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Kira was at her wit's end. Why her parents had decided to move her here , away from the chaos and excitement of New York to this tiny, sleepy town, she had no idea. Well, her mother had offered some explanation but she hadn't listened to it. No reason would be good enough for moving here. The people here were boring . They stared at her electric blue hair and her dripping black eyeliner and spiked collar and stared and stared and stared .
There was one guy who didn't stare. He didn't much look at anyone, just sat on the edge of the bleachers and ate his hand packed lunch slowly and silently. He snuck away from class and smoked cigarettes, he slept in the back of all his classes. It wasn't much, but it was a start, she supposed. So she waited one day until he'd just finished his lunch and was staring out at the forest (the only decent thing around to look at,) and approached him.
“You got a cigarette?”
“What? N-no. I don't smoke.”
Kira sniffed. “You practically reek of tobacco and your fingernails are yellow. You definitely smoke.”
The boy looked away nervously, and then reached into his worn leather jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of menthols. Kira grimaced. “Menthols, really?”
He shrugged. He wouldn't look at her face, instead he talked to her shoulder. “I smoke whatever I can get my hands on. Guy who bought these for me was buying menthols.”
“Can't complain about free, I guess.” Kira plopped down next to him. “So, what's your name?”
“Isaac.”
“I'm Kira.”
“I know.”
Clearly, she was going to have to carry the conversation by herself. “This jacket is new.” She tugged on the leather. “I haven't seen you wear it before.”
Isaac met her eyes for the first time. He looked a little creeped out, but there was fear in the back of his eyes. It looked like old fear. He smelled like – no. She pushed that away. She could be human, if she tried.
“It's my – my brother's.”
Her ears caught the lie, even though she wasn't trying to hear it. She took out her own lighter and lit her cigarette and Isaac's. “Uh huh. Boyfriend's?”
“What?! No! No, nothing like that. He's – he's a friend. Really. Just a friend.”
“So not a brother,” she smirked, taking a drag. “But not a boyfriend?”
Isaac scowled. “He's a friend who's like a brother. We're not dating.”
“Interesting. You didn't say you don't like men.” A secret gay romance would really spice things up around here.
“Why does it matter who I like? Why are you talking to me?”
She put out the cigarette on the bleacher and flicked it into the grass behind them. “Well, it's not for the cigarettes, that's for sure.”
When he didn't answer, she sighed. “You're the only one who doesn't stare at me.”
Isaac seemed to take that in. “I don't like being stared at, so I don't stare.”
At that point, the bell rang. Isaac put out his own cigarette and stood up. “Uh. Thanks for chatting, I guess.”
“Look – do you mind if I eat lunch with you tomorrow? I don't have anyone else to eat with.”
“Uh. Yeah. Okay.”
She smiled. “See you then.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Isaac pulled together his things and walked away with a slouch.
“Hey!”
Isaac turned, and actually looked exasperated. “Yeah?”
“Bring better cigarettes tomorrow.”
Isaac huffed and gave a small half-smile, and then turned and walked back towards the school, lifting his backpack up higher on his shoulder. Kira smiled, and gathered up her own books. He wasn't punk, but she was pleased that she'd managed to make a friend.
xxx
They ate lunch together for the next two weeks, and Kira learned almost nothing about Isaac. He let her talk, let her bitch about all the other kids at the school, how much she missed New York, let her blather on about what colors she wanted to do her hair next and what she wanted to get pierced when she turned eighteen. She did manage to find out that he played lacrosse when she saw him at practice after school one day, and she found out that Isaac's not-a-boyfriend was named Derek but she had no idea who the guy was beyond that. No matter how she watched him, she'd never seen this other guy. He had to be older – not in high school. If he was, she would have seen him. It wasn't that important, not really, but she was curious, and it wasn't like she had anything better to do.
Isaac didn't seem to begrudge her company. He didn't always seem happy about it, but from what she could tell, he was rarely happy in any case. She managed to make him laugh a few times, and she brought him some better cigarettes, and she counted that as a win. She told her mother she'd made a friend, though she hadn't invited Isaac over to her house for dinner yet. She wasn't sure he was up for that sort of thing.
Then one day Isaac came to school looking like he'd been beaten half to death. He was covered in bruises, there was a cut just above his right eye, and his arm was in a cast. He didn't sit with her at lunch that day; he wouldn't even speak to her. He stank of fear.
Kira didn't like using her senses. Her mother had tried to teach her the ways of the kitsune, of her heritage and their people. Kira didn't want it. She didn't want to be a freak. Even if she dyed her hair and pierced her eyebrows she still wanted friends, wanted people to like her. She wanted to be human . She refused to continue her lessons with her mother, closed off her senses. She didn't even know what type of kitsune she was, because she hadn't let herself find out.
Her mother insisted they were here in Beacon Hills because there was a strong pull to the supernatural, something that hadn't been there before, and her mother wanted to know what it was. Kira didn't care, she just wanted to go back to New York where everything was infinitely easier. She couldn't pick out scents among the myriad of smells, she couldn't hear things over the sounds of the city. But here it was quiet and empty, and she could only push her nature back so far.
Isaac wouldn't talk to her, so she watched. She watched him go to lacrosse practice, followed him home on his bike. Maybe it was a bit stalkerish, but she needed to know. She found a good spot to watch from the empty yard of the house across the street, which was apparently vacant and up for sale. She watched until Isaac's father came home, stinking of alcohol, and then she saw just why Isaac was so afraid.
Before she knew it she was on her feet and starting to run towards the house, ready to stop Isaac's father from hurting him, but she was jerked back by a strong grip on her arm. Too strong – the hand pulled her back and away easily, and she fell to the ground, staring up at burning red eyes.
Werewolf.
She snarled, she couldn't help it. She knew her own eyes glowed. “Who are you?”
The man with the burning eyes crouched, and she could vaguely make out black hair and a week's worth of stubble. He was wearing a leather jacket – the same kind as Isaac's. “You know who I am.”
Jesus , this guy was creepy. “Derek.”
“That's right.”
“Isaac's not a werewolf.”
“No. He has enough to deal with already.”
“Why aren't you doing something? You're an Alpha – you consider him part of your pack, right? If you're brothers, why aren't you stopping him?!”
“I can't. Do you know what happens when we involve ourselves in the affairs of humans? We die. If I kill Isaac's father, he'll end up in foster care, and who knows where they'll send him, who'll hurt him then? Besides. He doesn't want me to help.”
“This is stupid.” Trust a werewolf to mess everything up. “You're definitely not his boyfriend.”
Derek looked completely confused by that statement, but Kira ignored him, pulling out her phone instead. A quick search gave her the emergency line to the local sheriff's station. When the line picked up she said,
“Yes, I need to report a domestic disturbance. 1173 Spring Street – the Lahey house. Mr. Lahey is beating the shit out of his son. They're heading for the basement. Please come quickly.” Then she hung up before they could ask her any more questions.
She glanced quickly up at Derek, who was stunned. “See, that's the problem with you and my mom. You're so into the supernatural you forget how to be human. Now lets get the hell out of here before we get arrested.”
“And what am I supposed to do when they take Isaac away from his father? When they send him away?”
“He'll be eighteen in three months. Why don't you apply to be his temporary guardian? Please don't tell me you live in a cave in the woods or something.”
Derek set his jaw. Kira had the sinking suspicious that's exactly where he lived. “I'll take care of it. You – you meet him at the hospital. Let him know I'm getting a lawyer, getting a place. I'll – just look after him.”
And then he was gone. Freaking werewolves. He hadn't even asked for her name.
Kira heard the sirens and stayed only long enough to be sure that Mr. Lahey was actually arrested, and then melted back into the shadows. She got a few streets over, and called her mother; told her that her one friend had been sent to the hospital and that she was going to go stay with him. Then she headed back to her car and drove slowly to the hospital, making sure she didn't get there until well after the police had taken Isaac's statement. The sheriff eyed her when she came in, but he didn't stop her for questioning, which was something, at least.
Isaac was laying in a hospital bed, IV running to the arm that wasn't in a cast, fresh bruises on his face and a split lip. He was staring out at the darkness through the window and he looked so small in the bed. Kira wasn't sure what was going to happen now, but she didn't regret calling one bit.
“Hey, I heard you were here. How are you?”
Isaac whipped his head around, his eyes wide. “You called. You did, didn't you. They said it was a girl, didn't leave her name.”
Kira looked around, and closed Isaac's door, then pulled a chair up to the bed. “Yeah. It was me. Are you alright?”
“I don't know. I always thought if someone was going to call it'd be Derek.”
Her face twisted. “I met him. In the bushes across from your house. He's creepy you know.”
“You met him in the bushes across from my house and he's the creepy one? At least I know why he's watching me.”
Kira ignored that. “He said he's getting a lawyer, and a place to live. He's going to apply to be your temporary guardian, so you don't have to go into foster care.”
“How do you – no, you know what? I don't even want to know how you know everything. Thanks. I guess. For – for calling. People have questioned dad before but the charges have never stuck, not enough evidence.”
“But there was this time?”
“He was putting me into the freezer so.” Isaac picked at his blankets. “I could never tell anyone. I wanted it to stop but. But he was my dad . I'm supposed to love my dad, right? And it wasn't his fault really. It was the drinking.”
Isaac looked like he was trying to convince himself. There were tears in his eyes. Kira slowly reached across the blankets and took his hand in hers. He started a little bit, but then he gave her hand a tight squeeze.
“It's gonna be okay. I'm sure it doesn't feel like it right now, and probably pretty soon a bunch of adults are gonna get involved and mess everything up for a little while, but it'll be okay.”
Isaac sniffed and nodded, squeezing her hand again. “I'm. I'm glad you moved here. And that you're so -”
“Creepy?”
“ Invested .”
She laughed. “Yeah. Me too.”