It's Just a Trick of the Moonlight

Chapter One – Another Endless Game

Here comes the night, when all the ghosts come out.

I'm haunted by everything that reminds me of my sin…

I feel it's all slowing down somehow, but those lights above are racing by; it's a trick of the moonlight.

It's a trick of the moonlight.

Here lies the ground, that's swallowed all its found.

I can hear them, they're singing out strong, a tribute to what's went wrong.

Trick of the Moonlight – Gareth Dunlop

Pausing at the edge of the stream running through the woods, my eyes darted back and forth looking for a safe way to cross that didn't involve me being up to my ankles in freezing cold water.

Almost as if they didn't see me, my two best friends trekked right through the water like it was nothing.

"I can't believe you were out here looking for a dead body last night!" My nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought.

"Come on Brie." Scott said, motioning for me to follow them as Stiles called out, "You're the one who's always saying nothing interesting happens here." He had a goofy grin on his face as he spoke, knowing exactly how against this idea I was.

It had been a few years since I'd moved in with my aunt and uncle in Beacon Hills, a boring little town shrouded in dense woods. But when I said I wished something interesting would happen –I certainly didn't mean a murder.

"And it was half of a body." Stiles corrected, his eyes wide with excitement as he looked over to Scott with an obvious look of jealousy on his face that he'd been wearing since Scott told us he found the body the night before.

"Half a body just makes it so much worse!" I argued. What kind of murderous freak not only kills someone, but cuts them in half?

"It makes it so much more awesome!" Stiles' voice cut through my thoughts like a jagged knife.

Hanging my head I sighed and muttered, "Why did I even agree to come with you guys?"

"Because you don't have a car and you hate taking the bus." They said in unison, not even looking over to the other.

They know me too well.

When I refused to move from the safe, dry bank of the stream Scott complained, "Aubrie, come on. We have to find my inhaler those things are more expensive than you'd think."

Letting out a sigh and crossing my arms over my chest trying to hold a serious expression as Scott called out, "She's afraid to cross the water."

"I am not!" A laugh breaks through despite my attempts to remain in control, "I'm already cold and if I get my feet and legs wet, I'll freeze to death."

My eyes are glued to them, my gaze unwavering with the hope that one of them will side with me and we just leave the woods.

"Come on, lets go… she'll be fine." Stiles said with a shrug as if he was not offering me up for a sacrifice to our towns murderer.

"Yeah, I'm sure the killer isn't out here or anything." Scott added in, playing along with his best friend, "I mean why would he stick around… not like there's lots of places to hide or anything…"

"Guys!"

With a helpless expression I watched as they both turn to leave and slowly that third wheel feeling starts to creep in. It's not always easy when your two best friends have been as close as brothers almost their entire lives.

Alright, I guess I'm on my own –with that thought I straightened my stance, pulling in a deep breath and spreading my arms out to the sides. With any luck, my purple high heels won't betray me and I'll be able to maneuver my way across the water.

"Come on princess."

Looking up I see Stiles headed back for me, walking back through the frigid water and standing in it as he turned to put his back towards me. When he lowered down some, I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his neck and hoped up on his back. I can feel him sway slightly before he regains his own balance and holds onto my legs at his sides. My savior.

"You really thought we were going to leave you?" Scott questions with an amused look as Stiles gets me safely across the water.

I smile at him, practically beaming as I shake my head back and forth and all traces of feeling like the third wheel vanish into the chilly fall breeze.

Have I mentioned I have the greatest friends?

My feet were barely back on solid, dry land before I was practically having to stumble over the raised tree roots emerging from the cold earth to catch up with them.

"I've got other weird things happening too." Scott admitted, his voice was laced with worry with a hint of a whine in his tone.

"Like what?" I ask, thinking everything he's already told us sounds strange enough.

Stiles must have been thinking the same thing because he spoke up, "You mean besides lacrosse apparently happening in slow motion for him?" His sentence ended in a groan as he stumbled over his own feet while trying to walk up a large hill.

I'm in heels and I'm still more coordinated than he is.

"I'm hearing stuff I shouldn't be able to hear…and smell things."

My eyes darted from the ground up to Scott as I asked, "Smell things?"

"Yeah!" He nodded, almost seeming frantic in his actions as he explained, "Like the mint mojito gum in Stiles' pocket."

Coming to a stop I turned to face the more eccentric of my two friends with my arms over my chest, I'd asked him for a piece of gum in fourth period and he swore he didn't have any.

Reaching into his pocket Stiles argued, "I don't even have any mint mojito gum in…" His voice trailed off when he pulled his hand back out there was a half unwrapped piece of green gum.

How the hell could Scott smell a single piece of gum in someone else's pocket? My friends have always been a little weird, but not this weird.

My voice came out a little leery as I questioned, "And you think this is happening because you got bitten by something in the woods last night?"

"Yeah. What if it's like an infection, like my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?" Scott rambled, worrying out loud.

Stiles might have been a spaz and more eccentric than Scott, but whenever something went wrong Scott was the one who got all panicky and seemed to not even be able to function.

How either of them survived without me for so many years is a mystery all in itself.

"I could be dying!" Scott exclaimed louder than before as he stared at me, clearly waiting on me to say something to tone the situation down and ease his mind.

"I don't really think it works like that-" I started to say, before being cut off by Stiles as he shook his head back and forth, "I actually think I've heard of this before… it's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?" Scott's words rushed out, a tinge of a squeak to his voice.

Looking over to Stiles my brows lowered as I tried to decipher the look in his eyes –was he being serious or was this all a joke?

"Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called… lycanthropy." Stiles said.

Oh. My. God. A werewolf joke! That's what he's going for? Try as I might I can't contain my laugher.

Drawing Scott's attention back to me he shot me an unamused look as he hissed, "This isn't funny Brie, I could be dying!"

Wrong you are Scott, if you'd spent the summer hanging out with Stiles and me watching the latest horror movies and even going to see old movies at the small theater on 56th street instead of training nonstop for lacrosse –you'd know exactly how funny it was.

But with his last remark to me I held my silence watching him squirm and worry even more as he exclaimed, "Is that bad?"

Another roar of laughter escaped my lips as Scott seemed so oblivious.

"Oh, yeah. It's the worst." Stiles nodded, he was trying to keep a straight face but with my trained eyes I spotted the side of his mouth twitching as he fought back a smile; I'm sure my continued laughing wasn't helping his situation at all.

"It only flares up once a month though, right?" I manage to get my laughter under control –at least the for the moment, so I can play along.

This joke is just too good to pass up and Scott doesn't even have a clue.

Beaming a proud smile Stiles nodded, "On the night of the full moon."

"Really?" I asked when it was clear Scott was no closer to understanding what was happening.

Clearly the joke was wasted on him.

Also seeing that Scott still wasn't getting it, Stiles raised his eyebrows and did his best impression of a wolf howl.

"You guys are terrible friends." Scott complained to us, before slapping Stiles' chest and almost knocking him over and walking away.

I grudgingly followed after him as Stiles clumsily trekked through the leaves behind us and said, "Hey! You're the one who heard a wolf howling."

When he finally caught up, Stiles nudged my arm and continued the joking as he said, "Brie, I think we should join shop class and melt down all the silver we can find… Friday's a full moon."

I laughed but my attention was drawn to my other friend as he came to a stop and spun in a slow circle in a clearing, his eyes tracing the ground.

"Scott?" I asked, for the first time realizing exactly how deep into the woods we'd ventured.

I just lived up the road from the preserve but I wasn't familiar with the woods at all, and that thought made my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

What if the freaking killer is still out here?

I almost jumped when Scott said, "This is the spot… this is where I was when I found the body and dropped my inhaler."

I watched as he got down on all fours and started moving the leaves around. At first glance I didn't see the inhaler, but I was also thankful I didn't see the body either.

Kicking some leaves and sticks around, I yelled over my shoulder, "I don't see half of a body, Scott."

"Maybe the killer came back and moved the body." Stiles guessed with an excited rush on the words, and I could practically hear him internally clapping with delight.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler… those things are like eighty bucks." Scott groaned.

I turned around until I was facing them as I continued to walk backwards, still searching for my friends' inhaler, not able to hold back as I pointed out, "You guys are sick! Someone's not only dead… but cut in half and you're worried about the price of your inhaler."

I watched as Stiles laughed and looked at me, but Scott didn't even looked up as he agreed in his own way with what I was saying, "Yeah, I am. Because if I don't find this thing I'm going to be the next dead body… either cause of an asthma attack or my mom killing me. I honestly don't know which would be worse."

My eyes drifted back down to the leaf covered earth before I sighed and looked back up to my friends about to ask if we could abort this mission and go home but Stiles threw me off when he started to mumble out some indescribable noises as he stared past me and hit Scott's shoulder several times.

"Stiles, what the hell-" I started to ask as I turned around but made the error of not watching where I was going and I ran right into something so solid I would have thought it was a tree if I didn't catch the subtle lingering notes of cologne in the air as it whisked past me through the trees.

Grudgingly slow I raised my head to see who I'd ran into; I think I knew before I ever even looked at him that this moment was going to change my life forever –I could feel it in my bones.

I can only imagine how wide my eyes must have been as I saw the guy I'd accidently ran right into. He was standing like a stone, dressed in all black and suddenly there was an overwhelming sense of uncertainty and danger in the air, a symptom of imposing presence. But try as I might, I couldn't back up; I couldn't bring myself to take even a single step backwards when our eyes locked for the first time.

"Oh god, I-I'm… I'm sorry." I tried say, but my words were jumbled as I stuttered through my failed attempt at an apology. Come on Brie, pull yourself together.

His eyes remained locked in an wavering stare with mine, he was silent and his stoic expression gave nothing away. I'm normally pretty good at reading people, but I couldn't even decode the look in his eyes –at first there was a look almost verging on shock but he'd quickly shielded it and stared at me with a domineering expression. Clearly he expected to intimidate me into the point of submission where I'd back away from him, but I couldn't have even if I'd tried too.

I willed myself to keep up with his stare, to not back down or even look away for a second. But my eyes helplessly fell to his lips as he opened his mouth to speak.

"What are you doing here?"

His voice was gruff and his tone unforgiving.

What am I doing here? What is he doing here, and who does he think he is?

I wanted to say something back, verbally assault him the way it felt like his words had physically slapped me –but no sounds came out. Not a single damn word.

Mentally I cursed my heart as it picked up speed, I wasn't sure if it was because he was lurking around the woods the way a killer would or if it was because of the way he kept his eyes glued to me; picking up on my every movement.

And if it wasn't humanly impossible, I would have sworn he could even hear my racing heart when I saw his eyes drift downward towards my chest for just a moment before he looked back up and rudely asked in a louder tone than before, "Huh?"

Okay, forget the verbal assault now I want to actually hit him with something. Not that I had to power to do either as I continued to stand there helpless.

Here it came. The blood rushed to my face, my cheeks growing hot both from anger and from embarrassment at suddenly becoming mute.

Did these tree's offering a canopy shield from the sun get taller or am I actually shrinking down to the size of a pea?

A small gasp slid from my glossed lips when I felt someone's hand on my arm, and quickly my gaze snapped to the side. Relief flooding through my entire system at seeing it was just Scott.

He and Stiles hadn't abandoned me, a fact I wasn't so sure of only moments before when I didn't hear either of them talking behind me.

With a firm grip on my arm, Scott pulled me back until I was standing between my two best friends.

I glanced from side to side at them –was I the only one thinking we should all take off running in opposite directions. There's only one of him and three of us. With a sigh I realized I'd probably be the one who didn't get away, I just had to wear brand new heels on the first day of school. Then again Stiles does good to walk across a flat surface…

"What are you doing here?" He repeated, his threatening steps echoing through my mind as he stepped closer to us.

"Uh…" Stiles breathed and I looked over at him as he nervously rubbed a hand over the back of his neck before mumbling, "Sorry man…"

Sorry? What do we have to apologize for? We have just as much a right to be out here as he does.

In a moment of either complete bravery or naive stupidity I did what any other half-sane person with a possible death wish would do and repeated his own question back to him, "Us? What are you doing here?"

Brushing my brunette hair from my face and clearing my throat while trying to ignore the shocked expressions my friends were giving me from either side, I managed to say, "Well?" in a tone much stronger than I was feeling.

"Aubrie!" I hear Scott hiss at me, before his hand was back on my arm –ready to drag me away if we needed to make a break for it.

As if Scott scolding me wasn't bad enough, Stiles leaned over and whispered, "Yeah, don't… don't do that." When I looked over to him his face was scrunched like he was preparing himself for a verbal lashing –from me or the dark, threatening stranger, I'm not sure which.

Thanks for having my back guys. Have I mentioned I've got the worst best friends?

"This is private property." He voiced a warning, as he came another step closer. It was clear the message was for all of us but his eyes were glued to me.

"S-sorry! We didn't know." Stiles said, always quick to apologize for anything and everything, especially when feeling threatened.

I could see Scott nodding out of the corner of my eye before he started to say, "Yeah, we were just looking for something but…" Even standing right beside him, I could barely make out what he was saying. "Uh, just forget it." He finished.

My eyes darted from side to side in disbelief at how quickly they both were to just back down. With a slight eye roll I took it upon myself to admit, "We were just looking for an asthma inhaler."

But again clearly neither of them agreed with my way of handling the situation as Scott nudged me and Stiles' voice climbed a few octaves as he fearfully announced, "Not that any of us are asthmatic. Nope, we're all three capable of running away…" I didn't even need to look over at him to know he was cringing from his inability to stop speaking as he added, "Very, very fast."

Reaching into his pocket the stranger pulled something out and threw it to Scott so fast that I couldn't even tell it was his inhaler until he caught it and we all three looked down.

When we looked back up; he was gone.

"Dude!" Stiles exclaimed, reaching around me to grab onto Scott's arm and almost knocking me over in the process, he continued, "That was Derek Hale, you remember him, right? He's only like a few years older than us."

"I don't remember him." I manage to say, my senses still on red alert as I glanced around searching for any sign of where he'd disappeared to.

"You wouldn't, he moved away from here before you came to Beacon Hills."

When Scott and I neither one said anything, Stiles continued, "His family –they all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago."

Swallowing hard, I looked over at him and breathed, "Oh my god, that's horrible."

"I wonder what he's doing back?" Scott practically stole the words from my mouth.

"I don't know." Stiles sighed.

I looked over as he clapped his hands together once, before jumping up and pointing out, "But just think about it. He shows back up at the same time a body is found… just let that sink in."

"You think he's the killer?" I questioned, looking over to him.

"I think he has several possible murderer qualities… like creeping around the woods and trying –but failing to scare teenagers." Stiles said.

I couldn't hold back a laugh as I turned to him, "You weren't scared at all, not in the slightest?"

"Of course not." Stiles quickly said, flashing me a smile as he quickly covered, "I was worried for you."

"Is that so?" I arched a brow.

Nodding he glanced to Scott and said, "The body you found was female, right?"

He nodded, but I could tell by looking at him he wasn't in the joking mood anymore.

"I gotta work tonight, let's just get out of here." He said as he nodded for us to follow him out of the woods.

My legs wanted to move, I wanted to go with them. But something kept drawing my attention back the other way. I couldn't see Derek anywhere, but I could feel his eyes on me still as if he were standing right in front of me again.

"Aubrie!"

With a small gasp I looked over to see Stiles and Scott waiting on me to catch up with them.

After surveying our surroundings once more, I slowly turned and followed them as they guided me back out of the woods and to the safety of Stiles' jeep.

~(Later that week)~

After I'd finished curling my naturally wavy hair, I laid the curling iron down on the top of my dresser.

I was supposed to be riding with Stiles to the party that night and I probably had about five minutes to figure out what shoes I was going to wear now –getting my hair to actually hold the curl had taken longer than I'd expected.

With a small sigh, I started to cross my room until something caught my eye from outside of the large window facing my backyard that lined the woods.

Oh my god, someone was out there –someone had just moved out of sight behind a freaking tree and I was home alone because my aunt went to pick my uncle up from the airport.

Dropping to the floor under the window in an attempt to hide myself from view, I pulled in a deep breath that brought with it a terrifying realization; I was next. I was going to be the next body found cut in half in the woods.

Focus Brie, come on Aubrie Beck focus.

Trying to calm my racing heart, I looked around my room trying to remember where I'd left my cellphone.

But before I could the door opened to my room, damn neared giving me a heart attack until I saw it was just Stiles. He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, exactly when I needed him there.

His eyebrows lowered in confusion as he stared at me and asked, "Brie… what the hell-"

"Get down!" I practically shouted at him waving my arms wildly, until he dropped down to the floor without another question.

Even through the fear and seriousness of the situation it took everything I had to hold in a laugh as he broke into a frantic scrambled crawl until he collapsed against the wall beside me, knocking the back of his head against the windowsill.

With a hiss of pain he rubbed the back of his head and looked at me expectantly.

"Someone's watching me… I saw someone right before they ducked out of sight behind a freaking tree! But I saw them!" I quickly explained, wondering if I was going to have to repeat myself when I heard my words come out in a jumbled mess.

But he understood me apparently because his eyes almost bulged out of his head as he gasped. "Who was it?"

"Oh my god, I don't know Stiles! Did you miss the part where I said they went behind a tree?"

"Right, right!" He breathed shaking his head.

"Are they still there?" I asked closing my eyes and preparing myself for the answer.

"I don't know… look and see."

"You look!"

"Me?" He squeaked, "What if it's a serial killer or something?"

"Fine, let's both look." I offered a compromise as I turned around and got on my knees so I could raise up and look out into the back yard.

He followed suit and we exchanged looks, silently agreeing that on the count of three we'd both look.

"One…two…three." He counted and I sprung up on our cue, my eyes moving around rapidly but I couldn't see anyone anymore.

With a small sigh of relief I breathed out, "I don't see them anymore, do you?"

"Nope." He answered, but when I looked over I saw he was still knelt down.

Really? I thought as I reached over and hit him on the arm, a small punishment for what he did in my opinion.

"What?" He groaned rubbing where I'd struck him, "All I'm saying is if that was the killer… we don't need him seeing the both of us. Someone has to go for help."

"So what are you saying? While I'm being murdered and cut in half you're going to leave me to get help?"

I rose to my feet and pulled my blinds closed as Stiles stood up with me and argued, "Well, I can't help you if we both get cut in half."

I shook my head, Stiles Stilinski is probably the only person on the face of this earth that I could have a conversation like this with.

With my arms out to the sides and a look of disbelief on my face I blatantly pointed out, "Good god, Stiles. If I get cut in half than no one can help me because I'd be dead!"

"Okay, okay." He nodded, a look of surrender on his face as he added, "I'll try to help you before the killer cuts in you into pieces."

Shooting him a look I stepped into my closet and surveyed the multilevel shoe rack trying to figure out which pair of heels would go best with the dress I'd picked out for the night.

I'd just narrowed it down to two pairs; one white and one a cream color when stiles asked, "Hey Brie, did you hear about that girl?"

Walking out of my closet with the two pairs of heels in hand, I see him peeking through the slats of the venetian blinds.

"What girl?"

The hard plastic made a snap noise as he let go and pieces snapped back into their usual spot as he turned to face me, "It's sad really. She would have made it if she'd just gone to the party with her friends, but instead she spent an hour trying to decide between two completely identical pairs of shoes and the killer got into her house…"

My jaw droped in response and he starts laughing.

"That's not funny, Stiles. You know if someone breaks in and kills me in my sleep, you're really going to feel like crap."

Looking down to the shoes in hand, I tossed the cream color pair back into the closet and pull the white ones on as I point out, "And these shoes aren't the same at all. They were entirely different colors."

"Whatever you say princess." He responded in a teasing tone as he picked up my jacket off the foot of my bed and handed it to me.

I reached into the pockets happy to feel my cellphone in the right side pocket.

"I'm not a princess, stop calling me that." I said a touch of gravel in my tone as I looked at him.

Pausing at the doorway to my room, he dramatically motioned with both hands as he said, "Come on, you're chariot awaits."

"Your jeep is hardly a chariot." I pointed out with a laugh, knowing the comment with slightly offend him –he almost seemed to love his car more with every time something goes wrong with it.

"Hey!" He loudly said as I walked past him, "Don't dis the jeep, Brie. Don't ever dis my jeep."

~()~

"Here."

Turning around I smiled in thanks as I graciously accept the red, plastic up Stiles held out for me.

Leaning against the arm of the couch I looked into the cup, making sure it was only beer. I learned my freshman year of high school to never drink the punch at these parties –you never know how much alcohol they had put in it.

At least with beer I can keep track of how much I'm consuming so I don't wind up embarrassing myself by climbing up on a table and doing a horribly off key alcohol fueled rendition of Girls Just Want To Have Fun –again. Nope, once was enough for me with that.

"It's just beer." Stiles assured, with a knowing smile as he brought his own cup to his lips in an attempt to hide the expression on his face, but it was too late. I'd already seen it.

"Shut up." I hissed, hitting him on the arm as I lowered my head at the memories.

He didn't help matters any as he played innocent and asked, "What? Girls just wanna have fun, right?"

"Oh my god, Stiles!" I yelled hitting him harder than before.

I am never going to live that one down. Scott tried just as hard to forget that night as I did. His embarrassing moment was puking in front of the upper class first line lacrosse players in the middle of the kitchen.

But to Stiles –the one who had to drag us both of the party our freshman year, he always loved to bring it up and torment us with the humiliating memories.

Finally looking back up at him, I saw the frown on his lips as he watched Allison and Scott walk by on their way out of the crowded, claustrophobic feeling room with wall to wall teenagers.

"What's up?" I asked taking a small sip from my cup.

"I'm worried about Scott." He finally admitted, stepping closer as if he was worried someone was eavesdropping on us.

"What?" I gasped watching through the doorway as he and Allison walked hand and hand to a free spot by the pool to dance. "He made first line with lacrosse and I just saw him walk by a little with ago with Allison, who is freaking gorgeous by the way. I think Scott's doing fine." I pointed out, nodding towards the new couple.

Maybe jealous was more like it.

"Brie… I was up all night looking online and checking over these books I got from the library and I'm thinking the joke isn't really a joke at all anymore." He cautioned.

Okay, now he had my attention, as I tried to figure out what joke he was talking about. Either way the look on his face had me worried too.

"Look… there's something I didn't tell you because I didn't want to freak you out. But the lab reports came back and they found some hairs on the body…"

I couldn't even let him finish as I gasped, "So they know who the killer is?"

This is good news! If they know who the murderer is they'll be one step closer to finding him and then I can stop carrying a kitchen knife with me on my way to get the mail in the evening.

"No, they're still questioning people… even Derek Hale, but-"

"They guy who yelled at us in the woods?"

"Yes, Brie! Oh my god, yes… but you're not listening, it wasn't human hair they found on the body!"

I took a step back from him, with the way he was flailing his free arm it was only a matter of a time before he forgot there was a half full cup in the other –and I didn't want to wear his beer.

"They found… wolf hair." He admitted, an expression on his face like he was delivering the worst news he'd ever given anyone in his life.

"Okay…" I breathed, though it sounded more like a question.

"There haven't been wolves in California for over sixty years, Brie. It couldn't have been a wolf… it had to have been something else."

"Mhmm." I hum with my lip vibrating against the edge of the cup just barely touching my lip, I paused before taking a drink to question, "They found wolf hair on the body… and something bit Scott. I'd say if it howls like a wolf than it's-"

"A freaking werewolf."

The werewolf joke was funny the first time around, but it was losing it's hilarity every time he brought it back up over the past week.

Stiles' eyes drifted to the floor as he saw my expression and realized, "You don't believe me."

"You just don't know when to let something go." I agreed with a nod and empathetic expression.

"Tonight is a full moon… meaning that Scott's rage and bloodlust will be at an all-time high. And look around, there are tons of people here… they could be dead, like any minute. All of us, maimed and torn to shreds."

"Bloodlust?"

I stifled a laugh at the thought. Scott McCall is probably the last person at this party who'd get a case of bloodlust and start trying to kill everyone.

"Yeah, this is bad… he's cursed." Stiles nodded, seeming more upset by the second.

"I think you have a very active imagination and a touch of insomnia along with too much Adderall… which doesn't make for a good combination Stiles." I said, hoping my tone came out as apologetic and not harsh. He just always had a habit of getting caught up with something and not being able to let it go.

"You can't just stand there and pretend nothing strange is going on. You saw Scott magically get good at lacrosse, that doesn't just happen."

"Yeah, but he practiced all summer."

"How come he doesn't need his inhaler anymore then?" He pushed.

He was really not going to let this go. Werewolves and vampires are in movies and books, not in Beacon Hills, California.

"Maybe he grew out of it? My older sister was severely asthmatic as a kid but she grew out of it…" I quickly offered up an explanation, but it was just another case of my mouth firing off before my brain could filter what came out.

My eyes widened at my own words.

"Brie…" He quietly said, concern lining his face as he stepped closer to me.

No, no, no. I did not just say that… not here. Stiles knew I never talked about my sister.

"I just… I need some air." Was all I could manage to say as I pushed my cup of beer into his hand and rushed for the nearest exit.

By the time I got out of the door, my heart was racing in my chest like I'd just tried to run ten miles and my palms were clammy, my skin felt prickly and even the warm night air couldn't help me; stumbling around the pool and past Lydia and Jackson –who were making out on display for everyone to see. I made it over to the fence where I placed both hands on the top iron bar and leaned down, trying my best to take in a breath. But it wasn't happening, try as I might my lungs wouldn't inflate –as if the oxygen was really some toxic gas that my body was trying to reject.

Turning around I leaned against the fence, facing back to the party as I finally managed to take a breath and hold it deep inside my lungs.

But the relief was short lived when there was a loud bark from behind me, so loud I nearly jumped forward into the pool to take cover.

Slowly turning around, my eyes widened at what I saw; a large black dog with it's teen barred and his head lowered, barking viciously at me.

Holy shit… that dog could have easily jumped the fence if it wanted too.

But just as soon as the barking had started, it stopped and to my surprise slowly lowered it's head in submission as a small whine sounded from the now docile animal.

What the hell?

Looking around my eyes stopped on a familiar face illuminated by the fire pit just a few feet away from where I was standing.

Why is he at a high school party, seriously could he be any more creepy? Just lurking around the outside of a party and watching everyone with that intense stare of his.

I glance around for a moment, wondering if Scott or stiles had seen him. But my mistake was looking away for even a second, because when I looked back he was gone.

A little while later I headed back inside when I saw Scott rushing away from Allison, but when I'd made it outside of the front of the house I saw Stiles speeding off.

I took out my phone and texted him, but didn't get a response.

Sighing and tucking my phone back into my pocket, I started to wonder how I was getting home now until I saw my newest friend.

"Allison, hey! Do you know what happened? Stiles was supposed to be my ride home and he just bailed on me." I asked, jogging over to her as she stood on the sidewalk.

"I don't know." Allison admitted shaking her head, "Things were going great… and Scott just kind of rushed off, I think Stiles followed him."

I shook my head at her words, no matter how many years I'd hung out with the pair of lifelong best friends –I'd still never understand half of the things they did.

Cue the third wheel feeling again.

Motioning behind where I was standing Allison explained, "I guess Scott asked his friend to give me a ride home…"

Turning around my eyes widened as I saw Derek Hale again.

As her words sunk in I questioned, "Scott's friend?"

Crossing my arms over my chest I stared at him, waiting on a response.

"What's wrong?" Allison questioned, as she stepped closer to me and farther away from tall, dark and creepy.

I didn't say anything. At this point I had no idea why Derek was there, or why he was trying to masquerade as Scott's friend but I was going to find out.

In response to my silence, I saw Allison taking another step closer to me. "Um…" she breathed as she glanced down scratching the side of her head and offered, "I saw Lydia inside maybe she or Jackson could take us home…"

Ugh. A million ughs at the idea of being stuck in a car with Lydia and Jackson, not only did they both hate me just because I wasn't popular. But neither of them could keep their hands off the other for five minutes.

Derek gave us a smile, just a few expressions short of friendly and nodded towards a sleek black Camaro as he pointed out, "My car is right there, I can take you both home. It's no trouble."

And suddenly getting into a car with Derek didn't look like the worst option on the board anymore.

"Yeah, it's fine." I managed to say, completely catching both Derek and Allison off guard. I looked at him with a knowing smile and said, "Scott just didn't mention you were going to be at the party tonight."

He turned and started for his car and even though I knew better, I followed him.

So much for not getting into a car with a stranger, but that's mainly for kids right? Or at least that's what I told myself as I got to the passenger side of the car and opened the door.

Finding the latch on the side, I laid the seat down and started to climb into the back but Allison made a move at the same time.

Standing up we looked at each other. She was uncomfortable with the whole situation, that was easy enough to tell. But what she didn't know was I was just as uncomfortable as she was.

Damn this kind heart.

"Go on." I said, offering a smile which she gratefully returned before climbing into the backseat and leaving me up front with Derek, with only the console between us.

I'm definitely not so comfortable with this, I don't know this guy at all and there is a killer running around town.

Glancing over my shoulder to Allison, I wondered how strange it would look if I crawled into the backseat beside her.

I never got the chance as he sped off, the force of the acceleration catching me off guard and it must have startled Allison too because she gasped and looked at me.

Turning back around in my seat, I slowly reached over and grabbed the seatbelt, pulling it across me and fastening it as he asked Allison for directions to her house.

We were several minutes and just a few streets away from Allison's house that I shuddered with the realization that she as getting dropped off first, which was going to leave me alone with Derek on the drive across town to my house.

Oh shit… but then again, I was happy she'd be out danger. If we just so happened to be in the car with the crazed murderer, than it was my doing to begin with so I should be the one to get killed over it.

A chill ran up my spine at remembering the body in the woods had been cut in half.

Oh my god. If he kills me I hope I'm dead before he saws me in half. If he is going to kill me can I request that or something?

"Cold?"

His voice jolted me from my thoughts with the force a thousand volts of electricity.

Crap, crap did he see me almost jump out of my seat?

One glance at him confirmed my suspicion, he was now watching me and not the road

"Oh, um, yeah a little." I lied, watching as he reached a hand over and turned the heat on.

Great job, I thought. It was already an unusually warm night and now we're in the car with the heat on full blast. I wasn't shaking because I was cold, I was shaking because I have no idea what I could have gotten myself into.

Hearing movement from the backseat, I glanced back to see Allison pulling her black jacket off and fanning herself with her hand. She smiled politely, even though it couldn't have been more clear that she was burning up.

Looking back to the front of the car I said, "I think I'm warm enough now." Time to end our suffering from being in the same amount of heat that I'm sure was present in the seventh circle of hell, I reached for the dial at the same time he did.

Our hands brushed and on instinct I quickly pulled back, my heart picked up speed and I looked over at him with widened eyes. With barely a glance over at me, he shut the heater off as he pulled into Allison's driveway and put the car in park.

I practically threw the door open before trying to get out, with the realization that I was still wearing my seatbelt.

With a small, nervous chuckle I unclipped the seatbelt and jumped out of the car. I'm not normally this jumpy, but ever since someone was watching me before the party – I just couldn't seem to calm back down.

After saying bye to Allison, I put the seat back in it's normal position and sat down, pulling the door closed and almost feeling like I was signing my fate. Only this time, I managed to not jump when the automatic locks triggered when he put the car into drive.

I didn't even realize my hands were clutched into tight fists until I looked down and saw my white knuckles, I was nothing but a ball of nervous energy.

But one question was weighing too heavily on my mind to hold my silence any longer, "Why did you lie about being friends with Scott?"

"I didn't lie… I'm trying to help him." He sighed, as I now watched him instead of the road.

"Help him with what?" I asked.

I started to interrupt the conversation to tell him which way to turn at the stoplight, but I didn't need to –he turned the right way, like he already knew where he was going.

"It doesn't matter." He argued with me.

"It does, Scott's my friend and I don't know what you're doing. But I've been his friend for years and when Stiles said who you were, Scott didn't know you… so don't try to lie to me."

I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and let him talk to me in that same tone he used in the woods.

"And honestly, it's a little strange. You show up where there was part of a dead body in the woods yelling at us, then you show up at a high school party where we were all at." I had to say it, I had to point it out.

"You think I killed someone?" He asked, as he neared my house and started to slow down for the turn.

Pulling my seatbelt off this time and getting to ready to make a break for it when he stopped I admitted, "I don't know… maybe."

"Okay." He breathed, "Then let me ask you something, if you think I'm a murderer… why did you get into a car with me?"

He pulled into my driveway and as soon as the doors unlocked I opened mine and sat there for a moment, still contemplating the answer to his question.

Why did I get into the car with some guy that I didn't know, who'd been nothing but rude to me and was now lying about knowing one of my best friends? Good question, Derek. It's such a good question, that I myself don't even have an answer.

Turning some, I faced admitted, "You know… I've had the strangest day. Before I went to the party… I saw someone just outside of my yard in the woods. But when I looked back –they were gone."

It might have been a shot in the dark, but oh well. I'm in too deep now to not continue with my questions.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked, also turning in his seat to face me.

Our eyes locked and it took me a minute to finally find my words but then by some miracle I did and started to explain, "Because…"

"There's something I need to-" He started to say, cutting me off.

Quickly I cut him off as payback for irrupting me as I laid it all on the line, "I never told you where I live. You got directions to Allison's house from her… but you didn't need to ask me for directions."

And there it was, that guilty expression that graced his features for a mere second before he covered it with a look of annoyance as he sighed and looked down to the dashboard of his car.

"So it was you… why are you spying on me?"

"I wasn't spying on you."

"But you were outside of my house." I stated, knowing he couldn't lie his way out of this now.

"Look Aubrie, believe it or not I'm just trying to help… so just stay out of it." He asserted, his tone demanding like I should do exactly as he told me.

But I've never been one to follow the rules.

Then I realized something and in response my heartbeat hastened with fear. Again he looked over at me, his eyes falling briefly to the top of my dress before I pointed out, "Yeah, I uh, I never told you my name either."

I didn't give him a chance to respond as I pulled the keys from my pocket and got out of the car, walking in a fast pace towards my dark house.

Unlocking the door and rushing inside I slammed the door behind me, locked it and leaned against it holding my breath until I finally heard his car drive away.

Now I had a pile of questions and no shovel to start digging my way through it. Along with probably another hour or more before my aunt and uncle would be home.

But now I was sure of a few things; Stiles was getting an earful of it on Monday at school for ditching me. And for some reason, Derek Hale was either watching me or my house –possibly both.

Either way, I've never been one to just let a sleeping dog lie. So if he wanted to watch me, than I was going to find out why.

A/N- Thank you all so much for reading! ^_^ This is a story that I wrote the first chapter to a while ago, but then decided I'd really love to try telling Brie's story from a first person point-of-view –so I had to rewrite everything.

On my profile is the link to a video I made to go along with this story, and also the link to my Tumblr!

I really hope you all really liked the first chapter, and I'd really love it if you'd take a few moments to leave a review and let me know what you thought and if you'd like to see more. ^_^