I currently have several different paths I’m exploring and each is more angsty than the next…. Haha but if all goes well I really like the idea of Ariana working in some kind of botany or science, maybe even working as a Chemistry teacher at Beacon Hills High since she has such a good understanding of it all. I think she’d want to stay close to her pack after everything they’ve gone through and she’d want to try and be a good person and help students. She’s already basically the school’s science tutor so I’d like her to carry that through and become an actual teacher :)

Oh boYYYYY Hayden has such an impact on my story bless her and her stubborn socks. And in more ways than you might think haha. I don’t want to give too much away because oh boy it’s going to get so good haha but I will say Hayden and Ariana have a very complex dynamic. Hayden kind of rocks the boat with Liam and Ariana but the boat is already leaking at this point… Liam obviously loves Ariana but she’s already struggling and pulling away a little when Hayden arrives and suddenly she’s someone he can try and save while his own girlfriend pushes him away. But Hayden and Ariana also stick together a lot and they will be come quite close so when Hayden is being hunted by the Dread Doctors, Ariana will be doing whatever she can to help save her and saving Hayden kind of sets Ariana on her own path away from the rest of the pack as she realises what she has to do and realises how much it clashes with Scott’s plans. Oh and Hayden might also a bit of an effect on Genevieve too which will come into play too :)

Ooooooh so many!! Well there’s obviously Kennedy Carter who was briefly seen in TMD but will get a bit more of an arc in FFY so I’m really excited for everyone to see this wannabe queen-bee in action haha. Kennedy is such a hot mess and I can’t wait for everyone to see all of her layers explored a little. She’s just fun to write too, and I love how ruthless and thirsty she is for power above her peers. She reminds me a little of a mini Lydia in season 1, but a little more cutthroat haha. 

I’m also really excited to introduce more of Satomi’s pack! We’ve seen Kathryn, Jiang and Tierney, but I do have more of her pack to introduce to you. They play a significant role in Genevieve’s story so I’m excited for you to get to know them all a little more!

And then there’s Celeste who is coming soon but you’ll have to wait a bit before you meet her and when you do she’s going to change the game big time ;)

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

OkaY so I have a Daughters of the Nemeton playlist that I listen to while writing and I think it fits the mood when you’re reading too so you can find that here! 

For Beast I listen to a lot of Hozier and Daughter because those two seem to get me in the mood too. I listen to a lot of similar music for my fics haha but those two always remind me of Charlotte somehow!

Trigger is a bit different actually and I usually surf Spotify for some electronic beats and I usually end up playing a lot of Lorde actually which gets me into Madison’s head :)

And lastly Old Faces, Same Places is tricky but I usually gravitate towards a lot of music from The Vampire Diaries because it just gets me into the world so there’s a lot of Florence + The Machine, Jason Walker, Stateless and The Civil Wars! I like to try and find more epic songs to help me get into Nicola’s epic journey haha!