BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Aug 31, 2023 22:31:33 GMT
Mystic Falls. To most it was a small town in Virginia where nothing interesting ever really happened but Braeden knew differently. She had been there several times before but it had been a while since the last time and the truth was that she had missed it, or rather she had missed someone there. She had never been the kind of person who liked to be tied down but more times than she cared to admit during her time away her thoughts had been drawn back to Derek. She wasn’t sure how he had managed to get under his skin in the way he had done but she couldn’t help it. She knew that they shouldn’t work, he was a werewolf again now and she was a hunter but things were so easy between them and that was something that she knew she needed. She had left town to try and find some new leads on the Desert Wolf and the Dread Doctors and for a while now she had been feeding information back to Derek about the latter but she had ended up coming across something that she hadn’t expected during her travels – the Croatoan Virus. She had never seen anything like it before but it was spreading and that made it dangerous. She and others had done their best to contain it but they hadn’t been able to and she knew that the last thing she wanted was for Derek or the others to end up catching it. For as long as she could remember she had told herself that she didn’t really care about Derek or his pack but she was starting to realise that that wasn’t true and if she was honest that scared her a little. Braeden wasn’t used to letting people in and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that but she knew that she couldn’t let anything happen to them either so she knew she had to warn them and do everything she could in order to keep them safe.
Riding across the country on her bike was something that she had done before but never with the same sense of purpose that she had now. As it was she had been on the road all day when she finally reached the sign welcoming her to Mystic Falls just as the sun was starting to set. She hadn’t told anyone that she was on her way back or that she was intending on sticking around for a while. She told herself that it was because she wanted it to be a surprise for them but if she was honest there was a part of her that didn’t want them to try and stop her. She wasn’t used to caring about anyone else, for the longest time her mission was all she had tried to focus on but now she had something more than that to think about and if she was honest it was refreshing. Making her way through the familiar streets, she came to a stop outside Derek’s place and parked up before heading inside. She wasn’t surprised to find that the door was locked when she got there but a locked door had never been enough to stop her and it only took Braeden moments to pick the lock and let herself in. Calling out Derek’s name, she wasn’t surprised when no one answered given that she hadn’t seen his car outside but rather than texting him and made her way into the kitchen and poured herself a drink before settling herself down on the sofa and taking a sip as she waited for him to get back.
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Sept 27, 2023 20:04:06 GMT
The paper bag clunked as he set it down in the passenger seat. Dinner wasn’t exactly the only thought he’d bought at the grocery store – and even that was probably stretching the truth. He’d kept his word and had tried not to burn the apartment down, but sometimes he got a little too close to it for his liking. It was easier to pick something up from the Grill when Erica was on shift, when she was home he held his hands up and let her deal with almost as much as she was offering to. It made it easier for everybody else, especially when there were still times that his mind was elsewhere.
Dinner might’ve ended up being at the Grill again tonight, but as he’d pulled up in the square, he’d seen her at the bar. Red hair still tumbling to her shoulders exactly the same way it had when he’d last seen her, only then there’d been red on her hands too, blood welling momentarily in those wounds as he’d extracted the last of the glass from Alix’s hands. The next morning she’d been gone and Derek had told himself that it was better for both of them that he didn’t go after her. He’d said his piece and he knew that the venom he’d spat over her lies had cut her as deeply as the glass had. After that he wouldn’t blamed her if she’d left town, but every now and then he got a text from her about something she’d found out about the Dread Doctors and he knew that as long as they were here, she would be too.
Decision made he’d headed over to the store. Erica would be working til late, which meant he was handling all of this himself while he pored over the maps for the thousandth time since Stiles and Scott had pulled him out of the crypt. They’d both helped – Stiles more than he really wanted at times – the rest of the pack too. And Braeden. Derek pulled his phone from his pocket before he pulled out and headed back towards the apartment building. Like Alix she’d contacted him when she managed to turn something up, unlike Alix she’d continued to be tangled up with him. She might’ve been a hunter too, but not in the same way that Alix had been, and Braeden had never tried to hide who she was from him in the same way. Omitting the truth was still a lie in a way, but she hadn’t put a gun against his head and then tried to bullshit her way out of it. The betrayal still stung, but not in the way it once had.
It was already vanishing from his mind when he reached the apartment building. Already dissatisfied by the thought of just eating his way through a bag of chips with salsa and guac, Derek was considering ordering in as he took the stairs up to the apartment two at a time. Erica would probably eat at work, but maybe by the time she was done eating a dinner that took no more energy than lifting the lid on a pizza box was gonna be appealing.
Caught in the dilemma of sausage and peppers or double pepperoni he didn’t catch the scent of her until he was halfway through the apartment door. Derek hung his coat up in the hall before he drifted into the living room, already following the invisible trail that Braeden had left as she'd picked her way through his locks and had made herself at home. He set the bag down on the coffee table, the usually grim line of his mouth quirking into a faint smile. ”I bought extras … if they’re needed,” he told her, explaining the clink that had come again as he set the bag down and the beer bottles inside rattled together. ”When did you get back into town? I wasn’t sure when I’d see you again.” Sometime was about as close to an exact date as it felt like he ever managed to get with Braeden.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Oct 19, 2023 21:45:09 GMT
Braeden had been on her own for such a long time that the truth was she had forgotten what it was like to have people in her corner. Derek and the others were meant to just be a job, a means to an end while she made some money to keep her going during her hunt for the Desert Wolf, but the truth was that they had become so much more than that. Somewhere along the line she had started to care for them, Derek especially, and that had scared Braeden at first. She had done everything she could in order to bury it and she had tried her best to put it out of her mind completely but that was so much easier said than done. Her mission had been her focus for such a long time that she could hardly remember the last time she had felt like she actually had a life. The closest she came was when she was with Derek, he had a way of helping her get out of her head and he was the one person that she could let her walls down a little with. She knew that it was going to take time for her to open up completely but he had managed to get under her skin and she would be lying if she said that he hadn’t crossed her mind a few times during the ride back to Mystic Falls. There were others in town that had come to mean a lot to Braeden, not that she would ever admit that of course since that would mean showing weakness and that wasn’t something that she liked to do, but he was the person that she was most eager to see and she found herself making her way through town in the direction of his home with ease. It was almost a reflex at this point but as far as she was concerned that wasn’t a bad thing and she hoped that Derek wouldn’t think that it was either.
Parking her bike outside, Braeden let herself in to Derek’s place and didn’t hesitate in making herself at home. She knew that some might not think that that was a good idea given what Derek could be like but this was her and Braeden liked to keep him on his toes. She hadn’t told Derek that she was on her way back to Mystic Falls, hell she hadn’t told anyone that little piece of information, but there was a part of her that wanted to see his reaction. Braeden had been a lone wolf for such a long time, for lack of a better phrase, and Derek had been as well but he was changing his ways and letting the pack be there for him and Braeden was starting to think that perhaps it was about time that she started changing her ways too. The phoenix stones were safely tucked away in the bag that she had carried across the country with her, she knew that they were going to need them and she also knew that she was going to have to fill Derek and the others in if they hadn’t already come across anyone who was infected with the virus but that wasn’t a problem for now, it could wait until the morning.
Taking a sip of her drink, Braeden didn’t need to look up as someone entered to know who it was. She knew the sound of Derek approaching by now and he was alone which meant that Erica was most likely at work and that suited Braeden just fine. “They’ll definitely be needed, you’ve got some catching up to do,” Braeden nodded as she looked over at Derek, a smile touching her lips as she took in the sight of him for the first time in what felt like too long. “About five minutes ago, I came straight here,” she admitted, setting her glass down on the table and getting to her feet before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. She wasn’t sure whether he would pick her up and steal her breath away the way he usually did so it was her way of testing the waters first. She wasn’t really sure what they were to each other, they had never really stopped long enough to talk about it, but she cared about Derek and she would be lying if she said that she hadn’t missed him. Derek hadn’t said anything but there was always a chance that he might have started seeing someone while she was gone and she knew that if that was the case or he didn’t want what they’d had before then she would back off. “I know, I’m sorry about that,” she said sincerely. “Things have been pretty.... hectic, but I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Nov 19, 2023 20:26:39 GMT
Coming back to the apartment and finding someone there didn’t feel so strange anymore, although it was different when it was Cora or Erica buzzing around the place. This was home for them, at least he hoped it felt that way. Even Stiles would’ve been familiar, although the warnings to tear him apart one limb at a time seemed to have curbed his tendency to break in before his brain caught on that it might be a really bad idea. Braeden, like Alix had been, was still an unknown quantity of sorts. He’d trusted her with his life, still had, but Derek was never sure where he stood with her. Wasn’t sure if he’d wake up in the morning to find her still asleep next to him or the sheets cold and no real explanation left behind. The voice in the back of his head, the one that belonged to the realist in him, told him that he couldn’t expect one, but still, he found himself wondering after the last time.
If he’d been ballsy enough to walk into the Grill tonight he might’ve been caught up between the two women who seemed to be putting everything they had into stopping the things manipulating the people in this town, the monsters hiding in plain sight. They had to be. Derek had found himself looking twice at every face in those first few months after Stiles and Scott had found him and that feeling of being watched had only grown after Alix had almost shot him. Maybe her uncle was still lurking out there, waiting to take the shot himself, maybe it was just paranoia. Gradually the feeling had started to fade again, but finding Braeden here was probably a sign that he shouldn’t have let it.
Pale eyes latched onto her dark ones, the smile that curved her full lips offering up a little reassurance. She’d navigated bad situations he couldn’t even imagine, but in each one he had seen her in she’d always been in full business mode. He went to round the coffee table, but Braeden was already rising. ”I should consider that flattering,” he murmured, drinking that kiss in. His arms slid around her waist, drawing her in hard against him. When the kiss finally broke and he was looking down at her, his eyes were narrowed, studying her now. ”The catching up part sounds ominous though. Maybe try leading with the good news next time.” There was a wry trace of humour to his voice that was capable of disappearing in an instant.
He shook his head, not making a move to drop them both down on the couch yet. The thought of dinner had slipped away the moment he’d seen her. No doubt they’d be hungry later, but the mention of catching up had left him antsy. He’d always hated being out of the loop. It had only gotten worse after Paige had died. Now questions without answers tore at him when they came up. ”Work comes first,” he assured her. ”I’m glad to hear it. There’s been plenty of hectic here. We could use an extra set of hands. You wanna go first?” His voice was light, but there was still a tension in the line of his shoulders and the line of his lips. It had felt like there was something brewing here lately, the sort of thing that usually dragged them all in sooner rather than later – including the ominous presence of the darach who’d killed Danny.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Nov 22, 2023 23:50:44 GMT
Braeden knew that breaking into someone’s apartment uninvited wasn’t a good idea but this was Derek’s and even though she had been gone for a while, the truth was that he was the first person that she wanted to see when she arrived in Mystic Falls. It had only ever been fun between them but deep down she cared about him even if that wasn’t something that she was ready to admit out loud. That was why she had been working so hard to try and find out who the Dread Doctors were but they were infuriatingly good at covering their tracks it seemed. She had fed information back to Derek when she came across it but she knew that it wasn’t the same as being there on the front lines with him and everyone else. Braeden had been on her own for such a long time that the truth was that she wasn’t very good at letting others in. She worked with others when she had to, even double crossed some of them when it suited her or made off with something they would rather she didn’t have, but when it came to Derek there wasn’t any of that. She respected him, Scott and the pack and she helped them because she wanted to, not because she had to or because she was being paid to. That was something that she had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t let happen to her again but if she was honest it felt good knowing that there were people out there who cared and she had missed that more than she had realised.
Naturally there were still things that she couldn’t share with Derek or anyone else and talking about herself or her past wasn’t something that she had ever been very good at but she always let him as much as she was capable of and he seemed to do the same for her so it worked for them. A half smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as Derek started making his way around the table towards her and she nodded. “You should, there isn’t anyone else who gets this treatment,” she said as her lips met his and for a moment she let herself get lost in the kiss. She had made sure to seek Derek out every time she was in town but she didn’t know whether he had been with anyone else since she was last here. She hadn’t been, for some reason it just hadn’t felt right when she had thought about it, but it was still a little presumptuous kissing him considering he could be seeing someone. He kissed her back, though, and that alone was enough to reassure her. “I meant catching up with the beers since I’m already half way through my first but there are some things I need to fill you in on as well,” Braeden admitted. She hadn’t told Derek or the others about the virus or the Phoenix stones but she planned on doing that now that she was back in Mystic Falls.
“For a little too long, maybe,” she shrugged as Derek said that work came first. Truth be told she couldn’t remember the last time that she had actually put down roots somewhere but that was starting to become a little more tempting especially now. “Is that so?” Braeden said, a teasing smile forming on her face as Derek said he was glad to hear that she wasn’t going anywhere again anytime soon. “Anyone would think you’d missed me.” That wasn’t meant to be something that either of them was capable of but deep down she knew that she had missed Derek and there was a part of her that was curious whether he felt the same. “And here I was hoping to put my feet up for a bit,” she said, mock sighing as Derek said it had been hectic there too and they could use an extra pair of hands. “I’m afraid it’s about to get worse. There’s a virus spreading across the country affecting people who are supernatural, it’s making them crazy and causing them to go after other supernaturals as well as humans. There are people trying to work on a cure but it’s taking time and until then the only way to stop them is by trapping them inside a phoenix stone. It acts like a prison, it keeps them there until they can be released and cured,” she explained, knowing that there wasn’t any point in hiding the truth from Derek since she planned on warning the pack as soon as she could. “How about you, what’s been going on here?”
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Dec 19, 2023 22:15:02 GMT
If Braeden had rushed straight here immediately after he’d put her on the trail of the things that had turned him into someone he hadn’t recognised when he’d looked in the mirror he would’ve bristled now, bracing himself for something he was sure he didn’t want to hear. Finding the Dread Doctors and forcing them to take back whatever they’d done to him had been the only thing he could think about. He’d practically begged Braeden to help him track them down and had to fight to allow anything else into his life at the same time. As the months had passed the need had eased, but it had taken the bite from Scott for him to feel like the old Derek was back. He still wanted to get his hands on the twisted sons of bitches, but it wasn’t the only thing anymore. Seeing something else in Braeden coming here the moment she got to Mystic Falls was proof of it.
Derek’s smirk grew, his fingers tapping lightly against his chest before he reached for her. The last time he’d felt like someone had wanted him like that things had gone bad – and every single time before that – but there was still a faint kick in his chest at her words. ”Looks like I’m special,” he murmured lightly against her mouth. That was probably painting a target on his chest for karma to kick him again, but he wasn’t gonna start focusing on that now that his biggest problem was behind him. He glanced down at the table as Braeden adjusted her explanation. Her bottle was already open, but not finished. ”I doubt that’ll take me long – especially if those things are as bad as I’m imagining.” His voice was going dry, his thirst growing at the thought. The beer wasn’t gonna do much to soften the edge of whatever bad news was coming, but it wasn’t gonna hurt either.
The first couple of weeks of Braeden being gone, he’d expected her back at any time, but as time had spun out, Derek had found himself not reacting to the sound of every motorbike, thinking it was her. Work had always been a huge focus in her life, the Desert Wolf her version of the Dread Doctors. It was a double edged sword – lives were probably being saved, but in doing it you had to sacrifice your own needs. In a way being a good Alpha was the same, although he hadn’t realised it until he was sacrificing his spark to save Cora’s life. The corner of Derek’s mouth kicked up as he nodded slowly at her. ”Mm hmm. If you wanna offer them up.” In the past that might’ve cost him a chunk of money, but Braeden’s arrangement with the pack had gradually changed. Laughing low and weary, Derek shook his head at the idea that things were gonna be easy for her. There was no rest for bad asses.
He’d been happy to stay on his feet with her, but the moment Braeden said it was about to get worse, the weight suddenly pressed on his shoulders. Derek sat slowly, drawing her down with him. Any sign of a smile had been crushed out of him, lines springing up between his brows as he frowned. The news wasn’t good – as though it ever was in this town. ”How far has it spread?” he asked hoarsely. Mystic Falls was a mecca for the supernatural, the same way Beacon Hills had been. How long would it take something like that to hit here? ”You know what this town’s like, people are constantly going missing, turning up dead.” How much worse would it have to get before someone realised something worse than usual was going on. Derek let out a long breath. ”Other than Danny dying? There’s some whispers about something going on with the storms, old stories about people being abducted, but nobody’s been able to pinpoint anybody who’s actually gone.” It wasn’t like the Sheriff was screaming from the rooftops about more disappearances than usual either.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Jan 17, 2024 0:51:21 GMT
Braeden had let her mercenary work take her wherever it needed to for far too long. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had put roots down anywhere, the closest had probably been when she was last around Derek for a long period of time and even that she had let come to an end. Her hunt for the Desert Wolf had consumed her for such a long time and the truth was that she wasn’t sure how to stop it now. Things were different this time though, she had people who were counting on her now and she had someone that she had actually missed while she was away. That wasn’t something that Braeden was used to at all, normally she only cared about herself but somehow Derek and the others had really ended up getting under her skin and no matter how much she tried to ignore it, she just couldn’t seem to shake that feeling. She had done a lot of things that she wasn’t proud of and she had made mistakes along the way but it didn’t seem to matter to Derek or the pack. They seemed happy to accept her regardless and that was something that she hadn’t thought that she would ever find, nor had she thought that she would find someone who could see past the scars that Deucalion had left her with. She had been on her own ever since her parents died but now that she was back in Mystic Falls she couldn’t seem to shake that feeling of coming home.
As Derek said he was special, Braeden felt a smile touch her lips. “You are,” she said before she could stop herself, pressing her lips to his in another kiss. There hadn’t been anyone since him because the truth was that it just hadn’t felt right. She didn’t know all the details about what Derek had been through in the past but she knew that he had been burned before and she was determined to make sure that she didn’t end up hurting him the same way. It wasn’t work that had brought her back to Mystic Falls this time, it was her desire to protect Derek and the rest of the pack and for once she was starting to think that perhaps it might be time to consider putting some roots down once more. “I won’t lie to you, it is bad but we’re going to figure it out,” Braeden assured him. The Phoenix stones would work until they found a cure for the virus but she honestly hoped that they wouldn’t have to be used too often.
Braeden didn’t want to shatter whatever peace Derek and the others might have found in Mystic Falls while she was gone, the Dread Doctors were still out there but Derek was a werewolf again at least so that was a blessing. Those infected by the virus had made their way to Mystic Falls, though, and Braeden knew that they all needed to be prepared. “You know I’ll help in any way I can,” Braeden said, shaking her head in amusement at the smile on Derek’s face. There was a time when she wouldn’t have done anything without getting paid for it and for most people she still wouldn’t but Derek and the pack were the exception to that rule. She would kill anyone who accused her of going soft but when it came to them, she always seemed to find a loophole.
Telling Derek about the virus wasn’t easy, Braeden wished she could have saved him from having to know but she knew that it was probably better coming from her. Sitting down next to Derek, Braeden clasped his hands in her own. His reaction was along the lines of what she had expected and she shook her head as he asked how far the virus has spread. “No one knows for sure. We thought we had it contained in Iowa but a few managed to get away. A few of those have been tracking down those infected but my sources say the virus has already made it to Mystic Falls,” she explained. That was why she didn’t want to take the risk, she needed to be here doing everything she could to protect the people she had come to care about. Braeden was able to stop herself from wincing when Derek mentioned Danny but it was close. “I’m really sorry about Danny, he was a good kid,” she said gently. “Have you managed to find his body or the person responsible?” she asked, not sure how the search had ended up going in the end. “Something going on with the storms?” she repeated. “Any idea what?” She had heard rumours of something similar but she didn’t want to think that one town could be cursed with so much bad luck in one go.
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Jan 27, 2024 20:59:17 GMT
Heat rose up along Derek’s cheekbones at Braeden’s compliment. He drew back from her just far enough to look into her eyes, bitter chocolate gone warm in their depths. His own were pale, cold at times, but now they crinkled at the corners as his smile softened. They stayed in that curve as Braeden kissed him, the gratitude for her words pressed right there. There was a faint taste of the beer on her lips, one he was sure would grow stronger as he started in on his own bottle. Bitterness would be washed away for a short time at least. When he looked up from it to meet her eyes again the softness had vanished, leaving the hard lines behind. ”That sounds ominous,” Derek drawled dryly. Ominous and so close to what had become normal for them. There wasn’t any fooling themselves into thinking the move had been for the best anymore – things here were just as nightmarish as back in Beacon Hills, it just wasn’t his family behind half of it anymore.
Once upon a time he’d been facing all of that himself, refusing to let Scott or the others help. As his pack had started to fall apart Derek had realised he couldn’t carry on that way. A pack needed to come together, not push each other away when trouble came knocking. He’d left himself open to Jennifer Blake, needing someone so badly that he hadn’t seen the warning signs that were right there in front of him. This time he’d kept his eyes open, had tried to protect those around them, but Braeden wasn’t someone blind to the trouble in this town. Her eyes were open too and at her offer, he was nodding to her. ”It’s appreciated,” he told her lightly, that rare smile remaining a few moments longer. Maybe Braeden would be able to turn up something on Danny’s disappearance at least. That had left a big hole in the middle of their lives, one he wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to fill without getting Danny back.
Sitting down for this probably wasn’t gonna be any easier than standing up, the surprise would hit with the same viciousness. Derek’s gaze dropped to their linked hands, his dark brows drawing closer together. He hadn’t imagined it would be all sunshine and rainbows for Braeden while she was gone, but he hadn’t expected this either. Swallowing hard, he tried to focus on what she was saying. ”You’re safe though?” he asked hoarsely, looking up to study her face. If this was an infection, it probably wouldn’t be choosy in who it spread to. ”I can ask around, see if anybody’s heard something about it.” People in the pack tended to keep their ear to the ground, even without the threat of some world ending event hanging over them.
Turning his hands over, Derek laced his fingers with Braeden’s, squeezing at the sentiment. ”He was and he didn’t deserve what happened to him. It’s some curse, something he was almost expecting, but Riley and the others thought they could stop it.” Lips pressed together, he shook his head. ”No body, no sign of the darach either.” If that was who had killed him, the rest seemed pretty damn sure of it. As Braeden switched over to the storms he bought up, Derek glanced at the window like he’d seen another brewing. ”People are saying they’re omens,” he said, trying to lighten his tone. ”There are too many myths about the storms to narrow it down, but if people are vanishing maybe something’s using the storms to hunt. You ever hear about anything like that?” Talia had been full of knowledge, Deaton too, but with both of them and Danny gone, working these things out felt like fumbling around in the dark.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Feb 13, 2024 0:24:16 GMT
The way Derek’s cheeks flushed red when she said he was special was enough to draw a smile to Braeden’s face. She knew that Derek wasn’t used to hearing that from anyone, hell she wasn’t used to saying it to anyone, but it was the truth. She’d had flings before she met Derek but they had never meant anything and she hadn’t even bothered learning the guys’ names half the time. Derek was different, he was the person she kept coming back to and she had known that she’d wanted to see him even before she rented herself a room at the motel. She had made a beeline for his apartment and she didn’t regret it. No one else got to see this side of her, it was something that only Derek got to see and she knew that she could trust him to keep her secret just like he could trust her to keep his. There was a part of Braeden that wished they could just stay in the blissful moment of Derek’s lips against hers for the rest of the night but Derek had questions and Braeden knew that she didn’t want to keep things from him so she knew that she was going to have to tell him the truth. “Doesn’t it always?” she asked, a wry smile forming on her face as Derek said that it sounded ominous. It always did to start with but so far they’d found a way to deal with everything that had come their way and she knew that they would continue to do so, they had to.
“I’m only ever a phone call away if you need me, you know that right?” Braeden asked. No matter what she was doing if Derek or the pack needed her then she knew that she would be there. For a while she had tried to convince herself that she was only helping them because it meant that she was going to get paid but somewhere along the line she had started to care about all of them, Derek especially, and she knew that she was never going to leave them in the lurch if they needed her. She’d fed whatever information about the Dread Doctors she’d been able to dig up back to Derek but now the danger was far too close at hand and she knew that she needed to be there to make sure that they all stayed safe and spread the word as much as possible. There were a lot of hunters in Mystic Falls and Braeden knew that it was time to bring them into the fight against this new virus as well. That wasn’t all that was going on in town, though, and Braeden felt ready to throw herself into the thick of it once again.
Breaking the news to Derek about the virus wasn’t easy but what surprised Braeden most was that his first concern was for her. That realisation was enough to draw a reassuring smile to her lips as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m fine,” she assured him gently. “It doesn’t affect humans, it’s you I’m worried about.” Derek had already been through so much and the last thing she wanted was for him to end up becoming infected. “That would be great,” she admitted as he said that he would ask around and see if anyone had heard about it. “I’m going to reach out to the Argents and the other hunters in town. They need to be warned and I may have acquired a stash of phoenix stones so we can at least keep Mystic Falls as safe as possible.” She knew that there were people who wouldn’t be happy that she had managed to get her hands on them but the truth was that she doesn’t care. She had travelled the country passing the stones around and letting hunters know what they were up against but now the virus had spread to Mystic Falls despite best efforts to stop it and she knew that it was going to be a case of all hands on deck.
Looking down at their joined hands as Derek laced their fingers together, Braeden lifted her gaze as Derek spoke. “He knew it was going to happen? That must have been awful,”she breathed. Nothing in life was guaranteed, Braeden knew that, but to know that you were cursed and that it could cost you your life had to be awful. She shook her head as Derek said that they hadn’t found Danny’s body or any sign of the darach either. “What can I do to help?” she asked, knowing that there had to be something. Braeden followed Derek’s gaze as he looked at the window before speaking again and her expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “I did hear something a while ago about a thing called the Wild Hunt. Phantom hunters called Ghost Riders would appear in storm clouds riding black horses with blood-red eyes. They don’t just take people, they erase them from existence.”
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Mar 26, 2024 20:04:54 GMT
Face still hot, Derek made a low sound of agreement at Braeden’s question. There was a chill in the pit of his stomach at the thought of what could be coming next that the heat couldn’t erase. Any peace they got didn’t last long, vanishing with the next dark cloud on the horizon, the next maniac to pick Mystic Falls as the target for their twisted little scheme. In Beacon Hills, at least until the fire, it had always been Talia Hale stepping up to the front line to help prevent these things. With his mother’s death it was like there’d been a vacuum at the centre of all of that. It shouldn’t have been down to Scott to fill in the end, but it was him who’d stepped up to try and hold that line. The longer Scott had been Alpha, the more he’d filled out the ranks of people willing to put their lives on the line to protect their community. Derek didn’t know if it was him drawing Braeden back here to join them again, or if it was Scott. Either way he was glad she was here.
”I know,” he promised, his voice a low rumble. He sifted on the couch, his thigh pressing against Braeden’s like he could reinforce that connection with the touch. She would be there at his side if he ever tracked down the things that had tried to twist him into someone, something else. No matter what the fight was, Braeden would step up for them – without the payment she’d wring out of anybody else for something approaching the same support. ”And you know I’ll be there if you ever need me too,” Derek reminded her, pale eyes finding her dark ones. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t an Alpha anymore, whatever he had, he’d put on the line for her, for the pack.
It felt as though the Dread Doctors should have remained the biggest threat here, still snatching people off the street, performing their twisted experiments. Apparently something had slithered into town though, maybe past them without their notice, maybe from their own hands. That thought twisted his gut. Dark brows drew together, his lips curving only to try and reassure her. ”Nothing’s gonna happen to me,” he murmured, as though he had any hope of fighting off something he couldn’t even see. At the mention of the Argents, Derek stilled for a moment before he relaxed again. He was never gonna be besties with Chris Argent after what his sister had done, but the man had proved himself as a hunter. ”You think they’ll be able to use some of them to help?” If there was anybody in town with hunter connections it was the Argents. ”How do you use them?” Talia probably wouldn’t have had to ask the question, but without her or Deaton here, it felt as though he was fumbling in the dark in a closet of supernatural secrets sometimes.
Danny must have felt the same way as he tried to figure out a way to stop the darach from killing him. A brand burned into his skin, a threat of what was to come that he hadn’t been able to avoid in the end. ”It’s been happening to his family for generations,” Derek explained, his expression settling back into its usual grim lines. ”We could use your tracking skills. They’ve been doing spells, trying to find some way to track where he might be. If we go to where it happened, do you think you could work some of it out?” It had been months, but he’d seen Braeden make out trails just as cold before. It wasn’t the only trouble in town and it felt like he was piling too much on Braeden to tell her about the storms too. He did it anyway, freezing as he looked back at her, as though caught in one of those flashes of lightning. ”They’re not just a myth?” he asked tightly. ”I should have put it together. Talia used to tell us stories.” That chill was back in his stomach. How many had vanished before any of them had started to put together was happening?
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Apr 1, 2024 23:22:58 GMT
Braeden’s smile grew wider at the way Derek’s cheeks remained flushed red and she brought her hand up and let it rest lightly against his cheek. “You’re cute when you blush,” she teased. The truth was that she’d meant it when she’d said that Derek was special, he was the only guy she found herself thinking about often and even though it had been a while since they had last seen each other, there still hadn’t been anyone else during that time. She wasn’t sure whether he had been with anyone else while she was gone and there was a part of her that didn’t want to know the answer to that question but either way it was good to be back. Braeden hadn’t felt like anywhere was home for a long time, Beacon Hills had come close while she was there because of the people in it but in the end she had left when the next job came along. Now most of the people she had known back in Beacon Hills were in Mystic Falls and being around Derek again was already starting to give her a feeling of being home.
“Good,” Braeden nodded as Derek said he knew he could call on her whenever he needed her. There were very few people in Braeden’s life that she cared about but Derek definitely fell into that category and she knew that she would never abandon him. She had done her best not to let herself care about anyone before she crossed paths with him, Scott and the pack but they had found a way to get under her skin. When it came to them she didn’t do the things she did for money, she did it because she genuinely wanted to help them and now was no different. As far as she knew they hadn’t been affected by the virus yet and she wanted to make sure that it stayed that way. The threat had made its way to Mystic Falls and that meant that no one in the town was safe. “I know, thank you,” she said, a smile touching her lips as their eyes met. She knew she could trust Derek to have her back more than she could trust anyone else and that meant more to her than she had thought it would.
“It had better not,” Braeden said fiercely. She had already seen Derek struggle after being turned into a shapeshifter and she knew that she really didn’t want to see anything like that happen to him again. The virus had a way of making people forget who they were and she had seen it turn even siblings against one another. Braeden cared too much about Derek to want to see him lose himself like that and she knew that she would do anything she could in order to make that happen, she just hoped that he would be careful as well. As Derek asked if she thought the Argents would be able to use the phoenix stones to help, Braeden nodded. “I think so. They’re best set into something like a dagger, stab someone affected by the virus with one and their spirit will be sucked into the stone until they can be cured,” she explained. It wasn’t easy as it meant needing to get close enough to the person to do that but it was the only way she knew of to stop them from hurting others so she knew that she needed to pass them out as quickly as possible.
As Derek said that people in Danny’s family had been dying for generations, Braeden’s expression softened. “Poor kid. It’s one thing to know that being a part of this world can get you killed, knowing it’s a sure thing is something else entirely.” She really couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must be like having that hanging over your ahead, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Braeden nodded as Derek said that they could use her tracking skills. “Of course. I can’t make any promises but I’ll do what I can,” she assured him. She didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, there was a chance that she might not be able to find anything but one thing he knew about her was that she was persistent and she wouldn’t give up easily. “It’s hard to say for sure because they’re so thorough in what they do but I’ve heard about impressions being left behind that some people are able to pick up and rumour has it there was a lone survivor from one of the towns they hit.”
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on May 5, 2024 17:43:19 GMT
Cute wasn’t a word that Derek had associated with himself in far too long. Cuteness meant that there was something soft about him and that had all been compressed down so far by the things that had happened that he wasn’t sure any part of him could be seen that way again. His heart being torn out twice, the loss of almost every member of his family. His fall from grace once he’d stolen away Scott’s chance at becoming human again by becoming Alpha. All of it had left him brittle and hard hearted. Maybe what had happened with the Dread Doctors had stripped some of that away, revealing what he’d thought had been erased. When Braeden looked at him that way, he could certainly feel it. His head dipped, his cheeks burning all the hotter. One corner of his mouth rose in a silent acknowledgement of her teasing though. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to reclaim some of who he had been.
Over the last couple of years she’d been there for him in more ways than he could ever thank her for. She’d pulled all of them out of the fire, gradually ending up more a part of the pack than just a hired gun. When he’d been changed she’d gone out there, looking for the answers he’d so desperately needed while he’d stayed here. Someone he knew he could always call on. As she acknowledged his reciprocal offer, Derek reached out and settled his hand on her thigh for a moment, squeezing gently. ”I should be thanking you,” he said lightly. ”I owe you more than I think I could ever repay.” Thanks to her and the pack he’d have the chance to though.
Derek’s lips flattened to a thin line at Braeden’s vehemence over the promise he’d practically just made to her. There were plenty of things in this town just as bad as the Dread Doctors are none of them would draw the line at coming for someone who’d already suffered so much. ”I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t,” Derek told her. He’d never quit fighting before, he wasn’t about to now. If Gerard had been here he’d have turned those dangers into something even deadlier. He was a man who saw opportunities in suffering. Turning the virus into even more of a weapon he’d have wiped out half of the supernatural world. Supernaturals would literally tear each other apart, ridding the world of their filth. Chris Argent and his daughter were different. ”It sounds simple,” he said softly. ”One little wound and they’re safely locked away. How long for though? Are we just sitting, waiting for a cure?” It wasn’t like a physical problem where they could just destroy it. This was light fighting a ghost while everything around you was trying to take you down.
It had to have been feeling that way for Danny for months. Not knowing who he was able to trust, if that guy who glanced his way on the street was going to be the one that killed him. Despite all their searching, they were still no closer to understanding what had happened to him and Derek knew that it had to be killing Riley and his family. ”He could’ve hid what he was.” Derek’s voice grew tight, his body slumping back slightly against the couch. ”His parents did, but Danny wanted to use what he could do to protect his friends.” He understood that need, he’d given his Alpha spark up to save Cora after all. Derek let out a long breath and wrapped his arm around Braeden’s shoulders, drawing her in against him as she said she was willing to help. ”Anything you can do would be appreciated,” he promised. ”You think the survivor’s got any clues on how to get them to move along? Or how to stop them?” There were plenty of people in town who’d try to make it happen, but it didn’t mean any of them would be successful.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Jun 20, 2024 23:05:25 GMT
Braeden was used to being on her own but somewhere along the line that had changed. She had kept herself at such a distance from people both emotionally and physically and she hadn’t planned on letting Derek get under her skin or developing a soft spot for the others but that was exactly what had happened. She cared about them and she might not be the best at showing that but she knew that she would always be there for them when they needed her, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind about that. As it was she had been gone for a long time, longer than she had wanted to be if she was completely honest with herself, but she was back now and she didn’t have any plans to leave any time soon. In the past she had always gone wherever a lead had taken her but Mystic Falls was a beacon for the supernatural just like Beacon Hills was and she knew that she needed to make sure that the people who lived there were kept as safe from the virus as they could be. She didn’t know how to cure it yet but she could at least make sure that they were as prepared as possible and distribute the phoenix stones so that others in town could use them too. That wasn’t the only reason why she had decided to head to Mystic Falls that time though, she had wanted to see Derek again and she knew that the fact that she had gone straight to his place without even going to the motel first and getting herself situated really did say something.
As Derek said he owed her more than he could ever repay, Braeden shook her head. “You don’t owe me anything,” she assured him. She hadn’t gone out there looking for answers for Derek because there had been a pay check that could come at the end of it, she had done it because she had wanted to help him. She had seen just how much being changed into a shapeshifter had affected Derek and he wasn’t the only one the Dread Doctors had taken either. They had messed with more lives than she probably knew and they needed to be stopped so she would have gone out there looking for information about them regardless but for now that needed to take a backseat while they dealt with the more imminent threat. Once that was over, though, all bets were off although Braeden knew that if she could find information and find a way to stay in Mystic Falls while she searched then she would. She hadn’t been the kind of person who needed anyone for a long time but now she had been reunited with Derek, she already wasn’t sure that she wanted to leave him behind again.
“I’m going to hold you to that, you know,” Braeden assured Derek as he said he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that nothing happened to him. “I’ll do what I can to make sure nothing happens to you either.” She had done her best to help him pick up the pieces the last time and she had seen the way that Derek hadn’t felt like the same person anymore. No one deserved to go through that once let alone twice and she knew that she would do anything to spare him from having to go through that again. As Derek said that using the phoenix stones sounded easy, Braeden couldn’t help but laugh. “It does, doesn’t it?” she asked thoughtfully. “Getting close enough to them without getting hurt or in your case infected is the more difficult part,” she shrugged. People who were infected by the virus were unpredictable at best and murderous at worst so it was never going to be as easy as it sounded. “Since when have you known me to just sit around and wait for anything?” Braeden challenged, an eyebrow raised as she looked over at him. “There are people out there working on a cure as we speak and when I speak to Ric, I know he’ll get the Salvatore School on the case as well.” The more people they had working on a cure the better as far as she was concerned.
Unfortunately there were some problems that they just couldn’t find a solution to now matter how much they wanted to but she knew that the virus wasn’t going to be one of those like Danny’s curse had been. The virus was something new whereas Danny’s curse had been affecting his family for generations. Braeden knew that they had all been working hard to find a way to save him but in the end it just hadn’t been enough. As Derek said that Danny could have hid what he was like his parents did but he chose to use it to help his friends, Braeden felt a small smile touch her lips. “It sounds like he did the right thing and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from you and the others, it’s that not everyone stays dead. Are you any closer to finding a way to bring him back?” she asked. Scott had mentioned that they were trying to do that in one of his messages but she hadn’t heard anything for a while so she assumed they hadn’t figured anything out yet but she still wanted to check. Braeden’s smile grew slightly as Derek drew her against him and she settled back against him, letting her head rest against his shoulder for a moment. “With how long it’s been there might not be any clues left but if there are, I’ll do my best to find them,” she assured him. As he spoke again, her expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “Possibly,” she nodded. “Listen, what happened to Danny is personal so if you’re not doing anything tomorrow how about you show me what you’ve found so far first and then we’ll go see if we can track down the survivor together?” she suggested, knowing that if Derek was busy then he could just point her in the right direction instead.
DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 99
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 30, 2024 19:22:00 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Jun 28, 2024 19:42:33 GMT
”We’re not gonna agree on that,” Derek said, his voice low. He studied Braeden’s face, his hand staying in place on her thigh. For a woman who’d expected payment for everything to start with, she’d made one hell of a U-turn to end up telling him that he didn’t owe her anything now. It wasn’t about the monetary, she’d given him things money couldn’t buy. Staunch support, advice when he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it. Over the last couple of years Braeden had pulled him out of sticky situations, saving the others too, putting her life on the line for people she’d barely known. She probably wouldn’t want to hear it, but that made her pack in a way. If things shifted and she was the one in need of help, the pack would back her up. From the sound of things it might just end up heading that way soon, another problem, or problems brewing when they still hadn’t finished dealing with the last one.
His smile had all but vanished as they’d spoken, but Derek’s lips twitched faintly at the corners now. He hadn’t made that promise lightly. There weren’t many people left in his life that he’d end up fighting to get back to, but Braeden had become one of them. ”You can kick my ass if I don’t manage it,” he said lightly. A lump wedged itself into his throat as he swallowed though. That might take someone bringing him back from the dead to make it happen. If he couldn’t fight his way back, it wouldn’t be for a lack of trying. Over the last couple of years he’d put everything he had into these seemingly endless fights. ”The feeling’s mutual,” Derek told her hoarsely. He wasn’t about to lose anybody else he cared about.
Every fight had taken something out of them and fighting against something they couldn’t hit, that he couldn’t tear apart with teeth and claw sounded like it’d take the most. Derek’s smile twitched as Braeden laughed at his words, but he’d learned not to entirely trust a fight that seemed too easy. ”Does this thing only effect the supernatural? Are you gonna be able to get close without catching it?” Or transmitting it. Willing to risk getting sick yourself was entirely different to risking someone you cared about. As though he could look for a sign that the fight had already done damage to Braeden, Derek let his gaze sweep over her, his own chuckle emerged as he reached her eyes again. ”Never,” he said, his voice low. ”If there’s a fight, you’re always one of the first in it.” There were others like that in town too, including the Argents (as much as he hated saying it) and men like Alaric Saltzman. ”They’ve got good reasons to come up with something fast. If the virus gets loose there, a lot of kids are gonna be in trouble.”
When was enough gonna be enough? Talia had probably dealt with hundreds of threats while she’d been Alpha, but since she’d died it had felt like they hadn’t stopped. Waves of trouble sweeping in, threatening to drown them all. In her stead, he’d tried to help the others stay afloat, but when it came to Danny, it felt like there’d been next to nothing they could do. Staring down at the bottle of his hands, Derek shook his head as Braeden asked if they were any closer. ”Without a body, no. It feels like the darach knew it too. There was no reason for him to take Danny otherwise.” It was an awful cost for the good thing Danny was trying to do. With Braeden settled against his side, it felt like he could keep himself anchored here at least. ”Even the smallest thing’s gotta help.” Something had to in the end. Derek’s brows drew together faintly. If only they could afford to just focus on one problem at a time. Shifting to the one posed by the Ghost Riders, Derek looked down into Braeden’s eyes. ”My whole calendar’s clear. Sure. We can dig through it all, maybe head to Whitmore in the morning, then we’ll head out to look for them. You got a idea of where to start looking?” Maybe this would be the one thing that’d come easy, they had to have earned it by now.
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BRAEDEN CARTER
Hunter
Posts: 12
Age:
29
Occupation:
Hunter & Mercenary
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Derek Hale
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 22:03:12 GMT
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Post by BRAEDEN CARTER on Aug 24, 2024 0:39:10 GMT
“I don’t know about that, I have a few ways of getting you to see things my way,” Braeden said, a playful glint in her eye as she spoke. She knew that she would never take anything from Derek, at first she had helped because of money but then she had started to care about him and the others and now she wouldn’t dream of taking anything from any of them. She hadn’t had anyone that she cared about in her life for such a long time as she’d isolated herself after her parents died but now she had people she wanted to protect and it scared her a little but at the same time she knew that she would do anything to keep them safe. Derek was without a doubt at the top of that list, he had come to mean a lot to her and that was why she had sought him out as soon as she got to town without even bothering to go and check into the motel first. It was only ever meant to be casual between them without any strings attached but the truth was that Braeden hadn’t been with anyone else since she left town and just thinking about it didn’t feel right. She knew she had no right to feel that way but she couldn’t help it.
“You’d better believe I will,” Braeden warned, hitting his arm lightly as she spoke. She knew that she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him, Derek had already been through so much and she’d done her best to help him through everything that life had thrown at him but she knew what he was like and she didn’t want him putting himself in any unnecessary danger. Derek had always been a lone wolf like her but he had people around that he cared about now and thanks to him, Braeden did too. She knew that Scott and the others would be devastated if anything ever happened to him so she knew that she would do everything she could in order to keep him safe and she hoped that he would watch his back as well. As he said the feeling was mutual, Braeden felt a small smile touch her lips. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. She wasn’t used to having anyone look out for her but she didn’t regret letting Derek in at all. She’d kept her defences up for such a long time but somehow Derek had managed to work his way into her heart and she knew she didn’t want that to change.
“Humans are immune to the virus and we can’t transmit it either. The only danger to us is getting hurt by someone infected by it,” Braeden explained. It made things less risky for her since it meant that she could work on stopping those who were infected and help the people who were trying to find a cure for the virus without having to worry about passing the virus on to anyone else. She knew that she never would have been able to forgive herself if anyone she cared about ended up being infected because of her so she was glad she didn’t have to worry about that. “Too right,” she grinned as Derek said that if there was a fight she was always one of the first to get involved. “I can tell you now that’s never going to change.” Braeden had always been a fighter and it was something that she was proud of. If she hadn’t been then she would have died when she was attacked by Deucalion and she wouldn’t have had the chance to get to know Derek or the others as well as she did now. “I know. I thought there were a lot of people in Beacon Hills and New Orleans who are supernatural but that’s nothing compared to here,” she admitted. There were so many people at risk of contracting the virus in town and she knew that she wanted to stop it from spreading as much as she could.
“It sounds like he knew what he was doing. Not having a body can make it difficult to locate the spirit but I’m sure there’s a way.” Braeden knew how much Derek and the pack wanted to get Danny back so she refused to believe that it was hopeless. There had to be a way to get him back and if there was then they were sure to find it sooner or later. “I’ll do what I can,” Braeden nodded. She wasn’t sure if there would be any clues left given how long ago Danny had been taken but if there were any then she knew that they would find them. Derek was great at tracking and so was she so she knew that between them they would be sure to find anything that was there. “Sounds good,” she nodded as Derek said they could head to Whitmore in the morning and then go and look for the survivor afterwards. “Rumour has it they were last seen in Roanoke so we can start there.”
DEREK HALE
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hope to see you in the discord! 
