wearing our vintage misery...
Part 1
Part 2
“We don't do anything,” Andy told them, his voice bleak.
The pack were gathered in Tony's living room, lounging on the couch and chairs that littered the large room; Tony's parents were gone for the week - “Aspen, I think,” Tony had answered with a shrug when Joe had asked him earlier- and it was just them in the house.
“Are you kidding me?” Tony exclaimed, his voice raising in disbelief. “That Simpson chick is a murderer, she killed -”
“I know what she did!” Andy roared, his eyes flashing red; the wolves all cringed and tried to shrink in on themselves, their necks bared automatically. Even the humans felt the urge to show their respect to the Alpha, if not as strongly as the wolves did. “I lived it, Tony; every time I sleep, I see it again and again. Don't tell me what she's capable of, I know. Alright? Intimately, I know.”
There was a long pause and when Andy spoke again, his voice was softer. “I refuse to lose anyone else because of Hunters and killing her would give Simpson the opening he's been waiting for.”
“He believes in the Code,” Patrick said shrewdly. “He won't kill any of us unless we hurt humans. That's how it goes, right? He won't kill any werewolves who haven't spilled human blood?”
Andy nodded, his eyes back to their normal color. “You probably know that it's the same for all of us; human or not, as long as your pack, the Code applies to you.”
“What do we do?” Mikey asked softly.
“The same thing we've been doing,” Andy answered, he looked them over and his eyes hardened. “School, lacrosse, pack meetings; things should be quiet on the supernatural front for a while; murderer or not, Jessica is well known and her reputation is fearsome, even by Hunter standards. No one one's going to want to come through our territory while she's camped out here.
“We avoid the Hunters as much as we can, we stay out of their business and make sure we don't do anything to draw their attention to the pack.
“Don't let her provoke you into a fight,” he went on, the warning in his voice clear. “She's good at getting people to react to her the way she wants, but don't let it happen. Ignore her and if that doesn't work, be polite -or as polite as you guys get,” Andy added, a small smirk twisting his lips.
After a brief debate he sighed and sat down on the couch in between Mikey and Joe. “If she thinks she can get away with it, she'll try to get you in bed; it won't work on Pete or Tony since they have mates, but the rest of you...”
“We're not fifteen year old kids, Andy,” Bruce said quietly, his voice gentle. “She can't fool us into believing she's something she's not, we already know what she is.”
Andy closed his eyes and nodded grimly; after a minute or two, he exhaled and relaxed a little bit. Almost immediately, the tension in the room went down and everyone seemed a little happier.
“Alright then, Stark, is there any food in this place?” Pete asked with a grin, his feet on Patrick's lap. “I'm starving over here.”
“Please, Wentz,” Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Food? Here? We'll have to order out -I'll put it on my parents' card. So no arguments over who's paying, alright?”
A fight immediately broke out over Chinese or pizza, but when Pete launched himself off the coach and onto Joe and toppled them both over, everyone was too busy laughing at them for it to be taken seriously.
*
“She's still following us,” Pete grumbled as he followed Patrick down the coffee aisle at the supermarket; they had ducked in to pick up in part to grab coffee and creamer (everyone in the pack seemed to live on the stuff, even the humans; they couldn't keep enough of it around) and also to try to lose Jessica, who had taken to following the pack around at random intervals.
She seemed to take a lot of pleasure in letting them know she was in town, periodically showing up at the high school to drop Ashlee off or pick her up, as well as at different places in town where they were at.
“Ignore her,” Patrick told him patiently as he dumped his armful of coffee into the shopping cart; Pete pushed it forward and turned toward the dairy aisle.
“I can't,” Pete complained. “She's right there and I can smell her, it's driving my wolf crazy. He knows that she dangerous and she's in the middle of our territory and he keeps trying to get me to go after her before she hurts you.
“Yeah, I know you can take care of yourself 'Trick,” Pete assured him fondly when Patrick raised an eyebrow at him; he ran his hand down Patrick's back as they stopped in front of the coffee creamers. “It's an instinct thing; truthfully, I think the wolf would be just as happy to have you go take care of her.”
“I know it's annoying, but there's nothing we can else we can do right now,” Patrick pointed out practically; he counted the creamer and then nodded. He motioned for Pete to go on and they headed for the soda aisle, it was a few seconds before he went on, “You heard Andy, we can't do anything but put up with it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Pete said, his frustration obvious; he caught sight of Jessica walking past the aisle they were in and a low growl spilled out of his throat before he could stop it.
Patrick looked at him in sympathy; he placed the last case of soda in the cart and then squeezed the back of his neck. “Maybe once we're done with all this, Andy will let me slip a knife between her ribs,” he said thoughtfully.
Pete pressed into his mate's hand as the wolf rumbled his approval; they both knew Patrick could take care of himself -of them- and they were both proud of having such a strong mate. “I love when you talk like that,” Pete said, his voice low; the second part of it, the 'because I know you mean it' goes unsaid.
After twelve years of being Pete-and-Patrick, of being not just best friends but bestfriends, of knowing each other better than anyone else, of being dangerously codependent (even before Pete got bitten, they were attached at the hip), they didn't need words to tell each other the important things; Pete getting bitten and discovering they were mates only exasperated a inclination that had been there from the start.
Patrick smirked and tightened the grip he had on Pete's neck before he dropped his hand. “Maybe we should drop this stuff off at Tony's and then we can discuss it.”
“I like the way you think, Lunchbox,” Pete told him approvingly; he brushed his lips over his mate's quickly and then pulled back. “Let's get out of here.”
*
Despite the way she had taken to following the pack around, it was a couple months before Jessica said anything to any of them. And when she did, the whole pack wasn't even there; just Pete, Patrick, Tony, Pepper and Joe. Mikey and Bruce had work at the animal shelter and Andy was around somewhere, just out of sight.
“Adorable little monsters, aren't they?” Jessica drawled, her arm across Ashlee's shoulders as she surveyed the teenagers in front of her; Patrick was sitting on the picnic table in the middle of the park, his ice cream shoved to the side as he thoughtfully surveyed the hunter in front of them, Pete was next to him, his hand on Patrick's back and the other one gouging holes in the wooden table as he flexed his claws. Joe was standing right behind them, his normally cheerful face serious; Pepper sat to the left of Patrick, her long legs crossed toward them while her hand gripped Tony's thigh, trying to restrain the agitated werewolf next to her. Tony shifted a little, his fingers tapped restlessly against the table but there were no other outward signs that he was aggravated, his usual arrogant smirk twisting his lips. “They look human, don't they, Ash?”
“That's funny, so do you,” Tony smirked, his eyes cold. Pete and Joe snickered even as Jessica flushed with anger.
“Not all monsters have fangs and fur,” Patrick added and just raised an eyebrow at the venomous look Jessica gave him.
“You think this is a joke?” Jessica hissed. “Or some kind of game? You think they're just like anyone else, but they're dangerous, killers -”
“No, that would be you,” Pete told her coldly; he could hear his father heading towards them, knew Andy was near by, ready to jump in if things got out of control. He dropped his voice so his father wouldn't be able hear his next words. “You killed an entire family and -”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Jessica said and glanced over as the sheriff got close enough for her to see the concerned look on his face. “We'll have to talk about this later, boys,” she said, her voice going back to the southern drawl she used around strangers. “Come on, Ashlee.”
Ashlee paused to look at Pete, confused by his words, but when he refused to look at her she glared at Patrick before following her aunt.
“Is everything alright over here?” the Sheriff asked as he looked over the kids gathered around his son.
“Yeah, dad, everything's cool,” Pete assured him with a shrug; he cuddled closer to Patrick before he added, “Some people are just incapable of letting my sexy ass go.”
“I'm sorry, you mispronounced 'annoying pain in the ass',” Joe said dryly and deftly dodged the playful elbow Pete aimed at him.
“Jessica is Ashlee's aunt; Ashlee's been pretty vocal in her dislike about me and Pete dating. Jessica just stopped by to inform us we were going to hell,” Patrick told him, displaying the skill for lying that he'd had since they were in grade school; mixing a little bit of truth with a lie and then sounding as if he believed what he was saying. “They're from Texas, so you know, fire and brimstone seemed the way to go for them.”
Peter nodded and made a mental note to keep an ear out for any disturbances at the high school; freedom of belief and expression was all well and good, but he knew how easily they could escalate to something dangerous -especially if one of the people involved was an emotional teenager recently dumped.
“Alright, behave yourselves,” Peter said with a stern look in his son's direction; he was sure that they were all equally capable of getting themselves in trouble, but he knew Pete and knew just often he rushed into things without thinking them through -and how often he dragged everyone else along for the ride. “I have to work a double tonight, Johnson's in the hospital still. I'll see you in the morning.”
“OK, Dad,” Pete agreed easily. “Be safe -and stay away from the burgers at the diner, your cholesterol's through the roof.”
The Sheriff rolled his eyes and left to a chorus of “Bye, Mr. Wentz”and pretended he didn't hear Tony announce that everyone was going to crash at his house since his parents were out of town again. There were worse things Pete could be doing than crashing at his friend's house when he was suppose to be at home.
*
“What did he mean?”
Patrick rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at Ashlee. “Nice to see you, too.”
He turned back around and gave the barista his order when she called out, “Next,” in a bored tone. “Hey. Um, three venti Caramel Frappuccinos -each with an extra shot of espresso, two venti Mocha Frappuccinos, two venti Hot Chocolates and one venti black coffee, house blend, please. And twenty-five pieces of chocolate chip banana bread.”
Patrick winced internally at the price and fished out the black AmEx card Tony had tossed at him before he left the field behind the old Hurley place they were using as a practice space. He swiped the card and then signed the receipt in a near perfect copy of Tony's habitual scrawl.
“I didn't know forgery was one of your skills,” Ashlee told him as she stopped by where he was waiting for his order.
“I'm multifaceted,” Patrick said lightly and didn't bother pointing out it wasn't forgery if he had Tony's permission beforehand.
Ashlee waved a hand at that and looked at him closely. “What Pete said to Aunt Jess Friday night -what did he mean?”
“I don't think you want to know the answer to that,” Patrick said, his voice serious. “And I'm really not the person you should be asking, either.”
“She said it was nothing important and that she would tell me when I was older,” Ashlee informed him. “But I'm not five, I think I deserve to know now.”
Patrick snorted at that; Ashlee's sense of entitlement had always annoyed him. He smiled a little when Mikey appeared at his side and made her jump, but when he turned to face her again, his face was sober. “You really want to know?”
“Yes,” Ashlee answered confidently.
“Patrick, I don't think...” Mikey trailed off when Patrick glanced at him; it wasn't a warning or even a rebuke, but Mikey deferred to him automatically. It wasn't even that he cared if Ashlee found out, so much as the location, but, after Mikey glanced around to confirm it, there wasn't anyone close enough to overhear them and even the baristas were busy filling Patrick's order and the other people's in line.
“You've been living here long enough to hear about the fire at the old Hurley house, right?” Patrick asked after a long minute of silence.
Judging by the look on her face, Ashlee didn't understand why he was asking, but she answered anyway. “Yeah, of course I have. It happened ten years ago.”
“That's right,” Patrick nodded and although his voice stayed even and pleasant, there was a hardness to his eyes that Mikey recognized from numerous fights and skirmishes with outside packs and other creatures that always equated being human with being weak. “Everyone in the house died, except for Andy and his older sister Laura. No one knew what caused it; it was eventually ruled an accident and Laura took Andy and they moved to New York right after they closed the case.
“Earlier that year, the high school hired a new swim coach for the girl's team, Jessica Argent.”
“Argent?” Ashlee repeated with a confused frown. “That was my grandfather's last name, but there's no more Argents left -my mom was the last one.”
“You're right,” Patrick agreed and his tone grew colder at his next words. “Your aunt used it as an alias while she was here scouting out the Hurley family; you know how influential both the Simpsons and the Argents are in the Hunter communities. Considering the close ties between the two, I suppose it makes a fucked up kind of sense that Jessica would use it for when she was skulking around town.
“Well, to cut to the chase, Andy was on the boy's swim team and he met your aunt at one of the swim teams' joint practices; he was only fifteen, so I'm sure it was easy for someone as experienced and beautiful as Jessica was to seduce Andy and once they were in bed, convince him that she -”
“No,” Ashlee interrupted angrily. “She wouldn't, you -”
“ -loved him and used him to find out everything about his family, his pack,” Patrick went on and ignored the way Ashlee's face went white at his words. “She drew a circle of mountain ash around the outside of the house and then she set it on fire. She murdered eleven people -”
“Shut up,” Ashlee hissed and she slapped Patrick across the face, the sound echoing around them; Mikey darted in front of Patrick, a low growl stuck in his throat. “You're a fucken liar, Patrick. A liar and if I hear you say that again, I'm going to gut you where you stand.”
Mikey started after her as she turned to leave, intent on neutralizing the threat she represented to one of his pack-mates, but Patrick's hand on his arm stopped him. “Let her go, Mikey. She's not worth it.”
Mikey nodded jerkily, his adrenaline still pumping, but he made a note to tell Andy what happened as soon as they got back. He grabbed one of the carriers and ignored the curious look the baristas and other people there gave them as they turned to leave.
Patrick didn't think Mikey needed to walk in front of him the whole walk back to where the Jeep was parked, but he knew Mikey would just get more aggravated if he argued about it.
He glanced in the rear view mirror as he got ready to back up and winced slightly; there was still a red hand print against his face.
Pete was going to lose his shit about this.
They hadn't even pulled into traffic before Patrick's phone started ringing -even without the obnoxious ringtone, he knew it was Pete.
He debated not answering it, but decided the momentary reprieve wouldn't be worth the headache he would end up with later on.
Patrick sighed and answered the phone. “Yeah?”
“What the hell happened? Are you guys OK? Do I-”
He felt the wash of Pete's concern and something close to fear through their mate-bond and allowed himself a small smile; as annoying as it could be sometimes, when he got hit with random feelings or urges while he was in class or by himself, it was still good to know that he was tied to Pete.
“Yeah, we're fine.”
“Are you sure? I felt your temper spike and then Andy said Mikey got upset over something,” Pete told him; he still sounded concerned but the panic in his voice had disappeared after Patrick reassured him.
“No, it's OK,” Patrick said as he carefully pulled out of his parking space; he glanced at Mikey to make sure the coffee was alright where it was balanced on his lap and then he sped up a little. “I'll tell you about it when we get there.”
*
Getting cornered at a gas station, in hindsight, was probably inevitable.
*
Patrick watched warily as the Simpson's SUV pulled up next to the Jeep the gas pump and Ashlee's father stepped put and walked toward him.
“Patrick, I wanted to talk to you,” Simpson said darkly and he came close enough that Patrick fought down the urge to yell 'Stranger danger!' and run in the opposite direction. “I heard about your conversation with Ashlee and I don't appreciate it.”
“Don't appreciate that I told the truth or that Ashlee actually asked about it?” Patrick questioned curiously; he wasn't as adapt at using the bond the way Pete was -Andy told him that it would get easier with time; wolves knew instinctively, whereas humans had to learn- but he pushed at it as hard as he could and tried to get his attention. He wasn't afraid of the Hunter, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that Simpson wouldn't hurt him given half a chance.
He felt Pete push back slightly, his curiosity tinged with worry; unsure of how to convoy 'I'm at a gas station and getting threatened by a Hunter' through the bond, Patrick just concentrated on it again and hoped it would do the trick. After a few seconds he could sense that Pete changed and started for him.
“Ashlee doesn't need you to tell her something like that,” Simpson told him angrily. “You're in bed with them, your whole view on things is skewed -”
“Skewed?” Patrick repeated disbelievingly. “How do you skew murder exactly?”
“My sister's not some kind of monster for you to -”
“Your sister seduced a fifteen year old, which makes her a fucken pedophile, in case you were curious,” Patrick growled, not backing away even when the Hunter's eyes hardened and his hand twitched towards the holster Patrick could see underneath his jacket. “She fucked a teenager and used him to get information about his family and then she murdered them. Your darling little sister set a house full of people on fire and then her and her friends stayed around to make sure no one escaped.
“She killed eleven people, five of which were children,” Patrick could feel Pete getting closer, the rest of the pack probably right behind him. “So don't tell me my friends are monsters, that my best friend -my mate- deserves to be put down like some kind of rabid dog.
“Because out of the two of us, I'm not the one who should be ashamed about the people closest to me.”
“You're a teenager,” he spit out furiously. “You have no clue what's really important -”
“Wow, you're right, I can't understand that murder is a thing you shouldn't do because I'm not an adult,” Patrick said sarcastically. “Thank god you told me that, I never would have realized on my own.”
Simpson made a frustrated noise and took another step towards Patrick until they were almost nose-to-nose. Patrick stood his ground and bared his teeth at him in a clear threat.
Christ, I've been spending too much time with those jackasses, Patrick thought, amused despite the situation.
Almost as if he planned it, there was a long, drawn out howl from the woods next to them; after a second, more wolves joined the first one until there was an entire chorus coming from the trees.
Simpson shook his head and strode away from the teenager, got in his car and drove off.
Patrick sighed in relief but it was cut short when he realized he was going to have to explain to his Alpha why the hell he had just had words with a Hunter -with Joe fucken Simpson of all people.
“Fuck me.”
*
“It totally wasn't my fault,” Patrick told Andy as soon as he saw him; he had come from the gas station straight to Andy's loft where Pete had been before he had left to go to Patrick. Joe, Mikey and Tony had met him there, pulled from their houses by Pete's distress. “Honestly, I was just getting some gas and he showed up.”
“And?” Andy prompted when Patrick didn't go on; his voice was mild. He didn't think Patrick had started anything; Patrick was his second for a lot of reasons and none of them were because Patrick was the kind of guy who ignored what he told him, then went and did the exact opposite.
“He got in my face,” Patrick answered and sat down on the couch; Pete jumped up next to him and laid down, taking up the rest of the couch, his head on his mate's thigh. Tony had to go back to his house - “Howard's actually home for the weekend and we have to play happy family,” was the bitten off explanation when Patrick had dropped him back off at his house- while Joe and Mikey had changed into the extra clothes Patrick kept in his Jeep and went over Joe's house for lunch.
“He got in my face and started bitching about the fact that Ashlee asked him about the fire,” he went on, unconsciously petting Pete, who let out a happy rumble and pressed closer to Patrick. “And then he tried to intimidate me by, like, getting close enough to kiss -”
He paused long enough to run a soothing hand over Pete's head when he growled and continued, “- and threatening me, so I didn't back down. I told him the truth, didn't act scared of him and fuck him if he didn't like it.”
Andy smiled despite himself as he sat down in the chair across from them. “From now on, try not to go any where by yourself -have Pete with you or someone. The same goes for everyone else.”
“For how long?” Patrick asked seriously, his mind already going over everyone's schedules for the next two weeks.
“Until Jessica Simpson goes back to wherever the hell she came from,” Andy answered. “Hopefully it won't be too much longer.”
Part 3