Human is Just a Word 56/?
Chapter 56
"He house is burning."
With that the decision was made. Derek pointed the car towards Laura's territory and put his foot down.
It was getting late and there wasn't much traffic on the streets and Derek just hoped that his luck with the police would hold for a little while longer, he wasn't in the mood for getting pulled over.
In his mind he was a teenager again, running up to the ruins of his house. He could almost smell the smoke and taste the ash in the back of his throat. He opened the windows but that didn't really help with the phantoms of his past.
Laura's pack would never join Peter, he had to know that so Peter had decided to wipe out the whole pack. There was no other explanation. However, why he had chosen fire was beyond Derek. Derek still had nightmares of the fire sometimes and he hadn't even been there. Peter had been in the house. He had been in a coma afterwards because his body couldn't deal with the agony caused by his injuries. Peter should be the last person to use fire as a weapon. But it looked like he had done just that.
Derek was half-way there, when his phone rang.
"Stiles." He barked. "What's going on?" Earlier Stiles hadn't been able to tell him much. All the children had gotten out, thank God for small mercies, but some of the adults had still been missing. It had been chaos.
"They pulled Mark out." Stiles said. "He's on his way to the hospital. It doesn't look good. Same for Loreen."
For a moment Derek couldn't speak. It was the fire all over again.
"But the others are a alive?" He asked when Stiles didn't continue.
"No." Stiles suddenly sounded tired. "They found three bodies so far. Two are still missing. They can't … they don't know who they are."
There was a cracking noise right next to his ear and Derek had to restrain himself to not just crush his phone.
Derek had seen the burned corpses of his family, he knew that it was impossible to determine who was who just by sight. That the same thing had happened to Laura's pack, he wasn't ready to accept that. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was convinced that this was just a horrible nightmare. That memories of his past had mixed with his fear for Laura and had come up with this scenario.
"Where are you?" Derek asked but in the background he heard people shouting and the sound of water so he was pretty sure he knew where Stiles was.
"Still at the house." Stiles confirmed his suspicion. "With Stephen and Lydia. Isaac went with the others to the hospital. They want to check the humans for smoke inhalation and treat their burns."
Derek didn't know who Lydia was but this was not the time to ask.
"How are you holding up?" Derek asked.
"I'm not the one who's lost his alpha and half his pack in less than a day." Stiles shot back but Derek knew that it wasn't him Stiles was angry with.
"I'll be there soon." Derek promised and pushed the car just a little bit farther. It wasn't his Camaro so it didn't mean much.
"Check in with the hospital first. Most of the pack will be there."
Derek would like to see his mate first but before he could voice his opinion, Stiles added: "They need an alpha now."
Derek knew how it felt to lose his alpha and most of his pack so he didn't argue.
It was after midnight when he arrived at the hospital. Visiting hours were long over, but nobody tried to make him leave when he asked his way through almost empty corridors until he reached the pediatric station where most of Laura's pack was at. Three of the kids were human and the doctors wanted to keep them over night. The nurse he had spoken to had assured him that it was just a measure of precaution and her heart had been steady enough that he believed her. She didn't know much about Mark and Loreen, though.
By now Stiles and Isaac were bright beacons in his mind again and that helped Derek to calm down, at least a bit.
When he rounded the corner he almost ran into Isaac who had him in a crushing hug a second later. Derek held him close and for a moment they just breathed in each other's scent, Isaac's was almost lost in the smell of smoke.
When Derek was finally ready to face Laura's pack, he took a double-take when he only saw Ellen sitting on the couch in the small visitor's area behind Isaac. She had baby Stacy in her arms and puppy Jeremy in her lap but there was nobody else.
"Derek." She looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red and streaks of tears on her face, but she didn't move to not wake the sleeping children.
"Megan, Gina and the twins are sleeping in their room." Isaac filled him in and pointed at a door. When Derek strained his ears, he could hear four heart-beats coming from that direction.
"Even Becky?" She was a werewolf, she shouldn't be in the hospital.
"She didn't want to leave her brother." Ellen explained. "And after what happened today, nobody tried to separate them. She's in her fur and sleeping in Benny's bed."
Derek could hear the relief in her voice that the kids where sleeping.
"Megan and Gina have a bed in there, too." Isaac added.
Derek doubted that the room usually had three beds but he was glad that nobody had to be alone right now.
"Where's Charles?" Derek asked. "Stiles said he would be here, too."
"He's with Loreen." Ellen answered. "It's not looking good for her and he wants to be there."
He was her father, of course he wanted to be with her.
"I should check on them." Derek decided. "And on Mark. Are you good for now?"
Isaac nodded but Ellen motioned him to wait. Gently she transferred Jeremy from her lap to the couch, the puppy didn't even stir, and handed the sleeping Stacy over to Isaac how held her awkwardly.
"Alpha Derek Hale." She addressed him formally, standing in front of him. Derek knew what she was about to say but she had to actually say it so he just waited for her to continue. "Will you accept me and my children in your pack?"
"Yes." He answered. "I accept you and your family in my pack." Her husband was still missing but he was welcomed as well, he wanted her to know that. "But there is no need to hurry."
"I need an alpha." She said, shaking.
Without another word Derek took her in his arms and she bared her throat for him. His fangs dug into her flesh effortlessly but she didn't flinch, just sagged farther into him.
A new connection flared up in his mind and he could tell by the expression on Isaac's face that he felt it as well.
"Do you want me to bind Becky to me now or shall we let her sleep until tomorrow?" He asked and licked of the blood from her already healing skin. Benny would become pack by association but his sister was a werewolf and Derek needed to bind her to him properly.
"I think that has time until tomorrow." She dragged her nose over his throat, taking in his scent.
"Isaac will stay with you." Reluctantly he let go of her. "I want to check on Mark and Loreen."
She was a new member in his pack and they both just wanted to stay close and let the bond set in but there were other people Derek had to look after now, too.
He brought his and Ellen's forehead together, his hand on the nape of his beta, holding her close.
"I'll be back soon." He promised and then he turned around and went to look for the rest of Laura's pack.
He found Charles standing in the hallway peering in to of one of the rooms a floor below the pediatric station. He was wearing scrubs but he was still smelling of smoke. White dressing patched up what had to be a nasty burn on his bald head and he had lost his glasses somewhere.
When Derek stepped up to him, he didn't turn his head.
"They won't let me in." He said. "They don't want her to catch an infection."
Over his shoulder Derek peered into the room. Lots of white and plastic and in the middle a burned mess that once had been Loreen.
"What do the doctors say?" Derek asked.
"That we have to wait and see. But her chances aren't good." Charles' voice broke. "One even said it would be better for them if they died." He tried to spat the words out but there was no heat behind it. He looked dead on his feet and he should probably be in a bed himself instead of standing here in the middle of the night.
"Did the doctors have a look at you, too?" Derek asked and hoped that they had a real look at him and didn't just patch up the obvious burn on his head.
"I didn't inhale that much smoke." Charles said. "I was the first one out with Gina and Jeremy once they had cleared the barricades from the outside." He paused and now he turned his head to look at Derek.
"They blocked the doors and used mountain ash, I don't know how they managed to trap us like that. We were all suddenly omegas, even we humans felt it. Nobody understood what was happening, the kids were all crying while the adults tried to keep it together enough to make it out of the territory. They got us when we were the most vulnerable. If your pack had been there just a few minutes later …" He didn't need to finish the sentence, Derek knew the outcome of that.
"They still couldn't save everyone."
"They got the children out."
For a moment they just looked through the window where Loreen was lying motionless in her bed.
"They put her in a coma." Charles said. "Both of them, they wouldn't be able to stand the pain otherwise." He nodded over to another door.
That sounded familiar but Derek didn't want to think of Peter right now. Not as a victim. He didn't want to remember Peter lying in a coma like this.
"Did she ever say something about taking the bite?" Derek asked.
Now he had Charles' full attention.
"She did. We all did." His eyes were narrowed on Derek as if he wasn't sure if he could trust the offer. "This qualifies."
"And Mark?"
"It's the same for him."
Decision made Derek reached for the door.
He made it two steps into the room before a nurse came running, demanding to know what the fuck he was doing.
"I'm here to help." He flashed his red eyes at her.
Of course she didn't just let him bite her patient. A minute later he was talking to two doctors and if it hadn't been the middle of the night he would have been talking to at least one person from the legal department as well.
In the end the doctors had to admit that it wasn't likely that one of the patients would survive the night. They were running out of time and their best chances were the bite, there was no discussion about that.
Charles backed up the idea and eventually they took his word that it was the wish of both patients to take the bite.
Derek felt the eyes of the two doctors, the nurse and Charles on him when he entered the room again. The air smelled sterile and antiseptic but it wasn't enough to cover up the smell of burned flesh.
Pushing back the memories Derek approached the bed.
"Hello, Loreen." He said, his voice hoarse. Even if she was awake she wouldn't be able to answer because of the tube down her throat. Her airways were burned as well.
"Did it work?" Charles asked once Derek was back in the hallway.
"The bite doesn't always take." Derek reminded him. "We'll know soon."
Then he went to take care of Mark.
Chapter 57
Masterpost