Lasting Cessation

Chapter 1

(Author's Note: Thank you Guest for the idea of naming the sequel 'Find Me.' I had used it for a bit, but after writing a few of the chapters and going over the plot for this story, it didn't really fit. I was planning on going with a title similar to 'Hold Me' or 'Find Me,' but after some thinking I decided against it. As you should be able to tell by now, the title is Lasting Cessation and by the end of the story it will be very fitting. So, here's the first chapter...enjoy :))

The smell of the hospital makes me wince; it's just too clean. But as I travel deeper into it's maze of halls my heart starts pounding harder, because it's hard to ignore the smell of death in this area of the building. Most of these patients are never going to get better, and its devastating. I'm about to opt out of my mission and leave when I spot Melissa a few feet away, talking to a very impatient-looking woman. I focus in on their conversation.

"When will my daughter be ready to leave?" The woman barks, extremely snooty.

Melissa takes a deep breath. "Miss, she's not going to be leaving for a while. Kayla is very sick-"

"How much more is this going to cost us?" The woman snaps. "My husband and I can't afford to just keep paying all these medical bills you know. How about we just take her home, all she needs is some rest."

Melissa puts her hands up. "Kayla has cancer, a little rest isn't going to help her. Now, there's some treatments-"

The woman snorts, "Cancer, eh? What other lies do you have for me?"

Melissa takes another deep breath and pinches the top of her nose. "Mam, listen. We have to keep Kayla here, she's going to die unless you let us help her."

The woman purses her lips and crosses her arms. "Well if she's dumb enough to get sick, then she deserves to die." She looks down at her phone, "My husband's here, and I'm going to be late for work if I don't leave now, so we'll be back for Kayla tomorrow." The woman turns and stalks off while Melissa sighs and leans against the wall.

I approach her cautiously, "What was that about?" I ask gently.

She looks up at me and frowns. "That god damn woman needs to get her head out of her ass."

"She didn't sound very nice." I agree.

"Her poor daughter came in here a few weeks ago, by herself, complaining that she's been feeling sick constantly for the past few weeks, along with a headache and pains in her joints. So we got her settled in a room and discovered a lump on one of her breasts, along with bruises all over her body. Several days later her doctor diagnosed her with breast cancer, and there's signs of leukemia as well. Her parents have been coming in everyday for the past week causing arguments with the nurses and doctors, claiming that we're taking advantage of them and trying to take their money by pretending that their daughter has cancer." Melissa pauses and looks up at me, to make sure I'm still paying attention.

"Why would anybody think that?" I ask her.

Melissa sighs and shakes her head. "I don't know, but when I talked to Kayla, she told me that she didn't want her parents to come and see her. When I asked why, she told me that they abuse her at home, and that she's terrified of getting better because she doesn't want to end up living with them again." Melissa wipes a tear from her eyes and sighs. "She needs your help. She's such a sweet little girl, only fifteen years old. She has her whole life ahead of her, and she's too scared to live it because of her parents. If you turn her, you'd be doing her a huge favour."

I grab her hand and squeeze it reassuringly. "Ah, so that's why you want me to give her the bite."

She nods, biting her lip to stop more tears from appearing. "If you give her the bite, and I report the abuse, I can fight for custody of her."

"Melissa, it doesn't really work like that." I tell her.

She shakes her head. "No, I've done my research, Ethan. She has no family members in the country and she's moved so many times that there's no other adult who has a better right than me. I'll have a good chance of winning."

I sigh, Melissa is just fooling herself. Her 'plan' would never work, no matter how much anybody wanted it to. "What if her parents were to mysteriously go missing?" I ask quietly.

Melissa wipes her eyes again. "Well, she'd be under the custody of the hospital until she got better, and then the courts would decide what to do." Her eyes suddenly widen as she realizes what I'm implying, "Ethan, no, you can't do that!"

I shrug, "Fine, then how about Kayla goes 'missing?' I'll give her the bite, and after dark I'll break her out. She'll be safe and healthy again."

Melissa bites her nails. "Ethan, I don't know. This feels wrong, we can't just make this decision for her."

I lean against the wall and cross my arms, a slight grin toying on my face. "Two seconds ago you were all for giving her the bite. In fact, I distinctly remember you calling me this morning and almost begged for me to come and help her."

Melissa sighs and leans her head back against the wall. "Yes, but Ethan, I'm not used to being the bad guy."

I laugh lightly. "Last time I checked, saving someone's life was a good thing."

"It is, but once you bite her, it can't be undone." She lifts her head to look at me again, "And you're talking about kidnapping her, that's not considered something that a 'good guy' would do."

I grab Melissa's arms. "Do you want to save her or not?"

"Yes," She whispers, "of course I do."

I drop her arms and look at the door beside us, "Then it's settled."

Melissa sighs, "Fine," and opens the door, leading me into the small room.

The smell hits me all at once, full of medicine and death. "How do you manage to work in a place like this?" I whisper.

She smiles slightly. "You get used to it after a while. And now, I can even take their pain away, which is one of the best things that I could do."

I walk over to the girl's side and sigh. Her face looks peaceful as she sleeps, and she appears almost healthy, despite all the tubes stuck into her body. And the smell of her losing battle is a dead giveaway, no pun intended. I run my hand down her arm and her fingers twitch slightly, but they quickly become motionless again. "You know," I whisper, "the bite could still kill her." I look back to Melissa.

She looks up from the girl to meet my gaze. "I think that you and I both know she's going to die if you don't bite her."

I look back down to her face, wishing that she could have made this decision for herself, but there's no time for that. I pick her arm up, turning her wrist upwards, and lean down. I feel my fangs elongate, and when they pierce her skin a soft moan escapes her lips. I pull away after a few moments and Melissa starts to bandage up her wrist, whispering prayers that it works.

The girl, Kayla, moans again and her eyes flutter open slightly. "Melissa?" She whispers.

"Yes sweetie?" She replies in her 'mother' voice, stroking Kayla's hair back.

"Thank you." Kayla whispers weakly before closing her eyes and falling back asleep.

"So Scott," Kali says as she lightly taps the cattle-prod against her hand, "how's your pack doing these days?" She laughs wickedly and shoves the prod into my stomach, sending an electric shock through my body.

I try to scream, but no sound will come out; my throat has been torn to shreds over the past few weeks. Everyday she invents a new way to torture me, and each is more painful than the last; I'm surprised that I'm still able to heal, and even more surprised that I'm still alive. I suck in desperate breaths when the pain subsides, preparing for another shock. This time the prod comes in contact with my cheek, causing my face to become numb with pain, and leaving me unable to scream yet again.

Kali only laughs and drags her claws down my stomach, hard enough to cause discomfort, but light enough to not break the skin or cause too much pain. "Where's your pack now?" She whispers, her face coming closer to mine.

"They're not coming." I spit at her, the first words I've spoken in weeks.

She grins mischievously. "And why is that Scott?"

Her hand comes up to stroke my face, her nails tracing my jawline. I take a deep breath and try to ignore the fact that she could kill me in seconds if she wanted to. 'But isn't that why I came here?' I think to myself. "I told them not to."

Her hand freezes on my face and her eyes bore into mine with a devilish glow. "Now why would you do that?" She teases, her other hand working it's way up my torso, "I could kill you." She whispers, her face so close to mine, I can taste her breath.

"You won't." I growl.

She smirks and digs her claws into my stomach. I cry out and her hand on my face grabs my chin with such intensity that I feel the bone tremble from the force. "Oh really?" She growls back, wiggling her fingers in my stomach. "What makes you think that?"

I desperately suck in breaths and try to push the pain away. "Because you would have-"

"Done it already?" She finishes for me. She pulls her claws out of my stomach and reaches up to stroke my cheek.

I clench my jaw as I feel her rubbing my blood all over my face. "Admit it." I choke out. "You, don't, plan, to, kill me." I wheeze, closing my eyes, suddenly feeling weak.

She chuckles for a moment, unamused, before squeezing my jaw even harder, and smiles as I cry out when she breaks it. She moves to tighten the restraints around my wrists, but I'm lucky enough not to find out what she was planning to do.

The door slamming open behind her stopped whatever she was preparing for and an angry-looking Ennis comes storming in, "They have another."

"What do you mean?" Kali asks, sounding confused.

"I just watched Ethan leave through the back of the hospital with a girl in his arms." The large werewolf explains. "He's just added another beta to the Hale pack. Kali, they outnumbered us before adding these two new betas."

I inwardly smile at the news; maybe they'll be able to kill the rest of the alpha's now. "What are they planning?" Kali wonders aloud.

Ennis shrugs. "If we're going to get out without any damage, we've got to go now."

She shakes her head vigorously, "No, we promised Aiden that we wouldn't leave without Ethan."

Ennis grabs Kali's shoulders and shakes her slightly. "He betrayed us, why would we want him back? If he wants to stay here with these lame teenagers then let him, besides, him and Aiden are going to try and kill each other every full moon. We don't need to deal with one crazy werewolf every month, let alone two."

Kali considers this for a moment. "No, we promised. Just wait a little longer, please, for me?"

Ennis shakes his head slightly, "Fine. Two weeks, but after that we're leaving, no questions, got it?"

Kali smiles, "Yes sir." She streches up on her tip-toes to kiss Ennis.

Melissa opens the front door of the house and ushers me in before her, keeping a careful eye on the street to make sure that nobody sees me carrying an unconscious body that will be considered missing within the next few hours. "Here, set her here." Melissa says, smoothing out the cushions on the couch and fluffing up a pillow.

I gently lay Kayla down and put a light blanket over her. "She already looks a lot better." I whisper.

Melissa nods from beside me and smiles. "Yeah, she does."

Although she hadn't looked too sick to start with, there's a huge difference from several hours ago to now. For one, her skin looks a little brighter and more cheery and life-like. Her pulse has increased slightly and the smell of death has all but disappeared. "I wonder how she's going to react to being part of the supernatural world." I say.

Melissa shrugs, "It'll be like Monica; you saved her life, so she won't really care."

"Speaking of Monica," I say, "where is she?"

"Derek took her with Peter, Lydia, Allison and Isaac to do some more work on his family's house." Melissa replies while making her way into the kitchen.

"When did they leave?" I ask, confused. "They were here when I left, and there was no talk of going anywhere."

Melissa grips the edge of the counter and looks at the ground. "Well, Derek called me a few minutes after you told me that you were leaving and, and he said that he wanted to get Isaac out, out of the house for a little bit." Her hands start shaking, "H-he thought that it might ch-cheer him u-up."

I gently grab her wrists and turn her so she's facing me, "Hey, shhhh, we're going to find Scott, I promise."

Melissa shakes her head, unable to speak through her tears, and grabs onto my shirt like it's her lifeline. It kills me that there's nothing that I can do to take her pain away, so I do the best I can by pulling her into a hug and sinking down onto the floor.

She buries her head into my neck and continues to sob while I rub her back and whisper comforting words, although they do nothing to help. Every time she breaks down like this, it's taken her longer to stop, and I've started to get worried about her. Ever since that morning that we woke up to find Scott gone, Melissa has slowly been declining, along with Isaac. It physically pains me to see her so upset, and I feel utterly hopeless because there's nothing that I can do to help.

Derek, Peter and I have been trying to come up with some sort of plan to get him back, but between taking care of the pack, comforting Isaac and Melissa, and attempting to keep Monica in school, there hasn't been much time for planning. Besides, every time we do try to put something together, Scott's letter comes floating back into our heads, and the fact that he 'doesn't want to be found.'

"Why would he just leave like that?" Melissa whispers, her voice emotionless and her body completely still. "Why wouldn't he talk to us, we-we could have helped him."

I give her a reassuring squeeze, "We're going to get him back, I promise, even if it's the last thing I do."

"But, he said that he didn't want us to come for him." Melissa whispers, tears dripping back into her voice, "W-what if he's already dead?" She moans into my chest.

I push her off me and tilt her chin up, so I can look her in the eye. "He's alive, I swear to god. We would know if he was gone, because we'd all be able to feel it; he's well on his way to being a true alpha, which means that he's going to end up being more powerful than any of us. If he was really dead right now, we would know." I push her head back down onto my chest and take a deep breath. "Does he feel dead to you?"

I feel Melissa softly shake her head, "No, h-he doesn't."

I had just finished putting Melissa into her bed, she had fallen asleep in my arms, when Derek and the rest of the pack arrived. Isaac, looking worse than when I last saw him this morning, storms up to Scott's room and settles in for the night. It didn't take long for us to hear his soft cries, so Monica goes upstairs to comfort him, while Allison and Lydia head home.

I sit down at the dining room table and put my head in my hands. "We need to do something." I say to Derek and Peter. "I can't take much more of this."

The two Hale's join me at the table. "I agree." Derek says, his voice just as hopeless-sounding as mine.

Peter sighs, "Screw what the damn letter says, it's pretty darn clear that we need Scott. We've barely been functioning without him."

I lift my head to look at him. "So what do we do?"

Peter grins mischievously, "I say that we just track down one of the alpha's scents, barge in there and kill anyone who gets in the way."

I shudder at the thought. "No, we may outnumber them, but they could easily overpower us if we aren't prepared."

Derek's hands curl into fists. "Last time we were prepared, Stiles was killed." He growls.

I look down, not wanting to meet his gaze, because it had been Deucalion's plan all along to kill Stiles. He had thought, all of us did, that it would bring Scott and/or Derek over to our side. We couldn't have been more wrong. "Someone will need to stay here with Kayla."

"And you think that it should be you?" Peter asks.

"Yes," I reply, lifting my head, "because I'm her alpha now, and she'll need me when she wakes up. Besides, I can barely even think about my brother without wanting to rip his head off. Putting us in the same room will only cause more problems."

Derek sighs, letting his anger go, and drums his fingers on the table. For a few minutes the three of us sit in silence, listening to the night come to life, nobody wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, though, Peter clears his throat, "Okay, since Ethan won't be able to join us, and I doubt that Melissa or Isaac will be up to it, that leaves Monica, Derek, Lydia, Allison, and myself."

"I made sure that Allison gave Lydia some lessons on shooting," I say, recalling Scott's chilling last paragraph of his letter.

"How good of a shot is she?" Derek asks.

I shrug, "Allison says that she's pretty decent."

He nods, "Okay, so Peter and I will go in first, while Monica sticks with Lydia and Allison, where she'll be safer."

"No," I blurt out, "don't divide; stay together and attack as one. When you're separated, they'll be able to pick you off easier. Stay in one group, and work together. Peter and Derek, you two take the front, while Monica and Lydia protect you from the sides, and Allison can bring up the rear."

"I feel terrible dragging Monica into this." Derek says. "She's just a kid."

I shake my head, "I'd rather her stay here too, but you need all the help that you can get, and she'll be more than willing to go. She's been begging to see some real action ever since we started training."

"When are we planning on doing this?" Peter asks. "There's no point in having a plan if you don't set a time to execute it."

"Well, we need time to get everyone prepared." Derek says, "So a few more days at the very least."

I glance over towards the stairs, "I say we go over this tomorrow, when Monica, Lydia and Allison are here, and then you guys go tomorrow night. Waiting only makes them more prepared, and more time for it to be too late to save Scott. And to be honest, I'm not sure how much longer Melissa or Isaac can hold on. They've been putting up a brave front for the most part, but we can all see them slipping."

Peter looks down at his hands, "So it's settled then. We go tomorrow night."