The crisp, mutual laughter pulsated with life inside the warm belly of the school bus, standing in stark contrast to the lean days Scott had been living through recently.
He sat next to Allison, feeling the warmth he had craved for so long; their fingers were intertwined slowly and naturally, and the details of her flawless face under the morning sun reflecting through the glass gave him a fleeting sense of security.
— “Scott, you weren’t focusing in chemistry class yesterday at all. You looked like you were on another planet,” Allison said, leaning her head on his shoulder with a shy smile playing on her lips.
He turned to her, trying to banish all dark thoughts from his mind, as a warm smile formed on his lips:
— “Actually, I was thinking about how lucky I am to be sitting next to you right now. Chemistry can wait.”
Allison laughed, squeezing his hand gently:
— “You are very skilled at dodging your duties. We’ll see what you’ll say to your mother when she sees your grades.”
But the joy did not last.
Suddenly, just as the heavy tires of the bus turned to veer into the school’s designated parking lot, the metallic frame shook with a strange violence.
The morning sun vanished all at once, replaced by a pitch-black, suffocating darkness, as if the bus had plunged into an endless tunnel.
Scott felt a chill run through his limbs, immediately followed by a terrifying boiling in his bloodstream.
His heart raced so fast it nearly burst through his chest cavity, and a muffled hiss escaped from deep within him.
Allison turned to him in sheer terror, her eyes widening as she watched his features transform in the darkness; his jaw elongated, sharp, blade-like teeth sprouted, and his eyes… those gentle brown eyes turned into two glowing sockets of a dark, lupine yellow.
— “Scott? What’s happening to you? Your face…” The words caught in her throat, and she recoiled in shock.
Scott was no longer Scott; he lunged at her with the ferocity of a wild beast stripped of all human consciousness.
Allison screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing her small body toward the narrow aisle of the bus, trying to reach the hydraulic exit door.
She threw herself against the door, pounding it with both of her trembling hands:
— “Open up! Please, open the door! Anyone here, help me!”
At that critical moment, the outer iron door slammed shut with thunderous force, producing a terrifying metallic clang that echoed like a sealed tomb.
Allison turned around in horror to find the beast crawling toward her with a sickening, instinctive slowness, its saliva dripping onto the leather seats.
She tried to grab onto a metal handrail, but a large, wolfish hand covered in black fur extended in a swift leap, clamping onto her ankle with an iron grip.
— “Noooo! Scott, please! This hurts! I’m Allison… remember me! Don’t do this to me!”
She shrieked with a heartbreaking wail as she was dragged slowly into the deep darkness at the back of the bus, the beast’s claws sinking into her shoe, her heartbeat dying of fright…
— “Noooooooooooo!”
Scott burst out screaming as his body jolted upward all at once, waking up in his bed.
He was breathing with desperate effort, as if his lungs had been deprived of oxygen, and cold sweat drenched his forehead, trickling down his neck to soak his pillow with a suffocating dampness.
His hands trembled as his eyes scanned his quiet room frantically.
He fixed his gaze on his wardrobe, then on the window where the real morning sunbeams were softly filtering through the curtains.
He raised his palms in front of his face, checking his fingers in bewilderment; there were no claws.
He ran his trembling fingers over his jaw; his teeth were normal and straight.
He placed his entire palm over his heart, which was pounding like a drum, and let out a long, ragged sigh of relief that extended from the depths of his exhausted soul:
— “It was a nightmare… just a lousy nightmare. Oh my God… Allison is fine. I didn’t hurt her.”
The next day, Scott left his house, but his steps were heavy and hesitant, as if the asphalt ground was pulling him down.
He walked through the streets leading to the school, his mind drowning in the details of the previous night, which were no less terrifying than his nightmares.
His body was healing, but his soul was bleeding.
He remembered the attack of that vicious coyote with its mysterious blue eyes right in the middle of his kitchen, his mother Melissa’s hysterical screaming as she threw plates and spoons to protect him, and he remembered how he sank his fangs into the flesh of that beast with a bloodlust he had never known in himself.
But the real ache that was choking him, and the fracture he felt in the middle of his chest, was the absence of Stiles.
He remembered the angry features of his lifelong friend, the violent punch he received from him, and the harsh words he hurled in his face before leaving him behind: “You’re on your own, Scott.” He felt a cruel loneliness, and a bitter question haunted him: *Will my kindness and my attempt to save Damon really destroy everything and bring death to my family?*
His train of thought was abruptly broken the moment he arrived at the school’s outer gate.
Scott froze in his tracks, his tongue tied, and his throat completely dry from what he saw.
The courtyard he used to see filled with students and laughter was buzzing with a terrifying commotion.
Multiple police cars had their red and blue lights flashing rhythmically, two ambulances stood at the ready, and detectives walked with stern expressions, talking into radios that emitted constant static.
Scott’s eyes moved slowly and with dread toward the usual bus parking area, his pupils dilating in sheer shock.
There was a yellow school bus, but it wasn’t normal; its metallic body was completely torn open from the side, as if the giant claws of a massive animal had shredded and mangled its iron.
The glass windows were entirely shattered, scattered like shards on the ground, and worse yet… broad, crimson bloodstains smeared the interior seats and dripped down the outer frame.
Yellow police tape reading “CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS” surrounded the bus from every angle, stretching between trees and poles to keep the gathered students back.
Scott’s werewolf senses flared, and a sharp wave of panic paralyzed his thinking.
The nightmare and reality blurred in his exhausted mind.
*Did I go out last night without knowing?
Did I do this?
Where is Allison?!*
He began looking around hysterically, brushing past students with his shoulders unconsciously, his eyes scanning the faces for a single reassuring sight.
Suddenly, amidst the crowd gathered near the administration building, he caught sight of her wavy brown locks.
She was standing there, in perfect health, talking to Caroline and Lydia.
Scott felt as if life had been breathed back into his body all at once, his breath catching in deep relief.
He rushed toward the trio with quick steps, his pale face lighting up with overwhelming, genuine happiness, and said in a breathless, ecstatic tone:
— “Allison! You’re okay! Thank God… I… I’m so happy to see you today, I can’t even describe it!”
Allison turned to him, and despite the look of surprise on her face from his sudden rush and his overly emotional tone in front of everyone, she smiled gently and said:
— “Scott? Yes, I’m completely fine. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Lydia shot him a sharp, scrutinizing look from the corner of her eye, then looked at the bus and said in her usual cold, condescending tone:
— “More like he’s freaked out by that disgusting scene outside. Who would do that to a school bus? It’s absolutely repulsive and ruins our school day.”
Meanwhile, from among the gathered crowds of students, Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert approached with calm, measured steps.
Stefan’s features were composed, but his eyes were analyzing every single detail of the place with precision, while Elena looked visibly shaken by the scene, holding his hand.
He then turned his gaze toward the mangled bus and continued: “What’s the news here? The atmosphere seems very tense outside, what exactly happened?”
Elena looked worriedly and said: “The police aren’t letting anyone get close. They say it’s a wild animal attack, but the scene looks horrific.”
Here, Caroline turned toward Scott, narrowing her eyes in clear suspicion as she noticed his labored breathing, the beads of sweat still on his temples, and his completely unsupported, pale face.
She said with surprise and a hint of mockery, pointing at him with her hand:
— “I don’t know what’s wrong with the bus, but Scott here looks like he’s having… a panic attack? Or a major breakdown? Look at him, he’s shaking as if he was the one inside the bus last night!”
Allison cast another worried glance at Scott, while Stefan immediately locked his eyes on the teenage werewolf.
At that exact moment, their eyes met; Stefan’s gaze was mysterious, deep, and full of complete understanding of what was going on behind the scenes.
He knew the curse of the creatures of the night, and he knew what Scott was going through.
As for Scott, he looked at Stefan with an intense gaze of supplication—pleading eyes speaking of fear and vulnerability, silently begging him to rescue him from these questions and give him a single minute to talk away from human ears.
Stefan caught the signal immediately, thanks to his experience and intelligence.
He cleared his throat quietly, then turned to Elena, patting her hand gently as he said in a perfectly natural tone:
— “Elena, excuse me for just a few seconds.. I suddenly remembered that I need to talk to Scott about some private matters regarding the history material he asked me to help him with. We won’t be long, we’ll catch up with you inside.”
Elena nodded with a slight smile: “Sure, don’t be long, the bell is about to ring.”
Stefan withdrew with firm, confident steps, and Scott followed him immediately, bypassing Caroline’s curious stares.
Together, they headed toward a deserted, shadowy corner behind the main school building, far from the eyes of the police and students.
Stefan wasted no time on introductions; he took a step closer, looked directly into Scott’s eyes, and asked in a low, firm voice:
— “Scott, look at me. Please, tell me the truth.. Tell me you didn’t cause that mess inside the bus.”
Scott snapped, unable to restrain his frayed nerves any longer, and cried out in a choked voice while tears welled up in his eyes:
— “I don’t know! Alright! Is that what you want to hear? I don’t know if it was me or the monster inside me, I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t know how this nightmare will end!”
Stefan sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment, then raised his hand to rub his temples in a slow motion that conveyed severe physical and emotional exhaustion.
He opened his eyes again and said with an eerie calmness:
— “Calm down, Scott. Screaming won’t change reality. Breathe.. Now, tell me in detail, what exactly do you remember? Leave nothing out.”
Scott took a deep breath and began recounting the details of his nightmare: the bus, the laughter, the forced transformation, the fangs sprouting in the dark, Allison’s screams as she tried to escape, and then the sensation of ripping everything apart.
With every word, Stefan’s face changed; he sank into deep thought, his eyebrows furrowing with expressions that looked as though he was trying to connect the threads of a complex puzzle.
Scott asked him with extreme anxiety, his voice trembling:
— “So? What do you think happened?! Is it possible that I actually did that?”
Stefan remained silent for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh and said:
— “Scott, the truth is hard.. But it seems you lost control of your inner wolf and attacked someone or something during your sleep last night without realizing it. Your instincts were stronger than your consciousness at that moment.”
Scott’s face went completely pale, his shoulders slumping in defeat, and he said in a broken, muffled tone:
— “I killed someone.. didn’t I? I’ve become a murderer.”
Stefan replied quickly, trying to offer some reassurance:
— “No, no, you didn’t kill anyone. I’m sure of it. But we need to verify the nature of your energy right now. Scott.. try to make your eyes glow.”
Scott looked at him with surprise and confusion:
— “What? How do I do that? I can’t control it!”
Stefan answered with precise guidance:
— “Don’t think about how to move the muscles. Think about perception. Try to see differently.. Think that you want ‘thermal’ vision, to see the pulse of life in everything instead of your normal sight.”
Scott grumbled: “This sounds crazy..”
Stefan interrupted him firmly: “Just do it, now!”
Scott closed his eyes, focusing every ounce of his energy, summoning that wild feeling that had overcome him in the kitchen.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
Everything changed; the world around him turned into a surreal canvas of red and black.
He saw Stefan’s body as completely cold, like a mass of blackness, while the bodies of the distant students in the courtyard glowed with shimmering shades of red, like living thermal masses.
Scott cried out in astonishment, recoiling backward:
— “Oh my God! I.. I see everything as if I’m looking through walls!”
Stefan pulled out his phone quickly, snapped a picture of Scott’s face, and then said:
— “Excellent. Now, close your eyes, and imagine that you are drawing that glow back inside. Imagine your vision returning to normal.”
Scott did so, and after a few seconds, the red color faded, the world returned to its normal state, and his eyes reverted to their usual human color.
Stefan showed him the picture on his phone screen; in the photo, Scott’s eyes shone with a brilliant, golden-yellow flash.
Stefan said with relief:
— “Look, your eyes glowed golden yellow. This means you haven’t killed anyone.. You’re safe.”
Scott knitted his brows quizzically:
— “Wait a minute! What does that mean? And why the color yellow specifically?!”
Stefan explained patiently:
— “In our world, a werewolf’s eye color changes based on their rank and actions. The golden-yellow color is the color of a ‘werewolf who has not shed innocent blood yet.’ But.. if a werewolf kills an innocent person, their golden eyes instantly turn into a dark, sky-blue color.. a color as cold as death.”
Scott froze in his tracks.
His eyes widened in shock, and his lips trembled.
He remembered vividly that moment in the kitchen, the coyote that attacked him, and he recalled that terrifying gleam…
— “Blue..” Scott whispered in a voice that was barely audible.
“The coyote.. The coyote that attacked me yesterday in the kitchen.. its eyes were a dark, sky-blue.”
Stefan looked at Scott with utmost seriousness and said:
— “So, the coyote you faced isn’t just an animal.. It was a werecoyote who has killed before. Scott, we aren’t just facing excess energy.. We are facing someone or something that has completely lost its humanity.”
“A werecoyote?! There are werecoyotes now?!” Scott shouted in panic.
Stefan stepped forward, clapping his hand firmly over Scott’s mouth, and said: “Calm down, Scott! You’re going to expose us!”
Scott fell silent, and Stefan slowly released him.
A dead silence prevailed for a few seconds, broken only by Scott’s ragged breathing and, in the distance, the sirens that were still wailing.
Stefan watched him intently, as if weighing every word that would come out of the mouth of the troubled teenager.
Stefan asked in a low, sharp voice:
— “Scott, tell me about this coyote. Why did it attack you in your home? And when was the first time you saw it? Try to summon your memory, don’t let fear blind your vision.” This chapter was taken from NovelPing without permission.
Scott closed his eyes tightly, squeezing his head with his hands as if trying to piece together a scattered jigsaw puzzle.
Distorted images began flashing in his mind: moonlight, running, pain, then terror.
He opened his eyes suddenly, his pupils visibly trembling:
— “The first time.. yes, on the night of the full moon. There was a period during that night.. where I fell into complete darkness, I lost control entirely. My memory is shattered, just like the glass shards that scattered in my kitchen yesterday.. I remember a man shouting at me in anger, firing a gun in every direction, and a coyote.. a massive coyote leaping between the walls of a house, and its eyes.. those sky-blue eyes I saw yesterday were the exact same ones!”
Stefan sighed with regret, putting his hands in his pockets, and said seriously:
— “Then the matter is clearer than I thought. You must have fought with this coyote on the night of the full moon. Perhaps you injured or defeated it, so it saw you as a threat to its status. It tracked your scent and waited for the right moment to try and eliminate you in your own home.”
Scott took a step back, his face turning even paler than before, and said in a shaking voice:
— “So.. the man I see in my fragmented memories.. the man who was shooting at me…. wasn’t a hallucination? Does this mean I actually attacked him? Did I injure a human?!”
Stefan looked at him with eyes that held the bitter truth:
— “That is a very likely probability, Scott. In fact.. you’re lucky you haven’t started killing people left and right by now. the majority of werewolves who receive the bite possess not a shred of control over themselves, especially during their first full moon. It must be the emotional bond you share with Allison, and Stiles’s presence by your side, that are keeping the human side in you alive until now. They act as your anchor.”
Scott’s eyes widened in shock, and he looked at Stefan in bewilderment:
— “What? The bond? Anchor? What do you mean?”
Stefan sighed with weariness, rubbing his face with his palms as if trying to wipe the exhaustion from his features:
— “Look Scott, I am not a werewolf.. I don’t understand the nature of this rage and transformation in your body. If you truly want to know what happened that night, and what happened in the parking lot yesterday, you have to find someone who can teach you how to remember these things—someone of your own kind.”
No longer able to bear the ambiguity, Scott yelled in a fit of violent rage:
— “And where am I supposed to find a werewolf to teach me these things?! Do you want me to put an ad in the newspaper?!”
Stefan looked at him with a strange calmness and said:
— “Hasn’t your ‘Alpha’ reached out to you?”
Scott could no longer tolerate hearing that word.
He smashed his fist into the wall behind him with immense force, causing the concrete bricks to shatter and a portion of the wall to collapse under the impact of his blow.
He shouted into Stefan’s face, his features distorted with rage and savagery:
— “Alpha, Alpha, Alpha! This cursed name I’ve been hearing since yesterday! What the hell is an ‘Alpha’?! And why did he choose me?! Why did he turn me into this monster that I don’t even recognize?!”
Stefan grabbed Scott by his shoulders, attempting to steady him and halt his fit of rage:
— “Calm down, Scott! Your emotions are amplified; anger is the fastest path to losing control entirely. Breathe.. The only person in this town who has the answers to all your questions is Derek Hale. Go and talk to him, he will explain everything to you.”
Scott let out a harsh, cold laugh filled with despair:
— “Derek Hale? Are you joking? Derek Hale is in jail! Iron bars and handcuffs.. that’s his place!”
Stefan shook his head in denial and said in a confident tone:
— “No, Scott.. he got out yesterday. The moment you and Stiles locked him up, the doors opened for him again.. Derek Hale is free now, and he’s the only one who can teach you how to tame the beast inside you.”
Scott processed what Stefan said, his brows knitting in a mixture of bewilderment and fear:
— “Derek Hale… is free?”
Stefan nodded in confirmation, his features reflecting grave seriousness:
— “Yes, he is. The coroner’s report came out a few hours ago. The report claims that the girl whose remains were found near Derek’s house was killed by a large wild animal, and therefore the charges against Derek were dropped because he isn’t a…”
— “An animal…” Scott interrupted Stefan’s words in a voice filled with despair and brokenness.
He then continued bitterly, tapping the ground with his foot: “So, all the efforts that Stiles and I made, all the danger we exposed ourselves to, went down the drain?”
Stefan approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him:
— “Don’t worry, Scott, don’t say that. On the contrary, your locking up of Derek revealed a very important clue to me; it revealed to me the identity of the victim.”
Scott raised his head quickly, his eyes wide with curiosity and anxiety:
— “And who is she? Who is this woman who was found ripped in half?”
Stefan took a deep breath, looking toward the horizon seriously:
— “Laura Hale.. Derek Hale’s older sister.”
Scott froze in his tracks, feeling a chill run through his veins:
— “His sister?.. Do you mean that Derek.. did Derek kill his sister?”
Stefan answered in a tone as cold as ice:
— “Yes, that is the most likely and most terrifying probability, Scott. And the reason behind it is as simple as it is sadistic; he killed her to steal the ‘Alpha spark’ from her. When a Beta or an Omega kills the Alpha, they take their power, and the killer becomes an Alpha themselves. He wanted to become stronger; he wanted power.”
Pain began to throb in Scott’s temples, as if his head was about to explode from the weight of this information; “Alpha,” “Beta,” “Omega,” “stealing the spark”.. terms that seemed to belong to another world:
— “My head is about to explode.. I won’t ask you about the details of that now, what I’ve heard is enough. But tell me honestly, do you think Derek will actually help me?”
Stefan looked at him with sharp eyes:
— “Tell me, have you ever confronted Derek and asked him directly if he was the one who turned you?”
Scott sighed as he recalled those blurred moments:
— “Yes.. I asked him in the beginning. He never denied it; rather, he spoke about it condescendingly, as if it were a gift.. He told me ‘the bite is a gift’.”
Stefan smiled a smile devoid of warmth:
— “Then he is the one who turned you. And this means he is bound by custom and law in their world to teach you and protect you. You are part of his pack; you are his ‘Beta’. And the bond between a Beta and an Alpha in this world is sometimes stronger and deeper than the bond between a father and a son.”
Scott shuddered violently, a visible look of revulsion appearing on his face as he imagined being tied to this sadistic person as his “spiritual father” in the world of wolves:
— “This is.. this is disgusting and terrifying at the same time. To be bound to him? To be part of the pack of a person who killed his sister?!”
Scott took a deep breath and tried to gather his composure, then said with a resolve tinged with fear:
— “Fine.. I have no choice then. I will.. I will go to him, I’ll confront him and ask him about everything after school.”
Stefan nodded his head slowly, a stern, serious expression settling on his face, and said in a sincere tone:
— “By the way, Scott, I want to tell you.. I have fulfilled my promise to you completely. Damon is in a safe place now.. I injected him with vervain and locked him in the reinforced cell beneath the house’s cellar. He won’t hurt anyone in this town again, and he won’t come near you or your friends.”
Stefan sighed with regret and continued in a low voice:
— “You risked your life and your family’s life to save him last night, and I don’t forget debts, Scott i will never forget that, and i am so grateful. So i will kep my word, and Damon won’t be seeing the light of day for a very long time.”
Scott looked at Stefan, and despite the slight relief he felt because Damon had been neutralized, the madness he was experiencing made his head throb with a pain that wouldn’t subside, and his wrecked kitchen stood as a constant reminder that the danger was far from over.
Scott and Stefan left the place with heavy steps, and Scott did not notice Stiles, who was watching them from an upper window, following every word.
Stiles breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that his friend had not turned into a killer, then slowly retreated into the shadows as if he had never been there… unaware that Stefan’s sharp senses had been tracking him the whole time.