++++++ Oh my god! First of all, please accept my apologies for the long, long, long away period I had-like nearly two years...I totally forgot about this fic...my recent obsession with Teen Wolf fics literally brought me back to Rose and Scott so after a few days or replanning and rereading, I am back!

You may have noticed that I also renamed it, well Nove Vidas is Nine Lives in Portuguese so it's not that different.

BTW - I am really sorry about the ending of this chapter.

I hope you enjoy.

I do not own ++++++

Twenty-One

After the little pack meeting between the four, Rose took Rita to her hotel room and helped her unpack. As the younger were was unpacking some of Rita's clothes, she could see the older woman looking at her in the mirror with an amused smile on her face. Rose raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What's so funny Rita?" she asked.

The aging woman sat on the edge of the bed and patted the mattress next to her. "Sit meu querido." Rose kept her frown but came and sat down beside her mentor with a questioning look on her face. "How are you coping?" she asked. "Around your young friend."

Rose paused. "Um-we're fine...why?" She shifted in her seat so that she could look at Rita who was still smiling at her. "What?"

"I must admit I'm jealous," Rita smiled, "you have such a bright future ahead of...the growing spark and your mate."

"My mate?" Rose asked her. "Stiles? He's just my boyfriend...aren't you supposed to feel, like, I dunno, fireworks and creepy possessive over your mate?"

Rita chuckles. "A nice choice of words, Rose...but yes. I can see it and so can Andre, the fact that you can't see it or feel it yet...I'm assuming it's because with everything that's going on in your body...the growing spark, I mean-you're simply just missing what is there."

She rolled her eyes. "Is it possible that you could be speaking crap, Rita."

Rita's mouth turned into a thin line of disapproval. "Rose McCall, you know how I feel about that language. I am not speaking crap, as you put it. That young man is your mate and I really think you should consider mating with him to save yourself from Andre."

Rose went red in the face. "What?! Rita! Oh my god we are not having the talk!"

Rita chuckled. "Meu querido, I know you don't need the talk. This is me brainstorming ideas, I didn't want to speak about it in front of your brother or your boyfriend but you're not experienced enough to fight Andre, he's going to win."

"So you're suggesting I sleep with Stiles to save my own skin?" Rose frowned. "I can't do that to Stiles...I'd rather fight Andre…" she argued, trailing off at the end.

The older woman frowned. "Rose...Andre timed this well...your heat-I saw the invitation on the fridge for the Winter Formal-the dates, they coincide do they not?"

Rose bit her lip. "They do...so you think Andre's going to attack me at the Winter Formal?" When Rita nodded, Rose growled under her breath. "Well-what if we kick start the alpha training to get the spark to ignite the fire?" she suggested. "Or won't that work?"

"I'm not an alpha."

Rose groaned. "This is getting more and more fucked up by the second." She got off the bed and went to grab her jacket, "I've got school in the morning so I'll come by in the afternoon...okay?"

Rita hugged Rose before she left. "See you tomorrow dear," she smiled.

Instead of going home, Rose took the turnoff to take her out to the old Hale house. It wasn't a particularly smart idea very well thought through but it was the only idea she really had…using Stiles like that is something she didn't want to do. She sat in the car for twenty minutes before getting up and walking up the porch to knock on the door. "Come on, mutts!" she muttered under her breath. She waited and got nothing, however when Rose turned around, she found herself almost face to face with Peter Hale and his psychotic smirk. "Put a bell on you next time!" Rose yelped, jumping back.

"You're in my territory," Peter growled, his eyes glowing red.

"Yeah well there's a pride of my kind here in Beacon Hills and I want them gone," Rose hissed, her eyes changing, there was more violet in them than blue this time. "I want to deal and this deal has nothing to do with Scott and what you want to do with him." She looked around, "where's your lap dog?"

Peter chuckled. "Derek is taking care of something for me...I don't deal with cats."

"Think of it as a deal between alphas," Rose replied. Seeing the amused look on his face, Rose scowled. "Not funny, Peter. Explain to me who to get the alpha spark to kick start."

Peter looked her up and down. "Why? So you can kill me and take it?"

Rose laughed. "Really? I have my own, thank you. Why would I want to take your spark? I'd have to get a flea treatment first."

Peter growled at her in the back of my throat. "I'm not helping you. Rose McCall you have nothing to offer me apart from Scott."

"Scott is not on the tables," Rose hissed. She backed up from Peter, all the while keeping eye contact with him and refusing to break it. She climbed back in her car and Peter watched her as she left.

The following day after school, Rose had been roped into going dress shopping with Allison and Lydia. It was considerably weird knowing that Lydia was going with Scott and Allison was going with Jackson. Lydia and Jackson had been that gross couple for years but now they were going to a dance with other people.

After a few hours and six different shops, Rose had four new outfits, three new pairs of shoes and some temporary hair colour to freak her mum out but she was no closer to finding herself a dress to wear for the Winter Formal. Both Lydia and Allison had theirs so after the sixth shop, Rose gave up and the girls went their separate ways.

Rose dumped her bags in the boot of the car and sent Stiles a quick text to tell him that she'd survived the afternoon before heading off to see Rita. The moment Rose stepped out of the lift and onto the floor the iron smell of blood hit her nose. She sneezed and stepped out, her eyes narrowing whilst she looked around to see where the smell was coming from. At the end of the corridor, the door to the room that Rita was staying in hung off the hinges.

A horrible feeling settled in the pit of the teenagers stomach and she bolted down the corridor and skidded to a stop in the open doorway, the sixties themed bedroom was completely destroyed and covered in blood. An anguished screamed escaped from Rose's mouth when she saw Rita hunched up against the wall, her body battered and broken...claw marks sliced across her skin.

"RITA!" Rose screamed, she ran into the room and skidded down beside Rita, her chest just barely rising and falling. "Rita?! HELP!" she screamed. "SOMEBODY HELP! Rita! Rita!"

The elderly woman's head rolled around and her eyes fluttered open. "Rose?" she groaned.

"We have to stop the bleeding," Rose cried. She pulled her jacket off and pushed it down on the gaping holes in her abdomen. "Oh god...we have to stop the bleeding!" she sobbed. "Why aren't you healing?!" she shouted as couple of guests finally managed to get into the room.

"Sarah call an ambulance!"

"Mata ele," Rita whispered. "Mata Andre."

Rose choked back a sob as Rita went rigid and closed her eyes. "Rita?!" she gasped, tears rolling down her face. "R-Rita?" she tapped her arm. "Rita?!" Rose screamed as she pulled her teacher into her, rocking her backwards and forwards whilst muttering under her breath, begging her to come back...she'd just gotten here…

By the time the paramedics had arrived, a small crowd had gathered to watch and speculate about what had happened. Rose was in a daze as the paramedics pulled her away from Rita to make their assessment of her friend before moving on to her when the police arrived. A detective was talking to her, asking her all these questions when she heard a familiar voice, Rose stuck her head up in a daze to see the sheriff and Stiles coming over, Stiles practically trying to run and walk at the same time.

"Rose, sweetie, are you okay?" the sheriff asked her, completely ignoring the detective at first.

Rose blinked. "I-I wanna go home..." she whispered.

"I'll take you home in a minute," John told her, "I just need to speak with this detective...Stiles stay here."

Stiles nodded as his dad walked away with the interviewing detective. He spun around, "what happened?"

Rose blinked. "He killed-he killed Rita…" she sniffed. "I got here...there was so much blood," she cried. Stiles wrapped his arms around her, completely ignoring the fact that she was covered in blood. "Where-where's mum?"

"Your mum's gonna meet you back at our place," John informed her. "Come on kiddo...you can keep your blanket."