Brothers of Blood

So... On the show, I've started to really hate Allison. I decided to write this to make me have a little hope fo her, cuz I don't want her to be evil. You can see this as a friendship thing or romantic-ish I guess in a twisted kind of way... on that note, enjoy!

Brothers of Blood

The werewolf heard the heavy metal door slide open and close, signaling it was time for another beating. His head was bowed, he was too weary to hold it up anymore. Besides, he didn't need to see to know it was. Her smell was everywhere.

"I'm not going to tell you anything, Kate. No matter how many times you use your little toy."

Footsteps shuffled just a bit closer to him, staying back at a safe distance from him. "It's actually me," a timid voice called out.

Derek managed to lift his heavy head. His vision was slightly blurred from all the beatings to the face he's taken, but his supernatural healing was starting to kick in. In moments, he could see the youngest Argent standing before him wearing Kate's jacket.

He was so tired, so broken that all he wanted to do was look away from her wide, curious eyes. He wished if he couldn't see her, then she wouldn't be able to see him, looking so weak and vulnerable, chained and tortured.

But his pride wouldn't let him try to hide from her. Instead, he leaned back against the bars he was bound to, resting his broken body as best as he could. HIs eyes met hers in a silent challenge, waiting for her to make the next move.

Allison couldn't see him very well. The room was dark and being human, she wasn't able to see all that Derek could. All she could make out was his basic shape and those pale eyes watching her.

She moved to the tripod in the room which held the light on it, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to turn it on. What would the light revel that the darkness hid? She knew the werewolf wasn't in a good situation. She could hear from his voice that he sounded weaker than the night she'd first met him when he'd taken her home from that party.

Still, she hated the feeling of being afraid all the time. She decided to face her fear. She turned the light on.

Instantly, she regretted it.

The first time she'd seen him for what he really was, the werewolf had roared at them fiercely, yanking away at the chains binding his wrists just above his head. He had been strong and defiant.

This didn't even look like the same creature. The light washed over him, and though he tried to summon a snarl from his raw throat, he simply couldn't. He was in too make pain to make the change. Instead, he watched her with his human eyes as she took in the state of him.

Allison was visibly horrified by what she saw. Her eyes raked over his naked torso, taking in all the damage that had been done to him. He had a nasty black eye. His dry lips were split and bleeding. Small cuts and bruses were everywhere. His ribs were totally black, telling the girl that they were probably all broken. And the skin around the wires? Charred and as burned at the house he lived in.

She thought she would feel justifyed. After all, this beast had tried to kill her and her friends at the school. He's killed others, too. Didn't he deserve to be punished?

'Punished, yes,' Allison thought to herself. "Tortured? No' That wasn't justice.

Still, it was pity for the broken creature that looked so much like a man that made her turn the light to the side, taking it off Derek's battered face. He deserved a little relief.

"I, uh, I have some questions for you. Actually, just one," Allison said quietly.

To her surprise, Derek gave out a strangled laugh. "So Kate thinks that I'm gonna talk to YOU? Nice try, but it isn't going to happen."

Allison was confused. They wanted information from him? Still, she just wanted one answer. "Will you just answer my question?"

"What if I don't? Going to use your aunt's method? Go ahead. Do what you have to do."

Allison was startled. He thought she was there to interrogate him? To... torture him for answers? "I can't," she whispered.

"Can't, or won't?"

"Can't"

He regarded her with cold eyes, but Allison needed to know. "Why? Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill us that night in the school."

Derek made no move to answer her. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back, trying to clear his mind from all the pain that was still throbbing through his body. He would swear it still felt like the electricity was still chasing through him.

"Fine," Allison said, moving to turn the light off and leave when her question was met with silence. A voice stopped her just before she was about to flick the swtich.

"I didn't ever try to kill you. I haven't killed anyone."

"That's a lie," she accused. "You killed that one girl in the woods and then burried the body."

He cocked his head head at her. "I didn't kill Laura."

"You knew her?"

"She was my sister," he rasped.

"So you didn't kill her?"

"No. I haven't killed anyone."

She raised an eyebrow, smothering her feelings of pity. "How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"I don't really care if you believe me or not," he said bluntly. "I'm not a liar. I'm not an Argent."

Her blood boiled at the accusation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Derek thought over it a moment, not sure if he should tell the teen about his and her aunt's past together. He decided if he was going to die in this hole that he was going to make sure the truth was known.

"Why do you think Kate hates me so much?" he asked the girl, wondering if she already knew.

She shrugged. "Isn't she just trying to keep people safe?"

Derek growled, old wounds resurfacing. "No, she's not. If she cared anything about keeping people safe, she wouldn't have started that fire. The one that burned down the Hale house? Yeah, that was her. And there wasn't just werewolves in there, either. Uh-uh. There were humans, too. Children, even! And she killed them all."

"No," Allison denyed. Kate couldn't do that. She couldn't!

Could she?

Derek sighed, feeling a little better finally getting it all out after six years of guilt. His head bowed and his eyes closed, remembering it all like it was yesterday.

"I was sixteen. That's the age werewolves officially join the pack with status. I was swimming a lot to get strong so I could fight my cousin, Josh, for place in the pack. She was the substitute life guard at the pool I swam at."

"She was beautiful. I'd never seen any creature as gorgious as Kate. I was young and dumb. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing in that tight swim suit, using those legs. She played me good. But I didn't know. I thought she was an angel or something. She had to be too good for me."

"But no, she wanted me for some crazy reason that I couldn't figure. So yeah, I went back to her place when she offered. I took the drinks she gave me. I lost my innocence to her, and back then, I thought it was okay because I loved her so much and I only wanted to be with her."

"I bought her ring. It wasn't anything special. It was the best a highschool kid could get and I worked hard to get it for her. I wanted her to have something of me so the rest of the world could see how much I cared about her."

"She left that ring at the sight of the fire. I had been hoping I could see her at the dance the night it happened, but instead, I got the call that everyone in my family... all of them... they were..."

Derek's eyes were misting, but he refused to cry. No, he was hard and cold now. I wouldn't lok weak.

"And so it was my fault that they're all gone and that I'm alone. I got tricked by a pretty face and it cost me my everything. I guess if you want to blame me for killing anyone, I guess you can count every Hale that died in that house six years ago."

Allison was crying. She couldn't help it. She thought Derek had looked broken before his story? Now, his body hung limp, giving up the fight. Either he was tellling the truth, or he deserved an emmy.

She wanted to offer him comfort. Without a word, she tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt and walked over to him. Gently, trying to be soothing, she cupped his chin and pulled his face up. She whipped at his face, trying to clean him up.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked.

"You have blood on your face," she explained simply.

Derek was totally confused. He hadn't been shown kindness from a hunter since Kate, and they all knew how that turned out. Was this a trick? Was she going to hurt him? Basically, all he could think was 'What the hell is going on?'"

Allison's fingers went to the patch tapped to his side, pulling gently at the wires, trying to not hurt the tender skin. Derek winced anyway. "Stop," he whispered.

His eyes turned to hers, looking for answers. "Why are you... helping me?"

"You don't deserve this. I can't make your life right, but I can try to help you. I can let you go."

He blanked. She was trying to free him? Why did he feel the need to make sure she was safe from her family's wrath.

"You can't do that. Your family will be angry."

"I don't care," she declared, jutting out her chin in defiance. "This isn't right," she said, reaching for one of his cuffs.

Derek surprised himself and pulled away from her soft hands. "Look, I'm not going to be able to make it out of here, even if you did let me go. I'm not strong enough," he admitted. His woulds hadn't healed yet and they had taken their toll on him.

"I'll help you! You can lean on me and I'll help you walk out," Allison offered. Guilt was going to nag at her until Derek was safe. He didn't deserve all this misery.

Derek couldn't let Allison put herself in danger for him. Her dark hair and pale skin, it all reminded him of someone he failed to protect. He couldn't let Allison end up like Laura.

"The guy working for Kate come back every thirty minutes. He's going to be here soon. We won't be able to make it out in time. I'm too heavy and you're too small."

"I can do it," she assured. She sure as hell wasn't leaving him like this. She couldn't, now.

"Look, if you want to do something for me, could you help me with something?" he asked, trying to get her mind off her ridiculous escape plan. She nodded, eager to help him, somehow.

"I need to you pop my shoulder in place. I can't do it right at the moment and I'll heal faster when the internal stuff is taken care of."

She paled, not wanting to do something that would cause him pain. Still, she said she'd help him. She came closed and put both of her hands on his shoulder, getting ready to push. Derek inhaled through his nose, prepared for the pain, but he knew it had to happen. "Now," he hissed.

Allison pushed.

The shoulder popped.

Derek cursed.

"I'm sorry!" she shouted, holding her hands out to him, not sure what to do to make him feel better.

"I'm fine," Derek gasped in pain, still trying to rotate his arm in the socket with his limited movement. In truth, it already felt better than it had before. "Feels better," he told her, trying to ease her guilt.

Suddenly, he heard the door to the underground hideaway open far down the hall. Allison had to get out of there, or she was going to be in trouble. "Look, someone is coming. It's probably that one guy. You need to leave."

"I don't think I can," she said, not feeling right with herself to leave the werewolf helpless with someone who was going to hurt him.

"You have to," he told her. "Look, can you promise me something before you go?"

"What?"

"Don't use people like Kate. It hurts. I know."

"I wouldn't," Allison said, eyes wide and innocent. "I couldn't do that to anyone. Especially not Scott."

Derek almost cringed at the other beta's name. He hadn't and wouldn't betray the boy, no matter what, but it still bothered him that Scott was in love with someone that could be so deadly to him. Derek knew from experience that being with a hunter was a bad idea.

Footsteps were coming down the hall and someone was whistling. "Leave, NOW," Derek commanded, knowing he was sending away someone willing to help him. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, even himself, that he didn't want to put the girl in harms way. He guessed he had some sick form of a soft spot of Argent women.

Allison nodded and patted his arm in a comforting way, trying to give him strength for what they both knew was going to happen. She turned out the light and was almost out the door when she turned to spare him one last glance full of pity.

"I'm sorry for everything," Allison whispered to the pare of gleaming blue eyes watching her. And then she was gone.

That apology had been on Kate's behalf. He knew it. And for that reason, he didn't accept it. Nothing could bring his family back to him, but the Alpha could bring him revenge. And for that reason, when the hunter came in and asked him the identity of the stronger werewolf, Derek didn't answer. He just let the fist connect with his face as he suffered in silence, thinking about the apology of an Argent instead of the pain of his teeth cutting into the side of his mouth.