Chapter 14

"Nothing's wrong. I just have a lot on my mind." Allison said as she, Sage and Lydia stepped onto the escalator in the mall. They were currently dress shopping for the upcoming formal. The huntress was still wracking her brain around what her aunt Kate revealed to her. Werewolves were real, and Derek Hale was one of them.

"You could smile at least. Ever hear the saying 'Never frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile.' Smile Allison, I'm buying you a dress." The blonde smiled at her friend, Lydia was in her element now, and it warmed Sage's heart to see her friend happy- even after the horrible breakup with Jackson.

Speaking of-

"Speaking of dresses, who are you going to the dance with? I know going alone is 'social pariah' so which male has fallen under your spell?"

"James." The blonde hummed a little, he was on the lacrosse team but he was also kind of sweet, Sage could count the number of times he had blushed around her and Lydia so the vampire didn't mind him taking Lydia to the formal.

"Speaking of, I know you don't have a date cause I know damn well if I tried to set you up with a jock you would somehow deflate his ego-"

Allison giggled at her friend's true remark about the blonde.

"So, as much as you try and deny it- your gonna go ask out the guy you subconsciously have a crush on." The Martin girl exclaimed causing the blonde to furrow her eyebrows, Allison beamed at who Lydia was gesturing at, following their gaze, her ocean-blue-eyes landed on Stiles who was currently sniffing perfume.

Sage didn't know what she was feeling, she knew deep down that her and Stiles's connection was different to her and Lydia's. She also knew she loved spending time with the Stlinski boy, she also knew that the past times were they had almost kissed, she would have let it happened if they never got interrupted.

Maybe Lydia was right.

Maybe she subconsciously liked Stiles.

Stiles had initially followed the girls to the mall because Scott wanted an extra eye on Allison, but he also thought that it might have been a good time to ask the girl of his dreams to the winter formal.

He had a plan.

1) Ask Sage to the dance.

2) Tell her how beautiful she is.

3) Confess his feelings for her.

4) Ask her to be his girlfriend.

5) And to finally share a kiss with the girl of his dreams.

A five-step plan, that wouldn't be so hard. Right?

"Stiles."

Said boy had been surprised when he heard his name being called, so surprised that he might have accidentally dropped one of the sampling perfumes. The shop owner glared at the human while Sage tried to hold in her laughter as the boy blabbered out an apology. Stiles had noticed that the girl was staring at him with her head cocked to the side like she was trying to figure out something. It made him nervous, she made him nervous. He knew now was the perfect time to ask her, to complete step one in his plan.

"Be my date for the winter formal?"

He had to take a minute, he blinked his eyes at the girl who had a bright smile on her face as she waited for him to reply. He was so close to asking her, but in the end, she asked him.

"Wait, really!?" He exclaimed, the nervous look quickly transforming into that of excitement and pure joy. Sage just hummed at the boy knowing how excited he was through their bond, she walked over to Lydia who had multiple dresses in her hand and once the strawberry blonde noticed the Stlinksi boy trailing behind her friend, she decided to make him useful.

Sage smiled to herself as she scanned the countless amount of dresses, she ignored how she could smell Peter's scent somewhere close by because she could also sense the young werewolf's too. The one thing the vampire hadn't known was that Peter's gaze wasn't only on the young Argent but it was on her too.

*~*

Stiles was nervous, well nervous would be an understatement, he didn't know what to describe what he was feeling.

Here he was standing outside Sage's house on the night of the Winter formal. It had been a couple days since he had seen her since she wanted to spend more time with Lydia, he understood that- girls need their girl time or whatever the hell they do.

He had worked up the courage to ring her bell a couple of seconds ago and he was starting to get worried that the blonde didn't hear it. He was about to ring it again, but the door opened with his fingers mid-air.

Stiles Stilinski always had something to say, he always had some witty or sarcastic comment even in the midst of silence. But right at this moment, the boy was speechless.

He could practically feel his heartbeat in his ears as his eyes scanned the blonde, her hair was perfectly curled in ringlets- Stiles would have compared her hair to Repunzels sea golden locks. The blonde never wore makeup, Stiles always thought she was too beautiful for it and he would still stand by it. The human could see that she had a light shade of eyeshadow that covered her eyelids and her lips were stained in perfect red lipstick.

The vampire made a joke one day and told the human that she loved wearing red lipstick cause it would camouflage the blood if she ever spilt. Well, the human thought it was a joke.

But Stiles secretly liked red on her, it made her look badass.

To top everything off the blonde wore a blood-red dress that stopped just above her knees.

"Stiles."

The human snapped out of his daze from the sound of his name, "Huh?!"

The blonde giggled at him before walking towards him, her smile was infectious. Stiles held out his arm for her and she took it without hesitation.

"You were staring." She silently thanked him as he helped her into the jeep before rushing to his side. In a matter of seconds, they were off to the formal.

"Because you look really beautiful."

Sage's heart warmed at the seriousness in his tone, her gaze never once left Stiles's face as he continued to drive.

"We're here," Stiles said as he pulled up into the parking lot, Sage felt her cheeks heat up realising she had stared at the human the whole way there. She stared at the high school in front of her, she didn't know what to feel. She hadn't been to a dance in a long time, like a long, long time.

She had no idea what to really expect from tonight.

Stiles had managed to help her out of the jeep and she sent him a warm smile thanking the boy, his face and heart warmed from the sight of the girls smile and he swore he would do everything he could to always see her smile.

"Shall we?" The blonde giggled and linked her arms with his as they walked into the school.

~

Sage watched with a smile as Lydia danced with James but she could tell the strawberry blonde's thoughts were of her ex-boyfriend. She sighed out knowing that your first love was always your hardest.

Stiles watched the girl he was so hopelessly obsessed with, he was nervous once again- but he knew that if he wanted to stick to his five step-plan he would have to somehow overcome his awkwardness. His ears perked up from the sound of a slow song and he smiled at the perfect opportunity.

"You wanna dance?"

"Not really."

"You know what? No, let me try that again." He stood up with a confident and strong voice. "Sage- get off your cute little ass and dance with me now."

Sage was shocked by the tone that the human used but she never showed it. Instead, she smiled a teasing smile at the boy, "Cute, but no thank you."

"Sage, get up - okay? You're gonna dance with me." He exclaimed, waving his hands around as if to make a point and she only stared at him. "I don't care that you made out with my best friend or that you're a vampire or that you may only have a connection with me because of this guardian/protector bond crap. Okay, I don't." He confessed. "Sage since you walked into school that day I couldn't get you out of my head, I mean I thought I was in love with Lydia for God's sake, but then you came by and blew me the hell away. I fell for you. Hard. And I know it's not just cause of our bond."

Sage watched the human with wide eyes as he continued his rant. "I mean I know you say that you don't care about Scott or Derek but I know you do, you care about them because Scott's important to me and Allison and Derek is important to Scott. You can try and hide how you feel around them but not from me."

She stared at him as she listened to him rant to her and could find no deceit in his words as she heard his heartbeat, her cheeks warmed at the fact that Stiles just openly admitted that he had feelings for her. She knew she felt something for the human that could not be explained, the human knew her almost better than she knew herself. She smiled at the boy as she stood up and held her hand out for him, only for him to stare at her in confusion.

"One, I did not kiss Scott- the dick tried to kiss me and I almost broke his arm off. Two do not tell them that I remotely care about them, and three. Did you not want to dance?"

His heart skipped a beat, his cheeks flushed as he led her over to the dance floor, "I-I don't...um... know..." He trailed, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

"It's okay." She said softly, grabbing his hands before placing them around her waist and she wrapped her hands around his neck.

Stiles's brown eyes flickered at her, flushing at the curious/innocent look she had on her face as she stared at him with a hint of a small pout on her lips.

"You okay?"

"Your one in a million Stiles Stilinski." The boy stared at the girl in awe as his cheeks reddened, the boy gulped slightly at how close they were. She smiled softly at him before laying her head on his chest, making him pull her in closer. She listened to his heartbeat as they both softly swayed to the music.

The night was going perfectly, they both thought. The blonde lifted her head up, her ocean-blue eyes meeting Stiles's whiskey coloured ones. Stiles breathing slightly hitched when he watched her gaze travel to his lips, out of habit the boy quickly stuck out his tongue to wet his lips but this only got the vampire's heart rate going.

She knew that they both wanted this, so she did the only thing that felt right at this moment.

She kissed him.

Stiles's eyes widen for a moment before realizing what was happening and kissed her back. They both felt it, the bond. The kiss was a soft kiss but passionate, no tongue was needed, they both felt the bond. Every day it got stronger but right now it felt like they were on cloud nine, and at that moment Sage knew that her bond with Stiles Stilinski was no ordinary guardian bond.

They had pulled away from each other, Sages's eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as her ocean-blue eyes met Stiles's whiskey ones.

"I, -- uhm. I- really enjoyed that." The blonde smiled softly at the boy, ready to respond, but before she could she felt something.

Fear.

And it wasn't coming from her.

Stiles, noticing the expression on the girls face began to panic, "Oh my God, what- was that not good for you- cause I swear I can do better-"

"Stiles. have you seen Lydia?" She asked as she continued to scan the hall for her friend.

His brows furrowed. "She might be with Jackson." The blonde only shook her head in response, "No, somethings wrong."

Stiles watched the girl knowing that she was worried about the strawberry blonde, it was one of the things he admired about the vampire. Even if it was because of the guardian bond the blonde cared deeply about her friends.

"Go."

Her head whipped towards him, "What?"

"Go, we can talk later. I know you're worried about her, go. I'll still be here." She smiled softly at the boy, she turned to leave but quickly made the split decision to kiss the boy on his cheek before she rushed out the door looking for her best friend. Stiles could feel his face heating up and his heart racing. Did that just happen? He wondered, the shock of her actions stunning him into deep silence. He felt his lips twitching into a stupid smile, Stiles had successfully ticked three steps off his five-step plan.

*~*

Sage had wandered around the halls looking for her bestfriend, the bond pulling her in the direction of the lacrosse field, but a part of her mind was still stuck on the kiss that she had shared with the Stlinski boy. She stilled in her spot when the scent of blood wafted into her nose. A scent that she knew like the back of her hand. Fear spiked her heart at the thought of her bestfriend. She quickly rushed off in the direction the blood was coming from.

The blonde soon found herself standing on the lacrosse field and her eyes adjusting to the body that lay in the centre of it and quickly ran towards it. It was Lydia, and she had a gaping bite mark on her side.

"Lydia? Lydia?" She tried to shake the girl awake but she was unconscious. She could feel her eyes blurring with tears, she hadn't cried in years, but at the moment she didn't care. Why did this have to happen to Lydia? Why her? "Come on! Wake up!" She tried to see if there were any other wounds on her body but only found the bite mark.

She was gonna do it. Even if it changed the girl she didn't care.

She couldn't have her be dead.

She was about to bite into her wrist but the sound of her name being yelled across the field stopped her, she looked up and saw a horror-stricken Stiles running towards her before her world went black.

~

Stiles held back a sob when he saw Peter snap her neck and kept running until he dropped to his knees near her body. He tried to reach out to her but the werewolf crouched over her as he growled at him warningly.

"Why did you do that?!" Stiles snapped, tears brimming his eyes, his gaze mainly on Sage even though he felt a twinge of worry for Lydia who was lying beside her covered in blood.

"She'll be fine, Stiles." Peter said in a soft mocking tone, "Just tell me how to find Derek."

"W - what?" He choked out.

"Tell me how to find Derek Hale." He demanded.

"I don't know that," Stiles said quickly, his gaze never leaving Sage's body. Would she really be okay? He knew that she was basically dead seeing as she was a vampire and all but he had no idea what would happen. "How would I know that?"

"Because you're the clever one, aren't you? And because deception has a particularly acrid scent, Stiles. Tell me the truth -" He looked down at Sage as he ran a finger down her cheek before looking at Stiles who smelled of fear and anxiety. "Or I will rip her apart and trust me that it'll be a lot more difficult for her to heal from."

Stiles let out a shaky breath. "Look - Look, I don't know, okay? I sw - I swear to god, I have no idea."

"Tell me!" The alpha roared.

The human flinched. "Okay, okay, okay, look, I - I think he knew -"

"Knew what?"

"Derek, I think he - I think he knew he was gonna be caught."

Peter furrowed his brows. "By the Argents?"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah."

"When they were shot, he and Scott-" He paused, "I think he took Scott's phone."

"Why?"

Stiles wanted to take the girl into his arms, he prayed to God that she would wake up, he knew from research that a stake to the heart could kill a vampire but if he didn't help out Peter, he knew that she would really die. He also knew that Lydia was losing a lot of blood and that he needed to get her to a hospital, he knew that if Sage was to wake up and Lydia was still hurt- or even dead. Sage would kill every damn werewolf in this town, and he knew that included Scott.

"They all have GPS now." He explained. "So if he still has it and if it's still on- you can find him."

*~*