An Eye For An Eye

Vingt-Quatre

“Was this really the right decision?” That was the female voice from earlier.
“It was the only decision I could have made, I wasn’t letting her die.”
“She’s an Argent, Deucalion. She’ll follow the code on what she has to do,” she said.
“She’s not a hunter, she doesn’t go by the name Argent,” he said. “And you didn’t hear her, Talia. You didn’t hear her.”

Talia Hale.

“Deuc?” I whispered as I opened my eyes. It was weird, I couldn’t feel arrows in my stomach and shoulder, there wasn’t any pain either. Pushing myself up, I saw Talia Hale staring at me and Deucalion stood to the side. “The Bite took then?”
“It seems so,” he said quietly. I smiled as I turned and pushed myself off of the table. My feet hit the ground and I took a moment to make sure I didn’t lose my balance.
“I’m not dead.”
“You’re not.”

Unsure of what to do, I pulled him into a hug. His arms wrapped around me.
“Thank you,” I whispered. There was going to be a lot of differences now, I was dreading the first full moon, but I was alive. “Is Chris still here?”
“Yes, he’s still in the waiting room,” said Talia. Turning to her, I smiled as a thanks and then spotted Dr. Deaton.
“Thank you, Dr. Deaton,” I said. I wasn't sure what else to say to him, I didn’t really know him. Perhaps I could send him a bouquet of flowers or something as a thank you.

Heading to the door, I took a deep breath and pulled it open. Chris was sitting in the waiting room, wringing his hands. Turning to the door he smiled.
“Hey,” I said with a smile. He pulled me into a hug and then pulled away as something hit him.
“Elizabeth…” I knew what he was thinking. There weren’t any open wounds any more.
“I know,” I said quietly.

The door shut behind me and Deucalion stood there. Chris glanced at him before looking back at me.
“What do I tell him?” he asked. What did he tell Dad? If Dad knew I was a werewolf, he would hunt me down.
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “He’ll try to shoot me again, Chris.”
“I know,” he said with a sigh.

Then, I had an idea. It likely wasn’t a good idea but it was the only idea I had and no one else seemed to be saying anything. Biting my lip, I figured it was better than nothing.
“Tell him I’m dead,” I said. Chris furrowed his brow. “He won’t look for me then.”
“And your body?” he asked. “What if he wants to see it?”
“Tell him Deucalion’s pack buried me or something,” I said with a shrug. I didn’t know how else to explain that. “Just tell him I bled out when they tried to take the arrows out. They were barbed, I would have bled out if not for...” I didn’t have to explain any more.

Chris sighed but nodded and I looked away. This wasn’t a situation I had ever imagined and I hated it.
“I’ll tell him that then,” he said. “I’ll have to tell Victoria and Allison too, and Kate.” Kate probably wouldn’t be too bothered, I hadn’t talked to her properly in years, most of our conversations were just awkward, tense and a precursor to arguments.
“Thank you,” I said. I hugged my brother one last time, I likely wouldn’t be able to again.

I felt Deucalion’s hand on my shoulder and I watched Chris leave the animal clinic. I turned to look at him.
“We should go,” he said and I nodded.
“Yeah, we should,” I said. Looking down, my dress was barely holding together. “Can I borrow your jacket? My dress is sort of… well, it’s not looking too good.” He said nothing as he took his jacket off and held it out to me.

The jacket was too big for me but I zipped it up and walked along the street. I held his hand as we headed back to the penthouse, we didn’t talk much.

As soon as I stepped into the penthouse, I handed his jacket back to him before heading to the guest room. I took the dress off, there was no fixing it. And tears welled up in my eyes. I took a shower before putting on pajamas.

Staring at the empty room with the towel wrapped around my shoulders, I sighed. I couldn’t be alone, not right now. Heading out of the room, I spotted Deuc on the sofa. Once I had thrown the dress in the bin and put the towel in the utility room to be washed, I sat down next to him.

There weren’t any emotions, it just felt like a void slowly engulfing me. I held my head in my hands, damp hair falling in my face. It sounded like he was going to say something but decided against it.
“Dad almost killed me,” I whispered as I lifted my head and looked at him. He was still wearing the button up shirt, except there were stains on it. It was my blood staining his shirt. “He actually tried to kill me. I would have died.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.” His voice was soft and I shuffled over and sat next to him.
“But… fathers are supposed to protect you, right? So how could he…? Why did he…?” There were tears on my cheeks and he pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me and just holding me as I sobbed. Looking at his eyes, and the damage that my father had done, I realised something.

“He’s a psychopath,” I mumbled. He had to be. No sane person would try to kill their own daughter. “All of this… your eyes, Kara’s dad, and tonight… he doesn’t care, does he?”
“No. He doesn't.”
“How am I supposed to call him my father?” I asked. His thumb wiped away some of my tears.
“You don’t have to,” he said softly. I supposed I didn’t but he was the reason I existed, the reason why I was sitting with Deucalion right now. I rested my head on his chest.

“But he…” I took a shaky breath. “He wanted me dead. You were supposed to be my enemy and you’re not. You’re the exact opposite and he… he was supposed to be the one who protected me and everyone else. And all he’s done is hurt people.”
“He’s already disowned you,” said Deuc as he pushed my hair out of my face and shakily tucked it behind my ear.

Gerard Argent had done nothing but hurt people, being family didn’t make any difference.

“I won’t call him Dad now, not after all of this. I can’t.”