The Hale Sister {Scott McCall}

{ boyd }

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Cora exclaimed, running over and tackling Athena in a hug as soon she entered Derek's loft.

She didn't usually show displays of affection like this, but there was no one else other than family around, and she was clearly very worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Athena said, hugging her back.

"No, you're not, I smell blood," Cora said, leaning back and giving her a once over. Her eyes quickly zeroed in on Athena's left side. She lifted her top, which she had been wearing for far too long now, and narrowed her eyes at the grubby bandage.

"You're not healing," she stated.

At this point Uncle Peter had wondered over to join the conversation, he was staring thoughtfully at the bandage. Athena wasn't even going to try and work out what was going through his head.

"I'm fine, where's Derek?" She asked impatiently. Once she saw that Derek was alive and safe, she was sure that her wound would start to heal.

Cora had texted her a few hours ago, while she had still been on the bus, confirming that Derek was alive and that he had returned to the loft house.

"He's sleeping at the moment," Cora said.

"He tired himself out by screwing around with his new girlfriend," Peter quipped smugly.

"He has a girlfriend now? He was only gone for a day," Athena exclaimed.

The two nodded in sync.

"Now enough about Derek's love life, you need to tell us what happened in more detail," Cora pulled her over to the couch and sat her down, taking a seat opposite her. Uncle Peter stood to the side and at a slight distance but he made it clear he was still a part of the conversation.

"You too," Athena said, getting comfortable, this would probably take a while.

"Yeah, we will. Now tell us how you were brainwashed into lighting yourself on fire."

○○○

Athene was woken from her sleep on the living room couch by a strange scratching sound. She stirred, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, while trying to work out where the sound was coming from. She sat up from her lying position on the couch, looked out the window, and leaped up.

There was a single pair of eyes staring her down from just outside, the glowing red iris's were the only thing visible through the thick blanket of night. And then they vanished. They were there one moment, piercing into her, and they were gone the next, leaving behind nothing but a powerful scent.

Athena knew that scent well, she had grown accustomed to it during her months of imprisonment - the Alpha pack.

She fought down a growl at the thought of them being so close to her home and to her family. But why were they here? She felt her eyes flash in anger. In that brief moment she could see clearly, she could see what they'd done. A strange symbol had been painted onto the large window of the loft, the black paint dripping ominously.

Athena was broken from her thoughts once again by a noise, this time a loud alarm. She must have been stood there looking at the symbol for a while, because dawn had broken and she no longer needed advanced vision to see the mark that had been mockingly left for them. 

"What does it mean?" She heard Cora ask.

Athena felt someone step up next to her, it was Derek, looking at the symbol with thinly veiled fear.