𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑.

 “ I’m not asking for anything… except for maybe mercy —- I didn’t mean to take the last doughnut but it looked so good…like ridiculously good. ”

..

he  simply  blinks,  staring  at  stiles  like  he’s  just  admitted  to  a  class  a  felony  charge.  while,  yes,  he’s  a  little  annoyed  about  the  old-fashioned  glazed  doughnut  getting  snatched  away  from  him  ...  it’s  not  the  end  of  the  world.   he  does  however  jerk  forward,  like  maybe  he’s  about  to  grab  the  front  of  stiles’  shirt  to  shake  him,  but  makes  no  effort  to  follow  through.   he’s  more  about  the  illusion  of  threats  than  actually  being  threatening  these  days.  in  a  town  like  reprieve,  one  with  more  questions  than  answers,  you’re  best  to  count  your  acquaintances  as  friends.  to  that  end,  he’s  playing  nice.   or  trying  to,  anyway.   “  it’s  ...  fine. ”   he  scowls  all  the  same,  eyes  narrowed.   baby  steps.

“ is there a reason i shouldn’t be going in there? “ it didn’t take a lot to confuse the nephilim, but he wasn’t used to random strangers being so… weird. dean got like this sometimes, though. used his words as a warning but with him, it was always a hit and miss on rather or not there was a problem that couldn’t be solved. 

"  that  depends.  how  attached  are  you  to  your  head  ? ”   he  asks  seriously,  glancing  between  the  stranger  and  the  door  he  was  about  to  wrench  open.   he  points  towards  the  sensors  above  the  door  and  the  sign  that  says  ‘  caution:  protected  by  swanks  security ’  directly  below  it.  “  infrared  motion  sensors. ”   he  explains.  

..

“j a c k s o n?” she asks, the confusion on her face evident. “jackson and his dad moved to london after the whole kanima thing.” allison spoke, trying to figure out if derek had bumped his head or knowing her luck, maybe she just dreamt it while she was out. something was o f f, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it but deep down she knew something was different more than just the town and timeperiod they were pulled into.

did she h a t e derek the way she had before? no, with her mind being the only thing she had over the years she had time to think about things, for instance derek had to kill her mother to save scott and himself. it still made her angry, of course it would that was her mother but a part of her understood — but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still w a r y of him. “you’re the first familiar face i’ve seen, there are a lot of people here though.. an almost worrisome amount of people for such a small town.” 

..

“  no. ”  he  says  it  slowly,  like  how  one  might  talk  to  a  child.   “  i  saw  him  two  days  ago.  at  the  high  school. ”   he  clarifies  because  if  history  has  served  anything,  it’s  that  he  often  has  to  repeat  himself  whenever  scott  and  co.  are  concerned.  “  he’s  rejecting  the  bite. ”   he’s  not  sure  what  the  hell  a  kanima  is,  or  what  it  has  to  do  with  jackson,  but  that’s  hardly  a  pressing  matter.   he  does,  however,  need  to  know  if  he’s  got  a  dead  teenager  on  his  hands  because  he  wasn't  strong  enough  to  complete  the  transition.   jackson,  admittedly,  is  probably  his  first  pancake;  a  complete  and  utter  disaster.   “  a  bite  he  asked  for.   begged  for. ”

there’s  relief  to  know  that  he’s  not  the  only  person  who  feels  like  he  doesn’t  belong  here.  the  few  people  he’s  talked  to,  tried  to  get  information  out  of,  looked  at  him  like  he  had  three  heads;   they’d  lived  in  reprieve  all  their  lives.   when  he  mentioned  beacon  hills,  they’d  never  heard  of  it.  a  never  ending  series  of  dead  ends.  until  now.   “  great.  this  is  just  great. ”

▌│█║▌║▌║

how to quickly earn some cookie points ( the kind that would decrease your ODDS of getting murdered, namely ) in katherine pierce’s book: be a sight for sore eyes. if she isn’t shallow ( mostly a result of her own deadly vanity ), then who else? she’s still slightly irked that someone has decided to ALMOST CATCH HER, but as she turns and rests her gaze on the intruder, she decides that maybe she can poke this bear  —-  for now. he speaks, but she’s not particularly interested in what he has to say ;  she does hear him out, though. a girl’s got to multitask for survival, these days.  “ ouch, officer scowl. ”  there’s a catty curl around the edges of her lips as she wheels herself to face him.  “ you almost sound disappointed that i’m fine. ”  yes, he’s probably not an ACTUAL officer, but he gives off those vibes, for sure: the broody, lawful kind. the kind that would be a HOOT to toy with and intoxicate. ( yes, she might be thinking of stefan salvatore …  just a little bit. ) as she inches closer to him, she makes sure to subtly give him a look over for other reasons as well  —-  hidden weapons or anything that might attempt to trap her in a surprise attack. by the time her steps come to a halt, she’s barely hovering at that thin line bordering his personal space.  “ i can scream and faint if you’re so hellbent on playing HERO for someone. would that make you less sullen? ”

..

the  nickname  doesn’t  draw  any  exterior  response  from  him.  he  knows  he  looks  grumpy.  it’s  by  design.   if  you  look  unapproachable,  one  can  only  hope  that  others  will  take  the  hint  and  do  just  that  —  not  approach.   only  today  he’s  the  approacher,  though  begrudgingly,  and  while  he’s  not  disappointed  to  see  her  uninjured  ...  it  does  feel  like  a  wasted  conversation.   “  maybe  i  don’t  like  being  wrong. ”  which,  for  the  record,  he’s  not  convinced  that  he  is.   she  might  look  fine,  but  the  stench  of  blood  is  all  around  them.   something  isn’t  right  here.    “  if  that’s  what  you  want. ”   he  replies  cooly.  “  you  don’t  look  like  the  fainting  type. ”   no,  she  definitely  doesn’t.   there’s  also  something  about  her  that  doesn’t  quite  sit  right,  like  a  prickling  at  the  back  of  his  neck.   he  doesn’t  often  feel  uneasy  but  under  her  gaze,  there’s  no  better  way  to  describe  it.    “  and  for  the  record, ”   he  steps  closer,  intent  on  figuring  out  just  who,  or  what,  she  might  be.   “  i’m  not  sullen.   this  is  just  my  face. ”

..

lauras brows knit together in c o n f u s i o n. when she lectured him, he seemed stunned to even be looking at her. shouldn’t she be the one with that feeling? after all he was supposed to be back home, waiting for her to go back or call for back up if she needed it. 

but the look was nothing, in a matter of moment she was  swept into a hug by her not so little, little brother. both of her arms wrapped back around him, her senses telling her that derek n e e d e d this hug and no matter what was going on, that was one promise she made herself was to a l w a y s be there for him in whichever way she could, they were all each other had. for a few seconds she lingered in the embrace until she felt derek pull back and she did the same.

t w o  m o n t h s? how was that even possible. “what? two months? how is that even possible.. i swear i just saw you two days ago — and i  was literally just crossing over to beacon hills and a flash of light, i assumed from some d u m b a s s who couldn’t drive properly flashed their bright lights and then i was here.” the elder hale explained, trying to figure out not only what happened to land them both in this town but how in the hell she was going for two months of her life u n a c c o u n t e d for.

..

there’s  no  good  way  to  tell  her  everything  she’s  missed;  her  death,  peter’s  betrayals,  and  what  he’d  done  to  protect  the  others.  in  fact,  there  are  no  words.   he  finds  himself  speechless.   though  usually  a  man  of  few  words,  it’s  by  choice  ...  not  because  he  can’t  think  of  anything  to  sum  up  the  whole  of  the  past  few  months.   he  settles  on  a  sigh,  fingers  scratching  at  the  back  of  his  neck.   if  the  words  won’t  come,  he  can  always  show  her.   actions,  after  all,  speak  louder  than  words.

when  his  eyes  reopen,  they’re  glowing  a  brilliant  shade  of  red.   they  match  hers;   two  hale  alphas  now,  wolves  without  packs.   “  i’ve  been  in  beacon  hills  for  months  now. ”  he  adds  unnecessarily.   it  hadn’t  been  a  good  trip,  by  any  means,  but  he’d  at  least  known  where  he  stood  there.   here,  in  reprieve,  with  his  not-so-dead-sister,  he’s  not  sure  what  to  make  of  anything.   “  and  then  i  showed  up  here.  last  week. ”

arms  cross  protectively  across  his  front  when  he  pulls  back.   she  might  look  and  sound  like  laura,  but  he’d  be  stupid  to  trust  her  without  any  proof.   “  there  was  a  safe  under  the  floor  in  dad’s  office. ”   wrong,  it  was  in  their  mother’s  craft  room.   “  what  was  the  combination  ? ”   it  was  their  parents’  anniversary;   the  day  they  met,  not  the  day  they  got  married.   something  only  family  would  know.  

a few days after being sucked into this crappy wonderland, she’s come to establish that, for the most part, things seem to be the same as back home ( a word used loosely given she hasn’t known anything even remotely CLOSE in so many centuries ). the sky is still blue, the sun still shines, and humans can still be walking bloodbags and compelled to walk away like NOTHING happened. this is exactly what she’s just done, perhaps out of plain boredom ( human girls like to binge on chips when bored ;  vampires prefer arteries ). she turns away as soon as lets go of her ‘meal’ ( a mousy teenage boy ), noticing someone turning corner.

she must have JINXED IT because, the moment she starts to think how annoying it would be if this person saw her, she hears them call after her. great. oh, well. if they did see her feed ( and are trying to berate her for it ), it’s going to be their last day on this foreign earth. their bad luck.  “ what? ”  she questions sharply, turning sideways to cast a glare over her shoulder. 

..

the  scent  catches  him  as  he’s  walking  to  his  car,  key  practically  turned  in  the  lock  as  he  stalls.  blood.  not  overwhelming,  so  probably  not  too  serious,  but  it’s  enough  to  pique  his  curiosity.   he  sighs  as  he  pockets  his  keys,  taking  off  in  the  right  direction  so  he  can  check  it  out.   what  he  finds  isn’t  a  crime  scene,  like  he  might  have  expected,  but  a  girl  scowling  at  him  simply  for  existing.   huh.  seems  familiar.   his  visage  twists  similarly,  mirroring  her  own  sharp  expression  as  arms  cross  low  over  his  chest.   “  you  tell  me. ”   he  answers,  an  eyebrow  arching  slightly  as  he  looks  her  over.   she  doesn’t  look  injured  ...  so  either  he’s  going  crazy,  or  something  sketchy’s  going  on.   he’s  leaning  towards  the  latter.    “  i  heard  there  was  someone  hurt  back  here. ”   what?  it’s  not  as  if  he  can  say  he  followed  the  scent  of  fresh  blood  to  some  strange  girl  he  doesn’t  know.   he’s  not  an  idiot.    “  yet  here  you  are.  fine. ” 

so it had been a few days since she last saw her little brother, maybe he deserved more of a p r o p e r greeting but right now she was confused, annoyed and very angry. there were things back in beacon hills that required her i m m e d i a t e attention yet here she was in this place trying to figure a way out. but now? now she began to wonder if there was something more to this than c o i n c i d e n c e. “what are you even doing here?” laura starts, walking up toward the younger hale. “i thought you were staying home while i went to beacon hills… now we’re both, who even knows where. how did you get here?” all of her questions were spout off, the annoyance clearly bubbling itsway to the surface of her emotions. she wasn’t upset with derek, no — but she could feel in the pit of her stomach that s o m e t h i n g bad was coming and the last thing she wanted was for derek to be subjected to whatever it was, too.

@scvrwclf· | closed.

there’s  nothing  familiar  about  reprieve.  not  the  buildings  and  certainly  not  the  people.   aside  from  allison  argent  —  one  of  the  last  people  he’d  want  to  see  in  town  —  he  hasn’t  met  a  single  familiar  face.   until  now.

the  kicker,  however,  is  that  last  he’d  checked  ?   his  older  sister  was  dead.

he  lets  ler  lecture  him,  let’s  himself  remember  how  things  used  to  be;   when  they  used  to  argue  over  who’d  take  the  car,  or  whose  turn  it  was  to  order  chinese  and  pick  the  movie  on  movie  nights.   before  they’d  returned  to  beacon  hills.   before  she’d  been  murdered  by  their  psychotic  uncle.

he’s  not  an  emotional  person  by  nature.  he  used  to  be  once;   he’d  been  vulnerable,  opened  himself  up  to  someone,  and  he  and  his  family  had  suffered  as  a  result.  nowadays  he  played  his  cards  close  to  his  chest,  gave  as  little  as  humanly  possible,  but  this  was  different.   this  was  his  sister.    he  doesn’t  hesitate  before  crossing  the  distance  between  them  and  pulling  her  in  tight.   he’d  happily  replace  the  last  memories  of  her  he  has  with  this  one  —  even  if  it  isn’t  real.   even  if  it’s  some  trick  being  played  on  him  by  one  of  his  enemies.    in  this  moment,  he  doesn’t  care.    

once  he’s  certain  she’s  not  going  to  slip  through  his  fingers  again,  he  pulls  back.   he’s  almost  ...  embarrassed  but  he’s  too  relieved  to  linger  on  it.   “  that  was  months  ago. ”  give  or  take,  anyway.  “  you  didn’t  come  home  so  i  went  after  you. ”   it’s  technically  the  truth  just  without  the  details  of  her  death.   he’ll  save  that  for  later;   no  sense  making  a  complicated  reunion  even   more  complicated.

..

the angry, scruffy voice — one that she would know anywhere, the one that took her mothers life. it was something she was still d e a l i n g with, or had been when she was nearly killed and then put into a hospital for the last three years. without a doubt it was easy to say that derek and allison had their moments of hatred, he was a hale and she was an argent but right now in a town full of m y s t e r y where she knew no one else? she would attempt to give him the benefit of the doubt and hold that anger down, for now.

“ i’m not sure what i’m doing here.” allison answered honestly, knowing now was n o t the time to call her father in the presence of derek. her phone is pushed into her pocket, arms folding across her chest as she looked at him warily. “ i was in a hospital, woke up closed my eyes and when i opened then again i was here. why are y o u here?” 

..

his  brow  furrows.  the  last  time  he’d  seen  allison,  she’d  been  fine;  meaning  whatever  brought  her  here,  it  wasn’t  around  the  same  time  he  was  yanked  out  of  beacon  hills.   the  more  he  looks  at  her,  the  more  sure  he  is;   she  looks  older.   interesting.   he’s  not  sure  if  that  makes  things  better  or  worse;  it’s  a  toss  up.   “  i  was  looking  for  jackson. ”   a  pause,  unhelpfully  adding,  “  —  clearly  he’s  not  here. ”

his  arms  cross  over  his  chest,  mirroring  her  stance.   even  when  they’re  on  the  same  side,  they’ll  never  quite  trust  each  other.   he  doesn’t  need  to  say  it  to  know  she’d  agree.  yet  for  better  or  worse,  they’re  both  here,  and  he’s  better  off  with  the  devils  he  knows.   “  what  about  the  others  ?   scott.  lydia. ”   he  pauses,  sighing  and  said  with  immediate  regret.   “  stiles. ”

She looked up at him, he was cute, she didn’t know what to say to cute people. Staring at him for a moment, she finally cleared her throat and smiled before realizing he was talking about her drawing. “Oh, oh! T-thank you” she laughed softly, “it’s a daylight ring,” she smiled, knowing he wasn’t human, one of the perks of being a supernatural creature. “You can join me if you’d like”

..

he  does  sit,  unzipping  his  jacket  so  it  doesn’t  bunch  when  he  sits.   maybe  it’s  unsavory,  feigning  interest  in  things  to  make  him  seem  more  relatable,  but  he  knows  his  personality  is  ...  prickly.   just  being  himself  won’t  get  the  job  done.   “  ...  and  a  daylight  ring  is  ? ”    he  seriously  hopes  it’s  not  one  of  those  mood  rings;   the  ones  that  change  color  based  on  your  emotions.   he  does  not  need  that  kind  of  energy  in  the  pack.

he’s  a  creature  of  habit.  upon  arriving  in  reprieve,  he  finds  himself  another  rundown  property  to  make  himself  home  in.  it’s  nondescript,  the  kind  of  place  you’d  avoid  if  you  saw  it  from  the  road,  and  that  makes  it  perfect  to  settle  in.

the  basement  is  soundproofed  within  a  matter  of  days,  all  the  work  completed  by  his  hand  painstakingly  in  anticipation  of  the  first  moon.  he  has  a  pack  to  assemble  and  the  first  few  moons  were  always  the  hardest.  

he’s  on  his  way  out  of  the  hardware  store,  cans  of  paint  in  each  hand,  when  he  nearly  knocks  into  someone  on  their  way  out.   his  scowl’s  automatic,  flashing  like  a  warning  sign  before  settling  into  cool  apathy.   “  watch  it. ”   he  murmurs,  though  it’s  decidedly  less  aggressive  than  what  he’s  prone  to.  in  reprieve,  people  don’t  look  at  him  and  see  a  murderer;   he  doesn’t  have  to  be  so  defensive.

old  habits  are  hard  to  shake.

did her father even have the same phone number? one of the m a n y thoughts plaguing her mind, allison sighed as she looked down at the screen that now seemed so foreign to her. how long had it been since she even looked at a phone? she was lucky it was still in her bag of belongings before she was y a n k e d into whatever existence she was currently in. but if there was one thing she knew she needed to do it was get ahold of her dad, he had to still be here. anything less and she wasn’t sure she could handle it. so buried in her own thoughts, allison hadn’t even r e a l i z e d that someone else had been speaking to her initially, but when it finally registered she spoke. “ sorry, i was in my o w n  w o r l d. what was that again?” her chocolate hues lifted and landed on the other. 

..

the  first  familiar  face  he  sees  would  be  an  argent.  (  the  family  who,  in  his  own  paranoia,  he’s  convinced  himself  have  to  be  behind  this  whole  mess.  )   he  doesn’t  even  try  to  hide  the  scowl  on  his  face,  lips  pressed  together  in  a  thin  line  as  he  watches  her  fumble  with  her  phone.   the  last  time  he  saw  allison,  she  was  on  her  knees  by  kate’s  prone  body  while  he  stood  in  the  distance  with  his  uncle’s  blood  dripping  from  his  claws.   though  it  was  peter’s  sins  that  brought  the  rest  of  the  argent  family  to  town,  it’s  hard  not  to  look  at  her  through  that  same  lens.   his  enemy.

“  i  didn’t  say  anything. ”  is  his  only  response,  expression  stoic  as  he  frowns.   though  his  thoughts  were  aggressively  churning,  very  little  had  been  said  aloud.   par  for  the  course,  when  it  comes  to  derek.    “  what  are  you  doing  here  ? ”

@scvrwclf·

She sat on the ground, sketching a vampire’s daylight ring that she had been given from a witch, writing as many details that she knew about it. She was used to doing things alone, she had always been alone, so why would that change? But apparently something about her interested one person, seeing someone approach her out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she raised a brow, “yes?”

..

new  surroundings.  new  people.  new  threats.  as  innocuous  as  the  city  might  seem  right  now,  he  knows  it’s  not  apt  to  stay  that  way.   it’s  a  powder-keg  waiting  to  explode  and  when  it  does,  he  wants  to  be  standing  far  away  from  the  blast  zone.  

he’s  the  alpha  now  ...  and  an  alpha’s  nothing  without  its  pack.   in  this  new  place,  far  removed  from  the  wolves  he  just  turned.   he’s  starting  from  scratch.  again.   thankfully,  it’s  what  he  does  best.   “  those  aren’t  bad. ”   he  nods  towards  the  drawings,  arms  crossed  loosely  over  his  chest.   he  doesn’t  say  much  else;   he’s  always  been  a  man  of  very  few  words.  

( tyler hoechlin, 22, he/him )  welcome to reprieve, DEREK HALE who is from TEEN WOLF, SEASON 2.  rumor has it they are an ALPHA WEREWOLF, but only they could tell you the truth! when i close my eyes, i think of them and imagine HIDING INSECURITIES BEHIND BRAVADO AND SNARLS, FLASHING RED EYES IN THE DARK, AND LEATHER JACKETS.